Two days had passed since waking up in the ranger base. With that time, Etrius thought up a plan that was sure to succeed. A plan that unfortunately relied on it being able to use its power. It also could not rely on knifing everyone as it was later found in its room and taken away for safety reasons. So with that not exactly being an option, they decided that plans are overrated, and to just wing the whole thing.

In the middle of the night Etrius in it’s freshly cleaned and repaired dress, minus underwear, was walking down the halls of the medical building barefoot. The reason it was doing so was simple, they wouldn’t give it back it’s shoes and it wanted to look at the night sky. More correctly, the protesters demanded some relaxation time, and this was a sort of trial run. It wasn’t a long walk, and with no one around, it didn’t need to worry about being seen. Opening the unlocked door, Etrius gazed up at the sky. To many, it was an average night. However, to Etrius it was dark. A sign that the cycle was ending for a majority of organic life. Aside from the moon, there were few lights in the sky. The lights that remained in the city were likely more numerous than those in the sky.

As Etrius thought about this, it heard footsteps. Not even bothering to check to see who it was, Etrius hurried inside. It was a short walk to its room, but it made it quick. It didn’t exactly want to be caught, especially since it was suspected of being an assassin. Once in its room, it dove into bed like a mischievous child staying up past their bedtime. After making sure that it’s dress was hidden under the blanket, the door opened up.

 

“Athena’s gonna be pissed.” Duncan said.

“Only if she finds out.” Lucy said. “Remember, we are in this together.”

“Obviously.” Duncan said. “Well anyway, she’s right there. Sleeping as a kid would.”

“Yeah, well what can I tell you?” Lucy asked. “This was the kid at Lord Lockheart’s.”

“You sure about that? Because this just looks like a normal-” He hesitated. “An under dressed child.”

“She tried to kidnap the princess!” She said.

“That’s not what the princess said.” He said.

“She could be under a charm spell for all we know.”

“Except we checked, and we know that she isn’t.”

“We could be wrong.”

“Did you ever think that you could be wrong?”

“I’m not.”

“Sure, and you aren’t known for pushing children down in dark alleys.”

“That was a misunderstanding!”

“And what about kicking her in the face?”

“She called me a bitch!”

“A lot of people would agree with that.”

“I don’t want to hear that from someone who works behind a desk.”

“So, are you satisfied now that you’ve seen her?”

“No, there's questions that I want to ask her.”

“Lucy, don’t be stupid, theres no way I’m going to let you question her.”

“What are you going to do? File a complaint?”

“I could do that, or I can send you off to patrol the southern border. That seems like it would be fun.”

“Fine, but when you question her, I want a transcript of what she said.”

“I’ll see what I can do.” Duncan sighed.

“Good.” Lucy nodded and then turned to Etrius. “So, are you going to get up?”

“…” Obviously Etrius didn’t respond.

“I think she’s asleep.” Duncan said.

“Right. Let’s go.” Lucy said disappointed.

 

From it’s bed, Etrius heard the two shut the door and walk off. It was fairly sure that this was a trick, but it didn’t care enough to look. It simply tried to get some sleep. Minutes later, it heard Lucy sigh and Duncan telling her to leave. After they left for real, Etrius fell asleep.

The next morning, Etrius found itself guided by Athena to an interrogation room. Sitting in a chair, it looked at the table in front of it. This table was no ordinary one as it had a crude lie detector built into it. However Etrius was not scared. Given its rather primitive nature, it would be fairly easy to fool, especially since Etrius knew how it worked and that it only worked with actual living creatures. Ignoring the table, it turned its attention to Athena who sat opposite of it.

 

“So, Etrius, I hate to do this to you, but I have a few questions that I need to ask you before we can work on finding your parents.” Athena said. “All you need to do is tell the truth, is that okay?”

“Okay.” Etrius nodded.

“Firstly, Your name is Etrius, correct?” She asked.

“That is true fact.” It said.

“Do you know anyone working with the assassin guild?” She asked.

“Unknown.” It said.

“Have you ever associated with anyone from the assassin’s guild?”

“Unknown.”

“Have you ever worked for, or with the assassin’s guild?”

“Unknown.”

“Are you an active, or former member of the assassin’s guild?”

“Unknown.”

“Last question.” She said. “Did you put on underwear this morning?”

“How does that question relate to the others?” Etrius asked.

“I thought as much.” Athena sighed. “You are a young lady, you cannot run around without any underwear. Got it?”

“?” Etrius tilted it’s head in confusion, but did not change it’s expression.

“Look, when you get back to your room put them on. Got it?” Athena asked.

“I will take that into consideration.” Etrius said.

“Well, with that over, how about we get you something to eat?”

“Okay.” Etrius nodded.

“Is there anything you want?” Athena asked.

“Cake?” Etrius asked hopefully.

“We might actually have that. Hold on.” Athena said strangely excited.

Watching Athena leave the room in a hurry, Lucy sighed in annoyance.

 

“What did you expect?” Duncan asked. “She has no memory.”

“I expected her to not be a lying sack of shit.” Lucy said. “Are we sure the table works?”

“Yes it works. You even tried it earlier.” Duncan said. “I know that you have your intuition or whatever, but just face it. You were wrong. This is just some kid.”

“She’s not ‘just a kid’ she is an assassin and I know it.” Lucy said. “We just need a way to get her memory back.”

“I’m no professional, but it might not even come back.” Duncan said.

“We still have to try.” Lucy said.

“Try what? It’s not like we can just start poking at her brain.” He said.

“No we can’t…” Lucy thought about it.

 

Currently, she knew nothing on the subject of memory loss, but there were methods to regain lost memories. Mostly through magic, not that there were many even capable of using such advanced spells. Even if she did find one however, there was a significant risk involved. In most cases, some memories were returned, however in some, the person in question was unable to form any new memories and even lost several years worth of memories. Due to this, memory tampering spells were forbidden for all but the most elite sorcerers. Even the rangers with all the sorcerers in their ranks, only a handful were capable of such spells. Contacting them would be all but impossible as their identities were hidden from all but royalty.

Unsure what to do, Lucy looked to Duncan for answers, but he was no help, as usual. Abandoning that path for the moment, Lucy tried more primitive ways of restoring ones memories. Etrius, from what she knew, was the assassin she had faced off against. That assassin had fallen off a cliff into the ocean. That probably resulted in her hitting her head and losing her memory. To regain her memory, she would need to hit her head again. This was something that Lucy was unwilling to do. As many rangers knew, Lucy had attacked her in an alley and kicked her in her face before fleeing. She did not want to hit the child again before she fixed this misunderstanding first.

Thinking of another method, Lucy thought back to the cliff. When whatever barrier she had placed around Lucy and the princess failed, there were signs of some sort of fight. Not only that, but there was something else. Some remnant that she couldn’t quite remember. Likely some sort of attack, or curse. Whatever it was, she had no recollection of what it was. All she knew was that something had happened and then she had woken up some time later in the safety of the ranger caravan. Tring to think back on what she saw, her thoughts were interrupted by Athena half running with cake in hand. Not even bothering to look at her or Duncan, Athena entered the room with Etrius.

 

“Sorry, it took me some time to convince the chiefs to let me get two slices.” Athena said out of breath, taking a seat. “They have a strict one per person policy.”

“Should I have asked for something different?” Etrius asked worriedly.

“No, you’re good.” Athena said. “I’m just lucky they didn’t chase me.”

“You didn’t get permission?” She asked.

“Nah, I just took them and ran.” Athena admitted.

“But won’t you get in trouble?” She asked.

“Hey, I’m injured. They won’t punish me that much.” Athena shrugged.

“You’re injured?”

“Yeah. I got roughed up pretty good in a fight not long ago.”

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. I could do without them trying to lock me indoors though.”

“You shouldn’t push yourself.”

“Look at you. Our prisoner is worried about me. You should be worried about yourself, you know. From what I heard, you got shot.”

“I’m doing much better.”

“I would sure hope so. Now then, let's take a break from all this talking and enjoy some cake.”

 

Duncan turned to Lucy.

 

“You sure this kid is an assassin?” Duncan asked doubtfully.

“Yes I’m sure.” Lucy said.

“She doesn’t look like an assassin.” Duncan said.

“Well I’m no expert on assassins, oh wait, yes I am. Assassins don’t look like assassins.” Lucy pointed out. “She’s just trying to trick us.”

“And how would she fool the table?” He asked.

“I don’t know. Maybe they have some sort of spell that lets them bypass it.” She suggested.

“Yes, and none of the other assassins we have captured have used it before.”

“Maybe she is that important?”

“We are talking about the same ten year old you beat up in an alley, right?”

“Okay, there is a slight chance that I could be wrong.”

“I think it is a bit more than a slight chance.”

“She has the same voice!”

“So what? People could sound the same.”

“Think about it from my perspective. There is this child assassin who I fought and whose voice I heard. What am I suppose to think when I find this girl who runs away from me, has the same voice, and is the same height as the assassin I fought? Not only that, but she ‘coincidently’ has no memory of our fight or anything before that?” Lucy asked.

“Granted I see where you are coming from, but you expect me to believe that you, a highly trained ranger, lost a fight to a ten year old girl, and was continuously outsmarted by said girl?” Duncan countered. “Not only that but her allies, the assassins, who had a clear shot at you to save their fellow assassin, decided to shoot her instead?”

“Maybe they just wanted to silence her?” Lucy said.

“And leave them open to an attack from you?” He asked.

“I never claimed that the assassins were smart.” She said.

“Yet this ten year old managed to pull the wool over our eyes when not even the assassins could?” He asked. “If that's the case, we should hire her right now.”

“If she wasn’t an assassin, why would she run away from me?” Lucy asked.

“If she was an assassin, why didn’t she kill you when she had the chance. You know, one of the only people who could identify her?” Duncan asked.

“Because…” Lucy thought about it but was unable to think of a reason.

This girl, Etrius, was the assassin she fought. But was she really? Doubting her own actions, she wondered if she had made a mistake. But if she did, who did she fight? If not her, who else could it have been? Lucy shook her head to clear her thoughts. She was the assassin. It had to be her. That's what she had thought at least. There was only one other person who heard the assassin’s voice, but it was unlikely that the king would allow the princess to be near a suspected assassin, especially after recent events. Unable to come to a conclusion, Lucy decided to return to her room. There was nothing that she could do here, and thinking about this situation only made her thoughts more troubled. She needed a proper rest, something that she felt that she hadn’t had in a while.

Finishing the cake, Etrius looked to Athena who was still savoring her piece. So far, the plan was working. Although admittedly, it wasn’t sure what to do now. If it did nothing, then it would simply stay here as an amnesiac. Eventually Etrius would be forced to leave, but it wasn’t sure when that would be. It could be weeks, or even months from now. Neither of these options suited Etrius at all. Despite it’s looks, Etrius was a very busy series of anomalous instances. There were plenty of things that they, and also it, needed to do.

So, what could be done? There were three options. Firstly, was just to start a new life as an amnesiac in this ranger base. The second one was to kill everyone and escape. Thirdly, was to… Okay, so Etrius didn’t have three plans and the two that came up were terrible. The first one especially so. Wondering what to do, the door opened up. Half expecting to see Lucy, Etrius was surprised to see Duncan with a look on his face that indicated that he had an idea.

 

“Hey Athena can I talk to you for a moment?” Duncan asked. “I think I have an idea to get her memory back.”

“Since it involves her, why not tell the both of us?” Athena asked, finishing her slice of cake.

“Well, before she came here, she said that she was with two other girls that went on the ship to go to the academy right?” Duncan asked looking at Etrius.

“Yeah…” Etrius nodded.

“Well that’s a magic academy researching new ways to use and develop magic.” Duncan said. “And if I didn’t know any better, then I would say memory loss is a solution magic could fix.”

“…” Athena took a moment to think about it. “For once, you might be onto something.”

“It wouldn’t hurt for you to have more faith in me.” Duncan said.

“Wait right here.” Athena said to Etrius. “Duncan you come with me.”

 

Etrius watched the two leave the room as it was left alone. From the looks of things, its problem was about to be solved without it doing anything. Albeit, in a direction it didn’t exactly approve of, not that it mattered. With that in mind, it looked at the strawberry left on Athena’s plate and wondered if it could get away with eating it. After making sure that no one was around, it opened its mouth and let its secondary jaw extend out to claim the abandoned strawberry on the other side of the table. 

Heading away from the interrogation room, Duncan and Athena conversed about the plan. The rangers had no way to regain lost memories, but those sorcerers at the academy were different. They were much more skilled and prepared for experimental and untested methods. If anyone could bring back memories, it was them. Unfortunately, it would be difficult to convince the higher ups to agree to let a suspected assassin out in a far away area outside the influence of the kingdom. And even if they did, it was unlikely that they would simply let her roam free without any oversight. It was also unfortunate that the only rangers they could spare at the moment to look over her was the one who was known for attacking children in dark alleys and a desk worker.