A quick note, this is based off RE: Cyborg 009 and won't make any sense unless you have watched the subbed version. Which I have. There is a girl in the movie called Tomoe. (I've put a few screenshots on tumblr if you want to see her). This is a JoexTomoe oneshot as well as JoexFrannie (003)

And due to the movie, Joe's memories refresh every three years. alright, I hope that explains everything.

Enjoy.

~midnight

Searching for hope

Where am I, who am I? Questions revolving endlessly in my mind as I take another step into to alien shore. Rain pours over me, making me wet and soaked like some sort of ragged old cloth. People pass me by like I'm nothing but some manikin showing new clothes on some shop window.

I am nothing. Invisible like air but relied on heavily to live. Ignored and only taken notice when it is under threat. People then start chanting your name, pray under it as if it was some sort of God. Taken value and when the threat is gone, it is treated like dirt once again. Like war, it reminds people how it feels to be alive again.

But I am nothing; I hold no value to these people. Even trash has lived their purpose, I? Have not. I have not or less to say, I cannot remember my reason why I have been placed on this god forbidden world. Am I only here to leave footprints nobody has any interest to find?

Falling down to my knees my face is greeted into a puddle of water that once reflected no other than me. I lay here as the footsteps fade away from my ears, but they still walk pass me. My eyes don't lie, I'm still alive and people are walking pass like I'm nothing but rubbish, rubbish floating in the confusion of the sea.

A pair of black shoes with bright blue socks meets my distressed self. Another bystander my mind convinces me of so. But when a platted maroon skirt and a long orange scarf fall into my view, I knew this was not true. Her gentle hands cross against my face, her warmth has suddenly become addicting. It was a drug I needed so bad, a drug I needed but could not remember why. I just needed her.

That was reason enough.

I should run, just let everything be. Let me continue to walk down this empty path in hope that something good will come my way for once. But I was already in her arms as she placed my head onto her lap. My eyes lit up at the sight of her charming appearance. Her smile, and even the way she dressed just seem to come from utopia. I stay still as I feel those gentle hands run through my hair, pushing my fringe that always covered my left eye away. I now had a perfect view of her.

She pulls me higher and now my head lies on her shoulder like a child. The rain pours over us still but for once, I didn't mind it. My body stays still as she silently runs her fingers through my hair once more before greeting me with a simple smile. Guiding me to my feet, we were now both standing on another soaked footpath in Japan. With her hands behind her back she leans forward to gaze at my face. I turn away and she repeats her actions. It took me a minute to realize that she was circling around me just to take a glance at my face.

"Why aren't you at school?" She asks.

"I don't feel like going today." I avoid her glance.

"Then let's go somewhere else!" She cheered.

It was hopeless indeed as her persistence broke through. Her hands ripped through mine and now our eyes have met. Our eyes shared the same shade of brown, only hers were a shade darker. Her smile comes across her face as she clapped her hands together. She rushes over to grab my hand and run down the soaked path.

My eyes glance at the people we were passing by. Their eyes slid from mine, ignoring me once again. Their voices passed me by about things I could care less for. My fingers tightened onto her hand without my permission. Our fingers soon intertwined. Our hands had now slipped into locks and the key was nowhere in sight. Horns screeched as we ran across the road recklessly.

I wanted to run from her warmth, I wanted to run from that happiness I knew I never had the right to have. But as our hands locked into one another I had no way out. I had given my sight to this strange girl and letting her take control of the path I was walking down on. I could feel my lips move and speaking words but no sound was heard. She kept on running, dodging passing bystanders and cars that nearly ran both of us over.

My hand pulled back, dragging the wild girl back to me as we fell under a simple bus shelter. Rain drops smashed and echoed as our hands stayed locked. Eyes of mine stared at our hands as the sounds of cars continue to pass us by. Those warm fingers soon crossed my cheeks once more and lifted by chin lightly for our eyes to meet once again. The back of her fingers ran down my cheek as I stayed silent.

Her warmth, happiness and kindness truly was addicting.

"You seem tired." Her soft voice spoke to me as she ran her fingers by the tips of my fringe. "Let me take you home."

My lips remain silent as she led the way once more. As we raced, I noticed people beside us starting too decrease and so did the cars on the road. My eyes crossed her face; it showed no emotion as the sound of sand crushing underneath my feet showed we have reached the beach. Our fingers slipped and the back of our hands touching. Buckets of rain have eased to nothing but light rain as the roaring waves caught my full attention, the tip of our feet touching the sea.

Peace, it was once only a faraway dream yet it felt so close, so warm. The idea of not having it completely placed a strain on my heart. Despite her efforts I felt no peace, no comfort. Only false hope was accomplished.

"Hey." Her soft soothing voice echoes in my ears. "Don't worry. I'm here now." She smiles.

"Why are you helping me? I mean I can't even remember how we first met. I'm a horrible boyfriend."

Pain stung her eyes as she looked away for a brief moment before turning back. Her smile shines, "Because you were on the ground silly!" She paused for a moment. "And it doesn't matter if you can't remember how we met. As long we're together then that's all that matters."

"But why take me here, to the sea?"

"Because you asked me to." Our hands locked once more.

Her eyes glimmered with hope as she sat down onto the soaked beach with the sea still dipping and her shoes in the water. Her arms wrapped around her knees as her eyes gazed on the suddenly calm sea.

I could run and flee back on that empty path I have been walking down alone in the last three years of my life. I could silently wake up to another lost morning and enter high school and let the teacher ramble words I could less about. I could run from the last person that gave me hope. My feet started to move and I find myself sitting by her side.

"Do you ever get tired looking after me?" I asked.

She smiles and finally turns to me. "Why would I? I'm your girlfriend." I could hear her giggle slightly afterwards. "Anyway you always told me that you wanted me to bring you to the sea."

"I don't remember asking you to take me to the sea." I asked awkwardly.

She wraps her arms around her knees and rocks on the spot for a while. "You do from time to time." Her voice drops into a whisper. "It was a while ago though."

Hands of mine lightly crossed onto hers. The more she spoke, the more reason I felt to stay by her side. She felt so close yet so foreign. How long had she been chasing after me with the expectation of me not remembering her? Guilt pours over me as my ear rests on her shoulder. Here she wraps her arms around me and softly pats my face, her head leaning onto mine. My eyes stay half lit.

"Promise me you'll always take me here..." My words drop into a whisper as I close my eyes as my mind finally felt peace once more.

Her soft hands brush into my hair as the roar and the crash of the waves fill my ear. I clutched onto her like she was my last hope to change and finally live. Her fingers run through my hair as tears fall onto my cheek. It was not the rain falling on me as her tears shared the same sadness I had with me.

I felt it was time, time to start once more as my eyes fall into slumber as I reached for another clean slate. But the hope I found I know I'll find my way back to it. I'll keep walking and searching for it again.

That the hope I was searching was you.

"Every three years his memories resets, forgetting everything besides his name. He will remember nothing else."

I may forget you, but I'm glad we met.

Your name will never leave me, Tomoe.

"But once his memories reawaken, his three year lapses will stop. He will forget no more."

They say in the bible that the people you met in your past life you will never recognize them once you reach heaven. But does that rule apply now? Now that I have pass the test from "The Voice of God." The world was simply washed clean and those who did not pass are no longer present.

If this rule was true then I wouldn't remember Françoise, Jet or even the Professor. No, this is not heaven. Just a new world with who have survived the test God had given to his people. Simple morning breeze passed and brushes across my face as I stare through my Venice window.

I have my friends and the love of my life by my side. The world is clean and the Voice of God has faded yet something bothers my mind. A name, a simple five letter name refuses to leave me. A face is blurred, a voice is muted. Nothing, nothing but a name stings my mind.

The sound of feet crossing the flooded path of Venice was not new to me. People passed the apartment on a daily basis and I would not give a single glance towards them. Like the way a blond child with a pure white dress would cause my friends to stop and chase them, a long orange scarf caught my attention.

I could hear Francoise call to me from downstairs; asking what I would want for tonight but my lips couldn't respond as I jump down from my window and straight down the flooded streets of Venice. Francoise' voice echoes as I ran down the street I saw that certain orange scarf. But my search came to a halt as that sudden urge to chase after that person had lost its urge.

"Tomoe." My lips mutter. "Just who are you?"

"I see you remember me. That is a surprise."

I turn to see where the voice had come from. Her image suddenly prints boldly into my mind. Her appearance felt the same, she has not changed one bit, and I was glad. For somebody who had just remembered her appearance it felt funny and odd to admit.

I watch her jump as Françoise' voice echoes and become clearer to hear. I watch Tomoe come towards me with a finger on her lips and give me a wink. She smiles the way I loved to see from her. That smile, gave me warmth and hope in my dire moment and I have never thanked her for it.

Françoise' footsteps comes closer, causing Tomoe to come closer to me and making her pass me by, her shoulder brushed off mine. I pull my arm back and reach for her wrist with our backs facing one another.

"Thank you, for being by my side for all those years."

I can feel her wrist slip from mine. "You don't have to thank me Joe. If I could choose to be by your side once again, I would." Her voice starts to break.

Her footsteps are now far from mine as words slip pass my mouth. "And I will still thank you for it."

I can imagine her warm smile crossing her face as we finally say our final goodbyes. I hear a snicker as I no longer heard her laugh or footsteps by my side. I see Françoise' concerned face cross into my view as I welcome her into my arms. I hold her tightly before her emerald eyes came into my sight.

"Who was that girl? The one with the long orange scarf?"

I smiled as I return my girlfriend into my arms. I laugh as I rubbed the idea from her mind. My hands reach for hers and our fingers intertwine.

"What girl? I didn't see any girl." I laugh.

As we make our way back my head turns down the path I imagine Tomoe walking down. Unlike me I knew she would walk down that path with joy and excitement in whatever was held for her. Unlike me who walked down that path in sadness and depression. She embeds hope and I didn't need any proof to prove to others that what I spoke was true. I can imagine her standing and looking back at it with nothing but a simple smile of hope.

I know we'll meet again. I'll meet up with the hope that was by my side for all those twenty seven years. That hope that never left my side, no matter what happened to me.

Thank you Tomoe, thank you for everything.