THE MOMENT
The four girls sat around the campfire deep in the dungeon. They were just outside the boss room, and the campfire only served to provide a small bubble of light. Two sets of twins, a pair of teenage sisters named Davina and Karin, were there along with a pair of pre-teen sisters named Six and 23. Six, Davina, and Karin quested together regularly, with 23 only joining on occasion. But, this adventure was different. It was the last one they would all have together, and the revelation came as a mild shock to Davina and a larger surprise to Karin.
"And you're just accepting it??! You're going to roll over and die, just like that??" Karin asked Six.
"I'm not dying," Six tried to clarify, but Karin shook her head.
"You're not going to exist anymore! How is that not dying?"
"How long have you known?" Davina asked 23. Each of them was the 'more mature' twin, and they were having a separate conversation while Six tried to comfort Karin with whatever answers she could give.
"It's... complicated...," 23 shook her head. "Technically, truthfully, we still don't KNOW. Like, there's no scheduled sense of, 'oh yeah, we're going to fuse into a single person on this exact date, and everything will be fine.' It's more like, that innate knowledge a person has after a few years of experience. It just feels like, 'oh yeah, Monday comes after Sunday', I know that without thinking too hard about it. But, at the same time, you don't really think about it until Saturday or Sunday, which is why I guess we never brought it up. It didn't feel important until it was here."
"I'm still going to be here," Six said to Karin. "Just, a little different."
"Will you remember me?" Karin asked. "Us?" she included her sister as well.
"I don't think so... not exactly," Six shook her head. "She's basically a whole new person. But, we can meet again!"
"I'm still kind of stuck on 'this isn't the first time'," Davina told 23.
"That's a much, much bigger conversation," 23 giggled and shook her head. "And, even we don't have all those details. But, that’s part of the reason we remember."
"Do you have to?" Karin asked aloud and addressed the question to both of the younger girls. "I know you weren't born... normally," she said. It was an understatement. Six and 23 were A.I. that came to life, and that event itself was fraught with complications. But not once had Karin ever thought of them as simple software. She'd already made friends with Six before that conversation happened, and nothing about it changed her mind. "...but, with all the talk about it happening before in other time loops... maybe you're not supposed to become a single person this time!"
"I wish..," Six smiled at Karin, but she shook her head. "With time loops, you know the Celestial Courts are involved. This is how things have to work out this time...," she said. "You'll be fine, though," she added.
"I know THAT...," Karin grumbled. "I just hate the situation." The 14-year-old girl spoke with all the attitude of one. "As a child, I thought the world was black and white. It took a lot of growing up to realize that I was half right."
"Half?" Six asked with a smile. She could tell Karin was already on the mend; the knowledge had just come as a surprise. "How so?"
"Instead of clearly separated Black and White, it's just all shitty shades of grey blended together."