A Chained Memory

Her heart skipped a beat. A gentle voice could be heard from beyond the door, accompanied by a careful knock. She got up and slowly, anxiously headed for the door.

Beyond the door, the light of morning entered her room, or was it rather the girl, with hair just like hers. "H-hello..." she struggled to speak, not knowing what to expect.

Ix smiled when the girl opened the door "Hi, I'm Ix, I saw a new room here and I came to say hello."

"H-hi... Ix." she said, still tense from top to bottom.

She then looked back at her room curiously. "A... new room?"

It was strange that the room looked the way it did, but somehow it felt right at home. Still, she could only wonder about the visitor's surprise at its existence.

Ix nodded "Yes, Adri makes these rooms for each one of us, the room adjust to it's inhabitants preferences." She explained keeping her smile "Oh sorry, that was rude for my part, I should had ask your name..."

"My name..."

Yours is the name that binds you, and binds others to you. Do not ever forget the meaning and power of your name...

Her father's words rang throughout her mind. What was it with her name? And why was it so hard to remember?

"I'm very sorry. I don't know my name..." she said, her tone frail. "Whenever I try to think of it, my head hurts."

"O-Oh... You have amnesia? I-I'm sorry..." She said with an apologetic tone "Is there any way you would like me to call you instead? She asked, titling her head "I know how hard it is when you lose your memories..."

"Truly?" her expression shifted, her eyes lit up. "The same as I?"

She paused and collected herself from the momentary happiness of finding a kindred spirit, before answering her question. "Call me anything... you like."

Ix nodded "Yes, for a while I didn't knew what my name was, or where did I come from, I didn't remembered a thing from my past, so I know how tough must it be for you." After the explanation, Ix tilted her head while thinking "Hmm... What name would suit you... Hmm..." Ix kept thinking for a while "Hmm... How about... Aura?"

Ix's words made her feel really sad for her fellow amnesiac, but also glad. There was a feeling she could finally share with someone.

"Aura!" she smiled, seemingly forgetting about all of her worries. "I like it... Thank you, Ix. And sorry... for what happened to you... But I'm glad you are doing well now!"

Realizing they were standing in the doorway for a while, Aura got out of the way and invited her inside. Sadly they only had a bed to sit on.

"I'm glad you like it." She replied with a big smile "And don't worry, I'm sure you'll recover your memories too." She added, she then saw the girl stepping aside to let her in "In fact, I was going to the kitchen to make breakfast for everybody, do you want to join me?"

"I... don't know..." she recalled what happened the day before, the excruciating pain, and the fear.

"J-join...everyone?" Aura pondered anxiously, perhaps enough to even match Ix.

She was afraid, that much was made clear by her face and body language. But she couldn't refuse this innocent-looking girl. Maybe, she thought, something bad would happen again. Aura couldn't tell the difference, she could not sense ill will, just like before.

Giving it more thought, she decided. "Fine..." she answered with a gulp.

Ix noticed Aura's anxiety "Are you okay, Aura? Did something happened to you?" She asked, with clear worries about the girl on her face.

Her gaze shifted, her stance wavered. "Please... let's just go."

In the end she couldn't face the fear. She couldn't tell Ix. And with that she prompted her to go on, hoping not to burden the girl with her problems.

"Aura's a good name for now!" Adri appeared in the room with a relieved smile upon her lips, looking at the awakened girl. "I see you've finally chosen to be awake." She knew Aura was faking being asleep, but she didn't want to bother her if she wanted to be alone. "I want to apologize for yesterday, I wanted to help you regain your memories, I didn't realize it would hurt you even more."

It was her again, the woman that brought her here. Aura cowered in fear at her mere presence. Every second of that pain she remembered in full. The pain caused by this witch. And the way she talked, so nonchalantly about it. Just what was going on with this place?

As unfortunate as it was, the golden-haired girl was only awake during the terrible feedback of her memories being delved into. Had she knew of the time Adri spent healing her, those restless hours, perhaps her perception might have been different. But the deed already belonged to the past, one none of them could change.

Yet there she was, apologizing. Aura did not know how to respond, besides backing up into a corner.

Ix looked at the situation, Aura was clearly scared of Adri but... Why? She noticed how the amnesiac girl started to back off and took her hand, even more worried about her now "Aura, if you are scared, you can count on me, I... I might not be the best at helping people with their fears but I'll try my best." She added to comfort the girl.

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"I didn't know you would be in such intense pain if I had prodded further so soon, I thought that pain numbing spell would block it all out if it started to hurt again," she started, trying her best to explain herself. The last thing she wanted was for Aura to fear her and become scared for her stay.
"I tried to heal you after the fact, but I guess the damage had been done..." She bowed to Aura and apologized to Aura once again.

Aura slowly walked back towards them, her mind not entirely at ease. But maybe this was all how it was supposed to be, maybe everyone loses their memories and has to suffer to reclaim them.

"What... about you? she turned to Ix. "Did it hurt you like this? Will it hurt more?" she asked, tears building up on the edges of her eyes.

"The way I recovered mine was a bit different..." She learned from her past from Zara and Xana, and even when it had been just telling her the whole story, it still pained her a little still she was wondering what the hell happened between her and Adri "I had some headaches when I learned about my memories but... Adri didn't wanted to hurt you Aura, she's one of the kindest persons I know."

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"Your situation is different, Aura, when I was looking through your mind, I found heavy locks imprisoning your memories," she stated. "I hadn't known that it would be so painful to handle too much of it, but now I know that someone intentionally made you forget."

"I... see." she said, a bit reluctant still. "I will trust Ix."

Her head was flooded with questions. Why would anyone wanted to make her forget who she was? Just who was she anyway?

"Locks you said...Did you find anything?" she asked, thinking of her recent dream, echoes of the pain still etched in the back of her mind. "Did you see him too?"

Ix smiled and hugged Aura "Thank you, Aura, I know it's hard, but I'm really grateful you trust me."

"Yes, including the one lock I broke, there were five locks in total, now four," she said with a nod. "And yes, I saw your...father... What a vile man." She muttered that last part under her breath for fear of upsetting Aura. "I'd like to try breaking another today, only one, but if your scared that's fine. If ever you're ready, let me know. For now, let's go have breakfast!"

After what happened yesterday, Aura was left in a state of turmoil, with events she could not understand coming in one after another. Breaking another lock... was something she'd rather not think about at the moment.

Sanctuary's newest resident nodded, following Adri out of her apparent room, taking hold of Ix's hand much like a timid child.

Adri felt a tense air for a moment, and so elected to ease it a bit. "Seeing you two like this, it's like you're sisters," she spoke up. "I'm honestly relieved to see you managed to meet and get along with Ix."