DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN ANY OF THE CHARACTERS. THEY ARE ALL BY SHANNON MESSENGER FROM KEEPER OF THE LOST CITIES.
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3RD PERSON
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"I'm sorry, you look familiar. Who are you again?" Sophie said as her eyes were locked on Dex. It looked like they were punched in the gut, unable to even react or utter a word in shock.
"Sophie, why are you joking?" Biana said jokingly, but her laugh was too awkward not to feel her confusion.
"I'm sorry, can I hold your hand for a moment?" Keefe said, trying to use his empathy to check whether she's lying or not.
Sophie looked at Keefe's extended hand like it was unfamiliar to her, and he already had a hunch about it. "I don't know what to feel about that but, here." She placed her hand on top of his, and that confirmed everything.
Sophie locked her eyes into Keefe as he carefully removed his hand from hers.
She stood up and walked near him until Keefe felt uncomfortable to take a step back. "How do you know me? Who are you?" She questioned him.
"ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!" Dex shouted all of a sudden. Everyone flinched at the sudden raise of voice, but they managed to remain composed.
"Sophie, do you really not remember us?" He asked, pointing to himself, then to everyone present in the room.
"I'm sorry, but I don't. Really." She answered, raising two hands up in the air as if to prove her innocence.
"Wow." Dex said, smacking his forehead. "I only watched human movies but I never thought I'd be encountering a person with amnesia in real life"
"What's amnesia?" Elwin asked, perking up at the possible new term for anything health related.
"It's what humans call when they forget their memories due to an accident or shock. Sometimes they fake it in life threatening situations, and some are real." Dex explained in the shortest way possible.
"Okay so how do we get Sophie back?" Fitz asked. "I mean, her memories." He quickly added.
"Usually, the memories return at some point, though we don't know for how long. Sometimes memories are triggered by something, or someone. Sometimes they don't come back at all." Dex said the last part softly, afraid of jinxing it.
The thought made everyone shudder, and it didn't help that Sophie was looking at them like they're strangers to her.
"Okay, I know what amnesia is but I don't know you all. Where am I? Who are you? What am I doing here?" She demanded for answers, impatiently tapping her foot.
They all look at each other, deciding who to explain all this stuff because obviously she wouldn't believe them.
Magnate Leto then entered the room and asked for Sophie's condition. Elwin explained what happened and that she woke up with something called amnesia, according to Dex.
Magnate Leto stepped out of the Healing Center, only to came back as Mr. Forkle.
"Mr. Forkle!" Sophie said and went to him. Mr. Forkle looked at them with a look that says he'll deal with the explanation.
He held out a pathfinder and together they lightleaped.
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"That was hella creepy, no offense." Keefe said, breaking the silence. "I mean, I should be happy Foster's accepting my offer for holding hands but- it's not her." He told us.
"I don't know if it'll be some help, but I'd like to go to the field." Tam said, earning several head turns. "I might get some information from the shadows there."
"Good idea. I'll come with you." Linh said as they walked out of the Healing Center.
They sat there for like an eternity until Mr. Forkle entered the room again.
"You kids." He grumbled. "I hailed Grady and Edaline and they told me they'd be home tonight. So Biana, can you send her things to Havenfield later?" Biana nodded, remembering how Sophie was supposed to be with them for 3 days.
"Okay. Next, I know you want to know what we talked about, and it's pretty hard explaining everything so I kept it in a memory log. Just watch." He placed the memory log in front of them and let them get near to watch it properly.
(The memory is in italics while the real situation is in normal text)
"Mr. Forkle! What just happened?" Sophie exclaimed as she looked around. They were under Calla's Panake tree and she was admiring the Panake blossoms. "Are we in Japan? Is this a Sakura tree?"
"No. That's a Panake tree, and that's Calla." Mr. Forkle answered.
"Calla? Trees have names?" Sophie asked. Mr. Forkle closed his eyes, as if figuring out how to even start explaining stuff.
"I'll explain that to you later. For now, tell me what you remember." He told her.
"I... don't know. I woke up in that room with beautiful people- wait was I in Hollywood? Were they celebrities?" Sophie's eyes sparkled which made Mr. Forkle laugh.
"Hey, she called us celebrities!" Keefe said.
"No Sophie, and those are not human. They're elves, like you." Sophie reflexively touched her ears and looked at Mr. Forkle like he was insane.
"I look old but I'm sane Sophie. Besides that, what do you remember?" He inquired again.
Sophie remained silent for a long time, probably thinking, before she answered "Nope. None at all."
Mr. Forkle sighed and shook his head.
"Okay, so what do you remember about yourself?"
"Uhh, like my biography?" Mr. Forkle nodded.
"I am Sophie Elizabeth Foster, I'm 16 years old, I live in- huh? I don't remember! Oh and, I don't have a family?" She asked, holding her head as if she's trying to remember more.
"Oh boy. This is worse than we thought." Dex muttered, gaining small nods from the rest of them.
Mr. Forkle pointed to the whole landscape and told her "This is Havenfield, this is where you live right now. That's all I can say. I already hailed- called your adoptive parents and they'll be home soon. I suggest you go home and try looking at your things, it might trigger something." Mr Forkle said.
"Sure, Mr Forkle!" Sophie said as she ran down the hill up to her house.
The memory stopped playing at that moment.
"Wow, she's more hyper than usual." Biana said, noticing the change in her behavior.
"I believe it was not simple amnesia. I tried entering her brain and her memories were actually there. It's being blocked by some unknown force which I will be investigating. For now, as I've told Sophie, think of things that can trigger her memories."
"Are you suggesting us to bring the Neverseen to Foster?" Keefe asked.
"No. Why do you even want her to remember that?" Mr Forkle reacted quickly.
"Because her whole life, the Neverseen was like, 60% of it?" Keefe shrugged. "I don't know. So are you saying we should just trigger her old memories and we're not allowed to make new memories?"
Mr. Forkle thought for a long time before replying. "I think you can just treat her the same. I'm not sure whether she'll remember the time while she had this amnesia, but don't treat her differently."
They all nodded, after all, they planned just that.
"Oh and, as you've noticed, she speaks and acts differently. Don't worry. It's still Sophie. It's just that, it's Sophie's hidden side of her. Do you get that?"
"No, but I kinda know why she would have a hidden side." Biana said. "Because she's afraid of judgements back in the Forbidden Cities, and in here."
The room suddenly felt glum, so they all decided to throw that thought and bid farewell to Mr. Forkle.
Just as he was about to leave, Tam and Linh entered the room.
"You won't believe it. I senses something dark in the field and yes, just sensed because even with my shadows, I can't see it. So I told Linh where I was feeling it and she locked it inside a bubble of water." Linh gave the bubble with some dark force to Mr. Forkle.
"Thank you, the both of you. I'll be sure to check it. Anyways, these 4 already knew what happened and what to do so just ask them about it. I'll give all of you the authority to leave now. You can go home." He said as he transformed back to Magnate Leto.
"Update me later." Elwin told them before they fully left the room.