Maria woke up to find herself laying on cold, smooth concrete in darkness. There was light coming from a small lightbulb implanted in the top of the ceiling which was just enough to illuminate the bars on her cell, but that was it. There weren't any windows. She sat up and saw that she, Emily, Arthur, Alfred, and Emily were each in their own cell. Maria's cell walls were probably ten feet in length and width and the ceiling seemed to match the pattern, forming a bleak cube of grey bars and walls around her. Everyone seemed to be awake except for Alice and Alfred. She leaned back and thought until the two woke up and Arthur got everyone's attention.
"We need to find out what day it is, our location, and the time if possible."
"Why is that?" Alice asked.
"Because the World Meeting is Friday." After briefly explaining to the girls what the nations did, or tried to do, at the meetings, Arthur said, "This one is in the building where Alice first saw each other near."
"Well I don't think we're gonna be able to attend this one," said Alfred.
"No, one of us needs to go and alert the others. That way, we'll have reinforcements on the outside to help us get out of here."
"Um, Iggy?" Alfred said. "How is even one of us gonna get out of here?"
"I can try to save enough energy to teleport someone out."
"Why don't you teleport yourself out?" asked Maria.
"It is much easier to concentrate on another person, and I'll need as much concentration as possible if this is going to work."
They stopped discussing their plans of escape when a door at the end of the room opened, letting in bright artificial light as three figures walked in. It was a frizzy-haired nurse flanked by two buff guards. She looked at her clipboard and said, "I need subject E; Alice Kirkland."
The guards opened Alice's cage and each grabbed one of her arms tightly, which wasn't really necessary. They escorted her out, following the nurse, and the door closed behind them, killing the light. What seemed like hours later, Alice returned the same way she had left and was locked back in her cell.
"Subject A; Emily Jones."
The guards took Emily away, who tried her best to look as nonchalant as possible. As soon as the door closed behind them, Alice told the others what had happened.
"They took my blood and did a lot of calculations and measurements. When I was alone with the nurse, I managed to get the information from her that it was for figuring out the proper dosage of the memory drug. She said that we would be given it in three days, which is Friday."
"Do you know our location?" Arthur asked.
"No, she was really strict about that. Although, I'm assuming that we are still fairly near your house because it is only 12:30 in the afternoon."
"Yes, we can't be too far away," Arthur agreed.
"...I think the nurse is on our side," Alice said.
"What makes you say that?"
"She slipped me a piece of paper that told me not to worry. I know we shouldn't trust any of them yet, but I'm just telling you what happened. You can make of it what you wish."
After this conversation, they passed the time by chatting and pretending that they weren't locked in cells. Emily soon returned and Arthur traded places with her. The nurse and the two guard continued to return and leave until everyone had been called up. They were served little bowls of soup later on and somehow managed to fall asleep on the cold, hard floor.
That night, Alice dreamt. She dreamt of dozens of magic spells she had mastered in the past, their names, how to use them, and what they were used for. When she woke up the next morning, or, what they all thought was morning, she remembered some.
She decided to use one of them when a particularly unwanted came in for a visit.
A tall, skinny woman stepped out of her bright blue buick and locked it over her shoulder. She made her way toward the guards of the secret building holding the subjects in England. Her teal high heels clacked on the grey parking lot and her strawberry blonde hair flipped back and forth, swinging from its position in a pony tail. She importantly flashed her card and a smile at the guards who let her pass.
She felt the need to visit the escapees who she had helped recapture. After all, if it wasn't for her cunning, they would definitely not be in custody right now.
Those idiots would be chasing their tails without me!
The woman had convinced the Boss to let her oversee the process of the memories being taken once again, so she would be staying at least until Friday. Ignoring the annoyed looks she got from most of the workers, she strode through the blindingly white hallways in the direction of the room which held the cells. They're just jealous that I have special permission, she thought to herself.
After receiving a hesitant wave-through from the worker guarding the cell room, the woman walked into the dimly-lit room and waited for the captives to start cowering before her. Unfortunately, all she got was, "Patricia? Why the Hell are you here?" from Emily.
"I just heard about you all getting caught, so I wanted to come visit! Ya know, cheer you up," she said with mock sympathy.
"You came here to gloat," Maria corected. "You turned us in."
"Yeah," Emily said. "If you want to cheer us up, then the door is over there."
"Well that sure wasn't the greeting I hoped for," Patricia pouted. "Anyway, I just dropped in to see y'all before you forget this whole little adventure of yours. And I'm sure you'll be pleased to know that I'll be standin' by to watch you get injected with the memory drug."
Everyone moaned, which just cheered Patricia up. The last thing they needed was someone as annoying as Patricia being present in their last knowing moments.
"I'll see y'all again Friday, and maybe even sooner because I'll be stayin' here until then, so I might dro in to say 'hi' every so often!" she said enthusiastically. "Toodles!"
Patricia walked, seemingly skipped, back out of the room.
"Well isn't she just a ray of sunshine," Emily sarcastically said.
"I blame Iggy," Alfred said with a grin.
"Wait, what? Why me?!"
"Because you're British!"
Arthur launched into a lengthy argument on why that made absolutely no sense, and Alfred glanced over at Alice, who tried unsuccessfully to hide a grin.
As long as Alice is smiling...wait, what am I thinking?! Alfred hastily looked away from Alice, blushing in the dark, and hoping no one had noticed.
Of course, you can probably guess you did notice.
Luckily for Alfred, Emily decided that now was not the time and that she would tell Alice later, assuming they ever got out with their memories still fresh in their heads.
"...And another thing: being British does not mean-."
"Okay, okay, I get it dude!" Alfred finally interrupted Arthur. "Chill out, I was just joking!"
Arthur huffed and looked away.
"...Um, guys? I have something to tell you." It was Alice who spoke, and she did so tentatively, though there was excitement in her voice. When she saw that everyone was looking at her, she said, "Last night, I dreamt of magice spells and now I remember how to do some of them!"
"That's amazing!" Arthur said.
"That's not all." Alice smiled and brought forth something from behing her back for everyone to see: a ring full of keychains and car key.
"Where did you get that?" Maria asked in awe.
"I teleported it from Patricia's pocket to me. Now whoever goes to the World Meeting will be able to get there quicker. I realized yesterday that whoever went would need to know where this building was in order for him or her to lead the other nations here, and in order for them to know, they would need to be close. Therefore, transportation would be needed as a disguise."
"So a car is perfect cover!" Emily finished. "Dang, it's lucky you thought of that!"
"Yes, I'm glad I realized it." Lookig over at Arthur, she said, "I'll also be able to help you teleport someone out because I remember the spell now."
Arthur nodded. "That is true."
They were talking quite happily after this as if they were not being held captive but instead relaxing back at Arthur's place.
At one point, they even attempted to play a game of Truth or Dare, suggested and pleadedby Emily. It soon ended because a) they couldn't be dared to do anything out of their cells and b) they couldn't ask many Truths for those who only had memory lasting a year.
Later, they were individually taken for more testing, measurements and whatnot, and they returned to more bowls of soup, these much larger to compensate for Breakfast and Dinner. After some asking on Alice's part, the frizzy-haired nurse, Madison, hung a small digital clock on the wall across from the cells. Emily was able to locate the list of what order they would go in to be rid of their memories, and quickly memorized it before the doctor (no, not the Doctor. Silly Whovians.) turned back around. She told the others the schedule once everyone was present.
"Arthur goes at 9:30, Alfred at 9:45, me at 10:00, Alice at 10:15, and Maria at 10:30."
"Maria needs to go then," insisted Arthur. "She is scheduled at the latest, so we must take advantage of that."
No Francis on the list. Maybe he got out? Arthur hopefully thought to himself.
No one argued Arthur's statement, but Maria looked a bit uncomfortable with the responsibility of everyone's escape being given to her. "At least tell me where the building is."
Arthur wrote the address on Maria's hand with a Wacky pen he found on Patricia's keyring.
"Alright, how will I know which car is her's?"
"It's...bright blue," Emily said.
"Ah."
"I will teleport you at around 8 in the morning the day after tomorrow," Arthur told her. "But for now, let's try getting some sleep."
Alice looked up at the newly installed clock and saw that it was already past nine o'clock. She, along with the others, agreed that sleep was probably a good idea. But it didn't come easy to any of them.
After all, what if the plan failed?
A/N so they name the subjects and targets like this:
Subject: Those who lost their memory for entire life
Target: Those who only lost their memories of the siblings
After that, it's the letter of the country they represent.
There it is! Now hopefully you understand the method behind my madness. Well...nevermind, I'm still prett insane.