I Was Beginning to Think You Had Forgotten About Me

By Trudyann B.
Rated Kplus

Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters or settings. All rights belong to Konami games.

ENDING E (With allusions to other endings)

Sequal to It Was Either That Or Another Digipad

Author's Note

1.19.2014 5:15:49

An irresponsibly undercooked sequel with an equally lengthy title? It's about time. After almost exactly a six year hiatus, I return to Shadow of Memories with the feeling that these characters have so much more to offer. I have been struggling with my writing and lack of inspiration for these past six years. I have realized I am not a writer by nature, but I have also realized that I am brought to life by interesting characters. I want to create a plot worth your time, and I am hoping that however much of this fanfiction I am able to finish, I will at least be able to bring you some intrigue, and breath some life into the characters you already appreciate.

CHAPTER 1

8.2.2002 2:36:11

"Bahahahaha! That's Eike for you! Classic. I knew you were into Alchemy recently, but isn't changing your name to match a former alchemist a bit much?" The barkeeper boomed, hitting the skinny blonde on the shoulder far too many times for comfort.

Eike sipped his whiskey sour incredulously, genuinely confused by the familiarity with which the older gentleman treated him. He coughed and sputtered at the feel of the beverage in his throat.

"Thought that would be a little strong for you." The barman replaced the whiskey with a glass of stout and downed the rest himself, slamming the empty glass on the counter with a wink. He joked with the man next to Eike. "He's been a little blonde boy since the day I met him eleven years ago when I took over the business. Whatever fountain of eternal youth he found, I want in."

Eike was very confused, but he liked the stout much better. He took a few strong gulps before placing the glass back on the counter with a smile.

Having wandered aimlessly around town, Eike had picked up a few facts about his life. First, he lived in Lebensbaum, where, despite the name there were very few trees, but a nice amount of flowers. Next, the rent was due to the landlady in a week and miraculously, Eike had enough to pay for it, though he still had no idea how he had come by it. Third, his name was Eike Kusch, not Alphons Gadspy as he originally believed. Fourth, he was fairly well known around town as a nice man who looked younger than he was. In his wanderings he had stumbled across a bar and found enough money in his pocket to pay for a drink, which is exactly what he felt like doing at a time like this. It now seemed that the barkeeper was a long lasting friend of his. Perhaps this could be okay. Maybe, if he was clever, he could figure out who he was, gain some clue that would negate his amnesia, without even letting on that something in his head was very wrong. Finishing his drink, he requested another.

"It's a little early for that much to drink, isn't it? Did your girlfriend dump you or something?" The barman filled another glass and handed it to a stunned Eike.

"What girlfriend!?" He hadn't forgotten about someone so important in his life, had he? He wracked his brain for people he had known before today, but no one came to mind. No parents, no siblings, no girlfriend.

"Now now, I know you two keep saying you're not involved, but we're starting to wonder here, why not, man? Dana's a beautiful woman! And she's single! Put a ring on it before she gets bored with you!"

Dana. Who was Dana? Before he knew it the glass in his fist was once again empty. This was the most alarming day he could ever remember having. He needed to figure this out, and soon. His head felt a bit fuzzy as he pondered ways to ask about his life without arousing suspicion.

"What do I do for a living?" He asked hazily. The bartender laughed again. Eike could only assume there was a joke he had missed. Surely he was very subtle in his questioning just then.

"Either you're joking, boy, or we need to watch your alcohol consumption a bit more carefully than usual. Say, have you eaten anything lately?" The blonde man looked at him with eyes that lacked comprehension. The bartender's mood slowly turned over on its head, as he became less amused and more concerned.

"Eh, boy, do you have someone to take care of you? Eckart? Dana? Merriam?"

"Who, who and who?" Eike responded. This turned the man's mood even more sour.

"Scheisse. Don't tell me, Eike. It's been at least a decade since the last time this happened. Don't tell me you're having a relapse."

"Relapse…" The tall blonde man pondered these words while looking into his beer glass, swirling the remaining amber fluid that had collected in the very bottom. Did the bartender know more about Eike's memory loss than he did?

"Can you remember my name, Eike?" He asked, hoping beyond all hope that his deduction was wrong. It had taken a good year for Eike to remember enough to get by last time. It was like he was a different person sometimes. Eike looked into the man's eyes, squinted, concentrated, he even tried curling his toes, but no name came to him.

"John Smith?" The bartender frowned. Poor Dana. They were just starting to know each other, it had seemed. After years of distancing himself from everyone, Eike was just starting to make a lasting friend again.

It's Marcel. My name is Marcel," He sighed. "I'll be right back." Eike studied the glass he was holding once again.

Suppose he had gone to the café he had passed instead. Perhaps he would order coffee. Or did he like tea more? He wondered if anyone would have known him there. Perhaps his life would have spun out completely differently had he entered the café and ordered a beverage, chatted up the waitress. He imagined that option as a ribbon, flowing parallel to the current events. At first the ribbons would be so close they could touch, but as time progressed, they would shoot further from each other, only to reach any closer a proximity if Eike left his money on the table and walked over to the café. What brought about these thoughts? Black boots flashed across his memory, black boots and the color red. He blinked. He pushed his glass away. He had had too much perhaps.

Marcel hung up the phone after conversing on it for several minutes. He waked over to Eike soberly and exhaled, obviously disturbed by something. Eike's hazy mind assumed it was him.

"Do you remember your therapist, doctor Wright?" Eike frowned. If he had memory problems before, the fact that he had a therapist, and that the local bartender knew as much, did not promise a quick recovery time.

9.15.1593 12:11:52

"Margarette!" Hugo, barged into his sister's flat, not even bothering to wipe his feet on the placemat or take off his coat. He dripped through the halls, looking for her.

"Hugo, what have I told you about knocking?" Margarette, in her late thirties and still as beautiful as ever, had been sewing, a black dog was perched on her lap. It surveyed him lazily.

"Why bother? It's not like I'll find you tangled in a man's arms," He said casually, throwing his wet jacket on the floor and taking a seat next to his sister. The dog jumped down from Margarette's lap and walked over to the jacket. She began to lick the moisture off of it.

"Learn some respect, Hugo!" Margaret replied, slightly hurt. She put her work down on her lap. She pondered throwing some yarn from the basket next to her at his face.

"What's disrespectful about telling the truth? You're an old maid, sis. It wouldn't hurt for you to go on a date for once!" Hugo got a faceful of yarn for that comment. The dog coughed out a bark, sensing her mistress's unhappiness. Hugo sighed. In all honesty, he just wanted to see his sister less lonely, but he didn't know how to change her mind about trying to find someone.

"What did you come here for anyway? Just to insult me?"

"No, not exactly. My daughter told me this morning that she saw a tall blonde green-eyed man." Margarette stood instantly, eyes wide. Seeing an opportunity, the dog jumped onto her chair, savoring the warm spot she had left behind.

"Where?" Margarette asked.

"He had broken into my basement and stolen something."

"What? Eike would never do something like that!"

Hugo smiled at that. "Who said anything about Eike?"

Margarette frowned for a moment, averting her eyes. "Well, C'mon, Hugo. Don't tell me you hadn't thought that's who she described."

"There are lots of tall, green-eyed, blonde men out there, Sis," He reminded her, waving his hand in the air at the description. Margarette looked embarrassed until she caught Hugo barely able to hold in a chuckle. She smiled too.

"You jerk, you're just teasing me. You know it was him." She shoved his shoulder.

"Yeah, I think it was," he admitted.

It had seemed so long ago. The brother and sister had traveled through time. Hugo had attempted to murder Eike, and had threatened his friend, Dana, thinking that Eike had masterminded a plot to destroy their family. In the end, Margret had been the one to talk Hugo out of his dark path, and steer his ambition toward more responsible goals. The two had returned to their own time with strengthened family bonds, and Margarette had left the man she fell for with the blonde woman he had fallen for.

Margarette was the first to break away from the reverie of the past. "What did your daughter see him steal?"

Hugo hesitated. He had let Margarette believe that he had destroyed his time machine long ago. Little did she know that he had actually disassembled it in order to find out how it worked, to eventually create a better one.

"My old time machine. He stole the pieces of my old time machine." Margarette's mouth fell agape, processing what Hugo meant.

"You didn't destroy it…" She mumbled, before her voice strengthened and became indignant, "You told me you destroyed it!"

"I was hoping you'd give up on going back, that you'd make yourself a life here, where you belong, with me! I didn't expect you to become a spinster!"

Margarette pursed her lips. Even after turning his life around, her brother remained selfish and inconsiderate. He would talk of wanting to see her happy, but he had kept from her the path to happiness.

But that wasn't true. Eike knew the time machine was still here. Eike had visited this time. And Eike had left without even trying to find her. It was as if he was personally trying to get rid of any chances of seeing her again. Did she come off as that clingy? She could cry, but she caught herself.

No. She didn't care. She had a perfectly good life here. She was following her passion, making beautiful ornate dresses, and helping people feel prettier and more confident. She was a revolutionary seamstress. Those who had mocked her for her strange habits now praised her for her artistry and her unconventional beliefs. Lebensbaum had accepted her and her business was booming. No man, not even one as charming as he, would take that from her.

"Well I did give up," she said, raising her chin. "And I'm very happy here. Where I belong. Sasha agrees." The dog, hearing her name, looked up and started to wag her tail happily.

"Right." Hugo said. "I'm sorry, sis. I was going to tell you eventually."

"What for?" Margarette reminded herself of her own reasons as she spoke, "Eike is with someone he cares about, and I'm doing well for myself here." This was her mantra every night she was lonely. Yes, she had gone on dates, she had looked around, but Lebensbaum was short on respectable men, and the only times she ever felt happy with a man was when he did something that reminded her of Eike, a rare occurrence that was always gone much too quickly for her taste.

"But that still leaves the question," she said, still playing aloof, "what was he doing here anyway? If he was already here, what could he want with your time machine?"

"He wasn't alone." Hugo's voice tightened. "A small, pale man was with him, one with ruby-red eyes, who went by the name of Homunculus." The fire in Hugo's eyes had not been that strong in a long time, and for a moment Margarette remembered her little brother as he once was, power hungry, with a knife at his hostage's throat, believing he could bring back the dead if he wanted it hard enough. She had not heard the name Homunculus in years.

She grasped his shoulders. "Hugo, you're scaring me," she admitted. He made eye contact with her and the fire inside him calmed to gentle embers.

"I'm sorry. Don't worry. I don't want to go back to that misguided life. But I do want to find out what he's doing with that Demon again. I want to know why the hell he would make alliances with that scum in the first place, let alone now. Most importantly, I want to find out the whole truth."

"What do you mean, Hugo?" Margarette inquired stepping back from her brother.

"Don't you want to know what actually happened to our father? What Eike was really doing in all of that mess, how he got a time machine in the first place? How he evaded all of my attacks—" Margarette gave him a look of superb unease. "—which I regret—" he interjected. She settled. "—and what this Homunculus creature really wants anyway?"

Margarette pondered this. "I am curious," she admitted. "But how would you suppose we find all this out, especially without a time machine?"

Hugo tisked at his sister's question. "Ye of little faith. I said he took my old time machine." With this, he reached into his back pocket and brought out a slick, wallet-like structure with a dial on its face. "-not my new one."