The SSS-rank Guide Doesn't Need Saving

The room was still dark when Daisy shook her awake.

”Miss Aisha. Miss Aisha, wake up. We’ll be late.”

Aisha cracked open one eye. Through the gap in the curtains the sky was still black, no gray at the edges yet. She pulled the blanket higher over her shoulder.

”Five more minutes.”

”Miss, if we don’t start getting you ready now, we really will be late.”

”It’s fine. The ceremony can’t start without me. What are they going to do, announce the annulment without the bride?”

Daisy hovered over the bed, shook her shoulder again, called her name twice more, each time a little louder. Nothing changed. Aisha’s breathing only slowed further, settling into a long, even rhythm, one arm sliding off the edge of the mattress. Daisy caught the wrist gently and tucked it back under the blanket.

”Miss. Miss, please.”

No response. Not even a mumble this time.

Daisy stood there a moment, chewing the inside of her cheek, then let out a breath and told herself it was fine. A young lady sleeping hard after a long week wasn’t strange. Near the pillow, curled into a small glowing ball, Nibbles was already snoring in tiny chirps, out cold right along with its host, one thin leg twitching now and then.

Daisy pulled the curtain wider so the sun could come in later, straightened the blanket one more time out of habit, and slipped out to check on the dress.

After slipping back to sleep, Aisha didn’t expect to be pulled into a dream. It was a realistic dream that she was familiar with and couldn’t forget. So, when she saw where she was, she felt a slight confusion.

Aisha was back behind the wheel of the truck.

It rattled under her, engine screaming as she pushed it faster down the cracked, debris-strewn street. Bodies that weren’t human anymore scattered in front of the bumper. Some went under the tires, and the sound stayed with her even now, years and worlds away — a wet, heavy thud she could still feel through the soles of her feet if she thought about it too long. She knew this stretch of road.

She had lived this exact moment before, once, right before she died...

She looked up ahead.

A small figure stood frozen in the middle of the street ahead.

She’d expected her brother’s face, that small rotted shape she could never bring herself to hit even if she repeated the same thing a thousand times. But when she got close enough to see it clearly, it wasn’t her brother. Its face had changed and replaced by someone.

It was Zenick.

Her heart slammed.

Aisha’s foot found the brake and pressed down. Some part of her knew this made no sense, that Zenick couldn’t possibly be standing in her past world with her younger brother’s body. Her foot stayed on the pedal and pressed even harder, as if enough force alone could make the truck listen to her command.

Unfortunately, the truck didn’t slow. If anything, the engine got louder, the needle climbing even as she pressed harder and the wheel shuddering under her palms.

She was going to hit him.

’Bam!’

The window beside her shattered inward as she braced herself for impact. A rotted arm punched through the glass, maggots moving in the open wounds along gray skin, black veins spreading past the elbow. Aisha turned to look and came face to face with a mutated human. But before she could scream, the hand clamped over her face. It was cold and slick, and covered her eyes, her mouth, everything at once, the smell of rot filling her nose in the same instant.

Tendrils of mutated mist crawled toward her from the extended arm, trying to bore into her mouth, nose, and eyes.

Aisha felt her heart stopped as she felt it enter her—

”Miss Aisha! Miss Aisha, please, wake up!”

”Aisha!”

Daisy’s voice cracked as she shouted.

Aisha’s eyes flew open.

The first thing she felt was a hand gripping her arm hard enough to let her feel pain. She turned her head and found Zenick kneeling by the bed, his face white as a sheet of paper, one hand still locked around her arm, the other braced flat against the mattress like he needed it to keep himself upright.

She only stared back at first with her chest rising and falling too fast. Then her eyes moved around the room — the carved ceiling, the holographic vines swaying in the morning light, her own window, the familiar people in front of her— and the tightness in her chest let go slowly, allowing her to breathe slowly.

I hadn’t gone back... I’m still Aisha.

Fortunately, it was all a dream.

She patted the hand on her arm.

”Zenick, you can let go of me now.” She managed a small smile. ”I must have been so tired that I ended up sleeping too deeply. You didn’t have to come and wake me up.”

Zenick didn’t let go. His voice came out rough and shaken, almost unrecognizable. ”No... I... I came to wake up but you—”

Aisha looked at him and waited for him to finish. But Zenick didn’t. His face had gone paler, jaw locked, knuckles white where he still held her, and for a second she thought he might actually be shaking.

”I wasn’t what?” she asked again, softer this time, and looking between her older brother and Daisy, who was standing right behind him.

Zenick’s pupils looked shaken as he stared at her and repeatedly said some words that Aisha couldn’t understand. ”You... you weren’t—”

”Miss Aisha, we really should get you ready now!” Daisy’s voice interjected before Zenick could finish.

Aisha glanced past her brother and blinked. The sun was already well above the horizon. She quickly sat up and pushed the blanket off her legs, one bare foot finding the cold floor.

”Wait, the ceremony’s at ten.” Aisha frowned. ”Why didn’t anyone wake me sooner?”

”I did. But Miss told me to wake you up later,” Daisy replied.

Aisha figured she’d simply slept deeper than usual. ”Sorry about that. You must have been worried I’d miss the ceremony.”

Daisy’s eyes went glassy fast. She shook her head and pressed her lips together hard until they whitened. ”Don’t apologize, Miss. I’m just glad you’re awake.”

Aisha nodded.

Aisha missed the current running between her maid and her brother, the way neither of them would quite look at the other. She stood up from the bed and stretched until her shoulder popped, then announced she needed to bathe before they really ended up being late for the ceremony. She disappeared into the bathroom without looking back.

Zenick stayed kneeling by the empty bed a moment longer, eyes fixed on the bathroom door as if he could see straight through it. Then he slowly got to his feet, like his knees had gone stiff from kneeling so long.

”Has this happened before?” he suddenly asked.

Daisy nodded, then she shook her head. Even she was uncertain about it. ”The first time it happened, I thought Miss Aisha was still awake. I counted, and she wasn’t breathing for an entire minute. But I wasn’t sure back then, and Miss Aisha started to breathe normally again. So, there wasn’t anything wrong with... with her.”

Zenick said nothing. A full minute passed, and the only sound was the water running behind the bathroom door.

”Take care of my sister,” Zenick said at last. ”If this happens again, report it to me immediately.”

Daisy nodded and pressed a hand flat against her chest as if that would help.

Zenick left the room without saying anything else, his footsteps quick and heavy down the hall, fading toward the stairs.