Clover Remembers

The Shaper: The Shaper sat alone in her temporary study, binding sinew and muscles to porcelain, bringing flesh to stone, life to death. It was enjoyable, this solitude, although she did feel rather lonely at times. That’s why she so loved the company of the half-breed librarian and her little girl. The man she was slightly more wary of, but she was so interested in the workings of mortals that she would observe them all equally. 
The door opened behind her and the Shaper turned her head to see Clover returning from outside. “You’re back!” she exclaimed, eyes shining. “Where did you go off to?”
Clover Rose: Clover ran her hands through her hair, sighing as she did. “Hello, Shaper. I was talking to Tezz about wedding plans again. I think we’re actually starting to get some definite plans now, which is great.” Her hands dropped to her sides, and she looked down at her feet. “I also went to talk to Tree, to see if she could help me remember anything from … before.” Even though Clover had all but given up on remembering, occasionally she would still go talk to Tree and question her about the place she came from, hoping it would bring something, anything back.
The Shaper: “Tree?” The Shaper paused in her work and cocked her head. “Before? What do you mean? Have you had an accident?” She could not see anything wrong with the girl and she dared not pry where she was not permitted.
Clover Rose: “Oh, that’s right, you don’t know about . . that.” Clover shuffled her feet awkwardly, looking up at the Shaper. “I can’t remember anything from before the rebellion started … my mind is completely empty.”
The Shaper: “How odd. Has it been tampered with?” An inkling of an idea was starting in the Shaper’s mind but she wanted to know the exact details of the poor half-breed’s condition before jumping to conclusions.
Clover Rose: “I don’t actually know.” Clover shrugged, moving closer to the Shaper and sitting on the ground next to her. “Like I said, I can’t remember anything.”
The Shaper: She blinked, humming once, softly. “Interesting. I…” She held up a slender finger. “I think I may know someone who can help with that. As I recall he performed an act quite similar to this not too long ago…”
Clover Rose: “It couldn’t hurt to try, right?” Clover asked, looking up at Shaper. For the first time in a while, there was a glimmer of hope in her eyes. Maybe this would actually work, and she would know who she was before the rebellion.
The Shaper: The Shaper’s eyes curved into a smile. “No, it couldn’t…I will try.”
She shivered a bit at the thought of contacting her older brother but she reached out despite her fears. 
Kiaama…
The Archon: A deep rumbling ran through the Shaper’s essence. 
What is it… sister…
The Archon lay in his cave, not far from the camp. Studying the stars while maintaining a quiet eye on his relatives.
The Shaper: Her fingers clicked together nervously. I…wanted to ask. You helped a mortal here, recently, didn’t you?
The Archon: I felt pity for the troubled one. I repaired his fractured mind in exchange for using him to manipulate Nalaagura. But, that seems irrelevant now, unless you require a favor of your own..?
 He stretched stood up and walked out of the cave, stretching his wings to their fullest extent. He stared up at the sky, his sisters intrusion had made him lose the ancient script of the night sky.
The Shaper: Yes, I do…there is a half-breed here, the man’s intended. Her mind is damaged; I believe it may be some of the same work that caused the last mortal’s mind to fracture. She hesitated, unsure of how to ask the question lingering in her mind.
The Archon: You require me to mend the sloppy work of another foolish mortal. I will be there shortly… I wish to learn more of this mind mage who believes himself in power. You would do well to inform the half-breed.
The Shaper: Oh, thank you, brother! she said brightly, coming back to her own body. “He’s coming! My brother is coming to help you!” she told Clover excitedly, gesturing urgently at Clover to stand. “Come, quickly!”
Clover Rose: “Your … brother?" How many siblings does Warden have, anyways?
 Clover got to her feet, wrapping her arms around herself. While she was intrigued at the thought of actually getting her memories back, she wasn’t anywhere near prepared for it. She also had no idea what to expect with Shaper’s brother. 
The Shaper: "Oh, she has lots, there are eight of us—”
The Shaper stopped suddenly and looked abashed. “Oh, I’m sorry. Did you want me to hear that? I pick up on thoughts so easily.”
Clover Rose: “Oh um … it’s not a problem that you heard it. A little strange, but not a bad thing.” Clover said softly, smiling at the Shaper. “Let’s go meet your brother, then.” 
The Shaper: "Of course.” She led the librarian outside into the night air and tipped her face up to the sky, searching the stars. “He should be here any minute.”
The Archon: The dragon descended in a lazy circle above the pair. The Archon landed with a gust of wind from a final flap before touching down. He leaned his head forward and projected his voice into their minds. 
Time… what an interesting concept. Good evening. Is this the half-breed, Igl?
The Shaper: “It is, Kiaama,” The Shaper turned to Clover and put an encouraging hand on her back. “Clover, this is the Archon, my older brother.” She beamed up at him as much as one could without a mouth. “I hope the body is working well for you." 
Clover Rose: Clover stared at the Archon, suddenly feeling incredibly insignificant. She opened her mouth to speak, only to close it again, looking back at the Shaper. It almost felt as if her knees had turned to jelly, and she found herself shaking like a leaf.
The Archon: Ah, I am enjoying the wings, they make observing the stars much easier…
He shifted his head so one eye was gazing at Clover. 
Fear not little one, I am only here to repair what once was whole. With your permission?
Clover Rose: Clover blinked slowly a few times, forcing herself to meet the Archon’s gaze. What once was whole … She mulled the words over in her mind before nodding slowly.
“Yes. Do what you need to do.”
The Archon: He exhaled his illusory breath, using it to loosen the tension surrounding her mind. He forced her to relax into a meditative state before he began probing around, looking for the severed memories. 
Ah, shoved deep into her dream state, swept under like dust beneath the mattress. Incompetent mortal. 
Kiaama mused to his little sister as he dug.
I wish to find the one responsible for this sophomoric use of mental magics, I pick up bits and pieces of what he leaves behind in his victims… How infantile…
The Shaper: “Quite,” she agreed, watching Clover closely. “What could be the motivation behind all this…cutting, and hiding?”
The Archon: Another insignificant mortal quarrel. This one is culminating into something more devastating though, I may have to convince mother to intervene.
He pried further through her dreams, sorting the fact from fiction in her mind. He sewed back the missing bits of her past in her conscience, the massive hole was beginning to reform. All of the joy, and all of the… pain… The Archon almost regretted repairing this one. But he could not go back on his word, the mortal’s curiosity would eventually get the better of her.
It appears they’re covering up a great travesty surrounding the half people.
 He paused, breathing onto Clover’s relaxed form. 
What once was lost, recovered in its entirety.
Clover Rose: Clover blinked a few times, readjusting to her surroundings. She then tried to cast her mind back to before the rebellion, half expecting there to be nothingness, as there had always been. However, that was no longer the case. She found herself shifting through memories of being on the run, and she knew why that was. 
Pushing further back, however, it only got worse. She could remember the dungeon, the one that children were placed into. The one that she was placed into. But why? She almost didn’t want to know. But she knew that memory was there as well. Everything was there.
Her mind then snapped to one particular day, in sharp detail. She was yelling at a little girl - my sister, Nadia - who was about half her age at the time. The two were quite similar in appearance, but she quickly moved past that. She felt disconnected, as though she were a spectator, as she saw her little sister get shoved hard enough to send her reeling backwards, and smacking her head into the corner of the table. “N-no … ” She murmured, shaking her head as she continued to relieve the experience. As soon as her sister’s head connected with the table, her anger had faded away. She had scrambled over, but it was already too late. 
Clover pressed her hands to her head, as if she could force the images out of her mind, but they were there, and there was nothing she could do except scream. She fell to her knees, screaming, as tears quickly formed and spilled over onto her cheeks.
The Archon: The Archon flitted bits of what the half-breed was feeling and experiencing through his sisters mind. 
I can’t help but feel as though they were saving her more than harming, little sister. But the deed is done. I must depart though, I have much to ponder from what I’ve gleaned from this mortal.
He spread his wings and took to the skies. 
Tezzeret…
 The Archon projected his voice and the location of the Shaper and Clover into the young mortals mind.
The half-breed warrants your attention…
Tezzeret Verdile: Tezzeret tore out of his cottage, he knew the grounds in front of the fortress well enough to know where the Archon was directing him. He skidded on a patch of ice and slammed into a wall, bruising his side in desperation to reach Clover. 
Please, be alright…
Running wide around a last building he saw the pair of figures, the hunched form of the Shaper, and Clover. He knelt down next to his fiancees shuddering form and looked up at the demon. “What… what’s happened?”
The Shaper: The Shaper looked up from where she was hovering anxiously over Clover. “Oh, thank goodness! Clover, she…she said she had no memories, so I thought my brother could help, and he did, but oh…her memories are so painful…” She touched Clover lightly on the shoulder. “Shh, it’s all right…”
Clover Rose: Clover cringed away from the Shaper’s touch, taking in a shuddering breath. My fault … That thought had been cycling through her mind on repeat for the past few minutes. She wordlessly shook her head, not moving from the spot where she was all but curled up on the ground.
Tezzeret Verdile: “Clover… Darling..” Tezzeret rested her head in his lap and ran his hand through her hair. “It’s all going to be okay…” He was struggling to keep himself from tipping over the brink. The lack of sleep and stress from planning the wedding was taking a toll on his psyche. But he held together for her.
Clover Rose: Clover eventually calmed enough to begin to untangle her thoughts, and she sat up, looking at Tezz through red-rimmed eyes. She cleared her throat, which was still feeling raw from when she was screaming, before speaking at near a whisper. “Can we go back home?”
Tezzeret Verdile: “Of course, love.” Tezzeret looked up at the Shaper, “Thank you… for trying to help..” He gave a weak smile before hefting Clover up in his arms and making his way back to the cottage.
Clover Rose: “We can just curl up and take a nap together … ?” She offered quietly, taking note of the dark circles under his eyes. Sleep would also hopefully let her escape the memories, at least for a little while.
Tezzeret Verdile: “Sleep is a luxury I can’t seem to afford these days..” Tezz gave a sad look downwards. “But I’ll gladly help you find some rest and reprieve.”
Clover Rose: “You need to sleep … you’ll start getting sick . . ” Clover knew the feeling of being unable to sleep, but she was going to try to get him to sleep regardless. “The wedding doesn’t have to be a big fancy thing. All I really want is for our friends to be there. You don’t have to worry about it so much.” Now that she was actually thinking again, she started focusing on more than that one distinct memory, although it was still there in the back of her mind.
Category:Season 4
Category:Events
Category:Clover Rose
Category:The Shaper
Category:The Archon