Chapter Text
“Glad you’re okay, Alicia.” He reached out to fistbump her.
She flinched .
In all the times he had known her, she’d turned his high five down, brushed past him, scolded him, but never once did she flinch. Alicia Kheng doesn’t flinch. He was confused. He didn’t even make anything of the situation. She didn’t even have any readable expression for him to recognize. Maybe she was too tired and confused?
“What?”
He turned to Rama and Geetha, and a panic rushed down his body just by seeing their faces. Alicia looked even more confused. So he steps back, makes his way to the front of her bed.
“Who are you?”
Ali’s body felt heavy. He felt like he was this close to fainting. What? Ali found himself repeating what Rama said earlier. He could’ve sworn it was all a dream and Alicia would be the one to punch him out of it. It could be a joke and Alicia would laugh and have that smirk on her that he knew all too well, laughing it off. Ali wanted anything but this to be the reality he’s living in.
“Everyone, can we all step out for a minute, please?” Geetha tried to avert the situation that even she needed time to process. Razman, and Rajesh helped Rama— who they were so sure was gonna collapse anytime soon— to walk out of the room and sit down on the chair. Rahul felt a strong sense of guilt pushing through him. He was the one that gave Alicia IRIS even when Rama forbade her. But the thought of leaving her defenseless to the control room was scarier. He swallowed the feeling down and followed his friends and Geetha outside.
And Ali? He just stood there, dumbfounded. He looked at her like he needed to say something. This has to be a dream. What about all those times together? The fights, the laughs, the almost-dying-in-battles?
“That includes you, Ali.” But he couldn’t seem to move. Was he ever one to leave her? Not when Rizwan asked him, not when he should’ve chased Neonimus, and not when SATRIA took control of her body. And Geetha saw it. Saw how hesitant Ali was when he tried to take a step closer. She felt a lot of things, guilt, anger, pity, but mostly sad, seeing her students like this. But she needed to discuss this situation without the risk of her memories being more distorted than it already is. “It’s okay, Ali. She’s safe.” He nodded and walked outside, seeing her family on the side of the door.
“General.”
“Yes.”
“Where were we?” Geetha took her tab again, clicking on something Ali was too short to look at. “I need to run a few more checks on her to see if this is temporary or not. SATRIA was hacked by a system MATA is unfamiliar with and without the pillar leader’s approval to access data regarding it, it’s hard for me to confirm anything other than the fact that she has post-traumatic amnesia. We'll need to keep an eye on her for a while to make sure she doesn't also have anterograde amnesia.”
Ali wanted to listen to Geetha’s explanation, he really did. But he kept finding the door to the infirmary far more interesting. Alicia’s there alone, with no memories. She’s probably so confused. He’d never had to deal with that before. Was she still going to have the same personality as the Alicia he knew? Or was she going to be an entirely different person he didn’t know how to get through?
“Ali,” he heard Geetha reach out. It seems she’s done talking to her family, but they are still on the bench next to the door. He tried his best to swallow down his tears but it failed him. He could hear how broken his voice was. She had asked him about the details of their fight with Cero in SATRIA’s inner dimension. He explained everything in detail, only to be met with other terrible news. He just learnt the different kinds of amnesia today and turns out, the one that Alicia has, has no known effective treatments. Terrific.
He didn’t come back to the infirmary for the next week. She’s probably back home as of now. Comot tried convincing him into visiting her, but he found new ways to distract himself. Inventing new gadgets, training, keeping him busy at the house, to no avail. Of course he wanted to visit her, to make sure she was okay. But he wasn’t ready to face all of this .
Both Dayang and Ganz have been suspended, Rizwan is missing again, Alicia lost her memories, hell, he can’t even visit his friends at the academy. Do they even know of Alicia’s current situation?
He was trying out his invention in the HQ. It didn’t even need much improving, but he needed to keep himself busy. He finally got tired, so he sat down, and looked at his files. He noticed the video folders, and unconsciously clicked one. He always liked recording things. That way, if something ever happens to him, there’d be records of him being an agent, just like his mom. Eventually, he came across his training videos with Alicia. Not that she’s ever interested in being part of it. Most of it just ended with her beating him up in combat, training, even chess.
“Do you think if we showed her this, it’ll help her remember?” He asked Comot, knowing the answer would be no. “Oh look, that’s her record.” Sometimes he’d forget that Alicia had been with MATA since she was a baby. Or so he was told. He clicked on it. Locked?
Why would her past records be locked? And needed a pillar leader’ssecurity clearance?
Ali heard his doors open, so he closed that specific window on his screen, showing just the videos he was previously scrolling through. “Oh, Uncle, what’s up?” He smiled at him and then went back to scrolling the videos. “Just went by and thought to see you.” Bakar passed the lunch he brought to him. He noticed the screen and smiled softly at the thought of him missing Alicia.
“Do you miss her?”
No, He wants to say. But that would’ve been a lie. So he kept quiet, and opened the lunch he just gave him.
“I heard from Geetha that she's still recovering, that the general is helping her piece back every memory of her together. Just the big parts though, they said that she needs to slowly remember on her own. Or it would just distort her memories again.”
“It’s my fault, Uncle,” Ali broke down. “She— She sacrificed herself to save me. Twice . If I’d listened to her, she’d be here and— she wouldn’t— I— If I was stronger— I’m sorry. I’m so, so, sorry.”
Bakar caught and hugged him before Ali could fall from his chair. He just cried there. Bakar had never seen him so vulnerable before. Not since his mom passed, and even now, he is still so, so, young. Bakar cursed himself for dragging Ali into this mess, but at least this way, with both of them being agents, he could learn to defend himself too.
How much more dangerous could it get from here, was the question Bakar kept asking himself everytime he went on a mission with both Ali and Alicia.
“It’ll be alright, Ali.”
Lies , Ali thought.
“She’ll remember in time.”
More lies.
“You’re both going to be okay.”