Sentry of the Arcane: Engulfed

Chapter Thirty-Two: Fitz

The entire mission replays itself out in my head, but every single time, I'm met with a huge gap of a blank- right in the middle of it all and the majority of the entire thing. My level of frustration growing drastically, I try to take a few deep breaths while in the elevator. As soon as I open my eyes again, the elevator coincidentally reaches Level 6 and opens with a cheery ding. Sighing, I step out and turn the corner to Benen's room.

When the male Altruistic opens the door, he greets me with a shocked expression, "Fitz? What are you doing here?" He steps aside anyways, allowing me to enter.

"I'm absolutely done with the world and everything inside it," I mutter, pinching my nose. I walk over to his bed, a headache forming in the back of my head from trying so hard to remember the infiltration from last year. "Sometimes, I wish the head wasn't as..." I wave my arm around, trying to think of something that could explain it, "as tangible as it actually is."

Benen shakes his head, "Try again."

Snorting, I take one of his pillows and chuck it at his face, laughing when it perfectly hits him. "You know what I mean though, right?" I ask him, sitting upright as he walks over. "The simple notion of a memory is so convoluted and weird that it's hard to wrap my head around it at times. Sometimes, I feel like this shouldn't exist, but it does."

The male Altruistic sympathetically places a hand on my shoulder, and I smile gratefully in return. Despite not knowing what I'm taking about, he's still willing to listen. Something pulls at my heart when I remember that Mr. Wallace used nebmentia on him. "I mean, the reason why we left you here was so you wouldn't get hurt," I blurt out, mainly to myself. "Yet something happened, and you can't remember it." I glance up at him, "so how do we know that we made the right choice?"

Benen leans back, already knowing what I'm referencing to. "I wouldn't know," he admits after a moment of silence. "I feel like it is and it isn't." I cringe at the last part but don't say anything. "It isn't because of course, I would've loved to help out in any way possible. But at the same time, it was a good thing that I was here because Sophie was able to find out where you guys went, which put the girls' minds at some point of ease. You two leaving randomly really shook them," he pauses, staring at the ground, "more than I really expected."

At the mention of Sophie, my head jerks up. "She found your memory, right?" When he nods, I continue, "She told me today. And Jacob said that it's a new ability of hers..?" I groan, holding my head in my hands. "At this point, I don't know what I can and can't do anymore."

"Here's the thing," Benen interjects, causing me to look at him. "I don't think you both have all of the same powers or abilities or whatever." He makes a weird face, and we grin at our lack of ability to English well. Quieting down again, he continues, "I feel like you can do something that she can't do, and this recovery-of-memory thing is her thing. Granted, I don't know what you can do, but you'll figure that out. It's like the memory thing from last year- it's like you guys are one person who was split into two. Whatever you didn't know, she knew."

Repeating the last part to myself, I stand up. "Do you think that..?" I shake my head. "Nevermind, it's too much that's lost. And it sounds painful."

Benen stands up before I can sit back down. "No, wait! You're onto something!" Without saying more, he grabs my wrist and drags me out of his room and to his elevator. Practically slamming the button to my level, the male Altruistic looks over at me, a spark of hope and determination in his gaze. "You're onto something."

...

After explaining the entire situation to Sophie and Laurel, who was also accompanying the female Percipient for something, we all stare at one another in a shared silence. What are you thinking? I transmit to Sophie, not wanting to break the silence but also too impatient to keep the silence going completely.