Since the rp is dead, I never did get to go into details about Zephyr's memory loss. In fact, that was the character arc I was hoping to lead into along with K0V's story before it died off. So here's the beginning of what I had in mind. There are obvious holes in the story that I was planning to fill in with whatever K0V and I led into.
I also had an idea for Marianne that goes deeper, as hinted, and I might post a piece of that here too, just for the hell of it. But there is a lot of preface missing for that, so I might not.
___________________________________
…shouldn’t have trusted her.
She knew from the beginning! She knew everything and didn’t tell us!
She knew we trusted her—
She took advantage of it—
Said she ‘had to’—
And that sap believed her!
“Oh god.” Andre muttered aloud while messaging his temples with his thumbs. What he was feeling wasn’t technically a migraine—he actually had no idea what he was feeling, actually—but this was what he found helped him deal with the pressure he felt on his head the best. A boundless mess of soundless thoughts and feelings filled Andre’s head and he knew for sure that none of them were his. He also knew who’s feelings they were—a familiar hulking figure that in a thick, bulletproof trench coat stood nearby, slightly hunched over while brooding. They wore a skull mask that hid their face from view, but the emotions that rolled off of him made it clear what he was feeling and thinking about. It was pretty amazing—the badass mercenary who had deflected two unique squadrons of Special Forces alone was surprisingly emotional when not in combat. Andre could see why this man didn’t bother speaking. His dreamer power did it all for him.
It could be convenient, but right now, it was terribly annoying.
“Slow down, buddy.” Andre reached over and gripped the man’s shoulder tightly. “I get that you’re upset—a bit too well, honestly—but getting worked up won’t solve the problem. Start by telling me what I care about. What the hell happened back there and what did that bitch Yuzu have to do with it?”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If one could read a book on their life, would it be filled with answers or just more questions? Zephyr had often pondered that while reading the diary that had washed ashore with him years ago on the shores of the Dreamer’s Heaven. He’d gone through every word of it, hoping to find something that would trigger his memories, analyzing every word and every sentence. He’d found no meaningful patterns or key phrases, beyond the random placement of the word ‘Zephyr’ in various places all over the book. He’d taken up that name out of convenience and used the knowledge he’d gained from the book detailing many different kinds of weapons to masterfully use what he considered to be an extraordinarily flexible and useful ability in changing his body into any tool that he knows and understands.
For years, he thought that that diary was a useless part of his past.
And now that book was callously tossed aside by Marianne Slingeneyer, who’s small back was to Zephyr. Zephyr didn’t even notice that book hit the wet pavement, remaining focused instead on the blood head of hair in front of him.
“You are hereby dismissed from the dreamer army, effective immediately.”
Zephyr’s eyes widened and his heart rate quickened briefly. He took a moment to let the words sink in, trying to understand them.
“I…don’t understand.”
“You heard me. You’re no longer needed. So I’m cutting you off like a lizard tail.”
“Why? I have never done anything to compromise your work. In fact, I’ve supported you all this time. I admit that my mental health is…questionable right now, but after I sleep and take time to organize my thoughts, I should be—”
“Stop.” Marianne raised a hand to cut him off. “Save your breath. You already repeated the reason. You mental health is in question. I don’t need any more convincing than that. “
“Then I could return after recovering—”
“No.”
Marianne shifted slightly to look at Zephyr dead in the eye. For the first time in years, he winced in response to the empty, emotionless gaze he received.
“You are no longer my subordinate. You are no longer a ranked official. You aren’t even a soldier any more. I’m taking everything: your rank, title, position…everything. You have a home now, don’t you?” Go find it. Wherever it is, it’s not Somniatores anymore.”
“…”
“You helped me a lot since we first met. You outlived your anticipated length of usefulness by years, in fact. And even in the very end, you lead me to some important information regarding dreamers. Thanks for that. And good bye.”
“Marianne, please…”
“You’re fired, Mr. Rainsville. If you can’t accept that with grace and insist on embarrassing yourself,” Marianne turned completely toward Zephyr now. For all her thanks, there was still not a shred of emotion on it. “I’ll take back the name I gave you, too.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“…The butler got his memory back?”
Andre’s brow furrowed. He stood on the top of a top secret government building under an unnatural overcast. There should have been a risk of being caught, but with the recent flood nearly destroying everything and the report of an important ‘subject’ escaping, there was really no one left to pay them any mind. Malcolm Jones nodded while keeping his gaze trained on the nearby ground. Andre could still feel irritation stewing beneath the surface, but it had mostly been forced to settle. This guy was probably good at smothering his emotions, or at least preventing himself from transmitting them as strongly.
“Some time ago…” Malcolm chose to speak with his gruff voice, probably deciding that it was more efficient this time. Or maybe he couldn’t transmit his thoughts without assaulting Andre with his emotions again? “There was a project by the name of Anemoi. It was a top secret group of seven dreamers back on Decorum. It was a political fiasco and I’m still not even sure what it’s true purpose was. I was one of them, of course. My merc name, Boreas, comes from my time there. They trained us to use our average level dreamer power with combat tactics and fighting intuition to be perfect soldiers. The two of us—Zephyr and I—were two of the top four. He was popular because he was obedient and well-mannered. I was too violent. Eurus was too much of a coward. And Notus…Notus was too smart for their liking.”
“What does this have to do with Yuzu?”
“Exercitus Iudicii was involved. I don’t know if they were sponsors or partners, but they gained the rights over the project material when Anemoi went bust. It was a violent exchange. I ended up killing one of the others scarring another. Eurus vanished during all the chaos and I haven’t heard from him since. Notus took away Zephyr’s memory.”
“Took away? With her power? Why?”
“Probably half because she was worried about him and half because of some plot she has. I told you, she’s smart. She caught on to what was going on and the higher ups tried to erase her for it. They sent the others after her and I protected her since I owed her a favor. I ended up being captured and questioned, but was eventually released for some reason. I don’t know why.”
Another wave of pain washed over Andre and he winced. Obviously, a lot happened during that jail time that Malcolm was trying not to touch upon.
“And Yuzu.”
“She’s been in contact with me. Offered me a job at first. I didn’t want to get directly involved with this dreamer war shit, so I refused. She threatened me. Held my contract in Anemoi against me, since apparently she’s got it now. I’m sure the other two members are in Exercitus Iudicii somewhere, though I don’t want to run into them.”
“She enlisted you to fight Zephyr.”
“All of you. Capture as many dreamers as possible and kill all of you guys. There was a lot of money involved on top of hush money—officially, they were threatened by terrorists and wanted extra protection. What a load of bull. Zephyr, of all freaking people!”
Andre groaned aloud as he leaned back against the radiator behind him that was shut off. If he smoked, now would be a great time for a cigarette.
“What are we going to do?”
“Kill ‘em all. I’m not even fucking kidding, this shit’s serious. They’re after something, and I don’t know what it is, but if it got Eurus running and Notus ruining the lives of people she likes, then I’ve got to help them the only way I know how.”
Andre frowned slightly, remembering his earlier conversation with Marianne.
”I knew it. Skull Face broadcasts his every job so anyone would see him coming a mile away when gathering information, doesn’t he? I thought he was just some attention seeking psychopath, but he’s not fighting like a conceited or stupid person would.”
“It’s bad luck that we ran into him in this chaotic mess. I just don’t get this guy. Making his business everyone else’s just makes it easier to prepare for him, but he’s still such a pain in the ass. Does he just like the thrill?”
“A deterrent.”
“What?”
“He’s not doing it just because he’s unhinged. He’s such a powerful existence, that anyone he’s hired to fight against will have to take him into account when they plan. And even then, he’s still liable to wreck that plan entirely. From my research, the only people who have ever managed to beat him are the smart, adaptable ones and even after all that, he’s still alive and kicking.”
“You’re kidding me. He’s trying to scare people off before they get to him? Like some kind of hero?”
“I really hate guys like him.”
Andre was starting to see exactly what Marianne had been so worried about. This man was a monster. A powerful, threatened, unhinged monster who played the good guy and could still be considered a soldier.
Even so, he’d be a powerful ally.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Zephyr took a deep breath and shook his head back and forth, letting his lips flap to shake out his irritation. It helped, but not much. He headed for the stairs to start heading down, his eyes searching for a distraction. He found what he was looking for straight ahead of him; a familiar face stood at the top of the stairs directly parallel to him, standing tall with her high heels and wearing a skin tight outfit that showed all the right curves and accentuated her sensual gait. Zephyr absently gripped his right upper arm unconsciously with his left hand, giving himself an insecure half hug even as his gaze remained steady and calm.
“I love the new outfit.” Notus said cheerily. She started down the steps at the same time that Zephyr did, matching her pace with his. There was no real meaning in this—they were simply trained to observe each other’s patterns since they first met in order to be as efficient as possible. “It highlights your handsome side. The side that I like.”
“I’m just relieved that you recognize me.”
“You look worried. Are you feeling like yourself?”
“Of course not.” Zephyr knew that Notus would have been suspicious if he was ‘alright’ and she was absolutely right to be. It would have been out of character. But regardless, the emotion inside him began to leak out like a steady stream, like a repressed memory resurfacing gently. “I don’t even know who, or what, I am. Before, I was just a blank mess. But now I suddenly have a whole other life that I identify with. Not a dream or another me, but another perspective of my already kaleidoscopic life.”
“You’re just tired from trying to understand. You shouldn’t try to psychoanalyze the you from back then all at once. Things will become clear with time. Just like they did before.”
“Notus…” Zephyr’s eyes tightened. “I didn’t choose to quit the dreamer army and come here.”
“Of course not. No matter what your iteration, you’re loyal. You can’t be bothered to betray the people you work for without a really good reason.”
“I…I would have stayed. I’m sure I would have. Marianne…She told me to leave. Revoked my privileges, stripped me of my rank, blacklisted me from the entire 5th Unit, everything. She even said she’d take back the name she gave me if I kept refusing to accept being fired.”
Notus didn’t have any consoling words to offer to that. Instead, she remained silent, only the sound of their synchronized steps echoing through the air with every step they went down.
“I still care about them. I care about you all too, of course. This life that I led…it’s a part of me. Regaining my memories didn’t change that. And yet, I’m still attached to the other…’me’s’.”
Zephyr’s face began to change shape, its outline shifting and his features distorting. He ground his teeth and tightened his grip on his arm for a long moment before the changes settled and his face returned to its original form.
“I can’t remember my first name.”
“Well I certainly didn’t hide it from you.”
“I repressed it. I remember that I had a reason…but I don’t know what it was. Too much has happened.”
Notus clicked her tongue delicately.
“Then you’re of no help to me.”
“I thought it best for me to tell you than for you to waste your time watching and waiting for me to come out with it.”
“I appreciate it. Really, I do. It’s partly my fault for traumatizing you. I’ll just have to resort to one of my other routes. In the meantime, if you happen to remember anything important, tell me.”
I also had an idea for Marianne that goes deeper, as hinted, and I might post a piece of that here too, just for the hell of it. But there is a lot of preface missing for that, so I might not.
___________________________________
…shouldn’t have trusted her.
She knew from the beginning! She knew everything and didn’t tell us!
She knew we trusted her—
She took advantage of it—
Said she ‘had to’—
And that sap believed her!
“Oh god.” Andre muttered aloud while messaging his temples with his thumbs. What he was feeling wasn’t technically a migraine—he actually had no idea what he was feeling, actually—but this was what he found helped him deal with the pressure he felt on his head the best. A boundless mess of soundless thoughts and feelings filled Andre’s head and he knew for sure that none of them were his. He also knew who’s feelings they were—a familiar hulking figure that in a thick, bulletproof trench coat stood nearby, slightly hunched over while brooding. They wore a skull mask that hid their face from view, but the emotions that rolled off of him made it clear what he was feeling and thinking about. It was pretty amazing—the badass mercenary who had deflected two unique squadrons of Special Forces alone was surprisingly emotional when not in combat. Andre could see why this man didn’t bother speaking. His dreamer power did it all for him.
It could be convenient, but right now, it was terribly annoying.
“Slow down, buddy.” Andre reached over and gripped the man’s shoulder tightly. “I get that you’re upset—a bit too well, honestly—but getting worked up won’t solve the problem. Start by telling me what I care about. What the hell happened back there and what did that bitch Yuzu have to do with it?”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If one could read a book on their life, would it be filled with answers or just more questions? Zephyr had often pondered that while reading the diary that had washed ashore with him years ago on the shores of the Dreamer’s Heaven. He’d gone through every word of it, hoping to find something that would trigger his memories, analyzing every word and every sentence. He’d found no meaningful patterns or key phrases, beyond the random placement of the word ‘Zephyr’ in various places all over the book. He’d taken up that name out of convenience and used the knowledge he’d gained from the book detailing many different kinds of weapons to masterfully use what he considered to be an extraordinarily flexible and useful ability in changing his body into any tool that he knows and understands.
For years, he thought that that diary was a useless part of his past.
And now that book was callously tossed aside by Marianne Slingeneyer, who’s small back was to Zephyr. Zephyr didn’t even notice that book hit the wet pavement, remaining focused instead on the blood head of hair in front of him.
“You are hereby dismissed from the dreamer army, effective immediately.”
Zephyr’s eyes widened and his heart rate quickened briefly. He took a moment to let the words sink in, trying to understand them.
“I…don’t understand.”
“You heard me. You’re no longer needed. So I’m cutting you off like a lizard tail.”
“Why? I have never done anything to compromise your work. In fact, I’ve supported you all this time. I admit that my mental health is…questionable right now, but after I sleep and take time to organize my thoughts, I should be—”
“Stop.” Marianne raised a hand to cut him off. “Save your breath. You already repeated the reason. You mental health is in question. I don’t need any more convincing than that. “
“Then I could return after recovering—”
“No.”
Marianne shifted slightly to look at Zephyr dead in the eye. For the first time in years, he winced in response to the empty, emotionless gaze he received.
“You are no longer my subordinate. You are no longer a ranked official. You aren’t even a soldier any more. I’m taking everything: your rank, title, position…everything. You have a home now, don’t you?” Go find it. Wherever it is, it’s not Somniatores anymore.”
“…”
“You helped me a lot since we first met. You outlived your anticipated length of usefulness by years, in fact. And even in the very end, you lead me to some important information regarding dreamers. Thanks for that. And good bye.”
“Marianne, please…”
“You’re fired, Mr. Rainsville. If you can’t accept that with grace and insist on embarrassing yourself,” Marianne turned completely toward Zephyr now. For all her thanks, there was still not a shred of emotion on it. “I’ll take back the name I gave you, too.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“…The butler got his memory back?”
Andre’s brow furrowed. He stood on the top of a top secret government building under an unnatural overcast. There should have been a risk of being caught, but with the recent flood nearly destroying everything and the report of an important ‘subject’ escaping, there was really no one left to pay them any mind. Malcolm Jones nodded while keeping his gaze trained on the nearby ground. Andre could still feel irritation stewing beneath the surface, but it had mostly been forced to settle. This guy was probably good at smothering his emotions, or at least preventing himself from transmitting them as strongly.
“Some time ago…” Malcolm chose to speak with his gruff voice, probably deciding that it was more efficient this time. Or maybe he couldn’t transmit his thoughts without assaulting Andre with his emotions again? “There was a project by the name of Anemoi. It was a top secret group of seven dreamers back on Decorum. It was a political fiasco and I’m still not even sure what it’s true purpose was. I was one of them, of course. My merc name, Boreas, comes from my time there. They trained us to use our average level dreamer power with combat tactics and fighting intuition to be perfect soldiers. The two of us—Zephyr and I—were two of the top four. He was popular because he was obedient and well-mannered. I was too violent. Eurus was too much of a coward. And Notus…Notus was too smart for their liking.”
“What does this have to do with Yuzu?”
“Exercitus Iudicii was involved. I don’t know if they were sponsors or partners, but they gained the rights over the project material when Anemoi went bust. It was a violent exchange. I ended up killing one of the others scarring another. Eurus vanished during all the chaos and I haven’t heard from him since. Notus took away Zephyr’s memory.”
“Took away? With her power? Why?”
“Probably half because she was worried about him and half because of some plot she has. I told you, she’s smart. She caught on to what was going on and the higher ups tried to erase her for it. They sent the others after her and I protected her since I owed her a favor. I ended up being captured and questioned, but was eventually released for some reason. I don’t know why.”
Another wave of pain washed over Andre and he winced. Obviously, a lot happened during that jail time that Malcolm was trying not to touch upon.
“And Yuzu.”
“She’s been in contact with me. Offered me a job at first. I didn’t want to get directly involved with this dreamer war shit, so I refused. She threatened me. Held my contract in Anemoi against me, since apparently she’s got it now. I’m sure the other two members are in Exercitus Iudicii somewhere, though I don’t want to run into them.”
“She enlisted you to fight Zephyr.”
“All of you. Capture as many dreamers as possible and kill all of you guys. There was a lot of money involved on top of hush money—officially, they were threatened by terrorists and wanted extra protection. What a load of bull. Zephyr, of all freaking people!”
Andre groaned aloud as he leaned back against the radiator behind him that was shut off. If he smoked, now would be a great time for a cigarette.
“What are we going to do?”
“Kill ‘em all. I’m not even fucking kidding, this shit’s serious. They’re after something, and I don’t know what it is, but if it got Eurus running and Notus ruining the lives of people she likes, then I’ve got to help them the only way I know how.”
Andre frowned slightly, remembering his earlier conversation with Marianne.
”I knew it. Skull Face broadcasts his every job so anyone would see him coming a mile away when gathering information, doesn’t he? I thought he was just some attention seeking psychopath, but he’s not fighting like a conceited or stupid person would.”
“It’s bad luck that we ran into him in this chaotic mess. I just don’t get this guy. Making his business everyone else’s just makes it easier to prepare for him, but he’s still such a pain in the ass. Does he just like the thrill?”
“A deterrent.”
“What?”
“He’s not doing it just because he’s unhinged. He’s such a powerful existence, that anyone he’s hired to fight against will have to take him into account when they plan. And even then, he’s still liable to wreck that plan entirely. From my research, the only people who have ever managed to beat him are the smart, adaptable ones and even after all that, he’s still alive and kicking.”
“You’re kidding me. He’s trying to scare people off before they get to him? Like some kind of hero?”
“I really hate guys like him.”
Andre was starting to see exactly what Marianne had been so worried about. This man was a monster. A powerful, threatened, unhinged monster who played the good guy and could still be considered a soldier.
Even so, he’d be a powerful ally.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Zephyr took a deep breath and shook his head back and forth, letting his lips flap to shake out his irritation. It helped, but not much. He headed for the stairs to start heading down, his eyes searching for a distraction. He found what he was looking for straight ahead of him; a familiar face stood at the top of the stairs directly parallel to him, standing tall with her high heels and wearing a skin tight outfit that showed all the right curves and accentuated her sensual gait. Zephyr absently gripped his right upper arm unconsciously with his left hand, giving himself an insecure half hug even as his gaze remained steady and calm.
“I love the new outfit.” Notus said cheerily. She started down the steps at the same time that Zephyr did, matching her pace with his. There was no real meaning in this—they were simply trained to observe each other’s patterns since they first met in order to be as efficient as possible. “It highlights your handsome side. The side that I like.”
“I’m just relieved that you recognize me.”
“You look worried. Are you feeling like yourself?”
“Of course not.” Zephyr knew that Notus would have been suspicious if he was ‘alright’ and she was absolutely right to be. It would have been out of character. But regardless, the emotion inside him began to leak out like a steady stream, like a repressed memory resurfacing gently. “I don’t even know who, or what, I am. Before, I was just a blank mess. But now I suddenly have a whole other life that I identify with. Not a dream or another me, but another perspective of my already kaleidoscopic life.”
“You’re just tired from trying to understand. You shouldn’t try to psychoanalyze the you from back then all at once. Things will become clear with time. Just like they did before.”
“Notus…” Zephyr’s eyes tightened. “I didn’t choose to quit the dreamer army and come here.”
“Of course not. No matter what your iteration, you’re loyal. You can’t be bothered to betray the people you work for without a really good reason.”
“I…I would have stayed. I’m sure I would have. Marianne…She told me to leave. Revoked my privileges, stripped me of my rank, blacklisted me from the entire 5th Unit, everything. She even said she’d take back the name she gave me if I kept refusing to accept being fired.”
Notus didn’t have any consoling words to offer to that. Instead, she remained silent, only the sound of their synchronized steps echoing through the air with every step they went down.
“I still care about them. I care about you all too, of course. This life that I led…it’s a part of me. Regaining my memories didn’t change that. And yet, I’m still attached to the other…’me’s’.”
Zephyr’s face began to change shape, its outline shifting and his features distorting. He ground his teeth and tightened his grip on his arm for a long moment before the changes settled and his face returned to its original form.
“I can’t remember my first name.”
“Well I certainly didn’t hide it from you.”
“I repressed it. I remember that I had a reason…but I don’t know what it was. Too much has happened.”
Notus clicked her tongue delicately.
“Then you’re of no help to me.”
“I thought it best for me to tell you than for you to waste your time watching and waiting for me to come out with it.”
“I appreciate it. Really, I do. It’s partly my fault for traumatizing you. I’ll just have to resort to one of my other routes. In the meantime, if you happen to remember anything important, tell me.”
