Her heart bled for him, as she felt his pounding in his chest in the corner of the room, and she ached to reach out and comfort him, for him to allow her to embrace him as he had did for her when she had suffered from the suffocating dark becoming too overbearing. She had been momentarily infuriated by Alias, but the anger had melted into pity. Everyone here, all of the broken hearted people with souls that had grown tattered and weary from so much struggling and loss, deserved to feel happiness and joy. She felt a pang in her chest as she sought to give it to all of them, but she knew that this extended far beyond her and her capabilities. But she would not give them judgment or scorn for their ways that were rougher around the edges. Beneath all of their shadows, they had hearts all the same, hearts that beat and wept and leapt. She was set to help one of them uncover their pain, no matter how stubborn he might've been.

A smile taking over her face as she looked back to the fluttering people, to how alive and jovial they were, she wondered if she could somehow manage to make them all smile and laugh that way. She thought of how the sweet sound of laughter was touching her ears as she had solemnly heard it in all of her times in the caves with these people. She had been isolated the entire time within the same walls, and she felt a yearning to learn more of Community, to somehow become a part of it.

Acacia looked to the elders. Raygen was the most pleased she had ever seen her be. Her eyes were saucers as she watched a woman with streaks of grey in her hair through her black stand and walk, going in circles around her. Her eyes sharpening, Acacia noticed the strange resemblance between the two of them, the same strong nose and wild hair. The woman was slightly taller, but their slim long figures were almost identical.

"They're sisters," Edmund replied from behind her, causing her to jump.

Acacia paused for a moment, the world strange to her ears yet held a certain amount of warmth to it, something that murmured family and familiarity. "They have the same mother?" She tried.

He paused for a moment. "Yes, they had the same parents. Did you not understand?"

She bit her lip, questioning whether or not it was wise to let Elder Edmund know of her erratic memory. "It is a familiar word, but strange all the same. I feel like I have known it before, just by a different name."

His brows rose. "Another language?"

"I...I think so." Gripping her head, Acacia shook it. "It's hard for me to recall things at times. I catch glimpses of people, places, but as soon as I can grasp them, they vanish."

"Do you often dream of such things?"

She didn't mask her shock. "Yes, at least weekly. It's been getting more frequent ever since..."

Edmund watched her cautiously. "Ever since...?" He prompted.

Deciding she could trust him, she confided in him. "Ever since I had a moment of claustrophobia, or that's at least what Alias told me. I woke up one night after a glorious dream, and after seeing such beautiful images the dark just smothered me. I wanted to get out, and I panicked. They have been becoming more regular ever since I had the fit."

He mulled over her words, his hand stroking the stubble that had broken across his jaw. Acacia had come to learn that Edmund was the youngest of the three elders. His dark brown hair was always cropped short across his scalp, and he had a strong physique for resembling more of a sage intellectually. He was the softest out of all of them, but not any less lethal. He was fierce as were all people of Community, but his heart was the brightest through the cracks, had the gentler melody outside of all the discordance. Acacia favored his presence more than all others in Community, aside from Alias. Her heart had grown fond of him, viewing him as her responsibility due to the pain she had inflicted upon him, the pain she sought to placate and cease but he refused to let her.

"You have done a great favor for us today, Acacia," Edmund stated, black eyes meeting hers. "Perhaps you would accept a favor in return, with your explicit permission of course."

Hesitantly, she asked, "What do you have in mind?"

"With the help of my peers, I believe we may be able to unlock some of your blocked memories. It is apparent that you wish to remember them, but something prevents you from doing so. Perhaps it was self-inflicted in self preservation or someone did it to you. You must be willing to accept the consequences that may ensue if we help you to remember." He said.

About to respond, Acacia was interrupted as Raygen strutted between them, her beaming voice cutting through the space. "We want to thank you, Acacia."

Stunned, Acacia stood their gaping at them as words eluded her.

Raygen's sister had a harmony similar to Edmund's as she smiled at Acacia. "My name is Raygha, and it seems that I am in your favor, Acacia. I would not be here, healthy and cognizant, if it weren't for you." She dipped her head, bowing. "You have my thanks."

Acacia grinned, placing her hand gingerly on Raygha's arm. "There is no need to thank me. I am happy to help. Please find me if you feel any illness again. I would hate for the progress to undo itself."

Raygen frowned; her heart lurching in a chord that caught Acacia's attention. "It is not permanent?"

"I would like to think that it is, but I have never healed grave sicknesses before today. She is as healthy as she possibly can be in this moment, but to be safe and to prevent it from reoccurring, please seek me if the need presents itself." Acacia explained.

Raygen brows creased further, her eyes turning sharp. Raygha placed her hand lightly on her shoulder. "Raygen, do not fret. We have been granted a miracle. Let us not waste it."

Raygen looked to Edmund. "Will you take over my duties for the day, in light of today's events?" Her eyes drifted towards her sister.

Edmund nodded somberly. "Of course, go enjoy yourselves."

As Raygen and Raygha departed through the door, Amit began to lead the others out with him, muttering under his breath in frustration as a few were slow to hear him over their still present bubble of elation.

As the room emptied out, leaving just two figures standing in its suddenly dimmer lighting, and one wrapped in a corner, the cold seemed to creep back in, eliciting goose bumps across Acacia's flesh.

Shivering, she rubbed her arms and turned to face Edmund once more.

"Your answer?" He inquired.

"I would be grateful if you could help me." She rushed out, hope seizing her.

Edmund grew silent for a moment, his eyes wandering to a dark shadow in the far corner of the room. Their form shook in the darkness, and their pain lashed out in violent waves, threatening to drawn Acacia as she tried to listen.

He met Acacia's eyes next, his voice placid. "That one, Alias, he has a very dark past, and in that aspect he is like most of my kind. He finds it hard to be happy or to share emotion. Most of us act in the same manner, some less than others, some more. Alias is one of the least on the spectrum. He is an honorable individual when he grows to accept people, but it is hard for him to do so, and even once he respects someone he may never trust them." He sighed, as if a great weight caused his shoulders to sag. "Please be patient with that one."

Acacia's heart lurched as she looked to the heart wrenching boy in the corner, hands dripping his ears, so desperate to block out the noise that he hadn't realized that the noise had dissipated, that the room was almost empty now.

"Edmund... Is there any way to make progress with unraveling the bond? I hate making someone feel so small and helpless, especially when it goes so against their nature." She said softly.

"We can try, but we must focus our efforts. Would you prefer we focus on the bond or your memories?"

Sighing, she watched Alias with sad eyes. "Please do what you can with the bond, and then we can worry about my memories."

Edmund nodded. "I will see what can be done. I must go now. I have the work of two leaders on my hands."

Acacia murmured a frogeye and watched his form grow engulfed by darkness as he strode into the halls. She listened to his retreating footsteps until they grew too far to hear, and then turned to the boy crumbling before her. She slowly walked up to him, and too wary to make contact with him, she spoke aloud. "Alias."

"Alias," she tried, louder again, and to her astonishment her turn from the wall he laid his head against, overgrown hair falling like a mask over his eyes. Somehow it had fallen out of its tie and she wondered if it bothered him to be unbound in such a way for someone who favored control.

"What?" He grumbled out hoarsely.

"Everyone has left. It is just you and I now. We can head back."

His eyes seemed to become aware of this fact for the first time as they swept through the room, noting the shadows that swarmed around them. Surprising her, he lifted his hand and casted heatless light into the torches that flickered throughout the room, causing their flames to glow with a newfound spark.

"What's the point?"

She frowned. "Excuse me?"

He muttered something incoherent in displeasure. "What is the point of going back to the room? We're still trapped. We're still joined to each other. What is the point?"

"The point is that the elders are trying their best to find a solution, and we'd do best to be compliant with them. If we're patient, we'll get answers. We just have to remain hopeful." She replied steadily.

He barked a laugh. "You think hope will save us? Hope is futile. Hope is torture in itself. Have you ever grasped onto it so tightly because you thought it was all you had left, but you just didn't know you still had so much more to lose. It keeps disappointing you, keeps stringing you out until it hurts to even think of possibility that there is salvation, because you know resolutely that there will be no gods saving you. There will be no heroes. There will be no foolish hope. There is just you and your bloody hands and your will to survive." He shook his head, eyes clenching. "Do not tell me of hope when you have not done the same intimate dance with it that I have, and come to the conclusion that it is a scornful practice."

She wanted to groan in frustration. At every step she made with him, he was right there resisting. "Then don't hope. But I will because sometimes it is the only thing you do have. When you know nothing else, what do you look to?"

He was silent for a long moment, eyes still not meeting hers quite yet. "You look to yourself, at whom and what you are and what you are willing to do, what you are willing to sacrifice to go on."

"But, Alias," she whispered sadly, "I am no one. I did not know my own name before you spoke for me. How am I to look to myself when I do not know who that person is?"

His eyes traveled across the floor, to her feet and black clothes, to her tumbling hair and tender face. At last, his eyes sought hers. "Then you make something of yourself."

She subdued the smile of triumph that fought to break out across her face as he met her eyes. But as soon as her pride swelled, he was stalking out of the room and his back was what faced her. Finding fresh resolve to help him, no matter how long or what it took, she trailed after him.