Everything was still white as her vision came to. At first, she held an arm over her eyes, thinking she'd been blinded by the light. However, she soon found that she was merely floating in a white abyss, contrasting the darkness that had surrounded her prior.

Where in the world was she now? Someone reached out to her...and before that...

She snapped her head up, recalling her Spiriter battling the Nightmare, worry overtaking her all of a sudden. "Xelha...!"

"Don't worry. She's still holding off the Nightmare to the best of her ability. But she won't be able to defeat them on her own."

The voice of the young girl reassured her, though it did little to calm her down. Now that she was somewhat lucid, she could recognize the voice completely, but she still wasn't sure. How could she talk to her like this, when she wasn't even 'connected'?

Rather than bring that up, the girl instead focused on that last statement. "Wh-What do you mean?"

"The only thing capable of defeating a Nightmare, other than a Keyblade wielder, is a Spirit."

"I know that! I mean, how can we defeat the Nightmare when we have don't either?"

"Audrey...you've been there the entire time."

...what? She shook her head, confused. "W-Wait, what're you talking about? I'm a Guardian Spirit, not a Dream Eater Spirit. And I don't have a Keyblade, either! How can I--"

"Look for yourself."

What looked to be a mirror suddenly appeared behind her. She was about to turn herself around completely to see, but when she turned her head, she startled. A detail she hadn't noticed before was now in clear view. A familiar symbol imprinted on the back of her shirt.

https://www.khwiki.com/images/b/bc/Symbol_-_Dream_Eater_%28Spirit%29.png

She reached her hand back, just barely grazing the symbol from over her shoulder. Her eyes were wide with realization.

"I'm...a Dream Eater...?"

"You became one when you dove into dreams. And by bonding with Kalas, you became a Spirit to protect him from the Nightmare of his heart."

"...just like Riku with Sora..." she murmured in understanding. However, she shook her head, this time out of doubt. "But...why him? After everything he did...throwing me away, erasing my memory...using me like a pawn...why do I have to protect him?"

There was silence for a long while, the pain festering in her heart continuing to well up. She could feel a reassuring hand on her shoulder, but for some reason, she could not see the other girl speaking to her now.

"...Audrey...you need to know the truth. That memory loss spell...you wanted them to cast it on you."

She snapped her head up, her eyes going wide. "Wh-What!?"

"You wanted to escape. You wanted to forget your life before you came here. So you only pretended to stop cooperating, knowing what they were going to do about it when you did.

"But Melodia saw through it. Instead, she made you forget what happened in the two years you were on this world, as well as everything you knew about it. By keeping the pain, she wanted you to give up when you were forced out."

"...." She wanted to deny this, argue that she would never let this happen if she knew it was coming. But...at the same time, she knew she wanted to get away from her home life. Would she really have gone so far as to...?

A sudden sharp pain struck in her mind, making her grab her head as she grimaced. She could feel it. A memory...



"Yeah. The ancient power is buried around here somewhere," Kalas answered the duchess, the two having made their way into Moonguile Forest for a specific arrangement. He then looked in the direction of his Guardian Spirit. "You'll help us, won't you Audrey?"

"...." Audrey just huffed and looked away, acting indignant. In truth, she would've gone along and found another way to stop this, but...if she refused like this, then maybe...

Frowning at her attitude, Kalas sighed and went on to explain. "Here's the plan. I'll claim to have been attacked by Rock Cats and lost consciousness. When I come to, I can say some memories were partially lost from the shock.

"Not mine, Audrey. Yours." The look in his eyes showed he was dead serious about this. "You'll have forgotten all about our plans and continue helping me. You and I are a team, Audrey."

"..." Only then did Audrey turn to look at her Spiriter. He was probably expecting her to argue or try to get him to stop out of desperation. But instead, she simply asked, "So you really wanna go through with this? There's really no other way?"

He shook his head, his eyes downcast. Out of regret? She couldn't tell; she was never good at reading people. "...nope. Sorry. There's no turning back..."

"..." She huffed again, looking away from them. "...fine. Do what you have to do."

He looked up, frowning in confusion. She was acting all defiant prior, but now she was just...accepting her fate. However, he chose not to question this; he never understood his Guardian Spirit anyway. Instead, he turned to face Melodia, lowering his head again.

"Okay, let's get this over with. Zap her memory for me."

With a single nod, Melodia summoned a ball of light, letting it float to Kalas' head. As soon as it made contact, not only did it knock the young man unconscious, but Audrey also felt herself blacking out. The past two years...her knowledge of this game and everything that happened...all gone in a flash. The last thing she remembered was the shrill, child-like laugh from Melodia, joyful that everything was going according to plan...



She became aware that she had fallen to her knees due to the strain. However, the aching was the last thing she mulled over, her eyes going wide once more.

It was true. She did want to forget, going along with the game's setup even when she knew she could've changed it by keeping silent. To think she could be so selfish...

However, it was also then that something occurred to her. She remembered something. Not just a vague hint of something that happened, but a complete memory.

Was it because of the certain memory witch that was with her now, if it was truly her?

As if sensing this, the voice answered her unspoken question. "They placed the spell to make you forget. But memories aren't truly lost. They're just hidden away, deep in your heart. If you look closely inside yourself, you might just find them."

"...look closely..." Taking those words to heart, Audrey closed her eyes, looking deep inside herself. If she could recall one memory, then maybe...

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lz-jFRuvA2o)