Memories - An AU Emerald x M!Reader book (Multiverse AU)

Chapter 14

924 AF1.1 - Third Person POV

Emerald's headache had long since faded. As the day wound down and she finished up the last of her appointments, she thought about what was to come next. Her possible future was in the same building as her and had been waiting for his whole life. On the other hand, Emerald could hardly remember the man.

Emerald pulled up one of (y/n)'s boxes and placed it on her desk to simply stare at it, thinking about the documents flooding the cardboard containers. It must've taken (y/n) thousands of hours to accumulate the sheer amount of documentation over the years. Each page held it's own unique snippet of time from one life or another. Each drawing was a labour of love. Emerald sighed to herself. She felt like a failure. (y/n) could remember all the finer details of Emerald's lives. He knew all of her favourite pastimes, her favourite teas, the books she'd read on the rainy days, and yet Emerald couldn't remember a thing about (y/n). At least not without some assistance.

The pages held enough of (y/n)'s scent to evoke her emotions and play with ideas at the edges of her mind, but it definitely doesn't size up to the immense torrent she experienced in (y/n)'s presence. The pages were just a taste compared to the full scale of the memories that she harbours inside. While the explosion of memories earlier had been frightening to say the least, Emerald would admit that she longed for it now. She longed for the sense of belonging and home she felt in (y/n)'s arms.

She glanced at the clock on her office wall. Her shift was nearly over. She frowned. Mercury had always repeated that his best friend was a bit of a workaholic and Emerald would freely admit to that, but she never wanted to clock in overtime as much as she did now. She had the next few days off, and while she knew that she definitely needed the rest after such a hectic week, she wasn't ready to relax just yet. She was certain she'd end up back at work the next day, regardless of what her schedule said. Even if it was just for an hour or so. That way she could visit (y/n) and weigh in on the board over (y/n)'s request to be released.

Emerald eventually stood up from her desk and eyed the box she had sitting on her desk and decided to bring it home with her. There was more than enough in that single box to last her the weekend, she was sure of it. That way, even if she couldn't see (y/n) during the days off, she'd still get to learn more about him. Maybe even figure out just how (y/n) was able to remember everything while she couldn't. (y/n) had said he was sure it was Oum's doing. A way to guide the two soulmates into meeting one other over and over again. A long con of fateful events that would lead (y/n) right to Emerald. If that were true, Emerald wasn't so sure there would be a logical explanation to prove it.

Emerald gathered her things and put on her jacket before lifting the heavy box into her arms and slowly making her way out of the door. She quickly locked her office door and travelled down the hall, giving passing doctors and techs nodding bows along the way. Once outside, she walked across the parking lot and popped the trunk of her black hatchback, placing the box carefully into it. She glanced back at the building and felt a small ache in her chest. She knew she couldn't leave without saying goodbye to (y/n) so she closed the trunk and made her way back into the hospital.

She quickly walked through the double doors and made her way up towards (y/n)'s room, ignoring the sounds reverberating from the cafeteria where a patient seemed to be having an attack of some sort. The noise echoed through the tiled halls as a small wave of sympathy ran over Emerald, thinking about all the people trapped within these concrete walls, forced to listen to the other patients' screams instead of being wrapped in the comfort of their own homes. Surely the distracting environment isn't helping with treatment and recovery. Patients like Jacques would do incredibly poorly in an environment like this. She thought of (y/n) and grimaced. She already knew (y/n) was no stranger to adventure and havoc but she still wanted better for him. Hopefully soon (y/n) would be back in the world at her side.