Disclaimer: not mine
Chapter 6
Riku stared down at Sora, in the dream he looked like how he remembered. Sora moving away from him, saying he wasn't real, that hurt so much. No wonder the bond had snapped, if Sora had forgotten him…he stroked the soft cheek under his hand. "Please Sora, try to remember. I'm coming to you but I've hit a dead end. I need you to guide me the rest of the way." He pressed his forehead to Sora's and began to hum the song they had created in the Symphony of Sorcery to free Mickey, made from two Sound Ideas, one each.
He stared into blue eyes, praying for any sign of recognition. It was a million times worse than Castle Oblivion. He hadn't seen Sora with his altered memories and even if he had, Sora still would have known him there. His own memories of Sora had faded, he'd never lost them fully like so many had, but they had been hazy until near the end of the restoration.
He felt Sora tremble slightly and fought back tears at how wary he was. Even when they'd fought at Hollow Bastion, Sora had been afraid for him, not of him.
"R…Riku?" Sora asked, eyes wandering over his face.
"It's me Sora, I'm here," he swore. He couldn't help stroking Sora's cheek, wondering what he truly looked like now.
"I do not understand. Are you telepathic? Human telepaths are so rare and the scans show my original species is human."
Riku didn't know what to think or say to that. 'Original species' kind of terrified him though. "I'm human, I'm also a Dream Eater, your Dream Eater. You were attacked in your Dreams and I entered them without realising it to protect you, becoming a Dream Eater. That bond snapped just after you disappeared, the last thing I felt from you was pain and terror. It came back so gradually I didn't even realise it at first and then I had to wait for it to become strong enough to use without risking damage to either of us."
Whatever had happened to Sora, they could deal with it once he physically found him. He wanted to hug him, hold him close and never let go, but he knew it would be too much for Sora if he didn't know him anymore. "I would never hurt you Sora, you are the best friend I could ever wish for. Yes, there was…trouble when you were fourteen, but you forgave me even when I couldn't forgive myself. You've always been the light to me Sora, so please, show me the way," he pleaded.
"I do not know how," Sora whispered, staring up at him, and Riku saw it, a flicker of recognition.
"Yes you do, in here," he moved his hand to rest over Sora's heart. He looked up as the beach scene flickered, seeing the dim image of three children down by the water. So Sora did remember something of him.
Sora followed his gaze to the children. "The girl, her name, is it Kairi?" Sora asked.
"Yeah, that's Kairi. She's our best friend, we've all been through so much together," Riku explained.
The beach flickered again. "My Regeneration cycle is ending."
"Is it always at the same time?" Riku asked, not sure what it was but he figured it was another way of saying sleep. Sora hesitated but then nodded. "I'm coming Sora, I will find you," he swore even as the dream world faded and he found himself back on the ship.
He'd found him! There was so much that he'd said…he hesitated but then picked up his Gummiphone to call Ienzo. Of the scientists, he was the easiest to get along with. He would need to call Kairi too and let her know he'd finally made real contact….and to warn her that Sora didn't remember them.
So much of what he'd said made no sense to Riku, but it wasn't just that, even the way he talked was different, it felt stiff and formal. Was that because he'd lost his memory? He had to believe that Sora would remember someday, he'd seen that flicker, and Sora had seemed to almost recognise him at the beginning. The three kids on the beach, they hadn't come from him, that had been Sora's memory. Which meant at least some of his memories were still there.
There was hope, he just had to physically find him.
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Sora opened his eyes on the cargo bay, internal chronometer telling him he had two hours before his shift began. He stepped down from his alcove, mind spinning.
"Sora?" Seven called, and he looked over at her. "You were slow coming out of your cycle, is everything alright?"
"I do not know. Do you dream?" he asked.
Seven stared at him. "No, did you dream?" she asked.
"I think I might have. But I was still aware of being in my alcove. And I saw him, Riku, but my age, not the child. He said he is trying to find me."
"There are species that can infiltrate the sleeping mind, but Regeneration is not sleep," she agreed. "You should report to the Doctor for a scan, if necessary Commander Tuvok could provide a telepathic examination if you still feel unsettled. Just remember to inform Lieutenant Torres if you will be late or unable to make your shift."
"Thank you Seven." He was always grateful for her advice. She had been free for longer than he had, knew more about how to deal with all of the changes.
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The Doctor ran the scanners over Sora, looking for any change in chemicals within his body, especially his brain. "All of your scans are coming back normal Sora. Little is known about the long term effects for freed members of the Collective. There have been too few, most have been killed in battle and Captain Picard is not a relevant comparison due to the vast difference in age and remaining technology. You are also physically younger than any of the others, your body still finishing its development. It is possible that your mind could be finding a way to dream in order to deal with everything. If you are still concerned, I can contact Commander Tuvok."
"I think that may be best for the safety of the ship," the boy told him, and the Doctor nodded, moving to contact Tuvok.
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Tuvok slowly ended the mind meld, sitting back as Sora blinked back to full awareness. "It is a memory, not simply a dream. As far as I am able to discern, that conversation truly happened. I cannot detect any mental tampering, your mind remains as it was." That was good, Sora had found his place in the crew, to have suspicion brought on him due to dreams could ruin all he been building for his new life.
For someone who had been so badly mentally violated, his news was an obvious relief. "Have you ever heard of Dream Eaters?"
"I have not," Tuvok admitted. "However, there are still mysterious in the universe."
"If he is really the Riku from my memories, if he can find me…"
"You are a member of this crew Sora and you will always have a home on Voyager," he assured the teenager.
He had four children of his own, he knew how difficult such a developmental stage could be and that was with children taught from a young age to control their emotions, and without the Borg being involved. "Do you wish me to speak to the Captain?"
"It is my past that may show up, should I not tell her?" Sora asked.
"Very well, I shall accompany you for support."
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"Your thoughts?" She asked, looking to her oldest friend.
"If it truly is his friend and he can find Sora, it may be the best thing for him. Having someone he knew with him may speed his memory recovery. I have run a search and there is nothing on the term 'Dream Eater'. Should he arrive I recommend caution until we are sure of his intentions. Sora has become a part of the crew, he works alongside of us and has made friends, we have a duty to protect him even if he is not a Federation citizen. From what I have glimpsed in Sora's memories…I do not believe his home has the technology to support his needs."
"How can that be?"
"There are colony worlds that eschew technology, they may be from one of those. Although that would then raise the question of how his friend could find him."
"Not to mention travel seventy light years across the galaxy," she pondered. If the boy was so certain he could find Sora, then they would need to remain on the lookout.
"Indeed."
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Sora sat on the couch in his quarters, reading more about Starfleet rules and procedures, there were a lot, even for someone with the ability to store information. He knew what the Borg had known and considered worth disseminating to the Collective. They had not seen most of it as relevant so he had a lot to learn and he was thankful for the alterations that allowed him to easily memorise it. He was not a member of Starfleet but he was living and working on a Starfleet vessel. Maybe…if he learnt enough, he could join in some way?
One day, they would gain contact with the Federation again, maybe then he would where he came from. If he was a Federation citizen, then he could join Starfleet. He had the feeling that the education files he had access to were part of the Academy curriculum. He thought he might like being part of Starfleet, maybe even an officer one day.
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Sora worked hard, he knew how important what they were doing was and they had a very small window of opportunity. If it worked…he knew how desperately they all wanted to at least get word to their families that they were alive. "Calculations are done," he announced, sending his work to Seven's console.
"Consolidating…" she looked up, and smiled at him. "Seven of Nine to Ensign Kim."
"Kim here."
"I'm sending you the interlink frequencies," she told him.
"Got it," Harry answered.
"Seven, how much longer do we have?" the Captain asked.
"Sixteen minutes," Sora answered for her since she was checking a readout.
"That should do it. The subspace transceiver is at two hundred percent output and online. We're ready," Lieutenant Torres added from Engineering.
"Open a channel," the Captain ordered, and Sora found himself almost holding his breath in anticipation which was a strange reaction.
"Open," Harry answered.
"Starfleet vessel, this is Captain Kathryn Janeway of the starship Voyager. We are in the Delta Quadrant, at coordinates one eight, mark two oh five, mark four seven. Remodulate your signal to match our interlink frequency." When she finished there was silence, everyone waiting.
"We're receiving a transmission," Tuvok eventually said. The excitement faded as all they heard was a garbled version on the Captain's message.
"Seven, what went wrong?"
"I don't understand. Our readings show that the station picked up our message and relayed it across the entire network."
"We should try widening the subspace bandwidth and sending the message again," Sora suggested.
"Do it," the Captain agreed.
"Transmitting," Harry said.
"The signal is being relayed. No sign of interference," Seven told them, and they both watched the monitors. "Wait. It's being deflected back again."
Sora frowned but ran the simulations again, trying to work out why it was being deflected. They were running out of time.
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"Sora," Riku called, and Sora turned to face him, finding once again the young adult and not the child from his memories.
"There should be a tunnel or cave there, should there not," he pointed up, and he saw Riku grimace.
"Yeah, the Secret Place, we used to play in there, draw on the walls, it leads to the Heart of the World," Riku walked to him and reached out before stopping. "Can I?" he asked.
"Can you?"
"Touch you," Riku explained.
Sora stared at him, at his outreached hand, and then slowly lifted his own hand, staring as Riku's fingers curled around his. He stared at their joined hands and it felt…strange, but… "This…it is familiar?"
"Yes," Riku whispered, squeezing his hand. "Do you remember?" That was hope, an emotion he saw a lot of among the crew, especially since they had found the array to attempt to signal Starfleet.
"No," he shook his head, seeing the hope fade. "Sometimes things feel familiar. There was a man a few weeks ago. He was a criminal and nearly had a member of the crew punished for his crime. His actions and personality felt familiar, and I saw something."
"What did you see?" Riku asked gently.
"A man? He was very strange, his hair was like blue fire."
That made Riku laugh and even smile. "Sounds like Hades. He forever has a scheme to rule the cosmos." He reached out with his other hand and Sora remained still, waiting to see what he was doing, feeling his hand move through his hair.
"That feels familiar too," he told him.
"We've always touched a lot, we used to race and tussle on the beach all the time."
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It felt familiar! He wanted to cheer at the news. Somewhere inside of Sora, his memories still existed. He was letting him hold his hand and even ruffle his hair without trying to run or back away. Their Sora still existed. "I'm coming Sora, you're just so far away, it's taking time."
"The Delta Quadrant is seventy lightyears away from the Alpha Quadrant."
"I have no idea what those are," he admitted. "Sora, where ever you are, you aren't from there. It's hard to explain, if you don't remember. Kairi…she was lost, and you went after her, to bring her home. You knew the risks of what you were doing but you still did and you brought her home. I saw you both, sitting on the Paopu tree, I was running towards you…so happy you were both back but then….you just….you faded away Sora. You were reaching out to me and I couldn't get there in time," he took a shaky breath, trying to calm down, and then Sora touched his face.
"You are crying," he whispered.
"You vanished Sora, right in front of us. There was nothing, no sign, no indication you were still alive. I felt your pain and terror and then there was nothing. We all thought that meant you were gone forever. But you're right here, where ever here is."
"How long ago was that?" he asked.
"What?" Riku asked.
"The day you say I disappeared," he clarified.
"You were sixteen, so was Kairi. I was seventeen. That was almost four years ago. I'll be twenty one in a month, you'll be twenty in two months."
"That…does not make sense."
"Time doesn't always run the same. Do you know how long you've been there."
"Two earth standard years and three months with the Borg. It has been almost a year since Voyager found and freed me."
"Then you'd be almost nineteen, not too much of a difference," Riku told him. "Sora, please…can I hug you?"
"Why?"
"Because I miss you, and maybe…it will feel familiar too." Because he loved and missed him but he didn't dare say it, not yet. He could tell that Sora was nowhere near ready to hear about love. He didn't seem to understand so much. He still tilted his head the same when thinking though.
"Yes," Sora finally said, and Riku smiled, slowly moving his arms to wrap around him. Sora stood utterly still, so different to the constant movement he remembered.
He held Sora close, it felt how he remembered, other than Sora standing so stiffly, but then….hesitant arms lifted to wrap around him in return, barely holding on but it was a start. "Does this feel familiar?" he whispered.
"I…do not know."
"Sora, what did you mean they free," he fell back, suddenly awake and back on the ship. He sighed and sat up, it was a start. Sora had been a lot less wary this time, hadn't tried to move away… he scrambled for his Gummiphone to call Kairi and tell her that Sora was finding things familiar, it had to be a good sign. He wished he'd had the chance to finish asking what he meant by freed, but he could do it next time. The idea of Sora forced into slavery, with no memory….it made him feel ill.
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"Lieutenant Torres. You are recalibrating the relay interface."
"That's right," she answered as she worked, wishing it was Seven and not Sora Regenerating at the moment.
"State your reasons for making these modifications."
"State your reasons, please," she corrected. "It's not what you say, Seven. It's how you say it."
"I don't understand."
She looked up from her work to stare at the other woman. "You may have noticed that some of the crew seem a bit on edge when you're around."
"I was Borg. I elicit apprehension."
"No, that's not what I mean, " she shook her head. "We're not afraid that you're going to assimilate us. We're just not used to…You just…You're rude. Surely you've noticed the difference between how people react to you and Sora? He's been free for less time than you but is more accepted, because of the way he interacts with people."
"I am rude?"
"Yes. Yes. You order people around, you do things without permission, and whether you realise it or not you come off as a little insulting. You don't even say please or thank you. Look, I don't expect you to change overnight but, try to remember that we are not just a bunch of drones."
"Your attempt to recalibrate the interface is ill-advised. The risk of disrupting our link is too great."
"In your opinion. That is exactly what I'm talking about," dealing with Seven could be so frustrating. It was why she was glad the woman wasn't working in Engineering. "You haven't even been listening to me. I don't know why I try to talk to you if you don't even… Are we losing the link?" she asked, seeing something in the readings.
"No. We're receiving a transmission from the relay station."
"The Doctor?" she asked, but her answer came in the form of an alien in armour and facemask.
"What are you?" it demanded.
"I'm Lieutenant Torres of the Starship Voyager," she answered.
"You are using our technology."
"You mean the sensor network? We thought that it was abandoned," the Captain wouldn't like that, they did not use alien technology without permission.
"It belongs to the Hirogen. Terminate your link."
"No, no, wait, please. We just," she growled in frustration as the transmission ended before she could explain.
"The link has been severed."
Just great!
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Sora watched as the Doctor appeared in relief, immediately moving to help stabilise his program back into his mobile emitter and then into Voyager's systems. "Does everything feel right?"
"Indeed, thank you Sora," he nodded as the doors opened to admit the Captain, Commander Chakotay and Tuvok.
"Doctor report," the Captain ordered.
"I, I did it," he grinned.
"You completed the mission?"
"Yes. Once the Romulans were out of the way," he admitted, and everyone stared at the Doctor, even Sora.
He had never met a Romulan, other than some who were drones, but he had seen the data in the Starfleet database as well as the Collective. That the Doctor had handled them was impressive.
"Romulans?" Tuvok asked for clarification.
"They'd taken over the Prometheus, the ship I was on. But I managed to turn the tables on them with help from a fellow EMH."
"You got through to Starfleet?" the Commander asked.
"I spoke directly with Headquarters. Apparently, Voyager was declared officially lost fourteen months ago. I set the record straight. I told them everything that's happened to this crew. They said they would contact your families to tell them the news and promised that they won't stop until they've found a way to get Voyager back home. And they asked me to relay a message. They wanted you to know you're no longer alone."
"Sixty thousand light years seems a little closer today," the Captain smiled.
Sora watched, unsure how he felt about it. Did he have family back there who thought he was dead? Maybe someone knew how he had ended up in the Delta quadrant? But there was no way to know, the Doctor had not been able to take anything with him outside of his own program so he had not been able to take the genetic data he had recorded from Sora to pass on to Starfleet. Just because he was not in the ship's database meant he was not in some Federation database.
But…Riku had said they did not come from there, where else could they be from if they were human? When the others left he remained.
"Sora, did you need something?" the Doctor asked.
"I saw him again, Riku. I am nineteen years old based of the amount of time that has passed since I vanished. However, I should be a year older than that. He said that time must be passing differently between there and here. It seemed a very normal idea to him. He also did not what I meant by the Delta or Alpha Quadrants."
"Hm, very interesting. If you allow, I would like to run deeper genetic scans. The Borg modifications can make determining original species difficult as they do manipulate the genetics of those assimilated in order to ensure optimum efficiency and lifespan. It is possible that we were wrong and that your species is not human but one that is near-human, such as the Betazoid, and thus physically indistinguishable from Humans in nearly every aspect."
"Very well Doctor, I need…want to know who I am, where I come from," Sora agreed.
"Of course, and you have every right to those answers."
Sora got up on the biobed and lay down for the scans.
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Seven studied the image of the alien who had interrupted their transmission as Sora joined her.
"Species 6932," Sora stated, and she looked at him.
"I was not aware of that Species designation."
"It was given after your liberation," Sora informed her, studying the image. "The ship of Species 5174 that was found eviscerated, they are the species responsible. Only ten have been captured and assimilated as of my last contact with the Collective."
"Do you have much information on them?"
"No…but I believe Tom would say they are bad news." He looked up at her and then frowned. "When did you last Regenerate?" he demanded.
"I am fine."
"That is not what I asked," he stared back at her, and it was good to see him asserting himself, she just did not appreciate being the target. "How long?"
"Fifty eight hours," she admitted.
"Go now or I will call the Doctor. I can work on clearing up the message from Starfleet. You need to Regenerate before we arrive at the relay station, especially if Species 6932 has laid claim to them."
She wanted to argue, she had gone far longer, but he reached for his combadge so she surrendered. "Very well, call me if something happens."
"Of course."
TBC…