[Zerlina]

“Dammit!”

The world seemed all the emptier as Magus left.

I need to get her out now before I have to leave too…

Her eyes swelling with tears and her hands covered in silvery blood, Titania lay with her face upon the shore, angrily digging her knives into the sand. For a moment Malice watched, unsure of what to do. As he stood there, he observed that she was not a child at all, but rather the way she was they had first met- the day of Zera Shaal’s death. She’s changed so much he thought, and began to wonder about his own demeanor since he’d first come to Gracia.

Looking at his fading hands, he swallowed hard, and sat beside her, trying to be as calm as possible while the world fell around them.

“Your parents…?”

She looked up at him and nodded “I just saw my father on the floor…”

“Do you know about your mother?”

She shook her head “No. I was supposed to go out and find her, but the storm became too strong, and I just-”

“It will be alright. I’m sure she’s fine.” He spoke with the sweetness usually reserved for children.

“I don’t know what to do now.” She muttered, more to herself “Everything’s falling apart.”

“Well first of all…give me those knives…” He motioned for the objects, and she obeyed, sitting up and passing the weapons to him; they fell through his hands.

“Why is that happening to you?” she asked, as the blades hit the ground, their weight forcing the sand to shift to their form.

“It’s…it’s nothing. Don’t worry.”

“No, no…something’s wrong! And your chest! It’s bleeding…” for a moment she seemed unaware until finally it dawned on her “…I did that…”

“You thought that Phoenix was commanding you. I understand.” He tried to put a hand on her shoulder but his form was far from solid. Realizing the urgency, he moved the conversation “Listen, I know that this is hard, but you’re going to have to listen to me.”

Unsure, she looked at him, searching his eyes for anything suspicious; they were blue, she noted, and as she did so, the sea re-appeared.

“Fine…I’ll listen…” she said, still disturbed by the wound on his chest.

He was silent- that was as far as his plan had gotten.

“First-”

“Look out!” she interrupted and pulled him back as a rock from the cliffs came tumbling down toward him.

“How did you-!?” He suddenly realized that his form had started to materialize again “…Titania, do you remember me?”

“How do you know my name?”

“It doesn’t matter! Do you remember me?” he repeated, a little louder.

She searched his face “I can’t remember ever meeting you.”

“But do you know me?”

“How can I know you if I've never met you?”

“Just pretend that doesn’t matter. Don’t try to make sense. Do you remember me?”

She looked once more at his eyes and as she did so, the ocean deepened in colour and calmed.

“I think you look familiar.”

He nodded, seeing she was beginning to recall him “And look!” he took her hands, moving them so her palms were face-up “Look at your hands! How did you get these cuts?”

She stared at them in confusion “I…I don’t know.”

“It was an accident.” He spoke rapidly, in a desperate attempt to make her remember before it was too late “Last night in the woods, Magus and I were fighting.”

Suddenly they were no longer on the shore of Madain Sari, but in the forest of Phantasm

“Yes, that’s right! This is it!” he exclaimed, pulling her to her feet “And do you remember this?”

He showed her the pendant, which hung off his neck.

“That’s from the High Priestess!” she cried, “How did you-?”

“You gave it to me. On the airship.”

“But I’ve never been on an airship…”

“Yes you have! With Magus and I- and Glenn, Belial, Osirus, and…that kid…Barn…I think…”

“I don’t know these people!” she cried.

“You do! You do! Remember when you first came to Palis and you met us all?”

“Palis? I don’t even know what you’re talking about!” she exclaimed, starting to get frustrated. She tried to leave, but he would not let her go.

“Listen to me!” he cried “You can’t leave and you have to listen or you’ll be lost here.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about and I don’t know who these people are! I don’t understand!” she yelled back at him.

As she spoke, the destruction became more intense, her memories shattering and collapsing into dust. The forest disappeared and the stormy shores returned. Above them, the sky grew more violent and the earth began to shift beneath their feet. Malice became more frantic.

“Listen!” he cried, “Try to remember- this place! Or some other place! Anywhere or anyone!”

“I’m trying!” she screamed, frustrated “Can’t you see I’m trying? I don’t know of anywhere else, and I don’t know you!”