Nyota closed his eyes yet again, standing still in the infinitely dark space, awaiting Nora's appearance.
After a short while, she appeared.
"How's it been out there?"
Nyota sat down and closed his eyes, one arm rested over a knee. "It's alright."
She walked and stood in front of him. "Just alright?"
"Yeah, I'm just…" He exhaled. "The training's fun, it can just get a little exhausting.
Sometimes, I get a little tired of working as hard as I do, especially when I don't exactly know what it is that I'm fighting for.
"Sounds like you're tired of being confused, I understand and I'm sorry." Nora commented.
He looked up at her. "Yeah… But that's not it. The dictator of Lunanova, Noriko, I met her.
I think I'm closer to knowing the truth about everything than I would've ever thought this early on."
Nora frowned confusedly. "You met Noriko?! How? How was she?"
"Much to me and the brothers' surprise, she was very kind. She seems to be quite fond of us, actually, it's kind of scary.
Anyway, when it's all said and done, I'm sure I'll find all this to be worth it."
"Well, okay," she started. "Just remember that I know things are confusing now, but one thing I can be certain about is the extent to which everything will be made clear to you.
I've told you before I'm proud of you, but you should find great confidence in the fact that you're gifted. Consider your abilities, for example, we've all heard it before: with great power comes—"
"Great responsibility," Nyota interjected. "Yeah, I know."
"Exactly! Plus, truth be told, you're a little too young to be talking about how tired you are. Until you've lived as long as I have, you won't know anything," Nora quipped.
Nyota rolled his eyes and laughed. "Ah, I guess you're right." He stood up. "Well, I've got a question I think you might finally be willing to answer."
"Oh?" Nora grew intrigued. "And what might that be?"
Nyota had been thinking about what questions he could ask that Nora would be willing to answer. He needed to probe for information that he could relay to Jora, Sage, and Kilo that could make his predicament make abundant sense.
"What is it that you know about me?"
Nora questioned. "In terms of memory?"
Nyota nodded his head.
"Perhaps I should have led with this," she started. "Here in your mind, there seems to be two different sets of memories, one that is real, and the other that's fake.
Another part as to why I haven't yet explained anything to you is because I'm still trying to figure everything out, so it will be some time before I help you recover your real ones."
"And the fake?" Nyota probed. "What about them? What do you know?"
"In that regard, I know what you know. I already knew the whole orphanage thing, and that this 'Noriko' person is important.
If you hadn't figured yet, I guess I could reveal to you that none of that ever happened."
Nyota's heart sank. What did she mean? If the past that he remembered had been false all along, what could possibly have been the truth? And why couldn't he remember any of it?
He was dumbfounded. Struggling to find the right words to express his confusion, he settled with an underwhelming, "I'm… I don't understand," he groaned.
"Why not tell me what you know, now?" He pleaded. "Any bit, any small bit will do."
"I can't, Nyota."
"But why?!" He grew irritated. "And don't tell me it's to protect me again.
You want to protect your son, right? Well, how else do you expect him to be protected from the dangers of the world if he doesn't remember anything of importance, from his own life, at that?!"
Worry overcame Nora's face, feeling remorseful. "I just—I'm sorry. I just…
I just don't have all the answers yet."
Stressed, Nyota bowed his head and shed a tear. He knew nothing about himself and felt like a dead man walking.
A war was being fought inside of his head, and he felt discouraged, not knowing when its conclusion would draw near.
He was demoralized.
"Who… Who am I?" He whispered, balling his hands into fists.
Nora approached him, placing her hands on one of his shoulders.
"Please, don't cry. I just want to tell you everything when I know that you're able to defend yourself, when you're clear of any cadet or student setting in Lunanova.
I promise you, we're closer to that point than you think."
She lifted his head with a finger. "Look, about Lunanova, the place is suspicious, we both know that now.
But if you want this process to go faster, I need you to help me help you. Help me put the pieces together, Nyota."
She wiped his tears away. "Noriko, I need you to find out more about Noriko.
Hopefully, everything then will make sense, and when you graduate from this campus, I'll happily and truthfully tell you everything I've found.
I promise, no more secrets. It's your life and I don't want to play around with it."
Although a bit of a struggle, Nyota gathered himself.
He was tired of training, tired of the drama. He was tired of being conflicted, tired of not knowing who he was. He didn't care whether anything was real or not, Nora included.
His soul was hurting, and he just wanted to find an internal peace.
So, he was willing to do whatever he needed to get there.
Nyota wiped his face dry one final time and nodded his head. "I'll gather all the information that I can."
Nora smiled and gave him space.
"Tell me more about this graduation of yours."
"It's scheduled for a couple of months from now, and time's been moving pretty quickly." Nyota responded.
"Me and the brothers' squadron along with a couple of others are regarded as 'high performing' and are set to graduate from being cadets to being full-fledged members of the forces.
Not before our exhibition tournament, though. Sage, Kilo and I are going to compete among cadets from different squadrons in front of thousands.
Whoever makes it to the top gets bragging rights, and the certain opportunity to choose between the two military and law enforcement factions."
"That sounds like it could be fun." Nora assured. "And your friends do truly sound like people I would trust to be around you. I wish I had the opportunity to meet them."
"It will be, and they would've loved to meet you. Their parents aren't with us either, so they can kind of relate to the hardships I've gone through."
The two stood for a while before Nora asked Nyota a final question.
"Well, sunrise is soon, anything else I should know?"
Nyota shook his head, still drying his face. "No."
"We had a great conversation tonight," Nora commented. "But that's it for now. You should focus on winning that tournament.
That's your first order of business from me to get closer to where we need to be.
We'll meet again after, unless, of course, you ever need to simply confide in me for anything, then I'm here. I am your mother, after all."
"Fine," Nyota groaned. "Love you, Ma. Take care."
"I mean I can't not, I'm in your head." Nora joked. "My wellbeing is yours, so the same should go for you, but I trust you'll be okay. Where we're from, you've trained for moments like these.
I'll see you."
Nyota chuckled. "Right, well, I'll talk to you then!" Nyota raised his hand as a departing gesture as Nora disappeared, smiling and waving back as she always did.
"Love you."