-Estelle-
Another day, another night.
Another week, another month.
Another year, another decade.
Another century, another millennium.
That was how life passed for me, without Nyx. My Fated One, whom I had met within the divine domain.
As the Goddess of Stability, Neurodivergence, and the Forest, she was very important to the world as a whole, not just me.
I was the Goddess of Family, Love, and, secretly, Breasts. That last one was kind of embarrassing, but I’d had it for so long that it didn’t matter.
My other two did nothing when the only person I loved and one of the two people I considered family was gone.
“Stella!” Someone shouted, bursting into my home. I lifted my head just enough to look over at my sister, Ophelia. She was the Goddess of Home, Souls, and Revenge.
“What do you want?” I asked her, flopping back onto my fluffy bed.
“I think I found her,” My sister replied in a solemn tone. Immediately, I was up, a spark in my eyes.
“How? Where? What happened?” I demanded.
“Calm down, calm down,” Ophelia said, stroking my hair gently. My tall, fluffy ears flicked back as her touch stopped me from freaking out. “I found her soul, but there’s something wrong,” She said after I was calm.
Almost immediately, I began to freak out again. Something was wrong? What happened to her!?
“I can’t let you see her if you freak out, Stella,” My sister told me softly. “Everything will be alright. We’ll find a solution.”
After another minute or two, my breathing was slow and stable, and my mind was calm. Well, as calm as it could get.
Ophelia teleported with me out of my domain and into hers, where she hurried over to a divine contraption she had created that held souls.
Using my magic sight, I could see the many souls within the device, but one of them stood out to me.
One soul had almost the exact same aura as Nyx. It had a tiny little bit that was just a little different.
Ophelia reached into the device with her magic and extracted the soul. Now that it was outside the containment, I could tell that it was almost broken.
“I’m going to warn you now,” She said. “She’s gone through some horrible stuff. Her soul is almost at the point of falling apart. And she might not recognize you right away.” I nodded.
Then she released the soul, and it reacted almost instantaneously. A burst of energy hit me as it lunged forward, sharp tendrils lashing out.
I caught the soul as it tried to attack, embracing it with my own aura.
It went limp in my arms, the previously sharp tendrils softening and curling around my body.
The shape of the soul began to shimmer and gain color as it regained its body. Each second brought me closer and closer to reuniting with Nyx.
When she finally finished reforming, she began to breathe, still unconscious.
Her body had changed a little after so long. Her skin had become just a touch paler, and she had two tails instead of just one.
Her antlers, which hadn’t been very long, were now several inches longer and had become the color of bone. Her long ears with feathery tufts stuck out of the side of her hair, which was a dark green.
The twin tails were long and covered in a relatively short coat of soft black fur with a thin mane of bright white down the spine. The tips had sharp stingers concealed in a puff of fur, one dark purple and the other dark green.
I was crying.
It had been so long, too long since I had seen her beautiful face.
Her lips were full and red, and her nose was perfectly dainty and boopable. Her primary eyes were large with full lashes, although they were closed. Her secondary ones were small and on either side of the primary ones, also closed.
And then her eyes fluttered open.
At first, she began to flail around wildly, clearly scared. I held her close until she calmed down a little.
“Nyx?” I asked. “Are you okay?”
She didn’t respond, instead looking up into my eyes, her own wide with terror. Her body was shaking, and her ears were tilted back in fear.
“Stella,” Ophelia said. “She doesn’t remember.”
“What do you mean?” I demanded, glaring at my sister.
“I mean she doesn’t remember anything,” Ophelia repeated. “Her memories are either all gone or all locked away. She doesn’t know who you are.”
I looked down at Nyx again and realized that what Ophelia was saying was true. Nyx looked terrified of me and Ophelia, shaking.
“I’m sorry,” I said, letting go of her. It hurt so much to let her out of my arms after only just getting her back, but I could tell she needed this.
She immediately took several steps back and hugged herself, both tails curling around her body.
From there, she watched me and Ophelia, looking back and forth between us. Each time one of us moved, her tails would twitch.
“What do we do?” I asked my sister telepathically.
“You stay here. I’m going to find Him,” My sister replied. She stood up and left, leaving me with Nyx.
“Can I come closer?” I asked her. She stared into my eyes for a long moment before she nodded slightly.
I smiled and stepped over to her. “Let me know if I make you uncomfortable,” I said, sitting down next to her.
We sat there in silence for a while until she suddenly scooted closer to me and leaned against my shoulder.
“Do you remember anything?” I asked cautiously. Nyx shook her head sadly. Then she looked up at me.
“W-what… n-n-name?” She asked, her voice awkward and shaky. She was clinging to my shirt with wide eyes.
“My name?” I asked. “Or yours?”
“B-both,” Nyx explained. “W-want t-to r-r-rememb-ber.”
“My name is Estelle,” I told her. “But some people call me Stella.”
“S-stella,” Nyx said, smiling. I reached out and rested a hand on her head. She leaned into it, her ears flicking back. “W-what m-my n-name?” She asked.
“Your full name is Nyxandria,” I answered. “But pretty much everyone calls you Nyx.”
Upon hearing what her name was, Nyx put her arms around me and held me tightly. She began to shake and whimper, and I put my arms around her.
“W-why l-love so m-much?” She asked me softly, her face burrowing into my chest.
“It’s because we’re Fated Ones,” I explained. “We’re destined to be together, always.” Nyx’s eyes teared up at my words.
She cried into our hug for a long, long time.