His dreams were filled with that of Jeeha Village. Flashes of digging filled his mind, images of Aniki, the Chief, his first crush, Lagann, and his Spiral Core. He felt happy, in this made of reality of his. However, he had mastered the ability of his dreams long ago, and he was just showing himself what he wanted to see. He went back to the dark recesses of his mind, where he kept Aniki.
He kept his memories of him locked away, so he could view them when he pleased. It seemed odd, and it was akin to a child hiding his favorite toy from his friends, but it didn't bother him. He liked the fact that he knew Kamina best; no matter how selfish it was. But oddly enough... he couldn't get a clear image of him. It was as if... Aniki was now someone he didn't know, one he couldn't remember; a bit character.
This was troubling. He tried to prod and poke around in his memories, but even with his full effort, he couldn't even see his face. It was as if he had been taken out of everyone.
Even though this was just his dreamscape, a place for him to live life as he thought it should be, he should've been able to remember Aniki. He tried to remember happy memories, such as when they first combined into Gurren Lagann. Yet, there was nothing. He could feel his body tensing in rage, even as he slept. He was aware of his surroundings at all times, war had taught him that.
Well, that was a lie. To be honest, he slept like a drunkard on sleeping pills, but that was beside the point. He flew through his memories like they were papers blowing through the wind; and not a single one had Aniki's face, or body, or voice, in them.
He thought of his death. That HAD to be the one place he would show up.
Suddenly, it was as if he had stepped into a still frame of a movie.
Rain was falling, and Gurren's mouth was open. Yoko was crying. He was bent over on the ground with tears flowing down his wet cheeks. He slowly lifted his head, having second thoughts on if he should've done this. What he saw, was like a swift kick in the stomach.
Aniki was gone.
There was no slumped over body, slightly smiling in Gurren anymore. The pilot's seat was empty. Was this the effect of alcohol? Did it really kill that many braincells, to the point that they had somehow removed an entire man from his brain?
That had to be impossible, right?
He shot up, cold sweat flinging off the side of his face as he jerked into an upright position. He felt famished, nauseated, and depressed, all at the same time. He couldn't even remember the man that put him in a depression?
He checked his clock. 6:32. He decided to phone Nia, because maybe she would be able to offer some insight. She was weird like that, naive with things that should be common, and surprisingly wise when it came to things that affected nobody.
He grabbed his phone and dialed her number. After the fourth ring, she finally picked up.
"Hello~?" she asked in her usual sing-song voice.
"Uh..." Simon suddenly found himself at a loss for words. He had shut her out almost as long as everyone else he knew. They hadn't talked in almost 3 weeks, and he felt it might be a little rude for him to just act like nothing happened. However, it was Nia, and knowing, she might not have even cared.
"Hey, Nia. Eh... I don't really know what to-" Simon was suddenly caught off by Nia.
"Simon~! I'm coming right over in a few minutes, we can talk then~!"
"W-wait, Nia! Just because we're somewhat dating, doesn't mean you can come over when you please!" Simon caught himself raising his voice. He lowered it so he wouldn't upset Nia.
"L-look, I just..." he sighed. "Do you think it's possible to forget someone important from your life completely?"
Nia seemed to ponder the question, then replied, "Well~, you haven't forgotten me, so I don't think so!"
It was as if Simon could somehow see her beaming smile from the phone. It was a mixture of happiness and disgust that manifested within him from that image.
"Ugh, never mind... bye, Nia." He was putting down the phone and was ready to hang up until he heard Nia say "I'll be over in a few minutes~!"
He let out a loud groan. The last thing he needed was for someone to ruin his pity party. It was really bothering him though... he knew Aniki, but at the same time, he didn't know Aniki. He could remember everything he had done with him, but he couldn't remember him being there. It was like someone had cut him out of the magazine of his memories, and pasted him elsewhere.
He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and then slid out of bed. He walked to the bathroom, turned the faucet on, and started splashing water in his face to wake him up. He didn't have time to take a shower if Nia was going to be over in a few minutes. He put on a shirt and some pajama bottoms. As he started to search for a pair of slippers, he heard the sizzle of a pan on a stove top, and he smelt the warm aroma of freshly made pancakes.
'...The hell?' He thought. 'There's no way she got here that fast, is there? Unless... No, she couldn't have slept outside his house... though she did know what day it was...'
Suddenly, he heard a voice that he hadn't heard in a long time call out. As if it was pulling every string in his heart at once, socking him in the gut, and taking his breath away, all from the simple sentence it had said.
"Oi! Simon! D'you want syrup on your pancakes?"
He felt joy. He felt rage. He felt a tinge of regret. Most of all, he felt sad... but why? This voice was one he couldn't seem to place. It was a voice you'd never forget, but he had managed to be the idiot that had.
It then registered in his brain that someone was in his house. Someone that knew his name, and was making pancakes for him...
He bolted over to his night stand, opened the drawer, and grabbed his gun. He slunk out of the room, and using the wall as cover, he braced himself for whatever was in his kitchen.
As if he was running on instinct, he shouted out something to the intruder. He then shouted it again, even louder.
"I HAVE A WEAPON! I KNOW HOW TO USE IT, AND I WILL USE IT. WE HAVE LAWS AGAINST COMING INTO OTHER PEOPLE'S HOMES NOW. I WILL GIVE YOU UNTIL THE COUNT OF 5 TO GET OUT!"
He listened to the man shuffle around in his kitchen. It sounded like he threw an apron on the tile floor, and like he was now stopping his cooking.
All the sudden, the man who was once in the kitchen was by Simon's side.
"Simon, what's up? And why are you using a gun? You're big enough to kick anyone's ass now!"
Simon shrieked, clearly being startled by the man. He hit his head on the wall, and fell down.
He sat upright and began rubbing his head. "Goddammit, that really fucking hurt!" he mumbled.
"I see your vocabulary has grown alongside your body, Simon!"
He looked up to the figure. It... it couldn't be. Standing in front of him was the man he forgot. A ghost of a man who had died three years prior. Aniki. His Aniki. Kamina. It was Kamina standing there. He felt woozy, and his vision faded to black.
He awoke cuddled up in a chair, with a blanket over him, and a pillow under his head. He was propped upright in a position that was highly uncomfortable, which meant that someone put him there. He checked the clock on the wall. 6:41.
That meant he wasn't out for long. He vaguely remembered the events that led up to his passing out, but the reason was fresh and crisp in his mind. He had hallucinated and saw Kamina right in front of him.
Maybe it was the medicine, or maybe he got served some sort of psychedelic beer, but he knew that Kamina wasn't there. But he still smelt pancakes.
"Nia...?" he called out, almost afraid to let it be known that he was now awake.
"Oi! Simon! Are you up?" the same voice from before called out again.
He froze. This had to be some sort of fucking joke. It had to be! Unless he had managed to enter a parallel universe where Kamina never died and they were roommates, but then that didn't explain Nia, since he wouldn't have met her if Kamina hadn't died!
He got up and rushed to the kitchen, and found himself speechless. There was Aniki. Standing there, making pancakes, like he had never died.
"You... how... what..?" Simon stuttered, not being able to find the right thing to say.
"I guess you are up!" Kamina smirked. "D'you want syrup on these?" He motioned his eyes towards the pancakes he was sliding onto a plate.
"H-h-how... are you... a-alive... you... y-you... can't be..." Simon asked, mouth agape.
Kamina looked puzzled.
"To be honest, I'm not quite sure either. Last thing I can remember is fighting that general in Gurren, and then I woke up laying beside you in a bed, in what I'm guessing is our house. Then I looked over to you, and saw that you grew up and you're almost as tall as me now, and you had a beard. So I figured I'd make breakfast." He laughed, then added, "By the way, that's not the best look for you."
Simon just stood there. His brain couldn't process the situation correctly.
He just walked over to the table where Kamina had placed the plate of pancakes, sat down, and grabbed a bottle of syrup, and started pouring. He grabbed his fork, and dug in.
Kamina sat down, and broke the silence with a question. "So, what happened in the few years that I've been dead?"
Simon jolted his face from staring at his pancakes to Kamina's face. He knew he had died?
"Y-you know that y-you d-died?" Simon sputtered out.
"That much was obvious, and you did ask how I was alive. I guess the heavens favored me and let me have another go at it." He shrugged. "So, what's new?"
Simon stood up from the table, and vomited all over it. He then ran to his bedroom's bathroom to go throw up again.
After a few seconds, Kamina walked up behind him. "You need anything?" he asked.
Simon tried to mutter something, but his body made sure he couldn't. He threw up all of his breakfast into the toilet.
"It's just... it's just... too much, for me. You've been dead for three years..." Simon rasped out.
"Ah. I see. Well, that's not too long, hope I haven't missed much!" Kamina chuckled.
Simon turned around and started to say something to Kamina, but then heard another voice. This time, it was one he could easily place.
"Simon~, I'm heeere~!" Nia's melodious voice filled his home. Shit. She couldn't meet Kamina, at least not like this.
"You've got to hide, and do it now!" He said to Kamina as he got up and rushed to meet his girlfriend.
"H-hey, Nia!" he stuttered.
She smiled at him, and then started to walk towards his bedroom door, for no reason at all.
"I heard you talking to someone, do we have another guest?" She asked, eyes filled with innocence.
"No, no, wait wait! Don't go in there-" too late.
What she was Kamina's body hidden under Simon's bed's covers.
Nia's face went from a shining smile to tears in under .5 seconds
"S-Simon..." she whispered, tears streaming down her face. Nia was naive, but she wasn't dumb. Simon knew exactly what this looked like, and he couldn't explain it with another lie.
Simon's brain wasn't working after the overload that he had just recieved from Kamina's "resurrection" of sorts, so all he could manage to say was "It's not what it looks like!"
Nia turned to him, tears streaming down her face.
"I see why you didn't talk to me for three weeks..." she sniffed her nose, rubbed her eyes, and then continued. "G-goodbye, Simon."
She turned and started calmly walking out. As soon as she got outside, she started bawling and running down the street. All Simon could do was watch.