I shot my eyes open with a gasp. I was lying on my back face up, but instead of a dirty, cold warehouse, I was somewhere else. A vast white room with various doors that doesn't seem to end. No walls or horizons. "Whoa... so this is Lizz's memory scape? This is so... cool." It felt like I was in a movie.

"Yuki," Abengane's disembodied voice echoed in the space. I spun around looking for him, but there was no soul in sight. Of course he wouldn't be here. I'm dreaming. "If you can hear me, find the egg. It will hatch once you find the Nen keeping Lizz's memories locked. Once the job is done, it will disappear."

"Egg?" I looked around at the floor but couldn't find anything. All I saw were doors. I slipped my hands in my pocket and felt something hard and smooth. I pulled it out, and to my surprise was a pale egg. "Oh, I found it!" I held it up high, but it dawned on me that Abengane probably can't see or hear me. "Okay, Yuki. You can do this. Find the source, restore Lizz's memories, then wake up." I carefully slipped the egg back in my pocket and carried on into the labyrinth of doors.

Upon closer inspection, the doors were unique in their own way, some wooden, some steel, some glass, some simple or encrusted in detail. Each door had a label as well.

"Hm, 'First day of Second Grade.'" I read aloud the label on a door with fingerprinted sheets and butterfly drawings taped on it. I opened the door to see a children's classroom on the other side, bright, sunny, and colorful. The children were sitting in a circle on the carpet with the teacher standing in the middle. I remember her. My old second grade teacher, Tsunka-sensei.

"Okay, class. Today we're going to start off the first day of school by getting to know each other through ice breakers."

One child raised his hand. "My daddy said I'm not allowed to use hammers anymore."

"No, Charlie. The way we play ice breakers is that you have to say two things about yourself, one truth and one lie. The rest of us has to guess which fact is true and which statement is false. Now, who would like to go first?"

A young girl with short brown hair and chubby cheeks threw her hand up excitedly. "Me! Me!" That's me!

"We have our first volunteer! Please, introduce yourself and say two things about yourself."

"My name is Yuki Sazuka. I like to draw and I have a baby sister."

One girl raised her hand. I recognized her as one of my old friends. She moved away after fifth grade. I don't even remember her name. "I know for a fact you don't have a sister. You have a brother."

"That's right, Betsy!" Mini me said. Oh, yeah. That's right. Betsy. I remember now.

"Who would like to go next?"

The little girl sitting next to me raised her hand. I know who this is.

"M-my name is Elizabeth Aiuchi... I like to collect bugs and eat cherries."

One boy raised his hand. "The truth is that she eats cherries and the lie is that she collects bugs." Lizz shook her head, surprising all the children.

"Ew, how could a girl like you touch bugs?" A little girl in pigtails wined. "Bugs are gross!"

Tsunka-sensei shushed the rude girl and urged the class to move on to the next kid. I didn't pay attention to the rest of the introductions as I watched Lizz lower her head, her lips quivering as she reflected on what she thought was a grave mistake made.

A door at the other side of the classroom opened, leading to the outside playground. While all the children were chasing each other, climbing on the jungle gym or jumping rope, Lizz sat on the sandbox all by herself, doodling in the soil with a stick. I wanted to walk over there and comfort her until my younger version ran passed me.

"Elizabeth-chan!" Little me cheerfully called as she ran toward Lizz with her hands cupped together. She crouched next to Lizz and got secretly close. I towered over them and leaned to peek over their shoulders, supposing that they can't see or hear me. "Look what I found..." Young Yuki slowly opened her hands to reveal a red ladybug.

"Ooh!" Lizz said in awe, then looked at young Yuki confused. "Wait... you aren't afraid of bugs?"

Young Yuki's mouth stretched flat as she shrugged. "Well, a lot of bugs give me the creeps, but ladybugs are harmless. I think they're cute. Oh!" Their little captured friend flew off into freedom. The two girls watched in silence until it was out of sight.

"A lot of girls think I'm weird because I like bugs and don't like cherries," Lizz sulked.

"My daddy always tells me that not everyone has to agree with each other. Besides, cherries taste like cough medicine."

"I know right?!" The girls smiled at each other. "By the way, you can call me Lizz."
Wow, watching how Lizz and I first met made me realize how old I was. I forgot about Lizz's hobby in bug catching. Whenever she visited her grandparents, they didn't have television to keep her entertained, so she would often spend time outside, exploring and discovering the insects of the wildlife. She outgrew it, of course, years later.

As nostalgic as this was, I should really focus on finding the source of Lizz's memory problem. I walked out from where I came and closed the door behind me. I read the labels of each door I walked by, scanning for any significance.

"Tennis lessons, how to whistle, camping trip, last birthday party... Gon's visit?" A grin curled across my face. Maybe I have time for one peek... "Ooh la la~"

I turned the doorknob, but for some reason it was stuck. Was Lizz mentally keeping me out of her secrets on purpose? Maybe there are certain doors I can't enter, unless... this could be it. I rammed my shoulder against the door. It shook, but stood tall. I did it two more times, each harder and more painful until I've finally pushed through. I stumbled a few steps forward and stopped, spinning my arms backwards to keep me from falling into a black void. I leaned back and gulped some air. "That was too close!"

Aside from the door, a fragment of the floor, and remnants of the walls attached, the room was an empty, dark space. I looked closer at the jagged edges of the walls clinging to the memory scape and ran my finger over it. It felt like bite marks. I must be getting close, but also losing time.

I ran further into the hallway, speed reading through the door plates. Last night's dinner, scam call, favorite movie, science fair. Which is it?

My heels skidded to a halt as I took a few steps back to read a plate again. "Last visit to NGL..." I gulped nervously. This must be a huge turning point in Lizz's life. Ever since the festival, she didn't like to talk much about it, but I know this is how she died and was born again. This day changed her life forever. Do I really want to see? It might be scary on the other side. Even so, I have to find the source, so it can't be helped if I do see.

I turned the knob, and like the previous door it was locked. I rammed by shoulder against the door. This one was sturdier and my shoulders were still sore from before. I kicked close to the lock. I kicked again. "Come on." I kicked once more. "Come on!" I kicked, shaking the door loose. I kicked and kicked until the lock broke and the door swung open.

A blast of hot air greeted me with the sunny rays of summer. I heard crickets chirping. I stepped outside to a small, rural village that had people cultivating crops. All seemed peaceful until a woman screamed. 

Suddenly, the village was invaded by large beasts beyond anything I could imagine. They were chimera ants, but different from the ones I met. They were more primitive looking, bigger and volatile. The ones I met were sentient and mannered. These ants, however, didn't seem like they could even talk. They behaved like a pack of wolves hunting down a herd of deer. Women dropped their baskets to pick up their children and run. As people ran, the chimera ants that had wings snatched them up by their talons and carried them into the sky. When a chimera ant with a fly's head flew straight toward me, I ducked down and covered my head, but the image flew straight through me like a ghost. Even though I was in no danger, I was still horrified as I helplessly watched people being attacked and stolen from their families.

A little girl shriek sounded from inside one of the homes. I ran in to see an hold woman holding back Lizz as a child, who was clinging to her grandfather while his other end was being pulled by a chimera ant. Both women were crying out waterfalls as they watched the old man get yanked out of Lizz's weak grasp. "Grandpa!" Lizz cried in sadness, which soon turned into a shrill of terror when another chimera ant assaulted them.

"NO!" I closed my eyes and ran out of there as soon as I saw blood splatter on the walls. I fell onto my knees and hands, feeling my stomach churn. I cried and gagged with my mouth open, but barely anything came out. Why did I have to see that? How could anyone continue living after even experiencing such a terrible death? If only I could take this memory away from my her. I would be doing my best a favor.

Suddenly, the ground began to crumble underneath my palms. What's happening? Is this part of the memory? No, shards of the earth started falling into the black abyss below. The memory is starting to disappear here too.

I got up and wiped my eyes. I remembered that I still need to save Lizz. This memory was still intact, which means the source must be here. I ran through the village which was now a ghost town. One foot accidentally broke through the ice-thin floor. "Ahh!" My whole leg fell through but I was still holding on to stable ground. This place was starting to get fragile. I climbed out of the whole and started sprinting again.

I searched through the fields and homes until I spotted a strange, pink mist coming from behind a house. I walked around it and found this disfigured-looking monster, a pile made up entirely of pink gas. I could feel this unpleasant energy radiating from it the closer I got. Could this feeling be the aura of Nen? The Nen monster had several tentacles dug into the ground, probably consuming dimensional space of the memory.

"Found you," I said. I pulled the egg out, which seemed bigger than I remembered. "Now... how does this thing work?"

As if those were the magic words, I felt a kick in my palms. It started me so much that I nearly dropped it. The egg wiggled until it cracked opened a large, purple worm to emerge. It was fuzzy on the top, but it was wet and slimy on the bottom as it crawled from my arm down my body. Paralyzed from disgust, my body shivered. It's journey was a slow, agonizingly gross process, but once it left my feet, it crawled to the beast and started feasting at its base. As the worm sucked and chewed on the aura, the worm grew bigger. The Nen beast retracted its tentacles, shrieking as it reduced in size until there was nothing left.

Suddenly, the world didn't feel like it was ending anymore. The ground stopped shaking and all was silent. The worm was probably four feet long now. It lay flat on the ground as its skin turned pale and hard, growing thicker and thicker until I couldn't see the worm's features anymore. All I saw was a lump of a shell.

I sat down and waited. Was it over? What am I supposed to do now that the source is gone?

Suddenly, the capsule shook. The surface cracked and widened as a beautiful, purple moth spread out its wings. It fluttered and took first flight. I followed it as it flew above the village, sprinkling some sort of shimmering spores over it. Everything broken that was touched by the dust magically repaired. All the cracks and holes were filled. The picture was restored back to normal.

"Wow..." I said, amazed. Everything returned back to the way it was. Well... almost everything. The town was still desolate of its residents. The laundry were strewn and the crops were stomped on. Nothing would change what happened in the past. 

"Are you sure you won't come with us?" I turned my head to the sound of voices. In the middle of the village appeared a tall crustacean chimera ant with dark blue armor and claws for hands. He was speaking to a man holding the small hand of Lizz, now transformed into a chimera ant as well. "There's a safe place for us where we're all heading."

The memory must have time-skipped to after the events of the war. Lizz must've came back to her grandparents' village. Did her grandparents... not make it?

The man looked down at Lizz compassionately, petting her head. "It is your choice, little one."

Lizz's cat ears dropped as she shook her head. "I want... to go home. I miss my parents and friends. I just... want to go home." She wiped the tears from her eyes.

"It won't be easy fitting in," The older ant said with concern.

The man picked up Lizz and held her, rubbing her back as she cried in his shoulder. "I think she's aware of that, but you heard her. I'll see to it that she returns home."

"Thank you."

"Lizz..." I said as I watched the kind man carry Lizz away. "You could have stayed with your kin, but you chose to live as a human to be with your loved ones, and every day you fought to live a normal life." Lizz would still have to live with this horrible memory of her childhood. Even if I want her to forget, she can't. Nothing would change the fact that she's a chimera ant now. Everything she's experienced is what makes her who she is now, and I don't want to change anything about her. I'm sorry, Lizz.

Once the damage was undone in this part of her memories, I followed the moth out of the door into the memory scape. It landed on one door and waited, it's wings twitching. Was it waiting for me to do something? I reached the doorknob and opened the door for it to enter. The room was also voided by memory in fragments, but it didn't take long for the moth to work it's magic again. It looked like we still had much work to do.