The Dream Shifter

Chapter 208

"I understand! I'll meet your expectations, Lieutenant Commander Athene!"

'Athene…the same name as the girl…' Yori began putting all of the pieces together the longer that he watched. All the scenes before came together for him. He understood what happened. 'The woman from before, that's interrogating me. This is her, Athene is her name. These must be her memories! It wouldn't make sense for her to show me fake memories of herself. So this must be real, but why am I seeing this?' The conversation between the two in front of him had already ended, but he was too absorbed in his own thoughts to pay it any mind.

He felt like he was getting close to a breakthrough. Yori traced his path since meeting the woman. He needed to see the full picture to understand the reason. His first thoughts assumed this all had to be a part of the interrogation method, but he ruled that out. Showing her memories for extracting information made no sense. He knew that much. 'She claimed to have already have access to everything. But now that I think about it, it doesn't add up. Why would she say that and then go about everything else. If she was already inside my mind and could reach what she wanted, she did not need me. She used that to trick me! She wanted to use me to guide her to it!' Yori nodded to himself liking the direction.

His reasoning felt correct. A strange sense of an exterior push gave him an odd feeling of understanding than he thought, but he went with it. The pieces connected together perfectly. 'The fake memory must have been an attempt by her to drag out information. She probably made a construct from what she did have access to create it. But this…' Yori looked around him at the South Gate Headquarters. He knew none of it and the appearance of events from the past that he had no knowledge added a new direction. The direction it sent him in did not make him feel comfort. If his deduction was correct, then it brought up an entire series of new questions.

Yori found his answers leading to even more questions. 'Why am I seeing Ayumi? Why see this woman's memories? Is it because of me? I know Ayumi so related memories are surfaced? But if this is what I think it is…then why am I even here? How did this happen?' He searched around hoping to find Ayumi still and possible a new path to follow. She had to be the key to everything. Ayumi was the reason they stood in Atlantis and for dragging Yuki to be the new King. She was the center. She had all of the answers. 'I can find my answers here!'

Excitement built up in Yori with the anticipation of knowing that he could find what he sought. 'That's it! I'm searching! I'm searching through her!' The epiphany hit him suddenly and hard. It shot him out of the memory that he stood in. Yori found himself in a white room much like the one he started in. However, the memories on display were not his, but the woman. In front of him larger than the rest expanded an image to fill as though beckoning to him. As he stared at the image, it started to bleed into his mind. Yori's eyes widen in shock and realization. "It can't be…all this time…have I finally grasped the truth?!"

A peaceful life existed, uninterrupted by the chaos of random chance or the cruelty of such undesirables known as fate, or simply referred to as reality. None of the worries had a place. It was a happy time. It was earnest and sincere in truth. The hope of anyone shined through deep down. No one could deny such a wish. They looked content.

Just another night for them, the Mizuno family ate dinner around the table as they always did. Their father came home from work a little tired, but always had time to listen to Yori and Yumi's day. He let them entertain him, while they waited for dinner to finish. Mother always had tremendous energy appearing as a shining light regardless of the day. She worked as tirelessly as her husband, but showed no signs of fatigue. Dinner came as prompt and loving each night. That night was no different.

Yumi finished eating what was in her mouth letting herself speak. "And then I saw a girl go up to brother during lunch in the hall!"

"Oh my, you are getting to that age," their mother replied holding her hand to the side of her face.

Yori's face turned red, having difficulty openly denying her. He managed to find his words quickly. "Yumi! I'm the President, she was talking to me about club problems!"

She grinned back at her brother looking a little mischievous like a cat. "Oh you sure that was all? She had a glow about her, you know!"

"W-what are you talking about?" Yori forced down his flush face as he failed to hide his emotions. "Since when did you become such a gossip?"

Their father smirked and patted Yori firmly on his back. "That's my son! You always did have a face that captured the girls! You're going to be quite the playboy when you go up!" He laughed heartedly about the thought.

A flash of light shot across the table, but stopped with a spark. He caught a pair of chopsticks between his fingers aimed at him from her. "Now Atsushi, darling, you need to be careful of what you say. Don't put such thoughts in his head."

He smiled with sweat dripping down the side of his head seeing his wife staring at him. "I wasn't trying to push, Kotone, dear!"

Yori's face almost turned purple with the red flush blending with the blue terror from the table. He sipped a little of his miso soup trying to calm himself back down. "Should you really be saying anything to me though, sister? When you still haven't been able to confess to him?"

Taking her turn to be embarrassed, Yumi's entire face turned deep red in an instant. She threw up her hands in protest, angry that he brought it up again. "W-wh-what?"

"You too, Yumi?"

"W-w-w-we-well…I-I-I-I…" She began pushing her fingers together fidgeting in an attempt to push her embarrassment away.

Outside of the memory, Athene stood watching everything. She had seen scene after scene of memories play out similar for her. All her searching gave her nothing. She wiped it away with her hand and scanned through the myriad of images present to her. 'More of this? I have all of his memories… I even am using him to focus my search on the things he is trying to protect the most. So why am I getting useless memories?' Her hand pressed against her head feeling the tinge of pain that she assumed to come from mental fatigue.

She pulled up another memory from him that appeared tightly guarded. It began to play for her and drag her in. Athene did not immediately notice the passing of time within the space until she realized the memory was pointless, again. She never found anyone in her interrogations to have such a resistant mind. 'He keeps sending me away… How is this possible? I should have control!' Another pain in her head reminded her of the shortening on remaining time. It became stronger and more distracting for her. She did not remember the last time she spent so long in a person's mind. It never lasted so long for her. 'I keep going in circles…'

The kid's memories laid out for her. A countless collection of years, she had no time to search individually. She needed a new approach. 'If his guarded ones are false…then I need to look elsewhere…' Her hand shuffled through filtering with her new perimeters. A small section disappeared from her sight with new memories surfacing to the top. Unfortunately, she found too many. She groaned quietly to the pain that echoed louder in her head. 'I'm running out of time…' Athene waved her hand over the collection trying to feel out an accurate choice.

An image came forward and passed through her hand. It struck her arm with a jolt of pain that she yelped in surprise from. She tried to push away the memory, but it forced its way through her. The stabbing in her mind suddenly turned unbearable. She collapsed to the ground panting heavily at the pain. 'So…strong…can't be…already…' Athene focused her vision on her arm, where the pain originated. It grew away from her slowly taking shape.

"So you're finally figuring it out, huh?" the voice said with a slight mocking tone.

She widened her eyes in shock to hear something that had awareness within the space. "How? Wait…the voice…you're…"

A clapping noise came from the vague shape as it began to look human. "That's right! Bingo!"

"But how? You're…"

"Because of your arrogance. You're so confident in your abilities that you can't imagine anything that could reject you. You can't fathom the slightest possibility that there is something other than you. You reject the idea before you even give it a chance. Because of your arrogance, I've won." The figure began to laugh loudly at Athene.

Her shock turned to anger. The pain subsided enough for her to get back her body. She raised her other hand to grab the form that stood on her upper arm. "What nonsense are you spouting? You can't do anything to me!" The figure in her hand shifted position to stand on top of her closed hand. It sat down on her hand nonchalantly.

"I've already done everything."

She grabbed with her other hand trying to crush the image. She just needed to wipe out the phantom in the memory and focus back on the interrogation. However, it appeared above her hand again. "I will—"

"I'm not even the real one!" The figure laughed again nearly falling over. "I'm just a feint. A program left to keep you busy. You didn't even realize it, not even now when you think you're starting to understand. You don't! This is hilarious!"

"What are you talking about? A normal human doesn't have the mental training or strength to create such a thing!"

"So arrogant, even now. I guess I was giving you too much credit when I said you started figuring it out."

"What do you mean?"

"Let me give you a hint. You should protect your own mind a little better rather than lecturing me on mental training. It's open bare like a book asking to be read."

"What? You can't…"

"Heh, looks like you're understanding now." The form laughed again before disappearing into dust. "Too bad for you it's already too late. We've got everything we need!" It laughed once more before completely fading away.

"It can't be!" Athene looked around the space to see it all disappear around her. All of the images faded, fakes in the thousands thought to be impossible. Layers of the void peeled away. She saw levels upon levels unfolding in front of her. An unimaginable degree of complexity far more intricate laid out before it. It was not a matter of navigating a maze with pitfalls. She could not hope to breach such a defense. Athene saw it all in an intense moment that seared mind's eye and blinded her.

She screamed aloud and fell back in the tent panting heavily. Her eyes saw nothing but white, yet she knew that she returned to reality. Her head ached worse than the strongest migraine she ever felt. She wanted to pass out and felt her body might grant her request soon.

Simonides and Albeiron jumped from their spots and rushed over to her side in confusion. Only a few minutes passed for them, but at the end, Athene looked to be struggling with a great pressure slamming into her. They did not understand what happened to her. It forced them to watch and hope she found what they needed.

"Are you hurt?" Simonides asked, as he lifted her off the ground.

She grabbed out to the Captain's hand taking his wrist. The pain overwhelmed her and she felt everything slipping. Even the brief glimpse of the world she saw faded. She had to remember long enough for him. She tightened her hand on his wrist and pulled herself up. "C-captain…I!"

The sight of the grave features in her face made him want to pull away, if not for her hold. Simonides did not know what possessed her to burst out. "You need to rest. We can talk once you've recovered." He tried to release her, but saw her body shaking. She gripped his wrist so tightly he felt his fingers tingle with the blood cut off.

"NO! I must…tell you!"

Simonides leaned in trying to make it easier for her. Watching the desperate tone of her words, he could not ignore her. A bit of morbid curiosity filled him wanting to know what affected her so strongly. "What is it? What must you say?"

"I-I saw it! Their world…it's not like us!"

"World? What do you mean 'not like us'?"

"Be…careful…he's…"