Fan Fiction ❯ The Memory Remains ❯ Chapter 1 ( Chapter 1 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

The Memory RemainsChapter 1 The young boy was unconscious, the man gazed down upon his prize and sneered. His plan was going just as he had planned. Blood trickled from his hands and dripped from his arms. The blood belonged to Prince Erick lying limp in his arms. The guards all held small pistols and long swords, shouting empty threats to the man who stood there confidently, accomplishing something no one ever thought was possible. He had defeated the prince, the strongest fighter of the city whom had never lost a fight since the age of nine.But now all that had changed, the boy had grown to the spry age of seventeen, next year he would be crowned as king. The prince stirred, everyone fell silent and watched the boy wondering if he’d regain consciousness and fight again. The boy turned his head and coughed blood onto the assailant’s shirt. “L-let him go now!” “Drop his highness!”“Do it and we’ll be sure to give you a swift death!”Cold red eyes turned to the man with the promise of swift death. “Heh, fools… all of you are fools,” he muttered as his eyes traveled back and forth between the armor clad idiots that stood before him, “Your precious Prince Erick isn’t dead, and I promise he will still become king.”The man’s thin lips curved upwards into a smirk; carefully he pulled the prince over his shoulder then reached into his inside shirt pocket. Removing a small clear vial that everyone could see there was nothing inside of it. “Some sort of joke?” asked a shaken guard who took small strides backward as he spoke.“No, what your pathetic eyes cannot see is a poison of the mind. One single drop of this on the skin of a human, said human would go insane with the dark thoughts he had kept hidden from himself and the world. Allow me to demonstrate.”He brought the small vile to his mouth and gripped the corked top with his teeth, yanking once on the small bottle the cork was pulled out of place with a loud ‘plop’. The slowly growing crowd gasped and watched as the man brought the jar to the boy’s leg, he pushed asides the torn cloth and turned the bottle upside down. The prince’s body writhed in apparent pain as the poison seeped into his pores, he groaned and clenched his fists. At that moment he felt he’d slip unconscious once again, he tried his best not to bite down on his tongue.“How’s it feel boy,” whispered the man who placed the vile back into his pocket, “You’ll become stronger than you could ever imagine. Believe me, soon you’ll be thanking me.”The prince didn’t respond, he just fell limp over the man’s shoulder once again. The guards had crowded closer again, the man wondered when the amount had doubled. More must’ve run in while he was poisoning the prince.“Sorry I can’t stay to chat, but please bid a short farewell to your prince,” with a wink he jumped from the castle gardens, to the castle wall. Turning his head back to peer down at the guards he mockingly saluted them and jumped from the wall into the city streets. The guards were quick to make their way into the city, but they all knew they wouldn’t find the prince anytime soon. The king ordered a constant search party for his beloved and only son. Guards worked double shifts; all homes and shops were raided. Many gang members and other suspects were arrested and thrown into dungeons for interrogation.~*~The king stepped down from his large throne, he removed the crown from his brow and dropped his flashy fur cape to the ground. Tears rolled down his aged cheeks and he walked slowly toward the balcony. Two guards stepped in front of the balcony door, stopping the emotional king.“We’re sorry Highness, but it would be unwise for you to be outside at a time like this.” The king dropped his head and reached out with both of his hands, grasping both young guards by the collar. He yanked them forward and raised his head, peering into their eyes he gritted his teeth then he let go of them and turned to sit back on his throne.A small commotion was heard beyond the doors of the throne.“Miss you cannot enter there.”“Resist us and we’ll have no choice but to ki-” The other guards’ words were cut short and the doors swung open. The two guards fell through and landed on the ground with a loud clank from armor colliding with the marble.The guards of the throne all readied themselves for the intruder and were surprised to see one girl standing in the doorway.“Sorry about that, they wouldn’t listen to me,” She shrugged then made eye contact with the king. Respectfully she bowed her head and spoke, “May I please enter and speak with you your highness. I may be able to help you and your son Erick.”Intrigued the king sat forward and waved the young lady in. She walked silently, over the marble ground until she was in front of the king.“Yes young lady,” the king asked, wondering what she knew to help his son.“Please just hear me out before questioning me.”The king nodded, his white hair and pale face brought out the colour of his eyes.“I am Lola , I know how you can track down your son and get him back, but it will not be for free. The people I know charge a hefty price but they have never failed a mission. If you agree to use their services I’ll show you where to reach them.”The guards murmured to each other, not believing the young girl. If there were people like this who could perform such a task so easily they would know of them.“Alright, I’ll pay whatever fee for their services.” The king stood and walked to the girl, all the guards tensed. He bowed his head to her and looked down into her eyes. “I am in your debt young lady. Now please wait for me to get ready to go wherever you wish.”The girl nodded and stood aside, letting the king walk to the hall and to his room to change into something less conspicuous, he wanted to get through the city without much attention.~*~The king walked with the girl through a small door on the side of the castle walls that led into the forest at the outskirts of the city. They walked in silence for what seemed like hours, finally the king broke the silence.“How would you know of such helpful individuals young miss?”“I don’t know,” she replied, her eyes wandering around making sure they weren’t being followed. She told the king she would not take him where he needed to go if the guards came, the king then stated that anyone caught following them would be executed immediately.The girl knew they weren’t being followed by the guards, but she still kept an eye out for any other intruders.“You… don’t know,” he muttered confusedly. The light of the setting sun was bright orange and shone through the trees in front of them. “It’s complicated… where I come from… no one knows much about themselves. That’s why we’re so good at doing what we do. We don’t have emotional attachments to anybody. No one is friend or foe… we’re neutral with everyone. Its easy this way.”The king squinted into the light, looking at the glowing outline of the girl who continued to walk steadily forward. The king jogged to catch up with her, too many questions and thoughts filled his mind for him to speak. He figured it’d be best to wait and see what she meant.~*~“Welcome back Toni!” exclaimed several people as the girl walked into the center of the city. “Hey guys! Its great to be home,” Toni said, dropping her bag into a large bin that had a handful of identical bags in it.“You look great,” a passerby joked, she rolled her eyes and flipped him off with a grin.“I agree,” she retorted, knowing she had clumps of dirt in her lavender hair, no doubt there was some blood too.“How was the mission?”“Oh hey Rob! Meh, not bad pretty simple. Just an escort.” “Yea but you were gone for five days, one hell of a trip yea?” Toni nodded and sighed, she was sore, dirty and hungry. But despite it all she had to go report to the head of the city.“Those damn ninja wannabe’s and them damned cowboys kept messing with us. The guy I was escorting was a complete wimp so it was rather frustrating. Kept me busy though… hardly seemed like five days. See ya later Rob, got to finish up at Head Quarters,” She winked and patted her friend on the back before she walked up to HQ. No one would’ve suspected this building was the largest in the city. Diving nearly twenty stories below the earth and six stories above, Toni was never comfortable when she was inside the building. Most likely because she had been there countless times but only remembers being there once. The first time, when she decided to become a mission specialist. She was approved and they used their computers to insert a chip onto the memory section of her brain. From that moment on they had access to every single memory she had, after every mission they would go through her memories and delete the unnecessary data of her mission and save the pieces that would be useful for future missions. In the end she never remembered what her mission was, who she worked with, or who she had worked for. “Toni,” she said talking into the doorknocker of the HQ building, the doorknocker took her voice, went and found the file under the name of ‘Toni,’ matched her voice with the saved recording of her voice pattern and unlocked the door after a positive match up in 0.8 seconds. She pushed open the door and walked up to the desk flashing the desk clerk her clip on badge that had her picture, name and ID number on it. If one were to steal that card and use it effectively they’d know everything from your natural hair colour to your favourite food in less than an hour. Using her card she swiped it into the elevator panel and pressed the down button. A small tone signaled from the speaker of the panel to let her know the elevator had been called and would arrive shortly.She pulled the hair tie from the mess at the back of her head, The elevator doors clicked and began to slide open. She didn’t look up as she walked into the machine. “Twelve please,” she said, she could see someone’s shoes and still didn’t bother looking up. Finally after much tugging she released her hair from the small contraption and shook her head back and forth, small bits of dirt and leaf fell to her shoulders and to the ground.She ran her fingers through her hair, pulling it all back and the tied it back with the small elastic tie. Once the quarrel had finished the doors slid open. She looked to the person who occupied the shoes and waved her thanks to him as she walked into the bright white corridor. “Ugh… this is uncomfortable,” she looked onward and it seemed as if the hallway went on forever. The elevator clicked shut behind her and she heard it going down again. The brightness of the hallway began to give her a headache and she walked onward looking for a door of some sort.“Toni Parker,” asked a computer generated female voice.“Yes?”A door opened to the girl’s left, inside stood the head of operations, Lieutenant Holmes.“Ah Parker welcome back. Took a little longer than I’d have thought… especially from you, our top MS.” Toni sighed, talking to this man was like walking two steps forward and one step backward. “Yes well, complications arose. The man didn’t tell us the complete truth so I ended up having to save the group on more than one occasion.”“Indeed. That would be why you’re the best. Anyways, enough chit-chat. Lets get you cleaned up and refreshed.”Toni knew by refreshed he really meant ‘we’ll erase your memories so shut up.’ Never the less this was procedure and she followed him. There was a shower in the next room, a change of clothes (To Toni’s disappointment, a dress.) and then there was a black door at the back with a red ‘X’ painted across it. “Welcome back,” said a young man in a white lab coat. He turned on the shower and swung the curtain closed. “If you need anything let me know, I’ll be right outside the door,” He bowed his head and walked from the room.“Thanks,” Said Toni before the door was completely shut. Right away she pulled off her clothes, once completely naked she looked into a mirror and turned red. ‘I can’t believe I walked around looking like that.’ she said to herself shaking her head. She hadn’t realized all of the small scratches all over her arms and legs, she didn’t notice all of the mud and dirt clung to her skin and hair and she never realized she had so many bruises until she looked into that mirror. Quickly she jumped into the shower and started the long process of ending her mission. ~*~“Just let me do the talking Highness,” said the girl, her voice monotone, no reassuring emotion was felt. The king was nervous around the girl, but he kept thinking of his son. It was those thoughts that kept him going, he’d have to do what he could to get his only heir back. It was dark now, the sun had set long ago, the stars shone and the moon was only a small sliver in the skies. The trees looked menacing at night, like large monsters with claws waiting to tear apart your flesh the second you let your guard down. The leaves on the ground stirred as small creatures ran by the travelers feet, rats squeaked to each other and in the distance cougars slept in the tree branches, killing anything that disturbed their rest.“We’re here,” said the girl, the king stepped forward and saw a small village. People were busy walking in and out of the gates, many talking with each other and joking around. There were large trucks carrying bins of dirty black back-packs. They walked beneath a large archway into the town, the king looked around in awe. Everyone was getting along, everyone was doing their jobs without complaining, everyone seemed so, happy.“Hey Lola! Where ‘ave ya been girl?” An older boy walked up to the girl and put her in a headlock, he the proceeded to ruffle her red hair. “Knock it off I’m doing business,” The girl pinched the back of the teens leg and he instantly let go of the girls neck.“Whoops my bad. I’ll see ya ‘round sis, be good,” The boy waved at the pair before running off.“Sorry about that highness,” Lola said fixing her hair, “My brother lacks common sense.”“No need to apologize,” the king had a smile on his face, he was glad to see there were still some kids around that had some life to them.“This way, I’ll take you directly to Holmes. He’s the man in charge here,” Lola walked toward a small building. It was painted grey, It stood out from the other brown buildings and homes. Lola walked up to the HQ building and said her name, like before, the name registered positive and let her in. She walked up to the desk, explaining that the old man was escorted by her and would not be here longer than two hours. The receptionist printed out a temporary ID card and had him clip it on himself where it would be visible. “He is to be under surveillance by you at all times Lola.” The young girl nodded and made her way to the elevator. After swiping her card the sleek doors slid open instantly. She pressed the button for the tenth floor.The elevator ran slower under ground than it did above ground. Lola never questioned why, that was just how it worked. After a moment the elevator stopped and the doors slid open. A man in a white lab coat and small squared glasses looked at the two. He lifted his clipboard and jotted down something.“Here to see Lieutenant Holmes?” asked the man, his shaggy black hair fell in front of his eyes, he flipped his hair back and looked up at the two.“Yes.”“Make it quick, he’s about to ‘refresh’ someone.” “Will do,” Lola replied and stepped out of the elevator, followed by the elderly man. They walked down the cream colored hallway, to a wooden door. Lola didn’t knock knowing the boy at the elevator had already alerted him of their arrival. “Well if it isn’t Lola, how nice to see you. I’d love to catch up but I don’t have the time, so please cut to the chase.”“That’s what I intended to do sir. Here with me is the King of Ranolda, just seven hours ago his only son was kidnapped by some unknown man.”“A heretic?” “No the situation is a little too intense for it to be a mere heretic. This guy is bad news sir, I think we should place him up high on the priorities list, he is a threat to be eliminated immediately. Of course we also wish for the Prince’s safe return home.” The King stayed silent and let Lola do all of the talking like she had asked.“Sir I’d like to take on this mission myself, recovering the prince and eliminating the unknown man,” Lola said standing straight.“No.”“But sir!”
“I said no, I will dispatch the best for this mission. As for you I wish for you to keep an eye on the King and the Kingdom. Report to me if there is anything out of sorts.”“Yes Sir.”Holmes looked at the king with a small grin.“Now for the discussion of fees.”~*~“Toni? Toni can you hear me?”“…wha?”“Oh good she’s conscious, brain activity is normal, heart rate is a little high but that’s normal. She’s in good shape, lets get her home.”“Where… am I,” Toni asked dryly. The whole procedure took four hours and she felt dehydrated.“Just take a nap and everything will be fine.”Toni hadn’t heard the man’s request for she had already fallen asleep.~*~Her eyes slowly opened, her ears were ringing and she had a screaming headache. She rolled over and looked at the clock on her bedside table. Realizing she had woken late she sat up and made her way out of bed. She walked out into the short hallway and went into the bathroom, it felt as if she hadn’t urinated in days, she clicked her tongue and felt she also hadn’t brushed her teeth in a while too.Walking from the bathroom she raised her arms over her head and yawned, as she walked into the kitchen she clicked the button on her message machine. “You have six new messages.”‘Wow six whole messages? Did I go on a mission?’She figured that was what had happened and listened to the machine as she made herself something to eat.Message one: “Hey Ni! Its Kate Give me a call when you get in.” Message two: “Toni… toniiii … pick up pick up pick uuup. Ah fine I guess you’re really not there. That’s too bad, I was gonna take you to that Fighting championship thing you love so much. But you’re not there… so too bad!” “Toni laughed at the last message, a little bummed she didn’t get to go with Doug to the FC.Message three: ‘Click’Message four: “Yo Toni its me, give me a call.”
Message five: “Miss Parker, are you happy with your long dist---” Message Deleted.The young girl stood there chewing on her toast shaking her head, now awaiting the last message."Message Six: Parker, "This is Lieutenant Holmes. Come see me immediately, we have a mission for you. A high class one, be prepared to get your hands dirty.”"Instantly Toni ran to her room, threw on some decent attire, grabbed her ID, threw on a watch and pulled her hair back. She ran out the front door without locking it and made her way to HQ.Lieutenant Holmes was waiting in the lobby, he greeted her as nicely as anyone would’ve expected to be from him.“What took you so damned long?”
“My apologies sir.”“Whatever, come with me I’ll brief you about the situation on the way.”“Yes sir.”They both stood in the elevator, Holmes going over the details of her mission. Toni listened carefully, knowing if she were to mess up because she hadn’t listened she’d be punished severely. They made it to the top floor of the building, Holmes opened the door to his office and Toni walked inside and took a seat. “So a rescue and assassination?” The Lieutenant nodded, he walked to the window and opened the blinds.“Yes rescue the prince, kill the kidnapper and anyone who may get in your way. We had some witnesses brought here last night, they said the man poisoned him with something invisible. Claiming it was a poison of the mind and would bring out the darkness of the boys mind and heart. Ever heard of such a thing?”Toni thought for a moment, if she had heard of it she may not remember, that’s if it was thought as useless information to the ‘Refreshers’.“No, but you’re saying I have to save some disarranged boy… what if he tries to kill me?”“Knock him out and bring him here, we’ll deal with it.”
“Ok let me simplify this, what if I knock him out, but as I’m sleeping he wakes up and then slits my throat?”“Then I’ll be disappointed you let some loony kill you in your sleep when you knew the situation at hand. Take a bunch of rope with you, tie him to a tree or something I don’t care just get him back here. We’re not getting paid until he’s home, in one piece.”Toni dug the balls of her hands into her eyes and yawned. “Alright, any time limit?”“Nope, the sooner the better that’s all.”“Alright, I’ll go get ready now sir. Will I have backup or an accomplice?”“No, you’re on your own. I know you can do it Toni. You’re the best I have. Now go.”Toni bowed and walked out of the office, ready to take on another mission. She got on the elevator and pressed the button for twenty.“Here I go again…”~~~
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