She woke up to a strange feeling. Something strong is within the building. She quietly gets out of bed, making sure she doesn't wake up her new friend.
The door opens with a silent hiss and she starts to walk around. Where is this thing she's looking for..?
She spots a room still lit up and she walks up to the door, taking a small peak in.
Her eyes widen as she sees a tall Mobian she's never seen before. He had a mask on, long white hair, and a long dark grey tail with a white tip.
Is this who she was looking for?
He was talking to one of the adults she recognized. She also noticed the little ruby, as she learned what it was thanks to her new friend, in his hand. He crushes it and it turns to dust.
"I will allow you to live," he growls, "But do not think you are free from this. From now on, the doctor will know what you are up to, and you are expected to follow his orders. If I find out you are trying to deceive us, I can shut this whole place down without the help of the doctor," a hum is coming from somewhere, "Do you understand?"
The adult nods, "Yes," they then gulped.
"I expect you to tell your boss about this. If you can create a model of the Phantom Ruby without it being a defective model like the doctor's prototypes, we just might consider leaving you and your experiments alive once we're done. The doctor may consider you and your experiments useful for plans in the future,"
He then turns heel to take his leave.
She immediately moves away from the door as the tall Mobian steps out and stops. He notices her and turns his head to her. It looks like one side of his mask blocks his vision, at least that's what she assumes. She can only see his eye on his left.
"Run back to bed, kid. Forget you've even seen anything," he tells her before walking away, fading into the dark hallway.
Who was he..? Any sane kid would be frightened by his appearance, but she was fascinated by him.
He had a similar red ruby on his chest. She was going to assume that he's working here, but the way he acted didn't seem like it.
The adult inside the room walked out and spotted her, "Sweetie, what are you doing out so late?" they ask before picking her up, "Come on. Let's get you back to bed,"
She then points in the direction the stranger went, "Who's that?"
"I don't know," they sigh, "But he wasn't happy, that's for sure... It's okay, he won't hurt us though," they smiled at her.
As they walked down the hall, she couldn't stop wondering about who he was. Why was he so mad?
After she was carefully settled on her bed, it took her a while to eventually go back to sleep. In the morning, she had already forgotten what happened last night.
She heard someone yelling just outside her door. Two others and she was able to recognize the one from last night. The other, not so much.
She couldn't understand the words they said. There's a certain feeling in her gut, telling her that she may not enjoy the next few days, weeks, or even months.
"Are you wondering why they are angry?" her new friend suddenly says.
She jumped a little bit calmed down when it was only them. She nodded.
They hum, "I am too...maybe it has something to do with the world above us. Do you know what's going on?"
She stared at her friend, shaking her head, "You've been up there?"
"Yes, I have. But right now, that place isn't safe to go to. I think it is better if we remain here,"
"What's going on up there?"
"A lot of people are fighting. Maybe when it calms down, we can go back,"
She looks up, "Back?"
Her friend nods, "Yes. There are nice people up there that may be able to help you find your parents!"
"...who are my parents..?"
They were a little shocked that she didn't even remember them. Just forgot them entirely. They expected her to forget a lot of things, but they didn't think one of them would be her own parents.
"I...I don't know," they tell her, truthfully, "But I bet they have some resemblance to you! Like your green eyes and dark purple fur!"
"Ooh!" she exhales.
"By the way, I was never given a name before and I was wondering if you'd like to give me one!" they smile.
She pauses and thinks for a minute. Her ears pointed back and her finger over her mouth as she thought.
"Allard!"
They were a little surprised that she chose a unique name, but they still smiled, "Okay! My name is Allard then!"
Allard then looks at the clock, "Perhaps we should get to the others. It's almost breakfast time, after all,"
She nods. She was getting hungry anyway.
——————
Starting today, this grey cat around her age started talking to her. She's not sure why, but Allard told her to just roll with it since it's a good chance to make a new friend.
But what's there to talk about? Well, the cat's been gushing over books he's been reading and how cool they are. He says he even read books that talk about the world above them, which really strikes her interest.
"Hey, how about I take you to my room and we can read the books together?" he asked excitedly, "A friend of mine will be with us, so I hope you don't mind. She's not that bad though! Promise!"
She stared at him and nodded.
"My name's Zayne by the way. What's yours?"
Wait, what is her name? Oh no, did she really forget? Doesn't it also start with a Z and an A?
She looked at Allard with a nervous look.
"Zara," they whispered.
Oh, right!
"I-I'm Zara," she manages to say.
Zayne smiled at her, "My friend is a vulture. Her name is Zahlia!"
"Vulture..?"
"Like a bird!"
"Ohh!"
Allard just watched Zara and Zayne talk. Overall, they're happy that Zara is finally talking to someone other than them.
——————
Zahlia was...a strange one to Zara. When Zayne had asked her to tell stories about the world above them, she just stared at him with a look.
All she said was, "I already told that story countless times,"
Zayne ended up whining, "But my new friend wants to hear them!" he cried.
Zahlia did give up trying to not tell the stories, but not without sighing. Well, it was better than nothing. Though, her experience up there wasn't very good. Like all other kids within the underground facility, she was an orphan. Her parents were almost never home so she spent most of her time with friends before the attack.
It's likely that most of her friends didn't survive. Zayne may be one of them who did, or the only one.
"I think someone from above came down here. He was really angry," Zara says, not realizing that these words came out of her mouth.
"Eh? The door to the surface is always locked. No way someone got in that easily," Zahlia says.
Zara tilts her head, "Hm? Did I say something?"
Zayne stares at her with utter confusion, "Uh...yeah. You did. Are you like, okay?"
"I don't know. I think I remember some people here said I have...erm...what was it called..?" she mutters, "Some sort of, um....memory loss..? Or something?"
"Oh, that explains it,"
"So it's that bad? You forget something that literally happened seconds ago?"
"Um...I think? Wait, what were we talking about?"
That answers it. Zahlia and Zayne just sigh, but after a quiet discussion, they both agreed to help her as best they can.