After Leaving the Bridge

Why?

Not well, was his answer.

"I'm telling you, those were his exact words. "Me and Gongenzaka were flying. But then he fell. And I couldn't catch him." What other memory could he have gotten back if it wasn't that memory!?" Yugo whisper yelled, trying his best to not let his volume get them caught underneath the old metal slide.

Hide-and-seek was the only way they could get Yuya away long enough for them to have this discussion. Luckily, mom hadn't told Yuya where they were hidden just yet. She was watching over their brother as he checked inside every sand castle in the sand box first, glancing over at her three other sons every now and then to make sure they were still there. Little Yuya was being very thorough in his search, too, so it was going to be a while before they were found.

"But why that memory?" Yuri asked no one, his six year face scrunched up in frustration, "until the life of our final reset, we never remembered anything other than our time in the Bridge. Not the time with Zarc nor our lives before that! So why is Yuya?! Is this just a one time deal or will he remember all of it?"

Yugo knew his older brother would react negatively to this revelation but, like always, his drama queen of a brother had to go above expectations with his reactions. It's not like Yugo didn't understand, either. Yuri had been a lonely boy before the Zarc incident, and had spent literal lifetimes after that just as alone as before. Yuri was desperate to protect the little family he had, so if something threatened any of them (his brothers or their parents, whom he grows to love no matter how many lives they live), Yuri would be the first to fight back.

That didn't make his excessive worry any less annoying, though.

Yugo only shook his head. "I don't know. This was the first time he came to me for this kind of "bad dream". Everything before that was just regular stuff like monsters under beds and all that." He scratched at his head furiously, his already wild hair becoming worse. "Ugh! Okay! Time to put those years of problem solving skills to the test, then! What are the key differences between us and Yuya that would make him remember when we didn't?"

"Well, we know he never lost his memories of the time before the Bridge. Whereas, we still can't remember our time with Zarc," Yuto proposed, "Maybe that has something to do with it."

Yuri shook his head. "I don't think that's it though. Because despite our inability to remember, we know the memories of that time are still there. We can feel the wall that blocks them. What memories we possess shouldn't affect what we remember here because, for all intents and purposes, all four of us had the potential to remember things from before the Bridge because we all have said memories." his hand clutched at the sand by his leg, "I think it's something else, but I can't think of what it could be."

The three brothers sat in silence, only the sound of their gentle breathing and the cries of cheer from the children outside their little hideout.

"Maybe," Yuto finally began, "maybe it's not something else, but someone, instead." The eldest brother was leaning out from underneath the slide just far enough to watch as his youngest brother moved from the sandbox to the jungle gym. He felt his brothers join him in watching as Yuya made his way underneath the jungle gym, seeking them out in the shadows the structure cast.

Yugo's eyebrows pinched together in doubt. "You think Yuya is the reason why we can't remember the castle?"

Yuto shifted, concealing himself in the shadow of the slide once again. "I don't think he realized what was happening. He was the one to help us remember the first time we were "awake" in the Bridge. I think, with his soul never leaving the Bridge, even when we were remembering things down on Earth, I think that was what influenced what we remembered."

"Everytime our souls reset, they were doing so with the goal of seeing Yuya again," Yuri mumbled, looking contemplative, "The only thing that mattered was getting our brother back, and he was always on the Bridge. The memories from before that didn't matter as much as the memories we made while we were together in the Bridge Between. We didn't remember the time before Zarc until our souls decided it was necessary to get Yuya back."

Yugo nodded slowly, "So your saying that the reason Yuya is remembering the things we didn't is because, unlike us, his soul doesn't have anyone up on the Bridge that can draw it's attention away from the memories of before the Bridge."

"It makes sense," Yuto said, "too bad we have no one we can ask for advice, though. We can't be certain until we get to the Bridge and ask the Ens."

"Wait," Yugo interjects, "so this means that Yuya is going to remember everything? Even the stuff we don't remember?"

His elder brothers looked at each other and nodded. "Looks like we'll have to prepare ourselves, then. From the little we've been able to get out of him, I have a feeling we're going to be dealing with a lot more "nightmares" soon." Yuto sighs.

"THERE YOU ARE!!!"

Yugo felt himself fall face first into the sand as a familiar weight rammed into his back.

"I found you," Yuya yelled, his smile wide as he latched onto Yugo's downed form. The crimson eyed boy looked up, his smile growing even wider as he spotted his other brothers underneath the same slide.

Moving faster than a six year old should be able, Yuya arose from his spot on top of Yugo and flung himself onto Yuri and Yutos' crouching selves, his two elder brothers having been frozen by his sudden appearance.

"I found you, too!" Yuya cried, giggling as Yuri struggled to get from underneath him.

Yugo pulled himself out from under the slide. "AWWW! Guess that means I'm 'it' now!"

Yuya crawled out after him, "Yep! I got you first, Yugo, so that means it's your turn to look!" He turned around to Yuto and Yuri, both having made their way out from underneath the slide. He quickly grabbed their hands and started dragging him towards the sandbox.

"Common Yuri, Yuto! I know a great place to hide!" He leaned closer to them, his attempt at a whisper still loud enough for Yugo and their mother to hear as they walked to the counting tree. "There's this castle with a Moat and crocodiles! Yugo will never find us there!"

And as the boys readied themselves for another round of hide-and-seek, the three eldest couldn't stop themselves from smiling.

Despite the worrying prospect of their brother's slowly returning memories, they could take comfort in the fact that Yuya had the three of them to look after him.