Just as I returned from Canterlot, and I was heading to the door, Jav suddenly appeared alongside me, much to my surprise.

“What are you doing back so soon, Mary?” He asked me curiously.

“Oh, uh,” I fumbled with my words slightly, caught off guard by his return and question, “C-Celestia said I should be with Sarah right now, and that she would see to the letter being sent to Michael. W-what about you?”

He sighed, running a hand through his hair, “Well, Death came by Dean’s house after I had delivered his letter, and told me something had happened that needed my attention. He said he would find someone else to deliver Beth’s letter, so I came back.”

“Did something bad happen?” I asked frantically, “Is Sarah okay?”

He held up his hands and leaned back slightly, “I don’t know, he just said that something had happened, nothing else. Let’s just go upstairs and see what it is, shall we?”

I nodded, worried about Sarah, and I quickly moved to the stairs and ran up, Jav not far behind. In a few seconds we had reached the top, and walked down the hall to Sarah’s room, where I heard a faint muttering.

Even more worried than before, I pushed the door open, to see.... How is that....?

As I stared in shock at what I saw, Jav came in after me, asking, “Why’d you sto-” He cut himself off as he looked at the bed, where Sarah was laying. We were both, unsurprisingly, speechless at the sight.

There, laying in bed, looking down with her arms splayed out at her sides, was Sarah. Or, more specifically, it was Sarah without all of her scars and burns, and with a left eye looking at the bead with a dead stare. Even more shocking was that she no longer sported a silver coloured, skeletal right arm, but a flesh and blood one.

In all honesty... she looked more like me than she did herself. I know we’re twins, but her scars and missing parts set her apart, but now... with all of that gone... we’re more identical than ever.

“Ah, back so soon?”

Ardiente’s question snapped Jav and I out of our dazes, and we shook our heads, looking over to Ardiente with obviously questioning expressions.

“I imagine you are surprised by what Sarah looks like,” she sighed, “and believe me, I was too.”

“What... what happened?” I managed to ask.

“Well,” she said, “Sarah here asked Death if he could remove the metal around her skeleton-” Jav and I gasped at that, “-because she felt that it was “just more of A.N.G.E.L.”, and she wanted it gone. Don’t ask me what brought on the change in her wanting it gone, because she won’t even speak right now, and she didn’t tell me beforehand.”

“Ah,” Jav began, sounding less shocked than I probably would, “so I’m guessing this is a replacement vessel?”

“That’s what Death called it.” She nodded, “And before you ask, yes, this is the reason Death probably found the two of you and said something was wrong. Something must not have matched up to how her mind worked or something, because she screamed about how the vessel’s mind was “too quiet”, and now she’s...” she sighed and gestured to Sarah, who hadn’t moved, “well look. She hasn’t moved an inch since she calmed down a seconds ago, and she keeps muttering about someone, but I can’t make the name out.”

Quietly, still with a shocked expression, I made my way over to the bed and sat down on the edge, looking at Sarah with worry. She didn’t even respond to my presence, she just kept looking down, her mouth moving as she muttered something incoherent.

“I um...” Jav said uncomfortably, “I think I’ll just leave, I’m not needed here so... bye!” With that statement and a shaky grin, he turned and left, closing the door behind him.

The room was silent after that, save for Sarah’s muttering, and after a few minutes, I decided to try and strike up a conversation with Ardiente, “So, Ardiente... how’d you know all that stuff about vessels anyway?” Thank God I can at least speak to her normally, otherwise this would be a lot more awkward.

She didn’t say anything for a while, and wondering why, I looked away from Sarah and at her. To my confusion, she was looking off to the side, with an expression somewhere between concerned and contemplative.

After a few moments of silently thinking, she said with a hesitant tone, “Well... that question’s hard to answer, Mary. I’d like to say that Death just informed me when he replaced her vessel earlier,  but... that wouldn’t really be the truth.”

Tilting my head to the side in curiosity, I asked, “What do you mean?”

“It’s...” she paused, then sighed, “it’s not important right now. We should be focusing on Sarah, and see if we can help her through this before anything else.”

“Oh....” I was a bit let down by that; I was honestly hoping to learn a bit more about her. I’ve known her since I became a Wraith, and she’s my sister’s lover too, but I hardly know anything about her.

Heck, I don’t think Sarah knows much more about Ardiente than I do. I immediately started glowing, thankfully not enough for Ardiente to notice, as I thought back to when Ardiente- half asleep -thought I was Sarah. Okay, Sarah knows more about her in another sense, but I don’t think she knows much about her as a person- er, pony, I guess.

“Anyway,” Ardiente’s voice, again, snapped me out of my daze, and I shook my frown off to listen, “I’ll gladly tell the both of you some other time, just not now. It’s not the biggest secret it’s just...” she sighed, “it’s just a bit complicated to explain.”

“Ah,” I nodded in understanding, “alright then.” I then turned to look back at Sarah, who was still muttering and looking down, though her expression had changed somewhat. Now, instead of a blank, dead stare, she seemed more angry than before, and her mouth was turned down in a frown as she muttered with a much darker tone.

“What is she even saying, do you think?” I asked Ardiente.

She shrugged in response, saying with a tired voice, “I don’t know. I’ve tried to listen, but I just can’t make out what she’s saying. I’d guess she’s just saying nonsense, but doing it in tandem with her actual thoughts- I’ve done it before -but I’ve made out one or two words, so I’m not sure.”

“Hm....” I sighed, resigning to the fact that we may not know what she was thinking, or saying. Not wanting to give up completely, however, I decided to lean in close, and see if I could decipher anything.

....

....

....

Nothing, nothing at all. I sighed once more, and started leaning away, when I stopped, having heard something I could make out. I wasn’t sure of the significance, but whatever meaning it held, it wasn’t one Sarah was fond of. She growled out the word, or name I suppose, with animosity I hadn’t heard since my canibal personality was in her head.

“Nathan....” Was all she said, then fell almost disturbingly silent.

Next Chapter: As the World Turns- Act I, Pt. IV: Trials and tribulations that we all must go through Estimated time remaining: 48 Minutes