Candidate Rebirth.
AN: I don't own an Xbox, and never have, so I'm going to use games that I DO know, just pretend they are on the Xbox systems.
AN2: after this chapter I'm going to do some time skips, but not terribly large ones, to accelerate recovery in fic, just so I don't spend the next ten chapters with every detail of Chloe's recovery.
Chapter 2: Starting the road to recovery.
It had been a week since she had become Chloe, and in that time she had made it to around one hundred feet away from her room before panic set in. A week filled with spending the majority of her time with her new sister, and getting to know her. Vert was patient to her, at least to her face, but she could tell her new sister was beginning to become frustrated.
So today... today she decided that she will eat breakfast with her sister in the main dining hall, even if she had to run back as soon as she was done.
So she dressed in what her normal outfit currently was, jeans, T-shirt, and sneakers, she took a deep breath, and snuck out her door.
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Vert was waiting for her breakfast to be delivered, she needed to spend time with Chika, her nation's oracle, as they had business to discuss, and Chika was pretty much Vert's sister, even without being a candidate.
Both of the woman were surprised to see a blond head peek out from around the doorway.
Chika was slightly pissed because she was looking forward to some alone time with Vert, but quickly hid it, as she could tell there was something truly wrong with her nation's new candidate.
Vert was shocked, although as the girl started to make her way to a chair, she could tell her sister was pale and shaking, along with being in a cold sweat.
The girl made it to her chair, and then nearly bolted as she saw the second person there.
Remembering her sisters description of the Leanbox oracle, and how for the longest time Chika was considered to be a sister to Vert, spoke up in a voice that barely carried to the other two, "Good morning sisters..."
Chika's eyes widened as she heard herself be referred to as a sister by the candidate, and slowly stood up and walked to where she was seated. She then gave the girl a big hug, now knowing that that her position as family to Vert wasn't going to be usurped, only added to.
This proved too much for the girl as she passed out in the oracles arms, only kept upright by the older woman.
"Chika..." Vert almost growled.
Chika was sheepish, she didn't expect her new sister to collapse like that. "Sorry, I didn't think that would happen."
Vert sighed, and responded, "Well at least she tried, and so did you. Let me get her back to her room with a tray of food, then we can start today's business."
Suiting action to words Vert picked up her sister from Chika's arms, and brought her to her room, and ordered a tray of food to be brought. Giving the unconscious girl a kiss on the cheek she then headed out to do her job, the duties of which, along with the paperwork, she had put off for a week.
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An hour later a old man had a heart attack as a scream of frustration and self loathing sounded from Green Sister's room as he was passing by. The scream was loud enough that Vert and Chika rushed to her room, only to find her crying into her Pyramid head plushy.
After calling for some medics for the downed man, Vert sat on the bed with her sister and pulled her into her side.
The girl's sobbing increased, and Chika was, at this point, feeling very guilty about her actions, and was about to leave when Vert motioned her to take Chloe's other side.
The girl didn't even stiffen when the second person put her arm around her, as she was too deep in self loathing, at how Vert waited so long for a sister, but got someone almost to terrified to leave her room.
Vert frowned, Chika being added into the hug should've gotten a reaction.
Chika, having been filled in on what little Vert knew of Chloe's past life realized that something needed to be done.
Vert was the loving patient sister, but what Chloe needed now was some semi-tough love. Without asking permission, she gave Chloe a soft slap, not enough to do more than sting, but enough to snap her out of her current depression cycle. When the girl looked to her, in a kind of shocked betrayal, Chika spoke, "Listen, you did nothing wrong, it was my fault for pushing you. I'll help you, just like Vert will. You did good to try and make it to breakfast, it was just bad luck I pushed you a little too far. Now dry your tears, and I'll stay with you while Vert catches up on her paperwork."
Chloe's eyes watered as she put her hand to her cheek, and Chika realized she might've made things worse, only for Chloe to abandon the plushy and latch onto her while sobbing.
Chika motioned Vert to leave, and put her arms around the crying bundle.
Vert was slightly upset at the slap, no matter how gentle, but the results she couldn't argue with. She didn't think she could do that right now, so she left her sisters to their time together, and went back to her towering stacks of paperwork.
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After twenty minutes of tears Chika convinced Chloe to help her break in one of Chloe's new game systems. Playing Portal 2 helped calm the younger girl down as she got used to the controls, and having some laughs at the characters inside. Chika smiled as she played the two player mode with her new sister.
Chloe soon conked out as night started to fall, and Chika tucked her in, and left the nightlight on.
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The next day, Vert and Chika were shocked to see Chloe trying again to have breakfast at the table with them she was still pale and sweating, but she looked less likely to bolt, at least before the meal ended.
The meal was delivered by some servants at the basilicom, and while Chloe flinched when they came close, she managed to stay in her seat throughout the meal, and listened to the details of her nation as Chika and Vert discussed them. They would normally have tried to keep Chloe in the conversation, but they didn't want to scare her off when she finally made it to the meal without passing out.
They politely ignored how she took off like a bat out of hell as soon as she was done eating.
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Chloe looked at the game box she had in her hand, and frowned. Chika had recommended she try it, so that she could try to get used to talking with others, even if it's not face to face.
Setting her face, she booted up her system, and after setting the voice scrambles so nobody could recognize her voice, she put the disk in, and the headphones with mic on her head.
Starting the game "4 Goddesses Online" she created her character.
She had decided on a ninja, one that had the same general figure as she did, but with some alterations, such as blood red hair, gold eyes, and red nail polish, and used the name 'Crimson Night'.
As soon as she logged in and entered the primary town, she was almost run over by another player. A player named Green Heart.
"Apologies," the other player said, and then the player looked closely at her, and then asked, "Are you new?"
Crimson Night nodded, tongue tied as she hadn't expected to see, what was most likely her sister within minutes of starting.
Green Heart smiled, and said, "I'm meeting with some newbies of my guild, to give them some tips, would you like to come along?"
Crimson Night shook her head, as she didn't feel up to meeting a large group.
Green Heart smiled and simply said, "Let us exchange member addresses, so if you have questions, I could answer them for you.
After they did, Crimson Night wandered the town for a bit until she found her first class quest. It was a simple one, kill ten Dogoos, with an optional reward for keeping her damage below a certain point.
On her way out of the town she crossed paths with another new person, named Uni, whom was a thief.
"Heading out?" Uni asked, and upon getting a confirmation smiled and asked, "Want to team up for a bit? I have only an hour or so of playtime today."
Crimson Night thought for a second and nodded shyly, she was choking too much to really speak, but that seemed to be enough for the Thief, and the she offered a party invite, that was quickly accepted.
The two departed, and a half hour in, as they had both finished a few quest, and Uni was chatting about how she admired her sister, and how she wanted to be like her, then turned the conversation towards Crimson Night, and asked, "What about you? How are you with your family."
the game graphics then, in a moment of irony, started to storm in the area they were in, but Crimson Night answered anyway, perhaps talking to somebody not connected with the issue would help. "I feel like I'm causing nothing but problems for my sister, ever since I became her sister I've been too scared to really leave my room, and while she's been patient I know she's getting frustrated."
"Adopted, huh? Don't worry about it, as long as you keep trying, I'm sure you'll be fine, I'm sure she knows of the reasons why you're like that. Just take it slow and steady."
Crimson Night frowned, she hadn't fully confided in her sister on why she was scared, in fact she was scared to, and she told Uni that.
Uni Frowned as she filled another Dogoo up with bullets, and responded, "You need to tell her, and soon. It'll make it easier if she knows the full story, and might be able to help with overcoming the problem."
Crimson night frowned as she used her giant shurikan to bisect a Tulip that was trying to hit Uni from behind.
What Uni said made some sense, but she was still scared, what if her sister abandoned her because she was too weak to be a candidate? She couldn't stop a human from throwing him into a cupboard what if she started calling her a freak because of the incidents he caused? What if...
Her thoughts were interrupted when she got hit from behind, and she heard Uni shout, "Head in the game Crimson!"
Putting the thoughts out of her mind she reengaged the hostile mobs, and finished off the set.
The time for the two to be together was at an end after the battle, because Uni had to leave, and so they exchanged member addresses, and Uni logged out, giving food for thought to the new player of 4 Goddesses Online.
She decided to log off for lunch... and to see weather she could make a second trip to the table.
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She did, and while even more skittish than in the morning, she managed to stay for the entire time.
She noticed the looks of concern the other two females gave her and she decided that she couldn't talk about her life before she was reborn, but she could write it down.
After lunch she asked for some pens and notebooks over the intercom, and after they were delivered, she started writing.
She wrote of her treatment by Harry's aunt and uncle, although she used the name 'Freak' instead of Harry as she didn't know her original name.
She wrote of how she was forced to do chores that only someone more than twice Harry's age when he died should do.
She wrote of the abuse, and constant near starvation.
She wrote how nobody in the neighborhood helped him, weather adults or children, in fact his cousin had a gang that helped to beat him up.
Lastly, she wrote of his death.
With the final part of her last life put down on paper, she closed the notebook, and on the cover she wrote, "My last life."
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After breakfast the next morning, she nervously walked to Vert, and put the notebook on the table, and ran off before she could change her mind.
Vert looked at the notebook and saw the title, and her eyes widened, and she smiled, as it looked like her sister was starting to open up to her. She decided to read it later, in the privacy of her room.
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To get her mind off what she had just did, Chloe logged onto her online game, and was pleasantly surprised that Uni was on, and the two went monster hunting.
Uni approved of Crimson Night's action of writing it all down, and complemented her on her bravery, in how she decided to come clean about her past.
Well it would've been braver if she had told her sister to her face, but to do it at all was a step forward.
After their time was up, Chloe decided to try some other games.
Chika peeked in to the varied cursing of Chloe whom had died for the seventy-second time in Dark Souls.
Chika smiled as it was a step forward to have Chloe having fun and not crying like she had been too often these past days.
She closed the door as Chloe hit death Seventy-three.
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Chapter end.