Memory

by 5-stepsbehind

[drabbly one-shot] He's trying to grab the memories that are hiding just out of sight, where he can just see the hint of them from the corner of his vision. And there's one in particular he needs to get, and he doesn't know why it's so important, but it is. Mild zosan, could be seen as platonic

Little flashes of memories passing by in quick succession, like leaves being blown around by the wind, in sight for only a second before it's whisked away. Memories of carefree laughter, flashes of golden hair, a single blue eye looking intensely into his own, and the feeling of a hand roughly mussing his hair. Heated fights and bruising kicks, the screeches and comforting babble that his mind associates with family and always, always, a smooth baritone calling out something, calling him something...something important. He's running after the memory, trying to grab the elusive piece of the scattered puzzle that he is certain is important. Is familiar. His mind teased him, dangling it tantalizingly just out of reach and if he just reached a little farther, tried a little harder, made it just a little further, just a little more, then it would be in his grasp, but every time he tried, pain like he was stabbing himself with his own swords cut its way violently through his head. He grits his teeth and chokes on a solid lump of frustration, but it doesn't bring the memory back and if he doesn't find it soon he's sure he is going to scream. One night, weary in his super-alloy chains, fresh cuts and bruises adorning his body and bejeweling it with drops of ruby wine red, he thinks that this is the most lost he had ever felt. Then he gasps, because the thought had just unlocked another memory, one with that cocky, sneering face that he simultaneously hates and loves so much. In it, the face is taunting him for his horrible sense of direction, shitty swordsman, getting lost like a damn child. And he can hear himself replying, stupid cook, you wanna fight? And it's familiar and now he has a name for that face, the face that's as important as the one he knows as captain, if not more, and he doesn't know why yet, but it doesn't matter, because now he has a name to utter when he finally blacks out with the memory of that smile in his mind. And sure enough, moments later, as his battered body slides down the grimy wall, chapped lips twitch up and part, whispering, "Shitty cook."

AN: another drabbly oneshot because why the hell not. Review please.