"REMEMBER EVERYTHING I made you forget."

Luke's face soften ever so slightly as he looked over at the girl, a bruise forming rather quickly on her cheek which she could and would get rid of later.

Corinna turned quickly and grabbed her father's wrist and squeezed. She squeezed until he dropped the needle in his hands and he dropped to his knees.

Corinna's eyes began to darken, her irises, pupils, and sclera (the white around her eyes) had all darken, nothing seen but black as she looked down at her father.

"Because he got all of Jordan's attention." Tek smiled, "Whenever Brink needed Jordan, they were there in a heartbeat... but when you, oh Corinna, that day you needed Jordan... Luke was there for you instead."

Cate finally let go of Corinna's face and didn't give the girl the time to speak as she finally moved on to Emma, repeating her mantra for the final time.

"Whoa." Emma softly spoke. "Thanks. So glad I had to relive that fucking nightmare. I have to go get Sam." Emma turned, looking over at Cate. "Also, you're a cunt."

Once Emma was gone, all attention was back onto Cate as she wobbled in place.

And though Corinna was upset beyond recognition, she stepped forward and helped steady Cate as best as she could.

"Shetty made you do this?" Marie asked.

"You were in my fucking head." Jordan berated in their male form.

"Why?" Marie asked.

"Guys," Corinna grunted. "I know we're all pretty fucking angry, but she did push herself past her limits giving us our memories back. Maybe we should just wait to question her."

Corinna held Cate almost stumble to her knees, but tried her best to make in unrecognizable.

"I'm sorry." Cate muttered.

"You had no fucking right." Jordan exclaimed once more.

"I thought I was..." Cate paused, stumbling forward with Corinna pulling her upright. "doing the right thing."

She's killing herself... maybe I have no room to talk.

Cate pulled herself away from Corinna and stumbled away from the others.

Once she had done that, Marie split off to speak to Andre who waited in another room, to clear his head.

Corinna sighed, closing her eyes for a moment and resting her hands against the countertop.

"I don't get it." She muttered. "What is Shetty so scared of?"

Jordan rolled their eyes. "No idea." They paused. "I can't believe Cate."

"There's got to be something... deeper than what we know. There's no way Cate would just... wipe us like that. Not even for Shetty."

"Do you really believe that right now?" Jordan asked.

"I want to."

Suddenly, there a loud thud and the two turned to see Cate seizing on the floor.

They rushed to her side, but either of them knew what to really do in this situation.

"Help! We need help in here!" Jordan shouted.

Soon, Marie and Andre entered the room and quickly dropped to the floor and towards Cate's side.

"Holy shit!" Marie exclaimed. "What happened?"

"She pushed herself too hard." Corinna answered.

Marie turned towards Jordan. "Didn't you learn CPR?"

"Where?" They asked.

"At superhero school? Jesus!"

Andre's fingertips were placed at the base of Cate's neck. "Her... her pulse is slowing." Marie said.

"Can't up speed it up?" Corinna asked.

"I don't know. I- I, um... What if it kills her?"

"If you don't try, this will kill her." Corinna said.

With a shaky breath, Marie raised her hand to use her powers and Andre soon sighed in relief to let the others know that Cate had been breathing.

"Wh... When does she wake up?" Jordan asked.

Their question went unanswered as Andre lifted her off the floor and moved her to the couch so she could properly rest until she woke.

"Cate." Marie called. "Cate, can you hear us?"

"Has she ever pushed this much before?" Jordan asked Andre.

"Who cares?" Andre asked. "This is what she gets got mind-fucking her friends."

"Are you out of your fucking mind?" Corinna asked him. "She could've fucking died and you would've been the one sobbing for hours if she had."

Care suddenly sat up, gasping for air and soon disappeared from the room.

"Holy shit, where'd she go?" Jordan asked.

"Um, guys?" Dusty called from behind.

They turned in his direction and saw that the brick wall from in front of them had slowly been taking itself apart brick by brick.

They approached it and stepped outside where they had been standing in the middle of the forest with nothing in their surroundings.

They watched the bricks float and crumble away into nothing and the house itself had disappeared.

"Whatever." Andre muttered. "I'm done with this shit."

He began to walk away and the others followed behind him.

They soon found themselves deep into the forest and heard a woman shouting out the name 'Caleb'.

They ducked behind a couple of bushed and watched the scene before the unfold.

"Caleb's the name of Cate's brother." Corinna whispered.

"Holy shit." Marie muttered. "This is a memory. We're in Cate's head."

The scene before them continued to happen and the tress disappeared into nothing.

As they did so, they heard a loud 'hey' from behind them and they all turned swiftly.

They now stood in front of Solider Boy who approached them quickly.

"What are you greasy sack of fuck nuts doing in here?" He asked.

"What are you doing in here?" Corinna asked.

"I'm Cate's imaginary friend from when she was a kid." He answered. "Boyfriend, really. I taught her how to jerk off. Diddle that Skittle. Flick the bean. How to find that man in the canoe. She came like a faucet. She'd crank up the Jonas Brothers and she'd hump a Soldier Boy pillow. She'd raw-dog that pillow till she saw God."

"We fucking get it." Corinna said.

"It was pretty romantic." Solider Boy smirked.

"Hell yeah, brother." Dusty smiled, holding his fist out.

"Shut the fuck up."

"Fuck you." Andre called. "She... She just didn't like, she didn't like Jonas Brother, was all."

"I know you." Soldier Boy said. "Yeah, you're Cate's new fuckboy. She really loves you. But whatever. Boys, they come and go. But she always comes back to a little... pillow talk."

"Fuck you." Andre repeated. "You're a Russian agent is what you are."

"You're going back and forth with her imaginary fuckboy." Corinna said. "We have bigger shit going on."

"What the hell you talking about?" Solider Boy asked.

"Turns out you were radicalized by the Russians." Jordan answered.

"Fuck you. I'm no godless, dickless commie. I'm red-blooded. But not commie red. Red-white-and-blue red. I fart "The Star Spangled Banner"" He explained.

"You're pretty fucking weird, dude." Andre commented.

"Yeah? Knock knock. Who's there? Go fuck your face."

"Okay. Fine. Whatever." Marie said. "We need to know what's going on."

"Well, beats me." Solider Boy said. "Cate wants you in here for some reason. You better figure it out quick, though, before you get stuck in here."

"Stuck?" Corinna questioned.

"Glad you can hear, sweetheart." He smiled as the thunder began to crack. "See that? That wasn't lightning. That was a burst blood vessel." He explained. "Cate's head is unraveling in real time. She become as vegetable, so do you. Listen to me. You really want to live, the single most important thing I can tell you-"

Before he could finish, another one of Cate's blood vessels popped and hit Soilder Boy, causing him to disintegrate.

"Oh, shit." Marie muttered. "Solider Boy's dead."

"If that's what happens to her imaginary friend what happens to us?" Jordan asked.

"I hate to find out." Corinna sighed. "We need to go."

They began to leave and Andre turned, walking backwards.

"That guy was a dick, right?"

They continued the walk with Andre's question being heavily ignored.

"What-what if, what if Cate is dying in the real world?" Andre asked.

"And what happens if she dies and we're still in here?" Marie asked.

"Then we're dead." Corinna answered.

"Then kill me now." Dusty called from behind. "Why am I here? I don't even like Cate. Can you bitches slow down, please?"

They turned to look at him for a moment before turning back around and continued walking until they were met with a window that began building a wall around it.

They all stood by the window and had seen Cate sitting inside, what they assumed, to be here room.

The heavy metal door opened and her mother and instructed that the person not get too close or to let Cate touch them.

That person was Shetty who asked to be left alone with Cate.

They watched as the two of them talked, connected. They way Cate's mother no longer did with her, Shetty had done in the matter of minutes by simply hugging the girl.

That's how Shetty got Cate on her side.

The memory soon disappeared and they were now standing in a classroom as Cate's memory was shut off on the screen.

"I haven't been to class in years." Dusty said.

His comment wouldn't be commented on as they all began to take seats behind Cate.

Soon, Luke entered.

A face almost too recognizable.

He took a seat next to Cate and smiled her way. "Hey. I'm Luke."

"Cate."

"You, uh... you seem pretty smart." He chuckled along with her. "Could I cheat off of you?"

"You're gonna ride my coattails?" She asked.

"All the way to the top."

"We-we should, we should leave," Andre said and stood quickly, making his way towards the exit. "I- I can't be here."

"I miss you, man."

They all turned, seeing Luke turn in his seat with a smile on his face.

"I- I miss you, too, man." Andre smiled. "So fucking much."

"But you know what?" Luke smiled. "I don't believe you." Luke suddenly stood. "You thought I didn't know."

"Know what?" Corinna asked.

Her voice suddenly startle Luke, but hearing it made him look her way.

She almost looked too different. Like she had drastically changed in the matter of days since he's been dead.

He waved her off momentarily and looked back over at Andre. That's who he was angry with.

The lights dimmed in the room and different videos of Andre and Cate began playing on the screens. Videos of them kissing, almost having sex.

"We really shouldn't do this." Cate said in the video. "If Luke finds out."

But that didn't seem to faze them as they continued to kiss in that same video.

The entire time Cate had been cheating on Luke with Andre... his supposed best friend.

The lights began to light again and the videos all ended.

"How many times?" Luke asked.

"Are you fucking serious?" Jordan asked standing.

Corinna quickly grabbed Jordan's hand and pulled them closer to her.

"Was that real?" Jordan asked.

"She didn't make you do it did she?" Luke asked. "You wanted to. Behind my back."

"I'm- I'm sorry." Andre murmured.

"I thought you were my best friend." Luke said.

He's eyes began to glow and fire held in his hands as she began to step towards Andre.

Dusty pushed past Andre just as Luke threw a fireball... killing Dusty.

And each of them tried using their powers... but nothing. No metal moving, no blood bending, no shifting, no power replication... nothing.

So they simple ran out the room and sound themselves outside of Brink's office.

They paused once they realized they were safe at the moment and there was no sign of Luke.

Corinna turned, her brows knit in anger as she stepped forwards and pushed Andre. "Are you fucking serious? What the hell is wrong with you?"

"What, you don't think I feel like a piece of shit?"

"No, I don't."

"I loved her."

"Stop fucking lying to me!"

They all turned and heard Luke and Brink's muttered voices from inside of his office.

They all stepped towards the door and someone had bumped into Jordan's shoulder.

It was them, but in their feminine form.

Past Jordan pressed their ear against the door.

"Do we think Cate's in there?" Marie asked.

"She isn't." Jordan said. "This isn't Cate memory. It's mine."

"How?" Corinna asked.

Past Jordan opened the door and the four followed behind them and saw that Brink and Luke had been standing on opposite sides of the room.

"What the fuck did you just do?" Luke shouted. "Where's Sam? I want to see him right now."

"What's going on?" Past Jordan asked.

Luke towards them, Brink holding a needle in his hands. "He's a fucking liar." Luke said and turned back towards Brink. "Tell me everything."

"What the hell is going on, Jordan?" Andre asked.

They watched as past Jordan slowly made their way towards the black safe and opened it, pulling a mask out and placed out over Luke's face which caused him to fall to the ground, passed out.

They watched as the response team entered and dragged Luke away, leaving Brink and past Jordan "alone".

"Jordan." Brink called.

Both of them turned.

He continued. "What do I always say, huh? Being a hero, it's not about the glory. It's about-"

"It's about sacrifices." Past Jordan finished. "I know, sir, but what the hell kind of sacrifice was that?"

"Well, Luke... Luke needs cutting-edge treatments, put him over the edge." Brink explained. "That boy could be Homelander strong. But sometimes... sometimes he has a bad reaction."

"If Luke is getting cutting-edge treatment I want them to."

"What the fuck, Jordan?" Corinna asked in a hushed tone.

Present Jordan looked over at her, sadness written over their face as Brink continued to speak.

"Kid, you got a strong head. You don't need 'em. Tell me, do you remember sitting in that chair, a scared-shitless freshman who never wanted to switch?" Brink asked. "And I promised that I would always take good care of you. Remember?"

Past Jordan nodded.

"Now... Jordan, people just don't understand the lows it takes it takes to reach great heights. And so now I want you to promise me, as my new T.A., that you will always protect me. Not a word of this to anyone."

"You're making me your T.A.?"

"That's how you became Brink's gatekeeper?" Marie asked.

"Of course," Brink smiled. "because you've earned it. Can I trust you?"

Past Jordan smiled. "Yes, sir. I'm honored."

"You knew." Corinna said. "You knew that Luke that had attacked Brink before."

"I don't know what I knew." They asked.

"You knew, Jordan." Corinna argued. "You were too busy being cucked to say anything."

"He said he was juicing Golden Boy!" Jordan exclaimed, turning towards them. "What would any of you done?"

"Anything to save him, Jordan." Corinna said softly.

"We could have stopped everything right here."

Jordan turned, their past self in their feminine form looking at them.

"Saved someone." Past Jordan continued. "Like we always wanted. But instead we're a fucking T.A. saving our own ass."

"I loved Brink. He was good." Jordan cried. "Or not. But he was good to us."

"He was nice to us." Past Jordan argued. "Nice is all it takes for us to let someone get royally fucked? You're a coward. And you always will be."

The scene in front of them quickly shifted before anyone had a chance to say anything else.

They were out in the quad of God U and there Corinna watched as her past self breezed pasted her.

"Hey, Jordan." Corinna called. "Do you have a second?"

Corinna watched as her past self followed Jordan like a lost fucking dog.

Past Jordan, in their feminine form, turned, walking backwards as Corinna followed.

She was massaging her own fist in hopes that they would notice. In hopes that she could stop them for a second to finally open up to them more.

"Is this still your memory?" Marie asked Jordan.

"No." Corinna answered quickly. "It's mine."

"I'm really sorry, babe." Past Jordan said. "I have to drop this off to Shetty and meet up with Brink for a meeting."

"It will only be for a second." Corinna pleaded.

"I'm sorry, Rin, maybe later, yeah?"

With that, Corinna stopped in her place and Jordan turned their back, running off.

Past Corinna sighed heavily and began bouncing on her heels as she turned to making her way back to her dorm.

The others followed behind her and once they were inside her room, they saw her crying, pacing back and forth, practically not being able to breathe from how hard she'd been crying.

Past Corinna began throwing things off of her desk. She was angry, tried, frustrated with everything.

It stemmed from her parents mainly and how they wanted her to be this perfect little girl. The girl who was a top of the leaderboard, the girl who dated someone like Luke.

That's all her text messages and phone calls from her parents consisted of.

Her dorm and now being a mess from the anger she'd drawn up. She finally turned and ripped the tapestry off the wall and revealed several marks from where she'd punched the wall.

She only did it to feel something other than what she currently had been, but from the amount of scratches and dents in the wall, it didn't take much to realize that this was something that she'd done often.

They all watched as Corinna drew back her fist, no powers being used as she continuously threw punch after punch to the wall.

All she wanted, both then and now, was to be appreciated for who and what she was. For what she'd been able to accomplish. To be loved.

The wall grew with red stains, her knuckles bleeding as she continued to punch the brick wall.

She hadn't even notice that there was knocking on her door.

On the other side was Luke, he'd wanted someone to hang out with and possibly practice with because everyone had been busy that day, and with new information out to them, they could only imagine what Cate and Andre had been doing.

Luke hadn't expected the door to open when he knocked.

He hadn't expected to continue to call Corinna's name as she punched the wall.

"Stop!" Luke shouted and struggled to pull the girl off the bed. "Corinna, stop!"

She finally dropped her fist and cried.

Luke pulled the girl away from the wall and collapsed on the floor with her. Holding her tight as she sat with him. Her crying hadn't stopped, her hands had been shaking with pain that she caused herself. Her hands bloody as she held them together.

"It's okay." Luke muttered into her hair, rocking her back and forth. "You're okay."

Corinna watched as her past self and Luke sat on the floor with each other.

They all watched.

Luke and Corinna had truly been friends.

They truly cared for each other.

They were best fucking friends.

Corinna only stood in her place, tears slowly falling down her face as the setting shifted from day to night.

Jordan never came that night to check on Corinna or to see what she'd wanted.

Only a text saying: the meeting is running late.

Luke had moved Corinna's bed away from the wall that she'd punched in order to wipe the wall from her blood.

She laid their sleep as he did so.

Suddenly, Luke turned towards the others. His mood from earlier going away instantly as he looked over at the group, his eyes only on Corinna.

They began to back away slowly incase he would fire off again.

"Are you still doing it?" He asked.

Corinna only shook her head. She'd thought about doing it, not doubt, but she tried her fucking hardest not to and she was able to achieve that.

Luke dropped the bloody rag and approached the girl and pulled her into him.

That's was she broke.

Corinna's shaky hands wrapping around him in an embrace that felt familiar and cold.

She'd missed him.

She shut her eyes and cried into him.

Luke looked up and over at Jordan, their eyes locking and unspoken words bounced between them.

Jordan had been crying just as much as the previous memory. There was no way they'd let her suffer like that. There was no way they let her leave so easily to do such a thing over and over again. There was no way that Brink was that important to them.

Jordan could've been the one to stop and help Corinna... but they hadn't.

It was Luke.

It had always been Luke.

Memory of Luke helping Corinna flashed across her TV screen.

Times it could've been Jordan... but there never was.

And once again, just like that, they had been relocated into a new place.

Corinna's arms dropping as Luke had disappeared from her touch.

She looked up from her hands and towards the other.

She'd seen the look before.

The look of sympathy.

That's not what she wanted. Not what she needed.

She was fine.

So perfectly fucking fine.

"Stop looking at me like that." She swallowed. "I'm fine. I promise I don't do it anymore."

Corinna turned her back towards the others, running her hair through her blonde hair as she licked the salty tears from the side of her mouth.

"This is the fucking Woods." She turned. "I- I don't why you saw Jordan and I memories. I think we're... bleeding together."

Andre turned. "Can we talk about Jordan's shit?"

"I'm sorry, okay?" They apologized. "I bought into all of Brink's bullshit. He was just like Shetty, and I didn't want to see it." Jordan paused. "Fuck this place. I'm gonna make it right. For Luke."

Jordan soon stopped at an opened door and they all followed. Inside, lay Luke, Sam, and Corinna on gurneys with Brink, Shetty, and Dr. Cardosa above them, watching them as their blood was being taken into jars.

Corinna furrowed her brows, her tears gone as she looked at the scene before her.

She didn't remember this.

"What the fuck are they doing?" Andre asked.

"Corinna's blood has been injected with dozens and dozens of Compound V." Shetty spoke. "Are we sure that they will have the same effects as her?"

Before her question could be answered, the monitors began going off and Luke shot up from his gurney.

"What the fuck are you guys doing to me?!" He shouted. "Sam! Corinna!"

"Hurry. Now." Shetty instructed.

Soon, Cate entered the room.

"Sam, Corinna, wake up! Wake up!" Luke shouted.

He saw Cate enter the room and begged her to help him.

But all she did was place her hands on his face and told him that he was going to forget about The Woods and that Sam was dead. She instructed him to sleep and just like that, he was out.

"Holy shit." Andre muttered. "She knew everything from the fucking jump. How many times do you think she did that to him."

"A lot." Jordan answered. "You think that's what broke him?"

"It broke both of them." Corinna said.

They had been standing in another room and watching Cate, Brink, and Shetty talk to each other about how Luke had been remembering things that Cate had told him to forget.

"Except..." Shetty said. "Make them forget."

Cate turned in her seat to face them and they quickly ran out of Shetty's office and into the quad of God U.

They soon spotted a door. A door that Marie had recognized.

She was hesitant to open the door, but she stepped up and opened it slowly and stepped inside.

And there sat a young girl and two dead bodies near here blood painted the walls and drowned the floor.

Marie approached the little girl named Annabeth who turned and stated that Marie had killed the people on the floor.

Marie tired apologzing, she cried, and apologized over and over again for what she had done to her parents, to Annabeth, to herself.

She was truly fucking sorry.

"You told me it wasn't my fault!" Marie shouted. "None of this is our fault.

With that, they all stood in Cate's room with the blonde girl finally looking their way.

"You should be here."

"Cate, we're here now, trying to wake you up." Marie said.

"You can wake up right me now. I won't stop you anymore." She said.

"Come on, let's all wake up and get the fuck out of here." Jordan said.

Corinna stepped forward, looking at Cate. "We're all fucked up. There are things we've done that we regret. Things that we wish we could change. That's in the past."

"I don't want to wake up." Cate said.

"No." Andre said. "No, fuck that. Doesn't matter what the fuck you want."

"Andre, I'm sorry."

"No. No, sorry doesn't cut it." He said. "You want to forget your problems and not wake up? No, fuck you. I don't want someone I love to burrow into my fucking brain. You manipulated us. Me. You manipulated me. And I know, I know that... your parents hurt you, that Shetty... I see it. I see it. But I wish you would've chose something different. Because I love you and I don't want to fucking love you because I'll never trust you again. But right now you have a choice. You have a choice. You finally have a choice. So wake the fuck up. You don't get to throw this all away. Now I need you to remember. Please. So wake up."

CORINNA SHOT up.

They all had, one by one.

"Is this real?" Marie asked.

"Yes." Cate answered.

Jordan quickly stood to their feet and shifted from male to female and quickly began to smile as they did so.

"Oh, thank God you're here." Emma said, busting through the door with Sam.

Sam took one look at everyone before his eyes landed on Cate.

He quickly threw her onto the table and grabbed her arm tightly, threatening to break it.

But with some reassurance from Emma, he harshly let her arm go and she fell to the ground.

"I- I know you guys don't trust me." She sighed, standing to her feet.

"You're going to have to do a lot of shit to get that trust back." Corinna said. "Starts with The Woods. What is she doing down there."

"I don't know. They were using Sam to augment Luke's powers. They realized how much Compound V had been inject into Corinna and they wanted to see if her blood could do anything for Luke, but they were doing other stuff to him, too. And other kids." Cate said.

"What other stuff?" Emma asked.

"Bad stuff." Sam answered. "She hates us."

"Shetty was directing it all."

"Okay." Marie said. "So she's the answer. We do this... and there's no going back."

They had already dug their graves without realizing it.

— lucy has something to say !!

emma is so "i can fix him" with sam and i might hate that 👍

you'll get another trigger warning in the next chapter :)

i don't have much to say so 😔

bye :))))