Verity: "I'm home."

Deva: "Already? You ju... Oh, right. You don't know what your other selves are doing, right?"

Verity: *shakes her head* "At least not until we can merge for a while. Was another one of me just here?"

Deva: "Mm-hmm. The one investigating Kingdom Hearts that set up in the Pride Lands. Which one are you?"

Verity: "I'm the one that went from Tera's world into Subspace and landed in Hyrule." *turns around and pats her knee* "Don't go anywhere, you've got to see what I found."

Deva: "Heh. Your other self said the exact same thing when she brought home this poor little guy." *lowers the lip of her pouch just enough for a cub's head to poke out* "She found him unconscious nearby the portal right after a pretty intense thunderstorm. Allegedly.

"He doesn't remember much... Also allegedly. Especially not belonging to any pride. And none of the prides recognized him in turn, so they let your other self adopt him." *pets his head* "I'm going to let Zira help raise him too, but... She's supposed to be dead, so that'll just be our little secret, right Cutie?"

Unnamed Cub: *nuzzles and licks at Deva's hand* "Mm-hmm."

Verity: "Hm. Certainly sounds like something I would say. Especially because..." *kneels and pats her knee until a wolf canters up beside her* "I found this handsome fella at a desert ruin while passing through the spirit realm." *rubs along his face* "He can't talk, so I don't know if he's got amnesia too or not. But he definitely can understand English. Right, Handsome?"

Unnamed Wolf: *nuzzles and licks at Verity's face until he sees the cub* "Rou?"

Unnamed Cub: "Hrrm?"

Deva: "They kind of look like they recognize each other. May I?" *Verity nods and Deva picks up the wolf* "Okay. Relax, and please behave yourself." *tucks him in next to the cub*

Wolf: *sniffs at the cub*

Cub: *leans away, but only a bit* "I... Have we met before?" *sniffs him back* "I feel like we've met before."

Verity: "Maybe you did. In the afterlife, or in your past lives." *pets them both* "I did find him in the twilight. Which a lot of people think is where you go when you die."

Cub: "Die? I... Umm... That... Makes sense?"

Deva: *pets them both* "Eh, don't worry about it for now. For now, just consider yourselves both welcomed to your new home."

---

We've since been made aware of the similarities the cub and wolf have with certain, shall we say, critical figures within their respective worlds, but we're pretty confident these are not them. At best, they're temporary avatars that... Oh how did that guy put it... You know how, on some of the old electronics, the pause button wouldn't hold forever and it would eventually start back up without you? I think it's kind of like that: They were used as avatars, left in a "paused" state, and eventually the pause wore off and they resumed living.

Or it may just be a coincidental resemblance. All we know is that two certain chosen ones are still very much bringing the smackdown to the forces of darkness somewhere else right now, so we definitely, definitely are not dooming anyone by keeping these two. ^_^

---

Deva Xenelis is © myself.

Two people that share a resemblance to our new buddies are © Square Enix and Nintendo.

Original artwork by  Cotton Candy Bumble Bee. Please favorite the original here.