Angel: Thanks for the reviews my (probably not) loyal people. And now, on with the first childhood memory! Oh joy.
P.S. Sorry for the huge delay. MAJOR writer's block and….I was busy. Watching Noir AMV's, the holidays and stuff like that.
Question. The story of Noir takes place around 2010 right? Just want to make sure; because that's the year I'm basing it on.
Oo ZelasMetallium oO: Yatta! It works again! And to celebrate, let's get some…POCKY XD
X ting: Thanks, I know I'm going crazy. Oh wait, I always HAVE been crazy! Heheh.
Would you really hate to see me in person? I think not. I'd bet you'd become one of my best friends over the course of. Oh, say..6 years perhaps? …and also around that time become my partner in crime (or crime in partner, who knows). I'm just guessing though. (shrug)
And, I'm sorry! I forgot the GREAT WALL. (gets on knees) I'm so ashamed. I can't believe I forgot the ALLMIGHTY GREAT WALL OF THE PHILIPPINES—I mean...of CHINA. …yes. China…NOT the Philippines…(shifts eyes) I feel horrible now. Oh well.
Section-Eight: About the almost managing to inspire you thing, erm. Yay! On my side at least. And uh. Sorry, about the self insertion. Merely think of it as a cameo. :) And yes, I'll find a 12-step program for it. Perhaps I'll go join 'Wannabe Authors Anonymous'.
Onto the story!
Bolded text is the past…aside from the title.
Disclaimer: X-nay on the oir-Nay. T-T
Childhood Memories
"So, what do you want?" Mireille asked the brown haired priestess.
Altena just smiled. "Come inside and I'll tell you."
With that, she led the three women into the old building and into a nicely decorated library. On the right and left walls stood two ceiling high bookcases, most likely holding books on how to survive in run down buildings and such. At the back wall were two very large windows, showing a never ending field of ripe grapes. Covering the windows were very large and silky red drapes. And in the middle of the room was an old armchair, sitting in front of a very large, soft looking rug. (A.N. Not very good at descriptions. I like being vague. It's fun.)
Altena then sat in the huge but still in good condition armchair. She gestured to the three assassins, "Please, have a seat."
Kirika looked around, "On what…? There aren't any chairs."
"She meant on the rug, Kirika," Chloe sighed.
"…oh," she said and sat down next to Mireille. The magenta-haired teen glared with envy.
"I have called you here," dramatic pause, "to tell you about your past."
They waited for her to continue.
She blinked, "…no interjections?"
"Why should there be? I finally get to know who killed my parents," Mireille replied.
A sweatdrop formed at the back of Altena's head.
"Y-yeah, about that….The story about your family? It's uh.. it um. It's a…" Altena mumbled the rest.
"It's a what?" the blond questioned.
"It's kind of a. Err…it's a…," she mumbled again.
"A what?!"
"It's a lie, man! A freaking lie! Your parents weren't killed!" the priestess said louder.
"….what?" she said very seriously.
"You see…" Altena explained.
A twenty-one year old version of a certain brown haired woman was tending to her grapes. After a while she heard the engine of a black 1999 Corolla approach.
The car came closer to her and stopped a few yards away. The passenger door opened to reveal a middle-aged man with a young blonde girl holding a brown teddy bear.
The unknown man made his way toward the priestess, with the girl in tow.
"Altena, I presume?" The man asked in a deep stern voice.
She nodded grimly.
He visibly relaxed and spoke in a higher tone, "Oh, good. Here's my daughter. Her name is Mireille, and this is her bear, Bubbles. Can you please take care of her?"
Altena facefaulted. She got up and rubbed her head, "I just met you, dammit. Why should I take care of your own burden?"
"Um…because. I want you to?"
She tapped her foot and crossed her arms, waiting for a better reason.
"Okay, okay. I'll pay you 2,000 US dollars!"
The woman smiled, embracing little Mireille, "My long lost daughter!"
"So you agree?" Roland Bouquet asked with hope in his voice.
"Only if you pay now. Oh right, and my fee is an extra $5,000" She smirked.
"1000"
"4500"
"2000"
"4250"
"25,000—I mean—!"
"DEAL! 25,000 dollars it is!" Altena smirked once again.
Roland blinked multiple times. Then he cursed himself silently while abusing the ground he stood on.
"Dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit!! DAMMIT!!" His face contorted in frustration, "Seventh time in one day!! If this keeps up, I'll WAAAY in debt very soon!"
"Daddy?" little Mireille asked in a cute voice, "What are you doing?"
Roland stopped ranting. He stared in his daughter's innocent blue eyes and sighed deeply. No one could resist her disturbingly cute face.
He plastered on a smile, "Nothing, dear Mireille. This woman is just going to be your….erm, babysitter for a while…."
The little Corsican glanced at Altena, "Why?"
"Because Mommy and Daddy have to go somewhere for a while."
"Why?"
"Because we need to."
"Why?"
"Just because."
"Why?"
"Well, why not?"
"Then how come my brother gets to go?"
"…er…it's his…bar mitzvah."
"But he's not thirteen yet, and we're not even Jewish!"
"….erm…I meant it's his communion."
"We're not Christian!"
"Oh ho…that's why I said communion. It's a Catholic thing," he responded, hoping this was the last of his curious daughter's questions.
"Oh.."
Roland sighed with relief.
"But—"
"Uh, we have to go now, Mireille," He interrupted before more questions could emerge, "Say goodbye to Daddy," holding out his arms, he waited for Mireille to come to him.
The little girl looked a bit sad, but hugged her father, "Bye bye Daddy. I love you."
Roland Bouquet embraced his daughter for the last time, "Goodbye, my dear Mireille. You know I love you too."
In the background Altena could be seen, with her eyes glazed over while watching this sort of heart breaking show of family affection. She sniffed and wiped away a fake tear, "OK! Well, I have no time for this. Wrap this up and leave, please. I need to write letters to future Noir candidates."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm going," Mr. Bouquet said as he let go of Mireille. He turned away from his beloved daughter and trudged painfully slowly back to the awaiting car. 'Please be good, my little Princess….'
As the Corolla rolled away, Altena held her 'long lost daughter' to her side while the little girl waved goodbye.
Inside the car Odette Bouquet sighed, "I feel so guilty for leaving Mireille at the Manor. But she wouldn't have to be there if someone hadn't bet all our money on one game!"
Roland's eyes widened, "It's not my fault I lost in poker! The entire thing was fixed!"
She looked at him skeptically, "Oh right. It's not your fault that you got drunk one night and decided for NO APPARENT REASON to play against the rival syndicate! We already OWNED Corsica!! We didn't NEED ANYMORE MONEY. The Soldats would have just given it to us if we were loyal enough, which we WERE."
Her husband shrunk in his seat, "Okay, maybe it is just a little bit of my fault…."
"A LITTLE?! Do you realize how much money we LOST?! We had over 2.5 million dollars!! And NOW we only have 2 thousand left!! You think that's only a little bit of your fault?!? I think not."
He held up his hands, "Okay, okay, okay! It's my fault. But, we can't do anything about it now…"
"…..I guess you're right."
"And yeah, that's pretty much it," the brown-haired priestess finished explaining.
"…..My parents. Abandoned me?!" Mireille shrieked, "SOME FAMILY THEY WERE!!"
"I'm so sorry, Mireille," Kirika sympathized while patting the Corsican's back.
Chloe tried suppressing her laughter in vain, "Hahaha! He left you!! Hahaha-cough-HA! That's so FUNNY!!"
Altena looked down, "Yeah, it is kind of sad and depressing and all that stuff…." She then smiled hugely, "But there's more. I still need to tell you about how Kirika and Chloe got here!"
Silence.
"I fear something disturbing is coming soon...." Kirika mumbled.
"Yeah, me too," Chloe agreed.
Angel: Ok, there you go. First memory thing. This is going to be the last chapter of Memories written in 2004. Oh dude. That's…weird and awkward.
But yay! I finally got this chapter out! Hehe, I'm sorry. I was just really stuck on that bolded part.
Anyway, review! 12/23/04