11 - Seer And Truth

“I don’t get it...”

“Why would I have completely forgotten someone that was supposed to be my...friend?”

“That’s impossible. Why would she consider doing that to me?”

“...”

“Is that...the only thing I forgot?”

Katya laid alone in bed, her own mind tormenting her with these types of questions. The more she thought about them, the more fear was instilled into her mind. The more she wished to just go back to the time where she never even assumed such an outcome was possible.

Outside, while the city of Prague was being brutalized, the moon served as a warning. Inside, it acted as a source of comfort for the lonely Katya who was confused and scared. She gazed at the ceiling of her room, and at the walls, and the pretty little decorations she put up everywhere that now appeared more unsettling than anything. She reached for her bedside table and from the very bottom of it grabbed a picture. Nightseer was on it, she was on it, and someone she didn’t recognize.

“Is this him? This is him, right? Reiner...”

“He has a cute smile. He looks strong. He...I wonder what type of person he was. If he was my friend, he had to have been a decent person, right? And Nighty must have liked him too.”

“But why would I forget about that? I forgot about him, and Nighty says that I don’t remember what exactly happened during my mission with LV2. So what is going on?”

“Aizawa swore that she would never use memory manipulation on us. As a matter of fact, she said that there was no point in using it. Yeah, she just...she just would never use it. So why have I forgotten? Why did she make me forget? He was...”

She looked at the photograph more. It was taken a long time ago.

‘I looked so happy here. Nighty was smiling. And Reiner looked happy too. Why did I forget about him? Because he’s dead? Did I forget him because I wasn’t allowed to think about his death?“

“Why...would that happen though?”

“What other people did I forget?!”

“Nighty...you reminded me of him, so please, can you tell me if I forgot anything else? Please, if there’s another person, or thing, or item, or anything, I...I’m scared of forgetting...I don’t even know what’s going on...”

“Will I even remember this day tomorrow?”

She heard a knock on the door. She was scared at first, but once she saw a face with a blindfold on come in, she was relieved.

“Nighty...”

“Katya? Are you feeling alright?” Nightseer asked, approaching her and locking the door behind him. “Is anything wrong?”

“I’m scared...” Katya said in a truly weak voice. “Why would...Lady Aizawa do that to me? Why did she make me forget about my friend?”

“Katya, listen to me closely.” Nightseer said. “Lady Aizawa and the Nachtvessels are not here right now. They’re not anywhere near, I’m sure of it. My senses aren’t lying to me. We need to talk.”

“Ah o-okay.” Katya said, sitting up. “Then let’s talk...I want to know the truth.”

“I saw what she and the Nachtvessels were doing out there.” Nightseer said. “They were using memory manipulation on soulfuls and converting them into servants. We’re going into war. But...”

“Nighty...” Katya said. “I need to know why...”

“It’s because she needed you to be efficient in combat. She needed you to concentrate so you could come up with the design of LV3.” Nightseer said. “That’s why. You were grieving, and it was messing with your perception of things.”

“But...why?!” Katya yelled. “If she wanted me to focus, she could’ve just...helped me! She saved us once, right? She could help us again!”

“About that...”

“...huh?”

“Katya, I’m also scared. I’m as scared as you are.” Nightseer said. “I was throwing up for the last hour or so. But I need to know what you want. Do you want to know what my theory is, or do you want to keep things as they are?”

“I wanna know what happened!” Katya instantly replied. “If that Reiner guy was my friend, that means I cared about him as much as I care about you, right? And I’d probably never forgive myself if I forgot you!”

This story originates from NovelBin. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“Then listen to me closely.” Nightseer said. “Do you remember anything before waking up in that hospital bed back then? Do you remember anything before that?”

“I don’t.” Katya said. “We were all in a coma, right?”

“...”

“Nighty, we were in a coma, right?” Katya asked. “I remember that. I remember everything. Lady Aizawa saved us.”

“Katya, I’m sorry.” Nightseer said.

“She said she’d never!” Katya lashed out.

“And yet she did it. That picture...do you think it’s fake?” Nightseer asked, sitting down next to her and grabbing the photo. “It’s real.”

“You mean we had lives before the coma, right?” Katya asked. She suddenly calmed down, as if these lines of thoughts weren’t completely alien to her. “I...I’ve thought about that option before.”

“You did?”

“Yes.” Katya said, lying back down. “I would think about what Aizawa’s ability is and about my condition. In the end, I’d say that there was no way that would ever be the case. I trusted that Lady Aizawa, who took good care of us, wouldn’t ever have done that to us.”

“...”

“But now that she made me forget about my friend, and maybe even other things I’ll never remember...” Katya said. “You guys probably don’t get it. But you two are like family to me. What kept me away from acting on those intrusive thoughts was the fact that I enjoyed this life. We got to do stuff together, we got to go on missions and get into really cool fights, we had a roof, and...”

“We weren’t alone.” Nightseer said. “It was fun.”

“I wonder how much fun I had before the coma.” Katya said. “I wonder if I had friends like you. Probably no, haha, everyone else is a loser compared to you.”

“I wonder what kind of life I had too.” Nightseer sighed.

“Nighty, be honest.” Katya said. “Would you rather have never found out about this? Would you rather we just...never thought about things?”

“A part of me says that. That’s the part that wanted to spend time with you and the late Reiner.” Nightseer said. “But I also need to know the truth. I can’t let myself live in a lie.”

“But we’ve lived in one for so long. And we had so much fun.” Katya said. “What’s the point anymore? What if this is just another lie? What if Lady Aizawa decided to optimize our brains again?”

“She won’t.” Nightseer said.

“Why?”

“Katya, let’s run away.” Nightseer said. Katya’s eyes lit up like fireworks under a pitch black sky. “Let’s get the hell out of here and just live the rest of our lives as who we are right now.”

“You...mean it?” Katya asked, baffled.

“We can’t bring back whoever we were until we got here, but...” Nightseer postured up. “But what we can do is live the rest of our lives as who we are now.”

“You’re right.” Katya said with a light blush. “I wonder what type of person I was. Maybe I was some dork, maybe I was the most popular girl around...maybe I was the same card game addict as I am right now.”

“I wonder too.” Nightseer said, caressing his blindfold. “There’s probably a truth behind this too.”

“What type of person was Reiner?” Katya asked. “Well, at least, what type of person was he before his death?”

“Oh, he was a great guy. He was a great and reliable guy.” Nightseer said. “He was pretty strong too, he had a really nice and versatile ability. He was funny, he was relaxed, he pretended that he didn’t care about stuff but deep down he held us close to his heart. He decided to not back down when we were getting hunted down by that insane ice manipulator...that was his downfall. And he was hilariously bad at every game we played.”

“I see...” Katya said. She closed her eyes for a bit, and opened them again, her voice now a bit more confident. “Nighty, I don’t want to lose who I am right now. Even if it might not be the real me, because I’ve changed so much...I don’t want to lose this version of myself.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Because I imagine I was really happy before Reiner died.” Katya said. But hey, I still have you.”

“Well, I’m flattered to hear that.” Nightseer said. “I’m happy to have you by my side as well.”

“Nighty, you don’t have anything missing from your head, right?” Katya asked.

“No. I’m immune to memory manipulation.” Nightseer said.

“...huh?!”

“Well, not exactly immune, but...” he explained. “The warning system that is a part of my soul expression alerts me when something is about to strike, and gives me a small window to parry it. If Aizawa were to try using it on me, she’d have to make a sneak attack, which is fundamentally impossible to pull off against me.”

“Then how did you-”

“I wasn’t a strong soulful back then. I wasn’t strong enough to parry it, probably.” Nightseer said. “That’s why the first thing I remember in my life is a warning right before waking up. For some reason, the memory of that warning remained in my mind.”

“In that case, promise me something.” Katya said, sitting back up, looking at Nightseer with pleading eyes. “Promise that if I ever forget something, you’ll be there to remind me about it, okay?”

“I promise.” Nightseer smiled. “We’ll get the hell outta here. And even if these may not be our real names, let’s continue living as Nightseer and Katya, okay?”

“Yeah.” Katya nodded, slowly standing up. “Let’s go.”

“Is LV3 ready?”

“It is, but...the size is as large as LV1 and it’s a cockpit-based design.” Katya said. “Remote piloting is for cowards, LV3 is just a massively improved version of LV1.”

“Hah, you retained that arrogance of yours, it looks like.” Nightseer said, and they laughed.

“I wonder what would happen if we never had this conversation.”

“I wonder how scary it would be if our memories were reset again. We’d never remember all these great times, all these laughs, these tears, this honesty and friendship. We might have woken up and chosen to go our separate ways altogether.”

“The soulful that Lady Aizawa captured to reel the Heisei into a war had a life too, right? He probably had his own memories, his own friends...and now all of that is gone. And he might never even realize what he had lost or even if he had lost anything in the first place. He might forever be left a Nachtvessel, a mindless, ruthless soldier.”

“At least we won’t play any part in it.”