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Lucas had never felt so conflicted in his entire life.
It had been five months.
They would have gotten back from the temple by now.
Lucas didn’t know what would have happened if they had kept their memories. Maybe they would have split apart and that would have been the end of it.
Lucas didn’t like to think that.
They shouldn’t have spent three months in that bloody forest for nothing.
Of course it wasn’t for nothing. Lucas should be grateful that the king and queen were alive and Ellory was safe and happy.
She had been happy with them.
Especially with Ashen.
Maybe he’d have stayed close with Ashen and they could have built a life together.
Maybe it was all just wishful thinking.
“Lucas!”
A very familiar voice wrenched him out of his thoughts and Lucas spotted Ashen waving him over to a table at the Stumble Inn. He had gotten here quicker than he expected.
Walking, he found, helped him sort through his thoughts.
It was how he had gotten through hiking though that bloody forest for three months.
Although now those thoughts were far from happy.
“How you been, Lucas?” Ashen asked, handing him a drink.
Five months.
Lucas pulled himself back to the present.
“Yeah good.” he hoped he sounded convincing. “Got in any more trouble lately?”
Ashen grinned.
“You know me, can’t stay out of it.”
Lucas hadn’t realised how badly he had missed Ashen.
Of course Ashen would only know those three days they spent in that cell.
They had talked then - it was hard not to - over the sounds of Falmouth losing his sanity and Daemys brooding in the corner.
Lucas was grateful now more than ever he wished for them to be happy.
“So what’s bothering you Lucas?”
Lucas blinked.
“What?”
Ashen smiled.
“Come on, there’s something isn’t there?”
Lucas was conflicted about telling the others.
What would be the point?
Why be told something you couldn’t remember when it didn’t matter anyway?
But Lucas was so lonely.
“You know that day we got let out?” he asked. The inn was emptying out now. They had been here a while. “And El- the princess gave us that land and all? What did you make of that?”
Ashen frowned.
“Strange,” he said finally. “A little suspicious actually for the princess to reward her prisoners.”
Ashen had never really thought about it until that moment. His life had remained more or less the same, there had been nothing new to think about.
He looked at Lucas.
“Why?”
Lucas sighed.
“You’re going to think I’m insane.”
“You think I’m insane don’t you?”
“No…” Ashen rubbed her eyes. “Just a lot to take in.”
Lucas waited patiently as Ashen stared off into the distance.
“So Daemys betrayed us?”
“Yeah.”
“We were friends with the princess?”
“Yup.”
“And there was a guy in a gelatinous cube of jelly?”
Lucas nodded.
“Yeah okay,” Ashen said. “Seems about right.”
Lucas raised an eyebrow.
“I’m serious,” Ashen said, noticing Lucas’ face. “I believe you.”
Lucas breathed a sigh of relief.
“So what now?”
“I don’t know,” Lucas admitted. “I’m not sure why I told you just..being the only person who knew. It drove me insane.”
Ashen looked sympathetic.
“There’s gotta be a way to get our memories back.”
“You think?”
Ashen nodded suddenly determined.
“You want to help me?”
“Yes, of course.” Lucas was surprised Ashen would even ask.
“We need to find the others,” Ashen decided. “We can’t do this without them.”
“How are we gonna manage that?”
“It can’t be that hard to find a giant squid.”
Falmouth it transpires was living in a large lake a mere stones throw away from the nearest village. When asking around to see if any of the villagers happened to know of any large squid inhabiting the area, they gladly pointed down to the lake.
“He likes it there,” one of them said. “He’ll be happy to see new people.”
Of course they weren’t new people at all - even Ashen knew him for a few days - but Lucas couldn’t help but wonder if those days meant anything to Falmouth. Why would they? To him, three days in a cell with people you barely spoke to was a small mishap compared to the rest of Falmouth’s life.
They reached the edge of the lake. Water lapped at their shoes. It was quiet.
Ashen turned to Lucas. He shrugged.
“Uh..Falmouth?” Ashen called out hesitantly. “Falmouth, you there?”
There was a silence before the water rippled in the centre and Falmouth’s head popped out.
“Do you remember us?” Ashen asked, still raising his voice to be heard for Falmouth was quite far away. “In that cell at the castle … 5 months ago?”
Falmouth swam closer.
Lucas could not recall a time when Falmouth had been fully in control of himself in the time he had known him.
Here, where Falmouth had been submerged for months…
Lucas was staring at a stranger.
“I remember.” Falmouth tilted his head. “Why are you here?”
The curiosity and not the expected hostility in his voice boosted Lucas’ confidence. He sat down on a rock, they’d be here for some time.
“In an alternate universe the king and queen were dead…”
The king and queen were dead and it had all been Falmouth’s doing.
He hadn’t experienced much guilt for it until he had met Ellory.
There had been one moment in the forest that Lucas had spared him of ever thinking about again.
“I think you’re very kind,” Ellory said.
It was raining, Falmouth had more clarity on this day than most.
He had held up his tentacles to shelter Ellory from the cold, spine-tingling raindrops. Lucas and Ashen were talking quietly in an empty cave nearby. They had invited Ellory in but she had refused.
Caves were boring.
Tentacle shelters were not.
“My parents were kind,” Ellory continued. “You remind me of them. You all do.”
Falmouth looked down at her.
“Do you miss them?” he asked quietly.
Ellory was quiet for a moment.
“Yes,” she said. “But they’re watching over me, I’ll be alright.” She looked up at the sky. “I wish the clouds would go away. Then they’d be able to see me again.”
Falmouth looked up at the sky too. A murky grey.
The ocean had been a few shades bluer when it had crashed onto the ship, leaving destruction in its wake and swallowing its victims whole.
Falmouth remembered screaming.
“I’m sure they’d be very proud of you.”
Ellory turned to him. She smiled.
Falmouth blinked.
The only reaction to say he’d understood.
Ashen was suddenly very conscious of how small he was compared to Falmouth.
“We were friends?” Falmouth asked.
Lucas nodded. “Until Daemys betrayed us, we never really forgave him after that.”
Falmouth looked sad.
“Are we gonna see Daemys?” Ashen asked Lucas. Lucas frowned.
“Why wouldn’t we?”
“He betrayed us,” he said simply. “He was still with the Dawn Chorus in prison, just because he didn’t betray us this time doesn’t mean he’s now a good person.”
Lucas could see Ashen’s reasoning and chose to ignore it.
“He deserves his memories back,” he argued. “What he decides to do after that is up to him.”
“Alright,” Ashen grumbled.
Falmouth placed a massive tentacle on Lucas' shoulder, almost making him fall into the water due to the weight.
“You’re a good person Lucas.”
“I can’t believe this.”
“The audacity.”
“Who does he think he is, that bald fu-”
Daemys had opened a hair salon.
“Well that’s ironic,” Falmouth said, and crawled his way to the door.
Ashen and Lucas shared a look before following their tentacled friend into the establishment.
Lucas wasn’t quite sure if a giant squid would scare off the customers but he didn’t have the heart to tell Falmouth to wait outside.
“Welcome, do you ha-”
Naturally, Daemys was quite stunned at the sight.
“Wait a minute.” Daemys frowned and peered at the three of them. “You’re those fellas from the prison.”
“Keen eye,” Ashen remarked dryly.
“We’ve got something to tell you, Daemys,” Lucas said. “You might want to sit down.”
“So you’re telling me… we went on a mission together…I betrayed you… and there’s three months of my memory that vanished because it technically didn’t happen.”
“Basically.” Lucas nodded.
Daemys was sitting in a salon chair with Lucas and Ashen stood in front of him. Ashen wasted no time in telling Daemys how badly he had betrayed them. Lucas personally would have had a little more tact.
Oh and Falmouth was in a large basin soaking quite happily in hot soapy water.
“Damn.” Daemys rubbed his face.
“We want to get your memories back,” Lucas said more gently. “Do you want to help us?”
“How.. how would we even go about that?”
“Ellory was there with us,” Ashen said. “It’s possible she might know something or at least if she doesn’t she has missing memories too. Surely she would help.”
“And how are we meant to talk to the princess?” Daemys asked, still unconvinced. “She’s the princess.”
“Have faith Daemys.” Falmouth waved a tentacle.
Ashen grinned. “I have a plan.”
Two weeks later…
Ellory sighed.
“You four again?”
Ashen, Lucas, Daemys, and Falmouth looked up from their cells and waved.
“Did you miss us?”