Dimensional Descent

Back when the Metamorphosis first descended, Leonel remembered thinking that this was really the end and that this would really be how he died. He had already concluded that the Paradise Islands had fallen and his father was dead, and now he was certain that he would follow not long afterward.

In those moments, he felt lost and alone. He remembered the only thing he had wanted in those final seconds he thought he had was for Aina to look at him, to just spare him one glance as that portal-like wormhole approached them.

He remembered feeling as though his heart was being stabbed through because even then, even when there was nothing else to live for, the girl he had chased for four years didn't even want to look at him. Even now, he could remember how each individual strand of her hair had fallen to the back of her head before he was sucked away and completely lost consciousness.

However, what he hadn't known was that Aina didn't look him in the eye because she couldn't. In those moments, she thought that Leonel was dead, that she would never see him again.

It hurt for Aina to admit any of this, but she gritted her teeth and did so anyway. She felt that she had to…

"… When I saw you came out alive, I was the happiest I had been in a long time. But, I felt that I didn't deserve you, I had done such a horrible thing all because I couldn't open my mouth to speak, so I did something I thought would make you hate me… And I killed Conrad in the most gruesome way possible."

Even now, Aina could remember Leonel's smile fading from its usual bright ray of sunshine. That was the moment the thing she did 'for' Leonel became twisted and dark, so much so that she had a hard time even looking at herself.

"… I realized soon after that what I did was wrong. You had been going through a tough time back then, adjusting to a new world. And, instead of supporting you like I should have, I gave you another dose of trauma…"

Aina didn't realize how bad it was until Leonel went out to fight those A-grade Invalids all on his own. He was suicidal and it was her who had pushed him to that point.

his guilt having become far too much. But, this wasn't something Aina learned

had almost caused Leonel's

to find you before things got any worse. But I still couldn't open my mouth

bandits came to take advantage of how tired you were and I saw how angry you got when they disrespected me, even to the point of not caring about the deaths and killing them directly, one part of

your anger. I was just so mad that you kept putting others before yourself... that you kept putting

were the hardest to say. Even compared to the others, she found that she was almost dying on the inside piece by piece as

a

Joan of Arc Zone we entered. Back then, I didn't know what to do and I felt like I was making mistake after mistake. Not even the small kinds of mistakes, the kinds of mistakes that you couldn't' take

Zone was like a Heaven sent opportunity. Despite the fact I knew it was an

this especially well. He remember Uncle Montez telling him that maybe the easiest thing for a scanning device to do was set the entry limit. It might

but he didn't mind. The time they spent in the Zone had brought them closer together and he had already put his rose tinted glasses back on. He had also learned about her family back then, so he had assumed

had never thought that the

to have. I never seemed to have trouble talking with you

lot closer, but I still felt a heavy

teleported me away, the fear of being found out by you fueled my anxiety even more and it made

you the truth about a lot of things, I couldn't even bring myself to explain how I almost died at

it was never your fault, it was always mine. I didn't trust you because I couldn't even trust

tears, they began to