Chapter 3 - No choice

Aria stretches into her run, basking in the burn in her muscles, breathing in the crisp air, coming alive under the grey sky.

She loves it.

Her memories are missing, she can't know precisely if she had loved it before in her previous life, but she understands the instinct to run in an abstract way that comes to her like breathing.

She can't tell a lot of things. Hasn't been able to in a long time.

It's frustrating.

Aria takes a turn down a narrow alley leading to a gated entrance left ajar, the sign above shows a map of the running tracks, below it another sign warns against going off the marked tracks. It is a national preserve and runners tend to show up dead. She slips through anyway and inhales the undertones of nature, of the earth right after rain and the trees thriving with life and the flowers blooming in random spurts among the tall grass – it's beautiful.

Maybe it's better if she doesn't remember, maybe whatever is lurking there in her mind is better left untouched. She's certain she won't like it much. It makes her feel hallow when she pokes at the block.

"Is host ready?"

The star pipes up, voice lovely and sweet like the morning dew on the foliage she passes. He doesn't give Aria time to respond, launching the information at her, afraid that a second longer and Aria would find a reason to derail him.

Aria should really try to remember his name.

"Fantastic, I'll get you started before you meet anyone important. You are Jin Aria, the minor villainess in this world and your mission is to protect your brother – "

Aria grits her teeth, picking up the pace she swerves under a low branch, jumps over a log, takes a sharp turn at the next split. She ignores the signs. The need to run faster burns in her veins. If only she could outrun the entitled star.

"I never agreed to this," she bites out through clenched teeth.

"Neither did I, but here we are," his drawl drags over the words.

The star's voice is cold, detached from the cheery pesky thing it had copied until now. It seems he was ready to drop the façade too. Wonderful. Just lovely.

"I do not understand your aversion in the first place. You get all the benefits!"

His voice explodes in her mind like a splash bomb. The headache that had eased flares back to life. Aria girts her teeth, the pain in her molars worsening everything, she's too wound up to release the tension in her jaw.

"Consent bitch, ever heard of that? My memories are wiped, and you want me to work like a lab rat for you. This is probably a badly made experiment," Aria mutters.

She ducks under a willow split in two, branches haphazardly spread over the running tracks. Her trainers tangle within the mess. She nearly headbutts another tree.

This dammed star!

Could he get more ridiculous?

Aria trusted her instincts; it had saved her from one too many nightmares, she'd be dammed if she gave them permission to mess around with her mind. She learned that lesson the hard way.

"I would appreciate a modicum of respect, but you are beyond saving."

"Yeah, no thanks. I'll get on with my life, die, go back to the void. You can get on with your world saving mission."

"You can't go back to the void."

"Don't mess with me, stupid star."

Aria slows, less sprinting for her life and more a pathetic jog. She wipes the sweat dripping on her forehead, flapping her shirt to cool down.

"My name is Rin, and no. Your soul will be shredded and spread across the universe. You will be conscious for every single step of the process. Your awareness spread among every molecule. You will feel the pain of each part no matter how far."

She staggers, foot bending at an awkward angle, the cold seeps into her lungs freezing her air, the ringing in her head distorts the world until she's trapped in a kaleidoscope being dropped from an aeroplane, the lurching in her gut returns with a vengeance but there's nothing to empty, so bile clogs her throat and...

A branch breaks.

Aria's heart jumps, she stills very carefully until…

Another branch snaps.

Her legs take off before her mind can tell them to. She's flying through the greenery, crashing through tall shrubs, jumping over tall stalks of grass. Blindly. Without direction. Her side twist with the pain of a stich. She pushes on, only the need to get away keeping her going.

She's lost, the freezing air invading her slowly, the footsteps crunching on snow…

No.

She's rocking, crashing into the thin railing, her only protection against the deep drop and lapping claws of the sea…

No.

That's not right.

But they're chasing her, so she must get away.

Someone calls her name, it's a faint backdrop against all the traffic in her mind.

Aria bursts free of the verdure, hitting a wall headfirst. She balances awkwardly on one foot before it gives under the weight too. At least, her backside takes the brunt of it. Her chest constricts, her heart lurching against her ribcage. Not a very nice feeling.

"Easy there, darling," a deep, sandpaper rough voice says.