There was a single hard, harsh clunk of a bell… and Mrs. White slowly approached from a rustle in a bush, squeaking always a gentler meow than Black's.

With small beady eyes that seemed to see nothing, she raised her paws over and against my knees, tentatively sniffing the air around me, before again, she meowed once more - hello.

My fingers lightly stroke the fluffy whites of her mane, greeting back. By now, I've gotten used to how cold she felt to the touch beneath the fur. I also noticed with my every visit, it was always the same bush she would wander out from.

A small makeshift hut of short leaves and thin twigs, that was her home. Has it always been, I wonder? When I'd visit alone on the bench, when the inseparable pair of Black and White came over to lift my spirits, was this where they'd always been waiting?

When I wasn't here, they were here, doing whatever it is cats do in a pair, playing with one another, grooming each other, sleeping together.

It seems that she's been sleeping alone now for quite some time, hasn't she?

Maybe one of these days, I should bring Mr. Black over for a little courtesy visit. That bush was probably feeling a bit too big and empty without another to complete the pair whole.

A louder rustler from an even bigger bush, and out from looming shadowed trees illuminated dimly by Ria's soft glow, emerged a dark shade stark in a familiar violet hue.

Sera was the same as she's always been. The flutter of her purple hood and cloak drifting amongst the gentle waltz of the grass always such a mystical sight, the sway of her veil in the cold winds of a moonless night, and the glow of her golden eyes so bright as if illuminating its own light through her own life itself.

When it came to exuding an air otherworldly, Sera had everyone else - Ash, Irene, the Matriarchs, hell even Ria herself - beaten by a long, wide margin that can't possibly be matched.

Upon turning her small red nose towards her, Mrs. White planted her paws to the dirt and scurried herself deep in the narrow gap in Sera's cloak where she stayed and never peeked again.

"I guess she's grown pretty fond of you, hasn't she?" I remarked, looking up at her looming emotionless gaze above. "You got your own name for her yet? Or are you sticking with mine?"

Days spent without being in her continuous presence had me briefly completely forgetting she couldn't speak, and so I sat there for a second or two staring up at her like the idiot I was waiting for her to say something.

Then I hear her give a small noncommittal grunt, and inside my mind, I went, "Oh, I'm stupid."

In a hurry to waive and wave away my foolishness, I shifted topics to the main topic at hand, "So what did you want to talk about anyway?" I began to stand, still speaking as I did, "How do we even talk about it anyway? Shake and nod, again? Or do we - ?"

Before I could finish rising to my feet or even speak, her hand suddenly springing outstretched in front of me froze my body in a hunched and very awkward position. Then with a single gesture slowly waving down, I was again with my palms to the earth, and my legs crossed against one another.

The subtle nod of her head meant I had interpreted her sign correctly. She wanted me sitting for this.

Why does she want me sitting for this?

I got my answer the moment her hand fell limp to her side… as I threw my head against the silent crunch of grass and hard dirt.

Pain.

Just pain, shooting from all across my body.

I just couldn't… the pain! What? What was this! I couldn't… it was just…! It's everywhere, it's hurting, I can't - I can't breathe - it won't stop!

In my chest, I felt it.

In my hands, I clenched it.

In my head, I thought of nothing but it.

Like a dull, dented serrated edge slicing, stabbing, and burrowing deep across every inch of me, the pain continued to flare and ripple. It was a sensation utterly unbearable, utterly indescribable… and yet, as the pain surged potent evermore, I remembered, it was a sensation all too utterly familiar.

From the way my muscles froze stiff and rigid, to the way my jaw was forcefully, painfully trying to wedge itself open.

I knew this pain.

Through narrowed sights blurred by welling tears, I forced myself to look ahead of me.

The harsh yellow splotch in the corner has to be Ria… and the pair of golden rims right above me… Sera… looking down at me.

My panic, the pain irrational, wanted me thinking heavily in the lines of betrayal - because this pain, this agony, she must want me dead, she was going to kill me!

Only she wasn't. I knew at that instance, she wasn't trying to kill me - the subtle nod of her head, another gesture to interpret.

Without waiting another second, without thinking another second, I placed my whole trust in her… and submitted myself to the pain overwhelming, and the very moment that I did, I felt my mouth flung wide open.

"I want to renegotiate. I want to make a new one. We'll make a new one," I heard my voice speak, uttering words that clearly weren't my own, so calmly, so stoically, drastically juxtaposing the pain scrunching my face tight. "I don't want our old deal anymore. Get rid of it. I don't want it. We'll make a new one."

Gradually, surge by surge in seconds that felt eternal, the pulsating pain lessened, subsided, like violent crashing waves coming to a settle. It was somewhat bearable now, manageable.

"Eshwlyn trusts you. She says you're kind. She says you're not a bad Master like other bad Masters. Is that true, I think so. Do I believe it, I think so. I watched you, so I think so. Do I trust you?" I paused here, only for a moment. "I want to think so."

All the while, Sera's stagnant, unblinking gaze kept staring deep into my squinting eyes.

"I will help you wake up your friend. Your friend is important to you. Friends are important," I continued to say, so stiff, so rigid, as if I was a doll with its string being pulled. "I will help you now. Forget about our old deal. We won't do our old deal. I will help you wake her up. Then you'll trust me too. We'll make a new deal."

What are these words I'm hearing? Was this how she would talk if she was capable of speaking in the first place? With barely any intonation, barely any weight, speaking in blanket statements like she was just stating outright facts.

This wasn't a conversation.

But then again, when the hell has she's ever had a proper one before, if ever at all?

Slowly, with great effort, I wrench control of my muscles again, straining, shaping my lips, this time speaking with a voice brimming heavy with emotion, "What… do… you want… Sera?"

At that, those golden orbs above me gleamed brighter, wider. I think she wasn't expecting me to suddenly take over the reins. Luckily, this wasn't my first rodeo speaking words that weren't mine.

My lips moved again, once more unprompted by my will, "No. I will help you first. You trust me first. We wake your friend up first. When you wake up, we'll talk again. When you wake up, your friend will wake up, you'll trust me, we will make a new deal after."

The pain had subsided enough, that after a bit of struggle, wincing and grunting, I could raise my body sitting, slouching upright. I kept my eyes tethered to hers, trying to find out if I could see anything that could indicate what the hell she was thinking.

"I prepared magic for tonight. I've saved up for a few days. I will use it all now to help you wake your friend. I will force you through. Mother Enstar won't be able to stop you this time. Your friend won't stop you this time. You will see many memories. All at once, maybe. I don't know, maybe not. You will see. I will not. And you will see your friend again. Tell her to wake up."

There was so much to take in there, I didn't even know which statement to process first, or which questions I should ask first… if I could even manage to. I tried to speak again, force myself… but this time, the attempt proved too much and I toppled backward again, laying sprawled again, staring at those eyes above me again.

Suddenly, I was getting weaker, feebler… drowsier. My eyes were drooping, I tried speaking again, only managing to whimper out a single noise, a single word, "I…" I tried again, another word. "Trust…"

"Sleep. Hurry," Sera said, I said to myself, as my eyelids fluttered to a close.. "Or Mother Enstar will be angry."

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by lotustale.com