REPRESSED MEMORIES.

1774, NOVEMBER 28th, MONDAY7:12 pm.

Noche hit the floor with a thud, splattering blood everywhere.

"NOOO!" Raven shouted.

The bird of death lunged towards Dia as Noche's body went cold. Her fingers twitched as numbness spread to her extremities.

"Not this feeling. Not again," Noche shut her eyes. "Just like at the bottom of DeathTech. I'm bleeding out... I'm dying.

The world around her edges went black as her body was bathed in ice water. Then she could feel nothing; darkness took over. Her consciousness faded bit by bit. Piece by piece. Until she was gone.

Noche lunged up with a gasp. Both arms checked her torso, but the wound was gone. Then her eyes widened; her left arm was back. As she searched about she found herself sitting on the red couch in the yellow room.

"What the fuck? A dream?" She muttered. "No... Too realistic."

The blonde stood up and turned around; the front door hung open.

"It couldn't be..."

She dashed towards it, ran past the drifting cat tails, and towards the lighthouse once again. Grabbing the knob and throwing the ancient door open, Noche stood behind her friends. The group was gasping and shouting.

Tak was in tears, Shaylin covered her mouth, and Alice had to hold Mary back. Noche's gaze drifted to the source of everyone's agitation. Her own dead body laying on the ground in a puddle of blood.

"What the fuck?"

Everyone turned towards the blonde. Eyes went wide – Tak ran to Noche and wrapped her in a hug. Most were stunned speechless.

"What's going on?" Noche croaked.

"Y-You died," Tak sniffled.

"I know!"

"How are you alive?" Shaylin asked.

"I don't know!"

Tar splattered onto the ground nearby and Noche turned to where it came from. Raven was fighting Dia aggressively – black liquid was spreading everywhere.

"Raven! Get yourself together!" Noche shouted. "The tar is getting too close to the lighthouse!"

The bird of death snapped in her direction.

"Noche? There are two of you?" He shouted.

"Soon there'll be three," Dia laughed.

The tar harpy charged towards the blonde – dashing past the group and straight towards Noche. She grabbed her by the shirt and slammed her into the lighthouse.

"Hello Noche... How was your eighth death?"

"What! My eighth death?"

"Come now, seriously, you just died and haven't figured it out," Dia groaned. "Was the skeleton at the bottom of DeathTech's cliff not enough foreshadowing?"

"Dia what are you talking about!"

The tar harpy grinned from ear to ear. She leaned in closer to Noche's face until the two were inches away.

"Noche... You are immortal."

The blonde didn't respond. She only blinked. Dia continued.

"You're like Tak. Or rather, you can die, but you don't stay dead."

Noche furrowed her brow and her mouth opened, but no words came out.

"This is what, your ninth life?"

"I don't believe you."

Dia chuckled.

"Your first death was decapitation by Edward. You can still feel the way he cut off your head after recently regaining your memories, so I won't go into detail."

Noche struggled to break free of Dia's grasp but was slammed back into the lighthouse after a failed attempt.

"Your second death was after you escaped DeathTech. When you jumped out of the hole in the wall caused by that explosion, you hit your head on a rock at the bottom of your fall," she grinned. "Your head exploded like a watermelon... And you found the bones of your previous body after fighting that giant centipede."

Noche stopped struggling for a moment to listen. The skeleton she had found a few hours ago — it had damage to the neck and left hand. How did she not notice that those were the same spots she had scars on her body? Where she was shot as a child and decapitated as an adult.

Plus those bones wore the same eggshell blue medical gown she was wearing when Cross saved her from that desert. It was too much to be mere coincidence. Could this be true? Was she immortal?

"Your third death was when Creeps severed your left arm and you bled to death at the bottom of DeathTech," Dia continued. "Your fourth was the explosion after the car crash hours ago. Then your fifth, sixth, and seventh were all due to sharks tearing you apart in a flooded mimicry of Cross HQ."

Noche shuddered at the memory of being eaten alive by sharks three separate times.

"Finally, your eighth death, was when I impaled you with my scythe," she said. "How does it feel? Having died so many times?'

"That doesn't make since," Noche said. "If I've died, how am I still conscious?"

"Because you've been resurrected," Dia cackled. "If this was a videogame, you'd have unlimited lives."

The blonde lifted both legs onto Dia's stomach and launched her back. Breaking free of the harpy's grasp she planted her sword into the lighthouse and used instant riptide to chase after her.

"Why are you attacking me!" Noche yelled.

"To help you remember, of course."

They collided into a flurry of blows. Noche's sword slammed against Dia's scythe again and again. Both rocketed above the ground as blade slammed into blade. Tar splattered everywhere in massive heaps. Raven was forced to defend the group with umbrellas made of corruption.

"I don't need your help! I regained my memories!"

"Not all of them," Dia grinned. "You regained the ones lost due to the amnesia drug your grandfather gave you. I'm trying to help you remember the ones you repressed afterwards."

"That I repressed?"

"You don't remember your multiple deaths, do you? It makes sense. Dying is very traumatic," Dia said. "But don't worry. I'll kill you again and again until you overcome your mental block."

Noche took an opening and swung for Dia's head. It melted and Noche's attack went wide – then it reformed with a mocking smile.

"You'll die so much that it'll feel normal. Then those fuzzy memories should clear right up," she said. "See. I'm doing you a favor. After all, you can't escape this place if you don't remember how."

"And why do I need these memories to get here?"

"Do you even know where you are? Why this place is a reflection of your very mind?" Dia asked. "Noche, this is where you go when you die. This is your limbo. And it's so much bigger than the yellow room."

Her scythe spun with an upward swing. Noche almost didn't block it in time, causing the blade to nick her torso. The tar harpy had aimed to land a killing blow in the same spot. It caused the blonde to shudder.

"This place is its own universe. Its own pocket dimension," Dia said. "You can't get out of here by normal means. There is only one key to escape... And I'm here to help you recover it."

"I don't want your help."

"Oh? Do you plan to stay here? No matter how big this realm is, if you can't leave, it'll eventually feel like a prison," Dia leaned in close as the two locked blades. "Tell me Dead-che. If your fears caught up to you, if you found yourself trapped in that desert again... Would you destroy everything to escape it?"

Noche's eyes went wide; she opened her mouth but no words came out. It caused Dia's grin to spread from ear to ear.

"Your silence is answer enough," she said. "It's not a matter of if... but when."

The blonde scowled and threw a reckless swing at the tar harpy. It was deflected with ease and a counterattack almost took Noche's life. However, she managed to dodge and turn it into a glancing blow. Causing a line of red to spread across her shoulder and arm.

"How long would you hesitate, I wonder?" Dia let out a low chuckle. "I don't care what you do. Be as good or evil as you like. But right now, you want to get out of this mental world, and you can't do it without those memories."

The loud whimper of a child in pain occurred behind Noche.

"I was made to help you prevent failure," Dia said. "and I will do what needs to be done, even if it hurts you."

The blonde turned to a mother and daughter, the mother and daughter. Tar surrounded the mouth and chin of the little girl. Her eyes were faded and her intestines were spilled everywhere like ropes. Corruption leaked from the wounds as tears streamed down her face for the last time.

"No, I... I'm so sorry. I never wanted that. I was going to lose, that desert was going to take me. I had to do something," Noche whispered. "I want to be better, but my fears call to me like a siren's song. I'm sorry."

"You killed them," Dia said. "That little girl. Her mom. Both are dead because of you."

Noche spun." NO! It was you who covered them in tar!

She froze, for Dia's appearance perfectly mimicked Noche's.

"We both know you're only talking to yourself."

The blonde was too shocked to move – Dia embraced her in a hug. Noche couldn't break free, she was restrained as tar spread out from the harpy's form. Corruption covered her torso and ate away at her skin. In seconds, Noche's abdomen melted – she fell in two pieces. As her torso and legs separated, the world went dark.

Noche awoke in the yellow room. After some colorful cursing, the blonde shot towards the front door and then the lighthouse. A moment later, she made it back to the battlefield. Two of her previous bodies laying on the ground. One killed by a grievous wound and the other from being partially dissolved by corruption.

"Welcome to life number ten," Dia cackled. "You've made it to the double digits."