I kept taking breaths until I was completely settled down, I was meant to be dead for good, yet here we were. The only reason I was still alive was probably due to the other Lee, yet I couldn't prove it at all, though the 'Not worth killing now' part was something to go off of. So the coin can do more than just rewind and revive me...just what else can you do.? Reaching into my pocket, I pulled out the coin, the look of it hadn't changed at all, though I suppose it did look less rusted.

Hey, I'm good now, I'll be over in a second

-Lee

Don't worry about that, we got it covered!

-Sam

A random cut in the sky appeared, soon becoming a portal.

"Tadaaaa!" Sam had both her arms out, spread to the side. So they can do the portals now too, handy.

"Where'd you learn that trick?"

"Silly, we all trained to do it, reme-...Huh...I actually don't remember either." Sam seemed puzzled. "My memory is probably just bad after getting brought back." I got off the bed and headed over to the portal, going into it with Sam.

"Seems we both're having issues with memory." I didn't know why I felt the need to lie, but with Sam here and time being rewinded, I was reminded of something. "Sam"

"hmhm?"

"Your parents...why don't we go look for them." I hated myself for not asking where Nicholai found their bodies...if it was even them, but I did have an idea.

"Wah, that's sorta random"

"I know, the thought just crossed my mind" If things are slightly different in this timeline, then maybe, even if we're late, her parents will still be alive.

"Well how could I refuse!? I'll rally the others!" The base was identical to how it was before the rewind.

"So what now?" The TV like all the other times before, was on, however the episode was different, perhaps in this timeline we didn't really go on any missions...actually from the sounds of it we flat out skipped the trials.

"I suppose the only thing I can do, retire and pray this really is the end."

"Seeing as there's more episodes, sorry to say buddy but you're mission ain't over yet." I spoke to the TV, of course they couldn't hear me, everything was recorded already.

"Who're you talking to?" Nicholai looked at me with her arms crossed, if it wasn't for the TV she's probably think I was insane...then again if the TV wasn't on then I wouldn't have spoken to begin with. "Oh, nevermind" Something about Nicholai looked different, but no matter what I did I couldn't find the difference that I felt was there. "Sam says we're going out to save her parents"

"Yeah, something the matter?"

"No, just confirming, If this is a rescue mission and we're going back into the apocalypse, so I need to know what to bring."

"Right, guess that makes sense."

"Alright! We ready to go!?" As Sam, Kenneth, Kaz, and Dave regrouped with us, I finally figured out the difference, just faintly on their outfits was the CSF emblem, with Kaz having a small custom outfit for herself as well. No way I was only out for two days...not only that but I only joined the CSF after I met the guardians...does that mean we already met? How much did I do in two days? I shook my head, I couldn't get wrapped up in a bunch of mysteries again, saving Sam's parents then figuring out Kai are my main goals for now.

"Y-yeah...Let's get going." I cut open a portal with Crescent, before it was just me and Nicholai searching, but now it was with everyone. We all hopped through the portal, at the very least this place stayed the same.

"Where to first!?" I looked down at Kaz, they didn't seem to remember anything either

"I already have a place we can look, there's a settlement on the side of the city. We can try there first."

"Lead the way leader!" We began the walk, I had returned to earth a few times already by now but it was still as unnerving as it was the first time, abandoned buildings, clear streets that would get flooded with zombies at any moment...

"Sorry if my memory is shotty, but when did we become CSF?" I decided to just throw the question out there.

"Heh? oh, no we're not, every team has a uniform remember? They just didn't have ours yet so they gave us these." Sam held her arms out to her side to let me see the uniform, it really was just a CSF outfit, though I only had the coat or sweater or whatever it was.

"R-right..."

"You need me to check your head or something?" Nicholai held her Scythe differently too, like that bloodlust version of her from before was gone.

"No, I think whatever knocked me out just ruined my memory."

"Right, we still need to find whatever did that too." Kenneth was the only one who had their weapon on their back, rest of us had ours out already.

"Yeah..." The four of us fell into silence for the rest of the walk there, I would say everything was off, but technically I was the one that was off. "We're approaching it now, watch ou-"

"Hold it!"

"Well this is a different greeting..." From an abandoned buildings, two people came out with guns drawn. "You're entering our construction."

"Construction?" I took a look around, huh...yeah looking around, this area was walled off earlier too. "Right well, before you turn us away, we're looking for two people."

"And why would we tell you about anyone?"

"Because their daughter is right behind us." Bravo Team, including myself, still had their weapons drawn, though I guess Kaz's weapon has to always be drawn.

"...who're the two?" They kept their guns aimed at us, if it weren't for the fact I had something that prevented me dying...prevented me from dying from most things...I'd probably be scared.

"Cali and Baker." I tried to look closer at the two to see if I recognized them from the previous timeline, at first nothing clicked, but after really digging into my memory, I could recall seeing their face for a minute or two.

"..." They were quiet, not for long, but enough to make it clear they were thinking. "Yeah, we know em, they're inside the first district of our settlement"

"Really!" Sam nearly launched forward, but the bottom end of Nicholai's scythe blocked her.

"You're their daughter alright." Finally, they lowered their guns. "How'd you know they were here?"

"...Lucky guess." I couldn't exactly say 'the other timeline gave me an idea.'

"Right...guess this is just about the safest place there is in this hell of a city."

"Surprised you believed me about her" I was obviously referring to Sam.

"Well..." he turned over to Sam. "It's not like many people have pink hair"

"One and only!"

"Two and only" I corrected her.

"Yo, we found the Calstianos' kid" At first I was confused why they spoke in that way until I saw the radio.

"You two found her? I find it insanely more likely they just walked up to you." We were silent. "I figured." The woman on the radio sighed. "Alright, I'll let Baker and Cali know, for every injury she has by the time she gets here we're cutting your payment." The radio went silent.

"...Hey, you don't have any noticable injuries do you?"

"Not that I know of." The man sighed in relief.

"Thank God...Let's hurry then"

"Alrighty!" Sam started walking forward until we all went to stop her.

"Even if they claim they know where the two are that doesn't mean they're trustworthy, keep your guard up no matter what." Nicholai warned Sam, Sam just nodded. "Okay then." After that, we all started to follow the two. Honestly, even if they ended up not being trustworthy we were probably safe considering we're beaming with magic.

"Surprised we didn't come across you all sooner."

"We were on the move often." While I spoke I felt weak tugging on my back. "Ended up in the forest through the course of our scavenging runs often too." The tugging eventually became pressure on my shoulder, and I could see Kaz on there in the corner of my eye.

"You find the cat there too?"

"Nope! We found her in the school." Sam answered almost instantly, but just delayed enough that it didn't seem suspicious

"Heh, guess she must've stuck it out there for a while."

"Y-

"Yup!" For a split second there was a panic amongst ourselves, we could just barely hear Kaz speak before Sam covered her voice with her own.

"We're on earth, a talking cat isn't exactly normal." Only I could talk to Kaz without being heard by the two thanks to how close she was.

"Sorry." Kaz whispered.

"Anyone available!" The only one of the two who talked to us had their radio go off. "The west wall has a horde on it, we need to clear it out!"

"Tsk, hope they can handle it well." They had their hand on the radio, but didn't respond to it.

"We can get there in time!" A shine returned to Sam's eyes as she held onto her weapons.

"Pardon!?" The two turned around.

"I get it, we'll be making it even, you help us with Cali and Baker, and we clear the horde."

"No no no!, we get in trouble if you're hurt."

"So we won't get hurt then!" I started to sprint past them, the other three followed quickly after.

"Wait!" The two tried to get a hold on us, but we managed to get past fast enough.

"Hey! How do you know the way?" Kenneth questioned me as we continued to run.

"You know how we left Cypher and Q in a group?"

"Yeah? We were meant to grab them after a month or two."

"That group was affiliated with the settlement." I pulled the entire reasoning out of thin air, anytime I wanted to tell the truth there was a sense of unease, like telling them would set things off course, and if that happened that other Lee would end up killing me again, only this time it'd probably be permanent

"So we might be able to find them!" Sam's excitement only grew as we approached the settlement, we'd be getting four people back, maybe more.

"Up ahead!" Our conversation was cut short as we saw the horde, they clawed at the wall and the amount was extremely dangerous for just normal people to handle, what a coincidence we aren't normal people. "Sam, anyone around to watch?"

"Not that I can see."

"Magic free then, but keep it as hidden as you can! And Kaz! You're up!" I tossed Kaz into the air, letting her quickly descend into the horde to tear them apart, all the while I bit my thumb till it bled and ignited Crescent. I never really thought about it, but it is odd how I have fire magic when my sword is about the moon...I mean if it was the sun it'd make sense but...While I was thinking I slashed forward into the horde, it cut apart one and ignited three zombies nearby. It became an AOE thing? Whatever caused it I ain't complaining. Whenever I killed a zombie while my sword was on fire, it seemed to set three more on fire even if the slash wasn't on them. "I got an idea!" I flipped Crescent around, holding onto the blade instead, I swung upwards to knock a zombie into the sky then quickly flipped Crescent around. "Crescent, fire shell." Crescent quickly loaded in the shell. Before the zombie could hit the ground, I lunged forward and stabbed the zombie with the end of Crescent, pulling the trigger the moment I could.

I expected them to just engulf in fire and spread a bit more, however for whatever reason the pellets from the shell all split into multiple pieces, once again, I thought it would be normal, just make a small fire on them if they hit, but when some did hit, the zombies completely lit up into flames, which...also lit zombies on fire after they died.

"Starting a forest fire over there?" Kenneth shouted over after one of his electric arrows went off.

"Didn't expect it to!" I tried not to think about the people we were killing just like we used to during the apocalypse, 'they're not alive, they're not human anymore' it helped then and it did now.

"At this rate we should just let you handle it!" Nicholai swung her Scythe completely around herself, cutting anything standing near her in half.

"Magic off!" I yelled out as soon as I noticed the two people who were trying to lead us here approached. Most of the horde was gone thanks to the fire and electricity, so we picked off the rest using the weapons normally.

"My god..." The two were out of breath as they finally stopped running. "How in the fuck did you four do all this.?"

"Five actually!" Like Sam called her, Kaz leapt onto her shoulder from the ground.

"Man..." He couldn't even finish his sentence. The makeshift gate near the wall opened, a horde of armed people rushed out but were dumbfounded as they saw 4 teenagers and a cat standing at the center.

"What the..." One of them however, were clapping as they walked over to us.

"Magnificent display! All the fire and sparks, your weapons must be amazingly crafted" Are you kidding me?

"Y-you bet they areeee." I lied through my teeth

"Of course! After so long surviving we'd eventually get the chance to make stuff like this, we didn't have to worry much about food or water" Sam's lie was more convincing by a long shot.

"Well I can see that, though I do wonder why you came to he-" The woman stopped speaking once she got a better look at Sam. "Oh...Nevermind I think we got our answer." After she talked a bit more I recognized the voice as the same one on the radio. "It seems your parents were right, your friends and yourself would make it." We all shared a look amongst each other, we all knew we technically died, but that's not exactly something you correct...not that the average person can.

"It was difficult but we managed." Sam kept lying, not that we had a choice.

"Ahhem" She cleared her throat. "Let's head inside" She turned to her soldiers and did some motion that everyone of them understood. They began to march back inside, and after a while we followed. "I help people learn to fight, like a war general or Drill Sergeant, name is Madoka." All of a sudden I felt uneasy, but I couldn't explain it at all. "Your parents are definitely a handy duo, those two somehow got everyone to cooperate when no one else could"

"Sounds like them." Sam walked ahead of us while I focused on looking around. The inside of the settlement looked similar to the last time we were here, only it looked better. It gets worse from here? Or...is it just because of the different things going on this time around. I couldn't help but let out a breath, it felt like I held it in for hours. I didn't lie in the end, we're getting your parents back. It was pure luck though, the only thing I did was well...die.

"Madoka!" A few of the guards came rushing over.

"What?"

"We figured out where the horde came from, there's people breaking in on the other end. We were able to hold the defenses well since we were able to go back quickly."

"Then that's thanks to you five." Though not turning fully, she turned her head to look at us while speaking. "We'll handle it from here."

"No, we'll help where we can as well." I stepped forward as I offered our help.

"We'll have to decline, we appreciate the offer, but you've done more than enough after all, they would only have a fragment of a chance to break through If that horde still had our attention. Cali and Baker are over there." Madoka pointed over to a building in the distance.

"Alright, if you're sure." Madoka grabbed her radio and held down the button.

"All units regroup by the wall." She didn't wait for a response, instead she broke into a sprint to the wall

"Let's leave it to them." I only faced Bravo Team for a moment before turning back to the building.

"Onward!" We got a move on, there wasn't a straight path to it so we had to guess what the quickest path was.

"Kaz, you have TTS right?" I turned to Kaz who was on Sam's shoulder.

"Yup!"

"Mind guiding the way?"

"Nwot at all!" Kaz leapt at my direction, I quickly held out my arm and the moment she landed on it, I spun in a circle and threw Kaz up in the air at a rooftop. "Awaaaaaay"

"Any other context..."

"Huh?" I turned my head to Nicholai.

"Throwing a cat that far, any other cat or context and you'd get hit with a charge."

"What're you a lawyer too?" She rolled her eyes at me.

"Lee! Ahead!" I faced the front of the road again, contrary to what Madoka said, some of the raiders had broken in.

"Tsk, wasn't hoping to fight so soon..." Our entire group came to a halt, I quickly checked my gear to see if it had changed from one timeline to the next. Crescent is obvious, my revolver is here, so is my karambit, it seems I can summon the shotgun from the other timeline too... "Alright, non-lethal everyone, get ready."

"Hey it's those runts again!" As soon as the raider who spoke stepped a single foot in our direction, a massive spike pierced from the sky and landed in the center of the group, letting out a massive electric charge once It landed.

"Holy..." I could hear Kenneth behind me, part of his skin was glowing from the massive amounts of electricity nearby.

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"Mister weapon's man, that a normal weapon?"

"Not...one that I know"

"It'd be funny if Cali and Baker were DTs already." Nicholai didn't mean that, it was obvious by her sarcastic tone then again that is always her tone, but it did make me ponder the idea, If they were DTs, Raymond is lying even more than we thought.

We rushed to the building, Nicholai started getting ahead and when we approached the door she kicked it open.

"Nicholai!" Sam was going to scold Nicholai until she spoke.

"Sorry I can't show formality when we got raiders and massive spikes coming from the sky to deal with."

"That's a good poi-" When our attention had returned back to the inside, we noticed there were a group of people who had weapons drawn on us.

"Fantastic." I couldn't help but comment on the situation under my breath.

"Hold it!" Someone from the crowd raised their fist halfway into the sky, stopping just above their head. "It's them!" Everyone lowered their weapons, while the woman from the crowd stepped forward.

"Mo-...m...uh." The woman was in fact, not Cali, Sam's mother. but they shared the pink hair so they were related somehow. I pray to whatever God is in Zullo that Sam doesn't also have alter versions as well. "Alice?" Even though I had spent a good chunk of my life in their house, the name didn't ring a bell, but I knew I wouldn't forget someone like them, so it had to be related to the whole memory loss thing, it didn't help they also had glasses on.

"What're you doing here?" Alice went to crouch down until she realized that Sam was only a bit shorter than her.

"Looking for Mom and Dad!" Alice is her sister then...if that's the case, she should have been around a lot, so how did I forget?

"They're a bit busy right now, they went out to get something." I turned to Nicholai, very much to her confusion.

"What?" Damnit...I can't ask where Cali and Baker died now, I should've checked. I shook my head and looked back at Alice.

"Seems everyone is okay, You, Lee, Kenneth, Nicholai...everyone is here, and with a new friend too."

"Hehe~ Th-" The room immediately went dead silent as soon as Kaz made a noise a cat normally wouldn't.

"Uh...did the cat talk?"

"No, not at all, we thought the same at first too but it's just a special type of cat, sounds human, cool ain't it?" Sam immediately came up with a lie to tell her sister, once again the 'we're dead technically' and saying we have a talking cat isn't that much better. Alice looked at our group as a whole, her excited and happy expression soon degraded to sorrow as she made it to our outfits and weapons.

"So you died after all..." It caught us all off guard. "That symbol, and your weapons...DTs, heh." The group behind her didn't seem confused, rather they looked like a prophecy just got fulfilled.

"W-w-wait, how do you know about them?" Alice turned to her sister.

"Simple." With a quick swipe of her hand, a hand axe appeared in her...well hand.

"Wait...that means..."

"I died too, probably a lot sooner than you all did."

"How?"

"Got put in a terrible spot. I assume you've just died"

"No" I spoke up. "We died a while back actually."

"And Raymond never told me?...Tsk, fuckin bastard." Hearing a Calstianos swear was like learning words again, it was such a foreign idea I had to register the whole sentence again to make sure I heard it right. "Ah, sorry for the language...though it probably doesn't matter much to you guys, you're close to being adults."

"Well, if that's the case then...yeah the cat can talk." Sam blurted it out quick enough that we couldn't prevent her, but thinking about it, it doesn't really matter now did it?

"I figured, so, what's her name?"

"Kaz!"

"Certainly a name to remember." Alice had returned to a smile.

"Hey, I don't want to ruin the family reunion but we still have an army outside." Alice nodded at Nicholai and turned around back to her crew, swishing the coat she had on.

"Let's rally with the others, you five mind coming along?" Alice spoke to us differently, maybe it's because her sister was a part of our group, but it seemed she saw us as equals, no overestimations, no taunting or commands.

"Course, Calstianos' stick toge-" Once again our words got interrupted as an explosion went off behind us, the impact of it hitting hard enough that the wind from it even hit here, blowing the flaps of our uniforms and our hair aggressively

"Nevermind then." Alice was calm about the situation.

"What was that!?"

"I just showed I'm also a DT, so that implies-

"There are more here too." I finished her sentence, she nodded slightly after hearing what I said.

"Correct, though what they did was probably overkill, so!" She clasped her hands together in a similar way that Sam did when she talks. "Now that's that settled, how about we get something to eat and catch up." I had my doubts at first, but this is a Calstianos alright...

"I want to ask one thing first."

"Hmm, ask away Lee"

"I understand that everything seems to be well here, but why not bring everyone to Eaxura where they'd be safer?"

"Guess the easiest way to explain that is that It's not that simple, in concept it's a really nice thing to do, homes, food, community...being reunited with family." At the last part she turned towards her sister. "But then they're open to new threats as well, traitors who want to harm Eaxura, Corruption, people misfiring magic, them going to places they shouldn't and don't know about like the depths. It's a terrible thought, but they really are safer here than anywhere else, at least here we'll know the second a corruptor enters the world since none exist here as of now." I thought for a moment, about our time as humans, and our short time as DTs

"They both sound equally bad in perspective."

"oh?"

"Staying here is physically safer, but more mentally degrading, killing former friends and colleagues, killing in general, the raiders you have to kill, being bitten and having to put each other down, the never-ending search for supplies. on the other hand, Eaxura is more physically dangerous, but more mentally safe. Maybe it's not possible to find a balance, but I can't say that the people here are exactly safer in this world than the other. You die here, you become a zombie, you die in a corruptor zone, you become a corruptor." Alice made a noise in response before she actually gave a worded reply.

"I see your point, it really is sad to think we can't have both."

"I can think of something..." I hadn't been there long so thinking of places to go was difficult, that was until the spaceship came to mind "There's a massive ship in Eaxura's space, it can house hundreds of millions."

"Think i've heard of it before..."

"I know the leader of it, I can try my best to get him to have you guys get aboard after Cali and Baker get back. Afterwards depending on the space we can have everyone do their part, cleaning, maintaining the ship, cooking. No room to be bored, everyone gets a job, everyone is safe both physically and mentally, the best option for the people."

"My, how much of a diplomat you've become."

"Feel that should go to the others."

"Nonsense, let's go grab some stuff to eat." Alice dismissed my comment almost instantly after I spoke the words to it, if it were any other DT i'd have assumed it was so they can get me in top attitude to continue my job, but the way Alice said it, not the words itself, but how it was said, was like a mom uplifting her kid even if what was said was so simple

"So who's Madoka?" Sam stood beside Alice while we were a bit behind.

"A friend of mine from work, she used to be part of a militia group in her world."

"So she's also a DT?"

"Yes, I think she's been one nearly as long as Raymond." Yet she acted like our style of weapons were unknown to her.

"Militia huh?" I spoke under my breath, when I first got face to face with Madoka something instilled fear into me, my life felt endangered until Alice came along.

"Got a problem with it?" My instincts planted my feet into the ground and turned my heels around as Madoka ended up behind me.

"W-wha?" She didn't seem offended at all, more like...actually curious.

"Most Militia exist to keep their city or state safe, same thing mine did, we had the government's support as well."

"Wouldn't that just...make you a part of the army?

"...No, or, I guess it depends what you consider a part of the army." For a moment she pondered. "Some Militia are just untrained soldiers, or like, a very last resort reserves, some are like...a self...made army...I guess?" As she went on Madoka started to get herself more confused. "It's a militia regardless. The real question is one that I should be asking...do you recall anything?"

"I...have been recalling a few things, why is it normal for all DTs to get memory loss?" Madoka started shaking her head halfway through my sentence, sighing once I finished.

"Madoka K, Madoka P." It sounded like nonesense.

"I...really don't know what you're talking about." Madoka sighed again, though this one sounded more depressing, like she really didn't want that as an answer.

"Alright then, no need to tell you more stuff to worry about." Madoka started walking off, saluting once by her open palm on her head to the sky.

"Hang on, you can't just say that and not explain!"

"Wouldn't get a chance to with her coming to get ya." I turned back before Sam could get the jump on me, yet it wasn't her at all.

"Get caught up in something?" Once Nicholai got in talking range her hand went to her hip while her other one had a glass with a orange drink in it.

"Just hearing more things that make my head hurt."

"Need a brain surgery?"

"It's not that extreme, I doubt you'd know how to do one anyways."

"Wanna test that?" She started to act like she was actually going to, nearly setting her drink on the ground before I spoke up.

"I'm good...I'm good."

"Right, anyways before I forget, came to fetch you before Sam notices and hollers at me or Kenneth to get you either way"

"Figured she woulda done that already. Surprised it was you and not her." Almost immediately, a smug look on Nicholai appeared.

"She got reunited with her sister, why, did you want to still be the favorite? Miss the attention?"

"Don't make it something it isn't."

"Right right" She took a sip from the glass, shivering for just a second after doing so. "I'm here to ensure the team is doing their best after all, no need to lie." Her smug expression hadn't faded slightly.

"Then maybe you shouldn't drink things you can't handle, teammate."

"Smartass, but fair. Get going before I drag your ass inside." She let me win the encounter just barely.

Regardless of who won, we both had to make our way back, the place wasn't some grand hall or anything, but it was sizeable enough to have a good amount of people walking around without causing a jam.

"Wasn't there fighting just a moment ago?" My voice was quiet, but apparently loud enough that Nicholai still heard.

"Alice explained already, these guys have different jobs that don't involve fighting, but still valuable to the settlement, so they don't worry about any raiders outside and just continue about their day."

"And if the raiders break in?" Nicholai turned her head with a face every kid has seen at least once, a disappointed stare.

"I would love to see what raider can fight people with magical abilities that nearly exploded the place."

"True." Seeing Nicholai like this made me question the Nicholai I met in the other world, she was nicer then than now, with now being more accurate to her real self. "Hey Nicholai"

"Hm?"

"Why'd you become a doctor?" She nearly tripped on herself when the words registered, she also stopped walking, letting me get a bit ahead before I stopped as well. I wanted an aggressive response to show it was our actual Nicholai, yet what i got... "Our weapons relate to who we are right? Our actual selves?"

"I...suppose?"

"So what does that say about you?" I never asked the question before the outbreak actual happened, so while I somewhat understood this was our actual Nicholai...I couldn't help but regret asking. "I have a Scythe because a doctor is in between life and death" she took a step towards me. "Kenneth's spear is like a lightning rod for all his tech and shit" and another step. "Sam is all about range because of her blood phobia...yet you." She took one final step before her face turned to pure anger. "Have a sword and shotgun that easily shreds people apart, and can set them ablaze before shooting them into unrecognizable bits, no... that's not even it..." As she contemplated her next words, she faced the ground, until she did find those words, then she looked at me even more made than before. "Just what the fuck is wrong with you!?" It wasn't a full shout, but it was loud enough to echo through the halls...but it didn't, instead it echoed in my head.

"W-what?"

"Just think about everything more than just 'it is what it is' I get that's how you are but...are you even human?" We were never on the best terms, yet it still hurt. "You lost all your memories from before you met Sam, you're leading child soldiers who're your childhood friends, and even leading adult soldiers, you have a sentient sword that's somehow powered by the goddamn fucking moon. LEE!" Her voice raised in volume almost instantly. "You have some virus in you, taking over even if you're meant to be immune, have you looked at your eye? HALF OF YOUR FACE LOOKS LIKE A CORPSE! And yet you're calm? Has it never once crossed your mind how you survived before you met Sam? Not even once? Maybe a five year old can pull it off, a big if, but what about when you were four? Three? When you were first born? What about Kyle? He assaulted you, nearly broke your skull yet your buddies? That makes sense? The only way that even remotely makes sense is if you were like him!"

"Are you...calling me a child soldier? That I killed people?" To anyone else including me, it was like this whole argument came from nowhere, yet, in Nicholai's perspective it was probably boiling, all until I asked something that set her off. "I know how it looks, that I seem calm, but I'm confused...afraid...but this...thing..." I wanted to touch near my eye, yet I couldn't once I recalled what Nicholai said It looks like it's rotting..."It takes more control the more I am that...I don't have a choice but to take everything at face value, at least for now...Rest assured, I'm not gonna start worrying until I have to."

"And when is that?"

"When this thing starts coming after the three of you" it was silent for a moment, Nicholai's eyes widened as she took a step back and looked to the ground. "Guess that's the perk of being an orphan, you have more room to focus on what matters."

"Lot more complicated than that." By the time she looked back up she was back to how she was prior to the question, but there was this twitch to her, thinking about the answer to that question most likely

"...Sorry"

"Yeah..." it took a while, but we started to walk again, and after a minute, Nicholai spoke up. "I'll get you an eyepatch, should cover most if not all of it."

"Thanks" It was her own way of an apology, helping out with what she could do. "Do you really think I was like that? A child soldier?" I could see Nicholai wince before responding.

"I don't know."

"Not often I hear that from you."

"..."

"Right..."

When we finally made it to the room the others were in, it was completely silent, everyone was either looking down at the table or fidgeting around.

"Oh...guess it was that loud huh? Uh, um..." I looked around the room, there wasn't anything that I wanted badly enough that I'd sit through this awkwardness, so I set off back outside. I'm horrible...Nicholai said all that yet I triggered it...

Outside, the sun had set a while ago, even if I don't recall that much time passing, it still was a chance to look up at the stars, so I did exactly that, looked for the tallest building there was, climbed all those stairs, and laid down. Nicholai is right, I should focus more on recovering my memories, maybe that melody, the one I heard back when I found that soldier...While the melody was near them, I never found the actual source...that guy as well...Is that what I could become even with Immunity?

"If so what's the point..." Immunity started to seem worse than actually just dropping dead from it, I didn't understand what caused it either, we fought people before, even during the apocalypse.

Soon there was a knock on the door to the roof, there were only a few people it could be now, before I would have just said Sam(Though it's always going to be more likely it's her) but now that Alice was here, and Nicholai is going to get me an eyepatch, it could be any of the three, Kenneth was possible but never as likely as Sam and possibly even Alice.

"Got an eyepatch delivery for Lee" I turned my head to the left to see Sam standing at the doorway, an eyepatch dangling by its string on her finger.

"Would be me" With a bit of effort I stood up, Sam however met me halfway by walking over as I did so.

"It's not as bad as she said."

"hm?"

"Your eye...and the whole area near it, I think she was just mad."

"Probably" I took the eyepatch, it took a few tries to do it right, that is making sure it wasn't hurting me.

"So, what was it about?" With nothing else to hold in her hands, she held them behind her back.

"Why she wanted to be a doctor." Sam's mouth opened slightly as she thought up something to say.

"Where'd the question come from? You've never really be interested in why before."

"It's...a bit hard to explain."

"Come on, we're partners! I'll feel useless if I'm not helping out!"

"...This...is a reset." Her eyes narrowed while her head tilted.

"Huh?"

"I died, and involuntarily rewinded, but not to the same version of the world as before, and the Nicholai from the original world seemed off somehow, for instance about the first world...the reason I knew about this place beforehand is because Nicholai and I were searching for your parents in that version of the world...Actually while we're on the topic..."

"Hmm?"

"Maybe it's not the same since the reset happened, but in that world you kept wanting to look for them, issue was...they...were dead."

"Ah...guess, that would explain it..."

"Explain what?" She shook her head.

"Nothing, I forgive you, and I think Nicholai does as well for...whatever it was." She took a breath and stood up straight. "Alright, that's all settled, Alice is back, and by what I was told, mom and dad are okay too so let's not dwindle on it okay?"

"Oka-...y" I stopped talking as I heard it again, it's been a while but it was identical to the one those few days ago.

"What's wrong?"

"You don't hear it?"

"Lee if it's corruption then you gotta let me know."

"It's a melody...one I heard before."

"Same one as back then?"

"Yeah...I was thinking earlier that maybe...it gives my memories back."

"Do you know where it's coming from?"

"I think so"

"Then what're we waiting for!?" She threw a fist into the air. "Let's get going!" I nodded in response.

We took the stairs back down, the melody sounded close yet it wasn't, it would never be as easy as that.

"Where is it now?" Sam asked as we made it to the lobby.

"Outside the settlement, straight right."

"Lead the way!" Sam stuck close as we kept making our way to the melody, while I kept my focus on where it was coming from, she focused more on our surroundings due to the fact she couldn't hear it.

"Hey! Where are you two going!?" One of the guards called out to us.

"We'll be back in a minute! We're getting memories back!" Sam immediately responded back to him and whether they had a choice or not, they let us by without issues.

We ran, for a while too, for all I knew the melody was leading me astray or to put another person out of their misery, yet anytime I doubted whether or not I should keep going to it, I got a similar response from Sam every time.

"What if you lose it for good?"

"We've been going for ages now, you should be there when your parents get back"

"Hehe~ If they're anything like before they'll take forever." With that said we kept going, until finally, it became loud enough that it signified we were near it.

"I think we're here..." It was just some random street, yet it felt oddly familiar.

"Lee" I turned to Sam, I didn't see anything wrong until she pointed by the sidewalk near an alleyway, it was child me, and someone else standing above me. "I-uh...don't know if it makes me see it as well if you remember it this way, so I-i'll probably wal-"

"It's fine...Nothing in my memories can be worse than what we've already endured." I stepped forward and sat down once I was close enough to myself. It looked similar to a picture, not 2d or anything but more the fact it was frozen in time, unmoving.

"It's like a photo..." And Sam seemed to think the same.

"Alright...this shouldn't be too bad..." Like it was natural instinct, I reached forward until my hand made contact to my other self's shoulder.

"I'm sorry..." I leapt back from the instant response. Color returned to the two people as well, me, a few years younger than when I met the Calstianos', and a woman, with white hair...and with Crescent... "I've done what I could, anything that happens now...it's up to luck." She turned her back on a 3 year old me. "If everything goes right you'll remember this one day, so live, even if no one else wants you to"

"This...is conflicting."

"Well, it's a memory of you being abandoned...if that happened to me..."

"No...no she fought corruptors, wha- what?"

"You've had dreams that are memories no? Maybe...these are actual memories and your dreams are more...remembering the people, but not the actual moments?" I had no choice but to agree with Sam, nothing else made sense at the time.

The infant me sat there, part of him...me, clearly knew what was happening, yet I kept sitting there as the person I assumed was my mother left.

"Well, on the bright side we pretty much knew this...just confirms it"

"Except something between the two memories stayed the same. 'Live, even if no one else wants you to'...which means I was a child no one wanted as well."

"Lee..." I looked down at my child self, maybe that's why I accepted this, a slim chance of living was probably better than wherever I came from. "We wanted you, and we're glad we took you in...okay?" I was going to take a breath and sigh it out, but instead i got choked up and simply spoke a word.

"Okay" I felt a hand press onto my shoulder.

"Come o-" I was halfway turned before I saw the memory change, Sam stepped to the side and moved her hand away so we could both watch.

"What're doing here?" A five year old Sam crouched down in front of me, it seemed the memory had cut forward 2 years. Her english was clearly broken, if you weren't fully focused on what she was trying to say it wouldn't be possible to get a single word down, even hearing the broken words again, I wouldn't know how to write them down so I just wrote what she meant.

"..."

"Quiet?" She did the same head tilt as she's done the last few years. It was only after she started talking in the language she actually understood that her mother came over. Course I didn't understand them, I wasn't the language prodigy who knew Nicholai and Kenneth's Russian and Sam's Japanese instantly.

"God..." She tried to talk more but was interrupted by her own chuckling. "My english really did suck then huh? If it weren't for you, me and the rest of Bravo Team would be stuck in broken english...so..." Sam walked in front of the memory, doing a 180 turn so that she'd face me with a pure smile. "Don't go calling yourself an unwanted child." I could only nod again, there was no need to watch the memory again, I knew this one by heart, when they took me in, slowly learning the language...teaching them english when I got older and studied it more, the day I first ate breakfast with them, the day I first had a good breakfast in general. "Ah...Lee?" At first I thought I was crying from joy, remembering every second, but Sam was starring near my heart, and looking down at it, I noticed a small glimmer of light, a part of me started to feel more whole, and that tiny urge from corruption, became even more tiny.

"I get it..."

"Hm?"

"A part of me forgot that our magic and selves are effected by all emotions..."

"I see...you must've been really happy huh?" I nodded once more.

"If I am immune, enough to fully control it, it means there's a lot more good memories I forgot, which means maybe I wasn't entirely an unwanted kid."

"Let's do our best to bring those memories back then."

"Heh, I can probably handl-"

"Two reasons." She cut me off. "You might encounter a memory you can't handle alone...something really depressing, or, a memory even I forgot, actually! Three reasons! We may have to fight our way to it! Course." She did the head tilt again. "They're your memories, I'll go during the memories at any time if you don't want me seeing them."

"Thanks for supporting me for so long."

"We're not dead yet so don't thank me for something I'm not done doing yet, now! Onward! Back to the others!" Sam started to march back to the base with me shortly behind, we didn't manage to encounter any zombies, but it's near the settlement, so I assume they were killed and disposed of.

"hehe" I stopped walking and turned around once I heard my child self speak, my voice was near Sam's pitch as it is now, high pitched, but that wasn't my focus, it was the smile I had as I looked upon the two.

"I'm gonna keep going...so any other Lee gets help finding their way too..." I smiled myself before I continued to follow Sam.

"Large task Lee."

"Eh...I meant to whisper it to myself..."

"Welp, I heard either way."

"Guess you did...not gonna change my goal."

"It's cute."

"Oi don't start that again"

"Ehheh~ My bad, guess seeing the memory made it click again."

"Don't act like you didn't do that recently too."

"Ain't recorded, never happened." That sigh I wanted before finally came out after we stopped talking.

I've finally got a foothold in this place, something other than just missions...find the melody...retrieve my memories...hopefully Nicholai understands...she probably will so long as I don't ask that quesion again...Thinking on it...the reason to being a doctor in actuality is probably much worse, but until she's okay with telling me, I'll focus on this...alright...Let's get to putting in more effort than before.