asra x fem! reader • apprentice

four - nostalgia

(Wattpad decided to be a stink and crash on me while I was about halfway done with this chapter, so I had to redo it and it's not as good now I'm so sorry, also I'm going to make it shorter than I originally planned and just leave it on a cliffhanger and continue in the next chapter ;))

-Julian's POV-

"I-Ilya?" Portia wondered aloud, her eyes sparkling as if she were about to cry. I just stared back at her in bewilderment. I swallowed hard.
"Pasha..." I murmured. Then tears started falling down her face. My shoulders tensed in pity.
"Are you okay, Portia?" (Y/N) and Nadia both said, somehow in unison.
Nadia placed a hand on her servant's shoulder in a comforting way, and (Y/N) sped over to Portia, gently rubbing her back as he crying deepened.
"Nothing. It's fine. Just... uh, allergies." Portia sniffled, managing an obvious attempt at a fake smile.
Nadia furrowed her brow a bit and then shook her head elegantly, "I highly doubt that. As queen, I request that you please tell me what's bothering you, Portia."
"Nothing." She responded curtly, her voice breaking a bit.
"Fine. Now, (Y/N), please tell me what you and Jules are doing up so early." Nadia said, dipping her head to me as we both let go of Portia.
I opened my mouth to speak, but glanced over at (Y/N), who shook her head lightly to me, gesturing not to talk.

-(Y/N)'s POV-

I hesitated for a few heartbeats before finally deciding that it would be safe to tell the countess about my meeting with Count Lucio.
"I finally didn't have a nightmare last night." I started, choosing my words carefully, as to not give Nadia the wrong idea about Lucio meeting me.
"Me neither." Nadia said thoughtfully, lightly scratching her chin.
"But then I woke up. My magic led me into the hallway, so I followed. It led me to two white dogs, and then... he showed up." I said, meeting Nadia's gaze. Her eyes narrowed as she nodded in understanding.
"He said he needed help from one of the three of us, but he never was able to say what he needed help with." I concluded the story.
"I doubt anything good." Portia muttered.
The countess nodded in agreement.
"Well... we'll have to discuss this some other time, perhaps with some advice from the courtiers. Thank you for everything, (Y/N). I hope you and Jules have a good day," Nadia said, "Not that I'm telling you to leave, but I wouldn't want to waste another mere second of your time."
"You didn't waste any of our time, your maj- Nadia," I said, giving her a subtle smile, "But we will be leaving now. Thank you for letting us stay so long. Farewell."
I grabbed Julian's hand and dragged him out of the palace and into the marketplace by my shop. He looked down at his feet the entire time.
"Hey, Jules, I should probably go back to the shop now." I said, letting go of his hand. He looked up at me, as if suddenly aware that he was still here with me.
He nodded, "Bye. Thanks."
Julian still looked shaken, I laid my hand on his shoulder and let it rest there for a few moments before spinning around and heading towards the shop.

---

When I got to the shop, I heard rustling coming from upstairs. I followed the noises up to the attic, where Asra was dusting off boxes of antiques and looking through them.
"Hey, master." I greeted, and he looked up from the dusted, old photograph that he held.
"

Please don't call me that. Just call me Asra." He said, obviously trying really hard to be super polite about it.
"What's that?" I questioned, pointing to the photograph in his hand.
In the photograph was a younger Asra in between two adult individuals. One was a male with fluffy brown hair and purple eyes, who wore glasses and the other was a female who had long, white hair and pink-purple eyes. They both had the same bronze skin as Asra.
"My parents, Salim and Aisha." He said, smiling at me as he pointed to each of them in turn.
Asra didn't mention his parents ever, but I didn't ever question him about them, because I always thought it must be a difficult subject.
I knelt by Asra and looked in the box. I immediately pulled out a long, intricately-carved wooden flute and studied it.
"Can you play the flute?" I asked Asra, raising my eyebrows slightly.
He rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah. I mean, I used to play it a lot."
"Can you play something for me? Please!" I begged him eagerly, holding the delicate instrument out to him. He took it.
"I'd do anything if it were for you." Asra said affectionately, pushing a stray hair out of my face lightly before he raised the flute up to his lips.
He closed his eyes and blew into the instrument. A smile played on his lips as he blew a melodic tune.
I grinned at him, entranced by the music. I let my eyes close as I leaned against him lightly.
He wrapped an arm around me as he set the instrument down in his lap.
I let my eyes open slightly, and he leaned closer over me, his hot, comforting breath tickling my cheek. I caressed his cheek with my thumb, melting into his touch as he ran his fingers through my (H/C) hair.
I let my free hand stray up to his hair, running my fingers through his delicate, soft curls.
Asra smirked lightly, he got closer, almost as if he were leaning towards my lips.
And then he ruffled my hair and planted a light, soft kiss on my nose and grinned teasingly.
"Sorry, (Y/N), but I need to go supervise the shop. Feel free to go through the boxes if you want." He said, standing up.
He walked towards the stairs before winking at me, "See you later, my dear."
I stood there in ultimate confusion as he disappeared down the stairs. I felt Faust slither up my arm, curling around my neck gently.
I thought he was gonna kiss me. Is he.. teasing me? Why? I wondered as I pet Faust and turned around, staring at the boxes scattered across the floor of the attic.
I went to a random box and opened it. A purple binder caught my eye, and I pulled it out, sitting down Indian style as I opened it up.
It was a photo album.
I set it on the floor next to me. I decided that I'd look at it after I examined all of the other relics bestowed in the box.
I looked back in the box. I saw a beautiful, purple rose and held it up to my nose. It smelled good, and looked fresh, which was remarkable and unearthly, considering it had been in the box for who knows how long.
Then I remembered. Obviously, it must have been affected with magic.
I set it carefully by the album before peering back into the box.
There were a lot of random trinkets, books and albums in the box.
The trinkets reminded me of the kind of souvenirs that Asra would bring home to me after going out on an adventure somewhere. I smiled fondly at the memories.
Memories.
That was it! If I looked through the photo album, maybe I would get back some of the memories I had lost with the amnesia, or at least get hints of them.
I picked up the photo album and opened it to the front page.
I flipped through the thin pages.
It started with childhood pictures of me. Then teenage pictures of me. A lot of these ones included other people that I didn't recognize, some of them reoccurring.
I learned that I used to go to school at a highschool that seemed to specialize in magical teachings.
Then, Asra started appearing in the pictures more and more.
It started with cute, fun selfies like the kind best friends would take.
And then it went to ones that involved a little more physical contact, but still didn't really go too far, like ones where we were hugging each other from the side or holding hands.
It stayed with that for a while, but then there were pictures of us that were more... romantic?
I stopped looking at a picture of us kissing. Eachother. On the lips. Me. Asra.
I closed the binder, but suddenly my vision blurred into a white haze. Then my vision returned, but I wasn't still in the attic looking through an old photo album with Faust wrapped around my neck.
I was in the marketplace. But I wasn't me. I was watching me. This must be a memory.
I was running through the crowds with Asra. The two of us were holding hands.
Asra took a sudden turn into an alleyway and let go of my hand, climbing onto a metal ladder that was connected to the wall of a building.
"Follow me!" He said, and I followed him up the ladder, to the roof of the building.
Once I was up and on my feet, Asra grabbed my hands and met my eyes.
Then he pointed into the distance at the sky. I looked and saw a gorgeous, colorful sunset.
"That's so pretty.." Past me whispered in awe, studying the sky.
Asra nodded, smiling at the sunset, and then he turned and smiled at past me.
"You know, you look really cute." He complimented, studying past me.
I was wearing a frilly, (F/C) (favorite color) dress.
"You do, too." Past me said, grinning at him as I quite obviously was checking him out head to toe.
He was wearing a blue shirt with frilly sleeves that went to his elbows that had a golden-colored lining.
The collar of the shirt was low, showing some of his chest, about as much as his ordinary outfit did.
He was wearing his usual black pants and boots. The most obvious difference about him was that his bangs were slicked back, so that you could clearly see his whole face. He looked immensely handsome, especially in the lighting of the sunset.
He then kissed past me on the lips, both of us closing our eyes.
I looked away, flinching a bit.
"Please stop." I whispered as if there was a way that some kind of God or something would hear me and take me out of the memory.
The memory hurt me. Not just emotionally, but it gave me a splitting headache.
The pain got worse and worse, searing my forehead with heat and pain.
Eventually I screamed in pain and agony, closing my eyes tightly.
"Pleaaase... stop... someone... stop it... Asra..." The pain only got worse.
I kept screaming, the pain was so bad that I couldn't think of act properly.
"You're weak." A rough voice growled at me. I dated to open one single eye, and I saw the Devil. As in, the Devil from the Arcana tarot deck that Asra had given me.
And behind him was Count Lucio, who was shaking hard, his eyes widened in fear. He looked as though he felt bad for me.
"No... I'm not..." I coughed out, but the Devil just grinned at me. He spit in my face, and I could only let out a groan.
"Please stop! She didn't do anything!" Lucio yelled from behind the goat-like Devil. The Devil whirled around, facing the blonde man.
"Stop talking, goat. This woman must pay for her parents' grave sins." The Devil roared, turning back towards me.
"My... parents..?"