Rainbow's Thought Volcano: Hi, everyone! With any luck, the chapters should be written and uploaded every two/three weeks from now on. I'll make updates as often as I can.

We're finally starting to get into the meat of things! At long last, we meet Feli, though he's a bit heartbroken. Don't worry, though. The docs will have him fixed up soon enough. This chapter is more setup for the mystery, and more explanations of how Sig Corp employees do their jobs. With plenty of arguing Brits and Americans. Enjoy!

Chapter 3: Moonwisher

When their senses returned, Arthur and Alfred found themselves in Feliciano's room, upstairs. The room was fuzzy and faded, like an old photograph. The bed was neatly made, though lacking Feliciano. Eliza and Dr. Edelstein were also missing from the room, dismissing any doubts that the scientists had entered Feliciano's memories.

"This should be the last accessible memory. Disable speech for all except Feli," Arthur ordered, adjusting to the scenery. No matter how many times he jumped into the past, it still jostled him every time. Which he supposed was a good thing, since he didn't want to get used to it. Alfred slid back his lab coat sleeve and pressed a few buttons on his watch. A faint tone sounded above their heads, and Alfred flashed a thumbs up.

The scientists traversed downstairs hesitantly. The world they were in was entirely of Feliciano's memories. If he only remembered part of the stairs, they would fall down into darkness. Thankfully, all of the stairs were intact. As well as the entire front room, complete with its lush, comfortable furniture and silent grandfather clock. It seemed that the home was important to Feliciano since he could remember so much of it. Or perhaps it was simply because this memory was so recent.

The pair continued outside and noticed that the pathway towards the bottom of the cliff was missing, so they followed another path around to the back of the house. They finally found Feliciano, gazing over the cliff at the lighthouse below. Eliza sat on a wooden bench beside him, knitting a scarf.

"Feli?" Arthur asked, approaching the man in question. He turned around to see who had called his name before sporting a gentle smile. He stood up with great effort, his back and knees cracking in the process.

"What a pleasant surprise. . . We don't get many visitors around here," he said, coming closer to the two. His voice had a twinge of an Italian accent, though sounded mostly old and tired.

"My name is Dr. Arthur Kirkland, and this is-. . ."

"Evil Dr. Porkchop . . . Mr. Evil Dr. Porkchop," Alfred answered. A small noise of annoyance slipped through Arthur's mouth.

". . . Dr. Alfred Jones." Arthur paused long enough to cast a glare in Alfred's direction before continuing. "Are you familiar with the Sigmund Agency of Life Generation? Colloquially known as Sig Corp?"

"Oh, are you two from the agency? How convenient; I've just been thinking of calling you." Feliciano gave a small smile. His eyes always seemed to close whenever he smiled. "Eliza, could you go and grab us some tea please?"

Eliza didn't move or react in any way.

". . . Eliza?"

"Actually, you've already called us," Alfred explained. He lifted his sleeve, pressing a button on his watch. Eliza faded into thin air. "We're here to fulfill our contract from the relative future."

Feliciano, now terrified, began backing away from Arthur and Alfred.

"Careful there. If you slip off the cliff, we're gonna have to reload this memory," Alfred warned. Arthur deftly smacked his arm.

"Watch it, Alfred. Show some respect," he hissed. Alfred rubbed his arm where it was hit.

"Hey, it's just a program y'know," he whispered back.

"I know. But this is his last accessible memory, and we need its co-operation."

"Worst comes to worst, we can just reboot it," Alfred reasoned with a shrug.

"Why would you waste time like that?" Arthur glared at his partner.

"You . . ." came Feliciano's sudden voice. The two stopped their whispered banter and turned to face their client. "Are you here to take me to the moon?"

"Yes, Feliciano," Arthur answered, relieved that their patient had come to an understanding. The old man closed his eyes, deep in thought. He exhaled a heavy breath.

". . . I suppose I had a good run," he finally said.

"Not good enough, it seems," Alfred reminded. A small, humorless laugh escaped from Feliciano's mouth.

"So, can you do it? Can you take me to the moon?" he pleaded. His auburn eyes were jaded and ragged in the same way that Alfred's and Arthur's were. But with that question, they seemed suddenly saturated with hope.

"We can't, but you might be able to," Arthur answered. As always, he was careful to be honest to his clients.

"Why do you want to go there?" Alfred asked. Feliciano shook his head.

"I don't know."

"It's fine, you can tell us. It's essential for helping us get you there," Arthur explained, taking a step closer to assure the old man. Feliciano took no notice.

"Do you want the fame? The money? You've got to have a motive," Alfred reasoned. He too took a step towards Feliciano.

"I'm sorry, but I really don't know." He squeezed his eyes shut and concentrated as hard as he could, but quickly gave it up. He glanced behind him to the bright moon, on the verge of being full. Something about it pulled him to it, as if he was a lost sailor and the gently glowing stone was his homeland. "I just . . . do."

"I can already tell this is gonna be a pain in the ass," Alfred murmured. Arthur ignored him, though silently agreed with him.

"Nevertheless, Feli, here's what we will do . . . we need to get to your childhood, but it is too distant to do so in one memory hop. Thus, we will need to traverse through your memories with gradual backward leaps," Arthur explained.

"Which you've given us the permission to do in the relative future," Alfred added.

"Once we lay down the waypoints in your childhood memories for direct access, we will return here. That's when you'll need to help us influence the childhood you to become an astronaut," Arthur pressed.

"Or hop on a giant catapult," Alfred reasoned, with a bit of a silent chuckle.

". . . The point is, you'll need to have more to say than just 'I don't know'." Without knowing Feliciano's motive, it would be nearly impossible to find an effective way to get him to the moon. Luckily, they had some time. But would it be enough? Arthur could only hope it would be.

Feliciano shook his head slightly. All of the science terms and strange processes were starting to hurt his brain. "As long as you can take me to the moon, I will cooperate in any way I can."

"Good," Arthur nodded. "Now, in order to leap to a memory . . . we need an item that is of importance to you. Do you have a memento of some sort to get us started?"

Without missing a beat, Feliciano produced a blue and yellow paper rabbit. Alfred gasped.

"Arthur! That's the one I found at the lighthouse!" Sure enough, Alfred produced the same rabbit from his breast pocket, though the paper was paler. And, while it was the same object, it didn't carry the same weight. The one Alfred held was from the present, while the one Feliciano held was from his memories. Alfred's rabbit was one that Feliciano didn't have any connection to yet.

"That'll work," Arthur confirmed. He glanced at his partner. "Well? Shall we?"

"Ladies first," Alfred replied with as much elegance as he could muster. Arthur promptly jabbed him in the stomach. As Alfred clutched his wound, Arthur walked up to Feliciano's rabbit. He touched it gently to allow it to activate. The memento flashed brightly, and as the light faded, so too did the pair of scientists. As they disappeared, Feliciano stared after them pensively.

Alfred and Arthur appeared once again in Feliciano's home. This time, however, in place of the full and beautiful furniture were hundreds and hundreds of paper rabbits. The chairs and dining room table were gone. The fireplace was gone. The unticking grandfather clock was gone. The only thing that remained was the piano, where Feliciano sat now. He played the same song the children were playing earlier, but with more expertise and more weight. Laying on top of the piano was the crude creature that Alfred saw in the basement, the stuffed animal that semi-resembled a platypus. It stared at the piano player with hollow and sunken beady eyes.

"Turn off visibility and interactivity; it would be messy to be seen," Arthur ordered. Alfred sighed and tapped a few buttons on his wrist watch. The two scientists became transparent.

"You've got an earpiece. Why don't you turn off your own?"

"But your watch is much more efficient. Besides, you've already done it, have you not?"

"One of these days, Kirkland, I'll knock you off that high horse of yours." Arthur wanted to smack his partner, but their transparency made that task rather difficult. He settled for rolling his eyes. Alfred took a step forward into the room and drank in the unsettling scenery.

"Geez, I forgot to ask him about all these . . . rabbits," Alfred muttered. He took a deep breath and shuddered. "This is creeping me out. We probably should have checked his record for psychopathy first."

Suddenly, the piano notes halted. Alfred and Arthur turned in surprise to face Feliciano's back at the piano.

"What the—? Did he hear me?" Alfred asked slowly.

"That's impossible. It's probably just part of his memory," Arthur reasoned. Silence hung in the air around them.

A loud BONG came. The pair jumped and saw that Feliciano had slammed his hands and head onto the keyboard. The BONGS continued for a few more seconds before being replaced by quiet, quivering breaths. A single tear rolled down his cheek and plopped gently onto the piano.

". . . I stand by my point," Alfred added.

Arthur sighed. His partner's ability to sense the mood truly was atrocious. "Anyways, enough blabbering. Let's find a memento to jump from. Remember, we need five memory links before we can access the memento."

"What a pain. We accessed the first memory just fine, didn't we?"

"All of the memories beyond that point will be too faded to directly activate the memento. Come on, Alfred, you know this!"

"Yeah," Alfred admitted, "I just like to push your buttons."

"I'll push you off the cliff once we can access it again!" Arthur threatened. Alfred laughed, and the two set off to exploring the room.

In the corner, they found the yellow-and-blue rabbit from earlier. The scientists heard the tell-tale sound of a memory link activating. One down, four to go. However, as opposed to searching for the next ones right away, Alfred glared at the paper rabbit and crossed his arms.

"Well, aren't you special? Having two colors while the rest of your siblings look like they drowned in bleach." Alfred paused a moment, pretending to be listening intently to a faint voice. "What's that? You think you're really creepy? Hey, I completely agree!" Arthur decided to abandon his partner's childish horseplay and went upstairs.

The area had a few more furnishings, complete with Feliciano's bed, a vase of flowers, a bookshelf, and the three paintings that Arthur saw in the present, though they were faded and gray. He also noted a jar on Feliciano's bedside table. As Arthur approached the bookshelf, another version of Feliciano appeared in the room. Seeing as how it was simply a dream world, it was possible for him (and others, for that matter) to be in two places at once.

Alfred lumbered up the stairs and found Arthur examining a book on the shelf. Even from far away, he could tell it was The Emperor's New Clothes by Hans Christian Andersen. He walked forward to interact with the Feliciano in the bedroom.

"Don't," Arthur barked. "If we had to explain our presence to him at every memory, I'd go crazy."

"Don't tempt me," Alfred retorted, though he backed away. Arthur returned the book to its rightful place on the shelf and the pair examined the jar. It was filled with pickled olives.

"Peh, I hate this stuff," Alfred whined.

"What's to hate? It's pickled olive!" Arthur replied.

". . . Exactly."

Arthur chuckled slightly. The two returned downstairs to find an old, blue umbrella where the fireplace should've been if the house's furniture still intact. The moment Arthur's fingers made contact with it, a bright sphere appeared around it.

"Looks like the memento," Arthur commented. Alfred nodded and held up his hands to allow the memory links stored in his watch to flow to the memento.

"HADOOUUUKEN!" Alfred shouted as the memory links flew into the umbrella.

"What the floundering fish sticks was that!?" Arthur cried, exasperated.

Alfred blinked owlishly. "What?"

Arthur sighed. "That's it. I'm doing the rest of the mementos from now on." Alfred grinned sheepishly. Arthur activated the blue umbrella, and the old photograph of a house faded slowly from their view as they traversed deeper into Feliciano's memories.

Rainbow's Thought Volcano: I gotta say, guys, I absolutely love this story. It's incredibly dear to my heart. The song this chapter is named after, Moonwisher, is my second favorite in the whole soundtrack. And I wrote lyrics for it. (God I'm such a trashy nerd.) I figure I may as well put them here so you guys have something to read while waiting for my next update. You're welcome to use these lyrics if you want, as long as you credit me and send me a link. ;) (Mild spoiler warning).

Moonwisher by Kan Gao, Lyrics by Rainbow Volcano

In the night

Stars are bright

Like your eyes high in the sky

In the night

I will be there

In the place that we had danced

Oh, my love

I'm wishing on the moon

.

Late at night

I'll stay right

By her side only for you

Late at night

Though I'll shed so

Many sad tears

They're for you

All for you...

I'm wishing on the moon