Oops. *Yawn*
Stupid piles of chemistry homework!
Disclaimer: Pokemon belongs to Nintendo and Shogakukan Comics. This non-profit, non-copyright infringing fanfiction belongs to me under international copyright laws and taking it is plagiarism. Thank you. *Phantomness bows*
Notes: <> for telepathy, ** for thoughts, italics if a pokemon talks
Chapter 4
“I should be happy.” Ash thought, as he sat outside on the front porch swing, listening to the sounds of the children inside. “I’m married to a wonderful woman. I’ve got two adorable kids and another one on the way. I moved on. Whatever happened between Lance and me during that short period of war was just a fling anyways. It didn’t mean anything. So he’s moved on with his life, and I’ve moved on with mine. It’s just been a rather nasty shock to find out he’s alive.”
And amnesiac…
Had the War been that hard on him?
“I have Amy,” He thought fondly of his oldest daughter, “And Bob,” who was three years old and a brat but really, he was happy.
This new change meant nothing.
Right?
Two weeks or so flew by normally. Much to Charlotte’s relief, in her following sessions with Lance, he had been unable to bring up any other memories and had spent most of the session talking about his feelings and emotions and crying too.
It was very strange. Lance never cried, but this broken down trainer with no memory and no power wasn’t really Lance. She hadn’t known him well in the first place.
So she just offered herb tea and a comforting person to talk to and tissues, and she waited and hoped.
When Lugia saw his son with the necklace of the elements, he had immediately used his strongest psychic blocks to cover up the blocks Lance had already put up on his memory. There was no point in repeating past heartbreaks.
He did not want his child to suffer.
However, even the best things in life rarely last, and misfortunes never come singly, so it was with horror that both parties happened to be on the scene when Lance’s next memory block shattered.
He and Charlotte had decided to meet in a café on the third visit, since it was just a quick check-up. Lugia had teleported them there and Lance hadn’t minded his father’s presence, so Charlotte had just finished probing his mind (discreetly of course, her psychic powers weren’t very good and Lugia was distracting Lance with a discussion about dragon pokemon) when Ash and Misty and their two brats plus imminent third entered the building.
As soon as Lance turned around to greet Amy, who had called him with a gleeful shout of ‘Hi Wataru-sensei’, he found himself staring into Ash’s brown eyes.
It had taken less than a second before the teacher simply toppled out of his seat and hit the floor.
Lugia didn’t wait; he scooped up his child and fled the building, not even bothering to teleport, rushing out the door like a mad pokemon (well, madman, since he was in human form, but…), but that was when Lance clutched his arm with a pained gesture and Lugia hurriedly set him down on a convenient bench.
Charlotte followed, her glasses askew as she hurriedly whipped out her pen and notepad. “What’s wrong, Wataru-san?”
“I… I think I…”
Ash and his family followed, curious at the commotion, and as soon as Lance laid eyes on Misty, he gave a shrill cry and clutched his necklace like a lifeline, fingers already flickering through half-completed sets of magic seals, which, Charlotte and Lugia noticed with growing unease, were all perfectly formed up to the point where he forgot the rest of the sequence.
This was not good.
Lance reached behind him, almost as if… oh no, he kept some of his dragon blades hidden in his cloak, since his cloak could be his wings in disguise, and it was instinct to… instinct to…
“Breathe!” Charlotte instructed, before her charge hyperventilated and died. That would be a horrible way for a guardian to go out. She produced a paper bag from her tote bag and held it over Lance’s mouth as he slowly calmed down.
The whole scenario had taken less than a few seconds.
Even if the mind forgets, the body does remember things. Emotional memory, implicit memory, they cannot be so easily wiped away, though the explicit memory can be hampered and hidden…
This was not good.
Lugia used this time to shoo the crowd away. “I’m sorry, but my son doesn’t do well with crowds.” Was a good excuse, and factual too.
The crowd dispersed with mutters, and Misty decided that she didn’t want to stay around this crazy man, and so she and Ash left.
“What did you remember?” Charlotte queried, when her charge calmed.
“I remember… fighting,” Lance said slowly. “But not with pokemon. I had… I don’t know, weapons or something, and I was fighting… a sword maybe? Did I ever take fencing lessons? My balance seemed off.”
“You were fighting?” Lugia whispered.
“That woman, only she was younger and not pregnant…She looked like a kid…”
“And?”
“And then she changed,” Lance whispered. “She wasn’t human anymore. She was a bunch of black… snaky things, crawling out towards me! And then she… she broke something and I couldn’t see what it was but then I felt this horrible pain in my back and I think… I think I fainted.”
Two eyes shared an unspoken thought.
He doesn’t know that he died.
Under normal conditions, the Dragon child remembers everything.
Charlotte thought she knew what he was talking about. It was a lifetime many lifetimes ago, when she and Lance and Ash had fought Misty – who had turned into Missingno, and it was in that battle that Lance – still a girl, still ice guardian – had lost her wings. Shattered them.
That was why her new wings were of dragon’s blood and dragon’s tears, blood and bone, magically forged into silversteel… to fit the Dragon Master.
< This is dire. If he starts remembering different lives…! What will that do to his sanity? He’s fragile enough as it is! >
< What can I do, Lugia-san? >
< I only wish I knew… for now, I want you to suppress his power. >
< But I’m too weak… >
< Not yet you aren’t. His power … Curses! You’re right. His power barriers break before his memories do. You must hurry. Otherwise, everything will be for naught. >
< I understand. >
Her hands flew through the sealing spells, though she rarely used them, and she gave Lance a silent apology before she visualized the last sequence for the formation of the Onyx Seal and slapped him on the back, enough for the magic to transfer.
It had held Bob for centuries. Hopefully, it could hold one of the Chosen for a little while… just a little while…
Please. Don’t. Remember.
End Chapter
Completed 3/6/06
Don’t die bunny! I need you!
Our heroes really are trying to do the best for Lance. If he wants to forget he was in love with Ash, we’ll damn well let him forget! But his self without memories is like a completely different person, which makes things difficult…
If you don’t like Charlotte, I couldn’t think of anyone else to use. If you don’t like the fic, quit reading!
The flashback in this chapter is from my fic, “Shelter in the Storm”
The Onyx Seal was used in CCA to seal a villain named Bob. He was basically stuck in a region outside of normal time for hundreds and thousands of years. He broke free several times in various fics, but always got sealed again, and finally he and the other guardians made peace in a fic.