Forgotten Memories Chapter Twenty-Three & Epilogue

Chrono Crusade

Date Started: June 6th 2006

Sora Kazuma

August 4, 1929.

"So, like this, right?" I asked, voice exhausted and frustrated as I raised the sword once again. How many hours had it been since we had started was the toll really starting to worry on my mind. The morning sunlight had shifted, turning through the trees and disappearing behind the mountains as late afternoon was finally setting on the day.

"Correct." Golden eyes watched mine, a slight dark brow furrowed in concern. Julius had grown in the time that had past…he was now Yugo's height and would probably continue to get taller. "Sora…are you sure you're gonna be okay? You prolly shouldn't push it…"

It had to be that I looked as tired as I felt, but I just laughed and waved it off as if it was nothing. "I'm fine, I'm fine! Just teach me a little more for today and then I will rest, alright?"

"Alright then…" The boy changed his stance, bringing the blade up into position again. "Here I come!"

It had been like this, everyday for the past several weeks. Julius and I would spend countless hours in practice learning and relearning techniques that Ewan had been kind enough to give us. I had become his sparring partner, a little girl, with almost no knowledge in swordsmanship at the start and nothing but a katana that had been given to me by someone long forgotten. The days like this… time rolled on and it seemed like the events of San Francisco were nothing but a nightmare, a bad dream I had suddenly woken from and realized that my life was elsewhere. The devils, the fighting, and the chaos…even the Magdalene Order, all of it was far from here, in a place either discarded from memory or a place protected in my mind. There were times when flickers of events, horrible things came back, but I always had people there to protect, to soothe the horrendous pain and the blurring pictures as the flashed through my eyes and disappearance back behind the impenetrable wall.

As if thinking of this sudden called forth a spell, there was a flash in my head of the trees, of the secluded grove in the forest where we were practicing suddenly turned into a shrine for a single gravestone standing in the sunlit field, a small monument to the lives of someone…someone important.

I felt the sword fall from my hand, the metallic sound of the blade hit the ground, my body entranced with this vision. My body wavered, and I was not sure if I was still seeing things or not, but my vision blurred and all at once I felt heavy. "Sora!" It was Julius calling for me, but I couldn't see him. He had been right there in front of me and suddenly he had just disappeared from my view. What was going on?

The breeze whipped by my face, I was moving, falling backwards and there was no one there to catch me, I was going to hit the ground, lost in this memory, if this was a memory. What…was this?

'Little one, stop being so foolish.' The voice cut through my mind and the scene was gone. A pair of strong arms wrapped around my shoulders and I jerked my head up, mix-matched eyes instinctly looking up into a pair of amber ones. He was watching me too with the same worried expression that Julius was, frowning slightly his brow furrowed slightly.

"Yugo…" I smiled up at him, recognizing that face, that body. "When did you get back?"

"An hour or so ago. I was expecting the two of you to return to the house before this." That frown had not gone away; if anything it had gotten worse. "You should not be practicing swordsmanship at this point. You have more important things to worry about."

I felt his presence in my mind, in my body, making sure that everything was in order, that I was not in pain from the lapse, that my body was not to tired and I was capable of standing and walking on my own. His mental link struck deeper, calling for a reassurance further inside me, to the child living in my womb, gently touching the placenta to make sure the baby had not been shaken or pained by my brief experience in my past.

"Will you stop that?" I snapped, blushing heavily. Whenever he did such a thing it was as if my entire body was open to his eyes, like he could see every part of me, touch every part of me, and in front of company no less!

Julius was blushing too; his mental link had adjusted to the newest channel set, the weak path that was to the fetus and he chuckled, sheathing his sword. "The baby isn't even born yet and already he's being a worrywart." He mused, bright amber eyes looking to Yugo playfully.

"With her being such a monkey, she's driving me crazy. Now I have two of them to worry about and she's still climbing cliffs and playing with swords. She should be at all means in the house resting and taking it easy." He growled, finally letting his hold on me go and withdrawing from my mind.

"Did you just call me a monkey?" I turned my head, jaw set firmly, glaring indignantly up at him. "If anything you're the animal!"

"Woman…" He hissed, and Julius just started laughing. "You're pregnant. Get that through your head!"

"I will not be locked up in the house everyday. Deal with it!" I snapped back and I could tell he was seething, annoyed that I would argue with him over this.

"Now, now…" Julius started, the voice of reason once he had gotten his chuckles under control. He leaned down, picking up the sword I had dropped, Aidan's tachi, the only sword I practiced with.

Yugo snorted, with an experienced hand removed the sheath from my belt and took the blade from the boy, returning it to its holder and turning around so that his back was to us. "You two have already kept our guests waiting long enough. We're returning to the house. Come on."

And like sulking children who had been scolded, Julius and I followed behind him silently, making gestures and faces we knew were being monitored as we followed the path back towards the house.

The building itself was nothing more then a small cabin out in the middle of nowhere, what had used to be a storehouse for the Order and a place where they conducted military operations. Yugo, Julius and I had been given the building to make use of how we could and the three of us transformed what had used to be nothing but a hard-to-find storage facility into a cozy little home for us.

There were two Order cars parked out front of the building on the dusty dirt road, meaning that most of guests had already arrived and let themselves in. Yugo held open the rickety door for us and we entered the small building, the main area of the house.

"Yay, they're here!" It was Joshua's childish voice that spoke up, pale blue eyes sparking as we came in. Lena beamed a smile from her spot settled by his side on the couch and waved happily.

"It's about time." Mia said, acting as if she was cross, but she was smiling affectionately at us.

"These two had lost all track of time and we're still outside sparring like a couple of knights locked in mortal combat." Yugo said, a snap to his voice. "Ewan, I have you to thank for this."

The handsome blonde had been across the room, fixing tea for the entire group and he merely chuckled, cerulean eyes dancing guiltily. "Come now Yugo, it's good for them. And they both have fun doing it."

"My wife does not need to be out in the middle of summer swinging swords around like some gladiator, especially not when she's carrying my child!" He really seemed to be miffed about this, but I found it more amusing then anything else.

"And he holds that over my head as if he's the one having to deal with the pain and morning sickness." I said lightly, coming in to sit down next to Mia.

"It's all his fault after all." The young blonde patted my hand consolingly. "If he'd just been more proper and kept things where they belong, like in his pants, this would never have happened."

"Miss Mia…" Julius had turned a bright shade of red, his amber eyes widening to the size of saucers.

"Bad Yugo. You've been scolded." Joshua chimed in as if this were all a game he just had to join in on.

"Oh please!" The wolf devil retorted. "You sure are one to talk. Like no one knows what goes on in the military conference room after hours."

Mia's dark brown eyes blinked wide, face flushing bright red. "How'd you know about that!" She demanded. "I don't care if you are Sora's husband, I will shoot you dead!"

Remington had chuckled softly his own cheeks faintly pink. "Mia, Yugo, stop this before you give poor Julius a heart attack." He gestured to the boy who had slumped down on the arm of the couch, cheeks as red as the jacket he was wearing. Balancing the tray on one hand, he passed out small cups of hot tea to everyone around, careful not to tip the small metal dish one way or the other.

I took my cup, holding it delicately between my fingers as the fine porcelain was hot. Mia just let out a soft sigh and she tilted her head slightly. "Things just aren't the same with Rosette and Chrono around." She said finally. There was only echoing silence, the air grew heavy and the tension suddenly fell over us all like a ten-ton weight.

"T-That's where Azmaria is this afternoon." Julius finally stammered out, glancing off towards the door. "She went out to visit their grave."

"She's been quite amazing lately, passing her exorcist exams with flying colors. She'll be working under you soon enough Julius." Ewan gave a small nod of his head, at least pulling something out of the dismal feeling to talk about.

My brother beamed and he blushed slightly. "Yes." He said and I couldn't help but smile a little bit too. Even after the catastrophe was over those two had continued to fight for the Magdalene Order as top exorcists. I was always worrying about Julius, but Yugo had told me several times over that the boy had grown much stronger since the beginning and he was only trying to get better so that he could protect everyone important to him.

Lena tugged on the sleeve of Joshua's shirt and when he turned to look at her, she made several gestures with her hands, all to fast for us to see clearly but he smiled brightly. "Lena says she will keep you all in her prayers, and she will have to come back to visit you all on the holidays."

"That's right, you and Joshua are leaving next week to return to the orphanage." I said and my eyes widened in realization. "I forgot all about that. Mia, Ewan what are-"

"We're going with them for a little while." Ewan said, sitting down on the other arm of the couch, and he put a hand on Mia's shoulder. "The orphanage is still being closely monitored by the Order and as Joshua's legal guardian I figured it would be better if I accompanied them back. Mia has received orders from Sister Kate to steadily report back so we'll be out there for a few months at least."

"Well be back for Christmas though!" Joshua replied brightly. "Julius said we could have a big Christmas party at the church just like everyone did last year!"

"Yeah." The other boy gave a nod of his head and smiled back. It really was an amazing thing. The ordeal of Chrono's horns on Josh's body had caused his mind to revert back to that of an eleven-year-old child, even though a part of his brain stayed as tainted and experienced as it had grown steadily thrown the years. The end result was a very babyish sixteen-year-old with an occasional inability to think correctly for himself. But through the few months after the return from California he had formed a strong bond Julius. One having suffered through a corrupted and traumatized body, the other a corrupted and traumatized mind, they were kindred spirits and fast friends. I could tell my brother was upset about losing Joshua so soon, but he also knew that it would greatly help the boy to let him go back to the place he had grown up to see if it would help repair some of what was broken.

"Sora! The baby should be born by then shouldn't it!" The blonde boy asked eagerly and I knew the question had rather come from Lena then him.

"Do you know what the baby's gender is?" Mia asked hopefully. They were all trying to move off of difficult things to speak of.

I couldn't help but start to blush, hating when they turned me into the topic of discussion. "Uhm…"

"It's a boy." Yugo smiled, golden eyes flickering proudly.

"Is this just your hopefulness talking through, or is it fact?" Mia asked, watching him bristle at that. I knew she and Lena both had been hoping for a girl.

"It's fact!" He growled. "It's a boy."

"It is a boy." Julius nodded. "I've felt the baby's presence myself on occasion."

"The due date is sometime in November." I replied, still not comfortable with my body being up for discussion.

Lena pouted and Joshua just laughed. "She's not happy. She won't be here when the baby's born." He explained. "Do you think he will have ears, a tail and wings like Yugo does when he transforms? It'll be a baby wolfie!"

Yugo and I looked at each other. Honestly we had been wondering the same thing, not exactly sure what our child would look like. "I'm sure not all the time. Most demons have the ability to at least cloak their true forms." He replied reasonably.

"We'll have to be back by Christmas then for sure." Mia looked up at Ewan. "So we can spend at least a little time with Sora and the baby." Lena beamed and gave an enthusiastic nod to her head in agreement.

The talk went on for a little while about the baby, my friends fussing over me with such care that I knew they only had to be teasing Yugo when he griped about how worried he was about me.

I finally excused myself, the heat of the small enclosed building getting to me and I went outside, sitting down on the small slate porch to watch the last of the sun sink beyond the horizon.

There was a welcoming bark and Fallon came scampering out from the underbrush, having entangled part of a thorn bush in his thick coat. The large dog greeted me with affectionate licks and kisses settling down by my side so I could begin the task of prying the large spiky vines from his silver coat.

Inside the conversation had changed back towards serious and I listened, half through Yugo's mind half on my own hearing to what was being said.

"I am not sure about devil reincarnation, but it is true that Mary Magdalene was reborn into the body of Rosette." It was Ewan's sweet deep voice speaking up on terms that seemed hard to explain. "There is a chance, maybe not in this lifetime, but there is a chance that her pure soul will be reincarnated again, into the body of a different person who will carry on the same fate that our Rosette did." He paused. "Yugo, you ever heard of devil reincarnation?"

"Usually when a demon is killed, their soul returns to Pandemonium. If it makes it through the several barriers surrounding the world breech and manages to escape the astral lines, there's a slim possibility that the darkness of our world would feast on something like that and spawn another demon of striking physical appearance and personality. Whether the memories would carry over I cannot say." I could feel there was something nagging at him and I lifted my head, stopping in my grooming work to glance back toward the door. "…Aidan, of all people, showed Sora some very startling images. He was one of our seer's, prided for his ability to predict time and event down to the precise second that it would happen. While he was dying he projected several images of himself with Sora, in a relationship very similar to ours now."

"But that's impossible right? There is no way that could be right." Mia spoke up, apparently disturbed with that revealed turn of events. "For one, you have always been all Sora ever thinks about and for two, Aidan is dead."

"Unless he was reincarnated." Yugo replied quickly. "I had not thought of the idea myself until Ewan mentioned it. Technically, it should not be allowed to happen; a revival of one's spirit to earth in form was always supposed to be thought of as the holiest of abilities, God's will, if you would, to allow you unfinished business on this plane of existence. But if you considered Aidan's immense affection and unrequited love toward Sora…"

"Demons, sinners of all things should not be willingly acceptable of mortal emotions. They reject them like they reject holy water; the complete concept should be beyond their comprehension. Mortals were their slaves, their playthings; there was no way the feeling could be mutual." Remington agreed. "But for beings like yourself, and Chrono and even Aidan…"

"If you take that very fact into consideration, I can not safely say it is impossible that Chrono, or even Aidan could not return to this earth." Yugo said softly, quite a statement for a stubborn devil.

"Chrono was always Rosette's protector, even dating back to the days when she was Mary Magdalene. But what about Aidan? If he returned…would he come to claim Sora?" Mia asked worriedly.

"Who knows." Yugo snapped bitterly. "Who's to say it was Sora? If we're talking reincarnation it could be anyone from Sora's lineage over the next thousand years. Or a possible reincarnation of Sora herself…" He did not want to think about that. That I would return someday and seek out Aidan's soul, not his, that was his sudden fear. "He will not touch her, not while I still draw breath. And why are you getting me all worried about this?" He growled, and I could feel him glaring at Ewan as if I was still in the room.

The blonde laughed softly. "Sorry Yugo. No need to worry for the moment. So the truth in the end is that we really don't know, but it might be a possibility. That was all I wanted to know."

"There's…not a chance Aion will come is there?" Julius asked softly.

"Aion is dead." Joshua spoke up, surprisingly stern and Yugo nodded. "He's long gone."

I let out my held breath. Aion was gone, and it was all over. Everything was over.

"I…feel a little envious of Sora in the end." Mia admitted and I blinked, glancing back towards the door once again. In my mind I felt a comforting presence and I knew my love was right there with me. "She lost everything in the process and because she was exempt from the last bit of the fighting she doesn't realize the magnitude of what happened. Of how much this affected everyone. She gets to go back to living a normal ordinary life."

"Lena says it's not that." Joshua spoke up through the silence afterwards. "She's been scarred just like everyone else has. But she is not learning to dwell on it. There are things about her that she'll never get back, but she's moving forward not backwards." He giggled childishly. "She says she has to do what she can for the baby, and because she can't leave Yugo and Julius to survive on their own. Be strong Mia, and you can be like that too."

I was blushing but hiding a smile in my long crimson hair. Always Lena, bright, cheerful and optimistic, an unexpected voice of reason. 'You have good friends.' Yugo chimed in and it was evident he was smiling too.

It was well after dark when the four finally decided to leave, the three hour back towards the city unbearable at night, but with Ewan & Mia behind the wheels I was confident they would make it that far. Standing on the front porch, I watched as the bright lights of the headlights were lost in the winding road and the shadows of trees. Julius was inside cleaning dishes, Fallon keeping the boy close company and begging for scraps in the process.

Yugo came up behind me, wrapping a strong arm around my waist, hand pressed lightly on my stomach as if waiting for the baby to kick inside. "It's a beautiful night." He whispered softly, nibbling on my earlobe, his desire insatiable even when he knew that right now I couldn't please him.

"It is." I softly agreed. "So the next time we will see them is Christmas." I could not help but sound a little sad. My friends, the people who had always seemed to remain closest to me were going far away all at once. It was something that tore at my heart.

"If we're lucky they'll be back by the time the baby is born." He whispered hotly up against my neck. "You needn't worry about it Sora…we have our entire lives, for better or for worse. There will be other times to see them. You have your future with me to look forward to."

"I'm so thrilled." I said sarcastically but I only managed to giggle in response. He was right. Lena was right. There was no need to dwell on little things, on the horrors and the heartache and the suffering and the loss. There was no more hunting demons, no more losing friends to an endless war of chaos. Leave the past where it was: forgotten.

----Forgotten Memories: End----

----Epilogue: Silent Tears----

June 24 2005.

A silver sports car pulled to the stop at the entrance of a long stone road, the engine shutting off, and the driver's door opening.

A beautiful young woman got out, her long, brilliant crimson hair tied in a ponytail at the base of her neck. She was in a long, black dress, simple and yet very elegant with high slits up the sides, revealing her ivory legs. She was young, only about in her late teens to early twenties and very unsure and timid about herself. She reached into the car, grabbing a beautiful bouquet of white lilies before she shut and locked the door.

Her black dress shoes made soft crunching sounds on the stone paved road. In many spots the path was grown over by vegetation and worn over by time. It seemed to only lead a dead end into the grove of forest, but for those who had been here before knew what was up ahead.

As she round the bend, careful not to let the thorny bushes along the path grab and tear at her dress, an old shack of a house came into view. The woman's mixmatched eyes stared affectionately at the tall building as she came up in front of it and passed it, leaving it behind her on her trek.

Another quarter of a mile down the stony road the path stopped and the woods opened up into a small area where the sunlight could shine through. There was a tombstone, standing simply and alone on the forest floor, grass completely surrounding it.

The woman let out a small sigh, squatting down to place the bouquet lovingly at the bottom of the polished rock, her mind reading the words over and over again. Yugo and Sora Seung. Her beloved grandparents.

It had been out here in the woods where she spent most of her childhood…she had been too young to remember her father's parents. She had been only three or so when her Grandmother had passed away and her Grandfather just mysteriously followed shortly after. Her mother and father had raised her out here, had lived out here since her birth in 1982 before moving back to New York City. But just because she hadn't known her grandparents didn't mean that she hadn't heard about them. Their romance, their strife…the entire storyline of events that took place in the year of 1929 that had such an impact on the world…and was never heard to the majority of it's people.

The woman had known her grandfather was a devil…it was something that echoed in her blood, calling out in her and her brothers and her father. She could sense things normal people could not. Her ability to hear and see were greater then an average human. Her father had a half-transformation belonging to half man and half wolf. Her family was NOT normal, but she held no ill will to the demonic history she held within her…it was true not all devils were bad. Many were pushy, bossy, arrogant and primal creatures, but they were not all the evil insanity modern day society had built them up to be. In her grandfather's case, he was a hero.

Her fingers brushed over the engraved names on the tablet, staring at it affectionately before she turned from the sunny spot, the lone and lost grave and headed back along the path.

The house she had practically ignored on her way here loomed in front of her and instead of bypassing it a second time; she turned, heading up the steps. The foundation and condition was still strong after several decades…probably only because her grandfather had built this house himself.

The front door was held closed by a master lock and the girl slipped one of the small gold keys on her key ring into the mechanism, the bars popping open.

She entered the small building, eyes staring at the small cozy home. The place was bare except for a wooden chest that sat against the back wall by the door to the master bedroom and she walked over to it, using another set of keys on her key ring to bypass the two locks keeping the trunk shut.

Lifting the heavy lid, she laid eyes on an old, deteriorating book, the pages faded and mouth-eaten. She lifted the leather-bound journal and shut the trunk, sitting down on the floor. Opening the soft cover worn from many uses and time itself, she stared at the fine cursive of her great uncle's handwriting. This was it. This book was a detailed record of his experiences as a youth at the time the events of 1929 were taking place. It had an outline of how everyone was back then…the officers for the Magdalene Order, the people the boy treated as family, the devils they had known and the Sinners they had fought against. The known facts about the apostles, the astral lines, battle strategies, plans, orders…every scrap of information that the kid could think of was in this book. Fights were given in brilliant detail, the boy's emotions and his own feelings entertained. This treasure trove of the past had been written for his elder sister Sora, if she ever grew strong enough to want to know what truly happened. These were forgotten memories in the life of a courageous young woman and now in history itself. The people who were depicted as great warriors in this book were all gone. The world had erased every part of that incident by now and yet something as simple as a notebook kept by a naïve apprentice could bring it all back in an instant. To those whose lives had been forever altered by it, something like this ancient book was priceless.

The woman jerked her head up, her mixmatched eyes widening. Something was out in the woods, close to her grandparent's gravesite. It was strong and its dark aura meant that it was clearly a devil.

She put the book gingerly back in the trunk, quickly doing the chains around it and locking them. Her hand reached for the Magdalene Order-Issued silver handgun she kept strapped to her right thigh, pulling the pistol out of its holster.

She locked up and secured the perimeter of the house, throwing down a set of crucifix barriers before heading up the path, her senses swarming her.

As she reached the bend, she slowed to a near walk, treading silently across the rocky path. Another one of her unusual habits was the ability to move without a sound, even when she didn't want to. There was someone at the grave; she could see a shadow in the field where a figure was blocking out the light. Rushing into the open she pointed her gun straight at her target. "Freeze!" She demanded sharply, eyes set on the enemies back.

The form turned away from the tombstone and for a moment the woman felt a jolt fly through her. He was about her age it seemed, with a curtain of waist-length raven that swished behind him as he moved. Ruby red eyes caught the sunlight with their crimson radiance and he seemed just about as stunned as she was. She couldn't place it, but she got the feeling she had seen him somewhere before.

The man stared at her, studying her for a second. He had never met this woman in his entire life and for a second he felt as though he had known her for years. The long brilliant crimson hair, the pale ivory skin…her eyes were two different colors and he thought amusingly that they reminded him of a husky's wild eyes. One was a pale cerulean blue, while the other was a bright amber gold. She herself seemed animalistic, and her energy pattern was different from most humans. There was definitely something different about her.

A word forced its way into his throat and before he could stop himself he found himself whispering a name. "…Sora?"

----Silent Tears: End----

Author's Final Note: And there you have it…Forgotten Memories is finished! As triumphant as it sounds I'm actually quite upset to see it go. These characters were merely just thoughts and strokes of inspiration I had and they've come to life and gone full circle since the beginning. Aidan, Sieg, Dax, Julius, Mia, Lena, Bryant, Jin and then of course Yugo and Sora…they have become more then simple characters to me, and to have their story conclude…. it's painful to let them go. I'm sure many of them will be making cameo appearances in various other things I write…Sora has not changed from the beginning. She has been a main character for me for years and her appearance in this story was because at the time I was too lazy to think up a name!

I have so many people that I want to thank for this…geez, I sound like I'm getting a grammy or something, but seriously, I owe people. Lena and Mia of course, for lending me their characters, not that it really matters since I paid you both back with your favorite Chrono Crusade men, but still. Thanks guys, love ya. My brothers Okita and Daxy for Sieg and Dax…Oki-chan you took the time to create an awesome character for me to use and I thank you for that. Sieg has gone on to become a main char for you and I'm proud. RyuuMahou, Outsane, Kisho Myst…one of you three was always posting reviews after I posted chapters and I thank you all for giving me renewed inspiration. A big thank you goes out to lunar flowers, who took the time to email me and tell me I needed to update…if it hadn't been for her, I might not have ever picked up posting chapters on fanfiction again. You all owe her! Ishi'vanah for being as awesome as she is and coming to roleplay with us on the Meld. You are always welcome to my stories and to roleplay with us to your heart's content! The last thank you goes out to everyone reading this fic, who fell in love with its characters like I did and waited, both impatiently and patiently, for me to finish chapters. For all the torment I put you all through, thank you.

And with my debts repaid and my job done here, Sora Kazuma is out! If you all ever want to find out what I'm working on feel free to email me.(There might be a sequel to Forgotten Memories in the works…) If you want to see anything I've previously worked on, check out my website. I try to update every week or so, so it's the best way without staying in direct contact with me to know what I'm doing. I'm gonna take a quick break from fanfics for the next two or three days, but don't worry. I'll be back. Until I write again!

Sora Tokumi Kazuma