Watching and Listening - An Empires SMP AU

Reunited

           False had just fallen asleep for her daily nap. She was in the midst of a dream that she was sure had one of her lost memories embedded in it. In her dream, she'd seen herself build something, probably a house. Someone else was helping her. Someone she couldn't see. Whoever it was, she was laughing. And False was laughing with her. They joked about how the roof looked like an upside-down pan for some reason. False wanted to learn more about this memory, this happy one. The reason that she'd started taking naps in the middle of the day wasn't just to catch up on sleep, it was also so that she could dream more and remember. But then she woke up. 

           Jimena was standing in her bedroom, shaking her awake. False tried not to snap at her. I was having a happy memory for once! Let me go back to sleep! But too late, she was wide awake now. "False," Jimena started, but the architect interrupted her. "Jimena, I was remembering something," She said in a controlled voice. False didn't have to show how upset she was. She didn't have to yell. Jimena understood the weight of what she just did. She'd lost her memories too and knew how frustrating it was to almost get them back but then lose them. 

           The girl stepped back, looking sad and guilty. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to," She said. Jimena somehow could make herself look really, really sad and no one wanted to be mean to her when she did it. It was honestly a pretty neat trick, except False wasn't sure if Jimena was even doing it on purpose. "I know you didn't mean to," False said softly. The sad face works every time. "So, you need my help with the interior?" "About that..." Jimena trailed off. "I didn't do the interior." 

           "Why not?" False asked, feeling surprised. Jimena had looked so excited to do it by herself earlier. "No, I didn't mean it like that," Jimena said. "Someone already decorated the tower." False stared at her. "It wasn't me!" She said immediately. Then she frowned. "Or at least I don't think it was me. It's happened before that I do something and then forget I did it." "Well, I sure hope it's you," Jimena said, "Because if I didn't do it and you didn't do it, then who did?" False did not want to contemplate on who would just creepily sneak into a tower, decorate it, and then leave without anyone noticing. 

          "Maybe you did it," False suggested, trying to dissuade her fears. "You managed to decorate the tower before you got a concussion and then forgot about it." "Maybe," Jimena said, but she didn't look convinced. She turned around and went out the door. "I'll just leave you to get back to sleep now." "Are you going to go flying again?" False asked. "Yup," Jimena said in a dreamy voice, heading out the door. That was a few hours ago. 

           False was frantic. She'd woken up from her nap after a particularly loud boom of thunder jolted her out of bed to find that Jimena seemingly still hadn't come back from flying. And it was heavily storming. There were so many things that could go wrong from flying in a storm. False should know. She did that once, and then never again. She'd learned her lesson. 

           She kept wandering around Cogsmeade in the dark rain, looking for Jimena. She wasn't around. The girl had probably flown off somewhere far. Which meant that it would be very difficult to find her if she got into trouble. Maybe she got hurt. She could have been struck by lightning. She could've crashed in the dark. Anything could have happened to her! False fretted. She was so worried that she didn't notice the orange figure standing in the dark alley until she bumped into him. 

           False almost screamed. Almost. The only reason why she didn't was because her fast reflexes told her that the figure she'd just bumped into was Pumpkin Jack. She still stumbled to the ground and fumbled for her sword, though. It was always better safe than sorry. And it was literally a dark and stormy night in a dark alley. Or at least she thought it was nighttime; with the storm painting the sky black, it was hard to tell.