Clemency

chapter twenty-five | beholder

"KAITO! " A garbled, familiar voice of a girl shrieked frantically. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"

"I'M GOING TO FIND MOM AND DAD-" A boy cried in response. It sounded like a younger version of Kaito, which meant that the image had to be a vision in Kaito's point of view.

"YOU'RE GOING TO GET KILLED! DON'T!" The girl warned.

At the sound of this, Kaito's voice lowered from a shout to a controlled, calmer tone. "I'd rather die trying to find them than stay here doing nothing. They're our family," his forced calm demeanour slipped as his voice succumbed to the panic, becoming even shakier, "...Hikari."

The vision changed to show a girl running towards Kaito with wide open, terror-stricken red eyes with messy black hair, in which parts of her fringe were plastered onto the sides on her face from the beads of sweat of her forehead. 

Hikari?

"Then I'm coming with y-" the girl started, but stopped when the crash of debris became louder and louder. The vision snapped upwards to show rocks the size of a bus crashing down towards them. Before Kaito could do anything, he was shoved back by Hikari before the rubble collapsed between them, separating them. 

The last thing heard was a distorted cry before the vision fizzled and disappeared, forcing us to snap out of it. I blinked for what felt like the first time in ten years.

Lana advanced towards Kaito. Kneeling down before him, she gently nudged him to wake him up. The metal mage stirred, frowning for the first time we saw him while his eyes opened to a squint, trying to focus on what was going on around him.

With a bewildered expression, he disorientedly stumbled to stand up.

"So..." Kaito muttered, "It was Hikari all along..."

"I'm guessing you saw what we all saw," said Reaper.

"Maybe... But I could sense everything," Kaito said, his voice almost inaudible. "The rush of wind as the stones crashed down towards us, the heat from the fire, the physical pain, the mental-"

Before Kaito started to ramble on, Jeremy cut in. "This is natural. The magic used enables one to feel one's environment of one's memory. In conclusion, we can assume that the girl with black hair is his sister."

"Does anyone need to know anything else?" Reaper asked.

This was my chance. I spoke up. "Well... If you all have time to spare, maybe I could...?"

"Your memory cannot be unlocked here. It will be remembered in time. I cannot save it." Jeremy shook his head.

Dread crept down my spine like a careful spider leaving a trail of silk. Even an expert on memories can't help me?

"What? What do you mean you can't get her memory back? Why-" Lana started, but I stopped her.

"It's alright! Thanks anyway. It was worth a try," I interrupted before the matter escalated, ignoring my churning stomach. We came here to retrieve Kaito's memories, and I didn't want to selfishly change the subject to focus on me.

"Let's go then. Jeremy, we'll return the favour another time," Reaper urged, wanting to get out of the unfamiliar place as soon as possible. "Kaito, you should tell Hikari about this as soon as possible."