Awake and Flourish.

I wake up on a place unknown. The last thing I remember is Kanaya charging me. I deserved it. Somehow, at the last possible moment, there was a blinding flash, a splitting headache, and the feeling of somewhere...different.

“Huh. Something feels wrong...

“My quirk is gone? Interesting. It feels incredibly freeing to finally break myself of that, of my past.”

I suppose an introduction is in order, my dear reader. My name was Eridan Ampora. On my home planet of Alternia, I was of the second highest bloodcaste. I ruled alongside someone I loved, but then I murdered her. I murdered so many people in some vein attempt of protecting our planets oceans. It didn't matter, I knew it was doomed for sweeps, but I did it anyway. My planet was soon destroyed afterwards and I received my comeuppance, or at least I thought I did.

I could have sworn I had died when I saw that light, but looking into a nearby pond, I find my eyes are normal, nothing like the eyes of those I killed.

“What are you doing? Are you oka- Oh goodness you're bleeding, come with me, quickly!”

I try to get up and follow the stranger, but immediately collapse.

When I wake up again, I'm in what feels like a hospital. “Thank goodness you're awake.” said the human who appears to have rescued me.

“My name is Arlinn. I brought you to a healer I knew and trusted, are you okay?”

I try to sit up to talk to her, but I can't muster the strength.

“Please, continue to lay down, don't stress yourself.”

I lay back down and begin to speak. “My name is Eri, and I think I should be dead. I come from a planet named Alternia, and a friend who I betrayed murdered me, or so i think. However, this isn't death, and I am very much alive. Do you have anything, anything that can explain what the hell is going on?”

She whispers something under her breath. Something about planes. I have no clue what human flying devices have to do with my current situation but she seems like my only hope.

“Listen, Eri. This is going to be a lot, but I need you to listen. You are in a different plane right now. Planes are like...imagine if the multiverse was a big network of bubbles. Your home world of Alternia is it's own plane. You have a very unique ability shared by a select few individuals. You have the ability to planeswalk. The connections between the planes are incredibly hard to go through, but a select few individuals are able to move through them almost completely freely. The guild we are currently on is called Ravnica. Do you need me to repeat anything before I go on?”

I sit and think a moment. Planes, planeswalking, Ravnica, everything.

“Just one thing. You're certain I'm not dead?”

She replies immediately, “Beyond a doubt.”

I feel tears well up. I have never cried before, especially in front of others. I was to be a fearless leader, the most macho of men. To cry would spell death at the hands of a single uprising. I'm finally free of my past. No more facades, no more hiding fear, no more masculinity, no more Eridan. And I celebrate with tears.

“Thank you... so much. I've barely even met you and you've done more good for me than I will ever deserve. I've murdered countless people. Friends, enemies, the guilty, the innocent. All to hold some pretense that I'm the ruthless co-ruler to the one I served. I never wanted it. All I ever wanted was to be free, to be happy, to not have to put up the facade of masculinity and you've told me that I get a chance to tear it down, to do good, to be good. And I just-”

She hugs me. I've never been hugged before.

“It's okay Eri. I know how it feels. I know all too well. Stay here, I'll call the healer and the aesthetician. We'll get you into the body you deserve.”

I'm overwhelmed. It's a totally new lease on life. I'll be able to make things right again. I'll be able to be good again. All I can do is muster two words before falling asleep again.

“Thank you...”

When I awake again, everything about my body feels different. They did it. I know it. It's the exact form I've dreamed of. Its the body I always wanted. Years of pent up self loathing all finally going away.

“Eri, how does it feel?”

Arlinn is sitting right beside me.

“I feel alive. I feel like I'm in my right body for the first time. I feel...”

She says the words I've been waiting to say all these years.

“You're euphoric in your gender. I know how it feels. I was originally a member of a strict church. I was not allowed to transition and I was forced to massacre werewolves, something I would eventually become. When I did first transform, I murdered those who oppressed me and found a pack. There, an aesthetician helped me transition in much the same way you did. I was finally free. I was finally allowed to be who I wanted to be within my pack, and they learned to help me grow and helped me grow. I was finally free, I was finally allowed to live and be as I wanted to. When the multiverse presented me with the chance to bestow that feeling onto another, I couldn't pass it up. I couldn't let you die.”

I pull her into a tight hug. She had been crying for quite some time now, and I don't think she noticed until just now. I don't know how long we stayed there, but we stayed there for a long time, just holding each other. Eventually, Arlinn let go and got up.

“Eri, I've got to go. The voda of this vernadi is about to come through and would like to talk to you, and I know she would like some privacy. In the meantime, get some more rest. Transmogrification is incredibly exhausting for your body, and you cant risk pushing it right now.”

I thank her again before I lay to rest.