Chapter 2: Journey to Ben's Memory Tree

The dream realm felt no different for Leana, except that she got to talk to her deceased grandparents and to the good witches, Tsura, Lulu and Fonso. Their friends, Milton and Winnie were also able to interact with them and to their deceased loved ones, including Winnie's mother, Roberta who died after she was born.

The Basil, Flaversham and Walker families had decked out the outdoor patio for the twins' 16th birthday, but Leana had no interest in partaking in the festive time. "Hey kiddo, what's wrong?" Tsura asks, "Is it Ben?"

"Yes, you should've seen him. He looked awful," the young girl mouse said.

"Yes, I am aware of that. His mother Vivianna mentioned that he's been through terrible events," the good witch answers.

"I really want to help him, but he's going through something far worse than what Daddy experienced after Henry was killed," Leana said and Tsura nodded her head.

"You have a good heart, kiddo, just like your mum," she comments and Leana smiles a bit. Then, an idea comes to her head.

"Wait, Tsura, you remember the time you took us to our memory trees?" she asks and the witch nods her head. "I would like to see if I can speak to Ben's memory guardian, see if there's a way to-" "Hold it, kiddo, I know where you're going with this," Tsura cuts in. "And I'm afraid I can't let you do that."

"What, why not?" Leana asks, sounding defeated.

"It's the rule that immortals do not interfere with the living. I'm sorry, even though I understand you want to help ease Ben's mental pain, the Superiors would not let you do it," Tsura explains and the young mouse girl felt crushed.

"Oh please, that's an old, dumb rule," a sweet feminine voice said from behind. They turn to see a beautiful looking mouse with shiny white hair and fur and dazzling eyes that shine. She wore a lovely Greek dress the color of light blue and had a crescent shaped crown on her head.

"Selene!" Winnie exclaims and the other rodents also notice the goddess of the moon.

"My word, we should've known you were coming," Anne Walker said, embarrassed about the state of the outdoor patio.

"Oh nonsense, I don't want to take away the festivities for these two," Selene said, referring to John and Leana's birthday. "I have been watching you and your best friend, Ben, today, and I find it extraordinary that you Miss Leana want to help him by any means necessary."

"What does that mean?" Basil asks his eldest daughter, who then shares her desire to visit Ben's memory tree and find his memory guardian.

"The interfering with the living was mostly Zeus' idea, but with that ego menace long gone, I would be happy to grant you this one time. After all it's for a friend in need," Selene said to Leana, who smiles and even tears up.

"I want to help, too," John said, "Ben's my friend, too, and maybe it's best for two friends to help out."

"Very well, anyone else?" Selene asks the rodents. Basil decides to go with his two children as he had the ability to transform into different animals based on his emotions.

"I'll go, too," Olivia's father, Hiram Flaversham, volunteers. "I actually want to know what kind of trauma Mr. Whittaker went through."
"Are you sure Daddy? It's nothing like what Elliott or what we experienced many years ago," Olivia asks.

"I am quite sure, besides, the world is still changing and we should provide Ben comfort, somehow," Hiram answers and gently pats the top of his daughter's head.

"All right," Selene said, "Let's get going. I would like for him to get a good night's sleep for once." The moon goddess creates a luminous bubble, surrounding Basil, Hiram, the twins, Tsura, and herself and they watch as their friends and relatives vanish before their eyes.

It only took a few seconds for them to teleport to the forest of giant trees, which served as the living rodents. The leaves would store the memories of the rodents and over time, the tree would grow mighty and full of green. Sadly, as the rodent grew old, the memory leaves would sometimes fall, causing it to wither and die, marking it as the end of a good memory.

The Basil and Flaversham families visited these trees with Tsura and Lulu many years ago, admiring the great trees and even witnessing past memories.

"Here he is," Selene said, pointing to a tall tree, full of leaves, but something was different in their color. They were not a bright green like the other trees; they were mostly dark, almost black and a dreary cloud was hovering low.

"What's wrong with his tree?" Leana asks Selene.

"You saw him earlier, right? He is definitely experiencing a tragic time wanting to forget his service in the war. I am sure you remember him having a fright after Mrs. Rachel's mishap in the kitchen," the goddess replies.

"Yes, he looked like he was having a panic attack," John replies and Selene nods.

"Let's be quick, I still want you two to have a nice birthday with your relatives," Basil said to his children, but his father-in-law Hiram frowned.

"Honestly Elliott, your children here can still celebrate another time. They are not in school yet," he said.

"Okay, let's get going," Leana said, but Tsura stops her.

"Leana, you do realize that this a scary situation," she said, yet the young lady mouse just folds her arms. "This is very different, it will not be anything like visiting your trees."

"Tsura, I know. I just want to see what is going on with Ben and to see what can be done for him," Leana replies and Tsura looks at her in surprise, then she smiles.

"You really do have your mom's bravery kiddo," the witch said, patting her on the head.

"Now be careful," Selene warns, "When you find Ben's memory guardian, be prepared and please be very understanding." The goddess summons another luminous bubble encircling the mice and their friend. The bubble started floating towards the eerie tree and they got a good view of the clouds surrounding it. They could hear the rumbling of thunder and saw brief flashes of lightning. The bubble then floated through the clouds, but the wind caused it to shift and it started to get rough.

"Hold on," Tsura commands the mice, "I'm going to try and-" Suddenly, a flash of lightning zipped past them and the two adult male mice grabbed the twins. The wind grew strong, causing the bubble to fly around and rough.

"I think this was a mistake!" Tsura calls out, using her magic to try and stabilize the bubble, but it wasn't working as the storm grew more violent.

Leana then sees a limb of Ben's tree and calls out, "I see it! Head down there!"

"I'll try!" Tsura replies, using her magic to control the bubble and starts to float down. They settle down on the limb and the bubble vanishes, yet the mice are met with a gush of wind in their faces.

"Upon my word, this reminds of a dreich day," Hiram said, trying to shield his face from the wind. Leana and John looked around the tree; the leaves were swaying in the wind, but they could hear faint noises coming from them. They come across one where it featured Ben with the twins when they were younger and having fun.

"He still cares about us," John said and finds another leaf that showed them with Maxie, the dog that was under Ben's care before she was injured and forced to reside with Sherlock Holmes after he discovered her.

"Oh!" Basil lets out a startled cry as lightning flashed and thunder boomed. "Children, we need to find Ben's restricted section. That's where all the bad memories reside," he tells them. They walked down the tree limb to the center of it, finding more memories, but they started hearing screams and cries.

"Oh my…" Hiram said in a horrified tone as he gazed into a leaf. The memory featured Ben out at sea with other rodents wearing uniforms. Then, there came an explosion and fire engulfed most of the cruiser ship Ben and the rodent soldiers were on.

"YOU THERE! INTRUDERS!" a voice shouts and the mice turn to see a shadow. The shadow walks into the light and stops short. It was Ben's memory guardian. He looked like Ben, but he looked exhausted and his eyes were watery. "Leana? John? What are you doing here?" the guardian asks.

"We…we came to see you," Leana said and the guardian slumped down. He wraps his own tail around his legs.

"What's wrong lad?" Hiram asks and the twins kneel beside Ben's guardian, who resembled the rat in almost every way.

"I wish you didn't come. This is the worst thing I've done to Ben," he replies.

"What do you mean?" Basil asks, also kneeling down.

"A guardian is supposed to prevent the bad memories from interfering with Ben's life, but it's impossible," he answers and points to a leaf that was floating in the wind. Basil catches it and it features Ben comforting some of his fellow soldiers, who were wounded, yet he had to attend to those who were seriously injured.

Another leaf features Ben shaking a soldier's shoulders and crying, "Cameron! Please! You gotta get up!" The rodent soldier, a mouse, opens his eyes and stares at Ben, and that was when Basil, Hiram, John, Leana, and Tsura noticed that the mouse had been shot. They realized that Ben had survived a serious battle, but his comrade wasn't so lucky.

"Ben…you must…go…save yourself…" Cameron said in a weak voice.

"I'm not leaving you! You gotta stay alive so you can see your family again!" Ben cries and attempts to carry him as guns shots were heard.

"It's no use…" Cameron replies and places something in Ben's palm. "Tell my family…that I…love them…and my deepest regret…is not…keeping my promise…" Ben looks to see that it was Cameron's dog tag.

Ben then looks down at Cameron, but he wasn't moving and the friends knew that he was dead. The mice let the leaf go and turn to the memory guardian, who seemed defeated. "I am no guardian. I don't deserve to be one," he said.

Leana kneels down in front of him and places both her hands on the sides of his face. "You are not a failure," she said just as John joined in.

"You're just having a hard time right now and we get it," he adds and Basil, Hiram and Tsura place comforting hands on him.

"It's all right, we have experienced terrible times," Hiram said.

"But what's important is that Ben and even you have us," Basil said, placing a hand on the guardian's head.

For a moment, Ben's memory guardian was silent, and then the rain began to fall, yet the thunder and lightning had stopped.

"Kiddos, look at this," Tsura said in a whisper. She shows a glowing orb where Ben, asleep in his bed, was shedding tears from his eyes, but he had a smile on his face.

A gentle wind blew the bad memories away, along with the clouds and back into Ben's restricted section. Then, the memory guardian summons a spell that locks the memories inside. "I and especially Ben will be forever grateful," he said. "And please, come visit when you get a chance. Memory guardians can't leave their post and it can get lonesome."

"You're not alone," Leana replies and hugs him, which surprises him, but returns it. "Take care of yourself and Ben," she adds and he nods.

"Hey Leana, come look!" John calls and she joins her brother. She was amazed by the view of the forest and the stillness all around.

"Hey kiddos, we still got time to celebrate your birthday. What do you say?" Tsura asks and they smile.

"Just one more thing," Leana said, taking a leaf, and went back to Ben's memory guardian. "If Ben experiences another nightmare, show him this," she said and the guardian smiled.

The mice bid a goodbye to Ben's memory guardian before taking their leave and the guardian gazes at the memory within the leaf. It featured Ben and Lope with the twins, Milton and Winnie when they first met. He then looks into the restricted section, where the horrid memories were locked, but he notices a dark figure staring back at him.

"They have won this fight, but Ben will fall into the bleakness once more and-" "That's enough!" the guardian snaps at the figure, which now resembles the demon Ben had encountered years ago with his friends. It looked like Ratigan, Ben's father, who sought to control his son, yet he had failed.

"Do you really think those fools will save him from this torment?" the demon asks.

"I may not know, but at least Ben does have friends and even family who will stand by him," the guardian answers. He takes the memory and illuminates it, letting it play as Ben slept and the rat was happy to see the memory.

The demon, however, snickers at this and says, "There will be no escape. He will be back and he won't let you see the light of day, again." The demon scurries away into the darkness of the restricted section. "And he won't let you say goodbye to those friends of yours," he adds, with a menacing smile.


From the author: A really touching moment, even with Ben not really there with his friends, yet he still received a form of comfort from them. It won't last forever, though (hint-hint).

See you soon!