The Trial of Dreams and Memories (TMM 2)

A Wife and a Mother

Sheridan awoke to find herself in a room in the hospital wing. She had been unconscious for hours, with no dreams or any sound from the outside world. It was as if she was dead. The woman found the Interpol agent she had been with earlier standing by her bedside. 

"What happened?" she groggily asked. 

"The doctor theorized that because Morai was still technically conscious, her psychic hold on everyone—including herself—would remain in effect unless she was rendered completely unconscious," the agent explained. "All it took was a sedative. She's in another room now."

"That girl..." Sheridan said, rubbing her temples. "Where are the others?"

"Everyone who's not unconscious is meeting in the main chapel."

"Now?" Sheridan asked. She shot up and began to scramble to get ready, but the agent stopped her. 

"Mrs. Sheridan, you're in no state to—"

"If Arthur's in there, he'll try and persuade everyone to kill her!" Sheridan exclaimed. "He believes she's a lost cause and that we're wasting our time and resources."

"Do you really think that still has a chance of living peacefully out in society?" Arthur asked. He was standing on the stage of the old chapel, which had been changed into a meeting room. It was mostly empty save for the pews and stained glass windows. 

"Why keep her around, anyway?" he continued. 

"She was a hero!" Ingo argued. "She's one of if not the strongest of her generation, and—"

"There are tons of younger tots starting off on their journeys!" Arthur interjected. "There are several people that can replace her! She's more likely to hinder any heroic endeavors than help 'em. The kid's a menace to society!" 

"It's not her fault Team Rocket used her as a science project," Emmet said. "Her choices aren't exactly her own."

"And it's not our fault either, but that doesn't stop her from existing and wreaking havoc!" another person said. 

"Yeah," a guard agreed. "She's nearly wiped out the entire nursing staff, and she's put a hurtin' on our whole group too. We still can't figure out how she's hypnotizing people."

"Doctor," Arthur addressed, nodding toward the man sitting with his top hat in his lap. "You've seen her. Is she a lost cause, or what?" 

"Gentleman," the doctor said, "it's true that, as she stands now, there is no chance she'd return to any sort of heroic position. However, that doesn't mean she never can. She's a brilliant subject to study, and if I—if we—could return her to who she was before, it would provide an enlightening insight into the mind and nature of man. Team Rocket had created a formula that was supposed to counteract the effects of the one that made her this way, but from their reports it didn't have much effect in pushing her back to the good side. It only nulled some of the other serum so that it didn't kill her." 

"If you lot don't want to kill her," Arthur said, "what if we took...other measures?"

"Like what?" the doctor, Ingo, and Emmet asked in unison.

"If her eyes are the source of her psychic powers, then maybe we could get rid of—"

"Absolutely not!" Ingo objected, shooting up from his seat. Emmet followed him. Arthur snarled at the both of them. They had never really gotten along. 

"You're lettin' your attachment to who she was before hinder your judgement!" Arthur yelled, pointing at them with an accusatory finger. 

"And? That doesn't change—"