A Good Other

II

Chills ran down the back of your spine as you stood next to Rikku, holding onto the warm metal bar. You glanced around the car, looking at different people that decided to stand and hold onto the railings or sat on the subway seats. There was a horrible chill that was running underneath in the subway, it was a better and easier way to 'get home' as Rikku had said.

This felt familiar to you, but at the same time it was foreign.

"If it wasn't raining we'd walk but, ya know." Rikku sighed and pouted at the same time, looking up at the sign where a small yellow dot was blinking. Judging by the look on her face you assumed that the blinking light meant that this would be the stop that the two of you would be getting off.

The subway emerged from the tunnels as it began to slow down in the underground station. Disgruntled and annoyed soon to be riders stood on the platform with obvious signs of having been drenched by the weather from above ground.

Following after Rikku quickly while attempting to make yourself smaller and not touch any of the unhappy passengers that just sought the slightly warmer temperatures inside of the subway cart.

Looking up the stairs you could partially see how the rain was slowly trickling down the stairs causing you to frown slightly. Thus far, you hated this rain. Throwing up a damp hood over your still wet hair you followed Rikku to the surface and quickly dashed across the street where cars began to honk loudly in protest.

Glancing up you stared at the apartment complex in the rain, the building was tall but you blinked away as the rain drops fell heavily against your skin, peeling until your skin became hot from the almost repeated action.

"Hey! Slow poke, c'mon, you're going to get sick!" Rikku had cupped her hands together over her mouth and hollered over the sound of the rain. The sound of thunder began to rumble loudly overhead. The blonde woman appeared to cringe and crouched in the entryway of the apartment complex.

The action of looking up to the rain clouds felt familiar, even the stinging of the droplets hitting you repeatedly. Once you heard Rikku's shriek from the thunder and the lightning that followed five seconds after, you looked over towards the woman who was apparently your sibling.

"R - Rikku, are you okay?" You called out, running towards the woman. The sound that your shoes were making felt extremely uncomfortable. It was a squelshing sound, and it honestly sounded disgusting.

Lightning struck again and for a fraction of a second you thought you had saw someone else in Rikku position.

Instead you felt Rikku's iron hold grip pulled you into the foyer of the apartment complex. A single wall of mailboxes with different numbers and keyholes, another wall cut out was shown and you could see the chipped out painted letters of Security.

"You big dummy, why would you continue to stand out there!" The blonde yelled, the foyer was beginning to gather a decent looking puddle underneath each of you. Rikku's green eyes shimmered with a mixture between worry and of fear, but you weren't sure that the fear part wasn't for you.

Shrugging your shoulders, you looked away and yawned. "I don't know, it was pretty." You mumbled softly, missing the concerned look on the sun kissed woman. Relaxing she grinned before tugging on your arm. "C'mon, we gotta see Pops and Brother!"

Walking up four flights of stairs later you saw Rikku beginning to shiver from the chill of the staircase. It caused you to frown, you felt absolutely fine. You looked at the door that Rikku was walking up to, D10.

The door swung open and there was a smell of cinnamon and warmth radiating out from within the apartment. Following after Rikku, you found how bright that the apartment was, warm walls painted with yellows, oranges and reds. Closing the door softly behind you, you glanced around and zeroed in on where the kitchen was located.

Kicking off your shoes next to Rikku's rainboots, you began to fight off the soaked sweatshirt to reveal a long sleeve grey shirt. The kitchen was easily located, it was large and there were two other people in the room other than Rikku.

One was an older man, his head was bald though he did have a slight goatee. His eyes were the same colour as Rikku's and the other man's in the room. His were a little bit duller though. He was wearing a off yellow shirt along with stained cargo pants that looked as if they had oil stains. There was a soft and worrisome look on his face, the expression looked like it barely belonged on his face.

Looking at the other man, you saw that his eyes were a mixture between Rikku's brightness and a slight dullness. You couldn't quite place it. Like Rikku, he had blonde hair but kept his in a mohawke like style. You weren't sure how long that he was inside, but there was a slight droop to the hair as if he had been outside a couple of hours ago. He was wearing a deep v neck navy blue shirt and similar cargo pants, there were different tears in the paints ago with big black stains in the fabric. You glanced back up to then notice a large tattoo peeking from underneath the shirt from the end of the v neck shirt.

"[Name], you remember Pops right? And Brother?" Her voice was filled with hope, you were staring at her for a little bit with a near blank expression. You were wracking your brain for memories, anything really.

Looking at the two men in front of you, you stood there gaping slightly, about to deny any remembrance until there was a dull shocking feeling in the base of your skull. In your vision you saw memories reply from a time you could never think to remember of, being picked up from school, being protected, being scolded. Remembering when the bald man comforted you from a nightmare and then Brother, you assumed, talking to you as you stood in front of him in a graduation cap and gown.

Slowly blinking, a smile broke out on your face. These were fragments, you couldn't remember all of the memories that you shared with them but it was something. "I - I can remember a little bit."

"Ah, good on you! Didn't want to ground you until you remembered." The bald man, or at least who you assumed Rikku had been calling Pops, gave you a hug. Freezing up slightly, you found that skin his skin wasn't touching yours directly there was no pain. Slowly you returned it back to him, you frowned to find that there was an abasense of warmth from the hug.

"Fryd aqyldmo rybbahat du oui?" Brother spoke up after you and Pops separated, you gave him a look.

That's when Rikku perked up, albit sad. "I don't think she remembers how to speak Al Bhed, he said 'What exactly happened to you?'"

Another question popped into your head, what was Al Bhed? Shaking your head, you sat down on a bar stool near the kitchen's Island. "I - I don't remember at all, just remember waking up in the hospital." You spoke sadly.

Shaking his head, Pops placed his hands on his hips. "There ain't nothin' we can do about it now," That's when he motioned for you. "You two take a shower and get rid of the chill. Brother and I will cook dinner."

"Oh no! You two are not cooking in our kitchen again!"

Rikku's ranting against both of your father continued as Brother looked on assumed. Meanwhile for some reason you walked down a hallway on autopilot before entering a room with [Colour] walls and a large double twin bed sitting in the corner.

You looked around the room finding different posters, wall decorations and pictures tacked to a cork board above a desk. You saw pictures of you, Rikku and Brother when you were younger and then were more pictures with different people in them. Sometimes you appeared happy and others you looked as if you were ready to bite someone's head off. There was another picture of you in a rose-red cap and gown holding a diploma, High School graduation.

There was one last picture that caught your eye, you even took the tack off of it in order to bring it closer. You were standing professionally beside a man who was dressed a bit strangely. He had dark skin and white hair, eyes that looked as if they were an eerily yellow. There was something familiar about this picture, something strange about this man.... Something about the picture of his man made you nervous, but it made you upset and hateful towards him.

Shaking your head, you put the picture down on the neatly organized desk before seeking out dry clothes to get ready to take a shower.

Gathering another long sleeve and sweatpants you crossed the hallway back into a fairly large sized bathroom, still hearing Pops and Rikku and the occasional input from Brother in Al Bhed.

You smiled as you closed the door and got ready to get rid of your chill.

If only the shower was the cure for it.