"Celestine von Trier deserved better."
My voice cut through the air, cold and sharp, cold enough that even I felt the chill of it. The air around us thickened, something murderous bleeding into it from me. Petite as I was now, the palpable dignity of an elite captain hadn't gone anywhere. My years in the Special Forces were carved into my soul, into the way I stood and the way I looked at people when I meant business. That wouldn't fade, new body or not. If my team had been here, they'd have run as far and fast as they could. They'd have known, without a word, exactly how furious I was.
"There's no need to apologize for stating the truth." The old man looked weary, deep lines carved into a face that had aged a decade in one conversation, but replied politely all the same. He seemed too caught up in his own emotions to comment on the sudden shift in my demeanor.
"May I ask, then, who you actually are? Truly are, I mean." He asked, after a while, folding his hands in his lap. I'd already reined the murderous air back in by then. I smiled at him, genial, and gave him the identity I used to carry.
"Bai Feng Jiu, Captain of the Special Forces of Country Z." I stood, bowed, and cupped my fist toward the Count, the way everyone in Country Z shows respect. I caught a flash of astonishment cross his face. I chalked it up to the gesture being novel to him.
"Ah. Bai is my surname. Feng Jiu is my given name." I added, an afterthought, as I sat back down. Toni had known this, carrying my memories as she did, but the Count wouldn't have. Names worked the other way around, here.
"You're from Eashen?" I shook my head at the question.
'Eashen? Nah, gramps. I'm from a whole other dimension.' I thought, something like an inside joke only I could appreciate.
"No. I'm not from Eashen. Not from this world, to be exact. My country is quite similar to Eashen, though, so I understand why Your Grace might assume that." I chuckled, clarifying.
"I ought to be surprised, hearing you say that, but I'm well aware all sorts of things are possible in this life. This isn't so different, in the end." He countered, nodding in understanding.
I was quietly impressed, commending the old Count's composure. Not everyone could stay this calm in the face of something so absurd. But I supposed someone who dabbled in divination and soul magic for as long as he had must have seen even stranger things by now.
I touched the rim of my teacup gingerly. The tea had gone cold from sitting untouched through our entire conversation.
My eyes drifted to the scenery reflected in the windows. The woods looked ominous at night, but strangely calm in the daylight.
"We made a vow. The two of us. From now on, I am Celestine. And she is Bai Feng Jiu. We're one and the same. We agreed we'd both live on happily, as ourselves, in our own worlds. She'll give justice to my life there. And I'll give her freedom here."
I felt a quiet melancholy settle in. Another life, another world. The unknown ahead of me was exciting, but frightening too. I didn't know what was waiting for me out there, but I meant to keep my word. I'd live on happily. I'd give Celestine von Trier the freedom she'd gambled her soul for. She'd risked everything to change her fate, so the least I could do was make it worth something, and actually enjoy the ride. I might have been dragged into this, but maybe it was some kind of destiny too.
"Toni told me I should live as myself. That if I don't like it here, I don't have to force myself to stay." Count Halcyon stayed silent through my whole account, though I could feel his eyes fixed on me the entire time. I met his gaze.
Now that I thought about it, I was the only one in the entire Trier family with this particular shade of phoenix eyes, jeweled peridot pupils and all. The rest had blue eyes, except Madame Carissa, whose eyes were emerald. I'd always assumed mine were some variation of hers. But it seemed I'd inherited them from this grandfather instead. The only difference was that his carried the weight of a much longer life.
'Same eye color. Was that some kind of magic, back there? That strange blue gleam?' I wondered, then let it go. I'd figure it out eventually.
"That is why I intend to leave. Count Halcyon, no, Grandfather. Please help me run away from here. From this cold, cruel place I never once felt at home in."
The two of us sat locked in a staredown for what felt like forever, neither one of us willing to blink first. It wasn't until the old man rubbed a hand over his face, in surrender, that I knew my plan would go through, no matter what.
"You call me Grandfather, child. So how could I possibly let you leave your own family?"
With that one simple question, I knew he'd already accepted me as his own. Relief and something like happiness rose in me, quickly tempered by what came after.
"You are my only family in this place." I answered, cold, leaving no room for argument.
I don't consider the Triers family. The only thing tying me to them was the blood in this body, the flesh that made it up, an accident of birth and nothing more. But the soul, the part of her actually connected to them, they'd driven away, in the end, out of nothing but their own neglect. In some other future, one I refused to let happen twice, she'd even died over it. Pathetically. Alone.
If Celestine hadn't seen that prophetic dream, that's exactly how she would have ended up. And not one of the Triers would have felt a shred of sorrow over it. If anything, the opposite.