The Trial of Dreams and Memories (TMM 2)

Morai and Pollie

Morai recoiled and roared in pain. Pollie backed away, expecting her to retaliate, but she nearly tried to claw the serum out of her own veins before she stopped her. Morai looked down at her arm and saw the true serum clearly overtake the fake, coloring her veins an even deeper black. 

"N-no," she whispered. Pollie let go knowing that her prisoner wouldn't—couldn't—escape in the moment. Forced to take a knee in the dark sand, Morai gritted her teeth until she couldn't anymore, letting out a terrible scream of pain that echoed through the empty town. Her eyes were unnervingly wide, as if she had witnessed something horrific. 

"My insides...it's ripping through my insides!" she screamed, holding her head in her hands. She was completely on her knees now, hunched forward and pitiful looking. The red faded from her eyes, replacing them with a sullen grey, and her face was drained of the little color it usually had. If this serum was supposed to keep her conscious, Morai was surprised at how close it was pushing her toward the edge. The edges of the world around her faded away like burning paper, and she found herself in the Dream Realm in front of Past Morai. 

Meanwhile, Pollie pushed her to her stomach in the sand and handcuffed her. She didn't put up any fight aside from random twinges of her muscles as she stared into the distance with an open mouth, a look of blank horror frozen on her face. 

"Morai?" Pollie asked, sitting on top of her and nudging her head. There was no answer. "Morai? Did...I kill her?"

"Things didn't turn out the way you planned," Past Morai said calmly. Morai stumbled towards her before falling to her knees and assuming the same position she had before falling unconscious. 

"It...it hurts..." she stammered, digging her own nails into the skin of her face. Past Morai sat down with her. 

"This is your brain fighting the serum for the last of its pyschic power. In a few moments, I'll be gone as it loses that fight."

Neither of them said anything else. Past Morai sat with her real-world counterpart and put a comforting hand on her knee, both unsurprised at the turn of events and relieved that the one who now carried her name wasn't going to wreak anymore havoc outside of the prison. Still, she pitied Morai. They were both still so young, after all, and Morai had gotten herself into quite the predicament, but age didn't make her immune to the consequences of her terrible actions. 

"I don't want to go back..." Morai whispered, head hung low. Past Morai didn't offer any words of comfort. She had tried it time and time again, trying to steer her in a different direction, but she had failed. As she sat beside her counterpart she, too, took on a solemn expression. She was supposed to fix what Morai had broken and continued to break. She was the one that was given life after death to mend her own broken soul...but she couldn't. She had only failed, taking comfort in the memories of the one that could beside her statue. There was no one to teach her, no one to tell her what to do, and she watched as her namesake wreaked havoc upon herself and everyone around her. 

When Morai awoke, she found herself lying completely flat, her body being pressed into the sand by the whole of Pollie's weight resting on top of her. She moved her hands to find that they had been handcuffed behind her. Whereas before she was trying to keep her muscles from moving without her, she couldn't will her muscles to do anything now. She let out a deep sigh. 

"Watch out for Palossand," she said. Her voice was hoarse and subdued. "They're a nightmare. I nearly died trying to catch a shiny one on this beach."

"Noted," Pollie replied tersely. 

"I guess...you're going to be promoted to a guard," the prisoner said with a slight grin, which surprised Pollie. 

"I guess so," the future guard replied. She pulled her radio out and announced that she had captured the fugitive, but no one answered. She tried again, and silence still hung on the other side.