So... This one took me forever to decide with. Did I want to go with two chapters of Mirage? Or just one? Two, or one? That question shall be answered by the end of this chapter. Also, Zion's line at the beginning is 'I don't know, you tell me!' but a couple words got cut because 'Mirage' didn't understand them. Aw well. So, double post today. Mostly because I am really, really behind on updates. Heh, heh... I'll update again as soon as I can be bothered... (Probably later today.)

Well, I'm sure there are a few people happy for this chapter. Asch returns!

"I don't think one little girl validates the use of the word 'they.'" –'Mirage'

Chapter 2.3 – Race, Double Agent!
Part 12

"I...know...tell me! I tell Danté not to kill her, she gets an infection in the knee he shot through that Star can't heal. I tell you not to kill her, you bash her head in! I need her alive, dammit!"

I cringed and groaned.

"Look, she's alive, she's obviously waking up..." another voice grumbled. I growled something, I'm not sure what. All I knew, was that my head felt like someone had decided to use it as target practice for a bunch of flaming arrows... Huh?

"I need her in one piece! She can't do anything if she's a vegetable!" the first voice continued ranting.

"Hey, if you don't want me for something important, I really suggest letting me leave," a third voice interrupted. This one was... feminine? Yes, that's the word I wanted.

"Sorry, Star. Can you check her again, since I think she's waking up?" the first voice said a bit... sheepishly? Why are words so... hard... all of a sudden?

"Hey, can you open your eyes yet?" the... girl... asked. It took me a few minutes, but I did finally figure out how to do that.

And immediately wished I hadn't. "Whoops. Zion, cut the lights," the girl ordered. The red bleeding through my... eyelids... dulled to black, and I dared to open my eyes again.

It was much easier to see now, though I wasn't sure what I was looking at. "Uh..."

"Hi. Remember me?" the girl asked. I blinked. Remember? Remember what?

Then I shot up, banging heads with the girl unintentionally and just making my headache worse. "Ow!"

"Oof! Hey, you shouldn't be sitting up yet! You've got a really bad concussion!" the girl said. I paused and looked up at her.

"Uh... This sounds really stupid, even to me, but... What's a concussion?"

One of the other dark forms in the room moved, and I heard someone groan. "You have got to be fucking kidding me..." the first voice grumbled. I frowned.

"Well sorry if I'm having lots of trouble with words," I grumbled, sarcasm dripping from every syllable. Hey! Bigger words! Yes!

"Nice to see your personality is still intact," the girl said, almost as sarcastically. Then she frowned, looking worried. "What's my name?"

I blinked. "Uh, you'd think you'd know your own name... Uh... Oh, I really hope you didn't mean that, because I don't know..."

The girl sighed. "How about his name?" she asked, pointing to the taller of the other two. I squinted a bit and the figure stepped into the lighter part of the room. My eyes searched up and down the gray outfit, ash-brown hair, and blue eyes, but nothing came to mind.

"No clue."

The girl looked a bit worried now. "Him?" she asked, pointing over her shoulder at the shorter of the males. This one was wearing black, had green hair, and green eyes. I felt like I should know him, but...

"Midori?" I asked sarcastically. The boy raised an eyebrow, and I sighed. "It means 'green'... though I can't remember where I learned that..."

The shorter boy looked worried now as well. "Can you remember anything?" he asked. I frowned, trying to think about that.

Except, nothing was coming up. Not past the massive headache I felt, at least. I shook my head, knowing somehow that this lack of ability to come up with any memories was not a good thing. In fact...

"What's my name?"

The shorter boy grabbed both of his companions and towed them out of the room, and I blinked. Why had they just run off like that? It wasn't like I was going to hurt them... was I?

The shorter of the males walked in then, shaking his head and looking very, very... grr, what's the word? Irritated! That's it!

"I would appreciate if you would please stop pissing my ally off on purpose," the boy said. "That having been said, he's going to go get you a uniform to replace the one you trashed with your little stunt."

I blinked. "What?"

He sighed, now just looking tired. "Van was just trying to knock you out, he didn't mean to give you a concussion, which, if you still can't remember, is a brain injury. You seem to have completely lost your memories, so I'll fill you in on the important stuff, since we really should get going," he said.

"Your name, since you can't seem to remember that either, is Mirage Zephyr. You're a Major serving under Grand Maestro Mohs in the Intelligence Division of the Order of Lorelei, fourth platoon. Your last mission was undercover as a woman named Kairi Balfour. You pulled out of the mission believing it to be in the hands of the God-Generals while attempting to maintain your cover, and the little stunt you pulled ruined what you had been wearing so you switched into your uniform. Unfortunately, that got trashed too between you ditching the Tartarus and running into Van. Remembering any of this yet?"

I frowned, thinking it over. "The name Kairi Balfour sounds familiar... In fact, most of that sounds familiar, but... I can't actually remember any of it," I admitted. The boy sighed.

"In that case, my name is Zion. The older guy who was in here earlier was Van, who you seem to like pissing off, and it would be wonderful if you'd stop for a bit. The girl was my partner, Star," he explained. I nodded. Those names seemed to fit.

Then the girl, Star, walked back in with what appeared to be a sky blue and maroon bundle. "Here. This should fit you," she said. I frowned, picking the bundle apart for a moment as she and Zion left. Then I sighed and slipped out of the bed, pulling the simple white nightgown I was wearing off so I could change.

The uniform didn't feel that familiar, but I figured, if Zion was right, I'd probably been undercover for a long time. Still, something didn't quite sit right with me as I pulled a sky-blue, sleeveless, thigh-length, turtleneck dress on. There was a split up the left side in front, outlined in maroon and shaped like an upside-down tuning fork.

I was just pulling on my boots when Van walked back in with another woman. Oddly, this one seemed very... familiar.

"Mirage, this is Cantabile. She'll take you back to the Tartarus to be briefed by Legretta," Van stated. I frowned, grabbing the maroon coat that I still hadn't bothered with putting on.

"Sure, whatever."

Cantabile looked like she wasn't sure whether to smirk or scream. I wasn't sure why, but it almost made me want to hug her... even though she didn't exactly strike me as the kind of person to enjoy being hugged.

"Let's go," she said, her voice colder than I think she meant it to be. I shrugged the coat on and grabbed the detached sleeves, following her out of the room. I noted quietly that Van didn't follow us. I'm not sure why that bothered me, but it did.

"So, you don't remember anything."

I stared at Cantabile for a moment. Small talk? I really, really didn't expect that, given the almost-glares she's been sending me. "Nope. Not a single... well, that's not true."

"What is it?" she prompted. I frowned. Should I tell her? I get the impression that it won't end well, even if I'm not sure why. Oh well. Won't learn anything if I don't ask questions.

"Who's Sync?"

Cantabile stumbled, practically running into a wall as her gold... eye? Huh, she's wearing an eyepatch... as her eye sought me out. "You remember... him?" she asked. I frowned, not sure why the way she asked that bothered me.

"Just his name, and... flashes of green. And stars. I remember we were talking, and I was looking at the stars..." I said. "I don't remember what it was about. It's just... it's the only thing that's there."

The older woman took a few minutes to catch her breath. Honestly, it looked almost like she was about to cry. "Thank you."

I blinked. "Huh? For what?"

Cantabile looked up at me and smiled, and that urge to hug her came back. "For telling me..."

I finally gave in and hugged the poor woman. Sync must have meant something to her. She stiffened in my grip before I pulled away, finally pulling on the sleeves a bit awkwardly. "I'm sorry. It just... felt right."

Cantabile sighed and shook her head. "Don't worry about it. Come on, we have to get to the Tartarus before Jade and the others reach Kaitzur," she said, turning and moving to leave. I followed her, almost reluctant now.

I'm not sure why, but I felt like Cantabile was leading me into the proverbial lion's den. And maybe she was. But the memories that would have answered that question lay hidden someplace I couldn't reach them.

We stepped out of what appeared to be an inn and I followed the older woman as she headed... north. It took me a moment to figure out which direction was which. We disappeared into the tree line after only a few minutes, but I paused and slipped behind a tree to glance out at the road.

"See? I told you they were catching up."

I frowned. "I don't think one little girl validates the use of the word 'they,'" I said. Cantabile shrugged.

"She's only a day or so ahead of the rest of the group. They'll catch up with her before she can get across the border, since we know for sure she's left her passport on the Tartarus," she told me. "We were headed for the Tartarus, remember?"

I nodded once and turned to continue following her.

The whole time, my mind was racing. The girl had seemed familiar. Dark pigtails, a pink dress, and a white tabard? I knew her. I knew that girl, but where...?

"Who was she?"

Cantabile seemed to stumble again, and she hesitated before answering. "Anise Tatlin. She's an Oracle Knight assigned to the Fon Master as his guard."

This information sat well enough with me, so we continued on in silence. At least, until we reached a landship sitting in the middle of nowhere. Well, that's not quite true. It wasn't the middle of nowhere. But it did seem odd for it to be there. I frowned. "This is... the Tartarus?" I asked. Cantabile nodded.

"Do you remember it? You've been on board multiple times," she said. I shrugged. I didn't really remember it, but it felt familiar, so I figured it was probably because of that.

Cantabile led me up the ramp and onto the landship, and once inside, I couldn't help but feel... more on-edge than usual. As if I was expecting something bad to happen. Maybe I just had a bad record with this landship? Zion did say I had ditched the Tartarus on my last mission.

"Major Zephyr."

I automatically turned toward the new voice and snapped to attention. The woman standing in front of me had a rather emotionless face, but somehow, I got the feeling I had impressed her.

"This is Legretta," Cantabile said. "I'll hand her over to you," she added, this time addressing the other woman. Legretta nodded and she left, before giving me another glance and then turning to leave.

"Come with me," she said, although it wasn't really necessary. I was already following her.

Legretta led me through the halls of the landship until she stopped outside a door and turned to look at me. "I understand that you seem to be having memory difficulties, so I'll make this as simple as possible for you. The boy in this cell believes Kairi Balfour to be his friend and he's done nothing but cause trouble for us since you attempted to fake her death. Obviously, that failed, and his behavior has only gotten worse since then," she stated. "We need him under control. Pretend you still care if you have to, or tell him it was all an act. I don't especially care, so long as it ends with Asch loyal to us and not the memory of a girl who never really existed."

I nodded, even though my heart seemed to have frozen over. "Understood, ma'am."

Legretta unlocked the cell door and let me in, and I started to understand why they seemed so worried.

The boy in question, Asch, if I had heard correctly, was trying to get a metal cuff off of his arm. And I knew, somehow, that if he kept up what he was doing, he'd end up dislocating his thumb in the process.

"That's rather pointless."

The redhead froze.

"Who are you?"

I tilted my head to the side. He hadn't turned around. In fact, he seemed to be forcing himself not to look. Why?

"Major Mirage Zephyr, fourth platoon, Oracle Knights Intelligence Division," I recited. It almost felt right, but something was off.

Asch sighed, as if in relief, and turned to look at me. At which point, his eyes went wide, and he shook his head for a few moments before turning back around and sitting down on the opposite side of the wooden pillar in the middle.

"Go away."

"I'm afraid I can't."

"Why not?"

"I'm under orders."

Asch spun around, his green eyes, so filled with denial before, now radiating an utter rage that struck a familiar chord in my mind.

A confused blonde teenage girl glanced back and forth between me and a slightly younger, black-haired male.

"Is Asch's temper really that bad?"

"Since when have you ever followed orders?!" he screamed.

I smirked. "I haven't."

Then the smirk turned into a frown. Why had I said that?

Asch had gone back to looking like he had seen a ghost. "What happened to you?" he asked. I shrugged.

"I stopped pretending," I said. But Asch shook his head.

"No..." he said. "You... Your Energies aren't right."

Energies?

I blinked a few times, then shook my head. "I'm sorry. I have no idea what you're talking about."

Asch frowned and sat down, leaning back against the pillar and closing his eyes as if to take a nap. I was wondering what he was doing when I felt something... prodding me. From the inside. Like... like there was something under my skin, trying to break out. I'm not sure how, but I pushed back, and there was a pause before whatever it was started prodding again.

This time, I pushed back harder, only to find myself staring at a transparent Asch. I blinked a few times, and Asch scowled.

*Quit pushing. I think I've figured out what's wrong,* he told me. Except, his voice was in my head. It seemed familiar, his voice being in my head, but it was weird anyway.

The transparent Asch raised his hands, one hovering over each of my temples, and I felt something snap before it all went black.

Fun Fact: Microsoft Word suddenly thought 'Chapter' was misspelled French...

Colored Ripples: Red - Mirage (Not up yet. I realize I really need to get my butt in gear and start getting these up.)