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A miracle.
That's what she thinks this all is: a miracle.
Even her birth by itself—not to feed into any narcissistic impulse—is a miracle.
Out of thousands, millions, billions of people—God, Mother Earth, the Universe, Fate, whatever's up there decided she was to be born in this exact era, in this exact place.
She looked at Ali playing in the sea with his boyish innocence and his (usually irritating, but oftentimes endearing) naïveté.
She smiled as he put his hands in the ocean below and splashed water to no one in particular, the water sparkling in the air like glitter. The way the water droplets reflected the light of the sunset made the view a bit too picturesque for such a dimwitted guy, she thought. Not that she'd ever tell him... You can keep her secret, right?
... And with these exact people, she added to her mental list on what Fate, or Karma, or Luck, or what-have-you has blessed her with, then with a little giggle: This is about the sixth time he's done that; he's not bored yet?!
She thought more about the people she was thankful for.
Bakar, as silly as he is. (Even if his screaming when they went on the rides in Cybertopia nearly ruptured her eardrum. Alicia absolutely abhorred any type of sexism, but Bakar really did "scream like a girl.")
Rahul, Rajesh, Rahman—they were basically her honorary fathers. (Though if they call her Icha again, she might actually choke them.)
And General Rama, her adoptive father. (His signature Act Immediately!! practically echoed in her ears as she thought about him, and there she giggled again.)
Zain... at least from what she's been told about him. Unfortunately, the amnesia wiped away whatever she remembered of this "Zain," but from what she's heard, he sounded very honorable.
Correction: he was very honorable.
She dug her foot into the sand and sighed.
But then she felt fur on her hip.
"Meeeeow!"
Alicia looked down and saw Comot slowly crawl onto her lap. She looked quite comfortable there.
"Ah, yes," Alicia said, "how could I forget you?"
Funnily enough, she actually didn't.
As weird as it was, while the amnesia took away most of her memories (her recent memories in particular), some remained oddly intact.
For instance, while she had to completely relearn every bit of information about Ali and most of the other agents, every moment with Comot still stayed within her conscious.
Not that she was complaining, especially now as she caressed her soft, white fur.
She was also extremely thankful she still had most of her memories with General Rama, probably because he's been with her the longest.
She sighed again, then looked at Ali, still playing in the water.
Even after a year, it somehow felt like they've known each other forever. Which isn't completely false.
As he ran back toward her on the shore, wet like a dog who just fell into the swimming pool, his hair was flat to his head, all the volume completely gone. The sight was too funny, but Alicia bit her tongue and kept her composure.
"C'mon!" he beckoned, holding out his hands for her to grab on. "The water's warm!" He huffed. "And no, I didn't pee in it. Yet."
"Ewwwww," she blabbered as she held on. "Who says that!"
He rolled his eyes. "Okay, fine, I'll bring you to the part where I didn't pee," he jested. At least, she hoped he was.
Comot jumped off her lap, and he pulled her off the sand.
"You know..." Alicia told him as she fixed her hair (even though unbeknownst to her, Ali was going to splash onto it anyways), "I can't believe we were friends."
He corrected her: "We are friends."
She took a deep breath after all she's been through.
And then she smiled.
"I know."