The boy's once again in the darkness, a place that's now all too familiar to him. He's given up on ever understanding what lies within this black hole; it's almost like something doesn't want him to find out. Sighing, the boy sits down right then and there, crossing his arms and, admittedly, pouting a bit. All he ever saw in this area were the colours teal and black. And sometimes the girl.

At the thought of the teal-eyed girl, the boy immediately jumps up, adrenaline and fear flowing through his veins. He never had a good reputation when she was around him. He recalls the cabinet incident, and too coincidentally, he hears a thud and turns around to find cabinet drawers all on the ground. The boy immediately panicks, making sure that he doesn't get as lost as last time. Practically sprinting over to the drawers, he almost dives in, searching frantically for teal papers... that aren't there.

"Looks like you've lost something other than yourself," a hauntingly familiar voice sounds behind him, causing him to pale and his heart to drop. Whirling around, he finds himself staring right at the one person who never fails to irreversibly mess him up. She takes a step forward, causing him to take a step back instinctively. The girl furrows her eyebrows, her eyes darkening a bit as well. "Oh, what's this? Do you not like me?"

Another step. "Do you not miss me?"

She doesn't move forward, but the boy still steps back. The girl gasps in realisation, "Do you not remember me?"

At that, the boy shakes his head. "I remember you," he clarifies, still wary of being around her. "I remember what you did." The boy glances over at the empty drawers and demands, "Where are they? Where did you hide them?" He narrows his eyes at her, preparing himself for any of her cunning tricks.

Nonetheless, the teal-eyed girl walks forward, tsking at his behaviour. "When did we grow so distant?" she voices, hurt lacing into her words. His heart pangs wih guilt, but he manages to stay strong and not give her a reaction. At this, the girl narrows her eyes. "Am I really a monster to you?"

When she's met with silence, she asks, "Do you hate me that much?"

At that, the boy takes a step back; he wasn't expecting such a question to come from her. Did he hate her? No, he just didn't... The boy frowns, suddenly confused about his feelings. For some reason, he can't seem to remember how he felt towards her, and he tells her so. "It's not hate... I think," he adds uncertainly, trying to rack his brain for some sort of clear definition of her.

"Why don't I help you remember?" she asks, ripping the boy away from his thoughts. "You can't hate a person when you can't remember why you hate them." At that, the girl holds her hand out as an offer. She smiles when he decides to walk towards her, but hurt hits her hard when the boy continues to walk past her, almost ignoring her. The girl then proceeds to plaster a smile and walk in front of him, not letting him see her face.

...

I wake up to find myself slumped over in Sophie's chair, a towel preventing me fron speaking. Groaning when a massive headache washes over me, I gently take off the bind and sit up, taking in the scene in front of me.; correction, lack of scene. Somehow, I'm the only one in the female Percipient's room. Furrowing my eyebrows, I stand up, ready to go searching for them. However, I must've stood up too quickly because dizziness forces me to sit down again. Sighing, I hold my head in my hands, closing my eyes to take a few breaths.

I'm about to head back to my room when I hear something fall from next door- my room. When I stand up, the connecting door between Sophie's and my room slams open, barely hanging onto its hinges. Donovan flies into the room, coming in at such a force that he almost falls onto Sophie's bed. Fortunately, the male Sovereign manages to control himself. I open my mouth to ask him whatever the heck he's doing, but that simple movement somehow drains me exponentially, so I stay quiet, slumping over again.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Donovan says, rushing over to push me back to sitting upright. "What happened to you, man?" My head involuntarily lolls back from utter exhaustion, so the male Sovereign lifts me up. Because of how he already broke the connecting door open, Donovan doesn't have much trouble bringing me back to my room and dropping me onto my bed. "What happened?" he repeats himself, evidently confused at my current state.

"Losing," I manage to choke out, my head still swimming. "Losing... lost..." I try to think of the next word, which is was supposed to be memories, but I murmur gibberish instead. I realise my mistake, but I quickly give up on trying to fix it, instead opting to shove my face in my pillow. I can't speak very well, I transmit to the male Sovereign weakly, slightly regretting using my head more.

You think? Donovan's thoughts echo. So what's happening?

Sophie was trying to bring back the memories from the hideout we went to, I explain, the transmissions somehow draining me as well. I can't tell if it worked. We got off track, certain memories were shown... I trail off when my connection almost fades from exhaustion, but I force myself to strengthen the bond. I've never known about this until now, so I have no idea whether it worked or not.

Donovan shrugs, Maybe. You never know... And I don't catch the rest of what he says. His voice disappears when I accidentally let myself let go of my connection to his thoughts. When the blissful silence hits me, I roll back onto my bed and close my eyes. Before I drift away, I see Donovan try to close my door, which I assume that he broke.

But at least he's trying.

The boy should too.

...

When the boy opens his eyes again, he's still with the teal-eyed girl, which sends his heart into a frenzy. He crawls away from her, ignoring the clear hurt that flashes across her face. "Ah, so you're awake again," she says, separating emotion from her words noticeably. He cringes at himself, guilt annoyingly gnawing away at him. What's the problem with this girl? Why did she have to go and exist? He shakes his head, grumbling to himself.

The boy then looks up to find not a teal eyed girl but a teal scaled dragon. Instead of English, an ear-piercing roar thunders in his ears, causing him to curl up and cover his ears out of fear. Closing his eyes, the boy pleads heavily for the monster to go away, "Please please please. I don't like you, I don't like you." As soon as the dragon raws again, the boy screams, rocking back and forth on the ground. "I hate you I hate you I hate you... Please... please leave...."

Almost as if the dragon dares him to repeat what he said, the dragon takes flight, now flying circles around the boy. Hearing the wings flapping and the creature roaring in the distance while he's all alone in the darkness becomes too much for him... and he cries. The warm tears roll down the bridge of his nose, splashing onto the ground before him. A sob leaves his chest, echoing all around them. The boy doesn't hear the dragon screaming anymore, but at this point, he doesn't care either. Instead, he hugs his legs close to him, only wanting to go home.

"How can I let you go when you haven't, though?"

"Huh?" So shaken up by the dragon, the boy merely opens his eyes, clearly hesitating to face her again. Suddenly embarrassed about his tear-stricken face, the boy hastily wipes at his face while standing in front of a girl.

A different girl, but she has the same voice.

Taken aback, the teal-eyed boy positions himself, ready to run blindly into the darkness and to never look back. He realises she knows that the boy desperately wants to hide away from her; what really strikes him, however, is the fact that the brown-eyed girl isn't stopping him. So for some reason, the boy doesn't take the chance: he stays right where he is. He narrows his eyes at her distrustingly, but he also waits patiently, allowing her the chance to speak.

"Why do you think that I'm here?" she asks, starting to walk circles around him. Her appearance glitches for a bit but essentially remains as the different girl. "Why am I still in your head, plaguing your thoughts? It's because you think of me.

"I'm also warped in your head, though," the girl continues, changing into the teal-eyed girl on cue. "Something made you forget about me, yet your mind still remembers within all this darkness." Gesturing to the black around them, the now-teal-eyed girl says, "You think that you're lost, but you've honestly found something. You think that you don't know what this is, but you know exactly what this is."

She morphs into the dragon this time, but the boy is too entranced by her words to cower. "You think I'm a monster, but am I really? Or are you the monster for viewing me this way? For keeping me at bay for so long? For making me believe that it all wasn't just me?" Out of frustration, the dragon lets out a bloodcurdling scream before returning to the teal-eyed girl. "Now really, who is the monster? The one who looks like a monster or the one who thinks up the monster?"

The teal-eyed girl takes the boy's silence as admittance to his guilt. "So tell me, why do you hate me?"

"I... I don't-" The boy cuts himself off, his thoughts now racing. Monster? Him? But why? He tries to wrap his head around the fact that this girl, who stands here in front of him, who's existed for years, isn't the monster here. Who really is, he doesn't know, but all the boy knows now that she isn't the monster. "Then who are you?" the teal-eyed boy asks bluntly, referring to the different creatures and people this girl's changed into in front of him.

"You know exactly who I am," the girl says, changing into what he can only assume to be her genuine form. "Is it so hard to believe? Is it so hard to not wait any longer? To not make me wait?"

"I didn't mean to-" the boy stammers, completely unsure as to how he should react. Whatever that's unfolding in front of him is too complex too understand, but apparently, it's simple enough for the brown-eyed girl to understand.

"I am merely a girl," she cuts him off, "who's waited. And waited. And waited. Who's taken pain and hurt from many. I may be a monster, but-" The girl then changes into the dragon again, "But I'm also a mere girl. You may see different, but I am what I am. I exist." With that, the now teal-eyed girl steps back, leaving a bewildered boy rethinking everything he's experienced in this hole of pitch blackness. "I refuse to wait much longer." A teal ribbon descends from the darkness, glowing brightly as it wraps her waist. Before it hoists her away, however, the girl beckons him forward:

"Try to find me."

Yet ironically, she disappears into the mass of shadows too quickly, like a light showing him the way but fading out right when he needs it the most.