You can't kick me down I'm already on the ground
No you can't but you couldn't catch me anyhow
Blue skies but the sun isn't coming out, no
Today is like I'm under a heavy cloud.
"Hey Mom, do you know where my iPod is?" Zara called, looking through her backpack she had resting on the island in the middle of the large kitchen in their mansion. She felt her irritation growing as she tore through it, feeling the dire need to listen to the Violin String Quartet to get rid of the stressful testing day she had just endured.
Someone came from behind her and wrapped her in a hug, holding the iPod in front of her already programmed to the band she was just thinking about. She smiled some as she took it. "You left it in your sweater pocket silly."
"Ah, the one place I refuse to look." A soft laughter from behind her and her smile remained as she let if fill her ears...
Zara gasped and shot straight up in bed, jumping slightly when she saw she started Skia who bolted from her lying position to sitting ramrod straight as she looked at her master with a head tilted to the side. The German Shepherd whined slightly and came over, resting their head on her shoulder. She gulped and patted his head before getting off of the bed, the blanket sliding onto the mattress as her bare feet padded across the floor and towards the closet, noting that the clock said it was three in the morning in the bright neon lights. Stepping inside the large room she walked over and grabbed one of the many sweaters on the hangers, sliding it on over her barely concealed shoulders while her long pajama pants kept her lower half warm. She was about to turn around and leave when she glanced down, pausing before bending down and running her hand over the floor paneling that made up the bottom half of the structure. The small crease was barely felt, but there nevertheless.
She didn't know why, but her hands suddenly shoved down and back, almost like the action was normal and done many times. The panels slid away to reveal a small box area. Zara was completely sitting on the ground now, and lifted out a small gift box, setting it on her lap before taking off the lid. She was met with the sight of many pictures, some with the Other Zara, others of just the people she knew or events she attended.
Picking up one, she immediately recognized Zexion, and saw they had their arms draped over each others shoulders as she held her arm out and took the picture, he was even smirking just a little, something she had learned wasn't common for him.
The next one was of her with Kairi and Namine, all three of them were sitting on the beach docks, either ignoring or not aware of the camera that took a sideways picture of them. They were just...talking, small smiles on their faces as they were in each others company.
Then there was Sora, Roxas, and Riku. Sora and Riku were on the ground wrestling, while Roxas looked like he was being the referee of the match.
There was one with her and Hasan, he had his arms wrapped around her from behind and her hands were on his arms. They were both smiling, and in that picture it looked like they were completely ecstatic with life. She flipped it over and read the date, surprised to see that it had been almost a week ago, just a few scarce days before the accident.
She put the picture aside and continued to sort through them, making sure that they were all left in the specific order she found them. Soon she put the lid back and started to dig around more and finding a variety of other things. There was a small book of Japanese poems in a very worn condition suggesting it was read often. There were a few notes that consisted from friends or her family that were specifically put aside. There was a small chest in the back, and when she opened it up she gasped, quickly putting down the box upon seeing a MW Sniper Combat Knife resting on the clean cloth underneath it. Slowly, carefully, her fingers reached out and softly grazed the flat side of the blade, feeling the smooth and cold metal under her skin. Reaching out her hand retrieved the blade and she gripped it, wincing at the headache suddenly coming on.
The blade in her hand, Zara charged, the metal sliding off of another and equally sharp blade before spinning around and using her weapon to block an attack, the metal inches from her throat. Growling she pushed off her attacker, flipped the blade in her hand, and advanced, the metal clashing once again.
Zara carefully brought the blade through the air, the movements eerily familiar as she conducted them. After a minute she carefully replaced the knife and put the lid back on, pushing it to the side to reach into the hidden hatch again. Her hand connected with another book, and she pulled it out to see it was just a simple black book with red 'x' marks making a fairly cool looking design in the scratchy style. She opened it up, hoping to see what it was about, but found herself looking at a person's handwriting. A journal?
February 17th- Wednesday.
Today he followed through. Dad kept his word and took me to the weapon shop where a friend of his works to go and pick out a blade to practice with. I found the perfect one, an MW Sniper Combat Knife. I'm already got the basics down, and the plan is to have him continue to help me learn and perfect the arts of fighting with a knife. I'm excited, we'll be able to hang out like we used to before work became to heavy and I set off to High School. I miss those days, and didn't realize how much so until I had a chance to have them back.
Zara paused. So that was where the knife came from. February 17th, that was quite a few months ago, but was this journal written this year or last year? Or was it older than that? She said high school, so it could only be three years tops. So...does that mean the Other Zara knew how to use a knife? She looked back up at the box resting innocently off to the side, and found the idea of knowing how to professionally wield it almost exciting.
Flipping through she found another date in the journal.
July 25th- Sunday
They did it again, stood me up. I even wore a stupid dress to the restaurant they said we'd meet at to have dinner. But they were flying back from Hollow Bastion and were going to head straight over to the place, little room for adjustment. Of course this was when their plane decided to be arriving late, a solid two hours late. And what did I do? I sat there for those two hours, people coming and going from the restaurant and looking like a girl who's date decided to ditch. I guess it fit the situation.
I told them to not worry about it, that we'd do it another time, even though I knew that the next chance to arise would be many months from now. The only reason I did so because I didn't want tonight to result how it did, getting my hopes up that they would show up and we'd be able to talk, not in rushed tones or when passing by.
Another idiotic move on my part.
XXXXXX
When Hasan walked into his sister's room around seven thirty that morning he was worried. She was going to be late for school if she didn't get a move on. While he wanted her to rest she had insisted that she get back into the routine of things, but it seems with the amnesia her internal alarm clock had turned off, because last year she would be up often before him. He walked in and saw that the bed curtain was open revealing the empty bed with disorganized sheets. Frowning, he turned and saw Skia there, lying in the doorway and steadily breathing. "Hey Skia, where's Zara?" The dog's head came up to look at him, then back into Zara's closet.
He walked over then paused, seeing the sight in front of him. Zara was just lying there, sweater wrapped around her and another one functioning as a pillow. The panels were back in place and the items previously strewn across the floor were put away, so he went in unaware of the reason she was on the closet ground on the first place. Bending down next to his sister, he reached out to shake her shoulder when he noticed the way she lay, it was more curled into herself than how she normally slept, and her face didn't look restful at all.
Instead he took his hand and moved it to her forehead, frowning with worry when he felt it was much warmer than normal. He moved and put his arms underneath her form, picking her up bridal style to start carrying her over to the bed, Skia at his heels. Putting her down on the bed he pulled the comforter over her and quickly started out of the room, ripping his cellphone out of his pocket and dialing the number the doctor gave him. It took a minute but he finally answered. "Hello?"
"Yes, hello doctor. It's Mr. Alozza, Zara Alozza's brother?"
"Hello Mr. Alozza, how is Zara?"
"Right now she's starting to get a fever and I'm not sure if I should be really worried and bring her in or what."
"Relax Mr. Alozza, more than likely it is just your average fever, after her accident her body is probably just trying to get things in order, its normal for people to get a fever or cold afterwords. Treat it like a normal fever and she will be better in no time. Is there anything else?"
"No doctor, thank you."
"Your welcome Mr. Alozza, have a nice day." Hasan hung up the phone and started redialing, calling the next person he knew.
"Yo Hasan, what's up?" Axel said after seeing the caller ID.
"Zara is sick. Just a fever but I'm going to stay home to take care of her, will you let the teachers know?"
"No problem man. I'll stop by after school to check up on you guys. Call if you need anything, alright?"
"Got it, thanks Axel."
"You know I've got you covered. Cya in a couple of hours." After he hung up Axel looked at his phone, then opened up the texting and addressed it to his sister. Zara is sick, stopping by after school. Feel free to come.
XXXXXX
As soon as 3:30 hit the doorbell to the mansion was going off like crazy, and Hasan was rushing towards the door to make it stop. Zara hadn't really woken up, though there were times where she had opened her eyes, she wasn't really there before she closed them and was asleep again. When he got to the door he quickly opened it ans was met by an interesting sight.
Six teenagers and his best friend stood there, looking at him expectantly. "I made the mistake extending the invitation." Axel said, not really sounding sorry as he walked in and clapped Hasan on the shoulder. "You've got your army of servants to help out with the sicko."
"She's asleep right now, hasn't really been awake today." He replied as everyone filed in.
"Can we go see her?" Kairi asked.
"Well-"
"Thanks!" He didn't even give them an answer before Kairi took off with everyone else behind her, leaving a chuckling Axel behind him.
Kairi wasted no time running up to Zara's bedroom, knowing this mansion by heart. Everyone else followed close behind, and when they neared her door quieted down while the redhead carefully opened the door and ushered everyone inside.
Her bed curtains were closed and the wall windows had one side of the drapes open to allow them to at least see in the large room. Still being quiet Kairi walked over and pulled one of the bed drapes aside. There lay Zara, curled into herself with her hands under her head, knees to her chest, and comforter resting loosely on top of her. Her breathing was deeper than normal but consistent, and Kairi doubted if she would be conscious the rest of the day. Whenever her friend got sick it normally resulted in her being barely coherent the entire time.
"She looks exhausted." Sora said quietly, standing next to her.
"I know, yesterday must have wiped her out." Kairi tied up the curtain loosely so she could glance back every now and then and turned to see everyone had taken seats around her room.
"How does she look?" Namine asked, sitting at her desk.
"She'll be fine in no time. Whenever she gets sick she's normally out for a solid day before she's on the go again. That's how she always is." Kairi said brightly, sitting down at the foot of Zara's bed. "So what ideas do we have for this weekend? I was thinking we could hit the beach, Zara always had fun surfing."
"Oh! I vote that!" Demyx said excitedly, but still not to loud.
"Of course you do, you practically live at the beach." Roxas replied dryly.
"We also have to go to the music store, that was Zara's second home." Riku said after thinking for a moment. "We'll have to just keep taking her to places that she often went to or had powerful memories at and maybe it will help her regain those memories."
"That sounds like a good idea." Sora agreed. "Namine, grab a piece of paper from that desk and a pencil." So the group started a list of all the places they were to take Zara throughout the next couple weeks, completely engrossed in the plan of helping their friend out in any way.
It was until 4:30 that Namine looked over and jumped slightly, seeing Zara's eyes opened and staring at the wall across from her, which was where Namine was sitting. However her eyes had a glassy look and she didn't really seem to be seeing anything, just looking at some non-existent point. "Zara?" Everyone watched as she quietly walked over and bent in front of the bed. "Zara, would you like some water.
The eyes flickered for a minute before returning to their original pose. "Won't go." she mumbled, her voice sounding detached.
Namine's features turned to those of confusion. "Won't go?" She echoed as Kairi came and knelt next to her.
"Hey Zara, is everything OK?" she asked softly, giving her a small smile.
Zara's eyes locked with Kairi's still glassed over but now looking directly at her, she actually found this unnerving. "I don't want to go." she whispered.
"Go where?"
"Where they are. The bad guys." She buried her head in her pillow and shrunk even more into herself if that was possible. "I don't want to go with them."
Kairi gasped and quickly reached out shaking her friend as harshly as she could allow herself. "Zara, wake up. Come on, wake up!"
"Won't go." She just repeated, seeming oblivious to the actions.
"Zara, wake up it's just a dream." OK, it wasn't a dream, but she wasn't about to switch to saying 'it's just a memory'. Didn't really help their situation.
Sudden Hasan and Axel were there, moving towards the bed. "What's wrong?" Axel demanded.
"She's remembering the abandoned house." Kairi said quickly. Hasan just nodded and sat on the bed bringing his sister into a sister position. She struggled slightly before he took her face and made her look at him. "Zara, listen, it's not real. OK? The bad guys aren't here."
"Not...here?" Namine held back a sigh of relief when her voice sounded more like her own.
"That's right, they're not here. They're gone. So you're OK, you're safe."
Her glassy eyes found his and she nodded slightly with her face still in his hands. "OK." She replied, then he quickly moved to hold her torso when her body went completely lax. It was quiet as he set her back down and recovered her with the blanket. "Of all the frickin' memories, she had to remember that one." Axel growled.
Kairi just nodded and leaned into his side, looking at her best friend. "Do you think she'll be alright?" She didn't really ask anyone in particular, but an answer would be comforting.
"She has to be." Sora said. "We need her to."
XXXXXX
"Let go!" Zara yelled, struggling against the grip of the two men who held her arms, forcefully dragging her towards the abandoned home. Weeds had overtaken the yard and a few of the windows were had spiderweb cracks throughout them, the frame looked like it wouldn't hold out for long either. It was honestly the last place she wanted to be, especially with these guys.
"Just shut up and stop struggling." One growled, jerking her harshly.
"Like hell I will!" She retorted, her efforts increasing twice the amount they were before. But she couldn't gain freedom in time before the door was kicked open and she was shoved in, hearing laughter from all around.
Landing harshly on the floor she looked around and saw a group of men there, all chuckling amongst themselves as she scrambled up. Her head snapped around to see the door close behind her, and the two who forced her into this mess standing guard. Looking back, she saw one stand up and pick up a knife he had rested on an old table, the blade glinting in the sunlight that filtered through the dusty glass. "Time to send 'em a message boys."
More laughing as he drew near, and Zara honestly found no way out of the situation. When she was grabbed again and forced against a wall she could see the blade slowly coming towards the skin on her back, and panic flooded through her as well as the scream teared through her throat.
"Won't go."