Chapter 3: Everything again
'When someone asks for a change of life, they don't mean it in a literal way.
...
...
Is it me, or god almighty didn't get the memo?'
To say Kimberly was confused was far behind the truth.
She was perplexed, shocked, about to sue whoever the heck thought her situation might be a funny idea, but 'confused'? Heh, good joke. The word wasn't enough to cover the whole meaning of what was happening to her.
Up 'til today, she can still describe to a T how all of this nonsense began.
Soon after getting out of that dark void, the young woman felt all kind of sensations, familiar ones.
First, it was the sudden change of environment, going from deep darkness to bright, 'briiight' light. And wasn't that painful? Her eyes were soaring because the damn rays won't stop torturing them, and they weren't even open anymore.
Then, came the hideous cold.
As if her apparent blindness wasn't irking enough, she soon found out that yes, it was the North Pole outside. The chilling air was giving her goosebumps, and...was she-?
'What th- Why am I totally naked!?'
Not only that, she was also covered in a moist substance, like oil, making her body all greasy and slippy.
'This is absolutely gross and uncomfortable. That's it! I have t- WOAH!'
Without a single warning, Kimberly was grabbed by her feet and soon found herself upside down. The blood going nonstop straight to her head was proof enough of that.
'WHAT NOW?' - Moving was useless, her body wasn't responding to anything she did. When one limb was raised just a few centimeters, it went wherever the heck it wanted to. She felt like a person who tries to run before having learned to walk first. For someone who's always been able to handle all kind of situations, this was both annoying and scary, not likeable at all.
Completely trapped with the sensation of being a puppet without its master, the girl didn't pay attention to what was coming next-
Something, or rather someone, spanking her...really hard.
'SON OF A BITCH!' - was the desired sentence, but a high-pitched scream came out instead.
At this, she stopped. That wasn't normal; some analysis had to be done. The loud crying that appeared after her response, however, wasn't helping at all.
Kimberly was crying like she hadn't done in years, tears running like waterfalls through her cheeks and constant sobs filling her throat. A spank wasn't reason enough for that, she wasn't that fragile, but it looked like her actions weren't controllable anymore.
"Omedetou-gosaimasu Moniku-san, onna no ko desu!" ("Congratulations Monique-san, it's a girl!")
The abrupt, strange combination of…words? that came from who appeared to be a woman made her open one eye again. The total brightness was being a pain in the backside, but the girl forced herself to look. She'd sooner or later need to study her surroundings, to see 'where' was 'there', and facing light was step one for that.
Things from above three meters away were a blurry mess, only some forms and colors like white, light-blue and yellow could be distinguished. Her recently found out short-sight only served to show who was apparently holding her-
…
A giant lady wasn't in her expectations...definitely not.
…
"Onegai misete" ("Please, show me") - Another voice rose before the girl could freak out again, this one more delicate and weak, really tired - "Kanojo ni aitai" ("I want to see her")
The pleading tone was there, between the panting pauses. Kimberly didn't know what the new individual wanted, but the way she was talking meant a reward after a great amount of work.
The one holding her started to walk in the voice's direction, pure excitement radiating from her young face. Kim just tried to take a closer look to the being above her.
'She seems my age. Wait...is that-?' - Near her holder's chest, on white clothes, rested a rectangular pin, and if she squinted her eyes enough, a name was revealed.
'Dr. Mercury...so I'm in a hospital?'
Another pair of big, warm arms enveloped her dwarfed form, and seconds later, the confused girl found herself hypnotized by the most beautiful aquamarine orbs in existence.
The eyes belonged to another woman, also young, with silky chocolate hair that reached her shoulders. She was all sweaty, exhausted, but didn't seem to care, completely focused on her.
Kimberly got out of her daze when something wet fell on her left cheek, realizing it came from the cause of her fog.
'Tears'
"Sekai de yokouso...watashi no tenshi" ("Welcome to the world, my angel") - A slender hand grabbed hers, in a sweet and motherly way the girl remembered all too well.
'Wait-'
Suddenly, the whole situation started to make a great sense. The incredibly happy lady, her small body, the doctor and the hospital, her short-sighted view, the moist substance, the dark void...her death.
…
'No..That's impossible, that-'
…
"Watashi wa anata no mama dayo, Kurista-chan!" ("I am your mommy Christa-chan!")
Only one word was needed to confirm the inevitable, and she just said it. An awful feeling was starting to rise in her chest, swallowing her entire self.
…
'I'v-I've been...'
…
Kimberly didn't know how, but an inexplicable fatigue took over her completely.
…
She fell asleep before she could curse her luck.
When she woke up again, it was to find a freaking nipple in her mouth. Apparently, she had been experimenting first-hand how breast feeding felt while sleeping.
'I don't even strike that way lady who claims to be my mother!'
And there it was, the cause of all of her stress.
In her previous life, Kimberly never thought about what happened after kicking the bucket, not even once. Not that she had anything against it, but religion wasn't within her priorities. Now Kim thinks she should have paid more attention to the topic. It would have prepared her for the day she found out reincarnation was a thing.
'Twenty two years of life to the trash. If I ever see that fucker again, I'll cut his head off' - she meant it. The daughter of the Liams didn't spent all those years of pure hard work and dedication to end up getting out of a vagina once more.
"Ara, mo owata no?" ("Eh, finished already?") - Her 'not mother' said when her baby form tried to get away from her chest.
'This is so humiliating. I want my old self back!' - If only she hadn't clouded her thoughts while being angered that night, she would now be happily working with her mentor in a new case or joyously bar hopping with her classmates.
'I'm such an idiot''
"EH? Okita no!? ("EH? She is awake!?") - That voice was new, male in fact, also from an adult person.
The woman readjusted her in her arms so she could face the origin of the sound. A giant shadow covered her miniaturized being and eyes looked up.
There was an auburn haired man with the biggest expectant eyes on history lurking above the bed. Their color reminded her of sweet grapes.
But the remarkable aspect of his face was his smile - from ear to ear, a perfect line of white teeth on sight.
'Woah dude, doesn't that hurt? Close your mouth a little, you're being creepy' - This man definitely hadn't dealt with babies before. Not scaring them with pedo like faces was rule number one.
'Not that I'm actually a baby anyways'
A calloused finger reached her hand, making her close it by pure instinct, and purple eyes opened even more, practically sparkling with excitement.
"Te shisai naa. Kawai~" ("Her hand is so small. How cute~") - There it was again, that strange language.
It sounded Asian, of the eastern part, but positively not Chinese, she knows it all too well. That also discarded Taiwanese. The two of them were quite similar; having into consideration the latter was derived from the first one.
'Japanese or Korean maybe?' – it was a strong possibility.
Her holder extended her arms, passing her to the new stranger who awkwardly tried to maintain a position in which both of them were comfortable enough.
He looked really nervous, as if he didn't want to let her fall. Kim wasn't paying attention though, finding herself tired again.
And so her eyelids began to close. Soon after, she went to dreamland once more.
"Oyasumi, Kuri-chan. Papa wa itsumo anata no sobani iru" ("Good night, Chri-chan. Daddy's going to be always by your side")
Time was pretty messed up for her, but she thinks she got out of the hospital a few days later.
Kim thought this was a good thing because that way she could finally know where she landed up in. Then…she remembered things two hands away were literally stains without borders.
The young woman gave up analyzing and just went with the flow, not being able to do anything else.
Her daily routine became pretty monotonous. What could she say? She mostly slept or doze in a crib.
That she could handle, but the constant breast feeding and having herself cleaned every time she did number one or two? Yeah, not her best memory. Now Kim understood why people didn't remember a thing about their baby years.
It was a trauma.
There was also another fun fact concerning that weird smiling guy at the hospital - he turned out to be her new body's 'semen donator'. She found out not only because he lived with her 'not mother', but also due to the several times he held her, repeatedly saying the word 'papa'.
Now, the girl didn't know if the auburn-haired man did it to converse with her or so she could call him by that. If it was the latter, he should give up - Kimberly Liam only had, has, one dad, and his name is Richard Liam, Dick for his fellow soldiers, man with a soul of steel who never retreats. Her hero.
The same can be said about her mom, Xia Yuan, immigrant nurse who caught Dick's heart with pure sense of humor and graciousness. No matter how sweet and kind this brown-haired lady was, Kim couldn't help but think she was betraying her mother if she showed the same kind of affection to her.
It was just not fair.
So she decided to see her caretakers as acquaintances of some sort - never strangers, but never her family either.
Her eyesight was beginning to get better and she couldn't be happier about it.
Thanks to that, the calendar that rested on the wooden table next to the crib was now visible.
'I need to know if it's still 2018. It doesn't matter if I'm not in US anymore, I just have to find how long I was dead to contact my parents somehow and tell them I'm okay'
Isn't it beautiful to have hope despite the situation?
…
Spoiler alert, it doesn't work like that.
…
She really wasn't prepared to see that date...not at all.
'April fifteenth…1484!? WHAT THE HELL?'
That truly didn't make sense. So she wasn't only born again but also time traveled like six centuries to the past!? The joke was getting better and better.
'How is that even po-? Fuck it! I'm done thinking. No matter how you look at it, I may not even be in the same universe. Come on, I saw a shower in the bathroom and a freaking refrigerator! How can you explain that year 1484?'
Kimberly was losing it, but she had all her rights, so for the first time since what felt like forever, she threw a tantrum.
It's been six months since their little Christa got into the world and Franz's vacation period was over. He and his family were at the docks now; in front of a Marine's ship which crew was setting the last conditions to set sail.
He had to be back on duty ASAP due to Fleet Admiral Kong's orders. Something about a pirate's riot in South Blue that needed to be taken care of. His ship was heading to Loguetown first. There Franz would meet with Vice Admiral Tsuru for more information and support.
Having into consideration the troupes that were assigned to the mission were more than capable for such task and that this wasn't his first time in such calm waters, the job was bound to be beyond easy. The problem was, he didn't want to go. Not only because he knew –by first hand unfortunately- that Tsuru was one hell of a crazy woman when mad (no more than Garp though), but also because he was leaving his family again.
"Franz, dear, I'm going to be fine" - Monique said for the third time, although he still wasn't convinced about it - "You've been doing this way before we got married and you know I can take care of myself better than you"
"It's not the same now!" - Purple eyes automatically went down to her arms, where an adorable Christa was looking with her characteristic flat, chubby face.
'Damn it you're so cute~' - Yeah, just because his baby daughter didn't laugh like...well, never…it didn't mean she wasn't daddy's girl. And that was not a 'daddy complex phase' as Monique put so adamantly every time he said it out loud.
It just was an unbiased argument that couldn't be denied…and god helped whoever thought otherwise.
The last statement made his wife smirk - "This young lady in my hands takes after her smart mother, she'll know how to stay out of trouble" - the smug expression kept showing, meaning only one thing for the Lieutenant - he was about to get bullied.
"Besides, look at her face. She must know you're being a crybaby. Is that the impression you wish to cause in our daughter?" - While saying this, Monique held the innocent spectator in front of his face.
Franz guffawed at that, he wasn't going to fall for Monique's antics.
"That's not true, I'm just worried for the both of you and she knows it" - The one smirking now was him - "Isn't that right~? Chri-cha... Eh?"
Christa wasn't even looking at him, her head to the left instead. If he didn't know better, he'd think she was ignoring the whole situation.
Was…was his little angel thinking he couldn't do it!?
"AHH! CHRI-CHAN, THAT'S NOT TRUE, DADDY'S NOT A CRYBABY. I'LL PROVE IT! I'LL KICK THOSE PIRATES TO NEXT WEDNESDAY!" - waterfalls of tears were going down his eyes in a dramatic way, proving exactly the opposite.
Suddenly, Monique placed a kiss on his cheek, and that was all he needed to freeze there, face totally confused by the action.
Franz looked at his beloved. She was smiling in the same, beautiful way that reminded him why he fell in love with her in the first place. This time, however, she was caring their offspring, making everything else disappear, just them in sight, his invaluable treasures.
"Take care ok? We'll be waiting for you"
After a short pause, his common wide smile was back on place, eyes closed, shoulders relaxed and his figure radiating pure joyousness.
"Yeah! ´til next time!"
And he got on the ship.
'A whole new world, is waiting for her'
Voila! Now we have a reincarnated soul in denial. How will that turn out I wonder…Heh, heh, you'll have to wait.
Majopi out!