Reborn

16: Anansiaga

A/N: Pronounced A-nan-see-aga.

Breaks:

[L1,2 or 3] represents the beginning of a flashback to one of Elena's past lives. There is more than one past life, which is why they're numbered. Though, these memories are usually told as she sleeps and Elena herself cannot remember them.

[/L1,2 or 3] represents the end of a flashback to one of Elena's past lives.

[P] represents the beginning of a retelling of a memory in Elena's current life.

[/P] represents the end of a retelling of a memory in Elena's current life.

~3~ is just a timeskip

AN: This chapter's a tad short compared to the rest... but it was that or be absurdly long. Anyhow, enjoy the story!

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My breath left me in a whoosh when I looked up from my hand after having moved closer to the plant monster. An excited sort of grin slowly made itself home on my face when I took in the sight of the severed feeler that lay still in front of the plant monster. I wasn't expecting any sort of opportunity to examine this creature properly- and yet there that was. My heart felt like it was galloping in my chest as excitement filled me up and even made my stomach flip pleasantly.

Exactly what sort of medicine would studying this plant bring me? Was it poisonous? Would it provide some sort of super healing? Maybe it would be no better than eating a meal of fruits. Or perhaps eating it would be no better than trying to eat old dried sticks. Which might mean that it'd be better to use it to build something instead, like clothes, or maybe used like rope to tie things together. There was so much I wanted to know about the plant monster in general. Even if it was just a piece of the creature, this was a great start to answering (at least some of) my questions.

Moon stayed very quiet and very still on my shoulders. Did his best to blend in with my person. Carefully I watched the plant monster for any sudden movements from it's place several paces away while I slowly went over to carefully crouch by the severed limb. Examine it closer.

(For a second my vision swam, reminding me of my fatigue, my aches and pains, but those were forcibly set aside again at the prospect of inspecting the plant in front of me.)

Unlike the rest of it's body the emblems on this severed limb no longer glowed. A sticky purple liquid had slowly seeped out of the feeler where it had been cut. It might be a poison, given the creature it came from and how it seemed to be rather milky in texture. But there wasn't really any smell to it.

Just as I reached out to grab it, I spotted a fine red line across my arm- right where I had thought the limb had been chopped off. It wasn't a straight line across my arm either but slightly on an angle. When I twisted my arm I could see how the line circled around the entirety of my limb. Odd. Though I supposed it was only further proof that I hadn't made up the pain that I had been in (which made this a rather relieving discovery despite the oddness of it).

With a mental shake of my head I looked up from my arm back to the severed plant monster feeler. My heart jumped to my throat as I suddenly couldn't help but notice how it had been cut off the plant monster at a slight angle. I couldn't help but stare, a bit frozen. If I moved my arm to be parallel with the severed limb... well I could've sworn that the line on my arm and the angle of the cut end matched up perfectly. The sight had a chill go down my spine and the fine hairs on my arms rise.

The shape of the cut... Was this a coincidence? It had to be... right? It matched the mark on my skin a little too well.

My tired, exhausted, self was just... making connections where there weren't any. Because this wasn't possible. I'm me and the plant monster is it's own being. There can't be any sort of weird... weird connection between us because that didn't make any sense.