Fate Weaver's convergence

V2 C90

"Kiki..."

"Yes'm?"

"..."

"What?"

Avery held out a signed voucher, marking quest completion. Her expression was stern.

"You've been timing these hunts awfully close to your volunteer time as of late."

Her words were filled with disappointment, as if she expected better.

"We've been taking on more hunts."

I shrugged awkwardly, mumbling through a mouthful of chicken.

I really don't want to get into this right now.

"Aye, and conveniently, the recovery requirement for them lines up. Every. Single. Time."

Avery tapped the table with emphasis as she spoke. Sighing while rubbing her temple before glaring at me once more.

"You didn't line anything up this time?"

I slowly shook my head, in truth I was putting this off. At some point or another, something had to give. It was strange not wanting to do something I should have already had experience with.

"I'm just really... anxious for some reason."

I continued my subdued mumbling, receiving a prod with the voucher.

"Kiki, you can't put it off. We had this talk when you were ten. Someday you would have to volunteer with the recovery team. It puts real perspective on what could happen if you screw up."

The arachne's uncharacteristic scolding turned to a plea.

"I need you to be here this month, and I know that this hunt puts you in the positive."

I grimaced, turning my head away from Avery.

I'm in no rush to repeat the same bad memories.

As of late, the nightmares have been getting worse. The mental fog that troubled me these past five to six years was clearing. So much so to the point that it was one of my leading reasons I had been begging mom for another room.

What if I see something like before? Or, will it make me cold to it again? To death?

I shivered before tossing the cleaned chicken bones to my plate.

What if I imagined Beryl or Vaughn like that? The anxiety would take over in the nightmares.

They grew vivid with age, both from myself and Kiyomi. It verified my theory from before; where in the development of our brain limited our ability to comprehend our trauma. Now that the cage holding us both together has developed, it's worsening.

It's been getting worse since then...

The marker of the intensity growing was when I unlocked her memories. The ones of her father dying.

"Kiyomi!"

Avery grabbed my arm, bringing me back to the moment.

"I'll be joining you. If it's too bad, I'll be sure to send you away. Deal?"

We locked eyes for a moment before I averted my gaze. I knew what she meant years ago, monster recovery for teams that couldn't transport; and body recovery for teams that failed. It was easy to say 'sure' and roll with it then, but with the time approaching...

"Deal...but I have some stuff I need to do over the next week. See you then?"

I awkwardly smiled, knowing I couldn't dodge it anymore with this conversation. Thankfully, Avery left it at that.