Chapter 2: Doppelganger

"Aaaaah~"

Anna stretched out her arms and legs as she woke from her nap, sitting up and glancing about to see that the forest was still ruined, she was still laying on the ground in the middle of nowhere, and she still was not in a comfortable bed. "Couldn't have just been a bad dream.."

She noticed there was one thing different about the day. As she turned to her fellow traveler, the man she met yesterday, he was still sleeping quietly against the tree. But he was without his coat.

It took her a few moments to notice that the thing she held so tightly was not a part of her blanket, but the coat of the man before her. "Isn't that sweet?" She thought, smiling lightly at the kind gesture.

Slowly, she stood up from the ground, glancing out to the plains around her. Surprisingly, no restoration team had come out, as the forest was still as tattered as the day before, no signs of clearance whatsoever. Her judgement had landed her an even longer stay at this spot than necessary.

"Ugh..what to do now.." Her arms crossed and foot tapping rapidly against the rough ground, she gazed at her surroundings once more. Out in the distance, she spotted something...brown. She took a step closer and noticed it was a horse, and behind it, a caravan.

She ran forward to be within its line of sight and waved to the rider excitedly. This was it, this was her ticket out! She couldn't spend another day out in the woods.

As it came closer and closer, Anna felt the person riding the stallion was oddly familiar. It was definitely a face she'd seen before.

In fact, it was like looking into a mirror.

"Stuck already?" The rider said giddily. "I can't wait to tell Mom about this."

Robin woke only minutes later, vision still hazy and body still weak. He just wanted to go back to sleep. Looking up from his place under the tree, he saw Anna standing and talking to..

...Another Anna.

"I'm still sleeping then. I guess I'll just lay back down." He wasn't given much of an opportunity as his coat was suddenly thrust upon him, causing him to jump and slam his head back onto the tree.

"Oww..."

"Oh..He's awake." One of the pair said, while the other seemed to turn from him, embarrassed. Robin quickly concluded that she must've been the one who threw the coat.

As his vision slowly enhanced, he could see the clear similarities and differences in the two girls. The one he'd met had red hair, but the other he saw had the same hair with a color of green. The green-haired Anna had a sword tied to her waist, where his Anna had no weapons other than the ones she sought to sell. The two stood side by side, in the middle of a heated discussion that Robin could barely make out.

"...If it were just you, sis, it'd be easy. I'd take you around and you would be on your way. But extra people come at an extra price." The newcomer had a wide grin on her face, one that spelled trickery. Anna was not at all surprised. She sighed.

"You always do this..What do you want?" The green-haired woman seemed disappointed in the lack of a battle or barter, but answered nonetheless.

"I want you to stop traveling for a bit. Settle down. Set up shop in town, just for a short time." Anna's expression quickly changed to one of anger at the request, but her twin seemed quite adamant.

"I just got out into the world and you want me to stop? That's not funny! Just because I've always been the weakest-!"

"It's not that!" Anna did not calm, but she gave her sister a chance to speak. "I...I know how you feel. But we realized there's something bad going on since that last quake happened. You wouldn't go back home if we forced you to, so I want you to be careful. You'll realize what I mean soon enough."

Anna had let the arms she'd crossed slack in acceptance. Her sisters, despite their tricks and secrets, were always looking out for her. She decided it would be best to take her advice.

"Aaaaand I want 40% of all profits you make in the time you spend in the city, okay? Okay."

Anna stumbled upon her words as she tried to create a retort, but she realized there was no fighting it. This was her sister, no doubt. There would be no debating once a deal was made.

She turned back to the nearby tree, where she expected Robin to still be, sleeping or watching. Instead, he'd moved to the caravan, stroking the horse's mane gently, completely enamored, as if he'd never seen one before.

Again, she recalled that even if he remembers every term, every trait, every single thing in the world from his past in the form of words and images, he has lost all true notion of what these things do. It was both adorable and saddening, seeing him pet the animal so caring and curiously.

She and her sister locked eyes and Anna knew there was much to discuss between them.

They boarded her caravan, her sister riding the steed and the passengers squeezing themselves in between all of the cargo kept in the back. Uncomfortable as it was, both Anna and Robin were happy to have found a way of transport. They sat side by side, their closeness only perturbing Anna a small amount, as it seemed it didn't bother her cohort one bit.

"So," The male at her side began, "Who's the doppelganger? You haven't said anything about her since you signaled me over."

""Doppelganger"? Can't you pick simpler words, like twin or copycat?" She giggled at his choice despite her words. "That's my older sister, Annabel. Hold your jokes until the end of the ride, please." This time, it was Robin that chuckled. "She offered to take us into a nearby city, but she never said which one, and I don't know the area well enough to say where she's going."

"Doesn't that make things just a bit more interesting?" He said, browsing through the various amounts of goods and gold he saw around him. "Ever since I woke, everything has been new to me. I can name most things on sight, but to me..every bit of the world brings a new feeling of excitement. Isn't that what you feel now?"

His viewpoint of the world seemed almost childish, but in that child-like enthusiasm is an optimistic outlook on the world. A piece of wisdom that most adults would have forgotten by now. Anna couldn't help but notice that her heart was now racing just thinking about going somewhere she's never seen. It was euphoric.

The ride was long and rough, traversing around a large amount of crumbled terrain. Anna took this time to explain many things to Robin, starting from the first concoction they'd found in the caravan to the various worth of gold, silver, and bronze. He'd steadily listened to each one before quickly moving onto the next.

For Robin, it was enthralling and he absorbed it all without issue. For Anna, it was a review of all she learned from her mother and sisters before setting out into the world. Every now and then, a question would arise from Robin, and at times, Anna didn't have an answer. It gave her an idea of what to look into once she started selling wares.

Hours into their ride, it had gotten much more quiet between the two. Robin had began reading many of the tomes he'd found in quick succession. Anna found it amazing how quickly he could take in all of this information. Even more so when he reached the magic ones, praticing many of the incantations he'd found, producing small flames and sparks.

They weren't exactly powerful, but they were controlled and concentrated, and that in itself was impressive. Only a night ago, he'd been unable to produce a standard flame, but now he was making flames stronger than that after a couple of hours of reading. "Practice makes perfect, I guess."

It wasn't until Anna began to feel her eyes lull and her body slumber that the movement stopped. She glanced over to Robin with what little strength she had to see he was fast asleep. The curtain was flung open as the green-haired twin shouted,

"Rise and shine, you two! We're finally in Ylisstol!...Hey, have you been using my tomes?!"

Neither had heard the woman, both finally succumbing to a deep slumber.

Notes: So, one reviewer said I should compromise with a 3 month update rather than a 4 month update. So here it is! I really would update more often, but I'm currently at a point in the story that is incredibly important to the main plot and I want to get it right. And I don't want to leave you guys for 6 months without an update because I don't have the time to write and have difficultly writing at the same time.

Yes, in this story, every Anna has a name with an "Anna" prefix. It's a family thing. You'll learn more about it later.

Lastly, I just want to say that I am incredibly thankful for the reviews. You guys really inspire me to take this story all the way. And I will. Because I have so much planned. I just have to put it into a cohesive form.

Thanks for reading, as always!