Everything's Fair in Love and War - An Amourshipping story

Chapter 11 - Memories

Ash couldn't believe it. The one person who brought him happiness in his childhood and the one person who saved him from spending the rest of his life with no memories of fun was right here. What he couldn't believe the most was the fact that he had forgotten.

The uncanny resemblance of Serena's story to that of his childhood friend's, the appearance, the name. He had been so wallowed in his worries that he hadn't even bothered to check on the other people he loved.

Correction. The only person he loved.

His family didn't even care about his existence. They went on day by day only trying to solve their own issues and only cared about Alec's happiness. Ash was always in his older brother's shadow, yet he always obeyed and he went on doing his best to please them. Even though they were the ones who always shunned him away in to the corner.

He looked down at the girl.

She never taunted him like Alec did, she didn't look down on him with displeasure like his parents did. Instead, she was here for him. He had been able to trust her more than he could trust anyone else. 

She was someone he thought he would never see again, but then if that's what fate wanted, so be it.

Serena pulled back from the hug, "Look at me" she laughed through her tears "I'm such a crying mess"

Ash didn't know what to do. He just kept his mouth shut and racked his brain for the right things to say. Consoling people was always a difficult thing for him, but to console someone who was crying because of him; he was in a mess.

"I'm not crying because you forgot" Serena looked up at him, taking him by surprise. "These are just tears of relief."

She rubbed her face with the heel of her palm. "I'm just glad that we met again" she said, sniffing and smiling at him "And I'm glad you finally know it's me"

Ash gave her his signature toothy grin. "Another round of trust-fall then?" he smirked, challenging her. Serena grinned back "Why not?"

Kicking her shoes off, she walked forward to climb onto the bed, but Ash held her back. "Not here." he said, grabbing her by the palm "We'll go down to where we usually played."

She wrapped her palm around Ash's "The tea garden with the -"

"The pretty flowers" Ash finished her sentence. The smile he flashed right after was out of pure nostalgia.

"What do you mean by yucky, Ash" Serena asked running out onto the grass. She plopped down on it and spread her hands out "This place is really pretty"

"Alec doesn't like it here. He said he didn't want to practice fencing in this 'absolutely revolting tea garden' " Ash looked down, pouting in annoyance "That's why he took our usual spot"

"Where are you off to, your highness?" a butler asked. He was standing right outside the door and was taken by surprise when the prince and his maid came running out; faces plastered with smiles bigger than ever.

"I am just going to take a walk around the compound" he answered, regaining his composure "And she is coming along with me."

The butler examined Serena's person. She wasn't carrying a water bottle or any other necessities which was required for the prince. But he decided against questioning it and left after bowing in reverence.

One prominent thing that stood out in the garden were the different kinds of flowers growing along it's sides. Each flower stood out on it's own but when put with the others, they all came together to create a scenery more beautiful than anything anyone had ever seen.

Serena gasped, her eyes sparkling "It hasn't changed one bit" she sighed. Like she usually did when she was here, she tossed her shoes aside and slowly walked around, feeling the cool wind and taking in the pleasant smell.

"This place isn't 'absolutely revolting'!" Serena shouted "He's just using big words to make him sound bigger and important."

"Huh?"Ash cocked his head in confusion. "What I mean by that is that we just have to give this place a different name." she said, putting a finger up "With a different name, we will let him know that this place is awesome and he made a huge mistake by shifting places"

"Yeah!" the boy agreed, hanging onto her every word. 

"So do you have any ideas?" Serena asked, walking up to him "Any super-duper names". At this, Ash stopped to think. He replayed the words 'absolutely revolting tea garden'over and over, until an idea gonged in to his head.

"Ooh I know!" Ash exclaimed "Instead of calling it the 'absolutely revolting tea garden', we can call it just the tea garden. How does that sound?"

"Hmm" Serena tapped her chin "It is good, but not good enough. We need to get a longer name"

"The tea garden with....umm......ah" the 7 year old thought out loud. She squeezed her eyes shut "Come on Serena!" she yelled at herself.

Ash stood there watching as Serena strolled around. Her face was flushed with new found energy and her face was radiating happiness. She was letting herself free, just like she always did when they were younger, smiling, laughing, doing anything but being sad or upset. Those joys was exactly what Ash was missing and he sure was glad that they had come back to him.

A passing breeze picked up a few fallen petals and cast them in Serena's direction. "Did you forget what we were here for?" she giggled. She was standing on the bench, barefoot on it's granite and once she was sure she had gotten Ash's attention, she turned around. 

"Ready Ash?" she asked. The wind become stronger, picking up leaves and small twigs off the ground and sent them flying around the duo. It even untied the loose ribbon around her hair and her honey-blonde strands were dancing around her face.

She looked beautiful. 

The raven-haired boy watched his playmate's confusion. He was racking his brain too, but he wasn't able to think of any clever names. He cast his brown eyes away from Serena and into the garden. They immediately fell on the many flowers growing there, even the ones which were growing on the arch to the garden's entrance.

 "I think I've got it!" Ash exclaimed, snapping Serena out of her thinking session. She looked up at him with hopeful eyes.

"How about we call it 'the tea garden with the pretty flowers'"  he suggested, hoping she would agree. Instead, he could tackled into a hug, "Ash, that's perfect!" she cheered.

Serena let herself loose, she felt the grip loosen on the bench as her body slowly came down. She landed softly, right into Ash's open arms, but unlike last time he caught her. She weighed like a feather almost equal to nothing and instead of letting her feet slip down, he caught them and picked her off the ground.

She looked up into his eyes and her face broke into a smile. "Looks like you caught me"

 Love is not something to be played with, when it comes to you with open arms, you have to embrace it

A/N--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Guess who found some Wi-fi?

I Did!

But it's just for today. I may not be able to assure chapters in the coming days. I'll try, though.

Btw, did you guys watch the preview for the next episode. SO MUCH AMOUR!!!

I CAN'T WAIT!! 

And I also feel really bad for bad for Ash. He just needs a hug. The poor