Chapter 21: In Memoriam

While the Spirit Trio was making their final preparations deeper in the Cave of Reflections, Mason was steadily working on chiseling away at Azelf's barrier. He finally managed to hit a weak spot, and the crystals fell away to reveal a door made of stone.

"Finally!" he exclaimed before leaning closer to inspect the door. What he saw made him freeze in shock.

The door had a scene painted on it that depicted a field of wildflowers. A young, human girl who looked no older than three or four was wearing a sundress and sitting barefoot and cross-legged in the middle of a cluster of flowers that were white with yellow centers. Her hair was of purest white, and her skin was very pale. Strangely enough, however, the tones didn't make her seem ghostly or sick; they just enhanced the vibe of purity and innocence she seemed to be emanating. The girl had been painted so that her back was towards the "audience." She was holding up a round mirror, and by her beaming face and the small flash of white reflected near the edge of the mirror, one could assume that she was smiling at something—or someone—behind her that caused her great joy. That part was intriguing… but the most striking thing about the reflection in the mirror was that it showed that the girl possessed a pair of beautiful, rainbow-colored eyes…

"No way…" Mason muttered. "How can this be…? This… this looks exactly like…!"

"Mason! What are you staring at?" Paula demanded impatiently. "Come on! Let's go!"

Mason jolted before nodding his head and flinging open the door.

After a short period of time, they made it to the area where the Spirit Trio had set up their camp.

"The fire is still burning," Paula noted, indicating towards the area with the beds where Azelf, unbeknownst to Paula and Mason, had stoked the fire mere moments before. "So… that means that they had to have been here recently, right?" she asked.

Just as Mason opened his mouth to speak, the duo heard Laura's agonized shriek echoing from further in the cave.

"LAURA?!" Mason cried out in panic.

He and Paula rushed off towards the direction of the shriek…

Meanwhile…

Back in the room where the Spirit Trio was carrying out their plan, Uxie's powers were forcing Laura's mind to reflect images onto the "mirrors." The Spirit Trio could recognize them as recent memories. Uxie continued to add power and search deeper, but it seemed as though the deeper he went, the hazier the images got… as if Laura were having trouble remembering things. What was more, sometimes the images would black out altogether, as if chunks of memory were missing...

Laura's pain continued to become more and more unbearable with each passing moment, and her screams continued to increase in volume and pitch as she thrashed and pulled at her restraints.

"Azelf! Mesprit! Calm her down and make her stop fighting!" Uxie demanded. "It's getting hard to concentrate!"

"It's… it's all right, Laura! R-Really!" Mesprit said, tears gushing down her cheeks. "J-just calm down and…" her voice cracked and she choked on a sob. It was no use; Laura was so terrified that she was beginning to overwhelm Mesprit.

"No, Mesprit! Don't give up!" Azelf, who was also failing, pleaded. "I can't do this alone!"

Suddenly Laura's back arched in pain. The agony became so intense that her vision became clouded with spots. She began to black out, and her screaming and struggling decreased.

"That's more like it," Uxie muttered, finally able to concentrate fully. A somewhat clearer image appeared on the mirror-like crystals.

"Here we go…!" Uxie breathed, turning his attention towards viewing the memory…

She was so hot…

No... No she wasn't… she was cold…

No... Now she was burning up again…

She moaned. She just felt so awful…

She winced as sparks danced across her skin once more.

How long had she been confined to bed like this? Hours? Days? …Weeks? She couldn't remember… not that it really mattered, since time was irrelevant here.

No… that wasn't true. Why would she think something like that? Time would always be relevant… at least to her. After all, she was the—

Her thoughts cut off as her back arched in pain. It felt like it was being burned… Immediately someone turned her onto her side and applied ice to her back. She gave a shaky sigh of relief. Yeah, she was still in pain everywhere else, but at least her back was numb now…

Idly, she wondered if the fire that had burned her had been extinguished as well. But… no. There hadn't been a fire. That had just been another symptom of this… whatever it was. She couldn't remember…

But, wait… was she sure that there was no fire? She thought she could see a flash of red next to her face…

Oh… no, that was just hair. She giggled at the absurdity. How could she have thought that was a flame? Well… her Mistress had often referred to her as her "fiery little imp," so she supposed that the thought wasn't too out there…

Still… she was having trouble discerning between reality and hallucinations. For instance, she thought that she had seen him earlier… but that made no sense. He was far too big to fit in her room, and she highly doubted that he would have risked moving her…

She was laid on her back again, and she felt someone gently washing the sweat from her face. She cracked open an eye. The fever was clouding her vision… but she could still make out the figure of her dear friend. Her eyes travelled from his hand up the length of his arm and she grinned. She recalled how fascinated he had been by his arms when he had evolved…

Shakily, she reached up to grab hold of his hand. This was the most lucid she had felt in a while, and she needed to tell him something while she still had the ability…

When he felt her weakly grab hold of him, her friend paused in his ministrations. He gave her hand a gentle squeeze before returning it to her side.

"Lie still," he ordered. "You need to rest if you want to… to recover your strength…"

She smiled faintly. She could tell that he was trying to put up a front for her sake, but she wasn't fooled. The fog in her head and the ringing in her ears may have been distorting the sounds, but she distinctly heard the worry and fear in his voice.

"S-sorry," she rasped in between hacking coughs. "B-but I don't think that's… going to happen. This… th-this is the end…"

"No! Don't say that!" her friend pleaded. "You're… you're strong! I know you can pull through this!"

She gave a weak chuckle. "D-don't lie to yourself. You know it… it's true…"

She gave another violent cough, and she could feel something warm dribbling down her chin. It was probably blood. After her friend hurriedly wiped whatever it was off, she continued, "I'm not afraid… h-heh… it's not like d-dying is a new experience…" she paused, both to take a quick rest and to reconsider her words. "Well… for me, yeah… but—cough!—anyways… I n-needed to t-tell you something…"

"Y-yes?" her friend asked with a quivering voice and trembling hands as he readjusted her blankets.

"I w-wanted to th-thank you for… taking care of… of me all this time. A-and for taking m-me away from that place… w-when we first met…"

"…Why would you thank me for that?!" her friend demanded, surprising her with his vehemence. "My taking you away from 'that place' is the reason why you're like this now!"

She reached out a shaky hand to rest on his arm in a gesture of comfort. "I… don't care," she assured him. "Dying here is a th-thousand times better than dying there as… as a result of… cough!"

She fell into a coughing fit, and he hurriedly lifted her up a bit so that she could drink some water. The liquid made her throat feel like it was being frozen… but it did stop the coughing.

"That's enough," her friend gently shushed. "You can tell me more later… once you've rested."

With a lot of effort, she managed to shake her head. There would be no "later." This was the end… she could feel it.

"Don't w-worry," she said. "I'll… b-be fine. And I'm sure that he… that he'll s-send you after the… the next one… too…"

Her voice was growing weaker, but she struggled to continue, "It will probably up… upset… m-my Mistress, but… cough!... I kn-know that… that the next… the next one will d-definitely—"

Without warning, the memory cut off. Laura had regained her hold on consciousness and her high-pitched shrieking began anew. The memories being reflected once more became fuzzy.

Uxie growled in annoyance, but then he reported, "We're getting closer. I think that was from her most recent—"

He was interrupted by the dual scream of, "LAURA!" when Mason and Paula barreled onto the scene.

"M-Mason! P-Paula!"Azelf gasped in shock, unable to believe that the duo had found them so quickly.

Mason ignored him, focusing his attention on Laura, who was writhing and shrieking in excruciating pain as her memories attempted to scroll across the reflective crystals. He became enraged.

"You traitors!" he spat. "Release Laura now!"

"Traitors?" Azelf responded, sounding incredulous. "You of all people should know about our orders: We were tasked with protecting the Time Gears! I'd say that trying to fix the problem of their energy depletion falls under that heading!" he reasoned. "This is what your Mistress would want!"

"SHE WOULD NEVER WANT THIS!" Mason shrieked in rage.

Paula decided to take advantage of the lack of attention on her to attack Uxie. Unfortunately, Mesprit noticed in the nick of time and blocked the attack.

"Azelf!" Mesprit exclaimed. "I've got Paula! You get Mason! We have to protect Uxie and Laura at all costs!"

"Oh, yeah. Like we'd really attack HER!" Paula snarled.

As they began to fight, Uxie increased his psychic energy flow in an attempt to reach the needed memory more quickly. But the memories just continued to get hazier the deeper he went. Plus, despite the fact that Laura's agony had gone far beyond the point of unbearable, she didn't seem like she was going to pass out again anytime soon to give him an easier access through her dreams. She was too concentrated on thinking about the new arrivals in the cavern…

"M-Ma…son…? And P-Paula…? H-here…?" her scrambled thoughts finally pieced together. "M…Mason… is here…"

She desperately tried to open her eyes, which had been screwed tight against the pain, and caught a glimpse of him. A sense of hope bubbled in her chest. But then she caught sight of the "mirrors." Flashes of gold were flitting across them… gold that was reminiscent of Mason's eyes… Above her screams of pain she could faintly hear the audio. First she heard breezy laughter… but it was followed by a bout of sobbing. Abruptly, she stopped screaming.

"N-no…!" she thought, her eyes widening in horror. "He'll… he'll see my…!"

The sudden silence distracted everyone. "L-Laura…?" Mason called out tentatively, sounding worried.

The instant that Laura heard his voice, Azelf and Mesprit felt an intense spike in her levels of rage and willpower.

"Uh oh!" they cried out in alarm, immediately abandoning their opponents and zooming off towards Laura. As the two desperately tried to calm her down, Mason and Paula just stood (or floated, in Mason's case) there, too confused to try to stop them.

"N-now Laura… it's all right…! J-just calm down!" Mesprit begged.

"Yes! Please, just take it easy!" Azelf pleaded.

"…No…" Laura hissed. "…MINE…!"

The room began to shake…

"Waah!" Paula screamed in alarm. "Wh-what's going on?!"

"I don't… I don't know!" Mason replied, sounding just as fearful.

"…MY memories…!" Laura continued to hiss. "MY problems…! NOT his…!"

The shaking increased, and cracks started to form in the ceiling…

"Waah! L-Laura! That's enough!" Azelf said desperately.

"Uxie! Do something!" Mesprit pleaded.

"I… I'll try cutting off the power!" Uxie said as he stopped his energy flow and snapped his eyes shut. Immediately the crystals around the room stopped glowing, and the memories on the "mirrors" faded away as the crystals began to return to their original states. Unfortunately, Laura was too far gone in her emotional torment to notice this, and the room's shaking merely increased again, causing Paula to lose her footing and fall to the ground…

"…I don't WANT him to see…!" she hissed.

"Laura, he won't!" Uxie assured. "I've stopped!"

"…He CAN'T see…!"

The shaking reached a point where it was threatening to cause a cave-in, and some of the mirror-like crystals on the walls were falling to the ground and shattering…

Mesprit gave one last attempt at calming her down. "Laura! Didn't you hear him?! Mason WON'T see! Uxie stopped the—!"

"…I… WON'T… LET… HIM… SEE!" Laura screeched.

Pieces of the ceiling began to rain down upon them, and Laura's restraints broke. A powerful wave of rainbow-colored energy and light burst from her body, and everyone screamed in terror. Rainbow-colored crystals formed over the mirror-ones to completely block out whatever contents still remained on them. For a brief moment, the light became blinding.

Soon, however, it faded. The shaking abruptly stopped, and the cavern was filled with a sudden silence. For a few seconds, Paula and Mason remained frozen, blinking the spots from their vision. But soon enough they began to look around and take stock of the situation. They saw that the Spirit Trio had been blown back against the far wall by the energy pulse and was unconscious. But what they were more concerned about was Laura's condition…

Laura was lying flat on her back with residual energy sparking and crackling around her. She also seemed to be ringed with rainbow-colored crystals…

The duo rushed over to her. "Laura!" Mason cried, taking her into his arms. "Laura?! Please say something!" he pleaded.

Laura's eyes fluttered open, and, in a voice that was raspy from her earlier shrieking, asked, "Ma…son? Pau…la? How did… you find… me…?"

"We got some help from Torkoal…" Paula explained.

Laura's brows furrowed in confusion. "…T-Tor—?" Her sudden coughing fit interrupted the question. When her hacking had finally stopped, she winced and mumbled, "…Ow…!"

"Laura? What's wrong? Where does it hurt?" Mason asked, nearly frantic with worry.

Laura weakly shook her head. "N-no… I'm f-fine…"

"You just said 'Ow,' which means that you are not 'fine!' Now where does it hurt?" Mason demanded.

"…M-my throat," Laura said, finally giving in. "And… and my head… and I'm so… so t—"

Laura cut herself off when her eyes suddenly widened and her body went rigid. She began to spark with energy. Soon enough, however, the sparking stopped, and Laura went limp and passed out.

"Laura?" Mason asked in panic. When she didn't respond, he asked louder, "Laura?!"

Mason's eyes desperately searched the room, looking for something that could help him rouse Laura. He caught sight of the passed-out Spirit Trio and became enraged. He gently set Laura back down on the ground and began to move towards them. "Those three…!" he growled out menacingly.

Paula rushed in front of him to block his advance. "No, Mason!" she said. "Laura is more important! We have to get her back to the guild!"

Mason halted, and his eyes filled with shame. "…Right," he said. "You're… you're right…"

He turned back around to pick up Laura, and the three of them made their way towards the Wigglytuff Guild.

Everyone was ecstatic to see that Mason and Paula's mission was a success. Once they returned, Wigglytuff immediately took Laura to her old room so that she could rest and he could treat her injuries—which consisted mainly of cuts and bruises from her thrashing when she had been restrained. Everyone else circled around Mason and Paula in the main room, both to tend to the duo's own injuries and listen to their account of what happened in the Cave of Reflections.

"I still can't BELIEVE those three did something like this!" Loudred exclaimed once the tale was finished.

"And Laura started sparking again?" Bidoof asked, remembering the occurrence from when Laura returned after the Temporal Tower incident. "Golly! How strange…"

"I think it's more strange that the room started shaking… meh heh heh…" Croagunk said, offering his own opinion.

"Oh! Guildmaster!" Chatot suddenly exclaimed, bringing everyone's attention to Wigglytuff's emergence into the main room. "How is she doing?" Chatot asked. "Will she be…?"

"Yep! She'll be fine!" Wigglytuff replied with a grin. "Her wounds weren't deep. She'll probably need to rest her voice for a few days… but other than that, she should be all right. She just needs some sleep."

"Oh, that's so wonderful," Chimecho sighed in relief.

"And it's not like the VOICE thing will be TOO much trouble for her, since she RARELY speaks in the FIRST place…" Loudred added mischievously.

"Oh my gosh, Loudred! Is this really the time to joke about that?" Sunflora asked, rolling her eyes in exasperation at his antics. "Besides… she's gotten much better about it lately…" she added, nudging Chimecho and glancing in Mason's direction.

At Chimecho's giggling, Dugtrio rolled his own eyes. "In any case," he began, trying to bring the focus back to more serious matters. "Now that Laura is safe, I suggest we switch our focus to the Time Gears."

Everyone immediately sobered up and looked towards Wigglytuff's chambers, where the Time Gears had been moved.

"…Hey, hey! Do you… do you think it worked?" Corphish asked, getting everyone's attention. "Do you think that Laura remembers how to—"

"I can't BELIEVE you!" Mason cried out in fury. "Are you seriously defending those three?!"

"No!" Corphish answered, shaking his head emphatically. "What they did was wrong, but hey, hey! You told us that she knew the answer… so shouldn't we ask her if she remembers?"

"We don't know what she'll remember!" Mason said, still glaring at him. "For all we know, that idiotic plan could have given her brain damage! And she's always had problems with…" he trailed off, sighing in sadness.

Paula frowned. "…Hey, Mason," she said. "Didn't you say that there were other people who knew the secret?"

Bidoof blinked in realization. "Yup, yup! He sure did!" he confirmed.

"So why don't we ask them how to recharge the Time Gears?" Paula asked looking towards Mason.

"…I'd like to. I really, really would… "Mason said, clenching his eyes shut in despair. "But the only other person who knows is our Mistress… and I lost contact with her years ago!"

"WHAT?!"

"Oh no!"

"S-so what should we do…?"

Wigglytuff looked at the crowd's expressions of worry and fear and decided to take control of the situation. "Everyone, we should worry about this tomorrow," he said firmly. "Tonight, we need to get some rest."

His apprentices nodded grudgingly, and Paula turned to Mason.

"Mason, do you want to stay the night with me?" she asked.

Mason glanced with worry in the direction of the crew rooms. "I'd… I'd rather stay with Laura…" he admitted.

"I think you should stay with Paula tonight," Chatot said gently. "You need to rest too, and you can't do that if you spend all night fretting over Laura."

Mason frowned. "But…" he began, only to be cut off by Wigglytuff.

"Don't worry! We'll take good care of her," he assured.

Mason sighed again, but finally agreed to go with Paula.

Wigglytuff, Chatot, and Chimecho took up a rotation for sitting up with Laura… but she didn't stir even once through the night, and she didn't curl up even a fraction…