ⅹⅹ- [voice]

[mnementomori]

[a soft voice that might be familiar to some speaks up after a moment, a tinge of weariness in it.]

A lot of people...left again. I want people to be happy at home, but...


What...do you do when...your memories start to fade? I don't want to lose them forever.

Comments

[histrionic]

[Kuja could say something depressing about futility or transience or the meaninglessness of memory, or the fact that all things end, but she decides not to, for once. For now.]

Why don't you write them down?

[mnementomori]

How can you write what someone's voice sounds like?

[histrionic]

The sound of a voice can be described with words. Is it sonorous or soft? Rough or smooth? Does it remind you of bells ringing, or of birds singing?

Memory will fade. It is never perfect, never exact.

[mnementomori]

[she pauses for a moment, and there's just the sound of her breathing.]

M--...memories are important. They're all I have. If they go away, I--I'll stop being me.

[histrionic]

They change with time, that's all. They usually don't disappear, not under ordinary circumstances. So--it's hard to remember the exact sound of a voice. You'll remember what that voice said, and that matters more.

I remember... everything, and I have lived for years and years.

[Her life feels much longer than it actually was. Yet at the same time, not long enough.]

You're only a child. You don't understand.

[mnementomori]

So they won't go away completely? [that's a relief, and it shows in her voice.]

[there's another pause.]

Kuja, are you still angry at me?

[histrionic]

No, they won't. They shift, they settle. They are memories, not the events themselves. But they remain. I know you're only a construct, but don't you remember the beginning of your existence?

[A pause.]

Angry? Why would I be angry?

[mnementomori]

I...don't remember. The first week, I think, that I was alive...my first memory is meeting Roxas. I think it's because I was blank, before then.

[and nervously:]

Th-that weird stuff with my appearance and then that egg...

[histrionic]

Your memories of that meeting are still intact, are they not? These other meetings will be the same.

[Another pause. Well, she certainly hadn't forgotten, though she's not particularly fond of either subject.]

Ah. That. It was the Queen's magic at work, wasn't it? Not your doing.

[mnementomori]

Yes... [a little fuzzy, but still there.]

Still, I...I'm sorry.

[histrionic]

Memories fading and changing are a part of life. Loss, sorrow, regret. These things cannot be escaped if you wish to truly live.

Apologies are tiresome.

[mnementomori]

[she's confused, but supposes this should be a good sign?]

A...all right. Thank you, Kuja. I do want to live. As best I can.

[histrionic]

Then you'll lose things. Things that matter to you.

In the end, we lose everything. For there can be no life without death. No beginning without an end.

[mnementomori]

But I did....die. Do you mean I will again?

[histrionic]

It could be many long years from now, but yes, everything ends.

You could live thousands of years, perhaps--I don't know how long a construct like you can last--but even those who live so long eventually find their finish somwhere. And just think of all the people you would see live and die, in all that time.

Every mortal person you meet.

[mnementomori]

[she draws in a sharp breath.]

I don't--want to. See that happen to my friends.

[histrionic]

How selfish. That happens to everyone. It is part of being alive. Death.

[mnementomori]

Part of...being alive.

It's selfish to want your friends not to suffer?

[histrionic]

Not at all, you silly child.

It's selfish to want to spare yourself all pain, all unpleasant emotions, when everyone must experience them. The rest of us do. We suffer and grieve, at times. You can't expect to be set apart, if you truly want to live.

[mnementomori]

[she falls silent again, her breathing becoming a little labored, as if Kuja's words are weighing her down.]

Living is--

I...I think I understand now. So then...no one can get away from suffering. That's why we should stay together?