Chapter 4: Autumn, September, Year 1
Finally able to get Mari out of the house, Ren walked with her along the bridge over the strong-moving river. Mari sat down on the ledge with him. Finally, he started to talk.
"Mari…" He spoke. "Why did you join Hao?"
"…" She went silent for a moment (although she was silent from the beginning), "…When Mari was a child, Mari was very happy. Mari had the best education, a high-class house, and Mari's mother had just given birth to Mari's little brother, Ezio."
When Mari was small, her family was perfect. A beautiful house, money, status, arts, language, clothes, toys, food, music… Every day, Marion's mother, Stella Phauna, played a song for the young Mari to sing to on the piano.
All'alba io vedrò le sette terre che
il destino vuole farmi trovare davvero.
O dolce melodia sprigioni vita e
mi fai cantare forte un messaggio d'amore.
Per sempre tu sarai in fondo all'anima
così che neanche il tempo ci può separare.
O dolce melodia sprigioni vita e
mi fai cantare forte un messaggio d'amore.
Dolce melodia
Dolce melodia
"Very good, Mari." Stella, a tall, beautiful woman with long, light copper, wavy hair smiled at her daughter. In her hair at the back was a long, lacey blue ribbon. Stella in her full dress picked up her child, Marion, who wore a cute black lacey dress and black ribbons tied her hair up in high pigtails. "You're a great singer."
"Ehehe…" Mari laughed as she never did in the present. Mari was a very happy child. But then, her powers began to grow as a Shaman.
"Stella! We have to do something about Mari!" Mari's father, Pierre exclaimed. Stella looked down.
"Pierre, we must remain calm. Mari is just a little girl. If we raise her right, nothing will go wrong."
"But-!"
"And then Mari remembers. We were running away, mother held my hand with Ezio in her other arm. Running, running…"
"Stop right there, you witch!" The villagers ran with weapons in their hands. As they dashed, Stella fell to the ground with a bang.
"Mari…!" Stella raised her hand to her child. "Run…! You must live…!" But Mari hesitated and looked at her mother. She started to cry.
"Gotcha!" One of the villagers grabbed her by the arm.
"Kill the woman and kid! We don't know their powers, either." The village leader gave the sign.
"Mari was forced to watch. There was so much blood. They stabbed and shot through mother and Ezio and father so many times. Mother's screams went away when her eyes went blank. Mari closed her eyes. And then, when Mari opened her eyes…" Mari looked at Ren as they sat on the ledge near the river. "Everyone was dead. Mari killed them with her power. Mari got away from there. Mari let Chuck possess my doll. Mari wanted power. And then, as Mari lived in fear alone, only 4 years old, Hao-sama found Mari." Mari lifted herself up from the ledge and turned around on it, her back facing the river.
"Mari?"
"Ren… What would you do if Mari jumped off right now?" Mari's pigtails blew in the wind. Her eyes were blank, as if it weren't her anymore.
"Don't be stupid. Get back-" But when he looked up, the girl was already falling back into the water. Like a dancer in the air, she gracefully fell.
"YOU RETARD-!" Ren urgently jumped into the water with her. From within, Ren pulled her up and made her choke up the water she had swallowed.
"Why…? Why did you save Mari…?" Mari choked. "AAAAAAAHHHH!" She screamed violently, and her eyes closed.
"Mari? Mari!"
"Again, huh…?" Yoh sat next to the injured Mari and the worried Ren.
"Again?" Ren whispered.
"Yeah… When she's questioned about her past, another her takes over and tries to kill herself. But… that's not what the real Mari wants." Yoh remembered the first time Anna asked Mari about her past. Mari had grabbed a razor blade and was about to kill herself when Anna slapped her with the legendary left hand. Anna had saved Mari. Ren had almost failed.
"…But if she knows her past, she-"
"There are holes in her story." Anna butted in. "She's tricking her mind to forget it."
"So the her who wants to kill herself is the one who she hid away…" Ren reviewed the circumstances.
"So if she remembers…"
"Yes. She'll kill herself." Ren and Yoh, shocked with fear felt the pieces connect. If she remembered, she would die. If she forgot, she would be stuck in time.
"Ren, I need to talk to you. Alone." Anna lead the Chinese boy to the veranda and leaned against the wall.
"Do you know why Mari approached you that day?" She asked. That day. The day his first kiss was stolen- no- shared with Marion Phauna.
"…No…"
"When her family was killed, she was powerless. She couldn't do anything to save them. If she had someone who had a kind, hurt heart like hers with power…" She looked at Ren. "But then, she met you Ren." He remembered the time they met. She was attacking them with the Hanagumi during the Shaman Fight. She remembered her strength, but then her weakness when he powered up. Her frightened, frustrated face… To this day, it still shone clear in his mind. They HAD fought directly, hadn't they?
"She only loved me… For my power…?" Ren covered his face and laughed. "OK… Now it makes sense… I'm such an idiot." Ren was an idiot. He had fallen in love with the girl who had forgotten how to love.