Young Writers Society

Kaito bit his lip, but didn't give a response.

Apophis studied him for a moment - suddenly being the center of the god's attention made Kaito feel deeply uneasy, but what worried him even more was the way he was looking at him.

Please don't mention it, please don't mention it, please don't-

"Kaito's not your real name," Apophis finally said.

He stiffened.

"You mentioned Minecraft earlier," the god of darkness continued. He casually bridged the gap between them, a few snake heads popping out of his pocket as he came to a stop. "Were...Were you trapped in Minecraft as your avatar?"

"Technically, it's called a skin, not an avatar," he muttered.

Apophis raised an eyebrow.

His shoulders slumped, and he sent one last, hopeless glance over at Aquarius. "...Yes," he quietly admitted. "I was."

He'd been asking for that, hadn't he.

Aegeas took a deep breath. "What do you mean by a skin, or an avatar? Is that something I'm supposed to be familiar with?"

Aquarius exchanged a look with his chosen.

"It's...complicated," Aquarius said. "Avatars are what someone looks like in a game. It's not what they really look like, but it's how they look to the game. To...To some people, my world is a game. It usually doesn't impact them much, but the chosen of gods eventually arrive on my world as their avatars."

"That doesn't sound like a fun game," Aegeas said, shaking his head. "Are the people who show up there stuck like that, or can they get back to normal?"

"For awhile, yes," was the quiet response - not from Aquarius, but from his chosen. "Kaito" was currently leaning up against the wall, gaze dropping to the ground. "But someone's been working on a potion that gets us back to normal. It...It should be done soon."

"It will be," Aquarius whispered.

His chosen gave a small nod. "The other chosen were lucky. They...They found their gods quickly. I-I didn't. It took two..."

There was a pause as a deep breath was taken.

"It took two years before I found Aquarius, and it-it was easier not to be. Because no-no one would understand...and even if they did, they'd never take me seriously..." Aquarius, seeing the tears beginning to form in the corner of Kaito's eyes, slipped his hand into his chosen's and gave it a tight squeeze. "Aquarius...Aquarius knows who I am. The other gods and chosen do, too. But I...I thought it'd be better to be Kaito here..."

"I'll believe you," Aegeas said slowly. Kellach turned to him, opening and closing his mouth. Aegeas raised a paw and saw Kellach look away; though Aegeas knew his own reputation, it did hurt when even his boyfriend was a little bit surprised. "I don't like that you were dishonest, but I believe you. Two years without anyone believing who you really are sounds painful. But, what's your real name?"

There was a shake of the head.

"I don't want to say," was the whispered response.

"You have to tell them," Aquarius said, squeezing his chosen's hand again. "I...I think they'd be okay with it. And you don't want to be Kaito anymore..."

"I just want to be me."

Aquarius nodded.

His chosen took a deep breath.

"My name is Liz. I-I'm fifteen years old, and I'm a girl..."

"Why wouldn't they accept that?" Aegeas said. "I can see how they'd be hesitant around someone who claims to be from another world, but your identity is your identity. They should've at least respected that."

Liz bit her lip, fiddling with the scarf wrapped around her neck.

"I...I didn't really try," she said. "I was twelve when I first ended up like this, and I didn't know what was going on. So I...I just went with it, and I...I knew I couldn't change people's minds..."

Aegeas nodded. "That's fair," he said. "I don't feel like it's a good world if you knew you couldn't be honest to other people, but being shoved into another world when you were only twelve probably made it a little hard to talk to people."

"It's a good world," Liz replied. "It's just...a little complicated."

She glanced down at Aquarius and his hand, giving it a squeeze before putting that arm over his shoulder. "If I hadn't gone there, I wouldn't have met Aquarius. And even though it's a little crazy, I've made friends I could only dream about."

"Yeah," Aegeas said. "You could say it was worth it, then?"

"I guess so," Liz agreed, her bubbly personality beginning to emerge again. She straightened a little, and a smile began to dance across her lips. "Someone we know is actually in the process of making a potion that'll turn me and the other people like me back to normal - or almost normal. There might be a few lingering parts of my appearance, but I'll just be happy to be me again."

Aegeas could relate to being pulled into another world that he didn't ask to be pulled into or particularly wanted to be in, but finding friends and loved ones all the same. So he could sympathize with Liz, nodding along as she described the potion. "You plan on staying in that world, then?" he said.

She faltered.

"...Yeah," she said, rubbing the back of her neck. "There's not anything for me to go back to. I...I don't have a body there anymore."

She grinned again.

"But I don't miss my old life in the slightest," she said, "and I love my new family."