When Henry was 11, his sister abandoned him. She had become a powerful Veiled, and had decided that Henry wasn't important enough to take care of anymore. Henry didn't want anything to do with her.
"No, it wouldn't be okay." Henry had no intention of ever speaking to or about his sister ever again.
Cassius looked down with a disappointed face.
"Listen, Henry, I don't know anything about you and your sister's history, and I don't want to get into the middle of it. I am just trying to talk with you about it to figure out if it can aid you in any way."
Cassius spoke with a confident tone, keeping a strong demeanor.
"I don't care. I don't want anything to do with her. It doesn't matter how famous she is or how much power she holds, I don't want her in my life."
Henry was enraged at the thought of his sister.
Their mother had passed away when Henry was seven. After this, it was just Henry and his sister. She promised she would protect and look after him forever, but that didn't matter when she became a Veiled.
Henry moved around Cassius, opening his room and beginning to walk inside before Cassius grabbed the door, holding it open.
"Henry, your sister is not here, nor has she reached out to talk to you." Cassius's face went dark.
"Then why are you talking to me right now?"
Cassius pulled out a small glowing cube from behind his back.
"When your sister became a Veiled, she enrolled in the Academy. On her first day, she left this with me to give to you if you ever enrolled."
Henry looked at the orb, puzzled.
"What is it?"
"A Memento."
Henry reached out, grabbing the small cube.
"That is all I was here to say. I'm sorry for intruding." Cassius walked away quickly, leaving Henry alone.
***
Staring upon the glowing cube on his desk, Henry questioned why. Why would his sister give him something like this after abandoning him?
Would it be worth it to take the Memento and accept his sister's help, or to go on and ignore it?
'This is too much for me to deal with right now; today has been a train wreck.'
Henry got up, leaving the Memento on the desk and making his way to the bed, jumping onto it and laying his head down.
'A Memento, huh… wait, didn't I get one from the trial?'
Henry sat up quickly, opening the menu.
Memento:
[Nebel:]
Nebel, the bringer of fog, protector of anonymity.
Henry summoned the Memento, finding that it took form as a small silver ring that fit perfectly on his right ring finger.
"Woah." Henry's thoughts leaked outside.
Closing his eyes, Henry tried to envision a fog appearing, hoping it would activate the ring's abilities.
As Henry projected his thoughts to reality, a cold breeze hit him. A powerful force washed over Henry's body. Opening his eyes, he saw his room filled with a thick fog that he could luckily see through quite well… Henry noticed that around his peripheral vision there seemed to be something on his head. Looking into a mirror, Henry was struck with horror.
Looking back at Henry was the same abyssal, covered face of Nero. Henry closed his eyes, praying for it to go away, opening his eyes to see it had dissipated.
'This Memento must have been from defeating Nero.'
Henry was still in shock, thinking back to Ryan the detective and how he died because of Henry's weakness. If Henry was to become stronger, he would have to let go of all conflicts and push forward. Henry decided right in this room that he would change and become stronger than anyone before him.
Standing up, Henry walked to the desk and grabbed the Memento and crushed it within his hand.
[You have received Memento: Fool's Watch.]
'Fool's Watch? Odd name.'
Henry read its description.
Memento:
[Fool's Watch:]
The watch of a trusting man; his last thoughts were filled with betrayal by someone he took in.
Henry was confused. What did it mean? Why would his sister give him this? Henry thought and materialized the watch. A look of horror overcame him.
***
Looking down at the watch, it was eerily familiar; it was like his body was repulsed seeing it. Henry racked his brain, going through each memory. What could he possibly know this watch from?
But, then Henry realized where he knew the watch from. He noticed it on the wrist of the kind detective, Rob Ryan, during his trial.
"Wha-what the fuck!?"
Henry fell back, dropping the watch on the floor. How did his sister have this? Where did she get it from? How would she even know about his trial? His sister went through her trial when she was 14. Henry was only 11; this was over 5 years before he had gone through his trial. It was impossible for her to know about his trial, so how the hell was Ryan's watch sitting in front of him?
His mind racing, Henry began breathing heavily. Was the room closing around him? The air wouldn't fill his lungs; was he drowning? Henry crawled to the wall of his room, looking straight at the watch. Coming from outside of Henry's room, three heavy knocks hit his door.
Snapping out of his panic-induced paranoia, Henry looked at the clock; it read 10:43PM. Who was at his door so late?
Henry stood up, making his way to the door. "Who is it?"
A calming voice spoke through the door, "Hey! I'm Kleo! I'm right next door. I heard some loud banging and wanted to make sure everything was okay!"
'Shit.' Henry fixed everything up, throwing the watch on his bed and covering it with a blanket. He fixed the chair that had fallen back on his floor before running to the bathroom and checking his hair. He was about to have a girl in his room possibly, maybe. Henry wasn't actually sure they would walk into his room, but it was a possibility. After making himself look presentable, he went to the door.
***
Opening the door, Henry was met by the bright, glowing face of Kleo. She was definitely pretty, though looks didn't mean much to Henry. Henry remembered seeing her with small crowds around her during lunch and dinner; she must be popular.
'How nice of her to come check on me,' Henry thought, being sincere, but also realized he was just staring at Kleo.
"Oh, sorry, uh, I'm okay." Henry put his head down, trying to hide the shame he had.
Kleo looked past Henry, trying to look around his room for anything thrown about.
"You're okay! I was so worried, I thought you might have gotten hurt."
Henry listened to the words of Kleo; they echoed throughout his head until he noticed something shining above Kleo's head. Looking up, Henry saw several strings connecting to Kleo's body, all shining a color of deep purple and mixes of orange.
'What…?' Analyzing the strings, Henry felt worried when looking at them, like he was absorbing knowledge from them; he felt pure worry throughout his mind.
Opening his menu, he read his ability again.
Innate Ability: [Moira's String]
Innate Ability Description:
Puppets have always had strings attached, controlling their every movement. Do you see the strings? What do they mean? What do they do?
'The strings…' It must be his ability manifesting; it seemed that the strings showed the emotions or possible feelings of the person. He could see and feel alongside Kleo that she was worried.
"Hey, are you okay? What are you looking at?" Kleo bluntly talked to Henry, who had been engulfed in curiosity.
"Oh, yeah, sorry, uhh, I just fell over earlier, that's all. Tripped on a pen, heh." Henry paid close attention to Kleo's face, hoping his lie worked on her.
"What! Are you okay? Here, let me come in, where did you hurt yourself?" Kleo grabbed Henry, dragging him into his room.
'What the hell is happening right now? Who just bashes into someone's room?'
Kleo pushed Henry onto the floor, walking to his bathroom and grabbing something. She walked out, now holding a first aid kit.
"I didn't know I had one of those."
"All rooms have one!"
She sat down across from Henry and looked at him with a face of confusion.
"What?" Henry was feeling awkward enough with her staring at him.
"You look familiar… where would I know you from?"
'Please haven't seen the dinner incident, please haven't seen the dinner incident, pleas-'
"Oh! You're the guy who was getting yelled at by Adriana, right?"
'My life is over.'
"Haha—yeah, that's me." Henry tried to play it off like he didn't care about the incident.
Kleo looked at him closer.
"You didn't fall, did you?"
Henry's mouth opened, his face now filled with dread; his lie had been caught.