This chapter was posted on December 18, 2020. This is actually RRFF's 1 year birthday!

I've had this AU idea of Memory being Illusion's henchman and friend, with a few fluff and angst scenes that weren't connected. It was on December 18, 2019 when I decided to write a fanfic for this AU. I opened a doc and started plotting out the actual thing. Back then, my working title for this story was The Chill Cousin AU, lol.

And now here is the project one year later! It's now called Remorseful Recollections of the Forgotten Family, and it's now the longest story I've written, a project I'm super passionate about, and a story that several others enjoy!

Happy birthday, RRFF!

Thank you to everyone who has read, commented, favorited, and made art for this story! I appreciate all the support and enthusiasm!

Anyways, let's get on with the chapter.

Morning arrived, and no one had returned to the Illusion Town. It was time to search for Sabre.

Memory and Reality went up the stairway that Sabre made into the Town's wall. Once on top of the wall, they noticed descending stairs made out of dirt on the other side. Faint footprints surrounding the dirt stairway.

"It seems like the Guardian flew down to the other side," Memory observed. "Then he gathered dirt and built these stairs so Alex could safely get down."

Reality walked down the stairs, wondering, "Why did Guardian build stairs? Can't Alex just fly down too?"

Memory glared at him. "He was being a gentleman."

"Whatever. At least we can get down without spraining an ankle, you know, since I can't fly anymore and you don't like flying."

After climbing down, Memory said, "This also shows that the Guardian can break blocks outside the Illusion Town. I assume the same applies to Alex. How about you?"

Reality punched the nearest block, but it didn't budge. He groaned. "Great! Sabre disabled my ability to break blocks everywhere! He must really not like me..."

Memory gave him a pitiful look, before realizing that he was wearing his mask again. He rested a hand on Reality's shoulder. "As long as neither of us get trapped, we can manage. Even if we do, I have TNT to help us escape." He had crafted more TNT this morning from the resources he stole from that Red Steve village. "Though let's hope we never end up in that situation. I'd rather not have TNT explode in my face."

"Ok." Reality relaxed a bit before pointing to the land ahead. "Let's get going. The sooner we find Sabre and get him to fix this mess, the sooner we can break blocks!"

Memory looked away and drew his hand back.

Reality's face fell and he stammered, "Oh, sorry, I mean, hopefully, I can break blocks soon. Uh, can you use your energy to sense where Sabre is?"

Memory gazed at the open sky and concentrated. "I have a trace. Let's go."

They spent half the day following the trace, travelling through a plains biome and now entering an oak forest. The aura of Sabre's powers became stronger as they travelled closer to their target.

Reality suddenly laughed. "I can't believe I forgot: my mind's free now! I'm not doing this because I need to help Galaxy Steve. I'm doing this for my own goals!"

Memory shot a hidden smile as they walked. "How do you feel about it?"

"If we weren't in a dire situation right now, I would enjoy it. Though it still feels nice. I feel less guilty about being useless or not meeting expectations. I can think about more things!"

Memory was about to ask if Reality could freely think about his future, before realizing that would be a terrible, terrible idea. "Umm, can you think about hobbies or activities you want to pursue?"

"Yeah! I'd like to try arts and crafts. I couldn't think about it before because it had nothing to do with my purpose, but now I can. Maybe cooking and baking too...wait." Reality froze in his steps, horrified. "Is Galaxy Steve influencing me?! Is he making me have goals to cook food?!" He clenched his head. "What if he takes over?!"

Memory quickly joined Reality's side. "Remember to breathe! He's not controlling you or your thoughts! Besides, he doesn't cook or bake; he prefers dining out. You'll be fine. You won't be like...Void Steve."

Reality immediately sighed in relief. "If you say so...And yeah, at least I'm not like Void Steve...or Sabre."

Memory tilted his head. "What about Sabre?"

"Oh, did you know that he and Galaxy Steve merged once? I learned about that when I analyzed their memories. They stupidly decided to use a teleporter designed for only one person together, and Galaxy Steve ended up in Sabre's head."

"..." Memory raised a hand and a blue flower materialized. One of Sabre's memories...But why is this one blue and not glitching white? Brushing that question aside, he commanded the flower to project the memory it held, which showed Sabre alone in the valley.

"So you're somehow, for the moment, mended inside of my head?" Sabre said, despite no one being near.

"Yup, pretty much," a disembodied, echoey voice said. It sounded like Galaxy. "Good thing there's not much here and I have plenty of space."

Sabre made an offended noise. "Come on, man! That's just insulting! I just need you out of my head so we can go rescue Rainbow from Void Steve!"

Memory closed the flower and chuckled. "He really did get stuck in Sabre's head. Sounds like he didn't enjoy it."

Reality returned the laugh. "Yeah, but it's kinda hilarious to see him suffer."

Already feeling inspired and mischievous, Memory desummoned the flower and gave Reality a playful glance. "We should watch this memory together when we have free time. It might be entertaining to watch. I sent it to my home where we can find and watch it later."

"So you basically bookmarked it."

"...What?"

"Never mind. That sounds like a fun idea. Looking forward to taking that break with you."

Memory smiled, glad that Reality accepted the idea of relaxing.

Suddenly, the smell of smoke wafted through the air, alarming the two Steves. They followed it and arrived at a chaotic sight.

A large crater was carved into the center of the forest. A ring of cackling fire and hissing smoke traced around the pit. The surrounding trees were either burnt or reduced to stumps. Floating, loose blocks of dirt, wood, and flowers were scattered across the area.

Reality sprinted towards the crater and looked around. "What. Happened. Here?!"

Memory scanned the area, finding even more damaged trees and picking up some floating blocks. Everywhere, the presence of Illusion and Galaxy's power overwhelmed his senses. Sabre must had done this...

Reality threw a wood block at the crater and stomped a foot. "Why did this happen?!"

"Are you alright?" Memory asked.

Reality shook his head angrily. "I put in so much effort to regrow this area. This place used to be a shelter where Steves isolated themselves from the infection. When I found the place, there was nothing but an empty, rotting building. I didn't like it, so I turned the place into a forest. Now look at it! Everything's gone!" He threw his arms up and let out another frustrated cry.

"I understand it's frustrating to have all your hard work wasted," Memory said, thinking about all his failed attempts to erase Sabre's memories. "However, you can try again once you regain your powers. Speaking of which, did you use your powers to regrow the forest?"

"Yes."

"Perhaps Sabre, now that he has your power, came to this forest because he sensed your energy here. He must be heading towards places with strong traces of your energy."

"What makes you think that?"

"I've dealt with Steves who lost their memories. When they know nothing except the powers they possess, they'll find locations with the traces of their family or similar Steves. I observed this when I erased Elemental's memories. He remembered nothing, but he eventually discovered the In-Between – your father's old headquarters – and made it his home, believing it meant something...but it's just my theory."

"So you believe Sabre, wherever he is now, is going to places where I used a huge amount of power?" Reality looked away in frustration. "But that could be anywhere! I've done a lot of work in this world! How can we find him before he learns more about my powers?! If he already understands enough to do this." He pointed at the crater. "Then who knows what else he can do?!"

Memory was about to respond until a voice interrupted them.

"Is anyone there?! Please help us! We're trapped!"

Memory and Reality followed the sound, finding a large sphere of stone near the crater area. They didn't see it before because trees and grass hills hid it from view.

"Please help us!" A female voice inside the sphere cried.

"We don't have pickaxes on us!" Another voice in the sphere said. "And even if we did, we can't escape, because someone took away our ability to break blocks."

Reality knocked on the sphere. "Alex? Guardian?"

"Reality Steve?! How did you get out of the Illusion Town?!"

"How did you two dunces get trapped? Did Sabre do this to you?"

Alex sighed. "Yes. We found him testing out the powers you gave him, and he seemed...power-hungry."

"You know how goofy he can be," Guardian said. "It seems like the power was making him more crazy."

"We tried to talk to him but he was too absorbed in testing out his powers to listen."

"Then he got annoyed at us for interrupting his tests, so he took away our ability to break blocks and trapped us in this sphere he created. We've been here ever since."

"Not even my powers can destroy blocks," Alex said. "Sabre probably made my powers unable to break anything."

Just like how Void took my destructive powers... Memory teleported to Reality's side and inspected the sphere. "Are you sure it is Sabre who did this? That sounds highly unlike him."

"Oh, be quiet and believe in us!" Alex snapped. "He's not like himself because you erased all of his memories, remember?"

Reality facepalmed. "Sabre is so annoying. And now he's more annoying and dangerous with my powers? I'm starting to regret everything."

"Starting?!" A baffled Guardian repeated.

"Just get us out of here!" Alex shouted.

Reality faced Memory, who took a TNT block and a flint-and-steel out of his inventory.

Reality nodded in silent agreement before turning back to the sphere. "Ok, we got some TNT to free you guys. Just do two things for us. One, promise to not maim us the moment you get out. And two, back away from the wall where you hear my voice. Got that?"

The trapped heroes whispered among themselves. A moment later, Alex said, "Ok, we got that."

"Not like we got much of a choice," Guardian added.

Reality gave his cousin a nod of approval before stepping ten blocks away. Memory placed the TNT on the sphere and ignited it. He ran to join Reality, and the TNT exploded, leaving smoke in its place to shroud the inside of the sphere.

Guardian launched through the smoke and tackled Reality to the ground.

"H-hey, you promised not to maim us the moment you got out!"

"Well, I guess I'm an incompetent minion, because I can't follow orders!"

"Not the face! Don't hurt me!"

Memory yanked Guardian off Reality, who scooted away in fear. Guardian's white wings shook him off. Memory shoved and used his own weight to push the enemy down, and he pinned down the enemy's shoulders and wings. "Why did you attack him?!"

Alex ran out of the sphere and punched Memory in the face. "Because this mess is all your fault!"

Memory jumped back. He hissed in pain and scoped the area. Reality hid in the shadows of a nearby tree while Alex helped Guardian get up.

Alex charged to deliver another punch. Memory caught the attack. Alex grunted and blasted a lightning bolt with her free hand, sending him flying into a hill. With Alex not imprisoned in a machine, she was able to use her small amount of power freely, like fly and shoot fireballs and lightning.

Memory looked up to see Alex running towards him. He quickly teleported to the side. She slammed into the hill. In a flash, he took out wood blocks and placed them around and on top of Alex. Now a small half ring of blocks held her in place against the hill. The blocks above her prevented her from jumping or flying out. Through an open space in her wooden prison, she shot a furious expression. She tried to form a fireball, but the blocks squeezed her arms to her side, immobilizing her.

Then another person charged at Memory. A flurry of white feathers and panic. A moment later, Guardian pinned Memory against the ground.

Memory looked to the right and teleported, escaping the Guardian's grip. He quickly hid behind a tree.

What should I do?! Memory was about to deactivate the illusion power and unleash his memory powers. He had to confuse the Guardian. But he quickly spotted Reality, who was fearfully watching the fight. I can't risk erasing his memories by accident. I won't ask him to flee either. If Reality was powerless and anxious, he didn't want him to run off alone.

He had to make Guardian too forgetful to fight, without worrying about his uncontrollable powers hurting Reality. Memory formed a bow and several arrows out of energy. He jumped out of his hiding spot. He aimed an arrow at Guardian, who was searching the other way.

Alex, still unable to break out of her prison, cried out, "Guardian, behind you!"

Guardian whirled around just as Memory released the arrow. He ducked, opened his wings, and flew straight into Memory.

Memory barely nocked another arrow before Guardian tackled him. He quickly spotted a safe place to teleport, but then darkness covered his vision. He struggled as his opponent wrapped a black cloth around his eyes. He tried to tear it off so he could see and teleport, but Guardian pinned him down. He stomped on Memory's hands.

Memory yowled. His hands grew tense and hot under the weight of Guardian's boots. Every attempt to pull his hands free sent him more pain. In this darkened world, Memory couldn't move, unable to reach for the blindfold or –

Wait, where was his bow?!

Then the tip of an arrow pressed his neck.

"This arrow," Guardian said above him. He must be holding the weapon. "You use this to erase memories from afar, don't you? I wonder...what happens if you get hit by your own arrow?"

Memory flinched. He never, ever thought about that. If those arrows really did affect him...he could potentially lose all of the memories he made since returning to the Overworld. He tried to sense where Reality stood, despite being unable to see where anyone was.

Shit...If only I could just control that stupid drawback.

"GUARDIAN!" He heard Reality's voice and footsteps approaching.

"Oh, there you are, Reality Steve. As you can see, I got your henchman, and I was just about to test if his arrows could erase his memories."

A chilling silence.

"Wow...I'm...I'm impressed, Guardian." Reality attempted to steady his voice. "You're more capable than I give you credit for. You don't need to erase my henchman's memories to prove that, so why don't we talk things out?"

"Very well, Reality Steve. But I'm staying here. If you try to talk your way out of consequences or do something terrible, I will shoot him."

Reality mocked, "Oh, how scary, Guardian! I feel so conflicted by your threats!"

Alex grumbled, "You can stop that. We know you don't have any powers to do anything, so stop pretending like you pose a threat."

Reality groaned. "Fine! I know you guys want Memory Steve to restore Sabre's memories. But what do you want from me?"

Alex gave a bewildered laugh. "Oh boy, where do we start? We want you to give back Galaxy Steve. Give Sabre his account back, whatever that means. Give me back my powers. And Time Steve too! He's alive, and I want to see him again."

Guardian added, "Basically, bring things back to the way it was before you got involved."

Do what they say, Reality. Do what they say, Memory silently pleaded. Don't make this harder than this needs to be.

"Umm...I'm gonna pass on that."

Whhhyyyyy?!

Alex sighed in frustration. "Well, we're not gonna help you if you don't help us. Seriously, give us back Galaxy Steve at least! It's really messed up that you're keeping him hostage in your own mind."

"I have my reasons!" Reality argued. "You don't know what it's like to have your mind set on only one purpose. A Steve should be in their right mind when they create another Steve. Galaxy Steve wasn't, and you saw how I ended up because of that. Ok, I admit I took things too far, but I refuse to let him go. I just can't go back to the way I used to be. I...I just can't..."

"It's not like you're acting any better than you were before," Guardian said, disappointed.

"You know absorbing Galaxy Steve isn't the only way to free yourself," Alex continued. "There are better ways to handle things if you just work with us!"

"Well, I didn't consider other solutions because it was so frustrating to work with you guys!"

Alex groaned, "We can't cooperate with him, Guardian. He has no powers anyways, so he can't help much. We just need Memory Steve to restore Sabre's memories. Reality Steve, Sabre will fix everything, whether you help us or not. Remember that he promised you no mercy. And we still don't know why you were so eager to leave this world and now you're not."

"Oh, umm..." Reality started to sound desperate. "Listen, maybe we can..."

Memory knew that Alex and Guardian were pressuring Reality. If they pushed him more, they might accidentally make him relive his trauma. He would enter another breakdown.

To break down in front of your foes...the thought of that left a horrible feeling in Memory. Even worse than the dread of losing his own memories. He knew how shameful it felt to break down in that place. He didn't want Reality to experience that nightmare either...

He had to do something to make them stop. To save his cousin from the humiliation.

"I refuse! I will not give Sabre back his memories."

The arguing voices ceased. He felt the weight of everyone's attention. The blindfold made it a bit easier to accept that, subsiding his anxiety. Though with the Guardian aiming his weapon at him, he was still hyper-aware of the thin ice he was about to cross.

"Care to elaborate, Memory Steve?" Guardian asked.

"Gladly, if you allow me to sit up."

Guardian sighed and stepped off Memory's hands. He tied up the hands and pulled the Steve up to a sitting position. With his hands bound behind his back, Memory still couldn't take the bandana off to teleport away.

He heard the Guardian step back. "As a reminder, I still have your weapon. One wrong move and I will shoot you."

Alex spoke up, "Anyways, why won't you to give back Sabre's memories?"

"It has been my objective to erase Sabre's memories ever since I met him," Memory began. "When he lost his account, or his immunity to my powers, I immediately erased all of his memories. I don't intend to restore them for you, since that goes against my interests."

Guardian countered, "Well, you erased all of Rainbow Steve's memories before, and Sabre made a machine to reverse that. We can do the same thing for Sabre, if we figure out how to build the same machine."

"Perhaps, but can it work for a non-Steve like Sabre? Can you place him into a machine, given his current reckless behavior? Even if you overcome those two obstacles, I can simply use the powers Illusion Steve has given me to block my memory powers, making you unable to access and restore Sabre's memories."

The two heroes whispered to each other before speaking up again.

Alex said, "Ok, maybe you're right: it'll be hard or impossible to force you to restore his memories. So what can we give you to make you agree to help us?"

"I still want Sabre to forget who I am. I want to keep his memories of me, or his encounter memories. I could care less about his other memories that don't involve me." Well, except the memories of him making those videos for thousands to see...but this isn't the time to explain that. "Unfortunately, when I restore someone's memories, I give them back all the memories I've stolen from them."

"How about you restore all of his memories?" Alex suggested. "Then you can erase Sabre's encounter memories again but leave his other memories alone."

Memory dipped his head down, hating that he had to explain this. "That will be dangerous for my mental state. If I restore all of his memories, including his encounter memories, I will forget everything I know about Sabre. Since erasing Sabre's memories is my objective, forgetting an important person in my life will...greatly damage my mental state."

"Are you making this up?" Alex accused.

"He's telling the truth," Guardian confirmed. "I know how his powers work because my brother and I had to deal with him in the past. If Memory Steve forgets about Sabre, his mind will break trying to fill in the missing pieces. And I fear that'll cause even more trouble."

Memory nodded in agreement, though it made him so uncomfortable to admit all of his weaknesses. "Thus, there is no way I can give back his memories – "

"Unless!" Reality jumped into the conversation. "Sorry for interrupting, Memory Steve, but I have an idea."

Memory perked up. "Ah, do tell."

"Look, we all want something out of this," Reality began. "Memory Steve wants Sabre to not remember him. Alex wants her powers back. Guardian wants to return to the Spirit World. I want freedom from Galaxy Steve. And we all want the Overworld to be safe (well, I don't know about Memory Steve over here). It pains me to say it, but Sabre is the only one who can help us get what we want, but he's useless without his memories. I know a way we can make him remember and allow Memory Steve to keep the encounter memories."

"How is this going to work?" Alex asked.

"We need to filter Memory Steve's restoration powers, allowing him to give back all of Sabre's memories except the encounter ones. Memory Steve, if we filter your ability to restore memories, will you help Alex and the Guardian?"

Memory badly wanted to protest. Work with Alex and Guardian? That meant agreeing to have two heroes watch his every move, with a high chance of them noticing his own plans. However, seeing that Reality could move this negotiation to his favor, he had to comply. "In this case, I would."

Guardian asked, "How do we filter his memories?"

"We combine my illusion powers with Memory's restoration powers. My illusion powers filters actual memories. Alex, do you remember how I made you remember everything except Rainbow Steve? I created that illusion by making a copy of Sabre's memories and filtering out everything about Rainbow Steve."

"Oh," Alex voiced, a bit uncomfortable. "Does Memory Steve have that filter power?"

Reality grew more confident. "No. Sabre has that power, unfortunately. I doubt we can just ask him to lend us that power, seeing what he did to this forest. To get that power, we have to play a trick from his book."

Perplexed, Guardian said, "He has a book? I didn't know Sabre was an author...I would have known."

"Ugh, no. Basically, we should build a machine to steal some power back, like what Sabre did to me when I was Illusion Steve, creating the illusion blocks."

"It's my power," Alex corrected with a snap. "Which brings me to my next point: I'll help you build a machine, if I get some of my powers back too."

Guardian cried, "Wait, you actually want to team up with him?!"

"Guardian, we can't break blocks. I'm still trapped in a ring of wood. We don't have much power, and the most powerful person here right now is Memory Steve."

"But I managed to defeat him!" Guardian fussed.

"But threats won't move our plans. We saw how that worked for Reality Steve."

"I heard that!" Reality snapped.

Alex ignored him. "We have to team up, but I won't help for free. That power belongs to me anyways."

Reality groaned, "Why?! I need that power to make the perfect illusion and make this world safe!"

There he goes again, Memory hissed mentally. We can't move the conversation like this.

He spoke up, "Reality Steve, creating the perfect illusion is no longer an immediate goal. I recommend that we focus on restoring Sabre's memories first. Like you said, he can help us all, including you."

There was a long silence before Reality sighed. "Ok, fine, I'll give you some of your powers back! Even you, Guardian, if you want some power. But in return, I want you guys to vouch for me once Sabre's back to solve our problems. I don't know what he'll do to me once he remembers, but he promised he wouldn't show me mercy. I want you to convince him to forgive me, help me fix this mess, and help me obtain my freedom and a sense of happiness."

"Woah, that's a lot to take in!" Guardian cried.

"I know!" Reality shouted. "I'm a disaster who doesn't know what I want in life! Being an independent adult is hard!"

"...Are you ok?" Alex asked.

I ask myself that question every day, Memory thought.

Calmly, Alex said, "So you want us to convince Sabre to keep you alive and give you freewill? Ok, we'll do that if you promise to release Galaxy and Time after all this."

"Yes, yes, I'll do that," Reality said, calmer now, though annoyed that she brought up his father. "But for now, I'm keeping him in my mind. As for Time Steve, he's locked away in a pocket dimension and I can't access it until I get my powers back. So you'll also have to wait until we fix everything to see him."

Memory resisted the urge to groan. Why did you promise to bring two more heroes into this situation, especially family members?! They'll be more likely to notice my plan with our connected energy. He regretted his failure to defeat the Guardian even more now. Nevertheless, he kept his complaints to himself. He couldn't put Reality on the spot, pressured to accommodate the plan for the least-liked person in this group. At least this new alliance will still advance my plan, even though it increases the chance getting caught. I can manage with hiding my secrets...

Memory cleared his throat. "In summary: we all want to restore Sabre's memories before he becomes mad with power. We'll build a machine to steal some powers back for Reality Steve and Alex. Then Reality Steve and I will restore his memories, while I keep the memories of his encounters with me. You three negotiate with Sabre, who will help everyone get what they want, including Reality Steve who wants forgiveness and freedom. Time Steve and Galaxy Steve will also be freed. Do we have an agreement?"

Reality, Alex, and the Guardian all voiced their approval.

"Excellent. Now that we are temporary allies, may I be released?"

"I got you," Reality said. He approached Memory, freed his hands, and took off the blindfold.

Memory blinked, readjusting to the brightness of the forest. He quickly concentrated on the Guardian, who still held the bow and arrow. On his silent comment, the weapon disappeared with a poof, startling the Guardian. Memory got up and rubbed his wrists.

Alex squirmed in her prison of unbreaking blocks. "Can someone get me out, Without using TNT because that stuff is scary?"

After Memory meticulously placed down redstone and pistons, the wood blocks were pushed away, freeing Alex. The four entities joined a circle.

Reality asked, "Can you guys place down blocks?"

Alex and Guardian picked up nearby floating stone blocks and placed them down. "Yup, we can."

Reality also tested it out with a block he obtained from the crater. "Good. So we can at least build the machine. We just can't break anything. So any blocks we misplace are permanent. Perfect."

"I have some TNT we can use to remove blocks," Memory offered. "Though only if absolutely necessary." He didn't want to waste this valuable asset.

Alex shuddered. "I hope we don't use TNT so much. I'll just be very careful with placing blocks."

Reality glared at her. "Oh, so now you're suddenly anxious about making mistakes! But when I was Illusion Steve, I wasn't allowed to be obsessed with perfection, huh?!

"ANYWAYS," Guardian interrupted. "If we can't break blocks, it'll be difficult to collect resources for the machine."

Reality's eyes brightened. "Hey, that village led by the Red Steve who works for me! Maybe we can ask his people to give us resources."

Alex nodded. "Good idea. But it'll be better if only Guardian and I go. They probably don't want to see you two, so wait here. We won't take long."

It's for the best, Memory thought. If those Red Steves discovered that Reality Steve absorbed Galaxy Steve and is currently powerless, they would absolutely annihilate him.

"Let's go, Guardian." Alex and her friend entered the sky and flew towards the Red Steve village.

Once he was sure they were gone, Reality let out a huge sigh. "Wow, this turned out way different than I expected. Now instead of them working for me, we're working for them!"

"How did you expect it to go?"

"...I actually didn't know what to expect."

"I underestimated them both when we entered that fight." Memory bowed to his cousin. "I apologize for my incompetence, Reality Steve. Because of my mistake, the Guardian was able to threaten me, giving us no choice but to work with them."

"No, don't apologize for that!"

Memory looked up, shocked.

"You got nothing to apologize for, Memory. I'm just glad you're ok and the Guardian didn't shoot you. We can twist this plan back to our advantage later, now that we know better. But if you forgot everything...if you forgot me...I don't know what I would do."

Memory was unsure of what to say. "Reality...I...Well, I should thank you as well. You helped me by suggesting those ideas. You helped us develop the plan. You...actually helped me a lot more than you realize."

"Thanks to you as well, for helping me negotiate with Alex and Guardian. I don't know what I would've done without you. It was stressful cooperating with them on the spot. I hate being vulnerable, but I was telling the truth when I said I didn't know what I wanted anymore, so I'm glad you helped me make a decision. Hah, I was just talking about how glad I was to have freedom! But this lack of direction and all of these options...it's overwhelming. Now that I am free, I don't know what I want to do. Is that weird?"

Memory shook his head. "Not at all. There is nothing wrong with feeling overwhelmed."

"But I fear I'm going to spend the rest of my life being indecisive, unable to make a choice. Never able to make the right choice. I want Sabre to help me keep this freedom, but what am I supposed to do with it? I wonder what I would've done in Sabre's world...where I had to figure things out on my own. Without you."

Memory tensed and quickly assured his cousin. "It's only been two days since you've freed your mind. You're a smart Steve. You just need more time and I'm sure you'll figure out a new sense of direction. And if you make a mistake, you can still change and try again. There is no black and white solution. The only two solutions aren't disconnecting or creating a new world. You'll always find a new way."

Reality scoffed. "You say there's no black and white solution, but you believe you're pure evil just because you're not on the good side."

"You also need to learn that there are exceptions to this universal truth," Memory scoffed playfully.

He did hope Reality could find a calling. A role he would enjoy. A purpose that wouldn't break him like the purpose Galaxy Steve gave him. He had hoped that Reality would join him and Void, but it was clear that Reality was uncertain about becoming a villain. But he also seemed uncertain about working with the heroes. Where did he belong?

Regardless of what Reality picked – a hero's path or a villain's path – Memory would support him.

Because Memory sure wished he had someone to support him during his crisis long ago, when he tried to fulfill the purpose Void gave him. The crisis that...

Reality looked up, more relaxed now. "Ok then. For now, let's figure out where to build the machine, while we wait for Alex and Guardian to return."

Memory quickly shoed those thoughts away before they could engulf him. He gave Reality a nod and helped him discuss plans.

He had to focus on the current situation. For Reality.

Word count: 5488