Chapter 25
The statement - and the woman herself - startled me. "Who are you? And where are we?"
The woman inclined her head. "Aurora sent all of you into a subconscious plane. You're actually experiencing a jointed dream."
I let out a groan. "Hypnosis? Really?"
The woman nodded. "While you're here, you can call me M, just to tell the difference between us."
Sonic frowned. "Are you...Maria's memory?"
M paused, as if considering the question. Then she gave a curt nod. "I'm the person who will be helping Maria recover her missing memories."
"And how are we going to do that, exactly?" Knuckles asked, raising an eyebrow.
M grinned. "We're going to end up playing a little bit of a game."
"A game?" I frowned. "What sort?"
"We're going to look at the dreams you've been having, then at a few figures I'm going to show you. You have to match the shadow from the dream with the figure. The more you match correctly, the more memories return."
"What if we get one wrong?" Sonic asked, voicing a question I would have asked anyway.
"Then it'll be a little bit harder to regain that specific memory," M shrugged. "If you get too many wrong concerning a specific memory, what we do here isn't going to help it return; instead, the waking world will have to provide the answers." She grinned at me. "Shall we begin?"
I looked at Sonic and Knuckles, then nodded. "Let's do this."
M nodded in confirmation. "All right, then. First memory!"
A screen appeared on one of the whitewashed walls, and hidden lights dimmed as something began to play...
Memory Break
A girl with brown hair was thrown out of a green hammock, causing her glasses to go askew. Her blue eyes snapped open, and she scrambled to her feet and glared at the reason for the sudden disruption.
"There are better ways to wake someone up," she hissed as she pointed a staff with the head of a phoenix at the shadow in front of her, despite the fact that there was a gun being pointed in her face. The teen wasn't feeling too nice because of the sudden wake-up call. "Do that again and you'll pay for it, R-."
The shadow let out a laugh, the gun in its hand not moving even as it threw back its head. "And how are you going to make me pay, little lady? In case you haven't noticed, you're outnumbered." He motioned to the figures wearing gas masks behind the shadow. They had the pair surrounded, their guns pointed at the girl. "Now, be a good girl and tell me where our friends are."
"Our friends?" the girl repeated. "I wouldn't consider all this," she motioned to the guns with a glare, "being friendly." She returned her glare to the man in front of her. "Besides, we all split after dinner, remember? I came here to get a nap." She eyed the hammock meaningfully, the reused tarp now lying on the ground underneath the shadow's feet.
"Not the answer I was looking for," the shadow growled in response. It brought the gun closer to the girl's head. "We already found the two boys you seem to like so much. Now, where are T- and the -?"
Memory Break
There was a sudden flash of light, and the vision faded as the lights came back on.
"I can tell there was more to it," Sonic remarked. "Why didn't we see the rest of it?"
"That's because Maria woke up at that point," M replied, looking over at me with some sort of disgruntled glare. "It's incomplete, a fragment of a memory, and we need to identify someone who was involved in it before we can continue."
"Why did we have to start with the one I had last night?" I asked.
"The further back into your visions we go, the more fuzzy they'll get. If you can identify the figures in the more clear ones, then the fuzzy visions will be easier to deal with. Now, the person that is mainly looked at in this one is the big shadow."
"You mean, the one with the gun," I stated.
M nodded. "Just match him with a figure, and you can see the rest of the memory fragment." She motioned to the wall the screen had been on, and a few figures grew up from the floor, forming different muscular men in different poses: one man was bald and happened to be flexing, another in a red shirt had a shock of white hair and had a gun in his hands, and the third had a graying head and was wearing a green sleeves muscle shirt while standing in a confident position.
Sonic, Knuckles, and I looked the forms over.
"Well, he doesn't seem like the kind of guy who would act like that," Knuckles noted as he motioned to the man who was showing off his muscles. "That one kind of looks like he's showing off."
"And this guy doesn't look like that voice would match," Sonic added, pointing to the man that was pointing a gun at us.
"Which means it's probably this guy," I finished, touching the confident pose.
As soon as I touched it, the figure gained a shadow, which caused the entire wall to blacken and change into the memory again.
Memory Break
"There are better ways to wake someone up," the girl hissed as she pointed her red staff at the man in front of her, despite the fact that there was a gun being pointed in her face. The teen wasn't feeling too nice because of the sudden wake-up call. "Do that again and you'll pay for it, Rourke."
I felt my blood freeze as I heard the name. Rourke. That was definitely familiar, now.
The mentioned man let out a laugh, the gun in his hand not moving even as he threw back his head. "And how are you going to make me pay, little lady? In case you haven't noticed, you're outnumbered." He motioned to the crew members wearing gas masks. They had the pair surrounded, their guns pointed at the girl. "Now, be a good girl and tell me where our friends are."
"Our friends?" the girl repeated. "I wouldn't consider all this," she motioned to the guns with a glare, "being friendly." She returned her glare to the man in front of her. "Besides, we all split after dinner, remember? I came here to get a nap." She eyed the hammock meaningfully, the reused tarp now lying on the ground underneath Rourke's boots.
"Not the answer I was looking for," Rourke growled in response. He brought the gun closer to the girl's head. "We already found the two boys you seem to like so much. Now, where are T- and the p-?"
The other two blanks weren't filled up? Shoot!
The girl's eyes narrowed, and she did her best to calmly adjust her glasses so that she could see at least somewhat without everything having a fuzzy edge. Eyeing the guns again - and figuring that she wouldn't be able to burn through the weapons before getting fired at - she wondered if she had enough courage to dare to not say anything about where the two being asked about were at.
"Kid, I'm not going to kill you, if that's what you're thinking," Rourke suddenly spoke up. "But I would be worried about your two friends." He stepped aside, revealing two more shadows. They kept turning their heads to look around at the guns and gas masks.
"Look, I'm not scared of you, elephant face," one of the shadows growled. "And I'd be glad to prove it -"
The other shadow elbowed the first one. "These aren't Dream Eaters, L-."
The first shadow snorted. "Yeah, yeah."
Guns were clicked and aimed at the shadows' heads.
"But you do know that this is getting on my nerves," the first shadow continued, glaring at the weapons.
"Get in line," the second replied dryly.
Memory Break
I shook my head as the world blurred once again, my mind filling up with information.
"Maria, are you all right?" Knuckles asked.
"Fine," I replied, looking around the whitewashed room once again. "What just happened?"
"You kind of flickered for a moment, and then the guy on the wall disappeared," Sonic explained, motioning to the now empty wall. "What happened to you?"
"Well, I guess I entered the memories. The odd thing was, though..." I frowned. "I was kind of floating outside of myself, I guess. And there were a couple other shadows, too."
M looked curious. "You mean, you don't know?"
"Know what?" I asked.
M shrugged. "It's probably nothing; you'll figure it out."
Knuckles looked at me. "So, who was that guy?"
"His name was...Rourke," I replied, trying to bring up the information I had obtained from just one memory.
Almost instantly, the whitewashed room became some sort of room made out of some kind of grid - almost like the inside of a computer. The figure of Rourke formed, and his backstory materialized beside him.
"Hmm..." Knuckles said as he looked it over. "Treasure hunts for hire...master in combat...was turned into a giant crystal statue and...?" The echidna frowned. "Looks like some of the information is missing."
I frowned. "Giant Crystal statue?"
The entire room started flashing with different visions, and I flinched as I got a headache. How I got a headache within my own head? I'll never know.
The walls changed from data to a cave. A balloon of some sort was rising up in the distance, and a giant crystal version of Roark was roaring. In pain.
Because there were white tendrils of fire going in and thing him from all directions. They disappeared a moment after he shattered.
The pictures disappeared, but my headache didn't. Those white tendrils...why did they seem so familiar...?
Wait. "White Flare..."
The statement echoed like some forgotten name. I think I might have used it once before, when I wasn't a Trainer yet. I quickly realized where I had first heard it.
"Lea and Riku," I stated, looking over at M. "They were the two other shadows in that memory." More information entered my mind. Keyblade wielders...they protected worlds with others! But who?
M gave another nod, bringing me out of my thoughts. "Right. Do you remember why they were there with you? Or where you were?"
Sheesh, for my memory, she doesn't have to be proddy about it. But then again...
"I think they were there to help stop Rourke from taking away an entire city's power source..." I trailed off and frowned. "Wait. That doesn't quite sound right..."
Before I could say anything else, the room shifted to the tropical area my first memory had been taking place in, only without all the people.
Sonic glanced over at the pool of water and glared at it while Knuckles inspected the trampled hammock.
"Looks like you've unlocked something," M remarked. "Think you can remember where we are?"
"Looks like a courtyard of the Atlantean king's palace." I blinked in surprise and slapped my hands over my mouth. "Since when did I know that?!"
"Your memory's coming back more," Knuckled noted.
"So, where did you say we were?" Sonic asked.
It took me a moment to gather my thoughts.
"Atlantis," I stated. "According to human myths, it's a city that disappeared underwater during some sort of disaster." I frowned. "But, in this place, we're not underwater."
"Well, obviously," Knuckles muttered.
"We're in a cave underwater." I think I'm starting to get used to this adjusting to new memory. But since when did I know this stuff. "Problem is, though, I haven't heard anything about Atlantis in the ruins in the area..."
"That'll come," M smirked. "Just wait."
"Maria, it might be best if you returned to that other room now."
I looked up sharply when I heard Aurora's voice. "What? Why?"
"Your allies might be worried if they find that you're not in the room when you wake up in the morning."
I frowned at that. "Well, I guess they could be worried."
As soon as the words were out of my mouth, my eyes snapped open, and I instantly felt a stiffness in my back.
I grunted and shifted, cracking my back. "Okay, we'd better head back."
"I couldn't agree with you more," Sonic agreed, getting to his feet.
As we slipped out of the one room and started making our way back to the other one, I started to feel a headache coming on. Instinctively, I gripped at a prism-shaped item I always kept under my shirt, but that just made it worse. Information started to come in at a fast pace: -the face of a girl with a blue cap on her head and a wrench in her hand - Italian with a stick of dynamite - a mole of a man - a mountain-doctor of a man - a princess with white hair - a skinny man with large glasses -
-a redhead and a silver-haired boy, each armed with what look like giant keys-
I shook my head as the information poured in. Sonic and Knuckles, noticing that I wasn't following them, turned around in order to see what exactly was happening.
"You OK?" Sonic asked, raising an eyebrow.
I gave a nod. "Yeah, I think so. Just a lot more info that I didn't get a couple minutes ago." Doing my best to ignore my headache, I started towards the room at a slightly quicker pace. "Come on. I'd like to lie down somewhere decent."