A Little Knowledge is a Dangerous Thing: Part Ten

     "Damien... are you really there? You... you..." She clung to the door, climbing on it as best as she could to see out into hallway and the other cells better. All the ones she could see were empty. Tears threatened to flood her eyes.

     "I'm here!" She tried to follow where his voice was coming from, but the way it echoed off the stone walls only confused her more. "Where are you?"

     "I'm at the very end of the hallway, where are you?"

     "I think I'm in the middle of the hallway, but I can't tell. I can't see you!"

     "I can't see you either. I heard you screaming, and then you stopped when I called out to you."

     "I thought... I thought..." You've gone completely nuts, Sierra. He's not there. He's never coming back. "...Am I really hearing you?"

     "You're not crazy, Sierra, if that's what you're trying to figure ou-"

     "Quit it, you two!" The guard said exasperatedly, not looking at them.

     You must be dreaming, Sierra. This isn't real. She fought the thoughts to the corners of her mind, swiping at the air. The air shimmered in a small patch in front of her, and small patches of light danced on her arms. She screamed in terror. It felt like dozens of Spyders crawling on her, and she clawed at the circles. "No! No!" She staggered to the center of the cell again and slowly spun in a circle, desperately trying to get the light circles off of her.

     "Excuse me?" The guard cocked an eyebrow, obviously peeved.

     "No, get it off! Get it off get it off!" She spun faster and faster until she dizzily collapsed. The air shimmered again and the light circles faded away. "Damien, are you still there?" Her voice was weak and high pitched.

     "I'm still here, Sierra. Are you okay?"

     "I'm going insane. I am insane." Her breathy voice wavered.

     "It's okay, Sierra, it's okay. As long as you stay calm you'll be okay."

     "How do I know you're real?"

     He hesitated as if the question confused him. "...Well, I know that I'm real, but I don't think that's any help for you."

     "No."

     He paused again. "Sir?"

     'What is it, Valius?" The guard at his cell asked gruffly.

     "Is it possible for me to see another prisoner? I promise that I won't try to pull any tricks or anything like that."

     The guard laughed. "Why on Neopia would you want to do that?"

     "My friend Sierra Hardingson is over there. You heard our conversation, everyone in here has. I just want to show her that I'm real, that she's not going crazy. Please, sir?"

     "Hm..." The guards looked at each other, not seeming convinced.

     "Please, sir, I beg of you! If you had a friend who thought he or she was going crazy but didn't know why but you knew that you needed to comfort him or her, wouldn't you do that? She's helped me so many times, surely I should be allowed to repay her." His voice shook.

     Sierra stumbled back, feeling like she had been stabbed with a knife. He doesn't know why...? "Please, sir. Please," she croaked.

     The guards hesitated, then one of them sighed. "Fine, then. Just make sure we can hear everything you're saying." Sierra heard his cell doors unlock and creak open loudly, then a pair of even footsteps along with a pair of uneven ones. Damien appeared by the door with the cell guard. Sierra was frozen in place at the sight of him, a single tear streaming down her cheek. His mane was dull and matted, and his right eye was swollen. He had off-white bandages wrapped around one side of his head and around his paws so only his fingers were visible. His sweatshirt was torn up the sleeves and around the collar. His black jeans had holes in both knees, and one leg was ripped at the cuff, momentarily revealing a blue brace. Once her cell was unlocked, Damien half limped, half tripped into her cell. Both of them stood there for a moment, then Sierra let out a part sob, part shout of disbelief and wrapped her arms around him tightly. "Oh my Fyora oh my Fyora oh my Fyora, Damien..." She buried her face in his sweatshirt and listened to his steady heartbeat. If I can hear that and I can feel him hugging me back, then he has to be real. He has to. His grip loosened a little and their balance shifted. "Can we sit?"

     "Of course." They broke the hug and sank to the ground next to each other.

     "How did you get like that?" Sierra's voice cracked unexpectedly.

     "I... I got into a fight."

     "About what?"

     "I don't remember."

     "What do you mean, you don't remember?"

     "I just don't remember. I barely remember getting into the fight at all." He paused. "Why are we here? We didn't do anything wrong that I remember." He looked down at his fingers. "...I'm not wearing my ring anymore..." he looked at Sierra's paws sitting in her lap. "...And you aren't either." His expression contorted into frustrated confusion. "What happened?"

     "You don't remember anything, do you?" Sierra's eyes widened. A sharp pang shot through her like she'd been punched in the stomach.

     He solemnly shook his head. "I remember you, though. I remember... some things. Like I remember that I sit by you in our History class, that you're really good at writing analytical papers, that you're a battle strategist. Things like that. Some places there are big holes, like air bubbles in cheese. I just don't know what happened."

     "You don't remember what we found out that landed us here?"

     "What did we find out?" One of the guards turned around and gave Sierra a death glare at Damien's question.

     "Judging by the way one of the guards looked at me, we'll probably both be dead for real if I tell you."

     "Oh... Waitaminute, did you say, for real? Someone tried to kill you?"

     "No, you."

     "Oh..." His breath caught, and he blinked rapidly.

     "What do you remember?"

     "I remember working for them, I remember being designated as your partner, I remember a search for a spy, I remember decoding hundreds of letters but I can't remember what any of them said. I remember you offering to help me search for my sister and being at the battleground. I remember... something about you and the Thieves Guild and something about one of your research papers. I remember being on a mission somewhere and you helped me when I hit my head on something in the dungeons. We escaped, then we travelled back to Neovia. I remember everything that happened, but I just don't remember why for almost all of it. I don't know why we argued on the way back and you ran away, why we found each other again and went on the run, why we're here... We must have done something wrong if we're here, but I don't know what."

     "I'm the spy we were supposed to be searching for. I was here spying for the Seekers, and when I found out everything and I told you you decided to help me." She briefly continued to fill in the holes for him, only leaving out the parts that could get them in trouble.

     "...Oh." Damien blinked. His reaction surprised her: he wasn't angry or upset at her, just confused.

     "Are you starting to remember?"

     "I don't know." He paused. "They must have interrogated us, then."

     "They took you during mine and... They made me think..." She sniffled and shook her head violently. Her voice trembled, tears threatening to fall again. "... Made me think they killed you..."

     "Hey, hey. I'm here now. They didn't really." He wrapped a comforting arm around her shoulders. She rested her head on his shoulder.

     Sierra blinked away tears, then her eyes widened. "Selective memory wipe," she blurted.

     "You think that's what happened?"

     She sat up. "Yeah. That's got to be it. They somehow erased your memory of everything that reveals something about the Sway that could potentially come back and bite them."

     "How would they do that?"

     "A potion mixed into a drink or food, maybe? I don't know. That doesn't explain why my memory wasn't wiped, too. I'm the more dangerous in their eyes." She cocked her head in thought.

     "How many days did your interrogation last?"

     "Two... Wait. Wait. Bamforth led me back here after the incident and gave me a sleeping aid so I could be rested for the interrogation, and she gave me another one last night. Maybe..."

     "Maybe what? Do you think the sleep aid had anything to do with it?"

     "Possibly. I remember Gyro once told me that sometimes when two different medicines are taken at the same time, they react differently in the body than how they would alone and oftentimes one deactivates the other, like grapefruit does with some medicines."

     "That makes sense. Who's Gyro?"

     "One of the organic chemists I work with, also known as Assistant Scientist during the skirmishes."

     "Okay." He paused in thought. "I still don't understand why they'd want to wipe our memories though, selective or not."

     "What we know makes us extremely dangerous to them. If anyone else knew as well, it could mean all of the Duchess' plans would fail and the entire league would collapse. That's why don't want us to remember." She lowered her voice. "This isn't the first time this has happened to agents who they think have betrayed them in some fashion. I've heard that they can make them just... disappear. Vanish and never be heard from again."

     "Do you think they kill them?"

     "Maybe, but..." She slouched and stared at the wall across from her. "Why didn't they kill us?" Her voice wavered, suddenly a whisper.

     "Ulterior motives, maybe?" Damien offered.

     "Probably, that's usually why they do most things." She paused for a moment, then the air in front of her shimmered again. She reached out towards it, curious.

     "What is it?"

     "I see... the air's shimmering again. And little light circles are dancing around in the air and the wa- nonono not again make it stop!" The circles creeped closer towards her, and two brushed her arms. Instead of crawling Spyders it felt like she was being burnt, and she screamed. He quickly wrapped his arms around her and pulled her towards him.

     "They're messing with you. Close your eyes and look away." The words tumbled out of his mouth, his concerned expression suddenly turning quizzical immediately after he spoke. She closed her eyes and buried her face in his sweatshirt, her breath shaky. She found, to her surprise, that she couldn't feel the burning light circles. After a moment, she opened her eyes and tentatively looked up at him. He blinked at her in confusion.

     "How do you know that?"

     "I... I don't. I don't know how."

     "You're starting to remember?"

     "I must be, a little."

     "I still think I'm going crazy, though."

     "No, you're not."

     "Are you sure?"

     "Yes."

     Sierra sat up properly again. A comfortable silence fell between them, but after a moment she felt on edge. Should I tell him? She turned away from him and looked out the cell door, the dim candlelight still flickering yet never fading.

     "What's wrong?"

     She took a deep breath. "There's something I have to tell you," she whispered.

     "Go on, then."

     "I made a deal with her."

     "What do you mean?"

     "I'm going to fight her in the Battledome. If I win, I get to go free, and if I lose she can do whatever she wants with me."

     Damien stared at her in shock, his eyes wide. "Are you crazy, Sierra? You don-"

     "Actually, yes, I am," she retorted.

     "You know what I mean! She's so much stronger than you. Probably the only reason she accepted it is because the odds are so much in her favor! You won't stand a chan-"

     "I thought she killed you! I couldn't let her hurt anyone else I care about, something she otherwise would have done freely! What else could I do?" She glared at him, furious.

     He blinked at her and looked away without responding. He stared at his bandaged paws.

     Sierra buried her face in her paws. "I'm sorry."

     "No. It's okay," he replied abruptly, still not looking at her.

     "Seriously. Normally I'm not like this. You know that. I just sort of... snapped. I'm sorry, really."

     He turned to her after a moment, and looked at her with sympathy when their eyes met.

     "Come here," he hugged her.

     "Why are you so good to me?"

     "Hm?"

     "Why are you always so nice to me and there for me even after all the garbage I put you through and wrecked your life even though I didn't mean to?"

     "Well, why were you nice to me and tried to get to know me even though I was a complete jerk when I first met you? Why did you work so hard to help me find my sister?"

     "Because you're my friend, and I wanted to be your friend then."

     "There's your answer." He paused. "Win for me?"

     "Huh?"

     "Please win that battle, for me."

     She nodded. "I'll win. I can do it. I promise."

To be continued...