Arknights: A Second Chance

Hope

They said I woke up a week after they found me, whether that was true or not, I didn't care. I soon found out that the people who saved me were villagers who happen to be near the catastrophe as it happened. They said they were lucky, happy that they were alive and get to see their..... families again. I, on the other hand, was a failure. Ayano my younger sister, I led her to her death, I made us go to that place. I was foolish. I asked the villagers if they found a grey-haired girl near me, they said no.

The thought of not seeing her again drove me to despair.

I wanted to die, those villagers cared for me, will mourn for me if I died but that was it. I let the person whom I loved to their demise. I was given food day after day but I never ate it, I no longer have a reason to live. I was happy that I will meet Ayano again. Until he came. I don't know when or where he came from, but what I did know was that he was..... Annoying.

He kept nagging me to eat so I kept ignoring him, but when I was at my deathbed he came to feed me when I was weak that I couldn't lift a finger. I felt humiliated, even

when trying to die I failed in that too. I wonder what kind of face will Ayano make? Each day he would always feed me, again and again. When I asked him why he gave me this as an answer—

"Do you really think your sister would be happy? Do you really think that you should die when she died for you?"

That enraged me and I lashed out. He talked like he knew me and my sister, I told him to get out, that he did. He did not visit me the entire day. I thought he would give up by now, oh he didn't instead he got bolder and started asking me questions. I did not answer any of them.

He then asked me about my life and family before the catastrophe. He immediately remembered me lashing out, so he scratched his head and started to leave. I was happy until I did what neither him or I expected. I held onto his hand and asked him to stay, he widened his eyes and for the first time I felt warmth, I felt warmth in his ruby-red eyes. I didn't know what was happening to me but I did so anyway. I perhaps didn't want another person whom I grew.... accustomed to, to leave me again.

After that moment I opened myself up, day after day we talked about what we liked and what we disliked. I even laughed, I started to have hope for a better future. He always helped me but I never asked why. He was kind, not just to me, but to everyone else in the village. He helped me get acquainted with my new life.

Though I started to have nightmares, images of my dead sister with blood running down her cheeks as she tries to grab me with her decapitated arm, I was scared again. It showed me my greatest failures, my family whom I lost during the catastrophe. I thought I was alone but one night I woke up because of the nightmares, I felt arms hugging me. When that happened I thought to myself, "So the Grim Reaper has come to personally to kill me huh?" I was wrong, very wrong.

Instead of the bone-chilling embrace of death, I felt the warmest feeling of life. Once again he showed up during the moment of weakness and comforted once again. I.... started crying. Within his arms I cried, I cried and cried and cried and cried, to the point where I thought I would lose my ability to cry.

"Don't be afraid." He said in a gentle whisper to my ears. "You're no longer alone." He reminded me. " I will try my best to be there for you." I hugged him as tight as I could.

After that night I asked him about it. He said he doesn't know what I was talking about while smiling and laughing. I felt my cheeks turn red and my face get hot. I was humiliated, but I know for a fact that wasn't a dream.

Even when the nightmares ended it didn't mean my dreams did. I dreamt of my other sister, Ch'en. She was my twin sister so I also wondered what happened to her, actually rather than what happened I wanted to know her reaction. Ch'en wasn't there with me, Ayano and our parents, she was with our Uncle Wei. I felt sorry for her.