The bed is warm and there’s sunlight trying to creep under the curtains as I slowly wake up. It feels weird, I know I haven’t been asleep, but also I have been.

The person in the bed next to me stirs slightly, snuggling closer, still using my shoulder as a pillow.

“You know you’re an idiot, right?”

The corner of my mouth twitches up in response to her sleepy voice.

“I know.”

My hand comes up, round her back, lazily caressing up and down her bare arm. I haven’t opened my eyes yet, as the memories of a life that I’ve lived, and haven’t lived, start to well up. Some are still the same, I remember mother leaving just after Imogen was born, and my blossoming seems relatively similar, the scar on my back twitching slightly as I examine the memory. But more things are different. Dad’s death, the legal battles for custody, the city of queens, the wands, but to name a few.

But most of all, there’s a women. Standing by me. Taking my hand. The first kiss, the first night together, the first argument. So many firsts. Except we know we’ve been here before, in so many lifetimes.

Four years together in this one. Four years of memories that sit weirdly new and old in my head. Except now I can feel her skin beneath my fingers. Feel her breath passing over my chest. Hear the faint sound of her heartbeat as she lies in my arm.

The end of my nose gets flicked and I open one eye to look down at her. Her green eyes are slightly mischievous as the finger trails down over my face, playing with my lips. I kiss the tips of her fingers and earn a smile.

“Still an idiot.”

I chuckle and squeeze her slightly, “I wasn’t ready to give up on you.”

“Softy.”

My mouth twitches again, and I roll us over, her long brown hair scattering across the sheets as she ends up slightly pinned beneath me.

“You complaining?” I ask, a bare inch away from her face.

She reaches up, linking her hands round the back of my neck, fiddling with my short hair as she gives me a contemplative look.

“No.”

And then we kiss. A proper kiss, not one from a life that happen in retrospective. A long, tender one, fuelled by the desire of lifetimes past, closing the gap that our former lives had driven between us.

Even I run out of breath eventually, and pull back, brushing my nose against hers.

Which is naturally when I hear the thumping footsteps of my sibling, and a pounding on the door.

“Pancakes! Pancakes! Pancakes!”

Ah yes. It is that day of the week.

She chuckles, and shoves me away, ripping the covers off and rolling herself up in them. I make a noise of protest and she just smiles at me, only the very corners of her mouth betraying smugness.

“I want breakfast in bed.”

“Oh do you now.”

“Mhm. Mush.”

Her foot creeps out, pushing me off the bed some more. I grab the foot, and kiss it, before making my way to the door.

“The things I do…” I mutter under my breath as I greet an excited Immy and she sprints off to the kitchen.

“Hey, Aegis?”

I turn back to her.

“What’s my name?”

No matter how hard I tried, I never could remember. In the old life that was.

“Anastasia.”

The smile is quite smug now, as she settles back down into the bed. I can’t help but smile to myself as I make my way down to the kitchen, lift Immy onto the counter, and start to make breakfast with her. I’ve only been in this life for minutes, and it’s already far better than the last.

I guess it’s okay to be selfish once in a while. Especially if you get to re-write your own life.