Disclaimer: Tales of the Abyss and all characters therein do not belong to me. That honor goes to Namco Bandai. This story is for fun only, and I do not profit from it.

Nederim

Chapter 1 / Interludium

"Rather than turning the page, it's much easier to just throw the book away." – Anthony Liccione

It was unbefitting of a princess, but Natalia, second in line for the throne of the Kingdom of Kimlasca-Lanvaldear, was so filled with nervous energy that she had to consciously force herself from releasing it in short, jumpy movements. She did not know if her people would be able to make it back to Baticul before it was too late. There were so many wounded, most of them gravely so, and her skills as a Seventh Fonist did little to alleviate the load of work thrust suddenly upon the few Seventh Fonists and medics that were nearby.

She looked outside, wishing the expansive sand dunes of Chesedonia would somehow just vanish so her people could reach a hospital quicker. Then she saw it: a ball of purple and yellow that didn't fit the desert landscape, big enough that Natalia could only assume it was human. She straightened, almost immediately opened the door to the carriage before she stopped herself. Kimlascan soldiers' lives were at stake; she shouldn't delay them from receiving the medical attention they desperately needed.

But she couldn't just leave someone out in the desert; they would die within a few hours if they weren't already dead. They didn't look like part of the Malkuth military, either (not that that would stop her. If someone needed help, it shouldn't matter what country they were from). Throwing caution to the wind in favor of compassion, Natalia opened the carriage door and ran towards the purple form, barely hearing General Cecille's calls for her to come back.

Natalia reached the person quickly, turned them over so their face wasn't in the sand anymore while checking for a pulse. It was there, slow and faint, but there nonetheless. Without wasting another second Natalia began to cast healing artes on the girl's bleeding forehead. They didn't seem to do much, but the girl responded with a groan from being shifted around so much. The princess tried to wake her up, knowing that falling asleep now wouldn't help the girl at all, but she wasn't able to get any other response out of her. General Cecille showed up at her side then, and Natalia had her and the other soldier that accompanied her bring the girl into another carriage, one that was carrying soldiers with minor wounds. Neither of them questioned her, and she was thankful once more that she could use her title as princess to help people that needed it.

Everything was white, and at first she thought it was because her eyes hadn't adjusted to the brightness of the sun.

It was only after blinking rapidly did she realize that the sun wasn't making everything bright, the room itself was a blank slate. There were some sort of repeating blips and beeps and other sounds, but they sounded fuzzy, almost like she was underwater. She felt numb and dazed and all around completely out of it, and it took her a few moments to actually understand that she had no clue where she was, how she got here, why she was in this void of a room.

She tried to sit up only to fall victim to a dizzy spell, and she thought she might have felt something in her stomach, but the numb feeling stayed with her, dulling her senses. She managed to stay sitting, putting a hand to her head to try and make everything stop spinning. There was something rough wrapped around it. Why was there something on her head?

Her hand flew away from her temple stained slightly red. That was when she began to panic. She knew what the red color was, but why was she bleeding? Why was she in this room? With wide eyes, she scanned the room as quickly as she could, trying to keep breathing steadily despite how difficult getting air into her lungs became.

It was white, almost everything was white and she didn't like it. The bed was white, the walls, the curtain that blocked out the rays of sunlight that tried to filter into the room. The speed of the beeping picked up, and her eyes darted over to where she thought the sound was coming from. There was a box in the corner—white in color—with a black screen and lines darted up and down. On the other side of the room was some sort of bag, filled with a clear liquid that was attached to a pole. A tube ran from the bottom of the bag, and following its path, she began to panic again. It went into her arm, and she didn't understand. Where was she? What happened?

A loud banging sound made her jump, and she instinctively leaned as far back as she could, which was rather difficult because she couldn't feel her arms and legs. A person came in from the open door—she didn't even see the door, it blended in with everything else—dressed in white. Why was everything so colorless?

"Who are you?"

The voice was soft and feminine, slightly shaky, and it took her a moment to realize that it was her voice. The person paid her no heed, though, might not have even heard her, before going over to her and doing something. Their hands placed themselves on her shoulders, gently trying to push her back towards the bed, and their mouth was moving, some sort of sounds coming out of it but she either didn't understand or her mind was too muddled from everything to comprehend them. The tone was soothing and nice, but didn't keep the woman in the bed from repeating "Who are you?"

Once her head found its place back onto the white pillow the hands removed themselves from her shoulders, but the persons voice kept on talking in that soothing voice. She stopped repeating the question—the person wasn't going to respond to her apparently—and instead she concentrated on her breathing again. The speed of the beeping slowed down again, and she managed to focus on the person in white.

It was a man. His hair was dark, and his eyes were light, a shade of green that she liked. His coat was white, but the clothes under it were different shades of red and brown and green. He looked rather young. After letting out a sigh, he smiled and said, "See, there's nothing to be afraid of. Everything's all right."

She didn't really understand what he meant, but he seemed relaxed so she tried again. "Who are you?"

"Imri," he said. His eyes darted back to the door and her gaze followed his. Beyond the threshold was a hallway filled with different colors. His eyes met with hers again and his frown deepened. "You messed up your bandage, you know."

She stared at him for a moment, touched her head once more, gingerly this time. He was quiet too, eyes drifting away from hers and up towards her head. "Let me rewrap that for you. Is that all right?" When she said nothing, he asked her to nod if it was fine for him to rewrap whatever was on her head.

She complied and, with another grin, he grabbed something from a nearby table. He sat on the edge of the bed, helped her sit up again, and began undoing the thing that was around her head. The cloth came back mostly white, but with a huge dark stain on it. "So. Like I said, my name's Imri." He gestured to himself before picking up another roll of white cloth and focusing on her injury again. "I'm not a doctor or Seventh Fonist or anything, so I can't help much—we're a bit short staffed at the moment, so General Cecille and Her Majesty asked us to help. You're stuck with me for the moment, but a real doctor can check you out once all the wounded soldiers are taken care of."

She didn't understand any of those names—she hadn't heard any of them before—so she remained quiet and tried to watch him wrap the cloth around her head. He looked like he was having difficulties with her hair, so she pushed back the blonde bangs that kept falling in her face and in the path of the cloth. He beamed down at her. After another minute he tied off the cloth and relaxed back onto his place on the bed. "There, all better. So, you got a name, or do you want to go back to sleep? You were pretty beat up."

That bothered her. She didn't remember being wounded. The blood was proof that she did get hurt, though. It was a head injury, so perhaps that, in conjunction with whatever was making her numb, was messing with her memory. She remembered he asked her a question. Like Imri had done before, she gestured to herself. "I..." she paused. "I… my name is…"

What was her name? She knew what a name was, she should probably have one. This shouldn't be something that's hard to remember. "My name…" she tried again, but nothing came to her. A name should be easy to remember. Why couldn't she remember?

"... You okay?" he asked after she stopped again.

She shook her head. "No… I, I do not…"

Imri frowned. "You don't remember your name?" His tone was soft. She didn't like it.

She leaned forward, screwing her eyes shut and putting her head in between her hands, being mindful of the cloth that Imri had just replaced for her. What was wrong with her? Why was her memory so fuzzy when almost everything else was fine? Most of her senses worked perfectly now. What happened?

"Hey, hey, hey, relax. It's fine," he told her, gently grabbing her wrists and removing her hands from her head. He pushed her back onto the bed softly, getting her to lie down again. "Why don't you rest some more; it might help out. I'll see if I can track down Her Majesty while you sleep, okay? I bet she can help."

She didn't bother replying to him and he stood up, began walking to the door slowly. Instead, she shifted over, towards the window that was covered with the white curtain. A frown settled on her lips at the sight. "Imri?" she asked.

He stayed put, waiting for her to continue. When she didn't, he said, "Yeah?"

"Will you… move the curtain… please?"

The sound of his shoes moving towards the window was accompanied by a short little chuckle. "Yeah, no problem. All this white would get on my nerves too." He moved the curtain away from the window, and while she couldn't see all the way through it due to the bars and the angle she was lying in, the small patch of blue sky, unmarred by clouds, was visible from her spot. "Try and get some sleep."

She nodded—sleep was likely the only thing that would help her now—but he was already on the other side of the room and couldn't see the gesture. The door shut quietly, and she closed her eyes. It didn't take long for her to fall unconscious.

When she woke up most of the numbness had worn off, causing her to groan in pain. She preferred being numb. It wasn't unbearable, far from it, but the pain encompasses her entire body, making her ache when she moved the slightest bit. Her head hurt the most, but her skin felt dry and hot and uncomfortable. She was still facing the window, and the small bit of sky she could see was no longer blue, but beginning to turn orange with the setting (or rising, she didn't know how long she slept) sun. There were still no clouds as far as she could tell.

"Oh, you're awake now."

The voice didn't belong to Imri, but didn't seem threatening. The woman in the bed turned away from the window, towards the voice. A blonde-haired teenager sat near her bed on a chair, accompanied by Imri, who was leaning on the wall by the beeping machine, looking bored. The newcomer's hair was short and curly, and her eyes were light green, but still darker than Imri's eyes were. She had on a light pink dress with a matching headband in her hair. She couldn't have been any older than sixteen.

The woman in the bed looked over to Imri, then back to the girl. Was this 'Her Majesty?'

Her question was answered as Imri straightened up, walked over to the girl's side and said, "This is Her Majesty, Princess Natalia of the Kingdom of Kimlasca-Lanvaldear."

Princess Natalia gave her a kind smile. "Please, just call me Natalia. How are you feeling?"

She didn't need to think about that. "I am… in pain. It hurts… to move much."

Natalia nodded, looked apologetic. "I'm sorry, I tried to use the Seventh Fonon to heal your head wound and sunburn, but I suppose I have not studied enough… the doctor should be able to heal you when he can." She paused, looked over the woman in the bed before continuing. "Captain Carnelian informed me of your situation. Is it true that you cannot remember who you are?"

The woman nodded slowly. "Yes… That is… correct," she said slowly, as if she was having trouble finding the right words. "But, I remembered… someone called me 'Cass.'"

Imri gave her a large smile and looked like he wanted to say something, but refrained from speaking. Natalia's smile widened as well. "That's wonderful. Do you remember anything else?"

Cass stayed quiet for a moment, thinking hard. Eventually she shook her head. "I apologize… I only remember… Cass."

The princess's smile wavered slightly, but didn't fall from her face. "I see. Would you mind if I gave you a name until you remember? …When the doctor is able to tend to you, we will need a full name for the report."

Cass blinked in surprise. She hadn't expected a princess to be so… attentive to her citizens. Much less someone that might not even be a part of the Kingdom of Kimlasca-Lanvaldear. "Yes… please do."

Natalia put a finger to her chin and looked like she was in deep thought. "Cass seems rather uncouth for a first name… it must be a nick name…" she muttered, thinking out loud. After a minute, she met Cass's eyes with her own. "Do you like the name 'Cassandra Brightwing?'"

Something about it seemed right, but Cass wasn't sure what. Similarly, there was something very, very off about that name. Regardless, the princess looked like she considered it carefully—it would be rude to not accept it. "Yes, I do… thank you."

"I'm glad," Natalia said, standing up and smoothing out her skirt. "Unfortunately, I have other business to attend to, so I cannot stay with you, Cassandra. Captain Carnelian can stay, if you would like?" Cass nodded, and Natalia continued. "He'll stay here, then. Might I have a word outside, Captain?"

Imri bowed his head, said "Of course, Your Majesty," before walking over to the door, holding it open for the princess. The two left, closing the door behind them, leaving Cass to stare at a wall of white while waiting for Imri to come back in.

"Captain, I'm sure I do not need to inform you of this, but I'm well aware of your escapades. Please note that they will not be tolerated."

It always threw him off when Princess Natalia somehow pulled a complete 180 in personality. She usually seemed like a simple, well-mannered noble girl. Especially in these past few months, while she was with him and the other soldiers in Chesedonia. Her stern expression and tone of voice reminded him that she wasn't some noble's daughter; she was a princess in every sense of the word. Imri nearly threw his hands up defensively, almost spoke to her as if they were on equal footing. "Of course, Princess Natalia."

"Good," she said, before letting her shoulders drop the slightest bit. "I'm relieved. When you told me she had amnesia, I thought it might have been like Luke's…"

Ah, right. Young Master Luke's case of memory loss. He had never been to the Fabre Manor, but he'd heard all about it. Kid couldn't remember a thing. Couldn't talk, didn't know his parent's faces, nothing. The fact that Cass could understand him proved that her case was leagues better than his. "Yeah, it's not like his, thankfully," Imri agreed. "You may want to inform His Majesty about Miss Brightwing. Malkuth might have invented some sort of new fonon technology to cause amnesia. This is the second case of it that we've seen. I'll speak with General Cecille about it when I can, too."

"I was worried that could be a possibility…" she muttered. "Do so when you have the time. Keep an eye on her, Captain. Please inform me if she remembers anything. And don't overwhelm her with questions."

"Understood, Your Highness." Imri paused for a second. "Permission to speak freely?" Her Highness nodded, granting him permission. "I'm sure that Miss Brightwing's position… hits pretty close to home," he inwardly winced at his phrasing, but the princess paid it no mind. Eloquent speech wasn't one of his strong points. "I just want you to know that we don't know anything about her. With that Colonel Curtiss from Malkuth on the battlefield, I wouldn't put it past Malkuth to try some sort of infiltration. I know you want to help her, but I just feel like you should stay wary, Your Highness."

"Thank you, Captain," she replied. "That is why you'll be keeping an eye on her. Now, I do have other matters to attend to, so if that is all?" Imri nodded and saluted again. He remained at attention until the princess was out of sight, and then he went back into the amnesiac's room.

She was sitting up again, trying to look out the window with a look of pain on her face. At the sound of the door closing behind him, Cass turned around with a somewhat blank expression on her face, like she was confused or something. Imri gave her a smile as he took up the seat Her Majesty was in a few minutes ago. "Hey, Cassie," he greeted jovially, making her eyebrows furrow in confusion at the name. "Feeling a little better now that you can see outside?"

She stared at him in confusion still. "No… my head and skin… still hurt…"

Imri made a sort of hissing sound, like he was feeling her pain. "Yeah, that's a nasty sunburn you got. The gash on your forehead hasn't been bleeding, though, so that's good. Just take it easy, all right?"

Cass nodded. "I will," she said before turning back to the window. He did the same, checked the sunset out for a minute or two before looking at Cass again. Keeping an eye out for suspicious behavior was a pretty shoddy excuse to stay here, in his opinion. Even if she was acting and the memory loss was all a huge lie, her injuries would make it close to impossible to do anything anytime soon. Not to mention she was possibly the worst candidate to be a spy. If the injuries were inflicted to be convincing, playing at Princess Natalia's compassion, Malkuth pretty much ruined any chance she'd have to get out of bed any time soon.

The princess may have been considered a novice in the use of Seventh Fonons, but he knew from experience that she was good enough to heal something as simple as a sunburn. This chick's fon slots must have been closed, locked, and then buried. They took in almost nothing. She was physically weak right now, and if she could barely absorb Seventh Fonons that someone else was controlling, there was no way in hell she was a fonist.

Imri did know that Cass had some form of combat training, just didn't know the extent of it. Her Highness and General Cecille removed both of the weapons she had with her. Who knew where those were now? Chances are she wouldn't get them back anytime soon—if at all—and he could definitely defend himself if she was more of a hands-on kind of girl.

Shifting in his chair slightly, Imri decided to break the silence. "Hey, Cassie, mind if I ask you a question?"

Slowly, she looked away from the window and at the captain. She didn't say anything, but he figured that if she acknowledged that he said something she must just be waiting for him to speak. She definitely didn't mince her words… or speak at all. "I get that you're going through some crap right now, but I just wanna know if you know, all right? Do you remember why you were in Chesedonia?"

Cass looked confused again, eyebrows furrowed together and a small frown on her face. "Chesedonia?" she repeated. She looked like she was thinking about it, which sort of threw Imri off. Did that bash on the really really sent her memories into the void? "I… I do not know... what that is."

Damn. He figured it was pretty bad if she couldn't remember her name at first, but thought that, maybe, it was just some parts of her memory. Not literally everything. It didn't even sound like she knew Chesedonia was a city. No, scratch that. It didn't even sound like she remember how to speak completely.

When Imri didn't say anything else, she must have thought he was done because she faced the window again. He couldn't see them with her back towards him, but he decided he liked the color of her eyes. They reminded him of home, of cold steel just hammered out, perfectly balanced and measured, ready to be put to use on some new fontech device. Her dull blonde hair was messy, had been since General Cecille and Her Majesty found her out in Chesedonia, and looked horrible against her bright red skin. The skin issue would clear up eventually though.

Regardless of his orders, he knew better than to flirt with her as she was now. She was confused and might get the wrong idea. She didn't seem too well-versed in human interaction, if her slow speech was anything to go by. Besides, for all he knew, she could be married or engaged or something. Imri Carnelian was a lot of things, but he wasn't about to add homewrecker to that list.

Author's Note: As an author, I will be taking some creative liberties when it comes to world building and Auldrant as a whole. Everything will have a base from canon content (game or otherwise), but I will be endeavoring to make Auldrant more fleshed out in a way that makes physical sense based on its structure and how our own planet Earth works. It will get technical at times, but everything will be explained. If it's confusing, shoot me a PM; I'll try to make it make more sense.