Arthur waited and waited and waited...
His dark sense remained active and alert, ready to detect even the slightest movement in his vicinity. Each passing minute felt like an hour as he lay there, feigning sleep while his mind raced with possibilities and fears.
Time stretched on with no movement, no disturbance in the stillness of the night. Arthur started to feel hints of relief washing over him with each uneventful minute. Perhaps he had been wrong. Perhaps the recovered memories were false after all—hallucinations brought on by this strange world.
But that fragile hope shattered when his sense picked up movement. Subtle but distinct.
Luke had turned slightly and was looking directly at him. Even with his eyes closed, Arthur could feel the weight of that stare piercing through him, studying him intently. For minutes that seemed like eternities, Luke simply watched him, while Arthur was practically holding his breath in anticipation, fighting to maintain the steady rhythm of feigned sleep.
Finally, Luke rose to his feet. He stood over Arthur for a moment—a moment in which Arthur thought his racing heart might betray him—before slowly walking away.
Towards the roses.
'No, no, no... please, no.'
Arthur pleaded in his mind, desperate to be wrong. But unfortunately, what his senses were telling him disappointed him more and more by the second. Luke walked deliberately into the field of dead roses, his movements careful yet purposeful. He leaned down among the withered blooms and seemed to say something—words that Arthur could barely pick up even with his enhanced senses.
"Thank you," Luke whispered to the roses as he picked a handful, the gray petals seeming to shimmer with an unnatural light in the moonlight.
Something broke inside Arthur in that moment. He had all the evidence his rationality needed, and as much as he hated to admit it, it was time to confront his friend. Slowly, he rose to his feet, waiting for Luke to turn around and face him.
"What are you doing?" Arthur's tone was strong and serious, projecting a confidence that he didn't truly feel.
But it was a lie—a mask he wore to hide the devastation churning within him. Behind his carefully chosen words, he was begging, hoping against hope that there was an explanation, some reason that would make sense of this betrayal without destroying the friendship he had come to rely on.
Luke turned around, shock covering his face as he gripped the roots of the roses tightly in his fist. "I-I thought you were asleep?" he said, his tone shaky, eyes wide with surprise.
Arthur's face remained impassive as he spoke, though it took every ounce of his willpower to maintain that calm facade. "Well, I'm not... I—I remember, Luke... I remember everything."
Luke's expression shifted from shock to disbelief, the color draining from his face as if Arthur had struck him. He looked at a loss for words, mouth opening and closing without sound. "N-that's not possible," he finally managed to stammer.
Arthur did not move an inch, standing his ground as he replied, "But yet it happened."
Luke's jaw hung low as he babbled for words, clearly unprepared for this confrontation. "I—I—"
Arthur cut through his jumbled attempt at speech, his voice softening slightly despite his resolve to remain strong. "Please, Luke... just explain it to me... Why? You have to have a good reason, right?"
There was a plea in those words—a desperate hope that this was all some misunderstanding, that his friend wasn't truly lost to him.
Luke shot back fast this time, as if sensing an opening. "O-of course, of course I do." He took a step closer, making Arthur flinch involuntarily. Luke smiled lightly, but his eyes... there was something wrong with them. A glassy quality, a distant focus.
"I'm listening," Arthur spoke, the words stopping Luke in his tracks.
"She said it was the only way." The answer came with a fervent certainty that sent chills down Arthur's spine.
Arthur's brows furrowed in confusion, but his tone remained hard, though slightly louder now with anger lacing his words. "Who? Who said it was the only way?"
Luke took another step forward, roses still clutched in his hand like a precious offering. "T-the goddess. S-she speaks to me through the roses, and she told me you would fight it, that you would refuse her blessings. She said this was the only way to save you from yourself..."
His voice grew more animated, more passionate with each word, the distant look in his eyes intensifying. "You think the roses are evil. You think this place is hell. You're wrong, Arthur. This place could be paradise... all you have to do is accept the goddess into your heart. Arthur, she only wants the best for you. She loves y—"
"ENOUGH!" Arthur's monotone facade shattered, his face and voice now covered in rage and disbelief. "Are you insane, Luke? We're in the second realm—the only things left here are destruction and death! There are no gods, only corruption. Your mind has been taken by the illusions."
Luke shook his head vehemently, an accusatory look in his eyes as he came closer. But before he could speak, Arthur continued, his voice dropping to a quieter, more controlled tone that somehow carried more weight than his shouting.
"Tell me, how did you do it? How did you make me forget over and over?" Arthur's eyes narrowed. "You lied to me, didn't you? It's your ability, isn't it?"
Luke looked down at his feet before slowly raising his head, shoulders slumping slightly in admission. "...Yes. I can manipulate memories on a small scale... but the goddess told me that you couldn't know, or else the plan wouldn't work."
His voice grew more earnest, more pleading. "You have to understand, I only wanted what's best for you... I only wanted you to receive the greatness of her blessing as I did, and stay here with me, Arthur."
Arthur's previously rage-filled eyes were now filled with sadness and confusion. The anger hadn't disappeared—it still simmered beneath the surface—but it was tempered now by pity for his friend, who was clearly not in his right mind.
"What are you talking about? Your mind isn't right, Luke. You need help." Arthur extended a hand, palm up in a gesture of peace. "Just come back with me to Earth, and we can help you."
Arthur's heart ached seeing his friend like this... so deluded, so lost to whatever influence had taken hold of him. Was this what the roses did?
Luke took another step forward, his eyes wide and fevered as he held the roses out, trying to give them to Arthur. "No, you don't understand, Arthur... I don't need help anymore, or ever again, because I have her. Its taking longer for you then it did me but if you just keep eating her roses and if you'd just accept her int—"
He was cut off by Arthur slapping the bundle of roses out of his hand, the withered petals scattering across the stone floor by the temple.
"JUST STOP!"