Shield of Love

Understand (Clay x Iris)

PART FIVE- A Clay x Iris (OC) Oneshot

Clay's POV

Of course. Of course she wouldn't remember Macy... she hadn't seen her since her graduation.

"Macy," I began. "Was the third person in our trio. Our best friend. We hung out with each other as much as we could. We got up to all sorts of things.... mischief included. Gosh, I miss this place..." I smiled again, trying to hide the new wave of sadness that coursed through me. She really didn't remember anything. Nothing at all. Probably not even.... no. I'm not going to think about that.

Iris looked at me for a while, not saying anything. After the first few seconds I began to grow self conscious. Did I spill some coffee on my shirt earlier or something?

"Uh... what is it?" I finally asked.

"I asked you earlier if you were ok. You said you were, but I didn't believe you. I believe you even less now. Something's clearly on your mind-" she put a hand on my arm. "-so will you tell me what's up? I can help."

I sighed, looked into her red eyes, and decided to answer her. "You can't."

"S...sorry?"

"I said, you can't," I drew in a shuddering breath and continued. "You can't help, not even if you tried, because all I want is for Iris to come back."

Iris's POV

I didn't understand. Who did he think I was, then? "But I am Iris. Your... best friend..."

Clay put his arm across his eyes, then looked at me. His expression was that of someone whose heart had cracked in half. "You're not my best friend," he said in a shaky voice. "My best friend is the girl who Macy and I hung out with for all our years at Knights Academy. The girl I knew since we were was two years old. The girl I was going to date."

Wait. What?

"But you don't remember any of that. You didn't even remember who I was when I called. Do you know how that felt? It felt like a punch in the face. It felt like I'd lost someone. Lost them forever. And now I know I have."

Clay swiped his eyes with the palm of his hand. It came away glistening wet.

I didn't know what to do. I was still trying to process what he'd said in his outburst. "....Clay...?"

"Just... just leave m-me alone, okay? Just... go." Then before I could do anything, he sprinted away in the direction of the fields.

 *****

Iris's POV

I was stunned. I stumbled over to a nearby bench and sat down to think. I was smart. I could figure out something to fix this.

Clay's words came back to me. "...you don't remember any of that..."

Well, that was hardly my fault, was it? Did he think I wanted amnesia? That I wanted to forget everything about my life before the past seven months, when my graduation was held?

I picked up a rock, and threw it at the ground in front of me. Hard. He was the one who didn't know what it felt- well, feels like. What it feels like to know something's missing, and that you have little chance of ever finding it again.

I sat up suddenly. We both didn't understand each other. We both needed someone who did. If we were best friends, we would talk to each other about it, help each other understand.

I stood up and set off to find Clay to do exactly that.