Incarceratus opened the door to his apartment. It felt somewhat familiar. His body knew where to hang up his jacket, where to rack the shoes and where the bathroom was.
His head was throbbing and his thoughts were covered in a mental fog. He looked up at his image, reflected by the mirror. With a turn on the handle he filled his hands with fresh cold water and splashed it into his face.
He reaches next to him and grabs a dry towel, which he then rubs on his face.
He looked up once again at his reflection. Sunken eyes with dark bags looked back at him. His face looked like he hadn't slept for days.
Incarceratus looked outside the window. It was late evening already. The sun had set and night had come. He left the bathroom, grabbed new clothes in the wardrobe, changed them and sat down on his bed.
Lying next to him were multiple printed out pictures that lay on top of a small nightstand.
After staring at the assortment of pictures he finally decides to pick one of them up.
He was fascinated. A very young Incarceratus was standing next to a small girl. He had a smile on his face. However strangely enough he was clad in a bright white hospital gown. The girl next to him had long brown hair, almost reaching down to her hips. Her light green eyes were fixed on the camera and her face was gleaming with joy.
"Who might that girl be…?" He muttered to himself. He had a feeling he had met her before, but wasn't sure.
He put the picture back down and picked up another one.
His eyes were fixed on the beautiful woman that he had met this very afternoon. Next to her stood a tall woman with golden eyes and black hair. He spotted himself as well, smiling next to the beautiful blonde lady. The selfie was completed by a little girl standing in the middle of them. Funnily enough they all held up V signs.
Incarceratus smiled. It filled him with warmth.
"Commander Ancora was her name…" He whispered. "She is beautiful. I can't believe that I would forget a person like this…"
He sighed depressed and fell down onto his soft mattress, looking up at the ceiling.
He took out his phone and unlocked it with a swipe of his thumb.
For some reason, his messages were open.
For a short moment he stared into the phone screen. He couldn't believe his eyes.
Just this morning he wrote a message to a person that was saved as "Jeanne Ancora".
He quickly sat up. Confused, he double checked if it was the same woman he met today. He scrolled up to their past chats and saw that he had always referred to her either as "Jeanne" or "Ancora".
It had to be her. Even her profile picture depicted the same woman he met today.
But why was there a message this morning? He couldn't remember writing any messages.
He closed his eyes and tried to remember as far back as he could.
His thoughts were all over the place. Random memories pooped up. He could remember some of his childhood memories as vivid as if they happened just yesterday.
As he falls deeper into the onslaught of thoughts and memories, he recalls something.
Daniel was lying in a hospital bead, his head throbbing with pain just as it was today. His tiny hands were pressed on his forehead, trying to relieve the pain.
Something warm dripped down behind his right ear and slithered down his neck. He wiped the ticklish drop away. He looked at the hand that wiped that drop away. It was smeared with something red.
Suddenly numerous medical staff streamed in and started talking to him and measuring things.
He didn't understand what was going on.
Then a woman with purple hair approached him from the front. However he couldn't see her face.
His hands were trembling, his palms were sweating.
An instinctual fear overcame him.
His mouth opened, screaming. His arms were thrashing around him, his legs kicking and pushing, trying to stand up and run away. But the people around him pinned his legs and arm in place, not letting him escape.
The purple haired woman came closer, this time with a needle in her hand.
Just as she was about to inject it, his vision fades and his memory ends.
Incarceratus was panting and sweating, sitting on the edge of the side of his bed.
He put the phone down on his nightstand.
His head was throbbing with pain even more than before. He groaned and pressed his hands on his forehead waiting for the pain to erode.
After sitting for a while, the pain finally lifted. He exhaled with a deep relieving sigh and fell down onto his mattress once again.
He stared at the ceiling illuminated in the moonlight. Finally he closed his eyes and fell asleep.
***
Jeanne was wide awake, lying in her bed.
Her mind was racing. Her thoughts mulled over one other.
She tried to close her eyes and get some rest but she kept tossing and turning in her bed. After she tossed around 7 times, she finally stepped out of her bed and turned on her lights.
She sat up and unlocked her phone. The bright screen made her blink. Jeanne navigated to the messages with Commander Incarceratus.
The message was sent at 8 in the morning.
She picked him up from the hospital at around 2pm
Maybe he thought she was someone else and messaged her?
But clearly the message was directed at her and he even mentioned the work that she had to take over for him.
There wasn't anyone else taking over for him. Even Lieutenant Vage was only ordered to be the right hand of Jeanne, as the reports and papers were partially classified state affairs.
She pulled up the e-mail with the report that the hospital sent her and Incarceratus.
As she flew through the lines, a name caught her eye.
Dr. Avaritia
Where had she heard that name before?
"Ah yeah…" she muttered to herself. "She was the one on the site of the tunnel… That one medic reported it to me about it…"
She typed in her name in the search bar.
Results came in.
Dr. Avaritia, Head of NOX Medical Institution.
She scrolled further down.
There she saw it.
One of NOX Medical Institution's fields of work was healing memory loss.
But if they were healing it, how does that explain the message he had sent her in the morning?
Jeanne looks deeper into the company named NOX.
It was an international investment company. However it also seemed like they were involved in every major company or industry. Even the military and the authorities were financed by them.
Then she came upon a picture of the different members of NOX.
Her eyes widened.
Multiple people she knew were seen on it:
General Superbia. Major Invidia. Colonel Ira. Captain Acedia. Brigadier Gula.
And.
Commander Incarceratus.
Her eyes widened with shock.
In the picture he was still a young adult. But she recognized his face. She was certain that it was him.
RIIIIING.
Her alarm rings.
She looked up from her phone and realized that it was already morning.
She puts her phone down and stands up, ready for the day ahead.