Disclaimer: I do not own HunterxHunter, nor do I profit commercially from these writings. And nor do I own the songs used for these chapters.
ONCE UPON A DECEMBER
From the film "Anastasia" (1997)
For Kurapika and Kuroro, Sarai and Noah were children of their pasts.
.
Dancing bears, painted wings
Things I almost remember
.
It was a common knowledge in their household that the twins were sometimes plagued by 'nightmares'. In the dead of the night, sometimes the twins were awakened by dreams of the days long gone. When they were younger, Sarai would run to her parents' bedroom and cry in her mother's bosoms—she never went to her father. Just as Sarai always gravitated to Kurapika, Noah always gravitated to Kuroro. The first few times, he would cry silently as he crawled to his father's laps and huddle close to his chest, taking comfort in the warmth that his father's body emitted and the feeling of safety that his embrace provided. As the twins grew older, they stopped going to their parents' bedroom. They would huddle in bed, hugging each other tightly and crying silently—only the occasional hiccups and sniffles. As they grew even older, they forgot the sadness and began to look forward to those 'visions'.
.
And a song someone sings
Once upon a December
.
"I wish I can meet them." Sarai would whisper to Noah.
"I know. I wish I can meet her, too." Noah would whisper back to her.
"I look like Mama's grandmamma." She would say. "But none of Mama's people have your colour."
"I take after Grandmother. Father's mother." Noah would say.
"I want to see her."
"I want to see Mother's grandmother, too."
"Great-Grandmamma is very pretty." Sarai would smile.
"Grandmother too." Noah would smile back.
.
Someone holds me safe and warm
Horses prance through a silver storm
.
It always broke Kurapika's heart whenever she overheard one of those hushed conversation between the twins in the middle of the night. It always rendered Kuroro solemn and brooding. The only thing they could do was to provide their little ones with all the comfort and reassurance they needed.
What they didn't realise was that the older siblings were also afflicted by the pasts.
.
Figures dancing gracefully
Across my memory
.
"I miss her too, you know." Meta would whisper to the twins, in the occasional nights when he would visit them in their bedroom.
"You've met her, Big Brother?" Sarai would ask, eyes big with wonder.
"Yeah. She was cool and really smart. She was just like Dad, only a woman and her hair wavy like Bia's."
Meta would then tell them everything he remembered about Ishtar.
.
Far away, long ago
Glowing dim as an ember
.
Bia didn't know Ishtar. She didn't understand her sibling's fixation with the woman called Ishtar whom she only knew as Daddy's mother and therefore their paternal grandmother. However, she understood their affliction with the pasts. After all, she was suffering from the same thing, too. Sometimes in her dreams she saw people who she didn't remember meeting, but they felt somehow familiar to her. Like she was supposed to know them but somehow had forgotten about them.
After some years, only a singular face remained in her vague dreams. The face that she was most familiar amongst those vague faces that floated in her dreams.
.
Things my heart used to know
Things it yearns to remember
.
[I see her again in my dream.] She would tell Meta sometimes.
"Who?" Meta would ask.
[The old lady.]
"Do you want to tell Mom and Dad?"
[No.] Bia would shake her head. [They're busy with the little ones. I don't want to bother them more.]
But Bia would lay awake on her bed on some nights, especially during cold nights, as she recalled the distant chatter of warm voices and soothing singing of a kindly old lady.
.
And a song someone sings
Once upon a December
.
It was only years later, when she finally reconnected with Heen as real brother and sister, that she found out that the old lady was her grandmother Ellie.
Much as Ishtar was Meta's, Sarai's, and Noah's grandmother, and Great-Grandmamma was their great grandmother.
Author's Note: This is almost like a celebration of grandmothers… I miss my maternal grandmother. She is so sweet and totally the spoil-my-grandchildren-rotten type.
Any more suggestions of songs? Or requests?
And REVIEWS? XD