Dead Reckoning - A Gregorio del Pilar x Reader story

Bonus Chapter: Midnight Oil

A/N: It might be my birthday today, but I hope my present will reach you. This one-shot doesn't feature Goyo but another tragic hero that I'd like you to know about. Happy reading! ❤️

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Cavite is not known as the "Historical Capital of the Philippines" for nothing. Many are aware of the 1872 Cavite Mutiny at Fort San Felipe in Cavite City that had led to the Martial Law and to the deaths of the famed GomBurZa. Noveleta was dubbed as the "Town of Heroes" for being the seat of the Magdiwang Council of the Katipunan and be the municipality to produce brave military generals and tacticians. Maragondon's historic town became the hunting grounds to the whereabouts of Andres Bonifacio's corpse. And the misconception that despite being the site of the Declaration of Independence, Kawit may be known for the June 12 Philippine Independence, but Imus is the "Flag Capital of the Philippines" for in its barangay, in Alapan, that the first Philippine flag was flown.

But those are just stories that are highly marked due to parks and historical places being preserved. However, too many songs hadn't been sung at all. Not until now.

I've never been good with directions, to be honest. I usually get lost in places that I don't usually visit. But, no matter how often my father drives down these streets to avoid the usual traffic of the Aguinaldo Highway on our way home to Kawit from Dasmarinas or Alabang or Carmona, he would take the spider-web routes of Imus's town proper. After all, I know that he'll not be taking such roads as well if Waze hadn't suggested that it is the fastest route home. That's why, it is no longer a surprise to me how many times I've heard the names of the streets here.

Due to the lack of government funding for street signs, it is only through Waze that I learned most of the street names at all. Yet, it is always a moment that I've been eager to hear. The fact that only through it that I manage to know a particular name, and also feel a rush of excitement and sadness all the same. One that I don't understand why I am feeling such a moment.

Not until... it happened.

"Ma'am, gas o diesel?" the gasoline boy asks me by the time I lower down the window.

"Gasoline, kuya," I answer after unfastening my seatbelt at the same time. "Full tank. And may titignan lang ako. Okay lang naman maiwan saglit, ano?"

He looks curious at first before chuckling lightly. "Okay lang, ma'am. Akong bahala."

I smile at the gasoline boy as I unfasten my seatbelt, take my bag with me and head out as he proceeds in refueling my car. Walking around this place seems both strange and familiar to me. I can see hint of history and the advancement of time. And it is a little frightening to think that in the coming years, all of this will surely be much more different. However, standing on this very place right now had brought me to a distant place.

A so-called memory that is both not my own to call 'mine'. A recollection of a life I once live. One that people describe to be a 'past life'.

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I grew up seeing snippets of that respective life. Until when I was in College, and finally saw one of the remaining street markings of the place and heard it through the Waze app the street's name when my father tried to avoid the traffic. Since that event, those fragments of memories became clearer. Until I've been sure that they were mine. Though in a different time, with a different name, and a different history. However, what reconnected me to it had been the point that I came from the very same family line as that of me from the past. To coincide with things as well, I've been named the same; no matter how I've dreaded the name for being so old-fashioned compared to those of people my age. By then, I learned to embrace and accept it.