Title: "Forgotten."

Fandom: Popular/Other - Crossover, but it's a secret.

Author: Genida.

Feedback: Yes, please.

Pairing: Sam/Brooke.

Disclaimer: I don't own Popular, don't profit from this nor seek any kind of monetary gains from this work. The creative content however, is mine! :)

Nor do I own the other enterprise, or profit from that, I just cross fandoms with it. Muchly obliged for the creation of both.

Summary: Brooke disappears mysteriously and Sam becomes obsessed with finding out the truth.

Author's note: I'll tell you the crossover afterwards. There's supposed to be a file to accompany this fic, a little sound file. Be a darling and open it up, will ya? (That is, if it's possible for that to come up around here on the Realm. If not, meh... :)

For Samantha, everything she did these days was an act of grief and hope. Of faint memories, anger and conviction. A conviction others saw as overwhelming delusion. Her life, her friends, her family - they grew to be a nuisance and finally a hindrance to her goal. Because she had been there that night, when the world grew dark and love vanished. Oh, yes, she knew what no one else wanted to believe. Brooke would never come back. She was not 'missing'...

So she sat in that room, Brooke's room. Alone, with nothing but the hope of a single memory. Out of that one night, one single moment in her mind had been taken from her. Those last few seconds were missing. Within herself lay a final piece of information, that one piece of memory to answer all things unclear. If she could just hear that tune again. If only she could open the musicbox, she would have her love back.

*

Not so long ago...

Groggy from sleep and stressed from need Samantha hurried through the hall towards the bathroom in the middle of the night, intent on little else than getting it done and getting back to sleep. She had a test tomorrow, needed her sleep desperately. Halfway there every thought and function paused inside of her, as she heard something. From inside Brooke's room came a tune. A tinkering, eery little sound. As she tread lightly to come closer, the door suddenly opened. Brooke, naturally. The music continued, that little chime above all other sounds.

"Sam... my Sammy..." Said Brooke, in a mere whisper.

"Brooke, are you all right? What's tha..."

The blonde put a gentle finger on Sam's lips. Sam wanted to kiss it, but stopped herself.

"Shhh." Brooke looked dazed, in some way. "Everything's gonna be fine, Sam... everything will be... good."

"Brooke, what are you talking about?"

"I have to go..." Brooke leaned in and kissed Sam lightly on her forehead, "Be happy, Sam. For me?"

Sam recalled trying to follow Brooke inside her room, towards that music. Everything was blurred and dark and horrible after that. When she woke up the morning after - inexplicably in her bed - Brooke was gone. So was her memory. That one memory.

*

Also, so was the music. Sam needed to find that music; she was convinced it would reveal to her the truth, why Brooke was gone. Samantha listened to every cd, every tape and every tune on Brooke's cellphone. Nothing. Scoured through her stepsisters possessions in search of something that could produce that tune again. Nothing.

Nothing but that box. It was lying there on Brooke's pillow the morning they'd all woken up never to see her again. On her perfectly made bed, in that perfectly serene room. Just a wooden toy box, though delicately ornate and finely crafted with its golden filigree and mysterious patterns. Sam knew it wasn't just a toy. It was the music, it held her memories.

Mom and Mike had given up, for now, she suspected. There would be professionals soon. Men with kind looks and wise, banal, words of wisdom. They wouldn't be necassary, she thought to herself, I just need to... aah, yes. Her long quest was over. The musicbox finally yielded to her touch, her step-by-step prodding at it's secrets and functions. It bent, it rose and twisted in upon itself. It clicked and whirred, then became a box again. Only different.

The music. Yes, the music... that tune. Soon she would remember, and Brooke would be with her again, if only in her mind. Her desire fulfilled.

She'd followed Brooke to her door that night. Brooke, dazed but smiling had put a hand on Sam's face one last time and... and then...

Shivering, Sam could feel that hand again. Tracing her face from behind, sharp nails caressing her neck down to her naked shoulders and back. Brooke. The room was getting colder. Soft streams of air lifted pieces of paper and swirled through curtains. Brooke was there with her, behind her, in the dark. Where shadows had not been before.

"Shh... don't cry." Sam heard behind her.

It was Brooke all right. That perfect, lovely, warm human being in a way that never should have happened. Her hand was cold, and dead. But it was Brooke... and Sam cried. Now they could be together.

"Sam... my Sammy..." Said Brooke.

And then it was all clear to her. Samantha remembered everything. That music, the endless piercing light and blinding darkness... and them...

Brooke was still there, as she would always be. Her arm snaked around Sam's waist and she leaned hungrily to her ear, whispering Sam's name possessively over and over until Sam heard beyond the music. Faint, thundering, world-shattering. A gong as large as the world... banging heavily, over and over and over. Even Brooke stopped whispering then. Only one more thing... a promise beyond this world.

"I have such sights to show you..."

Sam screamed. As she had that night, when her memories were stolen from her, she screamed and her soul screamed with her. Only Brooke smiled. A knowing, gleeful, sadistic smile. Because she knew they'd be together now. Forever and ever. They would share in an eternity of pleasure.

The musicbox stopped. Folded back in upon itself again, and rested.

* * *

Crossover, naturally, with Hellraiser.