Slipping Grip

"And to you, Sky Asterio... your memories may have been teased to you... but I'm sorry, you were never meant to reclaim them. They were always meant to be hidden, just out of your reach... instead of looking to my memories for advice, for help... why don't you look within your own heart to see what you are fighting for? Were your previous memories so important to your development that you've forgotten the life you are currently living in an attempt to remember the life you no longer live?" The old me asked me.

I was absolutely shocked, staring up at him while sitting down and thinking of what he just said, to the largest extent I could've.

He was... right...

What I'm fighting for, I said it was for myself, for my own attempt to prove that I'm strong on my own... but that's not the case. My strength lies in the people around me, the people that have helped me get this far... and the people who have died along the way.

"Faith was pushed to that point, trying to restore your memories, I'm sure... but she'll be disappointed to find that there's nothing there. Disappointed to find that this message was all that was left behind, for Sky and Avie... the two people who can save the world, the two people who can defeat anybody... but, Sky Asterio, you must believe in Faith, as she is your daughter, through and through. She may have not been conceived in a normal way, but does unnatural conception make her unrelated to you? Does the lack of conception eliminate the true meaning of what family is?" The old me asked again.

His words sunk under my skin as I began to think of The Isle once more... my family... the people I worked hard to protect...

"That's a long talk for somebody who may or may not be there... are you gonna keep going?" Shike asked the old me. He chuckled, pointing at Shike and telling him to work on Faith. The old me crouched down in front of Avie and me, rolling up his sleeves.

"I've lost everybody I've ever cared about... I've killed people... too many to count by now. I've sealed the souls of all my friends within my mind, waiting for the moment I'm reincarnated so they may reawaken with me. So they may be useful to you, Sky Asterio... those people who I've caught and severed their memories, they won't ever reclaim them either... but, I won't forget. I never forget..." The old me began to shed tears in front of Avie and me.

Her instinct was to catch his head as he fell, but she went through him as his hands went to his eyes, trying to block the tears from flowing out.

"Dammit... I just... I wanted to see everybody one more time... before I die... Sky Asterio... Avie Asterio... please do not take what you have for granted. Do not lose yourselves fighting the evil in this world... I depend on you two, more than you could see... please..." The old me stuttered through his tears.

The memory shut off as if nothing happened, and when it did, Avie and I both appeared in the Black Lake, as the water turned blue and went as calm as ever before.

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"Sky?" Avie asked me. She stood a far distance away from me, part of her face started to generate with strands, and skin started to follow behind as her first eye was created.

"Avie... is that your true body?" I asked her, walking closer to her.

"I... I am sorry..." She formally said. When she turned her head to look up at me, a single tear fell down her left eye. Her apology carried volumes... and I could tell what she was sorry about.

Her inconsistent pettiness, her silence when it came to handing herself over to Faith, her screams when we had to deflect the Isle... her silence the entire time on The Isle... her inability to finish of Quake... Avie had been bearing so many regrets on her own, not opening up to anybody to let them see what she had been dealing with.

She suffered alone, knowing that memory, remembering that she couldn't work with me, she couldn't fight the evil with me because we were both evil... but now, as her body regenerated in front of me, we both knew it was time.

It was time to show everybody in Zealous who the strongest people were.

"Ever since I first woke up on the Isle, I've doubted myself. You were there, you knew what I was feeling... I doubted that I was strong enough, that I was the one that was supposed to die... I've watched people die too, you know? I've been through it all with you... we share that suffering," I told her. Avie continued to cry while staying silent, and I walked closer to her, step by step, through the calm Blue Lake.

"All my life I've thought that I was never the one that was supposed to live... but, I get it now. After all this time, I finally understand that the reason I'm alive, the reason you're alive, and the reason everybody else is alive, is all because of the person we both idolized four hundred years ago. It took me a while, but I understand now, Avie," I told her again. I put both of my hands on her shoulders, watching her face regenerate completely. She had skin like mine and marks over her eyes and the ridge of her nose.

Her blue hair exploded out of her head in the wind as she finally came to fruition in front of me, and she perked her eyes up while awaiting my answer.

"The reason we're alive today, is to save the lives of our friends, our family, and most importantly, ourselves," I told her. For the first time in this life, Avie smiled in front of me, and her tears stopped.