PHASE 6 - I’M HAVING A REUNION WITH A STRANGER

“Amy?”

I repeated the name of my childhood friend. Yet the blonde petite woman failed to respond. All she did was cough several times as if she’s suffering from tuberculosis.

Cough. Cough. She covered her mouth, but saliva still made its way to the gaps of her fingers.

There’s no way I could be mistaken, so I tried to call her nickname once more.

“A… Amy? Are you Amy?” My jaws trembled.

Finally, I have won the girl’s attention. But there is an innocent look on her purple eyes as she tilted her head like a curious kitten. Then, she talked.

“Who’s… Amy?”

The way she speaks… it’s as if she doesn’t know me. Yet those features on her face and whole body make me certain that she is my childhood friend and my first love.

“Y-Y-You don’t remember your name?” My voice started to rise.

“I… I know my name…” The blonde girl held her chest. “I’m... Jeannette Amiella Fontaine von Noctis... I don’t know any person named Amy… Alaric...”

My mind is now on the verge of exploding due to so much confusing information. She remembers her name, but not her nickname. And the way he said mine… Amy used to call me “Ric”, and she never called my full first name ever since we were children. And her tone is that she’s familiar with me, yet there is this invisible wall that gives me the idea that she’s not the real Amy I know.

“Well, this is confusing.” Erylle, who is just standing beside my back, started to draw a white short blade from her glowing chest. It’s the Heavenly Blade , the sword the Fake Outsider used to own. “This place is just for the wicked Cursed Guardians. Gate Guardians shouldn’t be held captive in the prison of the underworld. This is the first time I saw something like this.”

The valkyrie walked in front and made a swift square slash at the cage, completely slicing the bars of “Amy’s” cell. Then, she proceeded to cut the chains that had been restraining the poor girl’s feet.

“Are you okay?” Erylle lent out her hand, which the prisoner girl immediately accepted.

“I… I’m okay…” She said, and then coughed again. “Thank you… for saving me…”

Erylle noticed that her hand was full of the prisoner girl’s saliva. It’s her fault for lending a hand to that girl even though she knows that it’s wet with bacteria. So to remove that yucky goo, she wiped her hand using the lower part of my trench coat!

“Wha-What the heck!” I jumped back.

I was about to rant some more, but Erylle continued her conversation to the Jeannette-look-alike as if I’m not here.

“How long have you been here?” The bastard Outsider asked.

“About two months…” The prisoner replied. “I thought I’ll be suffering in this prison forever…”

Erylle patted the prisoner’s head as if she was her pet. She started to cast , and the prisoner girl’s body glowed with a green light. Slowly, I noticed that her wounds, bruises, and scratches are now fading. The girl is no longer coughing.

While waiting for the girl to be fully healed, Erylle’s emerald eyes stared seriously at the girl. “How did you end up here?”

“Hades.” The prisoner replied shortly. “I’m still a living person, but that Hades locked me up in here when we last fought.”

Erylle and I succumbed to deep thought.

Hades is the Greek God of the Underworld. I haven’t encountered such a person who possesses the power of that god, nor have I seen the God Core. But considering that a Gate Guardian was held captive in this place, then that Hades must have the power to open a Gate in and out of this hell.

Anyway, back to the main topic. It’s my turn to ask questions.

“Are you really not Amy?” I asked again.

“Oh my, how idiotic can you be?” The prisoner crossed her arms like an aristocrat as she rudely replied. She seems to recover fast. “As I said, I don’t know anyone named Amy, Alaric. I’m Jeannette Amiella Fontaine von Noctis! Don’t you dare try making weird nicknames on me, pervert!”

“Wha-!!!” I was stunned.

She got all the qualifications and features of my childhood friend, including her rudeness, her bitchiness, and her annoying speech patterns. But something tells me that she tells the truth. Amy won’t prank me like this.

Besides… I don’t feel that she really is Amy. I don’t feel her presence in this person at all. It’s like she’s a stranger that I just met for the very first time. And yet, we know each other’s names. Weird.

“Uhhhh…” Erylle scratched her head as she made a carefree smile. “Let me explain to you both. Alaric, this is not the Jeannette you knew. Jeannette, this is not the Alaric you knew. And yet, Alaric is still Alaric, and Jeannette is still Jeannette. They are the same, but different...”

…

“H-Huh???” Our faces are now full of question marks. Of course, we can’t understand such contradicting words!

“I-In shorter words…” Erylle had this guilty smile at me. “Your dimensions are different from each other. Jeannette must have come from a different universe than yours. You guys should know the difference based on your strange feelings for each other.”

Erylle is right. I might be repeating myself, but this Jeannette in front of me feels like a stranger, and I know she feels the same in me too. And I just remembered, Amy is already Tiara when she passed her soul to her. There is no way another Amy could exist as long as Tiara exists.

“Oh, I get it now.” Jeannette finally screamed eureka internally. And then, she happily glanced at me. “I’m glad you’re not the perverted Alaric I know.”

I don’t have any response for that. I mean, Amy and Tiara did consider me a pervert.

Suddenly, Jeannette lent out her hand, hoping for a shake. “Nice to meet you. I’m Jeannette. Don’t call me Amy. That’s creepy. In my universe, everybody calls me Jeanne.”

“Nice to meet you too, Jeanne. I’m Alaric, but you can call me Ric if you want.” I replied with a smile as I took her hand.

After that handshake, I realized that I had made a fatal mistake. My right hand is now full of icky saliva that came from her coughs earlier.

Now one thing is very clear to me.

This Jeannette is dirtier than Amy.

<>

After healing Jeanne, we started to venture deeper into the prison. We asked everything she knew about my target person in this prison; Aeternos.

“Aeternos, huh?” Jeanne held her chin using her cute hands. “I heard that he’s being kept at the lowest part of the underground prison. The most powerful and terrifying Cursed Guardians are being held there.”

While walking and talking, I realized that there are some moving chalk marks on the dark floor. It started to form words that say:

YOU CANNOT ESCAPE

and...

BRING HER BACK

“Oh crap. I forgot that this prison has a defense system that prevents prisoners from roaming around.” Erylle made a carefree teehee face. I wanted to punch that face for being so careless.

“So, what will happen to us now, oh great Outsider?” I asked with sarcasm.

“Now we fight.” Erylle’s jolly tone never changed.

Suddenly, three black muds started to form from the floor. It grew until it was life-sized, and molded itself into humanoid creatures.

No.

It’s not just humanoid creatures. It is a perfect image of the people that I have lost.

The first person is a blue-haired man with tanned skin, with the very same age as mine. He’s holding a rusty buster sword, and he’s wearing a dirty fur coat.

The second person is a pink-haired maid in her sixteenth year. I recognize her blushing face and affectionate gaze at me. She had this tail that had a drill on its tip.

And the third person is a beautiful man with long braided strawberry-blonde hair. He or she is equipped with bladed skaters.

“Heushac… Emily… Eliseo…” I muttered.

I can’t believe I would be able to see their faces again.