Chapter 1

"The pain is dissolving… And I go with it… In just a few seconds, my memories will be returned to the people... Adieu, Nilin… Remember you soon… "

Edge wasn't lying when he said that. As the battle ends and the machine that once housed the Errorist leader let go of its grasp on her mind, Nilin remembers. She remembers everything.

Or actually… no, not everything, she realises. She simply remembers. The images from her past that she sees are flawed, limited. They're real. No longer do they belong to an engine implanted into the back of her neck. They are her own.

In a way, it makes her feel nostalgic. She haven't experienced memories this way since she was a child. She had forgotten what it felt like; perhaps that's the one thing Sensen can't help you remember. But most of all, seeing her past again in this blurred, abstract form, is painful.

The little girl Nilin had seen in her father's and mother's memories, now she can see the world through her eyes. Her wide, loving eyes, watching as her distant, hateful mother and her lost, obsessive father abandoned her for their work, leaving her alone with the toy that, in a way, was the source of all their misery. Her childhood was dark and lonely, one parent that could never understand her, one that could never love her.

As the girl's body matured, her mind grew bitter, tainted by the life of solitude she had lead. One night, wearing the signature black of disaffected youth and with a strange glove around her right hand, the seventeen year old took to the streets of Neo-Paris to become a memory hunter. She was willingly putting her life in extreme danger, all out of resentment and pettiness. What a foolish little smartie.

It wasn't about the money, nor was it for a cause; she wasn't doing it as a violent protest against Sensen technology. She was just looking for something different, and what could be more different from her past life than disrupting what her parents had dedicated their lives to accomplishing? And besides, she was the one with the ability to remix people's memories, why shouldn't she make use of it? Perhaps that was why she was so good at it. Driven by nothing but her own bottled up anger, she was more efficient and ruthless than any other hunter in the city.

She went from being the heir to the world's largest corporation, to having nothing. The odds were stacked against her. Realistically, she shouldn't have lasted a month. But she did, and her skill grew beyond what had ever been seen before. It didn't take long before the Errorists tracked her down and offered her a place among them. She didn't need much convincing. To her, any way to move further away from the life her parents had given her was more than welcome. Only a year after her entry into their ranks, the rich and powerful of Neo-Paris had learned to fear her name. She was the modern day Robin Hood of memories, just without the nobility or the munificence.

And in the end, that girl became Nilin.

As Nilin walks back from the core the same way she came, this time without the remembrane of her childhood self leading the way, immense feelings of shame and guilt envelop her. Her parent's real memories must have returned as well. In Nilin's mind, her imagination paints images of them in their respective offices, watching the seven o'clock news in horror and disgust as their lost daughter is revealed to be a traitor and a criminal. She can't even begin to envisage what they must be thinking right now.

Nilin draw closer to the end of her promenade. Her heart is beating so fast it feels as if it's about to burst out of her chest. She's spent so many years going to insane lengths just to piss them off, but now she wants nothing more than their approval.

And then she sees them, their black silhouettes against the bright white hallway behind them. They're still holding hands. This almost makes her feel at ease. She picks up the pace, walking faster and faster until she's running towards their now outstretched arms. When Nilin's close enough, they embrace her. And she embraces them.

She doesn't understand how it can be so easy for them to forgive her after all she's done to bring down their life's work. She even remixed their memories, used them for her own needs. Her mother has hated her for almost two decades, but now they're wrapping their arms around each other, Scylla burying her face in Nilin's shoulder.

Nor can she understand how it's so easy for herto forgive them. Everything that Memorize has done to Neo-Paris, to the whole damn world, is their responsibility. All this hate and destruction, it all boils down to them. But she doesn't care, and she pulls them closer to herself, wishing she never had to let them go.

Most of the elevators and other means of transport in the Memorize Headquarters are out, and so it takes them almost two hours to make it to the docking bay. They walk, shrouded in a secure, comfortable silence. They're still processing what has happened, what they remember, but they're comforted by the presence of one another. At least, Nilin knows she is.

Finally, they reach the docking bay. Everywhere bodies are strewn over the floor, leapers, robots and S.A.B.R.E. soldiers alike. They step over them, closing their eyes and pretending that they aren't there. All the shutters are wide open; giving them a broad, revealing view of the city. It' a sobering sight. Before, the city was a ruin concealed in a beautiful shell. Now it's just a ruin. The shell has been broken. Black smoke is rising from almost every building, making it hard for Nilin to make out what really has become of Neo-Paris. What she can see is not pretty. She turns away.

Meanwhile, Scylla and Charles examine some of the remaining aircrafts. After a few minutes her mother calls her name.

"Nilin, this one's fine."

Scylla sets a course and then switches on the autopilot. She's suggested that they head for her apartment on the upmost floor in the tallest building in the Saint-Michelle district. They tell Nilin it's so high up that the flooding of the district hasn't affected it. Nilin has no objections. After all, where else is she supposed to go?

As they fly over the city, they look out the helicopter's windows. It's midday, and the sun is beating down on Neo-Paris. For the second time in its history, the city has been thrown into anarchy. Theylook down at the decay below them, and they realise that, in the grand scheme of things, the reuniting and happiness of their family means nothing.

A/N: I've been wanting to write something for Remember Me for a while now, so I'm glad I got this first chapter done. I'm not 100% sure where the story will go from here. I want to explore some of Nilin's past, which will probably be done mainy in flashbacks, but I also have some ideas for an actual plot, so I'll have to balance those two aspects of the story out somehow. Anyway, thanks for reading!