OnAHiatus
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(AFKW) PROLOGUE II
🕑 Added 2025-09-08 08:10:54 +0000 UTCElsewhere—before the crash, before the body drew breath again—another soul drifted in silence.
Shemira had thought it would end differently. She had spoken the words, the final simple, short command, and the veil of death had thinned. At last, the separation would end. At last, she would see them again: Niru, her beloved husband, and Daimon, her precious son. The ones she had mourned for with every hollow breath in this uncaring world. The ones she needed more than anything.
Finally, she would find the happiness she never thought she’d feel again.
But something went wrong.
Instead of reunion, she was torn away. The cold light that beckoned her forward collapsed into darkness, and the pull of something vast and foreign dragged her into a warmth not her own. She resisted of course, struggling and clawing at the void around her, fighting to hold onto that light, to the hope she had been promised. Her cries rang out, but they were smothered in silence, unheard even by herself.
And then, an impact.
Shemira collided with a desperate soul already half-faded, clinging to life by threads too thin to hold. She merged with it, ephemeral pain lancing through both as memories collided: a husband named Danny, a daughter named Taylor, and the crushing regret of leaving them behind so soon.
The grief was familiar in a way. Far, far too familiar.
The dying woman desperately wanted to stay, to not abandon her family. Shemira desperately wanted to be reunited with her family, to never be alone again. Two needs, two desperations, twined together until they could no longer be separated.
When the body gasped its next breath, it was no longer just Annette Rose Hebert. Nor was it only Shemira, widow of the renowned healer, Niru. It was something in between, something that wore a human face, but was unspeakably horrid and forsaken in its heart.
She opened her eyes to the hospital ceiling, Danny’s tear-streaked face leaning over her, and Taylor’s tiny hand clutching hers.
“My love?” Danny whispered, voice cracking.
She—Shemira, Annette, both and neither—smiled through lips that felt strange and familiar all at once. And she spoke the only words that fit, the only ones that bridged the gulf between lives.
“I’m here.”
And in a sense, she was.
But deep inside, the part that had once been Shemira knew the truth: the reunion she had longed for had been denied. The grief had not lifted, so the ache remained. And though she would love this child, though she would play the role this world demanded of her, a voice whispered bitterly from her heart that this life—this family—would never truly be hers.
It was a second chance stolen, not given. And one she didn't want.
Comments
OnAHiatus
That might be Shemira’s goal. I originally had no plans for this story, hence why the next chapter is still the prologue, but this is honestly a good idea. Shemira was denied her happiness, so she will try to bring her happiness to her by mastering more than her powers. Edit: her powers has to do with souls, so it isn't a reach to say that further experimentation might make it possible for her to bring souls across worlds. Especially since she was able to come to BB due to passing the veil in the first place, and some shenanigans from Annette
Miguel Garcia
Be a nice twist if Danny is Nuri, just his reincarnation. Ditto for Annette/Shemira. So the spell did bring them back together, she just wasn’t specific enough
OnAHiatus
Real. I don't know why they had some usually shitty backstory
Dragonin
Oof. I forgot how messed up some of the backstories were in that game, if taken seriously. Which is hard to do for a game meant to be AFK
