*Distant Sounding Music Box*
*Echoes Of Laughter*
*Bristles of Wind Swaying Wind Chimes*
{{{"… have you found… yet… 'Natalie'… "}}}
~~~
*Gasp*
*Shing*
Standing in a fierce stance while manifesting a blade subconsciously, Kelly stood while drenched in sweat as she visibly shook while maintaining a slight tremor in her hands unable to guess what she had just dreamt.
Consciously seeing her surroundings, she was still in a daze while watching every inch of the room she was now in.
Down to her side, was a letter addressed to her from Kara that said she would be back after taking care of a few things.
"A-Allie…" Kelly spoke with a slight shudder in her voice as she then began to feel anxious when Allie didn't respond. "Allie."
There was still no response. Becoming more worried, Kelly was about to shout her name once more when a sudden familiar and cold detached voice echoed in her mind.
[{"… Human. I require your presence."}] In that abrupt moment, Kelly's gaze suddenly glazed over as she slumped on her bed.
In the next moment, she opened her eyes while back in her spiritual representation of her soul.
Right beside her though, was The System as she held her teddy plushie while simultaneously holding her hand.
{"… human, help Mother."} Kelly glanced at the little girl who looked visibly shaken yet, she kept a composed expression as she stared ahead without so much as blinking. {"I… cannot cross over… please…"}
Kelly felt the powerful yet vulnerable squeeze on her hand as she then turned her head and raised it to the glass dome before them.
Inside, was Allie as she was slumped over her desk while a terrible expression hung on her face. She mumbled but what she said remained a mystery as the room was soundless.
Lifting her gaze, Kelly looked around the glass dome and soon walked forward as she released the little girl's hand while looking back and seeing The System still staring at Allie.
Upon touching the glass, Kelly raised her eyebrows as she then effortlessly phased right through as if the 10 inch thick glass barrier was water.
When she stood on the other side, she subconsciously inhaled a breath of air and a scent of citrus and nature filled the room.
Kelly then drew her eyes over to Allie and could hear her now more than ever.
"… no… don't… stop… stop… no…" Kelly took a moment to get over her shock as Allie was beyond what she initially seemed as Kelly found it difficult not to blush at seeing Allie's refined and breathtaking natural beauty.
With a cough, Kelly then gently reached over and the moment she touched Allie's brown, long sleeve sweater, Allie awoke in a rush and dove onto Kelly's embrace while a shivering mess.
In her mind, Kelly was worried but to her, there seems to be something more going on than she initially thought.
~~~
After things calmed down with Allie, the two then talked as Allie sat on the chair while Kelly took the table as it looked clear that Kelly wanted answers.
"… I'm fine." Allie said but Kelly stared into her hazel-brown eyes and did not believe her. "Haaa… you're not going to let this go, are you?"
Crossing her arms, Kelly then spoke her mind.
"You tell me… I wake up ready to fight to the death. The kid from a horror flick pulls me from my body and into my head or… wherever the hell this place is… and then I find you deep asleep and when I go to wake you, you jump me. Now, I'm no rocket scientist or renowned engineer…
But tell me the truth, who or what exactly are you and the kid?"
"… haaa. So you guessed that too." Kelly didn't show it, but she felt slightly hurt. Not enough for her to be depressed, but it still stung a bit as she had her reservations over all the things that have been going on since her death. "Where should I start then…"
"Let's try when we meet, hmm?" Kelly spoke with a slight irk in her voice, though, not that she would ever notice it.
"Right… we'll…"
~~~
Somewhere In The Infinite Cosmos.
3 hours before MC's initial death.
In a glistening castle made up of clusters of stars and galaxies, laid a magnificent being the size of which could not be estimated.
Her long luxurious platinum-white hair cascaded down and extended across the seamless and transparent white floor.
Within where she rested, was akin to a grand room for Kings and Queens could ever hope to see and live in.
Laying her head over her pale white hand, was a girl with eyes the color of pulsar clouds full of twinkling stars and depth of an entire universe.
"Haaaa~ this is so fucking boring." The girl's voice distorted the abundance of space around her as she peered from over a windowsill that veered into the endless expanse of an infinitely white dimension. "Wonder if Daz is up… maybe we can even go play around in the lower realms for a bit."
*Bang*
Startled, the girl turned her head and saw a tall, robust man rush inside as he held his near-translucent hand over a hole in his chest as he coughed clear liquid blood with grains of twinkling lights flowing out of his mouth.
"Celestia, my dear! I am sorry but I must send you away-don't ask why, come here NOW!"
*BOOM*
The entire glass palace shook as the man didn't stay for long and rushed over to the girl while suddenly extending his hand and with a bright blinding ile, he watched as the girl slowly but steadily disappeared.
"I can only hope you can live a peaceful life somewhere else and cease to exist happily-Gak!" An abrupt pinkish glow soon erupted from the man's chest as he fell to his knee, more blood spikes from his mouth as he collapsed to the floor.
The girl only watched as the pinkish light shot at her yet, it phased right through while she could not do anything, she watched as a sudden distortion of space and time wandered into the room and hovered over the dying man.
While the last embers of consciousness began to leave her, the girl did get to see one single detail over her fathers killer.
The weapon used was one that caused her mind to become shaken and in that same moment, an image of a certain MC before his wishes were granted popped into her mind.
Without anything else, the girl disappeared and soon found herself floating in a dark and desolate place.
While within the darkened space, she nursed her headache using her own celestial energy and next nearly used every ounce of it up as she then felt sheer hatred for her fathers killer.
Her last memory gave her a point and soon, she raised both her hands as the darkness clashed with the impossibility bright light when all of a sudden, a small dot of light escaped from her infront of her chest as her body next swayed and remained frozen in the void while the dot next slopes into a tiny dimensional portal.
While on her way, she soon felt a sudden shock beside her as something smaller but very ancient soon attacked itself to her core.
Unable to veer off course and end up lost in the void between reality and nothingness, she soon made the choice to continue and in there, she modified the old aged entity's energy while subtly weaving her own and next took the place of what was being offered.
At the end, she next woke up in a glass dome where she next stepped over to take a look outside and shuddered at what she saw while arching her head upwards.
"Woah…"
~~~
"That's pretty much my story. The whole stuff about 'The Information Realm' is real though. Don't tell me how, let's just say I have connections." She replied while dabbing a few tears from her eyes. "I thought you had something to do with my fathers murder, but it turns out that you were also targeted I think."
While processing the new information, Kelly stood up and racked her brain over her ever illusive killer as more and more things just don't seem to be making any sense.
As for how far she trusted Allie's or rather, Celestia's words, she took a gamble as she didn't have a choice anyway.
Turning her head, she next crossed eyes with the little girl outside.
"… what about her?" Celestia's eyes next veered over to the little girl and she sighed.
"It's alright. Whatever she was once before, has ceased to exist due to the power within the energy in the wish you wanted." Celestia then sat back while raising her head to the yellow and warm light in the high ceiling above. "She doesn't remember anything… I've already checked."
"Sure, give the power to cross dimensions and create anything in existence within a single thought to a child… Whoopi~" Kelly sarcastically said as she didn't show it, but her uneasiness was felt as she had pretty much inadvertently picked up two hitch-hikers without her even knowing. "Sorry… I'm having a really hard time processing all this info."
"I can only imagine… but to be fair, you did call me 'useless'." She then pouted while turning her head and speaking in a low but clear voice. "Not even my family has ever called me that. Hmph."
Kelly turned and chucked as she then realized more so clearly than before why Allie was so hung up on what she said.
"So… what should I call you then. Allie or Celestia." Kelly said.
"I'm okay with Allie. It's cute and I also don't know if anyone will be coming after me seeing as how my family was probably pretty much murdered." She said while Kelly didn't want to add on to anything else and then sighed.
"Okay… then mind helping me with the kid?" Kelly finally admitted that she could speak with Allie without holding back now that she was inside the dome that the system couldn't seem to enter. "She also wants a body and for what, I don't know. She even threatened me not to tell you."
"… she's just a kid. Don't take it to heart." Allie smirked awkwardly.
"Yeah, a 'kid' that can send me to the ass-end of the multiverse without batting an eyelash to get trashed around by a massive fucking Kaiju." Kelly said with some heat in her voice.
"Fair point." Allie sighed and then turned to the little girl while I saw the kid visibly flinch. "You could hear us this entire time. Have anything to add?"
{"… she called mother 'useless'."} Fucking kid, throw me under the bus why don't you.
"Haaa, look sweetie. Forcing Kelly to do something for you because you are vastly superior and smarter in every which way…"
"Hey!" Kelly said with some indignation.
"-my point is, you need to stop seeing Kelly as some kind of enemy. She's our friend. Wouldn't go so far as to say family but, we're pretty much all we got at the moment. So why not treat the poor girl with some respect, hmm?"
{"… yes, mother."} Kelly wanted to add something but was cut off by the little girl. {"I won't reduce the prices. I'm sorry, but you rely on my mother and me too much."}
"I do not!" Kelly quickly rushed to deny it but then a sudden flash above the girl outside the dome showed a memory of Kelly while in the Naruto World.
<"Pfft! Hahaha! That's fucking dilicious!"> It showed Kelly eating every available cuisine from the system without abandon despite having points that The System just implemented the first spike in prices but to keep her identity on the low, Allie kept it hidden and instead used her own energy to conjure whatever Kelly asked on a separate point system.
The camera then moved to show Allie collapsing on her chair after nervously revealing the 'Trial Period' had ended and after having to produce such an abundance of materials and resources to fuel Kelly's experiments and restore her arsenal of enormous and dangerous weaponry, the greatest thing yet which took all of her points was the Halo Rings which resulted in Allie going silent after not catching a break and when she couldn't deliver one time…
She was suddenly hearing Kelly insulting her and that was when she finally snapped.
Kelly puckered her lips in guilt as she turned to Allie and then the System while the two looked at her like she was trash.
"Uh… my bad?" While there was a pause, Allie chuckled and then stood up while standing next to Kelly and suddenly slapped her across the face. "Yeah… I deserved that."
"Yes, you did. Haaa! I feel so full of energy now!" Allie spoke with a satisfied smile. "As for the System's name…"
"Right, calling her, 'the system' and 'kid' just doesn't work." Kelly said while turning to the little girl and then asking Allie if she had any names for her.
"How about Starkiller!" Kelly shook her head and decided to better name the girl after a character from an anime she watched sun her past life.
"Alice." She hummed and Allie nodded while turning to Alice and suddenly, both flinched as the world around them began to change drastically until a single apartment room appeared with the endless wall of computers and monitors change to that of a three monitor setup with numerous extra monitors all around the apartment while underneath it all, was a plush bed with more toys and now snacks that Alice can similarly enjoy.
"Looks like she likes it." Kelly nodded and then turned to the glass wall as she then phased right on out and met with Alice. "You won't still send me to purgatory will you?"
Alice turned her gaze onto Kelly's and blinked for the first time since the two met. Wrapping her arms around her teddy bear, she next shook her head as her long straight hair swayed over her shoulders.
Walking forward, Kelly knelt down and gently patted her head as Alice blonde and lowered her head while feeling the sway of Kelly's hand on her hair and pouring soon afterwards.
"Pfft." Kelly exaggerated but then continued as there was a sudden shift in the apartment and the glass dome abruptly began to shatter until it suddenly disappeared into thin air. "Well, that's something."
"… honestly, my brain hurts just thinking about it." Allie said but not before coming over and lifting Alice while giving her the biggest hug she could. "Besides, whether it's now or in the future, we'll find the bastard that fucked with us and beat them down without mercy."
"Amen to that, babe." Both Kelly and Allie then froze as Alice turned to Kelly as she soon was ejected from the space before she could explain.
~~~
Outside in her body, Kelly opened her eyes and winced as she next flickered into a crouched position and balled up her hands while letting out a long and crisp…
"Shiiiiit!" Not long after, Kara had returned with a fresh coffee and a box of freshly baked donuts from her favorite coffee shop.
"Did I miss anything?" She said innocently while Kelly just laughed it off and sat back on the bed while effectively choosing to ignore her most recent fuck-up for a little while and instead opted to talk with Kara for a bit.
~~~
Inside the Private Dimensional Apartment.
"… is mother okay." While Alice raised her bright eyes to meet Allie's face, Allie only then snapped from her trance and next brushed the back of her hand over her mouth while a light blush at the expense of the accidental slip-up from Kelly.
"H-Huh… I-I'm fine! Yeah… why wouldn't I be…" Allie then turned to the bed of fluff and gently sat Alice down while she herself grabbed a pillow and laid down while still lost in her thoughts.
What she was thinking, was only known to her.
________