A Darker Purpose

Caen entertained the thought of Voltraire getting hold of a chaos emerald, and shuddered. "Yeah, no doubt that Sonic'd go after someone like him if he got hold of the chaos emeralds. Then again, I think he'd pose a bit more of an issue than some scientist with an egg fetish." He chuckled "anyway, this place would sound grand, if it wasn't for the dirt tarnishing it-" he stopped himself, looking over at Kia "uh... That was a little insensitive. Sorry." He scratched the back of his head.

Kia gave caen a very angry look. She crossed her arms."I thought you hated him now. Don't tell me you still care-" "I will a-always care for my brother! Do I hate him? Of course but he is... still family. He lost his way... but th-that was... my fault. I should have b-been there when... he confronted my p-parents. Maybe I cound... of helpped hi-him before he s-snapped." Kia looked down with a sad face. "This all co-could have... been avoided if hadnt b-been..." She started to cry"I just want my little brother... back!"

"I... I..." Caen stuttered "I wish it were different, too... But it isn't your fault. People like him inevitably become something like what is happening, now. He's... He's too far gone... I'm sorry." Caen said, looking down.

Kia continued to cry. Recin looked at her. "when was the last time your brother was... good? I could always-" Lillith stopped flying for a moment. " "Recin we are not going to do that." I did it to you!" "WHAT! I'M A DEMON! YOU CAN'T ERASE MY MEMORIES!" "Than how come you don't remember who you were before you became a demon." Lillith went silent. "Your brother asked for a complete wipe. Come on, don't you find it weird that you only remember being in hell and not know the reason why?" Kia looked at recin."You can erase memories?" "No but I know what can"

Caen stood up, resting his chin on his hand "memory erasure? We could... Reverse all of the memories that make him evil, and make something new... Change him... What are your thoughts, Kia?" Caen turned to Kia, holding out his hand.

" Anything to bring my brother... b-back" She went and grabbed caen's hand and gave a smile. Lillith started to fly again. Liela stared at them both. "What are we going to tell him when we erase several years of his memory? I mean he won't remember me or caen."

"that is our main issue," Caen replied to Liela's comment, pacing away from her, his chin still placed on his fingers "we could completely change him in this way. We need to play our cards right, or risk making it worse. Any ideas, guys?"

"Well the last... time he wa-was... good was when he was 26...years old. He was... Fre-fresh out of collage. Living alone i-in... His own apartment. " Liela looked at kia. "Maybe we could say he hit his head to hard at his job and that we are all friends. "" or maybe we could say he's our slave and works for us" Lillith and Recin started to laugh while Kia and Liela looked mad at them.

Caen looked over at Recin and Lillith, who were laughing at Lillith's idea. He cleared his throat "as tempting as that may be, we'd be no better than him if we did that. I like Kia's idea. If he thinks that he was fresh out of college, then maybe we could change his thoughts. However, then we have the issue of his appearance... How do we explain that?"

"Did you really say appearance would be a problem... Infront of recin? "" So than you want me to turn him into a mobian? I guess I could but than he's still going  have those dark powers. Unlike turning him into a mouse were the powers would go away, mobians have proven to be able to contain such energies. just adds more things to explain. "Recin layed on Lillith's back. "Well I guess explaining powers would be much easier than explaining being a demon." 

"powers aren't really all that weird in this world. I mean, hell, I probably have weirder powers." Caen said, crossing his arms "still, maybe we could blame the gaps in his memories on said powers?"

" Yeah I guess that coul" Before Recin could finish his sentence, Lillith took a sudden dive heading to the ground with immense speed. Liela started to freak out screaming. Then, Lillith made it to the ground with a loud thump. Lillith turned her head to see if everyone was alright. "We are here. Is everyone ok? You can all get off of me now." Recin got up moan of pain."Your landings always did suck." Kia was grabbing her head and slowly getting up. She turned to see Liela levitating just a couple inches above Lillith's back. She looked like she was bracing for impact but that wasn't what caught her eye. What Kia was really looking at was Liela's ghostly tail. "Li-liela... your legs... are g-gone." Liela opened her eyes and saw she was levitating with her ghost tail. She quickly landed on the ground and her legs appeared. "Oh... s-sorry that happens sometimes" She was still shaking a little but managed to pull herself together and climb herself down Lillith's back to the ground. Everyone else did the same.

Before Recin could properly reply to Caen's idea, Lillith took a sudden nose-dive, causing Caen to stumble back and try his best to hold onto Lillith's back, before she hit the ground with a loud thud, skidding along the ground slightly. Caen was sent off of Lillith's back, and through the air, landing a short way away from her, faceplanting the dirt. He lay there for a few seconds, before getting up, brushing himself off and coughing. "You came in... A little bit too hot on that landing..." Caen said to her, before coughing up another cloud of dust.

"Sorry... I haven't been a dragon in such a long time. I don't really have time to practice." " With good reason. I can't imagine just how many villages you'd go destroying if I let you stay in that form. So back to a demon, you go" He waved his wand and shot magic at Lillith turning her back to her original form. "Aww... I kind of liked being a dragon." Recin ignored her and looked around. They were in some mountain area. "uhh where do we go from here, love?" Lillith looked around tapping her foot on the ground until she heard a metal thump. "Aha!" She brushed off some dirt to reveal a metal hatch  "Well before we enter do we have a plan. Knowing Ren, he probably went to his living quarters to rest but exactly what are we going to do first?"

Caen crossed his arms "well, firstly we wanna know how we can do this memory erasure, and how far away it'll work. Then, I'll need to know the basic layout of his living quarters, so we could decide if we'll require stealth." Caen said, pacing as he did so.

"Well, I have the object right here." Recin took off his hat and put his hand in it. He started to pull out little animals trapped in cages. Ranging from little birds to actual fairies. "Where is it... come on... aha!" He finally pulled out what looked like some sort of amulet. He looked at it for a moment before putting back the cages of creatures back in his hat. He put his hat on. "This is what we are going to use to erase his memories. I know not how we shall sneak inside but I do know how this works. Simply hold it in one hand like this" He held his hand up. "And then tap two times on the others person's forehead with your other hand. Then quickly think on what memories you wish to go away and that's it. Soon as he opens his eyes he'll not remember." Recin looked at Lillith. "Oh, it's my turn. Alright. Ren doesnt really have any sort of security systems down there so no need to worry.When we go in there, we will have to take a left then go forward two doors and then take another left. That will lead us to Ren's living area. He has a king sized bed, a bathroom more toward the end of the room and a study to the right. Will that do because I'm ready to go." "Yeah let's get this over with" Lillith opened the hatch and went down a ladder. Everybody else followed.

 As soon as they all reached the floor, they could see many jewels in display cases. The area was well light with lights and mirrors flashing at gems making it a rainbow of color. "Woah, this place look so cool." 

"seriously? He has precious gems and he doesn't have even a single security camera? Sheesh, I'll be honest, he's not particularly smart." Caen said, shaking his head, looking over at the pile of caged creatures "I'm not even gonna ask what those are for." Caen said in a pretty matter-of-fact tone, before following Liela, Recin, Kia, and Lillith down the hatch, and into the mine. The walls were craggy, and, as expected, stony, clearly each gem had been harvested in this area and carefully placed in glass cases. Caen stopped when his eyes met a particularly good looking ruby "uh... Do you think he'll mind if I take that on my way out?" Caen asked the others, before looking away from it "y'know, to put in my room. Looks pretty sweet."

Lillith started to walk ahead. "You're a weird one. You'd rather have it in your room than sell it?" "You can... take it." Lillith stopped walking for a moment, looking at Kia. "Whatever" Lillith started to walk following the directions she knew. After a little, she stopped at a door, putting her ear to it. Than, after a couple seconds, she moved her head away and slowly opened the door making no noise. Ren was on top of his bed in a meditation position."Ok, he's meditating with his eyes closed. So we are going to have to be extra quite." Lillith whispered. "So who is going to ge in first?"

"Hey, I've got enough money, plus, it looks really cool, it'd be a shame for it to be sold to be put into some overpriced jewellery." Caen answered Lillith, before the demon noticed Voltraire, seemingly meditating. "Meditation? Why would a demon want to meditate, that seems a bit... Odd." Caen spoke in a hushed tone, peering around a wall and seeing the demonic hedgehog. "the person to go in first should probably be the one to do the honours. I don't think I know enough about him to erase enough, to be honest."

"Than I g-guess I'll go." Recin gave Kia the amulet and Kia quietly entered the room. She went closer to Ren until she was right in front of him. Kia let out a sigh. Ren heard this and open his eyes. Ren looked surprised. "K-Kia? How did you find me? What are yo-" "I'm s-sorry " Kia quickly tapped Ren's forehead twice. Ren immediately closed his eyes and his hands dropped to his side. it's like he went unconscious but was still upright. Kia held the amulet high with her other hand. It started to faintly glow for a moment. 

 Recin and the others had entered the room. Recin waved his wand and shot magic at Ren. "Turn into a mobian" Ren's form changed back into how he originally was. His holographic horns changed back into a crown. Kia took her hands away from Ren's forehead. There was a moment of nothing happening before Ren slowly opened his eyes and grabbed his head. "Uhhh, what happened?" Ren looked around the room. "Where am I? Who are you?!?" Kia quickly grabbed Ren's hand. "C-Calm down... brother." Ren looked at Kia. "Kia? Is that really you? Y-you look older... and you're hurt!" Ren looked extremely confused and worried. "What happened?!?"

Caen stood back and watched as Kia carried out the procedure, and Recin used some more of this type of weird magic to change Voltraire back into a Mobian. Caen was almost gladdened as Voltraire's horns shifted back into the familiar crown. As they finished, Voltraire awoke, looking over at the people surrounding him. Caen feigned worry, and knelt beside him, as Kia grabbed Ren's hand. "Y-you're awake, Ren! Thank god." He spoke, as if his past transgressions never happened. In his mind, changing Voltraire, and putting him on the path towards the light, was a success much better than perpetuating the cycle of oblivion. "what's the last thing you remember?"

Ren looked at Cean. "The last thing I remember? I-I was heading to my apartment with Kia." Ren turned to kia. "You were congratulating me on how I finished college. but then now I'm here." He turned to everyone. "I don't recognize most of you. I do know you, purple cat. You stayed in my apartment for the night a couple weeks ago. Have you finally found a master yet" Lillith looked at Liela than at Ren.

"Y-you don't remember me? How very strange..." Caen replied, standing up and crossing his arms "I'm Caen, a... Friend of yours." He said, struggling to say those words, as he was practically lying through his teeth. "A-apparently you just... Collapsed. I rushed here as soon as I could."

Ren turned to Caen." I collapsed? Oh well thanks... caen. I don't remember you being a friend of mine but I trust you're telling the truth." He went and put his hand out to caen to shake it. Kia got next to Caen."Of course. Y-You both... are the be-best friends. Everyone here... are your fri-friends"

Caen scratched the back of his head "maybe, because you don't know me, now, it's probably best to start afresh. Clean slate, that sorta thing." Caen said, before shaking Voltraire's hand "so, it's nice to meet you, Ren." He looked over at Kia, moving his eyes between her and Voltraire. He was wondering how his powers were supposed to be explained, if he came across them, and was unsure of how to proceed, to ensure that he doesn't trigger a reversal of the memory wipe. Even so, he felt... Almost evil, as he had stolen away Voltraire's memories- the very thing that made him what he was- all for some selfish goals. He began to walk out of the room "I... I need a moment." Caen said, his voice unstable.