Chapter 5: Memory Lapse
PART I: Breakthrough
He'd met when they when they were both in college. She was beautiful, smart, funny...and very intelligent. It was love at first sight. And now, here he was. Married to the love of his life, Jordana, and standing in the middle of the study in his home. Their son,Koji,was playing on the floor. Their daughter, Karen, was doing addition worksheets at the desk.
There was a knock on the door. The two children squealed with delight. "Mommy," they shriekedas a lovely blond walked into the room. They hopped up and clung to their mother, Jordana. She smiled broadly, and patted her children's hair. She looked up at her husband and said "All right kiddos, time for bed."
The two children groaned but ran off to brush their teeth. Jordana walked over to her husband, who took her into his arms, kissing her on the forehead. She laughed and rested her head on his chest. "Okay, let's get to work, Brixey," she said, pulling away and walking over to the desk. She didn't wear a labcoat, unusual for work time.
Brixey was wearing his lab coat, and he pulled out a pair of eyeglasses, putting them on. He sat down at another desk in front of a computer, pulling out a keyboard on a rolling shelf. He felt Jordana's hands on his shoulders and he smiled, looking up at her. "Looks like...we're pulling another all nighter," she murmured, playing with a lock of his chocolate brown hair. "We're so close to a break through, Jordana... I can feel it. I can almost...taste it."
Jordana laughed. "You haven't been licking those computer screens again, have you, Brixey? Silly man," she said, tussling his hair. Brixey chuckled loud and hard. But then they were all work. Brixey clicked away at his keyboard, his long pianist's fingers giving life to the long mathematic equations on the screen.
Jordana walked over to a white lumpy ...thing in the corner of the room. It was a machine covered by a sheet. She ripped the sheet off, folding it neatly and putting it on the desk. She smiled, put her hands on her hips and looked at her life's work. Her most perfect, important achievement... besides her two darling children of course. She pulled a rubber hand from her wrist and wrapped it around her blond hair, keeping it away from her face so she could work.
She grabbed a screw driver from the desk and started working, biting her lip as she tightened things, moved things, loosened things. Nearly twenty years of work had propelled them this far. All they needed was a few safety precautions and...well, Brixey was the math genius. His job was to find the right formula to make the progam to make Jordana's machine work. He was the brain of this team. So was Jordana, but her speciality was mechanics. She was the brain, the beauty and the brawn.
~
She wasn't supposed to die on him like this. He refused to believe she was actually lying there in that bed, her death bed, burning with the fever that was killing her slowly, painfully. She was supposed to be all smiles on this, the happiest day of her life, and it disturbed him deeply to her face contorted in pain. The birth of their first child, a precious daughter. This was supposed to a supremely joyful occasion. But now, sitting here, holding his small, precious, oh, so fragile child in his arms... she seemed so...helpess. Defenseless. It made him sad to see anything this helpless.
The door cracked open, and the man looked to the side. He was jumpy, afraid that at any moment Death would walk through that door and leave again, with his wife and child. But, it was just a nurse, coming to tend to the sick woman in the bed. She looked at the man in the chair next to the bed and asked "Would you like me to take her, Master?" "No! No... the child stays with me. Saila's time is near. I think she should be with her daughter in her final moments"
The nurse frowned. "All right. If that's what you want, Master."
~
Brixey and Jordana would never forget the night, the exact moment all of their work came together. The breakthrough they'd been praying for for nearly twenty years. It happened in the evening. Brixey's startingly blue eyes were glued to the computer screen, his fingers a blur on the keyboard. His eyes burned but he didn't blink. All he needed was that one variable...
He stopped, feeling defeated. He blinked, pulling his glasses off and wiping them with his sweater. He was cold, so he went to go turn up the heat. Jordana walked in, her blond hair slightly mussed. Her cheecks were flushed, and she was smiling. Brixey was frowning and staring at the thermostat, mesmerized by the numbers.
After watching numbers for hours, they didn't even seem like numbers anymore. They were more like ancient runes, or some alien language that defied translation. Jordana slid her arms around his neck. "Still working," she sighed. She yawned. "What are you staring at? Is the thermostat broken?"
Suddenly, inside Brixey's head, a miracle occured. All of the numbers and letters and symbols finally came together. His eyes widened behind the glass panes of his glasses. He threw Jordana's arms off and flew back to the desk. He didn't even bother sitting. He just kicked the chair out of the way and hit his knees. He didn't breathe, didn't blink.
Jordana was by his side in an instant, her brown eyes wide with wonder. "Brixey," she said, her voice shaking with excitement. "What's happening?" Brixey didn't answer. He stood up, grabbing the wires that would connect the computer to Jordana's machine. He shoved them at Jordana and said "Hook it up."
Jordana snatched the wires from her husband and ran to the machine. Brixey turned back to the computer, his finger hovering over the "enter" button. Jordana turned to him and nodded. Brixey took a deep breath and...pressed...the...button.
"Sending data," he breathed. Jordana checked the machine's display screen. "Data...received? Oh my... oh my gosh. Data received!" she squeaked. The machine, with a few electric sparks, buzzed to life. The portal they would step through glowed red. They couldn't move, breathe or speak. Was their work, finally complete? Brixey took off his glasses. Jordana reached out and touched the metal hardware of the portal. She recoiled, exclaiming "It's hot! Oh my gosh, Brixey, it's hot! The metal is hot, oh my word, oh my... I can't wait to try!"
She shucked her lab coat, throwing it on the desk. She was about to step through but Brixey grabbed her shoulder. "The children," he said. Jordana frowned."I'm sorry," she apologized. "How could I forget Karen and Koji" "It's fine, my love. I'm excited, too." "Let's go wake them," already going out of the door.
Brixey grined and followed her out and up the stairs. They walked to their children's room. Karen's door had a pink sign bearing her name. Koji's was in blue. Brixey went to Karen and Jordana went to Koji. Brixey opened the door to Karen's room. The room was lit softly by a nightlight. Stuffed animals and dolls littered the floor. Lying on the bed was his daughter, fast asleep. Her walked over, stroking his daughter's brown hair. She looked so much like him. Same heart shaped face, blue eyes, hair. Same willowly frame, long fingers. She was a beautiful child.
She woke up, her long eyelashes fluttering open. "Daddy," she murmured."Wake up, care bear," said Brixey, lifting his daughter up. She rubbed her eyes and asked "What's happening?" Brixey held his daughter to his chest so that her head lolled against his shoulder."Mommy and I did it, care bear. We're going to another world."
~
Two years later, on the anniversery of his wife's death and three days after his daughter's second birthday, the man sat at his desk, scribbling rapidly in a leather bound journal. His toddler daughter sat on the ground in front of his desk, banging on a pot with a spoon. She looked up at him and asked "Daddy?"
The man looked down at her. She had her mothers eyes. "Yes?"he replied. The girl shook her head and continued to bang on her pot. The man smiled wistfully, sadness creeping into his eyes. She reminded him so much of her mother, Saila. And that was exactly why she must be sent away.
Well, he argued with himself, maybe that's not the only reason why. What he was doing... he looked around his study, at the evidence work. What he was doing was dangerous. He wasn't going to loose another loved one. He slammed the journal shut. The lock clicked.
~
"Don't worry, my brave boy," assured Jordana into her son's hair."Marny's here to take care of you. And Daddy and I will be back soon." Koji was bawling and wouldn't let go of his mother. It was the next morning, the morning after the breakthrough. Jordana and Brixey were going to step through that portal and into another world any minute now.
Karen watched her parents while she clung to her nursemaid, Marny's, skirt. Her eyes were sad, tinged with a tiny bit of anger. Brixey glanced over and saw his daughter cowering behind the overweight caretaker. He walked over, kneeling to her level. She bit her lip and stepped over, further hiding herself from her father. Brixey frowned and reached out for a hug, but Karen twisted away from his touch."Oh, care bear. We're coming back, I swear." No answer, just staring. She was a bit too old, but she stuck her thumb in her mouth. Nervous tic. "I'll tell you what," said Brixey, still crouching and resting his hands on his knees. "I'll bring you a present back, okay?"
Karen looked at him warily but nodded. Brixey nodded as well and one again held out his arms for a hug. This time, Karen ran into his arms. Brixey held his only daughter tightly, kissing her hair. When he let her go, she instantly went back to Marny. Jordana finally managed to wrench away from Koji and Brixey went over to her. They stood by the machine and looked at each other. Jordana smiled gently. "It's now or never," she said.
Brixey nodded once aand walked to the computer. Koji ran crying to his sister, who held his hand. Jordana hovered by the machine. She looked once more at her children and murmured, so that no one heard her, "For them. So they won't be crushed by this world...like I was..." Then, she looked at her husband. "Commence data feed."
"Commencing data feed," said Brixey, tapping on the keyboard."Sending data." Jordana closed her eyes, long lashed resting on her cheeks. Then, she turned her head, opening her eyes and taking a deep breath. The machine's screen flashed from the blue standby to the opertating green screen. "Receiving data," she said, shakily. There was a teeny bell chime. Jordana grinned. "Data retrievel sucessful. Commence cross-over stage two."
Brixey walked over as Jordana tapped the screen. The portal glowed red, and Jordana checked a digital thermomater on the screen."Temperature rising. Ten degrees farenheit to stage three." They watched the thermomater rise, the number flicking on the screen. When it reached the proper temperature, Brixey said "Commence crossover stage three."
Jordana grabbed Brixey's hand and they looked to their children. Brixey winked at his daughter and they stepped through the portal.
~
You can imagine Squall Leonheart's(aka Leon) surprise when two people literally popped out of thin air right in front of him. A man with spiky borwn hair and glasses, wearig a green turtle neck and stark white lab coat, looked around, stunned. There was a woman standing next to him, clinging to him. She had long blond hair and pretty green hairs. She also wore a lab coat and was equally stunned. They noticed Squall then.
The man said "Uh...where are we? What is this place?" Leon answered slowly and warily. "Radiant...Garden." "Radiant Garden," repeated the woman, awed. "That sounds lovely." "Who are you? Where are you from? Why are you here?" asked Squall, crossing his arms defensively. The people were very polite and reasonable about the whole thing.
"Oh. My name is Dr. Brixey Kano, and this is my wife, Jordana. We're from a place called Traverse Town," explained the man. He tried to explain how they got there, but Leon stopped him, putting up a hand. "Come with me," he said. Ansem needed to meet these people, for sure.
Ansem the Wise welcomed Brixey and Jordana with open arms, eager to get to know these people from another world. They sat in Ansem's study, talking while taking notes. There were hot beverages, coffee and tea, but nobody touched them. The three scientists scrabbled pages upon pages of nots on yellow legal pads.
"So, Mrs. Kano, tell me more about this...teleportation device of yours," asked Ansem, his pen poised over the paper. Jordana coughed gently, smiled proudly and said "Actually, I'm Dr. Kano, as well.My machine isn't really a teleportation device... it's more like a...well, I don't really know how to explain.Would you like to see the blue prints? Maybe that would help clear things up."
Ansem nodded, and while she dug around in her bag for the prints, she explained "It has a sort of...defense mechanism. It's programmed to pull us back to our world in one week, but it can be reprogrammed once we go back. Brixey can do that, he's the only one who can." She found the plans and slid them over the desk to Ansem. "Keep them. They're just copies." She grasped Brixey's hand while Ansem studied.
"These are...astounding," said Ansem, breathlessly. "I have to admit, we're surpised this worked," said Brixey. "So am I," added Ansem with a chuckle. He put down the papers. "But we have plenty of time to talk about science. Please...I'm curious. Tell me about yourself."
Brixey and Jordana both smiled. "Well," Brixey started, "We live in the third district or Traverse Town. We have two children. A daughter, Karen, who's six. And Koji, our son. He's four." Tears formed in Jordana's eyes as she remembered departing from her home and leaving her children. She reached for the untouched coffe and sipped from the mug, she she spit it out discreetly. Cold coffee, disgusting.
"What about you? Do you have any family?" asked Brixey. Ansem smiled sadly and said "My people are my family, Dr. Kano." Brixey regretted asking, sensing something deeper. He aplogized, but Ansem waved him away. He stood. "I'll have my staff find a place for you to stay.We can talk more tomorrow. I'm exhausted, all though I can't say the same you."
Brixey and Jordana stood and Jordana said "Now that you mention it, I am really tired." Ansem lead them out.
Later that night, very late, Ansem sat alone in his study. He held his face in his hand. Sitting on the desk, next to his elbow, was a box. A safe box. He was staring down onto three photo graphs lying under him. He sighed, picked up the photos and placed them back in the box. He shut the box and locked it with an ornate key, putting the key in his pocket. He put the box in the lowest, smallest draw of his desk, rose and walked out of the room.
For the next five days, Ansem, Brixey and Jordana studied. They prodded, examined, took notes, and took tons of photographs. Brixey and Jordana explored Radiant Garden, absolutely overwhelmed. They never dreamed that they would get this far.
The seventh day came. With their bags packed fill of notes and diagrams and photographs and other forms of documentation, they returned to their entrance point at the front of town. Ansem escorted them, giving them each a handshake as they began to dissolve into data.
"All right, kiddos, Mom and Dad are coming back today," said Marny, flattening Koji's messy hair and straightening Karen's skirt. "Do you think Mommy and Daddy brought back presents?" Koji asked his sister. Karen shrugged, but remembered what her father promised.Wouldn't want to make Koji jealous.
Suddenly Jordana's machine began to glow. Karen's heart soared. "Daddy," she telled,running to the machine as her parents stumbled out. Brixey dropped his bag and picked up his daughter, hugging her tightly. "Hey there, care bear. Did you miss me?" "Of course I did, silly Daddy," she answered, pulling on his hair. The both smiled.
That night, Brixey was tucking Karen into bed. She was absolutely filled to bursting with a question. She blurted it out, having waited all day. "Whadya bring me?" Brixey laughed. He dug into the pocket of his pants and pulled out a strip of black leather. Hanging off the leather was a small, marbled blue, heart shaped charm. "What is it?"asked Karen, taking the strip. There was a clasp on the end."It's a necklace," answered her father. He helped her clasp it on. "Be careful with this, Karen.This is very special, only big girls get to wear such nice things."
He nuzzled her nose and she grinned."It's really pretty Daddy...little girls have to wear cheap plastic jewelry, right?" Brixey laughed hard.
~
Things were going good for the Kano family. A few months later was Karen's seventh birthday. So, they had a party. Several of Karen's classmates and friends came over to the Kano's large home. But Karen mostly ignored the other children when her best friend showed up. He walked up and tapped her on the shoulder, and she turned around and squealed.
"Castle, you're here finally," she said, hugging the boy in front of her. Castle and Karen were inseperable. Castle was also seven, and he had purple hair and very...mature crimson eyes. He carried a wrapped box. "I couldn't find anything at the store you like, it was all cheap,plastic stuff," he said, his eyes gleaming with glee. "I brought you something else."
Karen reached for the box, but Castle snatched it back with a grin, putting it with the other gifts. Karen pouted, but with in a few seconds, she was better and playing "Pin the Pom Pom on the Moogle" with the other kids, laughing and carrying on. And after they were all hyped up on sugar, it was time to open presents. Karen went for Castle's first, but he snatched it away again, sticking out his tongue. "Mine last," he insisted.
There were hair clips, a doll, a new skirt, a pair of pointe shoes. She squealed with delight when she opened the point shoes, from her parents, but then Castle's present was handed to her.
With an eager smile, she ripped the paper. There was a box, and she opened the box, digging through packing material until her hands brushed against something cool and smooth. She lifted out a glass figurine, a glass butterfly. The wings were thinly blown and frosted. It sat upon a glittering leaf, sipping from and exquisitely made flower. Karen gasped.
Castle collected glass. Shelves and shelves of figurines lined his bedroom walls. They glittered in the sunlight and glowed in the moonlight. When ever went over to play, she'd always enjoyed the butterfly most. And now it was hers. She held it in cupped palms, staring at it. "We'll put this on this shelf in your room so it won't get broken, honey," she said, setting it aside. Karen nodded and looked to Castle. "Thank you," she said. Castle smiled broadly and nodded once.
END PART I
PART TWO: The Empire Falls
Yes, things were good. Karen fell asleep one night with a smile, watching the moolight reflect on the glass butterfly, not knowing her life was about to change. For the worst. The very worst.
She noticed her chest felt...fluttery when she woke up. She pressed her hand against her chest. She was breathing funny and her chest felt like it was full of cotton. She tried to breathe deeply, and her entire torso flared with pain. She screamed. Brixey was in her room in thirty seconds. "My...chest," wheezed Karen, grasping at her pajama top. Brixey felt sick. "What's wrong?" he asked, kneeling at her bedside. She was crying now, and fell back onto her pillow. "My chest.... it feels..." she gasped, her eyes dull with pain."It feels...too small. My chest feels too small."
Brixey's heart dropped as he took his ill daughter into his arms and ran into the hall way."Jordana! Jordana, there's something wrong with Karen," he screamed to his wife. Jordana emerged from the wash room, her hair wet from a recent shower. Her face was terrifed as Brixey blew past her down the stairs, Karen quivering painfully in his arms.
Brixey called their family doctor. He was no help. He instructed them to take Karen to the hospital. Brixey, feeling illogically angry, slammed the telephone down. Jordana appeared in the kitchen. Karen was shaking in a kitchen chair, barely conscious. She resembled a porcelain doll, tiny, fragile pale and limp.
Brixey looked at his wife and said "Stay here with Koji. I'm taking her to the emergency room." "Wouldn't it be better to call an ambulance?" asked Jordana as Brixey crossed the kitchen and gathered Karen once again into his arms. He didn't answer but was gone before Jordana could ask anymore questions.
In the hospital, a doctor questioned Brixey about his daughter's symptoms. "She said something about her chest. She said it was too small. And she was burning with fever." The doctor frowned. "She doesn't have a fever.But as far as her other symptoms, it sounds like it may be cardio related."
He studied Karen's charts. "I'll call in a cardiologist and run some tests. Wait here, please," he said and then he walked out. Brixey was slightly puzzled, as he looked down at his hands. . He'd felt certain his daughter's skin had been hot with a fever. But if the doctor said there wasn't one, he must be right...right?
~
Ansem the Wise asked his apprentices for silence and no disturbances. He paced his study, pondering a thought that had come to him in the night. He sat at his desk and with one hand supporting his face, be began to write his ideas down.
If all worlds had doors... the Keyblade bearer exsisted to lock keyholes... doors could be locked and unlocked with the right key. And if all worlds had doors, and all worlds had keyholes... certainly so did the doors to Light and Dark. Something inside Ansem nagged him. There was something else, something more, teetering on the edge of his mind.
Surely, thought Ansem, honey-yellow eyes widening in ephiphany. Surely the keyholes to the doors to Light and Dark wouldn't be as simple as the others. Doors so important to the nature and well being of the universe would have complex, large locks. The most complex things in the universe were the human mind...
[i]and the human heart.[i]
What if the lock itself was a human, or at least contained inside the heart and mind of a human?
If a human controlled the key, a human could control the lock.
~
The cardiologist met with Brixey and Jordana in the waiting room. Jordana had woken Marny the Nurse as soon as Brixey had left, and she rushed to the hospital to be with her daughter and husband. Unfortunately, she wasn't allowed to see her daughter. She had been hurried along to a waiting room in the cardiology wing.
She'd found Brixey alone, sitting on a sofa. The sofa looked out of placce in a hospital, obviously there for those who would be waiting a while. And so the waited, holding each other, until the cardiologist emerged, looking puzzled, carrying scans of some sort. He handed the papers to Jordana who looked at them and said "We're not cardiologists. What does it mean?"
The cardiologist sat. "It means absolutely nothing," he sighed."According to these, there is absolutely nothing wrong with your daughter. Blood work, urine sample... all the tests came back negative." Brixey and Jordana stared, waiting for another explanation. The cardiologist gave them one, a lame one. "Possibly, she had a nightmare and it caused a panic attack." The Kano parents accepted this diagnosis.
But things didn't get any better. .The hospital released Karen, telling Jordana and Brixey that she just needed rest. And if it got worse, a prescription to control the panic attacks. Karen didn't get any better. She was brought to the doctor several times. Different doctors, same result.
There was nothing wrong with Karen,
~
Ansem the wise awoke at the sound of a knock on the door, surrounded by notes. His youngest apprentice, Ienzo, came through the door quietly. "Your assistance is required in the basement lab, Master Ansem." Ansem looked around at all the notes on his desk. Notes on his new theroy. "I'll be down in a moment, Ienzo. I just need to finish up here."
Ienzo was naturally inquistive, although shy. "Notes on what, Master? Something we should know about?" "No," said Ansem warily."Not yet."
~
After six weeks of sleepless nights and unhelpful doctors, Brixey Kano was fed up. Nothing was working and he knew the awful truth. His daughter was dying. He knew he had one last chance. All options, at least in this world, had been exhausted. He called for Jordana. She came into the kitchen, tired eyed. Brixey poured two mugs of coffee, and offfered one to Jordana. She took it.
"There's not else," she sighed, leaning over the counter. Brixey rested his thin hand on Jordana's shoulder. "There is one thing we haven't tried," he said quietly. "What?" asked Jordana, sounding sad and wary. Brixey told her, and she stiffened under his hand. "No... who knows what a jump like that would do to her health?"
"It's our only hope. I really think he can help us," urged Brixey. Jordana shook her head back and forth several times before Brixey took her face into his hands and kissed her lips softly. "Trust me, love." And Jordana did.
~
As Brixey and Jordana were ushered into Ansem's study, Ansem himself was putting away his notes.
