[Fanfic] Remember [Chapter 2]
Title: Remember [Chapter 2]
Rating: T
Fandom: Eyeshield 21/CLAMP (Crossover)
Disclaimers: I do not own any of the characters used here. They belong to their respective owners, namely Riichiro Inagaki and Yuusuke Murata for Eyeshield 21 and CLAMP.
Summary: Anezaki Mamori wakes up to realize that she has been thrown into a different world with no memory of who she is or was. With the help of a familiar blonde demon and a mysterious woman, she goes on a journey to discover the truth behind this predicament and regain what she had lost. AU. Crossover. HiruMamo.
Notes: So I came to the conclusion that I'll widen the crossover to not just ONE work of CLAMP, but a few. Namely Tsubasa/CCS/xxxHolic/Kobato. Again, it isn't important to read the original work as my main focus will be on HiruMamo, so as long as you know ES21, you're set. The rest will be side characters and can stand on their own.
I'm really nervous with the upcoming chapters as I'm worried most of you would be confused with what's going on. If you DO find the scenes and settings confusing, LET ME KNOW. I'll work on writing better and making sure that it all makes sense. But I will let you know when certain things will only be revealed later on, as everything will be revealed gradually.
Anyways, enough ranting, I hope you enjoy this! And as a side note, the song used is from Kobato called "Ashita Kuru Hi". Have a listen to it here. The song will play a role in this chapter and the next.
~*~
The sound of children’s laughter fills her ears. Bright, happy colours lit the room she was in, but everything was still a blur to her. She could roughly make out the blackboard, and the piano that stood by the side. She wanted to look at the pictures plastered across the wall, but she could not move. All she could do was watch… and listen…
Haru ni saku hana (In Spring, a flower blooms)
Natsu hirogaru sora yo (Summer opens in the sky)
Kokoro no naka ni (Here within my heart)
Kizamarete kirameku… (They’re engraved and sparkle…)
That song… is familiar. She used to sing it with someone. Yes, with one person, but there were also many who would sing it with her. What was the song called again…? Ah yes… It was…
Mamori stirred, opening her eyes from the deep sleep she was just in. She blinked, her mind felt hazy and she was confused by the sight before her. There was a fire, somewhere in the distance. The light from it flickered as she noticed the boy with the blonde, spiky hair sitting in a distance, his back against what appeared to be a wall while she lay on grass that felt incredibly soft. A jacket was laid on top of her. Whose was it? She couldn’t remember if the boy wore one despite everything that had happened earlier.
She let out a tiny gasp, remembering what had happened. As she tried to get up, the boy noticed she was awake and quickly approached her. “Don’t rush,” he said. “You’re not exactly in a good state.”
She felt a sting on her left shoulder, but she was sure she could sit up, placing the jacket on her lap. She noticed that she was wearing nothing more than a white cotton shirt and a skirt that seemed vaguely familiar. The boy watched her curiously examining herself with amused eyes.
“What?” she asked, wondering why he was grinning, especially in this strange situation.
“Nothing,” he replied. “Just don’t push yourself too fucking hard. It’s not gonna get us anywhere.”
Mamori looked around. It must be night time, for when she looked up the sky was pitch black. It looked nothing like the world she remembered yesterday, where everything felt shapeless, and colours shifted and merged into each other. What had happened yesterday? She looked at the boy, who obviously knew what she was thinking.
“Looks like you have a lot of questions,” he said as he sat in front of her. “Can’t say I know all the fucking answers though,” he shrugged.
"Where are we? What am I doing here?" Mamori bit her lip, trying to restrain herself from asking too many questions. There was so much she wanted to know, but those were the two main questions in her head.
The boy let out a short laugh. "Is that it? Not gonna ask some more?"
Was he... teasing her? Mamori shook her head, unsure if she wanted to respond to the boy's teasing.
"All right," he said, turning serious. "Let's first solve why you're here. Before you passed out, you told me your name. Do you remember what it is?"
"Anezaki Mamori..." she replied, enunciating it slowly.
"Now... what else do you remember about yourself?"
Mamori opened her mouth, ready to answer. But in a second, she realized her mind was completely blank. Other than her name, and having a clear idea of how she looked like, she wasn’t sure who she was. She tried her best to recall something, but other than hearing a familiar song just before she woke up, nothing came to mind. “I… don’t know,” she replied. “Other than my name, I don’t know who I am. Or where I came from, where I’ve been… and how I ended up in this strange place.”
He was looking at her strangely now, which confused Mamori all the more. Was that... sadness? Anger? Before she could ask him what was wrong, he spoke first. "That's why you're here," he said. "You seem to have lost all memory of who you are. Well, at least you've regained one part of your identity," he grinned.
Her identity? In fact, that was true... before she was 'saved', she didn't have a clue of who she was, not even her name. "How...?" she murmured. She lingered for a moment, wondering if the boy didn't like to be distracted with more questions, but he looked at her with his grin still plastered on his face, urging her on. "I mean..." she continued."Before you came, I had no idea who I was. I didn't know anything, other than this feeling of hopelessness. So how can I suddenly remember my name? And yet still not know everything about myself?"
"Good question!" he cackled. "The answer's linked to why you're here. And to answer that, I need to ask you more questions." He leaned back, arms supporting him. "Look around you and tell me what you think this place is."
Mamori frowned, not liking the fact that the boy had to ask her more questions to figure out what was going on. But as she looked around her, she felt a strange shift beneath the ground she was sitting on. She looked at the wall the boy was leaning on earlier, and realized that the wall was actually a part of a bridge. And only after that did she realize there was a river nearby, as she could now hear the sound of rippling water going downstream. She tried to look further, but all she could see were silhouettes of houses and buildings, illuminated by dots of lights. Why she hadn’t noticed all this upon waking up confused her.
Then she felt the ground shift again, and the silhouettes of the buildings looked like they were moving, changing. It was then that she remembered what she thought after escaping that black substance that held her prisoner.
“Is this a dream?” she asked, looking at him curiously.
“What makes you say that?” he asked in return, though his grin grew wider, sharp pointy teeth more visible.
“Well…,” she said, her eyes still wandering, taking in their surroundings. “I don’t remember seeing all this before I passed out. And everything feels…” With her right fist, she clenched at the grass beneath her. “Everything feels unstable. As though it could all dissolve or disappear if I just blink. Like… a dream.”
"Good," he said. "I'm glad I don't have to convince you on that one. You're right. This is a dream. To be a little more precise, this is your dream."
“My dream?” asked Mamori, confused. “How is this, my dream?”
“Well, since you said everything felt unstable,” he said, looking at the silhouette of the buildings. “Did you notice the river earlier?”
She shook her head. “No, I saw the bridge first and then…” she stopped her train of thought, looking at the river with renewed wonder. Of course, she saw the bridge and automatically assumed there was a river. If there was a bridge over a river, there must be a town nearby… “So right now… I’m dreaming?”
"Yes and no," he frowned, trying to find the right words to explain. "Right now, you're conscious but in a world that's being influenced by your dreams and subconscious."
"Influenced by me?" she asked. "How is this possible?"
"Because you lost your memories and this is the only way to get them," he replied. "Something is stopping you from regaining your memories, something that can only be found if you're here in this world that is linked to you."
"So... when I passed out just now...?"
"You revert back to your deepest subconscious, which also helps shape how this world will look once you get up," he explained, looking a little nervous now. "But you'll always return to this world, because..."
Mamori blinked, noting the light crack in this boy's voice. "Is... something wrong with me? Is that why I can't go back to my real world?"
The boy seemed to have noticed Mamori's concern. He looked back at her, grin confidently back in place now. "That's what we're here to find out.” He stood, picking up the jacket which Mamori now confirmed was his, as he looked at the building silhouettes. “For now, I think we have to keep moving.”
“Moving?” Mamori uttered, getting on her knees and trying to get up. She stumbled a little, causing the boy to reach out and grab her left hand, careful to note that her left shoulder still hurt. “Thank-” she stopped, looking up at the boy. She followed his intense gaze to her left hand, wondering if she’d injured it, her hand still gripped in his. But she saw nothing wrong with her hand.
There was nothing on it at all.
He let her go, turning away and grinning as though nothing had happened. Mamori was now beginning to wonder if this boy was hiding something behind that grin. Everything about him seemed odd. She’d decided that she might as well ask him about it when he suddenly spoke up.
“Notice anything strange?” he asked.
She wasn’t sure what he meant by that. This whole world was strange to begin with. She looked around, but other than the scene by the bridge with the fire and river, and the silhouette of the buildings in the distance, there was nothing else to note.
It was then that she felt a strange presence coming from one of the paths that seemed to lead nowhere. It was just… dark. But the more she focused on that particular darkness; the sense of something being there grew. And she felt drawn to it somehow. Without realizing it, she took a few steps in that direction.
The boy noticed this. “So you feel something coming from there, huh?” He walked before her, heading straight in that direction. “Well then, we better head that way. You better pick up your sword.”
“My sword?” Mamori looked at the fire not far from her, and noticed the sword gleaming from the fire’s light. She hadn’t taken a good look at the sword when she’d first gotten it, but now that she could, she realized how simple, yet oddly strong the sword seemed. Even though she had no memory of her past, it seemed odd that her weapon of choice for a fight would be a sword.
Fight…?
“Wait, are we going to fight?” Mamori cried, running after the boy. But he kept moving forward, widening the gap between them. “Hey!”
“Ah?” he replied, not bothering to look at her as she chased after him. “What did you just say?”
“I said! Are we going to…?” Her words were left hanging as she looked around. The scenery was changing before them. A twisted form appeared and soon began to take shape… Mamori watched in awe and confusion as the mass soon settled into a house. It looked like any other house, simple and homey, and the lights seem to be on inside. But the fact that it appeared right before them startled Mamori. “W-what?” she stuttered. “H-how…? Are we supposed to…?”
The boy shushed her. Mamori had to stop herself from yelling at him out of frustration. There were still too many unanswered questions, and she wasn’t even sure what’s going on right now. Besides, who is this boy anyways? What gave him the right to order her around?
But before she could say anything, a cold wind blew from inside the house and swept over them both. She could hear the sound of creaking coming from inside of the house. She shivered in response.
Then she heard a click and saw that the boy had one of his guns out already. Without tearing his eyes away from the house, he murmured, “Get ready.”
Mamori swallowed dryly, feeling more confused than ever. “For what?” she asked, but the answer came faster than she thought. In an instant, the windows of the house flew open, and glass shattered in all directions. A loud, tortured scream that sounded female echoed throughout the house and the lights within it flickered.
Mamori stood her ground, trying to figure out what was going on. The image of this house appearing out of nowhere and then suddenly going berserk seemed too surreal. And who was screaming? This can’t be happening… This can’t be real…
But she snapped out of her thoughts instantly when the screaming stopped. The house seemed calm for a moment. But Mamori gasped in horror when she caught sight of what appeared to be a ghost of a woman with hollow eyes, from the doorway, looking straight at her.
Neither Mamori nor the boy remembered to breathe, while the ghost remained still. Then in a split second, the ghosts black hollow eyes turned red, and it screamed as it flew straight towards Mamori.
Chapter 1 | Chapter 3
Rating: T
Fandom: Eyeshield 21/CLAMP (Crossover)
Disclaimers: I do not own any of the characters used here. They belong to their respective owners, namely Riichiro Inagaki and Yuusuke Murata for Eyeshield 21 and CLAMP.
Summary: Anezaki Mamori wakes up to realize that she has been thrown into a different world with no memory of who she is or was. With the help of a familiar blonde demon and a mysterious woman, she goes on a journey to discover the truth behind this predicament and regain what she had lost. AU. Crossover. HiruMamo.
Notes: So I came to the conclusion that I'll widen the crossover to not just ONE work of CLAMP, but a few. Namely Tsubasa/CCS/xxxHolic/Kobato. Again, it isn't important to read the original work as my main focus will be on HiruMamo, so as long as you know ES21, you're set. The rest will be side characters and can stand on their own.
I'm really nervous with the upcoming chapters as I'm worried most of you would be confused with what's going on. If you DO find the scenes and settings confusing, LET ME KNOW. I'll work on writing better and making sure that it all makes sense. But I will let you know when certain things will only be revealed later on, as everything will be revealed gradually.
Anyways, enough ranting, I hope you enjoy this! And as a side note, the song used is from Kobato called "Ashita Kuru Hi". Have a listen to it here. The song will play a role in this chapter and the next.
~*~
The sound of children’s laughter fills her ears. Bright, happy colours lit the room she was in, but everything was still a blur to her. She could roughly make out the blackboard, and the piano that stood by the side. She wanted to look at the pictures plastered across the wall, but she could not move. All she could do was watch… and listen…
Haru ni saku hana (In Spring, a flower blooms)
Natsu hirogaru sora yo (Summer opens in the sky)
Kokoro no naka ni (Here within my heart)
Kizamarete kirameku… (They’re engraved and sparkle…)
That song… is familiar. She used to sing it with someone. Yes, with one person, but there were also many who would sing it with her. What was the song called again…? Ah yes… It was…
Mamori stirred, opening her eyes from the deep sleep she was just in. She blinked, her mind felt hazy and she was confused by the sight before her. There was a fire, somewhere in the distance. The light from it flickered as she noticed the boy with the blonde, spiky hair sitting in a distance, his back against what appeared to be a wall while she lay on grass that felt incredibly soft. A jacket was laid on top of her. Whose was it? She couldn’t remember if the boy wore one despite everything that had happened earlier.
She let out a tiny gasp, remembering what had happened. As she tried to get up, the boy noticed she was awake and quickly approached her. “Don’t rush,” he said. “You’re not exactly in a good state.”
She felt a sting on her left shoulder, but she was sure she could sit up, placing the jacket on her lap. She noticed that she was wearing nothing more than a white cotton shirt and a skirt that seemed vaguely familiar. The boy watched her curiously examining herself with amused eyes.
“What?” she asked, wondering why he was grinning, especially in this strange situation.
“Nothing,” he replied. “Just don’t push yourself too fucking hard. It’s not gonna get us anywhere.”
Mamori looked around. It must be night time, for when she looked up the sky was pitch black. It looked nothing like the world she remembered yesterday, where everything felt shapeless, and colours shifted and merged into each other. What had happened yesterday? She looked at the boy, who obviously knew what she was thinking.
“Looks like you have a lot of questions,” he said as he sat in front of her. “Can’t say I know all the fucking answers though,” he shrugged.
"Where are we? What am I doing here?" Mamori bit her lip, trying to restrain herself from asking too many questions. There was so much she wanted to know, but those were the two main questions in her head.
The boy let out a short laugh. "Is that it? Not gonna ask some more?"
Was he... teasing her? Mamori shook her head, unsure if she wanted to respond to the boy's teasing.
"All right," he said, turning serious. "Let's first solve why you're here. Before you passed out, you told me your name. Do you remember what it is?"
"Anezaki Mamori..." she replied, enunciating it slowly.
"Now... what else do you remember about yourself?"
Mamori opened her mouth, ready to answer. But in a second, she realized her mind was completely blank. Other than her name, and having a clear idea of how she looked like, she wasn’t sure who she was. She tried her best to recall something, but other than hearing a familiar song just before she woke up, nothing came to mind. “I… don’t know,” she replied. “Other than my name, I don’t know who I am. Or where I came from, where I’ve been… and how I ended up in this strange place.”
He was looking at her strangely now, which confused Mamori all the more. Was that... sadness? Anger? Before she could ask him what was wrong, he spoke first. "That's why you're here," he said. "You seem to have lost all memory of who you are. Well, at least you've regained one part of your identity," he grinned.
Her identity? In fact, that was true... before she was 'saved', she didn't have a clue of who she was, not even her name. "How...?" she murmured. She lingered for a moment, wondering if the boy didn't like to be distracted with more questions, but he looked at her with his grin still plastered on his face, urging her on. "I mean..." she continued."Before you came, I had no idea who I was. I didn't know anything, other than this feeling of hopelessness. So how can I suddenly remember my name? And yet still not know everything about myself?"
"Good question!" he cackled. "The answer's linked to why you're here. And to answer that, I need to ask you more questions." He leaned back, arms supporting him. "Look around you and tell me what you think this place is."
Mamori frowned, not liking the fact that the boy had to ask her more questions to figure out what was going on. But as she looked around her, she felt a strange shift beneath the ground she was sitting on. She looked at the wall the boy was leaning on earlier, and realized that the wall was actually a part of a bridge. And only after that did she realize there was a river nearby, as she could now hear the sound of rippling water going downstream. She tried to look further, but all she could see were silhouettes of houses and buildings, illuminated by dots of lights. Why she hadn’t noticed all this upon waking up confused her.
Then she felt the ground shift again, and the silhouettes of the buildings looked like they were moving, changing. It was then that she remembered what she thought after escaping that black substance that held her prisoner.
“Is this a dream?” she asked, looking at him curiously.
“What makes you say that?” he asked in return, though his grin grew wider, sharp pointy teeth more visible.
“Well…,” she said, her eyes still wandering, taking in their surroundings. “I don’t remember seeing all this before I passed out. And everything feels…” With her right fist, she clenched at the grass beneath her. “Everything feels unstable. As though it could all dissolve or disappear if I just blink. Like… a dream.”
"Good," he said. "I'm glad I don't have to convince you on that one. You're right. This is a dream. To be a little more precise, this is your dream."
“My dream?” asked Mamori, confused. “How is this, my dream?”
“Well, since you said everything felt unstable,” he said, looking at the silhouette of the buildings. “Did you notice the river earlier?”
She shook her head. “No, I saw the bridge first and then…” she stopped her train of thought, looking at the river with renewed wonder. Of course, she saw the bridge and automatically assumed there was a river. If there was a bridge over a river, there must be a town nearby… “So right now… I’m dreaming?”
"Yes and no," he frowned, trying to find the right words to explain. "Right now, you're conscious but in a world that's being influenced by your dreams and subconscious."
"Influenced by me?" she asked. "How is this possible?"
"Because you lost your memories and this is the only way to get them," he replied. "Something is stopping you from regaining your memories, something that can only be found if you're here in this world that is linked to you."
"So... when I passed out just now...?"
"You revert back to your deepest subconscious, which also helps shape how this world will look once you get up," he explained, looking a little nervous now. "But you'll always return to this world, because..."
Mamori blinked, noting the light crack in this boy's voice. "Is... something wrong with me? Is that why I can't go back to my real world?"
The boy seemed to have noticed Mamori's concern. He looked back at her, grin confidently back in place now. "That's what we're here to find out.” He stood, picking up the jacket which Mamori now confirmed was his, as he looked at the building silhouettes. “For now, I think we have to keep moving.”
“Moving?” Mamori uttered, getting on her knees and trying to get up. She stumbled a little, causing the boy to reach out and grab her left hand, careful to note that her left shoulder still hurt. “Thank-” she stopped, looking up at the boy. She followed his intense gaze to her left hand, wondering if she’d injured it, her hand still gripped in his. But she saw nothing wrong with her hand.
There was nothing on it at all.
He let her go, turning away and grinning as though nothing had happened. Mamori was now beginning to wonder if this boy was hiding something behind that grin. Everything about him seemed odd. She’d decided that she might as well ask him about it when he suddenly spoke up.
“Notice anything strange?” he asked.
She wasn’t sure what he meant by that. This whole world was strange to begin with. She looked around, but other than the scene by the bridge with the fire and river, and the silhouette of the buildings in the distance, there was nothing else to note.
It was then that she felt a strange presence coming from one of the paths that seemed to lead nowhere. It was just… dark. But the more she focused on that particular darkness; the sense of something being there grew. And she felt drawn to it somehow. Without realizing it, she took a few steps in that direction.
The boy noticed this. “So you feel something coming from there, huh?” He walked before her, heading straight in that direction. “Well then, we better head that way. You better pick up your sword.”
“My sword?” Mamori looked at the fire not far from her, and noticed the sword gleaming from the fire’s light. She hadn’t taken a good look at the sword when she’d first gotten it, but now that she could, she realized how simple, yet oddly strong the sword seemed. Even though she had no memory of her past, it seemed odd that her weapon of choice for a fight would be a sword.
Fight…?
“Wait, are we going to fight?” Mamori cried, running after the boy. But he kept moving forward, widening the gap between them. “Hey!”
“Ah?” he replied, not bothering to look at her as she chased after him. “What did you just say?”
“I said! Are we going to…?” Her words were left hanging as she looked around. The scenery was changing before them. A twisted form appeared and soon began to take shape… Mamori watched in awe and confusion as the mass soon settled into a house. It looked like any other house, simple and homey, and the lights seem to be on inside. But the fact that it appeared right before them startled Mamori. “W-what?” she stuttered. “H-how…? Are we supposed to…?”
The boy shushed her. Mamori had to stop herself from yelling at him out of frustration. There were still too many unanswered questions, and she wasn’t even sure what’s going on right now. Besides, who is this boy anyways? What gave him the right to order her around?
But before she could say anything, a cold wind blew from inside the house and swept over them both. She could hear the sound of creaking coming from inside of the house. She shivered in response.
Then she heard a click and saw that the boy had one of his guns out already. Without tearing his eyes away from the house, he murmured, “Get ready.”
Mamori swallowed dryly, feeling more confused than ever. “For what?” she asked, but the answer came faster than she thought. In an instant, the windows of the house flew open, and glass shattered in all directions. A loud, tortured scream that sounded female echoed throughout the house and the lights within it flickered.
Mamori stood her ground, trying to figure out what was going on. The image of this house appearing out of nowhere and then suddenly going berserk seemed too surreal. And who was screaming? This can’t be happening… This can’t be real…
But she snapped out of her thoughts instantly when the screaming stopped. The house seemed calm for a moment. But Mamori gasped in horror when she caught sight of what appeared to be a ghost of a woman with hollow eyes, from the doorway, looking straight at her.
Neither Mamori nor the boy remembered to breathe, while the ghost remained still. Then in a split second, the ghosts black hollow eyes turned red, and it screamed as it flew straight towards Mamori.
Chapter 1 | Chapter 3