Overlap ~ The Other Side

Chapter 005: Sisterhood

Chapter Theme Music: Valhalla ~ Bryan El

<04/01/69,120 {Avion 68} - 14:14 | (Sierra's Starship), Genosis, Altiri Sector Space>

When someone important to me dies, I weep, I cry, and I break. No matter how long I hold it in, nothing can restrain the flood of tears or the shattering of my heart. How immortal are we really, if accidental death can come to claim us? How much longer will it be now, until our population slowly declines all the way to zero? We may not age quickly, but control over life and death is something no mortal has, be it some other alien, or us Altiri.

But it turns out there are more ways than one to die; I never knew of them all until now. Even if we survive, our will to live may not. That which once gave us purpose can be extinguished as easy as thruster light, leaving behind someone who knows nothing, cares for nothing, and dreams of entropic nothingness and oblivion without alternative.

When my mother died that day, in the star date of 49,139, September 22, I thought it was the worst feeling in the world, that I had lost everything and would never get it back. It turns out there was something even worse than this gut-wrenching sensation that consumed us all, something only I was responsible for. Legasso may have killed my mother, but he did not slay my thoughts of her. If I can so easily forget every single detail about the person who once loved me, am I any better than a disgusting monster? It's better to fade in this isolated shell of nothingness I've hid myself in.

"I understand... No, it's okay. We're all here for each other after all." Sierra sighed, yielding nothing but silent concern as she softly held me on her lap.

I lay to rest, my body, my thoughts, and everything I ever feel. I rot awake; I do not sleep, and now I exist in a state between the living and the dead, where I assume to belong.

"Oh Lumina," she whispered while stroking my long soft hair, taking care of me while her crew did the same for my other crew. On her ship again, all of us were together as we had been before, though a tsunami of sadness dominated all control. "I know you think this is all somehow your fault, that you had perfect control of your memories..."

Nothing she could say would ever console me, as I knew the truth. This strange memory loss about my mother is something shared by many Altiri alike, as if some wave of memory wipe had swept through us all... If only that were the case, maybe then I wouldn't have to blame myself. However, I've checked this several times. Not all Altiri were affected in this way. Many do remember their lives long passed, the women who birthed them and loved them. If they can remember where I have failed, then it isn't anything beyond some messed up psychology, right? I can't even remember her name or her face. What kind of daughter am I, to forget something so important, to lose something so precious to me? I remember the name and face of a mass murderer, but not my own mother; those are the undeniable facts, the qualities that make me useless in any society. So I continued to lay here crying. Even when my eyes were too tired to storm, my heart would take over again and again, days turning into years of this.

I love Sierra and Blissera; they are like sisters to me too, even though we are in different aggressor groups. Even so, nothing they say will ever make this okay.

"I wish I could see you smile again Lumina. Nobody deserves to suffer like this." Sierra wasn't referring only to the present moment, but to other moments as well.

Further into the past, my aggressor group, the Cy-Stars ran into the crew of the Stryders and the Radion during a joint temple meeting following the Fall of Zinod. After some time, we started communicating with each other more, despite the communication ban. I never understood why, but hearing Sierra's voice when she would speak to me, it was almost magical, like some kind of cosmic healing energy was reaching out for me. I realized later how silly I was, to not notice the simplicities that we were merely bonding, becoming best friends.