It had been almost three full days since they had come back from eliminating the conspiracy threat that was Simone’s family. Those days passed with Simone lying asleep in bed, not stirring, and not showing any signs of awakening. Lewis rarely left her side, only to attend to dire emergencies, and even then he made quick work of them, only to return to her side.

An exhausting three days had Lewis passed out by her side, his hand holding hers. It was inelegant, but endearing. The house help had seen his devotion to Simone, and instead of waking him, simply tossed a blanket overtop of him. Though, perhaps it was less the thought of devotion, and more the fear of his muscle memory. Regardless, this was where he would be.

As the night passed into the third day, Lewis felt something…different in his sleep. The brand on his back had felt wrong for the past few days, but something was changing in it, as if it were healing. Still, this was not enough to fully wake him…

Simone had restrained herself mostly because of that time in the basement. She was afraid of letting Lewis feel how the entire situation made her feel. She didn’t want him to feel the pain she did as it overtook her. Couple that with how much magic she had used that day and it had depleted her almost entirely. It would take some time for her to recharge and she now knew her limits. To have absolute control over the resonance was devastating.

On the inside of her mind, she waited as there were no dreams in this state, “I need a favor.” Two little eyes looked at her and nodded. “Good.”

Her gray eyes opened and she squeezed his hand. She could tell he hadn’t moved much at all those last few days. From the way the bed looked. She rubbed her eyes with her free hand and moved over him. Those innocent eyes were looking down at him, “Lewis? Wake up~”

Only he would know this wasn’t exactly his Simone but it was a familiar personality. “Please?”

Lewis stirred as he heard Simone’s voice. It took him a moment to register that it wasn’t a dream, and that it was really her that had spoken, and he shot up, eyes wide with concern. It was so unlike him, that it looked almost absurd. This earned a giggle from “Simone”, which was completely unlike her normal self.

“You’re awake.” Lewis pulled her into an embrace, squeezing her tight. “I was….” He thought for a moment. “Worried. I couldn’t feel you, I still…I still can’t feel you.” Their resonance was still dormant, but it was trying to wake up. “Are you okay? Are you hungry, thirsty?” He let her go, and looked her in the eyes. They were still the same stormy gray, but they felt different. Younger. More innocent.

“You’re…not her, are you…” Lewis said, looking a little dejected. “But you’re also…her…” It was slowly coming back to him. “The guide…?” The recognition was finally kicking in. It had been over a year since he had last seen her. Well, seeing being a loose term for it. “You’re really here, though?” It was curious. How could she be here? “Did Simone send you?”

It was weird for her as Lewis took hold of her. It caused Simone to freeze as if unsure what to do but she did hug him back and snuggled herself close. His scent was a bit different from the time she last remembered but this was the real world. A world she hadn’t been allowed in before now. She listened to all of his questions and got overwhelmed by them. She was unsure how to answer but she just nodded, “My stomach does feel empty? Ish?” She was sad when he let her go and immediately felt colder just from that single interaction.

She shook her head to his question and saw how sad he was that it wasn’t her. It made her frown a bit but she knew that it had been a while. “Yes! That’s me!” She nodded sternly, “Yes, Simone is… exhausted. She spun me again so I could come out and make sure you were alright. So you weren’t lonely and she thought you would like it if it were me.”

This was all so new for her and it showed in the way she couldn’t quite navigate. She was curious of it all and trying to move her legs was a bit weird for her. She made a face and took her arms to move her legs. “This is a real body~” It was much different than her dream form. “It’s weird,” she noted but turning her attention to Lewis she smiled. “The magic should be built back up into a stable level by tomorrow. She created me again so if this happens again I can take over. I’m afraid I don’t have access to your resonance though. It would defeat the purpose of her resting if I did.”

Tilting her head she reached over and pet his hair, “Are you still upset it's me and not her?” Of course, he would be upset. “…I mean you would be you do love her~ but that’s not quit–” she struggled to find the words and her face flushed as she looked away. “Not what I meant.” Her voice was really quiet now.

What she was asking was very complicated. She was Simone, in a way, and had given him much needed information on her state of well being, but…it wasn’t quite right either. He was happy, of course, that she was here, and also ecstatic that the actual Simone was doing okay. Feelings are too complicated.

Finally he opened his mouth to speak, trying to choose his words carefully. “I’m glad that Simone is okay and that you are here.” That seemed good so far. “I’m…disappointed that she’s not here. But…I’m glad that you’re here in the meantime.” That seemed good enough, right?

“Here. Let’s go get food. I’m sure you’re starving. Can you walk?” He held out his hand and helped her up. “Does she…talk to you?”

Her eyes got big in excitement as Lewis told her how he was feeling. With much more energy than the regular Simone would use she launched herself at Lewis and snuggled up to him. “I’m HAPPY YOU ARE HAPPY!” She was glad to be here if that meant that Lewis was happy.

The guide thought for a moment how to best answer his question, “Yes and no. She barely told me what to do. She’s almost meditating in her mindscape trying to gather the magic. She gave few basic instructions but left the rest to me. She hasn’t even filled me in on anyone or anything. I know you and that’s it.”

She had never lived in the physical world so all she knew was the twisted landscape that had been Simone’s mind before they reunited everything. She never got to see the outcome. She took his hand and smiled, “I can walk if you help me.” Learning to use her muscles was an easy feat after a few seconds. This Simone was just as adaptable as the counterpart she was split from.

“Is… This home?” Her innocent eyes stared up at him. “Where are we? Is it sunny? Are there lots of flowers?” She was hungry though and her stomach was loud which caused her face to flush. “Is the food good?” The food from her mental scape was different from the real world and she didn’t know what to expect.

Once she got food in front of her she dug right into it almost stuffing her face. The house staff were up to speed on what was going on and that the Missus was asleep choosing to let someone fill her place. She greeted everyone cheerful and one on one. It was almost unsettling how trusting she was which raised some concerns from the butler to Lewis who was scared of leaving her alone.

She would probably go off with just about anyone if they offered her something. It just meant that everyone had to keep an eye on her while the real Simone was asleep. “That was good!” A tart was put in front of her and Simone took a few minutes of looking it over before eating that too.

Her face flush and she got excited, “I really like this one!”

“Yes, the Missus likes it too. It’s her favorite,” the butler smiled at her.

“OH!” The guide was beginning to realize that some of her favorite things might also stem from Simone which might make sense.

Lewis smiled at the guide and her many questions. “Calm down, let’s…let’s just get some food first and we’ll go from there.”

The staff was surprisingly adept at handling the sudden shift in Simone’s personality, and of course tended to her needs as they would the true Simone. It was endearing to watch her, and the staff was almost instantly in love with her and her innocence and reaction to everything new. The tart was the cherry on top to their emotions, which only made everything better,

Now that she was full, Lewis was ready to start answering some of the more basic questions. “Now…this is our home, Guide.” He raised his hands. “This is an island in the middle of a large lake. For the time being, we’ll not leave the island. Anywhere here if pretty safe to explore, save for a cave on the opposite end of the island, but…we’ll not be going there either. For now, let’s just stick to the castle here.” He stood up.

“Follow me.” Lewis lead her through the halls and into the main courtyard where Simone had started gardening. The sun was shining high in the sky, and the air was sweet with the scents of flowers. “Here. I think you’ll like this here.” He stepped to the side and let the guide explore on her own terms.

The guide nodded along to everything he was saying. Simone stood up and thanked everyone before romping after Lewis. She lagged behind him to take everything in but once she saw the flowers she bolted without much thought. He did say it was safe.

Her immediate first stop was the peony section. Out of all the flowers they were the ones that attracted her eyes the most. Some of them were large and pink others were a darker almost purple color. “THESE ARE HUGE AND I LIKE THEM!” She got down and smelled them making a happy noise. “They smell so good too!”

The entire world smelled good and she took the time to look up and smell the area. It was assaulting her senses a lot. “How… How did you stand my world?” Her eyes locked with Lewis. “Compared to this… the smell was unpleasant.” She hadn’t been there for when he showed up.

“I remember… my lotus,” her face flushed almost instantly as her mind went to something else about the flower. She pushed her hair behind her ear like Simone often did when she was embarrassed. At least those signs hadn’t changed much.

Lewis shrugged at her question. “It’s just what I’m trained to do. I can ignore just about anything that may cause me to fail an assassination. Smell, hunger, and a few others. It’s not really important though.” He leaned against one of the stone pillars in the courtyard, and watched her make one of Simone’s tells. He smirked. She’s so innocent.

It was weird not feeling her emotions, and almost concerning. Yet, even without the resonance he was able to get a sense of what she was feeling based on her actions. A bit of embarrassment was what she had felt, probably over the interactions they had during the dream world.

“Don’t worry. It’s a lot different here,” he said. “Besides…I’m not sure how Simone would take that. It’s something we probably need to discuss when she comes back.” The assassin was enjoying this though. It was almost refreshing to have someone like the guide. It was like Simone, but not Simone.

I still miss her… His smile faded for a brief moment, and he felt cold. “Oh, I know what might be something you’d like to see.” Lewis looked up with a half smile. “Did Simone tell you about the baby room?”

She made an oh silently with her lips as she nodded and went back to admiring the flower bed. “I’m not sure what it’s like now,” the guide looked up at him. “She gave me the boot shortly after making me again. It was pretty dark though I think from her concentrating so much on trying to get back. She got rid of distractions.” A part of herself she felt like was too much. The memories and emotions. She just wanted to be home.

“A baby room?” Her eyes lit up as she jumped up and rushed at him. “Are we going to make babies? Is it a lot of babies? Lewis and Simone babies?” She tried to think about it and made a face. She couldn’t quite figure it out. “She didn’t tell me much of anything! I want to see the baby room!”

She was really happy, “I feel like I would like being a mother.” Gods knew Simone missed it dearly with the way she looked at children while they were out. “Can I see?” Once they were up in the baby room she took a look all around and picked up one of the stuffed animals. It was the bear that Lewis had won her and she held onto it.

“It’s so cute!~ I like the color. It reminds me of the woods when you…” She cut herself off and smiled a bit before bouncing over to the crib. “A lot of thought went into this. Did you do this or did Simone?”