"Found"

Part 4 - The Lie

Grian carefully picked up Valeri, holding her body closely in his arms. His eyes were filled with a mixture of relief that the watcher was gone, and worry for Valeri, who was unconscious in his grip.

Martyn walked forward, Mumbo helping supporting him. "There is no way they just let us have her..."

Grian looked up at Martyn, his grip on Valeri tightening. He knew that Martyn was right, that the Watchers wouldn't just give in like that. They were planning something, or they got what they wanted. Either way, Grian still felt relieved that she was somewhat safe now. "You're right. We need to get out of here. Quickly."

"Let's get back to Hermitcraft." Martyn speaks up and holds out his hands again. "I should have enough energy."

Grian nods in agreement, adjusting Valeri in his arms so she'd be safer. He holds onto Martyn's still-weakened hand tightly, giving a firm squeeze and reassuring him. He looks back over at the other Hermits, who all nod. "Let's go."

They all hold hands and Martyn teleports them back. They land in Impulses laboratory, where he does all his magic work. Grian holds Valeri closely as they land in Impulse's lab, her body limp in his arms. He looks over at Martyn, who still looks weak and pale from the amount of energy it took to transport that many people. "Can you check her, Impulse? Make sure they didn't do anything drastic? Please?"

Impulse shakes his head "I used all my mana fighting the watchers earlier, but X, can you see if there is any change in her code?"

Grian nodded, carefully laying Valeri down on the cot in Impulse's lab. Xisuma pulls up the Admin interface, numbers running across the screen and symbols Grian didn't recognise. He watches as Xisuma looks through Valeri's code, a worried expression on his face. Grian can feel his anxiety growing as he watches Xisuma work, waiting for some news. He fidgeted with his wings nervously, trying not to let his paranoia get the best of him. Xisuma opens a file and gasps "Omg..."

Grian's head snapped up at Xisuma's gasp, his heart racing even more. "What? What is it? Is she okay? Is she hurt?"

Xisuma shakes his head "Not exactly hurt... A bunch of her code is missing. Everything that makes Valeri, well... Valeri is... gone."

Grian felt his stomach drop to the floor at Xisuma's words, his heart sinking as the reality of the situation set in. "N-No... that's not.. that can't be possible..."

He felt a mix of disbelief and anger, struggling to understand how the Watchers could have done such a thing to Valeri. His fists clenched tight, his knuckles turning white. Xisuma nods solemnly "Her personality, her stats, her memory, a lot of it is missing."

Grian couldn't help but feel a wave of panic rushing over him. He looked down at Valeri, her body still unconscious on the cot. "So.. She's forgotten everything? She doesn't know... anything?"

He asked, his voice shaking. He couldn't bear the thought of her not remembering him, or anything from their past. The memories they shared, and their friendship. It was too much.

"I don't know Grian, I-"

"There must be something we can do to bring her back, right? Please tell me you have some sort of trick up your sleeve. Please!" He couldn't believe the situation they were in, it was almost unreal.

After what felt like an eternity of silence, Martyn finally speaks up. "There is one way we could attempt to bring her memories back."

Grian immediately perked up at Martyn's words, hopeful that there was a way to bring Valeri's memories back. "Really? What is it? We'll do anything."

He practically pleaded, his wings fluttering from the mix of excitement and worry he felt.

Martyn took a deep breath, knowing that the idea came with a ton of risks. "There's a spell us Listeners have been working on that could return Watchers memories. But in order for it to work, we need to retrieve mementos of memories of hers. So we'd need to go to a point in her past where she was happy and gather up as much as possible. But it's not without risk. It could overwhelm her, or even make her lose her mind. There are many things we must consider before we do this..."