50. Memories, Part 1

"Wait wait wait wait wait." Illuminata stared at Amber, then at Arganan, then at Amber again. "You remember everything about yourself!?"

"I-I don't know if it's everything, but…yeah." Amber nodded. Shortly after Amber had been crying and Arganan was doing his best to comfort her, Illuminata came along and dragged both of them back to the florist shop. Despite Arganan himself feeling exhausted from all that happened just earlier, he knew that he couldn't just step out now. Not while Illuminata was on the case, and not while there were answers that just had to be answered.

"Do you think the other Guardians remember anything?" Arganan asked Amber.

"I don't know. I haven't talked to them lately, but maybe…"

"We should ask them." Illuminata decided. "Arganan, how about you ask Dolce since you already live with her? I can probably try to track down Dylas and Leon…"

"We're not doing this right now, are we?" Arganan raised a brow. "It's pretty late as is."

"Not now. But definitely tomorrow, though." Illuminata's eyes flashed with an excitement Arganan was too familiar with at this point. "We've got a mystery to solve!"

As Arganan went back to the Clinic, and upstairs where everyone ate and slept, coming back in time for dinner, everyone was seated at the dinner table, about to eat when he stepped in. "I'm back."

"Arganan, welcome back!" Nancy offered him a smile. "I'm glad to see that you're safe."

"Thanks." Arganan offered her a smile, before looking towards Dr. Jones, Dolce and Pico. "I know I'm still supposed to be recovering, but I promise that I wasn't involved in most of the fighting."

"Good." Jones offered him a relieved grin. "I'd be worried if you were."

"Dolly remembered!" Pico piped up, pointing at Dolce. "She remembes her memories as an MMFFF!"

The last part was due to Dolce clasping her free hand over Pico's mouth, pulling her closer to her side. Her other hand held a cup of tea she was about to drink. "That's enough from you, Pico. I don't want to talk about it right now."

"Is it about the Guardians?" Arganan couldn't help but ask, moving to sit down at the table across from Dolce. Dolce went still, before nodding with a sigh.

"Yes…it is." She put her cup of tea down, looking up at Arganan as she let go of Pico's mouth. "It's gradual, but…I've noticed it more, lately. Dylas and Leon told me they were going through similar incidents. Amber, too."

"Really? They're remembering?" Jones asked, raising a brow. "And you too?"

"Yes." Dolce confirmed.

"Amber did mention that she was remembering things to me earlier, about Ventuswill." Arganan paused, before taking a deep breath. "Dolce? If you see Leon or Dylas tomorrow while you're out…could you ask them to come to the florist shop? Illuminata and me…we both want to talk to them about this development." He paused, thinking of Frey. She hadn't recovered her memories yet, right? "And Frey, too. If you see Frey that is…"

"Of course." Dolce nodded. "I can do that for you."

"Good. Because Illuminata already has questions about Amber's memory returning, and I already have a working theory about why you're remembering everything."

The former marionette-now-human raised a brow. "And that is?"

"Because Ventuswill is dead." Arganan managed, looking her in the eye. "She was alive when she took away your memories, as well as Dylas and Amber's memories. But now that she's gone, that magic is wearing off. I think that's why you're remembering your past as a Guardian."

"I see." A hum left Nancy as she nodded. "That would make sense when you put it that way."

"It would be good if I could give all of them a checkup during the next week." Jones mused. "It would be good to track the progress everyone has with their memories. Do you know if Frey is having any memory recovery?"

Arganan shook his head. "I haven't asked her. She's been busy."

It was true. Frey had been busy today for sure, talking with Calista and Zael about arranging trade routes and other arrangements between Lazulis and Selphia. Sir Therius had also been busy with such things, attending the meetings along with them. Arganan had asked if he needed to be present, given that he was supposed to be shifting priorities towards being somewhat of an ambassador or go-between for Lazulis and Selphia, but Calista had told him that she'd fill him in later.

"Perhaps we should schedule a checkup with her, too." Nancy suggested. "Just in case."

"That sounds good." Jones smiled at that. "Well, I'm sure the others are glad to have their memories returning after so long. At least that mystery is being solved."

The rest of the night had went smoothly, and Arganan went to sleep. He wrote in his journal again, for the first time in a while, recording all that he had encountered and heard of during the last couple of days. From Vishnal and Frey's engagement, to the truth behind Arthur and his mother's relationship, and now the Guardians remembering their past lives prior to being sealed away. He figured it was worth recording, because what if he had to look back on those events in the future? One had to learn from history, after all.

By the next morning, Arganan was delighted to see that Dylas and Leon arrived at the florist shop in the morning, just after opening. The former Count didn't hesitate to start asking questions.

"So, both of you remember Ventuswill, too?"

"Er…yeah." Dylas nodded a little. The former unicorn-monster-now-mostly-human seemed a bit perplexed, but otherwise surprisingly calm. "I don't know when it started. Probably over a week ago?"

"I never lost my memories in the first place." Leon pointed out. "But the rest did. I was surprised when they started remembering things."

"Oh, right…" Arganan nodded. Leon never got his memory erased by Ventuswill, unlike the rest of the Guardians at the time. "It must be relieving to know that you know others that remember her well. All of you came from different points in time, right? You were the first one…"

"That's right." Leon nodded. He frowned lightly. "The others are remembering because Ventuswill is dead, right?"

"Well…that's the working theory." Arganan managed with a shrug. "The question is, now that all of you are remembering, what do you want to do with that?"

"Simple." Dylas spoke up. "Bring her back."

"What?" that had not been the answer Arganan expected. "Is that…even possible?"

Even as he asked the question, he couldn't help but think about what he'd been told. During the final bits of the war against the Gurak, when Zael and his friends fought Dagran, Lowell had died some time before that. And after Dagran's death, Lowell came back to life. Sure, there was healing magic that existed, but Zael and Calista, as well as their friends, were sure that Dagran had used the last of his power to bring Lowell back from the dead at the time.

Maybe here, in Selphia, there was magic that could bring someone back from the dead?

"Do you think there might be a way to bring back Ventuswill?" Arganan couldn't help but ask.

Leon nodded. "Actually…yeah. Me, Dylas, Dolce, Pico and Amber have been looking into that for a little while."

"Really? How?"

"Well…" Dylas looked towards Amber, who had just finished sweeping the floors. "At Leon Karnak…There's a door, right?"

Amber looked up at him, nodding. "Yep."

"Any way to open it?"

She shook her head, frowning lightly. "I dunno. I just got told I wasn't qualified?"

"What?" Arganan frowned. "Was this back at Leon Karnak? You weren't qualified?"

Amber nodded. "Yep. Gotta have determination to open it. They said mine wasn't the right kind, so I couldn't open it."

Arganan frowned at that part. "I don't think I can picture that."

Amber sighed. "Um…well, I guess that would be hard."

Dylas sighed. "This is getting us nowhere. Let's go talk to Arthur about this."

She nodded. "Okay!"

"I'll go see what information I can find from Barrett." Leon managed. "He helped all of you bring me back here, so maybe he knows a similar way to bring Lady Ventuswill back."

"That sounds good. Meet up with us at the castle when you figure something out, okay?"

"Okay. See you later." With that, Leon left the shop.

Arganan looked towards Dylas and Amber. "So, all of you have been investigating ways to bring Ventuswill back, and never thought to ask me and Frey about it?"

"We would have," Dylas confessed, "But you were busy trying to figure out everything with Vishnal and Arthur that we weren't really sure when to break it to both of you."

"Have you told Frey yet?"

"No. Mainly because we don't want to get her hopes up in case any of the options we have don't work."

Arganan frowned at that. He knew Dylas had a point. Getting anyone's hopes up for nothing wouldn't do them any good. "Well…I do think it would be good to tell Frey at some point, soon, that you're working on this. I'm sure she misses Ventuswill just as much as all of you do."

"That's true." Amber paused, frowning, before looking up at Dylas. "Should we all go see Arthur together and ask? He might know more, too."

"Agreed." Dylas managed.

"Maybe I can go check in on Leon and see how he's doing, talking to Barrett." Arganan requested. He wondered what exactly Leon wanted from Barrett. "And I'll try to let Illuminata know that we're working on the mystery."

"What mystery!?" Illuminata had just run down to the main floor, down the stairs. She stared at the group, and Arganan cleared his throat.

"Dylas and Amber are going to go see Arthur to ask questions, and Leon just went to go find out a few things…"

"And you can go too. Go!"

"What?" He stared at her. "And let you look after the shop by yourself?"

"I can do it on my own." She reassured him. "No need to worry! Just fill me in on all the info when you find out more, okay?"

"er….okay." He hadn't expected Illuminata to straight-up let him go and investigate things without her, given her nature, but then again, someone had to look after the shop. "I'll fill you in later. I promise."

"Got it! Good luck!"

Arganan couldn't help but think that if Illuminata hadn't run the flower shop, she'd probably be doing even more running around Selphia, trying to solve mysteries. This one, included…and that would be terrifying. Maybe it was better that he do the investigating in her stead.

On the way to the Bell Hotel (as Leon was apparently headed there), he noticed Pico and Dolce speaking with each other in one corner of the main entrance of town. "…Even if we somehow manage to open the door, there's still the question of bringing her back."

Pico nodded, observing a serious-looking Dolce. "Exactly. How to give her a solid body again…"

Dolce paused, looking Pico in the eye. "If Ventuswill doesn't have a body, wouldn't she just end up like you?"

Pico shook her head. "I'm not certain. If she could, it seems like she would have stayed in our world in the first place."

A soft hum left Dolce, and she frowned. "Perhaps, unlike you, she had no regrets? She had nothing left to tie her here, right?"

Pico tilted her head to the side. "That's possible..butttt we still cant know for certain. Shes in a very different position from us mortals. "

"We already asked Leon about what he can remember. We sould focus on searching for any other possible ways." With that, both of them walked off. Arganan wasn't sure what to make of it, but he made a mental note of it for later on the way to the inn.

Upon entering the Bell Hotel, he noticed Leon in one corner of the main reception area, talking with Barrett. The braid and bandanna was familiar enough to Arganan that he recognized Barrett instantly, even if it had been a while since he last saw him. According to what he remembered hearing from Frey and the others, Barrett was one of the regular visitors to this town.

"A homing ring?" Barrett asked.

Leon nodded, his attention clearly on the other man. "Yes. Can you make one?"

Barrett frowned lightly, brows furrowing. "It'd be difficult."

"I'll pay whatever price you ask." Leon insisted.

"Its not the money." Barrett started, but Leon kept pushing.

"I'll acquire all the materials…"

Barrett shook his head. "It's not that, either."

"So what is it, then?"

A slow, quiet sigh left Barrett. He put a hand to his own temple, massaging it lightly, before looking up at Leon. "It's well…to be honest, it was an utter fluke that I managed it the first time."

Leon raised both brows. "A fluke?"

"Yes. I just don't remember how to make it."

Leon could only sigh, swallowing.

Barrett's nose wrinkled at that. "Don't give me that look. I was desperate to do anything at the time. But anyway, I can't do anything for you. Sorry."

Leon shook his head. "No, it's my fault for asking the impossible. My apologies."

The other nodded. "My question is…Why do you need one, anyway? I'm sure Frey can already use a homing spell. Earthmates have that ability, or at least tend to."

"You mean Gate Reject?" Leon asked.

"Yeah."

"Well," Leon started, nose wrinkling, "I think the power of the spell would be too much to handle at once. The one we want to bring back has just a bit much in the way of Rune energy…"

It seemed to dawn on Barrett that he knew what Leon was talking about, given the gasp that left him. "Wait, are you…?"

Leon simply nodded to confirm that.

Barrett nodded. "Now I get it. I guess you can find people willing to do the insane just about anywhere. As much as I appreciate the boldness you have for such a thing, it's probably wise not to attempt the Gate Reject spell. Frey already tried a spell like that before, when trying to get you back, but it didn't work. The rune energy just exploded. We got off lucky that once, but theres no telling whether well be that lucky again. Its too dangerous."

Arganan listened quietly, remembering when Frey first used the spell to try to get Leon out of the Forest of Beginnings and Leon Karnak. He tried not to wince, remembering too well how it went; Frey nearly knocked herself out, and he ran to her side, worried as hell about her safety.

Last time she went into the Forest of Beginnings, he feared that she would never come back. But she did, with Ventuswill's help.

But what about now? Trying to go into the Forest of Beginnings by oneself, to get the Divine Wind of all beings out of there…that seemed much more difficult.

"Oh, Arganan." He blinked, looking up and realizing that Leon and Barrett were both staring at him. Leon looked almost amused, smiling lightly. "Have you been standing there the whole time?"

"Kind-of." Arganan admitted, pushing a few bangs out of his face. "I thought I should go check in and see how things were going over here. Amber and Dylas went to go ask Arthur a few things."

"Arthur?" Leon blinked. "I ran into Sir Therius, your niece, and nephew-in-law on the way here. I think they were headed to see Arthur…"

Arganan couldn't help but groan. "Which means they'll likely find out that we're trying to recover Ventuswill."

Barrett frowned. "Is that something you wanted to keep secret?"

"Mainly not to get everyone's hopes up in case we can't actually find a way, yes."

So much for trying to keep anything secret. Arganan had a feeling it was near-impossible for anything big like this to stay private for long. He couldn't help but wonder how Ventuswill even managed to not tell Frey that her releasing of the Guardians would lead to her eventual demise, back then. It must have been tough, keeping things a secret. Then again, the Guardians had their memories wiped, sans Pico (who was a ghost girl) and Leon (who didn't need his memory wiped since Frey already knew about Ventuswill's condition prior to his release). And as far as Arganan knew, none of the Guardians themselves could wipe anyone's memories.

"well, I can understand why." Barrett managed. "Good luck with trying that. But be careful most of all, okay? Especially if you get the Princess involved."

"I'll do my best." A sigh left Arganan at that. "I've meddled enough in her life. I don't want to accidentally end it based on good intentions." Especially since he nearly ended his own life via stupid decisions made on good intentions already.