Chapter 404 How To Jog Memories 101

"I'm a Fox Spirit. You and I went to this other Realm called Daros together. You met and saw a lot of other Fox Spirits and I have a companion that looks like me. His name is Keng. Do you remember any of this?" Lee Seng looked at Ritsuka as his shocked and scared face tried to remember.

"N-no… I don't… Please don't eat me." Ritsuka whimpered.

"I'm not going to eat you! You thinking I'm gonna rape you, steal your soul makes me want to eat you!"

"Ah! Don't!" Ritsuka ran forward. Lee Seng swiped the blade and grabbed Ritsuka and the next thing Ritsuka knew, he was hitting the wall. Ritsuka gasped for air as he slid to the floor. Obsidian Glass shook has its master coughed.

"How the hell do I break a memory spell? I thought revealing the actual memory would make someone remember…" Lee Seng whispered. Ritsuka lifted his hand and Obsidian Glass flew in to his hand. He jumped up, quickly and swung for Lee Seng. He was honestly too scared and shocked that his rationality wasn't… well, being rational.

Lee Seng deflected the attacks and watched as Obsidian Glass went straight for the wall. It bounced off the wall as Ritsuka used that momentum to slash, again. Lee Seng blocked the attack with hand and held onto the blade. The blade spilled blood as Lee Seng looked into Ritsuka.

"My eyes. They're red and blue, right?" Lee Seng asked.

'What does that have to do with anything?' Ritsuka asked. His fearful look made it hard for Lee Seng to read anything on his friend.

"They were always like that. They were the start of my tails and my fox ears."

"But you don't have fox ears!"

"I know! I don't know why but… If I had Keng… KENG!" Lee Seng started to shout for Keng. Nothing happened as Ritsuka ripped the sword out of Lee Seng's hand. Lee Seng yelped in pain as he stumbled backwards, clutching his hand near his chest. "Dammit the hurts, Ritsuka! I'm not going to do anything bad to you, I swear! You, out of all the others, saw Keng first! I didn't even know about it! You told me you saw him in the Sewers when we fought that hound guy, remember?"

"You were naked…" Ritsuka recalled. His head began to hurt. Obsidian Glass dropped to the floor as he clutched his head.

"It wasn't me. That was Keng! You saw Keng and came to check on me after making sure Liz was okay. You called for help and checked on everyone. You came to check on me and noticed I had clothes on."

"And you did…!" Ritsuka agreed. "Why am I…?!?"

"To break her spell you need to remember key details. You know its the truth! Deep in mind you have the proof!" Lee Seng tapped his head. "You saved us that day and you didn't say anything because you thought it was a concussion making you see things! You saw me taking a swim and I had two tails. Remember that? You were the first one to suspect something was up!"

"You… You were… You had a fight with Keng!" Ritsuka shouted.

"Yes!"

"You told me because you trusted me. You showed me Realmwalking! You proved it!"

"Yes!" Lee Seng ran and hugged him. "You do remember!"

"Oh my god. What the hell?!?" Ritsuka shouted. The two hugged and jumped for awhile until Ritsuka realized what was happening and shoved Lee Seng away. "Why didn't I remember all of that?"

"Well…" Lee Seng looked down. "I have a sneaking suspicious I know who's capable of doing such a thing… But I don't know how she could do that."

"She? Who?" Ritsuka asked.

"Nicole. Number 1."

"Nu-number one is capable of… Doing such a thing?"

"I don't know. She managed to get me which is weird cause I usually have a strong mental wall against her… It's always been like that but she got in… I feel like she still has that grasp on me even now."

"W-what do we do?"

"I don't know."

"Should we ask Keng about this?"

"He didn't answer me. I tried to call him earlier but you ripped your sword out of my hand and sliced me up." Lee Seng pointed at him. The two of them looked at the blood on the floor.

"Ah, shit. I'm sorry. I thought you were trying to be a creep and rape me." Ritsuka apologized.

"It's fine. After what I did to you last night… I deserve that assumption… I-I won't go near you until you're comfortable with it, again… I-I'm really sorry. I just…" Lee Seng's lip quivered. He could feel his snot running and he turned. He sniffed as he wiped his nose and rubbed his eyes. "I didn't know what to do, Ritsuka. I was so alone. I wanted someone to believe me. Keng's not here. It feels… Empty. Emptier than it did when he went to Daros a couple of times before the Group exam.

"I swore I heard him last night. I heard him but I'm not sure what that was… Am I just crazy? Am I… Am I losing it?" Lee Seng cried. He lifted his head up to stop the tears. Ritsuka gulped.

'I feel like an ass now.' Ritsuka sighed.

"H-hey… It's going to be—"

"It's been a while. I haven't felt him ever since the Pro—" Lee Seng's sobs stopped him from telling his other truth.

'I didn't even tell him that. What am I gonna do?' Lee Seng thought.

"Hey, it's going to be fine." Ritsuka stepped forward and knelt down. "I-I'm sorry for the way I acted."

"But anyone would've reacted that way!" Lee Seng cried in jumbled sobs. Ritsuka had trouble understanding but understood what Lee Seng was trying to say. "I've screwed so many things up. Y-you don't even know the other half of it!"

"The other half?"

"I'm a Number!" Lee Seng pounded his chest. Ritsuka looked and saw nothing.

"I don't see anything."

"It's there!" Lee Seng pounded. He looked down, wiping his tears and snot as he clearly saw the number. "Number 11. I have a Protocol serum in me. I have the power to mutate abilities but I didn't have one so I mutated the hell out of my physical abilities. My senses are sharp because of the mutation. I'm pretty sure I'm smarter because of it, too!"

"Holy crap. Slow down dude. Let's take a breather first. This is too much to take in."

"I KNOW!" Lee Seng sniffed. He let out a couple sobs before he wiped his tears and snot and continued. "And it gets worse!"

"Worse?" Ritsuka repeated. "How?" Lee Seng coughed as he tired to get his sobs in control.

"There's something more sinister that wasn't there before. There's—" Lee Seng suddenly froze. His sobs, his cries, his snot and tears all froze. Ritsuka watched as Lee Seng's, somewhat shut, eyes started to flicker purple.

'What the fuck is that?' Ritsuka thought.

"Lee? Are you alright?" Ritsuka slowly reached out to him. Lee Seng snatched Ritsuka's hand and pulled him in. He grinned as snot and tears ran down his face. Purple irises were staring at him.

"Poor sap finally got someone to believe him!" Eleven chuckled. "Too bad I have to say no to that. I can't let you help him." A surge of Dark Matter energy rushed into Ritsuka's systems. He could feel something invasive was prying its way in.

"What're you… doing… Lee Seng…?" Ritsuka collapsed onto the floor.

"I'm not Lee Seng." Eleven chuckled. He stood up and waddled around. The energy in the room temperature seemed to drop. It felt like winter. "I'm the Protocol that he was trying to talk about. And I don't like that you know so I'm going to make you forget. I'll bring you to the weakling on top and make sure you can't remember. I'll make sure she makes you hate him too. Once that's down, I'll rip away the rest of his so-called friends so he's truly alone. Then and only then, can I win this body for myself!"

"No… You won't…" Ritsuka gasped.

"Awh, you think you can stop me? You can't." Eleven squatted down and tilted his head. "His mind is so messed up right now, you know that? I even made him think I was that dumb Fox. Ha! He agreed to some life changing thing and he doesn't even know what it did to him. It might've given him some worthless tails but what is he really going to do with that? His Fox isn't here and can't be because I made sure to let Father's contraption work. And it does!"

"You… bastard…" Ritsuka lifted his hand up to Eleven. Eleven slapped it away and rolled his eyes.

"Bastard? No. I'm not even a bastard child. The term I like to be called is… Deimon. Deimon Eleven. The one who will rule this world and make slaves of these so-called Biohumans. I'll even fight my own brethren if I need to. So for now, bid adieu, kid. You aren't going to do a single— Argh." Eleven fell backwards. His throat closed and his hands instinctively went up to his neck.

'Wh-what's happening?' Eleven thought. 'What's happening?!?'