Elysia in Another World

Chapter 24: Troublemakers P2
~24.2~
*****

Once inside, she was greeted by a pair of adult redheaded girls, both wearing the academy uniform. They happily jumped at her. “Mom!”

Kye was overwhelmed by the twins. “Hi!” She didn’t budge an inch as they latched onto her.

“It’s about damned time!” one said.

“We’ve been waiting forever!” the other said.

“I’m sorry.”

““Yeah, we know.”” They pulled back and sighed.

“Uh...”

“Jeez, you really don’t remember, do you?” the first said.

“For real?”

Kye shrugged. “I’m sorry. I don’t know. I know your names and who you are to me, but just like with Maya and the others... I don’t remember my past as Elysia, save for a few scarce memories.”

“Well, at least we know for sure you’re you,” the first said.

“Yeah. You’re definitely you. No doubt about it,” the second said.

“Yeah?”

““Mom!””

Kye smiled and pulled them both close. “I may not remember, but I’ll never not recognize my babies. Kyra, Liya, I love you.”

“I missed you, Mom.”

“I love you, too.”

Kye pulled them away and looked them in the eyes. “But why did you decide to come here? You never transmigrated until now. What changed?”

They pointed at her.

“Me?”

“We missed you, and if we didn’t come here to Atlantis, we wouldn’t get to see you again,” Kyra said. “We know all about the worldlines, Elysium, Tartaros, and Alexandria. You have to succeed this time, and we want to help.”

“That’s right,” Liya said.

“Grandpa Zaldin tried to convince us to oppose you before he fought Alfia.”

Liya nodded. “We slapped him for that.”

“Did he do anything to you?” Kye’s expression was suddenly very serious. So much that it took the twins aback.

““Mom?””

“Did he hurt you?”

The two shook their heads, and Kye pulled them into an embrace. “I love you. If anyone dares lay a finger on my babies, they answer to me.”

“But you don’t remember us,” Kyra said.

“Yeah, how can you-”

Kye shushed them. “Some feelings are more powerful than memories. I don’t need to remember you to know how much I love you.”

“And... and you can tell us apart, right?” Kyra asked.

“You never mixed us up even once,” Liya added.

She nodded and pointed at the first, then the second. “Kaylie. Layla.”

They grinned. ““Yay!””

“What kind of mother would I be if I couldn’t tell you two apart? Of course I can!”

““Mom! We missed you!””

Kye smiled and hugged them again. “You always were very talented at speaking in tandem. My precious daughters, are you ready to go meet our family?”

““Wait!”” They pulled away.

“What’s up?”

The two looked at each other, then back at their mother. “Our numbers!”

“What?”

“Rei is your first. Rei the First, or whatever she decides on for her soul name now that she’s immortal.”

“Give us our numbers! I’m totally the second and Kyra’s the third, right?”

“Hey! No! I’m the second and you’re the third, Liya!”

They both turned back to Kye. ““Well?!””

“Hold up, hold up, you’re saying you’re...” Kye held her hand on their heads. “I blessed you like I blessed Rei.”

““Yes!!!””

“Okay, okay, explain it to me. You’re clearly older than Rei, if we’re talking about souls. Why would she be the first and not one of you?”

“Huh? Isn’t that obvious?”

“Because she was blessed first!”

Then Kye figured it out. “When I promised her that I’d protect her and make her stronger, she gained the Radiance of Light. Joey mentioned she was my first, too. So then, when did I bless you?”

Kyra gave her a classic thinking face. “Hmm, when was it?”

Liya shrugged. “Well, we’re not that old.”

Kye raised an eyebrow. “My, my, five minutes old and I’m already getting snark?”

The two of them grinned and Kyra answered her, “Okay, okay. You blessed us at the same time as Rei. It probably went unnoticed because of everything that was going on at the time, what with her kidnapping. By the way, I’m going to kill that bastard Shiro.”

“Not if I kill him first!” Liya argued.

“Whoa, whoa, hold up!” Kye stopped them. “My baby girls threatening to kill somebody aside... You know all of that?”

“Well, yeah. We...”

“Oh, just admit it! It’s not like mom won’t figure it out.”

“Eh, good point.” Kyra shrugged. “Yeah, we’re troublemakers.”

“We like to break the rules!”

Kye genuinely felt overwhelmed with them. “Okay. You two... I...”

“Oh! Since we’re in our soul forms right now, I wanna use my power real quick for something,” Kyra said.

“For what?” Kye asked.

“Hehe, you’ll see!” Kyra channeled silvery white aether for a moment, but didn’t seem to do anything with it. “Okay, done! With any luck, that should do the trick!”

“Nice, I hope it worked!” Liya cheered.

Kye sighed. “I’m afraid to ask.”

Kyra’s excitement faded quickly as she realized the consequences of what she had just done. “Oh... I didn’t think about something...”

“What do you mean?”

Kyra looked at Liya. “The people in the ten realms! They’re gonna see us now and freak out!”

“Uh...”

“Oh crap, you’re right. Time magic is kinda not a thing here!”

Kye’s face went blank as she listened to them.

“Well, oops. We’re gonna have to figure that one out. And you know Rei and the others are gonna be jealous if I don’t do it to them, too.”

“...”

“Yeah, we-”

“Okay, stop! Stop!” Kye suddenly shouted, then looked at Kyra. “What did you do?”

She backed up a step and averted her eyes. “Uh... Probably best we end the soul dive. You’ll see...”

Kye sighed. “Why do I have a bad feeling about this...?” She reluctantly stopped the soul dive and woke up to find her twin babies replaced by twin teenagers. They were each covered with a blanket.

“Hey it worked!” Kyra cheered after she opened her eyes and checked her body.

“Yay!” Liya cheered.

Kye was exasperated. “What the hell?”

*****

Revision: 2024-8-15