Pre-Story Notes: This is the first time I have ever attempted writing a story based on a more AU character, so forgive me if the beginning is slightly rocky; the closest I've come to something like this is within past role-plays, so, I do have some knowledge as to how to develop my characters, so don't worry too much. P
Description: If fate was cruel enough to siphon your soul through a continuous state of existence, in one form or another, and you were aware of it even after death how would you feel? What if you were trapped with half of you walking on the other side of the planet? Would you be content to be a half of a memory that would soon be forgotten?
Aeris has long since died and her soul should have returned to the planet years previous to the present date. Throughout an extended amount of time, her soul should have been reborn into a different form, years after the deaths of her old comrade's. However, something has gone amiss, and a part of her has already returned to the surface; but why? Who could be behind this impossible turn of events, and what will it mean for the alleged 'reincarnation'?
Warnings: Besides some in-character cussing, and the slight possibility of brief sexual suggestions, you don't have much to worry about. PG-13.
Who Wants Not To Be Forgotten
Crimson Release
Chapter 1: Prologue.
Since she could remember, she had only dreamt of one person. They seemed to be disjointed memories, and pieces of familiar information. These images haunted her every night of rest, and always had; as a small child, in the orphanage, she had gotten herself into trouble a few times for refusing to go to sleep because of, she explained, the 'Forgotten Lady' who would be waiting to show her something new. They were not exactly nightmares, per se; they did not frighten her, but at the end of every vision, when the Forgotten Lady would place her hand, naked accept for the bangles around her wrist, on her shoulder, it left her feeling a lonely kind of sorrow, much too terrible for any one person to bear, and again, for no reason in particular.
For a long time, earlier on in her childhood, she had dreamt only of glass and white light, as well as a harsh male voice that spoke from outside the invisible boundary. Bubbling, and crackling; the sound of a finger tapping against a thick layer of glass. These were the sounds that haunted her throughout her early childhood. Some of her dreams were very involved; the colour's intense, and sounds deep. She had often woken up with her ears ringing, or temporarily blinded, or tasting something, or hearing the voices of so many forgotten ghosts echoing in her mind.
As she grew older, she saw different things, some in black and white, some in slow motion, and sometimes a fast surge of information would rocket across her brain and beneath her REM strained eyelids. Just a few nights ago she had been so overloaded by the dream she had that she could not get out of bed till late in the afternoon. It had been a very quick manifestation of the past, in some part of the former Midgar – she assumed this because of the perfect image of a train with a glistening bronze plaque which listed the serial number, make, and location of the Shin-Ra Inc. vessel.
A wail which resonated off every wall, post, and seemed to reverberate in the very air tore her attention to a little girl who looked very much like a younger version of the Forgotten Lady, clutching desperately to an older woman in a colourful dress. Both females had identical hair colour, a soft honey-tinged mahogany, as well as matching emerald eyes which were bright with some strange light, different from mako, but not exactly normal, either. While it isn't much to be described, the sounds and the voices of so many, although the platform was deserted except for herself, the train operator, and the Mother and child, was so overwhelming, that she had suffered a terrible headache that kept her from getting out of bed.
For nearly sixteen years, bits and pieces of these alleged 'memories' had snared her dreams, and every night, the Forgotten Lady, with skin so soft and cool, would lay her hand atop her shoulder, always on her left side. They would stand on sandy bank just before a stagnant lake, Surrounded by odd structure'S and vegetation, but so deep and clear, it seemed to go on forever, completely undisturbed. It was on the surface of this lake that she was shown these strange enactments of a life once lived, although it seemed to her that she had plunged deep within their glowing image, on more than one occasion.
Tonight, a flickering image of deep, impenetrable forest shone up into her eyes. The branches were tall, and tangled, and a lighted aura seemed to shine from every living appendage in the scene. The Forgotten Lady spoke wordlessly up at her, wearing a button-down pink dress, and red pull-over jacket. Hair that matched her mother's in length and colour now, was woven in a twist, and held securely in a bulging, pink knotted ribbon. The bangles she wore slipped over her wrists, and jingled silently as she moved, disappeared, and reappeared.
Somehow, she knew that she was viewing a dream within her dream, and that this dream did not belong to her.
A man fell from the treetops, along with the pretty girl in pink. At the sight of him, The Forgotten Lady, standing just behind her, reached out and dropped her hand on her shoulder; but instead of the gentle weight of her hand, which was barely there every night, she squeezed her through the shoulder of her night-shirt, as if it had hurt her to see him. The disturbance of the nightly routine they had shared for so long startled the living occupant, so much that she almost looked away from the projection.
The vision faded away into nothingness after the Forgotten Lady on the screen had run towards the light, leaving the blonde man looking desperate, locked in an immobile chase after a man with a billowing, black cape.
It would be about this time that the entire dream would fade away, with only the lingering sensation of the Forgotten Lady holding tightly to her shoulder, but the scene did not dissipate. The water, now free from the images of the past, lay still, and the woman standing behind her made no move. In the real, present world, the sleeping girl would be thrashing about in her small bed, with her eyes rolling back and forth violently beneath her lids. The Forgotten Lady still did not move, but her grip on the other lessened slightly. Precious moments passed, and finally, the delayed end of the strange dream seemed close at hand. As the nameless dreamer prepared herself for wakefulness, she gasped at the sudden icy feeling all around her, as her body froze with the chill of death; the Forgotten Lady had spoken, for the very first time, and the echo of the Cetra of years past, screamed and sang and whispered along with her, four simple words, that toppled the girl into wakefulness so abruptly, she fell from her bed.
"Bring Cloud to me."
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Author's Notes: A strange story that I just barely thought up. I had to get it down quickly, for fear of losing what I needed. I'm usually not very fond of AU characters, but the story behind this was so very involved in my mind, that I decided to give it a try.
I'll try to remain a bit more diligent with this story than I am with most of mine, but I would appreciate the insistence of readers who review. Tell me what you think, and how you think I can improve. Toss ideas at me, if you like.
