Live Like Legends (LIVING LEGEND #3)

Chapter 50

R eese and Elise had surprisingly been in agreement that Ariel didn’t deserve or need a funeral, but my father had insisted. He didn’t like the guy all that much, but as the highest executive, he had to show his respects regardless of his personal feelings. Xander gave me a thorough once over—again—before I left the infirmary, letting me know I should come to them if I felt off at any time. Natalia had made sure Dani got a thorough check up as well, giving her a clean bill of health. The High Priestess gave both of us a small look of apprehension. She huddled with Xander and a few other healers as they released us, speaking in hushed tones as if there was more going on but she had simply smiled at us with a simple wave.

I chose to believe the weirdness was due to the fact that the amount of times she’s had to check in on us was too many to count. She would likely have to continue doing it if remaining friends with us was on her agenda.

When Ariel’s ceremony had finished causing me to lock eyes with a somber Morgan, I had a sense that she wanted to talk to me. I had nothing to say to her, but despite everything that happened she did bring the Enchanters to The Skies, so maybe she did have a heart somewhere in there. She started to make her way over, but when Dani came up to my side, pressing her body into me, Morgan paused.

She sucked in a deep breath and nodded at me before turning away. I laughed softly.

“What’s so funny?”

I looked down at my girlfriend. “Nothing, just ready for things to get back to some kind of normalcy.”

“You know that’s pretty impossible.”

“Normal is for the weak and grossly predictable,” Elise said, sidling up next to me. Beetee walked over, wincing just a little, but not as much as she had been for the past two weeks.

My father placed his hand on her shoulder, causing her to jump a little. “Please take a seat. The last time you tried to move too fast, you opened up your wound.”

Beetee huffed. “You are worse than my moms.”

“Your moms love you very much, so you let them worry as much as they want.” Daya slipped her arm in through my father’s, swatting Beetee’s arm lightly. She looked up at my dad. “Leah wanted to say she was sorry she couldn’t be here. They are going to spend some time with Garrett today.”

The conversation lulled as it normally did when we spoke about this. Oculus had a special place where they buried their own. Leah and her kids spent a lot of time there, which was understandable. I’d gone to speak with her, letting her cry into my shoulder and shedding my own tears as I spoke about how much Garrett loved them and how he nearly fought me just to get back to them. Yuri and Jasmine missed their dad, but they were resilient kids and they each had a ton of strength that carried their mother when she felt like she couldn’t do it anymore.

My father and Daya let Leah know that they were always open to talk. They had both lost someone dear to them in manners in which they weren’t expecting. They understood more than any of us ever could.

Reese let out a loud laugh, making his way over to us. “Why didn’t you tell me this one was so hilarious?” He pointed at Alex who shrugged as if it was obvious.

“And what was so funny?” Dani asked, cocking her head to the side.

“Oh she was making a bunch of Ariel jokes.”

I scoffed. “Wow, at the guy’s funeral ceremony, seriously?”

Alex stuck her tongue out at me. “I cope with jokes, leave me alone.”

A few angels came by my father wanting his attention and he leaned over to kiss the side of my head and did the same with Dani. “Excuse me would you?”

“He’s so popular,” Reese pointed out.

“Pretty boy should pay attention, he’s next in line.” Elise patted my shoulder as she walked past me. I closed my eyes, trying to forget this fact completely. The last thing I wanted was a high executive title looming.

“Hey, look at me.” Dani brought my face down so my eyes were on her. “Your father will reign for a very long time. I’m not sharing you with any angelic followers. I have you all to myself.” She pecked my lips and turned around running right into the High Priestess.

I looked around spotting Zane not too far away. Reese bent his elbows, holding his arms out for both Alex and Beetee to take. Natalia chuckled softly as we watched him escort them inside The Skies.

“Your father seems to be taking to his new duties well, despite the circumstances,” Natalia said, running her hands down her dress.

“He was meant for this even though I don’t think he’ll ever admit it,” I said, running a hand through my hair.

Natalia chewed on her bottom lip. “Nicholas, I have something I need to discuss with you.”

I couldn’t hide the skepticism in my voice. “What is it?”

The High Priestess fiddled with the earring in her ear. “You told me that if I could find out how to retrieve your memories then I should.”

“Okay…”

“My mother seemed to believe you deserved them at some point in your life because I found them. If you want to know then please come by Oculus, but I would understand if you aren’t interested. Time and life have gone by for you, you’ve grown up without them and it might alter you in some way by placing them back inside your mind. The choice is yours, always.” Natalia pressed her hand to my cheek, his skin warm and comforting. She gave Dani a small smile before she retreated towards another group of people.

I opened my mouth but Dani cut me off. “You want to know what I think?”

“Even if I said no, you would tell me anyway.”

She smirked up at me. “Personally, I think you should. You’ve been in this up and down emotional war about your mother for a while, so maybe getting the memories you have of her back could create something really beautiful for you.”

“I don’t know if it can patch up the giant sized parental hole that she left behind.”

Dani pressed her lips together. “No, but it might help repair it just a little bit. Just enough for you to know that repair is possible at all.”

Natalia ushered us inside the apothecary, leading us into an empty room. Dani held my hand the entire time and even when our palms got sweaty and separation of our hands was all but necessary, she didn’t let go.

“Are you completely sure this is what you want?” Natalia asked for probably the tenth time since we’d gotten here.

I sighed. “Yes. I’m overly sure at this point.” I walked over to the chair in the middle of the room and sat down.

Dani and I watched as Natalia went over to a bookshelf and pulled out a small square box with rose colored hinges. She placed the box on the table behind her and lifted the lid. When she walked around the chair, facing us again, in her hand was a sphere with white gold smoke floating around inside. The smoke was thick and I felt the need to reach out and touch it.

“What’s that?” Dani asked, her eyes wide as she stared at the sphere.

Natalia held it firm between her palms. “It’s a retention sphere. They are hardly used anymore, if I’m being honest, they were likely not used all that much back in my mothers time.”

“My memories are in there?” I pointed to what she held in her hands.

“Yes, Nicholas. Most of the time the removal of memories was quite permanent. They pulled them from the mind and simply threw them away. My mother clearly didn’t do that with yours.”

Dani hummed suspiciously. “How are you so sure that’s his memories?”

“As I’ve said these spheres are hardly used, but this happens to be the only one and— because of this.” Natalia reached into the front pocket of her dress, pulling out a small note. “It was underneath the sphere.

I took it from her, unfolding the paper and reading the contents:

If you find this please forgive me and know she loved you very much, I never wanted you to forget that.

“It’s written in my mother’s hand and I don’t know about you but I would bet all my magic she is speaking about you.” She gave me a pointed look.

I folded the note back up, placing it in my pocket. “Okay, what now?”

“Nicholas, this isn’t going to feel good. I have to be forthcoming about that. Extracting memories hurts but putting them back is a much more delicate process. You’ll feel a lot of things all at once. The memories won’t be in the right places at first and you’ll feel like you want to push them out, but fight against that.” She placed her hand on my shoulder. “The memories will find their place. You have to give them time. They are foreign to you, but you are not as foreign to them.”

I looked over to Dani, who collected my hand in hers again. She kissed the inside of my wrist. “I got you.”

Natalia stood on the other side of me and moved her hand around the sphere. The smoke started to recede from inside and circle around Natalia’s hand. “Just relax Nicholas.”

I settled back in the chair, watching as the smoke started to move towards me, collecting around my head. It tickled behind my ears and I blinked a few times as it got in my eyes. The smoke started to fall away as it absorbed itself into my head. I felt like nothing, but then I heard a ringing.

“Does anyone else hear that?” I asked, the sound getting louder and I shook my head, trying to get it to stop. Dani looked to Natalia, opening and closing her mouth. The ringing stopped and then nothing. I let out a breath. “That was odd, but I don’t feel…”

The sudden feeling of bricks being cemented into place hit my head. It was like every memory was slamming in one by one, landing wherever they could. I jolted backwards, clamping my teeth together. The memories shifted, grating over my mind. Little pieces of things I hardly remembered began to take shape.

The memories continued to jump around and slam around in the interior of my mind, but I squeezed Dani’s hand needing some kind of anchor to the here and now.

The pain halted, skidding to a stop. The memories moved more delicately now as if they knew exactly where they needed to be and why. I felt my body slump back as if I was dozing off, but then the memories started to play and my mind opened up as if it was the first time I was experiencing these things.

I saw my mother and the way she crouched down as I ran over to her. Her face bright with so much pride.

I felt the fear from when I’d woken up from a nightmare and my mother rushed in to soothe me.

I saw the way she snuggled with my father on the couch right before I jumped in between them.

I remembered the way she caressed my face and told me how lucky she was that I picked her to be my mother. She would tell me how I would grow up so strong like my father, but at the end of the day I would always be her little boy.

I saw the looks on peoples faces when my mother would take me everywhere with her, making sure she always spent enough time with me.

I felt the overwhelming joy from both my parents when my wings finally made their appearance.

My chest tightened when I saw the hill I’d tumbled down and things went black. There was a sense that I had lost time somewhere, but I saw myself blink and my parent’s crying faces came into view. I felt like all my pieces were back together.

There was a sense of dread all of sudden and the memories were darker. My mother cried as she held me, but I didn’t know why.

She would leave and be gone for long periods of time, but eventually she took me with her. I remembered looking at a lady who I’d met a few times and she’d pressed her hand to my mother’s forehead and then to mine. It stung but I hadn’t felt any different.

I remembered when we got home, I had asked her what she did. My mother had knelt down in front of me and said: nothing for you to worry about. I hope you will never need to use it and if you do, it’s on something that truly matters to you.

I had decided to forget about it and then the memories got worse and I felt an overwhelming dread in my stomach.

I remembered men coming into our house and demanding she come with them. My voice had grown hoarse from screaming for her as they tried to drag her out. My father had shouted but he had to hold me back from running to get her.

She’d held my father’s face in her hands and told him something that I couldn’t quite make out and then she was gone.

Every memory after that was filled with agonizing crying and coughing fits. It felt like days of wondering when she was coming back and why she’d left me. I’d wondered why my father hadn’t gone to get her and bring her home.

I saw myself being taken to the same lady as before, my father’s face filled with regret and his eyes filled with tears. The lady, Moira, I think her name was, had tears in her eyes as well.

She was gentle with me when she said: this is only going to hurt for a moment and then it will be over, okay, Nicholas?

I never understood but I always assumed it was something to get my mother back. I hurt just like she said and then suddenly the memories go blank.

The memories replayed and replayed, forcing their way into my mind so that they would stay. My head throbbed and my eyes were closed so tight I felt tears sting at the corners.

I heard a locking sound as if they had found the places they forever belonged and they planned on staying there.

A light sound, a voice that stilled my heart and repaired a part of the oversized parental hole in my chest whispered across my mind.

I love you so much, Nicholas. One day I hope you will remember that.

Her voice was soothing and wrapped around me like a hug I didn’t know I needed.

I pushed away from the chair and landed on the floor, feeling a sense of vertigo when I opened my eyes. I looked around searching for a trash bin. I stalked over to it and emptied the contents of my stomach.

I heaved, seeing from the corner of my eye that Natalia was handing me a washcloth. I wiped my mouth, running the back of my hand along my eyes.

“So, how did it go?” Dani asked, moving around the chair so she could be closer to me.

I let out a shuddered breath. “She really loved me.”

Natalia placed the empty sphere in the box. “Your resurrection that your mother had transferred to you, I can remove it if you’d like. I can’t say it won't be any less painful,” she offered.

I looked down at Dani who shrugged, leaving that decision up to me completely. I was waiting for her to have some sort of input, but this one was all me. I rubbed at my chest, feeling like even with all the memories it wasn’t enough. “I think I’ll keep it.”

“Oh?” Natalia raised her delicate eyebrows.

I nodded swiftly, regretting it instantly when I felt the nausea start again. “My mother gave it to me because she wanted me to hold onto it for her. If I can use it to do something good again even years from now, then I’m satisfied.”

Natalia laughed softly. “Your mother would be very proud of you. I know I am.”

“Same here.” Dani kissed my cheek and I moved to kiss her mouth but she reared her head back. “As much as this moment calls for a passionate kiss, you just threw up in that trash bin, so no thank you.”

“Fair enough,” I conceded. I looked over at Natalia. “Thank you for not giving up on this.”

She smiled at me. “You have got a pretty great crowd around you Nicholas. I don’t think you will ever have a chance to falter again.”