Chapter 3 – On the Cusp of Memory
Morgan prepared an Arcthunder spell, tome in hand. While both swordplay and magic required ample practice, the latter relied more on memorizing incantations and less on precise movements. Even so, Morgan found that practicing casting forms helped greatly for actual combat. He did wish he could use Thoron tomes for practice, but the books were too pricy to do more than memorize the arcane words.
The boy snapped his free arm upward. Several bolts of lightning surrounded a log on all sides. The bolts struck it at once, blowing the piece of wood apart.
"I trust that was a damp log this time."
Morgan turned towards the direction of his older sister's voice.
"Hey, I only used a dry log once. The fire didn't spread that much, anyway; these magic training fields are mostly bare soil and rocks for just that reason." His tone sounded annoyed, but he gave way to chuckling. Lucina smiled in turn.
"So, what brings you here, Sis?"
"Merely passing through; I am on my way to ask father or mother when the next war council is."
"Ah," the boy replied. An idea then came to him and he said, "Say, Lucina, I've never seen you use a tome before. Want to give it a try now?"
"You know I'm terrible at using magic, certainly not without practice…" Lucina began to say, but she trailed off upon seeing Morgan's bemused expression. She cringed and said,
"I'm sorry. I should have realized that that you wouldn't remember the last time I used magic. That was back in our time."
"Don't be sorry, Lucina. It's okay, really," Morgan said with his characteristic cheer. But since I don't remember the last time you used magic, how about you show me now? Maybe it'll help me help bring a memory or two back."
Morgan may not remember the past several years of having an older sister, but he already felt that he could read Lucina (mostly) well. Despite his assurance, she would still feel a tinge of guilt that she brought up his amnesia. She would gladly show off her lackluster magic skills if it would make her kid brother happy.
As if on cue, Lucina let out a sigh, though she still had a small smile on her lips. "I suppose I could. Don't be too disappointed, though."
"I'm sure you're not that bad, but thanks, Lucina," the boy cheered as he walked over to a small stack of tomes. Picking an appropriate red-colored Fire tome, he then handed the basic spell to his sister.
"Should I set up a target?" Morgan asked.
"Just a small one, please. This area may prevent wildfires from breaking out, but I would still rather not create too big a blaze."
Morgan chuckled, but did so, placing a small chunk of wood a fair distance away. Magical prowess was measured not just in strength, but control as well. An amateur could create a brush fire as easily as she could mere embers if unpracticed.
Lucina turned to a page, scanning over the vaguely familiar words. Once she felt she went over the spell sufficiently, she held the tome close to her chest. Lucina then quietly muttered the incantation before raising her free arm with a shout. A small-sized ball of flames materialized and flew across the training field. It crashed into the piece of wood, reducing it to a smoldering pile of ash.
"See?" Morgan chimed, "You're bad not all. Your control is especially good, for someone with no real magic training."
The young woman still had a slight look of surprise on her features, but responded, "My magic is no better than it was years ago."
"That might be, but it looks like you have some natural talent—" Morgan replied before stopping abruptly. A strange feeling had surged through the blue-haired tactician. It was a rare sensation—that of hazy familiarity.
"Perhaps, but I doubt I'll ever be all that skilled. Not even to your or mother's level," Lucina continued.
"And I guess practicing is out of the question?" Morgan asked, hiding his earlier shock.
Lucina shook her head, "I can bring out my full potential by concentrating on my swordsmanship. Versatility works well for you, but I would rather excel in one area."
Morgan nodded, "I can understand that. Having both specialists and people more adaptive fighting styles can be a boon on the battlefield. But still, I had a feeling you're better at magic than you give yourself credit."
With another small smile, Lucina said, "I had a feeling you would say that. I don't know if this is doing anything to help your memories, but this is all quite familiar to me."
"Well, it almost feels familiar, I guess," Morgan replied. It was not a lie; not entirely. However, he needed more of a jolt, and Lucina would not let him if she knew what he wanted to do. He had to end the conversation without raising her suspicion.
"I'm glad, even if it isn't much of a recollection. There's hope for your memories yet," Lucina said. She then frowned slightly and continued, "Ah, right, I must be going. I still need to inquire about the next council. Sorry to leave so abruptly, Morgan."
"Don't worry about it. I'm the one who distracted you, after all. See you later!"
After his sister walked far enough away, Morgan picked up a heavy tome and as discreetly as possible, made his way to the outskirts of camp. He hated to be deceptive, even slightly. However, a memory, or something like it, was just within reach. It was on the tip of his tongue, or whatever the brain equivalent of that phrase would be. They were rare, but Morgan would sometimes get a feeling of familiarity. Some were stronger than others, but they were almost never specific. He had gained a vague, general recollection of Lucina always carrying Falchion on her person. He also had recovered an indistinct memory of his father smiling at him.
While he wanted to believe that he was slowly recovering his memories, he also knew that he could have unintentionally created the recollections out of present experiences. After all, his sister carried Falchion wherever she went in the time they were currently in, and his father often smiled at him pleasantly. Morgan wanted something more specific and substantive, especially now that they were no longer strangers to him. These general, faint recollections and feeling of familiarity almost seemed as if his missing memories were toying with him. Surely, a good blow to the noggin would help pry that memory loose from the vice that was his amnesia. He hoped that it would be a clear one. True, his head-bashing attempts had not worked before, but he never tried right after one of these sudden feelings of familiarity.
After Morgan hurried over to a copse of trees, he slipped behind one, surely out of sight of anyone who happened to pass by, then proceeded to bludgeon himself with the book.
"Morgan!"
The sudden shout made the tactician-in-training drop the tome. He was not that far from camp, but he did not think he would be found out this quickly. Morgan kept his back up against the tree, though he knew full well that it would not deter the person who found him out. Sure enough, a small, blonde, pointy-eared girl walked hurriedly in front of him, a look of shock, disbelief, and concern on her face.
"Um, hi, Nah," the boy greeted sheepishly.
"What are you doing?" Nah exclaimed, though she chided herself before continuing, "Okay, so that's obvious."
All Morgan could manage was an "uh."
"Lucina talked about this, but I still can't believe you'd go this far to get your memories back."
"So…Lucina told you about this?" Morgan asked. He was almost never at a loss for words, but this was the first time someone other than a family member caught him trying to restore his memories through blunt force trauma.
"She warned all of us, although she told me more recently that you haven't tried something like this for over a month," Nah explained, "Until now, anyway."
"Yeah…I thought it might work this time. I feel like I'm about to remember something," Morgan replied.
Nah gave him a look of surprise, "You remembered something?"
"Sort of," he replied. The boy further explained what had just transpired, and how he felt a jolt to the head may knock those memories loose.
"Okay, I can kind of understand why you would think hitting your head would help. It must be frustrating."
Morgan nodded, "Exactly! I'm so close to a memory and—"
"But," Nah cut him off sharply, "you still can't sneak around and hit your head like that. You could really hurt yourself."
"I know, I know," Morgan said, only vaguely realizing he was being scolded like a child.
"So much for your amnesia not really bothering you, huh?" Nah said
Morgan rubbed the back of his head, flushing a little out of embarrassment.
"I try not to let it bother me, and I know I worry people when I do that, but well…If there's any chance I can get my memories back, I want to take it."
Nah hummed thoughtfully before she said, "You're either really good at hiding your intent, or you only feel strongly about your amnesia when you think you're close to getting a memory back."
Morgan blinked, "Huh?"
"Uh, disregard that. I'm just thinking out loud."
"Okay…" If she wanted to drop it, he should let her.
A brief moment of silence passed between them. Nah then said,
"This might be a dumb question, but why are you willing to hurt yourself over your memories? I mean, I would be frustrated, too, if I got amnesia, but I don't think I would go so far. You make friends easily, and you look like you get along well with your family. Or maybe you don't?" Nah paused for a moment and then said, "I'm sorry. I'm not trying to pry or anything."
Morgan shook his head, "No, it isn't like that. It did take me a little while to consider Lucina and my father as my family. Early on, I wanted to get my memories back so that they wouldn't be strangers to me. They don't feel that way to me anymore, though."
"If not, then why?"
"Well…it's because they do feel like family to me. I'm not just calling Lucina and Father family because Mother told me to; I actually care about them. I mean, I care about everyone in the army at least a little, but it's different for family, you know? Mom means so much to me, and now so do Dad and my sister. I got to know who they are. It's because I care about them that I feel terrible that I forgot all of my memories with them and about them. It's like I let them down.
"Then there's our other companions. I sometimes don't realize that Owain is my cousin; I think of him more as a good friend. I apparently used to play Justice Cabal with him and Cynthia. I was friends with Yarne, too, and used to play with Inigo when we were little kids. I want to remember all of those memories, even if it means remembering that terrible future we came from."
Nah nodded in understanding, but she remained silent. Perhaps she was not sure of what to say.
"Although, and I hope you don't take this the wrong way, I am kind of glad that we weren't close in the future," Morgan said as he rubbed the back of his head.
"Huh? Why do you say that?"
"Well…it's because I don't have to feel guilty about forgetting you. We actually became friends in this time. I got to know who you are instead of me re-learning things about you."
This made Nah blush and look away from the blue-haired prince.
"I'm sorry, Nah. Was that awkward?"
Looking back at him with a slight flush still in her cheeks, she said, "Oh no, that's not it. I just…what you said made me sort of happy."
"Really?"
Nah's blush returned as she tried to elaborate, though she mostly said "um" and "well." In the back of Morgan's mind, he thought that the short half-manakete looked darling while flustered.
"It's just that, uh,I guess I'm glad that you don't feel bad around me. You feel comfortable when you're near me." As she spoke, the blonde sounded less awkward and the red in her cheeks subsided. It seemed like she had more on her mind, but again, Morgan felt he shouldn't pry. Nah would tell him if she wanted to.
"I understand," Morgan said with a smile, "It makes me happy to make someone else feel better."
Nah nodded, "You're usually good at doing that, being Mr. Optimism and all."
Morgan chuckled, "Mr. Optimism? I guess I am, most of the time. Not always for the memory thing, though."
A brief look of worry crossed Nah's face as she said, "I-I'm sorry. That didn't really come out right."
The prince smiled, "I feel like I'm saying this a lot today, but don't worry about it. It is true that I usually look on the bright side of things. The way I see it, I don't have time to feel bad or be depressed, not with how new so many things seem new to me. But sometimes, I think about the memories I lost with the people I care about. I know I shouldn't dwell on it, but I do."
"We all have our worries, especially because of this war" said Nah, "I am glad you felt like you could share yours with me."
"Well, I can't exactly hide what you just saw," Morgan chuckled again, "And besides, we are friends. I feel like I can talk to you about anything."
Nah flushed again, but she also smiled.
"Thank you, Nah, for listening."
The blonde shook her head. "You don't have to thank me. We're friends, like you said. And as your friend, I'm telling to stop bashing your head in to jog your memories."
"Hey, I know just how hard to hit myself so I don't get too dizzy. You don't have to fret about that."
"Morgan!"
"I'm just kidding. I know," Morgan laughed, "It's not liked it's worked before." Nah laughed lightly as well.
As the two continued to stand near the copse of trees, Morgan thought to himself about what he said earlier. He hadn't realized before why he considered Nah to be a very good friend, even if she was a new one. Morgan had many friends, even if he had forgotten his memories with and about them. Nah was special, though and he recognized why. In some ways, their friendship was easier, seamless; he valued that. He valued his other friends greatly, but he was glad to not have to worry around her about a forgotten past. She was also smart, blunt (which he liked), and funny.
Yes, Nah was special, and he enjoyed making new memories with her.
AN: And that was the long overdue chapter three. :P I would have come out with it sooner, but I kept writing and re-writing this one. I thought I had a good idea as to what to do with this chapter, but I kept adding and taking away scenes and lines. Bravely Default and finishing the support log in Awakening might have added to that delay as well. I feel this chapter might be a bit boring despite how long I took on it, but you, my dear readers, can tell me if I'm right or if I'm just being hard on myself.