So the Internet is locked at all times except 3-4, and 8-10. Which sucks. Hpmor ended, which was bittersweet for me. I had a really nice time putting a soundtrack to this, but sadly, you'll never really get to hear it. Enjoy the story.

Somebody save me

I'm a fragile little thing

Somebody help me

This story that I sing

I want to dance,

I want to die

I want to dance with Death

I want to throw away that memory

Chapter 22: Broken Dreams, pt. 2

Okay, stupidity aside, it had been a good idea at the time. Amber had to remind herself never to set off an incredibly destructive magical fire inside a nigh-invulnerable room ever again. However, at the moment she was lying flat on the floor, unable to move, but still conscious. The books had said it needed one drop of blood as sacrifice, and that an inexperienced user could summon it, but the amount of mana it took to fuel fiendfyre was staggering. Amber lasted only about thirty seconds before she had very nearly passed out.

Of course, Minoru and Garrett were there, too, but the flames were so wild that they were pinned to the wall.

Minoru was staring at right ahead, wishing he had memorized a more powerful water charm. His wand trembled in his hand, and he couldn't concentrate hard enough to focus his mana. The one spell he tried had fizzled out before his eyes. The equations involved with manipulating reality just fell apart as if the wrong numbers had been inserted into the problem.

On the other hand, Garrett was even more fearful than the youngster beside him. He could feel the heat encroaching upon them. The crackle of flames seemed like thunder. He wanted to shut his eyes, but it would have been useless. All he could do was stand near the wall and tremble.

He had known this was a bad idea, but his partner was always so adamant about leaving.

She knew he was afraid of fire, but still...Amber had gone through with this failed plan. The girl on fire who had roped him into this mystical world.

Screaming. In the back of his mind, he could hear the strangled cries for help. Memories playing back on an infinite loop; one of his first recovered memories...

Falling and falling

Rolling and tumbling

The memories came tumbling

Down

...

He and Amber were riding in a limo, chatting about something frivolous. They were on their way to school, and as usual, they were making good time. He sat elbow to elbow with the girl, their hands intertwined. He was laughing about some silly pun she had made up on the spot. The limo was rounding the corner of the road, and it was slightly foggy, as it usually was on these mountainous Californian roads.

An explosion rocked the cabin. A burst of light and heat blew them apart. The entire limo rolled down the mountain, rolling end over end.

He had tried to protect her, but after the third revolution, they were wrenched apart.

When he had gained consciousness, there was screaming.

Fire was everywhere.

In the distance, he could see where Amber had landed. She was awake, and the source of the screaming. Smiling above her was a girl. A girl with light blue hair. The girl had a strange long weapon with two blades.

The blades were stained in blood, and the tip one of them was embedded in the middle of Amber's thigh.

Garrett couldn't speak. He wanted to reach out and help her. However, nothing was moving. Was his spine broken? A coldness in the back of his head seemed to blossom. It was spreading to his arms and legs. He could feel the life draining away from him along with his blood.

The screaming was not stopping. It keened on and on without letting up.

The flames licked at his useless arms and legs. When the fire washed over him, it was like his skin had been plunged into acid. He could not yell out in pain, but merely close his eyes and let the everlasting darkness overtake his soul.

I want to

I want to

Throw away that memory!

...

He awoke to the light intrusion of a kind mind. From the model number alone, he could tell it was Mrs. Takeda. It had been one of the first things he memorized upon meeting her.

"Garrett!"

From the darkness, he heard a voice.

"Garrett!"

Oh, at least his auditory functions were still working. Hideki was calling him.

As part of his restarting procedure, Garrett reinitialized his visual input processes and opened his eyes, adjusting his optics as he did.

That had been mildly embarrassing. He had crashed. That was new. It was the Persocom equivalent of fainting, more or less, but he was surprised that it had happened to him. He had never actually crashed before, from what his logs showed.

Now they were outside of that accursed room, evidently dragged out of there by their friends.

"Lee-Young-san!"

Another voice; not for him, but for his partner. Garrett glanced over to her. Junji was trying to hold her in a sitting position, but she wasn't lucid enough to support herself fully. Her eyes lolled around, not quite looking at anyone in particular.

The older mage had tried to revive her with a healing spell without much effect. He tried shaking her.

Nothing was working.

'Figures,' thought Garrett, moving over to her and taking her head into his hand. 'This isn't a wound a simple spell can fix.' Like him, maybe the flames had reminded her of something. If that was the case, then spells definitely wouldn't help.

For all he knew it probably was something that would wear off in a minute or so, but for now she was somewhat useless.

Junji looked over the young girl and sighed. "I'm sorry, Garrett, but I don't know what to do."

"She summoned fiendfyre," said Garrett softly. He was already on his feet, but his partner was still recovering.

Upon hearing this, Junji's eyes widened. "She could have killed you all! What was she thinking?" Such a spell was infamous for turning on its caster. She was lucky to have been merely knocked unconscious, instead of being burned to a crisp.

Garrett couldn't say what she had been thinking, but he didn't try to explain.

At that moment, the warehouse began to shake.

Rebooting...

A deep rumbling noise echoed in the large, empty space. From the far end of the building, the bloodied form of Dr. Lestat dragged towards them, pointing a gun at the crew of seven people. Behind her, Johan and his hammer were not far behind.

"No one is taking those three away from us," she said. "And if you even try to signal your little sniper friend, I'll fry half of you with an EMP. The other half? I'll blow your brains out."

"Mistress has that ability," confirmed Johan cheerfully. "In the event of her death, I am to initiate the procedure."

"So," she punctuated the sentence with an angry snarl, "you would-be saviors, step away."

Minoru eyed the stump of an arm left back on the enemy mage. It had stopped bleeding, due to a spell, most likely, but the tattered sleeve barely surrounding it was ringed in red.

"If you think—," began Minako, taking a step forward. She lifted her blades.

"Go."

Everybody looked to Amber. Was she crazy? Moreover, she was already awake!? In moment the doctor had distracted them, Amber had recovered enough to speak, more or less. They had come all this way to save the three of them. A threat like that was scary, but no one could be sure of its veracity.

"You don't have to pretend to—," Hideki started to say, but he was interrupted by Amber again.

"I do. And it's not pretend." From Garret's arms, Amber gave a dagger-sharp look to their captor. "Dr. Lestat, There are sigils engraved in the floor, am I right?"

The doctor looked contemplative for five seconds. "Correct. If you three try to leave, well..."

Looking to the floor, Amber bit her lip. "Takeda-san, Hideki, Chii...go to the exit." The crazy heiress climbed to her feet, waving away any help from her partner.

"But Chii wants to help!"

Ignoring this request, Hideki picked up his girlfriend bridal-style.

"Hideki, let Chii go," protested the blonde, "Chii wants to help."

"Minako..." Junji put a hand on his wife's shoulder.

Clicking her tongue, Minako looked away from the scene unfolding in front of her. She knew what that meant. The way he said her name was all she needed. But still...

"This isn't right," said Minako bitterly, following after their younger friends.

"You may watch," said Dr. Lestat, not even glancing to watch the procession of people retreating to the doorway they had burst into. "There isn't anything you can do, besides that."

After the four rescuers were where they were instructed to stand, the doctor and her assistant began to walk. Dr. Lestat kept her gun trained on them as she and Johan carefully stepped backwards, away from them. When they had gone quite a significant distance, Dr. Lestat smiled and stopped in her place.

"You intend to make this a game don't you?" Noticing that Minoru was beside her, Amber brought him close, hugging him around the shoulder.

"It is called 'The Game', dear butterfly." Dr. Lestat said this without much passion, and tilted her head to the side. "Adeat!"

Her voice seemed to make the whole area dim, and the rumbling grew louder in intensity. Below their feet, a glowing light shone forth in an ever-changing hue. The sigils impressed on the floor were moving. A scraping sound, one of metal against metal, screeched through the warehouse. All the humans, save for Dr. Lestat, covered their ears to protect themselves from the awful noise. Before their eyes, the ground was twisting and turning. The large, thin lines of the sigils were changing and widening.

"If you survive this...my true artefact... 'The Arcana of Time'...then you may leave."

Time, huh? The only thing she could never trust again.

Is it wrong to wish to be seen?

Your words are hollow,

And removed from Hope.

Do you love me?

Or am I just...a toy?

So time is running out quickly. Yeah. I hope I get to finish this. I keep proofreading, but I should probably quadruple-check. Chiao for now.