v2c30: A Partnership as Close as Sisters
Lannis, sitting on the basement floor, slowly sipping a healing potion, couldn’t believe her eyes when Abyss entered, accompanied by Rebecca.
Who was that beside Abyss? The long, flowing black hair, the eyes that seemed to hold the entire galaxy within them… That face was etched in Lannis’s memory. It was Rebecca, the brilliant alchemist she had once followed.
She had seen that face countless times in her dreams, reunited with someone she couldn’t touch, only to watch that face fade away, her outstretched hand grasping at nothing.
Was this another dream?
“Lannis, I’m back,” Rebecca said, approaching the stunned halfling, her voice gentle.
Lannis’s mouth opened and closed, her voice failing her.
Rebecca smiled, bending down and taking Lannis’s arm. “Lannis, have you been taking care of yourself while I was gone? Look at your teeth. Have you been smoking again?”
“Rebecca… Is it really you?” Lannis, hearing Rebecca’s familiar, slightly scolding tone, feeling the warmth of her hand, her eyes regaining their focus, stared at her face. Tears welled up, overflowing and streaming down her cheeks.
“It’s me. I’m dead, but thanks to you not destroying everything as I instructed, Abyss was able to resurrect me…”
“Abyss wasn’t lying?” Lannis asked, her voice filled with surprise, although she had already suspected his success. “He really… He really brought back my Rebecca?”
“You’re still as crazy as ever,” Rebecca said, laughing. “You’ve aged quite a bit in forty years, but your madness hasn’t faded.”
Lannis, hearing Rebecca’s laughter, finally accepted the reality before her. Her heart overflowed with joy.
Rebecca was back! It didn’t matter that she was undead now! The genius alchemist she had once vowed to follow to the ends of the earth was back! And she was the same as before, her smile as radiant, her eyes as captivating as ever.
“Waaaaah!!!”
Lannis cried out, sobbing uncontrollably, ignoring her injuries, clinging to Rebecca like a child seeking comfort.
Flora, ever attentive, chanted a prayer, casting a gentle healing spell on Lannis. Rebecca nodded gratefully, stroking her assistant’s back.
For Rebecca, the past forty years had been an extended slumber. Her soul, having found peace in death, hadn’t experienced the loneliness of time. But she knew that for Lannis, those forty years must have felt like an eternity.
She felt the trembling sobs of her aging assistant and remembered the Lannis of their youth.
She had been as eccentric as she was now, obsessed with her potions and explosives, indifferent to everything else. Her only source of income was rat extermination for wealthy families, but her abrasive personality and crude language limited her clientele.
Through a series of coincidences, or perhaps a deliberate setup, Lannis had been caught in a gang war. The poor halfling, dodging bullets and crossbow bolts, had even been injured. Rebecca had intervened, using a sleep-inducing potion bomb to subdue the thugs, ordering them to drop their weapons and surrender to the authorities, saving the struggling alchemist.
Lannis had vowed to follow her savior, and Rebecca had discovered her alchemical talent. Despite her eccentricities, she was meticulous and precise in her potion brewing, never making a mistake. She was the perfect assistant. Rebecca had formally offered her a partnership, and from that day forward, Lannis became her sole assistant.
With such a capable partner, Rebecca’s efficiency doubled. They worked together seamlessly, their bond growing stronger with each passing day. Rebecca admired Lannis’s loyalty and reliability, while Lannis respected Rebecca’s intelligence and boundless energy. In Hai-Teweru, halflings lived one and a half times longer than humans. At thirty years old, Lannis, in human years, wasn’t much older than Rebecca. Their relationship blossomed into a sisterhood.
Stroking Lannis’s back, Rebecca understood the profound impact of her death on her assistant. Lannis was a solitary person, with no known relatives. Rebecca had been her closest companion. Losing her only friend had been like losing her entire world.
So, she let Lannis cry, her calloused hands clinging tightly to her. Lannis needed to release all the pent-up grief and loneliness of those forty years.
Abyss watched them silently, a smile on his face. He couldn’t help but feel a sense of satisfaction at this happy reunion. He was a sucker for happy endings.
“Lannis, tell me everything you did while I was gone,” Rebecca said, her voice gentle, wiping away Lannis’s tears once her sobs subsided.
Lannis, her emotional outburst over, quickly regained her composure. Her mood swings were as rapid as ever. “After assuming you were dead, I followed your instructions and burned all your notes and blueprints, using potion flames, ensuring nothing remained… But I was so grief-stricken that I overlooked a few unimportant ones. And I also hoped you might return one day, so I kept the Gateway to the New World and didn’t destroy the World Conduit. You’re not angry, are you?”
“If not for your judgment, I might be dead forever,” Rebecca said, shaking her head. “You made your own decisions, and you did the right thing. Why would I blame you?”
“Rebecca, why did you ask Lannis to burn your notes and blueprints?” Abyss asked, his voice curious.
Rebecca glanced at him, her expression darkening slightly. “The reason… I’m not ready to share it yet. But I can’t allow those I don’t trust to acquire my inventions, even if they could change the world. I’d rather keep them hidden…”
“I understand. You can tell me when you’re ready,” Abyss said, nodding. Rebecca’s affection for him wasn’t strong enough yet for her to share her deepest secrets. This extraordinary genius wasn’t the type to readily divulge everything, even to her “fiancé.”
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