Chapter Text
God, he was so exhausted.. Every fall, even though he didn’t actually take damage, it was painful. His legs felt like they’d been torn apart hundreds of times and his arms were so tired from every grab. And his soul.. He’d lost so much.. Who even was he anymore?
“..we always.. bounce back..” he whispered, taking a deep breath. He was at one of the last parts. Again. He didn’t even know how many times he’d been here before. Probably too many. How long had he even been here? Hours? Days? Weeks? Months? Years? How long had it been since he’d last seen the light of the overworld? How long since he’d seen anyone? How long since he’d heard a voice that wasn’t that damn god’s? It had been too long.
He’d stopped yelling when he fell long ago. Even god had left. It was just him and the stupid little voices in his head. But it was fine. It was all fine. He was so close now there was no way he failed again. He was so tired.. So he jumped, and he reached out- And he was out.
He was out!
He was out?
Was he out?
What happened now?
Someone was shaking him awake. His vision was blurring. And then everything was black.
“Congratulations.”
He woke up with a gasp, breathing in as much of the fresh, cool air as he could. Everything was so bright and colourful compared to the dim, blue of the- of the.. the.. where was he? Where did he come from? He remembered how much he suffered, still felt the pain, even. But he couldn’t remember where it had happened. Or who was there. Or.. who he was.
Someone was crying. They were in front of him, sobbing. “Where have you been?! It’s been- You’ve been gone for so long!” she cried, still holding onto his shoulders and shaking him. She had red hair and was wearing some kind of armour, so she was probably a knight. Clearly, she knew him. And yet.. seeing her brought nothing to his mind. No memories.
“Weeks! Where could you even have disappeared to for weeks?!” the woman continued, finally letting go of his shoulders. “How could you just- just disappear and leave me here?! Answer me!” she cried, looking at him through tears. He had no idea what to say. He didn’t know her. “I.. I’m sorry, I don’t.. I don’t think I know you, ma’am..”
That made her pause. She stared at him, sobs stopping in a sort of shock. “..Wha- What do you mean? 4C- It’s me, Katie! You know me!” she said, wiping her tears away and gesturing to herself. “O-Or- Nom..? Graecie? Anyone..? Come on, you know us!” she continued, her tone slowly turning more and more desperate. “Surely you do! What about- Farkle Friday, what about that?” she asked, taking a few deep breaths to calm herself down. Farkle Friday.. Farkle…
“I-I really don’t think I do.. But.. I don’t really want to play any farkle.. I don’t think.. You kinda look like..”, the slime mumbled, looking over her face once more, before a deep sense of dread and fear set in. “You- You were there.”
“What? Where?” the woman asked, getting closer while he backed away himself. “In- In that place! That.. place.. I don’t- I can’t remember..”
The knight paused, seeming to freeze in place as he continued speaking, the fear in his voice growing by the second. “..you don’t remember? You don’t.. at all? You don’t remember me? Not even Nom? Do you-”, she paused, taking a deep breath.
“..4C, do you even remember yourself..?”
“..I’m sorry- who’s 4C..?”
___
“What do you mean he doesn’t remember anything?”
“He doesn’t! I’m telling you- I found him on the beach, looking all hurt and roughed up, and when I talked to him- cried to him, he told me he didn’t know who I was!” Katie insisted, watching Apo’s face turn from doubt to confusion. “And- And he doesn’t remember himself.”
“..I’ll watch over him. Go get your brother.”
And that, Katie did. She had tried to get 4C to go into the sea, since he was noticeably smaller and clearly needed rehydrating, but he practically ran away from her and refused. So, she dragged him to her house and sat him in a bath. Then, of course, she shouted until Apo came over and stayed with him. She really didn’t want him alone right now.
As Katie ran over the bridge, she ignored the tight feeling in her chest and the way her head pounded. She nearly tripped just before the gate, but Graecie luckily caught her before she fell. “Well hello, what’s got you in such a hurry?” Graecie asked, smiling gently. “It’s-” Katie said, but had to pause to breathe. “I found 4C.”
Graecie’s eyes went wide, and her grip on Katie’s hand tightened slightly. “You found him? Where is he? Is he okay?” she asked. Katie was quiet for a while, still catching up on her breathing. “Where’s Nom? He needs to- To be here.” “Let’s go get him.”
“Nom!” Graecie called, grabbing Nom by his arm and pulling him back. The knight yelped, opening his mouth to say something but quieting up as he saw the serious expressions on both of the women’s faces. “What’s going on?” he asked, immediately serious and concerned. “4C. But I need to tell you something before I bring you to him.”
“..what is it? Is he okay?”
Katie sighed, frowning as she sat down on one of the copper chests. “Physically, yeah, I think”, she said quietly, making both Graecie and Nom visibly worried. “He was smaller and clearly dehydrated so I sat him down in my bath. Apo’s watching over him”, she continued. “But.. um.. he seems really scared. And more importantly, uh.. doesn’t remember anything.”
“What?!”
“What do you mean he doesn’t remember anything?!”
“Nothing!” Katie insisted. “I cried to him, he told me he didn’t know who I was! I asked him about everything, you two, farkle, where he’s been- Nothing, he didn’t remember anything”, she said, crossing her arms and leaning back slightly. “But- Surely he remembers something!” Graecie insisted, though her tone was less stubborn and more concerned. “No, nothing.”
“He doesn’t even remember himself.”
“...what.”
“He asked me ‘who is 4C’. And then was scared of the sea, and me!” she said, gesturing to herself and huffing. She was worried, really worried, and it was mostly gathering as frustration. Graecie covered her mouth, while Nom just stared at the ground in horror. “..I need to see him.” he said quietly, and Katie lifted her head slightly. “You can, but you need to not overwhelm him.”
___
Nom felt ill. 4C was like his brother. So now, watching him sit in Katie’s bathtub, not knowing who he was.. It hurt, a lot.
The slime didn’t recognise anyone, didn’t even know his own name. Mae was chatting with him currently. Nom wanted to, but the rogue had looked at him with such fear, he knew he shouldn’t be near right now. The poor thing seemed to be slowly calming down, but not even Mae was able to fully get him to relax. He was rehydrated, at least.
“He’s not eating”, Apo said, her face scrunching up in worry. “Just mumbles about how he needs to ‘ration’ while he’s literally on half a heart”, she continued, huffing and rolling her eyes. “What could he have possibly gone through..?” Katie asked, pacing slightly. “Like- Rations?! We’re at war, yeah, but it's never been that bad!” she continued, tone almost incredulous. “And why doesn’t he remember anything?!”
“As much as I agree, panicking isn’t going to help. It’ll just stress him out more”, Graecie said, sitting on Katie’s windowsill with her arms crossed. “We should focus on making him feel safe while gently nudging him towards hopefully getting his memories back”, the knight mused, and Nom nodded. “I agree. He clearly needs time”, he mumbled, trying to not let his frustration seep into his voice. None of this was 4C’s fault and Nom knew that. He just wished he could at least comfort the slime without scaring him.
___
“Hello”, Mae said, crouching down by the small bathtub. 4C seemed caught off guard and shrunk back a bit, but relaxed a little bit as she didn’t do anything but sit there. “Um.. hi..” he mumbled, looking over at her slightly. “Are you another person I supposedly know? I'm sorry, I don't remember you at all..” he said quietly, pulling his knees closer to his chest.
“It's alright”, Mae said, smiling. “We can become friends again. I'm Mae”, she said and sat down crosslegged on the floor. It hurt that 4C didn't remember her, of course it did. But he already looked scared, and feeling guilty wouldn't help. Besides, if he was comfortable around her, he'd be more likely to start remembering her. Or at least what had caused him to lose his memories in the first place. “..oh. Um, I'm.. I don't remember”, the slime mumbled quietly, head hanging low in shame.
“Do you want me to tell you?” Mae asked, tilting her head slightly. She was trying her best to make the conversation feel as casual and calm as possible, but the other was still clearly scared. 4C seemed to consider it for a moment, before huffing slightly. “Is it what that red haired knight was yelling at me earlier?” he asked quietly, glancing towards Katie briefly. Mae didn't miss the way he instinctively tensed at the sight of the knight, nor the way he purposefully didn't look at Nom. He seemed scared of them.
“Did she say 4C?” Mae asked gently. “Because that's your name”, she said. 4C was quiet for a moment, clearly thinking about something. “..4C? That's me?” he asked quietly, looking down at his reflection in the water. “..It still doesn't bring anything to my mind”, he mumbled with a sigh. Mae nodded a little bit but stayed quiet for a while. “That’s alright. We’ll figure it out”, she mused absent mindedly. “How are you feeling otherwise?” she asked and 4C glanced up at her. He seemed hesitant but eventually huffed a bit.
“I’m feeling.. fine, I guess.. Better, at least”, he said quietly. “How come?” Mae asked gently. The slime was quiet for a moment. “Well.. better than when I was in that place.. And I don’t remember what place. I just remember it was.. horrible..” he said quietly, voice fading into a whisper at the end. “Do you remember anything that happened? Or do you want to talk about how you’re feeling?”
“I can’t really remember what happened, but.. It hurt a lot. I think I saw.. the red haired one and the other knight guy..”, he mumbled. That explained why he was scared of them. “Nom and Katie? Is that why they scare you?” Mae asked, keeping her tone as soft as possible. The slime nodded a bit, picking at his arm. “Did you see anyone else?” she asked. 4C shook his head slightly. “I don’t remember seeing anyone else, at least..” he mumbled. “There was a voice, but I never saw who it belonged to… I think.. it might have been god..?”
Oh. Oh no. 4C had been talking about being ‘scolded’ by the rogue god before, hadn’t he? If he was now, having lost most of his memories, talking about hearing god, it would make the most sense if that had happened just before. And it would explain how he lost his memories.. Had he been trapped somewhere by the rogue god? If so, why? What could he have done? And why was he talking about seeing Katie and Nom? They wouldn’t have been there, unless it was just some kind of projection that looked like them that’d been used against him? This was all, unfortunately, making too much sense to be a coincidence.
“..yeah? Hey, are you hungry at all? I got some food yesterday and accidentally took like, way too much for me to eat before it goes bad. Could you eat some of it?”
“..oh. Um, yeah, I guess I am a bit hungry.. And if you have too much.. I guess it wouldn’t hurt..”