The yellow of Patrick's eyes flared as he sat crisscross directly in front of Frank. Their knees touched as Patrick held out his hands to Frank.

"You should feel my magic lull you into a sleep of sorts." Patrick said as he shook his head. "It should take you to a space where we can safely look into your history."

Frank hesitated to place his hands in Patrick's. He could already see the faint yellow hues of his magic radiating from his palms. The more he thought about going back into his own head, the more nervous he became. How could Patrick be sure things would be different from last time? What if something went wrong?

"Frank?" Patrick closed his hands, pulling Frank back to the moment. He looked up at Patrick nervously. Patrick looked back at him with a reassuring smile. "It's okay if you're scared."

"I'm not." Frank shook his head. "I mean... I shouldn't be... Right?"

"You don't exactly come from somewhere this is common practice." Patrick laughed, "You don't have to hide your nerves."

Frank looked around the room. It was just himself and Patrick at the moment. Gerard had excused himself and Pete was gathering more food to eat. "Okay... so I'm nervous."

Patrick nodded, encouraging Frank to continue as he flexed his fingers to expose his palms again.

"Maybe I'm scared too." Frank admitted before inhaling and exhaling slowly. He flexed his own fingers and shut his eyes. "I mean... What happens when I do remember those dark spots? What if there's a reason they're dark?.."

There was a brief pause. "I don't have all the answers you seek, but we can figure it out together."

Frank inhaled and exhaled again. "Okay...Okay." He opened his hands, palms facing the ceiling and opened his eyes. "What have I got to lose?" He inhaled quickly before flipping his hands over and placing them in Patrick's open hands.

Immediately, Frank felt a tingling where their palms connected and his body relax. His head dropped and his eyelids fluttered as the the tingling spread up his arms. His eyesight grew fuzzy as a yellow hue began to coat it. The yellow was the last thing he remembered before it all went black

—-
Gerard

Gerard sat under the cork tree, breathing in the fresh air. Though it was safe, the enclosed space under the tree could feel suffocating. He missed the open space of his home. Or, at least, whatever they currently called home.

He watched the rainbows of leaves flutter through the air as the breeze knocked them off of their branches. The leaves that managed to stick to their branches brushed against each other, making a soothing sound that carried over the forest.

Gerard sighed, closing his eyes to take it all in. He hadn't really taken a moment to fully take in the world around him after his escape. He had been focusing on driving. Then he had been guiding Frank. Then they had arrived at the cork tree. It hadn't felt like there was time to just soak in the sounds of his home.

The sound of footsteps approaching killed the spell of solitude, making Gerard open his eyes and turn his head.

Pete was approaching the tree, carrying a bag over his shoulder. When he saw Gerard, he wore a frown but gave a small wave. "Need some air?"

"Yea." Gerard rose to his feet and stretched. "Solid walls have always made me a bit stir crazy. Especially after that place."

"Why did you let yourself get taken in the first place?" Pete asked as he reached out to the tree. He slid his hand across its surface before pausing on a notch just above where the bark was stripped. "Your brother came here immediately after, panicked."

"Mikey..." Gerard sighed, "I told him to gather the others and run."

"He still did, after Patrick told him you'd most likely end up here." Pete pulled his hand from the tree as it revealed its entrance to them. He gestured for Gerard to enter first. "He said you could have both gotten out, though."

Gerard entered the dark tunnel, frowning as he thought about his younger brother. With everything that had been happening, he had been focusing on his own survival. Mikey was more than capable of taking charge of their group and keeping them safe.

The day Gerard had been been captured, it was meant to be a simple supply raid. Some Force soldier scouts had moved uncomfortably close to their recent base of operations. As a group they decided to run them off and steal what rations they had with them, but one of their own was injured. They may have all made it back to their base but, if Gerard hadn't of sacrificed himself, they would have been easily tracked before they could pack everything and run.

"They shot Ryan with a weapon we hadn't been anticipating." Gerard relayed as they made their way down the steps. "I gave myself up and influenced them into only focusing on me. I didn't think I could hold them back from the base as long as it would take to vanish completely."

"Was this force soldier you brought with that group?" Pete asked.

Gerard shook his head. "No, Frank had never left the base before I had him help my escape." He jumped off the last step and turned to face Pete.

Pete seemed to be thinking over Gerard's words. He said nothing until he reached the bottom of the stairs himself. "What makes you trust him?" He finally asked, tilting his head just slightly.

"He's... different." Gerard shrugged. "The first one I've ever seen with remorse. He seemed to be questioning his place before I even showed up." He could vividly picture Frank's amazement when they first exited the crashed vehicle; the way Frank had marveled that the world held more than orange deserts brought a small smile to his lips.

Pete still seemed unsure. "You'd better be right." He began towards the room they stored food in, but paused halfway there. "Both you and Patrick."

Gerard looked towards the room Frank and Patrick were in. He wasn't sure how long he had been outside listening to the forest. He wasn't sure if they had started with their plan or if they were still talking through it. He could feel the magic inside him longing to go back up to the surface already, but he made his direction the room with the yellow and green crystals.

When Gerard entered the room, both Patrick and Frank were on the moss bed sitting with their legs crossed. Their hands were interlocked where they rested between them. Frank's head was down while Patrick's looked straight ahead, eyes completely encased in yellow. The air between them had faint hues of yellow swirling slowly.

"Guess you already dove in." Gerard muttered as he continued towards the table. He pulled out a chair and turned it so it faced the two. He sat down, looking between them feeling a twist in his gut. "Hope everything's going okay..."

—-
Frank

The next thing Frank knew, he was opening his eyes to darkness. Everything around him was just darkness, no matter where he looked. He pushed himself up to his feet, momentarily unsure of what was happening.

"Frank, is that you?"

Frank spun around. Patrick was pushing himself up from the dark ground, looking confused. Frank hurried over to him, offering his hand to help him upright.

"Thank you..." Patrick shook his head, as if trying to shaking something off.

"Are you okay?" Frank asked, looking the other man over.

Patrick nodded, though his brows were still furrowed in that same confusion. He met Frank's eyes and forced a smile.

"Your eyes." Frank felt his own widen,"They're not yellow."

Patrick's eyes were blue with a faint ring of green that circled his pupil. He let out a light laugh. "Naturally, they're not. I have to keep my magic coating them, though, otherwise I get lost in the timeline. It's why I have to constantly have other magic near me to ground me and keep my magic from tiring."

"What does it mean that they're not coated in your magic now?" Frank asked, "Will we get stuck in... wherever we are?"

"No." Patrick shook his head, "This isn't really us. Not our physical bodies, at least. We're in a space where we can look into your memories in a safer way then what happened last time you got sucked into reliving fragments of one."

"Fragments?"

"That's what it felt like." Patrick shrugged, "Like bits and pieces that may or may not have been connected."

Frank nodded. "Okay... How do we start?"

"Well..." Patrick looked around the darkness that surrounded them. He hummed to himself, taking a step to the side before looking back at Frank. "While we're connected, I should be able to better access your timeline. Bringing it up could help you pinpoint dark spaces in your memory. Or, you could start searching for one that we can explore through together."

Frank shut his eyes. Dark spots in his memory. There were the more recent ones, but he had Gerard to explain those gaps. He went back to before he left the Force base. Those more recent events seemed normal, but further back... He reopened his eyes. "When I was a kid. It feels like... More of the dark spots are back then."

"Okay." Patrick extended his hand to the darkness. He released a slow breath as he stared into the void, keeping his hand outstretched. For a moment, nothing seemed to happen. Then, with a rush of air that threatened to push Frank to the ground, a row of images shot towards them from the darkness. Patrick gasped, looking ready to drop to the dark surface beneath them. Frank was quick to move and support him, earning a breathless thanks.

Still helping support Patrick, Frank turned his gaze to the images that had stopped just feet away. It looked like an old film strip from Force training videos. It was a row of several squared off images, separated by a thin gap of darkness. The images all felt familiar to Frank, except for the varying degrees of darkness that crept in from their edges. Some had small swirls or edges like a small creature had nibbled away at it while some of the others were more darkness than picture.

"Are these my memories?" Frank asked, continuing to look up and down the row.

"Yes." Patrick confirmed, breathing heavily. "I went back in your timeline and, combined with what you thought of, came up with these."

"Are you okay?" Frank looked Patrick over with concern, "Can this drain you?"

"I'll be fine." Patrick waved away his worry. He pulled away from Frank to stand on his own, though his breathing still hadn't evened out. "Don't worry about me. If I get too weak, we'll just wake back up. We should be fine." He looked at the images of memory in front of them. "Where would you like to start?"

Frank looked back at the memories. One of the less obscured ones seemed to be the same memory of being a kid with Ray that he had found himself in previously. The next was one more obscured with a crack of darkness running through its middle. He was with another kid that wasn't Ray. They appeared to be sat at a table, but the crack ran straight through the other child's face. Frank took a step towards that one, squinting at it to try and get more detail from it.

"That one?" Patrick asked, making Frank jump. He wasn't expecting Patrick to speak already.

"Can we?" Frank turned back to Patrick, "How do we do it?"

Patrick stepped forward, extending his hand to Frank. "We just step through."

Frank looked at Patrick's hand, then back to the memory. The tightness in his chest was back. What if it was a mistake coming this far? What were they about to find by stepping into this memory?

Frank inhaled and exhaled slowly. They had already come this far. He turned back to Patrick and took his hand. "You won't let go?"

Patrick shook his head. "I'll be right beside you."

Frank nodded. He stepped towards the memory, with Patrick staying beside him. With his free hand, he reached forward. His fingers grazed the memory before sinking into it. "Let's go." Frank whispered, continuing to push his arm forward and stepping into the memory.