Remembering the Forgotten

By: Ellipsis the Great

DISCLAIMER: Kingdom Hearts and everything affiliated with it belongs to SquareEnix and Disney. All I own is the plot…although the original idea came from orangediscord's one-shot 'Left Behind.'

Summary: Sometimes, I thought I was the only person who remembered him…eventual Seiner, other pairings unknown.

Rated: M.

Spoilers: Takes place after Kingdom Hearts II; I dunno how much of the plot will be included yet, though.

Warnings: Yaoi and a little angst (probably). More warnings later if needed.

Chapter Four: Inclino (to bend, incline, turn, change; fall back, waver)

"It's a thief in the night to come and grab you. It can creep up inside you and consume you. A disease of the mind, it can control you—I feel like a monster." –Rihanna, 'Disturbia'

When I woke up, I was hot.

And no, I'm not bragging (this time) or being perverse (…this time). I mean that I felt like someone had draped at least ten thick blankets overtop of me, and then cranked the heater up to some god-fucking-awful hot temperature. The source of the heat, though, was behind me. My tired mind reasoned that Fran, my old St. Bernard, had probably crawled into bed with me.

And then the fog in my head cleared enough for me to realize that Fran couldn't possibly be lying behind me because she was on an entirely different fucking world.

I jerked the rest of the way awake and started to pull away from whatever it was lying behind me. I froze a moment later, though, when it whimpered and moved closer, callused hands curling against my back as if imploring me not to leave.

Slowly, carefully, I rolled over, then sighed with relief.

It was just Hayner.

But as I looked at him, wondering how I should move him away (more like wondering if I wanted to just shove him off and deal with his bitching, or try to do it without waking him up), he began to shiver. His hands fisted between our chests, his lips became tinged with blue, and his cheeks and nose flushed a little as if he had just been plunged into a tub of ice.

"Hayner?" I put a hand on his shoulder, but almost immediately pulled away as I found it so cold that it actually burned my hand.

His eyelids squeezed even tighter together and he groaned, rolling even closer to me. As he did that, I caught sight of one of those weird shadow things huddled over something pink, which it was slowly coaxing out of his back.

I let out a surprised yelp and punched at it, though my hand did little to no damage. "Aerith!" I yelled as I all but fell out of bed. "Aerith, come quick!"

I drew my fist back for a second punch, but hesitated as I felt a new but familiar weight settle into it. Without thinking about it, I brought the new weapon around and stabbed down, the gun-like sword skewering the little monster. It exploded into that strange collection of balls again, and Hayner sighed as the pink shape—a heart, I realized with a sick feeling in my stomach—reentered his back. His eyes fluttered open, glowing a sinister yellow color for a moment before returning to their normal warm cinnamon hue. He shuddered once and then threw himself at me, wrapping his arms around me shakily as he struggled for air.

Aerith and Leon chose this moment to finally burst into the room. Aerith was holding a wooden staff in front of her threateningly, while Leon was wielding a sword similar to the one that was currently sheathed in the bed.

"What happened?" Leon asked.

Hayner let out a relieved, yet still somehow frightened, sob; like a child that had just woken from a nightmare. "It was s-so c-c-cold." He mumbled into my chest, teeth chattering.

"One of those…those things was attacking Hayner!" I said, wrapping my arms around the boy in question. "It was trying to steal his heart!"

"A heartless?" Aerith gasped. "Here?"

"That's what those shadow things are?" I asked. "They're those heartless things you were talking about earlier?"

"If it was trying to steal his heart, yes." Leon said, then caught sight of my sword. "Hyperion?"

"It's mine." I blurted, grabbing it and yanking it out of the bed without letting go of Hayner.

"How did you get that?" He demanded.

"I just wanted to kill that heartless fucker and it came to me." I said defensively. "I dunno how or why."

"Leon, don't." Aerith said, putting a hand on his arm. Then she looked at Hayner. "Are you alright, Hayner?"

Hayner nodded jerkily. "Just a little freaked out." He said with a faint smile, not moving away from me. "I'll be okay."

"You sure, chickenwuss?" I asked.

He nodded again, steadier this time, and stepped out of my embrace. "I'm alright. Thanks."

"Sure." I said, thought I was a little skeptical. He was still very pale. But I didn't push, instead turning to Aerith and asking what time it was.

"It's about eight." She said. "I'm going to go make breakfast. Leon," she looked at the older man, who looked like he was about ready to start firing off more questions about Hyperion. "Why don't you go see where Cid and Merlin are while Seifer and Hayner freshen up?"

Leon pursed his lips together, eying Hyperion for a moment more, then nodded and left without another word.

"What's his problem?" Hayner asked, voicing my thoughts.

"Leon doesn't like being confused." She explained. "And between you two appearing and that heartless popping up out of nowhere…well, things are getting really confusing."

"Basically, he has a stick up his ass." I summed it up, rolling my eyes.

Aerith shook her head, stifling a giggle. "Well, the bathroom is down the hall on the right, and there are extra towels in the closet across the hall from it. Just yell if you need anything." She said, then turned and left.

As soon as the door had closed, Hayner practically collapsed onto the bed and put his head in his hands, looking rather nauseous.

"Chickenwuss?" I put a hand on his back.

He shook his head wordlessly.

"You…want me to get Aerith?" I asked. I didn't know what else to do—I was damn horrible at dealing with people.

"No." He said quickly, looking up at me. His eyes flashed yellow.

I jerked back a little, startled. "Lamer, you—"

"I'm okay." He insisted. "But…but I think I'm starting to figure out what's going on. And I think it goes beyond us and Roxas and Sora."

"Yeah?" I sat next to him warily and rested Hyperion on the edge of the bed beside me.

"When that…that thing…when it was…you know." He said with difficulty. "My heart…I felt…I felt like they do."

"Whaddya mean?" I asked.

"I was becoming one of them." He began shivering again and wrapped his arms around himself. "They have a shared memory. Not a shared conscious—they move separately. They don't have any sort of method to them. But any memories that they have are collected into one central memory bank. It was…overwhelming."

I nodded thoughtfully as I pulled the blanket up and draped it around his shoulders. "Okay, so?"

"They…they remember me." His voice was small as his hands clutched at the blanket. "I…used to be one of them, I think. Before…before everything."

"But you aren't one anymore." I said.

"Right. Only, they're trying to get me to come back again." He said. "I remembered…before you killed it and saved me, I remember seeing the Queen yelling at them to bring me back. I was…I was supposed to do something, but I failed, and they've just now been able to come after me again. I…I think you were stopping them before."

"I don't understand what in the fuck you just said." I said.

He blinked at me.

"Firstly, who's the Queen?" I asked.

He shrugged. "She's the one that controls them. They collect hearts for her—they think she'll let them keep one someday, but she never did until she let me do it. But the only reason she did that was because she needed me to do something. Now she wants it back."

"Okay." I said slowly. "Do you remember what you were supposed to be doing?"

He shook his head. "It had something to do with Roxas. I think I was supposed to get him away from you, but I don't remember why. And I don't remember what I was supposed to do once I'd gotten him away from you, or any of that."

"Well, that might explain why we hate each other." I joked weakly.

"I guess." He murmured.

"Okay, so…what did you mean, I was stopping them?"

"I…I don't remember." He squeezed his eyes shut, as if that would help him think. "You're important, I think, but…but I can't remember…I can't…"

"Hey, don't worry about it." I said. "It's not a big deal. Look, maybe something Cid or Merlin says will help you remember. And besides that…" I paused for a moment, not sure if I wanted to continue. "I'll…I'll keep you safe, okay? That heart is yours now, and that Queen bitch can't have it back. You aren't her slave. If you were, you wouldn't have told me any of this stuff and you would remember everything."

He nodded.

"I'm gonna go take a shower, okay?" I stood, grabbing my vest and jacket. "Will you be alright by yourself, lamer?"

He gave me a dry look. "I don't need you to take care of me, you know."

"Wouldn't know it from the way you were holding onto me earlier." I said, inwardly relieved that he was returning to normal. "You're a regular damsel in distress."

"You fucking wish." He said, our banter coming easily to him.

"You do make a pretty girl." I mused, eyeing him.

"Fuck you, Seifer." He said, flipping me off.

I smirked at him. "Trust me, chickenwuss: if it ever came to that, I would be the one fucking you." I said.

He started, eyes wide, and flushed as the full implications of my statement came clear to him.

Actually, I think I was blushing a little, too. Why in the hell had I said that…?

Too embarrassed to wait around for his reply, I ducked out of the room and into the bathroom, quickly stripping down and climbing into the shower.

Once I had gotten over being mortified by my sudden and unprecedented flirtatiousness (with my rival, for fuck's sake…shit, bad wording), my thoughts turned to the conversation before that.

Turning the new information over in my head a few times, I came to this conclusion:

What.

The.

Fuck?

End Chapter Four