Fr@gm3n+5: Do You Find It Hard To Remember?

[Story Keeper]

~- Felt the Words Come Out -~

Anna sat there, waiting for Shiro to say something; hoping that he'd say something. Feeling a dull throb start up behind her eyes, she closed them and rested her head on her knee; thinking about the recent turn of events. She didn't know how long she sat there, listening to the sounds of both of their breathing before she was pulled down into the realms of sleep. All she knew was that what she was about to see, was something she wouldn't want to see ever again.

"Why do you have to be so damn stubborn!?"

The angry shout caused her to whip around, furious tears coming to her eyes. They never fought like this, not even when things were extremely stressful that time her mother was in the hospital. Clenching her fists tightly, she closed her eyes and tried to fight back the urge to scream back at him. This wasn't happening, there was no way this was happening. Opening her eyes again, she leveled a cool look at him and whispered, "That's enough, you need to cool off before you say something you'll regret." Anna wasn't sure if he'd listen to her; he could be so stubborn when he got in this kind of mood. Turning her head away, she wasn't sure what she was supposed to say to calm him down this time around.

"And what about you?"

Rubbing the heel of her palms against her eyes; she desperately wanted to shake him and make him see reason. "I'm perfectly calm, you're the one being unreasonable at the moment." She hissed softly, her patience slowly unraveling from the stupidity of this argument. Watching as her boyfriend got ready to open his mouth again, she felt the last piece of her temper fray. "Just shut up! Why can't you see that this argument is totally stupid? We shouldn't be fighting like this, but you're not listening to me; just like how he doesn't listen to me. It's infuriating, and you want to know something? If you're going to continue to be an asshole; you can. But I'm not going to continue with this, or at least not today; so now if you'll excuse me, I'm leaving." She shouted, tears falling silently from her eyes as she spun around and ran from the room.

Eyes snapping open, Anna looked around her; confusion flashing in her eyes as she tried to figure out what the fight was all about. What had they been fighting over? Who was she fighting with? Shaking her head, she glanced back at Shiro and sighed, before she rested her head on her knee again and waited for something to happen to signal the start of the next phase of this demented game.

~- Won't Cry For Me, Not Now -~

Mirror was silently relieved as they came out in the next district, briefly throwing a glance over her shoulder; she focused back in front of her and kept moving. She didn't want to pause long enough for some of the other Collectors to catch up; most certainly if any of them were the more antagonistic ones to boot. Realizing that she'd pulled ahead of Rika, she let loose an undignified huff and leaned against a building; the skyscraper stretching high into the overcast sky. Digging her nails into the skin of her upper arms, she felt the tears prick her eyes as a memory washed over her with the pain. But unlike most memories being felt, she could tell this one was twisted somehow; it wasn't a true memory.

She'd seriously messed up this time.

Her "father" was going to see that she'd gotten proper retribution, racing through the rain soaked streets; she pushed back the fear that kept swelling up. Rounding the corner, she saw the porch light flick on as her father yanked open the door; his shadow looming in the doorway causing her to stumble to a stop. "Mirror, you'd best get over here right now!"

Surprised that he knew she'd rounded the corner, the albino girl stared at his shadowy form for several heartbeats. Shaking her head to clear the fog, she quickly got moving again; and it didn't take more than five minutes to reach the front gate. Pushing the gate open, she shut it behind her and felt the trembles start up as she turned to face the man. Shakily making her way up the pathway, she stopped on the bottom step and stared up at the man standing in the doorway. His tan skin and auburn hair seemed darker than she remembered; but his green eyes were flat out chilly. A squeak of fear escaped her as his hand shot out and latched onto her upper arm; and she knew without a doubt that there would be bruises...again.

A whimper slipped past as she was hauled up to stairs, staring into the man's eyes with tear filled ones of her own; Mirror shivered as he spat, "What kept you so long, girl?" Dropping her gaze, Mirror knew that no matter how she answered that question; it wouldn't be enough. Willing herself not to scream or fight, Mirror felt just like a china doll as her father dragged her into the house and slammed the door shut behind her...

A whimper escaping her, she opened eyes she hadn't released she'd closed. Mirror looked around her, feeling the chill settle into her skin; she rubbed her arms and waited for Rika to catch up to her, all the while despising the reminder of how delicate she actually is.

~- Gonna Stick It Out -~

Siam fidgeted slightly as she waited for an answer; her eyes darting from Jack to Cheza and back again. Panic swelled in her chest as Cheza collapsed to the ground; holding her head like it suddenly exploded in pain. Bending down, she fought the urge to reach out and touch the other girl's arm to see if there was anything she could do to help out. Siam looked up at Jack, more than a little frightened before her eyes darted back down to Cheza.

They'd gotten the Game memory, hadn't they? So there wasn't any reason any of them should be on the verge of getting scrambled, right?

A frustrated scream nearly clawed its way free, but Siam pressed her lips into a thin line; locking the scream inside. Feeling a dull, throbbing ache start up right behind her eyes; Siam raised her hand to her forehead and rubbed it to try and ease some of the pressure. Closing her eyes to block out the light, she allowed her mind to wander temporarily....

The sun warmed the air, leading to her chilling outside with a good book and sipping from a glass of lemonade. Hearing the sound of running feet, Siam lifted her head to see a young redhead running toward her. Shutting the book, she carefully put it aside and looked the nine-year-old up and down, curiosity shining in her eyes. "What's wrong?" She asked carefully, trying not to let a small trace of her annoyance slip in her words. "Sammy, he's not listening to me!"

"Who won't listen to you?" Siam asked, looking at the girl in open curiosity. She watched as the girl opened her mouth to explain; when the memory suddenly switched to a different moment in time.

------ Stretching to help relax her muscles, the fourteen-year-old looked around her; trying to remember what it was she was supposed to be doing today. She felt the corner of her mouth lift up into a smile, making it where it seemed like she knew a secret and she didn't plan on telling anyone. Snatching her book off of the nightstand next to her bed, she bolted from her room and ran down the stairs; being careful that she didn't lose her balance and fall down the stairs.

Ducking into the kitchen, she looked around for the shopping list she knew her father had left out for her. A smile spread across her face as she saw it lying on the counter, bolting over to it; she snatched it up and looked at it. A slight laugh escaping her at the list, and it didn't take her too long to spot the money lying on the counter next to the list. Picking it up, she shoved the money and the list into her backpack and called into the living room, "Thanks Dad! Tell Mom when she gets back that I'm gone to school and I'll pick the stuff up when I'm done."

"You're welcome, and be careful."

That earned a laugh from her, of course she'd be careful. Running out the door, she quickly hurried down the sidewalk so she wasn't insanely late for school.

Opening her eyes, Siam didn't look up to see if Cheza was standing again; or even to see where Jack was. Her mind just kept circling in on itself, cannibalizing her thoughts and memories; even as she tried to make sense of the first one, she felt a warmth spread through her with the second memory.

 

[Hazen Gregory]

Dictionaries were great items to have on hand if there was a word that needed some exact breaking down, so many words kept running through Absolon's head that he was feeling more jarred every few minutes. He was still laid back holding his Iphone after the stranger encounter from the mysterious figure and his mind had been plagued with the thoughts of an emptiness he needed to get rid of. He wanted so badly to find out everything that the enigma had said to him but before that could happen the game still needed to be played. Many stages ago back when the game was much simpler and at each and every turn there wasn't an anomaly, Absolon had been able to act as a harbinger with a greater aspect of ease than he could now. He had chosen to be a harbinger for a reason that might not make too much sense to the others. For him, it meant everything.

"I've lost so much of my life because of all this drama, I need to get back to the place I was at." Several thoughts flickered through his mind as he gazed up toward the ugly ceiling in the hotel room he was in. It was still such an early stage of the game that Absolon was unsure if he'd make it. "Coy, RHO III and The Psion all got torn apart in the last game and now this??" The three mentioned names were some of the collectors that had been quite powerful but still ended up dead in the last game due to a stack of power ups and sticker evolution used by fragments.

"Reprieve." A time of rest. An amount of time used to recuperate and constitute one's thoughts and future actions. "Reprieve." The hotel was a grand location for the fragments for the time being, but little did they know how serious things could end up getting in just a few short minutes. For their sake Absolon hoped they'd gotten at least a bit of rest. He didn't particularly care much if they or not, it would just be more of a fun time if he got to get involved with more fragments in a fresh state rather than being all worn down from their previous encounters.

"Oh...its time to go to work. I best get started before REM does something else crazy and make me believe I'm a toad."

Absolon looked at his phone after it went off, signaling that the next stage of the game was to begin via his actions. He purposely walked out from a room on the second floor of the hotel and walked down toward the end of the hall where there was a large pane window, "Heh I might as well just make this as quick as possible. No time needs to be wasted." Outside of the window on the opposite side of the hotel on the east side was a visible structure that had began to surface but wasn't completed yet. This was the monorail station that would lead all the fragments into district two if they all managed to make it out of the hotel before it was obliterated. "Activate City Break Protocol."

A black rod shot through the window causing it to shatter and rain pieces of glass outside into the street below. Slowly and surely the entire city started to breakdown in a sense as its data began to re-code itself into another format to be used within the game. It had begun, the other windows of the hotel also started to shatter one by one, all the while Absolon had descended to the street below where his hand was now braced against the side of the hotel.

"Too easy, tch..." Gravity began to distort the longer Absolon touched the building surface. First the building swayed a bit as the foundations beneath it was affected, increased gravity on many of the underlying structures of the hotel had broken support beams and spread like a disease to literally make the hotel begin to fall apart. Cracks ran up the sides of the structure as clunks of the building crashed to the ground as the hotel shook violently.

The city itself looked like it was taking the same type of damage the hotel was. Buildings were collapsing all over the place as the hotel continued to rattle and shake as it started to breakdown even further. White was now a frequent color in the city as patches of data were flitting through the air. Such data was just the game telling the fragments that their time was nearly up. The monorail station was now completely visible and nearly the only structure still standing in the city that hadn't already fallen or began to fade into obscurity. Static had also started to swarm from random areas around the collapsing hotel where Absolon was standing. So far REM had given the other collectors permission to stir things up for the fragments as they escaped to the station. "Like lambs to the slaughter..."

PROCEED TO THE ICEE TOP TRANSIT STATION
FAILURE TO DO SO WILL MEAN DEATH...​

Another message on Absolon's phone warned the harbinger about a player in the game named Courtney. "Who?? The chick with a level hack?? Please, I'm not worried about her...."