Welcome to Gaia! ::

Faustite had called being a half youma being the worst parts of both. Ethe pondered that thought. They knew Faustite didn’t believe that. They had taught them to have pride in being a youma. That meant there was pride in being half, too, right? Ethe was fully youma. Ethe was youma.

In their heart, they knew what that meant. But they could not put it into words. What did it mean to be youma? What was it that made a youma different than a human? How were they now different from what they were before? Could such a difference be described? Or could it only be felt?

They had discovered that they had been made — created. Something had gone wrong when their starseed was flooded with Chaos. Something that they were supposed to be, they weren’t now. Whatever the man had wanted them to be, they had not turned out that way. And, so, the label ‘bad’ had been placed on them. They had thought that they had been made wrong. Maybe so. But they were not wrong.

Ethe was not at fault for who they were.

Metallia had made them. Or the curse put on Metallia had. But just like they were youma no matter how they were created, they were Metallia’s, curse or otherwise.

Speaking of Metallia’s curse, Earth might as well have been the Rift. It was so foggy when Ethe summoned themselves there that they at first thought that their attempt at teleportation had failed. This was not as Earth had been described to them.

Perhaps their first trip to Earth would not be so foreign after all…


✧

Ethe prowled about the city and its mists for a time. For every street they went down, there was a strange pull. It was as if they were looking for something. Something magnetic and pulsing. Something that called to them. But they did not know what. Only that their paws took them to strange streets and alleyways that they felt like they somehow knew but not why.

They did not know that thing that called in the night was memory.

Ethe found themselves walking on the same street, in the same alleyway that they were created, as if drawn to it like a beacon.

It really was quite odd. The music venue was still there. But there was no people there today. The posters were there, too. But somehow they looked tattered and old. They no name for this place, either. They no longer knew the name of the club they had last been as a human.

All Ethe knew was that this was ‘their place from the before times’.

There was nothing else in that memory to take back.

But, no matter. There was an aura they sensed close by. It was senshi. This they knew.

“We can sense you. What are you doing in Ethe’s place?”


✧

“We are not a ‘two-headed wolf thing’. We are youma.”

The right head spoke rather matter-of-factly as if trying to educate her on what a youma was. The left head, however, spoke with clear offense at what the senshi said.

“And we do have horns. They are just small.”

What an insolent little welp! Calling them a ‘thing’. And acting as if their horns were nothing. Ethe would show them their folly.

“And Ethe is not lost either. We are exactly where we belong. You are the one who is trespassing.”

As the right mouth spoke, the left launched an attack.


✧

Ethe was surprised that the senshi turned around to face them, with a fire attack no less!

“Two can play your game, sweetheart!” The left head laughed manically.

Now this was getting fun! Their fur was singed from her attack. In fact, the fire seemed to be more effective than their own…

This time, the right head launched its attack — returning fire with fire.


✧

Ethe tried to dodge her fire, but got a foot in the face for their efforts.

“Oww. That hurt!” The left head howled. Stupid senshi and their heels!

“We’ll make sure you can’t hide behind your fire tricks.”

Then they tried to bite down with their right head, but the layers of yet another fire dance began to blind them.


✧

“Wait. That’s no fair! You can’t just…”

But the senshi was faster than Ethe. No fair! They were just starting to enjoy the chase, too.

“Aw. We wanted to see her little fire trick again.” Ethe whined as they hanged their heads just to notice that their fur was singed. “We guess we did see a good bit of it.”


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