"Hey, mum. I made your favourite," said Liliya as she set the hot bowl down on the nightstand. "Carrot soup."

Her mum turned off the sound of the television and sat up. "Thank you, darling. That smells delicious."

Liliya sat down on the chair beside the bed as her mother enjoyed her early dinner.

"How's your day been?" her mother asked between bites.

"Alright," Liliya muttered. "Had a good chat with Nyron earlier."

"Oh, that's lovely! How are things between you two?"

Guilt overwhelmed Liliya so strongly that she had to look away as a bright smile lit up her mum's face.

"It's, uh... I'm not quite sure, at the moment. Hey mum, can I ask you a question?" she said, not in the least to change the subject.

The smile disappeared and worry grew in her eyes. "Of course, darling. What's bothering you?"

"I was just wondering... Do you ever think about dad and Rosanna? 'Cause we never talk about them."

With tears in her eyes, her mum reached out and took Liliya's hand. "I never stop thinking about them," she whispered. "It's okay to miss them. You know that, right?"

"Yeah, I know. I've just been thinking about them lately. Remember how Rosanna and I used to read to each other?"

"You'd build blanket-forts to have a cosy place to read." She chuckled softly.

"Yeah! And that one time you forgot about us and we read through the night, until we fell asleep in that fort."

"I could've sworn dad had said he'd put you both to bed." Her mother shook her head.

They laughed together, but the pain in her mum's eyes was still evident.

With a sort of desperation, Liliya continued, "We used to read in the car on holiday as well. Oh! Remember that year we went camping? Dad loved that, I've never seem him happier. Rosanna hated it though, she kept complaining about the insects and the spiders." She laughed. "Remember?"

Her mother stared into her half-eaten bowl of soup. "Of course I do, darling," she whispered. "Remembering is easy. It's forgetting that's hard."

Her heart skipped a beat as her brain registered the words. "W-what do you mean by that, mum?"

Her mother sighed and shook her head, placing the bowl back on the nightstand. "Missing them... It hurts more than anything I've ever felt. It hurts more than this," she said, gesturing towards her torso, where the cancer was slowly eating away. "It becomes unbearable. Sometimes I just wish I could forget."

Eyes wide and shoulders sagged, Liliya stared at her mother, searching her face for any indication that she might doubt her own words. "You don't mean that."

"I do," said her mum. "And considering how much it has affected you, I'm surprised you don't feel the same way."

"Forget them?" said Liliya, her voice raising. "Forget dad and Rosanna, and all the memories we've made? I'd never want that! How can you even say that? They live on through us."

"No," said her mum, sagged back into her bed. "They live on in a better place. They don't need us for that. If I could forget them, I wouldn't be in so much pain."

Disappointment washed over her, like a wave trying to drown her. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. Her mother actually wanted to forget the two most important people in her life. The love of her life and her own child. Losing them had caused her so much pain and anguish that she would sacrifice all her memories of them in favour of gaining some peace of mind.

Nyron had been right.

"Darling," said her mother, stroking her arm. "That doesn't mean I love them any less. You know that, don't you? In fact, there is no end to how much I love them. I just miss them too much."

Liliya's feet thoughtlessly slapped the pavement as she wandered through the city. She went outside to clear her head, but the fresh air had done nothing for her yet. She didn't even know where she was going. Kit's, maybe? Could she get away with going to see her without telling her what was wrong, when something was so obviously wrong?

She wished she could go to the pub. Sit at the bar while Nyron made her some unidentifiable yet surprisingly tasty drink. Talk about her troubles to the cutest listening ear she'd ever had.

But her troubles were caused by him, so now she had nowhere to go.

Cold, wet drops in her neck made her flinch. She looked up to see the sky had filled with dark, grey clouds. They'd burst. Thick drops of water came crashing down on her.

Great. As if this day wasn't shit enough yet.

"Hello, miss."

Liliya spun around to face the voice. A middle-aged woman in a black coat and a blue beanie hat smiled kindly at her. Lines etched all over her face. "Hi. Can I help you?"

The smile widened, spanning all the way across the woman's face. "Oh, I think you can. You see, I've been looking –"

"Liliya, hey!"

She turned her head at the new voice, one she hadn't expected.

"Nyron? What are you doing here?"

Though drenched with the now pouring rain, he smiled just as brightly as the woman. He glanced only briefly at the woman, giving her a sort of half-nod, before grabbing Liliya's arm. "Can we talk for a second?" Without waiting for a response, he all but dragged her along.

"What? What are you..." She threw an apologetic smile at the woman, but she'd already turned her back to them and walked away through the rain. "Ouch! Nyron, stop it, you're hurting me!"

She tried to struggle free, but his grip on her upper arm was too tight.

"Keep moving!" Nyron hissed.

The growl in his voice sent a shiver down her spine. "What are you doing? Let go of me!" She struggled harder now, doing all she could to try and rip her arm out of his hold.

"Stop struggling, Liliya!"

Fear took over from conscious thought. She pulled on her arm again, but it only made him squeeze harder until she could feel the skin bruising.

It wasn't until he pushed her into an abandoned alleyway that he finally let go. She immediately stepped away from him, cradling her painful arm, but he wasn't even looking at her. Instead, he peered around the corner into the street.

"What on Tezyl are you doing?"

He turned around and pulled a hand through his hair. Wet as it was, it stuck right back against his head. Perhaps it was the weather, but his face seemed paler, greyer than normal.

"I didn't hurt you, did I?" he said, gesturing at her arm, which she still held protectively away from him. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to."

"Nyron." She swallowed. It took all her strength to keep her composure, as her instinct still screamed at her to flee. "Please tell me what's going on, before I freak out."

He sighed, shaking the rain out of his hair – a pointless action if she'd ever seen one. "That woman," he said. "She's after me, for some reason."

For a moment she thought she'd heard it wrong. "After you? What do you mean she's after you?"

"I think she's dangerous. Especially now that she seems perfectly alright with going through you to get to me."

"Nyron!" She took a deep breath, but couldn't stop her voice from coming out two octaves higher when she said, "Can you please start making sense?"

"Right. Sorry." He shook his head as if to get rid of an intrusive thought. "I've been getting strange messages. Strange as in threatening," he added quickly as she opened her mouth. "At first it was vague things, like 'I know who you are', and I shrugged it off as nonsense. But then they became more specific."

Her eyes widened. "You mean..."

"She knows I'm... You know. And she hates me for it. I'm not sure why, I don't even know her."

Thoughts raced through Liliya's head. How did she find out he was the Memory Thief? Why would she follow him around like that? Even go as far as to approach her, too? "What have you done to her, Nyron?" she groaned.

"I told you, I don't know her!"

"That doesn't mean she doesn't know you!" said Liliya. "You've obviously done something to her, or someone she cares about. You know, this is exactly what I was talking about yesterday! Stealing memories hurts people, whether you realise it or not. And now you're surprised when it comes back to bite you."

With a frustrated scoff at his perplexed expression, Liliya wiped her dripping hair out of her face and stomped out of the alleyway.

The heavy rain drove her onwards, along with angry thoughts. She'd barely crossed the street into the next block, when an arm wrapped around her throat and a piece of cloth was pressed against her nose and lips. She gasped and clawed at her throat, but her body wouldn't cooperate. A dark mist hovered over her vision, as her muscles weakened. A low chuckle was the last thing she heard before darkness enveloped her world.