Echoes of our Forgotten Past.

The light cascaded through the window, washing over Lilo's face like warm water. She awoke with the light, and sat blinking in the sunlight. Lilo looked at Gloria's cot, to find that Gloria had already awoken. Lilo sniffed the air, the smell of sausage and pancakes floated around her. She got up and changed into her day clothes, and stepped on the small elevator, descending down to the kitchen.

Lilo walked through the door, expecting to see Nani making them breakfast. Instead, she was surprised to see Jumba standing over the stove, wearing a tight pink apron. He turned when she entered and smiled, "You are late sleeper, as always. Sit by red haired girl, and hurry before she devours our table too!"

Gloria, who was eating ravenously at the dinner table, glared at Jumba, "Hey! It's not my fault you cook so well. And watch who you're talkin' to about eatin', pudgy!"

Jumba smiled, "Hehe, I like your friend, Lilo."

Lilo took a seat beside Gloria, and Jumba brought Lilo a plate of pancakes and sausages. Lilo looked at the plate suspiciously, "I won't...mutate or anything will I?"

Jumba laughed, "No no, just normal earth breakfast. Nothing to worry about, and if you should grow some extra limbs, I'm sure I can remove them..."

Lilo took the comment for a joke, and began eating her breakfast. She actually found Jumba to be a pretty good cook. Once Lilo finished, she asked Jumba, "So where's Nani?"

Jumba was washing dishes, "She left for work an hour ago. She left you keys for the dune buggy, if you would like to be seeing your old town."

Jumba pulled the keys out of his pocket and tossed them to Lilo. Lilo looked at the keys, Stitch was always the driver...

Gloria slapped Lilo on the back, breaking Lilo out of her reverie, "Well come on! I want to see the old town!"

Gloria stood and walked for the door. Lilo sat a moment longer, taking in the memories of the past. Experiment catching, all the times she had with him...

Lilo shook her head, she was going to go out and have a good time with her friend. She looked at Jumba, "Thanks for the breakfast. You know, for an evil genius, you can make a mean pancake!"

Jumba smiled, "And for such a little girl, you can put away the pancakes as well, eh? Hahaha!"

Lilo ignored the comment and gave Jumba a hug, and she ran outside to meet Gloria by the buggy.

They passed many of the small stores of Kokau Town, they stopped in many of them. Gloria bought so many items, Lilo was afraid the buggy wouldn't be able to carry them all! Yet, Gloria's will won out in the end, and the buggy was forced to carry the parcels. They were having fun, Lilo saw many things she remembered from her life on Hawaii. She saw Mrs. Asigawa's shack, which was now run by Mrs. Asigawa's daughter. They passed the hula school where an older Moses still taught the young Hawaiian girls to hula. So many sights to see, so much to take in, Lilo was excited to be back.

After a couple of hours on the town, Gloria insisted that they stop somewhere for a bite to eat. Lilo looked at her friend, "What? You just had like three helpings of breakfast, only a couple of hours ago!"

Gloria smiled, "Hey, I've gotta' keep my girlish figure!"

Lilo laughed, and they pulled into a small ice-cream parlor for a snack. They walked inside, and Gloria immediately walked to the counter and began placing an order. Lilo smiled, and she sat in a booth near the door. Lilo began looking around the ice-cream parlor, she remembered this place too. It was where she had tried to get Stitch to eat his first ice cream, she giggled aloud when she thought of how he was afraid to taste it.

Lilo began to glance around the parlor, when something caught her eye, it was the pictures of missing people. One of the faces, seemed so familiar. Lilo got up and walked towards the picture, that hair, those eyes, those glasses...

Lilo gasped, it was Mertle Edmunds. Lilo stared at the picture of her rival, Mertle was a young woman in the picture. Lilo checked to see how long Mertle had been missing, to find the date was one week after Lilo had left for California.

Gloria walked over to look at the pictures, "What? See anyone you know?"

Of course Gloria wouldn't know, Lilo thought, I met Gloria in California...

Lilo grabbed Gloria's hand, "Come on."

They left the parlor, and Lilo practically sped to her old rivals home, Lilo didn't know why, but she kept thinking about red eyes, staring at her from every direction as she drove to Mertle's old house.

Lilo stopped the buggy, and stepped out and gazed upon the house. Gloria got out too, and they sat there, staring at the home. Lilo could hardly believe what her eyes were trying to tell her, how could this be? What happened here?

The old house stood dilapidated before them, everything was falling to pieces. The lawn was overgrown with weeds, the old swing-set creaking in the summer breeze. The paint of the house was chipping and cracking with testimony to its old age. Yet the most peculiar thing here, was the fact that the house was completely boarded up. The windows were boarded up completely, the only thing that remained without some barricade, was the front door, which hung on its hinges, as if something had torn it open...

Lilo gazed at the house, remembering the little girl that would tease her as a child, that had become her rival at an older age. Lilo watched the open door, expecting someone to walk from the shell, to show Lilo that everything was okay, that she had nothing to fear...

That person never came.

Gloria watched the house for another minute, then stared at Lilo, "Was, this person a friend of yours?"

Lilo looked at the decrepit building, and slowly began to walk towards it. Gloria grabbed her arm, her voice was streaked with panic, "Lilo! Not to sound paranoid, but that house SCREAMS haunted!"

Lilo shrugged off Gloria, and proceeded through the lawn, and walked into the front door. The inside was dark, and the floor creaked with old age. Lilo gazed about, everything seemed wrong...

The inside was torn apart, there were pieces of old furniture toppled over, and pictures and other assorted items cluttered the floor. The walls were ravaged, like someone had torn the pictures from the walls. Lilo went through all the rooms, only to find the next room worse than the last. From within the walls of the house, it was apparent that nothing lived there. Lilo came to the final room, she looked at it. Something strange was carved into the door, it was a single word, carved with jagged, wicked letters, "Atonement." Lilo edged open the door, and gazed inside.

The room was better off than the others, what had once been a mess, had been cleaned by someone. Lilo looked around the room, in the corner was a small pallet, with a small candle next to a small pile of books. Lilo walked inside, she looked around, a sense of unease filled her. Gloria came through the door, "Come on Lilo, I'm serious! This is really freaky..."

Lilo picked up one of the books, she was surprised, it was the Bible.

"E-exuse me, but that belongs to me..."

Gloria had turned a ghostly white at the sound of the voice, and she whirled about, her fists flying everywhere, "Come on, specter! Let's see what you got!"

A small figure appeared in the door. It was small, and furry. Its white fur gleamed in the dark house, and two large ears lay down its arms. Two small antennae protruded from its head, above two large baby-blue eyes. Lilo stared at the creature, it was an experiment, but it looked like Stitch, in fact, it resembled him in every way...

"He-hello..."

Gloria screamed, "GHOST! RAT! WHATEVER! LILO!"

Lilo looked at Gloria, "Calm down! You're going to scare it!"

Lilo walked over to the experiment, "Hello little one, what are you doing here?"

The experiment looked at Lilo, "This is my home."

Lilo looked it over, it seemed to be in perfect shape, and it looked so much like Stitch. The only difference was the mark on its chest, the mark resembled two wings spreading out for flight. Lilo looked at the experiment, "Do you have a name?"

The little experiment looked at her, "My number is 667."

Lilo's eyes widened. 667? Did Jumba create this?

"Do you have another name?"

667 looked perplexed, "Another name? How many do I need?"

Lilo smiled, "Well, 667 is your number, what do you liked to be called?"

667 smiled, "I like to be called my name."

Lilo shook her head, "Well, what are you doing here?"

667's smile vanished, "I have to stay here, I must stay in this house."

Lilo looked at 667, "Who will get you?"

The little experiment pointed to the bible, "The bad thing, from the book."

Lilo looked at the open bible on the floor, "The Devil? Oh, you have nothing to fear, have you been a good little boy?"

667 glared at Lilo, "I'm a girl!"

Lilo smiled, she just figured 667 was a boy, though now Lilo could notice some feminine qualities, "Well? Have you been a good girl?"

667 nodded, and Lilo smiled, "Then the angels will protect you."

667 shook her head, "Nothing can protect us from him...nothing..."

Gloria was sitting on the window ledge in the room, watching this conversation, her eyes widening with every word, "Just...just...what is going on here!"

Lilo turned to her friend and smiled, Gloria had never met any of Lilo's old friends, so she didn't know. Gloria of course knew about the alien free trade acts, though she had never been this close to an actual alien. Lilo turned back to 667, "Come on, let's get you out of here."

"No...no..." fear seemed to grip 667, "I can't leave...he'll get me..."

Lilo smiled, "I promise, we will protect you."

667 looked at Lilo, "Promise?"

Lilo smiled, "Promise, now come on, let me show you my house."

Lilo picked up the little creature, and helped Gloria to her feet. They walked outside, 667 blinking violently to the bright sun. Outside, Lilo noticed how dazzling white 667 was, she seemed to radiate in the sun. Gloria sat down in the passenger side of the buggy, and Lilo put 667 in her lap. Gloria looked shocked at first, then 667 looked at Gloria and smiled, "Your really pretty!"

Gloria smiled, "Well, I guess this thing isn't so bad, she seems to have good eyes."

Lilo smiled as she began to drive away, yet the smile masked a plethora of worry. Why were there new experiments loose? Did Jumba create this one? The worries went on, and Lilo looked at the house in the rear-view mirror, the dilapidated house seemed to be shrouded by clouds. Another thought reared in Lilo's head, What happened in that house?

Yet the thoughts would wait, and Lilo drove home, Gloria tickled the little experiments ears, and 667 giggled with pleasure. Lilo looked at 667, she couldn't stop thinking of how much the experiment resembled Stitch...

Back at the house, something stirred, a cloaked figure emerged from the house to watch after the buggy. This person was entirely shrouded in his cloak, he watched to buggy disappear in the distance. He watched, but did nothing. He nodded his head and returned to the house, and the darkness from whence he came...