Taako, Magnus and Merle waked into the large room. They saw a giant aquarium, but it was hard to look at. It was like trying to look at the heat waves on a hot road. You knew they were there, you could see the effect, but you couldn't see them. Lucrecia walked over with three vials of the liquid from the tank and told them to drink it, that it will make everything clear. Magnus and Taako drank it all, Merle drank half of his. They all felt a kind of charge run through them as they remembered everything. It took a minute for them to collect themselves. When they did, Lucrecia started talking again.
Merle loked over to Davenport who was staring at the vial in his hand. Merle handed it over and Davenport drank it quickly. Lucrecia noticed too late to stop it. In an instant Davenport was on the groud, clutching his head and a near silent scream, barely a small his escaped his wide open mouth. Everyone looked shocked at this. Davenport not being inoculated changed everything. Davenport was always by Lucrecias side. They had thought Davenport knew just as much as she did. It also brought about another revelation. She used this on her friend. And kept him in the dark for years.
Davenport collected himself enough to stand, he was still collecting himself, but he cold recognize those around him.
"T-Taako? Magnus? Merle? You guys are okay? Where were you? Why did you let her keep me like this?" his words were slurred and spoken as though he hadn't talked for a long while. Which from the reaction of everyone else in the room seems to be the case.
"What do you mean? We just met you. Do you know us?" Merle stepped forward reached a hand to steady Davenport. Davenport grabs it without hesitation. Seeming more instinct than conscious thought.
"Do I know you? Of course I know you. You are my best friends. You three, Lucrecia, Barry and /."
As everyone hears the static, there is a loud silence. It lasts a moment before Taako breaks it.
"What do you mean? I've never seen you in my life homeboy, and I think id know my best friend."
Davenport rattles off their family relations, Magnus story of defending a dog, Merles childhood church gatherings, Taako being tossed between family members. But whenever he talks about Taako, there is static that goes with it.
"What are you saying with my name, it is just static for me. Is there something you aren't telling me?"
Davenport looks up at him. "You dont remember /?" He turns and glares at Lucrecia. "You made him forget about his /?" He gets his sentence out before he falls to his knees. Clutching his head as more memories rush into it.
Taako closes in on himself. This man knows enough about his past that he knows he isnt lying. So that means that they were really friends. And that means that Lucrecia took something from him. Something big enough that a friend would get angry in his stead. He looks at Lucrecia and sees her guilt. Her saddened and sorry face. He feels the anger, yeah, but his reaction is to close up. It's expected isn't it? That he would be betrayed by friends. Its why he always traveled alone. And when he didn't he was betrayed by Sayzed. He should have known better. Shouldn't have let her get that close.
Magnus looks between Davenport and Lucrecia. Confused at first, then upset. What happened that made one of his friends, his best friends, decide to wipe themselves from his mind. What made them want to take his memories with them. He thinks for a bit and determines that he must have done something horrible to them, that he had to have taken something of equal value from them. Ashamed of himself and worried, he looks down to his feet and waits for a moment to ask.
Merle takes it all in. The surprise and anger of the crowd, davenports confussion and anger at lucrecia, Davenport being his friend. He takes it all in and asks himself the same question he has asked so many times before. Not coming up with a good answer, he looks to lucrecia and sees her starting to break. Before he can do anything, the crowd breaks into a cacophonous noise. There are angry shouts and cries of distress, mostly angry shouts. They want to know if there is anything else that she is hiding from them.
They aren't giving her a chance to talk and they are getting themselves more and more excited. Merle starts calling out to everyone to settle down. It takes a few moments for them to hear him, quite a few more to actually do it. They make a line through to her and he walks to right in front of her.
"I cant see you too clearly if you are all the way up there, Lu." His tone is light, but only barely, and its clear he is trying not to let his voice crack.
Lucrecia kneels down in front of him. Her staff falling with a loud thunk beside her.
She knows she deserves punishment. A slap, being shouted at, hell even being forced to forget her own life as well. She knows she isn't getting away clean. Ut at least she can hear it from a friends mouth. It will be easier that way.
She is stunned for a moment when instead of a smack or yelling, she feels strong and gentle arms around her. Arms she has felt many times over the years, comforting her when things got hard, sharing in excitement when things went well. It takes her a moment to remember and to hug back. She remembers more and more, and all of it hits with the weight that he remembers none of it. That he doesn't know how much this hug means. What kind of history this hug has. And she starts crying. Then she rememberes that their entire lives, from the moment she stole their memories to now are like that. And she looks to Taako. Knowing he lost the most. Merle pulls back after she has calmed down a bit.
He brings up his hand and wipes away a trail of tears running down her cheek. The messy and ugly kind of tears. "So why did you do it Lu?" he asks. She knows the voice he is using. She remembers him using it to describe John sometimes. Caring but still wary. And she remembers the nickname, even if it is the first time he has used it that he remembers. She closes her eyes and takes a steadying breath.
"You all didn't want me to use my plan. You thought it was better to hide away and let the world fight over who had what relic than to fight what sought them in the first place. I couldn't go against your wishes. So I had to change them. I erased your memories and gave you the best homes I could find. I checked up on you as often as I could spare. You all wanted to hide, but it wasn't going to work. The / was already on its way. We just ended up delaying it. I decided to bring you back in so that we could hunt them together again. But I knew you wouldn't agree if you remembered everything. So I used Fishers son to erase your memories again. But this time leaving out the knowledge of what the relics are. I wanted you all back, my friends, my family. I'm sorry. But I felt I had no choice." She looks back to the ground and more tears start falling again. Merle hugs her again.
"I don't know what all you took, but im pretty sure I would have, and right now I would, prefer we talk about it instead of making the choice for each other." She nods and gets up.
"Come on then, lets get everyone inoculated again. There's no use hiding it anymore." And she starts to walk to her office.
Everyone has a vile in their hand. No one has drunk yet. They are all too afraid. Afraid of what might have been taken from them. Taako gets tired of it first. He slams his down and right away he is in the same position Davenport was. Magnus and Merle follow suit. Everyone else isn't far behind. The only people who are affected though, are Magnus, Merle and Taako. Taako recovers first. On shakey legs and still clutching his head he points his Umbra Staff at the director.
"Where is she?"
Lucrecia looks scared, but she doesn't move. "I don't know, Taako. I looked everywhere for her. I couldn't find a body, a legend. I couldnt even find a rumor about her. That staff is as close a lead as I have ever gotten in finding her."
There is a deep struggle in Taakos eyes when he hears her answer. Tears start to form and he shuts his eyes and blasts the ceiling with a spell. The damage is negligible, But the cry that escapes his throat effects everyone. Pained and filled with nothing but sorrow and anger. Merle gives him a hug and Taako grasps onto him desperately. Magnus looks at Lucrecia and walks up to her.
"Magnus. I'm so sorry. I just couldnt think of another way to protect this place, to protect all of you! I-" She is cut off as magnus grabs her in a hug. The strength of it hurting her, but not seriously. She hugs him back and he growls in a pained voice, "Just talk to us next time. Okay?"
She starts crying with him and nods into his shoulder. "Okay."
Davenport looks at Taako and Magnus. Then he looks over at Magnus and Lucrecia. Not wanting to disturb Taako, he walks over to Magnus.
"Hey, Where did you guys find Lups staff?" Magnus and Lucrecia looked over and realization set in.
"Taako, That's Lup's staff." Magnus points at it and a look of pain settles on his face.
"Yeah, it is."