Title: Before the Rainbow

Title: Before the Rainbow

See chapter one for disclaimer.

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Chapter Two- Patty's Past

Buddy lay on his back staring at the ceiling. How could he have forgotten about his past? The knock he got on his head from the hockey puck had brought it all back to him, and now he couldn't stop thinking about it. Buddy decided to take a walk to clear his head. He quietly shut the door to his room and walked barefoot down the hallway. In the main hall, he was surprised to find Patty. She was asleep on her console. She was dressed in her pajamas, and her hair was out of her usual pigtails, so he figured she was woken up for a color emergency of some kind. He tried to sneak around her and out the door without waking her up, but it didn't work.

"Buddy? Where are you going?" Patty asked. He shrugged and faked a smile.

"I thought I'd take a walk around, I couldn't sleep." Patty stared at him, disbelievingly. She could tell that something was wrong with her friend.

"You want some company?" she offered. Buddy was about to say no, but decided that Patty might help him out. So, he let her come along.

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Patty could tell something was wrong with Buddy. They walked in silence for about 20 minutes before she asked him about it. Buddy sighed.

"Remember my mishap yesterday?" Patty nodded. "Well, it sorta brought back memories from my past. Most of it is still fuzzy, but at least I remember now."

"Your past?" Patty asked trying to get him to talk more about it.

"My life before Rainbowland." Buddy told her. Patty stopped walking. She never thought there was a time before Rainbowland.

"What are you talking about, Buddy?" He couldn't bring himself to look at her, but he told her what he could recall about his story. Patty was speechless. Buddy was officially going crazy; it must have been the knock to the head.

"Before I discovered the color blue, the world was black and white. All sorts of different shades, but no color. No one really noticed, because it had always been like that." Buddy stopped and looked at her. "Anything ring a bell?"

"Lookit Lali!" "She's got some kind of disease." "FREAK!!"

"Patty?" Buddy asked. He was worried; she had just stopped talking and had gone blank.

*What was that? It seemed…no, it couldn't be*, Patty thought to herself.

"Patty! What's wrong?" Buddy tried again. She blinked and looked at him, tears coming to her eyes.

"Buddy, I remember."

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"My name used to be Lali. I think my mom died when I was really young, because I don't remember her at all. I remember my dad, though. He was the greatest." Patty paused and looked at Buddy.

"I don't remember when I found green. But I do remember everyone's reactions; they all treated me different. The color crystal had reacted so much when I touched it that my hair and eyes turned green. People weren't used to that, and freaked out when they saw me." Patty started to cry, so Buddy pulled her into a hug. She cried into his chest as he stroked her hair.

"It's alright Patty, it's over now." Buddy said, trying to calm her down.

"Why didn't I remember my dad?" she asked. Buddy kissed the top of her head, and then laid his head on hers.

"I don't know. I doubt any of the Kids remember anything of their past." After Patty calmed down, Buddy pulled out of the hug and grabbed her hand.

"Come on," he said, "let's go inside. We both need to get some sleep."

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The next day, Patty found Violet in the library. She was reading up on some new theory, or something like that. Patty didn't fully understand what Violet said most of the time.

"Violet?" Patty asked as she walked up to her. "Can I ask you a question?" Violet looked up from her book and smiled.

"Of course, Patty. What do you need help with?" Patty took a deep breath and looked down at her boots.

"Do you know where all the Kids come from?" When Violet didn't answer, Patty looked up again. Violet had become very pale, and nervous.

"Patty…" Violet started, but was cut off.

"What makes you think that you were ever from anywhere but Rainbowland, Patty?" Rainbow said, as she entered the library with Buddy behind her.

"Well, I've been having these memories, and…"

"That's nonsense Patty. Buddy just asked me the same question and I'll tell you what I told him. You are a color, so you have always been, and will always be a part of Rainbowland." Rainbow put her hands on her hips for emphasis. Patty looked at Buddy for help, but he just shoved his hands in his pockets and lowered his eyes.

"Um…Rainbow. That's not exactly true." All three turned to look at Violet.

"What part?" Rainbow raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms.

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Violet got extremely nervous, and began to fidget. Why did they have to remember? She could have just as well kept this to herself.

"I had gotten curious about my own past, and how we had become the Color Kids. So, I looked into Rainbowland's history but it didn't go back that far. However, Spectra's did." She paused and clasped her hands in her lap.

"Spectra was discovered under many layers of rock, and when it was fully uncovered the chosen keepers of the colors were found. Orin told me that he had heard about children that could create new shades of light so he sought out to find them. After the seven of us were found, Orin brought us to Spectra and our powers combined activated the crystal planet. Then we became the Color Kids." Patty suddenly got furious.

"Why didn't you tell us? If you knew about this, didn't you think that the rest of us would have liked to know?!?" Patty screamed.

"I wanted to tell you, but it wouldn't help at all. When we were taken to Spectra, all of our memories of any prior life disappeared. It was like we were reborn as the Color Kids, and had no past at all. Spectra has no history of where we are from, or who are families were."

"But, now we're beginning to remember our past," Buddy said, "What do we do now?" Rainbow spoke up, her tone much softer than before.

"We'll talk about it over dinner. Until then, I'd appreciate if the three of you kept this to yourselves." They nodded, and Rainbow left the room.