Abigail Fredrickson

Ariel

“So, what you’re saying is that somehow Tigress is back but on Saber’s side?” Thor raises a brow.

A council meeting was called as soon as we returned.  Rowan hasn’t shown up yet, but that’s only because I insisted he go get his face checked out first.

“Yes, that is what I’m saying,” I rub my brow.  “Would you like me to spell it out for you?  T-I-G-R-E-“

He waves a hand, “Stop…”  I roll my eyes.

“How did that happen?” Primrose frowns.  “I thought she was with us.”

“Rowan can explain better than I can,” I tell the small group.  With Lunn, Dylan, Donatello, Takako, and Misako out in the field, the council members still here are…considerably less.

“I don’t understand it,” Tewa sighs.  “That girl used ta hate that Saber so much, an’ now she’s up n’ fightin’ his battles fer ‘im?  It jest don’t seem like ‘er.”

“I know, I know,” I resist the urge to stand and pace.  Then the doors open and Rowan enters.  The side of his face is healed almost completely, except for some very faint marks that will probably fade away completely after some time.  Kelly must’ve used one of her healing spells.

Even so, he still looks tired and pale when he sits down.  I’m not certain if it’s from blood loss or what happened in that battle, maybe both.

Before Thor or Tewa can even open their mouths, he says, “She couldn’t remember.”

“Eh?”

“What do you mean she couldn’t remember?”

Miwa holds up a hand to silence the two, watching Rowan.

His brow furrows, “She had…amnesia.  I don’t know, they…they must’ve found her after our retreat…She said they’d warned her we’d try to trick her into believing she was on our side…”

Tewa huffs, “Course.  Ain’t that jest typical?”

Rowan sighs, “She acts like she hates us.  I think she blames the Rebellion for her memory loss…She said she doesn’t even know who she is.  So she only knows what they’ve been telling her.”

“And what they’ve been telling her…” Primrose murmurs.

“-is a pack o’ lies,” Tewa grumbles.

I tap my fingers on the table, “There’s gotta be a way to help her remember though, right?  I mean, even people who’ve forgotten everything have been known for their memories to return.  Saber can’t really think that she’ll never remember anything.  Sooner or later she will and his lies will be proved to just be that, lies.”

“Maybe…” Rowan sighs.  “I really hope so.”

Kelly

I sit at the table in Ariel’s kitchen space, trying not to doze off.  Normally using two spells within a short time of each other doesn’t have much effect, but holding that shield up long enough for us to have a fair distance between us and the samurai…That took a bit out of me.  And in hindsight, mayyyybe healing Rowan’s face right afterwards wasn’t the best course of action if I don’t want to trip over my own feet for the rest of the day, but I wanted to do something.

I jump slightly when a plate of food is set in front of me, blinking my eyes open.  Terry grins slightly, sliding into the chair next to me and starting on his own food.

Mackenzie wipes her hands on a towel, “My cooking may not be as good as Ari’s, but it’s something to get in your stomach.  Wish me luck trying to get something in Yan’s.”

I swallow the mashed potatoes so I can say, “Good luck.”  Terry also makes a muffled noise through the food in his mouth.

I wrinkle my nose at him, “You’re disgusting.”  He just rolls his eyes and keeps doing Terry things.  Mackenzie disappears through the door, and I return to picking at my food.

To his credit, Terry swallows first before he breaks the silence, “So…you good?”

“Mm,” I shrug.  “Just a bit drained.  I’m not used to holding a spell for that long.”  He nods, but I see him frowning at his plate out of the corner of my eyes.  “And what about you?”

“Me?”

“Who else would I be talking to?”

He rubs his neck sheepishly, “Right…I guess…it was just weird.  Tigress.”

“Oh,” I look down.  “Yeah.  I’ve never seen her like that.”

“Me either,” he shrugs.  “Yeah, she was kinda distant and rude at first, but…I don’t know, even from a distance I was kind of scared…Is that bad?”

“I don’t think so.  Tigress is just scary.”

“She’s very scary.”

“The scariest.”

We stare at each other for a second before dissolving into giggles.  After those die down, we finish our food in quiet.  I wonder briefly for a second where Ariel and Rowan are, then recall the council meeting.

As if reading my mind, Terry hums slightly, “What do you think they’re talking about?”

“I don’t know…” I break off as a yawn takes over.  “I do know that I’m tired…I should probably get to bed before I pass out outside.”

“Probably,” Terry shrugs.  “You think you’ll be awake in time for archery practice tomorrow?”

“Wouldn’t miss it,” I assure him with a slight smile, getting up and heading for the door.

“Night, Kelly.”

“Night.”  I step outside and repress a slight shiver as the wind washes over me.  Thankfully it’s only a couple living quarters away before I can retreat inside again.  I lean against the door and sigh.  There’s still a small number of embers glowing in the kitchen oven.  I just see Karen, Kevin’s mother, sitting up and sewing something.

She looks up as I enter and smiles softly, “There you are.  I was starting to wonder.”

“I ate with Terry and Mackenzie,” I rub my eye.

“Alright.  You go get some sleep.”

“I will, thanks,” I move into the small room to the side.  Sitting down on the bed, I take a deep breath.  Even though I’m so tired I feel as though I’ll slip into sleep if I haven’t already, one image keeps at the back of my mind as darkness falls.

A burning amber eye, straining muscles as she tries to break through a lavender film.  Even from a distance, even for a split second, the sight had seared itself into my mind.  I still feel goosebumps on my skin, seeing years of hate, desperation, fury, and pain shoved into the briefest of glances.

And yet, something had seemed wrong.

And that’s the thought that remains hovering in the back of my mind as my head touches the pillow, and the world goes black.

Tigress

I sit in the flaps of my tent, watching the silent, dark world.  Here and there little fires burn, flashes of the night watchers’ red armor occasionally showing in their circles of light.  I should be getting some sleep.  However, sleep is not willing to come.  So here I am, awake, left only with the soft sounds of a sleeping camp, and the faint shimmer of overhead stars.

In this moment of peace, one would expect to be having peaceful thoughts.  Instead, I’m reflecting on the battle.  Everything was so fluid, effortless.  I’d known my muscle memory made it shockingly easy to catch up to the level I’d used to be at.  But in the battle…nothing had felt…foreign.  It was all so strangely familiar, even though I hadn’t been in one since I’d woken from that coma.  I don’t know if I’d expected it to feel strange, or different.  I’m not even sure if it’s unnatural for it to have felt so commonplace to me.  I have been in many fights before, even if I don’t remember them.

It’s just a strange mix of feelings, I suppose.

Thinking back even farther, to when we were reviewing battle tactics, I’d been surprised then too.  Nothing had felt new to me, as if I was learning it over for the first time, but like I’d always known of the things being talked about.  Which, I suppose I had.  Maybe I’d even known them very well.  But after losing my memory, I hadn’t expected to understand everything so effortlessly.

“You’ve lost your memory,” the queen had said when I’d mentioned it to her afterwards, “You didn’t lose who you are.”

It makes a strange sort of sense.  I suppose that even if I can’t access them, my memories are somewhere in my mind.  They just need to be triggered.

It makes me hope that I’ll be able to remember again one day.  Remember who I was.  Remember my friends.

Being told about my past life just isn’t the same as remembering it myself.  All I know is what other people have seen of me.  There’s a key difference in seeing yourself through someone else’s eyes, and seeing yourself through your own.  And right now…I don’t know…everyone but me seems to know who I am.  Or at least, who I was.

Some of them use it to their advantage and try to trick me to their cause.

Others just say it as they see it.  And that I’m grateful for.