Chapter 6

Repressed Memories are Always Key

Regal watched the children begin to discuss their situation as soon as he gave them the riddle. This was going to be a lot of fun. He hoped the stress that was soon to come would be enough to get them out of his hair, but if it didn't he had another plan up his sleeve and it was sure to work. Let's just say that his last resort would be totally final. But lets not dwell on the future. As he gazed at the children his eyes fell on one. Terra. It was time to get the show on the road.

"Guys I hate to say this but I think that we have to play Regal's game. We're not going to get out of her otherwise." Mega said.

"I think we know that already Hub." Lan stated slightly irritated.

"I know you do Lan, but I was just trying to make sure that you actually made the danger that we're in part of your abstract reality." Mega shot back.

"Whoa" Terra and Whisper said at the same time remaking over Mega's statement. They hadn't experienced Mega losing his cool. This was a first. Lan looked pretty shocked too. He could only stare at his brother in disbelief. His eyes wide and his mouth open. Once he got over the shock he was ready to deal one back.

"Look guys, arguing not going to help us here." Chaud interjected once he noticed that Lan was fixing to shoot something back. As much as he would love witnessing the two brothers getting into a fight, now was not the time. "I know we're all under a lot of stress right now but the only way we're going to be able to get out of here is to solve Regal's riddle, and we need a plan to do that. So are you two with us or not?" he asked.

"I'm with you." Both boys stated simultaneously.

"How can we sure that Regal's actually going to let us go once we solve this?" Whisper asked. "It not like he's trustworthy."

"We can't but it's not like we have a choice," Proto stated, "we just have to do what he says and take things from there."

"I don't like this," Mega said.

"I don't think anyone dose." Lan added.

"Great so now that we're all equally depressed let's get to work on how we can actually solve this puzzle. But before we do anything we need to break this thing down, see exactly what we're dealing with here" Chaud said as he turned to Terra, "Terra you remember everything that Regal said don't you?" he asked.

"Me, why me?" she asked in reply, when it registered that Chaud had directed the question to her. Her mind had been elsewhere and she had been caught off guard. Not to mention she seem on edge. Something that Mega took note of.

"Well considering that the rest of us were pretty hot under the collar, you're probably the only one that remembers everything. Not to mention that you have that observant streak in you, we don't want anything to be left out."

Terra looked up at Chaud. Sometimes she really wished that she wasn't the person she was. At this moment she wanted to fade into the woodwork but someone wasn't allowing her to do that. "Well in a nut shell he said that three people died and they were brought back to life stronger than they had been previously. One man connected all three people to each other and there's a fourth person like the other three that no one knows. And once we find out who these people are we should be aware that their identities shouldn't divide us." Terra replied.

"Wait didn't he say something about where we could find the answers?" Whisper asked.

"Yeah he said that we could find the answers in ourselves, but for us to use the city scrolls. Whatever that means." Terra replied.

"They're records." Lan said suddenly, so suddenly that everyone jumped.

"What?" everyone asked in question to Lan's statement.

"They're records, you know how the ancient Egyptians recorded everything on scrolls of parchment paper, they had one of the finest libraries in their time." Everyone started to give Lan a sideways glance.

"He pays attention in class sometimes." Mega stated.

"Well that dose make sense, I can't think of anything else it might refer too. He probably wants us to check out City Hall" Proto said.

"Yeah, you're right," Chaud added. "Ok here's the plan, since it seems we're looking for some type of records we need to split into two groups. One group needs to check out City Hall and the other needs to track down our families personal files at our homes. Is everyone with me so far?"

"No need for a compass yet," Mega replied.

"Good," Chaud replied, "Ok, Terra, Mega, since you're probably the two most level headed people in this group right now I think you need to track down our families personal records. You two are really good at putting things together so you'll probably see things that the rest of us would overlook. And since Regal said we could find the answers within ourselves that'll be the best place to start. Not to mention that you have a knack for breaking and entering," Chaud stated looking at Terra. The rest us should check our City Hall since Regal specifically said we should look in the "city scrolls" We should probably meet back here in three hours to compare notes if we find anything. So everyone understands what's going on and knows what they need to do?" Chaud asked when he was finally finished.

"Sounds like a plan." Lan said getting up.

"Good, because it's the only one we've got." Chaud said as his group started to congregate around him and they started towards the city.

"And one we need to get to." Chaud and Proto thought. "The longer Regal had us trapped the longer he and his darkloids can have a field day."

I guess we should be going too." Mega said as he got up and turned to look at Terra. "Terra?" he asked trying to grab her attention. She looked like she was somewhere else. Something that had become all too common lately.

"Oh, yeah, we should get going," Terra replied when she came back quickly getting up trying to avoid Mega's concerned glance she was sure was there at all costs.

As Mega and Terra made their way down the now empty streets Terra began to slip in and out of her mind. The whole time and after Regal had given them the riddle his eyes wherever they had been had been on her. She knew what he meant; she knew what the riddle meant. And some how Regal knew that she knew. Terra was so preoccupied in the mental battle she was having in trying to decided whether she really knew what Regal meant of if it was just some freaky coincidence or if it was just her own imagination and guilt making her see things that weren't there that she had completely cut her senses off from the world. And had become physically spaced out again.

"Hey, Terra are you ok?" Terra heard Mega ask as she felt his hand on her shoulder. It was official Terra had literally become a walking Murphy's Law. Of all the people she could have been paired with she had to be set with the person who could see through anybody.

"Yeah why?" Terra asked.

"You just looked out of it again," Mega replied, "we made it to your house and you didn't even notice." He said as he pointed to the two story gray and wine-violet bricked house.

"So we have," Terra replied trying to seem as normal as possible knowing it wasn't doing a bit of good, Mega could see right through her. Terra took out her key and opened the door. Instead of feeling like she was in a safe haven as she usually did when she opened these doors all she felt was the cold presence of unconfronted truth.

"So now that we know that the scrolls are probably records you have any idea where your parents keep their skeletons?" Mega asked deciding not to press the impending matter of Terra's behavior. Whatever was bothering her she wasn't going so share it. The door was closed and it didn't look as if she was going to let him in.

"This way," Terra replied as she made a half smile at the joke and led the way to her dad's office instantly taking put a bobbing pin from her hair and unlocking the filing cabinet reveling her family history entirely on paper.

"Well we have to start somewhere might as well be here." Mega said as he randomly picked out a file and started to flip through its contents. After mentally pacing for a while Terra went and picked out a file, only unlike Mega it wasn't at random, she was looking for something. Maybe the file wouldn't be here, maybe she didn't know what Regal meant and Regal didn't know the truth about her and her family. Only time and two documents would tell. Terra's mind soon callused to the point where her mind was only sending and receiving simple commands: flip, turn, look, thumb, check again, her body following the simple commands until she met those two fated documents. Certificates to be exact. Her heart stopped as her fingers brushed the sides of the paper.

"Terra what's wrong?" Mega asked when he looked up and noticed that Terra's eyes had glazed over and her whole body seemed to be frozen and rigid as she looked at a few pieces of paper she held in her hands. Terra looked up with a haunted look in her eyes and didn't answer. Within seconds emotion could be seen fighting to be let out behind her glassy doll eyes and porcelain face. Suddenly Terra abruptly got up and bolted from the room leaving Mega at a total loss as to what had exactly just happened. "Terra what's wrong?" Mega asked as he decided to follow her only to have a door shut in his face. Mega stared at the door until her thought of something. "Terra are you ok?" he asked a second time when he passed through the door.

"Stupid mental controlled environment." Terra whispered to her self, loud enough for Mega to hear as he walked up behind her. "But I'm ok I guess."

"Then what was that back there?"

"Pent-up anxiety, this is just getting to be to much."

"What is?"

"Untold truth, unspoken lies, now Regal's riddle," Terra replied as she fingered the two certificates. "I know the answer to Regal's puzzle Mega."

"What, how?"

"I just do Hub, and Regal knows that I know. I don't know how he figured it out. My own father doesn't even know that I know. But I could feel his presence the whole time he was telling us that mind bender. It was like he was looking me in the eye when he said it. He's using me to be his catalyst.

"Are you saying that he wants you to start us down that road to destruction that he warned us about?" Mega asked as he started to wade through the sudden information Terra had just spit out.

"Yeah, he wants me to start a domino effect," Terra said looking at Mega for the first time, "you mean to tell me that you didn't understand the riddle? Three souls fell asleep in death only to arise stronger thereafter? That should have been self-explanatory for you."

"Well I thought about it, but I'm the only one who's had any type of resurrection, so I just pushed it off to be a dead end.

"Mega, that's what it means, it has to be. Regal wouldn't make it that hard to understand, he's not that type of guy. He's like the one in The Scarlet Letter, he likes to hide things in plain sight. Besides I kinda know you're not the only persons who's had a technological revival."

"How would you know…" Mega started to say when Terra took off her locket and handed it to him.

When Mega opened the locked he was faced with four pictures. One of Terra around age six and one of another girl who looked exactly like her in every way except for her Caribbean ocean blue eyes. Mega's heart stopped, but he still looked at the other pictures. The third was of Terra and the girl together and the last was of Terra's whole family the girl included. Mega looked up at Terra speechless. Her sudden change in behavior all made sense now.

Terra couldn't help but give a weak simile at Mega's expression. "It's hard to believe isn't it?" she asked, "you're not the only one who's a twin."

TBC