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 Thirteen: Unus Peregrinus (Unparalleled Stranger)

"I'm confident, but I can't pretend I wasn't terrified to meet you; I knew you could see right through me…" –Secondhand Serenade, 'Stranger'

"Let me go! I've never even heard of anyone named 'Riku,' and you have no right to keep me tied up like this!"

I scowled and picked my pace up a bit, turning the corner to the Sandlot—where the Gummi ship was—in time to see Hayner and Sora running in from a few alleyways down.

Another Gummi ship had joined ours, and sitting in front of it was a boy who really did look like that Riku kid Sora had left behind in Radiant Gardens. The only difference was that his hair was shorter, his vest zipped up and with inverted colors, and his pants were tighter (not tight, but tighter). Standing behind him were that walking and talking dog and duck Sora used to travel with, and off to the side Cid was shaking his head.

"The fuck's going on here?" I asked as I approached, Sora and Hayner close behind.

The boy looked at us with a relieved expression on his face. "Finally, normal people! Tell these things to let me go!"

Sora cocked his head to one side. "Riku?"

"I'm not Riku!" The boy practically snarled, struggling so forcefully in his seat that it tipped over, sending him crashing sideways to the ground, still tied to the chair. "Dammit!"

"Careful, kid." Cid said, picking the boy up by the arms of the chair and setting him back upright.

"My name isn't 'kid,' either." The boy growled. "It's René."

"Okay, fine, René." I said. "Calm the fuck down, man." I looked at the animals. "Why in the hell is he tied up?"

The duck scowled at me…somehow. Could beaks really fucking bend like that? "He showed up at Disney Castle before we left, so we had to bring him with us. He looks like Riku, but says he isn't."

"And he kept tryin' to get away, hyuk." The dog said. "We thought he seemed a bit suspicious, but we didn't wanna hurt the little fella, so we tied him up."

I rolled my eyes (who the fuck refers to people as 'little fella' these days?), crouching in front of the Riku-doppelganger. "Look, René, we've got a lot of shit going on right now, so we can't fucking baby-sit you. But we can't let you go, either, so will you fucking stay put if I untie you?"

"The only reason I was trying to get away is because they kept calling me 'Riku' and acting like I was some kind of criminal or something." René said. "Would you have stuck around?"

I chuckled and untied the knot in the rope, straightening as René stood up, rubbing his arms a little. Once the rope marks on his arms had started fading a bit (the rope had apparently been a little tighter than it was probably meant it to be), I offered him a hand. "Name's Seifer."

He shook my hand. "You're the first person to introduce yourself, too…except for that mouse."

"Don't talk about the king like that." The duck said, putting his hands on his hips (do ducks have hips? Or hands?).

"He isn't my king." René snorted.

"Hey, hey!" Sora said, putting himself in between the two as the duck waved his magician's staff threateningly. "No fighting, you guys!" Then he gave René that far-too-cheerful smile of his. "I'm Sora! It's a pleasure to meet you, René!"

"You, too." René said, looking confused by the veritable ball of sunshine that made up Sora. I made a mental note to welcome him to the club sometime.

"And I'm Hayner." Hayner said with a short wave, earning a nod from the other.

"And those three are Donald, Goofy, and Cid." Sora added, motioning at the duck, the dog, and man, respectively.

René didn't even spare them a nod, instead crossing his arms over his chest. "So who's this 'Riku' guy? Is he, like, a criminal or something?"

"No, he's my best friend." Sora said. "I don't think they meant to treat you like that, it's just that…you do look an awful lot like him. And since you acted so strangely…or would have been if you were actually him…well…" He trailed off with a shrug.

René nodded again, then unfolded his arms and put his hands on his hips. "Right. Well, I've been through enough weird crap so far." He said. He almost sounded borderline hysterical. "I mean, we've got talking animals, intergalactic airships, and people whose hair defies gravity with no sort of product that I can see, so why not? I'm some guy's random twin. I can accept that. Sure."

"Just wait until you see the heart;ess! Then you'll be really confused!" Sora piped in helpfully. Optimistic little bastard.

René made a funny noise in the back of his throat, somewhere in between a snort and a whimper, and looked like he was about to faint.

"Sora, you aren't helping." I said, rolling my eyes at the boy in question.

"If you need a ride back to your world, you can hitch one with us." Hayner said.

René immediately snapped out of his near-hyperventilating stupor and shook his head violently. "I am not riding in anything if either of those two," he pointed at Donald and Goofy, "are driving. The duck is insane and the thought of that dog behind the wheel scares the ever-loving shit out of me."

"Hey!" Donald squawked (no, seriously, he did—his feathers puffed up and everything. And just when I was starting to think of him as more human than duck…).

"Don't worry about it!" Sora said. "We're all riding together, now, so Cid's driving!"

René turned a suspicious look on Cid, but after a moment seemed to come to the conclusion that he was safe to ride with, since he just shrugged in response.

For some reason, standing there like that made me feel uncomfortable. I scowled.

"Let's get going." Hayner said before I could, tucking his arms behind his back. "Which ship are we taking?"

"Theirs is bigger." Cid said, pointing at the one Donald and Goofy had brought. "Let's go."

"Seifer!"

"Wait up, y'know!"

I turned just in time for Fuu to barrel into me, nearly sending us both to the ground.

"The hell, Fuu?" I asked, then pretty much had the damn breath knocked out of me as Rai wrapped his gargantuan arms around the both of us and lifted us up.

"You can't leave without saying goodbye this time, y'know?" He said as he set us back down.

Fuu nodded.

"You guys are such fucking saps, I swear." I scoffed, even though the smirk on my face was softer than it usually was.

Fuu fixed me with a determined look. "We…aren't real." She said, putting a hand over her heart. The words were a struggle for her to get out clearly—she usually only said one or two at a time because she had this weird speech impediment. She didn't like for people to know about it, so she only spoke a little bit so there was less chance of anyone finding out. And when she actually did say more then a few words, you knew it was important. "But…our feelings…are, Seifer."

"Yeah, I know." I said, even though I hadn't. "Thanks."

"Take…care of yourself." She said sternly, even as her eyes welled up with tears. "Come back to us…someday. Promise?"

For probably the first time since my mother had died, I willingly hugged someone. And fuck you if you think I was acting weird—Fuu more than anyone else had always been my best friend, in my fake memories and in those weird feelings I got, like the ones about Roxas and my dad and Squall. You have no fucking idea how important it was to me that she was actually talking so much to me, and saying the things she was saying.

A sniffle from Rai interrupted our little rot-your-fucking-teeth-with-sweetness moment, and Fuu and I grinned at him.

"Crybaby." Fuu said.

"I'm not crying, y'know?" He snapped, letting out another loud sniffle and wiping his eyes furiously on his forearm.

"Ah, jeez." Hayner snorted.

"Fuck off, lamer." I said, not even sparing him a glance as I gave my friends…or, well, pseudo-friends…a dry look. "I'll come back, you guys. I swear." A pause. "Unless I die, in which case I guess I—"

"If you die, Fuu will eat your soul, y'know?" Rai said.

I laughed. "Yeah, yeah."

"Devour it." Fuu confirmed with a grim nod.

"It hasn't happened yet." I said, ruffling her hair. "See you guys around, alright? I seriously have to get going now before the wuss blows a gasket." I jerked a thumb at Hayner.

Fuu grinned.

"Follow the leader, y'know?" Rai snickered.

I let out a sound that might have been a squawk but most definitely wasn't (I left that to the damn duck, thanks). "How do you know about that?" I looked at Hayner, demanding, "How do they know about that?"

"How the hell should I know?" He asked.

"We aren't real, y'know?" Rai said. "So we know stuff that real people don't, y'know?"

"No, I don't fucking know!" I snarled. "Goddammit, why does everyone else but us know what in the fuck is going on?"

"Divine comedy." Fuu deadpanned.

"Oh, yeah, very fucking funny." I spat, then threw my hands up. "You know what? Whatever. What-the-fuck-ever. I don't even fucking care. Let's go, lamer."

"Hey, now, I'm the leader, remember?" Hayner taunted, sauntering up into the ship ahead of me.

I muttered darkly, words I won't write down here lest some poor unsuspecting kid accidentally stumbles upon them. Let's just say I know some sailors and I live with a fucking drunkard. That's enough to give you a fucking idea, I'm sure.

"Do I want to know?" René asked hesitantly as he and the rest of us followed Hayner—the little snit—onto the ship.

"No." I bit out, flipping off Rai and Fuu when they laughed at me. (Okay, Rai laughed. But once you've known Fuu for as long as I have, you can tell when she's laughing even if she doesn't let out so much as a squeak. Which she doesn't. Ever. Trust me.)

"Where to?" Cid asked while we strapped ourselves on.

"Oh, yes, where to Oh Fearless Leader?" I sneered at Hayner.

He just grinned at me. Fucker. "We should probably take René home first, right?" We looked expectantly at the boy in question.

"I'd kind of like to stick around if you guys don't mind." René said.

"I don't know if that's such a good idea." Sora said. "We're on a mission, and it'll probably be really dangerous…"

René crossed his arms over his chest and smirked confidently. "I can take care of myself."

A strange look flashed across Sora's face, but it had come and gone so quickly that I thought I must have imagined it.

"Look, kid, I'm sure you can take care of yourself, but this isn't some sort of goddamn game." Cid said, regarding René and Sora with an odd expression. "We aren't gonna have time to baby-sit—"

"I can look after myself, too." René said. "Look, how about this: the minute I start getting in your way rather than making it easier, you can dump me back on my world and forget about me, no questions asked. Okay?"

The six of us—Hayner, Cid, Sora, Donald, Goofy, and me—exchanged a long glance before Cid nodded.

"Alright, kid. But the second you slow us down…"

"You got it, captain." René saluted mockingly, plopping down in one of the chairs.

"That's Cid." Cid said, though I'm not sure why he didn't want to be called 'captain.' Maybe it was just the way René had said it.

"And I'm René." René retorted haughtily.

"Fine. René." Cid snapped, then directed his next statement at all of us. "Where are we going, before I just point at some random shit on the map and hope we don't implode?"

"Let's go back to Radiant Gardens." Sora piped up immediately. "We can…y'know, regroup and restock and all. Maybe find out why René looks like Riku or…I dunno, something."

"Good." Cid was already pressing buttons, looking distracted and mildly pissed. "But we'll have to take it slow and pray nothing attacks—this heap won't take much. I'll work on it when we get back home and I have all my shit handy."

"So we'll stay in Radiant Gardens for a while?" Hayner asked.

"You got a problem with that, kid?"

"Just curious." Hayner shrugged.

"Well, stop it." Cid said. "As a matter of fact, everyone might as well fuck off and take a nap for now; it's going to be a while before we get there." Without waiting for any of us to reply, he hit a switch, then leaned back in his chair and pulled his goggles down over his eyes.

"What a geezer." I murmured, though I followed suit. I reached up to cover my eyes with my beanie, then remembered that I had left the hat back in Twilight Town. With a sigh and a frown, I compensated by throwing an arm over my eyes.

End Chapter Thirteen