Astra: Forgotten and Remembered Again

William

I can't believe how ridiculously powerful she is. 

The girl with the white hair, I mean. And I don't mean it as a compliment. She's really dangerous. 

Luckily, I managed to save that other boy. I think. I mean, last I checked he was breathing.

I think.

Why can't I remember something as important at that?

I float down to where I left him to see if he's still alive. I don't want anyone to die.

There was a girl kneeling next to him, shaking his shoulders.

"He's unconscious." I say as I come down. "That girl did some sort of torture attack to his head. I wouldn't be surprised if he was in a coma. Or slept for a few days at least."

She immediately stood up and backed away as I landed, looking at me suspiciously. 

"Who are you." she said. She said it more of an unwelcome announcement, not so much as a question. 

"I'm William. Or Will. Whatever you want to call me." I respond. I kneel down next to the boy and hold my hand just above his forehead. Then, little purple sparks of energy came from my fingers and into his head. They shouldn't hurt, I'm just trying to see what's going on inside his head. 

Hmm...pain...panic...worry...worrying for one person...this girl? 

His mind is unorganized with one big jumble of random emotions. 

It's obvious he was trying to protect her when he rushed blindly into battle with that maniac. His worried thoughts prove that.

"He'll be alright." I say finally, pulling my hand away from his forehead. 

"How do you know?" she says, still suspicious. 

"I read his feelings and thoughts, and his mind seems to be in the perfect condition to keep living." I reply. "Now I have a question for you. Who was that girl with white hair?"

"She's As- X-752." She says, the last bit kind of quickly. "She has too many lovshke's and twelve of them are evil. They possess her and drive her crazy, so she has no control whatsoever. I have to try and get them out of her...but I'm not powerful enough."

"What do you mean 'not powerful enough'?" I ask. "Are your lovshke's slacking off?"

"No, no...it's just..." she begins, looking for words. "When I took out only one evil lovshke out of my friend...it was too difficult. Leon," she gestured to the boy on the ground, "and another friend had to help...there's no way I'll be able to pull out a lot more..."

"Why not?" I ask.

She stares at me.

"Well...it was already super hard with a singular lovshke." she says. "I might go into a coma or something if I try and pull out every single one stuck inside of her."

"Not unless you find little things you can fix." I reply casually. "It took me forever to find what was making big blasts so hard. The first time I did it, heck yeah it was hard. But I decided that that didn't mean I couldn't do it at all."

She stares at me, dumbfounded. All she does is open and close her mouth, trying to find her voice.

"But..." she begins, her voice found. "This is different."

"How?" I ask.

"Well...well..."

"This isn't different. Stop trying to believe there is nothing you can do."

She stares again. 

"Your friend should wake up soon." I add. "His thoughts were hurried and scared. In my past experience, someone who's mind is like that is determined to go back to whatever they were doing. Whether it be important or not."

Then, as I predicted, he began to stir. 

Then his eyes bolted open.

"Where is she?!" he shouts, standing up quickly. His hands also glow yellow. "She won't kill Starr, not now, not ever!! Where is she?!"

"Woah there, tiger." I say. 

"Leon, I'm fine!" the girl says, standing in front of him. "She's gone. He" she gestured to me "fought her off."

He turns to me, hands still glowing. He looks at me with a mix of suspicion and anger.

"How am I supposed to know that he's not under her control?" he says, raising his hands a little higher.

"Well for one thing, I saved your life." I say plainly. "For another, I have your friend here some tips on how to help...what was her name again? X-752?"

He begins to lower his hands. However, they're still glowing. 

I sigh.

"If you want to fight, I'll fight." I say. "But know that's the last thing I want to do to the guy I just saved."

Finally, he lowers his hands completely. His hands stop glowing.

Then, he smiled. 

"I don't want to hurt a new survivor." he says. 

"Good, we're on the same page." I say. 

"We can take you back to the rest of our friends." the girl suggests. "With all that's happening, it's best everyone stays together."

Huh?

"What do you mean 'with all that's happening'?" I ask. 

"What, you haven't seen the armies?" she says, laughing a little. 

Um...armies?

"Armies?" I ask, kind of confused. 

She looks at me kind of seriously now.

"You haven't seen the armies?" she asks, her voice serious. "Huge armies? With glowing orange eyes?"

Okay, now I'm really confused.

"Nope." I say. "I have not seen any armies recently, thank you very much. Or anyone with glowing orange eyes."

Suddenly she looks very concerned. She looks at the other guy with brown hair. She looks like she wants to cry. Or scream. 

"They haven't come for anyone else." she says, her voice cracking. "It's us. Just us. They're trying to get to us. No. Me."

"Hey, hey..." the boy says, trying to calm her down. And yet she still panics.

"They're gonna get us soon, I know..." she continues, ignoring him and clutching her head. "They want the girls...they'll kill whoever stands in their way-Adiran proves that-and nobody else has seen them...we're good as dead..."

"Look, if you're concerned about an army or something crazy like that, I can take it on." I say confidently. "I mean, I just beat that maniac. And if there's anyone in danger I'll be happy to help protect them."

They both stare at me. Surprised.

"You sure you want to get dragged into this?" the girl asks me.

"Are you kidding me?" I say with a smirk. "I just can't wait to get new scars."