After Starlight-Redemption?

Chapter Twelve

Aaron Pov:
I fingered the bandanna and furrowed my brow.

"What's so important about this bandanna?"

"Well... your... best friend gave it to you, a long time ago. You and her wrote your names in the corner, here." She guided my hand to one end of the cloth. "You obviously can't feel the words, but this bandanna holds a lot of memories for you two."

"Who was my best friend? And how did you get this?"

"She gave it to me to give to you, after she heard about you losing your memories. I was just... waiting for the right time."

I raised an eyebrow. "You didn't answer the first question."

Melissa squeaked. "I was hoping you had forgotten about that."

"Nope."

"Well... it was... um... it was Aphmau."

"What?!" She nodded, looking rather guilty. "You mean... but I've been pretty much ignoring her until this morning! I've been so cruel..."

Melissa grabbed my hands. " No! It's not your fault! If it's anybody's fault, it's mine! I'm the one who didn't tell you!"

"But-"

"Stop it! You have this bad habit of blaming yourself when things go wrong, this is your chance to break that habit! No one blames you! Aph is still here! You can reconnect with her, and you two can be close again! Just don't-" She sniffled. " Don't you dare blame yourself."

I sniffed. "Okay."

We hugged it out, and then she left saying she was going to go check on Lucinda. I shook my head. Even I, a blind guy with missing memories, could tell how much those two liked each other.

Ein Pov:
Zane and I sat in awkward silence for a while, until I couldn't stand it anymore and spoke.

"Sooo... my name is Ein, huh?"

Zane jumped and then glared at me. "Yes. I thought we made that clear. Now shut up."

Awkward silence for a few more seconds, then:

"I'm assuming I did something bad to you guys, since you all seem to hate me."

Zane scoffed. "Yeah, you did. And we do."

"Oh." Awkward silence count: 3.

"What did I do?"

He stayed quiet.

"Tell me. Zane. Zane. Zane. Zane. Zane. Za-"

"Ugh would you just SHUT UP." Mission annoy Zane: Accomplished.

After another moment he said, "How do you know my name if you supposedly can't remember anything?"

"A-ha! That is your name! And that's what the scary black-haired girl called you, so I kinda just assumed."

"Scary black-haired girl? Oh you must mean Aphmau. I've never heard someone describe her that way."

"Why not? She's terrifying! And yes! Now that I know her name, I don't have to keep just calling her Scary Girl."

Zane chuckled and I gasped, my eyes lighting up. "What?" he asked suspiciously.

"You just don't seem like the kind of guy to chuckle out loud at a joke, especially one made by someone he apparently hates. Again, what did I do to you guys?"

The small smile melted off his face. "I... don't like to talk about it. It brings back bad memories."

I frowned. What could I have done to these people that would give them such bad memories, so bad that they don't like to talk about them. I wondered, not for the first time, if I had been not such a nice person before.

At that moment, I decided to make this group think better of me. I am going to be the person I am now, not whoever I was before. I'm going to be their friend!

And, something told me I didn't want to remember who I was before. I hoped that I never got my memories back.

My wish was not granted.

Oooh, foreshadowing! I wanted one of the gang to maybe possibly start liking Ein. We're not there yet, but Zane and Ein will talk a bit more next chapter.

See ya!

-Mags