Jema'grethy: Memory Cave

[voidtreckermods]

Passengers see a vision, an instance of someone's life, before just as suddenly - they find themselves inside 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're not alone. In the cave with them is another voidtrecker; maybe someone they know well, or maybe someone they've only seen in the aisles of the train. But they are together in this cave, and they will come to find out that it was one of their memories that the other witnessed. And them, one of yours.

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: Memories can be written either in this post or over here)

Comments

Jake Peralta | Spark

[voidtreckermods]

[monkeyinthewrench]

Jake has absolutely no idea what he's in for. He's happily strolling around the island with drink in hand, eying the waves, waving at passersby...and then, strangely, his consciousness slips. It's like a dream.

But the dream is not for him just yet. Instead, there's a vision presented to another innocent person...

---

You're inside one of those fancy jewelry stores. On the rough side of town, little dangerous---actually you solved a robbery from this very store just last week. The staff remember you, smile and wave...yeah, that's gonna make things a little easier. Or so you hope. You're on a mission.

You have the ring measurements scribbled on a napkin, which you take out of your pocket and check. Yup, claiming to fit her for brass knuckles was a great idea. Except Rosa might've overheard, and she's going to want you to definitely buy those brass knuckles. This is getting expensive.

You browse the recently repaired glass case, passing over gaudy rings, geeky rings...oh, you really want a geeky ring! Like a Green Lantern ring. That would be cool, right? But Ames needs something elegant. Perfect at all angles, like her. Definitely not boring, but classic. You eventually choose a simple gold and silver ring, with a single stone.

You wince a little at the price tag, but soon enough, the precious small box is in your hand. Now you just need to set the last few pieces of your epic heist in motion...you rub your hands together. If this all works out, it's gonna be amazing.

You just have to trust your instincts, and hers. Now to celebrate that epic ring choice with a---ooh, burrito time!

---

...so that was what a poor soul would see. Awkward.

PArt 1/2

[death_from_above]

Spark was still not in great shape after the last mission, though he wasn't as bad off as some. He'd have slept through except... BEACH! Do you know what there are on beaches? Oceans! And in oceans? FISH!

Even if his excitement for eating had faded some with that horrible nightmare world... it had been coming back recently. That Storm world where he got to speak to Adrien again. Saw he was alive, was okay. Leia coming to the Train and talking to her... he was doing better now. Perhaps Leia would be disappointed that he was sliding back into old habits, old obsessions... but it was a sign of healing. He had found himself actually excited about a beach and fishing, rather than acting like he was to convince people nothing ever hurt him.

So this was good. But then instead of ocean and fish... he was in a cave. Why was he in a.... wait.... this felt familiar.... Well, furmiliar, anyway. Though being a cat familiar was almost pun enough in some worlds... As he turned to see if he was right the vision hit him as one went from him to someone else...

----

The point of veiw was probably odd. Low to the ground. The gait that of a quadraped. Not that it seemed all that weird while in the thrall of the memory. No what might have been odd was how hard it was to not cry. Because even for Spark it was oddly difficult.

Spark refused to cry. Refused refused refused. Instead he was playing at being his usual self, bouncing around, begging people for fish. Because They were all going home. Those who hadn't left already that was. All of them... except Spark. He... was going with Adrien and Nino to their home.

Dominic had Luna now. He no longer needed his cat. Adrien... very much still needed him. So did Nino. So if he could find the boys he was going to tell them he was going with them. Also he was wondering how to find a way to bring the Tardis too... there were lots of good memories in there, even if Nino didn't think so...

He spotted Connie making the rounds. He still... felt guilty around his old friend. Her and Kirika. He didn't like feeling guilty. Cats weren't supposed to feel guilty. And Spark was a cat.

But this was his last chance to speak to Connie, probably. He bounded over to her as she sat down. "Fish?" he asked her giving his widest kitty cat eyes.

"You didn't have to ask," Connie chuckled, looking at the cat. "I knew you'd want some." She held up some fish for him.

Spark hopped into her lap to accept the fish. Then took a deep breath and before eating said "Sorry." Then he dove into the fish. For that one worh there had been... real emotion. Deep. Raw. Not the mask he wore more and more to keep sounding like the same old Spark.

Connie smiled. "No, its Ok. I've been saying goodbye to so many people, and I've been really, really sad about it. Maybe It'll be good to just enjoy the moment. I mean, I'm pretty sure you won't be staying here, right?"

Best of both worlds. She didn't ask what he was sorry about and he didn't have the guilt of having not said it. "Staying here is an option? Who is staying?" He was going with Nino of course so he could be with Adrien again. But... Oh there was a nasty thought. "What if Papillon stays here without any of us to fight against him...?"

"I suppose it is, but I don't think anyone's taking it. I mean, I'm certainly not, and most people I've spoken to aren't either," she replied. Connie grimaced. That was a nasty thought all right. "I don't think he will. What would be the point if he didn't have any real opposition?"

"Spending enough time here learning to Bend unopposed and gaining more and more power to come back to his world and take over Paris and destroy the heroes with a thought?" Yeah, he had better go with Nino.

"Even if he were to do that, he'd contend with all of US, if we got word. I've already been akumatized twice and we fought a Deva. Papillion seems like small potatoes in comparison. Maybe I can get Agatha to make us something so we can contact each other."

"Could she? Otherwise how do we call for help if he does come back later?" Spark asked.

"We're all beyond just Wakened now," Connie pointed out. "It would have to be something with both Agatha's power and our own combined, in case we need to assist each other if we get in trouble."

"Again. Cat. Cars don't exactly do magic..." Spark said, trying to hide the tension growing in his shoulders.

"If that was true, what happened when the Nautilus was being attacked?" Connie argued, but gently. "I'm pretty sure you were doing something, right? You're not the type to just sit by and let your friends get hurt."

"I... might have fallen asleep looking for Adrien...." Might is such a useful word for obfuscation.

Connie gave him a dubious look. "Come on. No one could sleep through that."

"I've slept through full on storms," Spark pointed out. "And the manor is riddled with safe rooms." This really wasn't how he wanted to end things with Connie.

"This wasn't a storm. This was end of existence kind of stuff. No one sleeps through that. Besides, I'd never figure you the type to leave us to our own devices without doing something."

"I didn't know about it till after," he said with a kitty shrug. "Besides, what could I have done? Pun the situation better?"

"If you say so." But she seemed to drop the topic. "What will you do now then?"

"Eat fish?" he asked, hopefully. He was happy to leave the topic behind. And he wanted fish.

"Well sure, but I mean, what will you do after we all say our goodbyes?" she asked.

"Oh. I'm going to Paris with Adrien and them," he said as if that had been obvious. "He's my human now, after all. And he makes good fish."

Connie smiled. "Good. He and I were never that close, but I figure that he could use a cat to help him out, in more ways than one. I mean, who couldn't?"

"Right. Their house needs a cat. And I need their private chef to make me fish."

Connie nodded, looking up a moment. "With all of the dumb storms that happened and how complicated it made everything, you'd think we would all be happy to leave here finally. I remember I used to feel that way, when the worst of things happened. Crazy stuff, like seeming my dad figure here die and seeing him walking around as a ghost. Or heck, that one time I was in kind of a dystopia village trope, and things were really grim. But now, they're just....memories. Things I lived though that changed me." She laughed. "Sorry! Leaving just has me all introspective."

"I'd rather everyone who left come back and we all stay, then us all leave. Think of all the fish I got here because everyone could Bend them!" Spark said, all but bouncing with excitement.

"I think I'll miss your one track mind the most," Connie said, nudging Spark's forehead.

He head butted her lightly. She had no clue how much he had changed. Which meant he was good at keeping his secrets. Good. "Well you can always come and visit. So long as you bring fish."

"Don't worry, I will. I'd kind of like to see what that Eiffel Tower and Big Ben monuments look like in their own respective worlds. And I'll have plenty of time to bring you fish all over the world too. But I'll miss seeing you when I lived in the Not Tardis."

"So just come more often!" he said, licking his lips at the thought of all that fish.

Connie laughed. "I'll come when I can! I'll be pretty busy, with Agatha's universe...and my own."

"Good, then you can bring me fish from both places. And the house is huge, you can stay over night to visit too. If we do it right" he had to stop himself from saying dad "Adrien's dad will never notice."

"Right, because of his dad, of course." Connie did not sound amused. "I'll try my best, but just remember that fish don't keep very long."

"That's fine. I eat them quickly," Spark reassured her, thoughts of Gabriel all but forgotten for the moment.

"I know you can Spark. I've made you fish myself." She was chuckling.

"There you go then, we're fine." A kitty grin.

"Right." She picked up Spark and gave him a small hug. "Take care, ok?"

He snuggled into her. "You too. Gonna miss you between visits."

"Same. You take care, and make sure they feed you only the best stuff, all right?"

"But of course!"

"Great!" She gave him a hug, and yes, there are tears in her eyes. "I'll see you again soon, Spark!"

He lapped at the tears. "You had better." Once she set him down he watched her go off to find Agatha. Or whoever she was looking for. From what he knew about Agatha, and people's reactions to her... he might hide the origins of his device so no one would be bothered about using them. If Agatha actually made them.

He shook his head to clear it.

Part 2

[death_from_above]

Spark walked through the City of Change, reflecting. Soon they would all leave. He was making his rounds to say his goodbyes. He had just left Connie, and thankfully Kit had been around to let him into the Tardis. Or not Tardis. Or whatever anyone wanted to call it. He was glad, because he couldn't have brought himself to ask Nino to unlock the door for him. Not given how Nino had left.

The whole place just seemed so... Empty. He missed all the sounds and smells he usually associated with this place. The Doctor in the kitchen cooking fish. Rose in the console room with popcorn, making him some fish. Adrien hanging out in his room, willing to Bend him up some sushi. What? Connie herself said she'd miss his one track mind.

He stopped at the wall of little dolls. Pat of him wanted to take them with him to Paris, so Adrien would have them but he left them. They were the Doctor's. And some day he might come back to this place and they should be here waiting for him. Spark smiled a little at the small plush orange cat doll. He remembered when Goth Donalds had put out dolls of him and Nino had helped him sneakily give them out to all the people in the City that he liked. It had been a larger bag than he would have ever guessed.

He walked past that to the area that had been Me's room. But before he could get there he saw the mural and stopped to just stare at it. Me and the Doctor had painted that after the school storm, he recalled. And even though Me left the Tardis for good soon after that, the Doctor never took down the mural of his many faces on a boat, crossing a river and a sky over head that broke into the starry cosmos. He always figured that some day he'd understand the painting, but today was his last day here, and he still didn't. No one was left who could explain it. The Doctor was gone... All of him. The one who smelled like Rose and had adopted all the Paris kids and Connie and him. The one that smelled like Rose and leather and was grumpy all the time. The one that smelled like lemons and candy and always had a snack for Spark, even if it wasn't always fish. And the one that had that amazingly soft cloak he liked sleeping inside of sometimes.

Rose was gone too. He missed her. And Me was gone. Spark... Missed her less. Things had been so tense in the Tardis when she had been around. Still, she could have explained the painting.

He shook his head. It didn't matter.

Spark went to the room that had been Adrien's, then his and Adrien's, then his and Adrien's and Nino's.... He breathed the fading scents. Then he went to Nino's room, but it had been cleared out. He remembered seeing the boxes. He went to the room Marinette had stayed in for a while, but her scent was almost gone. The same for Alya's when he got to her room. But then somehow... He got lost. He was trying to find Connie's room but...

He looked up sharply, in one of the larger bathrooms, having lost his way all together. Time to go. He wasn't sure how he knew it, but he did. He was supposed to meet Nino so they could head back to Paris... Together....

He raced for the exit, finding it more easily than anything else by following his own scent. He stopped one more time in the room with the dolls and looked up at them. At the doll of Adrien. At Connie and Nino and Marinette and Alya and... He swallowed hard. "I'm going to miss you," he said to Kirika's doll, to all of the dolls. Then he raced out of the Tardis to start his new life as a rich and pampered cat.

So long as Gabriel Agreste never found him...

---------------

Okay as memories and visions went, that one wasn't so bad. Besides, Spark could respect anyone who was so easily distracted by food. He approved. He looked up to see who it was that he had swapped with, and tried very hard not to show the panic growing within him. What had this stranger seen? What did he now know? Had Spark put Adrien and everyone else in danger by leaving the train?

Leia said he had to trust more people, but she was talking about like... Curufin and Link, right? Not... Not some random stranger! Even if the stranger did have excellent food responses...

[monkeyinthewrench]

Jake's eyes open slowly. Wait...where is he? He wasn't here before! And he's staring at...a cat. The cat who'd said goodbye to all those people, some of them very famous? Huh. Fascinating.

"...so. Uh. Hi. Saw a weird vision before I got here, think it might've been yours. About saying goodbye to a lot of friends and the Tardis?"

Tactful he is not today.

[death_from_above]

He saw the Tardis!? Yeah, it was a lot of acting needed to pull off the affected nonchalance he was now displaying. "Were there fish in the memory?" he asked, licking his lips, watching as if eager for fish. He was watching eagerly in truth, but for truth. Or proof this other knew the truth...

[monkeyinthewrench]

"...yeah. You really like fish, don'tcha."

Jake's keeping it light and friendly, but he still wonders what on earth is going on. Did the cat see something of him? Super weird.

[death_from_above]

"Probably more than you like burritos." he grinned. "So what else did you see? My favorite kinds of fish? Or me getting to go fishing with someone? If not I can teach you once we get outta this cave."

[monkeyinthewrench]

Jake smiled. Yeah, that sounded about right...maybe this fishing thing wouldn't be so bad?

Anyway...back to what he saw. "You were...somewhere else. Saying goodbye to your friends who were leaving. People from different worlds who'd been pulled together like us, right?"

[death_from_above]

He blinked, and once again refused to cry. He nodded. So many people he had said good bye to at the end. Connie, Leia, Nita, Kit... Two of those four had been on the Train at some point. Who else? Lots else. He had bothered everyone he could for fish. But if he had seen the Tardis... it was near the end. Connie. Maybe Nino, though that wasn't a goodbye. Nino was the concern. He... couldn't remember clearly what exactly they had and had not said.

"Yeah. Who was I saying goodbye to? Leia? Nita? Cause that is hilarious, in hindsight, given Nita got here before me and Leia is still here. For some reason refuses to Bend me enough fish to sustain a poor starving kitty cat like myself, but still. Oh! Baymax? Was it Baymax?" Baymax wasn't here, he could fudge whatever truth he wanted about those conversations on dietary requirements. Though even he knew there was only so far something could be stretched before it broke...

[monkeyinthewrench]

"It was a girl. Wearing glasses. Didn't catch her name. Definitely not the general, though," was about all Jake could clarify. "But it sounds like you knew a lot of cool people. So charming you could get fish off of anyone?"

[death_from_above]

Glasses? There were a few people with glasses in Nautilus. He was pretty sure no one could mistake Nino for a girl. Well... most of the time. There were a few occasions.... that he could be amused at later.

"Short dark hair? Smile almost bigger than her face? Very willing to give fish to a charming kitty cat?"

[monkeyinthewrench]

Jake nods along. "Yeah, that's her. I'm sorry you lost her."

And he means it. It's hard to be without your family and friends...as he knows too well.

Vexen | Clef

[voidtreckermods]

[thawed_pride]

The memory Clef experiences includes a familiar face, if an unfamiliar location. A clandestine meeting, despite the pair's loud voices, wherein Vexen reveals to Demyx that Saix is orchestrating a betrayal of the Organization.

[guru_clef]

Clef was confused. He had been heading back to the library and then... he was in a cave. Frowning, he leaned closer to investigate the walls, trying to determine the mineral content when he became aware he wasn't alone. He turned to see who was with him and... fell into a memory. One not his own. Unaware of what was being shared from him...

-------------

They had finished. They had chased the horrible glass creatures from world to world until they ended here. A door that seemed to stand between Light and Darkness. But they had won. And Light shined over the exhausted and injured warriors.

The vantage point was... wobbly. Clef was floating on his spit of land inside a transparent pastel shield of magic, but even his resources were flagging. But it was done. The Deva who had tried to use her power to destroy chaos - by making everything the same - had been defeated. Her monsters destroyed. All that was left was to get back to Naut and rest. For once, even Clef didn't want to research, to read. He wanted to get back to his Crystal Castle, see that Zelda and the boys are safe and then to fall over on his bed and sleep. For a month. He'd say a century, but given he had adopted Link and Link was sure he wouldn't see even one century, he'd have to content himself with just a month.

But then the Darkness shifted. He turned, trying to figure out what had caught his attention when he heard a laugh. Light, but icy. Menacing. Before he could brace himself, the floor cracked. Even though he had been floating above it, when the others fell, Clef fell with them, falling through the shattered shards of the ground before the door at the end of all things.

Black surrounded them. Then dark violet. Then a flash of light. His shield broke and he joined the others in being spilled across cobblestones, mist taking up most of their vision. Or at least most of his. But it was an almost familiar mist, and as it cleared he saw they were all there, all alive and all... Back in in Naut... In what passed for home these days.

It is the Central Plaza. But there's Isis' purple and crystal glass already making its way like a sentient serpentine wave.. The group scatters in different directions to avoid it and watch as the glass weaves past them and spirals into the air.

"Ah. So you are still alive. What an oversight on my part," a voice scoffs. The glass coalesces, forming a figure shrouded in light. The Deva of glass herself. Who... should be dead. He recognized her from his studies. But was she connected to the Deva they had just fought? And how? As her power moved, he saw a similarity in their abilities he would have to study later. First he had to survive. He mustered what power he could into reforming his shield and floated away, but without land under him in the sphere, his footing was uneasy. Once he was out of the Blast radius it was a simple thing to create ground inside the shield under his feet. Or would have been were he not so tired. So spent.

He wasn't the only one. He was among the least wounded. How were they going to take down another Deva now? The only hope was those who remained behind to defend Naut while they were gone. They would - hopefully - be fresh. Though if there was a Deva on the attack here, they might not be. He had no way to know how this realm had fared.

A voice spoke. Familiar, but not someone Clef actually knew, at least... not well. People didn't stick in his mind the way books and facts did, for the most part. "A Shard. The last remaining part of Isis' will. That witch has hidden a shell of herself among her countless pieces to bring part of herself back to finish the vision that she had failed to accomplish. It seems as if I was not the only one who had thought of a failsafe. I'm honestly surprised you Wakened have gotten this far. I thought you would have perished before you even reached the first world."

Ursaems, the Deva of Entropy, walked into the scene, followed by those Wakened who had remained. Backup or brainwashed? With the Deva... it could be either way. He'd been brainwashed himself too many times to presume their friends were here of their own free will. All he could do was... hope.

And protect them. Save them. If not.

Somehow.

The Shard shimmered, the projection almost having a static-y quality to it before it solidified into solid light in crystalized form.

"Usraems. You double-crosser. I'll show you who has failed here," Isis's Shard hissed. She raised her hand and fired a ball of energy towards her previous double agent. The blast strikes Ursames and encases half of his body in crystal. The crystal starts to spread and it's clear that the rest of him will be trapped as well.

"Nngh-!"

"Not so fast!" a voice cried out. The other Deva arrived on the scene, staring down the Shard. They stood in front of Ursames and then addressed the Wakened.

"It'll take us some time t' free him from this glass. Go! Buy us some time! We will lend you lot a bit of our power," Antovil said, putting his hands in front of him. All the Wakened would feel a rush of power. Wounds are healed and energy is replenished.

Clef stretched and the wobble faded. He found himself nodding. They could do this. Refreshed, replenished, and healed? And back in Naut, so close to the source of all Chaos? What couldn't the Wakened do? Bending was willpower. And fighting for the home they had come to love? What couldn't they do?

The Deva turn their attention to freeing Ursaems. They were tense, but unafraid, as if trusting the Wakened to have their back. Clef, for one, was not going to betray that. In this they were all aligned.

The projection of Isis laughed. "Oh you fools. You have not learned one bit. And that will be your downfall," she sneered and then summoned a horde of glass creatures of all shapes and sizes. "Finish them! Glass them! I will have my Perfect Order soon enough!" she commanded.

Okay so maybe she was the exact same Deva they just had just fought. Maybe he really should pay more attention to people in his studies...

The creatures lunged at the weakened. Those, like himself, who were shielded were fine for now. But any who took so much as a cut were almost infected by fast spreading glass.

Clef put himself into a support role almost at once. He extended a shield around the wounded and used his Bending to force the glass out. Contested Bending tasks weren't usually hard for the mage. His will was one of the strongest. But Ascension counted for a lot. He had Ascended only once. A Deva, even if distracted, had access to more power to back her will. Ironically enough, given the order she sought, it was still chaos magic. He could expel it, but it took focus and intent. That and keeping up his shields were most of what he could handle. He had to trust the others, only able to see the battle field between rescues. And then mostly just to look for others who needed the help.

Azmuth, one of the few in Naut smaller than him was doing much the same as Clef. While on the far other end of the size scale the golden Dragon Tiamaris seemed to be doing quite the good job of destroying the creatures. Leia... At first he thought something had happened to her, but his friend was passing harmlessly and formlessly through the battlefield using her Bending to smash the glass creatures together. Good enough.

But even distracted as he was, he would have had to have already been dead to miss Agatha's early contribution. He still didn't know how he felt about the redheaded scientist, but her couldn't think about it now, and couldn't doubt her effectiveness as she whistled a sharp and high enough note to pierce glass. Shatter it, actually. "SHOWTIME!" she yelled after that as a carpet of her creations surged forward, some fighting, so bringing weapons and armor to the Wakened.

Isis's projection snarled, furious as the Wakened defeat wave after wave of her horde. She seemed to be weakening. Summoning glass creatures must have taken energy and that chipped away from the remnants of her will. No matter! She too had chipped away at the Wakened.

She seemed to think that she could finish them off.

The Shard shattered and then reformed itself, creating a projection that stands tall in the plaza. She stepped forward with a thunderous crunching sound as glass took over the entire area. The whole plaza became covered in the same crystal-like purple and blue glass, sharp and uneven all over. It's crude intimidating. She looked... determined in her fury. "How is this for change?" she bellowed, sending out a wave of glass projectiles.

"Wakened! This is our fight for survival, so it is! Aye, this is the very last of that traitor’s will, and she will fight ye with all her might, but we know your will shall champion the day over hers! Don't let her encase you in glass, don't let her stop change and time itself!" Nictyx called out. They have freed Ursaems and were ready to join in the fight.

Clef heard Leia reply. "Oh you can bet I will. I didn't live and die a rebel just to let reality be taken down by a piece of cheap costume jewelry!" as glass projectiles from midair flew instead at Isis. Thick vines cracked through the glass-covered ground and wrap around the Isis creature's legs, both hindering her motion and attempting to crush the legs themselves.

A beach formed over part of the glass as Clef dived back into action to help someone else. Leia looked fine. Nita looked fine. Ah... there was someone who didn't. He put up a shield and focused his will on expelling glass from the wound once more.

Between people he caught a flash of one of the newly wakened. A girl in a long pink cloak and a mask over her face. He would hardly have noticed, except that she seemed to be using a weapon much like Sora's, though different as well. After the battle he would have to find her again. Maybe she knew the boy...

and then someone called for help and he flew over the Keyblade wielding girl to the next person who needed aid.

He had heard some of the end of the battle. Raised voices and a shattering of glass louder than any other. But he was working on someone almost lost and then with the last shattering the glass... vanished.

Clef looked up, tired once more, to see people picking themselves up, checking on each other. No glass seemed to be remaining. At least none that he could see. He needed to find out if it was truly over this time. And if it was... he needed to find Link, Shadow, and Zelda so they could go home. And maybe change what their Castle looked like for a while. Crystal was too much like glass, at the moment...

------------------

He knew that voice didn't he? It was familiar at least. And the guy in front of him in the memory... He'd seen him hadn't he? And that jacket? Maybe? He wished Link and Shadow had seen it, they'd know.

But men of science who made mistakes. Atoning. Those were things he could understand.

But much of the rest was going over his head. This felt like a memory of his own. Like he was in a Storm again. He had been rooted in it, but the second it was over he lost the context. None of it made sense. He would have to figure out if anyone else had any of these weird visions...

And then he saw Vexen. That he wasn't alone. "Oh." he was still a bit shaken from the odd vision, and the sense that he had understood it at the time but didn't now. Which was disconcerting. "Were you also waylaid here?" He at least knew the other as a frequent visitor to the library, even if they had not spoken much. Or.. at all? At the moment he was distracted enough by the vision to not recall for sure.

[thawed_pride]

Vexen had been in the lab, taking advantage of the peace and quiet to work without distractions...and then he wasn't. Instead, he was absorbed in a memory, experiencing a battle fought with magic not his own. A door...it looked so familiar. He could have sworn it resembled depictions of the door to Kingdom Hearts, and yet...

The memory gave him no details to be sure, but he was certain he saw a Keyblade in the hand of an unfamiliar woman. Who? And what was it they were fighting? Some sort of powerful being, one who wanted absolute order. Pfeh. From his experiences, he could say confidently that absolute anything was trouble. But ultimately, the vision left him with more questions than answers as he rubbed his forehead, peeking out at Clef from behind his fingers. He recognized him, they'd spoken before...he'd been intrigued by the boy(?)'s ability to conjure drinks from thin air.

"I would call it abducted, really. I had no intention of leaving the train for camping on the beach, of all things, and yet..."

A sigh. He should have figured his luck would find some way to make this 'memory cave' thing his problem.

[guru_clef]

He looked around the cave, then back at Vexen. "I would hardly call this camping, or a beach," he said, then blinked. "I knew the voice was familiar. That was your voice I had been hearing." And they were together. Which made sense if...

"I suspect this might be a memory Storm like phenomena. Did you perchance see a memory of mine?"

Look, someone missed the memo that the train had even stopped, okay?

[thawed_pride]

He had taken note of the message, even if he had also summarily ignored it. In the absence of Lea insisting (and in the absence of Ken entirely, but that was...a different matter), he had fully intended on staying indoors for the duration of the 'vacation'.

"I believe so, though I heard no voice to be certain. I suspect we are in the memory caves, near to the beach the train brought us to."

[guru_clef]

"I am unfamiliar with any such caves. I suspect you have the superior knowledge in this instance. Do you perhaps know how we are to leave? I had plans to do some research on the nature of nightmares today."

[thawed_pride]

He shook his head and shrugged.

"I only know what the train has shared by way of her own research. This...phenomenon is something that can be deliberately triggered, if people want, for Kingdom Hearts knows what reason, to trade memories willingly, but evidently it also has a mind of its own."

[guru_clef]

"Perhaps I shall request a book on the topic at the next platform. It may be interesting if we can figure out how to trigger such sharing of memories at will. It would make teaching and cooperation much swifter, in theory. We just have to avoid overuse as it might lead to an abundance of same thought, thus rendering outside perspectives null and void."

[thawed_pride]

"I believe it to be a specific property of these caverns. Something about wanting to return here because some individuals caught glimpses of the train's inaccessible memories. An intriguing concept to be certain, but..."

But exposing others to the nightmares of his past is exactly what he'd wanted to avoid.

"Well, I shall just say that I hope what you witnessed was not especially unpleasant, and leave it at that."

[guru_clef]

"A conversation that without context means little to me, and I am certain I can more or less forget it, if that is your preference. Perhaps a sample of the stone of the cave, perhaps the the effect radiates from the base sediment."

[thawed_pride]

"It may also be a property of the location itself. My previous experience with...memory-related magic was at the precise behest of a sapient wielder. I would hope that such is not the case here, or else I will be quite displeased..."

Of course, casting his magical sensors out...just tells him the magic suffuses the area.

"Taking a sample and returning it to the train should be a simple matter. My specialty is quite useful for splitting stone, so long as some form of natural fissure is present."