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The first time the voice in her head speaks, Bernadetta reacts with such panic that she propels herself off her bed and kisses the floor. She groans and rubs the spot on her cheek that’s sure to bruise, then hops upright like a wound up spring. Her arms find themselves clutching each other as she whips her gaze left to right.
“W-who’s there? Show yourself! I, uh, I have sewing needles!”
Her voice squeaks with the wrath of a cornered bunny, but this cottontail doesn't have claws. That was a lie. Her needles rest dreadfully far away on the corner of her desk, and Bernie finds her legs have forgotten how to move, trembling not counting. She doesn’t have long to wait before the voice speaks again, seeming to come from within her own head and nowhere all at once.
"Well that’s not the reaction I was expecting. Let’s try this again, shall--"
Bernie unleashes a shriek so shrill that her dorm neighbors are sure to report a banshee sighting the next morning. A million ideas about her unexpected guest puncture her thoughts, each worse than the last. A robber. A murderer. A ghost. Hubert. Her stammering shrinks into nonsensical pleas for mercy. The phrases ‘please leave, please leave’ and ‘don’t hurt meeee’ occasionally pick themselves apart from the babble.
Unfortunately, the entity residing in Bernadetta’s mind is not one for patience. Rather, it’s quite the opposite: unbridled temperament.
“Will you stop panicking and allow me to speak with you?” it snaps.
Bernadetta possesses a unique trait that manifests itself often. For most people, times of stress causes the body to enter a fight or flight response. In contrast, she has the ability to choose between faint or faint. Bernadetta barely hears the voice’s ‘are you serious?!’ before her head hits the floorboards for the second time.
~~~
Sothis sits on her throne with a hand under her chin and an expression that could show the world newfound depths of displeasure. It doesn’t help her mood that her host is taking her sweet time to awaken. She watches as the girl brushes a mass of purple hair aside (she could do well with a comb, Sothis muses) and gasps at the world of darkness surrounding her.
Adjusting herself to sit properly, Sothis takes a deep breath. She senses she’ll need it. “Since you’re so fond of fainting, I’ll make my introduction brief. Even I don’t know where you’ll end up if you lose consciousness while in here.
“You may call me Sothis. You’re dreaming right now, but I’m not a mere figment of your imagination. For some reason, our souls seem to be linked together. I don’t know why, and I don’t recall many details about myself. Is that enough for you to calm down?” She tilts her head with an air of nonchalance. As much as she’d like to get to know the person she’s being forced to rely upon, there’s only so much she can take.
She leans forward when the girl opens and closes her mouth. Sothis has to admit to herself, she’s curious what the reply will be. She planned to approach the subject with more tact, but her hand has been forced.
“Okay… Can I go home now?”
Sothis swears she can hear the sound of her curiosity crashing down and burning to a crisp. Is that all? Is this truly the person she’s now stuck with? A shaking coward who runs from discomfort?! “You know what? Fine. I’ve exhausted a week’s supply of patience. The next time we speak, I won’t put up with a repeat of this. Farewell.”
The girl flinches away only to look back up moments later. Sothis can already guess the question ‘how do I leave?’ is on her lips, but she says nothing. She’ll fade from this realm and return to drooling on the floor of her room soon enough. It occurs to Sothis that she didn’t even get her host’s name. Ah, a problem for another time. Probably. Maybe next she’ll wake up in someone better suited to being her living carriage.
~~~
As promised, a week passes before they speak again, and Bernadetta is happy to blow off the incident as her mind growing delirious from pulling an all-nighter. Nothing she hasn’t dealt with before.
She takes an arrow into her hand and fits it against the bow string. She pulls back. Deep breaths, she reminds herself. Aim and release on the exhale. She steadies her hand, and the arrow flies--
“Bernadetta! You missed! The target is right over there, is it not? It’s not even moving! Are you listening?”
Sothis would later come to find out that, no, Bernadetta wasn’t listening. Falling to the ground and curling up should have been a strong indicator. With a silent sigh, Sothis realizes she’ll have to switch up her approach. How does one approach a terrified kitten, she wonders.
~~~
The first time the two of them manage to have an actual conversation like civilized people comes at an unexpected time. Bernadetta is still shrieking at the bandit that jabbed a lance towards her heart, completely oblivious to the stoppage of time and her transport to a realm she’s seen once before. Some time ago, Sothis would have scolded her for her panicky nature. She’s since learned to wait it out.
“...Wha? Where am I? Am I dead? Oh no, it’s even uglier than I feared!”
“Ahem.” Sothis decides not to comment on the insult to her realm. In truth, she can’t disagree.
Bernadetta jumps in fright, ready to scream at an oncoming bandit until his ears bleed. With her quiver empty, it’s her only defense. Instead she sees a young girl, and her voice catches in her throat. “It’s… it’s you again. Sockis?”
‘Deep breaths, Sothis,’ she tells herself. This is the first time she’s gotten Bernadetta when she’s not throwing a fit. It’s an opportunity she cannot afford to lose. “Sothis. You can apologize for so cruely butchering my name along with a thank you for saving your life. That lance would have pierced your heart.”
“I’m dead?! I should have known I couldn’t… wait, saved? But how?”
“I stopped time.”
“But how?”
“It’s an ability of mine I remembered.”
“...But hooooow?”
Sothis searches her throne for something to throw at Bernadetta, but comes up empty. “I don’t know how! Perhaps I’d know if I could remember my past, but I don’t, so stop asking me questions I don’t know the answer to, Bernadetta.”
Her eyes flicker to the ground and she clutches her sides. For a moment, Sothis thinks she’s lost her, but Bernadetta gazes up once more. “Do you know how you know my name?”
“Do I know how… what kind of question is that?!”
“You told me not to ask questions you can’t answer, and I didn’t know if you knew how you knew my name! Ah, do you not even know the answer to this one? Stupid, Bernie! Always messing up…”
As Bernadetta falls into a fit of self-deprecation, Sothis’ expression grows grimmer with each and every word. How. Why. What did she do to deserve being linked to one such as this? “I heard your classmates say your name. Simple as that.”
“Y-you’ve been spying on me?”
“No. No I have not. Our souls are linked, remember? I experience many of the same sensations you do, sight and hearing included.”
Bernadetta blinks at her a few times. Her face demonstrates the understanding of a dog being handed a book by its master. That is to say, not at all. “But how?”
It’s then that Sothis let out an irritated shriek of her own. Seeing no other choice to satisfy her host, she spends the next half hour answering each and every question to the best of her admittedly limited knowledge. Most answers turn up an ‘I don’t know’ or ‘I don’t recall.’
By the time Sothis reminds Bernadetta about her predicament in the waking world, she’s completely forgotten. “How could someone as fearful as you forget about the mortal wound about to be inflicted upon your chest?”
Bernadetta pouts at the words. Even she could muster up a defense when her dignity was on the line. “We’ve been here for a long time! A-and you’ve been telling me so many strange things!”
The answer was not to Sothis’ satisfaction. “You’re the weak and helpless type, aren’t you?”
“Yeah, that’s kinda the case…”
When Bernadetta returns to the real world moments before the bandit’s attack, she knows to step aside and let the blade slice the air mere inches shy of her chest. She uses her own momentum to push him to the ground and let a classmate finish the bloody task. The professor compliments her quick reaction, telling her the attack would have killed a lesser soldier.
~~~
The following weeks produced a sort of bond between the intertwined duo. Although it took a great deal of insistence to convince Bernadetta that Sothis wasn’t just another voice in her head--Sothis didn’t question the mention of another--something started to form. Not quite a friendship, and more than acquaintances.
Today, however, was not one that strengthened their bond.
“This a gross misuse of my powers,” Sothis tells her.
Bernadetta responds by rewinding time yet again. She doesn’t care how many times it takes to accomplish her goal. She’ll make it to the dining hall and back without talking to a single person and the goddess herself can’t stop her.
Sothis considers restricting her powers, but lets the matter go with a silent sigh. She justifies it as practice. “Have you considered leaving your room for longer than ten minute periods?”
“No. Never. The world is scary. Why would I do that?”
Bernadetta still requires some getting used to Sothis thinks with a sigh… but perhaps she isn’t as terrible as first impressions lead her to believe. Little does she know that her host shares the same feelings towards her.