Narrator's Pov
Ryan entered the Wagon of the Astral Express, he had left Cocolia in there all alone, he wasn't really THAT worried about her, but with her being there the atmosphere could get tense pretty quic-
"No, No! The stripped blue one! It'll give you more points!"
"But if I do the red ones I can make the bomb go down and then combine It with the stripped one"
Why was March giving Cocolia some advice while she played on his phone?
"Uh? Is everything alright?" He approached a bit puzzled.
Both Cocolia and March looked up from the phone, and replied almost in complete sync. "Candy Crush!"
"...what?"
"She doesn't know ANYTHING about the game, a total Noob! So I'm giving her some advice" March stood up from the couch proudly pushing her chest out.
"I-I'm still learning" Cocolia tried to defend herself, she looked quite... embarrassed.
"I...see you two are having fun, huh?" Ryan looked at both of them with a nervous smile. "Maybe I don't have to worry that much..."
"M-maybe a bit..." March scratched the back of her head, slightly nervous. "Anyways! You are back, does that mean we can do that memory spell thingy?"
"I mean...we can, but again, it's complicated, we'll need some private space to do it, it's okay if we go to your room, March?"
"Sure! Let's go" her excitement was clearly evident in her voice.
"Okay, Cocolia you can...keep playing" he looked down at the sitting woman who nodded her head.
"I will..this game is so hard..." Her voice came out slightly angry as she eyed down at the phone.
"I didn't think she'd get so invested in it..." A small nervous laugh came out of Ryan before he looked at March. "Let's go"
"Mhm! Mhm!" March excitedly started to walk and Ryan soon followed her.
Barely a few minutes later, Match opened the door of her room, casually walking in while Ryan walked behind her, he looked around the room, mostly pink- but he wouldn't blame her, he did like the color after all...but what caught his attention the most was the wall filled with photos, he walked close to hit and March quickly walked to his side with a proud smile.
"Heh~ there's space for pictures with you, don't worry!" She let out a small smirk while looking at the various pictures.
"March...why exactly do you want me to use that spell on you?" He asked curiously at her.
"W-well, I'm just curious!" She quickly looked at him with some embarrassment. "Like, imagine if I'm some kind of princess! Or maybe a president! Which is kinda the same..."
"I don't know what a president is..."
"Oh, right, should've thought of that, anyways! I'm just curious, really"
"And...what if I find out you weren't really a good person?" He crossed his arms across his chest.
"...then I want to know" her expression turned a bit sad. "If you find out that I was a bad person I don't want you to lie to me just to make me feel better, okay?"
"I won't lie to you then, March, whatever I see in your memories, I'll tell you the whole truth"
March smiled warmly and hugged him. "Thank you"
"Y-you're welcome" this time he decided to keep still as March separated.
"So...how does this spell work? Do you have to chant in some ancient language? Do you need a catalyst for it, wait, don't tell me it's a kind of blood sacrifice?" March gave a step back a bit nervous.
"...no?" He raised an eyebrow. "Do you have a marker?"
"Oh! Yeah" she quickly grabbed a marker from her table and offered it to him. "Wait wait, are you going to draw some magic tattoos on me so your magic flows better?"
"No, March, it's not that physically complicated" he walked to the center of the room and kneeled down, starting to draw on the floor.
"Ah! My precious floor! I had just cleaned it..." March looked down at him a bit anxious.
"Sorry, I'll clean it up after we're done...it might take me a few minutes" Ryan spoke as he kept drawing on the floor.
"Okay, so...you said it's not physically complicated, what did you mean by that?" She asked as she sat on her own bed.
"The reason why this is preferred to be done in private it's because our bodies will be completely vulnerable" he explained. "We'll both be completely stationed and without control of our bodies, and we must stay that way, if we're moved too much the spell might be forcefully broken and...it could seriously damage both of us"
"W-wait, how does the spell work?"
"I'm going to be honest, I'm not even sure if it'll even work on you, you see, the way this spell works is by generating a connection between our souls, it slips my conscience into your soul, from there I can wander around your memories and find what happened before you came into the Astral Express, you might not remember, but those memories are still in your soul, I'll just need to look very deep into it" he finished drawing a magic circle on the ground and then moved a bit to the right starting to draw another one.
"Wait...you'll go into my soul? That sounds...weird" March let out a soft sigh. "Wait, you said we'd both be vulnerable, does that mean that I won't be able to move either?"
"Exactly, this is a Two-way spell, I'll go into your soul, and you'll go into mine...so I'd appreciate if you didn't wander to much in there, you don't have any experience with magic so you might mess up something" Ryan sighed.
"Awww~ c'mon, what's the worst I could do?"
"Well, there're more than memories in a soul, but again, the souls of my home and this universe could be completely different and the spell might not work, I have to be careful"
"Hmmm...could I mess up with your memories of I move to much?" March tilted her head to the side.
"You could, yes, but as long as you don't try interacting with said memories, it should be fine, but please, if the spell works, just stay still until I'm done..." He stopped drawing the second circle and sighed. "Okay, it's ready"
March stood up from the bed and looked down at the two magic circles Ryan had drawn, they were identical and were connected by what seemed to be letters of a language she was not going to make sense of any time soon.
"Great! So what now?" She asked with a smile.
"Just sit down in the magic circle and I'll do the rest." He replied while he slowly sat on one of the two magic circles.
March slowly sat on the other magic circle, facing Ryan who crossed his legs and breathed softly closing his eyes. "Okay, Uhm...how long would this take?"
"As long as I want, unless someone stops the spell, I need you to close your eyes and relax" he told the girl who quickly complied.
She closed her eyes and relaxed herself. "Okay okay, but how will I know if it-" curiously she opened one eye. "...worked"
March looked around her, she was sitting...on water, she quickly stood up, realizing that the water didn't seem to wet her at all she sighed with some relief, she wasn't in her room anymore, instead, she seemed to be in a lake with no end all around her, she couldn't see any patch of dirt or something similar to that anywhere, she looked up and saw a sky completely dark, not a single star in sight, only the full moon that shined brightly.
"I...guess it worked..." She looked down at her feet, seeing how the water was right below her feet, she was walking on water. "Good! I'm not getting wet at all, it's like magic water~"
March looked around for a few seconds, Ryan did tell her to stay still and not wander too much...but how much was TOO MUCH? There didn't seem to be anything at all around, so that probably meant there wasn't anything she could mess up, right?
"I'll just...pick a random direction"
Without any real direction, she just started to walk forward.
...
"Good, it worked"
Ryan looked around, finding himself in what seemed to be a copy of March's room, he let out a soft sigh and then took a hand to his chin.
"How did miss Orly call this place? Nexus...yes, this should be March's Nexus"
Ryan looked to his right seeing the wall covered by photos, he walked close to it, apparently seeing some new photos he did not remember seeing.
"I see...these photos are important to her, it's understandable that these are the links to her memories..."
Ryan looked around the pictures, recognizing some of them, he slowly put his hand on one of the pictures and everything around him changed, warping into what seemed to be Belobog.
"Mr.Yaaaang~ I got some snacks, do you want some?"
"No, March, thank you very much"
Ryan looked behind him and saw both March and Welt, apparently strolling through Belobog.
"This must be after Cocolia's trial...or maybe before Bronya's speech...I need to go further back"
Looking around for a few seconds, he saw a picture attached to a lightpole, he got close to the picture and gently put his hand on it, again, everything seemed to warp around him, now he found himself in the hall of Goethe's Hotel, to his side, March walked humming happily.
"I...understand if telling me this was hard for you, Ace"
Ryan's eyes widened slightly as he heard Welt's voice, he saw March leaning against the door and hearing the conversation on the other side.
"She...heard us?" He frowned slightly, opening his left hand he created a flame on his palm. "Should I erase this memory?..."
Ryan slowly rose his hand, the flame slowly growing ready to explode and consume the whole memory, his hand shook slightly and Ryan simply let out a sigh, making the flame dissapear.
"No...I'm trying to be better" he looked at March walking away from the door and hurriedly going to another one knocking on it slightly. "I promise I'll explain everything soon, March..."
He walked across the Hall, past March, and saw another picture on the wall, resting his hand on it, he now found himself in Belobog's Great Mine, looking to his side, he saw March alongside Stelle, Dan Heng, Himself, Sampo and Bronya talking with Seele.
"This was when we went to the Great Mine to help Wildfire with Svarog..."
He looked away to look for another picture but immediately stopped, slowly turning his head to look at the group behind him, his left hand slowly opened, and in an instant he created an ethereal swords in his palm and three the weapon at the group, aiming directly at Sampo.
The apparent memory moved to the side dodging the blade, Sampo gave a few steps back looking at Ryan who immediately dashed towards him creating another ethereal sword in his hand, but before he could attack him, Sampo gave a step back and seemed to completely disaapear in a dim blue glow.
Ryan stopped and growled. "Sampo wasn't with us in the Great Mine! Who the hell was that?!"
He approached the place where the impostor had dissapeared, standing there with a hand on his chin he started to think and try to make sense of the situation.
"Only I should be here, I'm the only one connected to March right now...could it be?...people who can manipulate and see memories, I had read about them while researching the Aeons...Fuli...the Garden of Recollection, could it have been one of its members?" He narrowed his eyes and sighed. "Why...would one of them be here?"
He looked around and saw another picture attached to a minecart, he kneeled down and touched the photo, in an instant, he was now in Herta's Station, in the Main Control Zone, Ryan looked around with suspicious, seeing himself, March, Dan Heng, Stelle, Himeko, Asta and Arlan around.
"That person must be here...hiding..." He closed his eyes for a second before talking. "Why are you here?!" He asked rising his voice.
He got nothing but silence as a response, he clicked his tongue and looked around, and saw another picture attached to a wall, with a touch of his hand the atmosphere changed and he was now in the Astral Express.
"Is he going to be fine, Mr.Yang?"
Ryan barely recognized the room, looking down, he saw himself on the ground, blood under his unconscious body while shards of broken Ice surrounded him, March, Dan Heng, Welt and Himeko were there, tending to his wounds.
"This is when they found me...they didn't...even doubt in helping me"
With a soft sigh, he looked around trying to find another picture he found one on the wall and walked close to it.
He had to keep going deeper into her memories...and find that member of the Garden of Recollection in the way if he could.
...
"Ugh! There isn't anything here!"
March took her hands to her knees breathing in and out a bit agitated, she didn't know for how long had she been walking, she could barely feel her legs, was she even supposed to feel tired?
"I really hope Ryan finds something..." She sighed to herself and looked around. "This place is kinda pretty..."
She looked at her own reflection on the water, also seeing the reflection of the moon, she still had her camera on her, grabbing it and looking at it, it was indeed her camera, she would love to take a picture of the scenario...
"Would this when work?" She pointed the camera at the landscape and pressed the button.
The sudden flash of her camera startled her for a second, she didn't really think it'd actually work so she immediately checked the picture she had just taken, the water, the bright moon, and the hundreds of weapons...
"Wait, what?"
She looked up from her camera and saw hundreds of weapons apparently buried in the water, she rose an eyebrow and wearily gave a step back.
"When did those get there..."
Her curiosity was truly her biggest enemy ever, she slowly walked to the weapons, walking past some of them, she looked around herself seeing the various kind of weapons, one of her foots accidentally kicked one of the weapons, she looked down and saw that it was actually a short Katana, she squatted down and looked at the weapon curiously.
"I told Ryan I wouldn't do too much..."
Even as she spoke to herself, her hand slowly reached out to the weapon...
And firmly held the handle.
★ ★ ★
A/N: Chapter 39 Jumpscare, no one expected it to come so soon, not even me.
Anyways, I finished the Trailblazer Quest, and I really like Anaxa, also the Quimeras are really cute.
I'm also still thinking about the filler stuff, I might end up doing it-
Anyways, hope you all enjoyed!