Arthur does not know when he arrived here. He does not even know where here is. It is pitch black, and strangely, if he looks down he can see his own hands and body clearly enough, but beyond that there is nothing.

Arthur looks around, uneasy.

He cannot remember what he was doing before arriving here. But he has the distinct feeling that he should not be here at all.

"Hello?" His voice echoes.

"Anybody here?" Echoes again.

"Where exactly is here?" He mutters, turning slowly. But there is nothing to see. Just black in every direction.

"Well. Someone forgot to pay the electric bill." He mutters.

He calls out several more times after that, but receives no reply. His unease grows with each unanswered echo.

He calls his Fire forward, letting it float on his palm. For the first few seconds, he feels safer. Knowing he has it, if something were to happen.

"What’s going to happen? Why am I summoning my Fire to feel safe? I’m a Sentinel." Arthur scoffs at himself.

But the Fire’s light and warmth give him a sense of security he has not felt since arriving here.

"You’re finally here!" A voice behind him says suddenly.

Arthur whips around, sending his Fire higher into the air to see who is speaking.

"You?" Arthur asks in disbelief.

"Yeah, me. Who did you expect?" Arthur II replies, rolling his eyes.

"I don’t know. But certainly not you." Arthur says honestly. He frowns. Why am I not more freaked out seeing him here?

"Who else would come to your consciousness?" Arthur II says sarcastically. "Oh, that’s right. The green mist." He adds, mockingly.

"What? Green mist? What green mist? And what do you mean, my consciousness?" Arthur asks, alarmed.

Arthur II crosses his arms. "Let me ask you something. Do you remember what you were doing before you came here?"

Arthur frowns. No. I don’t. He answers in his own mind.

"Yeah, you don’t seem to." Arthur II squints. "What about yesterday? Do you remember what you were doing yesterday?"

Arthur’s face comes up blank. 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

"No. Didn’t think so." Arthur II comments.

"Is there anything you do remember?" He asks.

Arthur goes quiet. His heart is pounding hard.

He looks at Arthur II, alarmed.

"I don’t... I don’t seem to remember anything. Even my own birthday... I..."

Arthur goes pale.

"Why... why can’t I remember anything?" He asks, bewilderment and fear plain in his voice.

"I can’t really blame you for that. The green mist is corrupting your brain. Right now it has access to most of your memories. It has cut off your access to your own mind." Arthur II says, matter of fact.

"I don’t want that." Arthur says.

"Are you sure? I mean, people say ignorance is bliss. Not being able to remember anything, doesn’t it feel peaceful? For the first time in months, maybe years, you don’t have to worry about anything or anyone."

Arthur responds immediately. "But what about my family? My parents, Julian, and Thea? They would be worried if I disappeared."

Arthur II smiles faintly. "They would not know you are gone. Because ’you’ are not gone. ’You’ are still out there." He pauses. "It just would not be you," he gestures at Arthur, "out there."

Arthur frowns. "You’re not making any sense."

Arthur II grins. "I suppose I don’t. Forgive me. But it is refreshing, talking to you like this. The version of you with almost no memories. You seem so free."

Arthur blinks. He takes a step back. "That is the second time you have brought up the idea of me being free."

Arthur II shakes his head. "No it isn’t."

Arthur nods slowly. "Yes, it is. The first time you said peaceful. Now you said free. They mean the same thing."

"Do they? Then let me ask you this. Don’t you like feeling peaceful and free?" Arthur II asks. His tone is sincere. His expression is too.

Arthur smiles, very gently. "Of course I do. Peaceful. Free. Content. Safe. I want all of those things. But I cannot feel any of them if I don’t know whether my family is safe. I need to know."

"This state of not knowing... it makes me worry."

"Then what do you want?" Arthur II presses.

"I want to know what is happening. I want my memories back. All of them. The good and the bad. Every single one. They are mine." Arthur says it with complete conviction.

Arthur II smiles broadly. "I knew you would say that."

He steps back and opens his arms.

Memories flood into Arthur. Not all of them, but many. They pour into his mind like ocean waves crashing into him one after another, and he chokes on them, his breathing going ragged.

After a long moment, he looks up and is shocked by what he sees.

Arthur II is covered in wounds. His face is pale. Fresh blood slides down from his head and his cheek. His lips have gone completely white.

He is gasping.

"Hey!" Arthur panics. "What happened to you?!"

"Look... into... your memories... remember..." He speaks one word at a time, as though each one costs him something.

"I... could... only... protect... that... much..."

He stops. Takes a breath.

"I... can... send... you... back..."

He forces a smile.

"We... got... this... trust... yourself."

Then he vanishes.

Before Arthur can say anything, pain attacks every one of his senses.

"Argh!" He screams.

"Arthur! Arthur!" A familiar voice calling his name.

"Art! Art! Wake up! Fight back! Art!" Another familiar voice.

Arthur opens his eyes and sees fire.

It is everywhere.

And people.

His brother. His sister. His friends.

He tries to smile, tries to ask if they are okay, but he cannot move his body or his hands. He has no control over any of it.

And then he hears himself speak.

"I’m going to kill all of you."

He feels his mana being called upon. His Fire answers. He watches blue Fire launch from his own hands toward his siblings and friends.

"NO!" He screams inside himself. But his mouth does not say it. His body does not stop.

Arthur panics. He forces himself to slow down.

Calm down. First calm down. Then process.

He does. He works through the memories Arthur II gave back to him.

Green mist. St. Lucas dungeon. The green mist must have escaped somehow and followed me here. It needs to be stopped. I need to stop it.

Even if it kills me.

The decision made, Arthur goes calm. He closes his eyes and turns inward, back toward that pitch black space inside his own consciousness.

------------------------------

Arthur is back in the darkness. But this time he is ready.

He summons his Fire, several flames at once, and sends them spiraling high above his head in wide circles, lighting up the space around him.

After searching for a while, he senses it. A sinister presence, lurking just beyond the light.

"There you are." Arthur smiles slightly and launches a barrage of Fire.

------------------------------

Theo watches Arthur’s white eyes with dread. The fear of being unable to do anything to help him sits heavy in his chest. He decides that standing here watching is not good enough. He shifts to keen observation instead, cataloguing every small change, looking for anything useful.

But his body will not cooperate much longer. His knees are already shaking. The wounds on his chest are throbbing with every breath.

Julian glances over to check on Theo and immediately notices him struggling to breathe. Without a word, he flicks his hand and a chair rises from the ground, solid concrete, right behind Theo.

Theo startles and looks at him. He smiles and nods in gratitude, then sits.

Julian catches the exhale of relief and allows himself a small smile before turning back to the far more pressing task of keeping the entire building from collapsing.

Theo, with the weight off his legs, recovers a fraction of his strength and returns his attention to Arthur.

Then he sees it. Arthur’s eyes. Fluttering. Just slightly, but fluttering.

He scans quickly to check if Arthur’s Fire has diminished at all. Nothing yet.

But Theo is hopeful. He watches Arthur like a hawk.

------------------------------

"Give. Me. Back. My. Body!" Arthur roars and sends a barrage of Fire swords at the green mist.

It shrieks in pain but does not retreat. It summons blue Fire and launches it back at Arthur.

He dodges right and left, narrowly avoiding each strike.

Arthur is deeply annoyed. The green mist is using his own Fire against him. His own blue Fire, the one he just unlocked, being wielded by something that should not even have access to it. While he himself cannot touch it.

"How does that even make sense?!" He yells in frustration, rolling hard to the left to avoid another volley.

But he does not stop. He does not slow down.

"Even if it kills me, I will defeat you and throw you out of my body!" He grits his teeth and keeps going.