Hope didn't like these uncertainties, as she looked into the mind of her one and only friend. She was new to the idea of deceit, that what one said or thought might not be true, but a very clear part of Kaika didn't want Hope to go into the portal, didn't want Hope to happen. Again and again, she found a man in a labcoat, and a strange boy. There were names attached to these thoughts, Sota and Stein. And emotions attached to them as well. Sota had nice feelings attached to him, a kind of love that Hope had only rarely felt in her travels, and had always hoped to one day posses. However, the thoughts of Stein were filled with fear and something Hope had never before felt, an emotion completely alien to her. Hate. It was confusing and terrifying, finding this strange, horrible emotion so strongly in the mind of one she considered her friend. However, still she pressed onwards, the story behind this unveiling in front of her.

Hope smiled at Kaika. So that was what was going on. She knew fear, she knew what it was like to have what you loved taken away from you. Those were the memories that Kaika had unlocked, hidden away in her own brain. Her smile was filled with sadness, as she realized that she would lose her only friend. Since she had gained her powers, fear and pain had become distant. Never again did she want to feel like she did when the Spiral Emperor had had her, never again did she want to go through the tortures that he had performed on her. She focused her powers, as she gave Kaika one last smile. A goodbye.

Time seems to stand still, as Hope steps out from the portal. She can feel the change within her, as she leaves behind the world she knew. The power that had become so natural to her disappeared in an instant, and the dizzying change made her drop to her knees. So this is what it was like. She'd forgotten. She touched the grass and it did not burn, she stood on earth and it did not melt. She could feel the wind through her hair, and the sun on her skin. She smiled, as she looked up at Stein, her memories flowing back into her, pain filling her. However, she also remembered her mother, and her older brother. They'd loved her so much. She was so distracted, as her mind was filled with these feelings, that she never saw the blade coming for her chest.
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Stein smiles, as he slowly plunges his blade into the small child's chest. He can see her eyes widen, and feel the pain echoing through her, like ripples from the center of a pond, raking at her mind and soul. A wound that would never heal, a black scar burnt into her very existence. However, what stood before him was not the weapon that could kill immortals, the being meant to destroy the Daemon. The small child, even in pain, smiled, as if under the delusion of hope, ironically fitting. Stein watches, and in her eyes he can see the victory achieved, the small measure of compensation for the act he had just committed. And yet, there was nothing he could do, in that instant.
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Hope hadn't looked at Sota. However, she knew he was there. Kaika's memories had filled her, together with her own. She clung onto them, an escape from the pain. She saw Kaika and Sota growing up together, she saw her own childhood. Side by side. She'd known it, Kaika and Sota were nice people. They loved each other. Kaika had never wanted to hurt Hope, and she smiled, as the last vestiges of her power flowed from the portal behind her. Blackness crept into the edge of her vision, but she could feel the ghosts of her parents beside her. She could sense the horror in Sota's mind, as well as the fear. After all her wandering, she'd found a friend in Kaika. Perhaps, if she'd met Sota before, they could have been friends before. However, at least right now, she was needed.

She was hope, after all.

With the last remnants of her power, Hope focused. Magical energy flowed into her, through her back, into her chest. It moved through her arms, flowing into her fingertips, as she moved her hands towards the wound in her chest. A bright light flowed from them, moving into the weapon, and through it. It moved up through Stein's arm, as it crept into his chest, into his heart, still beating. Of all the organs he had replaced and removed, altered and modified, his heart remained the same heart he had always carried. She gestured, and white light bursts forth, an explosion of energy coupled with Stein's scream as he's sent flying back, his chest exploding, his insides burning even as they fall from the hole in his chest.

As the dust clears, Hope falls forward, catching herself on her hands. She had nothing anymore. There was nothing left. Even with all of her power, she could not have healed the wound from Shiva. It was a cursed wound, which could not be healed by any spell. However, Sota and Kaika would live. They were nice people, weren't they? They'd have a happy life, Hope was sure, together. Stein would have killed them, or worse. Up until now, everything she touched had turned to ash. She'd never been able to have a friend, one she could share her life with.

Maybe when she woke up, she'd have fun.

These were the last words that echoed through the minds of a small girl named Hope, as her heart stopped beating.