A Chained Memory

The door was plain white, not unlike every other door in her mind. Yet there was something terribly off-putting about it. Why was it here? It was so separated, so disconnected from the others, hidden at the end of the corridor. Adri looked closer at the whole structure and realized something: this door right here, this was the origin of it, where everything started to build from... her first memory.

As soon as she touched the doorknob, the witch felt a wave of cold running past her. Composing herself, she unlocked the final, or rather, first door. Her eyes widened; this room... it was filled with a thick, dark fog. Closely looking inside, she noticed the walls, they were all painted with a dark-red liquid that never seemed to have dried, drops of it still spilling occasionally on the floor.

You are useless! Worthless! The dark carried with it echoes of the past; the voice of her father, Draja. How could you do this to us? How could you be so selfish?

Deathly shrieks pierced Adri's ears; they belonged to a woman. And what followed was a sound she wished to not describe to anyone, a sick and horrific noise.

Did you like that? Did you like what I did? An alluring voice that was never-before heard in any memory revealed itself. That look on your face... You died, didn't you?

And with that, everything repeated without end. The voices, the shrieks, the abominable sound. It appeared this was all there was to be found. Was the witch satisfied?

Adri backed out of the room and slammed the door shut, a chill having fallen over her. "What...was that..." She growled under her breath and turned away from the door, gaining distance from it quickly. As she wracked her brain with the oddities of Aura's memories, Adrianna took to hunting through Aura's spirit for any other stand out elements before taking her leave of the girl's consciousness.

Adri felt a hand on her shoulder, as she turned around she found Sirius "Adrianna, you are looking shaken, what did you saw what was behind that door, didn't you?" He asked pointing at the white door "Blood and a black fog..." He wondered "I'll go with you, I'm interested in her memories as well, once we are done here, there is something I need to talk to you about."

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"Something's wrong and I feel that Midara she sensed has something to do with this," she muttered. "What do you need to talk about Sirius?"

"We'll talk once we are out of here, but first..." He looked back at the door "I would like to take another look inside that room."

Sirius entered the unending dark. The room was as before, nothing had been changed; an endless loop of nightmare. The broken record of a damaged mind. There was nothing else in the room, just those fragments who would never disappear.

Looking back, all of the silhouettes were nowhere to be seen. The corridor was empty, just like every other room in her mind. Something made them all disappear.

Sirius groaned, the stench of blood was still in the air, he put his mask on and stepped into the room "Such carnage..." He said approaching the shadows, the loop was neverending, he looked at the one who's voice marked him as Draja "Was this before the cataclysm?" Then he heard a noise, a horrible noise that would someone else's freeze in place "What was that noise...?" He looked around, seemingly finding nothing and gazing back at the silhouettes wondering what had happened before going back to Adrianna and taking off his helmet as he was out of the room.

"This is only going to strengthen concern from here on. Whoever Aura is, I don't envy her past, and I'm glad she's with us now."

"Same, I feel really sorry for the poor girl." Sirius replied "I don't think we can find much more right now."

"You go on, I'm going to take a look at her soul for a moment before we finish up," she told him. Adrianna vacated Aura's mind and looked into her soul in turn, checking it for anything that would catch her attention.

"I'll go with you, two heads thinks better than one." He replied, following the witch into Aura's soul.

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Adri looked over Aura's soul and found nothing of interest until the very end, where she detected a link. "Her soul's tied to someone else..."

He noticed the soul link, it was similar to the ones he knew how to create "This bond... Is similar to the ones I create but stronger... A permanent one?"

"It must be that Midara she mentioned earlier," she stated. "She hasn't shown any particular capabilities much so far, much less the ability to sense a presence from what I can only assume is a huge distance away. Miles and miles off, likely."

"Indeed, we should keep a watch in case that midara decides to appear." Sirius replied "We should head back already, the others must be wondering what did we found."

"Yeah, let's go." Adrianna took her leave of Aura's soul and fully emerged, pulling her hands away from the sleeping girl. "We found...a couple things of interest," she stated to Tam and the others.

"Welcome back." Ix said once they returned "A couple of things?"

Sirius nodded "Indeed, Ix, I need to ask you a favor, can you stay close to Aura?" He was worried about the girl's past, but it seemed that she felt attached to Ix, maybe she could help the girl stabilize.

"Huh? Sure, I will stick with her." Ix agreed smiling before gently shaking Aura to wake her up "Aura, wake up, they are done already."

Tam shook herself, as if trying to get energy flowing back into her tails proper, as she released Aura. She gave Tix a nod of thanks, before turning back to Adri.
"What did you find?" She asked. Though her tone was rather serious, she couldn't help but let a little curiosity out too. Jennifer still had to sleep, the one way flow of energy clearly having taken a toll on her.

"Hmm?" Aura immediately woke up on command, as if not having slept at all. "What happened?"

The girl noticed Adri and the swordsman looking very concerned. She did it again. With sadness in her gaze she remained silent, waiting to hear what else they found about her that made them look like that, for she did not want to seek the answer herself.

Ix noticed Aura's expression and so did Sirius, Ix was about to comfort the girl when her father started to talk "Don't worry, you did nothing wrong, Aura." He said kneeling in front of her with a gentle smile "Oh, I don't think I have introduced myself, I'm Sirius Seafield, Ix's father, I'm glad to see that you are getting along with my daughter." He added "As for what we found, I'll let Adri explain, but don't worry, we didn't find anything terrible." He said to comfort the girl.

Tix nodded back to Tam "You sure you don't need some more? The flux of energy sure was demanding and Jennifer must be exhausted because of that as well." She asked the kitsune.

"He's right Aura, nothing bad happened, oh, did our magic worked by the way? You didn't felt pain did you?" She asked concerned "If it hurted, I can heal you if you wish."

"A pleasure to meet you, Sir Sirius." she said, performing a courteous bow. "I appreciate the concern... but you do not have to hide it."

It appeared that Aura became more and more composed as time went on, despite being asleep for most of it.

"No pain." she smiled at Ix. "Thank you for your aid."

Adrianna explained what they found, that something was wrong with her past and that she was linked to whatever Midara she'd sensed earlier.

"Aura..." Sirius started with a kind and paternal tone "You must have suffer so much, but now, you are safe, if that midara you speak of is so dangerous, we will protect you from her, okay? If you need anything don't hesitate to ask either." He gave the girl a comforting smiling as he gently place his hand on the girl's shoulder.

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Tam shook her head.
"I'll be fine. Jennifer can rest for now. I'm just not used to having energy travel only one way through my tails." Tam responded, before looking to Aura. It seemed to have worked anyway, even if Ix was the one getting the credit and the thanks for it.

She listened in as Adrianna explained to her what they had seen. A link? Hmm... Tam began to wonder what that could mean.

Suffer? Just what could the knight be referring to? Was it something about her past? Or was it... No, no, no. She should not think about that.

"Sir... I need... nothing." she said bearing a contemplative look. "Just to help you with whatever you wish be done."