Back To The Future

Records of Memories

"So, who is this journalist then?"

I was sitting in my office while leading a conversation with my boss Stratford. He was trying to prepare me for the meeting I'd soon have- the meeting with my 'colleague' for the next weeks.

"A pretty young one. His name is Dove"

"Dove? Never heard of him."

"He's been in the newspapers a couple of times. But what is important is that the both of you get along well, it'll be for several weeks."

"Several weeks?! I thought it was just three articles!"

"Well at first, it was. Don't worry, ~, he's a professional, I doubt you're going to have problems."

Sigh. Whoever this Dove was, he would have to get used to my nervous state.
I had no idea how I was supposed to work with a person from a different domain for several weeks, similar to assistants, when I had never done such a thing.

While I was trying to collect my thoughts, I glanced through my office. It was rather small but still comfortable. 
Even though I was a tidily person with my writings, my office didn't look like that at all. Books were adorning my whole desk- and I tried to make it look a bit more sorted to not instantly make a bad impression.

I closed my eyes and started to imagine what this Dove would look like- I imagined a young, strict-looking man with black, pushed-back hair who was looking at me rather expectingly. I also expected him to wear glasses- this would make him look even more serious and frightening.
Frightening? This person would be my age- and yet I was scared to meet him.
But as always, I tried to push that feeling away and pretended everything was fine.

I was just working on a prologue for my new book when I heard someone open the door. Instead of turning to look towards it, I tried to remain calm and let my eyes rest on my papers.

"It's this office", I had Stratford say.

"Thank you", an unusually familiar voice responded.

"Just a moment, please!", I said with my eyes on the paper still, "I just need one more minute to finish th-"

Shock had once again prevented me from finishing my sentence. It was him again.

How could he still be alive? Was I imagining this? Him to look like- what I expected Clive to look like- if he was still alive?

My eyes had completely widened and his had done the same. I stood up now, calmly walking towards him and not trying to rush anything. I had to look at him first before deducing that I had not gone completely mad.

After a while, I could not help myself anymore.
Tears started to stream down my face as I fell into the arms of the man I had thought to be dead.

"Clive..."

I felt him embracing me, gently laying his hands on my back. As my crying had calmed down a little, I pulled myself out of his arms and put my hands on his chest.

For a moment, we just stared at each other as we did a few weeks before.
He was even more beautiful than I remembered.
After a while, I noticed how strangely close we were, practically just inches apart.
I hurriedly took a step back and awkwardly looked at the floor as I blushed.

I couldn't tell why, but this had made him smile, and it was the first time I did as well.

"Clive, what happened?"

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We had decided to sit down in a café down the road to calm down a little. And that was when he started to explain everything.

"...you see, there was an explosion next to our house. I was getting some food from the market when I heard it- but when I arrived, it was already too late."

"I am so sorry, Clive", I said as I took his hand in mine.
"You know, when I was released from the clinic, I immediately visited Montgomery street to search for you. But instead, I found that it had been completely renewed. I had been searching everywhere- and then my dad decided to tell me about the explosion.
I thought you were dead.
I desperately tried to find your name or adress anywhere- but I didn't, and it broke my heart. I gave up and thought I'd never be happy again."

I glanced at the man in front of me.
Apart from having aged, Clive hadn't changed much- his hair had just become a little messier, but that was also influenced by the hat he had just taken off.
His face was still the kind and adorable face I knew since my childhood, and even though we were discussing the sad events of our past, I was completely happy to have him with me again.

"...I survived it, and short after, I was adopted by Constance Dove. She was like a second mother to me, but she passed away four years ago."

I grasped his hand more tightly.

"I decided to leave secondary school and work as a journalist to... distract myself a bit. I wanted to become more interactive and do something for other people"

"That's very kind of you. Some things really haven't changed." His face broke into an adorable blushy smile.

"But what about you, ~? What happened in the clinic?"

"Well, they were able to remove what they had found after they kept me there for three months. When I and my dad later found out about the explosion, he started to investigate. He knew how important you were to me.
But after two months into his investigations, he was abducted and murdered by people who wanted to prevent him from finding something out, a crime organisation of some sort.
It was really strange... we never really found out who exactly was behind it."

"Crime organisation... or politicians. But that's the same thing anyway, isn't it?"

"What do you mean by that?", I asked with a frown.

"Politicians are nowhere better than criminals. Not at all, they're criminals themselves. Some day I'll tell you why."

It wasn't until much later that I found out what Clive was talking about, but what I knew was that there had been one man who had been responsible for the death of his parents- and that man was Bill Hawks.

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A/N: My chapters are finally getting longer! I'm still trying to get the order sorted, I hope it won't be too confusing with the flashbacks.
Please enjoy! x
(My titles are also often a reference/inspired by the soundtrack of the PL games and the movie! Just in case you've noticed)