Chapter 11: Conflict

"Why did you want to see that injury, of all things?" Ash asked, looking at Eclipse who was busy staring at the painting once again. Hoping for some kind of memory to come back to him but nothing. That woman just seemed familiar.

"I might be able to determine just how bad the injury was and how badly I am affected by it." Eclipse said nonchalantly, looking at the paintings a little closer. He did not plant another device on the man because he did not think he needed to do that. "Can I have one of these paintings?"

"Taken a fancy to her? I didn't think the innocent looking ones were your type." Ash said, lazily sitting on his chair, eyes on Eclipse's back, a sort of intensity burning in them.

"It's nothing like that. There is something familiar about this woman. I don't know where or why but … I think that I might be able to remember something if I keep looking at her."

Walking back to his seat, Eclipse gave the man an innocent smile, "Can I?"

"You will need to bring it up to Hler about that." He said nonchalantly, or at least he was trying to appear nonchalant. But Eclipse read through him almost immediately. "But he might allow you to keep a painting. He has hundreds of it anyway."

"Was she someone important to him? He seems quite fond of her."

"Perhaps he was. He is one of the older Vampires I know of. Some of the older Werewolves of our family would be able to testify of how much he cared about this woman." Ash said, a slight fondness in his voice as he talked about the older Werewolves in the family.

Family, huh? So this is indeed not an organization. Or, even if it was, it seems to be a very tight-knit organization. I wonder what year it is and where I am exactly. This is the city Lorix, from what I saw on the map but that did nothing to tickle any of my memories. Nothing about this place feels familiar.

"A penny for the thoughts on your pretty head?" Ash said, flipping a coin to Eclipse, who caught it immediately before realizing that he caught it. "You must have been a very impressive person in the past, Eclipse."

"What makes you think that?" Eclipse asked, flipping the coin and burying it in his hands, turning to Ash. "Heads or tails?"

"From what I observe, you seem that way." Ash leaned on his table, looking intently at the man and then his hands, thinking. "Tails."

"Nope. Heads." Eclipse said without looking. He opened his hands to reveal the tail end of the coin, sticking his tongue out at him. "You lose."

"Let me try." Eclipse handed the coin to the man and watched him flip it before covering the coin. "Alright, heads or tails."

"Tails." Eclipse said confidently and it took one look at the coin for Ash to realise that he was right and the former did not even need to look at the coin to know it.

"How did you know?"

"Well, you just observe the side the coin was flipped and you will be able to guess." Eclipse lied, smiling innocently at the man. "That is what I did anyway."

Not true. You cannot predict the side the coin is going to fall on by the starting, but you can by the ending. If your eyes are fast enough and you are able to tell the differences between the head side of the coin and the tail side, then guessing the side it lands on is easy.

But I have no intention of revealing everything I know to them. Scatter some half-truths here and there, some lies and some truths and no one will ever be able to predict your movements.

Well, unless you are not careful because you most certainly must be careful to make sure your lies and truths match up well enough. Otherwise, you will never be trusted again.

"You certainly are incredible, Eclipse." The man said, leaning on the table again as he looks up at the red-haired man with admiration in his eyes. "I wonder … what kind of person were you with your memories."

"I must have been someone incredibly dangerous and annoying, given that I was cursed by the Deities, not to mention my memory is taken away."

"Have you thought … maybe it is a good thing you do not have your memories? Maybe this is the way of the Deities giving you a chance to live a better life?" Ash asked, watching the man take a sip of the cold tea, not bothered by the temperature at all.

Tea. Huh? I know of it but the taste is not something registered in my memories so … I guess it is alright? Perhaps it would taste better if it was warmer. Was tea supposed to be warm or cold? I think I had both.

Anyway.

Shaking his head as he placed the dainty teacup on the saucer, "I do not think so. If I had done something very wrong, I should try to atone for it. Even if my memories are unpleasant, I do not wish to forget them."

"Why not?"

"Memories make a person, Ash. Memories are the reasons why people do what they do, good or bad. In your memories, you have met people, interacted with them, been in situations together. You learn something from the good memories and the bad.

"Not to mention, there are some people forgotten from the world, but if they remain in your memories, they are never truly gone." Placing a hand on his heart, Eclipse smiled gently, eyes on the outside world filled with nothing but trees for as far as the eye could see. "I do not wish to insult the people I was with by forgetting the times we may have spent together.

"Perhaps there was someone I loved dearly. Perhaps there was a friend who is to be my lifelong companion in arms. Perhaps I made a promise to someone dear."

The moment Eclipse said that, he felt his chest tighten but he still could not understand why. Did I make a promise to someone?

"Perhaps, you hurt someone so badly that you do not wish to remember what happened. Perhaps they hurt you and have gone on with their lives instead." Ash added, arms crossed over his chest with a slight frown on his face. "Not all memories are good, Eclipse. Many wish to forget parts of their memories. Your situation would be considered a blessing to some."

Chuckling, Eclipse played with the liquid in his cup, staring at his own reflection and his scared up hands, "You are not wrong. But I do not consider it a blessing, not for my case. In a way, when I lost my memories, I lost myself.

"Not to mention, I woke up wearing clothes that were not mine, and right now, I am in a place I know does not belong to me. My memories are the things I can say truly belong to me but now that I have lost them, I have nothing in the world."

The two silently looked at each other for a couple of seconds, the air growing slightly tensed as they pondered over each other's words, allowing the silence to settle in the room.

"I suppose I can understand where you are coming from." Ash finally spoke up, smiling at the man. "I would be a problem if I lost my memories too."

Placing his hand over the man's, Eclipse genuinely smiled at him, "I pray that never happens to you."

Whether that will be a blessing or a curse on you will entirely be up to you and how you treat me, dear Aseko. Just because I know your name does not mean I trust you and that is the same thing vice versa.

I do hope we get along though. That would be wonderful, because I do not want to harm you any more than I need to.

________________________

"Here are the papers." Hler came back with a file in his hands, giving the file to Eclipse who began flipping through the pages, still looking as calm as ever. "They might be a little difficult to read so I took the liberty to write the observations in simple language for you."

Looking at the other papers in front of him, Eclipse took them and nodded, thanking Hler who seemed quite proud of himself as the two observed Eclipse looking at the file and the papers, trying to discern the alphabets used.

They … they must know that I can read this, right? I can read a dead language, there is no way I can't read this just because the person has handwriting that looks like someone tried to teach a chicken to write.

The translation is quite accurate, some things here and there are missing but those are unimportant. At least they were honest with me about this.

"Back of the skull was caved in?" Eclipse asked, looking at the x-rays, wincing slightly as he stared at the skull that looked like a massive ball went in. "How did I survive that?"

"Forget survive, you made a full recovery, almost like you were not injured in the first place." Hler laughed as he stood beside Ash who was still observing Eclipse closely. "You are called the 'Miracle Patient' now, Eclipse."

"Who is calling me that ridiculous name?" Eclipse asked, placing the paper down on the table just as the three felt something tense in the air, getting to their feet as the doors flew open, a strong breeze of air entering the room just as Eclipse's arm was suddenly ripped out.

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