Aarmau: Remember Me, Remember Us, Just Remember

Chapter 133

Melissa fixes a small bowl of yogurt and strawberries to tide her over until dinner is ready. She glances from Aaron to Lucinda and then to her mother. "It needs to be done before he wakes up."

Before they can change her mind she hops down from her stool and heads for the stairs. Aaron shakes his head and sighs as he rushes to catch up to her.

When they enter the spare room she looks from Garroth to Rowan and then down at her father. She has very few memories of him and all she can manage to feel is resentment and anger. He abandoned them when she was little and never looked back.

Would their lives have been different if he'd stuck around? She remembers her mother saying they fought all the time and that's not a life she would want for her mother so she doubts it would have been better.

She crosses over to the bed and looks down at him. The anger and resentment turn to hurt as she remembers wishing he would simply show up one day, lift her into his arms and tell her he never meant to leave her and that he never would again.

She feels Aaron step up behind her and the gentle touch of his hand on her shoulder. "Knowing what I do it was best he left us when he did but that doesn't stop me from wishing he had been there."

Aaron squeezes her shoulder, "I know babe. You don't have to do this, don't have to put yourself at risk. We can send him to the Maze and forget about him."

Aph reaches up and places a hand over his. "I know but even though I know the Maze is inescapable, the knowledge he has is dangerous and I won't risk him using it against us. All I'm going to do is blur the image so that he can't see it clearly and lay a fog over the information. He'll know of the Ultima but he won't be able to see who it was and will only have basic knowledge of it. The fewer people who know the safer we'll be. I can safely remove the stuff about me since he left when I was little."

Lucinda frowns, "Magics like this can be undone, sweetie. What's to stop someone from fixing him?"

Aph sits on the side of the bed and slowly places a hand on each side of Zack's head. "Only I can undo my magic and I can make the effects permanent."

Lucinda looks at Aaron and is more than a little surprised. Aph sounded so confident saying that. "Aph, how do you know for certain?"

Taking a deep breath she glances at them over her shoulder and they see her eyes have changed again. "Because no matter how many times I deny it, to ignore the obvious, deep down I know the truth. I am Irene."

Closing her eyes she turns back to Zack and begins to alter his memories. The process barely takes a moment to complete but it requires sifting through his memories to find the ones she needs to change.

She is surprised to find she has to go back to before he left to begin the change. She saw images of herself as a child, and conversations between him, Derek, Garte, Elizabeth, and Michael. She saw her mother, Ein's mother, Ein as a child and his time trapped in the prison realm.

She saw his involvement in the experiments, vague memories of her possible involvement, his presence at the Cannon, and Garte unconscious on the beach with Elizabeth. Having accomplished her goal she gasps as she pulls her hands away and falls off the bed.

So far the backlash from using magic doesn't seem as severe as it has been but her stomach still churns and the room spins as she pushes to her feet and runs for the bathroom. As she empties her stomach Aaron drops down beside her while Lucinda grabs a damp washcloth for her face.

When the dry heaving subsides she leans back against Aaron and sighs as she feels the cool cloth touch her forehead. After a couple of seconds, she opens her eyes and looks up to see both Aaron and Lucinda staring back at her with worried looks on their faces.

Releasing a slow breath she turns to see Rowan and Garroth standing in the doorway. She frowns at the images she saw and her eyes widen, "I know where Garte is! Elizabeth has him and Zack knows where ."