Author's Note: So, due to a few words of encouragement, I was able to post this chapter tonight. I think that's going to be it for the evening though. I'm pretty tired. Well, I hope you enjoy the sixth addition to Remembrance. I'm thinking Seto will show up in Chapter 8 or 9. Warnings for this chapter: Disturbing themes, mild language
The numbness which held my body was finally beginning to give way to feeling again, though judging by the first unpleasant sensation of a headache, I did not want it to be so. I'd rather had remained unconscious, but my body's condition would beg to differ – I was well enough to be moving about. I cracked an eye open, revealing a stone floor, stone wall, and steel bars. I must've been in some sort of prison cell. I lifted myself upright, kneeling and rubbing my eyes. I blinked, and gave a little yawn before looking around.
I was indeed, locked in a cell. Steel bars ran across one of the four sides of my containment area. Haphazard brick walls made up the other three. I examined myself, still in the black clothes from earlier, with prison shackles attached to my ankles and wrists. I was chained to the nearest wall. I groaned and leaned back against it. I stretched and cracked my back before twisting my neck to the side. There was a long hallway leading away from my cell, scarcely lit with flickering torches. Other, smaller cells lined the hallway's length. I could not see to the end of the corridor, but assumed there to be a door and staircase somewhere in that mess of darkness.
I felt groggy and sick, and tried to summon back my memories from before I'd found myself stuck in this cell. I remembered the run-in with my captor, Pegasus Crawford. The anger rose in my throat as I thought of him, and what he'd done to me. I bared my teeth, gritting them together. I then recalled him granting a memory back to me, one which made me, once again, shudder. But I was able to push it away this time, now that I was not under the golden-eyed man's control. I remember Pegasus telling me that I'd killed those who'd taken the lives of my family members, and who'd so violently assaulted me. I recall a feeling of joy when he told me that, but now there is only guilt. I wondered why, but this time, my memory could not grant a definitive answer.
Offhand, a second thought occurred to me: the silver top which Pegasus had held when I first met him. I remembered the letters "SK" which were rubbed into its base, and the carvings of a dragon, a boy, and a bird which circled the toy. I remembered the specific swirls in the silvery object, and I remembered holding it in my own hand, feeling its balance as I shifted it between my palms. I remember returning it to Pegasus, watching him pocket it.
That memory I could not explain, for it did not seem incredibly significant. Yet it plagued the back of my mind, and refused to be dismissed as easily as the others had been. I did not understand it, but did not question it, for it seemed to be one of the more pleasant memories which I had managed to hang onto. I closed my eyes, and allowed my body to fall into a state of half-sleep; God knows I needed it, as weak as I felt. The silence was deafening, but it did comfort me to some degree. I yawned again and nestled my head into my long, black hair, seeking warmth in this freezer of a dungeon.
Finally, a sound broke the silence. A door opened at the far end of the hallway; I could see light pouring through its rectangular frame. Two figures advanced through the bleak light, though by the time they were halfway down the corridor, I could tell that one of them was unconscious and was being dragged by the other. I expected to see Pegasus, though his man was certainly not him. He was dressed in a shabby black suit, and had grey haired slicked back against his head. He wore sunglasses even though the dungeon was, for the most part, dark. The cell door creaked open, and he carried the smaller figure inside of my confinement. I pulled against my chains, getting as close to the man as I was able. He gave me a quick sideward glance before shackling the smaller body. "Hello, madam," he said, nodding at me.
"Who's that?" I asked, shaking a hand at the smaller one who'd just been chained to the wall. The older man shook his head, and exited the cell, but took the time to lean against the bars and answer me, much to my surprise.
"I don't know his name. But he is just a soulless prisoner of Master Pegasus. There will be many more shortly." With that, the man turned away, and began his walk down the lengthy hallway, and up the stairs. I could tell I'd been left alone with the other prisoner once the rectangle of light disappeared from sight. I glanced at the small prisoner, trying to get a clear sight of whoever they were; sadly, the lighting was inadequate, and I found myself barely being able to judge my company's location, let alone identity or even gender. I assumed by the figure's size that this person must've been younger than I; even though I did not remember my date of birth, I had judged from my body's appearance that I was somewhere in my late teens – yes, that felt about right.
I leaned back against my wall again, watching the sleeping prisoner's breathing, since there was little else to do. After a few minutes, I realized that I was growing tired again. I supposed it made sense, after all, I'd been through a lot recently, and I didn't even remember all of it. I closed my eyes, and without giving much thought to the process at all, drifted off into slumber.
A memory…
I was lying in a bed at a hospital. Nurses and doctors ran back and forth in front of me, though none of them seemed to be doing anything in particular. I took into account their lack of efficiency. I believed I remarked to one of the nurses that I never wanted to become a doctor; she'd laughed in response. At this time, I pinned my age at six years. Finally, someone came in to talk to me directly. He was a large, burley police officer, who seemed to take far too much pride in his occupation. He sat in the chair beside my bed, and for a few minutes, we didn't talk at all. Finally, he reached into his pocket, and removed a chocolate bar. He told me he'd smuggled it into the hospital from a nearby gas station for me, since he knew how awful the hospital food was.
As I munched on the chocolate bar, he explained to me that since my home was still an active crime scene, I'd be moved into an orphanage on the outskirts of Domino City. I remember asking him if there would be other children there for me to play with, and he told me that there would be. I told him that this would work for me; I could barely stand being kept in a hospital bed anymore. He laughed at me, and ruffled my hair with a giant smile plastered across his face. After I'd finished the chocolate bar, he took the wrapper from me, and told me that he'd dispose of the evidence. That made me smile for the first time in a month. He left me there, but returned in a week's time to take me to the orphanage.
As the police car pulled into the orphanage's circular driveway, I could see the other children in the playground. I pressed my face up against the car window, eagerly peering out at all of the other kids. The police man held my hand all the way to the door of the orphanage, where I was left with an older woman with kind eyes. She showed me to my room, which would remain otherwise unoccupied, except for me, over the course of the next four years.
I was apparently an unusual child – I never really got along with the other kids, despite the original thought that I would. Instead, I barely interacted with anyone. Not even the old woman who fed us day in and day out. It wasn't until four years later…
Another soft glow of light disrupted my sleep. The door at the far end of the hallway had been opened again, so I lifted my head to glance at whoever was heading down towards the prison cell. From the bouncing waves of white hair on their shoulders, I determined my guest to be Pegasus. I moved to the steel bars, clutching two of them in my hands, the chains upon my arms and legs clinking behind me as I crawled. Each step that Pegasus took toward me seemed agonizingly slow, and I groaned unconsciously. I heard him laugh, and eventually he stopped, just a few feet away from my prison. He was holding something in a plastic bag in one hand, and an eccentric-looking goblet in the other.
"You haven't eaten for a very long time, nor drank," he commented breathily, kneeling down to push the objects through a small gap under the steel bars. Inside of the bag, there was some sort of pastry-looking thing, as well as another small white pill, like those from before. The goblet contained cold water. Pegasus eyed me carefully as I downed half of my drink, and crammed a piece of the pastry into my mouth. The food and drink was soothing; it had put an end to the feeling of hunger which had rumbled through my stomach the previous time I'd been awake. I slipped the pill into my mouth, chewing it along with a mouthful of the pasty, and swallowed. The remainder of my meal was finished in what I determined to be under a minute.
Pegasus retrieved the empty cup and bag, leaning against the other side of the barred wall. I swallowed again, trying to rid myself of the food's aftertaste. "Thanks," I managed, though not looking directly at my captor. I could tell he nodded though I was not looking at him. We sat in silence for another thirty seconds or so, before Pegasus finally climbed to his feet and began to walk away. "Pegasus," I lightly called after him. He stopped shortly, glancing back over his shoulder. "That memory… why did you return it to me?" Pegasus shrugged in response.
"I had no reason to hold onto that one any longer. It was rather uninteresting, I'm afraid." I let a silence fall over us, and I wasn't expecting him to say anything else, but was not particularly shocked when he turned back to completely face me. "But you never did see your home again. You lived at that orphanage for a very long time. Until you decided that your safety wasn't important, and ventured off." A sudden tightness wound in my stomach, pushing what felt like vomit toward my mouth. I heaved off to the side, knowing it just to be a reaction to my sudden intake of food after who knows how long of not eating. Nothing came out, but my heaving allowed me to take in enough oxygen to settle the stinging in my chest.
"I left the orphanage?" I looked sadly back up at Pegasus. I saw no reason, in that memory at least, as to why I'd ever leave. I had a home, didn't I?
"You were…unhappy there, eventually. I'd love to explain, but that is a tale for another day."
"Damn it Pegasus, please! I need to know!" I shouted, causing the white-haired man to turn away.
"And you eventually shall be privileged with such knowledge. Just not now," he muttered. With that, he began stalking off down the corridor. I said nothing, did not call after him; I knew my efforts would be pointless. I watched the rectangle of light slowly vanishing. But just as that last sliver of light was about to fade away, I heard him call back to me. "Oh! I forgot something. I thought you might want this back. It is yours, after all." There was a clink – a metal object was bouncing through the darkness, catching the glint of light on its surface as it came to a stop at the edge of my cell. I reached my hand under the bars to retrieve it.
It was the metal top from before.