ROSES HAVE THORNS-Chapter 43 - Secrets Shared

Shut!

"Why did you have to go and say that!?" Emelie stomped up and down with her hands on her head.

"To be honest I thought it’d be kinda funny, and boy oh boy were their reactions priceless heh heh."

"I already have enough people bothering me. Now I have to deal with this too? Fuck that! You better clear up this misunderstanding before you leave!"

"Yeesh. Trust me, if you go back and listen to what I said you’d see it wasn’t that bad and that you’re just overreacting. But sure, I’ll clear it up. Want me to go right now?"

"... No. If you go back in now, you’ll only cause another ruckus. Also like you said, we need to finish that conversation we had back then. It’s more important."

"Glad to see your heads on straight. Let’s head somewhere more private since it looks like the glass door might break with those kid’s faces plastered on like that." Kurt pointed to the door and indeed it looked like a bunch of zombies wanting to break through.

"... Yes. Let’s." They both walked away from the prying eyes.

"Emelie noooooooo!"

"Whyyyyyy!"

...

"Here should be fine." She said as she stood next to a swing.

"Such a big open field behind the dorms. Plus, a recreational park? You guys sure are spoiled."

"It’s the best academy in the whole continent. This is nothing compared to the facilities we have at school." Emelie bragged as she popped a piece of candy in her mouth.

"You want?" She offered.

"Sure. He took a ball of chewing gum and ate it.

After standing in silence while looking at nothing in particular, Emelie moved.

"Kurt." She suddenly stood right in front of him with a serious look on her face.

"Yeah?"

"I... I’ve decided to trust you in telling this secret because I believe we can help each other."

"Does this have anything to do about why you’re so weary of me?"

"This has everything to do with why I’m so weary of you. Once I tell you, it will all make sense, but I need you to give me your word that you won’t tell anyone else. My plans are already going down the shitter thanks to you. I don’t need another anomaly."

"... What if I don’t? What’s going to happen?"

"I’ll let you leave here and we’ll pretend like today never happened. But Kurt, I swear that if our paths cross again and you’ve somehow interfered with my plans, I’ll kill you. They don’t call me ’The Best’ for nothing."

When Kurt looked into her eyes, he saw that there was absolutely no life in them. Her hands twitched slightly and there was an unnatural pulse in the air.

’She’s dead serious. Hell, she must’ve purposefully gotten stabbed back then in order to feel the situation out. There must be something deeply broken in her to give off this kind of aura.’

He met her resolve with his own and gave her one clear cut answer.

"I have my word."

"... Thank you, Kurt." She smiled, bringing life back to her eyes.

"So what’s the big secret?"

"I... I’m what you would call... a regressor."

A chilling wind blew past them both as she revealed her secret.

"... You... Are you dumb? I’m sorry. I didn’t know..."

"Not that kind of regressor you idiot! Pfft ahaha!"

"Woah! Why’re you laughing all of a sudden?" Kurt smiled.

"S-Sorry, ha ha." She rubbed her eyes from the tears that were welling up. "It’s just that that wasn’t the reply I was expecting. Especially with the whole serious vibe in the air."

Out on the distant rooftops of the dorms, three nerdy students were spying on Emelie and Kurt through their binoculars.

"L-Look at how she’s laughing!" A nerd with big square glasses spoke in absolute shock.

"Let me see!" A lanky nerd with long rectangle glasses and buck teeth took the binoculars next. "N-No! My queen! I-I’ve never seen her with such a joyful expression before."

"Stop hogging and let me see!" A chubby nerd with a freckled face took the binoculars last. "E-Emelie why must you look so! I-I know I can make you just as happy if you just give me the chance..."

Turning attention back to the field, Emelie has finally stopped laughing and started explaining what she meant."

"By regressor I mean that I’ve travelled back in time."

"Back in time? So, you’re from the future?"

"Yes."

"Okay so you’re from the future. But that doesn’t explain why you were so weary of me. Just because you came back doesn’t mean things can’t change and be different from what you know."

"I became weary of you because I’m currently on my 100th regression." Emelie dropped the bombshell.

"... What? 100th? How?"

"I still don’t know how or why I always return but what I do know is that because of many various events that will take place in the future, the world effectively gets destroyed in 10 years. And at that point, I return."

"10 years huh? That’s not a lot of time."

"I know. And it’s never been more than that."

"So what events are you talking about?"

"I cannot tell you all of them since there are a lot of little things that all fit into the big picture, but what I can say is that one, the cult is heavily involved therefore must be stopped, and two, it will be the return of the Monster Invasion. When they arrive, that is when you know it’s pretty much over."

"I see. So, all those times you question who I was..."

"Is because I’ve never, and I mean ever, seen you before. I tried a lot of things these past 99 cycles. A lot of good things, a lot of selfish things and especially a lot of bad things. I’ve met many good people, and I’ve worked with the worst. I’ve had a lot to live for in many cycles, and I’ve given up many things in others. I cannot begin to count the number of times I thought I’ve won and could finally settle with my loved one only for him to be snatched away from me. I-I had kids that I could love and cherish only for them to be snatched away from me. Nothing I did changed anything. No one I talked to could help me change the fate of this world. Just... nothing. Until, from out of nowhere, you came along."

Kurt was momentarily stunned as she basically poured her heart and guts out, all in one big breath.

"... What makes you think I could be the change to anything?"

"Because Kurt!" She tightly grabbed his arms. "I’ve never seen you before!"

"You’re starting to sound like a mad woman."

"Mad?! Kurt, I’ve jumped over the line of sanity hundreds and hundreds of years ago! You show up out of nowhere and are at places you’re not supposed to be. You also get involved with people with whom I’ve never seen them be with! Dominik was never meant to have a ’best friend’ and Peter was not supposed to die! You even punched royalty for fucks sake! Are you stupid?!"

"Wait, how do you know about that last part?"

"It was in the newspaper! *Huff* *wheeze*" Emelie’s chest expanded and contracted as she tried to calm whatever feeling was growing in her chest. "Kurt, show me your personal tag..."

"...Why?"

"Just please show it to me..."

Kurt complied and showed her his personal tag. He then imbued it with mana, and the holographic popup appeared.

"Kurt... Rossana..." She read slowly. "Rossana? Riverton? Kurt I’ve been all across Riverton and have never heard the family name of Rossana."

"I’m from a secret ninja village?"

"There’s no such thing as a fucking secret ninja village."

’Dammit Dominik! You too Chief Hudson!’

"Since you told me your secret, it’s only fair I tell you mine."

"Se..cret?" Emelie stuttered softly.

"Yes. Similarly to you regressing to the past, I too come from the past. But I’m not talking about some tens or hundreds or even thousands or years in the past. I’m talking about a time before magic was even a thing."

"A time before magic? Bullshit."

"It’s the truth." Kurt shrugged." The short story would be I started seeing things and people from this timeline phase through my reality. I then fainted and woke up at the docks of Eldoria where an old man called Willy said that I’ve been blessed by the Goddess Bula."

"So, you’re not from this timeline?" Emelie asked to confirm.

"Correct."

"And you don’t know how you got here?"

"Also correct."

"Didn’t you have a family or a life before all this? Why are you so calm?"

"Family’s all dead. I got fired the day before I time leaped and I didn’t even have any friends outside of work. So, when I got fired, the friends went with it."

Emelie stared at him in bewilderment and looked for any trace of a lie. And when she couldn’t find anything, she went absolutely ballistic.

"Ha...hahaha! AHAHAHAHAHA! I KNEW IT!" She held his hands and started jumping up and down with tears of joy in her eyes. "I knew you were different! I just knew it! Ahahahaha!"

’Who the hell is this girl?! What happened to the stoic Emelie?!’

Although not many were there to witness it, Emelie had the most beautiful and purest form of a smile she’d ever worn in a very long time.