Aarmau: Remember Me, Remember Us, Just Remember

Chapter 12

Aaron stirs from a deep sleep as he hears Aph's heartbeat speed up. Taking a deep breath, he slowly opens his eyes and is disappointed that her hand no longer rests beneath his. The sound of her heartbeat thumping loudly and out of control causes him to stiffen and his eyes dart to her face.

Her eyes are closed like she's still asleep but he can see the tears pooling at their corners and then spill down her cheeks. Her bottom lip is pulled in between her teeth and her breathing is short, shallow and extremely fast as if she's running a marathon.

Aaron pushes to his feet and as he leans over her he rests his hand on her right shoulder, "Aph...Aphmau?! Wake up!"

She hears his voice but how can she be sure it's really him this time? How does she know this isn't some trick? She shakes her head back and forth, refusing to fall for it. "No! You aren't real!"

Aaron flinches and wishes he could remember her. Wait... "Shu, it's me, it's F.C.!"

Aph freezes in place hearing those names. They haven't called each other that in years and hearing them now forces her eyes to open and to meet his. His eyes aren't nearly as black as they once were but they're not the greyish white they were when he left Starlight. She quietly studies his face and then frowns, "How do I know it's really you?! They've tricked me before."

Aaron looks away and then smiles. He grabs his phone, taps the screen and turns it to face her.

Aph glances at the screen and sees 8D staring back at her. Not expecting it she sputters as a laugh erupts from the back of her throat and more tears fill her eyes, "I hate that face!"

Aaron offers her a goofy grin and then sobers as she begins to cry harder. Putting his phone on the side table, he sits on the side of her bed and then gently pulls her into his arms.

He feels her arms slowly close around him as she buries her face in the crook of his neck. Listening to her cry her heart out causes tears to fill his eyes and he can't help but tighten his hold on her.

They sit like that for who knows how long. When her breathing calms and she relaxes against him he almost thinks she's fallen back to sleep.

He reaches up with his right hand and gently strokes her hair from the back of her head down to the middle of her back. Just as he's about to lay her back down she sniffles and whispers to him, "Is this real? Do you really remember me?"

Aaron's heart hurts hearing the uncertainty in her voice. He doesn't want to hurt her more than she already does but he will not lie to her. "You're home and I remember Shu but not Aphmau."

Aph flinches and then sighs, "Then how did you know to call me Shu?"

Aaron lays her back against the pillow and as he pulls her hands into his he slowly caresses the backs of them with his thumbs. "When I left Starlight, the only thing I could remember was Shu. I couldn't remember anything that happened, my parents, my sister, our friends or even you. I still can't remember. But I could remember her. I hoped talking to her would help me remember. Melissa tried to help this past year but we kept hitting dead ends. I tried going back into the game but no one there knew who she was. I still had her programmed into my phone and I noticed we had still been talking during the trip to Starlight so I tried texting her but she wasn't responding. I started thinking maybe she had been at Starlight and was hurt somewhere or worse. And then tonight, I tried texting her again just in case she decided to text back. That's when I heard your phone beep. I guess you programmed your phone to unlock for me and when I saw several unread messages from F.C., well I almost couldn't believe it was you."

Aph nods slowly as she sighs, "I see. I suppose it is something."

Aaron looks down at their hands because he's afraid to look at her, "Is it alright if I call you Shu for now?"

Aph softly smiles at him, "I don't have a problem with it. If it helps you feel better, we can use our screen names. It'll help me remember that all this is real and not something created by the Guardian Force."

Aaron frowns, "What do you mean?"

Aph hesitates for a brief moment because she's still afraid this is all a trick but pushes forward, "In the beginning all I dreamt of was the bad things that happened to us. The Guardian Force took advantage of that trying to learn more about what we went through, about Irene or even the Demon Warlock. They're very gifted when it comes to virtual reality. They would create these elaborate realities trying to get me to tell them things. It was getting harder and harder to tell the difference between what was them and what was a simple dream. It was exhausting. I have to admit even now I'm having trouble believing any of this. I'll try to be open but everything in me screams not to trust anyone. How long has it been?"

Aaron nods in understanding, "I can accept that. I hope in time you will be able to trust us again and it's been a year since Starlight."

Aph's eyes widen in shock and more tears fill her eyes, "A year!"

Aph's eyes slowly blink and she struggles to keep them open. Aaron brushes a strand of hair out of her eyes that had fallen and then pushes to his feet. "You need to get some sleep. Everyone's going to want to talk to you tomorrow so you'll need your strength."

Aph smiles and then grabs his hand as he pulls away, "F.C., can you turn Eternity back on for me? I forgot how much I like listening to it."

Aaron glances at his phone and then nods. So that's what that song is called. Opening the music file again he pushes play, sets the song to continuously loop and then places it back on the side table. Looking back at her he isn't surprised to see her eyes are already closed and her breathing has evened out.

There was more he wanted to ask her but now is not the time to go into any of it. Sitting back down in his chair he crosses his arms over his chest, props his feet up on the side of her bed, closes his eyes and almost instantly falls asleep.