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The cell didn’t have anything to keep her entertained between the endless experiments and questions that all those researchers asked of her, so she had to come up with things to keep the tedium from driving her insane. She counted all the bolts on the metal walls, she drew shapes in the dust on the air vents with her finger, she hummed to herself songs she didn’t know.
She tried to think of the world she once came from, but after ten minutes of that a headache would come and she’d move back to counting bolts.
Sometimes, the boys would come, and she relished each visit. They never had a good view of each other, the sliver of light into her cell only enough to tell that another person existed on the other side of the door. They considered different objects to bring to see one another better with, but dismissed them in case they were caught with such items and it was revealed where they were always going to in the castle.
But even without sight, she knew them well. One, the louder one, told her about different games she would like, about the people he liked, and about an ice cream he loved. She couldn’t imagine liking something both sweet and salty, but he assured her it was delicious.
“My name’s Lea! Got it memorized?”
She did, as it was one of the only good things she held onto in that cell. When enough dust gathered she’d carefully write it out next to the other boys name, proud of herself for remembering something important finally.
Isa was quiet where Lea was loud, but he was comforting. He asked her questions, but they didn’t feel like the ones the researchers did. He would ask her if there was anything small they could bring her (no, the researchers would find it) or if she had any ideas on how to help her (no, she struggled to think what teenagers could do, the thought of hidden keys always confusing her when he asked). When those questions were done, he would let Lea talk, and then when they’d leave he’d always ask her one thing.
“You know we’re your friends, right? And that we’ll find a way to save you?”
She said she did know that they were. And she believed him.
She didn’t, but she wanted to give her only friends something back, to repay all the conversations she now held in her heart.
(Didn’t she have more friends once? Where were they now, were they in the other cells? Did they get away? Away from what? Why hadn’t they come for her?)
She would count each footstep as they scrambled away before they were caught, and she’d hold that number close, looking forward till she heard their footsteps again.
Today wasn’t that day.
Instead of the small, pitter patter of children hurrying to stay out of sight, to hide from the authority of adults, she heard the relaxed stroll of someone who knew they wouldn’t get into trouble if they were found. She sat routed to her cot, wondering if today was another day of tests and questions, wondering how much she’d hate it.
The steps came to a slow stop outside of her cell door, and she stared at it, waiting.
“You know… it's crazy how many people I know get amnesia these days. Feels like an epidemic, I gotta figure out some way to protect myself from getting it myself.”
The voice was familiar, although not one of the ones that usually came to fetch her for tests. She didn’t care though why they had changed things up for once, it would all lead to the same thing.
“Too bad messing with memory ain’t really my thing. Sure, if it was, you bet I’d take full advantage of it! Sooo useful, am I right?”
This wasn’t like the normal questions she got, and she frowned at the door, waiting.
“...hello? You in there? Man it would be a real bummer if those kids actually managed to get you out before I got here, I’d be super sad. Ha, as if…”
He leaned in to the window, and for the first time she saw the eyepatch. It looked brand new, and there was still a bandage along his jaw, as if someone slashed down from corner to corner
For some reason, she immediately began wondering why whoever gave it to him didn’t complete the X.
“Oh good! You’re still here! You gotta speak up, speak, speak! Otherwise the world’s gonna miss a little mouse like you.”
“Is it time for tests?” her voice felt weak to her ears, as if it was stronger once, but she could never give the full effort needed to speak to any of these men. Not like she did with her new friends who made her promises she didn’t believe they could keep.
“Huh? Oh, nah, don’t you worry your head about those anymore! It's your lucky day, a one way ticket out of this hell hole, off to where no one here can find you anymore! Don’t got to worry about the old coot and all of his lackeys poking at you,” his voice grew quieter. “Just me, although promise I won’t be doing any of that, it's actually really not my style.”
She didn’t understand. Why was it suddenly ending? Had something changed? Had someone come for her? Did they finally think she had no more use?
Why him?
“Hey. You really don’t remember anything, right?”
“No. I don’t.”
“Heh. Good. It's funny… with Xehanort, I desperately want him to remember, to really get this whole show finally rolling. So much time waiting, like you wouldn’t believe! But you,” one golden eye stared hard into hers. “You not remembering will make things a whole lot easier for me.”
She stared back, and his face pulled away from the window, and she heard the sound of keys that usually was kept by the older scientist, the one who looked kind but she knew was not. The key entered the door and she stiffened, waiting for the door to open.
He was still though, and she felt like she was waiting for an eternity for the next move.
“You know… I wonder if what I’m doing right now… do you think it's cruel… or is it actually pretty kind? Like, I’m taking you away from this terrible, terrible place, hiding you away where they can’t get to you… course, I’m only doing it for me, for all these years I’ve been working towards. Can’t allow you to go and mess it all up now can I. So, this can’t be kind, right?”
She didn’t have an answer, listening to the lock slowly turning open and the cell door pushed open.
“Cruel, or kind? What do you think, poppet?”
She stared at the man in the eyepatch, looking back at her, wreathed in shadow, and she wondered if she even saw his face, would she recognize it?
“Come on then, kiddo. It's time to go.”