Swindle

Note: Whenever you see this "- - - - - -" in the chapter, then that means that the point-of-view has changed.

"I feel so dizzy and so sick. I have been exposed, haven't I?"

- Hmmm.... what is this? Who am I hearing? Oh, myself. I'm dreaming...again. Same dream as before. Over and over again. When will these nightmares end? -

"Ash will be able to help you, but-"

"I don't want to be made into a robot! Rion, Just leave me here and go!"

"Pat will come for us, don't give up on me now."

"Rion, I am Lilia. No one else. I am the Lilia that-"

- No, stop this. Wake up! I don't want to hear this anymore. Someone wake me up! -

"...loves you."

- Love... I shouldn't have said that. I'm such an idiot! -

"...Do you believe me, Rion?"

Silence.

"Rion?"

-What? This never happened in my dreams before...-

"Rion? Do you believe me?"

More silence.

- Where's Rion? I don't hear him. -

"Rion? Rion?!"

"No."

"What?-"

"Dr. Pascalle!"

"Unhhh..."

"DR. PASCALLE!"

"Ugh...what is it?" Rapid footsteps. "Oh, it must be Lasi. Hmm.... I'm too tired to get up. Get me later, Lasi..."

Lilia slowly closed her eyes and snuggled herself deeper into her blanket. That dream... it was different than my previous ones. Rion said 'no'. He didn't believe me? What could that mean?

The droning sound of footsteps seemed to go on and on and on, but it stopped somewhere along the way. Following the silence was the click! of the door opening. Lilia waited till the young female visitor entered the musty room before speaking.

"I can hear your voice quite loud and clear all the way across the building...heh. Ungh!" A trail of sudden coughs bombarded her throat soon afterwards, painfully burning her insides. It hurted.

"Doctor!"

Stay away from me. You might get sick as well. "No, Lasi. Don't worry. I'm fine." The sickly woman sat up, ignoring the unbearable pain that flamed through her body. Flame. Burn. Fire. Hell. Hahah, I'm living my own hell, Lilia sneered at herself inwardly, then immediately turned to look at the young teenager straight in the eyes. "Well, you must have something important to tell me, right?"

"Oh, right." Lasi said as she straightened her slouching figure. "It's Pat! He's found- he's found Rion!"

Swindle

Log Entry Two- Amnesia

Disclaimer: Read the disclaimer in chapter one.

"Okay. I've located his data!" Pat smiled and rubbed his palms against each other before savagely attacking the holographic keyboards with his fingers. "Now I just have to save part of his data onto a file for safety measures...done! ...Attach the terminal to the cryogenic machine... uh huh...done. Ok. Did this, did that, oh! One more thing... done! Now I'll just wait for Lasi and Dr. Lilia to come. Heh heh. It's nice to see you again, Rion."

- - - - -

"What?" Lilia's eyes bulged open and she immediately jumped off her bed. Bad idea. Pain jolted from her ankles up to her knees as soon as her bare feet impacted against the cold wooden floor. She yelped in pain and collapsed down onto the ground. Thud.

"Dr. Pascalle! Are you okay?" Lasi shrieked. "You shouldn't stand up! You're too weak for that!"

"Yeah, sorry." Lilia groaned as she fixed herself upon a kneel. "I'm so stupid. I keep on forgetting that I can't- er... use my legs anymore..." the last part of the sentence came out as a mumble. Damn myself and my weak figure.

"No, don't say that. You'll get your strength back... Er...um... oh, sorry. My bad. Let me go get your wheelchair!" Lasi hurriedly ran to a corner where a silver wheelchair was located. She pushed the wheelchair all the way back to Lilia and helped the older woman get onto the seat. "We must hurry to Pat! You must be very excited! I've never met Rion, but he sounds like a great guy- a hero- from what you and Pat have told me!"

"Hahah... what day is it today? Is it April Fool's Day? I hope you're not kidding me."

"No. I'm not kidding. He's really here."

- - - - -

Bright light.

What the hell is going on? Where am I this time? Gah, I'm so confused! Can someone explain to me what just happened? Someone? Ash?

Silence.

Oh yeah, I forgot. I'm all alone... This is bullshit! Wait- what's this? There's a hole in the center of this place. What is this place? Gah, forget about this place. What's that hole?

Warmth? Is that what I feel? Ah.... It's so intoxicating. It's coming from that thing. Ah... I must go closer. It feels good. No- it feels wonderful. Heaven. More. I must have more. Move closer.

Closer...closer... closer... ziiiiiiiiiiiiiiip!

- - - - -

"He's coming to! Quick, quick! Come here!" A static garbled voice spoke into Lasi's earpiece. "C'mon Lasi! Bring Lilia here before she misses his awakening!"

"Yeesh, I'm running as fast as I can!" Lasi hollered back into the miniature radio that hung from her ear to her mouth. "Pat, can't you slow the process down a bit?"

"No can do! If I slow it down, the task may be cancelled. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity, and I'm not taking the risk! Quick!"

"Well, it's kinda hard to push and run at the same time!"

"Just hurry up!" A loud click resounded from the earpiece and into Lasi's ear, indicating that Pat abruptly ended the transmission. Hmph! Why don't you try pushing this metal thing and running through a huge building, Lasi thought to herself, already slightly feeling quite pissed, then you'll know how it feels!

"Was that Pat?" Lilia asked.

"Yeah, he wants me to hurry up."

"You know I can move this wheelchair myself. You don't have to do this for me, really."

"Oh, stop that. I'm fine with helping you out. Besides, you'll wear out your energy if you strain yourself too much."

"We only have a little way to go. I can do it. It's a small distance. I won't get tired."

"Yes, you will get tired. Now let me push you."

"You are pushing me."

Click. "Hurry, Lasi!" Pat radioed once again.

"I'm hurrying!"

"Well, go faster!" He said.

"I am!"

"Faster, Lasi!" That's it! Lasi felt her bubble burst. She came to a stop and shouted.

"Will you shut up?!"

"Umm... Lasi?" Lilia muttered, looking up at the furious girl.

"Oh, shathead! I've stopped! We gotta keep running!"

"Lasi!" Lilia cried.

"Huh?"

"Don't worry, we're here."

"Oh." The young teenager was dumbstruck. Indeed they had stopped in front of the right place. She watched as Lilia swiftly opened the sliding doors with a press of a button.

Swoooosh!!! whispered the double doors as they gave way to the two women. Lasi immediately jogged her way to Pat's computer terminal, with Lilia on the wheelchair of course.

"Took you long enough." Pat greeted with a mutter, then smiled at Lilia. "Rise and shine! Today's the day!"

"I sure hope it is." Lilia spoke back with a soft voice, manually moving her transporter towards the still-closed cryogenic chamber.

"The computer screen shows that Rion's fingers already have begun to move. He should be awakening within a minute of two." Said Pat. Lilia's lips curved upwards into an even wider smile.

"That's good to hear." Then the chamber opened up with a low hiss. Clouds of frosty smoke puffed into the air as a smaller contraption jutted out. Within seconds the claw-like covers of the contraption separated, revealing an almost naked body. One and a half years ago when Rion was awakened to help defeat a war against the Last Galerian Ash, he had nothing covering his frozen body. This time there was a towel concealing his you-know-what. Lilia had figured that Lasi would be present at his awakening, so she planned ahead and added the cloth. Lilia wouldn't mind seeing a nude body, but she wasn't sure what reaction Pat and Lasi would have at the sight. Pat probably wouldn't mind either since he is a guy after all. He's seen everything already. But Lasi would probably shriek and look away or just stare on.

It's rude to stare.

Lasi still turned red. Despite the fact that the needed areas where covered, the young girl blushed at the site of bare skin. The towel was small. It was onlyabout twenty inches by eight inches. The cloth didn't cover much of the body, only the main essential area.

"What's wrong, Lasi?" Pat snickered. "Ashamed to see some skin?"

"I'm not ashamed!"

"Embarrassed? Flustered?"

"No!"

"Suuuuuuure. Whatever you say, tomato-head."

Thwack!

"Ow!"

- - - - -

Another bright light.

I... I can move... My fingers- they are moving! Hahah! He didn't know what or where his fingers were, he just knew that they were responding to his brain's commands. With the realization that he can partially move sections of his body, he ordered his hands to grasp something. Anything. What he grasped was something thin, slick, and slender. It was cold...lifeless. What's this? He tugged on the object. A dull pain jabbed his hip. He yelped, but he heard no sound. All he heard was a deafening silence. Tiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing, the silence rang. He wanted to panic, but then figured out that his mouth wasn't responding to anything either.

"Don't pull on that." Said a voice. It sounded...familiar. As familiar as the name "Ash". Where had he heard that tone before? A dream maybe?

He opened his eyes. Everything was blurry at first. He saw shades of gray, brown, and orange. He blinked once. Still the same. He blinked twice. Still the same. His site finally returned on his third set of blinks. What he first saw was a beautiful woman gazing down upon him. Her chin-length hair was different colors of brown. Her smiling lips were full, and her eyes were brilliant light brown. He knew he saw her before, but where did he see her? Who was she?

"Welcome back, Rion." She spoke. Her voice was smooth, yet unworldly. It was as if he was hearing her from another room. The woman's voice was there, but it didn't sound real.

Rion? Is that my name? Yes, it must be.

He looked closely at the woman's eyes. Empty. Void of anything. They are supposed to be filled with hope, he thought. How'd I know that? Flashback? A memory? He looked deeper. Nothing. Fake.

Then, in a blink of an eye, the woman was gone. Vanished. In her place was another woman. Rion observed her carefully. She had similar features as the previous woman. Same hair. Same smiling lips. Same eyes. The only difference was that she wasn't beautiful, but she wasn't ugly either. She was...average. Okay. So-so. Not pretty, not hideous. She also seemed shorter than the beautiful woman.

His eyes trailed to another woman- er... young lady. Her oval face was red as a tomato, and her black hair was stiff on the ends. Why was she red? Why was she frigid?

Right next to the teenage girl was another teenager. This time, this person was a boy. Like the older woman, this boy also had brown eyes and brown hair. But his hair wasn't pure straight. There were parts when they went curly. Plus he had shoots of blonde hair appearing every now and then. He, too, was vaguely familiar.

"I suggest that you let go of the tube." Said the boy. Tube? What tube? Rion shifted his rigid head and saw that the cold object that he had grasped earlier was a snake-like hose filled with clear chemicals. Oh. He released it, but the process of letting go was slower than he had expected. His body still wasn't fully following his commands.

"Okay. This is going to hurt a bit." The older woman said. Why did that phrase sound so familiar? He watched as the younger boy punch some buttons on a terminal and-

"Gaah!" Rion cried out (hey, his mouth moved). His body jolted up as the snakes recoiled from him. He felt his senses sharpen and his muscles loosen.

"That must have hurt." One of them whispered, but Rion didn't care who said it. His main focus was on his hands. He tested out his body by wriggling his toes first, then wriggling his fingers.

'Good. I can move them'

"Good, I can move them."

'That's a relief.'

"You hear that, Dr. Pascalle? He talked! AND he can move!" the young girl jumped joyfully into the air.

Dr. Pascalle? Which one of them is Pascalle? Doctor... doctor... Aha, the one controlling the computer must be the doctor. He looks too young to be a doctor though. Oh well, what would I know?

"Lilia, we've done it!" Said the boy, whom Rion figured must have been Dr. Pascalle. Now he had to figure out which one of the girls was Lilia.

The older woman smiled again, and tears filled her eyes. Why was she crying?

"Rion..."

The man stared blankly at her. The smile on her face turned upside down and her eyebrow tips curved upwards into a worried crease.

"Rion, it's me. Can't you recognize me?" she choked on her own saliva.

Who? Rion studied her face. "I'm- I'm sorry, lady. I don't know you."

TBC...

A/N: Okay, I got lazy. That's not much of a chappie ending, but it'll do. Sorry if there are many errors. It's late in the night and I didn't proofread. If you see any errors, then please inform me immediately.

Oh yeah, remember I promised for a longer chapter? Well, here it is! And it'll get longer and longer!