Rain drips from the ceiling of the safehouse
Kairi sits by the window
Sharpening a blade made of fractured memory
Not metal
Not illusion
Something in between
Yuki lies on a futon
Eyes wide open
Mind stuck between past and present
The seal memory keeps replaying
His mother
The baby
The Archive mark
It all feels like a warning
Or a curse
> Yuki's thoughts
I thought I was the one remembering
But what if the memories are using me
He stands
Walks toward Kairi
> Yuki
You never told me
What Ember really is
Kairi looks up
Tosses the blade to the floor like it is made of trash
> Kairi
It is not power
It is pain
Bottled
Distilled
Weaponized
> Yuki
And the Archive uses it to erase memories
> Kairi
No
That is what they tell the world
But Ember does not erase
It stores
Everything they take
They keep
> Yuki
Why
Kairi stands
Eyes glowing softly in the dark
> Kairi
Because memories are currency
Power
Control
They rewrite stories
Bury truths
Create gods out of lies
Suddenly the floor beneath them cracks
The air vibrates
A scream echoes from under the ground
No voice
Just emotion
Raw and broken
Kairi freezes
Mouth tight
> Kairi
Ember sleeper
> Yuki
What is that
> Kairi
Someone who was erased
But their soul refused to stay quiet
Their body becomes a shell
Their memories explode
They rush down into the tunnels
Lights flicker as they move
At the end of the corridor
A girl floats above the floor
Eyes white
Hair soaked
Screaming with no sound
Around her
Fragments swirl
Hundreds of them
Each one a piece of her broken past
> Kairi
She is too far gone
She will shatter the chamber
Yuki steps forward
Shard in his hand glowing wildly
Pulsing like it knows her
Like it remembers too
> Yuki
I know that feeling
You are not alone
He walks into the fragments
Each one cuts his skin
But he keeps moving
> Kairi
Yuki no
Too late
He touches her hand
And the entire world turns white
Yuki falls through her memory
A hospital room
A name tag
Sakura Noma
She is crying
Begging someone not to forget her
A doctor nods
Then injects something into her neck
Everything fades
Yuki screams
Not in pain
In fury
He grabs the memory
Pulls it into the shard
Like sealing it in glass
And just like that
The scream stops
They both collapse on the floor of the chamber
The girl breathes
Normal
Awake
> Sakura
Who are you
> Yuki
Someone who refuses to forget
Kairi walks over
Amazed
Shaken
> Kairi
You just pulled her back from full collapse
That should be impossible
> Yuki
Maybe
Or maybe I am already broken enough to reach her
He holds up the shard
Now twice as bright
Twice as cursed