Meteor Shower

Prologue

Her name is Kore. And this is her story.

You see, her name wasn't always just Kore. What it was hardly matters now. If you asked anyone that knew her, they would say: "Yes, that's Kore, she's always been just Kore." If they had known her mother, they would bring you to her and she would say the same thing: "Yes, that's Kore. I would know, I was there when she was born; I was the one who gave birth to her." Among a few more choice words. Kore's mother wasn't the nicest person.

And it certainly was true. She was born as Kore in Meteor City in the middle of the night in a ratty tent. She has blue eyes and brown hair, frizzy and oily from the lack of sanitation and showers in the so-called city.

But she was someone else before that.

As it was, the "Before" Kore had died to become Kore. "Before" Kore also had shampoo.

She could vaguely remember being into anime when she was in high school. But by the time she got into college, she didn't have that kind of time anymore, and fell out of that phase.

When the truck hit her, the only thing she felt, other than fear, was disappointment. She wasted years of her life, thousands of dollars, and so much time, for something she would never even finish. She felt cheated, betrayed.

And after: there was void. There was black. There was nothing. She was nothing. The thing she called a soul was nothing. Everything was nothing. And at the same time, everything was something. In here, Kore was safe. The dizzying aspects of the void didn't matter, it was calm, and warm, but it was exciting and had a cold rush of adrenaline. However, the cool warmth didn't last forever.

The night of her birth was a loud one. In hindsight, Kore is glad that she didn't remember anything other than that from this night. Yes, very glad.

***

Kore could remember the first time she really Remembered something. It wasn't when she saw her parents, one with blue hair. And it wasn't when she learned that she lived in a place called Meteor City. Albeit odd both were, the latter one even rung a bell (a very old, dull, and moldy bell that could barely make any noise).

Rather, it was a combination of Meteor City sounding familier, and of some of the names around "town" being equally familiar. What did it, really, was seeing a teenage girl with messy pink hair and purple cat eyes named "Machi" talking to an admittably attractive male with pale skin and black hair named "Chrollo". Now that was what made her eyebrows scrunch together.

By then, she was just really confused. Of course, that's how she had been for the past few years. It's not everyday you get born remembering your past life. Let alone, remembering a particular fictional universe where this city, and these people, all existed.

It was also on that day, that Kore fainted for the first time. The headache she was getting was too much for her. Everything getting crammed into her head. Images of a boy with tall black hair. The color green. Lightning. A cat. Spiders. A test. A whale-shaped island. Two boys.

It was then she knew that something was different about her. Something that no one could predict or hope to understand. She had come from another world, another time, seperate from this one. And she knew if she didn't help, all could fall to ruin.

She was five then.

***