A Thousand Miles And Poles Apart

i will carry you over fire and water for your love

The room had fallen into silence as you tried to figure out what to do next. The others all waited for your command. You'd planned battle strategies before, but that was different. You'd led the fighters of your group in battles when you'd had to break into groups. You knew the strengths and weaknesses and each of the fighters, you knew how to use them in the fight against the Deviants to the best of their abilities. But now, it wasn't just a Deviant you were waging war on. Now, you had the whole world and every person in this room counting on you. Your family's lives were in your hand. You wondered how Ajak and Sersei had dealt with this pressure.

"Okay," you said finally. "Pip, I need you on the controls. We need you to keep an eye out for Ghaur. None of this matters if he attacks Tiamut before we're ready."

"Hm I only take orders from the marvelous Starfox," the troll said.

You rolled your eyes before looking at Eros pointedly. "Pip, go to the controls," he said.

"Fine," he scurried off.

"Next time, maybe make a less sassy troll," you told him.

"He keeps it interesting," Eros shrugged.

"Right," you said before looking at the others. "First priority then is getting their memories back. We need them to fight to stop Ghaur. Phastos, how far along are you with configuring the Uni-mind bracelets?"

"It's hard to say," he said, easily falling into the new hierarchy. "The bracelets worked before because they use the same type of energy as us and Tiamut. The energy that did this to us is different, older than anything we know. We may need to look at different options."

"I'm open to suggestions," you said.

"Well, I have a suggestion," Eros said. "Though you may find it a bit insane."

"Dude, every part of this is insane, hit us with it," Kingo said.

"Okay," Eros said. "Well, those of you who got your memories back did it in life and death situations right? The obvious solution is to put them in life and death situations too."

"Never mind, keep that to yourself," Kingo said.

You were silent as thought on his words. Because you had been thinking the same thing. You had gotten your memories back when Ghaur almost killed you. Sersei had gotten them back fighting Ghaur too. She had seen you fight him and something in her triggered, maybe because she had been your leader, you thought. Phastos had gotten them back when Jack was in danger, and Thena, well you weren't sure what had happened when she got hers back, but it was during her fight with Ghaur she had said. But she had experience with living with lost memories.

You had wondered if that was the key though. The test had taken your memories and powers, but if you died, the test wouldn't be able to be played out. The Living Tribunal would have thought of that, you expected. Perhaps when you needed it, the memories would come back so you could defend yourselves. You remembered as Sofia your powers returned when you were in life and death situations. Maybe this was the same.

"You can't seriously be considering this," Kingo said, as he realized you were silent.

"It might work," you said. "You haven't faced off with Ghaur yet. Makkari was protected behind Phastos's shield last time. And Druig," you fell silent. Because part of you wanted to believe Druig didn't face the same life and death situation because on some level, he had known you would protect him. But in truth, you didn't know why he couldn't regain his memories.

"I didn't feel like I was in danger in those situations. I was worried, but not for myself," he finished for you silently, and you looked at him with hope in your eyes. Maybe, subconsciously, he had known it, had felt it. That you would never let anything happen to him again.