Chapter 5
Lost Memories
Aaron

◇•◇•◇

"So, you really don't remember us." Travis says.

"Well, little bits and pieces... mostly just names, phrases, and words... barely ever a scene." Aphmau sighs, yawning. She leans on me, and instinctively my arm goes around her. She tenses up, and I remove it.

"Sorry..." I mumble.

"N-no it's fine..." she murmurs sleepily. So I put my arm back around her.

"Yes! That means I can reuse all my old jokes!" Travis cheers. Katelyn snickers.

"Nice try Playboy." She pushes him lightly.

"We should try and find things to jog their memories." Zane says.

"How though?" Kawaii~chan asks.

"What if we bring them to familiar places?" Travis suggests.

"High school?" I ask.

"High school." He agrees, as the plane starts it descent to land.

◇•◇•◇

"We can go tomorrow, but for now we should take them home." Travis says, as we enter the street.

"Home?" Katelyn asks.

"You may not remember, but you and Travis lived together. You were dating. Aphmau and Aaron also live together, and Kaiya and Taiya are their adopted daughters." Zane says.

"I knew it!" Aphmau exclaims, glancing at them.

"I... yeah that sounds right..." Taiya sighs, rubbing her head.

"Kawaii~chan and I can let the rest of the street know." Zane says.

"Where's Nell~chan?" Kawaii~chan asks.

"She stayed behind." Zane replies, before taking her hand and leaving.

"I'm tired..." Aphmau yawns.

"Let's get you home then." I say, smiling a little.

So, we all split up and go back to our homes.

◇•◇•◇

"This place... it's so familiar." Aphmau murmurs, once we're inside.

"Is it okay if we just... look around? Just, to try and remember?" Kaiya asks. I nod at them, and they take off exploring the house.

"Come on, our room is up here." I say, guiding Aph upstairs.

"We share a room?" She asks.

I nod.

"We sleep together?" She asks, once in the room.

"I can sleep on the couch if your uncomfortable with that." I promise.

"N-no, it's fine... I don't mind if we share a b-bed..." she replies, sitting down.

"Oh, yeah." Aphmau fumbles with a white string around her neck, and a ring slides off. The ring I gave her.

"Here." She gives it back to me, and I notice her old ring is on. I smile, and put it on.

"Thanks."

Then she lays down, and falls asleep. I gently kiss her forehead, and then leave to get Ameri and Arnoux.

◇•◇•◇

"Oh, hey Aaron!" Eric grins, "Good to see you back safely. You found our daughters right?" He gives me a look.

"APHMAU'S BACK?!" Sylvanna appears, shoving Eric to the side. "WHERE IS MY HIJA?!"

"She's sleeping." I say, a little startled. "I came to pick up the boys."

"Oh... well, they're actually napping right now... so maybe I can come by later, and drop them off? And see Aphmau?" She says.

I know that if I say no she'll come by later anyway.

"Sure." I say, "That sounds great."

She smiles giddily. Eric sighs.

"Bye." I wave and walk back to the house. Halfway there, I accidently bump into someone.

"Oh, sorry..." I say.

"Ah! Oh, whatever." Cathy grumbles.

"Cathy! Sorry Aaron, she's just in a bad mood today..." Betty sighs.

"Oh, it's fine. I wasn't paying attention anyway..." I mumble.

"Wait, aren't you supposed to be searching for Aphmau?" Jenny asks.

"We just got back today, with them." I say, smiling a little.

"Oh, good. Well, see you later!" She smiles, and drags her friends away. Betty waves goodbye.

I hurry back to the house, and go inside.

Inside the house, I find everyone asleep.

Well, mostly everyone.

A loud scream from our room causes me to panic.

I rush up the stairs, and slam open the door. She's awake on the bed, holding her head and hyperventilating. Nobody else is in the room.

She must have had a nightmare.

I calm down instantly, and move next to her, sitting down. She flinches, but doesn't move.

"Hey, hey... shh... it's okay..." I put my arms around her, trying to call her down. Kaiya and Taiya run into the room.

"What happened?! What did you do?!" Taiya exclaims.

"Taiya, calm down!" Kaiya grabs her sister, keeping her from launching herself at me.

"I think she had a nightmare." I say. Taiya calms down, and nods.

"What happened?" I asked gently.

"D-death... so m-much death... y-you, Kaiya a-and Taiya... K-Katelyn and Travis... e-everyone... d-dead... a-and E-Ein... h-he did it... h-he k-k-killed y-y-you..." she choked out.

I don't know what she was feeling, but I can tell this was tearing her apart. She didn't know why she was upset, Ein had helped her in the lab, and everything was everywhere.

She was reliving horrible altered memories.

"Shh... it's okay... it was just a dream..." I whisper to her. Kaiya grabs her sister's hand and drags her out of the room.

"W-why... am I so upset?" She asks me.

"Because, that almost really happened..."

"Goodbye..." Ein smiles sadistically.

"AARON!" Aphmau screams.

Katelyn jumps in the way.

It repeats, each time someone else getting in the way.

Until Aaron yells loudly, and punches Ein into the tree.

"B-but why?..."

"I don't know... it was a long time ago though, and he's changed..." I whisper.

"I'm sorry... y-you shouldn't have to deal with this..." she murmurs.

"Luna, you don't have to apologize. I love you, and I'll always be here for you. Potato..." I whisper the last part, and she pushes away and glares at me.

"I am not a potato!" She exclaims, crossing her arms.

"You totally are." I smirk as she blushes.

"No I'm not!" She exclaims.

"Potato." I reply.

"Grrr... stawp calling me that!!" She says.

"Or what?" I lean down closer to her. She blushes more.

"O-or I-I-I'll... uh..." she trails off.

"You'll?"

"I..."

I grab her waist gently, and kiss her. She blinks in shock, but kisses back, closing her eyes. Her arms wrap around my neck, deepening the kiss.

When we finally pull away, she's breathing heavily, and seems to still be processing what just happened.

I smile, and pull her into my lap, playing with her hair.

"Heh... I missed you... I missed you so much..." I murmur.

"I missed you to..." she replies, laying her head on my chest.

"Hey A- uh..."

We look up, and see Taiya. Aphmau quickly pushes herself off me, turning a deep crimson red. I blush to.

"Ohhhhkaaaayyy... I'll pretend I didn't see that. There's a crazy woman with a flip flop and two baby boys at the door claiming to be Aphmau's mom." She says.

"My mom?... Mom!" Aphmau gets up and runs downstairs. I follow her with Taiya.

"Mama?" She asks at the bottom of the stairs.

"HIJA!" Sylvanna yells, pushing past Kaiya and wrapping her daughter in a hug.

"Can't... breathe... Mom!" Aphmau wheezes. Sylvanna quickly lets go.

"You remember me?! YES! You remember me!" Sylvanna cheers. Aphmau laughs.

"It's hard to forget you." She says.

"It is very hard to forget Sylvanna. Especially when she's tried to kill me a couple times." I laugh.

"Oh shush! That was before you started dating my daughter!" Sylvanna argues.

"This crazy woman is your mom?" Taiya asks, taking one of the boys from Kaiya, who had been holding them.

"You know that wouldn't be the first time I've been called crazy. I'm glad my granddaughters are okay to." Sylvanna smiles.

"Excuse me?" Taiya asks.

"Uh... well, before you lost your memory Aphmau and I were your adopted parents. The two boys your holding are your brothers, who are biologically mine and Aphmau's." I say.

"Oh, cool! I've always wanted to be an older sister, but I got stuck with this idiot as a twin instead." Kaiya says, jabbing her sister lightly.

"Hey!" Taiya glares at her, and jabs her back.

I take the boys from them.

"Squeee! Babies!" Aphmau runs over and takes them from me. Ameri and Arnoux giggle in unison, making baby noises.

"They look like me and you..." she says, smiling at me.

"Well, you did give birth to them." I smile.

"I remember that. It was... painful, to say the least." She says.

"I'm bored." Taiya says.

"I'll put on an anime." I sigh a little, and pick up the remote, putting on Fairy Tail. Immediately, all 4 girls sit down to watch with the boys. I chuckle, and sit next to Aphmau.

Even if she's lost most of her memories, I'm glad she's back.