Agent 38: I Never Forgot You

Chapter 8: Figure It Out

     After Three was done bandaging her (He'd had to step out a few times so she could do it herself), they both went back out into the living room, where the other three were sitting, eating breakfast.
     Eight gladly took her seat as Three sat down on the opposite side of the table. Food was a luxury she couldn't afford just a few days ago; she was grateful that now it was right in front of her, patiently waiting.
     She wrapped her fingers around the bread, lifted it to her mouth, and took a bite.
     Ohhhhhhh, Eight thought, pleased. This is delicious.
     The intense sweet of the strawberry jelly tingled in her mouth. The peanut butter was silky smooth and soft, mixing with the bits of strawberry and creating the best flavor ever.
     Eight tried to keep her mind off of the incident with Three's dad, but it kept tugging at the back of her head. She was terrified of him finding out, but she was also terrified of telling him herself. Either way, he'd be furious. She knew Three as the type of guy who could be easily described as a ticking time bomb. One second, he'd be calm and collected, and the next he'd turn into a rageful killing machine. Eight had been able to calm him down before, but only when his anger was directed at someone else, not at her. How on Earth would he react to this?
     Almost instantly, her appetite disappeared. She kept eating so the group wouldn't worry, but really, she felt like vomiting.
     Don't worry about it right now. You can tell him later, when things aren't as hectic as they are right now. Maybe first, focus on finding Gabriel?
     They were silent for a while, until Aaron cleared his throat and spoke up.
     "So... about Gabriel." He said. "If you really wanna go find him, we can focus on that. But I'd say maybe we reverse the sanitization first?"
     "Yeah," Three agreed. "Let's do that."
     "Actually," Eight countered. "Ha- this is gonna sound twisted, but... I could use my current state to, for lack of better words, make him feel bad...?"
     Everyone on the couch turned to stare at her.
     "Wow. Wasn't expecting that to come from someone like you." Callie mused, exhaling sharply through her teeth.
     "Hah, I think I like the new Eight." Marie joked, smirking.
     "Ok, but... where would we even begin?" Three asked, doubt fogging his eyes. "We have no idea where he's last been spotted, nor who he's last been with, nor his most recent whereabouts. We don't have enough information for this excursion, and we literally just got back from saving you. I think we wait a bit. I don't want y- the team getting hurt."
     "But that would go against the entire idea," Eight argued. "Gabriel's my brother. He wouldn't hurt me. If anything, he'd probably track down the Octoling who did this to me and kill them himself in cold blood if we went out to find him. I'm not saying I want to stay like this, but I do want to find Gabriel and see if he can be reasoned with."
     "I definitely like the new Eight." Marie smiled. "All those in favor, say 'I.'"
     "I." Callie said.
     "I." Aaron announced.
     "I." Eight grinned.
     "I." Marie said, prompting Three.
     His eyes roved over them for a solid minute, practically glaring. He rolled his eyes and muttered, "I." as he crossed his arms.
     Marie turned and smiled toothily at her. "So, when do we begin?"
     "As soon as possible, I guess." She responded.
     "And what would classify as 'as soon as possible'?" She asked.
     "Within this week. What day is it?" Eight said.
     "Tuesday." Aaron clarified.
     "Great. We get started on Thursday." She announced. "Callie and Marie, could you contact Pearl to see if her Chaos Crew has seen him?"
     "Sure thing." Callie said.
     "If you get any news, please tell me about it." She asked. "Aaron, can you help Three and I prepare?"
     "Sure!" He piped. "Wait, why?"
     "Because we don't know how long we'll be out there for," She explained. "So let's hope Pearl and her people have some convenient information, or we might be going on a wild goose chase."
     "Wait," Three interjected. "Who are you going to be staying with? Y'know, for clarification."
     A cold shiver ran down her back at the thought of staying with him. A part of her that felt lost and absent told her to trust him. It told her to stay with him. However, she also didn't trust him and, if he found out her secret, he...
     He could kill me.
     It was a possibility, for sure, but she didn't know how likely it was. Play it safe, or risk it all?
     "Shouldn't I still be staying with you?" Eight questioned. A light blush appeared on his face and he smiled a little, clearly trying to hide it.
     "Um- sure, I guess." He said, his voice sounding nonchalant, but his body language conveyed that he was clearly embarrassed. "It's fine with me."
     *About an hour later...*
     Three and Eight had arrived at their apartment in silence, the duo too awkward to talk to each other. Neither knew what to say, nor what to do, as she sat down on the couch and Three took a seat on the chairs by the counter. It felt odd to be in the same room as him, alone, but at the same time, she felt her hearts speed up for no reason.
     Cod... I really have to figure myself out. She thought, glancing at Three. He was on his phone, a slight crease of worry on his forehead. I don't know what I'm feeling, I don't know what I'm doing, I don't even know what I'm THINKING. How can I go find Gabriel if I haven't found myself first?
     "So..." Three spoke quietly.
     She tensed. "What's up?"
     "What do you plan to do if we find Gabriel?"
     Eight thought for a long moment. "Reason with him. My brother has always been a sketchy dude, but his hearts have been in the right place. I do believe he can be talked out of his current situation, if he's still alive. I'm willing to bet that his little gang took him even after he'd presented Aaron's belongings to them." She scoffed a little. "Lyle was always a bossy little jerk. The kid always got his way no matter what, and he ended up being the leader of that group. Gabriel must've been in for a beating when he returned. His 'friends' didn't take kindly to traitors."
     "So how do we come up with a plan to rescue him?" He said thoughtfully. "Do you recall how many were in the group?"
     "Um... about 7 or 8, but it's been 9 years. I think they've got more people with them now. We should expect at least more than 15." Eight answered.
     Three picked at the scar above his eye. "Hmm... and there's only 5 of us. Granted, we're the strongest people out here, but I don't think even we could take on 20 at once."
     "I took on a lot more than 20 when we were bombing the Metro," She pointed out. "And I was hurt. I think we're stronger than we think we are."
     He looked up and smiled in a way that made her feel warm and fuzzy inside. "You know, you might be right."
     "Thanks."
     They were silent for a moment, grinning at each other.
     "Or..." Three suggested, moving from his spot near the counter to the couch, on the opposite side of the cushions from her. "You're just stronger and better and way more amazing than the rest of us."
     "Extremely false." Eight said. "There's no way I could ever be better than you. It's impossible." She felt an odd tugging at her hearts, as if she was a broken vase and he was the missing piece. It was hard to describe, but that wedge in her mind was really flapping now. Like it wanted her to remember, but pulled out of her reach as soon as she got close.
     Suddenly, his facial expressions went serious. He scooted closer to her and gently took her chin. She gazed into his eyes, petrified, praying that he hadn't figured it out.
     "I will never, ever be better than you." He whispered. "You're the best thing that has ever happened to me. To the world. You're kind, empathetic, caring and loving. And I'm just... me. So don't you ever downgrade yourself again, okay?"
     Three leaned in just a little more. She could feel his breath on her neck, she could taste his scent. Her hearts sped up, pounding in her chest.
     Three's lips brushed against hers, so close she could taste him. Confusion pumped through her body, about whether he was friend or foe, about how to fit all her memories into place, until she felt so overwhelmed that she pushed him away.
     "I can't," Eight breathed. "I'm sorry, I- I-"
     On a breath, she turned and fled into the bedroom, leaving Three on his own. She slammed the door behind herself and locked it.
     She wanted to scream. She wanted to cry, she wanted to lash out and destroy everything in sight, but she also wanted to throw herself on the bed and cry her eyes out.
     Eight crumbled to the floor, clutching her head, tears streaming down her face.
     Why am I like this? Why can't I REMEMBER! I'm hurting the person I've sworn to protect, all because I can't remember my stupid memories!
     Why?
     Eight let herself cry, she let her tears fall and she let her anger spill out. She knew she couldn't stop them anyway.
     You really need to figure it out. You need to figure YOURSELF out.
     Look at you. You're a mess. A green, stupid, disgusting mess.
     She sobbed harder.
     I know.
     But... I have other things to do. I have to focus on Gabriel.
     No! You have to focus on patching up THIS relationship. Forget Gabriel. Three's more important.
     Gabriel's my BROTHER. I'm not going to forget about him. I'm not going to leave him to die.
     But you have to-
     No.
     We can deal with this later.
     Just... focus on Gabriel.
     Focus on Gabriel.
     Focus.
     Eight let out a shaky breath, pressing the heels of her hands to her eyes.
     "Focus on Gabriel," She breathed. "Focus on Gabriel."
     Her mind argued with itself despite her best efforts to silence it. It was odd, really. It felt as though there were two parts of her brain; her current, more dominant self, and her past self, before sanitization. Eight felt the passion and perseverance of her old mindset, dim and frail, as if it was fading, yet she also felt its determination, like it didn't want to let go of her just yet.
     As she had been for the past 3 years, she was torn between the two.
     Little did she know, though, that her decision was about to become clear.

Word count: 1850