fic: Anamnesia: A Love Story, Part 6/7 (PG-13)
Title: Anamnesia: A Love Story
Author: thickets, art by ftw302
Fandom: ???
Pairing: ???
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: some fluff, some angst, some brain hurtiness
Word Count: 2000 (this chapter), 15000 (entire thing)
Disclaimer: None of the properties mentioned in this fic belong to me.
Summary: Pete and Stitch meet a mysterious stall vendor and get more than they bargained for.
Part One: Wonders and Amusements
Part Two: All of These Things Are Real
Part Three: Dreams Don't Mean Anything
Part Four: Let the Chips Fall Where They May
Part Five: The Only Thing Left of the World
6. What Lies on the Other Side
I promise! I promise I won't forget!
I won't forget you!
I promise, I promise, I'll remember. I'll remember you. I won't forget you.
He couldn't stop repeating those words over and over again. Even as he slowly gained sensation in his extremities, and he became aware of his heart beating and his lungs filling and deflating with air, he had to say them again:
"I'll remember. I promise. I'll remember you ... Vince."
Howard woke, the words still leaving his mouth, though he didn't know where they'd come from. He had the peculiar sensation that it hadn't been himself speaking, and yet of course it had been him, hadn't it? He was so confused by this that for a moment he wasn't fully aware of his own peculiar situation. It all came back to him when he tried to move and discovered that everything hurt.
To his right, he heard the sound of someone coughing, and he realized he ought to open his eyes. It was dark. He turned his head, carefully, in the direction of the cough, and as his eyes adjusted, he made out the outline of Vince's face in the darkness.
"Vince," he said, his voice hoarse from disuse, and inside his mind, a voice rushed on again in a torrent of thought: I won't forget I won't I promise I'll - he shut it up. "Vince? Are you all right?"
Vince let out a groan and stirred. With a great deal of effort, Howard reached out and touched his arm, and Vince woke up entirely.
"Howard?" he mumbled, blinking and looking around blindly in the dark, like a baby bird. "Howard ... where are you?"
"Right here," Howard said, and forced himself to sit up. "I'm right here, Vince, just wait a few minutes for your eyes to adjust."
Vince rubbed his eyes and sat up as well. "Oh, I see you now," he said. "Where are we? What's going on?"
"I don't know," he said. "What's the last thing you remember?"
"I ... I'm not sure ... it's confusing."
Howard also wasn't sure. He felt like he was almost in a dream. "Let's see if we can find a way out of here," he said, "wherever here is."
Vince nodded, and gripping Howard's arm tightly, stood up with him. "Oi, Howard, you're all dusty."
"So are you," Howard said.
"What?!" Vince said. "Ugh ... disgusting ..." As they spoke, they edged carefully across the floor, sticking close together, wary of tripping over anything in the darkness. Eventually they came to a wall, and followed it. For a moment Howard wondered if the wall would just go on, smooth and featureless. The thought of being trapped inside a dark, claustrophobic box made his pulse race, and for a minute he wanted very much to freak out, but the sound of Vince's own panicked breathing calmed him somehow.
His fingers brushed against the light switch.
"Vince, close your eyes -" he thought at the last minute to warn him, and shut his own and flicked the switch.
Even through his closed eyelids, the light hurt. It took a good few minutes before either of them could open their eyes and look around. The first thing Howard saw was Vince's wan, dirty face, inexplicably covered with more facial hair than Howard had certainly ever seen on him. His hair was a mess, overgrown and all the highlights faded. When he looked in a mirror he'd have a fit, Howard thought, but at the moment his pale face was so reassuring to Howard that he loved the very sight of it with an overwhelming intensity. A little embarrassed by the rush of emotion, Howard looked down, and saw that their uniforms were indeed covered in dust. Howard had to reach out and brush away some of it from the breast pocket of Vince's green jacket to read those familiar words painted on it: NOIR.
"You look like a lost caveman, Howard," Vince said.
"So do you."
"Eh!" Vince said, and his hands went protectively to his hair. "Oh no."
"Let's not worry about that until we find a way out of here, right?" Howard said, and took a good look around him. They were in a dirty, underground room, it seemed, bare of any furniture. Everything was covered with grime and dust, except for the two spots on the floor where they'd been lying.
"Look, Howard, a door!" Vince pointed to the opposite wall, and they both rushed to it, still stumbling slightly from the aches and pains in their bodies. Howard was sure the door would be locked, but to his surprise, it opened easily under their hands.
They peered out into the hallway. It was also dark, and there was a faint sound of dripping water from far away. It was Vince who recognized the place first.
"Howard ... ain't this ... Bainbridge's lab?" He stepped out into the hall. "It is! Where's Bainbridge, then?"
Howard followed close behind him. "I should have known he'd be at the bottom of this. What's he done to us? Oi - Vince, where are you going?"
"I'm going to look in this room next door," Vince said. He opened the door. "Maybe there's more people like us in there."
"Or maybe Bainbridge is in there - come on, we should try to get out of here - Vince!"
Vince stepped into the room and found the light switch. "Calm down," he said, turning on the light. "Look! I'm right! Howard, it's Naboo. And Bollo!"
Howard followed him inside, and sure enough, Naboo and Bollo were there, both asleep. Howard had Vince turn the lights off again before he tried waking them up.
Naboo woke first. "Ugh," he said. "Where's Dixon Bainbridge?"
"We haven't found him yet," Howard said. "What's going on, Naboo? Bainbridge is the one responsible for this, isn't he?"
"Oh yes," Naboo said, standing up. "He certainly is. One of his schemes went awry. I'll explain more about it later. Ohh, I haven't felt this bad since the last time I was married."
"Naboo!" Vince said in distress. "I can't get Bollo to wake up! What if he's trapped in this trance we were all in? That's what it was, right? I think we've been asleep a long time."
"That's right," Naboo said, "but Bollo wasn't affected. He's my familiar, you know. Magical creatures have special protection against these sorts of things. I think he's just having a nap." He gave the gorilla a good kick in the side until at last he woke up. "Come on, let's go look for Bainbridge, and I'll tell you what's happened."
#
They found Bainbridge in his office. It was also dark and dirty with disuse. He was sitting in his chair, soundly asleep, just as they had been, and on the desk before him there were the shards of a dark blue gem. "The Egg of Mantumbi," Howard said, recognizing it instantly.
"No, it's not," Naboo said. "This is the 'fake one', right? The one you found. Only it wasn't really fake. It was just something else."
"I threw it out," Howard said, "after we were humiliated. I figured it was just a piece of junk."
"Yeah, well Bainbridge must have known better," Naboo said. "Why d'you think the Parka People were guarding it so heavily?"
"What is it anyway?" Vince asked.
"It doesn't have a name," Naboo said. "But, if used properly, it can grant any wish you like."
"I remember," Howard said suddenly. "I ... I think I remember. We found Bainbridge with it, didn't we, Vince?"
"That's right!" Vince said, his eyes sparkling with recognition. "So he locked us up -"
"-and then, when we tried to get you out, he locked us up, too," Naboo said.
"Then what happened?"
"Your guess is as good as mine," Naboo said, "but I think he tried to use it, and instead it backfired, and ..."
"Put everyone in the zoo into a deep sleep?"
"Not exactly a sleep," Naboo said quietly. "Do you two not remember anything?"
Howard and Vince looked at each other. Howard felt a strange sense of unease. "I ... I don't think so. No. I don't recall anything."
"I don't remember much myself," Naboo said. "As a shaman, I was able to attain a bit more of my wits, but it was confusing. The way I understand it ... I suppose you could say our consciousnesses were shattered."
"Shattered?"
"It's like ..." Naboo thought for a minute. "A kaleidoscope."
"What, it's like a children's toy?" Howard said dubiously.
Naboo waved him away. "Look, how does a kaleidoscope work?"
"Magic," Vince said eagerly.
"Mirrors," Howard said at the same time.
"You're both right, in a way," Naboo said. "It's an illusion, which is part of magic. In a kaleidoscope, all you need is light, mirrors, and something colorful - confetti or plastic beads. But when it's constructed right, you can make all sorts of images with it. And every time you turn it, you get a completely new picture. That's what happened to you." He picked up a shard of the gem. "Your memories, your personalities, they were broken into many pieces, and made into something new. Some things new. That's why it was so hard for me to keep myself together. I knew what was going on, but I was split into many different people. You two wouldn't have been aware of it. You would have experienced each life more or less fully and separately, but all at the same time."
"We were ... different people?" Vince looked disturbed. Howard felt the same way.
"How can we not remember that?" he asked.
"I'm not surprised, really. Imagine it, living multiple lives all at once! If you remembered it all, it might drive you mad! Even I can't handle it exactly. I just remember pieces."
"What about Bollo?" Vince asked suddenly, turning to the gorilla. He'd been oddly silent the whole time. "Did it really not affect you at all, Bollo?"
Bollo said nothing at first, and then he said, "Bollo try to get to all of you, but his movements constricted. He couldn't do much."
"Yeah," Naboo said, "I remember that! I remember you telling me to get them to go see you. I guess it must have worked then."
"Yes," Bollo said. "It worked."
#
They weren't sure what to do about Bainbridge at first. They tried to wake him up, but he didn't stir, no matter what they tried. Naboo hypothesized that since he'd been the one that did the shattering, he was the most affected. He might be trapped in his mind forever. In the end, Naboo said he would contact some of his friends to come and get him.
None of them were sure just how long they'd been asleep, but in the interim it was clear the zoo had been abandoned. The animals and staff were all gone. Presumably Fossil, who it seemed had not been on the premises during the incident, had managed it all, and kept anybody from finding out precisely what had happened. The doors to their cells in the lab, which were inexplicably unlocked during their slumber, must have also been his work. Howard was furious. They could have all died - it was amazing they hadn't, though Naboo explained that the powers of the gem had kept them alive, at least minimally - and Fossil had only been concerned with making sure no one found out.
"What are we going to do now then?" Vince asked, after they'd rested for awhile in the keepers' hut and got some of their strength back. "I expect the zoo'll be sold."
Naboo sighed. "Well, before all this happened, I'd recently obtained some property in Dalston," he said. "I was thinking of leaving this place anyway, maybe opening up shop. There's a flat above the place, too." He looked a bit disgruntled. "It might be awhile before it opens but ... well ... what do you two say? You could work for me once it's set up. This ain't a charity ward though, I do expect you to pay some rent."
Howard and Vince looked at each other. Howard found himself suddenly thinking that he didn't really care where they ended up, so long as they were together. Vince nodded, and Howard wondered if he was thinking the same thing. "All right," he said. "We accept."
to be concluded ...
Author: thickets, art by ftw302
Fandom: ???
Pairing: ???
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: some fluff, some angst, some brain hurtiness
Word Count: 2000 (this chapter), 15000 (entire thing)
Disclaimer: None of the properties mentioned in this fic belong to me.
Summary: Pete and Stitch meet a mysterious stall vendor and get more than they bargained for.
Part One: Wonders and Amusements
Part Two: All of These Things Are Real
Part Three: Dreams Don't Mean Anything
Part Four: Let the Chips Fall Where They May
Part Five: The Only Thing Left of the World
6. What Lies on the Other Side
I promise! I promise I won't forget!
I won't forget you!
I promise, I promise, I'll remember. I'll remember you. I won't forget you.
He couldn't stop repeating those words over and over again. Even as he slowly gained sensation in his extremities, and he became aware of his heart beating and his lungs filling and deflating with air, he had to say them again:
"I'll remember. I promise. I'll remember you ... Vince."
Howard woke, the words still leaving his mouth, though he didn't know where they'd come from. He had the peculiar sensation that it hadn't been himself speaking, and yet of course it had been him, hadn't it? He was so confused by this that for a moment he wasn't fully aware of his own peculiar situation. It all came back to him when he tried to move and discovered that everything hurt.
To his right, he heard the sound of someone coughing, and he realized he ought to open his eyes. It was dark. He turned his head, carefully, in the direction of the cough, and as his eyes adjusted, he made out the outline of Vince's face in the darkness.
"Vince," he said, his voice hoarse from disuse, and inside his mind, a voice rushed on again in a torrent of thought: I won't forget I won't I promise I'll - he shut it up. "Vince? Are you all right?"
Vince let out a groan and stirred. With a great deal of effort, Howard reached out and touched his arm, and Vince woke up entirely.
"Howard?" he mumbled, blinking and looking around blindly in the dark, like a baby bird. "Howard ... where are you?"
"Right here," Howard said, and forced himself to sit up. "I'm right here, Vince, just wait a few minutes for your eyes to adjust."
Vince rubbed his eyes and sat up as well. "Oh, I see you now," he said. "Where are we? What's going on?"
"I don't know," he said. "What's the last thing you remember?"
"I ... I'm not sure ... it's confusing."
Howard also wasn't sure. He felt like he was almost in a dream. "Let's see if we can find a way out of here," he said, "wherever here is."
Vince nodded, and gripping Howard's arm tightly, stood up with him. "Oi, Howard, you're all dusty."
"So are you," Howard said.
"What?!" Vince said. "Ugh ... disgusting ..." As they spoke, they edged carefully across the floor, sticking close together, wary of tripping over anything in the darkness. Eventually they came to a wall, and followed it. For a moment Howard wondered if the wall would just go on, smooth and featureless. The thought of being trapped inside a dark, claustrophobic box made his pulse race, and for a minute he wanted very much to freak out, but the sound of Vince's own panicked breathing calmed him somehow.
His fingers brushed against the light switch.
"Vince, close your eyes -" he thought at the last minute to warn him, and shut his own and flicked the switch.
Even through his closed eyelids, the light hurt. It took a good few minutes before either of them could open their eyes and look around. The first thing Howard saw was Vince's wan, dirty face, inexplicably covered with more facial hair than Howard had certainly ever seen on him. His hair was a mess, overgrown and all the highlights faded. When he looked in a mirror he'd have a fit, Howard thought, but at the moment his pale face was so reassuring to Howard that he loved the very sight of it with an overwhelming intensity. A little embarrassed by the rush of emotion, Howard looked down, and saw that their uniforms were indeed covered in dust. Howard had to reach out and brush away some of it from the breast pocket of Vince's green jacket to read those familiar words painted on it: NOIR.
"You look like a lost caveman, Howard," Vince said.
"So do you."
"Eh!" Vince said, and his hands went protectively to his hair. "Oh no."
"Let's not worry about that until we find a way out of here, right?" Howard said, and took a good look around him. They were in a dirty, underground room, it seemed, bare of any furniture. Everything was covered with grime and dust, except for the two spots on the floor where they'd been lying.
"Look, Howard, a door!" Vince pointed to the opposite wall, and they both rushed to it, still stumbling slightly from the aches and pains in their bodies. Howard was sure the door would be locked, but to his surprise, it opened easily under their hands.
They peered out into the hallway. It was also dark, and there was a faint sound of dripping water from far away. It was Vince who recognized the place first.
"Howard ... ain't this ... Bainbridge's lab?" He stepped out into the hall. "It is! Where's Bainbridge, then?"
Howard followed close behind him. "I should have known he'd be at the bottom of this. What's he done to us? Oi - Vince, where are you going?"
"I'm going to look in this room next door," Vince said. He opened the door. "Maybe there's more people like us in there."
"Or maybe Bainbridge is in there - come on, we should try to get out of here - Vince!"
Vince stepped into the room and found the light switch. "Calm down," he said, turning on the light. "Look! I'm right! Howard, it's Naboo. And Bollo!"
Howard followed him inside, and sure enough, Naboo and Bollo were there, both asleep. Howard had Vince turn the lights off again before he tried waking them up.
Naboo woke first. "Ugh," he said. "Where's Dixon Bainbridge?"
"We haven't found him yet," Howard said. "What's going on, Naboo? Bainbridge is the one responsible for this, isn't he?"
"Oh yes," Naboo said, standing up. "He certainly is. One of his schemes went awry. I'll explain more about it later. Ohh, I haven't felt this bad since the last time I was married."
"Naboo!" Vince said in distress. "I can't get Bollo to wake up! What if he's trapped in this trance we were all in? That's what it was, right? I think we've been asleep a long time."
"That's right," Naboo said, "but Bollo wasn't affected. He's my familiar, you know. Magical creatures have special protection against these sorts of things. I think he's just having a nap." He gave the gorilla a good kick in the side until at last he woke up. "Come on, let's go look for Bainbridge, and I'll tell you what's happened."
#
They found Bainbridge in his office. It was also dark and dirty with disuse. He was sitting in his chair, soundly asleep, just as they had been, and on the desk before him there were the shards of a dark blue gem. "The Egg of Mantumbi," Howard said, recognizing it instantly.
"No, it's not," Naboo said. "This is the 'fake one', right? The one you found. Only it wasn't really fake. It was just something else."
"I threw it out," Howard said, "after we were humiliated. I figured it was just a piece of junk."
"Yeah, well Bainbridge must have known better," Naboo said. "Why d'you think the Parka People were guarding it so heavily?"
"What is it anyway?" Vince asked.
"It doesn't have a name," Naboo said. "But, if used properly, it can grant any wish you like."
"I remember," Howard said suddenly. "I ... I think I remember. We found Bainbridge with it, didn't we, Vince?"
"That's right!" Vince said, his eyes sparkling with recognition. "So he locked us up -"
"-and then, when we tried to get you out, he locked us up, too," Naboo said.
"Then what happened?"
"Your guess is as good as mine," Naboo said, "but I think he tried to use it, and instead it backfired, and ..."
"Put everyone in the zoo into a deep sleep?"
"Not exactly a sleep," Naboo said quietly. "Do you two not remember anything?"
Howard and Vince looked at each other. Howard felt a strange sense of unease. "I ... I don't think so. No. I don't recall anything."
"I don't remember much myself," Naboo said. "As a shaman, I was able to attain a bit more of my wits, but it was confusing. The way I understand it ... I suppose you could say our consciousnesses were shattered."
"Shattered?"
"It's like ..." Naboo thought for a minute. "A kaleidoscope."
"What, it's like a children's toy?" Howard said dubiously.
Naboo waved him away. "Look, how does a kaleidoscope work?"
"Magic," Vince said eagerly.
"Mirrors," Howard said at the same time.
"You're both right, in a way," Naboo said. "It's an illusion, which is part of magic. In a kaleidoscope, all you need is light, mirrors, and something colorful - confetti or plastic beads. But when it's constructed right, you can make all sorts of images with it. And every time you turn it, you get a completely new picture. That's what happened to you." He picked up a shard of the gem. "Your memories, your personalities, they were broken into many pieces, and made into something new. Some things new. That's why it was so hard for me to keep myself together. I knew what was going on, but I was split into many different people. You two wouldn't have been aware of it. You would have experienced each life more or less fully and separately, but all at the same time."
"We were ... different people?" Vince looked disturbed. Howard felt the same way.
"How can we not remember that?" he asked.
"I'm not surprised, really. Imagine it, living multiple lives all at once! If you remembered it all, it might drive you mad! Even I can't handle it exactly. I just remember pieces."
"What about Bollo?" Vince asked suddenly, turning to the gorilla. He'd been oddly silent the whole time. "Did it really not affect you at all, Bollo?"
Bollo said nothing at first, and then he said, "Bollo try to get to all of you, but his movements constricted. He couldn't do much."
"Yeah," Naboo said, "I remember that! I remember you telling me to get them to go see you. I guess it must have worked then."
"Yes," Bollo said. "It worked."
#
They weren't sure what to do about Bainbridge at first. They tried to wake him up, but he didn't stir, no matter what they tried. Naboo hypothesized that since he'd been the one that did the shattering, he was the most affected. He might be trapped in his mind forever. In the end, Naboo said he would contact some of his friends to come and get him.
None of them were sure just how long they'd been asleep, but in the interim it was clear the zoo had been abandoned. The animals and staff were all gone. Presumably Fossil, who it seemed had not been on the premises during the incident, had managed it all, and kept anybody from finding out precisely what had happened. The doors to their cells in the lab, which were inexplicably unlocked during their slumber, must have also been his work. Howard was furious. They could have all died - it was amazing they hadn't, though Naboo explained that the powers of the gem had kept them alive, at least minimally - and Fossil had only been concerned with making sure no one found out.
"What are we going to do now then?" Vince asked, after they'd rested for awhile in the keepers' hut and got some of their strength back. "I expect the zoo'll be sold."
Naboo sighed. "Well, before all this happened, I'd recently obtained some property in Dalston," he said. "I was thinking of leaving this place anyway, maybe opening up shop. There's a flat above the place, too." He looked a bit disgruntled. "It might be awhile before it opens but ... well ... what do you two say? You could work for me once it's set up. This ain't a charity ward though, I do expect you to pay some rent."
Howard and Vince looked at each other. Howard found himself suddenly thinking that he didn't really care where they ended up, so long as they were together. Vince nodded, and Howard wondered if he was thinking the same thing. "All right," he said. "We accept."
to be concluded ...