Umeso is no match for Headmistress Onpertet. They try for the briefest of moments to pretend that they don’t know what the woman is talking about, but soon enough they’ve told her virtually every detail that they know about the spirits. They do, however, manage to talk vaguely about Ruem, referring to her as “a spirit I have grown close to,” and fortunately the Headmistress does not press for a name. Though you can’t see her, you imagine Ruem is shaking in terror on Umeso’s shoulder right about now.

But once the Headmistress has had her fill of Umeso, she dismisses them just as she did to Kittpey. Though Umeso looks at you with guilty eyes, they ultimately grab a chair and exit the room without protest. As they close the door, your heart rate starts to spike, only kept in check by your knowledge that both of your friends are waiting right outside. And since the door is unlocked, you can feasibly bolt out of it or they can rush inside, if they think you’ve been gone too long.

A click sounds from behind you, and suddenly your heart is in your throat. You don’t need to ask the Headmistress to know what magic she just cast. She smiles at you like a predator would its prey.

“So. It’s just us now, Ruem,” she says, getting up from her seat. Slinking around her desk, she moves to stand directly in front of you. Leaning back, she smiles, her arms crossed. “Or should I say Biat?”

Your heart stops. It’s hard to breathe. How does… When did… Umeso! They’d shouted your name earlier, when you ran back to Kittpey. Fuck. You look back up at the Headmistress. She is very tall.

“I—I—”

“It’s interesting,” the Headmistresses says, cutting you off. She glances over at her bookshelf and speaks nonchalantly, yet somehow this intimidates you more than if she were maintaining eye contact. “I’ve never seen the identifier ‘Error’ before.” You know she locked the door, but maybe you could force it open anyway? Headmistress Onpertet walks away from you, over to her bookshelf, idly pulling out a random book. “And this business with the souls from lost worlds. Fascinating stuff, like from a fairytale or something.” What kind of fairytales is this woman familiar with? Also, more importantly, why does her office not have any windows?? She flips through a few pages of the book, then snaps it closed, placing it back on the bookshelf. “And then there’s the name thing, right? One friend calls you Ruem, the other calls you Biat. Now I confess, I don’t know the name of every single student on my campus. But I am familiar with the name Ruem Phasos. And I haven’t heard of any Biats currently attending.” She stalks back over to lean on her desk again, right in front of you. There’s a glint in both her eyes. “It’s a cute name, Biat. Do you know the meaning of it?” She pauses. You don’t move. You scarcely breathe. She smiles. “‘Wandering spirit.’ Simply fascinating.”

Your mouth is so dry. When was the last time you had a sip of water? “I—I… had heard that, yeah.” Her smile is wide. Almost unnaturally so.

“So, little wandering spirit. I’ve put together the border of this puzzle, but I’m missing most of the middle pieces. Care to help me out?” It’s a question that you think she’s only accepting one answer to.

“Um… what do you want to know, exactly?”

Her expression turns neutral, businesslike. “Where are you from?”

“Another world.” She cocks an eyebrow. “…We called it Earth. I… died. There was a lot of light? I can’t really remember.”

“How did you end up here?”

“I’m not sure? I was… I don’t know what I was, for a while. There was light, when I died, then darkness… Then I woke up in Ruem’s body.” You pause, unsure if you should rat on Ruem. But you know the Headmistress will ask, and what else can really be done to punish the girl anyway? She already has no body and almost got permanently devoured by a demon boar. “S—she’d been astral projecting, apparently?”

“Stupid girl,” the Headmistress says, rolling her eyes. “Do you know where she is now?”

Hoping this won’t bite your friend in the ass, you say, “With Umeso, usually? She… that creature sucked her up, before. But when… but after it died, she got out.”

The Headmistress leans forward. “That monster. What was it?”

“I don’t know.” Her eyes narrow. “Really, I don’t!! Nothing like that existed on my world. Not outside of fiction, anyway.”

“Fine,” she says, clearly dissatisfied. “If you can’t explain the monster you fought, then explain the one you became.”

Though being described as a monster rubs you the wrong way, you feel like now isn’t the time to push the issue. But how much do you tell her? How little will she let you say? You’d prefer not to mention Ellemenie, so how do you phra—

Fingers snap, drawing you out of your own head. “Stop trying to think up a bullshit story to sell me. Tell me exactly what happened and how.” The ‘or else’ she leaves implied, but most definitely felt.

Except… what can she actually do to you? And what are you willing to suffer if it protects Ellemenie?

Sitting up in your chair, you manage to force out the words, “W—what if I don’t?”

Headmistress Onpertet’s eyebrows shoot up for half a second before they drop dangerously low. Practically snarling, she says, “Then I’ll do exactly what Ms. Slatterald is afraid I’ll do, and there won’t be a thing she or you can do to stop it.”

Hyperventilating, you try your hardest to maintain a stare, hoping it comes off as defiant. “I—I—I… T—then you’ll j—just have to do it, b—because I’m not saying a th—thing.”

The two of you stare at each other for what feels like eons. Your head feels light, feels dizzy, even, as a sense of vertigo threatens to take hold. At any moment now you might just pass out. Maybe then you could see Ellemenie again, at least.

Finally, the Headmistress breaks eye contact, laughs once to herself, then looks back at you. Her eyes are alight, her expression similar to the one she displayed for Kittpey not long ago. “You’re tougher than I thought, girl. Guess I should’ve expected that, since you killed a giant monster and all.” Girl? Well, yes, why would she assume otherwise? You’ve only ever told Umeso and Ruem that you’re a boy, afterall. The Headmistress has managed to figure out much, much more than you would like, but at least she doesn’t know this one thing. Though… do you want to keep this secret? Shouldn’t you want her to recognize you’re a boy? In all the anime you’ve watched, boys are always eager to make it clear they’re not in the right body and that they hate it. Yet you… haven’t done that. Is something wrong with you, maybe? You close your eyes. That’s something to unpack later. Or maybe never.

Slinking away from you, the Headmistress heads back to the other side of her desk, where she lays in her plush chair like a cat. Every ounce of intimidation in her is gone, replaced by a laid-back confidence that feels more real than any of her previous personas. “Look, I’ll level with you, Biat. I’d love for you to tell me every tiny, itty bitty detail you know about what just happened. Information is power. But all I really need to know is two things. One: you on our side?”

You blink. “Your side?”

“Our side. Idrestrians.” She gestures around her. “The school.” Crossing her arms, she says, “More to the point: not on the side of whatever sent that monster.”

Sent it? That’s… not something you’d considered. “You think something sent it?”

“You don’t? Now answer the question.”

Well you’re certainly not in favor of whoever would send a giant demon pig to almost kill you and your friends. But are you on the side of this particular woman? You’re reasonably sure she doesn’t want anything bad to happen to your friends. Even if only because it would make her look bad. “Well, yeah. I mean, I killed that thing, didn’t I?”

She beams. “You sure did! Which brings me to question two: can you do it again?”

That throws you for a loop. Does she really expect that you’ll need to?? More importantly, you don’t know what happened to Ellemenie, so you really can’t have a definite answer to this question right now. But you aren’t going to tell this woman about Ellemenie, and you know what answer the Headmistress wants to hear, so…

“Maybe?”

Her smile grows ever wider. “Alright.” Then she sits back up, gesturing at you with an open hand. “Get that sorted out so that it’s a ‘yes,’ then get back to me, alright?” She waves. “Dismissed.”

You sit in silence for a moment, processing what just happened. “Wait, that’s it?”

Cocking her head, she says, “Unless you want to give me more details, then yes.”

But… but…?? “But what about… like, I mean, I’m technically stealing the body of one of your students, right?”

She laughs. “Doesn’t sound like you did it on purpose. And anyway, that’s Ruem’s problem, not mine. She made her mess, it’s up to you and her to work it out.” There’s a glint in her eye as she says, “Besides, I don’t think Ruem could have killed whatever that thing was. So maybe commandeering that body for a while is a blessing in disguise, hm?”

You… have no response to that. Slowly, you rise from your seat. The Headmistress’ wrist flicks and you hear a clicking sound behind you. She really is just… letting this be over? Tentatively, you move toward the door. She stares at you with a smirk. Hand closing around the door handle, you wrench it open, and…

~~~

Hours later, you lie in your… in Ruem’s bed, glad that the dorm building was not damaged in today’s destruction, and glad to be able to rest. Beneath the covers, you tentatively touch the body that isn’t yours, feeling the softness of this form. What had you felt like when you were with Ellemenie? You’d been so caught up in the moment, you hadn’t really processed the feeling. Your skin had been… different. That’s for sure. Tougher, maybe?

With a small sigh, you turn on your side and reflect on the last few hours. Kittpey and Umeso had both been waiting right outside the office when you exited, and had both been visibly relieved to see you. After dealing with a great deal of hugging and apologizing (the former mostly from Kittpey and the latter mostly from Umeso), the three of you plus an invisible Ruem had scurried down the stairs to rejoin the student body.

Rejoining that body proved to be more difficult than anticipated, though. All eyes were on the three of you, and the crowd chatter immediately turned unabashedly to your discussion. Fortunately, the school faculty soon began directing students. They urged those who suffered minor wounds and who had not yet been examined by Professor Tawnee to report to her immediately. They also requested that any students proficient in magic that could aid in fixing damaged buildings and clearing out debris to report to Professor Jeckster outside. Everyone else was encouraged to please check on and attend to their loved ones and to clear out of the way of those doing the mending, fixing and cleaning.

Though he hardly counts as a loved one, you decided to check in on Radestro. Since none of your friends were interested in leaving your side, you all went, and mercifully the interaction was short. Radestro was conscious, but hardly back to his usual self, far more muted and somber than ever before. He thanked you and Kittpey for helping him, but said he’d really rather be alone right now, and you weren’t about to argue.

So on your way toward the dorms, you’d begun to hope you could just go to your bed without having to talk about anything. Kittpey apparently had other ideas.

“Ruem. What… what was all that?” she said, as you all walked down the rubble-strewn path to the dorm building.

Fuck. “Well, um… there was a huge monster that came out of nowhere, and then I somehow got the power to defeat it, and… did that?” You paused, not looking at her but feeling sure that you hadn’t given her enough information to satisfy. “I don’t really know how the power thing happened? I just… woke up like that.”

“But before that,” she said, flapping her hand. “Before it happened. Who told you to run away?”

Dammit. In all the chaos you’d forgotten. Of course that was suspicious. But… was there even a point in lying anymore? Well, about the Ruem thing, definitely, but about this? “I mean… I already told you before, didn’t I?”

She narrowed her eyes. “What do you… that dream girl bullshit? You’re telling me that wasn’t a lie?”

“Dream girl?” Umeso said, looking back and forth between us. Right… you’d never told them. Hadn’t seemed like there was a reason to, really.

“It wasn’t a lie, and yes, I’ve been seeing this girl in my dreams every time I go to sleep.” Umeso looked baffled, and maybe a little hurt. “I didn’t think there was a reason to tell you, Umeso, I’m sorry…”

Kittpey glared, arms crossed. “So you two. You’re, like, friends now?”

You hadn’t really considered what your relationship status with Ellemenie was, but…. “I think so? I haven’t actually asked her.”

“Her? I was talking about Umeso.”

“Oh. Oh!” You looked to Umeso, who looked back, seemingly also wanting an answer. “Well, yeah, definitely.” Umeso looked away, hiding a smile.

Kittpey looked between the two of you, seemingly unsure who to focus her ire upon. “How the fuck did that happen? I thought they called you a perv or something.” She flicked a hand at Umeso. “Also, they’re a nerd.”

“I told you that wasn’t them!!” you practically shouted. Kittpey shrugged. With a deep sigh, you said, “And can I not be friends with nerds?”

Kittpey stared at me like I’d said something absurd. “According to you, before now? No.” She looked away, shaking her head. “Which given those comics you read, has always seemed hypocritical.” Umeso stifled a laugh, probably due to a reaction from a certain invisible ball that you were unable to hear. “But okay, so you’re friends with Umeso now and there’s a girl in your dreams that warned you about a giant monster attacking, and also you can turn into some absurd black and white super woman thing? Is that everything?”

For the briefest of moments you considered mentioning that your name is Biat and Ruem is a floating orb, but you pushed the thought away. Kittpey was dealing with enough new information, afterall, and really, so were you. It was fine to just… save that one for later, right? It wasn’t that you were still terrified that the truth would make her hate you… no, certainly it wasn’t that.

Soon afterward you reached the dorms, and were able to cut Kittpey’s questions off by attesting to your very real fatigue. You promised to tell her all you could tomorrow, then bid her and Umeso farewell.

And now you’re in your dorm, trying to fall asleep and failing, despite how exhausted you are. Worry pools in your gut, despite your efforts to ignore it. You want to check on Ellemenie so badly, and yet that very anxiousness refuses to let you fall asleep. If you hit yourself in the head really hard, that would do it, right? It’s been proven already. But also, you should probably not give yourself — and also eventually Ruem — brain damage. Uuuuggghhhh just fall asleep already just fall asleep already, just fall asleep!!

Two hours later, you fall asleep.

~~~

Before you see Ellemenie, you notice that you are no longer hovering above the room that you’ve found her in every time before now. No, this is very clearly a dungeon — dark, damp, chains hanging from the walls… And lying on the dirty floor, metal clamped around her ankle and head held low, is Ellemenie. Your stomach lurches.

Dammit, you’re also far away from her again. The two of you haven’t been this far apart since you told her your name. And of course you can’t move from where you are, and she isn’t looking in your direction, so there’s little you can do but sit there helplessly. Or… float, as it were.

So you do. You float, and you float, and you float. You’re fairly certain that Ellemenie is asleep, given how little she moves. It doesn’t exactly make the waiting more stimulating. But finally, after what feels like hours, she stirs. Her head tilts slowly up, and suddenly you are right there next to her, sitting on the dank dungeon floor. You can’t actually feel that floor, but you certainly feel something as you stare at her… pain in your heart, mostly.

Her clothes are torn, her hair frazzled. She’s covered in cuts and bruises, and most notably… there’s her face. Three long, fresh marks have been scratched across the center of her face, over her eyes, across her nose, and even cutting a little into her upper lip. The flesh still looks raw, like it’s only barely healed, and you feel certain that this wound will leave a scar.

Yet still, as she looks at you, she smiles. It’s softer than usual, pained, but it’s there. Her vibrant eyes stare just a little beneath your own as tears leak out the corners. She reaches a shaky hand out to touch you, and of course you reach out to touch her too, because how could you not. Her warm palm presses against yours as the two of you entwine your fingers.

“You’re back,” she says, out loud, with her mouth. And you hear it!! Her voice is rough and cracked, lower than you expected but no less beautiful.

“O—of course I—” Your voice falters, as you realize that sound isn’t something you’ve ever heard before. The voice that left your lips was not the one you had on Earth, and it’s not the voice you hear when you talk in Ruem’s body (which is the same voice you hear when Ruem the orb speaks). No, this voice is new, and it’s kind of husky and low. Not completely unlike Ellemenie’s, actually, but it’s still unmistakably feminine. How… who…?

Clearly the distress and confusion roiling within you is evident on your face, because Ellemenie is leaning in, concerned. She opens her gorgeous full lips to speak, but you talk first.

“What… what do I look like right now?”

She blinks, pulling back slightly and giving your body a once-over. “Like you always have. Like we looked when we merged, besides the eyes, and skin, and dress.” You’re wearing a dress!? You try to stare down at yourself, but it’s like looking downward in a first-person videogame — there’s nothing there. Even your arm, with the fingers gripping Ellemenie’s… you know it’s there, and you can see something… but you don’t perceive it. Not like you do her. It’s… disorienting, if you try to focus on it. “Your eyes are blue and your skin is light brown. You’re not like the Idrestians. You’re like me. Whatever you’d call that.”

Like her? But not like your old self. How? And does she really not know the word, despite clearly being… “Human?”

She cocks her head to the side. “Human.” She grins. “I like that.”

Pulling your mind away from yourself, you focus on what’s more important: the girl in front of you. “Ellemenie, what happened? What did they do to you?”

She looks away, down at the ground. “They realized what was happening.” Her fists clench. “That I was helping you stop them.”

“They?? Who is—”

Ellemenie’s head snaps to the side, as a sound reverberates through the dingy room: a door being thrown open and slapping against the wall. Wait, you can hear it too! You can hear the stuff around her now? Oh shit, and as someone struts forward, you’re able to see them, too! A short, squat person wearing rags and a cocky, toothy grin approaches. That smile along with the person’s green skin and long pointed ears brings one thing to your mind: the videogame you’d been playing before your world came to an end. The videogame where you’d been killing creatures that looked a lot like this one, creatures the game called goblins.

“Hey, bitch! Gotcha some grub!” The goblin(?) tosses the tray they’d been holding to the ground. Some gray mush slides around and nearly plops to the ground, but just barely manages to stay on the tray. Ellemenie stares at the food(?), not bothering to hide her displeasure. The person that brought the tray puts hands on their hips and cocks an eyebrow. “Well, ain’tcha gonna say thank you?”

Ellemenie’s eyes slowly slide over to the other person. “Thank you for scarring my face, Eeozi. So very kind of you.”

Eeozi throws their hands up in the air. “Aw, com’on! How else was I supposed ta get you outta whatever trance thing you were stuck in? ‘Specially quick-like?”

“Did it have to be quick-like?”

“That’s what the boss ordered!” they say, rolling their eyes. “And you know I’m a tough gal, but I ain’t stupid. Boss says jump, I say how hi, blah-da-blahdda.” She grins, showing off her sharp teeth again. “‘Sides, you were fuckin’ up his plans. What’d you expect, pumpkin’?”

Ellemenie looks down at the tray, voice like steel. “A modicum more kindness, given how much I’ve granted you.”

The other girl has the decency to look a little meek. “Elle, look, I…” She ruffles her shaggy, unkempt black hair. Then she reaches a hand out toward Ellemenie’s shoulder. “I wan—” She freezes, eyes wide, and staring directly at… you. Oh, shit.

Ellemenie yanks her hand away and stares at you, squinting her eyes as though that will make you disintegrate quicker. The last words you hear as consciousness takes you are, “Who the fuck was that!?”

Exceedingly

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