"Focus on memories, my friend," Grin said quietly, his voice almost in a whisper. Wildwing followed his orders, keeping his eyes closed and his breathing deep and slow.

Grin and Wildwing were in what Grin called the fifth level of consciousness: they were awake, but had meditated themselves into a deep rest, receding into the depths of their respective minds. Wildwing could hear Grin speak to him out loud, but his voice sounded far away. It was almost as if he stood on a cliff above him.

"All I remember is this week, though," Wildwing finally said, realizing he could only recall waking up in the traditionalist's village.

"Do you remember the war?"

"Yes," Wildwing said after a moment of hesitating. His conversation with Nosedive yesterday came to mind, and flashes of the Invasion danced across his vision.

"Where are you?"

Wildwing breathed in, thinking. "Slave camp, working in the mines."

"Who is with you?"

"I—I don't know. I just remember working there. Everything else is foggy."

"What about childhood?"

Wildwing sighed a little, his brows furrowing as he thought. "I remember … events. Ice skating by myself the first time … playing goalie in a little league hockey team … working on my first science project…."

"Is anyone with you?"

"No … well, yes, I think. I know there's someone there, but the picture of them is all blurry. It's like their names are on the tip of my tongue." Wildwing growled a little in frustration: every time he tried to focus on the other ducks in his past, his mind would shift to a different memory, stifling his progress.

"Breathe, my friend. Calm your nerves."

Wildwing sighed again but did as he was told, relaxing his body and face while breathing in deeply. In and out, in … and out, in … and … out….

"Let's pick a scene."

"From my childhood?"

"Wherever you feel the memory is strongest."

"…Okay. When in the slave camps, I remember mining all day and coming back to the cells, but sneaking out later to steal food from the nearby Raptor. I don't know how I got out, though."

"Good. Now imagine your mind like a tunnel, and at the end of that tunnel is the parts of the memory that you remember."

Grin was quiet as Wildwing tried his best to conjure the imagery in his head.

"Walk down that tunnel," Grin spoke up again. "As you do, search its walls for cracks. Missing pieces of information hidden within your mind."

Wildwing placed his subconscious in that long dark hallway, with the memory of that day barely visible at the end. He slowly began walking towards it, his illusory hands feeling along the walls he had made.

It was dark except for the lights coming from his memory at the end of the tunnel. He couldn't see his own beak in front of him, much less his hands moving along the contours of what felt more like a cave than a wall.

"Search for what was taken away from you," Grin softly said.

Wildwing felt almost detached from his body now, his ethereal form gaining strength as it continued to make its way down the long passageway. His hands continued to grope, searching the cavity for cracks.

Just when he felt his frustration kicking in, a small gap to his right caught his attention.

"I found one," Wildwing said out loud. His imaginary form turned toward the crack and his other hand came up to it, trying to find its width in the dark.

"Peer inside," Grin instructed. "What do you see?"

Wildwing's subconscious did as he was told, blindly bringing his face toward the crack he could not see but feel. He turned his head so his eye could peer inside.

"It's—it's my cell in the prison camp."

"Who's there?"

"Lots of ducks. I … I shared the cell with many other prisoners, I remember now."

"Anyone familiar to you?"

Wildwing frowned as he looked at them within his mind. "We're all huddled around someone. I can't tell who they are, they're still fuzzy. But they're holding an electronic key—the key that opened the cell!"

"Continue walking, my friend, until you find another break in the wall."

Wildwing, in his mind, backed away from the crevice and slowly continued his walk down the tunnel. His arms were spread wide as he felt the walls, his searching more deliberate now that he had a taste of his lost memories.

Sure enough, not too much farther up he felt another gap, this time on the other side of the wall. He quickly peered inside.

"It's the Raptor, where we stole some of the Saurians' food!"

"Who is with you?"

"An older guy … Zeke! I remember his name now, Zeke!"

"Is he the one that was all blurry before?"

Wildwing frowned. "No … no. They're here too, though. I know they're here, but I can't see them. I'm feeling anxious, because I know we don't have much time before the guards return to this area."

"So you, Zeke, and the one that had the cell key are there?"

"Yes."

"Search for the one with the key."

Wildwing, peering into one of his own memories, tried to take control of his past self and look around. He was carrying a lot of boxes of packaged food, making his visibility rather minimum. "I can't see him," he said despondently.

"It's okay. Keep walking."

Wildwing continued on his search, the memory he did remember becoming visibly larger and larger the closer he got to it. His hand came across another gap—a significant one.

"This is it," he said to Grin, his voice shaky.

"What is?"

"I know this one will show me who is the duck with key. I feel it."

"Are you afraid?" Grin asked.

"I know I shouldn't be, but … but what if I have to do this with every memory I have? There are so many memories I have where I know I should know the duck, but all they are is this hazy silhouette."

"By bringing someone back into your past, my friend, you will unlock many doors. Their presence in one memory will remind you of their presence in others."

"You think so?"

"Peer in and see for yourself."

Wildwing took a deep breath, his inner self slowly finding the widest section of the hole with his hands before squinting through it.

"It's the cell again. We're back with the food, and we're sorting it out. Zeke is carefully running it to other cells along the block, coming back and grabbing more. I'm sorting it with—with—he's still blurry. No, wait, he isn't, because I know it's a he. He's next to me, helping me sort. The other prisoners are eating some of the food we'd given them, smiling and patting us on the backs.

"He's smiling too, now. How do I know he's smiling? He—he has blonde hair. Nosedive. It's Nosedive, my brother!"

"He was the one with the key?"

Memories came flooding back to Wildwing, making his breathing shallow and quick from the surge of adrenaline. "One of the guards dropped it when we were in the mining camps; I remember now. He snagged it before the stupid thug even noticed it was gone. They'd been skimping us on meals for a few weeks by that point, so we knew we needed to get food to prisoners. He used it to open the cell late at night, and we snuck in and grabbed as much as we could. We made plans to perform a mass escape once everyone got their strength up, but we never got to follow through ... they had changed the program on all the locks before we even had the chance."

By now Wildwing's breath was as if he'd run a marathon. His grin surfaced to the real Wildwing, even through his deep state of meditation.

"Is your memory complete then?"

"Yes, more than ever! Nosedive is my brother, he was there with me in the camps. I can't believe I ever forgot him!"

"What about after the war, when you joined Canard?"

Wildwing was excited from the wave of memories taking over, his words becoming quick and energized: "Canard, my best friend! Of course I remember him! I met him in grade school, and he had one of the best puck shots around. He was in his third year at Puckworld Academy when the Invasion began … he was with us, but we got separated when Dive and I tried to get back to our parents … my parents … by the stars, how did I ever forget them?"

"Wildwing, what about the Strike Force?"

Wildwing quieted down as he searched his newfound past. "I … I remember being in the camps with Dive, and I remember Canard before the war, but … but I don't remember ever getting out of the war."

"You don't remember when Canard found you and Nosedive?"

"He found us again?"

"What's the most recent memory you remember of the camps and the war?"

"I just remember … I think it was a little under a year that'd we'd been there, and they'd completely mined all the Belerium crystals that they could out of the area. They lined us up and began marching us through downtown, bringing us to another location I think. That's all I remember."

"Any blurry parts there? Think hard, Wildwing."

"No … nothing. It's not blurry—it's like that's where I should be right now, walking down the street with Dive. Like that moment in time is the present, not the past." Wildwing's voice sunk with his attitude, realizing he had only managed to recover some of his memories.

And unlike the ones he had, he had no tidbits of history to search or cracks in the wall to peer through. Thinking about that last memory, it was as if life just stopped there.

"What about the Strike Force members? Do you remember Mallory, myself, Duke or Tanya?"

Wildwing shook his head slowly. "No … I don't remember being a part of the Strike Force, or going to Earth like you said I did. I can't even remember events like I did with my childhood memories, or see blurry images of ducks that are supposed to be a part of it. Why is that?"

"The Old Ways Worshipper's spell must have targeted your short term memory. It clouded your long term memory as well, but it seems to only have lasting effect on the most recent events in your life."

Wildwing sighed, realizing that—while he had regained his brother—he had not regained his lifemate. She was still a stranger to him.

"You've made great progress, Wildwing," Grin added when Wildwing didn't respond.

"Thank you, for helping me remember Dive," Wildwing finally said.

"Let us awaken completely now, just like I taught you," Grin said, returning to the task at hand.

Wildwing nodded, using his training to slowly awaken himself and end his meditative state.

"Jeez, what are they doing, counting sheep?" Nosedive complained, watching Grin and Wildwing from afar. For nearly an hour and a half they'd remain perfectly still, cross-legged and facing one another, eyes closed and hands resting on their respective knees.

You could see them speaking to each other quietly, but aside from that they remained perfectly still.

"Dive, let them be," Mallory chastised, though her voice had no edge to it. She currently sat on a nearby bench, one of her legs drawn up under her and her back leaning heavily against the wall.

She had a good view of a window to peer out of the front of the building, and kept her gaze fixated on the guards and the general area that she could see. The storm she had mentioned earlier had darkened the skies, but only a small amount of snow had begun falling.

Nosedive looked at her but decided not to push it. He sighed again and slid down a nearby wall to the floor. "This better work," he grumbled after a couple more minutes of silence.

Clapping startled both of them, causing them to sit up and finger their holstered weapons out of instinct. When they looked over at the two at the front of the temple they realized it had been them who clapped, as now they were alert and beginning to stand.

Nosedive and Mallory also stood, watching the two anxiously. Grin placed a hand on Wildwing's shoulder, stopping his advancement toward them, and leaned down to whisper something to him.

Wildwing listened, glancing only once at Nosedive and Mallory before turning back to look at Grin. When the large gray duck was done speaking, Wildwing reluctantly nodded.

"You two gonna let us join the party?" Nosedive called over, his impatience getting the best of him.

Wildwing stayed where he was, but Grin walked over to the two of them. His face, like most of the time, was unreadable.

"Well?" Nosedive prompted. "How'd it go?"

Grin looked at both of them and Mallory—for the first time in her years of knowing Grin—recognized hesitancy in his expression as he glanced at her.

"We were able to return some of his memories," Grin began.

"Yes! Does he remember us?" Nosedive asked excitedly, cutting Grin off.

"He remembers up to the end of the war, before he joined the Strike Force."

Both Mallory and Nosedive were silent as they digested that information.

"Wait … he remembers everything but the Strike Force?" Mallory asked, her voice quiet but confused. "How is that possible?"

"It is likely the spell targeted his short term memory. The shock of his travel to another part of the world most likely caused full amnesia. But even then he still could remember small parts of his childhood, and ducks that were important to him were just blurred out. It took some time, but the meditation helped bring that back."

"Why can't it bring back the Strike Force too, then?" Nosedive asked, sounding as confused as Mallory.

"To him, his past ends when he's still a prisoner in the war. He remembers you, Nosedive, and Canard, but only from before the war. He doesn't remember Canard finding you, nor his involvement in the Strike Force. If the spell was directed on his short term memory, I am unsure whether meditation will unblock the Old Ways magic."

Mallory and Nosedive were quiet again, Mallory keeping her eyes steadfast on the ground.

She took a deep breath and looked up, realizing both Grin and Nosedive were watching her. She sighed and quietly said, "Dive, go to your brother."

"Mal—"

"Go, he's over there itching to talk to you."

Nosedive glanced over and, sure enough, Wildwing was anxiously standing where Grin had left him, watching all three of them. He smiled when Nosedive glimpsed his way.

"He doesn't remember Mal, or you?" Nosedive asked Grin incredulously.

"No, as we were not a part of his life until the Strike Force," Grin explained.

Nosedive risked another look at Mallory, but she was purposely avoiding eye contact again, her arms crossed in front of her and her gaze steadfast on the ground in front of her.

"Mal—"

She looked up at him and her eyes said more than Nosedive ever needed to hear. "Dive, it's okay. He needs you right now."

Their eyes remained locked for a couple more seconds before Nosedive finally nodded, turning and walking to his brother.

Mallory watched him retreat but tore her eyes away before they accidentally drifted over to Wildwing.

She took a deep breath and glanced up at Grin, who was again watching her silently. "Will you stay with them until they're ready to head back?"

He nodded in affirmation.

"Thanks. I'm going to head back to the room and move the rest of my stuff out." He nodded again, his expression once more unreadable. Mallory turned to leave but stopped a few steps in, glancing back at the large duck. "Thanks for helping him, Grin," she added at almost a whisper.

"Memories are like the tides. They surge in and remind us of who we are, and they drift away, leaving no more than a ripple in their wake. But they're always there, and will always return." Grin watched her steadily as he spoke, his voice equally soft but commanding in the small temple.

Mallory forced a slight smile in his direction but did not respond, instead silently exiting the temple and heading back to the motel rooms.

She missed Nosedive and Wildwing's tight hug, and the door shut before she could overhear their excited chatter with one another. Grin watched Mallory's retreating form through the window a little while longer before turning to watch the brothers catch up with one another.