A/N:
Hello, loves! Thank you all for your patience! First of all, we're just about at 600 views. Thank you all so much, as always!
Onto the chapter. I think you'll all like this one. Enjoy!
Episode 3: Adagio di molto - May I Have This Dance?
Present Day
"…according to my mind that actually makes fucking sense, we should go right!"
"No! We're going fucking left you dipshit!"
Adults were so annoying. God forbid she become one.
Ju Lan didn't know how Tenebris allowed her to go on the mission to find the Stone Heart. She was an intern after all. Yet surprisingly, she got the nod from her.
Because, quote, 'someone had to keep these two mistakes under control'.
She just wished she brought headphones. Lost in the woods, all alone…
Dealing with THEM…
"No wonder you wanna go left, Coal. Because NOTHING you do is right!"
"Well shit, Paste, maybe you only wanna go right because you have no fucking braincells left!"
"Cut that out, both of you!" Ju Lan snapped at both of them. "We won't get anything done like this. Unless either of you have a good reason for changing course, we're keeping straight."
"What's it to you, little girl?!" White growled. "Why do you care?"
"Because I care absolutely about the master not murdering both of you!" She glared. "You clearly cannot cooperate together like this. You're going to destroy each other - not the Stone Heart!"
Black clenched her fist and glared at White, her eyes easily reading "fuck you too." They both shut up for a while, but it didn't stop them from physically taunting each other.
Ju Lan was quiet as well, for a long time.
This whole 'remembering their love' thing was going to be harder than she thought…if Tenebris corrupted them.
…corrupted…wait, that's it!
…she got an idea.
"What started this?"
"Hm?" Black grunted in distaste.
"This fight. What started this? Why do you hate her? Did something happen?"
"Tch, because she decided to be smart and go against MY directions," Black said. "Easy."
"Yes, but... what happened before that?"
"Pretty sure she was the one who hit me out of nowhere back at the palace," White scoffed.
"But...before that?"
"…uhm…"
Their retorts started to slow down.
"W-Well, it was probably because I heard something she said behind my back!" Black quickly said.
She's grasping at straws.
"When did you first meet each other?"
"...i-in the castle, no duh. I've been living with her for as long as I can remember!" White blurts, unsure of the words coming out of her own mouth. "Why have I been living with you for this long?"
"Could it be that... you've known each other before you served Tenebris together?"
"That's impossible!" Black retorted harshly. "The only time I met her was when we were i-in there…!"
"Are you SURE?" Ju Lan tested.
For the first time, both Shadows were silent on their walk, deep in sheer thought.
"Try to really think about it. When did you meet each other?"
Black remembered a room. Just a vague room, with vague features, and vague purpose. She knew she wasn't alone. She remembered shrill screaming and many voices yelling. But White was there. Why was it so hard to pinpoint the scenario?
She heard a voice. A voice that sounded like hers.
"GO, RUN. GET AWAY AS FAST AS YOU CAN."
"NO, I DON'T WANT TO LEAVE YOU…!"
Was that…White?!
"Something... something doesn't add up," Black says, looking at the ground hard. "There's something I'm - we're - missing."
"Do you think... Tenebris is responsible for this?" White chokes. She couldn't bring herself to look into Black's eyes anymore.
"Hmm, let's see…" Ju Lan sarcastically spoke. "2 plus 2 is 4, right?"
Had they been tricked? Used…?
Black couldn't look at White either. Because all she saw, and heard, was a voice that sounded like hers, yelling something that made her sick. Like from a story long ago.
"We will NEVER be friends!"
She felt the urge to vomit.
The three stood in awkward and excruciating silence. Black and White made expression that Ju Lan had never seen before, like discomfort, numbness, and fear all at once.
"…how about this." Ju Lan exhaled. "Maybe I don't know what you guys were before you encountered Tenebris. But I do know one thing - it's not whatever this is. How about we keep looking for the Stone Heart? And while we're at it…try to get to know each other?"
"...each other? I don't even know shit about myself anymore. I don't know shit about anything. I...I need to sit down. This is like being hungover but...I can't sleep it off..." Black meekly whispered.
Suddenly, Ju Lan felt so much sympathy for Black and White. How much has this evil Queen erased from their minds…?
"Well…alright." She sighed and leaned against a tree. "If you two need to rest, you can. I won't blame you."
Black stumbled against a tree where White already sat against it helplessly, sliding down until she hit the grass beneath her. She closed her eyes and tried to remember.
What am I missing…what the hell am I missing, damn it?!
…she felt White's head lean against her shoulder timidly.
Black inhaled sharply, but couldn't bring herself to shove White away. White didn't move on her own, but Black somehow didn't mind. It was... comforting. Tranquil. This kind of moment - where the two weren't at each other's throats- hasn't happened since...since...
"...takoyaki..."
That caught the attention of both Ju Lan and Black. The former only took mild interest - the latter seemed to be heavily shaken by the word.
"What...?"
"...a tray of takoyaki...cooked to perfection..." White mumbled, almost in a dream. In a daze, even. "It's hot, and steaming...makes my mouth water..."
"Paste, what the hell is wrong with you?" Black said seriously, grabbing her shoulders, hatred be damned. "You're scaring me, damn it!"
White's eyes seemed to dilate from a dark shade to a familiar ocean blue before flickering back.
Though it was brief - it practically made everything in Black go on high alert.
"I'm...I'm sorry..." she apologized, shaking her head and standing up. She held her head. "Give me second."
That was new. Black thought to herself. Oat Mi- White...is apologizing to me for once.
Black sighed in exasperation.
Fine.
"Are you okay?"
White inhaled sharply, a little surprised how much her enemy suddenly cared.
"I'm...fine. I just had a weird vision." She said without looking at her. "It involved food, called...called..."
"Takoyaki." Ju Lan finished for her concernedly. "I've never tried it. But I have studied about Japanese food in my classes. What does it taste like? Try to remember."
She tried not to think about it doing any good. After all, how could octopus balls have any type of significance?
White seemed to tremble a little bit, holding onto her head and shaking it.
"I don't even trust myself anymore..."
Ju Lan comfortingly placed a hand on her shoulder, reaching up to on her toes to do so. She was 'small', after all. "You can do this. I believe in you."
The Shadow closed her eyes, inhaling and exhaling.
"...it's...cooked so perfectly...lightly roasted all around...with sauce and spices sprinkled around it." She said, like she was quoting someone.
"How did it smell...?"
That wasn't Ju Lan who asked her. If it was, it wouldn't make sense. Her voice wouldn't be so croaked.
White shivers a little bit. "It smelled like...pure cuisine...cooked to perfection and had such a sweet taste to it."
Ju Lan had to narrow her eyes a little at White's face, trying to figure out whether she was seeing things or not.
There were tears in her eyes.
"How sweet?"
"Sweeter than a-any candy...it...c-could be bitter at times...b-but it made my heart sing...yeah..." White fought the tears. A weary smile came onto her face all of a sudden as the darkness in her eyes started to flicker heavily. Damn near fading.
"I...I could hardly understand it...w-when I first tasted it...but soon...I...couldn't live without it...!"
Is this even about takoyaki anymore...?
"...but now it forgot..." Her breath hitches, holding her heart and stomach with each hand. "A-And it's...t-trapped in whatever this is...whoever you are...!"
Her gaze snapped towards Shadow Black in a fit of rage. But to Black, this surprised her. Those regular shadowy reddish eyes...
...were now an ocean blue.
"Give her back... GIVE HER BACK RIGHT NOW!"
Before Ju Lan could stop her, she ran towards her and weakly hit her chest multiple times like a pathetic toddler while screaming. White screamed until she had hardly any energy left, resorting to sobbing and falling on her chest being so inconsolable.
Black, on the other hand, had never been in so much of a state of shock.
Here was White, her most hated enemy, falling on her chest of all things and crying. Yet here she was, utterly lost on who she even was anymore, having no idea what to do about it. All urges to push her away had been eliminated after all. She was questioning too much right now.
Hesitantly, she raised her arms and loosely wrapped her arms around her. White's breath hitched in response.
"...I don't...know anything yet..." Black admitted. "But...you seem to know something at least...there's got to be something we're...i'm missing. There has to be. After all...you wouldn't do any of this to begin with."
She closed her eyes as little tears entered them.
"...can you...can you help me?"
That was all it took for White to bawl even harder, clinging onto Black so much that she thought if she let go, she was sure to disappear.
"Y...Yes...! W-With my...l-life...!"
Ju Lan blinked back tears and looked away from the scene, covering her mouth and clenching her jaw. She wouldn't cry. Not now. She didn't understand what was happening, but at the same time she did. So White did remember something after all.
But Black...
In a way, she understood. Because even though she couldn't understand anything that was happening, she could understand the pain of not remembering anything at all about who you are. All too well.
She didn't know how much time passed then. Even if it was hours, she didn't care. If anyone saw her cry...
A hand was placed on her shoulder. Ju Lan flinched, but quickly blinked away the tears the best she could. She turned around and saw White standing there, smiling now, with tears still lingering in her eyes and wet cheeks. Black was a few feet away from them, but she wouldn't look at them.
"Let's go...there's something important we have to do. For Black's sake."
Ju Lan looked at her so unsurely. It was obvious she remembered - but Black didn't. She hated being so empathetic. That was so heartbreaking.
"What can I do...?"
For the first time on the trip, White patted her head affectionately.
"Just follow my lead."
"How about school? You're going to school right? Are you doing well? Are you making friends? Everyone's being nice to you, right?"
"Uhm..."
For someone she just met merely hours ago, White was sure asking Ju Lan a lot of questions.
It wasn't the general questions to get to know someone like, for example, "What's your favorite thing to do?" or anything to get the personality of a person. No, they were personal questions. About her morning routine, how she was doing in school, the friends she was making, anything she could pry into.
It wasn't like she was annoyed. She was happy to answer them. It just felt so weird to hear an adult ask her personal questions like this.
"I am going to school, yes." She started out a little shyly. "And I do good in school too!" She reassured. "I get 100s on all...well, most of my tests. Last time I..." Ju Lan embarrassedly whispered into White's ear and she gasped in horror.
"Oh dear...!"
"Thank you!" The teen whined in embarrassment. "Someone who understands the pain!"
Black remained silent as she walked ahead of them, trying to ignore White's rather annoying questions to Ju Lan. She didn't understand why she couldn't just tell her to cut the questions. Their mission was important, after all. However...
She felt a little jealous.
"Black," White spoke up timidly.
"Hm?"
"You two look alike." She giggled.
What?
Black stopped and turned around, gazing at Ju Lan, who came up to her chest barely. Raven hair...ocean deep blue eyes...
"...I don't see it." She crossed her arms. "Pa-..White...If anything, she looks like you."
"Really? If you look in her eyes, you two have the same demeanor! I see you in her!"
"What does that have to do with physical looks at all?"
This was just weird to the poor girl. Two adults arguing over something other than which way to go, or anything they could remotely think of. Instead, they chose to argue about who she herself looked like more?
"I don't think it's beneficial to argue about this." She laughed nervously. "But, Black, we do have the same skin tone. Mine is just a tiny bit darker."
Shadow Black smirked a little bit. "Heh. Alright, kid. I'll hand you that one."
The 3 of them continued to bicker over the littlest of things until Ju Lan's foot stepped on something wooden.
"What's this doing here?" She kneeled down and picked up a long, two sided brown rod that was bent slightly.
"It's just a stick kid." Black said deadpanning while White giggled.
"It might be a magic wand~."
"This, ladies," Ju Lan clarified as she brushed it clean of any dirt. "Is a bow. A violin's bow."
"What the hell is a random bow doing out here in the woods?" Black inquired.
Ju Lan didn't know anything about music, but she did know that instruments shouldn't really be left out here. Yet, despite it being cold and out in the open, it didn't look worn down or broken.
"Wait...there's something here!"
She looked on the wood of the bow and found an inscription on it.
"C-CureUp...Ra-pa-pa..." Ju Lan sounded out, her head beginning to hurt. " 'Let your music...live forever'...agh..."
Her head began to pound like mad as she said that, and she reached up to hold her head. She was too distracted by the pain to see the wood of the bow shine softly, something starting to glow in the distance.
"Over there!" Black gasped softly, pointing. "Could it be the Stone Heart?!"
"Let's go and see!" Ju Lan nodded firmly while White just smiled.
Shadow Black was the one who ran over first, but to her dismay, it wasn't the Stone Heart at all.
"Agh, damn..."
"Silly Black." Ju Lan rolled her eyes with a smile as she picked up a musical instrument seeming to be relatively in good shape. "It's the violin to this bow! Why anyone would leave a beautiful instrument like this out here is beyond me..."
She twisted it in her hands, noticing the size. It was small compared to a violin's normal size. "It feels a little light for a violin..."
"Have you ever held one? How do you know that?"
Ju Lan bit her lip at Black's question. "N-No...I-I just..."
Shadow Black snorted at her stuttering. "I'm just screwing around with you kid."
"You...!" Ju Lan's face turned bright pink.
White smiled at her sweetly. "Can you play the violin?"
"I said i've never held one..." She started to say a little irritated, gazing at the violin and the bow.
"It never hurts to try. You have it after all. I haven't heard one in so long." She encouraged. "Try to play a few strings."
White was insistent on a girl sounding a hot mess on the violin, wasn't she? She couldn't remember a moment when she picked up a violin at all. She doubted she even could play it...but...
"...okay."
Black stood back impatiently as Ju Lan raised the violin on her left shoulder, and raised the bow hair to the strings, repeating the words in her head again.
CureUp Rapapa...please don't let me screw this up...
Hesitantly, the bow hair ran against the strings, the sound of a clear and vibrant A coming from the violin.
It was like her hand moved the bow naturally against it. She moved it against the E, then the A, D, and G string, the sounds coming from those respective areas sounding nostalgic to her ears as she tuned it.
Ju Lan's face turned reminiscent as she gazed at White, who nodded in approval.
"It sounds like it's good to go. Try and play something!"
She didn't know any pieces on the violin, for certain. But if she could tune almost perfectly, then why not give it a shot?
Without thinking about it, her fingers on the fingerboard began to move in a rhythmic and slow pattern, stroking her bow with each note she produced. To Ju Lan, it made no sense. She wasn't an expert on the violin, but her body said otherwise. It was like she herself and the violin were connected in that moment. If anyone called her crazy, so be it. But it felt like she had found her purpose the moment she started to play it...
Black stared in amazement at the sight of the girl playing like a professional, despite having "never held one". She was entranced, the sound of the violin almost bringing her back to simpler times...
She caught White in her view, approaching her and offering her hand. The Shadow looked a little bit annoyed.
"...yes?"
"May I have this dance with you?"
If she didn't have a existential crisis before this very moment, she would have barked at her and said "Hell no, Paste! Get away from me!"
But now...she just blushed a little and avoided her gaze and hesitantly gave her her hand.
"...sure, I guess..."
White guided Shadow Black to the center of the woods, near where Ju Lan was playing a sweet ballad. She carefully rested her hand on her waist and used her other to interlock their fingers. Black's eyes flashed as she tried to fight the urge to push her off. Something in her just couldn't push her away.
"...it's so beautiful..." She mumbled without thinking. White nodded in agreement as she stared into her eyes lovingly.
"Yes, it really is."
Black narrowed her own eyes a little, gazing at her and trying to decipher just what she was missing. It was like her mind was being blocked from saying one word. Like that word was only broken up into code and nothing more.
HQ49$Z
"...Black..." White said while they swayed. "Believe it or not, we've danced like this before..."
"Really?" Her voice asked meekly.
"I remember it clear as day," White insisted as she closed her eyes. "At first, you were hesitant. You were worried about stepping on my feet. Just like you did years before, when we played Romeo and Juliet..."
"We did?" Black's eyes flashed again.
HQN9$Z
"Yes, we did." White's eyes filled with tears. "And you were hesitant then as well because you had so much stage fright." She laughed a little sadly as she pulled Black closer to her, making sure she was comfortable.
"Stage fright..." Black's eyes briefly flashed brown. "Y-Yeah...I'm not really a-an actress...am I...?"
The code in her head started to make more sense the more that White spoke.
HQNO$Z
"If you weren't, I couldn't tell." She said in the softest voice, caressing her shoulder. "You were a fabulous Romeo. Even after that Zakenna attack..."
"...Za...kenna...?" That word struck a nerve to Black, White connecting their foreheads. "I'm not sure I understand..."
"Don't you remember? When those monsters came to attack our home...you and I knew what to do together..."
HQNO$A
"We would hold hands like this," She gestured to their connected hands, rubbing her fingers across her knuckles. "Point our hands up to the sky...and say..."
"D-Dual..."
Black's face went pale as snow. All of a sudden, so many things came back.
The moment they first locked eyes.
The day at the amusement park.
Their first argument.
The first time she called her a friend.
The school play.
All of it.
"A-Aurora...Wave..."
White paused in brief shock, before she nodded happily as the tears began falling down her cheeks.
"Y-Yes, Black! That's exactly what we would say! Do you remember what you would say after?"
HQNOKA
Right now, the once Shadow's eyes were at war, flickering between darkness and hazel brown at a rapid pace. Yet, sobbing, she answered without question.
"E-Emissary...of Light...Cure Black..."
Their faces got closer together, as the music that Ju Lan was producing gained more intensity, romanticism and power. White' hand gently wiped her cheeks of any tears before saying her own line.
"Emissary of Light...Cure White...and..." She connected their noses lightly. "Together...we are..."
The switch flipped on in her brain, and the previous code made sense.
HONOKA
Noka.
"Precure...Oh...Oh God, Noka, please forgive me...!" Black sobbed heavily and fell into her arms, hiding her face in her neck and letting go entirely. Apologies came out over and over again rapidly, White crying herself and hugging her back.
"There's nothing to forgive..." She whispered while hiccupping. "Nana...I love you!"
"I-I love you more...!"
"W-What are you saying? That's impossible...!"
Somewhere, in the distance, a mirror cracked while someone cursed in distaste.
The last note rang from the strings, Ju Lan in a daze as she looked down at the bow, lightly twisting it in her hands.
What even...am I? Who am I?
A question she hasn't known the answer for years.
Apparently, the girl was too entranced in her playing to notice that Black had regained her memory. So, when she looked over to see the two adults in a deep and passionate kiss with the moonlight shining on them like a spotlight, she had to look the other way. A blush landed on her cheeks and she covered her mouth to hide it.
The scene before her was like that of a romance movie! Butterflies surrounded them, flowers started blooming...hell, it even began to snow! She wouldn't be surprised if damn birds came flying down and started...
Sure enough, she jinxed herself as two doves floated down out of nowhere. Jesus.
She gazed down at the bow, and then back at the scene before her that seemed to disappear just moments after.
This violin...!
So, before she closed her eyes and flowed with the music, Black wanted nothing to do with White. When she opens them, she can't get her hands off her.
...Adults were so weird. God forbid she become one.
I personally am an adult, and she's right! We are very weird! ^^
But yay, our two lovebirds have remembered everything! But we're not out of the woods yet, my loves. We still have someone else to worry about - and that's Sora. What became of her?
You'll find out next chapter.
- Sweet