Pulling herself from the trap of her bed sheets, Andy bolted upright and rubbed gingerly at her aching side as her eyes darted around the room.

She, for sure, was supposed to be dead. Hell! She remembered the exact moment when she actually lost her life! She had honestly thought that the wait half an hour after eating before going to swim rule was a mere suggestion, up until the point where she had cramped up worse than a uterus during menstruation.

Shuddering faintly, Andy snagged onto bright silver eyes and she gave a start at the sight of herself in the mirror.

Brown skin was stretched over a - frankly tiny ass - frame as dark hair curled frantically down her back, and Andy was a bit astounded to see that this her looked exactly like the old her. Albeit - and as much as it hurt to say because she had been quite a looker in her past - prettier.

Pushing herself upright she trudged closer to her reflection and gently pressed her fingertips to its cool surface.

"What the actual fuck." She muttered, which properly summed up her entire outlook on this entire situation because holy hell she had literally lived a whole other life that she could actually recollect!

And it wasn't as if she didn't remember anything about her current one because she did! It was just that well, those memories seemed to be - in a sense - parallel to her original ones and some of them seemed to be way too surreal to comprehend at the moment. Almost as if there was a shining film over the recollections in her head and it made her dizzy to think about. They didn't mesh together, they didn't fit - at least not yet.

Startling out of her thoughts as her bedroom door opened, Andy blinked at the sight of Troy peeking inside with oddly serious eyes that turned light-hearted as they caught onto her.

"Hey, are you alright?" The man asked worriedly. "I heard a bump from downstairs and I was concerned."

Pausing a moment as she looked over to the mirror, Andy nodded her head.

"Yeah, I'm fine." She assured as she moved over him at his beckon. "I just fell outta bed and hurt my side a little."

"How bad?" Troy asked as he lifted up her shirt to inspect her ribs which were without a single bruise and Andy shrugged.

"It doesn't really hurt anymore so it's fine."

"Well, that's not for you to decide." Troy chided lightly and Andy resisted the urge to roll her eyes at his mother hen like attitude. "Come on, let's go downstairs to the kitchen so I can get a better look."

Lifted up into his arms, this time Andy gave into the urge and gave her eyes a twirl.

"You're gonna feel silly when we get downstairs and see that it's nothing to be fretting over." Andy said with a gusty sigh and Troy quirked an eyebrow at her.

"No, I'll be relieved because I checked to make sure." He shot back. "So please, humor me."

Saying nothing as she was set on the counter, Troy lifted her shirt again and this time pressed the tips of his fingers to her flank to test for any lingering pain or injury.

Seeing that she wasn't responding to the stimulus in a negative way, Troy smiled and straightened out her clothes.

"So everything checked out." He said lightly and Andy shook her head.

"Exactly like I said it would." She told him before taking a few seconds to orient herself by glancing around. Regardless of the fact that she was sure she had never been in this room, Andy found that she knew it intimately.

"So wanna tell me why you fell out of bed?" Troy asked her as he leaned against the counter and Andy stalled for a second too long.

"No reason." She told him with a shrug from her perch on the table. "I just got - um - excited!" Her gaze snagged onto the bright neon colors of the clock and something inside of her head clicked. "for practice!"

Nodding her head Andy grinned.

"Yep, I'm super excited to go out and start practicing."

Troy cut his blue eyes towards her on the sly and he gave her a slow smile.

"Hmm, it seems someone's hiding something from me," He chuckled as he picked her up and set her on the ground. "but I'll let it slide. This time."

Puffing up her cheeks she looked away from him.

"I'm totally not hiding anything." She pouted and Troy gave a snort.

"I just said I was going to let it go." Troy laughed. "Quit while you're ahead Andy."

"Fine." She grouched a bit as she crossed her arms and with a laugh the blond poked her in her cheek.

"Come on Pandora don't be upset with me," Troy said as he gave a fake sniff. "I wuv you and when you pout it makes me sad."

"I'm not pouting." She objected with a frown and Troy hummed.

"Well then if you're not pouting I would have no reason to give you the new bow I got you as a pick-me-you." He said slyly and Andy's eyes snapped to his.

A pause.

"Maybe," She conceded with a tiny smile. "But only a little bit."

Cheekily she stuck out her hand and let her eyes twinkle.

"Now give me my bow so I can feel better."

Chuckling Troy walked over to a closet and pulled out a box. Handing it over to her, Andy as quickly as she could, ripped the top off and nearly squealed at the sight of a beautifully crafted child sized longbow that laid inside of an unworthy casing.

"Thank you so much!" She gushed as she held it to her chest. "I have to try this out right now, oh my goddess!"

Looking pleased with himself, Troy pointed to the clock and grabbed her hand.

"Well as you said it is time for practice so you can put your new toy to good use."

Gasping in faux offense, Andy tugged Troy to a stop.

"This is not a toy," She said as seriously as she could manage, brow set stiffly. "This is a weapon."

"And what a mighty weapon it is." Troy agreed with a sagely nod and Andy laughed.

As she was led through the rather large house she couldn't help but marvel at how easy it was to get along with Troy. Granted she had in all actuality, been living here for some time, but she had just regained her adult mind and some part of her thought that their relationship should have changed in some way.

Truthfully though, she was glad that it still felt familiar.

Smiling as they reached the outside and Troy put her brace on her arm and her gloves on her hands, Andy felt giddy.

Although the instant her eyes locked onto the archery range, the bubbly feeling in her chest transformed into a pang of homesickness.

Back from when she had been Andy Gautier - yes she had the same name as her now self - she had loved to shoot more than anything. Some kids ran track, others joined the more popular sports teams, but Andy? She had her heart set on the archery club because the practice was somewhat of a family tradition. Her mother taught her and her mother's mother had taught her. As far as Andy knew the tutelage had spanned six generations or so and she was pretty good too as was evidenced by her many medals and trophies.

God, she had been so proud of herself.

Sighing a bit as she was handed her bow, she made her way over to the shooting mark and smiled.

Drawing an arrow from her quiver, she lined it up. Pulling the string taut, she held it for a breath before letting it fly.

Grinning as it struck true, Andy fist pumped to herself. She still had it! - although she noted with a touch of bitterness that her current young body seemed to have more ease while shooting than she had in her older one.

Reaching back she grabbed another arrow and shot again. And again. And again. And again until finally, she realized that she had run out of ammo.

Frowning she looked at the target and noted that she had split arrow upon arrow down the middle and she gawked at the sight.

Glancing down at the bow in her hands, she regarded her tiny arms in awe and frankly extremely jealous!

Where the hell was all this innate skill while she had been Andy Gautier and not Pandora 'Andy' Laveau?!

Starting at the hand on her shoulder, she glanced up and noticed Troy grinning down at her.

"You did great today!" The blond man told her as he ruffled her hair and the small grey-eyed child blushed a bit at the praise. "Pretty soon we'll have to level you up a class and we can move onto shooting projectiles."

Perking up at the thought of hitting flying objects with her arrows, Andy pursed her lips and cut her eyes sideways at the older man.

Pausing, his gaze narrowed and he slowly shook his head.

"Ohh no," He started, his face settling on stern and Andy pouted. "I know that look and I am not going to let you practice on projectiles without getting the okay for it."

Andy deflated and her eyes cast themselves downwards.

"Making a sad face will not make me change my mind, Andy." He said. "Just so you know."

Hunching her shoulders up to her ears, the young girl let her lower lip tremble as she scuffed the ground with her foot. Peeking up at Troy she gave him her most soul shattered look and received a long drawn out sigh in response.

"Gods dammit."

"Okay, so as it turns out I am going to let you practice on projectiles without getting the okay." Troy said as he tossed tennis balls into the air by hand. "But I'm going to be safe about it and not use anything dangerous so I won't get yelled at later."

"I agree with this," Andy called as she let out an arrow and shot the yellow thing out of the sky. "As long as I get to shoot stuff, it's a very good plan!"

"Don't think I forgot about how you manipulated me earlier." He said offhandedly and she shrugged sheepishly.

"Not even for a second." She muttered as she released three arrows in a quick secession, nailing her targets deftly.

She perhaps got in a half quiver into shooting before Troy held up a hand and called her to a stop. Putting her bow at ease, Andy frowned and looked back towards the house at the blond man's urging and on the stoop she saw a woman.

Jerry! Something seemed to cheer from deep inside her head and Andy felt a sense of deja vu.

And when she met the eyes of the black woman her head seemed to split under the duress of pain because apparently, eight years worth of memories forcibly merging themselves into her first set hurt like woo hoo.

It was quite a lot to process and so Andy considered herself lucky when she managed to pass out halfway through reliving her second time being four.

It's been so long! But I'm back. Some of you have questioned what the pairing was going to be and I have one question in return for you guys.

Do you know what an OT3 is? Because this is a possibility with this story.

Also to those who don't know Andy is the reincarnation of Pandora, as well as being the literal holder of all the world's evils. Like famine, hope etc etc are inside of her and they all have personalities and human combative forms in my story. I'll get more into her powers as Pandora and Pandora's box later on.

Oh yeah, her being Pandora's box means she is important to Gaia.

3/04/18