Out of This World Gaming [~ read description]

Chapter 39: Investigation

A young man found himself walking along a dirt path in the middle of a forest of towering, green leaf clothed trees. The leaves swayed and brushed against each other with each gust of wind that welcomed glimmering beams of sunlight to kiss the forest floor in spots here and there. 

He didn't know what he was doing here, but the young man kept his current, calm pace on this path. The young man allowed the wind to tussle his short, black hair and cool down his neck from wearing a choker for so long. Wait, where was his choker? Then again, it didn't matter to him, all that mattered now was the forest. 

The young man suddenly found himself in a clearing and found a woman sitting atop a boulder; she seemed to have been taking in the sunlight. She didn't bother to turn around, but the sound of her giggling immediately alerted the teen as to who she was. 

"Are you happy now?" she asked. "I'll take that as a yes. If you're so happy, what are you doing here? Why do you insist on bothering me?" The juvenile fought to catch his breath after hearing that voice, but recollected his composure upon deciding this had to have been a dream. "Why are you here?" the youngest of the duo asked. 

The young woman turned around as she brushed away her long, jet black hair and dusted off her long, blue dress from any dirt that might've been residing on the boulder. She advanced to him calmly, but this apprehensive teen backed himself up into a tree; she stopped a few feet away from him as her arms were crossed. "I thought you'd want to see your sister again." she spoke. 

"Why would you assume something like that after all you've done to us?" the younger brother began. "You treated us like we didn't matter, you tried to kill our sister, you went to the trouble of bribing humans to risk their lives to build you a massive, complicated lair, and you.. you were just horrible! I'm glad things turned out the way they did for you!" 

"Do you truly feel that way?" the deceased woman went to motion her hand under his chin only for her wrist to be swiftly grasped by the young man whom looked up with narrowed eyes. "Why are you being so nice all of a sudden?! It's a trap, isn't it?! Just admit it! You crafty, manipulative, heartless - I-I can't take these mind games!" he crossed his arms as he looked down again, only to feel a hand hold his cheek. 

"How are you even here? Your memory card was destroyed, y-you should be dead!" he fell to his knees and a single tear was shed. "Do you remember what our father told us, Sotoro?" the woman began. "BIOSes can be corrupted, memory cards can be destroyed, bodies can be disposed of, but the souls of those you love live in your heart for eternity." 

"But I don't love you." he spoke.  Satara's skin grew cold in response to hearing that while her pupils shrunk, but she returned to normal upon convincing herself that she deserved that response. "I wouldn't love me neither." she looked away from him, her hand reaching to the other side of her body to hold her elbow as her foot brushed against the soil in a small kick denoting dejection. "Tell me, is Ziazan well?" she looked towards her brother once more. "Why do you care about him all of a sudden? You tried to kill him, remember?" Sotoro got up and walked towards the boulder and purposely bumped into his sister's side as he passed. 

There was no answer, but Satara turned toward him and grabbed the back of his shirt to speedily pull him to her into a hug that he tried to escape from, but gave up upon realizing his sister's strength. When he calmed down, her head motioned itself to his ear to deliver a message. "I want you to remember something. Go to the Bellspring Forest at the edge of the town of Embden. There are two large ships that crash landed, ours and Ziazan's. Find ours and the answers will be there." her body was starting to fade. "Why are you telling me this?" questioned the young man. 

Sotoro noticed her grip weakening whilst her body faded, thus took the opportunity to break away and continue his interrogation. "I get it now, sis. You're tricking me, you're leading me into a trap. You want to get me as far away from my friends as possible so you can get revenge on me. Unfortunately for you I'm smarter than you think." he haughtily stated. "Even if I wanted to get back at you, I can't." she reminded.