Chapter 168 - Another Me?

As the stone fragments traveled towards the red piece of paper, they began to slow down. The pale grey light's cry grew louder and louder, but they could no longer push forth.

The paper that was glowing red seemed to panic.

"Child, wait! It's me, your father!"

The grey light did not listen to him. The stone fragments began to tremble and crack under the force both the father and son were putting on them. It was at this point the necklace turned to look at the red piece of paper.

"...Noah?"

The paper was silent for a moment.

"Amy..."

Suddenly, the rocks cracked into pieces. The pale grey light began screaming in a way that would tear its throat if it had one.

The necklace then trembled slightly.

"You... what did you do to our child?"

The red paper shivered. It took a while to respond.

"I do not know."

The necklace had another good look at its surroundings.

"What happened to us?"

After a few moments, the red piece of paper curled up slightly.

"I think I somehow brought all of us back to life."

The necklace froze.

"What?"

The red piece of paper looked towards the crying grey pale light.

"I think I did something bad."

For a second, there was only silence. Then, the necklace trembled violently.

"This is great! All of us are together again! We can start our family once more!"

The red piece of paper froze. It moved slowly, in a way that showed both happiness and guilt.

"I'm not sure exactly, but I can remember there was a reason we shouldn't have come back. Some sort of price."

The necklace giggled.

"What price could be so large that it is actually worth more than our lives? You did an amazing thing honey!"

The red piece of paper grumbled.

"But I can vaguely remember I killed so many people for this."

The necklace scoffed.

"Why does that matter? It's not like they are us!"

The red piece of paper did not speak for a few seconds.

"But weren't you the one that said every life is precious? Even if they weren't the most virtuous person?"

The necklace hummed.

"Hmm... I did say that. But that was a dumb thing to say! It was another person that killed our child and me after all!"

Suddenly, the red piece of paper shook.

"Someone... someone killed you?"

The necklace swirled around in the air slightly.

"Yes. Do you see now? Nobody matters other than us!"

The red piece of paper trembled slightly.

"Who... who killed you?"

The necklace audibly sighed.

"I have no idea. They were behind me once they plunged a knife into my back. But that doesn't matter now!"

The red light from the piece of paper dimmed slightly.

"I-It really doesn't matter?"

The necklace laughed.

"Why would it?"

Like a crazy person, the red piece of paper began muttering to itself.

"It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter."

While all this was happening, I couldn't help but complain in my mind.

It was fine that you were having a reunion and all, but could you at least stop slowing the time down around you?

In the end, Leon, Osric, and I were basically forced to watch a play with a friend that recommended it. While we found that play extremely boring, we stayed so that we didn't offend that friend.

The necklace trembled.

"First we need to find a way to calm down our child! He seems really angry at you!"

The red piece of paper chuckled awkwardly.

"I think I did something bad."

The necklace gasped.

"Then apologize to the child!"

The red piece of paper nodded before turning to the pale grey light.

"Child. I am sorry for what I put you through because of my selfish ambitions."

The crying from the pale grey light calmed down, but it was still clearly upset. Noticing this, the necklace let out a soft sigh.

"We can work on repairing our relationship slowly. There will be plenty of time."

Then, the necklace turned to look at me. It observed the rest of the room and came to the realization that there were three people suspended in time.

"Honey, who are those people?"

The tone of the necklace was slightly hostile. As for the red piece of paper, it turned around as though it just noticed our presence.

"Ah, that one was the person that convinced me to resurrect you and the others are his friends."

The necklace gasped.

"You needed someone to convince you?"

The red piece of paper shook.

"If I remember, there seemed to be some sort of reason I didn't want to, but I can't remember."

In response, the necklace hummed.

"Well what are they doing all the way up there? We should greet them!"

The red piece of paper coughed.

"Hold on, I think I am the reason why."

Suddenly, I began falling through the air at a normal rate. Leon finished coughing out a mouthful of blood and shook his head. As for Osric, he collapsed to his knees. The decaying wound on his chest looked quite gruesome.

After taking in a deep breath, I looked down at the ground. My eyes widened while my pupils constricted.

Then, I was on the flat ground.

On Leon's side, a hand of earth burst out of the ground and grabbed him. After a few deep breaths, he looked as good as new. The hand of earth lowered him to the floor slowly.

As for Osric, things weren't so simple. He grit his teeth and resolutely tossed the blue bean we had gotten earlier into his mouth. Then, Osric began peeling at the decayed flesh.

He seemed fine at first, but once he started to pull at the decayed part of his body connected to the flesh, Osric let out audible grunts of pain.

However, he eventually pulled through and the wound in his chest was healed.

Leon first walked up to me.

"Haha, that was quite the experience."

I shrugged my shoulders.

"It really was."

Osric walked over to us, but had a slight hobble. He looked at Leon with a bitter smile.

"You really make removing the flesh of one's own body look easy."

Leon rolled his eyes.

"Of course it's difficult. If it was someone else doing it, all you would do is have to endure the pain. On the other hand, doing it yourself makes you not only expect the pain, but fear it. In a certain sense, you experience it several times over."

As we were talking, the red piece of paper and the necklace floated over. As for the pale grey light, it remained where it was.

The necklace made the sound of clearing one's throat, despite not having one.

"Hello there. My name is Amy, what are yours?"

I scratched the back of my head.

"Jay."

Leon took a peek at me before looking at the necklace.

"My name is Leon. Nice to meet you."

Osric looked slightly displeased.

"My name is Osric."

The red piece of paper curled up slightly.

"Hello there, I am Noah."

The necklace chuckled.

"I would tell you the name of my child, but I never got to come up with one!"

It then began to laugh for a little too long. As for the red piece of paper, it hummed softly.

"How was I brought back to life?"

I shrugged my shoulders.

"I put the piece of paper you wrote on that strange formation you made. Then, some winds picked up, and there you were."

The necklace trembled.

"Ah! You are the one that brought back my husband? Thank you!"

I chuckled.

"Well, he's the one that made it, so you can't give me too much credit."

The red piece of paper sighed.

"But I never had the courage to use it."

I rubbed my chin with my thumb and forefinger.

"May I ask the reason why?"

The red piece of paper shrugged by bending itself strangely.

"I really can't remember. If I knew, I would tell you."

I clicked my tongue.

"That's inconvenient."

Leon held his chin with his hand as he inspected the items.

"It is quite fascinating to see what was once dead come to life."

Osric nodded.

"It truly makes one wonder about the limits of magic."

The red piece of paper laughed awkwardly.

"Um, from what I remember, it wasn't magic."

Osric raised an eyebrow.

"Truly? Then what was it?"

The red piece of paper hummed softly.

"I can't remember."

I furrowed my brows.

"Is it because the blue light within you is gone that you can't remember?"

The red piece of paper turned to me.

"Huh? What are you talking about?"

I tilted my head to the side.

"When you were initially resurrected, you tore yourself into two parts. They seemed to have different wills and I ended up killing the blue one in our fight."

The necklace gasped.

"W-What?!"

I turned to the necklace.

"It was trying to kill you, by the way."

The necklace trembled and didn't say anything more.

The red piece of paper got a bit closer.

"There was.... another me?"