The Red Hand

 

"You didn't take anyone's place." Mizumi appeared in the doorway. "Of that, I can be certain." Her statement caused the two crying sisters to look at her.

"How can you be certain?" Akagi asked.

"Because, when I merged your soul with that of the Shadow Demon, I had to analyze yours briefly." Mizumi walked up next to them. "If one soul absorbs another, no matter what, there will always be some residue of the weaker soul. And in your case, I detected damage to your soul, but there was no sign that you had ever merged with another being."

"But then, couldn't I have just destroyed the original soul and taken its place?" Akagi still couldn't believe that she wasn't some impostor.

"Nope, because if that happened, you wouldn't be here speaking to me," Mizumi replied. "At that early stage, if the soul attached to a new vessel is destroyed, the vessel itself will perish. I don't know how it works exactly, but switching souls between bodies is already hard enough, and messing with them at that critical stage of bonding is nigh on impossible." Mizumi's explanation was quite a good counterargument to Akagi's thoughts. "So that leaves us with two possible situations. Either you were simply born into that body as intended, which means you are her sister, or you took the original owner's place somewhere down the line, but as I said, I don't think that happened."

"Ok, then, if I was born into this world properly and I didn't take the original Rishia's place. Then just why do I feel so strange? Why do I feel like I'm not actually human?" Akagi pressed for answers.

"Things can happen to souls while they are going through the cycle of rebirth, so strange things like an improper scrubbing of memories or personalities can happen." Mizumi shrugged. "I'm not the best person to speak about this, but from what you've told me, it's possible that you were something other than human in a previous life, and when you died and were reincarnated, you still retained a small amount of your previous personality. Not enough to change much, mind you, but just enough to give you this feeling you're talking about." Mizumi put up her finger. "However, based on what I've seen, I think it's also equally likely that something else is going on here. What that may be, I have no idea, but I would say it's a 50/50 toss-up between an error in the reincarnation or you being unique in some way."

She continued. "Either way, rest assured that there isn't anything wrong with you. No matter what happened, you're Kana's sister. You didn't take someone else's place, and you're not an impostor, Ok?" she gave a small smile.

"Yeah... thanks Mizumi... I needed to hear that." Akagi stood up and hugged the small girl.

"Why am I getting hugged?" She sighed. "Not that I hate it mind you, it's just unexpected." The girl's face blushed slightly.

"Just kinda seemed like the right thing to do. You look like a kid, so I just kinda did it without thinking." Akagi laughed.

"And here I was trying to be helpful, only to get made fun of." Her words said she was annoyed, but the smile on her face betrayed her.

Seeing this exchange, Kana let out a giggle of her own before asking a question. "But still, what was that dream I had? I've never experienced something so real. I could even feel pain." She was still unnerved by the sight of Akagi killing her mother.

"That was probably a vision." Mizumi looked at her.

"A vision? You mean of like the future?" Kana looked worried when she heard that.

"A future, not the future." Mizumi corrected. "Again, I'm not the best person to explain this, but essentially what you saw was something that could come to pass. The future is not set in stone, and countless different things can influence it." Akagi seemed to understand what she was talking about, but Kana was lost. "Think of it like this. You've read books or played games with multiple alternate endings right?"

Kana nodded.

"Then it's just like that. Depending on what choices you pick, you will get a different outcome. Just because Akagi can burn the world down doesn't mean she will. Just like how you could kill someone, but you probably won't. Having the power to do something and doing it are two different things, and depending on which option you pick, the future will change. One where Akagi lives a peaceful life, or one where she destroys the world." Mizumi raised up one hand for each option to visualize what she was saying. "Both can happen, but only one will."

"So, Onee-chan won't do something like that?" Kana asked pensively.

"Not as long as things don't happen to lead her down that path." Mizumi looked up at Akagi. "If you don't want that future, then I recommend you hold on tightly to whatever humanity you have left. If you are taken in fully by those darker thoughts in your mind, a future like what Kana saw is likely to come to fruition. And I would prefer my entire people not get wiped out because you lost your marbles." Mizumi gave a cheeky grin, which caused Akagi to bonk her on the head.

"I will figure things out. I have a lot to think about, and I believe that eventually I will have to make a decision about who and what I am." Akagi looked at her sister. "But you can bet that no matter what, I'm going to do everything in my power not to allow myself to be controlled by whatever darker thoughts lie within my mind." Akagi continued. "Even if I'm not human, I'm still me, and I won't be controlled by either that darkness or my own humanity. I just want to be me." Akagi's eyes showed she was serious.

"Well, just please make sure that whatever you are doesn't doom us all, ok?" Mizumi sighed.

"No promises." Akagi stuck out her tongue, which caused both Mizumi and Kana to let out a sigh.

"What happened to that solemn and serious attitude from just a minute ago, Onee-chan?" Kana looked at her.

"It had its time and place, and now we're back to normal." Akagi smiled. "No reason to stay mopey all day. I've done enough of that, thank you very much."

Akagi placed her hand on top of Kana's head. "Are you good? Can you get back to sleep?"

"Um.... would you stay here tonight?" She was still shaken by the vision, and Akagi could tell she might have trouble sleeping.

"I'll do you one better." Akagi allowed her body to dissolve, and she turned into her black shadow form.

"???" Kana tilted her head in confusion before Akagi lept into the bed next to her.

"Yumi likes to cuddle me like this sometime. Apparently, my shadow body is super comfy, like a body pillow," Akagi said as she shuffled under the covers.

Skeptical, Kana extended her hand and placed it on her now blob of a sister. It felt strangely warm and was kinda squishy like it was made out of jello. Deciding to just go for it, she picked Akagi up and squeezed her to see how it felt "This is amazing! Why is Yumi the only one who gets this?!?" Akagi's shadow body was amazing to hold when she wasn't actively trying to harm someone. Kana felt like she could fall asleep at any moment while holding her.

"Told you it was nice. Yumi asks me to do this sometimes, and she always wakes up refreshed. It's kinda nice to be held, so I just go with it." Akagi laughed. She also liked when Yumi snuggled with her like this.

Seeing this, Mizumi decided to leave the two sisters to their own devices, and she backed out of the room.

Kana placed her sister next to her in the bed and placed her head on the pillow, bringing Akagi into a tight squeeze. "I haven't slept in the same bed as you since we were kids." Kana giggled. "But, this is nice. Goodnight... Onee...chan." Kana fell asleep almost instantly.

{Dang, she must have been tired. Well, if this makes her comfortable, I'm all for it. I can't imagine the trauma of watching me kill Shima right in front of her and seeing Mika die like that.} Akagi thought to herself as she lay next to Kana.

{I have to figure out what I am before it's too late. I've come dangerously close to losing myself twice now, once when I nearly killed Kana and once when I nearly killed Shima and Taichi. Both times disaster was averted by the intervention of someone important to me. But if it happens again, there's no guarantee someone will be around to pull back from that precipice. If I give in completely to those dark thoughts...... I might really burn the whole world down.} Akagi pushed these thoughts aside and drifted off to sleep, snuggled in the embrace of her sister.

________________________________________________________________________________________________

At the same time that Akagi and Kana were falling asleep, a high-speed train was in transit from Shizuoka to Yokosuka. Riding on top was a certain orange-haired elf.

"Those cowards." She laughed as the fall air ripped against her face. "All that talk about destruction and blowing things up, but when I mention hitting the U.S. Navy in Yokosuka, they get all timid." She sighed. "Don't worry, where you idiots are too weak; I'll pick up the slack." Elna let out a terrible laugh As the train steamed toward the base of the U.S. 7th fleet, a feeling of dread came over all of Japan. The last time a Japanese person attacked U.S. boats in harbor it didn't end well.