Asura's POV
Home. It was just there; right there. I think.
It was the right address, sure, but I didn't recognize the place. Who would? The walls had tumbled, most of the upper floor broken, the windows were shattered, and there were still flames flickering in the wooden wreckage.
"No…" I whispered, before running into the ruins. I ducked beneath the tape barring the house, barely noticing Hope following me.
This could not have happened. It just couldn't have. It was one of those moments which just doesn't feel real, no matter how much you concentrate on it. I refused to accept it.
I made my way through the next door, ducking beneath the shattered frame, into what used to be a living rom. The pale green of the walls had gone, incinerated or peeled away, and the furniture was shredded, tiny splinters of wood littered across the room. The manavision was a chunk of metal, shards of glass turned to powder, and any power it used to have now lost.
I looked down, to the rubble strewn floor. There were two bodies in the centre, lying, arranged by some sick person's hand, side by side, staring up. Their features were well preserved considering, but their eyes were shut and their bodies were unnaturally contorted, with deep welts spread across the skin. I looked at a toppled, bloodstained lamp and felt sick.
Mom and Dad.
They'd adopted me, when no others would. They were my first good memory after awaking, they were the only parents I'd met. I was too young to remember Vanille or my mystery father. So really, these two people lying here were all I had for a mother and father.
And the Surtr had killed them.
I felt something stir within me, a deep anger, a fury. "No!" I shouted, expelling the strong fury, punching the already damaged wall. There was a loud thump as it fell beneath my blow, the wall falling as yet more force was channelled into it. I darted back, away from the wave of dust and rubble. I fell onto the cluttered floor while the unstable wall fell.
"I guess it was weakened by the bomb" I shrugged to Hope, pulling myself up with my unbruised, unhurt arm.
Looking around again, I felt another wave of sadness at seeing my parents, now buried beneath the wall my fist had toppled.
"I'm sorry" Hope murmured, appalled himself at the wreck of my home. My home… I still thought of Vanille as my mother and the mystery man as my father, but that couldn't stop the closeness I felt for these two. The two dead in my name. Adoptive parents, like how Hope felt about Lightning.
"It was my fault" I squeaked, voice breaking as I spoke
"It wasn't. You couldn't have known-" Hope hesitated momentarily before moving to hold my hand
"Couldn't I?" I span around, half blinded by tears; "I could've seen their fear of the Surtr. I could've seen how your Dad kept us safe. I could've seen the Surtr following me. I could've warned them the instant I found out about the Surtr. I-"
"Don't! They took four years to find you, since you entered Cocoon City. They can't have been looking that hard"
"Do you know how often we moved? This mom said she was travelling for her work. Every time the Surtr got close probably, so don't try and say they didn't care much about me. They did. They killed my parents to get me feeling some strong emotion"
"Didn't work though, did it? You're still here, and there hasn't been an 'end'."
"There was something" I gestured to the fallen wall.
"You said it was weakened by the- hang on" Hope interrupted himself, cautiously stepping into the rubble.
"What is it?" I frowned
"I think I see something" Hope reached the surviving portion of the wall, a thick plastered wood and stone block barely knee high. He knelt down, flipping down a portion of the wall. "There's a hinge here" he murmured, slightly surprised, before he reached down from above, through the cracks, and withdrew a small, dark red, yellowing, leather-bound book.
"Something in the wall" I muttered, cautiously walking over the wood and stone shards, remnants of the once homely building. I got to the cleared ground around Hope, standing close to him as we looked at the small, dark red book. "She used to sit here" I murmured, recognizing the indentations on the floor and wall
"What?" Hope turned, still clasping the book.
"Mom used to sit here. Her chair was right here, back to the wall. No wonder I never saw that hinge: it was behind her chair"
"Which means this is probably theirs" Hope paused slightly, fingering the clasp sealing the book shut. "Sure you want to see it?"
"Of course" I snapped, more harshly than I meant, "Why wouldn't I?"
"Well…" Hope handed it to me, letting me see the peeling, gold letters on the front cover.
Asura.
It was about me. Curiosity piqued, I flipped the clasp off and, resting the outside of the book on a waist height clump that appeared to have once been part of the roof, I stared at the first, yellowing page. It was sewed into the spine; originally written before they purchased the book it seemed. The beginning appeared to be part of a general diary, but the rest of the book looked solely based around raising me. It was…somewhat chilling.
"Four years ago" I murmured, looking at the date, before reading aloud for Hope's sake. I wasn't so sad that I couldn't think about others.
"We found someone today. She looks like one of the Pulse survivors, resurrected from within crystal. She looks like she's fifteen, maybe sixteen. Asleep when we found her, so we'll name her when she wakes up. Unless she finds her parents, we're happy to look after her. We may need to look after her, remembering what happened when we were driving her back to our house. We wouldn't just leave her there, alone, abandoned.
She looks odd. Not odd in a bad way, just in a different way. It's her hair that bugs me really. It's dark over most of her head, but there are bright orange patches around the back. It doesn't look like the work of any dye or paint, though I suppose it might just be some fal'Cie's curse. We don't know what things were like back then" I paused for breath, stopping my narration to look at the hooked Hope. "I don't know why my hair's so odd either, don't worry" I laughed, before becoming serious and turning back to the book. I couldn't remember this; too young I guess. It was haunting though, reading my own life from a stranger's perspective.
"As I said before, something strange occurred as we took her home" I continued reading the diary. "We'd only taken a few steps from where she'd lain before we were attacked. We do not know the identity of these people, but they seemed to have some connection to the girl. They were desperate to get her."
"The Surtr" Hope breathed. I nodded, knowing that to be true.
I skimmed through the rest of the book, not finding much else of interest. Except for one line, the first sentences on the first page of the text originally part of the book and not sewed into the spine.
"Bartholomew told us who she is and while we can scarcely believe it, it explains most of it. He contacted the Surtr and was informed by them. Because of this, we know we must protect her, we cannot allow her to awaken and fall prey to the Surtr."
I hastily read through the rest of the book, but nowhere could I find a mention of this. They didn't say what made me so special, didn't say what would happen if I 'awoke', they didn't even say what that meant.
I had half a mind to run after these Surtr, provoke them, find out something, anything about who they thought I was.
But was there any point?
I threw down the book, disturbing the clutter of rubble, before stomping out of the ruined house. I'd find some way to get by, but I just couldn't face this any more.
Who was I?
Hope's POV
I followed Asura as she stormed out of her old home, losing her as we made it to the winding streets outside. I let out long, rattling breath. It was so hard to find strangers again in this city: she knew where I lived, but I had no clue where to find her now.
Alone for now at least. I wished it wasn't so, but now I could do one thing I'd been waiting to do. Meet Sollo, confront him about the close to 100% genetic match between Asura and Vanille, about how Asura had to be Vanille's daughter. About how the records were wrong, about how he could've given me the wrong hair, or how he didn't expect me to go do a genetic test. And, most of all, about he could be the father. How that was the only thing that would make sense: if he'd changed the records himself.
I strode up to his door, boldly knocking twice. It moved open a few centimetres, and Sollo peered out. "You!" he exclaimed, quickly opening the door further. "Come in, quickly" he grabbed my wrist and pulled me in to his cluttered home. The corridor looked pretty much the same as before, only the light from the records room was slightly dimmed.
"I take it you did the genetic test?" Sollo stared at me
"Yeah. The genetic profiles matched almost 100%"
"Y- what?" Sollo froze as he spoke.
"The doctors said she was certainly the daughter of Vanille. You didn't expect me to do the test did you?"
"Frankly, I couldn't have cared less whether or not you did the test. I know she is not Vanille's daughter; else my records would say so."
"Are you her father?" I was grasping, but it was my best option
"What?" he froze again
"Someone would've had to erase the records; and if you really are the only person who went near the records then it had to be you. So then we have to ask why. What did you have to hide about Asura?"
"I don't know who she is, but she is no child of mine, no child of anyone if my records are right: and they always are. I don't know who she is, but she's playing a game with everyone, and you're just following her lead."
"Could someone else have gotten to the records?" I changed the subject, hoping to calm Sollo.
"I suppose so. Wouldn't be easy but I guess a talented l'Cie, like Vanille could manage it. But that still doesn't solve the problem of a father"
"It might do. If there was enough of a scandal then who wouldn't erase a record?"
"By a scandal…" Sollo mused, "maybe the father came from Cocoon. That would explain why she was never that close to anyone"
"Another thing" I spoke up, "could you have given me the wrong hair? If the mother isn't Vanille then it might be Fang. Asura looks a lot like Fang sometimes: maybe you gave me Fang's hair, and the genetic match was with Fang"
"Possible I suppose, or… it couldn't be…"
"What?"
"This sounds wrong, but what if Asura's father was Fang's father?"
"Huh?" I stepped back, slightly confused
"It would definitely be a scandal, Fang was Vanille's best friend, and it would explain the resemblance"
"No, I don't think Vanille would… betray Fang like that"
"Suppose you're right" Sollo slumped, sighing momentarily, "but wait" he ran up to the wall, searching for some new record. He folded a floor-to-ceiling sheet up, opening a concealed safe door after quickly inputting a digital code, and took out an A4 sized book, with black fur forming the front and back covers. The inside was written on old animal skin.
"You're getting me to reveal all my secrets" Sollo chuckled, "This was given to me by the previous record keeper. An inheritance, with secret information to be read only when someone shows up on no records"
"What is it?" I moved over the wooden floor, peering at the slightly gruesome record
"If one is not recorded anywhere, if one is never present before their adult life, if one person, just one person, has no history, then this is why" Sollo read a thin note attached to the front, furry cover. "That's what the last record keeper said. Asura seems to match that description"
"What does it say?"
Sollo carefully opened the book, delicately manipulating the thin skin pages. Gothic symbols littered the book.
"Not a clue" Sollo sighed, "It's an obscure Gran Pulsian dialect, from an archaic language few spoke even in my grandfather's day. Try and find someone from Methu Pulse, Gran Pulse as it stood centuries before my day. Maybe one of them could help you translate"
"What good's a book that no one understands?"
"Sentimental value, mostly" Sollo laughed, "a few people in my era understood it, but they were too highly prized to become l'Cie, so none would've been in crystal stasis unless they came from a time the language was commonly spoken. That would be in the era of Methu Pulse: I guess a few people in crystal sleep would be from that time, but finding them would be a problem. It was just at the start of the schism with Cocoon: they really hated each other back then, though it was before the war really began" Sollo looked almost wistful for a moment. "You can't take the book though, too fragile. I've got a paper copy somewhere though" he knelt down, gingerly placing the ancient book back in the safe.
Sollo sealed the safe again, folding the paper record wallpaper back down. Now he clasped a sheath of yellowing paper sheets, eleven or so separate pieces. They were covered in elaborate sketches of the language in the other book.
"This should explain who Asura is, if anyone can read it" Sollo gave the sheets to me. "Copied symbol for symbol" he dropped the papers into my open hands.
"I won't lose them" I promised.
"Don't worry if you do; keep them. I've got other copies, each record keeper made their own. The secret you hold in your hand was the basis for an ancient Methu Pulsian religion as best we can tell, and it kept some of its holiness even to those who didn't understand" Sollo sat down, stretching, on the wooden chair in the centre of the room, surrounded by the words he prized so much.
"Thanks" I stuttered slightly, realizing the weight of his gift; it was something even he didn't know, that no one in his generation knew or understood.
I tucked the roll of paper into my bright orange jacket, just below my neck, unnoticeable from the outside but an obtrusive pressure against my throat. Just a reminder, so I wouldn't forget.
Asura's POV
I could remember more now.
Since I'd found my…my parents, I'd been able to remember more. A day ago I knew that I'd stumbled around on Gran Pulse for a little, and remembered falling from Cocoon. I remembered Anima's Vestige, and knew that I was Anima's l'Cie, frozen and then awoken.
But now I knew more. The Vestige falling, crashing to Lake Bresha, most of Anima dissipating and crystallizing the Lake. It had saved Lightning, Snow, Hope, Sazh and Mom as they fell. And it had saved me.
And then I'd met someone…someone. They'd scared me, scared me a lot…
Was this what the Surtr meant when they said I'd awake?
I focused on the memory of the person, a man, definitely. Darkish skin, bright, piercing blue eyes, like the sea from Oerba. How could I remember that colour? My memories of Gran Pulse were pretty sketchy, but I could remember Oerba in pristine detail. Just not the events, well, not many at least.
But I knew my mother.
And really, that thought scared me. I knew my mother, but I didn't know my father. I knew Oerba, but I didn't know much about Gran Pulse. I knew I'd entered crystal sleep, but I couldn't remember why, and I couldn't remember much after awaking.
But I could remember that man. A strong emotion again, it seemed those strong emotions overcame whatever block was in my mind. A fal'Cie induced block? In which case, why did they want me to forget?
The man. Focus on the man. Remember him Asura, remember more.
His name rolled off my tongue, the ghost of a whisper, a breeze through my mind. "Garmr" I spoke quietly, remembering that one, crucial bit of evidence.
God, look at me. Lusting after one word, the name of some complete stranger. Some priorities.
Priorities… Hope's face flashed through my mind. I had to find him again; he'd stuck with me even in the doubt of my parenthood. That was worth something.
I focused on that, see Hope again. I didn't know what to say, what to do, but I felt the urge to see him. To help him, however I could.
But still, even with that uplifting aim, even thinking of Hope, that one word, that name, sent a chill, a shiver of fear down my spine. That one word.
Garmr.
I have actually got a plan for where the Asura storyline is going, but I'm not saying what.
What I am saying however is: I hope (hee hee) you enjoy!