I was sitting down on a wooden bench with my legs stretched out and my head craned back. A brown pack supported my head and I had something over me. With further inspection, I found out it was Roy's and Ike's cape. My eyesight was blurry but I could see warm orange lights illuminating the tunnel. I stared in that direction until I saw the details of the lamps.

"How are you feeling?"

I turned and saw Roy was sitting next to me. He smiled, but he looked tired. I gave him back his cape and rolled up Ike's.

"Did I faint?" I asked. My voice croaked like a frog.

"Shortly after we started moving. I guess that paper really scared you."

"Oh… Where's Link and Ike?"

"They're just down this tunnel investigating. We can join them afterwards."

He rummaged through Link's pack and pulled out the three papers. We looked at each of them carefully. The first two hint at the five (now four remaining) black monsters. And the last one with the four words written over and over again.

"I hate my name..." I muttered.

"Do you think this relates back to you? Because you know, you can't remember your name." Roy said quietly. He sounded like he was trying to be careful with me. I stared at the paper, and then the back side. It read: "The entrance is an oxymoron". One thing about this paper bothered me more than anything else.

"Roy, um."

"What?"

"I was... I was scared of this paper because," I took in a deep breath, "It looks like my handwriting."

I held the paper tighter. Frankly, I wasn't really sure if it was my writing, but it looked awfully familiar. I don't recall writing this creepy paper, but then, I don't remember a lot of things. Roy's eyes swam around like he was processing his thoughts.

"So if you wrote this paper, and we found it in here, then you probably have been here before. And the fact that it says "I hate my name" again and again, it almost sounds like..." Roy trailed off.

"I forgot my name and everything else on purpose. After coming here." I added.

"Something must have driven you crazy. Something traumatic. Something that made you want to forget everything."

"So then, am I trailing back my memories that I wanted to forget?"

"…Are you willing to do that?"

My head throbbed. It got harder to breathe through my nose. Roy rested a hand on my shoulder and told me to breathe. I closed my eyes and did three deep breaths. Do I really want to know what happened in this cave for the second time? Oh. What if this wasn't my second time? What if this was a...


Link appeared from the tunnel. He was out of breath but had a wild expression like he found something spectacular. "Hey Roy, once he wakes up, tell him... Oh! You're already awake. Come down here, Ike and I found something interesting."

He started to usher us down the tunnel but Roy stopped him saying we'll join him later. Link shrugged, and jogged off. It was a one-way down so we wouldn't get lost.

Once Link disappeared into the darkness, Roy faced me and grabbed my arms. His face was serious. "Don't think of the worst. We will make it through this."

I couldn't get myself to think straight. My hands felt raw from wringing them so tightly. Roy was waiting for my response, but my mouth just muttered. I wanted to agree with him.

"B-but, what if this is a cycle? When I find out the truth, I might forget everything again because something horrible will happen and it'll wipe our memories clean. And then... I-I'll lose you guys again and it'll all start from the beginning… And we'll keep on doing this over and over until we all die!"

When I realized I was yelling at Roy's face, I immediately felt guilty and fell silent. I didn't want to cry but my eyes started to get hot and my throat choked back a sob. Before my vision got blurry with tears, I saw Roy bite his lip. I hate this. I want to believe in Roy and I didn't want to believe in the worst. I want to think that we can escape. I want to know the truth. But I was scared. Feeling weak and embarrassed, I stepped away and Roy promptly let me go.

I let my chin touched my chest and cried as quietly as I can manage. My sobs echoed in the narrow tunnel eerily. It was an unearthly sound.


"What are you scared of?" Roy asked after a long silence.

I coughed, wiping some of the tears off my cheeks. "What...?"

"List the things you're scared of from the top of your head. Right now."

I frowned. But it did help me stop crying. Roy stared at me intently and somehow, I couldn't look away.

"I-I'm scared of... losing my friends."

"Go on."

"I'm... scared of confined spaces. I'm scared of the dark. I'm scared that this is a never-ending cycle. I'm scared of not finding the friends I lost. Marth, Ness, and Lucas..."

"Keep going."

"I'm scared that I'll forget everything again. That's all. Fr-from the top of my head."

Roy nodded. And then he smiled. "Now, what are you grateful of right now?"

"Um..."

"Come on, you've got to be grateful of something."

"I'm grateful of you, and Link and Ike. You guys protected me when I chickened out on fighting that monster."

"Is that all?"

I shrugged. There wasn't much to be thankful right now except for my friends. Roy pursed his lips but accepted my response.

"One more question. What do you hope to accomplish?"

"I want to get out of here. With all of my friends. All of them." I replied quickly.

"Good."

I frowned. "What was the meaning behind this exercise?"

"To show you there's a lot to be worried about, but you still have hope. As long as you believe in it."

Minutes passed by without a word. I tried to let Roy's words sink into me. He's right. I need to believe in myself first if I want to know. But something was missing. I wanted something concrete, not just faith, but something.

Roy patted my shoulders. "It'll take time. If we disappear from the phantom's power, find us or we'll find you. And seeing that we met up with Link again, that's one thing you can believe in."

I found myself smiling a little bit.


Roy and I met up with Link as we followed the tunnel down. Link saw I was wearing the pack that was slung over my shoulder and explained that he found it near the construction area. Since I was keeping the pieces of paper loose in my toga, he suggested that I held onto it. I patted my new bag affectionately.

"So how did you meet us here again?" I asked. Now that I knew it was the phantom that turned the lights off and separated me from my friends, I wondered. Link started to explain his adventure like he's been dying to tell it to someone.

"After the lights went off, I was swept off my feet and the next thing I know, I was laying in a river. I saw some of your feathers by the shore so I decided to follow that path, and I met up with you two trying to fight that monster. Sorry I crept up on you, by the way. I didn't want to scare you two plus I didn't want to wake up that ugly dog-thing."

"You were carried off to a random place just as the lights went off?" Roy mused.

"Yeah, more or less. And then I found some creatures that looked like humans on my way. Did you see that? "

I nodded. Although the only humanoid creature we saw was interested in crystals than us. Link explained that the creatures he saw didn't take notice in him also.

"Oh, and Roy caught us up on what's going on so far. This is all so bizarre. I remember you. I remember all of us were living in one big mansion and we'd practice sword-fighting but... I don't know why I can't remember your name." Link furrowed his eyebrows.

"I don't know either." I muttered.


We came across a small warehouse. Inside, Ike was rummaging through some paperwork. The warehouse consisted of two desks piled with notebooks and unpolished crystals, two chairs, a makeshift bed, and a cabinet. It had a musty smell from the thin layer of dust accumulated after years of abandonment.

"You doing okay?" Ike asked briefly. I nodded and remembered to give him back his cape.

"Good. I haven't found anything interesting yet. It's all catalogues and recordings of mine activity."

Roy and Link began to pick at a pile. It would be helpful if there was a journal entry of some sort that was pertaining to us. But as Ike said, almost every piece of paper was a recording the mining activity of the day or details of the different kinds of minerals in the cave. I looked up every once in a while to rest my eyes from reading in the dim firelight. Ike was starting to get covered in white dust from excavating every corner of the warehouse.

"Ike, how did you find us?" I asked.

He looked over his shoulder and continued to look through the old notebooks. "I woke up next to the monster's tail. Then I attacked it and found you three."

"Oh," I shrugged, "Well um, do you remember anything before waking up here?"

As soon as I asked him that question, Ike stopped and stood there still with a handful of documents in mid-air. When he turned to me, a fine cloud of dust brushed off him.

"I remember you. I was knocking on your door to remind you it was time for dinner, and you were talking so I went inside. You were sitting on the window sash and talking to yourself."

I frowned. I liked sitting on the big window in my room because I can get a beautiful view of the garden and feel the wind. But I don't recall talking to myself.

"What was I talking about?"

"Something… that wasn't fair? Or how everybody was treated differently. I wish I could remember, but you noticed me quickly and snapped out of it. You seemed perfectly fine talking to me saying you were hungry or whatnot. But yes, that's all I remember before waking up in this dank cave."

I looked down and muttered an 'okay'. Before I could recollect my thoughts, Ike turned back around to investigate the piles of paper again. It made me wonder how he could stay so nonchalant in this situation.


After a good hour or so, we went through every scrap of paper inside the warehouse and found nothing. My eyes were dry and stinging from reading in the weak light. Well, now I know that the miners here excavated crystals deep down in the earth. The Big Room (as it was called in the journals) has colossal crystals the size of buildings but is impossible to explore for long periods of time because of its high humidity and temperature. The leader of the operation restricted the miners to be in the Big Room. If they had to, they needed to get a written permission from the leader, and come back within thirty minutes.

"I kind of want to find this 'Big Room' though." Link said.

"It says here that the Big Room is kept at a sustained temperature of 122°F and the humidity is almost 100%. Wouldn't that be a little bit hot?" Roy recited from one of the notebooks.

Link started to stroke his chin thoughtfully. "I wonder what 100% humidity is like. Does water just stick on you? Have you ever thought of that?"

Roy rolled his eyes. Link's desire for adventure has always overwhelmed us. He seeks the extreme without questioning how dangerous it would be. He once told me he didn't understand why he possesses the Triforce of Courage and I couldn't tell if he was bragging or genuinely confused.

While Roy and Link kept talking, Ike tapped me on the shoulder. He was holding a black hard-covered notebook.

"It's a blank one. Thought you'd want one for those notes you're collecting."

"Thanks."

There was an attached file on the inside of the cover. I carefully placed the papers I collected. Some of the papers in the notebook were ripped out but other than that, it was in good shape. I flipped through all of the pages and found a drawing on the very back.

I felt the hairs on my neck stand up.

It was a drawing of me. I was hugging my knees and holding a black feather. Every detail was correct: my toga, the laurels on my head, my sandals, and my bow that was placed next to me. It was so detailed it could have been a black-white photograph.

"It says something here." Ike pointed out. The writing was small and barely legible.

On the bottom of the paper, it read: 'you're the heaven's door'.


Author's Note: Hopefully new characters in the next chapter. And the second phantom, also.