The Start of it All

[Kwokinator]

Kwok didn't even bother to respond.  The pain in his head making it somewhat hard to do.  With a wave of his hand, he opened up a portal that would lead to where the railcharge is.

[acetalon]

"Whew, at least I didn't have to go rectally."  Ace blew a relieved sigh.  He reached into the portal and focused, using his powers of order to find the spot of Kaos within Kwok.  

He shuddered and certainly hoped those things he was seeing were not Kwok's memories.  

Pushing past this, he reached down, deep down, and felt around for the rail.

"...someone shoot me,"  Order thought with disgust.  He was starting to hate railguns.  He grabbed hold of the rail, gritting his teeth at the revived burning sensation in his hands, and yanked it out none too gently.

"I really hate railshots."  Order split the rail in half, disintegrating one part and sealing the other part away as a mememto to his pain.

[Kwokinator]

"AAAARRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!"

Kwok rolled over and over on the ground as memories were triggered from Ace's act.  Memories that he'd sealed and hoped to lock away forever.

He remembered... Steph.  How beautiful she was... how gentle... how unreachable.  And he remembered that he tried to hurt her at various points in his existence.  Now that he was looking back, he didn't know why he would remotely want to hurt someone like her.

He also remembered the only other girl he had ever loved in his long existence... the goddess named Angela.  She was the only other person he'd given his heart to... even though she was a goddess, she had no elite attitude.  Approachable, energetic, her very smile could make his heart melt like pudd-

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

He screamed again at the burning, and PAINFUL sensation of having the railcharge removed from his head.  "Damn you Ace!" he screamed. "Can't you be gentle with that?!"

[acetalon]

"...Your shitting me, right?"  Ace quirked an eyebrow.  "You know just how damn painful it was for me to remove that shit from your BRAIN?  You should be grateful, ya jerk."

[Kwokinator]

"You weren't the one getting all those unwanted memories back in your head," Kwok growled at his sibling. "Do you have any idea how hard it is to remember something that you've wanted to forget for so long?"

"Do you have any idea how much I miss them?" he snapped. "They're gone, and I'll never get them back, and what you just did just reminded me of how much I was missing!"

He turned his head towards the sky to hide the growing moisture in his eyes.

"I'll never get them back..." he whispered to himself.

[Carthrat]

Carthrat raised an eyebrow.

<-Well, well. Kwok has a soft side after all. Guess I'd better be a little less harsh to him. He's not really THAT bad a guy... but he's close.->

<-Ace, on the other hand...->

[acetalon]

Ace stopped cold, his skin grew cold and his wrist shook uncontrollably.  The bracelet grew cold as ice as its magic threatened to be overwhelmed.

"Don't you DARE compare your fucking problems with mine!"  He growled.  Pain lanced through his wrist as he
caught a glimpse of a face.  A girl's face who was strangely familliar, yet who he didn't know.  All he knew was that the bracelet was to block his memory of her.   He didn't know why he'd made that bracelet, but maybe he didn't want to know.  All he knew was that to take it off would cause him unending pain.

One word did make it through the magic of the bracelet.

"Sakura..."

[Kwokinator]

"Fuck you!" Kwok yelled as he proceeded to punch Ace in the face. "You don't even REMEMBER Sakura!  I didn't WANT to remember them and now I have to!  You still have a choice!"

[acetalon]

"Did you ever think that I might have MADE my choice already?"  He shouted back angrily as he took Kwok's blow and returned it with a knee to Kwok's stomach.  "You see this bracelet?  Its because I didn't want to remember this Sakura person!  I did't want to know who she is, what she is, or what I did to her, if I did anything!  You know how much that hurts, just knowing yet not knowing at the same time?"

"As if your problems are any worse.  YOUR love interests are still..."  He trailed off.  What was it he was going to say?  Shaking his head, he retorted,  "There's still a chance you can see your love interest.   I don't even know who this girl is!"

[Carthrat]

"I guess I misjudged them.." muttered Carthrat to himself.

In his opinion, however, they'd done a stupid thing by shutting off their memories. But prehaps they weren't as stupid as they looked, and did it to stop them going on a rampage...

But closing their memories.. foolish. They shouldn't close them, but cherish them.

After all, gravestones all over read "Lest we Forget"... there was a reason, after all...

[Kwokinator]

Kwok doubled over from the knee to the stomach, then came back up with an uppercut to Ace's chin. "You bastard!" he yelled. "Sakura's the only girl you've ever loved, and now you're saying you don't even WANT to remember her!"

"Steph and Angela probably don't give a damn about me anymore!" he glared hard at his sibling. "But if Sakura heard what you just said, do you think she would really rest in peace, wherever she is?  Do you have any idea how heartbroken she'd be?"

[acetalon]

Ace stumbled back, shocked at what Kwok said.  "Kwok, I don't REMEMBER her!  I don't KNOW if I wanted to remember her!  Maybe I didn't then, maybe I do now.  What are you talking about?  Is she dead?  How did she die?"  Ace knew that the answer to these questions would be painful, but he couldn't just stand here and listen to Kwok berate him without knowing why.

"Steph loved you.  She loved you dearly.  Even AFTER you tried to kill her so many times, I remember her laughing about it later.  Don't make a martyr of yourself and lie in doing so.  I don't remember Angela that well, but if she was a goddess then there has to have been some truth to her  feelings."  

[Kwokinator]

"If you want the answer to all these questions, why not just take off the bracelet?" Kwok questioned Ace. "It's simple."

"And I'm not making a martyr of myself," he continued in an icy tone. "Steph is gone.  So is Angela.  I'd love to know where they are and be with them again, but I can't.  Even if I kill myself, I probably still won't see them in whatever afterlife we have because they may not be dead yet.  It hurts to know that the people you love most may still be alive, but you may never see them again."

[acetalon]

"Because I'm afraid all right?  Is that what you wanted to hear?  I'm AFRAID!"  He snarled.  The bracelet was deathly cold now, and he couldn't but help notice it.  

"You MAY never see them again.  There's always the chance you will.  Just like there's always the chance you'll never see them again.  There's the chance you won't see me again if I took off this bracelet cuz I'd die for reasons I wouldn't know until I took it off.  there's always a chance of something not happening Kwok!  Think of what COULD happen, not what may not!"

[Kwokinator]

"Ace..." Kwok spoke in a low, warning tone. "Don't make me rip the bracelet off your wrist..."