Author's Note – All right, I'll keep this short and sweet. I hope all of you readers like this new story, and since it's my second fanfiction…I'll work harder than ever! The eventual pairing here is Aera x Gabriel, and if you have any comments, I welcome them.
It has been a whole year…after that battle with Lynn and Guren Goura…and since then, everything has been peaceful. Ryouga and Lynn left the village, Master Blaire and the rest of carried on with their respective goals…while Loki just kept on challenging the poor Rampage Rabbit…
A month ago, a letter came from Ryouga and Lynn…they said in the letter that they were returning to the village! We all were really happy to hear this piece of news, and Tatiana suggested that we should have a big welcome-back party for them…now the only thing to do was to…make the party perfect!
Aera looked down at her list of things to do before the party. "All check, Loki! But I have this feeling that I missed out one really important thing…" Loki, who was hammering some weapon, looked at her curiously. "I thought I wrote down everything we needed…?" Aera smiled awkwardly and showed Loki's messily scribbled note to him.
"Loki, even if you wrote down everything, I wouldn't have understood it…"
"But you did understand it, anyway!" Loki protested angrily, pounding hard on the weapon, thus causing the weapon to break. "Loki! You didn't have to use so much force!" Aera scolded the Guardian Beast. "Well, I can make another one in a matter of minutes, if you would let me get out more materials from the rabbit!" Aera smacked him on the head. "Stop torturing the rabbit, Loki."
The Guardian Beast sighed and suggested, "Fine…what about the Ape Supreme?" Aera said, "Loki, it's the Monkey Extreme, not the Ape Supreme. And the answer is still…no." Loki muttered, "Mister Monkey Extreme didn't look like he was extreme anyway..." Aera shook her head at Loki and sighed. "Come on, Loki. Let's finish up our preparations before Ryouga and Lynn arrive."
"Hey, will Lynn give you…a kiss when she arrives?" Loki asked suggestively. Aera blushed and protested, "No, she won't…you horny Guardian Beast." Loki snapped back, "Hey, I'm not being horny! I'm just curious to know such intimate answers to such…um…intimate questions." Aera muttered dryly, "Admit it, Loki, your vocabulary only consists of five hundred and one words."
"No, it doesn't! Gee, how do you know how many words your vocabulary consists of anyway? There is just too many!" Loki tried to protest against Aera's accusation. "I don't know, but like I said- let's continue with our preparations, all right?" Loki nodded and the pair worked in silence for a while, before it was broken by Tatiana, who had just entered the workshop.
"Hey, Loki…have you completed the welcome-back present for Lynn yet?" Loki nodded slightly and raised the broken sword. Tatiana fumed and ran to his side. "LOKI, YOU IDIOT!" She shouted into the Guardian Beast's ear, causing the poor Loki to jump up in fright. Loki shouted back, "NOT SO LOUD, TATIANA!" Aera decided to play the peacemaker…again.
"All right, you two…let's patch up so that we can return to our normal lives…let's not fight…unity is what we hope to sustain…two heads are better than one…whatever, so let's stop shouting at each other, okay?" Aera stated tiredly. Tatiana and Loki glanced at each other as they thought in unity, "Aera is crazy." Loki apologized to Tatiana for breaking the present, and Tatiana replied, "It's all right, just go and do it right this time."
"Yes, Tatiana."
"I want you to be louder! Say, 'YES! TATIANA, YES!'"
"Yes, Tatiana, yes…now can I do my work?"
"…no…"
"Fine…YES! TATIANA, YES! Is it better now?"
"Good. Okay, where's the cake, Aera?"
Now Tatiana's eerie stare was on Aera. Aera smiled innocently as sweat trickled down her forehead. "Uh, I…forgot the cake?" Tatiana muttered, "Good…you forgot the cake…out of all things…YOU JUST HAD TO LEAVE OUT THE CAKE!" Aera asked, "Does the cake matter much? You seem really angry…" Tatiana answered, "It does, to me! It's strawberry, my favorite flavor!"
"Oh, really…I didn't know that…I'm sorry, Tatiana." Tatiana sighed and said, "We'll have to get another one, but I don't think there's enough time…" Then a miracle happened. There was a polite, soft knock on the door and Gabriel walked in, holding a pink box with a purple ribbon on it. "Um, excuse me, everyone…I thought that maybe someone would forget the cake…so…" He looked down at the pink box and smiled.
Aera said happily, "Thank you, Gabriel! You saved me from the torture of Tatiana!" Gabriel blushed as he handed the box over to Aera. "There you go…the strawberry cake for the party." Xeride whispered to his friend, "Ha, Gabriel, you like Aera, don't you?" Gabriel wrinkled his eyebrows. "Now, Xeride…keep quiet!" Xeride replied, "That, I shall take as a yes."
Gabriel shook his head slightly and asked Aera, "Is there anything else that you would like me to do, Aera? I do know that Ryouga is your best friend, and you definitely want a great party planned for him, right?" Aera nodded and replied, "Yes, I do…but you're my friend too, Gabriel. My good friend…so you do not need to help me out so often…" Gabriel protested softly, "But like you said- I'm your friend, so I should help out whenever I can…"
"You're a good friend, Gabriel." Aera complimented him, causing a blush to appear on his face again.
"All right, Aera…how's this sword?" Loki lifted the sword but due to the weight of the sword, he fell. Tatiana lifted him up on his feet. "It's that heavy?" Tatiana pondered as she lifted up the sword. It was…really heavy…Tatiana fell as well and Loki folded his arms. "I didn't exactly see anything, especially a girl who claims I'm not strong to lift up a heavy sword!" Aera pleaded, "Aw, come on…Loki, lift Tatiana up…and I'll give you chocolate."
Loki grinned. "It's a promise, then!" He lifted Tatiana up and held his hands out. "All right, give me chocolate!" Aera reached into her pocket and pulled out a chocolate sweet. She handed it over to Loki, who ate it immediately. He had a satisfied smile on his face, and Tatiana asked hopefully, "Is it really, really nice?" Loki nodded.
Aera giggled. "It's one of Tatiana's sweets." Loki looked exasperated and tried to cough it out. "Are my sweets really that bad? I only forgot to add another teaspoon of sugar…and I actually remembered it today!" Loki stopped trying to cough the sweet out. "Oh, no wonder the previous ones tasted really bad." Tatiana said angrily, "You're quite blunt for a Guardian Beast."
"Why, thank you." Loki replied back dryly.
"Let's hurry; they will be back at six this evening and we've got only one hour left…" Aera said to the rest. Gabriel nodded and went off to check on the preparations, along with Xeride. Loki put the sword in a sheath and tied the end of the sheath with a red ribbon, which he had gotten from nowhere in particular. Aera thought, "(Wonder how he did that? Hmm, it's probably trick magic…)"
Aera asked, "Loki, how did you make the ribbon appear from nowhere?" Loki smiled and explained patiently, "I took this red ribbon from the phenomenal Summon Creature city!" Aera said, bewildered, "Huh? Phenomenal Summon Creature city?" The Guardian Beast grinned. "It's phenomenal and it's a Summon Creature city!" Aera thought quietly, "(I know that, of course…it's pretty obvious…)"
"Anyway, I think I sense some kind of strong aura…that's probably Ryouga and Lynn…" Aera nodded and ran off, hoping that Loki's sixth sense was right. There, at the village entrance…Ryouga! She ran up to him and hugged him, tears flowing out of her eyes. "Ryouga, I missed you so much!" Ryouga nodded understandably. "Aera, be strong…and stop crying…"
"I can't…I really…missed you!" She wept as she lay on the shoulder of her best friend, whom she had not seen for a year…Gabriel looked a little miserable. Xeride noticed the sad smile on his friend's face and whispered, "Are you envious or happy for her?" Gabriel replied softly, "I'm both envious and happy…and sad…ah, this feeling is really…indescribable. I feel like shedding tears, but I don't want to worry her…"
Xeride closed his eyes and said, "Yeah, I kind of understand how you feel…unrequited love is hard, isn't it? Still, my friend, Ryouga is closer to her…so it's natural that she would miss him more than you…" Gabriel nodded sadly and turned around to leave the party, but before he could, he smelled blood. Fresh blood…he turned behind to see an unconscious Aera. Loki, Lynn and Ryouga were beside her, but it seemed like they were too stunned to do anything.
He ran to Aera and carried her in his arms. "What happened?" He asked Ryouga with concern in his voice. "She was…hit by a rock from above…I don't know who did it…" Gabriel sighed and brought Aera back to her house. Orin looked at the unconscious Aera in Gabriel's arms and gasped. "Oh, Loki…what happened?" The Guardian Beast told him about the incident and Blaire came running out of the kitchen.
"What has happened to my Aera?" He demanded loudly. Orin looked at Blaire and said, "Seriously, dad…your Aera?" Blaire just replied, "I want to know what has happened to my Aera…" Gabriel explained to Blaire, "Ryouga told me that a rock fell from above and hit her, knocking her out." Blaire asked further, "Was it a big rock?" Loki answered, "Big is not a good word…say 'enormous'…"
"Fine…so the rock was enormous?" Blaire asked again.
"Yes…hey…look, she's waking up…" Loki noticed her eyes opening.
Ryouga and Lynn walked through the open door and they asked in unison, "Is she okay?" Blaire nodded and muttered, "She's waking up…"
Uh…I have this terrible headache…I feel as if I were hit by something hard…where am I anyway…?
Aera looked up at the people around her. She shook her head several times, but she couldn't remember anything.
Who are these people…they look so familiar…but my head really hurts when I try to remember…
"Aera, are you fine? Do you feel okay?" Gabriel asked with worry in his voice.
Who is this boy? I know him from somewhere...Gabriel…?
"…are you Gabriel?" The Summon Creature nodded, finally relieved. "Yes, I am…" Loki asked, "Aera, you're awake…remember who am I?"
Who…who is this short guy with long white hair? He looks like Grandfather…
"Who are you? I don't think I know you…" Aera replied. Loki just stood there, obviously too stunned to reply. "My Aera, you have amnesia!" Orin exclaimed, "Don't tell me that you forgot this tall, handsome guy with the red hair?" He pointed to himself as he said that.
No, I can't remember…who's this red-haired guy with the closed eyes and bandages around his head anyway? And the younger guy is obviously vain. He thinks he's handsome? Hmm…nope, I think he's the reverse.
"Yes, I forgot…either that or…I don't know you guys at all!" Blaire gasped and muttered, "Oh my chocolate chip cookie." He fainted and Orin caught him before he hit the floor. "Oh my strawberry cookie, do that again!" Loki exclaimed. "Yeah, you're definitely horny." Orin muttered loud enough for Loki to hear.
"I'm not horny, big guy! Want to fight so we can prove it?" Loki protested. "Ooh, but if you're not horny, why are there horns on your head? Obviously, you're horny, Loki!" Orin exclaimed wildly. Loki opened his mouth to snap back at Orin, but when he saw Aera carrying a half-amused face, he shouted, "Don't laugh, Aera!"
Aera jumped in shock and she hid behind Gabriel. "Help me, doggy…" The word 'doggy' made Gabriel fall onto the floor, face first. Everyone except Gabriel and Aera herself laughed in unison. Even Blaire woke up from his unconcious state to laugh. "I'm…not your 'doggy'…Aera, what happened!" Gabriel cried out in shock.
He looks so much like Gabriel, my doggy…but he claims not to be my doggy!
"Bad doggy, so now you must SIT!" Aera ordered Gabriel, her mouth turning into a childish pout. Gabriel fell onto the floor face-first again. The rest laughed once again. "Oh, I really hurt my nose…" Gabriel rubbed his nose and sighed. "Looks like the rock made Aera become childish…" Blaire mused.
Ryouga thought, "(I think the childish Aera is much cuter than the mature Aera…I prefer her this way…)" He was comparing.
Lynn thought, "(That means I can kiss Aera anytime I want…hmm…)" She was daydreaming.
Orin thought, "(That means that I can trick her into eating Tatiana's sweets for me!)" He was delighted.
Loki thought, "(That means that I can barbeque the stupid rabbit!)" He was hungry.
Gabriel thought, "(I'm worried…when will Aera recover from her amnesia?)" He was genuinely worried.
Blaire personally thought, "(That means…I can court Lynn without Aera's 'permission'…)" He was fantasizing.
"(…I don't like to see you like this…Aera...)" Gabriel looked at Aera, who smiled back in an innocent, child-like way. The Summon Creature looked down at the floor, hiding the worry deep within his eyes…
"Gabriel, please introduce these weird people to me…" Aera whispered into his ear softly. Gabriel nodded. "Fine, Aera…I will."
Doggy's going to introduce these people to me…but I have this feeling…I keep thinking that I have known them before…no, I haven't! I'm sure of it. I will make friends with these people…every one of them! Yeah, that's my goal!
Meanwhile, the worried Gabriel looked at her resolute and determined face. "(I hope she does recover from amnesia soon…or else many people will be taking advantage of her innocence…)" Aera noticed his gaze, and returned it back with a sweet smile.
I'm sure I will make friends with these people- ah…it hurts…why? Why does my head so much! No, I can't take it anymore…
And, Aera fainted for the second time that day…
Hope you liked the first chapter of Remember...it's a pretty easy title to remember, since the usage of this word is kind of frequent...anyway, rate and review if you like it. You may also send in your ideas, if you have any.
'Secretly Loving You' will be on a little hiatus. After I finish the second chapter of 'Remember', I will start on the eighth chapter of 'Secretly Loving You'. Hope all readers and reviewers of my first fanfiction don't mind!