Title: Redivivus* (Come Back to Life)
Fandom: 07-Ghost
Pairing(s): Barely-there Ayanami and Hyuuga, if you squint.
Warnings: Implied alternate reality.

Synopsis: He's always been searching, for a man who's been there all along.

His bed is always too empty, and he's lost count of the many times he's reached across, reaching for something – or someone – that is never there, the void that isn't just in his bed. It makes the man lying there tangled in the sheets roll onto his back with a sigh, the nagging feeling of emptiness keeping him awake in a colorless city that doesn't seem to sleep.

There is a name on the tip of his tongue that he can't seem to grasp, it is so near yet it dances tantalizingly out of his reach and there is nothing he can do about it; he's searched through his mind for the answer so many times on those long, sleepless nights but he simply cannot remember how he got here and who it is he's searching for.

Another sigh slips from his lips as the man swings his legs out of bed, the cold air making him flinch just a little as it hits bare skin. The warmth of spring has long since faded into a frigid winter, and for a moment he remembers ice and snow – and blood, so much blood – pulling on a coat that seems all too plain and out of place on his broad shoulders.

A shake of his head dissipates that strange, stray thought as he steps out of the small apartment.

It is going to be another long night, he realizes, on the maze of streets he's long since committed to memory, wandering through the same old meandering route that his feet takes him on.

He gives a cheery wave to the cafe owner next door – Hyuuga doesn't really feel the smile that's plastered itself automatically on his face – and starts down the same old familiarly alien street, weaving in and out of the faceless crowd that he's long since stopped trying to identify.

There are plenty of strange looks he gets on the street; it is already dark outside but he chooses to wear those dark glasses anyway, hands shoved into coat pockets to keep them from the chilly night air. It is a habit he doesn't remember developing but goes along with, a remnant of a lifetime long past, absently chewing on the candies he had slipped into his mouth just before leaving his apartment.

Where is he?

The city is too big and there are too many people, and for the first time since he arrived in this city the exhaustion of searching for a person with no name and no face finally hits home and Hyuuga is almost ready to give up. He has been here too long and –

– he can't give up, doesn't want to give up but there is nothing he can do, he feels so powerless and tired; his eyes are slipping shut and he feels as if he's going to die –

Why, he wonders, why does he remember these disjointed fragments that don't seem to belong, nightmares from a time before his that plagues him when he sleeps and the emptiness that haunts him when he can't. The images hound him, like relentless ghosts at the edge of his vision, an age-old memory of crisp black and brilliant gold and the dark poison that lurks within their blood.

Why, who, and how?

It isn't like him, to be so lost in a question. Hyuuga has been here in this colorless city for four seasons now, he's seen emerald shades fade into fiery red-gold before being blanketed in pure white snow, and yet he has no answers, only that old memory, like an aged photograph with all the faces scratched out.

"I'll protect you...", and he can't remember whose name it is he's murmuring.

His feet carry him a few more blocks away from the comfort of home and onto another street painted with a pale orange glow, moving on autopilot, his body tracking a path it's taken in another lifetime to another place that he can't really remember either.

By the time he realizes, he's standing stock still in the midst of an ever moving wave of people, ignoring the muttered curses as the crowd pushes past him. He can't explain why he's stopped here of all places, but it feels right, as if this is where he has to be, waiting here for something to happen.

And it does.

Crimson eyes catch a glimpse of dusty ivory (and black and gold) weaving in and out amongst the faceless crowd, a lone figure who, like him, doesn't seem to belong here on the bustling, snow-drenched streets – he doesn't know how he knows, he just does – and his time seems to come to standstill as he finally realizes who he's been searching for.

Hyuuga remembers, with startling clarity, the man dressed in that familiar black and gold uniform with silver hair and crystallized violet eyes, he remembers the shock and pain and loss in them before darkness stole his consciousness away. He doesn't know why or how he's managed to forget all this, how he's managed to forget that he'd once sworn to protect that man, and –

His heart is pounding in his chest as he finally remembers, the name that has eluded him all this time.

"I'll protect you, Aya-tan."

And then it's almost as if the one man he's been searching for all this time has simply just walked back into his life, the person in question so deeply lost in thought that he can't stop the momentum carrying his lean frame forward and they collide with one another. Hooded crimson glances down to meet familiar violet startled by the sudden contact between them, and his lips curl into lop-sided smile.

In that heartbeat, he finally remembers who he's here to find.

Ayanami hasn't changed one bit.

His hands have come to rest against those stiff shoulders, the man has never learned to relax and even in this lifetime he is just as tense, and it makes the dark-haired man smile a little. A thumb brushes over lips a little chapped from the cold, remembering the bittersweet taste of wine on those pale lips.

He is the frigid ice that tempers a burning flame and they both know how different they are from one another and he wonders if they've stopped caring.

Their eyes meet again, serene scarlet clashing with confused violet, and Hyuuga feels almost as if Ayanami is slipping away once again as the man steps back; he can see the uncertainty and fear – it feels almost strange, Ayanami has never been afraid – in his eyes and he only smiles, because Hyuuga doesn't know what to say to the man he had lost so long ago and found lifetimes later.

He lets his hand drop – no, don't, go after him, you can't lose him again – watching with a terrifyingly serene smile as the man he's cared for (could he call it love?) backs away into the crowd. Somewhere within his soul, he remembers darkness and booted feet and the smell of blood.

He remembers watching him walk away.

"Aya-tan!"

Instinct drives him, before he can stop it, the name has slipped past his lips and he's moving, pushing forward in the crowd to reach the violet star that has always been so far away. Hyuuga doesn't care how strange this must seem to anyone watching, he's caught up to Ayanami and without a second thought, pulls him into a tight embrace, burying his face in the man's silver hair.

Don't let go.

The body in his arms stiffens a little, and it feels like forever before a gentle, almost hesitant touch against his hand breaks the spell and he knows, he knows he isn't the only one who has remembered.

"I've found you."

The city is still too big and there are still too many people, but for the first time since he arrived in this place with neon lights and sleepless nights, Hyuuga knows, he's finally found the missing piece of his puzzle.

END

A/N: Redivivus translates to 'come back to life'. This kinda, is a companion fic to 'Omnia Mutantur, Nihil Interit', but can also be a standalone by itself. Well, like its companion fic, can be seen how you want to see it, Hyuuga with amnesia, or in another lifetime, it's really all up to you.