Looking into a Mirror

She could not remember anything before or after the darkness took her.

She could remember her name, her home, and her mission, but she found herself confused as to what happened. Why it was so dark and absent and why now she had started to gain conscious thought.

It was baffling. She had not experienced such a sensation before in her life.

Except for…

The first sip when her life had violently changed into a world that was doomed to die in the future. Along with it the responsibility that tore down the once idealistic girl she was into the woman she hardened into in the present.

The sensation of movement was returned to her in what she assumed to be an excess of seconds. She slowly opened her eyes; they were adjusting still as the image was still blurry before it could clear further so she could see the stars.

The heavens looked beautiful as the many times she flew with her own 'wings'.

Yet, even as she stared at them, they looked… off in some way. Like a painting made by someone like Van Gogh in his approximation of artistic license over the heavens. Her body, stiff as it once was due to the loss of consciousness, had gradually returned to her bit by bit until she noticed something peculiar once more.

Something… profound.

She could feel everything again. The sensation of grass. The ground, the wind blowing into her face and skin. The feeling of cloth being set into her body, and the temperature of the night as a feeble chill rose up her spine like a tickle.

Then, she reached out to her eye.

She nearly audibly screamed in shock and elation. Her shaking fingers reached her eyelid as disbelief wrenched her entire emotions.

It was real. It was no prosthetic. It was no artificial object being placed into her face to enact a sense of normality for her actual, civilian identity. She touched that part of her face again, still in shock as she also felt that there no longer existed a scar. No longer did that horrid reminder of one of her greatest failures remain on her face.

She mouthed "how" towards nothing as she continued to stare into the stars.

So many questions wracked her head. So many feelings that stayed buried in many years of pure callousness now unearthed on the surface. One other thing that she did not notice at first was the absence of numbness. The absence of the analytical haze or the 'apathy of cold-hard logic' brought about by her passenger that existed in her head was no longer there.

The once dulled feelings that she neglected and accepted over the years returned almost in full force. Guilt, remorse, and even loss were now more pronounced and effective.

It left Rebecca feeling vulnerable. Much more vulnerable than ever before in her life.

It reminded her of her time in the ward. A time when she was living on borrowed time.

A time when she was still a girl who knew that one day, she would no longer see the sunset as her eyes would close forever.

The worst part was… she was unsure if her powers were still there.

Or, if they existed at all anymore.

"SHE'S AWAKE!" a small voice screamed in glee. Rebecca sat up, holding a sheet to her nude and exposed form that covered her completely. She then saw that she was in a forest right next to a campfire along with a singular, rather big enough tent.

…and the owner of the voice was a diminutive, little girl(?) that ran around in excitement at her awakening. She was calling out towards a name as she opened the tent partially with her small frame, barely a few feet in height.

She started to question where she was as her brain tried to rack up possible candidates. Yet the entire thing was halted almost immediately when she saw the strange sight of this girl being the way she was.

"We thought you were a goner! You don't know how hard it was for her to worry whether you would wake up or not!" she said with a bit of an accusatory tone in her voice as she pointed at her, yet her expression turned back to glee as she ran to her and jumped in joy.

"You looked pretty bad the moment you just fell from the sky but with her help and mine I think we did quite a good job," she added as she grinned at her.

Rebecca was about to reply when another voice came in.

"Totorot please don't overwhelm our guest. I think she needs time to adjust to her surroundings." The voice was very calm, collected, and dare Rebbeca say, kind.

Or at least kind in a practiced sense, one that she knew all too well.

"You always complain about me getting too angry with any faerie we meet, and you choose now to tell me to stop being happy for them?" the little girl snarked back but the new voice, no, the new individual seemingly smiled it off.

She was a young girl. At least in appearance.

She wore a simple mostly blue-colored formal dress of a certain function that brokered a sense of royalty or at least a subtle case of inspiration to monarchy in the European continent. Even the beret or the hat she wore as well as the bow on her chest seemed to be of a particular style that most or at least some heroes would use for their costumes.

"Greetings. I hope you feel better after everything. We… did the best we can with what I had and knew but your situation was so bizarre that I had to rethink and focus my efforts to fix even a fraction of your body's stature to a form of normality." She said as she took off her beret and settled her staff to the side of her tent. She then walked towards her by a few steps as if looking at a specimen.

"Do understand, your entire body is a peculiarity that I find interesting… and curious." The girl added that made Rebecca frown, but the girl noticed it and blushed away in embarrassment. "I apologize, I did not mean to be intrusive, but unfortunately when introduced to new things, things that even I would not imagine possible, it does certainly open up the scholar within me. I hope I did not offend you in any sort of way because we truly did our best to heal you within the confines of our limitations."

Rebecca blinked at her words, not expecting how the girl talked in such a precise, almost mature way despite her appearance and speculated age. "No… it's fine, just strange is all. I'm used to being examined but I just did not expect the things that you said to me."

Especially the implications of what she had told her, Rebecca thought.

"Really? So, you do not understand the peculiarity of your body?"

"Who's being overwhelming now?" the little girl snarked with a huff as the one Rebecca was facing merely giggled to it.

"Forgive Totorot, it's not every day that we meet some very unique individuals. Especially from a human of all things." She said as Rebecca once again blinked. "However, I do think she's right. You're tired, we're tired and I believe we can shelve some important discussions come the break of dawn. Will you be alright to wait until then?"

Rebecca nodded.

"Wonderful! I can't actually wait for us to talk because you're probably the most novel individual I have met in such a long time. Too long in fact." The last sentence was more or less a whisper, but Rebecca heard it. "But first! You need clothes. Being in the nude is simply won't do and now that you're awake I'm sure my sewing skills are good enough to give you something functional." She then walked to her tent and stopped to look back at her. "You're not picky with clothes, correct?"

"No. Anything will do." She said neutrally as the smaller girl grumpily huffed saying something about sewing being hard and impossible.

"I'll be right back, and oh…" the girl said before stopping once more and smiling back at her.

"I forgot to ask you your name."

AN: A little itty concept idea. This is pretty vague in terms of where the divergence is, so it could be open ended for any such fic to start if the idea was sound in the first place hahahahha. Anyhow, this is just a what if, I'm not sure if I would use this idea because its far removed from the fic, but who knows, I might consider it someday…

Or if anyone of you can write or take inspiration from this, then I will give you my full permission! Go on ahead and use it as a basis or something to make a new story and I will be sure to be there to read and see it.

P.S. New chapter should be up next week and I'm already working on it as of posting this. Good day to you all and I hope this little idea intrigued enough.