A Past to be Forgotten
By Murasakikaze
Chapter Two
The Isle of Remembrance
"She what?!" Lina stared at the small card that the very
angry and embarrassed chimera handed to her.
"What she did doesn't matter! What she gave to me does.
This Garrou Island, have you heard of it?" he asked through
clenched teeth. Zelgadis could feel Amelia staring at the
back of his head and resisted the temptation to tell her not to
be rude.
"Actually....no, I haven't. I'm not a library, you know!" Lina
shoved the card back at him. "And I guess we were right
about the finacee thing."
Zelgadis' face turned red and he let out something very
close to a growl. "I don't even know who this idiot is!!"
"Yeah, yeah, we *believe* you, Zel. I'm sure she just decided
to kiss you for the hell of it," Lina smiled slyly and nudged
Gourry in the ribs. Amelia remained silent the entire time and
slowly edged out of the clearing.
As soon as she was out of earshot of the others she began to
talk to her only friend at the time, the voice in her head.
"It can't be...Zelgadis-san is engaged....oh, now what do I-" her
little self-conversation ended when she ran into a rather stocky
young man.
"Oh, sorry. Hope you didn't break anything." The man leaned
down and helped the young Sailoon princess to her feet. "Are you
lost?"
"No, I-" Amelia's eyes practically bulged out of her head when
she saw the guy's face. "Z-Zelgadis-san?!"
----------
"He'll come, I promise you, sir."
"You better be right about this, Mirai. He was only supposed to be
out for the night...not four years!" The angry scientist slammed the
book closed and stood. "You saw what happened to the woman who
disappointed me once before."
Mirai nodded her blonde head solemnly. "Yes, sir...are you ever
going to make her stop reciting those speeches?"
The man shook his head. "No, it's amusing to see how many times
she can say, 'In the name of the Moon, I'll punish you' without dying of
oxygen deprivation to the brain."
"I see...the other one has returned from its job. Shall I return it
to the
paddocks with the others?"
"Yes, let her rest and remove the chip. She's served her purpose to
me."
"But, sir, it'll kill her!" Mirai tightened her hold on the
clipboard.
"Would you rather that she worked in the mines with all the other
rejects?" His icy stare bore a hole through her head. Mirai lowered her
head and sighed in resignation. Nothing deserved the mines if they
had intelligence.
"No, sir. She doesn't deserve that type of torture..."
"Glad to see you agree..."
----------
Zelgadis stared at his "twin" with renewed intrest. "Where did you
say
you were from?"
"Actually, I got lost and wandered away from the tour group...but I'm
originally from a very small island. I think it's name was Garrett or
Gendou
Island or something..." The young man hung his head in thought. Ten
minutes later he raised his head and smiled. "Now I remember! I'm from
Garrou Island!"
--------
"You must be joking!" Lina Inverse pointed at the ramshakle dingy and
turned a bright red color. "I doubt we would even make it across!!"
"That's the only boat that makes the trip to Garrou Island, Miss,"
the old
isherman replied. "And the price makes sense. Just hand over the box of
Pocky and we can make a deal."
"Fine, Gourry, get the box we brought with us," Lina sighed and
snapped
her fingers.
"Um...can't..." came the nervous reply.
"Why not?" Lina turned to face him and saw the empty packet sitting
behind Amelia.
"Because she ate it a few minutes ago...."
Zelgadis barely flinched when the boom of Lina's fireball made the
flimsy
wooden dock sway. He pulled a bag out from under his cape and sent the
little old man on his way. Not even Lina's screaming stopped him as he
slowly pushed away from the pier and sped off into the distance.
"Why can't he just wait!?!" Lina grabbed Amelia by the shirt collar
and
Gourry by the hair before casting the ReiWing and taking off after him.
----------
"He's going to ask questions, Seisakusha-san."
"I told you to stop calling me that. My name is Kako. Why do you
insist on
calling me Creator?" the scientist asked.
"You are the Creator, Seisakusha-san...you created me didn't you?"
"I suppose so...why do you still haunt me after the others killed
you? I
thought the first series was enough for you," Kako laughed and turned to
face
his first creation and his best.
"Ah, but I enjoy seeing my predecessors live and move about," the
apparition replied, smiling.
"Your predecessors? You have no predecessors, Rezo."
"Yes, I suppose, but you did give me a grandson..."
----------
Zelgadis set foot on the island and disappeared into the forest
before Lina
had a chance to catch up. He had to do this on his own. It was his past
after
all.
"I'm glad you came..."
He turned and saw Naria standing just behind him. She embraced him
in a
huge hug and jumped back in alarm when he drew his sword on her. Sadness
crossed her face and she closed her eyes.
"What is up with you?" Zelgadis sheathed his sword and waited for a
reply.
"It was a malfunction...unlike you, I'm not perfect. My programming
fritzes every
once in a while and it can cause some big complications," she whispered.
Silence passed between them for a moment and Zelgadis heard Lina yelling
for
him. Naria looked up and smiled. "You came here for your past right?"
He nodded, still unsure if he wanted it now. <Malfunction?>
The girl walked past him and pulled back a few branches.
"That is your past...as much as it is mine."
She motioned for him to look below and the sight amazed him. Down in
the
valley underneath them was a huge gleaming white complex. High fences
topped with barbed wire ran around the perimeter and within the fence
were small
paddocks separated by smaller stone barriers. It was what was inside the
paddocks that took his breath away. Each cage was filled with
chimeras...some
girls who looked exactly like Naria and others were guys who could have
passed
as Zelgadis' twin.
"W-what is this?" he asked and stepped forward.
"Your past..." Naria took his hand and pressed it to her lips. "You
must forgive
me...I never meant to bring back painful memories."
Zelgadis turned to her and saw a small symbol light up in the middle
of her
forehead. His eyes went wide when he realized it wasn't a symbol but a
serial
number. Then his own forehead grew hot and he reached up, pushing back
his
bangs. Zelgadis gazed down into the mirror Naria provided and his mouth
fell
open in shock.
"I am C2, but you are the first...C1. Zelgadis, you are the father
of all these clones.
Take your memory back." She stood and pushed back the sleeve of her
shirt. Then
she very calmly turned one of the stones on her arm and lifted it up,
revealing a
small barcode on her skin. Her hands moved lightning fast as she did the
same to
him and pressed her arm against his. "I'm sorry for everything..."
"What the hell-" Zelgadis fell silent as images and memories poured
into his
mind. Things that had once been dormant rose from their slumber and
reared their
ugly head.
A slight movement off to their left caught Zelgadis' attention, but
before he could
react, someone's hand shot out and pulled something out from the back of
Naria's
neck. Her once blue eyes went a dull brown and she fell forward into his
arms. A
tall blonde woman stepped out and smiled sadly.
"Welcome home, C1. My name is Mirai and I'm sorry about killing
Naria."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I don't own any of the characters except Mirai, Kako, and Naria. The
rest of them
belong to the nice people who won't sue me because they're so nice and
they
wouldn't want to put a student out on the streets. Right, Nice People?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ah, yes, Chapter Two was dark, forgive me. Certain things get in the way
of my
being insane. *sniff* I miss that. As always C&C to
muteki@juno.com
hey, at least I warned you that it was going to be serious, right?
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