Forgotten Memories
Disclaimer: All rights reserved to Platinum Games.
Summary: A short story featuring Bayonetta's early life and how she became the great Umbra Witch we all know and love.
Forgotten Memories
"Fly me to the moon and let me play among the stars. Let me see what spring is like on Jupiter and Mars."
Cereza lay curled together on the ground outside of the cell, listening to the soothing tones of her mother's voice. She didn't understand why she couldn't stay with her mother like the rest of the girls.
"In other words, hold my hand. In other words, darling, kiss me."
Her mother had been imprisoned for falling in love with the wrong person. She had fallen in love with Cereza's father, who was apparently a Lumen Sage. Although the Witches and the Sages used to be allied, there had been a falling out, caused by Cereza's birth. It was against the laws for an Umbra and a Lumen to have a child as the child would surely be an impure mixture of Light and Dark. But it had happened anyway, and the clans blamed each other for it.
"Fill my heart with song and let me sing forevermore. You are all I long for, all I worship and adore."
It made her sad whenever she was called 'the outcast', or 'the impure child'. She just wanted a regular life. To be raised by her mother and the other clans-women. To be friends with the other girls. To be trained in the arts of the Umbra Witches.
"In other words, please be true. In other words, I love you."
She just wanted a normal life. She let the tears spill from her eyes, as she had done so many times before. With the sound of her mother's ballad resonating through the stone room, she quickly fell into the lulling embrace of sleep
/Break/
Cereza was awakened in the early hours of the morning by someone poking her cheek. She groggily opened her eyes and involuntarily jumped back surprised.
"You're Rosa's daughter, aren't you?" A young voice asked.
Right in front of her was a young girl who couldn't have been much older than herself, with short platinum blonde hair and curious grey eyes.
"W-what?" Cereza asked confused.
"I asked you if you were Rosa's daughter." The young witch stated, rolling her eyes "So, are you?"
"Y-yes. Yes, I am." Cereza replied.
"That's amazing!" The girl said excitedly "It's a shame that you can't learn the Dark Arts. Your mother was one of the strongest Witches in the clan."
"I'm sorry, but who are you?" Cereza asked, growing increasingly uncomfortable with the situation.
"I am Jeanne, heir to the Umbra Throne." She declared proudly, "And you are?"
"C-Cereza" She replied.
"Cereza?" Jeanne said as if she was testing the name "I'm not sure if I like that name. I'm going to call you… 'Bayonetta'"
"What's wrong with my name?" Cereza asked slightly hurt.
"Nothing," Jeanne said quickly "It's just a little… strange."
"Why are you here? How did you even get here?" Cereza asked confused
"Well, you will eventually get fed up when you're stuck in your bedroom all day." Jeanne said casually "The guards are two seriously dim witted Witches. It's not very hard to escape. And I came here as I wanted to propose something."
"What is it?" Cereza asked, suddenly a little scared.
"You want to be a Witch, right?" Jeanne asked, receiving a small nod from Cereza "Well as I am training to be the best Witch in the clan, I thought that you might want me to teach you some things."
"Yes! Yes! Yes!" Cereza squealed with delight.
"Shh…! Keep your voice down." Jeanne chided "Do you want to get caught?" She whispered, to which Cereza shook her head.
"Good, I shall see you tomorrow." Jeanne said, quickly jumping onto Cereza's window sill "Until then, Bayonetta."
Like that, she was gone, disappeared into the darkness of night. As Cereza lay down her head, she couldn't help but think about her strange new friend, and the offer which she had just accepted. With these thoughts in her mind she fell asleep for the second time that night.
/Break/
"No, no, no." Jeanne said agitated while trying to teach Cereza how to witch walk.
"It's like this" Jeanne said, jumping and landing on the wall, standing on it with a circle of blue light at her feet "C'mon, it's not that hard!"
As Cereza tried to jump on the wall, she simply kicked off of it and fell back hard onto the ground.
"I'll never be able to do it!" Cereza whined, kicking out her legs in anger.
She and Jeanne had started their training a short while ago, but it was not going so well. They had started off by trying to activate witch time, an ability that allowed the user to slow down time if you avoided an attack at the very last moment. But when Cereza had failed to dodge one of Jeanne's punches (and Cereza was left with a bloody nose), they had decided to try witch walking instead.
"Yes you will", Jeanne said encouragingly "Have you ever seen a witch in action before? Maybe you could try and work off of that memory?"
"I've only seen it once, in a dream." Cereza admitted "Mummy and Cheshire were trying to protect me from monsters, and Mummy was dressed weird, but she was amazing."
"Wait, Cheshire?" Jeanne asked confused "Your cat doll?"
"No. Not my Cheshire, Mummy's Cheshire." She said, as if it explained everything.
"…Right." Was all that Jeanne could say, "Well, just try thinking about your mother's power and see if you can do it this time, okay?"
As Cereza got back onto her feet, she imagined the way her mother looked in the dream. A young looking woman who wore a rather tight black suit and black boots. She had extremely long black hair adorned with red ribbons that stretched all the way down to her lower back, and always wore her black and purple butterfly styled glasses. She remembered one specific time from the dream when her mother had witch walked up a building with Cereza in her arms, and with that she ran at the wall and jumped.
After a moment or two she opened her eyes and was stunned to see that she had done it. She had done it! She had witch walked!
"I did it! Cereza exclaimed excitedly "I witch walked! I witch walked!"
Jeanne walked over to Cereza clapping, who was jumping up and down on the wall excited. Both young witches were surprised when Cereza fell off of the wall as she had forgotten to focus on her witch walking.
"All right, Bayonetta," Jeanne said, shaking her head slowly "I think it's time to take a break"
/Break/
Over the coming years, Jeanne and Cereza continued their secret training sessions and had both become very powerful witches. They had mastered witch time and witch walking, and also a power known as 'beast within'. The ability allowed any witch to shift between three different forms. Cereza could transform into a panther, a horde of bats and a crow, while Jeanne could change into a lynx, a swarm of moths and a condor. They had mastered almost all of the skills which they needed. There was but one left to obtain.
"Are you ready, Cereza?" Jeanne asked her friend.
"I was born ready, my dear Jeanne" She replied with a self-confident smirk.
Jeanne quickly looked Cereza over. She and her friend could not have looked more different if they tried. While Jeanne wore a slightly tight fitted red suit, and kept her platinum hair in a set of buns on either side of her head, Cereza had chosen a different look altogether. She wore all black robes which loosely hung around her body and a hood covering most of her face, the only thing visible being her purple and black butterfly masquerade mask. She had long since out grown her nickname and Jeanne only ever used it to tease her, she didn't dare use her name now. This was a life changing moment. This would test the true strength of an Umbra Witch.
"You know what to do, don't you?" Jeanne asked, not letting her concern show.
"Of course I do." Cereza said, walking up to the platform in the Great Hall "Now be quiet, will you? I need to concentrate."
Jeanne smiled slightly as she retreated into the shadows, watching carefully how Cereza prepared herself for this task. Cereza took a small moment to calm herself, clearing all thoughts from her mind. She needed to make sure that this went right. A moment later she began to chant and perform the ceremony as she was told to do by Jeanne. She recited the powerful phrases in Enochian, the language of demons and angels, as she danced across the hall, her power radiating violently. The words flowed naturally from her mouth, and the whole ceremony just felt… right. Almost as if she was meant to do this. As the ritual came to its conclusion she screamed the final phrase with as much power as she could.
"PDEE BURMA!"
For a short moment there was nothing, a serene calmness spread through the room, filling Cereza with disappointment. Had she done something wrong? It didn't last long though, as mere seconds later something almost indescribable happened. A portal, a deep black abyss, appeared out of nowhere in the centre of the hall. Sounds which would drive any mortal insane emerged from it. The souls of the damned screaming in pain and agony. The screeches of infernal hell beasts quarrelling and crying out.
Cereza felt fear rise in her chest as the portal grew larger, pulsating with power. She could feel the dark energy flooding into the room, the feeling of it almost overpowered her. Then something began to emerge from the blackness.
A woman, or as close to the appearance of a woman as a demon could get, began to rise from the pits of Inferno. She had skin almost as dark as the hell she had crawled out of, with red energy pulsing through her. She was wearing a long, flowing, thigh-split dress, which revealed long blue legs, and red high heels. Her bright red eyes starred around the room, devouring the image of the two young Witches. Long purple cuffs ran down the length of her arms, ending by wrapping around the middle fingers on each of her hands. She also had a strange butterfly-like accessory resting evenly on her head, giving the appearance that the creature's wings were spread out on either side of her head. Cereza was very surprised that infernals had a sense of style. The feature which stood out to Cereza most though, was the large swallow tail butterfly wings which were spread out behind the giant demoness.
"Who dares to summon Madama Butterfly, Mistress of Atrocities?!" The creature's voice boomed in Enochian.
The enormous woman turned to face Cereza, eying the other woman with her red eyes, starring into Cereza's very soul.
"Ahh," Madama Butterfly said, laughing slightly, "It was you who summoned me, Witch?"
"Yes, I did, your highness." Cereza said boldly, stepping towards the demoness.
"Please, none of this 'your highness', business. I hate suck-ups." The demoness said.
Cereza felt herself grow increasingly uncomfortable under the infernal's fierce gaze.
"I apologize… Madama." Cereza said almost calmly. "I'm sure that you know why I summoned you."
"I do, young Umbra. You wish to contract me, do you not?" Madama Butterfly questioned, looking at Cereza questioningly. "I must ask you now. Are you ready to take on the full responsibilities of an Umbra Witch?"
"I am." Cereza confirmed
"Will you give your soul unto me and forsake any chance you may have of an afterlife in Paradiso?"
"I will."
"Finally, do you promise to use your powers to keep a balance between the light and the dark?"
"I do."
Madama Butterfly smiled in a menacing way as she had managed to successfully find a willing Witch to contract her, and in moments a blinding red light flashed through the room. Jeanne almost ran towards the sounds of Cereza's screams before remembering her own experience contracting Madama Styx. If Cereza was going to live through this, the ceremony had to go uninterrupted. After several long moments, the red light suddenly vanished and in the centre of the hall was an unconscious Cereza.
"Cereza!" Jeanne shouted as she ran towards her friend.
She quickly reached the other Witch and managed to place her Cereza's head on her lap. "Cereza!" She shouted, much more panicked this time.
For a long moment it was completely quiet. Suddenly Cereza's eyes opened fully and stared straight at the ceiling, glowing bright red. The whole red magic seemed to flowing out of her, the raw power of it almost unbearable. Cereza had been reborn.
/Break/
It was several weeks later when an unexpected attack by humans and Lumen Sages was launched on the Umbran home. Cereza and Jeanne ran through the corridors, gunning down angels and men. They were falling like flies on the cold stone floor. Cereza took a quiet moment to examine her surroundings. To her left Jeanne was in her lynx form easily fending off a group of men who were attacking her with pitch forks. All around her, many other witches were running, attempting to destroy the onslaught of enemies. Straight ahead, was the door to the Great Hall.
"Jeanne!" She called out, gaining the Witch's attention.
She motioned towards the door, and began to run. Jeanne, who understood what she meant, was hot on her heels.
It didn't take long before she burst through the doors and was met with a terrible sight. Scattered on every inch of the floor were the bodies of dead Witches. One of them stuck out to her more than the rest.
"Mummy!" She called out, running towards her mother's dead form.
The doors closed behind them as Jeanne stepped into the room, unable to do any more than watch her friend grieve. It saddened her that she couldn't do anything to make this situation better. And it just made her feel ashamed at the thought of what she had to do next.
The sound of Jeanne's footsteps clicking across the ground was the only thing to be heard, but Cereza was in too much shock to notice.
"Cereza," Jeanne said, causing her friend to look up at her with wounded eyes. "I'm sorry."
Cereza stared at Jeanne confused, although she had no time to comprehend what was happening as Jeanne quickly took out her knife and aimed for Cereza's chest. Cereza let out a scream of pain, looking at her friend feeling betrayed. Luckily, Jeanne had landed her target and the knife had pierced Cereza's witch watch, the object which kept Umbra Witches alive for much longer than any human could possibly live. Within a moment Jeanne withdraw her dagger from Cereza's body and the other Witch fell to the ground unconscious.
/Break/
Jeanne grunted annoyed as she dropped the chain sealed coffin into the lake. Although she hadn't killed Cereza, she knew that she would be gone for a very long time. It wasn't safe for Cereza to stay while this war raged on, although Cereza was much too in the dark to understand why. Jeanne already knew that Cereza was the Left Eye of Darkness, a complete counterpart to her father Balder, the Right Eye of Light. She knew that Cereza's father was not a trustworthy man, and that he could easily use the Witch as a weapon to rage war on this world. With a sad sigh, she ran off into the forests of Vigrid to rejoin the still raging battle.
Hey, guys! So, I hope you liked this story which I wrote as for my English class, even if you didn't, please review and tell me what you think.
Also, this is for some of my common readers. I know that I haven't published anything in ages and I'm afraid to say that it will be a while before I publish anything again because I've really got to focus on school and I'm also writing my own book series(I know, it's so cliche). Anyway, what I'm saying is, those of you who have favourited and followed me, please don't think that I'm gone forever. I will continue to update some of my current stories and will keep posting others. Now that that's over, I will once again say, please review and tell me what you think so far. Bye!