Chapter 27

Unsung Senpai- That is honestly a good question. One that will probably show the horrible consequences of everything so far. Yes.

R reyes- That Harry Potter story is up now. There are also several League of Legends fics if you're interested in my account.

Also, yeah. The lie she told was pretty bad. Not going to lie.

Yes, they will.

Warmachine375- Yeah, probably.

Robo Reader 21- Well, I was assuming technological disparity was taken into account here along with Chief using more battery per shot than normal. So, I guess that solves it?

White Base Bridge

Lilith

"So, this magic of yours can cure Amuro?" Asked Bright as he looked at Lilith, who just pinched her nose in frustration. Upon arriving at the bridge, Lilith told Bright her possible solution to Amuro's problem. Only to end up being frustrated at Brights and Mirai's inability to understand the way the magic she was referring to works and its consequences if it went awry.

"For the third time, it's not that simple." Said Lilith as she looked at Bright and Mirai. In the meantime, Master Chief was behind her, watching her back. "The magic I'm referring to is not only illegal to use for my people in the way I'm proposing, but also may have serious repercussions on Amuro himself. And I'm not referring to just his memory. I'm also referring to how he'll act as a person. How he'll remember us. His family. His very being. Not to mention the people we send to his mind. It's a very dangerous set of magic."

"Perhaps we should start over." Said Mirai as she felt a headache coming up in her head. She knew magic was going to be complicated and probably not make sense, but she didn't think it would occur this soon. "What exactly are we talking about? What kind of magic are you referring to and what makes it so dangerous to Amuro?" Lilith just sighed before explaining yet again her plan.

"There are several spells I know that we can use to transport people into Amuro's mind. We can have those people find the memory that's causing Amuro his problems, have them destroy it, and the problem solved it. His memories of those events will be erased from his mind and, so long as no one makes him retell those events again or restore them through magical means, he'll go back to the boy we all know and love." Explained Lilith, hoping that this time everyone understood her plan. If she had to explain it again, she'll literally rip chunks of her own hair out.

"I see." Said Bright, now finally understanding what her plan was. He still didn't understand how the hell she could do that, but that didn't matter in the slightest in the plan. If she can fix Amuro, then that was all they needed. "And you said there would be consequences if we do this incorrectly. Right?"

"Yes." Said Lilith grimly. "As you may have guessed, tempering one's memory can lead to serious repercussions. Even the smallest of alterations to a person's memory can lead them to become a different person entirely. Amuro could literally end up becoming a different person entirely from our tampering. I've read and witnessed people becoming radically different after slightly tampering with their memory. It's why using this type of magic for something like this is illegal. All it takes is to erase one memory and you can completely change a person's character entirely." Both Mirai and Bright were stunned to hear this. Master Chief, upon hearing that, went into thought.

With that information in hand, a part of Chief was second-guessing using this magic to cure Amuro. The possibility of him becoming an entirely different person was alarming to say the least. Especially when they're trying to help him with his PTSD. Thinking about their situation and their lack of a trained psychologist in the crew, Chief could see the usage of magic to cure Amuro of his PTSD to still be appealing despite the risks involved. And judging by Bright's face, he was conflicted. Seeing the conflict in Bright, Chief was about to voice his opinion on the matter when Mirai spoke up.

"Bright, are you actually considering using this…this magic to cure Amuro?" Asked Mirai, her voice not exactly scolding but it was clear that she was against using magic to cure Amuro after she heard what could happen if they mess up.

"If we were in any other situation, Mirai, I would be against doing this." Said Bright as he finally decided on what to do. "However, we're in desperate need of the Gundam to help fight our battles and Amuro is our best pilot for it. We're cut off from Federation support and we have the Blue Giant himself coming for us. We need Amuro piloting the Gundam and we need him now. I know that it's extremely dangerous to do it, but we have no choice." He then turned to Lilith. "You have my consent to do this. But you have to ensure me that you'll do whatever you can to minimize the risk to Amuro. Is that understood?" Upon hearing that, Lilith nodded.

"I will." Said Lilith as she held her staff tightly. She was a bit reluctant on doing this, but if Bright wanted it then he'll get it. "I'll need a volunteer for it. I myself can't enter his mind. I need to be outside if we want to pull out those that entered Amuro's mind safely."

"I'll do it." Said Master Chief upon hearing that. "I'll do this quickly so we can get this over with. Plus if we run into trouble, I'm the most trained to deal with them."

"Alright, I also recommend someone that knew Amuro a great deal." Said Lilith as she clutched her chin. "Just so that Amuro's memory guardian doesn't go and kill you for invading Amuro's mind and tampering with his memories."

"What?" Asked Mirai upon hearing that confusion. "What guardian?"

"Well, everyone has a guardian that guards their memories." Said Lilith before going on a lecture about memory guardians. "As the name suggests, they guard our memories and emotions in order to ensure that they aren't tampered with or altered by foreign entities. There are a handful of theories on what they are and how they came to be. The most popular is that…"

"Lilith." Said Master Chief before the witch could go any further. "Focus on Amuro." Upon hearing that, Lilith apologized for going off-topic and went on to ask if they had any childhood friends of Amuro onboard the ship, saying that the closer they are the better so as to ensure that both the Inner Amuro, another term of memory guardians, if a bit cruder, would harm those they send to cure Amuro and help ensure they don't permanently alter Amuro's very being with their memory tampering.

"We do have one person that fits the description." Said Bright as he thought of Amuro's closest friend on the ship.

Later

Amuro's room

"And this will cure Amuro?" Asked Fraw Bow as she looked at the assembled adults in Amuro's room, all looking at Amuro hiding under his sheets, shivering. "I know this is magic and all but are you sure that won't change him or anything? Like at all? Is this really as simple as you claim it to be?"

"Yes. However, just because it's simple doesn't mean you can just go wandering around your friend's head and think it won't lead to anything problematic." Said Lilith as she looked at Fraw Bow while Master Chief was checking his weapons to ensure that they were ready for what they were about to do. At the same time, Bright was looking at Amuro in pity. Prior to seeing Amuro's state, Bright still held some reservations about using magic to cure Amuro. Now, however, upon seeing what Amuro looked like now, Bright now saw that this was their only option. Looking at those that they've chosen or have volunteered to be those that would be sent into Amuro's head.

According to Lilith, they could only safely bring two people into Amuro's mind. Anymore would run the risk of damaging or altering his memory even further. It also had the risk of actually imploding Amuro's mind with the number of consciousness present and other complications that Lilith would have gone on if Chief didn't stop her. They already had the picture. They didn't need any more information.

Sighing as he watched Chief finish preparing, Bright looked at Lilith as she materialized a golden bell and handed it to Fraw bow. She soon materialized another and handed it to Master Chief.

"Once you're finished with tending to Amuro's memory, ring either one of those and I'll bring you both back from Amuro's mind." Said Lilith as she gave Master Chief his bell. "And, just to be clear, Amuro's inner guardian can help you with removing the problematic memory that's causing Amuro to be what he is now, but it can try to stop you. If that occurs then it's up to you to try and get it on your side. And I recommend doing it quickly, these inner guardians can take the shape of anything they desire and that may or may not be something you want to face."

"But I'm a friend of Amuro." Said Fraw Bow upon hearing that. "Wouldn't this guardian see me as a friend of Amuro and not attack?"

"Not with what Amuro has been through." Said Lilith as she looked at the boy worryingly. Deciding to be merciful, she cast a potent sleep spell on the boy so that he doesn't have to deal with whatever ails him right now. The spell worked and Amuro fell down on his bed with a thud, snoring loudly. After removing the sheets and seeing Amuro sleeping peacefully, Lilith continued. "Typically the guardian of one's mind and memories is reasonable and allows anyone that intrudes in one's mind to explain their actions before confronting them. Unless, of course, it's someone the person that's doing the intruding is someone that's considered an enemy or hated by the one that they're intruding on. I don't know Amuro much, but from what I know of him, it's likely his guardian would be one of those reasonable ones. But with what he's endured on that island, it's in the realm of possibility that it won't be reasonable at all. Whatever affects Amuro will also affect the personality of his guardian. It may consider anything that intrudes on his mind hostile, regardless of past relations, due to how damaged Amuro's mind is."

"Man this sounds complicated." Said Kai as he held his head as a headache began to form in his mind. The boy had come to Amuro's room with the adults when he spotted them going there. Curiosity got the better of him and he regretted that it did. "Just send those two into Amuro's mind and get him cured without explaining all this magic nonsense. Then after that can you use some of that magic stuff to cure my headache? You don't want one of the other pilots to be incapacitated right?" Lilith gave a glare of annoyance at Kai before sighing.

"Very well." Said Lilith before telling Chief and Fraw Bow some last-minute things. "The memories are typically stored in some form of container. It depends on the individual on what they look like. So you may need to do some digging first before finding the memory you're looking for. Also, you may start at the beginning of Amuro's memories, so you may be there longer than you would like. Hence why you probably want to have the guardian's help in finding what you're looking for. Provided that you can prevent it from killing you and it's in a good mood, of course." Fraw Bow looked worried at all that, but Chief kept it all stored in his mind. Before Lilith could begin the spell, Chief spoke to Bright.

"Bright, make sure to avoid any confrontations with any Zeon forces." Said Master Chief as he spoke to the captain of the White Base. "Only engage if you have no choice. We may be in there longer than we originally thought."

"Understood." Said Bright as he looked at Chief holstering his assault rifle on his back, magnetically attaching to the back of the Spartan's armor.

"Also, keep a very close eye on that prisoner. He may have more things hidden in his person than what I found." Said Master Chief. He was referring to the Zeon pilot that they captured in the last battle. An Ensign called Cozun Graham. Because of some shoddy searching by Bright's crew that can be forgiven due to their inexperience in such things, Chief did his own search. A good thing he did because he found an electric wire on the Zeon pilot's person along with a fake tooth implant that was filled with small explosives. Combined, the two can create a powerful enough explosion that can break the lock in his cell according to Joy, leading to a serious situation that Chief couldn't help deal with if he was stuck in Amuro's mind. Lilith couldn't help because she was forced to be around in Amuro's room in case she needed to pull both Chief and Fraw Bow out of Amuro's mind quickly. Fernando was trained in basic military techniques and gun handling prior to the battle for Zeta Halo, but he was just one man. Chief didn't want just him and a group of teens fighting a trained Zeon pilot and experience if his age and the way he hid his equipment was anything to go by. The man may have been a pilot, but even a pilot was trained in fighting infantry. He didn't know Zeon's training methods, but he wasn't taking any chances.

"Understood." Said Bright. "I'll try to keep two guards on him at all times, but we may need to leave him unguarded if we're under attack by the Zeons. So please, try to get this done quickly."

"Understood." Said Master Chief before looking at Lilith. "Do it." Lilith nodded at that before casting a magic circle around Fraw Bow and Chief. To everyone's surprise, the circle sent up a pillar of light around the two and turned them into small particles that floated in the air. Lilith then sent the particles forward to Amuro's head, where they went through one of his ears.

"There." Said Lilith as she looked at her work. "Now I just need to wait for them to ring the bell and we'll be golden. I hope." She then turned to Mirai, Bright, and Kai. Pursing her lips, Lilith tried to start a conversation. "So…anyone wishes to understand how magic is performed?"

Meanwhile

Chief

The Spartan known as Master Chief just stayed silent as he and Fraw Bow materialized into Amuro's mind, landing softly on a grassy hill. Looking around, Chief was a bit taken aback by how peaceful and calm everything was. It certainly wasn't something that he expected.

Clear blue skies. Fields of bright green grass around him and a clear lake in front of him and Fraw Bow. Definitely, now something that he expected to see with how Amuro was acting prior to Lilith knocking him out.

"Wow." Said Fraw Bow as she looked in awe at all this. "I never thought I would see something like this in Amuro's mind. It's so beautiful."

"It's so true." Said Joy as she spoke to Chief in a curious, yet excited tone as she saw everything. "I expected a war-ravaged environment or something similar to the cave we fought those Banished, but no. Could this be the standard environment of a person's mind? Or is this the result of Lilith putting Amuro to sleep, thus giving us this? Oh, magic is so fascinating. Even more, than I thought. Oh, I just have to speak to her later after all this is over. I can just imagine the conversations we'll have." Though Joy was excited at all this, Chief focused on their mission.

"Stay focused." Said Chief to both Fraw Bow and Joy. He then pointed to a nearby forest just over the horizon. "Lilith said the memories would be contained in some sort of container. Since, there isn't anything in our immediate vicinity that can be considered a container, let's investigate there first."

"But what about the lake?" Asked Fraw Bow as she pointed to the lake in front of them. It was a fair distance away, but perfectly walkable. "Maybe the memories are there? I mean, it's not a container, but it's worth investigating right?"

"Possibly." Said Master Chief as he looked at the lake, considering the possibility of it housing the memory that they were looking for. Joy also voiced her support of the idea of investigating the lake, saying it's worth a shot and it's possible the lake is a storage device for the memories and that it can be used as a way to view them clearly. It sounded ridiculous but considering there's magic involved in what they're doing and they're in someone's mind, it's worth some investigation. Seeing no point in not doing it, Chief ordered Fraw Bow to stay close behind him and follow. As the two walked towards the lake, Chief wondered how long this will take and what form Amuro's guardian will take when they encounter it. Lilith said it can take any form that it desired and if it took the form of the Gundam or any Mobile Suit Amuro faced, then they were in trouble. Real big trouble.