Day 20 (July 26th). Free Day II/ Support Fellow Creators: Today's prompt is open to whatever you wish! Go nuts, friends!

Focus: I defy your ending.

Characters: The Woman in White, Kallen Rikiya

This contains Spoilers for The Road to Hell. Read further if you dare.

"I defy your ending."

./cycle3946

My eyes scanned the playing field. I knew where she would be. Kallen Rikiya, real name Rei Asakawa, daughter of Rudger Godwin. Her mother took her away before Zero Reverse.

She was not useful as Kallen Rikiya. She was only a shell of her former self. For what I needed, I needed Rei.

I knew where she would be. I could see her outlined through the arches of the nearby building walls. I could see her hand extended.

I snapped my fingers. All around, those around me froze in place. With a lilted smile, I lifted the violin to rest on my shoulder, the bow in my other hand.

I began to softly play. The once blue sky had turned gray- covered by a white haze. Fog spread onto the ground with a silent sigh. The song escaping my violin's strings was a calming sound that echoed throughout the quiet landscape. A warning. A string for Kallen Rikiya to follow.

It seemed I hadn't had to wait long. Minutes hadn't passed when I heard her shout, "Hey!"

I halted my bow. With slow precision, I lowered the violin to my side- so I could clearly see her. Her gold eyes were narrowed- a sight that quickly changed once she took in my appearance. Her cold eyes glowered up. Her dark hair hung untimely around her shoulders- almost like ink. I noticed the necklace around her neck. Her pentacles necklace- the source of her control. I smiled.

"Make it stop," Kallen commanded.

Oh. How interesting. I tilted my head to the side with a thoughtful gaze. "Pray tell me- what is it to you that you believe I can stop?"

"Fuck off," She growled. "There's a truck not movin' right behind you. Whatever time stop bullshit- fuck, end it. Now. I know it's you doin' it."

She was passionate. Made of fire. Yet, it was not the same. I would have to fix this.

"Me?" The question escaped out of my lips in a whisper, like a prayer spoken to the wind. I straightened my posture and pulled up the sleeve of my white suit. It revealed not just a bracelet, but my bracelet. Silver metal with an emerald pendant that shimmered beneath my palm. "The god I serve seems to be reaching out to you," I state.

Rei Asakawa was a fan of Greek mythology. Her childhood was spent with her nose in the pages of a burnt and torn book she refused to discard. Kallen Rikiya knew nothing but the locked away thoughts she couldn't reach. Despite that, some recognition appeared in those furious eyes. "Gods aren't real," She spat.

"And yet," I could have laughed if I had the ability. I almost think I was no longer able. I flicked my wrist. A green orb escaped and reappeared next to the friend of Kallen Rikiya. Lucy Andersen-Yuki, the daughter of Judai and Johan. She was of no use to me. She was a pawn meant to be used.

Use I will.

The green encircled Lucy-, particularly around her midsection. Her back began to hunch over. Wrinkles plagued her once youthful skin. Her vibrant orange hair lost its color, with the strands beginning to whither-

"Stop," Kallen breathed out. "Stop!" Her repeated word was louder, more demanding, begging.

I flicked my wrist once more. The green circle scattered, and yet, Lucy's appearance remained. "Tragic, is it not?" I hummed. "The expiration of humanity's youth. Time is the one force humans are unable to alter, quicken, or stop." I pause. "The one I serve- the god of time- has a proposition."

"Fix her," Kallen snarled. "I'm not hearin' shit."

I peered down at her with a smile. "Just for you," I heard my voice escape softly. I snapped my fingers once. Lucy was refreshed back to her past- the present that they lived. "Are you prepared to process god's words?"

Kallen seemed as if she were trying to study me. I knew of her power- the ability of hers to read 'auras'. She was attempting to read mine.

I had no aura.

"No," Kallen's answer was blunt. I knew it was coming. I couldn't help the amusement I felt.

"I see," I had my hand raised. "Even if…"

My bracelet moved. The environment I picked, even if she hadn't remembered, she would know the story. The scrapyard she first met Yusei. If time served its purpose, Yusei had recently told her how they had once met. The same piece stopped at Kallen's foot.

I stood upon a washing machine, my cane replacing my violin. Kallen glanced around sharply with disbelieving eyes. She held some sort of remembrance, even if she didn't know exactly what it meant. Her memories must have been tugging in her inner thoughts- for Rei to be let out once more.

"How the hell did you know about this place?" Were the words of a lost girl.

"The past is set in places like the foundations of the Great Pyramids," I looked up at the sky. "Imagine you had the opportunity to go back and chance whatsoever you wish. Imagine as if you could deice the location of those blocks before their tomb was ever filled, or even-"

I reached into my coat. A heavy revolver sat against my palm. I fired once into the sky, the gunshot splitting harshly though the air. I saw Kallen jump, her posture on wide alert.

Her brother, Yusuke, had been shot. It was a memory that haunted her dreams. Her biggest fear was her fear of guns.

"Imagine diverting the fate of someone who died on the job," I glanced over my shoulders to meet her gaze. I could see her thoughts racing. Kallen was thinking how she had nothing to chance. Her life as she knew it was hers. She felt that if she remembered nothing of her past, it was not worth remembering at all.

She felt if she went back to the past, she would cease to exist. She would be gone- replaced by some other woman.

She glanced up. Her face hardened. She tried to appear threatening, but the slight tremble in her shoulders gave her away. Gave away her fear. "Fuckin' with me isn't gonna help you any. What do you want?"

"First, the offer." I tucked my revolver away into my suit pocket. "You will obtain the chance of a 'do-over.' If there is an event in the past you wish to be changed, the god of time will allow you to alter the flow of timeline from that position."

"For what?" Kallen snarled.

The sound of my cane hitting against the washing machine boomed throughout the air. I set one hand over the over where my hands could be folded. "The god of time will issue you a directive which you must complete no matter your personal beliefs."

This was to help Rain. Only one person could convince both Jack and Yusei to meet their goals. Only one person could push Kiryu Kyosuke to his limits to be the man Rain would need.

Rei Asakawa.

Kallen sneered. "You think I'm gonna agree to some kinda deal with the devil?"

My smile curled up. I reached into my coat pocket, only this time to pull out a card and throw it. Just as I assumed, Kallen expertly caught it between her index and middle fingers. She glanced at it, her eyebrow-raising. The Z-ONE card.

"This is a sign of gods' promise," I explained. "He directed me to give it to you. When the time comes, the decision will be yours alone. If you fulfill what my god asks, the ability to change the past will be gifted to you and to you alone."

She threw the card away with the rest of the trash in what I assumed to be an act of defiance. "Who are you?" Kallen breathed out through her nose in fury. "Answer me."

"A servant of god's," I answered simply.

"That's not an answer!" Kallen snapped. "Who are you? Why the fuck are we here? How did you-"

My fingers snapped once more, effectively cutting her off. We appeared in a park with an empty chessboard. My free hand pushed Kallen down into the stool while I took my seat across from her.

This was her element. With my inspiration.

"You yearn to understand me; do it the way you know how," I spread my arms to showcase that her deck was placed in front of her. "Read my fortune."

She didn't want to. That was clear. Yet, just as Kallen was a force, she was curious.

Her hand slid forward to pull the first card. The Chariot, upright. The second: the World, and finally: the Emperor in reverse.

"An intriguing result," I prompted. Kallen seemed frozen in time- but not by any trickery on my part. This was her emotions at play.

"This god of yours," She spoke the word mockingly. "What does he want me for?"

I smiled. Once more, our scenery changed. Scarlet smeared the lakes of fire beneath us in the debris of littered mess of once-proud towers. I was atop the highest skyscraper, with Kallen just below. The Ark Cradle rained from above in its frozen state.

"Being chosen by any god may inflate one's ego," I spoke to interrupt Kallen's confusion. "Take care to remember, human."

My wrist flicked. The city began to break and crumble right under her feet. Her fall was as imminent as the Ark Cradle's future descendant- only, while the Ark Cradle was falling down, she was falling upward.

I caught her. She no longer moved, as I was holding her by the pentacles pendant of her necklace. I smiled at her.

The scenery dissolved. I was alone once more. The edges of the pentacles pendant jabbed against my palm.

I would see her again. Yet, not as her.

She would choose to become Rei Asakawa once more.

A/N:

Tune in tomorrow for day 21, Spin the Wheel, Throw a Dart! Tomorrow is all about those tropes you wanna see, whether it be a beach episode or a spy movie!

This was a collaboration with Time Thief! She wrote this originally in my OC, Kallen's POV, and I rewrote it to be in her OC's POV. Check her out to see the other half!