CHAPTER V: She could feel her
"This is a dream...it must be... I'm going to wake up in the street… I was there with Natsumi-senpai. She's going to wake me up" Saori (on her Remnant new body) repeated to herself as Glynda Goodwitch and Qrow Branwen, another man, who smelled a little like liquor, helped some paramedics to put her on a stretcher "Just a dream" she sighed.
—"You are not dreaming, Saori." answered Glynda "You are alive, dear."
Was this... it? Was she actually alive? Saori felt surprised at this moment now. She had so many questions, but she could ask one for now.
—"Why is the moon broken, Glynda?" she asked. She couldn't believe that the moon was really "destroyed". It couldn't be real. Saori Saga was taken on a flying vehicle. Not a helicopter. Not an airplane. She had never seen an aircraft like that before. But she was sure she was dreaming. No, no, no... this couldn't be happening! Yes, this WAS happening. It was all real, she really was Saori... she was really here, right now. Saori looked at this flying vehicle... she had never seen anything like this in her life.
She looked at a part of the city... She could see a lot of destruction. And she was there, right now. Why? Why was this happening? She was being taken somewhere... somewhere she didn't know.
Her body felt strange, but she couldn't stop thinking about the moon. The moon was broken, but why? Why was that? She couldn't believe it. Saori wanted to wake up from this life. She wanted to be back... back to her Bokuto bed.
She felt this strange body moving, and the people around her... what did that mean? She had to accept it, she didn't have the choice...
—"Miss Saori, this is going to hurt." said an elderly nurse as she looked at Saori's legs, as she landed, immediately taken to Vale Hospital operating room. Once she got there. She thought she was in an alien abduction movie. Saori was in an operating room now, feeling so much anxiety. She couldn't believe what had happened to her. She looked at her legs now... the pain made her want to cry. But... she couldn't do it. She had to be brave...
—"How bad is it?" Saori asked. The nurses looked at each other.
—"Really bad." the nurse replied "We need to operate right now."
—"Take this" A younger nurse told Saori as she put some kind of pill on her mouth. Saori Saga had no choice but to collaborate and swallow the pill. It was anesthesia.
—"I'll wake up back home" Saori said as she felt numb "This is just a nightmare"
Saori's mind was racing as the pill started to do its work. She felt her body relaxing, and her mind slowly falling asleep.
But she couldn't stop wondering... it was weird to talk about this world like it was a dream now. Because she may knew it wasn't one. She was really there...
But... What really happened to her now? She couldn't remember... Why was her previous body still on Earth and... what would happen to her now? She was very confused now...
As confused as Pyrrha Nikos. Now inhabiting her body back in Tokyo. On Earth. The first time she woke up in that strange world. Hundreds of light years away from each other, they shared a connection…
An amazing and unexpected connection… Saori thought she was dreaming. But this was real. And yet... Pyrrha Nikos was feeling shocked in a strange world. One that was so far away from her Remnant… They were both in the bodies of other people. But they still existed right now, billions of miles away from each other. The universe had made a strange connection between these two girls now. They had to accept it. The connection between them... and the consequences of it.
Back in Tokyo. Pyrrha got back inside the police patrol along with Aoi and said goodbye to the priest. Who discovered the truth about her wandering soul.
—"Everything's fine?" Asked Aoi to (who she thought it was) her partner as they took on the busy streets of the Sumida ward.
—"Y-Yes!" Pyrrha replied, still feeling awkward in her new body. "Everything is fine, really!"
Pyrrha Nikos was feeling something strange in her body... was this what the connection between them was doing now? Pyrrha could feel the emotions of Saori... she could feel how desperately her new body was trying to lie... trying to make her believe that she had this name now… She really wanted to tell the truth... but she couldn't. It wasn't possible right now. It was still... so difficult for her... being in the body of another person now. Aoi knew that her friend wasn't telling her the truth... she was now living in a world full of new things.
As her mind wandered aimlessly. Her patrol partner Aoi Futaba yelled:
—"Look!" They saw the motorcycle thieves Pyrrha read about robbing a school girl off her purse.
—"Go get them!" Yelled Pyrrha out of the blue with newfound courage.
—"Bokuto Patrol Number Two here!" Aoi Futaba said on the radio "We are in chase of the motorcycle thieves. Over!"
Pyrrha jumped off the car, as she felt the adrenaline of Saori coursing through her new body. She knew now... she was still a hero. And... it felt... amazing.
It was her duty now. And she would stop those thieves... right now! One of them. Holding the girl's purse in one hand. Took off a knife from his pocket and attacked Pyrrha. Pyrrha felt the excitement and energy flowing through her, and she dodged the attack instinctively... like in the Vytal Festival.
Once the real Saori Saga woke up after surgery in the Vale hospital everyone was worried about her not remembering the Vytal Festival nor Cinder's attack… anything about Remnant. It was not her fault after all. The real Saori Saga, in the body of a resident of Vale. Didn't belong to that world. It was all so strange... and yet, she had to keep going with it. But... Why couldn't she remember? Was her brain damaged in some way?
—"Why can't I remember anything?" she asked. "Why... am I like this now?"
—"We are going to find out" Said Glynda Goodwitch as she caressed her cheek. "And... we need to check your identity now."
—"Check my identity?"
—"Cops just called. They have nothing about any Saori Saga" Said Qrow Branwen. "Are you sure that's really your name? Kid?"
—"Saori Saga... is my name... I swear." She was desperate. Was everyone now thinking that she was lying? She felt scared now. She wanted to tell the truth but... she couldn't, her brain didn't allow it.
Saori was even more confused now. Check her identity? Why couldn't she tell the truth? Not yet, maybe… Was this how her life would be from now on? She wanted to go home... but she didn't have a choice...
—"Okay..." said Saori, trying to speak calmly.
She did it! She stopped the thief and saved the girl! It was... so cool! And she wanted more of this! Pyrrha wanted to become a huntress again, she wanted to help the people of this world…
—"Done!" Said Aoi as she handcuffed the criminals and took them inside their car "Saori-chan. I'm impressed! Where did you learned all that?"
Pyrrha could smile now. She had just fought with her new body! It felt so... so cool! She loved this! She felt... stronger as Saori... but she wanted to do much with this new life. She felt proud of her new body. But she couldn't tell Aoi... yet.
—"Oh, nothing important." said Pyrrha as she smiled at Aoi "Just something I learned back in... school..."
Aoi was smiling now, she was amazed at how strong Saori was now. This new body was perfect now... and she was using it to protect the people of Tokyo. Pyrrha liked Aoi, she was nice and beautiful. But she couldn't tell her the truth yet… As they were in the car, Pyrrha was thinking... so, she now lived on Earth... and she was Saori's life now. But... what would happen to the real Saori, then? Pyrrha loved the feeling she got from her new body. This is who she was now... and she was proud of it. She was really living her new life. She couldn't believe it… In their new bodies, Pyrrha and Saori were having different experiences in life.
The connection between them was so strong. Pyrrha almost felt like she was actually Saori…
But she wanted to do more now... she wanted another challenge to prove herself that this life was really hers... and she wanted to help the people of this world. But this body... Saori's body... it felt so real now... maybe she belonged to this body… When her job time ended she laid on the couch, looking at the ceiling... thinking about so many things.
Was this what she wanted? Her body felt... different now. But... this was Saori's body. Pyrrha's mind couldn't understand the feelings she was getting. She felt happy, she felt proud... and she felt different.
—"After all. Catching bad guys here in Tokyo isn't very different from hunting down Grimm in Remnant" she said. "It's almost exactly the same thing."
Pyrrha didn't understand her feelings. But her body wanted to feel them. Why was her mind so confused? Pyrrha was so proud of what she was doing right now... her new body really loved the life she was having... and she herself felt so proud of herself. But why was her mind so confused? And... What was happening with the real Saori Saga back in Remnant? In whose body was she now? She had so many questions…
—"Are you serious? You're saying that your soul... traveled from another world?"
Back in Remnant. No one knew who the girl who insisted on being named Saori Saga was. She was trapped in that unknown world…
Glynda Goodwitch was shocked to hear this, it was impossible! A soul... traveling from another world? That didn't make any sense...
—"Where did your soul travel from exactly, Saori?" Glynda asked with curiosity. Saori was going to tell her the truth now...
—"I was... patrolling the streets of Tokyo...my hometown...I was a police officer" Saori Saga told Goodwitch as she ate some chocolate chip cookies she brought to calm her down in the hospital while she recovered from surgery. Glynda was listening to Saori... but this was still so hard to believe.
How did this happen? A soul traveling from another world? Could that really be possible? But... Saori seemed nervous and truthful, and she had no reason to lie.
—"And... your real body? Where is it right now, Saori?" Glynda had to ask this. She needed to know the truth…
—"It's maybe on Earth…In bad shape…I…had an accident. My soul is here in Remnant. But my body... maybe is now the host of a Remnant person's soul!"
Glynda was stunned to hear this. That was... unlikely. How could that happen? How was that possible? Even if this world had magical abilities, how could a soul travel here, and become someone else's from here? That was... impossible! And yet... here she was, talking to that soul... in the body of the girl in front of her.
—"That's... amazing..." said Glynda with disbelief "So... how did your soul survive, then?"
Glynda was getting so much information all of a sudden. This girl had just suffered a serious accident... and yet her soul had survived it, somehow. And now it was living inside the body of a girl from Remnant. How could this be possible, right? But Glynda had to ask more. Her curiosity was taking over...
—"You remember... your life as Saori now, right? So strange... so unbelievable... and yet... so real..."
—"Of course. I don't have the memories of the girl whose body hosts my soul now"
—"That's so... strange."
Glynda was still in disbelief now, this was all new information to her.
And then, a new thought came to her...There was one thing that bothered her.
—"What happens... to her soul?" A moment of silence passed, and Glynda...
She couldn't believe that she was going to ask that...
—"Is her soul... trapped in your body now?"
—"I don't think so... The soul that's in my body. Feels different" Saori Saga closed her eyes. Focusing "I can feel her...she is...the soul of a brave warrior who died here"
—"Pyrrha" Glynda felt so conflicted now. She didn't know how to process all the information right now. The soul of a brave warrior was inside Saori Saga's body. "Pyrrha's soul must be in your body in your world" Her soul was now inside the new body of Saori Saga.