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 Posted: Wed Aug 04, 2021 6:12 pm
The fortress of Valhalla was as familiar to Ganymede as her own world was. She knew its rooms and its corridors. She knew Serge’s study, and many of its strange, secret compartments, hidden places in his desk he once showed Liesel. She knew the room up in one of the towers — with a grand eagle etched into its double doors — almost as well as she knew her room at home.
Memories were a strange thing, now that she had them. Once, they were little more than ghosts, images she saw on her own moon, like watching a movie being acted out in front of her by phantoms of the past. Then they were fantasies stored in an orb, swirling together until she decided which she’d like most to view.
Now, when the memories came to her, they were not just haunting specters of another life, or cherished visions trapped in stone. They were those things, and more — so much so that she could often lose herself in thought, recalling certain events as if she’d lived them, though they’d occurred long ago.
Tonight, she made her way up a flight of stairs, leading Valhalla, whose fortress this was, to the room with the eagle on the door. She stopped when she came to it, put her hand to the wood, and remembered the first time Serge brought Liesel here. She lingered only that brief moment, then the doors swung open on old, creaking hinges, and she stepped inside.
Over the years, they’d restored the room as well as they could, like they had with Liesel’s room on Ganymede. It was not a perfect recreation; much was lost to time, destroyed by dark forces or rotted from age, but when Ganymede looked around, it was enough like staring into the past that the part of her that remembered was satisfied.
“You don’t have to follow if there are other things you’d rather do,” she said.
Ganymede doubted Valhalla had any such desires, but she felt somewhat guilty, making her way through the fortress like she owned the place.
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Posted: Thu Aug 05, 2021 1:33 pm
“Are you saying you don’t want me to follow?” Valhalla asked as he watched Ganymede see things that he couldn’t. He could see memories every now and then, but he didn’t have nearly as many memories as Ganymede. In a way, Valhalla belonged to her just as much as it did to him.
Maybe when he was younger he would have been a little jealous that something he was supposed to be the Knight of was so open to someone else, but he loved Ganymede and wanted her to be part of his life, and past life, no matter how out of sorts he might feel, not being able to remember the things that she did.
Since his starseed started healing and the glowing marks appeared on his skin, Valhalla had been traveling to his Wonder to work on fixing it up. It wasn’t much. Sometimes it was nothing more than just dusting here and there, and sweeping everything up so that he wasn’t making footprints in the dust.
His room had been cleaned up the most. He’d put items away without really knowing where they belonged, and left a good amount of things where they were, because he didn’t want to disturb the ghosts that haunted that place.
“Are you looking for something specific?” he wondered, because maybe she was trying to find something of Liesel’s that he’d seen.
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Posted: Thu Aug 05, 2021 5:25 pm
Ganymede speared Valhalla with a look at his first question, silently informing him that he should already know the answer to that, before smiling, as comfortable with his presence as she always was.
The room was as they’d left it the last time they visited, as neat as it was going to be, as clean as it was going to be, scattered here and there with what possessions remained from a millenia ago. She crossed through the sitting area and into the bedroom proper, where she paused at the bed and stared at the mattress with its red blanket and decorative pillows, fingers following patterns in the embroidery as the memories threatened to rise and occupy her thoughts. Ganymede shook them away, stepped back and turned slowly, gaze flicking here and there.
“I am, but… I doubt it’s in here, unless someone—” Brought it back, she didn’t say, unsure if she could explain yet. Some of the memories were more tragic than others.
“I don’t remember everything clearly,” she said, needlessly; Valhalla already knew that. “There are still pieces missing. Some things are more vivid than others. There might be something useful out on the grounds, but I wanted to check here first, in case anything else jumps out at me.”
Memories could be fickle things. She and Valhalla had been through this room before, many times, but an item that meant nothing to her during one visit might spark something during the next.
“What’ve you seen here, recently?”
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Posted: Thu Aug 05, 2021 6:22 pm
Outside was a rumble of thunder, but they were lucky in that it wasn’t a torrential downpour at the moment. Conveniently.
Over the last few years of him visiting Valhalla to recharge his energy, it seemed as though the clouds stilled a little more and more each time. It didn’t stop the storms completely, and it didn’t clear the sky, but it was as though a bubble had formed around the fortress that made exploring outside a bit more manageable.
“Nothing much,” he said with a small shrug as he looked around the room. “Liesel and Serge sitting on the bed together, just talking. They were whispering so I couldn’t hear everything they were saying. Serge had a visit from his brother… but that was down in the office. He was clearly gentler with him and Liesel than anyone else. I guess there had been some trouble at Sessrumnir or… somewhere. I don’t know, it was all blurry,” he shared, figuring Ganymede was asking more specifically about Serge and Liesel than anyone else.
“What about you? Have you seen anything interesting? Or just day to day life?” he wondered, because she was privy to memories he hadn’t seen, but also shared ones from time to time.
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Posted: Fri Aug 06, 2021 2:18 pm
Ganymede listened, but didn’t comment, turning slowly to stare around the room as Valhalla spoke.
Liesel and Serge. Sessrumnir. She knew these people as they’d been, and as they were now. She knew many aspects of the lives they used to lead. Much of it was a tangled mess, forcefully buried beneath the memories gained throughout her current life, at least until she needed to wade through something, needed the knowledge a thousand year old memory might contain.
Sometimes, she was successful when she picked through the memories. Just as often, she was not.
“It’s not like it used to be,” she said. “Seeing things. It’s… more like knowing. Or both, maybe. I don’t know. I wish I could show you what it’s like. It might make more sense.”
That, of course, was impossible. She’d not discussed the topic with her royal peers and so couldn’t say for sure, but she was confident the difference was tied in with her magic.
Ganymede offered Valhalla a rueful smile. “Sorry. I know it can be frustrating when I—” She made a motion with her hand near her head, but couldn’t specify whether she meant remember things or can’t explain.
With a sigh, Ganymede approached a vanity set against the eastern wall. The surface was cleared of debris, its drawers mostly empty of the rotting refuse they used to contain. All that remained were a few knick-knacks and some jewelry, pins and brooches and glittering accessories for Liesel’s long hair.
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Posted: Sat Aug 07, 2021 7:03 pm
Valhalla knew that he wouldn’t be able to understand what she saw and experienced. All he could do was let her experience the memories that came back to her, and then if she felt like sharing then she would.
He leaned against the doorframe as he watched her move about the room, trying to figure out what she was looking at, or looking for, without her having to tell him.
“Don’t worry about it,” he promised, lifting his arms to cross casually over his chest. “But you know I’m here to help. If there’s anything I can do, or try to make myself remember… you know I would do it,” he said, hoping that she knew he was on her side in all things.
“And I know it’s just as frustrating for you. To be able to remember things, to experience things, and not be able to share them. It’s okay,” he tried to offer her a smile, especially as she started looking at the pins and brooches that were left. “Do you remember those?” he wondered, curious about the past, even if he didn’t like who he had been.
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Posted: Sun Aug 08, 2021 6:41 pm
Though she appreciated Valhalla’s understanding, Ganymede couldn’t banish the frustration. She would show him everything, if she could, let him see the past as she saw it. Doing so likely wouldn’t change his opinion at all, but at least he would know without her struggling to tell him.
As she rummaged through the drawers, Ganymede set a few items onto the surface of the vanity, beginning with a vine of pearls and twinkling white gems.
“Liesel wore this in his hair sometimes,” she said. “Serge hated it, because it would always tangle when he tried to remove it, so Liesel would wear it when he was angry at Serge but wanted to be passive aggressive about it.”
Next, she fished out a golden brooch decorated with black stones. “This was a gift from… someone. I can’t recall right now. Not Serge, but I remember Liesel wore it to a party once, and Serge commented on it, because,” She brought a hand to her chest, fingering the eagle brooch, “Liesel usually wore this one.”
Ganymede wondered if Liesel’s fondness for it, and the fact that it’d been given to him by Serge, who she knew now as Chris, had anything to do with the fact that it adorned her fuku from the very beginning. Did fate have a hand in it? At this point, she wasn’t sure what she preferred the answer to be.
Deciding not to dwell on it, Ganymede fished through the drawer again, retrieving a ring made of thinly cut diamonds arranged in a starburst formation.
“This is…”
Important, she knew now. Important to Liesel, though the last time she saw the ring, it hadn’t invoked any sort of reaction other than curiosity. The memory was buried far beneath the rest, struggling to rise through her subconscious, but it was there, somewhere. She could almost hear Serge’s voice, feel the ring slide onto Liesel’s finger.
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Posted: Mon Aug 09, 2021 6:10 pm
The memory might have been right beneath Ganymede’s subconscious, but Valhalla could see it taking shape in front of them. He could see Liesel at the vanity, obviously distressed but doing a good job hiding it. Well, hiding it for anyone other than Serge.
Serge knelt down and held out his hand for Liesel’s, and when they were palm to palm, with their scars from their bloodbond against the other, Serge presented the ring and gently slid it onto Liesel’s finger.
“It’s meant to bring out your abilities,” Valhalla said as he watched the scene. “Strength that you have, but aren’t confident in, yet. Liesel was upset about not thinking he was good enough to lead the Jovians, so this was supposed to help show him how strong he was.”
After a minute the scene faded with Serge standing so he could place a chaste kiss on Liesel’s lips.
“I think you should take that with you,” he said quietly, feeling weird about having just seen one of his memories, but knowing it would aid Ganymede just as it had for Liesel.
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Posted: Fri Aug 20, 2021 8:07 am
It was as if Valhalla spoke the memory into existence. There were no ghosts for Ganymede to see here, but mere seconds after Valhalla concluded the story, the memory of it broke through the stubborn cloud in her mind trying to conceal it.
Ganymede clutched the ring in her palm, held it close, looked at Valhalla with something like sadness in her eyes.
Often, she felt what Liesel felt, or remembered enough that the emotions seemed as real as the memories. In spite of their differences, their frustrations with one another, and all the complications that arose between them, Liesel loved Serge as purely and as deeply as Paris loved Chris.
“You’re different,” she said, then stopped herself and clarified, “You and Serge. But some things are still the same.”
Ganymede wasn’t sure she would have come this far, achieved as much as she had, without Valhalla’s support. There was something to be said for her own strength, for the will that kept her going, but there was just as much to be said for the care and the aid of her closest allies, Valhalla chief among them.
She slid the ring onto her finger, watched the minimal light of the room play off of the jewels, then took a breath to steel herself.
“Come on. Let's go outside,” she said, reaching for Valhalla’s hand as she joined him at the door.Guine Double quote because i edited
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Posted: Tue Aug 31, 2021 6:04 am
Valhalla somehow managed to not make a face when Ganymede said that he and Serge were the same for some things. From what Valhalla could remember about Serge, he still didn’t like him. But if Ganymede said there were some redeeming qualities about his past life, then he would have to take her word for it.
He held out his hand when Ganymede reached for it, but paused before turning to leave. He lifted her hand to his mouth to kiss it, and held it against his lips for a few long moments.
She was able to unlock her true self because she had been willing to risk everything to save him, and he would never forget that. Even if his memories had been hazy for a few years. Maybe it was fate that brought them together, but he still loved her and the life they built together.
“I love you,” he said quietly, mumbling against her hand as he shifted his hold to once again hold her hand, his palm to hers, the glowing marks of their bloodbond pressed tightly together.
“I’ll follow you anywhere. This life and the next.”
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Posted: Tue Aug 31, 2021 8:29 am
Ganymede squeezed Valhalla’s hand, let herself feel warm, and safe, and protected, surrounding herself with his love, which seemed to span centuries.
Their past, their present, their future… all of it so closely intertwined.
“I love you, too,” she said, accepting his strength, his support, fortifying herself with it, so that she could face the memories that might soon flood her mind.
She leaned up to kiss him, held it until she was satisfied, until the emotions she felt were her own and not Liesel’s, then left the room with him hand-in-hand, allowing the doors to shut on the ghosts that often dwelled there. Through the halls and down several flights of stairs they went, quiet but for their breathing, the tap of their boots on wood and stone, and the wind that blew outside.
The weather on Jupiter was predictably chaotic, but they were not immediately overwhelmed by a torrential downpour upon stepping outside. They walked through the ruins of a town that once flourished in the fortress’s shadow, then beyond the crumbling defensive walls.
A gust of wind carried Ganymede’s miniature tophat away, whipping her hair over her shoulder and her red train about her legs. She came to a stop, looked out over the scenery, at the green grass and patches of mud, the rock formations that sprung from them here and there, and the giant trees that stood along the periphery, the tallest of which were long dead.
Her hand tightened within Valhall’s hold.
“There might be pieces of armor out here,” she said. “Liesel was wearing it when—…”
When…?
The last of his memories were incomplete, the end sudden, the images there and gone in seconds.
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Posted: Tue Aug 31, 2021 10:31 am
Valhalla left his cape inside the fortress, knowing that it would only slow him down once they were outside. It wasn’t often that he ventured into the weather of Jupiter, but over the years it had started calming a bit, at least where it surrounded the fortress.
He squeezed Ganymede’s hand as they looked over what must have been the battlefield and end of many of the soldiers of Valhalla, as they fought back the forces that were taking over during the fall of the Silver Millenium. This would have likely been the place where both Liesel and Serge met their end as well.
“Come on,” he said quietly, trying to let any memories he might have had surface as they stood against the wind that whipped around them. Back when he first arrived, there hadn’t been much life at all, but along with the change in weather brought a change in the greenery. Even inside the fortress, things were starting to grow.
“Try closing your eyes. Maybe that will help,” he suggested, keeping a tight hold of her hand as they stepped around the rocks and the mud and evidence of a centuries old war.
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Posted: Tue Aug 31, 2021 12:06 pm
It was raining. It always seemed to be raining on Jupiter — a world of eternal storms. Either the fortress’s magic kept this particular storm from turning severe, protected the area from the dark clouds and flashes of lightning Ganymede saw in the distance, or they came out during a lull, with little more than wind and rain to impede them.
The rain was not heavy, enough that they were damp as they walked, but not soaked through.
At Valhalla’s prompting, Ganymede closed her eyes, trusting him to guide her over the field. She did not need to think on it for long. The memories were incomplete because there was nothing after them, just blood and tragedy, heartache and rain. Liesel met his end, and his starseed awoke again as Paris a thousand years later.
Ganymede came to a stop on her own, urging Valhalla to do the same with a squeeze of his hand. She opened her eyes and tipped her head back, staring through the clouds that would not part. Rain fell onto her face, like it had for Liesel.
“Serge fell first,” she said. “Liesel held him as he died, somewhere around here.”
They were close, even if they weren’t in the exact spot. Ganymede knew it by the distance between trees, by the angle of the fortress.
“Then he looked up through the clouds, tried to see Ganymede. But of course he couldn’t.”
The clouds were thick, the weather an unrelenting barrier.
Ganymede trembled, overcome with emotion, and tore her gaze away, letting her eyes sweep over the field around them.
“Liesel was killed by a Knight of Ganymede, a man he’d known since awakening. Altamira…”
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Posted: Tue Aug 31, 2021 1:57 pm
Valhalla led Ganymede through the field, prepared to catch her if she stumbled. He shook his head to get the damp hair from his eyes, and his armor felt heavy, even without the cloak weighing him down.
He frowned sadly as Ganymede told him what she could remember, about Serge dying, followed by Liesel.
“Altamira? I don’t think I’ve heard that name before. They must have not been reborn or awakened yet, or didn’t have anyone to pass the Wonder to in their bloodline,” Valhalla said, mostly to himself because in that moment it didn’t really matter who Altamira was, he was just trying to keep himself, and hopefully Ganymede, distracted enough to stay focused on what they were looking for, and not become overwhelmed by the emotions.
Even he felt a heaviness in that area, although he couldn’t recall anything specific.
“Are you okay?” he asked after a moment, and stepped closer to Ganymede so he could wrap his arms around her, temporarily protecting her from the wind in case she needed more time to think and remember.
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Posted: Tue Aug 31, 2021 2:28 pm
She had no way of knowing Altamira’s fate, whether the starseed was reborn, or destroyed somehow. If the Wonder passed to someone else, she’d not met them, never saw them in the connections app on her phone. Occasionally, she thought of traveling to Altamira herself, to see what it was like now, but it was far from all the places she was familiar with on Ganymede. She had no idea what she hoped to accomplish by going there anyway.
The man Altamira used to be had been gone for centuries. Arguably, he’d been gone even before Liesel met his end. By then, Altamira was less himself, twisted and corrupted.
Ganymede accepted Valhalla’s embrace, resting her head onto his shoulder, offering him a sad smile at the next opportunity.
“I’m fine,” she said.
And she was, more or less. The memories were harrowing, but they were not her own. She had to remind herself of that sometimes. They were merely a gift, or a curse, often murky and fractured by time.
“Chaos is seductive,” she said, staring over Valhalla’s shoulder, across the field. “It feeds on everything. Your hopes, your fears, your dreams. Your anger, your love.”
Yet they kept fighting — had to, because if they didn’t, everything that occurred before them would have been in vain, and all the adversity they’d overcome since then would be meaningless.
Ganymede held onto Valhalla, breathed in the scent of him mixed with rain and leather, kissed his jaw near the wing of his helmet, let herself soak in the warmth of his body. This was real. He was real. The past was always there, lurking, but it never crept close enough to consume them.
When Ganymede felt steady again, she let go and stepped back, forcing herself to refocus on what she’d come here for. She walked a bit more, choosing her path based on a battle fought long ago, looking for any glint of gold, any disruption in the soil that might indicate something had been buried there.
“I wonder if anyone took their bodies to the crypt,” she said, “or if they were left out here.”
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