Lost Memories of You
January 1st, 20XX
Feelings of an empty void is what his dream is. Being motionless, without feeling or sense. Without soul or the will to live. As if he sacrificed everything of his being...
Then a small light begins to appear. Somehow, his form approaches the light, little by little, until he goes through it.
Waking up, a young man feels as if he’s come out of a coma. When he looks around, he sees he is in a spacious room. The entrance is to his right at the other end of the room. There’s a drawer with a large mirror attached. When he looks to the left, he sees the window, with the light of the full moon coming through it, an open closet, with hangers already in it, along with a package on the floor. Looking down at himself, he sees he is on a mattress, ‘Where else would I be sleeping?’, and sees he’s wearing what appears to be a typical uniform, formal shirt, pants, jacket and all. When he takes off his jacket, he examines it and sees a black and white symbol on it, with it surrounded by a red outline, making it a circle. He puts it back on and gets up from where he was laying and then thinks to himself for a moment until he realizes: I don't know how I got here. When he ventures into his memory, all he recalls is his name, Minato Arisato, along with his twin sister’s: Kotone. When he tries to think of anything else, from what he was doing before to even who he knows, all he draws are blanks. He decides to examine the package, partially in the hopes that it might give him some answers. Opening it only leaves him with more questions. The first item he sees is a one handed saber. Beneath that, he takes out a closed blank envelope, opens it, and is presented with 5 million yen. What the hell? His confusion only grows as he sees some sort of pink orbs present, in total 10 of them, followed by a bunch of cards, and… 'are those actual explosives?' Beneath all the items present, he sees a message with a velvet border.
"Savior of man, we have brought you back from the Great Seal in order for you to aid the trickster in this rigged game."
-Elizabeth.
“Ok. Just seeing this message, I’m convinced whoever this Elizabeth is is playing some sort of practical joke on me.”
Half convinced this was either a joke or a dream, he decides to leave behind the items and the message and make his way to the door. He opens the door and is presented with a hallway. Upon entering the hallway, the door opposite of his opens. Coming out of said door is the only thing he was capable of remembering. Although her form was hard to make out in the darkened entryway, he was capable of recognizing that ebony hair and black female uniform mirroring the same style as his own.
“Mi...na...to...? Do you have any idea where we are or what's going on?” She sounds a little cautious due to her current circumstances being the same as her brother. Minato doesn’t blame her. Even he isn’t sure if the few memories he currently has aren’t lies.
“Wish I knew myself. Did you just wake up yourself… Kotone, right?”
“Yes. That’s my name… dear brother.” She nods and also takes out an envelope and a message. When she opens the envelope, it's another 5 million yen. “Ya jealous, Minato?”
“Naw..” A little annoyed with his reaction, she then presents another object, this time being a message. What's written on it leaves Minato thinking for a moment.
"Dear Messiah, we have brought you back in order to help the trickster in this rigged game. We apologize for any inconveniences brought from this."
-Theodore
Minato looks up to Minako and responds “You got one too?”
“Wait. You got one?” a bit of shock in her voice.
Minato sighs and points out the package in the room he came from. She goes to examine it and looks through all in it.
“Almost everything in it is the same as what I had in my room, as well. The only differences is who wrote our messages, and the weapon we got.”
“So you got one as well…” He decides to enter her room, seeing a similar package. The main difference is instead of a saber, he sees she was given a naginata.
“I’d say we take the weapons. We don’t know anything and for now, I’m assuming we were kidnapped.”
Both of them reconvene out of the rooms with the weapons they were provided. Upon wielding their respective weapon, both feel some semblance of familiarity with them. They venture down the hall to explore their surroundings more. There's two doors present before reaching a spiral staircase leading down.
As they descend the spiral staircase, they see the floor below has a kitchen, with a stove, counters, cabinets, and a fridge present. Another section is a dining area, having a rather luxurious table and seating set. The rest of the room is a guest area with three sofas, one illuminated by the moonlight coming through the window. On that sofa, they see a figure present in the moonlight. As they approach the embrace of the moon’s light, they see she is wearing a long velvet dress, with two rows of decorative buttons going down the front, and a belt going around her waist. Upon getting closer, they see her legs are covered by a set of black tights, and her hair is platinum, almost blonde color, with it reaching to her back. In her lap, she has a rather thick looking book, with the title of it being "Le Grimoire". When they begin to approach her, tense and clutching onto their weapons, she turns to them and speaks in a rather calm voice. “Please, do not be alarmed by my presence”.
Minato decides to take a risk and lowers his stance. Something about the aura she gives off seems… familiar.
Kotone follows the actions of her brother and takes the initiative in engaging the person who is before them in conversation “So you won’t attempt to kill us?”
The lady before them gives a slight chuckle before responding to that question “No, I assure you I mean no harm. I assume you have many questions right now. I will answer what is in my possibility.” She then signals them to take a seat on one of the available couches. The twins decide to follow this, but still keep their weapons to their side, still unsure of the whole situation.
Once seated, Minato initiates while Kotone thinks of the questions to ask while the conversation goes on. The two agree to alternate who asks. “So tell us,” Minato asks “Do you know us?”
The woman in velvet responds “I don't know you per se. However, I have met you before and have seen the potential you two wield.”
Kotone follows up on the woman's response with the question. “So, you’ve met us before. Were you the one responsible for bringing us here?”.
“Partially. I was assisted by my siblings in bringing you here. They were the ones who came up with the idea.”
'Siblings, huh?'
“By chance,” Minato asks, “do you know about the messages and items left in each of the rooms we woke up in?”
The woman responds “Yes. They were left there by my siblings.”
“So your siblings are Elizabeth and Theodore I’m assuming. So what is your name?”
“My name is Margaret”
“So Margaret, why did you and your siblings even bring us here?”
“Normally, when a new wildcard appears, our master is there to help guide them through their journey. However, an outside force has…sealed away our master, and this force is in control of this ‘game’, if you will.”
The twins had to stop asking questions for a minute to process what the older woman in front of them just said.
'She said “when a new wildcard is chosen”, and judging by the way she said it, it’s implying as if…'
Before Minato could finish his thought, Kotone ends up asking a question he hoped he wouldn’t have to.
“You said ‘when a wildcard appears’. What exactly is a wildcard?”
Margaret takes a moment and looks at the two of them, a little concerned, before speaking. “A wildcard is one who is capable of using the bonds they form to be granted greater power. It manifests in the form of personas. You two are such examples. Do you not remember that?”
Minato ends up having to reveal the truth to Margaret. “When we both woke up, the only things me and Kotone remember are the fact we are siblings.”
Judging from the immediate facial response from her, mixed between shocked and mortified, she hadn’t expected that from Minato. When Margaret turns to Kotone and asks if her memory is the same as her brother’s, she simply looks down to avoid eye contact with the older woman and nods.
“This... isn’t what I expected…”
“Well, now that we told you what we know, can you at least tell us -” Before Minato could finish speaking, the main door that was the entryway to wherever the twins had woken up opened dramatically. All the heads in the room turned to where the loud ruckus came from.
Coming through the door were two figures. The first one who was leading and had been assumed to open the door (judging by the boot imprint left on the door) was a woman wearing a velvet colored dress, with a pattern of five large black circles going down the front of the dress, with small yellow circles being present in each one. She also had a set of blue knee high boots on her and a set of long blue gloves on her. Her hair is the same color as Margaret's, however, her hair was much shorter, instead being fashioned into a bob cut. The aura she has is also similar to that of Margaret. While Margaret's aura was calming, the one of the new person was imbued with energy and curiosity. It also felt much more familiar than the one Margaret presented. While another person entering wouldn’t have bothered Minato or Kotone, this was an exception due to the fact she was aiming a shotgun at them!
“FBI! OPEN UP!! Oh, how I’ve always wanted to say that!”
She held the gun in her hands with much admiration, wildly swinging the barrel of it left and right.
“Elizabeth, please. Be careful while holding that. And we apologize for the abrupt entrance.” Behind the woman, is a tall lean male behind her, having the outfit of a bellboy, with the coloring of his clothing being a combination of blue, white, and black, matching with that of Elizabeth. In his hands, he has a cat with black fur, but a patch of white on his nose, the inside of his ears, and the end of its tail.
“Since she’s Elizabeth, I’m guessing you’re Theodore?”
“Of course.”
Once they enter the room, the cat Theodore has in his arms is passed off to Margaret.
“Puurrrrrr…”
“Seems he really enjoys the feeling of sleeping on someone’s lap.”
Once both of them enter, Elizabeth stores away her shotgun in one of the rooms and then both join the three of them in the guest area.
“So Minato. Kotone. How are you feeling at the moment?”
Margaret manages to hide her expression from Elizabeth and Theodore, however, the twins aren’t as successful. Both of them have the heads down, not wanting to make eye contact with them. Their feelings of insecurity are noticeable to Elizabeth and Theodore.
“Did we, by chance, make a bad impression on you when we entered?’
“No, it isn’t that... “
Minato decides to be the one to break the atmosphere of the room.
“We’re sorry…just by how you treat us and talking to us, we can tell we’re special people to your lives, but...we...we don’t remember anything...not about you...not even about ourselves... nothing.”
Both Elizabeth and Theodore are shocked by the revelation, but their demeanor doesn’t change. Instead, they both pulled their respective wildcard to them, and embracing them, tears beginning to form in their shining yellow eyes.
“As long as we can be by your side again...we’ll help you...in whatever way we can.”
“We would never abandon you...You left an impression on us that could never be broken...”
Just from the embrace, the Arisatos twins knew Elizabeth and Theodore were people they could trust.
“Thank you Elizabeth... Theodore…”
“We can tell you care about us... we’ll do whatever we have to...together…”