Chapter 11 – Unknown Memories

As soon as they got back to Tyana's hotel Shadow ushered her up to her room and helped Tyana, who looked rather shaken and a little sore, lay down on then bed before she got her own communicator out of her back pocket and smiled down at her guider. The red haired, tan skinned and blue eyed woman named Quande stared back up at her from the screen and sighed with relief when she noted that her Guided was ok. They spoke in hushed tones for several minutes, with Shadow talking over what had only just happened and Quande checking her Guided's statistics on one of her many technical devices. Finally Shadow left Quande to work with the information she had given her about the men that had attacked Tyana, as well as informing her that one claimed his name with Luday, and set the communicator on to the dresser. The girl with bright pink hair turned and looked down at the woman who laid back on the bed, her hands clamped over her eyes as she sighed, her chest rising and falling with a regular rhythm as she tried to take in what had just happened. Shadow crossed the room and perched on the side of the bed, causing Tyana to pull her hands away from her eyes and open them.

Shadow smiled, "How're you feeling?" She asked tentatively as she set studied the turquoise beauty. Tyana shifted a little on the bed, uncomfortable at having been shown so much attention by someone who wasn't paid to do so. Or someone who wasn't Jeff.

"Er, good, thanks, I've just got some bruises coming I think" she answered, sitting up properly as she smiled in appreciation. It was obvious that this woman was in fact from The Mission and wasn't just some undercover assassin. So Tyana trusted her and let herself relax, her only tension being in that she knew people were in this realm—where she was supposed to be safe—trying to kill her. At least it seemed Shadow would be around to help protect her now though. "Thanks for saving my butt back there though; I would have really been dead meat if you hadn't shown up"

Shadow just shrugged as if it was all in a day's work and smiled, "Hey, us Mission Chicks have to stick together, think nothing of it."

"Um, so, are you ok?" Tyana asked sweetly, only then realizing that maybe in saving her, Shadow had gotten hurt.

But the woman nodded, "Fine thank you, although I did break a nail" she giggled and stared at her nails. Tyana took the brief opportunity to observe the person that she would apparently be spending some time with.

The girl had a full head of bright pink hair and her skin was a soft white. As far as her build went, it was semi-athletic. She was thin without being skinny and her shoulders were strong. Her thighs had that same muscular toning as Tyana's and her body seemed to be in an overall good condition, with nice little curves to her hips and chest. Her eyes were brown; a strange combination with such vibrant hair, and Tyana only then noticed that she had a pair of sunglasses pushed up onto her head. She wasn't sure whether they were prescription or fashion or some sort of new agent product designed by The Mission but no matter what reason they were perched there for, they were slightly rounded—the perfect shape for her face—and were a slick simple black. She was most definitely attractive. Tyana began to wonder whether she, much like herself, had aged when she jumped over.

"Shadow, did you, uh, age when you crossed?" Shadow looked up from her nails and then titled her head.

"Ya know, I never thought to ask."

"Er, couldn't you tell just by looking in a reflective panel?" Tyana quizzed, remembering how she had first discovered her premature aging.  

Shadow laughed a little and shook her head, "No, I looked like this before I jumped; so I guess I couldn't have aged more than a few months or so then."

Tyana nodded in agreement, "No, I guess not" her voice was small and contemplative as she began to wonder what would have happened if she had aged only a few months the first time she had jumped. She was sure she would have never been able to handle a lot of the things that had happened to her. Her intelligence would have been only a little less, her mentality lower, her body less mature and toned, and god knew she probably would have been an emotional wreck under all the pressure. But most importantly Jeff would have never noticed her; she was glad she aged the way she did. He was too important to her to feel otherwise. 

"As we're doing question an answer time then, do you mind if I quiz you on some stuff? You see, you've kinda become this huge celebrity amongst the other people in The Mission and I was wondering whether some of the stuff I was told is true"

Tyana smiled and nodded, "Sure, ask away" She chose to ignore the fact that she had been described as a celebrity. Although it was nice to think that other people had gotten to know her for all she had been through for the sake of The Mission.

"Ok, but if you don't want to answer it then obviously, don't, I'm totally cool with keeping things personal" Shadow put out there as she shifted onto the bed so that her legs were crossed and she was sitting in front of Tyana who had moved her legs to the same position.

Tyana laughed, her nerves and shock from early in the evening melting away, "What exactly have you people been saying about me then?" And they began to gossip as if they had known each other for years.

***

Meanwhile Jeff ambled into his hotel room and collapsed onto the bed with a sigh. It wasn't particularly late but he had only minutes ago come over rather tired. Sighing, he rested his hands under his neck, locking them behind his head, and looked right up at the blank white ceiling. It had been so long since his nightmares had started that he felt they needed to be resolved now. It was impossible to go through the day without thinking about the dreams, or more specifically the girl in them, at least every minute. Her face always seemed to be lurking somewhere in the back of his mind, her voice echoing from somewhere inside his body. And he couldn't figure out for the life of him how or why he knew her. Or why she wanted him to know her so badly that she turned up whenever he rested his eyes.

And so Jeff closed his eyes, just to see if she would appear, just to see if he could work out the reasons behind it all. Slowly his mind began to wander across the dreams and thoughts and ponderings concerning the beautiful girl that he could not recall from his past. Her face flashed through his mind eye. And then gradually visions of her he had never seen before began to seep through. His brow furrowed as he watched them unfold before him.

The girl. Jeff's brow creased into deeper lines as images of her in a lift with himself appeared. And then she was in amongst a crowd. Then she was in front of a mirror, looking herself up and down as he stood by her. Suddenly the visions began to speed up. All he could see was the girl. Parking lot. Club. Hotel room. Injured. The visions continued in fast forward and at such a speed that Jeff could no longer register what each vision held. He wasn't aware that he was viewing his heart's memories. He had no idea that all of this had happened to him, to her also. And then words began to dart around inside his brain.

Dimension.

Witnessed.

Love.

Turquoise.

Card.

Realm.

He blacked out just before he saw her name.  

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*A/N* Oops, I meant to post this chapter yesterday. Oh well, I didn't want to; I had trouble writing it because I was unhappy with everything that came out. This has to be at least the fourth re-write. And I'm still not happy-go-lucky with it but it will do, lol.

Shadow: thanks for reviewing hun, you're the only one that does these days, lol. Yep, pink hair, that's you alright. *sings 1000 miles* I'll talk to you soon girl, I gotta jet *waves and runs off*