Fragmented Memories
Chapter 10: The Truth Comes Out
Kairi had calmed down by the time she and Tidus met up with Naminé on the street the Strife's lived on. She at least no longer wanted to kick down their front door and yell at her friends until they gave her a straight answer. (Well, maybe she did a little, but Cloud could be really scary when he got angry and she figured breaking the door to his house wouldn't make him happy.)
"Are you sure you want to go with us?" Kairi asked Tidus for what must have been the eighth time since the evening before. "You don't seem to be a part of this mess. There's still time for you to get out of it."
Tidus adamantly shook his head. "No way! You are my best friend, Kairi. There is no way you're doing this without me there with you every step of the way. Just because I'm not having dreams or visions or whatever like the two of you doesn't mean I'm not involved."
"I guess there's no talking you out of this..." Kairi murmured.
"It's too late now anyway. Olette will have told Roxas that Tidus was with us yesterday," Naminé said knowingly. "If he wasn't with us, Cloud would just send someone to get him."
Kairi stopped walking, gazing at Naminé with stunned realization. When her friends realized she wasn't next to them anymore, they stopped as well.
"How... how do you know that?" Kairi asked. "I never mentioned Cloud. I wasn't even sure he was part of this until this morning. I mean, I assumed he was but..." She looked to Tidus for confirmation. He looked just as puzzled as she felt.
Naminé looked at the ground. "I was going to wait and tell everyone together. I remember now... Your dreams, my visions; they're real. They're our memories." She paused and took a deep breath. "It was strange waking up this morning and remembering this whole other life. I wanted to just stay in bed all day. I never feel like that. Maybe you're the lucky one." She finally looked up at Kairi. "You're getting your memories back piece by piece and not all at once. You get to hold onto who you are now. Meanwhile I'm... I'm not even sure who I am anymore."
Kairi wanted nothing more than to reach out to her new friend and pull her into her arms. She sounded so lost. So heartbroken.
Tidus beat her to it.
He walked over and gently grasped Naminé's hands in his own. "I know who you are. You're Naminé Snow, an amazing art student and Senior at Destiny High, who just happens to also be able magically transform and kick monster butt! You're also my friend. And no memories of some past life are going to change that. I'm not going to say that memories aren't important, cuz I guess they kind of are, but it's up to you to decide what to do with them. Maybe you can't be the same Naminé I knew yesterday, but you're not the same person you were in your past life either. You can be someone new! Someone just as amazing."
Naminé's light blue eyes welled up with tears. With a choked sob, she threw her arms around Tidus's neck and tightly hugged him. The blond boy immediately wrapped his arms around her, giving her the comfort she needed.
Kairi smiled at the pair. When Tidus finally looked up at her, she mouthed: "Thank you."
Heart cautiously circled her opponent, her eyes narrowed behind her mask. She was aware of the Guardians standing off to the side with her fellow Soldiers, as well as the strange blond man who'd introduced himself as Cloud, but that wasn't important. All of her focus needed to be on the Soldier across from her.
Strength Soldier was a girl from Gaia who'd spend years training under the guidance of Cloud and alongside a handful of others. She'd been cheerful and displayed a surprising enthusiasm when she'd been introduced, but once in the training ring she became deadly serious. She never once turned her back on Heart, keeping her in sight at all times.
Like Peace, Strength had short blonde hair, though hers was perfectly straight. Her uniform consisted of a sleeveless, navy blue jacket which split into two 'tails' in the back. Beneath it she wore a collared white shirt, a blue tie, and a black mini-skirt. Her gloves and mid-calf boots were also black, but her mask was the same navy blue as her jacket. Lightning crackled around her as she moved, itching to strike out.
As if by unspoken agreement, the two attacked in the same instant.
"Heavenly Ribbon!"
"Thunderstrike!"
The resulting shockwave knocked everyone from their feet.
Heart smacked her head against something hard and blacked out.
When she came to, there was a red-haired boy standing over her, lightly making fun of her frizzy, electrocuted hair. Lea, she remembered. My brother.
Her vision again went black. When it returned, there was a pair standing over her. Prince Ienzo spoke calmly, enunciating his words to ensure she understood. The other boy was blond, with wide, worried sea-green eyes. Emyd.
With a sigh she closed her eyes. She wanted to sleep, but new voices had her reluctantly opening them again.
Sora, Roxas, and Riku were there, looking as they always had, even after ten years. Strange how they never seemed to get any older...
"And that's all I remember," Kairi said with a shrug. She was beginning to get unnerved by the way everyone was looking at her so intently. It made her feel like she'd done something wrong and that they were watching her for any sign of weakness. "So what's going on? Why am I still having these dreams when everyone else seems to remember?"
From the couch, Sora and Riku exchanged an uneasy glance, while Roxas just looked annoyed and Cloud contemplated. Olette, seated comfortably in the blue recliner, strummed her fingers on her knees, looking between the Guardians to her fellow Soldiers and Tidus (on the smaller couch) and then back again.
The silence stretched on long enough that Tidus began to get annoyed.
"Isn't there, I don't know, someone in charge of restoring memories or something?" He asked. "Some kind of memory Soldier? Maybe you could ask them."
Cloud frowned. "There was a Soldier from Memoria, but I think I speak for everyone when I say it's best if he had nothing to do with this."
Sora made a funny face. "Y'know, I think I'd die happy if I never had to see him again. He was weird. But even if he was still around, he never had any power over memories."
"He had some influence over dreams though," Riku pointed out. "It's possible that he has a hand in this. But enough about him. I imagine you have some questions about what's happening right now and why it's happening."
Kairi crossed her arms over her chest. "Oh, so now you want to explain things."
"Kairi!" Tidus hissed.
"No, it's alright," Cloud said calmly. "You have every right to be angry. We should have told you the moment the enemy began showing itself around town. It isn't fair that you've been suffering over this for a week and I apologize. Now we'll start from the beginning."
"The Fall," Roxas muttered.
The atmosphere in the room took a turn for the worst. No one who remembered any part of the past wanted to speak.
Tidus had no such qualms. "The fall of what?"
"Radiant Garden," Naminé quietly explained. "The day our lives ended. I don't remember much about it. I think... I was fighting and then... nothing."
"Everything was in ruin by the time the first two waves were fought off," Riku said morosely, staring at a spot on the wall opposite of him. "They came out of nowhere and overpowered our limited forces. So many of us were lost or fading fast. Those of us who survived... we never would have made it. Our enemy was too strong. Too clever. So the King and Queen did what they needed to do to keep the rest of the worlds from falling to the same darkness."
"Using the last of their powers, they sealed away our enemy," Sora continued. "And we were sent along with it, so that when the day came that our enemy regained its power, we would be there to stop them. But to do so, we had to be reborn, which meant a new life and new memories. We were told that when the time was right, each of us would remember. And most of us have."
Olette looked down at the carpet as she spoke. "We're still not sure who was reborn with us or where they're at. We hoped you would be, Kairi, but it's sort of a trial and error when it comes down to figuring it out. If it makes you feel any better, they didn't come right out and tell me either."
Kairi didn't feel very reassured by that. If anything, it made her feel more annoyed. She could understand why they did it, though. If there was a chance that she wasn't destined to be Heart Soldier in her new life and they told her that she was, the consequences could have been disastrous.
Naminé leaned forward. "So who has been found? Does Passion know yet? Or Strength?"
Sora shook his head. "We were going to see if Passion remembered anything, but then Olette told us about you two. So aside from the three of you, we only know of Courage and Brave and a couple of the Knights."
"Knights?" Kairi and Tidus asked in unison.
"Haven't remembered them either, huh?" Sora asked, sounding tired. "They're sort of like the flip side of a coin to Soldiers."
Cloud cleared his throat. "In the past, Knights arose to help keep Soldiers balanced. They were paired together to keep one another stable, but as time wore on, it was no longer necessary. By the time you began your training, the planets had figured out how to establish that balance within each individual Soldier and Knight. Still, exceptions arose." He paused a moment to allow the information to sink in. "Brave Soldier is weighted heavily by his powers over ice. He was rather withdrawn to begin with, but his element enhances that at least twofold. Likewise, Fire Cross is threatened to be consumed by his. Their opposing powers work to keep them in perfect balance. Luckily, the two keep finding each other without any of us having to get involved."
"I don't get it," Tidus said, scratching his neck. "Why call them Knights? I mean, couldn't two Soldiers have a bond like that?"
"It's possible, but very rare," Riku admitted. "More than that, there really is a difference between them. More than just the names, its the way their abilities manifest themselves."
Sora nodded. "Yeah! Knights need a conduit for their energy. Usually it's a weapon of some kind. Soldiers don't need to do that. I'm sure you've noticed that you can use your powers with just your hands."
"Soldiers also have the ability to mold their powers into a weapon," Olette spoke up. "Like my arrows of light or Naminé's ice chain. Knights tend to prefer tangible weapons. But like Cloud said, there are always exceptions."
"I thought we agreed a longtime ago to stop counting Melodious Nocturne as a normal Knight," Sora said jokingly.
Roxas punched him in the arm. "Have some respect. We don't even know if he'll recover his memories."
Sora pouted and rubbed his arm, leaning away from his twin and into Riku.
Cloud sighed at the behavior of his younger brothers. "While I'm sure this is entertaining to the two of you, we have other matters to discuss. Now that Peace and Heart have awakened their powers, they'll have to start training again. There's only so far you'll get on instinct. More importantly, what are we going to do about Tidus?"
The aforementioned blond sat up straight, suddenly worried. "What do you mean?"
"You know our identities, but have no abilities of your own. That makes you a risk," Riku said.
"Then he can train with us," Kairi said, coming to her friend's aid.
"But he's not–!"
To everyone's surprise, Sora interjected before Riku could finish. "It's too late to change what he knows. Besides, if I know Tidus, it'd be way worse not to give him some training. One way or another he's going to get himself into trouble, so lets make sure he can handle himself when it happens."
"Yeah!" Tidus enthusiastically agreed. "Hey, wait a sec... are you insulting me?"
Everyone except Cloud began to laugh.
End Chapter
Next chapter: Like Riding a Bike