Lastland AU: Lost Memory, Lost Time, Lost in Space

The Moon Pool

To say that things were awkward between Irie and Strike after the "brain scan heart scan" was an understatement. Everyone else was still on edge too, torn between amusement, delight, mortification, and fear. Irie was sure no one felt more conflicted than her.

Sh-sh-she... she... she likes me? Strike... really, really likes me?! Sometimes, it took everything she had not to beg Weston and Cipher to show her Strike's inner thoughts again. She knew it was disrespectful, but she almost couldn't believe it, and had Weston and Cipher not struggled to turn off the projections for so long, Irie wouldn't have believed it. I always thought... she wasn't interested in me... Or anyone.

In all the months they'd known each other, even if they were only tentative allies and friends for some of them, even though Irie was mindful to be clear in the hints she dropped rather than being too vague, Strike always seemed disinterested. The scans though...?

"I do not... understand... what we saw... However, I hope nothing has changed... between us," Strike said the evening after the demonstration, finally calm enough to come back. She wasn't able to meet Irie's eyes then, but in the days since, it was slightly better.

"No, nothing's changed," Iris promised, smiling gently. Though I wish they would! Believe me! If only you knew!

A tinge of desperation entered her smile. Aside from being a confirmation about something she wondered about for far too long, this revelation motivated Irie to double down on her memory work. If she remembered Timeline-A, maybe Strike could too! They just had to find her memories...

It took many adventures and connections—some of them shady and some of them moral—across time and space, but eventually, Irie managed to get a lead to one planet in a binary system. It was silvery, named Selene, the smaller sister to Helia, who was slightly gold. On Selene, there was a lake, a moon pool, known as "Aletheia", rumored to temporarily restore the memories of all who bathed in its waters. Irie didn't tell Strike outright what the lake did, but she told the taller, older woman that she had to go to it for research and needed Strike's help, since she could not be both observer and participant (bathing in the water). Strike saw no reason to decline, so she agreed.

How times change, Irie mused. The old Strike wouldn't have followed Irie anywhere, let alone with little to no explanation. Now, though?

They walked side by side in silence, guided only by a moon and distant stars. Selene itself radiated a gentle glow, so even though it was night, Irie and Strike could see. They said nothing as they drew closer to the moon pool. The planet was uninhabited, and the tension in Irie's stomach rose.

Strike, meanwhile, had never felt more at peace. If I could have eternity, frozen in time anywhere, allowed to see any part of the simulation again, it would be right here, right now. Just her and Irie alone together, walking beneath the light of a moon, and above the light of a planet.

At last, they reached Aletheia. Irie sucked in a breath as she saw the glowing waters and the dark bottom of the moon pool.

"Here we are," she murmured. Then she cleared her throat and forced herself to look Strike in the eyes. "I know it's going to sound crazy, but... I need you to submerge in the water. If my hypothesis is correct, the effects will quick in after every inch of you has touched the water."

"Do I have to be naked for this?" Strike asked calmly, and Irie nearly choked on air. Of all the things she expected Strike to say or ask in response to her request—especially after the brain scan heart scan—it wasn't a question that managed to outdo hers in sensitivity level.

And she asked it so directly! "I— actually don't know..." Irie looked away, flustered.

"Hmm." Strike considered Irie's words for a moment. Then she promptly began to strip, taking off all her clothes article by article.

"Strike!" Irie yelped, shielding her face. She could tell, though, from the way Strike undressed that she wasn't doing it to be seductive.

"Hmm?" Strike was genuinely nonplussed and unaffected by Irie's reaction. As soon as she was completely naked, she walked right past Irie and into the cool, gently-rippling waters of the moon pool, Aletheia. It was warmer than Strike would've expected, not hot like a bath, but not cold the way lakes and rivers on Earth were. That was the last conscious thought she had before she forgot everything else.

Irie, meanwhile, gasped again. "Strike—!" She couldn't help but reach out instinctively as the woman's head dipped below the water.

The moment Strike resurfaced, she gasped in remembrance and recognition. "Iris...!"

"Storm?" Irie choked back, hardly daring to believe it. "Is it really... really you...?"

After several minutes, though, she was sobbing. With a cry, she flung herself at the warrior woman as she dragged her naked form out of the moon pool. Irie wrapped her arms around Storm and held her as tight as she could, weeping and kissing her all over.

"Oh, Storm...! You're back!" Her voice cracked and Storm wrapped her wet arms back around Iris. It took a while for her to adjust, to understand, but she could tell that Irie needed her, and that was enough to keep her grounded.

"Y-yes... Iris... I think I'm back. No, I know I'm back." Because I'm here with you now. Storm may not have known where that was, her last memory of the antechamber battle, but as she told Iris, she knew she was back now, because Iris was in her arms, and all she felt was love.

ooo

It was a truth that haunted Iris like a specter, hung over her and Storm like a shadow, but eventually, the effects of the moon pool were going to wear off. Or Iris and Storm were going to have to return to the rest of Notus, and then it would wear off. Likewise, as countless other explorers found, the water had to be used on Selene. If removed from the mother planet, the water instantly lost all magical properties. That meant that as long as Iris and Storm wished to stay together, another goodbye was inevitable.

"But don't worry, I promise, I'll visit you as often as I can!" Iris wept and kissed Storm as the last of their time together ran out.

"And I will wait for you. I will meet you gladly as often as you wish, forever," Storm promised. It pained her to think of what Iris had to go through just to talk to her, but neither of them was going to take for granted the fact that they got to be together again at all.

Eventually, the pair set off for Notus again, and the last of Storm's skin was dry before they reached the starship.

"Irie," Strike asked, voice uncertain, "what's next?" The last thing she remembered was submerging into Aletheia, and now she could see Notus on the horizon of the silvery, sandy surface of Selene.

Irie smiled, masking her grief. "We continue the quest, Strike. One step at a time. You did what you needed to, now we're going back."

"Hmm." It was clear Strike was curious, but Irie's purple eyes flashed as they slid over to her.

Not right now. Someday, I promise, but... Not right now. Strike didn't want to accept it, but she could do nothing else. Irie, meanwhile, stole a single glance over her shoulder. Oh yes, we're DEFINITELY coming back here someday! As often as I can!

As hard as it was to say goodbye, Irie was already scheming about all the ways she could say hello again.

Strike walked behind her, puzzled but content. If Irie says I did well, then...

She had no memory of went on immediately after Aletheia, but she felt warm and pleasant inside. She had no way of knowing yet, but she was sure that whatever happened was good. As expected of Irie. And so, although there were still questions, both women left Selene content.

Stealth trivia: Helia has a river (Lethe) but nobody knows because anyone who finds it forgets! LOL!