Memories Unlived (Part 1/2)
A short piece involving three of my own characters from a very long running role-playing session with a close friend.
It had only been three days since Dane's capture and case of acquired amnesia. Luckily, he had found a friend in his time of need, but he could never feel safe, not being watched over so closely with fists and claws.
For only a brief moment, Dane took a deep breath with closed eyes, then he slowly opened them to find himself back in the forest with Lucario and Zor, the duo who found him the night that he had been kidnapped. Zor, the malicious Zoroark, raced above him from tree to tree; Dane could feel the entirety of his hatred for humans even when he wasn't around. Lucario was behind him, relaxing in a nearby hot spring. Ever since losing his memory, she had protected him from Zor, who took every moment he could to beat him down for the sake of beating him. It was impossible for him to deny being incredibly grateful, but speaking to her, even looking at her warranted a beating. Somehow, he never felt the pain from being hit, but it hurt all the same.
As Lucario splashed about and sighed from the sensations of the heated spring, Dane raised one of his hands and placed it on his head, touching the makeshift bandages around his forehead. No matter what he did or how hard he tried, he couldn't remember where he came from, the name of the werewolf who kidnapped him, not even his own name. The thought of peacefully regaining his lost memories seemed to be nothing more than an impossible dream.
"Ah! This is great!" Lucario's voice barely managed to ring out over the sound of splashing water. The mere thought of her almost tempted Dane to turn around just to see her smile, but a single moment of happiness wasn't worth Zor's wrath.
"N-no..." Dane whispered to himself. He had seen Lucario before; he tried his best to talk himself out of turning around. She was much taller than he was, nearly a whole foot taller, and her body was slender, making it perfect for fighting, it was also extra large in all of the right places, perfect f-
Dane shook the thought out of his head with a whimper, managing to catch Lucario's attention from the hot spring and Zor's scowl from the trees.
"Dane?" Lucario called from the hot spring just behind him. "Is everything alright? Are you okay?"
"Y...yeah..." At the sound of her voice, Dane reluctantly shook any thoughts of her out of his mind. He changed positions so he could embrace his legs close to his body and rest his forehead on his knees. Looking pitiful had almost become a force of habit for him; if he wasn't unhappy and in pain, Zor had a reason to mercilessly beat him.
In the midst of Dane's fleeting thoughts, a warming paw touched Dane on the shoulder, causing him to flinch, but Lucario quickly placed her other paw on his back, stifling his fear.
"So," Lucario pulled her paws away from Dane and placed them on the dry land beside him, keeping herself afloat with her arms. "You can't remember anything, huh?"
Dane, unable to escape Zor's glare, gave up on looking pitiful before sitting as normally as possible, trying to hide the fear showing through his entire quivering body.
"N-nothing," Dane started. His immense fear of Zor was at its peak, he wasn't safe for long, whether he'd speak or not... "I don't know the werewolf that attacked me, I don't know why he did...I don't even know who I am..."
The moment Dane finished speaking, Zor was standing up in front of him with claws balled tight at his side, malice taking the place of any other emotion in his eyes. Before Dane could even respond to Zor's appearance, Zor had him up in the air by his neck.
"Liar!" Zor yelled as he shook Dane around until the boy was shaking in absolute fear, unable to move or look away. "We know why you're here..."
Zor pressed Dane against a tree and punched him in the jaw over and over until blood was pouring from Dane's mouth. With a final punch, Zor put Dane down on one knee before spitting in Dane's face with a growl.
"Why have any Zoroark and Lucario, when you can capture us!?"Zor held up his claws and powered up a Shadow Ball as Dane writhed at his feet and Lucario scrambled to get out of the hot spring. "You want to see a Shadow Ball!? Well here's one right here!"
Just as Lucario managed to make her way from the hot spring onto dry land, Zor launched his Shadow Ball at Dane, creating a giant explosion that sent Dane flying far back into a tree.
"Dane!" Lucario called as she raced into the dust from the giant explosion to meet him, only to be stopped by Zor.
Lucario and Zor argued and fought against each other only until the dust had cleared away, revealing Dane with most of his shirt burned away, cowering back against a tree with his hands up. At the first sight of Dane, Lucario and Zor both raced forward, but Lucario, being clearly faster, made it to Dane first.
"Zor, Stop!" Lucario yelled as she stood above Dane with her arms out, shielding him from Zor. "You've done this for the past three days and the result's always been the same! Dane's not a trainer, he's a human with amnesia, and he's completely terrified of you!"
Zor looked down to Dane for only a second before looking back up to Lucario with an uncaring expression. "Good, let's keep it that way."
Without a word, Zor pushed Lucario aside and looked down at Dane with a hateful glare and a Shadow Ball in one of his claws. At the moment he threw the ball, Lucario pushed Zor to the side, knocking the attack off-course, just barely keeping Dane safe from the full force of the blast.
"You..." Zor looked to Lucario with a disbelieving stare, then he backhanded her, knocking her to the ground. "You bitch!"
The raging Zor roared once more as he took a step toward Lucario, "you dirty human fucker!"
"Zor, stop this..." Lucario pleaded as she slowly stood up while Zor slowly approached.
As Zor made his way forward, he raised his claws, but before he was anywhere near Lucario, Dane was standing up in front of her with his arms out wide, shielding her as she did for him, bruises covering his arms and face.
She almost couldn't believe it, even though it had been happening since the very moment she started to protect him from Zor. Surely enough, Dane, being able to take brutal attacks from a Zoroark as powerful as Zor, and stand up afterwards, wasn't normal, but it didn't matter in the slightest. All the same, he was only a human, a weak, scared, powerless human.
"Why?" Lucario could only wonder to herself as Zor viciously beat Dane into the ground for opposing him for her sake.
Why did Dane throw himself in Zor's path for her knowing he'd never even raise a fist to fight Zor. It didn't make any sense, but how could it. After all h-
"Please! I-I'm s-"
Lucario quickly found herself back in the forest alone with the sounds of Zor's panting and splashing all around. She shook her head and forced herself back into reality as she looked to the spring to find Zor holding Dane's head underwater, Dane's legs kicking as forcefully as they can behind him.
"Zor! Stop!" Lucario yelled as she pushed Zor aside, giving Dane a chance to sit up and catch his breath. "You'll kill him like that!"
Zor quickly picked himself from the forest floor to kick Dane in the stomach then pick up Lucario by her neck.
"If I didn't know any better, I'd think you're fucking this piece of human trash." As Zor glared deep into Lucario's eyes, she pulled back a glowing palm and rammed it into his chest, sending a swift bolt of her aura racing through his body.
"Ragh!" Zor growled as he dropped Lucario, then he threw a swift punch at her, knocking her down before turning to Dane with more rage in his eyes than ever before.
Despite Dane's pleads for forgiveness for whatever he could have possibly done wrong, Zor mercilessly battered Dane with his fists and cut him with his claws until Dane's pleading was silenced along with his movement.
"You sicken me." Zor took a deep breath as he knelt down beside Dane with a tight hold on his neck. He spat in Dane's eyes before turning his attention to a small object at his feet that seemed to shine brighter than the sun itself.
Zor stared down at his feet and swiftly grabbed the object before Dane or Lucario could see what it was. Slight examination revealed it to be a wallet that seemed to have fallen out of Dane's pocket, it was covered with shimmering dragon scales of the darkest black, the brightest white, and the most mysterious blue Zor had ever seen before.
Zor tore the wallet open and ruffled through several thick, plastic cards and photos. After barely glancing at each one, Zor tossed most of the cards around the forest. He continued to tear through the wallet until he found a giant stash of human currency, he looked to it before looking down at Dane who was still trembling with fear unbeknownst to man or beast.
Without a word, Zor took the wad of cash from Dane's wallet and stuffed it into his hair before tossing the wallet itself aside. With that, Zor picked himself up and stepped over Dane, leaving both Dane and his savior without a single word.
Still whimpering and trembling, Dane slowly looked around for Zor before picking himself up. Before he managed to rise up to his knees, a shimmering card caught his attention. "Is...is that...me?"
Dane quickly wiped his eyes clear of Zor's spit, then he snatched the shimmering card from the ground. Of all the cards Dane picked up, he managed to grab his own I.D. card. As Dane stared at the card, trying to find some sort of meaning, Lucario picked herself up and knelt down in front of Dane, carefully taking note of his bruises and cuts starting to heal right before her very eyes.
"Huh..." Lucario took the card from Dane and held it up for both of them to see. "It is, isn't it, Dane?"
Dane looked to Lucario as though responding to his name being called, then he gasped as he looked at the card more intensely. "Th-that's my name!"
Lucario laughed warmly before putting down the card beside Dane and reaching for an overturned piece of paper. She flipped it over and held it up into the air, revealing it to be a picture of Dane standing in front of three dragons and several other characters who all smile with him.
"Friends of yours?" Lucario asked with a slight smile, but Dane's own excited reaction quickly faded away.
"I...I don't know..."
Dane looked away and Lucario started to regret showing him the picture. After a while, she softly placed the picture on the ground and put a paw on Dane's cheek to wipe away more of Zor's disrespect. At only her touch, Dane jumped backward, flinching, but she only wiped her hand on the ground with a slight smile.
"That attack should have hurt him a little. He won't stop attacking you, but he won't be back for some time...so try to relax, okay?" Lucario stood up, showing Dane the biggest, most comforting smile she could, but Dane only looked away. It became clear to her that Dane didn't just fear Zor, but her too.
Unable to cure Dane of his incomprehensible fear, Lucario turned away and jumped high into the air, flipping at her peak before diving into the hot spring. With a sigh she started to float on her back with a big smile despite Zor's recent fit of anger. Soon after, Dane wiped his face clear of blood before returning to his original position, sitting with his back to the spring, looking down at the ground.
Zor wouldn't be gone for long, and when he'd come back, Dane knew there would be hell to pay, but as long as Lucario was around, he wouldn't be in hell alone. At least not entirely.