It was the girl from his dreams, his heart twisted and started hurting as if pierced by the red-hot blade.

Drifting into the void, he outstretched his hand toward the one who reincarnated him.

No.

It wasn’t like that, was it?

She didn’t bring him here from another world…

She brought him back.

Back to her.

”You remember…!”

The girl gasped and fidgeted nervously, she could obviously read what Zoemi was thinking without him voicing it out.

Zoemi tried to say something but couldn’t.

The presence in the form of a young girl spread her arms open towards him.

She was no longer holding the black bear, no, how could she hold the toy while it was still so far away from her?

”Zoemi, return to me, my protector…!”

|!!!|

Presence cried pitifully and Zoemi responded.

His short stuffed boneless limbs couldn’t move so he propelled himself with magic.

|Master…! MASTER!|

His mouth was just sewn on so he couldn’t speak, but he was calling for the platinum-haired girl with all his soul.

His glass pitch-black eyes devoid of light conveyed all of the longings that he had been bottling up for all this time.

Presence was closer and closer.

Finally, she embraced his plush body and hugged it tightly.

Zoemi.

The toy of the presence.

The plush toy that gained a soul thanks to magic.

~~~~~~~~

*********

~~~~~~~~

|He is asking good questions. Still – is it him or you?|

Zoemi performed the verbal version of crossing his arms and leaning back against the wall while thinking the question that resounded in the world of the murky darkness.

|As much as I wish to say that it’s me – unfortunately it was just the other you who gained access to my memories and got momentarily overwhelmed and by them.|

The original personality responded bitterly, clearly upset that it wasn’t actually him that was granted the honor of meeting his master face to face.

|You know, part of me just wants to stay here and watch it until the grand finale of sorts, but at the same time, I wish to get out of here and immediately go to see my Miriette and ask her about the entire thing of her being the copy of the presence. As for her faking having a wind attribute, that can’t be the case in our timeline – I have seen her use wind spells and drained her mana – it was definitely a wind attribute.|

The black-haired boy pointed out clicking his tongue impatiently while only glancing at the screen from the corner of his eye.

|Please, let’s stay a bit longer – Bellcpehora will free you once she thinks you’ve seen enough. She means you no harm as you are the essential part of making our master plan work out.|

The original personality gasped hastily, and although his argument made sense, Zoemi could tell that most of it were just the artificial soul wanting to look at his master as much as possible.

He couldn’t really blame him for it, could he?

The toy was literally created to serve and protect the girl who has turned into the closest being that their small portion of the world had for a god.

|Just one question before I will stop ruining your moment.|

|What is it?|

The black-haired boy asked and the original personality asked attentively, baited by the promise of him not interrupting events playing out in front of them.

|If that is the perfect timeline, why do we even exist?|

Zoemi asked, and even without a body, it was clear that he wanted to point at the screen.

|…it’s like this because that is how master would want things to end… but the thing we are witnessing is not a perfect timeline – only the most correct one of all the previous loops…|

|…|

The response came and made the black-haired boy become silent, just as he promised beforehand.

~~~~~~~~

*********

~~~~~~~~

|Master…! My Master…! What happened?! Why was I taken away from you?! I’ve missed you so much…! Why didn’t you take me back sooner, why all those tricks and acting?|

Zoemi cried inside his stuffed head, but the girl understood.

She petted the head of the toy bear and let out a pained sigh.

”Zoemi… Do you remember what happened before your consciousness go torn away from your body and sent to a different world? What happened before you became human?”

She asked, and her platinum eyes revealed great sadness.

|I remember the necromancer talking to me about my task. About my purpose, to protect you. I remember our tea parties. I remember warding off curses and bad dreams that vile people have had sent your way… I… I remember… You… In bed… and… That disgusting… vile… beast… that bastard… he snuck into your bedchamber time and time again… and… and I couldn’t…! I couldn’t…!|

Zoemi’s thoughts grew restless, full of guilt, anger, and resentment.

”Shh… It’s alright… There was no way for you to stop him from doing what he did…”

She patted his head again.

|But master…! He… He hurt you…!|

Suddenly Zoemi’s thoughts grew even colder as the stagnant neigh-forgotten memory resurfaced in his toy brain.

|It’s all his fault… He killed you…! He kidnapped you with sickening intentions but was too weak to run away and you died because of the darkness mana corroding your body…! Then I could act and kill him! The only thing I could do then was to place you back on your rightful throne…! My Master…!|

”I said it’s alright already.”

The little black bear cried out in his mind, assaulted b all the visions he kept seeing while awake and asleep alike, but the platinum-haired girl ended up shushing him with another headpat.

|Master… but how come you are here? And… WHY IS HE ALIVE AGAIN?!|

Zoemi’s anger shook the still darkness surrounding them.

”My death sparked something in me and revealed the hidden potential of my power. Simply said, just for a moment, I was thrown out of the time stream. Although, it was only a moment for someone from this world that is… For me… I have witnessed the birth and death of the universe… Countless universes… I no longer had a physical form I was bound to so I couldn’t die… I could only wait… I experimented a bit and realized I can manipulate basically everything I want. If I willed the time to stop or flow back, it would do just that… If I wanted to possess someone, I just had to overwrite their existence in the same frame of time I wish to exist. Nothing easier. Your Miriette is one of the experiments too, you see? I wanted to reincarnate myself but all I managed was to create her. For the most part, she is basically me. But she is me with completely different experiences so she’s basically a different person altogether. After that, in the endless stream of time, I managed to find myself at the right time – it took countless tires but… I have finally felt your soul. I recognized you although you changed so much. You became human, but I knew it was you. You were my closest friend, even though just a toy, and since you gained autonomy, I didn’t want to just take you back…”

Presence revealed and the stuffed toy bear was listening to her with the utmost attention.

”I wanted you to be happy – I have seen the brand new life you got and cheered for your future – but at the same time, I needed you so much… Because, as you surely must have already noticed, he is also back… my tormentor… the bad human who hurt me… I-I am too afraid… I can’t do anything against him…! I never could! No one ever believed me when I said what he did…! They called me a liar! A child who knows nothing! Who misunderstood and blames a good person…!”

Zoemi felt his heart being torn apart but he could only stay silent as the presence was pouring her heart out.

”Why…?! Why, Zoemi…?! I was so scared! Why didn’t my parents act when I told them?! They died because of that! I tried to save them using the powers I gained after my death but it was all futile! He was there! He would stop me! I can’t, I can’t, I can’t! He’s too strong! I could not escape him no matter how many lives and timelines I went through! Zoemi, he will come for me…! He will hurt me again…! I don’t want him to touch me again…! Never again…! I don’t…! Help…! Help me…! Please, I can’t stand being alone anymore…! He will come…!”

She cried and cried…

|Master. I will defeat him for you. I will protect you. And this time I will kill him once and for all.|

Zoemi declared but the presence only hugged him tighter while shaking from crying.

”NO! YOU CAN’T HE IS TOO STRONG! HE WILL KILL YOU! HE WILL HURT YOU! IF I’M ALONE AGAIN HE WILL COME FOR ME!”

It was no longer a cry it was an outburst of a panic attack.

Her wounds were too deep and the pain they were causing was too powerful to let her see past the trauma.

Zoemi moved…

The darkness disappeared, they were again in the illusion of a destroyed throne room, and Aspakeony and Miriette were staring at them dumbfounded.

For them, at one moment Zoemi was kneeling in front of the throne at which the presence was sitting hiding behind the black teddy bear, the next, Zoemi was hoisting the presence up in his arms and lulling her as she was bawling her eyes out clinging to him like a child to a beloved parent, and the teddy-bear was gone without a trace.

”…?”

”…?”

Two girls stared at each other in confusion, wondering what could have happened between the two…

”It’s alright, master. Shhh… Everything will be fine. Your Zoemi will protect you.”

The black-haired boy’s smooth voice was reassuring and full of warmth.