Edited by: ASaltedFish
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It had been two days since Ellery woke up, but Aster was still unconscious. Since he was still alive, it meant that Aster was still fighting. From time to time, tears would fall from Aster's eyes, and he would clench his fists, but other than that, he didn't show much pain.
Aster had never been an expressive person, so Ellery knew that he was experiencing pain from the memories.
Ellery couldn't do much for Aster, so he continued to hold Aster's hand, talking to himself, hoping that Aster could hear and remember that he was there for him – even through the rough memories…
"Please wake up, Aster. We are all waiting for you."
*****
After going through his memories the 6th time, Aster did not show any emotions anymore. He did not cry for his past self, nor could he remember what the pain felt like when his uncle beat him.
He still did not look behind him.
The memories, the people, and even the shadows in the corners of his apartment tried to cling to him, hoping to get him to turn around, but Aster ignored them.
They were tempting, but he promised Ellery, Adel, and the Beast God that he wouldn't turn around and would keep looking forward. He thought about Ellery and Akimitsu getting married and having cute kids, his and Edros' crystal collection, and the vegetable garden he had always wanted.
Then he thought about his promise to Edros to give their relationship a try when he woke up. He was shy and a bit unsure, but he knew he wanted to be in a relationship with Edros, who had always thought about him.
Orin and Darya were also waiting for him and Ellery. If he died, Ellery would also die, leaving Orin and Darya behind once again. They were finally able to reunite, so Aster wanted them to live a long life together.
With all of these reasons, he was determined to make it out alive, even if these memories were painful.
In the face of simple situations that went wrong, Aster found himself freaking out. But when it was a serious, life-threatening situation, he felt eerily calm, just like he was now.
He was calm when he left his uncle's house. He was calm when his mother and father died. He did not cry even if he wanted to.
Time and time again, these challenging situations would happen, and he lost all of his ability to cry after a while.
When was it going to end?
At the end of the 10th run of his memories, Aster stopped looking at his past self standing in the middle of his new apartment and walked toward the balcony that the two of them were facing.
Since his past self had just moved in, the balcony was bare and not clean, but it still showed him the familiar scenery he saw every time he went to water his lettuce.
When he opened the sliding glass door and stepped onto the balcony to look over the city, he saw a bright light shining in the distance. He could not turn around, so the only way to get to that light was to jump off the balcony.
But they were on the 6th floor.
Most people would think they would die, but Aster knew these were just memories. He wasn't really here as he had died a long time ago.
Aster stood on the ledge, ready to jump off, but he felt something grab his legs.
"Aster, if you jump off now, you will die." He could hear the voice of his past self say. "Isn't it better to stay here with me? Now that we have our own apartment, no one can hurt us."
"I will not stay here." Aster shook his head without looking at the thing holding his legs. "I have already died. You have already died. It's time for me to go back to Ellery, Edros, and Akimitsu. Orin and Darya are also waiting for me.
"They said when I get my own body, I can be adopted into the Aster family. Then, Ellery, Orin, Darya, and I will be family… I've always wanted to have a family that I have chosen."
Yes, everyone was waiting for him. He couldn't look at these memories any longer, or he would never be able to leave.
"Can't you stay a little longer? It's lonely."
"I have never been lonely, even when I was working those late-night shifts. You are not lonely because you are not me. So… Rest in peace, Aster. It's time for me to go."
Even if he was not lonely in his past life, in this life, he was lonely because he finally found the people who loved him for who he was. He wanted to see them soon because he missed them…
Aster ignored the hands around his ankles and did his best to jump off the balcony. The hands that were holding him seemed to let go, knowing that he was not staying behind.
As he jumped, he could see the light in the distance come closer and closer until it enveloped his whole body.
He wanted to close his eyes, but he wanted to make sure that he would wake up, so he kept them open even when the light blinded him.
After being bathed in the bright light, Aster finally opened his eyes and saw Ellery looking at him. It was strange to see Ellery's face without having to look in the mirror, but there he was, crying and asking him if he was alright.
"Ellery… I missed you." Aster couldn't help but say. He had seen a decade's worth of memories 10 times, making it feel like he had been away for 100 years.
"I missed you too… This is the 7th day. If you didn't wake up today…"
"Ah… but I am awake now."
"Yes, you are. You did a good job waking up."
"Thank you, can I hug you?" It was the second time Aster had ever wanted to hug someone so much, but when he saw Ellery, all he wanted to do was hug him to tell him that he loved and missed him.
"Of course you can!"
Since Aster was still on the ground, Ellery initiated the hug. They didn't say anything to one another, but somehow, Aster was not uncomfortable with how long the hug was lasting.
After a while, when Aster finally felt like he could move the rest of his body, Ellery got off of him and helped him up.
Now that he was standing, Aster couldn't help but shake his legs to get used to standing. When he saw Ellery in front of him, his brain felt a strange disconnect, like he was supposed to be in Ellery's body instead of looking at it.
As Ellery guided him to the door, they opened to the Beast God and Adel standing in the doorway. The Beast God's face was neutral, but Adel looked happy to see them.
"Ellery, Aster, I was rooting for the two of you, so it's good to see you both are alive and well!" Adel smiled while looking up and down at Aster. "How's your new body, Aster? Have you gotten used to it yet?"
"It still feels a bit weird, but I should be okay," Aster answered seriously. "I still feel a bit weird looking at Ellery, though. It's like I should be in his body instead of this one."
"That's normal," The Beast God assured him, "Your soul was used to living in Ellery's body, so you will feel a yearning for it. After a few days, your soul should adjust to your new body and that feeling will go away."
"That's a relief… Thank you, Beast God and Adel, for helping us."
"Don't worry about it. The other Gods will owe me some favors, so think of it as me doing a good thing for you so I can get my reward."
Ellery and Aster finally understood why the Beast God was eager to help them…
"We understand, but still appreciate you helping us."
"Yeah, yeah, since you two are good now, you can take your people and leave. Looking at the descendant of that idiot Dragon God… How did his descendants become competent while he's a menace to this universe?"
"Dragon God?" Ellery and Aster had no idea there was a Dragon God.
"Yeah, you call that man Edros, right? His family is descendants of the Dragon God that came to the Zepherus Galaxy sometime after I created the humans here. He then fell in love with someone and had some offspring. Anyway, I say he's an idiot because he wanted to create some beings to coexist with the humans here, but they were incomplete and became the Ineks."
The Beast God then rolled his eyes.
"When he saw his failure, he decided to run for it, leaving it for me and Adel to fix. The Ineks reproduce so quickly, making them incredibly hard to kill off. Thankfully, the people living in the Zephyrus Galaxy have been able to advance their technology using the bodies and cores of the Ineks, so it's not all bad, but still annoying…"
Just thinking about the Dragon God was making him annoyed. "Anyway, Adel and I want to walk around the planet without being disturbed, so leave as soon as you can. Goodbye now."
After that, he took Adel to their private room without giving Ellery or Aster the chance to say goodbye. They couldn't even process the information they learned about the Dragon God or the existence of the Ineks!
Since the Beast God wanted them gone, Ellery and Aster didn't delay and made their way out of the building.