Origins 2: Forgotten Bonds

Jordan turned back at the group thag had gathered behind, tired of the interruptions. He was about to express his feelings until he saw Will with Zenaku. "Will? Soo...you're one of us now? Haha, good job Zenaku," Jordan said, shocked at Zenaku's progress. "I don't know how you did it, but damn youd did good Zenaku! You all must exfuse me though. Deimos, you be good now, eh?" He turned back around and opened up a portal.

Cole slowly followed behind Jordan, not completely understanding what was going on with those other people. As he walked through the portal, he made his first step on solid ground, the second, however, caused him to nearly fall off the edge of whatever structure they were on. Jordan immediately grabbed his arm and smiled.

"Come on Cole. I thought Darian was the clumsy one up here!" Jordan pulled Cole up and moved over so he could sit next to him. "Remember yet," Jordan asked.

Cole looked around from his view and saw that wherever he was, he had an excellent view of the town below. And in the far distance, he could see the sun beginning to set. A loud ringing noise filled the air, originating from behind Cole and Jordan. Cole looked up at the tall structure to realize the two were on a clock tower. For whatever reason, the sight of the clock tower brought back no memories, but only two words.

"I'm...home."

 

Jordan looked back at where the portal had just been and smirked. "Please. He has no idea, does he? The Organization is practically in my pocket," Jordan said to himself, eyes closed and his hand out.

"Um, who are you talking to," Cole asked his friend.

Jordan looked back at him, and chuckled. "Oh, no one. Just talking to myself," he replied.

The two looked out to the horizon, admiring the view. Cole dangled his feet off the side in a happy and carefree manner, while Jordan crouched next to him, knees held close against his chest. As the wind blew, the black in Jordan's hair blew in front of his eye which he promptly blew away. Cole looked over at Jordan and asked, "So, what's up with the hair? I thought you weren't into dyes and stuff."

Jordan smiled back at his friend and responded, "Oh, well it's not really my choice, you see. After I let the Darkness out, I kinda got stuck with it. I don't mind though. Serves as a reminder."

Cole didn't quite understand. "Of what happened?"

Jordan shook his head and pressed his face close against his knees, still speaking clearly though. "No. It's much more personal. It's to remind me-" Jordan stopped and looked at Cole with a smile. "Haha, how about you tell me? It'll be obvious one of these days. So when that day comes, I want you to tell me, got it?"

Cole smiled at Jordan's challenge and nodded. "Deal."

Jordan nodded back and looked back out to the horizon. "My part of show and tell is over, buddy! Your turn," he said.

Cole looked at Jordan with a face of disbelief and childishly replied, "What? No way! You didn't even tell, just shared!"

Jordan laughed at Cole's anger, and, after a few seconds, so did Cole.



Xigbar tapped on Axel's door and said, "Fiiiirebaaaall! You in there or what?"

 

Jordan looked back at Deimos with hate in his eyes. He was beginning to get pissed off at the fact Deimos followed him everywhere. Jordan compared it to a lost puppy. He looked at Cole and smirked. "How about we continue this conversation elsewhere," Jordan suggested.

Cole shrugged and replied, "Doesn't matter to me."

Jordan nodded and like that, he jumped off of the clock tower, landing hard on his feet. Lucky no one was around to see some boy jumping off the clock tower, unharmed. Cole chuckled and followed after his friend. The two began to walk around the town, enjoying the fact that they were both back home.

After a while, Jordan could hear Cole sigh. He looked over at his friend, knowing what he was thinking, or was about to say.

"They're alive Cole. All of our parents...well, except for Darian," Jordan said.

Cole looked back, shocked and replied, "Darian? His parents?"

Jordan chuckled and gave himself a small slap on the forehead. "Yeah, you don't remember him yet, huh? Well some lowlife killed his parents, spiraling me and the others into the positions we're in today."

Cole looked angry. He had heard only a little bit about what happened and knew it had to have been Darian's brother, Devlin.

Jordan noticed Cole's expression change and chuckled. "Nah, wasn't him. It was...someone else. Anyway, point is that there IS no point in seeing our parents. Devlin made sure to erase everyone's memories. That way they wouldn't be hurt if we died, or when we went missing. That's the second time our world has been messed with." Jordan stuck his hands in his pockets and looked down at the ground as the two walked.

Cole frowned and asked, "'Second time'? What was the first?"

Jordan looked up at Cole and shrugged. "Why do you think no one came after you? Or even remembers you?"



Xigbar smiled at Axel and gave a phony laugh to his joke. "Oh haha! That's pretty funny kid," Xigbar said, inviting himself into his room. "I'm not gonna bullshit you fireball, so listen. The Organization is about to start doing big things, and we know all about you and Marluxia. But, to tell you the truth, I don't mind it." Xigbar gave Axel a big smile. "Xemnas is doing big things, and it'd save me a lot of hassle if you could do some of that famous snooping for me, yeah?"

 

Jordan stopped leading Cole as they reached the area where all the kids would have Struggle matches. When they got there, it seemed that a match was already in place between two kids. "Heh, I know you remember this, right," Jordan asked.

Cole chuckled and replied, "Yeah, I remember. I remember how you and me would knock each other out, always being a draw!"

Jordan laughed and patted his friend on the back. "Did you forget that day I beat you? Because I know I haven't!"

Cole scoffed and pushed Jordan's hand away. "We were like eight! I bet if we had a match right now, I'd win!"

Jordan raised any eyebrow and said, "Oh really? Ok then, you're on!" He began to walk off towards a group of kids.

Cole looked on questionably about his friends actions, and scratched the back of his head. "He's not serious, right," he asked himself, although, knowing Jordan, he knew the answer. Seconds later, a boy ran up to the two kids who were having their match and spoke to them. The two boys nodded and walked away from the clearing. Jordan walked into the middle and gestured for Cole to join him. Cole sighed and shook his head, reluctantly following. He stepped up in front of Jordan, who had a smile on his face, and watched as another kid walked up to the two of them with a pair of struggle bats.

Jordan looked at one bat in particular and picked it up. He looked at the boy and asked, "Where did you get these bats?"

The boy shrugged and said, "We just got them from the adults who didn't want them anymore. Some of them didn't even remember they had them!"

Jordan knew why and who gave away each bat. He held his bat tightly, enjoying the chance of getting to use his old bat. The black hilt, the red coloring on the bat, all beginning to fade from the constant use of the kids. He looked at the scratches on his bat, and he could even remember where a couple of them came from.

Cole picked up his old bat, which was all white. He looked at Jordan and smiled. "Like old times."

Jordan nodded. He stuck his hand out and said, "No powers?"

Cole shook his hand and repeated, "No powers."

As soon as the handshake was over, a teenage boy, probably 13 or 14, ran between the two and pushed them a considerable distance away from each other so it could be fair and yelled, "Ready? Struggle!" He ran off and the match was on.

Jordan ran at Cole, slower then when actually fighting but still fast, and swung his bat at Cole's stomach. Forcing Cole onto the ground. "Oh yeah Cole, I forgot to tell you what the kids told me. On the ground for five seconds, and you lose."

Before a kid coud even yell five, Cole was on his feet. "Good to know."

Cole began to swing at Jordan, who would block each hit, and vice versa. The kids who watched yelled in excitement, enjoying this great match. Jordan backflipped away from a hard swing from Cole that was aimed at his head and smirked. He ran towards Cole for another hit, but Cole stepped to one side, waiting for Jordan to run into the bat. Jordan was smarter than that and slid under the bat, swinging back at Cole's hand to knock the bat away. With Cole dropping his bat, Jordan began to get even more offensive. He got up quickly and ran to Cole, swinging at him wildly. Cole managed to dodge a few but did take a couple of hits. He tried to reach his bat, which was about four feet behind him, but he needed to escaoe Jordan first. He decided to kick Jordan's hand, and rolled over to his bat. Jordan held his hand in pain and shook it off a bit.

"Not bad Cole. Not bad at all," Jordan said, his voice not nearly as loud as the crowd that began to build up and gather around.




Xigbar smirked and replied, "I knew you would." He took a seat in a chair and leaned back. "So, what I need you to do is to start following that Cole kid, the whit haired kid from your mission with Vexen. But you can't tell anyone, got it? Not even Saïx and wherever the hell Marluxia is. You do this..." He smiled big at Axel and finished, "And I'll make it so Marluxia is a ghost around here. Xemnas will think he's deae, and Marluxia can live his life as a Nobody, carefree."