Long time no update. Well this update will fix that. Crash gets his memory back.

With that enjoy

Crash is not mine. OC's are mine

Chapter 4 It has Come

Crash had been sitting inside of the diner for the last 3 and half hours. He didn't exactly know why he remained glued to his chair; maybe it was because he was completely entranced with staring out the window and watching the rain pouring in gushes from the sky. Or it was just simply he wanted to keep his mind free from anymore flashbacks.

This morning alone had provided many more flashbacks than the rest of the week combined; and by judging what he had witnessed in those flashbacks, his past did not seem like a very happy one.

He had been imprisoned, running down a corridor with having no idea where to go, washed up on a shore and more than likely would have drowned if it wasn't for Jan. Somewhere else down the road he had been manipulated and was filled with nothing but pure rage and when he woke up at that military, all of his memories were gone. So what the hell was going on?

Crash raised his head from the window when he noticed Jan staring at him with a rather enraged look on her face.

"Hi! Did you forget that I was still here?!" She glared.

"You didn't have to stay this entire time, you know." Crash shot back in a rather mean tone.

"Well after you finished eating, you just focused your attention on the window. I didn't want to leave you alone; people would think you were crazy."

"Thanks Jan! That really makes me feel better!" Crash growled.

"What's the matter?" Jan asked.

"What's the matter...? WHAT'S THE MATTER?! I HAVE BEEN ANALYZING MY PAST FOR THE LAST WEEK AND HAVE REMEMBERED NOTHING BUT PAIN AND SUFFERING! AND YOU ASK WHAT'S THE MATTER?! WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN JAN?!" Crash felt tears forming in his eyes, but he refused to let them fall. It also did not help that everyone in the diner was staring at him. Jan looked at him with an unreadable expression.

"I'm sorry! I'm very sorry!" Crash replied humiliated, before running out of the restaurant.

He looked to see if Jan was going to him; but to his surprise, she didn't.

"Fine don't follow me; I would rather be by myself anyway."

The bandicoot walked through the rainy streets; his mind felt so thick and everything around him seemed to fade away as everything that once happened to him was coming back to haunt.

He wanted slap himself across the face for wanting to accept these memories back into his life; now they were haunting him so much that he could barely sleep or eat. He wished had stayed in his naïve little bubble; he would have been so much happier in the long run.

Crash had snapped out of his thoughts once again when he saw on one of the buildings walls numerous flyers and a giant crowd flocking around it.

He was tempted to walk away, but he felt his legs lead him straight to the wall. When he got closer, the people were murmuring amongst themselves, while others were weeping and crying.

"Excuse me, what's going on over here?" Crash asked a man who was passing out flyers.

"We've been putting up flyers in all major cities around the world." He said.

"Why?"

"They are list of children and young adults who have gone missing."

"That's terrible! Who would do something like that?!" Crash demanded, although he had a feeling he already knew.

"That's the problem, we don't know. These youths started disappearing around 5 years ago; and so far none have been found, and we're not even sure we know where to start looking. We're hoping these flyers may finally give us lead."

"How many youths have gone missing?"

"We've estimated around close to 5 or 6 thousand."

Crash felt something flow through him.

"You mind if I look through those flyers?" He asked.

"Sure knock yourself out. If you know anything, it will be more than helpful." The man smiled sadly before walking away.

Crash walked over to the wall and he saw all of the pictures; the youths had been from the United States to Japan, and they all had been taken from their homes with no explanation why.

But even then Crash knew one thing; he found himself able to identify them.

Crash saw a picture of a girl with raven black hair, and curved features.

"The girl; her name was...Ramona."

He then saw a small framed girl that's hair was so blonde it was almost white. Crash remembered her name was Valerie.

He scanned the pictures; the more he saw the more he remembered when suddenly, everything suddenly came together.

"I have to get back to Cortex's castle; if I don't, he'll hurt Tawna and everyone else." He heard his voice cry.

"Cortex, I AM going to stop you!"

"But I'm better off without you!"

"Cortex is still alive, and he wants me to gather crystals."

"Brio was the one pulling the entire time?!"

"You lied to me; and you used me!"

"So this what will happen if Cortex wins; he'll take control of the planet creating a dark and desolate future."

"I WON'T LET YOU HURT JAN; SHE'S INNOCENT IN ALL THIS! I'M THE ONE YOU FUCKING WANT!"

"Jan...I'm sorry... I'm not better off without you..."

Crash caved to his knees; he remembered now, he remembered everything.

"No, no it's not possible; this couldn't be my life; Coco, Aku Aku, Polar, Pura, Sean, Holly, Milo, Linda and Kage, they're all probably in agony. They must think I'm dead. But this is my life; I can now remember everything as clear as day. It can't be real; I couldn't have been created by that monster, but that's just it, I was. Ever since I betrayed him, he's been trying to kill me. He won't stop until I'm dead! I won't let that happen, I'll run away; I'll run faraway where no one can find me!

Crash started running down the sidewalk; not caring at all where he would go; all he wanted was to run for as long as he could. He wanted to run from his life, a life that had slowly dragged him into pain misery, a life where he was trapped inbetween worlds, a life where he could no longer remain naïve. However, his vision began to swirl; it was like he was being dragged into a nightmare that there was no escape. His dazed running had unfortunately caused him to knock down an old woman.

The woman cried out breaking Crash out if his trance.

"I'm so sorry, Ma'am. Let me help you." Crash said, helping up the poor lady.

"That's quite all right... Are you all right? You're dripping in sweat." She asked.

"Yeah! I'm okay...! I gotta go!" Crash bolted, leaving the woman standing in confusion.

"Won't stop running... Won't stop..." Suddenly Crash completely stopped in his tracks; he couldn't run anymore, there was no place left run. Where would he go? No matter where he went, Cortex was going to find him; he always did.

Crash cringed when he thought he could hear his arch nemesis's syrupy voice in his head.

"Remember Crash: nobody can run from their fate."

Crash lowered his head; he didn't want to admit it, but Cortex was right, he couldn't run away.

A couple hours later, Crash was sitting on the subway. He didn't care where it would take him, but just wanted to sit and clear his mind. Only that wasn't going the way he planned.

All he could think about was Cortex and all of the pain he caused him. It wasn't fair; why did Cortex want to do this to him? Was it just because Crash refused to bow to him; he still did regret this course of action, and he never would.

Cortex trying to kill him however was not what angered him the most; what angered him the most was the fact Cortex had claimed he changed his ways and needed Crash to help him save the world; only to discover the hard way that Cortex was controlling Crash like a puppet the entire time and had abducted Jan as blackmail. Crash would never forgive his nemesis, no matter how long he begged.

Crash would never forgive himself for their last encounter; when Crash let his rage take over and had destroyed the time twister machine the wrong way, and allowing Cortex to escape. Thanks to that lose of control, Crash had almost died, and had to start back at the beginning. Now that he was back on track, he wasn't sure if he wanted to continue.

He then felt the subway come to a complete stop.

"This is the end of the line; you'll have to get off." Said the conductor.

Crash pulled himself up and walked out. He stood on the docking part looked to see if another subway would come, but then he found himself staring at the stairs leading him back into the city.

He had a decision to make: he could either wait for the train and continue riding in a endless pattern, naïve and willing to ignore reality. Or he could go back to the city and face his life.

The next subway was coming into the dock and opened the door.

"You getting on?" The conductor asked.

Crash looked into the subway and was very tempted to get on, but decided...

"You know, I'm actually good." He said, walking toward the stairs.

Crash knew right there that no matter what he wanted to happened, he would have to face reality, and not run away it. No matter how bad it may be.

Well Crash is back on track, he's not happy about it, but he's back on track. This fic is almost over but the last chapters are going to bring everything together for the next installment. Until then, read and Review. DUECES!