Battle High: Not your ordinary High School

Battle twenty-nine

The past revealed

Kirai's heart was beating at insane speeds. 'Who the hell is they? And what is it? This is so damn confusing!' Kirai yelled in his head.

He looked at Sora and then at Artemis's retreating form, and decided it was best to run and now. He grabbed Sora's hand and pulled her along, seeing as she was still crying, she probably would've taken to long.

He ran as fast as he could.

Artemis made sure to look back and saw that they were following and Kirai was pulling Sora along, "Hurry, we have to get as far from here as possible before they catch us!," he shouted.

"Who are you talking about!" he shouted back at him. Kirai almost tripped over a rock but regained balance and continued running.

"What's going on, Artemis?"

"I'll explain everything once we get to the safe house now keep running!," he ordered. Artemis jumped over a log and down past a river that led into a cave not far off and waited for them. Kirai pulled Sora into the cave and panted for air. That was the most he'd ran in his entire life. He now hated running.

"What...why...", Kirai couldn't finish his sentence for lack for air.

"Were not safe yet," said Artemis, he opened a secret passage and walked in waiting for them to get in. Kirai sighed and followed him obediently, still dragging Sora with him.

Once Artemis knew they were inside he turned on the lights and a large cave appeared, with all the technology they would need and there were was a wall with weapons lined against it.

In the center was a small button and Artemis stepped on it, and another room with three beds opened up, "They won't find us, get some rest," said Artemis. He locked the passage and made sure to activate its security. Kirai looked around, completely at a loss of what was going on. "Guess I'm not getting an explanation tonight," he mumbled to himself as he sat on one of the beds.

Artemis turned to face the computer that was in the cave and made sure to let the cameras keep an eye on the forest. Sora was still crying and tried to stop, by that time she was making hiccupping sounds.

"If they catch us I can't protect them safely enough," said Artemis.

"What are you talking about," Kirai was getting severely annoyed with being clueless, "What the hell is going on! And how the shit does this cave have internet connection!"

"Hm?...Oh right...,"Artemis turned to them with a sad expression, he didn't want to tell them, but he had to eventually.

"One, I worked on this cave for years, you wouldn't remember, neither of you would you were much too young," said Artemis. Kirai looked at him blankly, but his heart sank a bit at those words. What exactly was he saying?

"What do you mean we were too young?"

Artemis was having trouble looking at them as he got ready to tell them what he meant,"...Y..er..we were once part of our own small family, and I practically raised you both...but you don't remember, hell you guys painted those," said Artemis.

He pointed towards a part of the cave where there was tiny drawings all over it. Kirai's heart stopped completely. His eyes went wide and he looked from Sora to Artemis. "Wh...We...Huh? How...you...we? What?"

He took a few deep breaths. "But...but what about my parents? And my brother? Are they actually mine?"

'No wonder Taiki looks nothing like me...,' he thought to himself.

Artemis shook his head, "No..but Sora and I are "biologically" related, you were "adopted" and you became more of a little brother to me..you two..use three..are the family that we never had."

"Let me explain better, if you want me to," said Artemis. Kirai nodded, wanting to know the rest. He felt like crying. His whole life had been a lie? And he didn't even know?

Did anyone else know? Why didn't they tell him?

Artemis sat down on the floor, "Well first off, we were once part of a government project, we were to be raised to be the military weapons or agents. But before you came I was once only one person," said Artemis.

Now he knew this would be a little bit weird for Kirai just by the look on his face, "Sora...is my clone"

Kirai jumped off the bed with a terrified look on his face, "WHAT? Y-y-you mean I-I'm dating the girl version of you?," he was finding it hard to breathe. Artemis gave him a glare, "Hey watch it, she may be my clone, but that doesn't mean shes not her own person...she really does care about you. We aren't connected by anything like that, so don't worry. But watch it wither way..," said Artemis with a cold voice.

Sora looked at them both and couldn't believe it herself, she looked up at Kirai and pulled on his sleeve. Kirai looked down at Sora, wanting to cry even more when he saw her. This couldn't be true..it wasn't...just a dream? Yeah! One of those epically long dreams that you can only have when you're really tired. But Kirai wouldn't be waking up any time soon.

Artemis looked at the two of them, "How about you don't worry about the fact she is my clone? Kirai, she does love you, she is far different from the other clones that we used to have to fight before you were brought in. Even back then you knew and you didn't care," said Artemis.

Sora continued to tug on his sleeve, she had a pleading look in her eyes that begged him to come back and sit down with her, and she didn't want to be left alone. Kirai took a shaky breath and obeyed Sora's pleading eyes, sitting next to her. He took her hand and held it tightly.

"So...so you're saying, we were all together once. So...how did we get separated?"

He looked at Artemis sadly. "And how come you guys found each other again...and I was all alone?"

Artemis looked at him for a moment ,"A year after you came, we started to get enough of them. Especially me, they had started conducting experiments on Sora when they realized she was more powerful than the other clones. I didn't like it, and then they started the same experiments on us, so when that happened. One night I got you both up and we had to fight our way out"

"But once I knew we had gotten away I brought you here for a while...that was about a month that lasted when I began to realize you had to forget, so I erased your memory and I knocked you both out giving you to different families," he explained.

Kirai nodded slowly, "And then Cloud killed Sora's...and she found you.."

He couldn't help but feel sad and even a little jealous of them both. They'd found someone they could actually depend on...and Kirai had gotten stuck with his horrific "family".

He looked at Artemis, tears forming at the edges of his eyes, "You're not lying, are you? This...this is real?"

Artemis looked at him, "No..its not a lie...but she found me by mistake, but when I saw her, I couldn't turn her away…yet I let myself stay with her...and since she couldn't remember me or you I thought it best to not look for you."

"So long as one of us remained away, they could never find us..until now," said Artemis. He was about to ask Sora if had started to remember yet, but when he saw her, she had fallen asleep against Kirai and snuggled closely to him.

"Heh..she never changes even after the truth," he laughed. Kirai blinked and a tear escaped his eyes. He didn't bother to wipe it away. "A-am I a clone too? Is there another Kirai running around somewhere?," the thought horrified him, but he had to know.

"No...they tried, but I didn't let them, that was the night I took us away...,"said Artemis, he got to his and feet and picked Sora up. He took her to one of the beds and laid her down on it and placed the blanket on her.

"For now we need to stay and let her recover...and by now...her memory might come back...But...Kirai do you remember?," asked Artemis. He turned and faced him. Kirai looked at him with pleading eyes, feeling like a child but not caring. He was still crying. "I-I...I don't know...not...not yet..."

This all sounded like some sort of movie. How could this even happen? The idea that he was some sort of creation was sickening.

Kirai squeezed his eyes shut, trying to stop the tears, when he saw a picture in his mind. It was Artemis, reaching out to him, motioning for him to follow. Behind him, a blonde with very familiar twin tails.

He opened his eyes again and shook his head, "This isn't happening.."

"You are...aren't you?," asked Artemis, he walked back to Kirai, "Listen, unlike me and Sora, you did have real parents, you were just kidnapped to that place, but no one could find you so they stopped the search and never opened the case again. You are a forgotten case," said Artemis.

He hated to tell him this, but he had too, "Now tell me…what else do you remember?," he asked. Kirai tried closing his eyes again, but all he saw this time was Cloud.

But he was different... he'd never seen Cloud in that position. Or in that environment. Where was that, anyway? He couldn't make out any distinct things, just...grey.

Kirai opened his eyes again and shook his head. "Nothing...just Cloud...but thats probably not remembering..," he whispered the last part. He could've saw that in his dream.

But the look on Cloud's face…

Artemis wasn't sure it was only a dream, "But he let it go for the moment...your tired go get some sleep or get something to drink, keep an eye in her. I need to look up our info," said Artemis as he walked to the computer. Kirai nodded and took a bottle of water from one of the food bags, then sat on a bed and stared at his shoes.

This couldn't be happening.

'Just remember it!,' he commanded himself.

His thoughts drifted elsewhere and he thought of all the questions he had asked himself as a child. Why does my hair have red in it? How come my eyes are red too? Sora's are red as well, does that mean something? Is this really happening?

Who are my real parents?

Sora turned over in the bed and when she turned over the locket from her pocket fall out, Artemis was busy at the computer so he didn't even hear it fall out. Kirai was jerked out of his thoughts when he heard it clink against the floor. He reached down and picked it up, admiring the details before standing up and taking Sora's hand, unfolding her fingers and placing the necklace on her palm.

He went back to his bed and stared at the ceiling.

Artemis was still at the computer, he seemed to have his head on his hand thinking, but instead Artemis had fallen asleep.

You could tell he was asleep when his hand slipped down slowly and he laid his head on his arms. Kirai looked over at Artemis to find that he was the only one still awake. He sighed, pulling his jacket tighter around him. It was warm in the cave but he felt so cold.

He allowed himself to cry, let the tears spill out and once they did he couldn't stop. He was probably whimpering like a scared child but he didn't care.

He WAS scared, after all.

Sora woke up moments after Kirai had begun to cry, she looked around trying to find out who it was,"Hm?...Whos crying?," she asked in a childishly tired voice, she was rubbing the sleep from her eyes. Kirai opened his eyes slightly but his vision was obscured by the tears still in his eyes. "C-certainly not me," he said sarcastically, pulling the blanket over him and wrapping it around him tightly. "Must be Artemis," he mumbled, although the falter in his voice was giving away his lie.

Sora got up from her bed and walked to his bed, she yanked the covers off his bed and looked at him, "Its you..don't lie...,"she said with sleep in her voice. Then instead of going back to her bed she got into his and laid down next to him, "Now you don't have to cry alone," she told him.

And before he knew it she had snuggled closely to him and fell asleep again.

Kirai wrapped an arm around her and held her close, practically using her as a teddy bear. Eventually he ran out of tears and he got closer to unconsciousness.

He remembered whispering something along the lines of, "I love..you..," before falling asleep.

And falling into the dreams.

Artemis woke up the next day as he fell out of his chair and hit his head, "..not again..," he grumbled, he stood up and went to get some water.

But when he came back, he saw the two of them sleeping together, he sighed and didn't bother getting mad, instead he walked over and put a blanket on them.

"Now..lets see if he was right.."