BM - Chapter 13 - To: Me
Ina'nis stood in front of two terrified girls. Both were on the opposite ends of the fight or flight spectrum. Gura looked ready to try and tear her throat out, while Ina looked like she was going to climb over the couch at any second.
Slowly, with one hand extended out in front of her, Ina'nis lowered herself to the ground. She put her legs underneath her and bowed forward, putting her forehead against the soft rug on the floor.
"I absolutely promise you that I was in no way responsible for Amelia's parent's deaths. I want to help the best that I can and in order to do that, you must know what I am," she stated as firmly as she could. There was a tiny shake in her voice, though. After what felt like several minutes, she raised her head just enough to see the other two's reactions.
Gura sat cross legged on the couch, staring at her with cold eyes. It was that all too familiar look of betrayal that Ina'nis had been trying to avoid. Why hadn't she known this would happen.
Behind Gura's outstretched arm, Ina no longer looked completely terrified, only nervous. Ina lowered Gura's arm, much to her girlfriend's frustration. With a light nod from Ina, Gura fully retracted her protective shield.
"Do you know anything about what happened? Why were Amelia's parents killed? How was her watch broken?" Ina tried her best to maintain eye contact. It was difficult, but she could manage. She was strong.
"I wish I could tell you most of that," Ina'nis said sadly, lifting herself to a seated position. "Unfortunately, I can only really tell you how her watch was broken." Gura's stare was driven into her skull even harder.
"Then start talking," she commanded. Ina rubbed Gura's leg, trying to calm her down. It did very little to help.
"Corruption is the basis of every ability I have. When Amelia was attacked, her mom had been holding the time watch when she was hit. This caused the Droplet at the center to become corrupted and act differently," Ina'nis explained carefully. She worried that any screw up on her end would cause this conversation to terminate early, along with any chance she had of helping.
"Is that similar to what is happening with Johnny?" Ina asked, a slight inkling of hope on her words. If it was true, then they could do whatever Ina'nis and Amelia had done to fix the time watch to help him.
"It probably is, but I can't help right-"
"BULLSHIT!" Gura screamed at the Priestess on the floor. She stood up and took very loud and angry stomps over to her. Ina grabbed her by the wrist to stop her from fully approaching, much to Ina'nis' gratitude.
"Gura, just let her speak. She hasn't been malicious before, so I'm sure she has her reasons." Ina'nis nodded her head rapidly to indicate she did. Gura stopped trying to get close to her, but didn't back up. She instead just crossed her arms and stared down at her.
"What we did to fix Amelia's time watch was use something very, very rare and powerful to purify it. We don't have any more right now, but I think I know where I can get some when I get back." Ina'nis thought back to the dozens of stone soldiers that she had fought down in Atlantis. They had all been powered by Pure Flow, so maybe she could harvest enough to help Johnny.
"Where would that be?" Gura asked, tapping her foot on the ground impatiently.
"The bottom of the ocean in an abandoned and destroyed city." Ina'nis let Gura fill in the gap.
"Atlantis?" she asked. Ina'nis nodded. Ina shook her head out of confusion.
"W-Wait, you need to go to a city only shrouded in myths to retrieve some magical thing to help Johnny?" she attempted to clarify the story.
"She's telling the truth about Atlantis," Gura confirmed Ina'nis' statement. "I'll tell you about all that later," she said after getting a funny look from her girlfriend.
"Honestly, you guys are taking this way better than Amelia did," Ina'nis said, slowly beginning to rise from the ground. Gura watched her carefully, but didn't back away.
"She watched her parent's get murdered by one of your kind, so-"
"That was not one of my kind!" Ina'nis yelled a little louder than she meant to. Gura jumped slightly and Ina sank back into the couch. "S-sorry…"
"You said that you were still human, right?" Gura asked once her heart rate stabilized. Ina nodded timidly.
"I-I am," she said, lacking the conviction she had before her small outburst. Gura's eyes lightened and a small smile pushed its way onto her face.
"After everything we've talked about, I think you're just as much of a dork as the rest of your friends." Ina lifted herself from the couch and joined the other two standing in the middle of the living room. They all shared a smile, accepting the ridiculous situation they were all in.
"Th-thanks you guys…" Ina'nis said, trying her best to keep the tears in her eyes. She only partially succeeded, with a mere two drops escaping down her cheek.
"Now that we know the what, how about the why? Why are you really here Ina?" Ina asked the Priestess after another few seconds of silence.
"I am-" Ina'nis started, but a memory slashed through her thoughts. She felt like her body had been ripped away, along with her entire reality.
'Why are you here?' a voice from behind her said. This time, when Ina'nis turned someone was standing there. She didn't recognize her at first, but slowly the information returned to her. This was a memory of…
'S-sorry mom…' the smaller Ina'nis said. Her mom was a beautiful, tall woman. She shared her purple hair, but the style was different. It was more curly and wild than Ina'nis' straight, flowing hair.
'It's ok, just don't go searching through our drawers. You know that you could accidentally change them, right?' her mom said with her kind voice. It made Ina'nis feel guilty, but also that she wasn't in trouble.
'I know…' Ina'nis finally started to see her surroundings. It wasn't like she wasn't looking for them before, it was just that nothing besides herself and her mom existed. They were in a purple void.
However, now a dresser materialized. Ina'nis had her hands buried deep in one of the drawers apparently searching for something.
Ina'nis was suddenly back in the real world. She realized that her hands were now clutching the edge of the couch, as she had collapsed forwards into it. Both Ina and Gura knelt down next to her, asking her what was going on and if she was ok.
"I-I'm fine," Ina'nis stated before shakily getting back onto her feet. Gura and Ina helped keep her upright. The pain in her head was pounding in deep waves, pulsing deep within her skull. Thankfully that it began receding, so she was able to think straight after a few moments. The residual pain remained for longer, though.
"What was that?"
"Yeah, you just suddenly collapsed when you started talking."
Both Gura and Ina continued to ask questions. Ina'nis gave her head one last shake to clear it properly.
"A memory came back to me and a very vivid one, too. That is the reason I'm here. Spending time around Ina seems to allow my memories to come back," she explained. Gura looked at her with confusion.
"So you have some kind of amnesia?" Ina probed.
"Kind of, the truth is that I don't really know why my memories are locked up. My patron, AO-chan, has had a fair number of memories wiped as well. We both think it is due to some weird property I have, probably the same one that allows me to keep my sanity." Gura's confusion turned to understanding.
"So you came back here by accident when you tried to see your past," Gura put the pieces together. Ina'nis nodded.
"Exactly, but I can still unlock memories by interacting with you," she gestured to Ina, "So I would like to continue to talk and hang out to see what else I can dig up." Ina'nis smiled awkwardly. Gura looked proud of herself for getting it right.
"That's totally fine, but I do have a favor to ask," Ina said, biting her lip from nervousness.
"Sure, anything," Ina'nis replied simply.
"Can you go and see Johnny. I really want to see if you can help at all right now," Ina asked, tapping the tips of her fingers together. Gura gave a quick, worried glance.
"I guess I could, but I really doubt that I can do anything," Ina'nis said, trying to lower her other self's expectations.
"If anything, can you make him show any signs of life?" Gura asked this time. Ina'nis looked at her, confused by the question. Gura sighed, "The hospital has been trying to take him off life support for a while. He still needs an IV to get fed, so we wouldn't be able to house him here properly. The bills have also been racking up and Ina's parents might not pay them for much longer." Ina'nis nodded along, slowing understanding.
"I can try to make that happen, but it could be dangerous. I'll give him a good look over and see what I can do to help. But still, don't expect too much from me please."
"Alright, let's go then," Ina said, moving towards the door. "I'm driving." She dangled the keys in front of her. Gura pouted.
"What if I want to drive?" she asked, not really meaning it. Ina giggled.
"When you can keep yourself in the right lane, maybe," she responded. Gura started mouthing off to her girlfriend about how rude she was being. Ina'nis slowly put her baggy clothes back on.
If she was being realistic with herself, she had been expecting to be locked away for a while. But these two girls were unbelievably accepting of her. It shouldn't have been possible, but here they were about to go out and see if she could help them.
Help them… Ina'nis began to walk out the door while she turned that thought around in her head. They had even trusted her to help them, with Amelia's comatose brother nonetheless. She was hesitant to say she could make a difference, but she was going to try her best.
'I know you want to be helpful, but we've got it, honey.' Ina felt her whole world shift back to one of memories. Around her, an old kitchen appeared. She was noticeably shorter, with her mom having to crouch down to talk to her properly.
This was from her early childhood. Ina'nis felt the number seven float around in her head.
'I just want to help you guys…' Ina'nis said quietly, her voice much higher pitched than it had been before. In her hands was a bowl of water, most of which was on the ground. She had been trying to fill up her cat's water bowl.
Wait, she had cats in her childhood?!
Ina'nis was flung back into her real body and almost tripped over her own feet. Gura and Ina turned to see what had just happened.
"Another memory," Ina'nis said simply. The other girls shrugged to each other, assuming that Ina'nis was ok and continued to walk down to the car. Besides the fairly decent headache, she was.
Ina's car was parked on the side of the road. She had been planning on taking it out again to get some food, so it wasn't in its normal parking space. The three of them got in and Ina started it up.
"What are these memories about?" Gura turned from the passenger's seat to look back at Ina'nis. The Priestess struggled with the seatbelt for a moment before figuring it out.
"I'm living with my mom and I'm trying to help them. I haven't seen enough to put together a timeline of the events, but the most recent one was when I was seven," Ina'nis explained as the car started up. Gura turned back to face forwards.
"I hope you see everything soon," Ina said kindly. She turned to look out the rear window.
"I hope so, too…" Ina'nis said quietly in the back seat.
The car ride was quiet until they pulled up in front of the hospital. There weren't that many cars around since it was getting later in the day. Ina put the car in park and they all got out.
"You're going to be my sister who is visiting from South Korea. Your name is Ane'nis," Ina told the Priestess. Ina'nis nodded and they headed inside.
They were quickly given admittance to visit, but they were told that nothing had changed. The worker sounded almost frustrated by the lack of events surrounding Johnny.
"He's been stuck like this for three years and seemingly just showed up. There are no records of his family either, since Amelia and her parents were wiped away. It has been rough to keep him here," Ina explained as they walked over to his room. Ina'nis listened intently, trying to find any way of possibly helping.
They all walked in and saw Johnny, still in a coma, laid on a bed facing the ceiling. Next to him, an IV drip gave him water and nutrients to keep him alive. Every few days, the hospital staff would change his clothes and move him to prevent bed sores from developing.
The only other feature of notice was the deep purple that ran under his skin. It looked like his veins weren't pumping blood, but instead some kind of corrupted liquid.
"The doctor's still can't figure out what that stuff is. It just looks like blood, but with the red switched for purple. Nothing really of note, so they haven't been poking him with needles as much as they used to," Gura said, staring sadly at Johnny's unconscious form. Ina took deep breaths, trying her best to maintain her composure. Because of Ina'nis' presence, everything felt so much more real than it had in a long time.
"Let me see how deep this goes," Ina'nis said, referring to the corruption circulating through his body. She understood that magic would be hard to detect, but to never show up at all… "Johnny was just hit by a spell right?" Ina and Gura both nodded.
"They attacked him and hit him with lightning!" Gura exclaimed louder than she needed to.
"This seems more deliberate than just a random attack," Ina'nis thought out loud, "There would be residual corruption, but not to this extent. He should've woken up by now or the doctors should've seen something out of the ordinary." Ina'nis rested a hand on Johnny's arm.
"Are you saying that the Priestess put him in a coma on purpose?" Ina asked. Ina'nis turned to them, sighing deeply.
"I can't say for certain, but it sure seems that way. All of this is too perfect to just be an accident."
"Is there anything that you can do?!" Gura was once again a little too loud. Ina'nis shook her head.
"He is out cold, I would need to go back-" Ina'nis stopped talking once she saw the other two girls's stares move to behind her. Their eyes slowly went wide and Ina'nis turned to see what exactly they were staring at.
All three girls watched as Johnny sat up from the bed. He turned and looked at them, opening his eyes.
But they were a deep purple, just like the veins that ran along his body.
"Only the Priestess," he said cryptically. Ina and Gura's initial excitement over Johnny's awakening faded quickly. They both knew that this wasn't Johnny, but some corrupted version of him talking.
"Why?" Gura asked defiantly. Ina'nis' eyes darted between the three other people in the room, assessing the situation the best she could. She'd heard of Johnny doing this from Amelia's story, but what did he want with only her?
"Only the Priestess," Johnny repeated himself. This time, all three girls noticed how his mouth moved unnaturally compared to his voice. It was like he wasn't sure how to emulate speaking. It creeped them all out.
"Let's go." Ina pulled on Gura's clothing slightly. "If we want any information on how to help, let them talk it out." Gura gave one last look at the corrupted Johnny before leaving with Ina. Only the Priestess and Johnny remained in the room now.
"What do you want from me?" Ina'nis asked when the silence continued. Johnny stared for a few more seconds in silence.
"Inside the apartment there is something you will need. Find it and take it," he said at long last. But that message only raised more questions for Ina'nis.
"Huh? What are you talking about? What thing do I need? Where is it in the apartment?" she asked all at once. Johnny didn't move a millimeter.
"Good luck, Priestess Ninomae Ina'nis," he stated before laying back down on the bed and closing his eyes. Ina'nis opened her mouth to continue questioning him, but it didn't matter. The message had been delivered, so he had gone back to sleep.
"You guys can come back in," she said to the other girls who were most certainly eavesdropping. The door to the room flew open and Gura and Ina re-entered.
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Gura was obviously pissed about the complete lack of answers given.
"What thing was he talking about? I don't remember any weird object that you might need, Ina." Ina dug deeper into the words that Johnny had said. She knew it meant something, but didn't know exactly what just yet. They would figure it out soon, though.
The group of girls left the hospital and drove back to Ina's apartment. They had been planning to grab some food, but they now had a new objective given to them by Johnny.
As soon as they got through the door, everyone started looking through everything. Drawers, cabinets, closets, under beds, beneath furniture, and even inside vents. But they found nothing.
It was frustrating, being given information that seemed to hold no value. However, it was from Johnny, a source that wouldn't just lie to them, right? They all collapsed onto the couch, exhausted from moving things around so much.
"Damn it! What could he possibly have been talking about?" Gura seethed, throwing her hands in the air out of frustration. Ina and Ina'nis both sighed.
"If it were magical in anyway, I would've picked up on it by now," Ina'nis stated.
"What time is it?" Ina asked even though her phone was already in her hand. She had been using it as a flashlight before. With a quick glance, she saw it was nearly time for dinner. "Let's take a break to eat dinner. I'll go cook something," she said, getting up from the couch and walking into the kitchen. Gura and Ina'nis remained.
"Thanks for trusting me," Ina'nis said to her. Gura sighed.
"Don't worry about it. You're just too cute not to trust." Ina'nis suddenly felt her face becoming very hot.
"W-w-w-what are you talking about?" Ina'nis pulled herself far away from Gura, who just looked at her with a shit-eating grin.
"I mean, you look almost exactly like my girlfriend! Oh what I wouldn't give to have two Ina's," Gura gave the Priestess the most suspicious look she'd ever seen. Ina'nis tried her best to avoid eye contact.
"Don't tease her too badly, Gura," Ina said, getting out several bowls. She had decided to make ramen. Not that one dollar crap, though, she was going to make some premium ramen.
"Awww come on Ina, you should've seen her face!" Gura whined back. Ina'nis felt her heartbeat slowly calm down in her chest.
"Why would you say something like that…?" she said, putting a hand on her chest to calm herself down further.
"I mean, I didn't say anything that wasn't true." Gura shrugged, not helping Ina'nis' effort to calm down.
'You are so cute in that dress!' a new voice said to Ina'nis. She wasn't even that surprised to get dragged into a new memory so suddenly. Although, it wasn't great timing.
'Yeah, I guess,' Ina'nis responded, twirling around to see herself from different angles. Ina'nis saw her past self for the first time.
She was older now, around fourteen years old. This also wasn't the same house or the same mother. She was somewhere completely different.
She turned to the woman, her godmother, and looked at her for final approval. Ina'nis tried to see just who the woman was, but couldn't make out her face. It wasn't like she couldn't see it or it was hidden in some way.
Her godmother's face was simply in a haze, just beyond her focus. This both worried her and piqued her curiosity. Just who was the woman?
Ina'nis found Gura's hand waving in front of her. A slight headache gripped her, but it was manageable. They seemed to be getting less severe.
"Hey, Earth to Inaaa. What's going onnn?" she asked, attempting to get Ina'nis' attention. The Priestess blinked rapidly and refocused on the real world.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm back," Ina'nis pushed Gura's had away from her.
"Another memory?"
"Yeah, I was older and had a godmother this time," Ina'nis recalled what she had just seen. The timing of the events still didn't make sense, but at least she was seeing more.
"Come on over and we can talk about it," Ina said from the small dining table. Ina'nis and Gura both got up off the couch and sat down. In front of all three of them, were bowls of ramen cooked to perfection.
"I told you Ina was a better cook than me!" Gura said before immediately digging into her meal. Ina sighed, expecting this behavior.
"How long was I out?" Ina'nis asked, looking at the cooked meal in front of her.
"A lot longer this time, like twenty minutes," Ina answered, taking modest bites of the ramen.
"Really?" Ina'nis was very surprised to hear that, "I was only in the memory for a minute at most…" It didn't make much sense to her. Maybe she had spent too long staring at her godmother's face? Hopefully she wouldn't zone out that long when it mattered.
"Huh, weird," Gura seemed to care a lot more about eating than talking at the moment. Ina rolled her eyes.
"So, you have a godmother. That's pretty cool!" Ina sounded happy to hear about Ina'nis' memories.
"It is, but I don't know how I got there. My actual parents weren't around, so I think it was only her. I was also in a completely different house," Ina'nis provided details on her most recent memory.
"Even weirder," Gura continued to provide colorful commentary with a mouthful of noodles. Ina kicked her under the table.
"It'll all come to you soon enough." Ina'nis was about to respond when her mind was pulled away yet again. The memories were becoming a lot more frequent.
'You'll get the hang of it soon enough, Ina,' her dad said to her. Ina'nis was younger than the last time and back in her old house. She was holding a cup in her hand. Well, it was probably once a cup. Now it was a pile of sludge, dripping through her fingers onto the floor.
She was experimenting with corruption magic.
But that shouldn't be possible. She wasn't a Priestess at this point.
Unless she could always use corruption magic.
Ina'nis was pulled back into reality and saw Gura and Ina staring at her.
"How long?" she asked simply, easing the pain in her skull. She pulled a bundle of noodles into her mouth, feeling that they were still warm.
"Only a few seconds, but you made a really weird face," Gura said.
"Yeah, it was like you realized something big," Ina added.
"In that one, I was using magic without AO-chan. It shouldn't be possible, but I watched myself use it." Ina and Gura both looked at each other.
"Can you show us?" Gura asked innocently. Ina'nis recoiled slightly.
"Huh? Y-You want me to show you magic?" It was the first time anyone asked her to do something like that and it wasn't a test. Normally, people were deathly afraid of something called 'corruption magic'.
"Yeah."
"Sure."
Both girls made it obvious that they did want to see it. With a light sigh, Ina picked up a ramen noodle from her bowl and transfigured it.
The noodle twisted into a bow tie, glowing slightly purple in the process. Both girls across from her stared in awe at the display.
"That's so cool!" Gura cheered.
"Besides the fact that what you just did goes against everything I've been learning, that was pretty cool," Ina cheered in her own way.
It amazed Ina'nis that two people could be so kind and accepting of her. Just hearing them compliment what so many people before had been scared of was enough to bring tears to her eyes.
"H-How can you guys tolerate me like this?" Tears of joy slowly rolled down her cheeks. Gura and Ina were both reminded of how Amelia used to cry when she was happy.
"When we were talking after you woke up, I just wanted to keep listening," Gura explained, "Everything you were saying just sounded so genuine. You care about every girl in that group, including Ame. There's no way that you can be the same thing that hurt Amelia in the past. You are so nice and kind and cute that you might as well be a copy of my Ina, just with some pretty cool magic!"
"I agree with Gura. You don't strike me as a bad person. You want to help and make a difference in the world with this power you were given. Sure, you might accidentally find yourself in another timeline using a watch you should have, but you still had the best intentions. And now that you are here, you are trying to help us out with Johnny!" Ina got in on the praise parade. Ina'nis choked back her tears to say something.
"Y-you guys are crazy…" she said between sobs. Ina and Gura got up from their seats and knelt down next to the Priestess. They embraced her in a hug that none of them wanted to leave.
Slowly, though, they broke apart and smiled at one another. Ina'nis stopped the tears fully and looked up at them.
"I-I just don't know what to say, I'm-"
'Priestess.' Ina'nis felt an overwhelming sense of danger enveloping her. Cutting her sentence short, she leapt out of her seat and tackled both Gura and Ina to the floor in one swift motion.
Not even a moment later, something came crashing into the apartment. It exploded through a wall and slammed into the table they had just been sitting at. It then skidded along the floor, barely missing the three girls until it stopped by hitting the wall.
When it slowly rose off the floor, everyone immediately recognized what it was.
"Holy shit!" Gura screamed.
"Why is it here…" Ina was in disbelief.
"What do you want?" Ina'nis put her hands out in front of her, preparing to attack.
A Priest of the Ancient Ones looked at them with cold, purple eyes. Several small tentacles retracted into the purple mist behind them. They were covered in hundreds of cuts and were missing their left arm entirely.
"We… need… help…" they said slowly, clearing being affected by their injuries. Gura and Ina crept behind Ina'nis, who rose to her feet. "Give… us… her…" They pointed at Ina.
"No way in hell are you getting your dirty tentacles on her!" Gura screamed back.
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Ina'nis hand became encircled with purple light as she prepared to attack. This Priest was clearly not like her, having lost his sanity to the Ancient Ones. They were now a completely different being than they were before.
At least, that's what Ina'nis kept telling herself as the spell charged. It was the only justification that she could use to attack them. She couldn't look at them like a person and be willing to hurt them.
"You… are… protecting… them…?" they asked Ina'nis, lowering their hand and tilting their head.
"You won't be corrupting her!" Ina'nis screamed back.
She wasn't going to let herself end up a Priestess in this timeline, too. Damn the temporal consequences!
Author's Note: The big fight is here! I tried my best to keep it a surprise, so hopefully it is one.
There are a few other things here besides the upcoming fight. The big one is what Johnny was talking about. Somewhere in Ina's apartment, there is something that Ina'nis is going to need. I wonder what it could be...
The other major development is Ina'nis' memories. She has gotten to see both her parents and godmother, at least everything besides her face. There is a lot more to get into, but I'll leave that for the next chapter.
Speaking of the next chapter, I know this was released a little early and I'm hoping that I can get the next chapter out by Saturday. However, I'm just going release the chapter as soon as I have it finished. This may be tomorrow or in two weeks. It is big and requires a lot of editing, so I would expect the later. My recent irl schedule has been a mess, so I'm just trying to finish this arc without worrying about scheduling. These problems shouldn't affect quality, but let me know if I missed something in editing.
Next Chapter: Who I was before
Any feedback/criticism is appreciated!