middleofsomewhere | Memory Cave

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Memory Cave

After the passengers see a glimpse of a life that is not their own they appear in a cave. It is light, a strange moss glowing on the walls and ceiling illuminates the cave nicely and it is large enough for them to pace around in without trouble.

They are not alone. In the cave with them is another voidtrecker. Maybe someone they know well, maybe someone they have only seen in the aisles of the train. But they are together in this cave together.

The cave has no exit, at least not yet. They know that it will, eventually. When the time is right.

But for that time to come, they first must talk...

(OOC: For reference: memories!)

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"My chest... Like something trying to push out of it." But it was fading now, thankfully. He shaking was a little less as well.

"Your chest..." He reaches out hesitantly to touch her arm. "Just breathe, I'm sorry... For whatever hurt you, whatever you saw."

He looked around, he knows there is no exit, he can feel it. "We will figure a way out... Then we can go and find Axel... I mean Lea..."

Axel had been the name she had used in the memory but he knew him as Lea. He understands being called different things by different people, but he should use the name he has been given.

"The dark corridors?" she suggested, since he already knew she could do it, anyway... And she did want to see Axel. He could explain this, she was sure. He'd know what that had been.

"It's worth a try." This cave doesn't feel bad, it doesn't feel like a place they need to escape from. But at the same time, clearly something strange is going on. They are trapped here.

He gives her space, for her to summon one of her strange portals.

She nodded and thrust out her hand, focusing her portal on the area right outside the train. From there they could find Axel, she was sure. The portal formed and she nodded. She figured he would follow and walked into the portal and...

He nodded back quietly, following her into the portal. He had travelled with her through them before so he was used to the strange feeling, the bright colours, the darkness and then...

He stepped out, back into the cave. He looked around. "Oh."

It seemed, escape was not possible that way after all.

She frowned from under her hood. "Is this the same cave...?" Maybe she should try leaving a small mark, so they knew if they came out in a different cave that looked the same, or if they somehow had just... looped? Was that even possible?

"I think so..."

He looked around, "It feels the same." He can't explain that. It just... did. "It feels... We have something to do here. Before we can leave.

He doesn't know much about her powers, but he understands that this wasn't normal. He reaches out carefully to touch her arm.

"I... Sorry I think I saw some of your life, before."

She had been reaching into a pocket for a shell, but that startled her. The touch... and the words. The corridor collapsed with the loss of her focus.

"What?" she asked confused.

"Sorry..." He didn't move his hand, but he did sound apologetic. For many things, distracting her, being here, having seen her past.

"I... You were in a school I think. Hiding from some bullies, a man gave you a cup of tea. Then... You were on a rooftop, with ice cream. Lea was there."

She just stared for a few minutes, trying to think. "You're seeing my memories...?" she asked slowly. Like she had seen Sora's? Or... like those two odd moments earlier?

"I think... I saw something too, like when I used to see Sora's memories sometimes," she said softly. She looked at her gloves. Was she... broken again? Her hands closed into fists. She had seen Naminé when she first arrived, but not since.

"Do... do I need to be taken apart again?" she asked in a whisper. She didn't want to go. She didn't. But... when had that ever mattered.

Axel was going to be upset.

"Can I at least say goodbye first, this time? Properly?" she whispered.

"No." He shook his head. He doesn't even fully understand what she means by that, do I need to be taken apart again but he remembers enough. Lea had forgotten her. She had been forgotten. To save Sora. The same Sora she had seen memories for.

But what he does understand is he won't let anyone hurt her. "No one is going to hurt you." There's a determination there that seems at odds with the quiet voice and gentle hand.

"It's not just us... There were others, seeing things yesterday I mean..."

She misunderstood at first, and her shoulders fell inward. No... she couldn't even say good bye?

But then he kept speaking, and the more he said, the more confused she became. "But... it was only Roxas and I who ever saw Sora's memories..." she whispered. "Because we were made of Sora. And we had to go back... so that he could wake up."

But... he was seeing hers? She... wasn't like Sora had been though, right? She wished Riku was here. Riku would know....

"But he's awake now... Right?" He peers down at her, trying to look at her face, his hand still gentle on her arm. "Lea said... in the memory. Sora had been awake for months... It was alright for you to be remembered. I don't..." He shook his head. "Sorry I don't really understand, but I don't think this," He looked around the cave.

"I don't think this cave is because of you. It's something else."

But he can understand her fear, to have been forgotten... Erased. He can't even imagine... "Lea was really happy to remember you..."

And that he can understand. He had been privy to Xion's emotions in that moment, but he doesn't need to experience what Lea felt to recognise the emotions he could see on his face, to know the ache that came with knowing there was something very important missing, and yet not knowing what. The completeness of those memories returning...

"In... in Axel and Roxas' time... yes," she said softly, swallowing hard. "And at some point to make their pasts happen... I will have to go back. Inside Sora." And that day terrified her. But as she had told Noa once, at the school, she didn't think fear was an emotion because even animals could be scared.

She squeezed her hands together so tightly they looked like they might break. "If this isn't my fault... then what happened?" she asked in a whisper.

That... was confusing. They came from a time that she didn't? She was responsible for their past? But that such a painful time awaited her, his hand stroked her arm gently.

"I don't know. I don't understand. But I'm sorry I saw... I'm sorry this is hurting you."

She shook her head, and looked at him in confusion. "Why?"

"Why?" He blinked, "Um..." He looked at her, feeling lost, confused. "I know... Seeing memories is something you have experienced before. But it's... I guess it feels like I invaded your privacy. Though I didn't mean to..."

He knows a lot about her now, more than he thinks she would have told her of her own accord.

"Privacy?"

"Yes..." He nodded, "I mean. I saw parts of your life, without you letting me. It feels a bit like I was too nosy."

He studies her, a gentle expression. "I guess I am not used to seeing such things."

She touched her nose, confused. To be fair these terms were hardly in the "this is" picture books Axel sat her down with.

But then she looked at him. "Am I?" Axel said she was, but he only ever seemed to be wrong when it came to his friends. So there was always a hesitation to believe, even when she wanted to.

"Sorry..." He looked down. "I guess I thought..." She had said. But he shouldn't have assumed. It was probably not something that anyone got used to.

"I didn't mean..."

She just stood there so confused. She didn't know she was supposed to offer comfort, and even if she had... she didn't have many examples, and few yet were the ones she would have identified as offering comfort. She simply... had no idea what she was supposed to do or say. So... she said nothing. And did nothing...

He stands there also, staring at her in concern, feeling guilt claw up in him. What had he said? Everything probably. He doesn't know...

He's insulted her, upset her and he needs to make it better but he doesn't know how...

Maybe he should leave her alone, but they are trapped in a cave and anyways, there is nothing within him that could walk away from her when she is clearly confused and upset.

The feeling of the memory is fading a bit, it is clear it happened to her and not himself. But he still remembers. The wariness, the utter confusion at... everything. Her thoughts, her feelings, they were young...

"Let's... Sorry let's start again." He looked around the cave. "If... Please ask any questions you have, I can't... I don't know all the answers but we can try and work things out."

Ask any questions she had? Okay... "What do you do when your friend trusts someone who used to be horrible to you, because he changed, but hates someone who used to be nice to you when almost no one else is?"

She's been saving that question for a while since she's never been able to ask Sora....

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