From the inky darkness, I opened my eyes to bright, blinding sunlight. My body ached like no tomorrow, feeling a lot like lead. Memories, fuzzy but known, flash in my mind. An argument, my head hitting linoleum and then black.
I forced my hand to my head. It was a little sore, but nothing too bad, so I forced myself to sit up. Grassy, green fields met my view. There were broken bridges and animals as well. Glancing to either side of me, I notice nothing out of the ordinary except for the fact this wasn't the kitchen. This wasn't where I'd been before. I forced myself to stand, staggering just slightly and putting my hand to my head as I fought off a wave of dizziness and nausea.
There had to be a place nearby, right? Somewhere where I could go. As if my question were to be automatically answered, a boy no older than fifteen came into my view. We were… the same height, which was odd. I thought I had been taller.. Regardless, I waved as best as I was able to hopefully catch his attention. It seemed to do the trick, as he stopped before heading my way instead. There was concern on his face the moment he reached me.
"Hey, are you-"
My body failed me in that moment, causing me to fall forward onto him like some cliche. I could feel him grab my arms to try to catch me easier, but not much else. Inky black took over my sight as my consciousness slipped away from me.
"If you hadn't of gotten her here sooner, I don't think she would've lasted." Popola said.
The strange girl was laying on the couch in Popola's office, resting. She had multiple wounds and a concussion, which were unexplained. Nier frowned, wondering what could've done such damage to someone so frail. Fragile, like Yonah.
"You did good, Nier. Sorry for sending you out so soon after you returned, but I need a few more medicinal herbs for her medicine. Would you go buy some for me?" Sliding some gold across her desk to the young boy was all she needed to do. Hearing his exclamation on how it was too much, Popola would then tell him to buy some for Yonah too with the leftover money. Leaving the library, the boy wondered to himself how he would tell Yonah about the girl.
Popola waited for him to leave before getting up and walking over to the girl, kneeling down to put a hand on her head. "You aren't one of the Replicants… You shouldn't be here, but you are. I wonder what kind of wrench you'll throw into the works."
When I finally regained consciousness, the inky black being replaced by the soft light, I was staring at a ceiling. Groaning, I sat up and glanced around. An.. office? It looked slightly familiar, but I couldn't remember much for the life of me. At least, not right now. The grassy plains had looked familiar, too, but whatever I hit my head on must've messed with my memories.
"You're awake!" The boy from before is there, herbs in hand. Herbs? "Popola, look!"
"It seems she recovered a lot quicker than expected. Though be easy with her, Nier. She may not remember much due to the severe concussion she had, so not too many questions." The woman at the desk, Popola, said. She smiled at me, but I noticed her smile didn't reach her eyes. Was she not happy with me?
"Do you remember your name?" Nier asked. I had to think. A name? What… Did I have one?
I sifted through my mind, thinking of what my name was. Only one name came to mind. With it came a vision of a girl with long, pink hair and a rifle. "...I think my name is… Shionne?"
"Shionne… It's nice to meet you!"
Shionne didn't feel like it was actually my name, but I could live with that name until I figured out what my actual name was. I nodded to Nier, before looking to Popola. "I'm sorry to intrude. I… don't remember much of who I really am or where I'm from. Would it be okay to live in this area for a while?"
She seemed caught off-guard by that. Taking advantage of it, Nier turned to Popola. "Shionne can stay with Yonah and me. I know Yonah would enjoy the company. Plus, once Shionne's better, I can help her learn how to hunt and she can take jobs with me!" He exclaimed, excitement apparent in his voice. Popola seemed taken aback by that, but she laughed a little and nodded.
"I don't see why not. Make sure to introduce her properly to Yonah, too."
Nier nodded. I shakily got to my feet before following Nier out of the office and into… a massive library? I paused, pulling one of the books off the shelf near me and opening it. The words weren't recognizable, but I felt like I could read them regardless. Putting the book back, I hurried to catch up to Nier and followed him to his house. What then happened was that I was introduced to Yonah, his little sister who was bedridden and sickly, and she was so happy to have an "older sister" that neither Nier nor I could tell her otherwise.
For about a couple weeks, I helped around the house with cooking and cleaning as well as taking care of Yonah while Nier was away. When I was finally given a clean bill of health by Devola, who stopped by to drop off some books for Yonah, Nier decided it was time for me to learn how to hunt. One of the guards loaned me a spare sword until I could buy my own, which I was grateful for, and we were off. Nier was a good teacher, showing me how to hunt down the sheep and goats and skin them for their wool while carving off the meat to take back to the village. It took me a bit to get it right, but I did my best.
When we returned to the village with our haul, the shopkeep bought it for about 3,000 gold, which was surprising. Nier had kept some of the meat to make dinner that night and bought some vegetables before we made our way back home. Yonah was happy to see us and cheered for Nier's cooking that night. Once the two of us washed up, Nier cooked a very savoury stew for us and we ate while listening to Yonah's stories.
If only it could last forever…
When we returned from a quest that we'd been sent on, Yonah wasn't home. Popola told us she'd been to the library to ask about Lunar Tears and where they grew, which was the Lost Shrine. A memory flashed in my mind. Of two statues and a book, which were familiar. Yonah would've had to have left a while ago for us not to have seen her leaving… Or she had taken a route that wasn't visible to either of us. Getting the directions from Popola, we left out the East Gate to head towards the Lost Shrine.
The route wasn't too long. The longest part was crossing the bridge to the shrine. Neither of us understood how Yonah, in her state, could've gotten this far. She had probably collapsed a few times while trying to get here to get a few Lunar Tears so Nier could be rich and stay home with her. So that I could stay with them, for as long as I was allowed.
"Why did Yonah…?" Nier let the question hang in the air. I just shook my head a little.
"She just wanted us to stay home with her. She gets lonely sometimes, after all." I responded to the unasked full question. "She.. wants to be a help to you and me."
"We have to get to her!" Nier finally went through the doors with me following him. There were some Shades in the shrine, easily dispatched by the two of us, but none compared to the Shades that appeared when we first found Yonah. They were in our way, and we had to cut them down as they spawned around us. And then, Nier started slamming his sword into the statues… Well, what they were hold-
"It seems that the frantic bludgeoning you gave me earlier has caused my memory to escape me."
"Nier! Hold on!" I grabbed his arms to stop him from bludgeoning the book any further. "Look, if we can get this open without smacking this thing into oblivion, we could probably use the book inside to get Yonah out."
He stared at me for a moment, before lowering his arms after I let go. Bashing the book wasn't good. I didn't know why , but it wasn't good for either of us. So, instead, we used our swords to pry the book free from its weird lance prison. I caught it with my free hand before it could fall onto the ground…
As that happened, more Shades appeared.
"Oh no…" Nier turned to face the Shades. "Shionne, I'll hold them off! You try and get Yonah free!"
"R-right!" I put my sword away and then opened the book, flipping through the pages. A memory came to me in that moment, one of seeing this place… through something I couldn't recognize. The book had a name. And, in that memory, it was….
"Grimoire Weiss…?" I closed the book– no, grimoire– and stared at where Yonah was.
"Will you unhand me?!" Came an arrogant tone from the book. I immediately let go, and the book floated up to face-level with me. "My word, did your parents not teach you any manners?! I am not to be flipped through like some common cookbook!"
"S-sorry, I just– I need help getting Yonah out of that…" I pointed towards the barrier keeping Yonah separated from all of us. "I figured your pages would… have an answer."
"The nerve…" The grimoire turned to the barrier and then back to me. "This is no ordinary barrier. None can break it, it must be dispelled by defeating the caster."
I looked at Nier, who was having a time with the Shades. Struggling, but trying to keep them fended off. "Then… will you lend me your power so I can help Nier? If you can talk, you certainly have some sort of power!"
"You are in the presence of ancient wisdom." The grimoire slowly floated towards me– past me a bit– and then turned to face me again. "I am a text of the darkest, most arcane type-"
"Please, I'm begging you, I need to help Nier!" I cut him off immediately, seeing Nier struggling.
"Bah! This is why I hate dealing with people. Know this. Accepting my power means greater responsibility you will have ever known. Do you accept this?"
"Of course, of course!" I said. It was nearly instant afterwards, the way I felt the ancient power of the grimoire course through me. Holding a hand up high, I heard the pages of the grimoire flutter as he opened up. I pointed towards the shades, who were taken out by lances made from…
Dark blood…? The blood of the shades flew into the air towards me, surrounding me with whispers of words I didn't understand. The Shades were easily defeated, and I ran over to Nier. "Nier, one of the statues must be keeping us separated from Yonah!"
"What? Which one?!" Nier asked. "We'll destroy it!"
"Don't be so hasty." The grimoire said, getting in Nier's face. Nier took a couple steps back.
"...A… talking book?" He asked, confused. The grimoire seemed to huff at that, annoyed.
"How dare you! I am no mere book! I am Grimoire Weiss! My very name brings kingdoms to their knees!" Grimoire Weiss stated haughtily. "The girl has asked my assistance, and I have therefore decided to lend her my power. Be grateful that I have chosen to be merciful."
There was clinking behind us and I looked over my shoulder to see the statues coming to life. They bared their lances, and I drew my sword. I didn't know exactly what we could do against actual statues, but it didn't seem to matter. One of them shielded while the other attacked. Nier would slide under the shield at certain points and stab into its armor, dealing some damage, while I focused on the power granted to me by the Grimoire to throw those dark blood-like lances at random intervals. I wasn't as skilled as Nier was with swordsplay yet, but every time I wasn't casting spells, I was hitting the unshielded statue with my sword in tandem with Nier.
The two of us had to avoid the long-range fire attacks spat out by either statue until only one remained. It deflected my powered dark blood-like lance and that lance nearly hit Yonah. We were lucky it didn't. Either way, Nier and I had to make quick work of the second statue. I tried to not rely too hard on Weiss' power, instead going in with my sword and attacking. The only time I did use his magic was when I fired another dark blood-like lance at the Shade after gathering some of its blood for the attack.
When it fell, the barrier keeping Yonah from us disappeared. Nier made a run for Yonah while I hung back.
"...Hey, Grimoire Weiss…" I looked over at Weiss. "Do you know anything about regaining lost memories?"
"No." Came the terse reply from the Grimoire. "Why do you ask?"
"Because I… lost my memory. All I know is that my name is Shionne. I… want to get my memory back."
"You'll get your memory back in due time, child. For now, best put it out of your mind. You do not want to force your memory to return. It will do more harm than good." Weiss advised. Just then, the shrine started to shake. Nier had scooped up Yonah into his arms and the four of us quickly left the Shrine as fast as we could. Yonah had apologized for putting herself in such danger, but neither of us would hear it. She had only wanted to help.
"When we get home, I'll make us something to eat." I said. "And then you're going to get a lot of rest, Yonah. You're still ill. I wish we had some lozenges to help with your cough."
"What's a lozenge…?" Yonah asked. I blinked. What was a lozenge?
"A lozenge is a type of medicine for sore throats and dry coughs." Weiss supplied. "But I surmise there are none available. Which means this girl gave us useless information."
"Aaaah…" I rubbed the back of my head. "I don't even know why I knew lozenges could help with coughs. It was out of my mouth before I even realized what I was saying."
"As I said, useless information. But not for a lack of trying."
Yonah looked a little down, but there was something else wrong. Her arm started to smoke, and strange black symbols moved over the skin of her forearm. My brain supplied the term Black Scrawl , but I couldn't associate it with anything. In panic, Nier picked up Yonah and started to book it back to the village. I ran behind him, with Grimoire Weiss following after. Getting her home was our first priority. Consulting with Popola came next, and it was grim.
The Black Scrawl. An incurable disease that ended in the death of whoever had it. But we did find out that the Sealed Verses could help cure Yonah, as long as Grimoire Weiss could collect them all. And we were told about the Aerie, and that a Shade would be there. We could potentially find a Sealed Verse there, but it would be dangerous. Nier didn't care, as long as he could help Yonah with the Sealed Verses. I was only going along because Grimoire Weiss and I were a team, even though…
It wasn't right .
Without Grimoire Weiss, Nier's journey would seem fruitless, hence why I was going along. But Popola seemed… frustrated by these turns of events. As if I had done something wrong. Though she kept her voice level, I could tell by how she addressed me that she was not happy with me . I didn't understand why, but I recoiled and excused myself before Popola could say anything else towards me.
Why were you the one to get Grimoire Weiss?
I could hear the "you weren't supposed to be there" in her voice. The accusation that I took something precious from Nier. Instead of sticking around in the library, I headed out of the gates to the Northern Plains. Sitting in the grass, with Weiss hovering nearby, I watched as the sheep grazed and wandered about, unbothered by anything.
"Why was Popola so annoyed with you?" Weiss asked after a few minutes. I shook my head.
"Because I'm not originally from the village. It was only because of Nier that I even was allowed to stay. But now? I don't think I'll be allowed to stay any further." I said. I hated the feeling of being like a burden– of being worthless. But there was nothing I could do about it or how the twins felt about me being here at all . I knew that it was a matter of time before they deemed me not worthy of living in their quaint village and cast me out.
Just like Kainé .
"I see. Well, then they would be without me as well. Unfortunate for them that I am bound to you, mmm?" Weiss shifted a little in the air.
"Unfortunate for Nier. If I can't go into the village, I can't help Yonah. But I've always known it'd be a matter of time before I was exiled." I stood up after a bit, dusting off the back of my clothes. "I'll start heading towards the Aerie. I know Nier will catch up, so… onward and forward, I suppose."
"Yes. Onward and forward." As I started to walk off, I felt Weiss nudge my shoulder as he took his position nearby. Perhaps it was just my imagination but… was he trying to comfort me? It was a sweet thought, but I kept it far from the front of my mind. Yonah was more important, so therefore I had to get the Sealed Verses for Nier.
I just hoped that I didn't screw things up too badly.