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.
Warnings: Yaoi and some angst. More warnings later if needed.
Chapter Seven: Fabula (fable, story, tale, play)
"You don't know about my past, and I don't have a future figured out. And maybe this is going too fast; and maybe it's not meant to last—but what do you say to taking chances? What do you say to jumping off the edge? Never knowing if there's solid ground below, or a hand to hold, or hell to pay…what do you say?" –Celine Dion, 'Taking Chances'
I think it took Hayner and I all of brunch to realize that Sora was the person we had been looking for from the start of our impromptu—and apparently damned—little mission. That is to say, he was Roxas, and Roxas is the person who had started all of this shit.
I also think that we both realized it at the same time, when Aerith offered people ice cream and Sora requested sea salt flavor. Riku said something about him only liking that flavor since he had merged with his Nobody, but Hayner and I had already given each other a wide-eyed look. Basically, these were our thoughts:
'Holy shit, we are fucking idiots.'
"You…you're Roxas, right?" Hayner asked, interrupting whatever conversation was going on.
"We aren't the same person." Sora said obstinately, with the air of someone who had had the same conversation several times over and was tiring of it. "He's my Nobody, but…we're not the same at all."
"Obviously." I muttered, but I think Hayner was the only one who heard me judging by the disapproving look that he (and only he) shot my way. I spoke louder next time. "So we found him, lamer. What now?"
"I don't know." Hayner snapped, annoyed. "I didn't…didn't think this far ahead."
"Oh, that's just great, chickenwuss." I said, feeling my infamously short temper begin to rise. "You drag me around to God-knows-where to find some kid who, by all accounts, doesn't even fucking exist, and now you don't know what you wanna fucking do? You realize all the trouble you've gotten us into, and for what? Was it all just some sort of weird-ass coincidence after all? I mean, what in the hell did you expect to happen? We would find the little blond shit and go home and live happily ever goddamn after? This isn't a fairy tale, lamer!"
I froze at my own words, something coming together in my mind.
"I know that!" He snapped, but I wasn't listening and he realized that a split second later, his head tilting to one side curiously. "You look like you did when you thought about that crystal."
I opened my mouth to say something, but it just hung there uselessly as my eyes widened.
"Seifer? What is it?" Aerith asked, putting a hand on my shoulder.
"I…" A hand came up to my mouth. "Holy shit, I think I just figured out who the Queen is." I stood, grabbing Hayner's hand and yanking him up out of his seat. "C'mon, we need to go back to Twilight Town."
"What? Why?" He asked, trying to jerk his hand away from mine (and failing, I might add).
"We have to talk to Miss Astor."
"The art teacher?" He asked incredulously. "What does she have to do with you figuring out who the Queen is?"
"She knows what's going on. I don't know how she knows, but she does." I said, starting to pull him toward the door.
"No, no, slow the fuck down." He said, digging his heels stubbornly. "Tell me what in the fuck you've apparently figured out before you drag me around, okay?"
I glared at him, impatiently wondering if it would be more trouble to actually explain, or to just throw him over my shoulder and carry him back to Twilight Town (via Space Paranoids, since I didn't know any other way to get there).
"Fine." I spat finally, releasing him and leaning over my drawing, sketching more onto it as I spoke. "D'you remember last semester, when Miss Astor had her painting class do that study on fairytales?"
"Yeah." He said slowly, the statement coming out as more of a question as he stood beside me and peered over my shoulder. "They had to do a series of pieces telling a fairytale, right? My history of art class had to look at the finished work. They mostly sucked."
"Yeah, but you stayed afterward to help Miss Astor put everything away, and saw a set that she hadn't let the class see." I said, still sketching.
"Right. It was…Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, I think?" He said uncertainly. "And it was damn good, too…and then you came in and went all ape shit about something."
I looked up at him with a dry expression.
He blinked as his brain made the connections. "Oooh…those were yours, weren't they?"
"You think, lamer?" I asked, returning to the drawing.
"That whole scene makes so much more sense now…" He mused. "But what's that got to do with anything?"
"Do you remember the…third one in the series?" I asked.
"Umm…" He paused thoughtfully, worrying his bottom lip with his teeth. "The first one was of Snow White's mom dying…and the second one was Snow White, so the third one was…her evil stepmother, right?"
"No, no, what's the bad guy in Snow White called, Hayner?" I asked, giving him a significant look.
"She's called the Queen, why—oh my God." He said as he finally figured out what I meant.
I nodded, straightening and showing him the finished picture. I hadn't changed the Queen at all except to put an apple in her hand, but in the background I had added a mirror with an eerie face reflected in it.
"Holy shit." He said, reiterating my earlier statement as he grabbed the picture out of my hands. "Seifer…you did a painting of the Queen before you knew who she was. I mean…that was before you knew any of this shit."
"That's not even the weirdest part." I said.
"How is that not the weirdest part?" Sora asked disbelievingly.
"Because the weirdest part is that one, Miss Astor requested that I be the one to do the Snow White fairytale." I said. "And two, she specifically asked me to do a painting of the Queen by herself like this, with the magic mirror in the background and everything."
"She knows something." Riku said.
I nodded, already having drawn that conclusion (which is why I wanted to go to Twilight Town, obviously). "And, if you replace the apple with a blue crystal, this is exactly what she looked like in the memory I saw."
Hayner's eyes met mine. "No such thing as coincidence?" He asked—more like said—with a grin tugging at his mouth.
"Exactly what I was thinking." I said, allowing my trademark smirk to come to my face.
"So let's go to Twilight Town!" He said, eager now.
"See? I told you." I said. "If we leave now and go back through Space Paranoids—"
"Why would you do that?" Sora asked.
"That's how we got here, so we should be able to get back the same way." Hayner explained.
"But why? We can get you there in our Gummi Ship!" Sora said, throwing his arms around Kairi and Riku's shoulders.
"If we have to deal with your driving again, I think I'd rather go through Space Paranoids." Riku drawled, easily blocking Sora's playful slap.
"I'm a good flier!" Sora huffed.
"If 'good' means you haven't killed us yet." Kairi giggled.
"Don't be mean!" Sora said, pouting.
"I'll go with you, then." Cid spoke up suddenly, standing. "God knows you little idiots could use some damn adult supervision."
"You won't be of much help, then." Merlin sniffed disdainfully.
"Ah, shut the fuck up, geezer." Cid snapped. "At least I won't destroy the damn ship using that godforsaken magic of yours!"
"Godfor—don't you talk to me like that, young man!" Merlin said. "I'm old enough to be your grandfather; you should treat me with the respect I deserve!"
"I am treating you with the respect you deserve, after you blew up my computer!" Cid said.
"Oh, both of you stop it!" Aerith said, putting her hands on her hips. "Honestly, you're as bad as Hayner and Seifer! And even though all of you are old enough to know better, you two are most certainly too old to carry on like this."
The two men turned their backs on each other again.
"I don't know if this many people will fit in the ship." Sora piped up. "Especially since I think Donald and Goofy are supposed to be meeting up with us later."
"Can we use one of your ships, Cid?" Kairi asked.
Cid shook his head. "None of them are ready to fly yet, especially not if we run into trouble—which we're bound to do. There ain't enough time to make yours bigger, either, or I'd do that."
I saw Riku's jaw clench, and knew what he was about to say almost before he said it.
"Kairi and I can…can stay here." He said with some difficulty.
"No!" Kairi exclaimed immediately.
"Kairi, we have to stay." Riku said.
"No we don't! I'm not leaving Sora! Not again!" She said. "I'd rather put up with his bad flying than stay here without him!"
"Kairi, I get the feeling that they're going to need a good driver with them for this." Riku said. "And we take up more room than Donald and Goofy—"
"Maybe you take up more room than Goofy, but I most certainly don't!" She said. "Let him stay here with you!"
"Goofy will be more useful than you, Kairi." Riku said.
She jerked back like he had slapped her. "I'm useful!"
"I didn't say you weren't, I just said Goofy's more useful. And I don't know how being around the Queen would affect me, since I…well." He shrugged, but apparently everyone but Hayner and I knew what in the hell he was talking about. At least, I assumed Hayner was as confused as I was. "So I don't know that I would be very useful, either. We're the best people to stay here."
"That…that isn't fair!" She said, though the anguished expression on her face told everyone that she knew he was right. Then, her bottom lip trembling, she shook her head and ran deeper into the house with a soft, brokenhearted sob.
Riku sighed, but didn't go after her. Instead, he turned to Sora, pulling it out of his pocket and pressing it into the smaller boy's hand. "Look, Sora…if you ever need anything…I mean, anything…"
"I'll Summon you." Sora assured him with a smile, and then threw his arms around the taller boy's neck. "I'll be back."
"You'd better be." Riku said, ruffling his hair, then turned in the direction Kairi had taken. "I'd better go talk to her."
"Yeah." Sora said. "Tell her…"
"I will." Riku said with a distracted wave of his hand, and then he had disappeared into another room.
"So!" Sora turned to us, all smiles once again (he definitely, definitely wasn't the same person as Roxas). "Let's get going, yeah?"
"Where are we meeting up with Goofy and Donald?" Cid asked as the two of them filed out, Hayner and I following fairly closely behind.
At least, I was following close behind before a hand suddenly grabbed my arm. I looked back in surprise at Leon, who wouldn't quite meet my gaze as he slipped something into my hand.
I looked down, finding a small pendant shaped like a lion's head with a cross underneath it.
"Griever?" The word popped out of my mouth at the same time as it popped into my mind.
"We're the…the last ones left from our world." He said with some difficulty. "Maybe we hate each other, and maybe we've both moved on, but…if you need me…I'll come help you out."
I blinked at him.
"Sora will show you how to Summon." He added awkwardly, pulling away.
My first, unexplainable instinct was to hug him, but I suppressed it violently, giving him a curt nod instead. He returned it (he looked relieved that that was my only response), and for just a moment there was a silent understanding between us. And then he scowled at me, and I smirked at him before turning to catch up with the others, waving at Aerith, Cloud, and Merlin just before I was out the door.
"What was that?" Hayner asked curiously, having apparently slowed so I could catch up. The other two were a little ways ahead—they hadn't noticed us lagging behind, probably too caught up in whatever they were talking about.
I shrugged wordlessly, moving to slip Griever into my pocket. Then I paused, glancing down at the token for a moment, and clipped it to a belt loop instead.
"Just…just getting a little help from a friend." I said, hefting Hyperion onto my shoulder the same way I would a Struggle Bat—Hyperion was noticeably heavier, but not unmanageable.
"You need a sheath for that thing." Hayner remarked.
"I'll be fine." I said, then gave him a sly look. "What about you, lamer? You don't have any weapon at all, and even if you get a Struggle Bat when we get back to Twilight Town you suck with them."
He made a face at me, then grinned that stupid grin of his and flexed his biceps at me. "As long as I have these guns, I don't need any other weapons."
I choked on air, putting a hand over my heart. "Oh, God—I know I call you 'lamer,' but I think that might have been physically painful."
He sighed dramatically. "All that time I spent actually kicking your ass, and all I had to do was tell a lame joke?"
"That didn't even constitute as a lame joke. It was terrible." I said.
"Now you're just being mean." He said.
"'S what I do best, chickenwuss." I replied easily. "Besides, what do you mean 'actually kicking your ass'? Even with Roxas around you never stood a fucking chance of beating me."
He rolled his eyes, not making the comment I expected as he frowned suddenly. "D'you think…everyone will have forgotten about us?" He asked.
"We've only been gone for, like, a day." I said.
"They forgot about Roxas." He pointed out. "I mean, yeah, technically they didn't know him, but…technically they didn't know us, either."
I pursed my lips together. "I dunno, lamer. Maybe." A sinking feeling settled deep in my stomach. "If they've forgotten us…do you think Rai and Fuu will…will be…gone? Merlin said they're like doppelgangers or something, right?"
Hayner gave me a sympathetic look that would've made me want to punch him if not for the overwhelming sadness I was feeling at the prospect of losing my only—if, admittedly, fake—friends.
"Shit, that would suck." He said finally.
I took a deep breath, then let it out along with a low growl. "I'm beginning to wish I'd just decked you yesterday instead of letting you run your damn mouth."
We were quiet for a moment.
"You know what, Seifer?" Our eyes met, reflecting the same emotions back at each other. "I'm beginning to wish the same thing."
End Chapter Seven