Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Kyo Kara Maoh, this is purely fan-made.
Chapter 7: Repressed Memory
(Chapter inspired by Let It Burn by Red)
~Ash's POV~
When it was all over and the soldiers moved in to take my attacker away, I sat against the wall for a long time trying to process what I just found out about his motives. Conrad told me before my sudden auto-translation powers kicked in that the would-be kidnapper said he worked for the people I nearly crashed into when this all started. So at least now I knew that they were actually after me back then. I didn't want to be any part of what they were planning. Whatever it was…I just wanted out of this place. I wanted to go home.
"What's happening to me?" I asked no one in particular as I stared down at my trembling hands. "H-how did I do that…?"
Frowning, the other blonde boy grumbled under his breath. "That's what I'd like to know."
Jerking in surprise when I realized that I understood him, I looked up and asked him, "What did you just say?"
"I said that I'd like to know what the hell just happened too. How dare you put Gretta in danger like that?" the boy snapped harshly.
I shrank back a bit because of the intensity of his anger, but managed a feeble reply, "No I-that's not what I meant. What you just said, I understood everything. Every word. I don't-"
Trailing off, I curled my knees up close to my chest and tightly closed my eyes when my head started to throb painfully. I managed to compose myself in the heat of the moment when that little girl was threatened but I think the stress of this whole situation was starting to get to me. This feeling reminded me of the overwhelming anxiety that put me in the hospital and eventually led to my transfer into a new foster home.
Thinking back on it now, I wondered if even that was somehow related to what was happening right now in some small way. If every single problem that got in the way of my adoption for all these years had to do with everything that has led up to this moment. I was probably overthinking things a little bit, but, that's the only thing that made sense. I was being sabotaged and called here to this world for some reason.
At some point in my life the wheels of fate started turning a little faster just to bring me to this world. To trap me here. To awaken an extraordinary and powerful part of me that I never knew about until now. It made me feel a bit uneasy though because using it for the first time felt good, almost too good. I've never felt so alive before. It felt as natural to me as breathing…
And that was probably the scariest part about it.
Putting his hands on my shoulders, Conrad asked me, "Are you alright? What's wrong?"
"My head!" I winced and opened one eye to look up at him. "It hurts so bad. And m-my ears are ringing again. I can...I can hardly hear anything but the ringing now..."
"Again? You mean this has happened before?" he asked in a level and strangely guarded tone when I realized he hadn't switched back to English yet I understood him fine.
I nodded tearfully before closing my eyes again. "When I first got here, whenever I was around other people and they started talking my ears kept ringing and for some reason I could understand some of the words they were using. I thought it was because I had a concussion and I was only imagining that I could understand. What's wrong with me Conrad? A-am I some kind of a freak?"
Shaking his head, Conrad assured me, "No, you're not a freak. You're just...different from what we originally thought. Now come on, we need to get you back to your room and send for a doctor. Can you stand?"
Biting my lip, I removed my hands from my head and bravely tried to sit up despite wanting nothing more then to curl in on myself. Somehow I managed to at least lift myself into a standing position but my legs still were so shaky that I doubted I'd get very far by walking before falling flat on my face. Conrad must have guessed as much because he wordlessly scooped me up into his arms before I even had time to let out a startled gasp.
"Wolfram, go get Geisila and tell her to come as soon as possible," Conrad ordered the blonde boy in the blue uniform.
He nodded somewhat reluctantly and then dashed down the opposite hall out of sight. Quite honestly, I was relieved to see him go. The last thing I needed right now was someone blaming me for what happened and shouting at me. Not that he was entirely wrong about it being my fault that that little girl was involved but how was I supposed to know someone was ACTUALLY after me? Up until then I thought coming to this world was a total accident.
I should have known better.
Accidents like that don't just happen, not to normal people. Teenage girl's don't get whisked away to alternate worlds at random like in some twisted storybook fantasy. I guess I just didn't want to accept that because it made the question about who I was all that much harder to answer.
Gwendal's office: Yuri's POV
Once Ash was taken back to her room so Geisila could find out what was wrong with her, Gretta filled us in on what actually happened. But as usual Wolfram kept grumbling about how this 'wasn't our problem' and that Sara should have just dropped her off somewhere on his way home and left her there. Of course I was ready to jump in to defend him and Ash when Gretta spoke up again.
"Wolfram, please don't be mad at her. It's my fault the scary man grabbed me," Gretta pleaded as she gently took his hand and looked up with those big green eyes of hers that were nearly impossible to resist. "When I heard that Yuri and Uncle Shori were coming back I got so excited that I immediately left my room to go see if he was home yet with his big brother. That's when I ran into her by accident. She looked really scared and when that man saw us together she did her best to keep me safe! She's not a bad person!"
Of course, Gretta's cuteness won him over and Wolfram begrudgingly replied with a slight blush, "Well, I guess that's true. It did seem like she was willing to sacrifice herself for you. I'll give her that. I'm still mad though."
Rolling my eyes at him I said, "Wolfram, admit it, you're always mad about something."
Pouting, he protested. "Am not!"
"Ok, not as much as you used to be but you really need to control your temper!" I frowned, scolding him. "Ash was already freaking out because she was attacked out of the blue like that and could suddenly use magic after all then you go and yell at her! She's probably more confused about this whole thing then we are. Think about it. We all thought the White Crows were gone, but not only are they back, but they were sent after HER. That's gotta mean something!"
"Those guys…" Shori said, arms crossed. "We should have known that some of them probably survived Big Shimaron's attack on their base but the question is why this girl is so important to them. Ok, sure, she's clearly got some pretty impressive fire powers, that much we already know from what we just saw. But what's so special about it that they'd go so far out of their way to get their hands on this one girl?"
A silence fell over the room while we each came up with our own theories. My guess was that Ash was actually born in this world and maybe something bad happened that forced her parents to send her away with a trusted friend or servant. That would explain the random wounded guy from her origin story that wasn't her dad. Once they arrived though her protector died and no one was left on Earth who could tell Ash the truth about where she came from or what she was capable of. And that's why she didn't know she had powers and couldn't believe it when they activated for the first time as a defense mechanism.
Classic case of misplaced identity. Although her case was more extreme than mine was. At least I had my parents and people over on this side who were there to look out for me. But as far as we knew, Ash didn't have anybody like that...
"Sara?" I called from across the table and leaned over to talk to him. "What do you think about all this?"
I was surprised when Sara replied seriously, "I think that it would be in our best interest and Ash's to find out more about the man that tried to abduct her. Because I for one am not entirely convinced that the White Crows are responsible for this. There might be someone else involved that is simply using the White Crows emblem as an alias to hide their true identity or to make us believe that they're more powerful than they really are. As for Ash herself, I'm deeply concerned about the state she's in right now. Seeing as it's clear now that Ash does in fact have memories of our language hidden inside of her subconscious, I for one am glad that I thought to bring her here rather than go back to Small Shimaron right away. You're probably better equipped to help her through this than I am Yuri. Especially since your friend Conrad can speak the language she's used to using in her daily life should this...temporary understanding of our language wear off. I don't see that there's much else I can do for her at this point to be perfectly honest with you…"
"Translation. You mean that you're planning on dumping her here with us?" Shori snickered. "That's just great. Some help you were..."
Adjusting his glasses and meeting my older brother's harsh gaze, Sara replied cordially. "On the contrary, I'm paying Yuri a compliment. You've done more for her in less than a day than I was able to do in several. He's lucky to have such resourceful retainers who can find out so much information regarding her situation so quickly. I would expect nothing less from the illustrious Demon Tribe. And regretfully, I didn't realize that we were being followed until it was already too late. She is my responsibility Lord Shori, I am fully aware of that. However, if you're still willing, I'd like to get to the bottom of this as soon as possible because I still need to return to Small Shimaron soon. In which case I must decide what is best for Ash and everyone involved in this matter. If she is safer here then with me, I am obligated to ask that your king give the poor girl shelter from the danger she is obviously in."
Once Sara spoke his peace, the rest of us continued to discuss what we should do next. That's when I decided that the first thing we should do was make sure Ash's condition was stable enough to send her over to the Tomb of the Great One to see Ulrike. Because if anyone could help her sort out these conflicting memories and out-of-wack powers, it was Lady Ulrike.
Besides, as soon as we got back home even the Great One himself was telling us he was curious about Ash. He could sense something unusual about her too and it fascinated him. And we all knew how dangerous that his 'fascination' could be…
At any rate, as soon as Ash's health was in better shape we were going to interrogate the guy who broke into the castle and find out more about his employers. If everything went well, then maybe Ash would be able to go home soon and forget about all this for awhile and we could take care of the rest ourselves whether these were real White Crows or not. I only saw her for a few minutes but I could see it in her eyes how frustrated and confused she was. I could relate to that from back when I became the Demon King. So if I could spare her that kind of hardship, I'd like to at least try. That was my duty as a king, and as a decent human being to do everything in my power to help her not feel as alone and helpless anymore.
