Content warning: swearing, mental or anxious breakdown, anxiety.
NOTE: Also, for this chapter, RRFF's briefly gonna become one of Those Fanfics, aka the fanfics about projecting angst onto real life YouTubers and celebrities. Now, I want to make it clear that I'm still only using the personas/characters of the YouTubers, not the actual real life people. RRFF only exists in the realm of a hypothetical Steve Saga plot, even though it has some 4th wall breaking elements and the line between Earth and Minecraft have been blurred. The YouTubers living on Earth are characters in RRFF, like how Sabre and Lucas are still characters in any "Steve Saga characters enter the real world" fanfic or "Minecraft YouTubers get trapped in Minecraft" fanfic. That said, I know this chapter may have the vibes of Those Fanfics, so I apologize if that makes you dislike this chapter. Feel free to skip/skim through this chapter and message your concerns to me.
Welcome back to RRFF! It is out of hiatus. I have spent the hiatus rewriting most of the next 7 chapters from scratch and well, I'm pretty nervous to show these chapters. I thank you all for your patience and I hope you enjoy the first post-hiatus chapter!
Oh, and before the chapter starts, have a quick Chapter 1-26 recap!
After spending years in the Spiritless World, Memory is suddenly brought back to the Overworld, which is currently covered by the illusion by Steve Saga's current villain, Illusion. Illusion initially sees Memory as a threat and tries to cover his mind with an illusion, but Memory is able to resist the illusion with his memory and arrow powers. This impresses Illusion and he asks Memory to work for him to help defeat Sabre, the main obstacle stopping the illusion from becoming reality. Memory agrees, but struggles to erase Sabre's memories because the player somehow always regains them. Meanwhile, Memory plans to betray Illusion so he can bring back Void (who is currently trapped inside Galaxy Steve's head). Meanwhile again, Illusion still perceives Memory as a threat, so he orders his other henchman, Alex (a spy for Sabre), to find a way to destroy a mysterious threat lurking in the Overworld. Alex and Sabre would do that quick mission to get Illusion off their backs, so they created (with the help of some stolen illusion power) a deadly potion that drains away power and lifeforce.
However, overtime, Illusion and Memory become friends, and they begin to feel regret and conflict for secretly plotting against each other. Illusion trusts Memory and gifts him with some illusion powers, allowing Memory to better control his memory-erasure powers and finally be able to talk to people again. Illusion also trusts Memory enough to show him that Time Steve is alive, but imprisoned, even though Sabre and the heroes believe Time was killed by Illusion. Meanwhile, Memory decides to put his plan to bring back Void on hold to help Illusion more, but he plans to convince Illusion to join the dark side so Illusion can help him bring back Void.
Later, after imprisoning Alex, Illusion tries to take away Alex's remaining power and put her under the illusion. However, she absorbs the deadly potion, making Illusion unable to do anything to her.
Also, Illusion changed his mind about covering the entire world under an illusion and actually wants to team up with Sabre. However, when Sabre refuses to work with him, Illusion has to go through his new plan alone. Illusion breaks the 4th wall, becomes Reality Steve, steals Sabre's account, and disconnects. He also reveals that Sabre has always had immunity to Memory's powers because of the account. Memory interrogates Sabre about this and learns that Sabre records and shares his adventures from the Steve Saga to thousands of people, which makes Memory freak out.
In rage, Memory erases all of Sabre's memories and begins to plot how he can enter Sabre's world and erase the memories of the Sky People.
In Act 2, Reality returns to the Steve Saga traumatized. Memory comforts him. The majority of Act 2 involves Reality, Memory, Alex, and Guardian trying to get back Sabre (who has lost all of his memories and received all of Reality's powers because he and Reality swapped places). While that is going on, it's revealed that Void has abused Memory in the past. Despite that, Memory is always scheming to find a way for Void to return, desperate to make his father proud. But because of his strong bond with Reality (who finally abandons his status as a villain in Chapter 26), Memory doesn't want Void to destroy the Steve Saga world.
(Oh and Time is finally broken out of his prison after Sabre destroyed the machine that held him. But he ran off when he learned that Reality had absorbed Galaxy.)
Chapter 26 ends with Memory finally beginning his new evil plan: erase the memories of the Sky People, ruin Sabre's life, and use Sabre's account to bring back Void Steve in a different world. He corrupts and possess Sabre with Shadow Stone. He orders Shadow Sabre to steal the account back from Reality Steve. Memory also possesses Guardian to trap Alex in a machine. After handcuffing Reality Steve to seal away his powers, Memory steals Galaxy out of Reality and transfers his space-dimension warping power to Sabre. Sabre uses that power to transform the Disconnect button into a portal to the Memory Dimension. Memory clicks on it to take himself and Galaxy to who-knows-where, and that's where the chapter ends.
PHEW.
RECAP OVER. NOW ONTO THE CHAPTER.
The golden panels stacked on each other like an infinitely tall tower.
6-year-old Memory looked up and up, trying to catch every sight. Every movement, every color. Risking one blink would cost thousands of moments worth of adventure.
"Ah!" He lost his balance and fell back, landing on his father.
Void jolted awake in his chair. He brushed off the trail of drool from his mouth and straightened his back, quickly scanning the In-Between's many panels. He eventually relaxed and looked down at Memory, who gave him a grin.
Void returned an exhausted smile to the child sitting on his lap. He trapped the child into a hug and ruffled his noggin. Memory laughed as he tried to wrestle his way out. Or even better, he tried to spot an open space on the floor!
Success! A blink later, he was by the chair's side instead of in Void's embrace.
Void chuckled and leaned back against the chair. "Nice teleporting, kid."
Memory leaned against the armrest, darting his eager gaze between the monitors and Void.
Void sighed. "You want to see that vision again, don't you?"
The child shyly nodded. Void flicked his hand, shifting the panels. Memory wondered how his father could look after the universe and command the In-Between so easily.
One dark panel descended towards the chair. It flickered to life and displayed a faint, grayscale image of a destroyed landscape. One barren mountain was its only survivor. Hovering above it was a dark, cloaked figure with bright red eyes. On the silhouette of the mountain, a tall figure climbed up and gazed at the cloaked one.
Memory squealed when the third figure came, small in size and childish in his movement. The figure struggled to climb up and tripped on a crevice near the mountaintop. The tall figure caught him before he fell and gently swung him back on his feet. The small figure raised his arms gleefully from his short "flight." The tall figure patted his head in response before the two bowed to the hovering figure.
The image faded. Memory bounced on his feet and beamed at Void.
"You're welcome, kid. But remember: that vision won't come true yet. You gotta be patient."
Memory pouted, but Void found it endearing.
"When you're older, time will go by so fast and patience will be easy. Trust me."
Thunder. Memory turned to the sound and saw Galaxy and his two sons.
Void groaned. "What do you want?"
"It's the weekend," Galaxy said.
"All days feel the same to me. The same schedule. The same work...Oh wait, it's the family trip, right?"
"Will you join us this time?"
Void quickly scanned the monitors. "Ugh, another dumb political issue at the Blue Steve kingdom. Why is it always the Blue Steves? No, I can't." He ruffled Memory's head, the bitterness in his eyes fading away. "Go have fun, kid."
Memory gave his Dad's arm a goodbye hug. He joined his uncle and cousins, who greeted him and surrounded him in thunder.
The illuminated pillars of the In-Between vanished, replaced by a cozy village made out of cobblestone and purple planks, surrounded by a luscious green forest.
"We're here!" 8-year-old Elemental squealed. "Is this the wizard dimension?!"
"Yeah!" Galaxy took out a long paper and read it. "First things first: we gotta check into the cabin I rented from my friend Tim. Then we'll explore the forest, go to the shops, and see a magic show. Come on guys!" He embraced his two sons and nephew. "There's so much I want you to see!"
"Ah!" Galaxy jumped awake, golden eyes flaring. He tried to squirm, but he was immobilized by the machine that Memory made with his remaining redstone tools and pistons. "What's going on?!" He could only turn his head. Not like he had much to see. Only this island surrounded by lava, and the sky with stars that bloomed like flowers.
Memory brought himself closer to his uncle and tilted his head to an unsettling degree. "Remember me?"
Galaxy met Memory's gaze and froze. "Mem-Memory Steve?! But you were destroyed and – "
"That's irrelevant." Memory stepped back. "And for once in my life, I'm glad you remember." After all, that meant the illusion broke and he could return.
The entire dimension shook. The lava bubbled as if from a wrathful volcano. Then the lava sprouted up like geysers, white glowing rectangles launching out of them. Memory teleported underneath a nearby tree to dodge the raining lava. Galaxy clamped his mouth shut in muted terror, protected by the machine's cobblestone roof.
The glowing rectangles zapped around like distressed pixies until they eventually settled in the sky, surrounding the island. Each of them formed a red button with a white "x" on their top right corners. Text materialized inside of them. Some text was accompanied by a yellow folder while others were joined by different icons.
Memory remerged from the tree. He blinked the painful light out of his eyes as he tried to read each text, realizing that they identified each rectangle.
AppData...Roaming... .minecraft, and those familiar 12 folders.
Elan...Minecraft recordings...Steve Saga
Firefox, YouTube, Twitch, Twitter, Gmail
Memory almost fell into a trance, the faint image of a tower of panels playing in his mind.
"What's going on?!" Galaxy cried, snapping him back to the present.
Before making another move, Memory concentrated, making sure all gateways to the Memory Dimension were deactivated. To make sure that enemies and he couldn't enter.
"Sabre, where are you?" Memory looked cluelessly at each rectangle. "I need you to navigate us since this is all new to me."
A gigantic screen emerged from the lava and placed itself at the edge of the island. It displayed an image of a darkened dirt wall, with gray rectangles and white text in front of it.
"What must I do now?" Sabre's voice came from the screen.
Galaxy tried to face the screen. "Wait, Sabre?! Sabre, it's me! What happened to you?!"
Memory ignored him and studied the screen, wondering if what he was seeing was the account. "What the hell is this?"
"The Menu," the player answered.
The Menu? He remembered the small details Reality told him while he was recovering. He remembered him talking about entering a server. About a menu that served as a middle-world between the Steves' reality and Sabre's reality. This is all working as planned.
By enchanting the Disconnect button, he had merged this menu and Sabre's computer with the Memory Dimension, a realm accessed through enchanted passageways. So if he left this dimension using the Menu, would he return to the Overworld or would he...
"Leave this game, Sabre," Memory commanded.
He saw a small entity – a white cursor – glide across the screen and press a button. The screen switched to a blurry image of the Overworld. The gray, stony text "MINECRAFT" stood over the image, with a yellow subtext pulsating next to it. The cursor moved to a gray box labelled "Quit Game."
"FREEZE," Memory shouted, and the cursor stilled. He approached the screen and hovered his hand on the "Quit Game" button.
His heart suddenly felt tense. He knew Reality didn't click this button. What laid beyond after clicking this button was a complete mystery. A complex, bigger world, too grand for any Steve to comprehend.
Memory reminded himself to breathe. "I'll only be there to erase the memories. Nothing more."
"LET GO OF MY FRIEND!" Galaxy roared back in his machine.
Memory shot a spiteful glare at him. "It's too late to beg for mercy!" He commanded a new screen to form in front of the machine. "Don't worry, I won't hurt him. But I'll let you watch what I'm about to do to your friend. Sabre, click the button."
Memory and the cursor clicked the button at the same time.
And his vision flashed white.
November 2019
Memory shrieked as pain coursed through his body. He couldn't twist or turn his limbs to see himself or what was happening. He couldn't even tell what was left and right, up or down.
Then a force slammed his body to the floor. He knew it was hard wood, underneath that soft, thin coat of carpet. He hissed in pain and opened his eyes. What greeted him was a hive of six suns and a neon green wall.
He jolted up, furiously blinking out the fierce light. He tried to shield his eyes from the cluster of suns.
His arm just turned the six suns into six moons seeping through a cloudy night.
Memory stared at both of his arms. They were see-through. He stood up and inspected his entire body. He was semi-transparent.
I've become a hologram in this world.
He clenched his hands, surprised that he had to remind himself that he was still a living, breathing person who could feel his limbs. Eventually, he realized that the six suns above him were actually artificial lights, attached to some spinning chandelier of wooden panels. And the neon green wasn't a wall, but a tapestry (and an ugly, plain one). Memory brought his gaze to the true walls of the room, and he immediately recognized the place.
It was Sabre's office. Sandwiched between the green tapestry and the desktop with the two monitors, a man with an emotionless face sat on a chair. He seemed humanoid like the Steves and players: having eyes, mouth, hair, and the like. But those components were constructed using shapes other than a square, triangle, or any other shape Memory could think of.
Memory inched away from the man. Can they see me? Hear me? Can I erase their memories?
He brought his attention to the duel monitors, which displayed a paused image of the Steve's world. He closed his eyes and encouraged that racing thought to scream.
35,096 views.
35,096 views.
35,096 VIEWS.
"Sabre, open up those videos."
The man in the chair moved. Memory anxiously watched as the man used their strangely constructed hands and a small desktop device to control the cursor in the monitors. The cursor brushed the screen of the Steve's world aside and began clicking other things. Memory relaxed. So this is who you really are, Sabre. He stalked forward and joined the man's side, inspecting his green eyes. ...But I thought your eyes were white. He wondered if Sabre could see him, but he kinda didn't want an answer.
The man stopped moving. Now the monitors showed several white boxes displaying names, icons, and numbers. For once, Memory was glad to see those numbers and that icon.
YouTube. The red rectangle with the white triangle inside. 650K subscribers.
There were also other icons. Twitch, a purple dialogue bubble, 1.5K. Gmail, a rectangle with a red triangle connecting the top corners to the center. Twitter, a light blue silhouette of a bird, 30K.
Is that it? Is this how Sabre makes connections? No. There's gotta be more.
Memory looked at the purple dialogue bubble icon. "Sabre, enter Twitch."
Sabre used the cursor to expand the screen with the Twitch icon to both monitors. Both monitors displayed black and purple interfaces. The left displayed the profile of a user named "Sabre," which displayed several images. Each image listed a title, date, and a time count near it. The right monitor displayed the profile of another user named "Tewtiy." His side was currently filming some strange world that Memory had never seen before. In the corner of that video was a smaller video of a man constructed similarly to the real Sabre, but he had blond spiky hair. What was he focusing on?
Memory tilted his head. Was that it? No actually leaving this room to meet people? Twitch was not a place? Just a screen on a monitor?
"Die die die!" Someone chanted. Memory flinched and looked back at Tewtiy's video, which showed him stabbing a zombie to death. Wait, if that spiky-haired man was the person stabbing the zombie, then how was his head in the corner while his bloodied arms were in the center of the video?! Sabre looked more like the Steves than this spiky-haired man!
Memory inspected the wood of Sabre's desk and pressed his hand against it as a test. He was startled that although he was a hologram, his arm didn't go through the desk. Not that I'm complaining. He knelt on the desk and noticed that to the right of Tewtiy's video was a list of ascending texts, many of them praising the person for killing the enemy or being good at the game.
Memory's hands grew sweaty. He got up and paced around the room. He didn't dare to touch anything in this foreign land. He held himself, only having his own, transformed body, to ground himself.
How many of those people are watching?
35,096 views.
35,096 views.
No wonder Sabre could reach thousands of people. Unless he was a king, Sabre could not command the attention of that many people in a single place. He told his adventures through a platform that connected so many people who weren't physically present.
Memory's breath accelerated.
35,096 views.
35,096 VIEWS.
The wall of texts cascaded in his mind. He shuddered as he dreaded all the possibilities of those texts. Of what they would say. Of what they would think.
About him.
I'm a joke. I'm a joke.
The spinning chandelier transformed into an ominous distant storm. Its clicks and whirls synchronized with his racing heartbeat. The hard thuds and the long bangs of weapons from the video joined. Memory was paralyzed, surrounded in a stampede of sounds, the loudest of them being his racing thoughts.
35,096 views.
35,096 views.
35,096 VIEWS.
Memory collapsed. He curled into a ball and screamed.
Make it stop, make it stop, make it stop. Take me back, take me back, take me back.
A second cry of agony joined him. Memory peered up and saw Sabre in his chair clenching his hair and screaming.
Memory glared at him through teary eyes. You deserve to be suffering like me. He stood up and rolled his shoulders. And when I'm done, you'll be suffering more.
He raised a hand and summoned a white, glitching flower. The flower burst into a cackling, red fire. It's been a while since I last used this power: Memory Rage.
When he controlled the minds of his victims, sometimes he would let the victims' own memory take control. Usually a memory of their insecurities or fears, causing the victim to...not act in a reasonable way. Last time he used this technique was after he escaped Sabre and Rainbow's first trap, when he made Rainbow paranoid and aggressive to his allies.
Memory approached Sabre and hovered his hands over him. He immediately sensed those memories of insecurities.
Insecurities about finances, about the videos he made, about the stories he told. Whatever the hell those meant. But the more he scanned through these memories, the more he wanted to cry. The more weak he felt as the surrounding noises became stronger. How one wrong word could break him down at this point. He embraced those feelings, knowing that he had found an emotion in Sabre's memories that he was all too familiar with.
The feeling of not being good enough.
The feeling of not deserving what you have.
Memory raised his hand and let those insecurities take the stage. As if being manned by a puppeteer, Sabre's shoulders and head raised too.
Sabre stared at his monitors with an agape mouth, as if he was seeing them for the first time. "This...This is horrible! Why do I have more followers when people like Ryan deserve so much more?! My content isn't even peak quality! Just...why do they watch me?!" He knelt on his desk, brushing a hand through his short hair. His hand was slowly turning gray and emitting a black aura.
Perfect, the corruption of the shadow stone was powerful enough to come to his reality.
Sabre withdrew a tiny rectangle from his pocket. Another monitor, which responded to the touch of his hand. He tapped through it, summoning texts. He read them, shaking his head at every word. "Oh God, they probably think I'm a fraud. Why won't they just say it?"
As Sabre mumbled more hateful words, the more thrilled Memory felt. His hidden, red eyes glowed through the tears. "How does it feel? It sucks to feel fucking seen, doesn't it?! It sucks to try so hard, but to have the voice in your head constantly say his words. His words!"
Sabre set the small monitor down and looked out of his office's window (though it was covered by blinders) tearfully.
Memory sneered. "Would you rather disappear? Would you rather stop being a burden to everyone whose cursed to know you?"
Sabre tensed. "Why am I kidding around?! I'm not a good content creator, so let's make it that way!" He slammed his fist on the keyboard in front of the monitors. The black aura from his hand seeped into the keyboard and the wire it was connected to. The monitors let out an electric spark. The office went dark and the chandelier's humming spiral ceased.
A moment later, everything flickered back to life. The monitors glitched, each glitch distorting the screens even more. The display of Sabre's Twitch profile especially glitched frantically. The text that counted followers seemed distressed. Originally at 1.5K, the text rapidly counted down. Down to the hundreds. Then the tens.
Then zero. 0 followers.
The glitching ceased. The displays were restored. Sabre quickly clicked a few buttons on the monitor. The profile was replaced with the text "deactivated account."
On the monitor displaying Tewtiy's Twitch profile, the video now showed the words "YOU DIED" and in the corner, the spiky-haired man was looking around, blinking in confusion. The wall of texts broadcasted different messages.
-You ok, Ryan?
-You look like you just realized you left the oven on, lol
"Yeah, I'm good, I'm good," Ryan replied to the texts. "It's just I felt this sudden...headache-but-not-really-a-headache."
-O_O
-Bro, I felt the exact same thing, da fuk?
-SAME
-*Twilight Zone theme song*
Ryan laughed. "Wow, you guys felt that too?! We must be in sync!" Then a buzzing noise startled him. He picked up a small rectangular device with his hand (which was now below him instead of in the center video?). "Huh, I got a reminder, saying I have to record Bloons with a friend. But I don't remember this. This notification won't tell me who the friend is. The name's all glitchy...this is a sign that I need a new phone." He dismissed the device and resumed playing his game.
-Congratulations Ryan. You're now the protagonist of a horror game.
-*Twilight Zone theme song but louder*
Memory eyed Sabre, who slumped in his chair with a long sigh. "Well done, Sabre. But we're not done yet. Go to the next platform you exist on and do it again." He began to laugh. "Then the next one. Don't stop until everyone forgets about you and your work. Because that's what you want!"
Sabre nodded and worked on the computer, his hand emitting more dark particles.
Memory gave a dark chuckle. "Feels wonderful that the only good thing you can do is make yourself less inconvenient, doesn't it?"
Memory focused and hyped himself to see Galaxy's reaction. A moment later, he teleported out of the office and back to the island surrounded by screens. He smiled, delighted that he could teleport back just by thinking about the Memory Dimension.
Next to him, the big menu screen shrunk, morphing into a button with the image of a horizontal white line. The Minimize button, he recognized, from seeing Sabre desummon those displays in the monitors. That's the portal back to the office.
Looking back at him, still in the machine, Galaxy looked like a bleached nebula. "W-what happened?! You were just...standing there for a long time."
Memory stumbled back, nervousness constricting his heart.
"But, I also saw you there!" Galaxy gestured his head at the display in front of him, which showed Sabre crying in self-loathing as he depleted his existence off a light blue, text-cluttered platform. "Like, you were actually there and able to change things, but you were also on the island at the same time! Did you project yourself? Like a phantom?"
Memory glared at him. "What matters is that it worked."
Thunder roared and the entire dimension shook as a new island from a distance rose from the lava. It grew a field of glitching white flowers. Some flowers transformed into silhouettes of people sitting and staring at a device. They were bouncing in their seats happily before flinching in sudden fear and morphing back into flowers. The island grew in size as it spawned more flowers, glowing fiercely like a sun fused with a forest fire.
Memory sneered at the new island. Once I'm done, I'll permanently erase these memories, so no one will ever see them again.
But the thrill of destroying these memories wouldn't compete to how he'd feel when Sabre would purge the entire world of knowledge about the Steves.
Only then he would finally relax.
The screen that showed Sabre glitched. It distorted his voice, but his anger and the shame was still clear.
Galaxy's golden eyes welled up with tears as he watched. "Sabre...No, no, Sabre! It's g-gonna be ok! Memory, stop this! Why are you doing this?! And where's Alex?!"
Memory summoned a blue flower that was attached to vines, and he brought it closer to Galaxy. The flower projected the real-time perspective of the Guardian, who was mind-controlled and watching Alex struggling to get out of a machine. "Get me out Guardian! Snap out of it! It's all in your head!"
Galaxy looked even more colorless. "No...this can't be happening?! Why?! Why aren't I out there, helping her and Sabre?!"
"You failed your friends," Memory growled. "You left them, in the hands of people like me. But is that really news?"
"No...No..." Tears streamed down Galaxy's face. Thunder surrounded the machine, as if joining Memory and Galaxy's inner thoughts in shaming this so-called protector of the world.
Galaxy threw his head up. "SABRE. ALEX!" Then he fainted. The machine was the only thing stopping his unconscious body from dropping to the ground.
"So you're still not strong enough to confront your troubles, even without the infection causing your relapse," Memory muttered. He looked down in disappointment. "You didn't even ask about Time and Illusion..."
Memory clicked the Minimize button. The Memory Dimension melted away like fog, and he was back as a hologram in Sabre's office.
"Sabre, how many websites do you still exist on?"
"All of my personal social media accounts and YouTube."
"Continue erasing them all."
Sabre snarled. His hands flew across the keyboard and thrashed around the navigational device. He opened up new displays. His gray hand slammed the keyboard, and the process would repeat. The lights flickered as Sabre's aggressive comments toward himself increased.
Memory began to pace around the room. "Come on...come on...Finish this." He took the red flower crown out of his inventory. "So I can move onto the next stage of my plan."
As he placed the flower crown back, he flinched. A sense of power brushed past him.
He wasn't alone anymore. But this visitor wasn't in Sabre's world. They were back in...
He teleported back to the island, where he saw someone tampering with the machine that held Galaxy.
"Hang on!" Alex scrapped off the redstone, forcing some of the pistons to release the unconscious Steve. "I'm here, Galaxy! I'm here!"
NO! Memory teleported between Alex and the machine and shoved her away. Alex quickly recovered and launched into the air.
"How did you escape the Guardian?!" Memory demanded.
Alex glared back. "You have my friends, Memory Steve. I don't understand exactly what you're doing. All I know is that I can't let you hurt my friends and Sabre's world."
Memory generated a bow and aimed an arrow at Alex, making her freeze. "My plan doesn't concern you. Leave!" He knew he was at a disadvantage. Without destructive powers, his ability to physically harm people was weak. He knew the only thing standing between his victory and him mangled on the ground was that Alex feared his arrow. Well, that and she didn't know that –
Sabre gave another cry of anguish, bringing Alex's attention to the screen. She watched him slammed the keyboard, making the monitor (now displaying a dark interface with an icon of a blue-and-white controller with two dots) glitch.
She brightened up. "You lent your memory erasing powers to Sabre. So if he's currently using it..." She smirked at Memory. "You can't use that power! You can create the weapons, but they won't erase my memories because the power is being used by someone else!"
Memory cursed and shot her. The arrow hit her head and threw her back. She rebalanced herself in the air when the arrow blinked into nonexistence. "I-I still remember you! Yes!" She shot her arms up and cheered. Then immediately hissed in pain and rubbed where the arrow hit her. "Oooowww."
"Stay back!" Memory fired another arrow. Alex dodged it this time. She hurled lightning at him, knocking him against the machine.
She charged at him. Memory got up and threw punches, and she blocked, dodged, and punched back. She tried to circle around him to get to Galaxy, but Memory kept attacking and teleporting to cut her from the machine. When she finally managed to slip pass him and reach for the machine, Memory quickly grabbed her and teleported them both to the far end of the island.
Alex stumbled from the sudden change, while Memory panted from the energy drain. He quickly generated an arrow and shot Alex in the back, knocking her back to the ground. He shot her two more times until she finally rolled out of the way.
She recovered and snarled. "That's it! I'm sorry, but I've had enough of you!"
Adrenaline immediately consumed Memory, who knew exactly what she meant.
As Alex reached for her inventory, Memory spotted the machine, teleported there, and released Galaxy Steve.
Alex whirled around, about to throw the pink, deadly potion that was now in her hand, and stilled.
Memory held Galaxy in front of him as a living shield. "I know what that potion does!" He gestured to Galaxy. "Throw the potion at me and we'll both drop dead."
Alex froze. She nervously shook her head, the hand that held the potion trembling. Under her breath, she mumbled. "Galaxy...please wake up..."
It was almost pitiful, seeing this hero, who knew how to take initiative, now cling on the smallest chance of hope to save her, all because the fear of sacrificing a friend overwhelmed her.
Memory sneered. "Destroy that potion and leave. You have a minute to comply. Otherwise – " He snapped his fingers. Five flowers descended from the sky and morphed into brutal Demon Steves. They landed and surrounded the frightened Alex. "Otherwise, I'll force that potion out of your hands."
Word count: 4532