Never forget me
The sun was beautiful.
It sparkled and shone on the world as a never ending beacon for life. As the water lightly reflected the star's brilliance, a young child sat on the window sill of an open balcony window, but no balcony was outside this window. Instead, against the wall was a backless sofa on which the blonde child perched.
The girl looked so elegant and perfect, a pristine doll from which sunshine rolled down her curls of hair and starlight reflected from her eyes and moonlight off her pale porcelain skin. With an expressionless face, she watched as the sun melted and night and day melded into one for a short period of time known as Twilight.
"Panna." The perfect child turned, her emotionless gaze of golden eyes falling on the doorway.
In the doorway stood a woman, one of the house maids, but she is not important. What was important was the small girl, shorter even than Panna, who clung to the maid as if her life depended on it. She was pale and her dark hair covered her face and eyes.
Panna stood, sauntering gracefully across the room as a dancer would, and leaned down to see the girl. The child cowered more, sniffling. Panna smiled slightly, but her eyes did not smile.
"My name is Panna." Panna told the girl. The tiny mouse of a girl spoke up slightly.
"Diluviare." She mumbled, her mouth sounding as if someone had boxed her in the mouth.
"Diluviare? That's beautiful." Panna held her hand out to Diluviare in a kind gesture. She also gestured for the maid to take her leave, and she did. Diluviare looked back, afraid now that her shield had left, but Panna took light hold of her small hand. Diluviare looked up to Panna as the older girl spoke.
"Let's be sisters".
The next day Panna took out to the streets with Diluviare in tow, now affectionately calling the girl Dilu. Dilu seemed aghast at all the things around her, the market place and the people and the nearby ocean.
"This empire is the Empire of the West; Ovestimpe. Ovestimpe is our land; my father's land." Dilu nodded shyly.
"Where are you from, Dilu?" Panna asked as she took an apple from a basket and handed it to the girl.
"Hey, you -!" The shopkeeper began, but one glare from Panna was all it took for the keeper to recognize the King's daughter. She was an icy princess.
Dilu inhaled the food as if she hadn't eaten in ages. It looked like this was true – she was barely skin and bones.
Dilu was silence for a moment after the apple, but stared ahead without answering. Panna waited patiently.
"I think I is from there. Past that big thing." She pointed to the sun. "I remembers lotsa water and I was fallin fors a whiles." The girl had a terrible lisp. "I saws a lotsa light. And felt really… sad."
Panna didn't say anything.
It was two weeks later that the children began venturing around the castle.
"The Western Empire is akin to the Southern Empire, and the two pretty much own the world. To make an alliance between the two the Prince of the south will marry one of the western princesses."
"Whoses the western princessesth?" The girl questioned.
Panna smiled and smoothed her skirt. She was walking on the railing, balancing against gravity and the wind.
"You and I. I am the only princess as of now, but I will teach you to be a beautiful princess." Panna leapt down from the railing and looked to Dilu. "You will be the brightest star."
So it began – the princess taught her prodigy well.
"When you speak to people, act as if they have all your attention and that attention is there's and there's alone. No one is more important than them – if only for that short time. That makes them feel important –"
"Even if theys not!" Dilu finished.
"Even if they aren't." Panna corrected smiling.
Later in the day, the two read in the library.
"The rain in Spane –"
"Spain." Panna nodded to correct Dilu. Dilu nodded and continued reading.
"Spa – in." She stretched the word out as she tried to pronounce it. Panna chuckled.
"A little better."
"Do you remember anything else about your past?" Panna had asked one day. Dilu and she were on the balcony were they had first met, watching the sun set. This was their daily routine. Watch the sunset and the sunrise.
"Not really. I remember… a boy. I think he was named…" She thought for a moment, and then sighed. "I doesn't remember."
"Don't."
"I don't remember." Dilu corrected. Panna smiled.
"You're catching on."
Day by day, the little Diluviare learned to be royal in character and personality. Panna and Diluviare became close, like sisters, one following the other everywhere. The marketplace was their favorite place to play. On many days though, Panna had to go to her own studies and Diluviare had to play on her own.
Skipping by the ocean on the sidewalk two boys, much older than her, walked up to Diluviare as she sang.
"Hey, Princess." They taunted. Diluviare looked up with kindness, not expecting malicious intent.
"Hello –" As soon as she stood up, she was pushed back down again.
"We'll teach you how to be royal, princess." One boy cackled.
"Yeah!" The other consented.
Before they could begin whatever they had planned, something happened. Diluviare, shaking in fear, watched as an older youth attacked the mongrels from behind, and then turned to her.
"Hello?" She gasped very afraid. The boy went up to her. He wasn't much older than her – she was now seven, and he was nine or ten.
"Are you okay?" He asked, looking her over with concern. She nodded.
"I'm okay. I'm Diluviare. May I ask your name?" Dilu inquired, trying to be polite. He nodded and with a smile full of kindness named himself.
"My name is Morpheus." He said, turning around. "And in years time, I will return once again.
It was four years later that this happened.
"Have you heard?" Someone whispered in the hallways.
"Yes – the prince of the south has come! Prince Morpheus has come to enact the peace treaty at last!"
"Poverty will be a thing of the past." One man sighed.
"But listen to this, my friends." A third began. "The King has asked not for Princess Panna's hand in marriage, but Princess Diluviare!"
"It's true the child has become quite the beauty."
"Oh, but don't you know? It's said that Lady Panna has been madly in love with the prince since their first meeting in childhood."
"Lord Morpheus saved the young princesses life four summers ago, the very summer she arrived in the Western Empire."
"The poor girls – one wishes for the Princes love, and I've heard young Diluviare wishes to leave the kingdom one day. Oh, how I pity the poor children."
Later the same day the girls met in the library.
Now fifteen, Panna was still a cold, pristine beauty. Long golden locks fell over her beautiful shoulders, and she wore a long golden dress that matched her earthy yellow eyes.
Lady Diluviare strode into the room. If Panna was sunlight, Diluviare was the moon – her dark hair was now wavy and her tan skin sparkling as she grinned widely.
"Panna! Lord Morpheus has returned!" She grinned, standing next to her surrogate sister. Panna smiled, her eyes alit.
"Nice to see you in good spirits." She smiled. "Recently those dreams have been weighing down on your mind."
Diluviare sighed, nodding.
"Those dreams are disturbing, but news of the peace that's coming for the kingdom is enough to let my heart soar! In only three day's time, the prince will become wed and you will have your happiness!" Dilu grinned.
Panna's happiness faded.
"Dilu, you know that the Prince could choose either of us." She said somberly, looking to her sister. Dilu's smile faultered.
"You mean – he could choose me? What if I refuse?" Panna sighed.
"You can't. Neither can I, nor he. Our parents decide." Dilu grimaced.
"That's wrong." Huffing, she collapsed into a chair. "If her were here, this wouldn't happen."
"If who were here?" Panna questioned.
"The man from my dreams. Not all my dreams are horrific. There are dreams I feel are from my past, too. And he's in them. I don't remember his name, but his eyes were crimson like fire!"
"Or blood." Panna added. Dilu stuck her tongue out.
"Don't rain on my parade." Panna laughed.
It was rare to see the princess Panna laugh around anyone but Dilu.
"He was kind to me – my best friend. We lived in a beautiful rain forest with huge birds and towering skyscrapers living alongside plants."
"Wait." Panna interrupted. "It sounds like you're describing the Northern Empire." Dilu's eyes lit up.
"Do you think he's there?"
"There's a chance. If he is, he'll come here in three day's time for the Prince's decision. Then, you can look for him!" Panna cheered. Dilu smiled serenely.
"Maybe we'll both have happy endings." Dilu chirped. Panna rolled her eyes, sitting down on the balcony by the open window and watching as the sun ducked down below the ocean.
"Don't be silly, Dilu." Panna sighed. "Happy endings only happen in dreams."
Three days passed by rather quickly, and neither princess saw or heard from Prince Morpheus. Dilu eagerly awaited her chance to seek out the man from her dreams, and Panna tried to occupy time to keep from worrying over the celebration. Both princesses were at their wits end.
Finally the day came. The celebration was in the enormous dining hall. The princesses made a grand entrance.
With their father in the middle, and a princess on either arm, Diluviare and Panna gracefully stepped into the dining hall.
Everyone was awed in the beauty of the princesses. They were truly like ying and yang – beautiful opposites of one another. Even from their high spot in the room, neither could see Prince Morpheus. Dilu wasn't searching for him – her eyes scanned the crowd for her dream.
The night was rather normal until finally the time for the announcement began. Dilu and Panna were on their thrones when it began.
"Uhnn…" Dilu groaned. Panna glanced at her.
"What's wrong?" She implored. Dilu covered her eyes in pain.
"I'm having… a dream…" Panna's eyes grew wide.
"A nightmare? Now? When you're awake?" Panna turned in her throne as the King of the South spoke. The audience was slowly realizing something was wrong with Diluviare.
Diluviare had had nightmares since she first arrived in the Western empire. They always consisted of a young girl with long black hair calling desperately for help as she ran from red eyes.
Panna called out in vain to Diluviare as the girl collapsed.
Diluviare awoke again in her room.
"What's happening to me?" Dilu wondered in sadness.
"I don't know." Panna said. "I've been trying to stop it. For years now, I've connected myself to your mind and tried to discover about these dreams. They are actually coming from a person."
"A person?" Diluviare wondered in awe. Panna nodded.
"Someone is calling for your help. I don't know who… it's from very far away… past the four empires even." Dilu gasped.
"That's impossibly far."
"That's… beyond the sun. Remember? How you said you thought you had come from beyond the sun?" Dilu nodded.
"I remember."
The two princesses sat in silence for a moment.
"What shall we do?" Panna wondered. Dilu looked up to her.
Panna was crying. Silently she cried.
"P – Panna?"
"Prince Morpheus, he's – he's to be wed to you. Tomorrow." Dilu gasped, horrified.
"No! He's your beloved!"
"And this is your duty!" The princess harshly replied, standing tall. "Don't you understand? For ages my people have suffered in poverty and death, and only this can save them!"
"But your dream!"
"You know nothing of my dream!" Panna accused. "My dream is one and one thing only! I want to die!"
Dilu silenced, shocked beyond belief.
"Ever since I was little, the village people have told me that. 'Die! Die! Just Die!' And if it will make my people happy, I will die! And knowing my beloved is in your good, gently hands makes me all the happier! Please!" Panna spun around with red teary eyes and looked to her sister. "Do this for our people! Do this for me!"
Dilu's eyes were very wide. Slowly she stood and strode to the window. Panna's gaze followed her.
"P – Panna?"
It was then the girls saw outside into the night. Outside, disaster stuck terribly deep. It was so odd.
The sun and the moon were both in the sky – together. They were in an eclipse, and unknown to the girls, had been since Dilu had fainted.
"What is it?" Dilu asked, putting her hand on the window. To her shock, it was ice cold and iced over. But it was summer!
"It is the end."
The girls spun around. There was a man in a black cloak there.
"You will not find the man from your dreams, Diluviare." The man taunted. "When you lost your memory and he lost his, Xehanort fell into a different realm than you. You became a dream – a shadow of a reality. But it is the end."
"What do you speak of?" Panna cried. The man smirked.
"The dream will end. This world will awaken. And only those worthy will survive."
"Ahh!"
The man had disappeared, but so had the room! All of a sudden, the room went away as if it never were, and the two girls plummeted to the ground far below.
"Panna!" Dilu cried in fear.
Somehow, a boy leapt from one of the windows, reaching out for the girls. He cried out a spell.
"Evasione!" Morpheus cried and then the two girls took to the air. They all gently floated downward beneath the eclipsed sky.
"What's happening?" Panna cried to Morpheus. He ran to her and took hold of her hand.
"Everyone just started disappearing! Half the house is gone like it never existed!"
Running ahead, the three sped through crowds of screaming villagers. One child pointed to Panna as he ran by and screamed.
"Murderer!"
Even though that staked her heart, Panna kept running as her life depended on it, speeding away from the chaotic castle with Dilu and Morpheus at her side.
"Is it always like that for you?" Morpheus questioned. Panna ignored him.
The three escaped to the ocean and hid in an cave.
"What's happening?" Panna repeated with calm this time. Morpheus sank to his backside against the wall, exhausted.
"I'm not sure." He sounded terribly scared. So was Panna.
Dilu stood at the doorway.
"She's calling us." She muttered. Panna looked to her sister.
"Who, sister?" Panna asked.
"The girl from my dreams, the one you connected to." Panna closed her eyes.
"Yes, I feel her. She calls to us. She is…" Panna's eyes snapped open. "It all makes sense now."
"What does?" Morpheus asked.
The wind, like a heart that swam in the accumulated words
The clouds, a voice that was shot into the holding future
"Everyone is disappearing. Our world is torn apart. Don't you see?" Panna asked. "In this world, people tell fortunes by dreams. Dreams are power here. And we… we are only dreams. Nothing. Fake realities. Never to exist."
The moon, a shaking heart in an unsteady mirror
The stars, gentle tears in an overflowing stream
The chaos behind them became even more as more began to disappear. The land began fading into black bottomless pits as people fell down into their depths with screams.
"This is the way. Only the three of us will escape!" Panna cheered. "The girl called to you in sadness. She dreamt you could save her. I then connected myself to her. We can use that! We can use a person from reality to pull us into it!"
"You mean… we could be real?" Dilu sighed. Panna nodded.
"We won't have to fade away."
Isn't it beautiful, to walk together in each others hands
I do so want to go,
"But don't you see?" Morpheus cried, waving his arms behind him. The cave was gone. The world was fading away in screams of terror. "We will end up like them! All dreams do! No dream lasts forever! In the end, we will be nothing!"
Panna sighed and took firm hold on his arm.
To your city, your house, into your arms.
That heart,
"In the end, we will fade away. That is our death sentence. But I will postpone it as much as possible!" Panna cried. "I will go into reality!"
held within your body
In those confusing nights
I dream
"What if we hurt her?" Dilu asked. Panna looked on her sister gently.
"We will… have to hurt her." She said. "to become real, we will have to use her." Dilu looked astonished.
"NO!" Dilu cried. "I will protect her!"
"Sister, please…" Panna begged.
"NO!" Dilu repeated. "You are not the same person I knew! Will you truly take advantage of a poor child's suffering the way the village child did to you?" Panna became enraged.
The wind, its halting words are a gentle illusion
The clouds, the broken future like a distant voice
"Don't speak of what you don't know!" She screamed in fury. "I will do what I have to! And if that means hurting someone else, so be it! I won't let us die!"
"NO!" Dilu sobbed. "I will not follow you, sister!"
Panna went pale.
"What?" She whispered. "Please, no. Don't leave me, sister."
The moon, a heart flowing in the clouded mirror
"I will go to the girl. I won't let you hurt her." Dilu said. Panna seemed to lose all her strength.
"Please, Diluviare, I didn't mean…"
"NO!" Dilu shrieked, as the world around them became a blur and faded away. "I can't walk your path! Don't you see? I am the moon and you are the sun! You are day and I am night! We are not one and the same! We are sisters, but we are so different it frightens me!"
The stars, broken and swaying, like tears unable to be hidden.
"I can't live without you, Diluviare!" Panna sobbed.
"And I can't without you! But I will live to protect that girl! To protect Mitsuka!" Dilu paused. "And maybe one day I will remember my past, and maybe I will remember the boy named Xehanort."
"Please!" Panna sobbed, falling into Morpheus, who held her tight. The boy looked to Dilu in pain.
"You're really leaving us?" He asked. She nodded sadly.
"I will fight you, sister!" Panna sobbed angrily.
"I know, sister." Dilu sighed somberly. "I know you will hate me now."
"Know that I will always love you." Morpheus sighed. "And she will deep down as well."
Isn't it beautiful, to walk together in each others hands
The world was gone. They stood in a blur of dreams and voices and lives and things and worlds and realities.
The cloaked man from before came back.
"Who are you?" Dilu spoke softly, tired.
"I am known as Ansem the Wise." He said. "And you will be known as Hinode!"
He spoke to Panna, and as soon as Panna looked up, he locked eyes with her. The girl shrieked and looked away, but the change had already begun.
"And you will be Tsukikage." He spoke softer as Panna began to fade.
"No! Panna!" Diluviare cried, running to her sisters side. Ansem stopped her gently.
"Don't worry about your sister. Find this Xehanort person! I will take care of Panna!" Morpheus proclaimed.
And then they were gone.
I do so want to go,
"You will be Tsukikage." Ansem repeated. Diluviare sobbed.
"Why are you helping us?" Ansem chuckled.
"Because a boy I once counted as my son once loved you. And though neither of you remember, one day you both will. I think you are all that can save him." The older man smiled.
To your city, your house, into your arms.
"Tsukikage?" She whispered. When she did, she then screamed and fell as her own transformation began.
"Go!" Ansem cried. "Go protect Mitsuka and Sai from your sister!" Diluviare, once princess of the Western empire, now princess of the moon, Tsukikage, looked to Ansem with awe and fear.
"Please." He begged.
That face,
"What?" She asked, so in pain that it was barely audible. The dream world that had once been her home was disappearing.
A soft touch,
The world was gone. She was fading slowly, leaving the older man to live forever in darkness eternal. He seemed so somber, but so kind. A fatherly figure. In his eyes she saw reflected – memories.
"Wait for me, Lord Ansem!" A boy with silver white hair called. Ansem laughed.
"Hurry, Xehanort – or you'll be late, and once more Braig will have won!" Xehanort moaned playfully, trying to keep up.
"Braig never shuts up!" Xehanort grumbled.
"What was that?" A boy with short black hair and a bandage over his eye came out and ruffled Xehanort's hair.
"Does it still hurt?" Xehanort mumbled. Braig rolled his eyes.
"Still on about me saying your behind? My eye for your life is a fair trade if you ask me! Now come on – I'll still beat you to the meeting room!"
"Sad memories." Tsukikage murmured painfully.
Dissolving into morning,
"Please" Ansem repeated in begging. "Save Xemnas."
I dream.