Yesterday, the flaming rock that had dominated the sky for what had appeared to be an eternity, Meteor, had been destroyed moments before collision with the planet. Still fresh in everyone's mind was the image of the lifestream rising from the ground, twisting like serpents as the different streams of the river of life flowed across the land toward Midgar. Everyone who had prepared for death had been granted life by the planet.
Even one who should have been dead long ago.
***
His body had been infused with Mako countless times over, even ridden the lifestream; now it was carried along again as the lifestream coursed through the planet. The Cetra slowly erased the memories of the painful life the man had led. As an experiment, a corporation's pawn, and even a demigod. They allowed him to retain only the knowledge of the world in which he had lived, erasing all personal ties, but leaving triggers, words and images that would allow him to slowly remember. But only after he had learned the value of life.
The lifestream surfaced again on the ocean floor, casting his wounded body into the currents where the tides would carry him to shore.
***
As they approached the top of a dune, Merian, Emily, and Aaron heard the soft coo of hunting Beachplugs. Reaching the summit, they looked down to see six of the monsters surrounding the body of a man who had been washed up on the lonely beach. Merian started off running, Aaron and Emily a stride behind; after all, the man might still be alive and there was no way they were going to stand by and let him get eaten. When she had gotten closer, Merian slid to a halt. There were more Beachplugs burrowing up out of the sand. A nest! The man screamed in pain as the cephalopods wrapped their seaweed-like tentacles around his limbs. She extended her arm towards the ones closest to him.
"Stop!" she commanded. Two materia, green and blue, glowed in the paired slots of her bracelet as green spirit energy rose from the ground around her. The Beachplugs ceased all movement, frozen in time.
The amount of blood on the man's skin spoke of large open gashes, so she approached carefully, trying not to kick the sand as she walked. She nearly gagged when she saw the extent of his injuries. "My God," she whispered. It looked like he had been carved up with a sword. Numerous cuts scarred his bare face, arms, and chest. The blood ran thick across his face, around his neck, and down his sides and arms, almost completely covering his body. She knelt beside him, hardly noticing her friends pulling the Beachplugs away from him.
"Cure," she said, her mind reeling, appalled that anyone could do this to anyone. One of the shallower cuts on his face, and another on his arm closed up, but the rest still bled heavily. "Cure," she commanded again, the green materia in her necklace glowing brightly as the magic responded to her words. This was going slowly. It would be a miracle if she managed to get them all closed before he bled to death, but there was nothing that would stop her from trying.
The Beachplugs started moving again and Emily grabbed the man's arm, careful of a long cut up the outside. "We need to get him out of here!" she said urgently. "Help me move him." Merian, noticing the Beachplugs' movement, quickly picked the man up, ignoring the blood that coated her clothing and skin. The man drew a sharp breath in pain.
"Sorry," she whispered. "Cure," she said as she ran, carrying him away from the nest as fast as she could.
Emily turned to follow, but tripped on something half buried in the sand.
"Careful," Aaron said as he grabbed her arm to keep her from falling. He cast Fire to drive the Beachplugs back. Emily paused, looking curiously at the long, curving sword she'd kicked up. "Hey, you okay?" Aaron asked, pulling at her arm when she didn't move.
"Yeah," she said, snatching up the sword and following her friends in retreat.
***
He woke with a start, the sudden pain that ripped through his mind almost enough to drive him back to unconsciousness. Every inch of his upper body burned with pain, and he traced eleven cuts with his mind.
He wanted to scream, but even drawing breath was painful.
The pain crowded into every part of is mind, filling his senses. He felt the pain, oh yes, he felt it. Just like he could feel his energy, and his life, ebbing out of his body every time his heart beat, forcing more blood out the long wounds. The way he could taste the blood filling his mouth and the bile rising in his throat. The way he could hear his heart beating, loud and slow, and the gargled sob that escaped his lips as tears forced their way from his eyes. He screwed his eyelids shut tighter, trying to get rid of the awful redness that filled his vision, but found that, that only made the cut on the side of his face hurt more.
Then he heard, above the beating of his heart, a soft cooing. His pain wracked mind managed to identify the sound. Beachplugs. Then a hot fire spread through his arms as the Beachplugs' tentacles wrapped around them. The pain of the contact with already open and painful wounds, amplified by the sand being ground into them, was too much.
He screamed.
Then he heard the voice. "Stop!" it commanded. The Beachplugs stopped moving. Magic. "My God," he heard the voice whisper in horror. The Beachplugs were being pulled away from him, the tentacles unwound carefully. "Cure," came the voice again. A soft coolness spread through his body like a breeze, easing the pain, stopping it in places. It was wonderful. "Cure," the voice repeated.
Now that his mind was not so pressingly plagued by the pain, he could concentrate on the voice. It had been a female's voice. Low, but not deep, soft when she spoke, and pleasant to hear. Another voice, higher in pitch, spoke as a cool hand touched his arm. "We need to get him out of here!" it said. "Help me move him."
He drew a sharp breath as he was picked up like a sack, wounds disregarded. "Sorry," came the voice softly. He felt the jarring strides of the person, the woman who the voice belonged to, as she ran. "Cure," she said under her breath as her stride evened out.
As she ran, the woman carrying him repeated the Cure command often, and he felt his consciousness slipping away as the pain faded.
"Th'nk you," he mumbled.
"Welcome," the voice whispered back as he fell once more into oblivion.
***
They stopped running after about forty yards, putting a good distance between themselves and the Beachplug nest. Emily and Aaron dropped to the sand, breathing heavily. Merian sat down more carefully and laid the man down, her own breathing equally as hard.
"That . . . that was fun," Emily said, sitting up and brushing a few strands of escaped hair back from her face.
"Yeah," Aaron agreed, "Next time we decide to do something that insane, I want you to shoot me."
"Now why would I do something like that?" Merian asked.
"Sarcasm, Meri," Aaron replied dryly. "Is he at least still alive?"
"Yes," she said softly, taking her pack off and rummaging through it. She came up with a shallow pan, a cloth, and a crumpled plastic water bag. "Could one of you please go get some fresh water? I want to get as much of this blood off of him as I can." She wrinkled her nose in distaste. Aaron and Emily exchanged glances and decided not to mention her current appearance. They knew how much she disliked blood.
She poured some water from her canteen into the pan and started gently washing the blood away from the man's face. Aaron shrugged, picking up the bag and walking off. They were a short walk away from the Starway River, about an hour there and back, and maybe two weeks from Cosmo Canyon. Rocket Town, Merian's hometown, wasn't too far away now.
***
Aaron smiled to himself as he walked, absently humming the theme song of his favorite TV show. He hadn't watched TV in what, three months, almost four? The only reason he still remembered it now was because Emily and Merian had made a point of memorizing it and would sing it every once and a while. He paused for a moment and considered what his life would be like if he had never met those girls.
He shuddered. Not a pretty sight, that's for sure. If it wasn't for them he would not only still be back in Wutai doing absolutely nothing, but he would probably forget to breathe eventually, too. He grinned in self-depreciation. It was a long-standing joke, how lost he'd be without them, but it none the less held some element of truth.
The roar of the river interrupted his thoughts and he carefully made his way down the bank to the waters edge. He shook the bag open and held it under the water until it was full. Then he turned back, trying not to spill too much as he went.
There was no doubt that he loved them both, he just wondered which one he liked better.
***
Emily watched Aaron leave before turning to Merian. "Do you think he'll ever notice me?" she asked as she sat down heavily.
Merian giggled, still wiping the blood off the sleeping man's face. "It would be impossible for him not to notice you. For him to love you, well, realize that he loves you anyway, might take a bit."
"Hmm," Emily sighed. "I'd ask him. But I don't want to force him into anything he's not happy with." She sighed again and absently drew in the sand with her finger. She stopped and smoothed the sand, then looked at the man they had rescued from the Beachplugs. "Who do you suppose he is, anyway?" she asked.
"Who? This guy?"
"Yeah. Who is he? Why was he lying on the beach? Who cut him up like-"
"We can ask him when he wakes up." Merian cut into her stream of questions, smiling. "Not that I don't share your curiosity, but it's sort of pointless talking to a sleeping man."
Emily nodded in mute agreement. Then she got up and went over by her pack, picking up the sword she had grabbed. "I found this when we were leaving the nest. A nodachi, I think, but it looks way too long. Do you think it could have been his?"
Merian stopped for a moment, her eyes, tracing the fine curve of the blade, contained a worried gleam. "Maybe. But, that could also have been the sword that was used to hurt him," she pointed out. She looked back at the man, his face now free of blood, before shaking her head. 'At least, I hope it was.' she thought, her mind drifting into unpleasant memories before she yanked her mind back to the present.
"Um hmmm. You know, I've never seen hair this color before. Really light blond, I've seen, but not silver-white. At least not for someone this young."
"And just how do you know how old he is, Emi?" Merian teased, hiding her discomfort.
"Right, he could be older than the Captain," Emily said grinning, knowing how defensive her friend was of her uncle.
"Oh hush, Cid's not that old."
"And don't I know that? You've only reminded me about a hundred times," she said innocently, grinning. When Merian refused to respond, Emily changed the subject back, "Well, anyway, I still think this man looks like thirty at most."
"And we all know how deceiving looks can be. Be patient, he'll wake up soon enough to be pestered by your endless questions." The words might have been insulting had Merian not spoken them with the laughing undertone that she used when she was teasing.
"Touché," Emily giggled.
***
When he opened his eyes, he saw a young woman kneeling beside him. Her mousy brown hair was pulled back in a tight french braid and hung to the middle of her back. She wore a sleeveless red shirt with a mandarin collar and baggy dark blue pants. Beside her sat a man with long black hair, an olive complexion, and slanted dark eyes who wore a white shirt with the words "Ranma 1/2" written across the front in red letters. His pants were of the same color and style as the woman's. When she noticed his movement, the woman turned her vividly blue eyes to him and smiled. "Ah, look who's finally awake," she said. Her voice was the higher pitched one he remembered from before.
"Where . . . ?" he started, sitting up. He then broke off when he realized what he'd been about to say. Where is she? The other woman, with the low, soft voice?
"We're close to Cosmo Canyon." the man said, misinterpreting the unfinished question. Well it was useful information anyway. "I'm Aaron," he continued, introducing himself. "And this is Emily," he finished, indicating the woman.
Emily nodded and said, "What's your name?"
"Name?" he repeated numbly. Nothing came immediately to mind and stayed there when he searched for an answer.
"Don't you have one?" Emily asked, sounding concerned.
"I . . . I don't remember!" he said, disbelief filling his voice so thickly that it was almost tangible.
"Your own name?!" Aaron asked.
"Anything!" he exclaimed.
"Calm down," Emily said, leaning forward and covering his hand with hers. "Now, do you know where we are?" she continued.
"You said we were near Cosmo Canyon."
"Do you know where Cosmo Canyon is?"
"On the southern portion of the Hiroi continent, surrounded on all sides by rock desert."
"What is it well known for?"
"Being the center for the Study of Planetary Life."
"Have you ever been there?"
He stopped, his eyes unfocussing as he searched his mind. Why did he know about Cosmo Canyon, but not know if he'd been there?
"Hmm, I guess the best question now would be 'What's the first thing you remember?'" Aaron said.
The man shuddered. "I remember laying on a beach with my blood draining out of my body and being attacked by Beachplugs," he said miserably.
"Oh wow, you were awake? With those terrible injuries?" Emily asked, concern and pity shining in her eyes.
"Well you can thank Merian for your life later, 'cause if it wasn't for her, you'd probably be dead now," Aaron said. Emily hit him in the arm and glared at him.
"Who's Merian?" the man asked, though he knew she was the woman with the low voice.
"You might say she's our unofficial leader." Aaron replied.
"She knows the land better than we do, though in the past few years we've been learning," Emily added. "You'll never hear her call herself the leader of this party, but it comes so easily for her."
"Where is she?"
"She went down to the river to wash all your blood off of herself."
"Aaron!" Emily hissed, hitting him in the arm again. "You'll have to excuse him," she said. "One of the many things he lacks is tact." Aaron frowned and glared right back at her.
A voice came from behind them. "Glad you're awake," it said, low soft and familiar. The woman had damp long hair that hung loose and large, almost black eyes. Her bangs tried to curl charmingly about her face, but, due to the extra weight of the water in her hair, only managed to be slightly wavy. The rest of her hair hung straight down her back to slightly below her waist. She wore a dark green tee-shirt, black pants and black hiking boots. At her waist hung a long curved sword. Her dark eyes smiled along with her face, making her a very kind looking and likable person.
And he suddenly realized that he knew her. He didn't remember when or where he knew her from, or how they had met, but he remembered very clearly her shining dark eyes and bright smile.
"I'm Merian," she said, introducing herself though it was hardly necessary. She extended an open hand. "What's your name?"
"Ah . . ." he hesitated, not knowing a name to tell her.
"He doesn't remember." Emily supplied for him.
"Oh." Merian's smile disappeared and her eyes clouded over with sorrow. The entire effect made him sorry he didn't remember anything. She had looked so happy and pretty.
"Well, Green Eyes," she said, "What are we to call you then?"
"Green Eyes is fine." He smiled, if only to get her to smile again, too.
He was not disappointed as her face lit up and she laughed. "Okay. Green Eyes it is. We were on our way to Cosmo Canyon when we found you, would you like to come with us?"
"Sure. I've no place else to go."
Her eyes searched his face briefly before she asked, "Do you remember anything from before we found you?"
"Well . . . I remember you from somewhere," he said.
"Really? Where?" Emily asked.
He shook his head "I don't know."
"That's probably for the better," Merian curtly replied, pulling one of the packs laying on the sand onto her back. Emily looked concerned and Aaron, who had been listening to them, looked slightly confused. Neither of them knew all that much about Merian's past, but they couldn't imagine their usually cheerful friend being involved in anything that was better off forgotten.
"Why is it better that I don't remember you?" Green Eyes asked.
She smiled shaking her head. "I'm not saying it's good that you don't remember me, I just . . . " she broke off, looking away. "I know this probably sounds terrible, but it might be better that you don't remember your past. You gave me the impression before that it wasn't that pleasant." She started walking away, staring fixedly at the ground in front of her. Emily and Aaron exchanged a concerned glance and grabbed their packs to join her. Emily looked at Green Eyes, smiling and gesturing for him to join them.
"Is she usually like this?" he asked, falling into step beside her.
"No," Emily frowned, "She's usually all smiles and laughter. I can't imagine what's made her so cold, unless . . . "
"Unless it's the fact that I remember her, or that my memory may come back?"
"I think not. Merian's not very good at hiding her emotions and I can tell that she really does feel bad about your losing your memory. But she's also, well, she's debating with herself. I think half of her wants to tell you and half of her is literally afraid that you'll remember." She paused for a moment, watching her friend. "I think it might have something to do with that sword," she continued, almost to herself. "She looked so uneasy when I showed it to her."
"The one she's wearing?" he asked. Emily nodded. Now that he thought about it, it did seem sort of familiar to him . . . Suddenly there was an image in his mind, and a name. "The Masamune."
"Huh?" Emily asked.
Green Eyes shook his head, unaware that he had spoken aloud the words from the isolated memory. "What?"
"You said, 'The Masamune.' What's that?"
"The sword," he replied. "It was mine."
"Well, I'm sure she'll give it back to you if you ask for it."
***
He didn't need to ask. After they had forded the Starway river they were attacked by three Gagighandi. Aaron ran forward, snapping the first monsters neck with a well aimed kick. Emily pulled a dagger from one of her armbands and threw it at the second. The dagger sliced through the monster's windpipe and the adjacent artery and it thrashed as the blood ran into its lungs. It fixed it's gaze on Emily and blue light, emanating from it's eyes, traced across her body in a loose figure eight. Emily's skin turned an unhealthy gray as the spell took hold, and her flesh started to harden. She was turning into stone!
"Do you remember how to fight?" Merian asked, pulling the sword from her belt and tossing it to him. He nodded, catching the sword and dispatching the last Gagighandi with a slash through the heart. The one Emily had attacked finally keeled over and Emily returned to her normal state.
"Why didn't you attack?" Green Eyes asked Merian. "You know how to fight."
"You remember that," she replied, "but do you remember that I don't like killing things?"
Green Eyes paused. "I do now," he said.
"You remember when I told you?"
"No."
"Good." She knelt beside one of the dead Gagighandi. "I don't like killing meaninglessly, but at least these will go to some purpose."
"What do you mean?"
"She means," Aaron smiled, kneeling by another corps, "that we have dinner tonight."
There's chapter one for you. Stop in at chapter two and see what Vincent's up to now, and feel free the e-mail me and tell me what you think of my fic so far.
Author: Kami Jadeheart