Content warning: anxiety attack, overwhelmed senses; blood/injury around the end of the chapter
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."
The Demon Steves crawled forward, growling in their dry, sinister voices. Alex darted her eyes to the most subtle movements, her expression becoming more conflicted She finally sprung to the sky and levitated, but a Demon Steve summoned a transparent lasso and yanked her back down. Thud! She fell back to the ground and the Demon Steves crowded her.
"Fine." Alex closed her eyes and balled her hands into fists. "You leave me to this."
Lightning struck, disintegrating all five Demon Steves. Alex was tugged back into the air, her boots barely touching the grass. She kept her head lowered as the ends of her orange hair began to float.
Memory jumped back, not realizing he had dropped Galaxy. Alex's eyes sparked open, solid green and flaring like an emerald sun. A strong power overwhelmed Memory. He could see the energy radiating off her and blurring her surroundings. Where in the world had this power been all this time?
Then he recognized it. The foreign energy. The foreign energy he sensed when he first met Illusion, masking the energy of the family.
"You and Illusion teamed up," Memory murmured. "He returned all your powers." Did Illusion help her escape the Guardian too? But how did he even escape those handcuffs?
All Memory knew was that Alex was much more powerful than before.
Alex landed and took a step closer, her solid gaze becoming brighter. Memory's heart lurched. He inched back, but he was edging closer to the lava and farther from the unconscious Galaxy. He debated what was better use of his energy: teleporting away with Galaxy or preserving everything he had to survive whatever Alex was about to do.
"Where is Illusion?!" Memory demanded.
"None of your business." Alex raised her glowing green hands. She clamped them together, made a twist with them, and then pulled them apart.
Energy and a white light engulfed Memory. He yelped as a force warped his sense of space and threw him to the ground. He sat up, realizing he was on the far end of the island again.
Alex raced up to the unconscious Galaxy and embraced him. Thunder surrounded the two and Galaxy disappeared.
"No!" Memory cried. "Where did you take him?!"
Alex faced him, her glow and stern expression not faltering. Memory gulped as she stepped closer and closer. She held the potion in her hand. The pink, cursed liquid swayed to the rhythm of her silent march, but now, that potion was the least of Memory's worries.
He scooted back into a tree. He should run or teleport, but something told him it would be a waste of energy, because she would catch up. He channeled into this panic and lightning struck the island, splitting it in half. A chasm grew in front of Alex. She lost her balance and fell in. But she kicked the air and hovered to the other side of the chasm, her gaze enraged.
"Alex, I yield! I yield" Memory pleaded. "You don't have to go through with this!"
Alex didn't speak. Did she even listen? She continued advancing forward. His heart pounding, Memory spotted the "Minimize" button at the edge of the severed island.
As Alex readied to throw the potion, Memory bolted toward the "Minimize" button and clicked it.
Memory fell on the carpeted floor. He only had a moment to breath.
Muffled thunder drummed, as if locked away by a thousand walls. Memory gawked as Alex materialized in one corner of the office. Her orange hair still floated, defying the motion of the spinning wooden chandelier.
Alex inspected her transparent body. "Where are we?" Then she saw Sabre, still working on erasing memories on the computer. She gave a cry.
While she stared at Sabre, Memory nervously snuck towards the window, already expecting a less-than-positive reaction from her. As a hologram, he couldn't brush out the blinds. But he could at least make out the outside world, a land made out of black cement and gray pavement that looked nearly white from reflecting the sun.
"Hey! Get back – " Alex shouted before Memory teleported out of the office and into the unknown.
He broke into a run. She can easily catch up. But if I throw her into a foreign environment, I have a chance.
The gray pavement made the sun's rays brighter. The more he ran, the more blinding the world seemed, but he fought through it. He kept running and teleporting to create more distance. He caught lines of grassy frontyards and houses in his peripheral vision, identical in style and color. But it all became a blur as he ran.
Sabre, continue erasing memories! he commanded, and he sensed his puppet obeying. He was confident that Sabre could finish the plan, but Memory couldn't afford to die again.
Muffled thunder. "MEMORY!" A shadow of a person slithered ahead on the road. "ENOUGH OF THIS!"
Memory skidded to a halt when he saw Alex flying in the sky in front of him. She snarled and swooped down, charging towards him.
Memory spotted the roof of a nearby house and teleported on top of the roof. Timing himself to jump when Alex leveled with the roof's height, he sprinted and leapt off, tackling her.
Alex cried as the two crashed on the pavement, the weight of Memory crushing her. A hideous crack sounded. She shrieked in a shrill voice that knocked Memory back. Memory almost swore that a nearby window shattered. Alex levitated back on to her feet. She inhaled a pained breath, but with her floating hair brighter in the sunlight and her aggressive pose unyielding, the fall had barely harmed her.
Lightning surrounded Alex and she vanished.
Memory got up and scanned the neighborhood. He generated a bow, clenching it with a shaky hand. He eventually spotted an enormous, rectangular metal box on wheels attached to a red, wheeled machine, standing in front of a house. Perhaps he could hide behind that until he found the perfect moment to flee.
He ran towards the metal box. He barely heard the muffled thunder again.
A hand struck the back of his head. Someone grabbed and twisted his hand, forcing him to drop and despawn the bow. Then slam, the green blur of a person threw him to the ground. "AH!" Still a blur, Alex grabbed him, launched into the air, and hurled him at the metal box.
"AAAAHHH!" The metal floor and its merciless strength echoed through his bones. His vision split into three as the clouds and their duplicates tremored. A holographic Alex and her duplicates hovered in the air. They steadied and formed back into one Alex, her merciless expression clearer. Memory shut his eyes and tensed, accepting that this was the end.
No final blow or a potion's splash! came.
Memory opened his eyes and got up, realizing he was at the edge of the metal box. Alex landed on the opposite side, the edge near the red machine the box was attached to. Her fists ignited with flames. "Take me back. I was going to destroy you but I need you to take me back home."
Memory flinched at the sight of the flames. A fierce white-eyed Sabre flashed in his mind. He quickly generated a bow. He shot an arrow at Alex, but she threw a fireball. The fireball and arrow collided and exploded into oblivion.
Memory's inner panic grew and he fired again. The fireball and arrow collided again. This time, he nocked the arrow and waited. She hurled a fast fireball at an angle, which Memory shot before it reached him. He was supposed to be aiming these arrows at her. But with those dangerous fireballs, he was at the defense. At least he was making time.
Maybe I should – Memory's strategizing was interrupted by a ghastly roar. He and Alex froze, feeling the box rumble. They glanced at the red machine behind Alex, seeing it blench a trail of smoke from one of its pipes. Then the red machine crept forward, pulling the metal box with it.
Memory and Alex lost their balance and fell. The box crawled out of the neighborhood and entered a new black pathway, where tons of machines zoomed by. The metal box accelerated. The air pushing against Memory's face grew stronger. He flinched when a furious machine roared past.
Memory dug his fingers between two metal sheets bounded together by screws. Alex also tried to hold onto something, her hair thrashing over her eyes. They may be holograms, but they were still subjects of this world's physics. Alex's fall had proven that. Memory didn't want to know what would happen if he fell off the box and into the road where hundreds of machines could crush him. Even so, this was the perfect opportunity to get rid of Alex.
Memory crept towards her. Alex looked unsure, wondering if she should protect herself, punch blindly, or risk everything to tie her hair back. Before she made a choice, Memory got close enough to punch her face. Alex cried and released the box.
Memory grabbed her wrist and tried to throw her off, but Alex spawned a fireball. "Ah!" He released her and rolled out of the fireball's way, his heart nearly stopping when he met the box's edge. The metal box then skidded to a halt, nearly throwing Memory off until he quickly teleported back to the box's center.
Alex tied her hair back, revealing her seething solid eyes. Memory stood up, but Alex charged and punched him in the gut. He cried, jumped back, and shot an arrow at her shoulder.
They both froze when the metal box roared back to life. They immediately dropped to the steel ground. Memory brought his head up to see Alex also on the floor, her glare inches away from his mask.
Alex aimed for his nose, but Memory quickly jerked his head to the left. He grabbed Alex's neck and hair to distract her, then risked using his other hand to punch her unprotected face.
Then there was an intense bellow of smoke.
The metal box made a sharp turn, throwing him and Alex into the air. Memory screamed as he soared away from the curved black pathway.
And landed in sand.
Memory grunted, grateful that his mask protected his face. (Could sand get into the eyes and mouth of a hologram?)
He dug his fingers into the coarse particles, surprised that his hands wrapped around small valley-like formations. This sand wasn't flat at all.
He got up and saw that the concaving and rising sand stretched for miles, meeting a faint ocean in the distance. He shrunk back when a person with wheeled boots and a helmet zoomed past him on the nearby gray pathway. He tensed, starting to recognize the tens or hundreds of people around him. People of all shapes and sizes. Some dressed colorfully, some dressed in rags, and some only dressed in trunks.
Memory tore his now teary eyes away from the crowd. He spotted the gray pavement and buildings lining the beach. He pinpointed an empty alleyway and teleported there. He shrank into the shadows and trembled. His breath rose up and down like that sand, which morphed and scattered from those hundreds of people stepping and kicking it.
Can they see me? He squeezed his wet eyes tight, not even wanting an answer. A harsh hum above pierced his thoughts. Memory looked up, seeing a sharp metal arrow glide through the sky, leaving behind a trail of cloud. He flinched when other sounds joined the chaos. The ringing of a bell. Laughter of children. Barks from dogs. And the chatter. The chatter of so many people deep in discussion.
"THERE YOU ARE!"
Memory was shoved to the ground. He screeched and scooted against the wall. "PLEASE. GET AWAY."
Then he sensed that foreign power. He froze, all anxiety suddenly replaced by a worse feeling when he saw Alex towering over him.
She withdrew the deadly potion. "It's over."
"ALEX, NO!" With no other option, Memory shrank away one last time and shielded his face.
Splash! The glass shattered and bit his arms, and liquid soaked through his coat.
Memory lowered his arms. The liquid spread across his coat with a pinkish-purple outline, darkening his coat even more.
Alex backed off, her eyes reverting to their calm state. Then she gasped. Her face morphed from the brighter complexion to a sickly pale, as if she was the one hit by the potion. "I...I..." She sank to her knees, hands over her mouth. "I-I didn't mean to. Memory, I'm so sorry! I just wanted to save Galaxy..."
Memory still trembled as Alex dropped her arms and sobbed. As his fear waned away, he couldn't help but sympathize. But why was he able to feel? Why didn't he feel weaker or sick? Wasn't the potion supposed to drain away his life force?
Curious, he brought an arm to his face and sniffed it. "It's just water."
Alex looked up. "W-what?"
"It's just water that was dyed pink. I'm fine."
Alex fell back. "What?! But the potion – it should had – "
Thunder roared. The world flickered. The image of a void sky, lava sea, and cubic swamp leaked through the flickering spots. Dark swamp, bright beach. Dark swamp, bright beach.
Memory glared at Alex, spite forming in his chest. "You were sent by Illusion to distract me, weren't you?"
Alex dipped her head, both in relief and guilt. "I had to. Illusion had a plan, but he needed someone to buy him time and keep Galaxy safe."
The last of the bright beach melted away and the Memory Dimension completely took over. Memory's body became solid again, no longer a hologram. He got up and glared at the sky. In his mind, he tried to contact Sabre. But he sensed no one.
He heard thunder, loud and clear this time, signaling Alex teleporting away. He bristled, knowing she was off to find Galaxy. But right now, he had someone else more important to find. "Where is that little overachiever?"
He tracked down his cousin's energy, which was difficult because it seemed to be everywhere in the Memory Dimension.
Memory teleported to an island. Illusion was there, pacing around. His hands fidgeted with pink energy, as if rapidly typing against keyboards. He swept his arm, dispersing the pink energy.
"Illusion, what are you doing here?!" Memory pleaded. "Please leave! It's dangerous here!"
Illusion gave a stern glare and took out a bottle. "I can't. Not when I'm the only one who can stop you."
Memory recognized the bottle's shape and the few pink drops it contained.
It was the real potion that was meant to kill him. Or, it used to be.
"You had it all this time?"
Illusion tossed the empty bottle into the lava. "I tampered with the machine that restored Sabre's memories when you were looking for me. I made it secretly transfer Alex's potion to my inventory. I tossed her a water bottle that she unknowingly picked up and used illusion powers to make it look like the potion. I couldn't let her keep the real potion."
Memory tensed. "What did you do to the potion? And how did you get to my dimension? I cut all access to it and only I control it!"
Illusion threw his arms out. "Not anymore. This is my domain now! I created an illusion copy of your home, and it allowed Alex and I to enter. While Alex distracted you, I transformed the potion, since it was from my power, and used it to weaken your Dimension, making my illusion overtake it."
Memory opened a hand to summon arrows and entities. Nothing. Memory looked around, the horror sinking in. The illusion really did take over his dimension. His own dimension. His dimension that was no longer connected with Sabre's reality. No longer able to finish the plan.
He snarled. "So here I am again, powerless against a hero."
Illusion stepped back. What flashed in those multi-colored eyes? Sadness? Disbelief? Shame? "Your dimension will regain its strength when I'm done. I'm sorry, but I can't let you erase the memories in Sabre's world. It's going to have consequences far beyond what you think will happen."
"What makes you so sure?" Memory spat back.
Illusion softened his gaze. "Because someone told me that blocking everyone's memories is dangerous. It won't make everyone happy. It'll make things worse eventually."
Memory faltered back, painfully aware of his own hypocrisy. He shook his head and shoved the thought away. "I won't stop. I have to keep going." He teleported away.
Memory teleported to a new island. It's just an illusion! I can fight back! The Memory Dimension is connected to my mind after all. He aimed a hand at the dark void sky. He opened his mind, demanding the sky to reveal its illusion veil.
Nothing changed. No pink rainbow plane showed itself. He cursed under his breath. Come on, work! Work! I did it before!
"Memory!"
He snapped his gaze to the sound. Illusion landed on the island. "We did this the first time we met, didn't we? Before we even worked together? I tried to put you in the illusion and you fought back."
"Stop interrupting me!" Thunder roared as Memory shot his hand at the sky again. The sky refused to change. He cursed louder and teleported to the next island. He tried again, but failed. This thunder is distracting me! He tried to stop the thunder, but how could he when the storm pressing the inside of his skull was intensifying?
"Memory!" Illusion arrived. Memory teleported to another island. Illusion just came again. "The same trick you pulled off before won't work! Just let Void go! Let Sabre go! Move on!"
Memory bared his teeth. "I CAN'T MOVE ON!I want Sabre to be as miserable as I am! You don't know how terrifying it is to have people aware of you. To see you. To know all of your movements. To know that you're just a failed villain in a story!"
"I do, actually! You saw how terrified I was to return to this world! You saw how afraid I was to admit to the heroes that I was a coward, a failure, and a joke. I only got through it because I had you by my side."
Memory looked away. "You're more fortunate than me. I've never had that person in my life..."
"Then why are you taking it out on Sabre and his audience? If you're bitter that no one helped you, shouldn't you instead be upset at Void?"
Memory gasped. "Don't you dare say that! YOU KNOW NOTHING ABOUT ME." He teleported away and Illusion tracked him down. Repeat, repeat. Fleeing from one island to another.
Memory paused and focused on the sky again, but it was another fruitless attempt. "WHY ISN'T THIS WORKING?!"
Illusion landed. "Give it up, Memory! You can't break the illusion! You've become narrow-minded!"
"No!" Memory covered his ears and squeezed his eyes shut. "No! You're lying! My head is sound!"
"Your mind's closed off because you think bringing back Void is the only thing that matters!"
Memory shook his head furiously. "S-stop lying! You hijacked my dimension. You're trying to fool me! I only cared about Void the first time and I still resisted the illusion! I can do it again!"
Illusion groaned. "How many times do I have to tell you, Memory?! Your situation's changed, and you know that! Bringing back Void isn't the only option anymore! Your own dimension is spelling it out for you by refusing to change!"
Memory whacked his own head. "I don't believe you!"
Illusion's stern voice became more frantic and pleading. "This isn't the way! Please, just move on!"
Memory glared at him. "Fine! Maybe I can't pull off the same trick from before, but I know who can!" He opened his hand, which ignited with power, and he clawed at his head.
"Wait!" Illusion cried. "What are you doing?!"
Memory screamed, tears bleeding out of his eyes like a fresh cut. A fresh cut in his own mind. His hand dug into his head, feeling that flower. He pulled back, feeling the flower snag and unsnag from the chambers of his mind, his hair, and balaclava.
"Memory!" He heard someone cry, but that cry was drowned out by the overwhelming pain.
With a final hiss of pain, he tugged free the gray flower. He clenched it, making it burst into a red fire. Memory Rage. He pressed the flower back into his head, and it engulfed his entire body with pain.
He bent over and screamed, the burning flower consuming his mind. "IT WASN'T SUPPOSED TO END LIKE THIS." He was reliving it. All over again. The grief. He felt like his heart could stop, paralyzed by despair. "IT WASN'T SUPPOSED TO END LIKE THIS."
"Memory!"
Memory looked up. Illusion was there. The surroundings glitched, switching back and forth between the dark swamp and a vast yellow field. As Illusion stepped closer, his terrified expression glitched into a sinister, arrogant grin, his eyes clouded by yellow fog. He cackled. "Not going to resist anymore, huh? Your master, your father, is gone. H̴̦̿̐e̷͕͈͇͌̋͑̕͝ ̴͙̟̌̊̀͑̀n̵̻͛̋́͜ẽ̴̳ȩ̴̹̹̣͋̍̌͗͝d̸̙͔̙̩̫͂s̷̬̪̭͌̍̃ ̷̧͉̰̾̉̈́̀̃ṭ̸͗̂̓͘͠ͅö̶̘̖̙̘́͂̃͝ ̸̠̫͓̖̘̍͘s̶̛̙̓̊ť̸̬̩̤̫͕ă̵̝̩y̸̢̛̯̣ ̵̢̖͑̓̐̊͜g̶̣̔̐̒͝ọ̵̔̃n̴̳̘̗̉ë̴̢̛͖͇́."
Memory's hidden red eyes flared. He no longer controlled his expression or voice. The raging flower seized all control. He let it pick his emotions: emotions of grief, determination, and wrath. As the emotions felt more real, the more he realized how he was going to use every ounce of energy to bring him back. He let the flower command him, and his arms waved at the sky.
The sky shimmered, revealing the pink rainbow plane above the yellow hazy world. Memory generated a bow and arrow made out of light, glitching madly with corruption. He fired at the plane.
The yellow world flickered back into the Memory Dimension, but the illusion plane stayed as the arrow pierced through it.
"No!" Someone cried.
The plane of illusion shattered. The corruption zapped through it, letting out a cry like nails on chalkboard.
Memory collapsed on his knees, panting. Pain lingered in his chest, causing him to wince. His vision temporarily blurred. He should be exhausted. But no. He was far from it. Sabre, can you hear me?
I can.
Memory smiled sinisterly and snapped his fingers. A huge screen emerged from the lava, showing Sabre at his office. Go back to erasing yourself from the world.
Sabre nodded and went back to work, corrupting his computer and erasing himself.
"No!" Illusion cut between Memory and the screen. He spread his arms out and a pink dome spawned, surrounding himself and the screen. Sabre suddenly raised his hands off the keyboard.
Go back to erasing memories! Memory commanded, but Sabre didn't budge.
Illusion brought his gaze up. His arrogant expression from the memory was gone, replaced with dismay and heartbreak. "How could you?! Why did you let yourself relive your pain just to remember how to break the illusion?!"
"Stop interfering with my plans!" Memory withdrew a wooden bow and arrow from his inventory. He aimed at the pink dome that shielded Illusion. It wouldn't be fatal. He took the time to craft normal arrows, anticipating that this face-off could happen. Anticipating that he would have to make a choice between injuring Illusion and erasing his memories. Both decisions equally filled Memory with mortifying shame, but he already picked which burden he would rather carry forever.
Yet Memory remained still, hesitating to shoot.
Illusion took a deep breath. "Please listen to me and consider the aftermath of what will happen to Sabre's world. I know they watch us and do nothing to help us, but they don't just watch us for their entertainment! I overlooked this the first time, but you don't know how Sabre's videos helped so many people."
Memory brought his gaze up, seeing the current monitors on Sabre's desk. He froze when he saw that Sabre had at least pulled up the familiar interface of YouTube before Illusion interfered. There was the banner, tabs of information, and the subscriber count.
And right beneath the tabs was that video.
Minecraft Steve Saga – MEMORY STEVE WIPED MY MEMORIES.
100k views.
The views have accumulated over the years.
35,096 views. 35,096 views.
100,000 views. 100,000 views.
His hand slipped.
"AAHH!"
Memory snapped his gaze to the sound and paled. Illusion, now on the ground, clenched his pierced calf as the shattered pink dome faded away. Memory dropped his weapon and ran to Illusion's side. "I'm so sorry!"
"DON'T TOUCH ME!" Illusion shoved him back, but cried as more blood leaked out of the arrow wound. Guilt sunk its venomous fangs into Memory's heart.
"Memory Steve." Memory watched the screen, seeing Sabre's hand on the keyboard again. "I have erased memories and my presence on all my personal accounts. My last platform on the Internet is YouTube."
"Don't do this!" Illusion shouted, grabbing Memory's attention. The young Steve tried to look pleading despite the painful grimace. "His videos helped so many people. People created friendships and passion projects because of us. If you erase everyone's memories of Sabre – of the Steves – all of that will go away. Friendships will be erased. People will forget things that made them passionate or sparked them joy."
"...I'm evil. I'm used to my actions hurting people."
"There's a chance that your plan will hurt thousands of young people," Illusion warned. "Are you willing to take that chance?"
"Will my actions really hurt that many people?"
"Yes!"
Memory sighed. "...I doubt it. I never left an impact in this world. My actions in Sabre's world will be as insignificant as I am."
Illusion gawked, a look of betrayal and pity in his eyes.
Memory straightened his back. "I made many mistakes in my life. I can handle having another one on my shoulders." He turned to the screen and gave another command. "Sabre, erase them."
Sabre struck the computer again with the corruption and the monitors glitched. Sabre's YouTube channel, FavreMySabre, glitched as hundreds of thousands of subscribers counted down to 0. One by one, those videos in the Uploads section glitched and vanished. Older videos replaced their spot on the display, but they quickly vanished too.
Memory flinched when he saw the thumbnail of that video and again saw the number 100k views.
Then it blinked out of existence. It was gone. Just like the others. The videos and their insight on the Steves were gone forever. Never to be seen again. Never to be recalled by anyone.
Sabre pressed a few buttons on his computer and clicked something.
He deleted his account.
FavreMySabre was no more. He was gone.
Forgotten.
Word count: 4508