The Once and Future Khan
Oh gods the pain. Why were swords always so painful through the gut? Wait when was the last time Adam washed this thing? Agh, I'm going to get tetanus or something from it.
"I know," Adam said as he plunged his filthy damn sword through my stomach. You knew? You disgusting little-
"Thank you. Sienna. You were there when our people needed you, but they need me now."
Fuck you, douchebag! If there weren't blood in my lungs, I'd tell you off so hard your sword will go up your own-
"I'm sorry you couldn't see this through to the end." Wait don't pull out the sword oh gods that hurts even more going out.
Ow ow ow ow damn you you could have at least stabbed me at the bottom of these stairs ow! Ow, I knew I shouldn't have skimped on the carpeting. I'm going to be so sore from this. At least the pain everywhere is distracting me from the pain in my gut- ow ow nope still there.
Wow that's a lot of blood. Aaaaaand I can't move my arms either. Or my legs.
"Give our former leader a proper burial."
Wow, way to be premature, Adam. I bet you're the same in bed.
Shut up. I've just been kebabed, let me have this.
"All who were here tonight will claim that Sienna was murdered by a human huntsman."
Thanks a lot my loyal bodyguards. Traitorous wretches. I know all your faces and names. Next I see you, you will all rue this day.
"Sienna Khan will become a martyr for our cause. Her final act as high leader."
Not again. Fuck you Adam, I've been martyring since before your grandparents were born! Hey, what are you idiots doing! Why are you putting me on a stretcher? I'm not dead yet!
Shit, I am, aren't I? Man, and things were going so well too. Sigh, better luck next time?
Right?
Okay, everything is getting dark. Any second now. Any second now. Any second now.
… Is it stuck? Maybe if I-
Ah, there we go.
I woke up with a start. What the hell was that? My chest heaved as I felt sweat running down my head. I groaned when I saw the time in my dark room. It was four in the morning. Great, only an hour before I'd have to wake up anyways. And after that, well, I want to say nightmare?, I was not going to sleep anytime soon.
I twisted in my bed underneath my warm and snuggly blankets, knowing that taking them off would expose me to the freezing cold of my room. Freaking Atlas and its sub zero temperature. I sighed.
Better now than later. It was like ripping off a bandage! I pulled the blanket off me and shivered. I quickly got off the bed and scrambled into my slippers. I looked around and saw Flynt still snoring. My partner was definitely a heavy sleeper, but I wasn't really sure how much of what I dreamt escaped my lips.
My tail felt stiff, probably from the position I slept in last night. I rubbed my eyes with one hand while massaging my fifth appendage with the other. As I did that, I slowly shuffled into the bathroom and looked myself in the mirror.
Well, I was definitely tired. There were bags under my eyes and I yawned twice while looking in the mirror. Maybe some water would help. I splashed my face with some before checking myself out. Everything felt… off.
The face I saw in the mirror was definitely me, and yet, it felt like something was missing. My hands reached for my forehead and patted. No ears. Wait what? I only have two ears, what am I talking about?
I turned on the light and looked closer. My skin suddenly felt very pale, and my orange hair didn't look right, especially with the blue bangs. I touched my forearms, expecting something to be there, and my stomach felt perfectly fine, but I swore there should be something wrong with it.
And why do I feel so strong? So nimble and athletic?
Could've been worse. But look at the ears! Or lack of them, I suppose.
"What the- Who's there?!" I backed myself into the wall and scanned the entire room. Nothing! "Show yourself!"
Keep quiet, will you? Otherwise you'll wake up your team. Flynt might be a heavy sleeper, but the others aren't.
"Who are you?" I grit my teeth. The voice was coming from… somewhere. Everywhere and nowhere, all at the same time.
I go by many names, child. But the one I have kept throughout the centuries, and the one you may refer to me, is Khan.
"Sienna…" I whispered.
Yes, that was the name of my last life. Receiving memories of my last moments so early on is rare, but not unheard of.
"I must be going crazy…"
Let me stop you right there. Pull out your scroll, you still have access to Atlas Academy's internal digital records, yes?
I nodded and pulled out my scroll, turning on the browser.
First off… why is your scroll bedazzled? The light shining off it is blinding me just being near it.
My eyes rolled, "Yeah right. I like it like this."
I hope your tastes aren't transferable. Okay, pull up your search engine and look up this historical figure. General Lagune was 190 centimeters tall, weighed eighty-four kilograms upon death, and he died in the Windpath-General Nursing Home twenty-two years after the revolution. He had a diagonal scar across his neck and a really stupid bowl cut. His first wife was named Gwen, and she died three years after the revolution to a Lancer.
"That's… right," the words were as plain as day. I had nowhere near as good a memory as that.
Go to the SDC website and login as an employee. The username is Shelly_Koast. The password is Thisaccountistotallylegit, one word, first letter is uppercase.
I carefully typed everything in. My thumb hovered over the 'Sign In' button. This was just insane. What was I doing? No seriously, what was I doing? Logging into the SDC, using a bogus account with a really on-the-nose password?
Well, what did I have to lose? I pressed the button.
And then… it said 'Incorrect Password'. Oh gods, I really am insane. This is bad. This is really really bad.
Wait, add the number 3 at the end. Also don't lose your head now.
I really shouldn't listen to advice from a voice in my head. That just led to more crazy. But even though I knew I shouldn't, I did as the voice asked and… Holy shit it worked. It was a successful login into the SDC website. I'm not insane! I'm not insane! I jumped in the air and shot a fist up.
But you do have a voice in your head of unknown supernatural origin.
… Well shit.
It's alright. You'll get used to it. And over time, the two of us will blend until it'll be impossible to tell where one begins and the other ends.
"How am I supposed to respond to that?"
So yeah, basically I, and by extension, we, are a body-hopping mind thing that transfers to a new body upon death, along with all my memories and skills.
"Skills?"
You pick up things after a few millennia. I have to, working without aura.
"Wait what?" I began sweating again. I could not afford to lose my aura. I took a deep breath and focused, creating a shining barrier at the edge of my fingertips. I sighed in relief.
"Don't scare me like that!" I hissed.
That's impossible. I've never had aura before. Yes! This is amazing! Do you know what this means?
I shrugged, "What?"
We can finally avoid our untimely gruesome death! The world is our tuna can!
"Wait what?"
Shortly after, Atlas was invaded by the Queen of Grimm and her giant Grimm whale, and then the entire city fell from the sky.
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A/N: A oneshot that was originally going to be a short story of about ten-ish chapters that I started writing back in 2018. I stopped because of writers block, before coming back and adding on this ending just recently. The original chapters 2 and 3 I'll probably put up in Tales of Inthrigue! later.