FHD Remix Chapter 9
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Previous FHD Remix Chapter 8: Yaiba's Perfect Day
Chapter 9: Your Name Is Battle
Nemo by Nightwish (c) 2004 WMG
"The Menmo Edition" by Jerome of Heliantha
[Nemo, from Once, the third track on the 2004 album by Nightwish and the ninth track of 2005 best of Nightwish album Highest Hopes (not totally certain of track number) (c) Warner Music Group, with some changes requested by the Storyvoice]
Yaiba wakes to the sound of a piano playing. To its gentle tune, she hears her Saviour whisper in her ear:
Tatakai is
Tatakai is
Tatakai is her real name
Yaiba gets up and follows the sound from the guestroom bed to the dining room. She is still recovering from her emergence from the cocoon. She stands in the doorway and sees Menmo playing the piano.
"I can't believe I managed to get this old thing in tune," she mutters.
Yaiba realizes that it is a truly ancient tune, but is unable to remember who the Saviour originally shared it with: Tuomas Holopainen and his band Nightwish. The Saviour continues to sing along with the tune of the piano, no matter how much Menmo struggles, He follows with her:
Tatakai is
Tatakai is
Tatakai is her real name
Menmo, adding some chords to her tune, suddenly starts singing the song's original words:
"This is me for forever
One of the lost ones
The one without a name
Without an honest heart as compass"
Yaiba gasps. Every Haibane who arrives in this world loses the name from her previous life. All have problems ... all have identity crises. Even for a white-winged Haibane, this is simply the way life is.
"This is me for forever
One without a name
This line's the last endeavor
To find the missing lifeline"
The chorus follows a tune similar to the opening notes, but it isn't a perfect match like the words the Saviour used.
"Oh, how I long for soothing rain
All I wish is to dream again
My loving heart, lost in the dark
For hope, I give my everything"
Yaiba starts to cry. Not only does she know that Tatakai feels this way, she feels this way herself. Still fresh from the jarring transition into the world of the Haibane, she really feels adrift. In her mind she is able neither to float, nor to sink, yet somehow the Saviour keeps the water from entering her lungs.
"My flower withered between the
Pages two and three
The once and forever bloom
Gone with my sins
"Walk the dark path
Sleep with angels, call the past for help
Touch me with your love
And reveal to me my true name"
Yaiba immediately thinks of the cocoon dreams. She watches as Menmo idly flaps her wings, thinking of the Haibane resemblance to an angel, not to mention the flying beings she remembered from long ago ... the featherwing beings both Tatakai and Menmo were in their previous lives.
"Oh, how I long for soothing rain
All I wish is to dream again
My loving heart, lost in the dark
For hope, I give my everything"
Menmo suddenly removes her hands from the keys and sings acapella, repeating the tune of the chorus.
"Oh, how I long for soothing rain
Oh, how I wish to dream again
Once and for all, and all for once
Nemo my name forever more"
Yaiba thinks Menmo must be referring to herself, but she wonders why it sound so much like ニモ (Nimo) instead of メンモ (Menmo). Is it a mistake?
Menmo starts playing some gentle chords.
[The original song features a beautiful guitar solo performed by Enppu. Unfortunately, Haibane musical resources are very limited. Jérôme made an impressive attempt on the piano though!]
Menmo lets slip in a sigh, again in a pronunciation that only barely resembles her own name.
"Nemo sailing home
Nemo letting go"
Lifting one hand from the keyboard, she plays those notes again. Faithfully, the Saviour joins,
Tatakai is
Tatakai is
Tatakai is her real name
Menmo starts playing her more elaborate chords with both hands again as she finishes.
"Oh, how I long for soothing rain
All I wish is to dream again
My loving heart, lost in the dark
For hope, I give my everything
"Oh, how I long for soothing rain
Oh, how I wish to dream again
Once and for all, and all for once
Nemo my name forever more"
While playing harmony with one hand, she plays the Saviour's melody with the other.
Tatakai is
Tatakai is
Tatakai is
Menmo sings right over top of the melody as though to confirm the song's true meaning to Yaiba.
"Name forever more"
Then with one hand again, the lonely melody:
Tatakai is
Tatakai is
Tatakai is her real name
Menmo closes the cover over the keys of the piano and then collapses upon it, crying, grey wings tight around her shoulders. After about twenty seconds of bawling, she sobs, "Tell me it's not true ... at least don't make me be the one to tell her."
Yaiba realizes what Menmo is probably reacting to, inhales, and utters the Saviour's words in the song's signature melody.
"Tatakai is
Tatakai is
Tatakai is her real name"
Menmo turns towards Yaiba and starts bawling anew. "Sometimes confirmation sucks," she cries.
"Once and for all and all for once
Tatakai is my real name"
Yaiba turns to see Tatakai, tears in her eyes. Fewer than her friends, but tears nonetheless. "The first time it happened in an elevator. I was sitting next to an acquaintance I had killed because he was turned by the enemy." Shaking her head, she says, "Don't ask me how ... I cried to my Saviour, I'm just not cut out for this, why did you bring me here?"
Tatakai sits down at the table before saying, "His answer was, with the name I have today, Remember who you're talking to, Tatakai. I created you myself. Like it or not, you are cut out for this ... Get used to it.
"Actually, I don't know if I had any other name," Tatakai sighs, "God made me for war ... and He brought me back for such a time ... another battle is coming." Then she smiles, "At least this time I get a vacation with you guys."
Yaiba suddenly grips her shoulders, "AAAHH!"
"Crap, your wings," Menmo gasps.
"We must save her robe," Tatakai orders, rising to Yaiba's side. "Get her a towel and some ice, hurry."
To Yaiba, she says, "Let's get you back to bed ... the deployment of a haibane is anything but pleasant."
"You're telling me!" Yaiba cries as she sits back in the bed.
"Why not, we've all been through it," Menmo says as she sets the towels on Yaiba's back, "fortunately, only once."
"I can't stop it," Yaiba complains, "They twitch on their own."
"Try this," Tatakai says, "Imagine the relief on the other side, and give 'em one good push."
Yaiba fully extends her arms in front of her, and with an agonizing scream, her wings tear through the skin of her back and deploy. "Whatever works," she moans, then passes out on the bed.
Tatakai pulls the sheet a bit tighter around the roots of the bloody wings then says to Menmo, "I'll get started on this," taking the cloth from the basin on the nightstand. "Get at least the worst of it off the walls and ceiling. I know I wouldn't want to wake up to this sort of mess." Tears well in her eyes as she sees a glimpse of her first morning on Mars.
[Author's note: The last sentence drew tears when I first wrote it on 16 November 2009; it drew tears again on 2 March 2010 when I adapted the file for the Haibaniki.]
Next: FHD Remix Chapter 10: The Chase Begins
