Dagan frowned and continued walking the rest of the way to Suri, sitting down beside her on the couch, but facing across the room; at first, he didn't really say anything and just sat there with his head propped up on his hands, but it wasn’t for a lack of wanting to speak: he just didn’t know what to say, and Dagan was not so insensitive as to come out and immediately ask something of Suri, especially not with her having such a hard time over Sera’s departure.

With an audible sigh, Dagan looked over to Suri: “ ... Not taking it well, h-uh? If it helps,” he smiled sympathetically, “I have a feeling I knew what you’re going through, but it isn’t like you’ll never see her again, not if you really want to.”

And it was the truth.

Dagan had apparently taken Sera’s last trip to the real world pretty hard, and he probably never got over it: but he did meet her again, and it was not like there was no option for Suri to go to her, either. Though, he wasn’t about to tell her that... No, that was definitely not an option right now.

At any rate, unless Suri said something, Dagan would allow the sad silence of Sera’s now-vacant apartment to take over once more, and simply sit there until next she spoke; he didn’t want to pressure her into a conversation she wasn’t up to having.

At first, what Dagan was talking about didn't click with Suri. She didn't recognize the event he was walking about. Or, wait a second . . .

"Hn? Oh, yeah," Suri trailed off.

Now she remembered. In this slump of hers, she was having a horrible time with remembering things. A little earlier, she'd entirely forgotten how she got here in this city. When she remembered again, Suri felt absolutely horrible for having lost that memory, if only for a moment.

"She told me a little about that . . ."

It wasn't something she was personally against talking about, either, unlike Seras. Until she left, Seras had practically kept information regarding this a well guarded secret from Dagan. Suri, on the other hand, had no reason to withhold knowledge from Dagan.

"Ah--Did she?" Dagan looked to the side, opposite of Suri; he was quiet for a moment and it did not seem intent on breaking the silence again for a while yet, but it wasn't meant to be: "What'd she say, exactly?"

It felt almost awkward to ask, but it was about him, wasn’t it? If Suri didn’t have a problem telling him, then Dagan most wanted to hear it; it was why he came, anyways.

"She always felt horrible about it," Suri replied, only to lean forward some and fight the urge to succumb to sadness, "Maybe even the whole reason she left . . ."

Or at least a huge part in her reasons for leaving. Suri personally did not know why Seras felt the need to be away from this city. All she knew was that it could very well be permanent, if the warning in her letter was accurate: that people would be looking for her, and she'd never be able to find safety in this city again.

"She said that . . . you were going to leave, too. With or without Seras and Nike," Suri leaned back enough to turn her head and look Dagan in the face, "And because everyone said it was too dangerous for you to go like that, and because you wouldn't take no for an answer . . ."

Suri trailed off. That's right. Dagan didn't remember this. He didn't remember any of it. That's why Seras couldn't bare to look at him without a drink on her breath.

"She had to break your heart to make you stay."

Dagan was a little surprised that he apparently knew of the other world before he lost his memory, but he wasn't surprised to find out he was obsessed by it; at least, it appeared to be obsession. There was something else, though; it was something that bothered him more than Sera breaking his heart to make him stay, whatever that meant.

“She broke my heart, but how’d that make me stay?” he asked, “and who is everyone?”

The thought crossed Dagan’s mind that if Suri knew, then others knew, too, but if that were the case, then why didn’t they ever share that knowledge? In fact, Attis had reassured him that he would help Dagan in whatever way he could in getting his memories back, and the Legionnaire spoke as though he had met Dagan before, too; if they knew everything that had happened and simply didn’t think Dagan should know, even he couldn’t just accept that. Still, maybe nobody else knew and it was just Nike, Sera, and Suri sharing this secret... Maybe 'everyone' was just a broad word Suri used and nothing more.

"I guess . . . that's what made you lose your memory, maybe? I really don't know how Seras's-- um, ability, I guess? I don't really know how it works . . ."

And while she was curious, Suri felt that she might be better off not knowing. She knew Seras, like many others in this city, had a special power, and she knew that she could literally rip a person's emotions to shreds. Suri could only imagine what one would be like after: momentarily mindless and numb, wandering aimlessly and feeling not even the slightest twinge of pain, and having no drive or desire to do anything with themselves. They'd probably be a zombie, Suri reasoned, a braindead wanderer 'til their heart pieced itself back together enough.

Is that what happened with Dagan? Suri couldn't be sure.

"And I don't really know who everyone is, either. That's just what Seras said. She could have been exaggerating, maybe? I don't really know," Suri said with a sigh, and feeling as if she'd let Dagan down pretty bad, proceeded to say: "I'm sorry."

Dagan took in a deep breath and exhaled it, "that would make sense, and that was probably what she meant by sayin' I'd hate her when I found out (or something like that.) I swear," he shook his head and continued: "it hurts to not remember anything, but I'm... Well, ... it isn't like I'm the same... Like, if I..."

As he realized he was drawing a blank on what to say next, Dagan just sort of sat there and stared off into space; he wasn't really sure where he was getting at and he didn't want to embarrass himself with any feeble attempts at salvaging that line of thought. Maybe Suri knew what kind of point he was making and maybe she didn't, but that was fine, too: Dagan was not the same person he used to be, without those memories that were locked away, he was a different person, he had different experiences and sensations than before, and so the Dagan of the past was near irrelevant to the Dagan of the present; honestly, it really did hurt to not have those memories, but Dagan was not in a position to say he would be better with them than without.

“Ah, well... Forget it,” he smiled and turned to Suri. “Don’t worry about it, really. There’s nothing to be sorry about.”

An awkward silence passed between them. Suri didn't know what to say. That it was okay? That she was grateful to have something to not be sorry about? That was just uncomfortable. She averted her eyes from him and clenched her jaw. After another moment of uncomfortable silence, she said the first thing that came to mind:

". . . do you . . ." Suri trailed off.

What was she saying? This was a whole mess that she'd little to no experience in. It was like opening up a box filled with all the secrets of the universe. It was bound to end poorly. But she'd been mostly unhelpful to Dagan, when he clearly came here looking for something. What, she hadn't the slightest clue. He probably didn't know, either. But just to look at him, Suri felt like he was lost and searching for something. Like there was some question lingering here that neither of them really knew how to phrase. Unfortunately, that was a very weighted question.

And as Suri turned her head to look Dagan in the face again, she finally asked:

"Do you want to know?"

“Sera would like me to,” he replied with an almost casual shrug. “It was her last request, I guess? But I’m not too sure,” he admitted with a solemn smile, “and yet I think I should, you know? I should know.”

Although it was his entire reason for coming here, the more Dagan talked about it, the more he was not sure he would like or appreciate what came to the surface, maybe it was him hiding, or maybe it was him being afraid of how much his lost memories would change him; he did not know and could not say.

“What do you think?” he asked Suri’s opinion on the matter, if she didn’t want to answer, that was fine, but he’d appreciate her input all the same; after all, who else was he to ask? How many friends did Sera have in this Unreal City, anyways? Sure, Suri didn’t know Dagan all that well, but she was one of Sera’s friends and this was could be considered her last request of someone she may never see again...

"That was . . . her last request?"

Her last request before leaving, that is. It was . . . it was heartbreaking to imagine that such a thing would be Seras's last request before dying. Seras was not dead. She was not risking death, either. That's what Suri needed to tell herself right now to avoid sinking into the horrible depths of depression again. Honestly, had Dagan said anything right now to suggest that Seras was no longer breath, Suri would have lost it. She'd have pulled her knees to her chest and sobbed until she'd no more tears to shed, and then she'd dryly cry for awhile longer, regardless of how much it burned.

But this was Seras's last request before leaving this city for good. Suri nodded her head slightly. It was another reminder that Seras was never coming back, but . . .

"Then I'll do it," Suri said defiantly.

Defiant against her emotions, defiant against her personal limitations, and defiant against her fear of the unknown. She would do anything for Seras, after all. Even this.

“Then I guess that settles it then.”

Dagan couldn’t put in any less effort than Suri, could he? If she was now so adamant to do it than he could hardly turn her down, and especially since it was for Sera. Dagan did not know if he would be the same person after it was all said and done, but he did not know if he wouldn’t be the same person, either. In the end, it was not like him to over think things; he might as well go through with it and not worry about the consequences that might not even be a problem.

“What do I need to do?” he asked.

And suddenly, despite her defiance against it, Suri ran into the roadblock she'd considered back when the possibility of this power came to light.

"I . . . I don't really know, actually," Suri admitted meekly.

She was so adamant just a moment ago, too. Only now was she hesitant and ashamed. It was like being new to something, when you really needed to be experienced with it in the near future.

"Seras talked a lot about powers. She said that we all have them and they're all unique, but the people in the real world don't. She said it makes us all special," Suri began, paused, and concluded with the utmost embarrassment: "She said that I'm special, too. That I can, umm, unlock stuff in a person's head? I don't really know what she meant by that, but she said she remembers things a lot clearer whenever I'm around."

Since Dagan wasn't remembering things just by being around her, that put a dent in all her theories. If Seras was right about her, than it couldn't just be a passive thing.

"I know she means that I can help you remember, but I'm not really sure how it works. Or how to do it." If Dagan had any suggestions, though, Suri was all ears, and more than willing to give them a try.

“Huh, I don’t know either... My powers are always on, I think. There are certain times when they grow stronger, but.. I don’t know. It’s only happened once or twice, and it was always like, like a switch? I was just so focused and it just sort of flipped on by itself.”

If they were all special, then maybe their powers weren’t always turned on the same way, Dagan didn’t know, but he figured he could at least mention his own experiences; after all, it wasn’t like he was an expert or anything, and he could barely grasp at how to use his, let alone walk someone into activating theirs.

“Maybe you can uh, try that? Concentrate and, and I don’t know.”

"Ummm . . . okay, I think that could work," Suri replied, then proceeded to think out loud, "I was sort of thinking pretty hard when Seras told me about that. Um, trying to make sense out of something, you know? This whole thing that . . . Seras said something about, um, 'time,' and . . . well, nevermind."

That was a whole different subject entirely, and one that Suri still didn't completely understand. That was a weighted topic, though. Nothing she needed to talk about right now. Especially since right now, it was completely unrelated. Without realizing it, though, Suri had taken the entirety of Seras's lecture into account, though. She'd taken it and learned from it, and whether she knew it or not, she understood that there was a difference between now and before.

"But she was lying down at the time, and I . . ." Suri continued, only to stop talking altogether for a moment.

An epiphany breezed by her. Suddenly, she knew what she had to do. Or, rather, what would probably help her out. Really, it was more of a vague idea than anything el-- Will you stop that!

Self doubt was getting her nowhere, fast.

"You should probably lay down!" Suri declared promptly, before standing up quickly and taking Dagan by the hand. She couldn't well pull him up, but hopefully he'd still follow her.

“A-alright,” he was hesitant but would allow Suri to take his hand and guide him nevertheless; he would follow and do as she said without disobedience or question. At least she seemed to have an idea of what to do or try now though; admittedly, he was a little concerned at first, but that was to be expected.

For a second, Dagan considered whether or not Suri would also see his memories, but in the end he decided he really didn’t care one way or the other. If she saw what he remembered, it was fine with him, she was doing all the legwork of getting his memories, anyways, and where would he be without her?