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Chapter 21: Myself and I
🕑 Added 2024-08-05 13:30:03 +0000 UTCSo that’s where the déjà vu’s came from, this is Feyt’s village!!
I was so focused on how to survive in my new lives that I hadn’t even considered meeting myselves, and now that I did, what should I do?!
How did this even happen?! Coincidence? Fate? Luck? Destiny?
No matter what the reason, the truth was laid bare before both pairs of my eyes.
In front of me stood an elegant girl with a mature demeanor, a face of absolute strictness and coldness.
At the same time, in front of me was a boy whose gentle face carried a strong sense of determination.
And both of them were me.
My gazes were locked on one another and I couldn’t look away. I still couldn’t believe that I was standing in front of myself.
I reached out, trying to touch myselves in the cheek to check once again.
Damn, I’m squishy.
I could sense myself being touched by myself, it was a weirdly relaxing sensation and I couldn’t stop prodding my own cheeks.
Interesting, so this is… me…
But then—
“Carine?” Father popped out of the crowd.
““Y-Yes?!”” Both of my bodies answered in a panic, hiding my hands behind my back.
“Sorry, I got pulled into one of the stalls and–” Father raised his eyebrows and looked at Feyt. “And you are?”
Oh no, what do I do?!
Should I explain to Father that Feyt is me? No, I would be seen as a crackhead!
“I-it’s nothing, Father,” I said as Carine. “I just bumped into him, that is all.”
“Hmm, is that so?” Father stroked his chin. “You two seem flustered, did something happen in the short time I was gone?”
“U-Uhm… well…”
I couldn’t think of a good reason. This was the first time I had met myselves, and for it to happen so abruptly too…
As I was storming my brain for any good excuses, Feyt’s ears picked up something.
I heard two very distinct voices, one rough, the other nasally high-pitched. They were the only ones not haggling for prices or promoting their wares, and they got my attention when I heard a certain phrase.
“Carine Sareid… That’s the kid? She looks the part alright,” I heard the man scratching his head.
“Aight’, so… we just gotta nab her and bring her back to the base?”
“Yep, is everything ready?”
“The horses are ready, we’ll grab her when the time’s right.”
Wait, wait, wait, WHAT?!
Were those two dudes discussing a kidnapping plan in broad daylight?! As Feyt, I turned my head around to look for the sources of those voices but couldn’t. I only knew that they were quite a distance away behind me.
No, wait, I had Carine’s eyes! I quickly turned around as Carine and sure enough, in the distance, two men dressed suspiciously were watching us from the rooftops.
“Oi, she’s looking straight at us, ain’t she?” One of them whispered to each other.
“Shit– She might have a Talent or something! Go! Do it!”
The two men jumped down and disappeared behind the buildings.
“Carine? What’s wrong?” Father crouched down to my eye level. “You look worried.” Father turned his eyes to the other me. “And you too?”
I couldn’t waste any time, they were already rushing towards us, I could hear their footsteps approaching at a rapid pace.
“Father! There are kidnappers out to get us!”
“Kidnappers? Carine, you’re being ridiculous, why would they–”
Just as Father was about to finish his sentence, he pulled his sword out and instantly turned 180 degrees, blocking an attack with his sword.
A mysterious hooded man, holding his sword in a backhand style, was stopped in his tracks easily by Father. His eyes narrowed in surprise at Father’s swift reaction.
“You’ve picked the wrong target,” Father said calmly, holding back the attacker’s blade with ease. “A reverse grip? You’re either a master or an idiot. I’m guessing the latter.”
“W-W-Who are you?!” The mysterious man said, his hands trembling as his blade was locked with Father’s.
The crowd around us shrieked and escaped at the sudden sight of two men clashing swords. They ran everywhere, knocking over stalls and scattering various vegetables and fruit all over the ground.
With practiced ease, Father pushed the mysterious man back and launched his assault, filled with sword techniques from my family’s style. The mysterious man narrowly dodged each strike, escaping by a hair's breadth every time.
Was Father holding back? He was trying to capture him alive for questioning, I suppose.
Father’s movements were a sight to behold. Each swing of his blade was precise, always going the way he wanted it to. The mysterious man was clearly outmatched, his not-so-practical backhanded style doing little to defend against Father’s techniques.
“Stay back, Carine! I’ll handle this!”
The mysterious man, now desperate, reached into his cloak and pulled out a small, hidden blade. Father’s eyes narrowed and he easily deflected the new weapon, knocking it out of the man's hand.
“You think that’ll work?” Father sneered. “You’re way out of your league.”
But just as Father was about to deliver the final blow, a tiny dart whizzed through the air, I didn’t have time to warn him, yet Father parried it away with his sword without even glancing at it.
The dart crashed onto the ground with a small thud.
“There’s no need to play dirty.” Father pointed his sword towards the roof of one of the houses. “No matter where you attack from, my [Spatial Awareness] can detect it easily!”
I heard a man above clicking his tongue in frustration. “Didn’t think the father would be tough to deal with. Yo!” he addressed his colleague. “Do your thing!”
“Ugh, fine! I’ll have to waste a ton of darts for this.”
Hearing that, I immediately warned him.
“Father! They’re about to throw tons of darts! Run!!”
“Hm?” Father’s eyes widened as he stared at me, more specifically, Feyt. “Did you just call me Father, kid?”
Ah shi– Wrong mouth!!
Suddenly, a barrage of darts shot toward Father from two directions. Father’s sword danced through the air, deflecting each dart with incredible precision.
With his precision, agility, and Talent, he was practically untouchable by those darts.
“You two, stay back! We’ll wait until the gate guards arrive!!”
Both of me nodded.
Father kept easily parrying all the darts being thrown at him, I could hear the people on the roofs getting frustrated.
“Oi! We’re runnin’ out of darts!”
“Don’t blame me, you said this was a good plan!!”
But how would Father fight back? He didn’t have any ranged option and he had to keep a constant eye on us.
Is there something we could do?
I brainstormed a few ideas but none seemed to stick. Waiting for help seemed like the only option for us.
I turned around to see how Father was doing. He was still effortlessly cutting down every single dart that was thrown at him. I worried he might get tired if things kept at this pace.
But then, through Carine’s eyes, I saw that one of the things flying between the constant barrage of darts wasn’t a dart at all, but a vial containing bright yellow powder.
Seeing Father parrying the darts with the edge of his swords, I quickly warned him, using Carine’s voice this time.
“Father! There’s a vial–!!”
But I was too late. Father struck the vial believing it to be another dart, the contents of which spilled directly on his face.
Father coughed violently and was brought to his knees as the paralyzing agent took effect.
“Father!” I screamed, rushing towards him.
Before I could reach him, a strong hand grabbed both of my bodies’ arms, pulling us back. Another man, dressed similarly to the first, had appeared out of nowhere. We were both dragged towards the edge of the market.
“Let go of me!” I shouted as Feyt, but the man’s grip was iron-tight.
The crowd parted as two horses galloped through, knocking over stalls and sending people scattering. The men threw us onto the horses like baggage, blindfolded and gagged us, and rushed us out of the village.
“C-Carine–!!” I heard Father’s raspy voice fading away, consumed by the gallops of the horses.
“Hel– Mmmgghh!!” I tried calling out for help, but we were gagged before I could even shout.
Dammit! Is this the end for me?!
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Sorry for the sudden rewrite! I felt like the previous version introduced a fight that would probably best be saved for later.
