Hello, My Name Is...

Side Effects

Aro was taking care of Shy's apartment. It was the least he could do for her after hearing she was arrested. Puns helped sometimes, but today he was alone. As he finished up the last of the cleaning, he heard the front door open. The Genius entered, carrying a weak Shy in his arms. She smiled at the sight of her friend, as her captor placed her almost delicately on the ground.

"Aro!" she started approaching him, as she often did when feeling unwell, only to be stopped by The Genius's hand on her shoulder.

"You weren't feeling well when we left, Shorty," he patted her head; "you should go rest. It was a stressful month you had."

Crestfallen, she went to her room. The Genius gave some instructions to Aro, since Shy had no family, on how to help her cope with the memory loss, "Why do you do it if it's so inhumane? And why do you care so much about Shy?" he asked, ready to fight if needed.

"It ensures compliance, why wouldn't I use it? Besides, torture has been around for centuries, all I'm doing is changing the method. As for your friend, who says I care for her? I do this all the time." He left.

Gamer finished cleaning the apartment as Shy came out of her room.

"I ordered pizza in case you were hungry, also Puns is on his way," he told her, she nodded, unsure of what was going through her head. Shy hugged her old friend; his gentle arms wrapped around her created a sense of stability for the tired girl.

Puns arrived; they enjoyed pizza and a movie. After making sure Shy was alright, the boys left, the sun had set hours ago, and they walked by a full moon's light.

"So, Dumbass gave you instructions on helping her cope with the memory wipe?" Puns grimaced, "strange..."

"Well, he said he does it with everyone," Aro shrugged, "but I agree. When he asked about her family, I told him they died. He seemed a bit shocked at that, but just gave me the instructions."

"Oh well. We'll watch out for her." Puns looked at his friend, "What's up with you?"

Aro eyes were glued to the ground.

"Nothing," he mumbled. Once home, he thought about what happened that day. Shy was happy to see him, though that was nothing new, they shared a lot of interests and hung out often, but The Genius stopped her, patronised her, then sent her to bed. When The Genius found out about her parents, he seemed concerned. There were a lot of changes in his attitude whenever it seemed to be about Shy, she told Puns and Aro about her time in prison, people would come and check on her regularly, which other prisoners said was usual protocol, but sometimes The Genius came and talked to her, but never for long, "just to check on you" he'd say.

* * *

Eyes fluttering opened, she looked around the room. It was nice to be home, away from the tiny cell she was held in. Sure, she was taken care of over there, but she was better off alone than in a dungeon; constant noise, people all around her, it was a nightmare. Shy had made some friends, if you could call them that, some people were nice, and even comforting to talk to, but it wasn't the same as being with Aro and Puns, plus she couldn't just leave if she was overwhelmed.

A knock at the door interrupted these thoughts. Getting up she realised she never got changed out of yesterday's clothes. Shaking off the aggravation she felt over her carelessness, Shy opened the door promising herself to take a shower once everything was taken care of. However, her plans were defeated at the sight of two boys around her age carrying grocery bags filled with her favourite foods. She sighed as her friends started putting stuff away and offering to make her breakfast.

"How about some pancakes"

"No," she replied a fifth time.

"Well, what do you want?" They asked in united frustration.

"Smoothie?" She shrugged, "I'm not that hungry, in fact, I kinda want to take a shower right now." Gesturing to her clothes, "How'd this even happen in the first place?"

"Oh, that's simple," replied Aro, slightly amused at his friend's aggravation, "You fell asleep during our movie marathon and neither of us wanted to invade your privacy, so we just tucked you in and left."

"Well, I appreciate it. I thought I forgot to change." She smiled at the boys, "Thanks."

They grinned back and set to work on breakfast. Shy climbed into the shower hoping these visits and favours wouldn't become a regular occurrence, and that after breakfast they'd leave. She could have never been more wrong.

After breakfast, they spent some time chatting, she explained what prison was like; the people she met, the visits from the Genius, and the memory wipe. After lunch, she was growing tired and was just wanting to sleep, but the guys had other ideas.

"Dumbass gave Aro instructions, we're not always both going to be here-"

"Oh, thank goodness!"

"But," Puns continued, glaring at his friend, "we will be here every day to check on you,"

"And aren't scared to use force," Aro interjected, "especially since Genius did who knows what to your brain." He tapped Shy's forehead for emphasis, instantly regretting it when she recoiled at the sudden touch.

"Okay," she replied reluctantly. "Can I at least take a nap? I went to sleep late last night."

"Nope," He read through the instructions given to him, "fatigue is one of the side effects on the wipe. It says that you need to develop a schedule and no naps."

She groaned to the amusement of her caretakers. After a bit of arguing and bribing, they managed to do some of their old activities, a few of which the boys had to remind their friend of. They watched in anger as she struggled with many side effects of the memory wipe.