The first thing Reina remembered when she ran out of that room was the sound of leaves. How they cackled and screeched in the darkness. The moon shining above them and her footsteps pounding in the ground. 

The ground so soft, it almost felt like it would devour her alive. But she kept running. Trying to process all her thoughts. The memory buzzing in her mind.

The words.

'Cursed with you.'

Tears rushing through her eyes. The first time she in a long time when she felt utterly hopeless. Betrayed. Lied to. Her heart wrapped in chains, she wanted nothing more but to erase herself out of existence.

In the midst of the loud wind and the trees, speaking a language of their own, she heard another voice. She paused at the dead end of a river and turned to see a blurry image of the fox she met earlier.

"Running away?"

The second thing Reina remembered was the apologetic look in Gloria's face when Amelia released her. The way she begged for her to stay but Reina's mind had taken over herself. She couldn't bear to face her or speak to her mother. 

She had given her enough chances to explain herself, to tell her the truth. She felt as if she could not trust anyone. Maybe it was because she desperately longed for it to be true, and for a second she really thought she found her place in the world. Or maybe it was because a part of her knew that something was always wrong.

The anger in her was blazing fire.

How beautiful it would be to watch the world burn down. Fallen to the core. To ashes.

"I told you she was a liar," the fox jumped on a pile of leaves next to her. It gave a slight shrug as it walked closer to her.

"What do you want?"

"You know what I want."

Reina rolled her eyes. Sniffing her nose and trying to wipe the tears using her sleeves, "Fine! You can just eat me!"

The fox stared at her with cold blood eyes, unfazed at her sudden burst of tears.

"Oh dear, this is no fun."

Reina kept crying. How pathetic she must have looked, but the last thing on her mind right now was the judgement of a fox she met a few minutes ago.

"I'll tell you what," the wind suddenly grew louder and if Reina wasn't so busy trying to keep the tears inside of her, she would have noticed the fox turn larger. Change in shape. Its arms and legs twitched as it grew and stood up in two legs. Almost the size of a human.

Reina stopped crying and stared at the fox as it walked closer to her.

"Do you not remember?"

"Remember what?"

"Do not let the darkness approach you."

A chill ran through her spine.

"I...Who are you really?" Reina whispered.

The last thing she could remember was the small hint of a smile in the fox's eyes before it plunged on top of her and pushed her down the river, "I told you. I'm the guardian of the temple."

The last thing before she fell deeper and deeper into the water. The water so thick, almost like jelly, spiralling around her and pulling her into the darkness. The light in the far distance turned smaller and smaller until it was but a small dot in the midst of the gushing water running through her body.

Strangely, it was for that short moment when she felt a little warmth of happiness.

It was not the water.

It was not her lungs gasping for desperate air.

It was not the coldness tearing through her veins.

The loneliness, the eyes too dry for tears, the heart too tired to weep.

It

was

the

darkness.

She was finally home.

"Wake up!"

"Wake up!"

"For the love of God, WAKE UP!"

The ringing in her ears and the hot sun shining in her face pushed her wide awake. Coughing and gasping, the water dripping from her nose. Reina found herself shaking as she woke up. Surrounded in some sort of tiny island with the soft sand tickling her toes.

"What was that?" Ana asked her arms crossed, looking slightly disappointed.

"Where on Earth am I?" Reina tried not to focus on the intense migraine building up on her head. And the thirst in her throat. The growling pain in her stomach dying for food, she almost could eat the sand.

"Not on Earth, obviously."

Reina didn't have the energy to argue with Ana's sarcasms.

"Seriously, why did you do that?"

"Do what, Ana?" Reina snapped.

"In the river when-"

"I know what you're going to say. But I'm not the one who pushed myself."

Ana looked at her quietly. Her hair gently swaying from side to side. The constant curious look in her eyes. It was the judgement underneath that whole appearance that she hated the most.

"I'm not going to die."

Was the only way Reina could reassure herself. She slowly got up and tried to make sense of her surroundings. How can an island be so tiny? There were no houses or people, only a few trees and the large sea surrounding it from all directions. 

This was definitely not the river she fell into. The only conclusion Reina could come up with was that she somehow teleported herself elsewhere. Panic was slowly building up inside her. She was alone. Again.

"You're not looking," Ana whispered.

"Looking at what?"

Reina stared at the water, the waves slowly moving from one side to another. There was something strange about those waves. Something strange about the water. She crouched down and ran her fingers through the sea. Then a moment of realisation hit, slapping her straight in the face.

The land...Was moving.

She gasped and fell backwards. This was not an island. This was not sand.

It was in that moment she saw a small figure pop their head from the water and walking towards her. It was a short little boy, seemingly in his young teenage years, with green shorts and barefoot. He was carrying what looked like seaweeds and a large, orange fish. It was also in that moment she realised that she was standing on top of a large beast, riding with the tide of the waves, its legs gently swimming as it made a long howling noise.

Reina gulped.

The boy took little notice of her as he sat down and started munching on the seaweed.

"Um..." Reina juggled a few thoughts in her mind, trying to decide what to do. She opened her mouth to speak to him when she noticed the boy had a strange, deformed skin at the back of his neck, "E...Excuse me."

When he didn't respond, Reina walked towards him, gently tapping on his shoulder.

"Hello...I was wondering if you know where I am?"

He munched and munched, and finally his eyes met hers. Reina gasped as she got a closer look at him. The skin in his neck had little flaps, with thread like branches neatly structures side by side. She could have sworn they looked like gills.

"Do you know where we are going?"

To Reina's shock, the boy jumped, with a massive grin on his face. His teeth clenched and his eyes widened. She would have been terrified had she not realised he was trying to give her a smile. He held the fish on his arms as if it was a little child and handed it out to her.

"For you."

"Oh...Thank you..."

Reina awkwardly held out her hand and tried not to feel too uncomfortable by the slimy, soft fish.

"This is going to sound strange, but do you know how to make portals?"

The boy stared at her with a blank face.

"I need to get out of here, you see. Back to this place called Earth."

"We're on 707! He the best everywhere!"

The boy jumped, completely ignoring her question, while he danced around her.

"What's 707?"

There was a large howl and the ground shook so much Reina had a short moment of panic, wondering if she would fall.

"Oh! You mean the thing we're riding on? This...Fish?"

"No no he a turtle. He the best."

Sure enough, they were riding on top of a large sea turtle. One so big, she had never seen one like it. She noticed that every time they moved, little bits of sand would fall off and she could see the black and green shells underneath. The beauty it was. She wondered how it was carrying so much weight on its back.

"How did I get here? Do you know?"

The boy did a little twirl and jumped back into the sea, swimming along with the island.

"You like this," he did a little gesture with his hands, floating with his face flat in the water, "I think you dead."

He then pulled himself back onto the turtle.

"Then 707 say you not dead. Then I take you with me, you wake up. Now I bring you fish," he explained oh-so-eloquently.

Reina felt a little tinge of guilt. She had no idea how she managed to get there or why that fox pushed her into the river. But this boy seemed to have saved her life. She started to feel more and more like a burden. As if she couldn't take care of herself. It was impossible. This was an unknown world to her.

Reina nodded, "Sure. Then what is your name?"

The boy gave her a shrug, "I no have name."

"Really? Then what do people call you?"

"Nobody calls me."

"What about your parents?"

"What?"

"Like your mum and dad?"

He shook his head.

Reina looked at him apologetically, "I'm sorry I shouldn't have asked. Were you born here?"

"I not know."

"I mean where do you come from?"

"Here. I always here."

He stomped his right foot on the ground and drew a little shape with his toes on the sand.

"Oh," Reina wondered how someone could possibly have no name. This place was strange enough and she realised that he wouldn't be able to help her. He seemed to be in his own little world, and she wasn't sure how to have a conversation with him. 

He had a slight accent in his speech, exaggerating some letters here and there. She had no idea where she was going, but she somehow felt like she was safe and it seemed like no one was going to try to harm her. For now.

"What your name?" He asked her.

Reina opened her mouth to reply, but suddenly, her head became dizzy and her mind felt as if it went on a little loop. She opened her mouth again, but no sound came out. She tried again and again and all she could come out with was some strange wheezing sounds from her nose. At which the boy found hilarious and started mimicking her, laughing as he jumped from one place to another.

Her mind was blank.

A little jigsaw piece was missing, erased from her mind. 

Her name was gone.