Steven watched Connie throughout her childhood. It seemed to be filled with nothing but school work and pressure from her parents. She looked utterly miserable. Now her parents weren't abusive, they loved her very much and treated her well but they never let her have friends or do anything fun and they didn't seem to notice how unhappy their daughter was. Then he saw the memory that peeked his interest the most. It was after he witnessed the memory of her helping Solomon slay a vampire and he offered her a chance to join his organization. She had just told her parents what had happened and they looked mortified.

"You want to do WHAT?!" Her mother cried horrified.

"He said I had real potential and with proper training I might become one of the best slayers ever." Connie said excitedly.

"Connie are you crazy? Do you have any idea how dangerous that is?!"

"They're going to train me."

"I don't care! I don't want you to become that! You could be killed!"

"Your mother's right." Her father agreed. "You're much too young and besides vampires don't even exist."

"Yes they do! I fought one tonight! Here look!" She opened her bag and showed them a bloody wooden stake.

"Oh my God!" Her parents cried out in terror.

"Where did you get that?" Her father asked.

"Solomon gave it to me and I killed a vampire with it."

"You killed someone?!"

"He was a vampire."

"This is insanity!" Her mother said. "I don't know where this madness is coming from but I'm calling the police and having that man arrested for murder."

"Mother you can't! He was protecting a family! That's what he does! He protects people! Someday I'm gonna be just like him!"

"You will not!"

"Yes I will!"

"I forbid it!"

"Mother you can't keep controlling my life like this! It's my life not yours!"

"You are my daughter and as long as you live under my roof I will decide what is best for you!"

"Then maybe I shouldn't be your daughter anymore"

"Connie!"

"Maybe I shouldn't live here anymore! All you do is make me do school work and you never let me have friends or do anything I want to do!"

"I do that so that you can have a chance in this world!"

"No you do it because you want me to be like you! You want me to do everything you did and live my life like you live yours! You just want me to be you! Well guess want I'm not you Mother! And I will never be you!"

"How dare you speak to me that way! I am your mother and you are a child! You have no right to speak to me that way!"

"Well you have no right to keep me locked up and away from everyone!"

"I don't know where this disrespectful attitude is coming from! But your father and I won't stand for it! If you don't start be having we may have to send you to a boarding school!"

"You're sending me away?!"

"If this school you've been going to is where you've picked up this behavior then I believe a stricter one is in order!"

"Piriyanka I don't think that's needed." Connie's father spoke up.

"Doug I'm only thinking of what's in the best interest of our daughter."

"And that's sending me away?!" Connie cried more angry than before. "Treating me like I'm a copy of you instead of your own daughter! I'm acting like this because I'm sick of how my life is! I'm sick of you ruining my life!"

"Connie we are not ruining your life." Doug said.

"Yes you are! I mean you told Uncle Eaton to stay away from me because of poison ivy! How stupid is that?!"

"Stop Connie!"

"That's it first thing tomorrow I'm looking for a boarding school to send you to." Piriyanka cried.

"I hate you!" Connie screamed before running upstairs to her bedroom.

She slammed the door and locked it. Steven in his bat form flew up and peered through the window of her bedroom, he watched as she began packing a suitcase full of clothes, shoes, books, some glasses cleaner, and a little bag filled with all the money she had saved. She then began making a rope out of her bed sheets and tied one end to her bed post tightly. Once that was done she opened the window to her bedroom causing Steven to fly up higher and watch her from the roof. She threw down her suitcase followed by the rope she made and she climbed down.

He followed her into town and watched her call Solomon on the pay phone. She told him that she would like to come train with him and that her parents were okay with it. He then pulled up in a vehicle and he took her to the organization. Steven was about to follow her when he noticed that he had dropped one of his gloves by her house when he transformed. When he flew back to retrieve it he saw Connie's parents talking.

"We were too hard on her weren't we?" Piriyanka said.

"Yes." Doug sighed.

"I didn't mean to get so upset with her Doug it's just she has this great potential and I don't want her to squander it or endanger herself by doing something stupid and dangerous."

"I don't want her to do that either but I think we went about it the wrong way."

"You're right we should go talk to her."

"Agreed."

"But we need to be calm."

"Yes definitely."

They went upstairs to her bedroom.

"Connie?" Piriyanka said gently knocking on the door. "Connie are you awake?"

No answer.

"Connie please let us in we really need to talk."

Still nothing.

"Connie we're not going to send you to a boarding school. I only said that because I was mad. The truth is your father and I are just so worried about you. We don't do these things to be mean we do them because you have something special and we don't want you to waste it."

"We love you sweet heart and we really do want you to be happy." Doug said. "We just want you do succeed in this world."

When she still didn't answer they went into her bedroom and they found her bed empty, her clothes and books missing, and the sheet rope leading out an open window.

"Connie!" They cried in horror as they looked out the window.

Steven watched as Piriyanka started screaming and crying while Doug in a fit of worry and fear called the police. They begged and pleaded for them to find their daughter and not to rest until she was found. Steven had never seen a couple so upset and worried for their child. Did Connie no how heartbroken they were when she left? If she didn't then he needed to tell her. He needed to convince her to go back to her parents and make up with them. She needed to realize how much her parents loved and missed her.

Before he realized it the memory changed to Connie settling into her new room in the organization. Once she was asleep Steven carefully picked her up and carried her back to the exit. On his way there he ran into Manny, Dipper, and Frida.

"There you are." Dipper said. "I see you got Connie, is she okay?"

"She's fine." Steven said.

"You didn't change any events in her past did you?"

"No."

"Good now let's get out of here."

Once they were out of Connie's memories she reverted back to her original age and she started to come to.

"Huh what happened?" She asked once she was awake.

"Long story short you went into your memories for awhile." Dipper explained.

"Really? I feel like I've been asleep all this time."

"I felt the same way. It's weird how this place does that to you." Frida said. "So where to now?"

"My memories." Manny said.

They continued walking until they reached a door with his name on it.

"Somebody should go with you so you don't get stuck in a memory." Dipper told him.

"I'll do it." Frida said.

"Okay the two of you need to hold hands and not let go no matter what."

"What?" Manny said.

"Okay." Frida said quickly grasping his hand making him blush.

"Uh...Are you sure we have to do this? I mean someone coming with me I get but...Do we really need to hold hands?"

"Yes, Frida is not a part of your past memories at least not the ones where your parents are still living so if you hold on to her then there's no way you can get caught in the memory."

"O...Okay."

He opened the door and the two entered the dark room. Once inside Manny began to remember the last time he saw his father. As he thought back the darkness began to let up the two found themselves standing a few feet from a school house.

"Where are we?" Frida asked.

"I think you mean when are we and I think we're at my old school."

"Hey devil child!"

The two hid and watched as Manny at age twelve stood face to face with a group of children.

"Why don't you go back to hell!" A boy said throwing a rock at Manny's face which gave him a black eye.

"I'm not a devil child Sergio!" Manny's younger self said.

"Yeah you are! My father says that you're the spawn of hell and that your mother is a demon's whore!"

"You shut up about my mother!" Manny said throwing a rock at the boy called Sergio. It hit him right in the face and gave him a nose bleed.

"You're dead devil boy!" Sergio lunged for him, Manny dodged his punches and punched him in the face before running off. "Get him!"

The other children began chasing after him throwing rocks and stones at him.

"Oh no! No! Not this again!" The older Manny said.

"What? What is it?" Frida said.

"I forgot this happened on the same day my father left."

"What happened?"

"You'll see."

They followed the children without being seen and watched as the cornered Manny's younger self and continued throwing rocks and stones while laughing cruelly.

"Stop! Please stop!" The boy cried fearfully.

Sergio threw one stone at him and it was a blood stone. When it Manny's arm he let out a scream in agony as it burned his skin. Some of the other children stopped and began to back away from him when they heard him scream. But Sergio still kept throwing them.

"Stop! Leave me alone! Get away! Get away! GET AWAY!" His eyes flashed green and green fire came from his hands and around his body. The flames were shot and it hit the side of Sergio's face burning it. The other children ran away screaming in terror desperate to get away from the fire. It wasn't until he saw Sergio's burning face that Manny calmed down and realized what was happening.

"Did...Did I do that?"

Just then a man who to Frida he looked an awful like her old school master Chakal, probably an ancestor of his ran out of the school house carrying a bucket of water which he tossed on Sergio's face and the fire. When the flames were gone the man looked at Manny like he was a monster.

The atmosphere around them then changed to Manny running home as fast as his legs could carry him. Behind him the schoolmaster was chasing him with a belt. The scared boy didn't stop running until he bumped into his father.

"What's going on here?" He asked his son sternly.

"Nothing." He squeaked innocently.

"Mr. Rivera!" The man shouted angrily. "You're son's behavior is out of control!"

"Alright what did he do now?"

"Mr. Rivera you're son has always been an out of control student. He never pays attention in class, he's always interrupting my lessons, he starts fights, and he's always pulling these ridiculous pranks on me! But today he did something so horrible that I can no longer keep him in my school." The school master said.

"I didn't do it!"

"Manny hush." Rodolfo said. "What did he do?"

"He started a fire in the school yard today and burned one of my best students Sergio across the face."

"No I didn't! Papa I swear I didn't!"

"Please excuse us for a moment Mr. Chakal."

His father took Manny inside the manner and pulled him aside to talk to him. The older Manny and Frida sneaked over to the window and listened to the conversation.

"Manny what happened today?" Rodolfo asked.

"I didn't do it! I didn't start the fire!"

"Just tell me what happened."

They called me a devil child and they started throwing rocks and stuff at me. One rock burned me real bad so I told them to stop but Sergio wouldn't so I...I...I just got real made and then...Fire! Fire everywhere! But I didn't do it!"

"Was this fire green?"

"Yes."

"Oh God." Rodolfo backed away in horror.

"I told him it wasn't me but he didn't believe me! So he beat me!"

"He what?"

Manny lifted up his shirt and showed him the burning red marks on his back which had been left by a belt.

"I didn't do it Papa! I didn't!"

"I know you didn't son. Listen I need you to go upstairs in your room now."

"Why?"

"Just do it."

He went upstairs while Rodolfo went outside to face the school master.

"There you are, now I'm sure that you gave that little devil a suitable punishment and-"

But he was silenced by Rodolfo punching him across the face, knocking him to the ground. He then sized him by his shirt collar, now his eyes were green but no flames were forming.

"LISTEN TO ME YOU POMPOUS SON OF A BITCH!" He said in his devil voice which scared Manny and Frida into jumping back. "YOU KNOW NOTHING OF WHAT A REAL DEVIL IS CAPABLE OF! BECAUSE BELIEVE ME WHAT MY SON DID IS NOTHING COMPARED TO WHAT A REAL DEVIL COULD DO TO YOU OR RATHER WHAT I COULD DO TO YOU!"

"What are you?" The school master said shaking.

"SOMEONE WHO COULD SUBJECT YOU TO THE PAIN AND AGONY OF HELL! YOU TOUCH MY BOY AGAIN AND I'LL SHOW YOU WHAT A REAL DEVIL CAN DO TO SOMEONE LIKE YOU!"

He then released him and calmed down. The school master ran off cowardly while Rodolfo returned to the house. He went upstairs and found his wife putting ice and ointment on their son's wounds.

"Maria when you're done with him I need to have a word with you."

"Of course dear." She said.

He then left them alone.

"I really didn't do it Mother." Manny whimpered.

"I know precious." She said gently. "You'd never hurt anyone."

"They said I was a devil child, that I came from hell. Why do they say that Mother?"

"I don't know." But present Manny and Frida knew that she was lying but they also know it was with good reason.

"They treat me like I'm a monster."

"Well you're not. Don't you listen to them, you are not a monster. You are one of the sweetest, kindest, and most gentle boys in the world and don't you ever let anyone tell you otherwise."

"I won't."

"Good."

She then began to hold him and tend to him like any real mother would do to their child. She cradled him in her lap and rocked back and forth while humming softly to him.

"Your mother was very beautiful." Frida whispered to Manny's present self.

"Yeah she was."

"And your father seemed kind of scary."

"Only when you got him real mad, most of the time he was very kind."

Everything around them went dark after that. It was still dark in the memory they entered this one showed Rodolfo going to the bed of Manny who was asleep.

"Manny. Manny wake up son." He said softly.

"Papa?" The boy said sleepily. He sat up in bed and looked at him still not fully awake. "Papa what's wrong? Do I have to get ready for school?"

"No my son, listen Manny I don't have much time so I need you to listen very carefully to me."

"What?" He yawned.

"Manny I have to go something and I might not be able to come back so I need you to do something for me." He pulled something out of his pocket, it was an eye. An eye ball surrounded by a flame. "I need you to swallow this."

"What is it?"

"Never mind that just swallow it, don't chew just swallow."

"It looks too big."

"I'll help you but I need you to swallow it now."

Present Manny and Frida watched as he put the eye into his son's mouth and helped him swallow it.

"Papa what's going on?"

"I'm afraid I don't have much time to explain just know this my son I love you and your mother more than anything in this world, if it weren't for the two of you I probably would've spent my whole life in misery and I wouldn't have been able to become the man I am now."

"Papa you're scaring me."

"Don't be scared son, you'll be alright. Listen to me there's a terrible secret about my family I've been keeping from you and I hope to God you never have to find out what it is."

"Why?"

"Because it's a horrible, shameful secret and I fear that if you find out what is you'll see yourself as something terrible. But just in case you do learn our secret I want you to remember this you chose who you are, not your family, not where you come from, you do. Let no one tell you otherwise. Promise me that no matter what the world says or does to you, you will choose who you are, that you will choose the life you live. Promise me."

"I promise."

"Good." Rodolfo pulled his son close and hugged him for as long as he could. "I love you Manny."

"I love you too Papa."

Manny felt a tear trickle down his cheek as he watched his father and younger self disappear from his sight, leaving him and Frida alone in the darkness. They didn't say anything for awhile finally Frida spoke.

"Are you okay?"

He didn't respond for a long time. It felt weird saying his parents again, he wished he could've stayed with them longer. Then his moment of sadness and missing his family was interrupted when he realized that he had swallowed the eye of Dagon.

"The eye is in my stomach?!" Manny gasped. "I ate it! Oh gross! Oh man! Why?! Why would my hold man make me eat an eye?!"

"Well it is a hiding place no one would ever think to look."

"But that's...Weird! And Wrong! And...Oh crap what if it's been digested?!"

"Only one way to find out. Let's go back."

They started to head back. As Manny was beginning to feel flushed from holding her hand. It's not that he didn't like holding her hand it was just with every thing that had happened between them so far it made him a little nervous when the two of them were touching. Little did she know that she was also feeling flustered and nervous but for a different reason.

In this world you could change a moment in your past or at least that's what Dipper said. If that was true then maybe Manny could remember the day Analia died and save her from her death. Had he thought about doing that? Would he do it? He really loved her and he really missed her. Maybe she should tell him about what he could do before they left? But then again if he stopped Analia from being killed what would happen to her? If she really was the reincarnation of Analia then that mean the only reason she existed was because Analia died that night holding the stone of new and her soul chose to be reborn in Frida's body.

"Are you okay?" Manny asked her. "Your hand is sweating."

"Yeah I'm fine." She sighed. "Manny can I ask you something?"

"Sure what?"

"Youk now you can change the events in your life right?"

"Yeah I know."

"So have you...Have you thought about maybe going back to that night Analia died and stopping Zoe from killing her?"

She felt him tense up.

"No...No I didn't."

"Would...Would you?"

"No."

"Why not? You and her would be finally be together like you should've been a hundred years ago."

"I know but there would be one downfall to that."

"What's that?"

"If she had never died that night you would have never been born and we would have never met."

He couldn't see it but she was blushing and smiling softly to herself.

"You okay?"

"Yes." She said. "I'm perfect. Come on let's head back."

...

"Ugh! Where are those two?" Dipper complained.

"I hope they didn't get stuck." Connie said. "Poor Manny would have to relive those horrible memories."

"Speaking of memories what kind were in Connie's head?" Dipper asked Steven.

"None of your business." She said.

"I didn't see anything embarrassing." Steven assured her. "But I did see your memory of when you ran away from home."

"Oh...That."

"Listen Connie I think you need to contact your parents and try to make up with them."

"No way!"

"But they miss you."

"No they don't! Steven if you saw me run away then you saw what they were like and why I did it!"

"I did but I saw something else. After you left your parents went to your bedroom, they were going to apologize and try to talk to you."

"They were going to send me away."

"No they weren't. They were just angry, they didn't mean what they said. You should've seen them when they found out you were gone. They were heartbroken."

"I don't believe that!"

"Why would I lie to you?"

"I don't know but I know my parents! They always mean what they say! They were going to send me away and if they were upset about me leaving it was only because their gifted child wasn't around to make them look good!"

"That's not true!"

"Why do you even care?! What happened between me and my parents is none of your business!"

"Hey what's going on?" Manny asked as he and Frida returned.

"I know you're lucky enough to have loving parents who are still alive!" Steven shouted. "All of ours are dead! And some of us didn't even remember our parents! I never knew my mother and Dipper's father died in war when he was three! I may not understand exactly what you and your parents felt for each other but at least you still have your parents!"

"Hey take it easy Steven." Dipper said trying to calm him down.

"I would give anything to see my mother and father again and so would everyone one else here! If you don't make up with your parents then you're gonna regret it!"

"You don't know what I feel! Or what they feel!"

"I know they loved you! Did you love them? Do you hate them now? Is that why you won't talk to them! You're so selfish! They've been worrying about you for so long and you won't even let them know if you're alright! You're a selfish, hateful, angry girl!"

She punched him right across his face and tackled him while beating on his face with her fists. Frida, Manny, and Dipper quickly went to break it up.

"Guys stop it!" Dipper said as he and Manny tried to help Steven up

"That's enough!" Manny said.

"Connie get off him!" Frida said trying to pull Connie off.

"Take that back!" Connie screamed as she continued to hit him. "You take that back! You bastard!"

"I take it back! I take it back!" Steven cried. Using his strength he sat up, over powered her, and pinned her to the ground. "I didn't mean okay?! I didn't mean it! I was just mad!"

"Seeing only a few of my memories doesn't mean you know everything about my parents." She said.

"I know and I'm sorry."

Their faces were inches apart from each other. Steven could see tears starting to form in her eyes, a few of them began to drip down her face. Taking his finger he carefully began wiping them away. Once he was done he got off of her and helped her up.

"I think we need to go back now." Dipper suggested quietly. "We've peeked into enough of other people's memories for a long time I think."

Everyone silently agreed. Dipper then performed the chant needed to take them back home. Upon arriving back no one said anything to each other, part of it was because going through a person's past can take a lot out of you so everyone was tired but another reason was because some of the things they did had made things very awkward and strained with the group. With Manny promising to marry Frida in the future which was unknown to anyone except him and Steven and Connie having that fight about her parents. Things were going to be a little different between them all. That aside Manny was not sure what to do about the eye being in his stomach, if it was even still there. He wondered what would happen now and if anyone else knew where it was.