Paprika could remember when the house had been full of life and laughter. The sounds of her parents in the kitchen, her mama's quiet humming, her papa's chattering. She remembered Cayenne's snickering as she set her latest prank into action, either Belle's laughter as she was an accomplice, or her shrieking as she was targeted.

Most of all, Paprika could remember the gentle sounds of a violin, of a deep, soft voice singing, and strong arms as she was picked up into a hug or perched on broad shoulders to peer over purple hair.

Paprika remembered Lewis.

It had been a year since he'd left and never came back. No one knew what had happened, not even Vivi or Arthur, who'd been with him. Arthur said he remembered that they were investigating a supposedly cave, but he could no longer remember where that cave was, just an ominous feeling and green fog, the flash of sharp teeth and red eyes, and the pain of his arm being ripped off.

Of course, he hadn't said that while Paprika was in the room, but she wanted to know what happened to her big brother, so she used all the things Cayenne had taught her about stealth to eavesdrop.

Vivi on the other hand, remembered nothing. She remembered herself and her family, where she lived and who she was. She remembered that she was a paranormal investigator. She remembered Arthur and her dog Mystery. She even remembered the Peppers.

She didn't remember the cave.

She didn't remember Lewis. At all.

So the Peppers were left with nothing. They didn't even have a body. They didn't know if Lewis was also suffering amnesia, lost and alone. They didn't know if he was hurt or in trouble. They didn't know if he was...

Now, Cayenne's pranks were half-hearted. She no longer could laugh and hide behind Lewis as Belle chased her.

Now, Belle didn't react much to Cayenne's pranks. She was now the oldest sibling, she couldn't bring herself to act like the child she was, she couldn't even bring herself to yell or chase Cayenne when she was targeted.

Now, their mama and papa hummed and chattered less. They still cooked, of course they did, but they were more quiet when they did. They could no longer be joined by their son.

Now, Paprika didn't have someone big and strong to curl up to after a nightmare. Paprika couldn't sit on his shoulders and watch him cook, or feel the warmth of his hugs, or fall asleep to the sounds of his violin.

She could tell that things were slowly getting better. At first the house was completely silent as everyone anxiously awaited word on if he'd been found, or maybe that whatever was stopping him from contacting them no longer was. However, there was still a big hole in their lives, one that wouldn't go away until they knew what happened to him.

It was the night of Paprika's birthday that something finally happened.

AUTHOR'S NOTES

There's not a lot of stories on the Peppers, that I've found at least, so I wanted to make one. I'm not a huge romance fan, I got my ships but I wish there was more friend/family stories.

Was there ever anything about the Pepper sisters' ages? I just got into this fandom, like, last month, so there's some things I mighta missed