Author's Notes- 8/21/04- Chapter 10, Wooo Hoooo! I'm listening to rap, talking to a friend of mine who is having relation issues, and watching some junk on cartoon network, its 1:30AM, and I think that doing all of the things at the same time has a negative effect on me. Once again, I'd like to say that I'm really surprised that so many people like my Fan Fiction, my friends never gave me as much support as a bunch of total strangers, thanks all! And thanks to my oblivious friend who didn't know I used the name of his band for the new chapter. If he ever reads this, I'll eat the floppy disk I saved it on.

Chapter 10

Faded Memories

As Will awoke, the first thing that he was aware of was the lack of the sapped strength that comes from lack of sleep. The second thing he was aware of, was a splitting headache, piercing through his temple. His vision fuzzed out each time blood traveled to his brain in a throb. A bright light came into and out of his vision with each throb.

Something damp and cool was being pressed against his forehead and he feebly raised an arm in protest, expecting it to be the source of his pain.

"Will?" A voice laden with concern came down to him, and it hurt to hear. Will dimly remembered who the voice belonged to, but couldn't quite put his finger on it. He tried to recall where he was, what he had been doing, but everything was a blank.

"Will, wake up!"

Will groaned, and he heard a sigh of relief.

Who was that?

His vision throbbed in, and he saw a middle-aged women's face looking down at him with concern.

He sat up, and was rewarded with an even more intense pain.

"Will, are you ok?" It was the women who was talking to him, and held a damp rag, still dripping in her right hand. His vision seemed to be clearing now, and faded less rapidly. He observed his surroundings, he was in a vaguely-familiar, lightly-furnished house, lying against a wall propped up with a variety of pillows.

Memories began flashing into his mind:

A door slamming open.

Something about a knife... maybe being stabbed... he wasn't bleeding...

His heart leaped but he didn't know why, he saw a girl in his mind's eye, tawny hair, like a lion's mane, golden brown, and what looked like a weasel-like creature wrapped around her neck. He almost felt ashamed for not remembering her name, but why should he? Did he know her?

And his memories were gone, that seemed all he could remember.

"Will...?"

"Who... are you?"

"Will! It's me, Mary!" Even now that the face had a name, he couldn't remember any Mary's..."

Will just sat there looking into her eyes, trying to remember who this woman might be.

"Uh-oh, Liz, I think he might have amnesia!"

"Damn, maybe it will wear off..."

Another woman came up to the first, red hair fell down to her shoulders and then curled slightly up. She was pretty, and possibly the same age as this 'Mary'.

"Will, you got knocked out by a suddenly slamming open door, you have amnesia and it seems you can't remember much of anything, you've been asleep for almost an entire day."

"Who is she?"

"This is Elizabeth, a close friend of mine."

Will shook his head, "No, the girl."

"What girl?"

"She was my age... I think... I remember her, but I don't know why..."

Mary took a few steps back and pulled lightly on Elizabeth's shoulder. They held a whispered conversation which Will couldn't hear.

"Who is he talking about, Mary?"

"Lyra! This must be serious, he can't even remember her... its sad..." Mary looked over her shoulder at Will, who was staring wide-eyed and open mouthed at his two missing fingers.

"What should we do, that Shawn creep and his freak buddy will want Will to tell them where to get the knife repaired.

"His 'freak buddy' was an angel, Liz. Angels can traverse the worlds without use of the knife, they could actually get the knife repaired, and who knows what they'd make Will do with it!"

Mary turned back to Will, who was now inspecting the knife's sheath. "The girl's name is Lyra, Will."

Who was she...? Will knew that he knew the girl, but he couldn't remember her.

"Who was she?"

"She and you..." Liz whispered something into her ear, and Mary nodded and whispered back, not too softly, however, "Yeh, no need to upset him..."

She turned back to Will, "She was a relation of yours, a cousin, I believe, I don't know why you would remember her."

"Oh." Will was still confused, 'No need to upset him...', 'a relation of yours, a cousin...' it didn't explain the way his heart leaped. Something was missing, he had a feeling they were lying to him. "And can you explain why I'm here?"

"Well, someone wants you to use an object of great power to serve his own needs, a knife."

"Oh, I remember a knife!"

"What do you remember about it?"

"Nothing, just the knife."

"Well, the knife can open windows between worlds, this may seem confusing to you, but you need to know this, this man that has captured us seems to need the knife for something, but we don't know what, you'll need to use it for him though, or we may die, do you remember how to use it?"

Actually Will did, now that she mentioned it, he remembered how to enter the state of mind that was required for the cut, he remembered that the knife had cost him the two fingers, but couldn't remember why.

There were heavy foot steps on the stairs, and Will turned his head to see a man walking down the stairs, heavily built, and with many cuts covering his arms and legs. He seemed to be talking to himself...

"Yeh, I need it done quickly."

"Indeed, I will certainly try." Who was that? And Will saw it, the air shimmered for a brief second behind the big man. What the...?

"An angel..." Mary muttered to herself.

Angels... another memory flared into Will's mind, dark, winged figures flying, silhouetted against the full moon, that 'Lyra' girl was standing beside him, staring up as well.

The large man came up to Will, the angel had to be somewhere near, but in the morning light Will couldn't discern its shape. "You got a lot of nerve, boy. You're just lucky that I need you alive." His voice was full of spite. What was happening...? "How can I get the knife repaired, and no lying, now." The man poked Will hard in the chest.

Mary came to his aid, and stepped between the large man and Will, "He has amnesia from the fall, and he can't remember a thing, but... I know where the knife can be repaired."

"Then speak up, 'fore I lose my patience."

"Well, there's bears in another world that can-"

"Yes, I know, they can talk, give me the name."

"Iorek Byrnison."

"Hmm... convenient..." the voice came from the right side of the large man, and Will realized that it must've been the angel.

"Give me the shards, boy."

Will knew that the sheath held the knife shards, so picking it up, he gently tossed it a few feet into the hands of the large man.

"Xaxiern," he handed the knife to what looked like thin air, but something held it in place in the air. "Ask around, find this bear, tell him... that Will Parry's life is in danger, and that if it does not cooperate the boy's life will be forfeit."

"I will fly nonstop, it will not be long."

The door opened, and a shimmer of light was the only evidence that the angel had left. Shawn cautiously looked out the door, to the left and right, before shutting it again. "Do you know why I want the knife, boy?"

"No..."

"Good." The man walked down the hall and into the kitchen.

"Hmm..." Mary left Elizabeth and Will, and tip-toed up the stairs, making a right at the top of the stairs into Will's room.

A cat was padding softly over to where Will was seated, and paused several feet off. Will and it exchanged confused stares, and both shared the same amnesia. However Will could feel it's presence in his own mind.

The cat came up to Will, and leapt a short distance to sit in his lap. "Kir...java?" Several memories of himself and the cat came to mind, it was a creature called a daemon, part of him, that weasel-like thing was in one of the memories too, it must also be a daemon.

Will pet it gently, and Mary came back down to meet them, with a cardboard box under one arm. Kneeling down in front of him, she opened the box towards herself, so that only she could see the contents that it contained, she took out a hollow piece of what looked like bamboo, with a yellow circular glass-like piece in each end.

"Will, do you remember this?"

It seemed familiar, but he couldn't remember anything about it, so he shook his head.

"What about this?" She took out a glass jar filled with a yellowish oily looking liquid.

"No." Will shook his head.

"What about..." She reached into the box, was about to take something out, but put it down, and reached for something in one of the corners. "...this?"

She took out a small, red fruit, and Will was about to shake his head, when he was hit, almost like physical pain, with memories, from everywhere... men that were robbing his house... an opening in the air... a deserted city... a girl, it was Lyra. She was no cousin...! More and more came to him, he almost had a complete picture... a grove, and Lyra was there... they were looking for someone... Will felt almost nervous... She held a red fruit to his lips... And the next thing he knew they were kissing...

"Yes, I remember... but why did you tell me she was my..." Another memory hit him, he was in his own world, Lyra was looking at him sadly from the other side of a window in the air, he was closing it! He bent in for one last kiss, and she was lost forever... "Oh... thanks for not telling me before... It was almost enjoyable to be away from the pain."

Mary nodded, "We didn't want you to freak out."

"I wonder why Shawn wants the knife..."

"I don't know, I don't think he'd be prepared to tell us, maybe we could ask the angel when he gets back."

"He?"

"Yeh, he was obviously male, so I guess we just wait..."

Will nodded.