A/N: Lyrics taken from "Memory" from the musical Cats. Set in the future.
Memory
A CD player sounded its lonely tune in the dark.
Daylight, see the dew
on the sunflower
And a rose that is fading
Roses wither away
Like the sunflower I yearn to turn my face to the dawn
I am waiting for the day
The sky was still pitch-black, but he could smell the coming dawn.
The tall man walked up the steep hill, unable to recall the name of another hill from another time that he had walked up with the same purpose. That had been in a different town, a town that had been erased from the earth decades ago.
He couldn't recall the name of the town. But that wasn't important anymore.
He clutched a small music player, practically a relic these days.
A relic.
Everything…everyone…he had known was a relic now. Gone. Bones ground to dust, dust blown away by the wind. Roses had faded, withered. All the roses were dead.
He set the disc player on the ground, looking down at the city, at the sleepless city he'd haunted and bore witness to for more than half a century.
The sky was lightening ever so slightly.
Midnight, not a
sound from the pavement
Has the moon lost her memory?
She is smiling alone
In the lamplight the withered leaves collect at my
feet
And the wind begins to moan
But the wind wasn't moaning, now was it? It was whispering to him, whispering secrets like it had once whispered to his childe. And he could swear he saw her laughing face, her accusing eyes, stare out from the fading moon.
But she was gone, gone like everyone else, laughing to the end…
Memory, all alone in the moonlight
I can smile at the old days
I was beautiful then
He laughed silently, his black woolen coat flapping in the gentle breeze. He frowned, looking down at the old dust-coated sleeves. Gingerly, he reached up and touched dark shoulder-length hair, un-gelled and loose, like it had once been back in the "good old days."
The good old days.
Back when his little family had been together, the four of them. But they were long gone now, sire and childe and even the annoying peroxide brat.
All that was left were the memories.
I remember the time I
knew what happiness was
Let the memory live again
Happiness. A moment of pure happiness.
He remembered. There had once been happiness, yes, with a woman, her hair of spun gold, just a mere moment of it.
He remembered happiness.
But sometimes he couldn't recall her name.
Every street lamp seems to beat
A fatalistic warning
Someone mutters and a streetlamp gutters
And soon it will be morning
He could swear he heard his mad childe giggle in his ear, the light of insanity gleaming in her eyes.
"Sorry," he whispered to the brightening sky, shooting one last furtive look at the moon.
Daylight, I must wait for the sunrise
I must think of a new life
And I mustn't give in
When the dawn comes tonight will be a memory too
And a new day will begin
A new day. He'd given one to his son, hadn't he? Made a deal with the devil for his boy, for a new day, a new life.
To give him happiness.
Not like that had made a difference in the end. Connor had still been only too mortal…and now he was gone, too.
The least he could do now was to wait for the sunrise.
Burnt out ends of
smoky days
The stale cold smell of morning
The sky was pink now. Pink and hinting at a cloudless morning.
The street lamp dies,
another night is over
Another day is dawning
He gazed out at the horizon, at the coming dawn.
Just another memory, this. As soon as the sun rose, he could awake up. Listen to the birds, watch his city bathed in the glow of sunlight.
Wisps of smoke were rising from his dark coat.
Touch me, it's so easy to leave me
All alone with the memory
Of my days in the sun
If you touch me you'll
understand what happiness is
Look, a new day has begun
The CD player played its last notes to the emptiness of the new day.
~End