Just a reminder - this story does not follow the plot of the actual GS (TLA). This is almost definitely not what we're going to find out in TLA. So don't correct me, please...
**********************************************************************************
Fingering his staff, Ivan padded into the semi-darkness of the tunnel before him. There was almost no change in the appearance of the cave and its maze-like passages, but the young Jupiter Adept was uneasy. Something had changed... he was alone, but that wasn't what he felt...
He clutched the Zodiac Wand tighter in his hand, senses alert. Stopping where he was, he stood still in the darkness, violet eyes darting from side to side. There was definitely something else present. It was more of an energy source than an actual someone, but it was still unnerving.
Suddenly he was aware of an open space in front of him. A rush of cold air blew past Ivan, pushing his disordered blond hair away from his neck and sending chills down his spine. That wasn't natural wind...
As Ivan stepped quietly forward into the room, a sharp, throbbing pain shot through his temples. He staggered slightly, clutching his head and biting his lip to keep from crying out. A picture flashed in front of his eyes, so quickly that all he could identify was fire, bright and burning. The pain faded slightly, but soon returned worse than before. Ivan gasped, bringing both hands up to his head. His weapon clattered to the floor, forgotten.
The same image appeared in his vision - fire everywhere, buildings burning... It seemed like some sort of a town or village, but everything was hazy, unclear. Suddenly he felt a strange sensation, almost as if something was being wrenched from the back of his mind. The picture sharpened, and he was aware of intense heat, and the smell of burning wood stinging his nose. His viewpoint seemed to be from quite low, almost on the ground, inside the frame of a burned house. He could hardly think through the terror that was steadily engulfing him. This seemed strangely familiar, and the feeling was frightening.
There was noise everywhere, the crackle of fire, screams of people in the streets. There were many figures in his vision - some were fleeing, while others seemed to be the cause of the chaos - but the only one he could clearly make out was a blonde, maybe in her late twenties. Her long hair was tangled and messy, and her clothes were scorched and torn. Ivan could tell she was exhausted, maybe injured, by the way she moved, the way she breathed in ragged gasps. She was making her way frantically through the crowd, as if searching for something. As she got nearer, Ivan could see her face - she had gentle features and a pair of large violet eyes.
If Ivan had been in control of his body, he would have gasped. He remembered that face, knew that face. The forbidden word that he hadn't used in so long flashed through his mind.
Mother.
Ivan felt like crying, screaming, and laughing all at once. That was his mother standing in front of him. His mother. Suddenly a pair of hands was reaching up in front of his vision, toward his mother. They were tiny, a baby's hands. His hands. Slowly, he started to remember. Dread filled him as he realized what would come next.
His mother caught sight of her baby and rushed towards him, tears streaming down her already tear-streaked face. Just as she reached him and was bending down, two people, two of the ones who had been setting fire to the town, ran up; a girl and a boy. They were dressed oddly, were smiling wickedly, and had strangely-colored skin.
His mother's eyes filled with fear, and she turned to face the newcomers. She stood directly in front of Ivan, shielding him from the strange Adepts. Ivan wanted to shut his eyes, to curl up in a corner and be free from this vision. But it was no use. He was forced to watch as his mother took a shaky step forward, a hand thrown to the sky. Shouting something, she threw her other hand up, then, glowing a blinding purple, brought both hands down toward the two figures. A huge ball of lightning, sparking and flashing, hurled down from the sky to crash onto the strange Adepts, shortly followed by a massive lightning bolt that lit up the whole village with its lavender glow. Then came a deafening crash of thunder, and all exploded into violet luster.
When his vision cleared, Ivan saw his mother lying face-down on the sooty ground. She wasn't moving. Suddenly, a creaking noise reached Ivan's ears. Panic filled him. The wall was collapsing! Slowly, it leaned over, tumbling down on Ivan's baby form. There was a numbing pain in his right arm, and his vision turned black. Soot and ashes filled his nose, mouth, and eyes. He couldn't breathe...
Ivan returned to consciousness, coughing violently. He still couldn't breathe, even though he knew he was back in the cave, in his own body. For a few more seconds, all he could do was lie on the cave floor coughing, tears streaming down his cheeks. When the coughing subsided, he still didn't rise. He simply lay on his back, wallowing in the memory of what he had seen - what he had remembered. After so many years of shutting the thought of her out of his mind, he couldn't comprehend the thoughts running through his head.
Finally, Ivan pulled himself off the floor. Shakily, he stood, trying to think of something logical to do. Tears pushed at his eyes, demanding to be let out, but Ivan refused. After a moment of thought, he raised his hands in front of him, whispering, "Reveal!"
Tuning his senses into the spell, Ivan examined the room which he stood in. It was fairly large, and through the Reveal spell, Ivan 'saw' an ethereal figure near a corner of the room. It appeared to be nothing more than a shadow, but he sensed a strange power emitting from it. This must have been what had caused his vision to be unearthed from his memory. As he stared at it more closely, the pain he had felt earlier returned, and a fresh wave of memory washed over him, bringing back the fire, the death, the chaos, his mother, all too clearly. He shuddered, feeling real emotion for the first time since the vision. Gathering confidence, he raised a hand and fired a Storm Ray straight at the creature. It shrieked and writhed on the cave floor. Ivan fired again and again, fighting the fear that the creature was attempting to inflict upon him.
Only when it was completely gone did Ivan allow himself to cry.
**********************************************************************************
Okay, just so you know, I finished this on the 23rd, but our internet connection was down, so I couldn't get it up. Sorry! :( Also, I was on vacation for a week, so if I usually review your story and didn't, that's probably why.
Okay, please review!