Chp.13: Painful Memories

Everybody seemed to be in a solemn mood, especially Irvine, with Moonbay gone. There was hardly any talking.

Van had decided that he would go for a ride in his blade liger. He'd gotten the information on the man who took his lost memories by Maria earlier that morning, and he was ready to find out.

He came to a stop at a laboratory looking place. There was a man with glasses and Dr.D outside.

"Hey there!" Van waved. He jumped out and walked over.

"Hey, Van, you look tired," Dr.D said. "You should sleep more. You look older than me!" Of course he wasn't serious, but Van had been getting about five hours sleep for the past week or so. He'd train a lot more, and was getting even more talented. Of course, he had Raven, his training partner, to thank for that.

"Come with me, Mr. Freigheight," The guy with the glasses and white lab overcoat said. Van followed the other men inside into a metal hall, down two corridors off of that main hall, and into a white room with pods and tubes and tools and other science junk.

"We believe we can reawaken your memories, Mr. Freigheight. I removed them when you were no more than a mere child. Boy, have you changed since then," The glasses guy said. "I am Dr.Linko.

"Uh-nice to meet you--again," Van shook his hand.

"Please, sit down. I'm going to recover the needed instruments. Now, are you sure you want to go through with this? It will be severely painful…"

"I'm sure."

"Alright then," Dr.Linko said.

"Y-yeah," Van was left alone while the two doctors left. He was terrified, but he wouldn't let them know that. "I must be strong…I must remember…" He muttered.

Dr.Linko and Dr.D returned a few moments later with a chair with a helmet on it and cuffs for legs and wrists. Van twitched slightly in discomfort.

Dr.Linko opened a passage on the top of the helmet and put a jar full of mist inside it. The helmet made a hissing noise and closed its lid on the top. Van gulped.

"Please sit down, Mr.Freigheight," Dr.Linko said hesitantly. Van slowly walked toward the chair feeling his heart pounding and sweat pouring down his face. His breaths became large and drawn out. His fear was taking him. He didn't want to remember.

It was too much.

"No."

He couldn't take it.

"Mr.Freigheight? Are you alright?"

It was destroying him.

"Van!"

Everything went black….

~~~~~~~~~

"Van, my boy, are you alright? Speak to us!" Dr.D's voice cried. Van opened his eyes. He was on the floor.

"I-I'm sorry…" He muttered.

"It's okay," Dr.Linko said wiping Van's face with a wet cloth. "You were only out for about a minute. I can understand if you don't want to-"

"NO! I have to! I need to get to the bottom of this. It's the only way to stop him… Please, I'm ready now."

"Okay," Linko said, not in the mood to argue. He helped Van onto his feet and into the chair. The helmet landed on his head. The cuffs hooked to him. There was no way he could move. He looked around frantically as discomfort settled in him.

The helmet lit up, sparks flying into the air.

Van's scream roared out through the building.

~~~~~~~

Van was a child, merely a skinny little kid. It was dark. He heard crying. He rose up and looked around. Across the room was another bed, with a boy in it. He was sobbing.

"Han, Han, wake up," Van called as he ran over to the little boy. "This is a memory…." He thought to himself.

"Get away from me…" Han muttered.

"But, Han, I-"

"GET AWAY FROM ME!" Han yelled and Van ran from the room.

"Daddy! Maria!" He cried.

"Van…" A voice called from behind. He turned around and saw Han glaring crazily at him through the dark. "They'll go away… the voices will go away when I kill you!" He reached forward to strangle Van.

Van's eyes grew wide with fear as he ran for his life. He ran into the kitchen. He could get out through the backdoor. A crash slammed behind him. Van's reflexes forced him to turn around. Han had pulled the silverware drawer out, and it had crashed to the floor. In his hand was a butcher knife.

"Stop running, Van!" He yelled as he ran forward and swiped at him. It cut the front of his shirt, leaving a bloody mark on his chest. He fell backwards in fear and shock and pain.

"Stop it!" He cried, tears spilling from his eyes.

"Han! NO!" Van heard and saw the shadow of his father in the doorway.

"DAD!"

Van closed his eyes and opened them once more only this time, it was daytime, and he was staring up at the clouds, a year younger.

"Hey, Van?"

Van looked over to his side and saw Han lying there in an outfit with no sleeves that looked similar to what Van wore when he was fourteen. His was red and dark brown while Van was wearing the same outfit but light blue and tan color.

"What is it?"

"What're you gonna do when you grow up?"

"I'm gonna be a zoid pilot, just like dad! I'll be so famous, everyone will remember my name!"

"Cool…."

"What're you gonna do?"

"I've always wanted to find a girl that I really like who really cares about me. Then, I'd live out my life with her. You know, like dad wanted to do with mom."

"Yeah, I miss her."

"Me too… Hey, Van?"

"Yeah?"

"I love you, bro."

It echoed as other memories began flooding into his head all at once, but two lines stood out. "I love you, bro." And the worst of all… "I hate you, Van! I'll kill you!"

~~~~~~~~

A tear ran down his face. He opened his eyes. Pain had entered into his head. It was the worst pain he had ever felt, not physically but in his heart. His eyes then came into focus.

Fiona was above him, brushing hair out of his face. "Van, you're okay… aren't you?"

"Fiona…" was all he could say. He rose up and looked at her. She looked back at him. He flung his arms around her and just broke down. Tears spilled down his cheeks. "It was so horrible…" He choked.

"Van…" She whispered. She'd never seen him this way before. He was so upset, so hurt inside. She didn't think it would be that horrible. Of course, when Dr.D called her, she could hear his screaming in the background. She never wanted to go through something like that, not after seeing how it broke the normally strong Van.