Paradise Lost: Kill the Memory

Chapter 15

Night still hung heavy over the streets of Canterlot, the base that Night Raid had called home for years quiet as those within slept soundly… all but one. Hikan made his way through the building, never making a sound as he used every ounce of his assassination skills to sneak up on the door that formed the only entrance or exit to the building. A bag hung from his shoulder as he opened the door. The young man took one last glance behind him at the interior of the team’s, no, of his home. Breaking his oldest code, he let out a single breath before he slipped out of the doors….

It was a completely normal morning for the team. Alexandria and Ayis were attempting to eat their breakfast while simultaneously keeping Yis from taking the food and playing with it, and Marisa was seated nearby, eating her own food with a grin plastered across her face as she watched the shenanigans unfold, but making no move to help. Daiyousei was seated next to Marisa, but didn’t have any food, since she didn’t need to eat. Cataclysm was asleep in the corner of the mess hall, Shanghai and Nyilla both nearby to him, likely trying to come up with their next prank. Ronzul was happily eating chalk, and Elise was sitting with a bit of distance between her and everyone else as she read a book that had piqued her interest, slowly eating her own food.

Eventually, Starlight wandered into the mess hall, letting out a yawn as she crossed the mess hall into the kitchen. Without a single word, she made her way to the coffee pot and started making up her mug. After a moment, she turned and leaned against the counter, facing the others as she took a drink and let out a sigh of relief. “Morning, everyone,” she finally said, the cup held in her two hands as the liquid within steamed. Elise ignored the greeting, but by now the team had come to expect her prickly attitude.

“Good-” Alexandria started, turning to look at Starlight before Yis took a handful of food from her plate, cutting the Yokai off as she turned back to try and - somewhat gently - wrestle the stolen food back from the child.

“Mornin’,” Marisa greeted without looking away from the struggle between child and Yokai.

“Good morning…” Daiyousei chimed in with her typical timid tone.

Yis eventually let go of the food, pouting adorably. Ayis smiled at this, glad her child was being more behaved, before turning to Starlight.

“Morning, Starlight,” she said with a smile. Alexandria sighed in relief, returning the badly mottled food to her plate before turning to Starlight again.

“Good morning,” she said to her in a somewhat tired voice.

The unicorn gave a small smile. “Another restless morning?” She questioned the couple, a quiet bit of humor in her voice. Alexandria simply nodded. It was fairly clear that raising Yis was tiring for her.

“I feel fine, to be honest,” Ayis said truthfully.

“I feel like that has something to do with her being blood-related to you,” Alexandria responded, returning to her breakfast.

Ayis shrugged. “Probably. But I don’t really know, nor do I have anyone to ask for confirmation.”

“Well, whatever the case, all I know is that it’s tiring for me,” Alexandria commented.

“Well, we did also scr-” Ayis started.

“Please don’t just blurt that,” Alexandria interrupted quickly. Ayis shrugged again.

“Eh, fine. Just trying to list all the factors,” she informed. Alexandria just continued to eat her breakfast in silence. Ayis did much the same.

Starlight continued to smile at the group’s antics as she took another sip of her morning elixir before she took notice of something. “Hey, guys,” she said, drawing their attention. “Has anyone seen Hikan or Arela?”

“I remember seeing Arela zooming through the hallways,” Ayis informed.

Ronzul took a big bite of his chalk, letting out a burp before answering with, “‘Scuse me. Ah saw th’ girl tear ‘er way ‘round th’ library, but tha’s it.” Elise finally spoke up in response to this, though she still didn’t take her eyes off the book in her hands.

“Yeah, that definitely gave me a start,” she added. “I considered asking her what was wrong, but she rushed back out before I had the chance.”

“Doesn’t that seem kinda… I’unno, suspicious?” Marisa asked.

“Eh, High Angel’s are just high strung, nothing to worry about if they suddenly start zooming around looking for something,” Ayis said, shrugging once more.

And then a flurry of golden feathers rushed into the room, and revealed Arela in only her nightgown, eyes wide with worry.

“Where is he?! Where is my lover?!” she screeched. She rushed over to Starlight, grabbing her by the shoulders. “Starlight! Have you seen him?!”

The pale unicorn choked up on her coffee as the angel came running in. “N-GAK! N-no!” Starlight gurgled out, bringing her arm over her mouth. “W-cough-Why?” Arela released the mare, hands now on her head, running through her hair and messing up it’s once pristine shape.

“Oooh! I knew I should have done the ritual! Now he’s gone!” Arela said with increasing worry. Alexandria looked up from her breakfast, suddenly seeming much more alert.

“…Gone?” she asks.

“Yes! I woke up and he wasn’t in the bed like usual! Nor was he in the bathroom, the basement, the battlements, the roof, the library, or anywhere else!” Arela explained, hair frayed.

“Somethin’ tells me he’s gone and flown the coop,” Marisa speculated. “Probably snuck out in the night.”

“But why?! Am I unsatisfactory? Does he not love me? What did I do?!” Arela said, continuing to panic. Starlight stared at the angel for a moment before walking up to her, setting her coffee on the counter.

Without a single moment of hesitation, she wrapped the angel in a hug. “We both know it’s not your fault…,” she said quietly. “If it’s anyone’s fault… it’s mine….”

“What…? What do you mean?” Arela asked, tears threatening to fall.

The unicorn sniffed and pulled back a little to wipe at her eyes. “Hikan’s not stupid…” she answered softly, eyes on the floor. “Ever since we… since he got us out of that cave in…. I was so close to talking to him when we met you and… I was so cold t-to both of you and-and-”

“‘Tain’t that, lassies,” Ronzul said, taking another bite of chalk. “Lionelle be missing, so Ah’d bet he went off ta fix it. Lad was talkin’ ‘bout it ta ‘imself a few days ago, didn’t notice Ah was nearby.” He took another bite with a loud crunch. “Was wondering when he’d do it, though Ah didn’t expect ‘im to go alone.”

“Isn’t that extremely dangerous?” Elise abruptly piped up, closing the book she was reading and turning to look at Ronzul with a shocked expression. Ronzul shrugged.

“Well, ain’t like Ah knew when he’d do it so Ah could stop ‘im,” Ronzul explained. He finished his chalk with a final crunch before getting out of his chair. “Either way, yer right, lass. We best head out ta git ‘im.”

“...No….” Starlight’s single word rang through the air as she stared at the ground.

“Ah’m sorry lass, what was that? Sounded like ya said no,” Ronzul said, narrowing his eyes at her.

“I said no,” Starlight answered, reaching out and grabbing Arela’s wrist. “We’ll go after him….”

“I really think it would be a better idea to do it as a team to offer more safety,” Alexandria argued, standing up.

“Agreed. Hikan has a bit of a bad habit for being a magnet for trouble,” Ayis concurred, standing up as well, taking Yis in her arms and swaddling her.

Starlight shook her head as she kept looking to the ground. “Please…” she said in a silent voice. “Just this once… I-I don’t know why… but this time I feel like this is something we need to do….” A single tear dropped to the floor as she spoke, her unoccupied hand curling up on itself.

“Starlight, you’re being unrea-” Alexandria started to object firmly.

“Stop.”

This interruption caught Alexandria off-guard as she turned to look at Elise, who had stood up. “Just stop,” Elise said. “If she wants to be all emotional and unreasonable about this, then let her. Either she’ll learn her lesson the hard way and come crawling back to us begging for help, or she’ll surprise us all and pull this off. The way I see it, it’s a win-win.”

“That’s… A bit harsh, lass,” Ronzul noted.

“But true…” Shell said, suddenly appearing in the doorway, holding an arm to her side. “And… Starlight’s right. Hikan, Arela, and Starlight need to do this, no interruptions or distractions…. I’ve seen the tangled up emotions surrounding them and… if it doesn’t happen now it may just… strangle them….” Ayis looked to Shell, and Ronzul did much the same, both looking at her with mild surprise, before sighing.

“Alright, lass,” Ronzul conceded.

“Fine. But I’m kicking your asses if you don’t come back safe,” Ayis acquiesced.

“I’ll be similarly upset if we end up having to come and save you three from trouble,” Alexandria added. The shorter mare gave a small nod before she finally looked up, turning her gaze to Arela. Despite there being tears in her eyes, there was a resolute look in those orbs. That was all Starlight needed for confirmation.

The unicorn gave a small nod before she started to make her way out of the room. “We’ll leave as soon as we’re ready,” she said, her tone rising in conviction with each step. “Then we can get to work tracking him down.”

“He’s in the dessert.” Cataclysm’s sudden words made the mare stop on the spot and look back at him with wide eyes. “I saw him leave the compound last night and watched him go until I lost sight of his lifeforce. Judging by his trajectory and direction of travel, he’s probably already got sand in his boots.”

“I’ll go get ready, meet me outside in ten,” Arela said, wiping her tears away. She then flew out of the room.

Starlight turned to watch her go before she turned an angry look on the Doom Dragon. “You couldn’t say something before!?” She asked angrily, the demon looking up slightly at that.

“No. This was a conclusion you and Arela had to reach on your own. No more dancing around the subject and this way you couldn’t ignore it anymore.” The mare stared at him for a long moment before she simply sighed and left the room. Cat closed his eyes and laid his head back down as if nothing had ever happened. Ronzul sighed, Ayis grunting as she sat back down, Yis in her arms still, who was nuzzling her mother.

“Well, I guess we’re going to be here for a good while, left to worry about those three until who knows when,” Alexandria said.

“Aaaah, no use worryin’ too much about it,” Marisa commented, still as relaxed as always.

This is the last me and the team wrote for Kill the Memory and Daughter of Terra. If it wasn't already obvious in my sections of writing, by this point it had become a chore to write this story. Every plot point I had thrown out the window, every decision a fight. It may be selfish to think this way but... when you want to tell a story and have so many ideas, only to have to throw them away to accommodate other writers... it becomes taxing....

Anyway, there is a point to all this. Lately, I've realized that I am way too nice when collaborating. People pulling things off that they shouldn't be able to do, changing and twisting and perverting some of the things I've written. I hate to say, but I am far too selfish with my characters and my stories for things like this to just slide. I have legitimately spent entire days sitting at my desk doing research and doing the math and creating entire magic-systems to the point that I've spent more time prepping stories than I have writing them.

Long story short, I put way too much effort in these stories for anyone to come in and just shatter it all. Therefore, from here on out, I'm going to be a little more picky with stories and authors I do crossovers with and if something comes up during the cross I don't like, I will speak up. I don't want to be that guy... but I have to protect the things I love, and these stories are filled to the brim with all the emotion I can muster anymore.

Thank you guys for reading. Perhaps, someday, Hikan will make a return to my stories and page, but, for now, it's time to say goodbye. If you have anything you want to say, have a joke you want to leave, or a criticism you want to point out, leave it in the comments below. I hope you guys all have a great one and I'll see you in the next one....