The man the voice belonged to was standing in the doorway. He gave off a feeling of power and authority and was dressed like a nobleman, elegantly and powerful. His eyes held a look of exhaustion, but he held himself in a regal and almost imposing stance.

"Hey!" Hercules exclaimed. "It's the General!"

A small smile of amusement flickered on the man's face for a second, but it was soon lost as he turned to Thomas.

"Sword."

Thomas blinked in surprise, his triumphant smile crashing to the floor. "I'm sorry?"

The General held out his hand. "You know the rule. No weapons in the house. Sword."

"Are you kidding me?" Thomas asked, throwing his hands up in the air. "I bring back someone we presumed to be dead and the thing you're most concerned about is my sword?"

"Yes."

"How come Eliza gets to keep her knives then?"

"I do not!" Elizabeth said from beside me, crossing her arms.

"Eliza," the General said, sparing her a glance. "If you're going to lie, at least make it convincing." His gaze turned back to Thomas. "Eliza has proven herself responsible. You almost killed Lafayette once."

"That was an accident."

"Sword."

Thomas began to grumble in disagreement, but he nonetheless untied the sheath around his waist and ungracefully shoved it into the General's waiting hand. He crossed his arms once he had given up his weapon and turned away from him, looking over at me.

The General followed his gaze to look at me as well, his gaze as steady and unmoving as a rock. I have decided that he is the most threatening person I have ever met in my entire life.

"I like your hat," I said, it being the first thing that came to my mind.

The icy look disappeared from his gaze, and he laughed lightly before turning back to Thomas. "How is he still alive?"

"I wish I knew," Thomas responded. "We discovered an influx in magic on one of the least magical worlds in the entire multiverse. You all send me to check on it. I check on it. It's him. Why? I don't know. How? I don't know."

"And Alexander doesn't remember anything?"

Thomas hesitated for a moment, opening his mouth. He must have thought better, because a moment later he closed it, lowered his head, and shook it.

"I don't believe you," said the man apparently named Lafayette. "It isn't possible. No spell that we know of can completely erase someone's memory."

"Apparently there is one!" Thomas exclaimed, rounding on him and throwing his hands up. "Whether you choose to believe it or not does not change what happened!" The roughness in his eyes softened when they met mine. "This is a lot for you, isn't it? If you want, we can—"

"No, I'm good. But thank you."

Thomas looked concerned. "Are you sure? Because you seem a little bit... well, quiet."

"No!" I exclaimed. "No, I'm good. I'm just... well, I found out last week that magic was real and now I find out that I was—am?—dead and I have no memory about magic and rebellion and wars and... lots of other things I'm sure?"

"Thomas, do you know who did this?" The General asked.

Thomas let out a rough, low laugh. "I'm surprised you're even asking. I think we can all take a guess on who erased Alexander's memory and locked him away for two million years."

The girl dressed in yellow—Peggy—stood up and strolled over to me in a thoughtful manner, her arms crossed and her sleeves rolled up. "Maybe he does remember? But the memories are all locked away. Deep down inside of him. I wonder if maybe there's a way we can bring them back up?"

Thomas' gaze hardened, and he stepped in front of me almost instinctively. "You are not using magic on him."

A frown pulled at the girl's lips. "Why not? And when did you suddenly start caring about his wellbeing?"

"He doesn't," Lafayette said carefully, eyeing Thomas. "He knows that Alex losing his memory benefits him. Why would he want to undo something that's good for him?"

Thomas' gaze sharpened and his jaw set. His entire body had gone as stiff as a board at the accusation. "Excuse me?" His voice was low and dangerous, and I decided in that moment that I never wanted to be on his bad side.

"You heard me," the other man returned, raising his head.

Thomas' wings flared in response to his challenge, blocking my view and also brushing me in the face. I did notice, however, that his wings were very soft and smelled of forest.

"Now that's enough," barked the General. "I don't know what's gotten into either of you but it needs to end now."

"Thomas, uhh, can you—?"

"Oh! Sorry!" he exclaimed. His wings returned to their original place behind him. He paused for a moment before he walked over to the couch and sat down on the arm of it. "Peggy will not be casting a memory charm on him because those sorts of spells are unpredictable and untested. If something goes wrong, and if those memories are really gone forever, then Alexander could go insane. We're not risking it. Not when he's right here."

"I don't want to go insane."

"I hate to say this, but I agree with Thomas," Angelica said carefully.

"Thank you. Wait, what do you mean, hate to say that?"

Angelica ignored him. "Something horrible could go wrong."

"Of course!" Elizabeth exclaimed. "This is just my luck, isn't it? I'm only surprised someone didn't die!"

"Well—" the man on the couch began.

"Shut up Aaron!"

I opened my mouth, but closed it at the look that Thomas gave me. He sighed and folded his legs so that he was sitting straight up. "Tell them about your dream."

"My... dream?"

"Yeah."

"Umm. Okay, so last night I had a dream where I was a pigeon—"

"What? No!" Thomas sighed and moved his hands to cover his face. After a second, he spoke in a softer tone that sounded like he had almost completely given up. "About your reoccurring nightmare."

"Wait, I wanted to hear the pigeon dream," James said, but he was quickly ignored as I recounted the nightmare that kept coming back to haunt my dreams.

"That has King George written all over it," Angelica said when I finished, her eyes going dark.

"I'm convinced this is all some dream," Elizabeth decided. "Some horrible, wonderful dream."

You and me both.

The air hung heavy in the room, an uncomfortable warmth that we would've been much happier without. I started fiddling with my shirt sleeve, feeling their stares on me.

"Alex," Thomas said softly.

"Hmm?" I looked up to see him smiling.

"Thank you. For coming here. For at least giving it a shot."

I relaxed and nodded easily. At least there was one familiar thing in this strange place. At least Thomas was here.

"I'm sorry to disappoint you all," I said finally, unsure of what else would be good enough for them. It was obvious I was not the person they were expecting when they saw me, and it was obvious that some huge chunk of me that these people knew was missing.

"No! Alexander, it isn't like that!"

"Look, having you here is a lot better than believing you were dead. Trust me."

"We missed you. We're glad you're here."

"Son, look—" the General began.

"Okay, no. We're not doing that," I interrupted.

The General seemed taken aback for a second. Then, he smiled wryly and shook his head. "Of all the things that wouldn't change. And it's that."

"I'm sorry, uh—"

"Washington," he said, still smiling. "You can call me Washington."

Thomas slipped off the arm of the couch and walked over to me. "Want to see something cool?"

"I've had enough cool stuff for a while." When Thomas gave me a puzzled look, I continued with, "your definition of cool doesn't exactly line up with mine."

"I don't think he's going to like the statue very much," Peggy said. "It might be weird."

"It's a terrible idea," offered Hercules. "The stones were crafted perfectly. Don't you think it would mess with his mind a little bit? And you were really against that earlier."

Lafayette's lip curled in disgust. "Don't."

"What?"

"I know what you're trying to do, Mulligan. It won't work."

"Divinity above. Can't you let that go?"

"I—"

Angelica cut Lafayette off quickly, disrupting the oncoming fight. "I think you're gonna fuck him up."

"Well, let's find out." Thomas turned to me. "Follow me. And try not to get lost."

"Hey, Thomas, hold on a second," said Lafayette. "Look, I'm sorry about what I said earlier."

"Just don't let it happen again, stonehead." Thomas' tone was teasing and light, and the insult was used in such a way that made me assume it had been used as a joke many times before, and the other man's response was much the same.

"I'll try my best, birdbrain."

Thomas grinned, obviously put at ease at the banter. "We'll be back soon. Come on."

We walked in silence for a few minutes. I was trying to distract myself by the architecture of the palace, trying desperately because I was partially afraid of what we were going to go see that would 'mess with my mind' and 'fuck me up', as the others had put it.

"So, why'd you call Lafayette a stonehead? Like I get the birdbrain thing."

"Lafayette isn't a Peritum. He comes from another dimension, Aspisena. The Aspis are stoneworkers. They have the ability to manipulate stone and other metals however they want. It seems... well, useless, especially compared to the Peritum, who can do anything we want, but the Aspis are an extremely powerful people. The statues we're about to see were all created by Laf."

"Right. And he doesn't like this Hercules guy, I'm guessing?"

"They were extremely close once. Hercules isn't a Peritum either. He's a Rishftin. They're shapeshifters. Not as powerful as the Aspis or the Peritum, but you don't want to get on Hercules' bad side. The two formed connection over not being from Perriterra and they grow a bit... too close."

"Oh." My eyes widened at the implication. "Horrible breakup?"

"Yeah, you could say that. And the rest of us get to suffer whenever they get into fights. Which is very common."

"Right. Anything else I should probably know about these people now?"

Thomas shook his head. Then, he reconsidered and closed his eyes, sighing heavily. "You know that girl who burned herself, right? To see if you were real or not?"

"Elizabeth?"

"Yeah... uh, well. Umm, how do I put this? She's kinda... she's kinda your wife?"

I stopped in my tracks and stared at him, mouth falling open. My blood ran cold with the sudden revelation. "She's my what?"

"I knew you would not react well to that."

"Thomas, hold on a second. She's my wife? We were married at one point? But that can't be possible, I—no!"

"Yes, yes, and it is very possible."

"But I don't know her!"

"You do know her. You just have forgotten about basically everything." The way he clipped his words and spoke in a monotone voice indicated that this wasn't a subject he wanted to continue talking about. I couldn't fathom why, but I let the conversation die there.

"I—this is—I don't—" I let out a sigh. "I can't believe this. I can't believe this is happening. I don't know them. I don't know anything. About this place, about them, about me. Is it possible you have the wrong person?"

"Nope." Thomas said it so quickly with so much confidence that it made me feel horrible. What if I couldn't live up to his expectations?

"Why was everyone surprised with the way we were interacting?"

Thomas didn't stop walking, but his pace did slow. After a moment he said, "we don't exactly have a history of, uh, getting along."

I took a deep breath, deciding to switch to a much easier conversation. "Who's this Divinity person you keep talking so much about?"

"Divinity's our Goddess. She created us. She created magic. We worship her and she protects us and our magic."

"Divinity's not the most creative name, is it?" I teased.

"Oh, and God is much better?"

I chuckled at the comeback and didn't say anything else as Thomas led me down a long hallway. When the light began to grow dim due to lack of windows, Thomas held out his hand, and a faint pink glow began to emanate from it. It illuminated the corridor, bouncing off of the walls. When I looked over at Thomas, I couldn't help but smile at his skin being tinted pink by the light.

The noise of our footsteps against the cobblestone echoed through the hallway, and I felt suddenly chilled by a draft that swept through. This place certainly checked out on my list of creepy places to never visit alone.

"Where are we going?"

"You'll find out. We're almost there."

After another minute or two of walking, a faint glow of fire began to appear. It soon brightened, and I found myself staring at a doorway to a well-lit room.

The plaque next to the archway read Hall of Fallen Heroes.

Chills tingled up my spine as I realized what Thomas was taking me to see. I didn't say anything though as he entered and walked down the newer, nicer looking hallway.

"Why is this so far away from the—"

"I'm not really sure," Thomas answered. "It's kinda creepy, so I guess we didn't really want it that close to us."

"You're telling me," I mumbled as we passed by rows of statues that were carved excellently, hardly missing any detail.

Finally, Thomas stopped at the end of the row and looked to his left, right next to another statue that looked pretty familiar, but I couldn't place of whom it was. I drew in a deep breath of the cold, still air as I saw it.

"Flattering, no?"

I walked up to the statue and ran my fingers across the gray stone. It was like I was looking in a mirror with how lifelike it was.

"Lafayette made this?"

Thomas nodded.

"It's beautiful." I said, and it was the first time I ever said those words with a negative connotation.

"I'll tell him you said that."

The statue of me was standing with its head turned towards the center of the hall and its body facing to the left. Its eyes were pulled into a look of determination, its hand pointed outwards in a commanding way. At its feet were two stone creatures that looked very similar to big cats, save for the horns and the hooves. The statue seemed to be ordering them to attack.

At the base of the statue was a plaque that read:

Officer Alexander Hamilton
He will forever be remembered as a hero.
May he rest in peace.

I suddenly felt sick to my stomach. It isn't everyday you get to read your own epitaph, after all.

"You okay?" Thomas asked.

I nodded, unable to speak as I stared at the gigantic monument of me.

"I can bring it to life for a couple of seconds if you—"

"No!" I quickly exclaimed. "Please, I've seen enough of this. Can... can we go back now please?"

Thomas sighed and nodded. We turned and went down the hallway where we had just come from.

"Alexander?"

"Yes?"

"Are... are you going to stay in Perriterra?"

I felt my posture stiffen. "What do you mean?"

"I'm not going back to Earth. Well, I at least don't have any plans to. I have to stay here. A revolution is going on, after all. I'll take you back to Earth if that's what you really want. But... but I was wondering if you'd like to stay here. With me."

When I was silent for a while, Thomas continued. "I'll teach you magic, of course. I'm not going to force you to fight, and I won't let anyone else either. You don't know this place. You don't know what you'd be fighting for. The revolution started to protect lives on lesser worlds that weren't as advanced in the way of magic, but that's not the reason why some people choose to fight in it. But I will gladly teach you magic if you want me to. Anything you want to learn."

I stopped walking and stared at the ground. Thomas stopped beside me. I could feel his gaze on me even though I wasn't watching him.

To refuse his offer would mean letting him down, wouldn't it?

"It's up to you. I'd be okay with whatever you choose. But I'd probably never see you again if you really chose to go back to Earth. So, is there anything I can promise that would convince you to stay here with me—us!—to stay here with us?"

I turned the prospect over and over again in my mind and returned my gaze to him. His eyes were hopeful, those of a little boy given the chance to do something amazing. But the hope soon disappeared the longer I took to answer, and I felt horribly guilty.

If I stayed, I would be taught magic, and I would get to stay here with Thomas and all of his friends. But my life would never be the same, whether I fought in this revolution or not.

But if I left, I would never see him again.

"Would I be able to leave whenever I wanted?" I said after a while.

"I wouldn't make you stay if you didn't want to," Thomas replied earnestly. His smile was sad but genuine.

I let my eyes meet his, and I felt a smile tug at my lips. "I think I might stay here. Just for a little while."