I do not support Jalex. At all. You may have found this in a Jalex community, but it was not there by my choice. See it how you will, but it was written to be brother/sister friendship.
Con-fab-u-late: [psychiatry] [verb] fabricate imaginary experience as compensation for loss of memory
"I hope Rex is doing alright on his own."
Justin wiped a bead of sweat from his brow. The humid air of the deep rainforest was making him dizzy. "Rex? Who's Rex?"
The footsteps behind him halted. "Rex," Alex said faintly. She screwed up her brow in thought. Curly hair ... goofy grin ... The face swam before her, blurred and distorted. "Or maybe I'm wrong." Shaking the thought, she hurried to walk by her brother's side.
Frowning, Justin pretended to study the map. The name repeated itself in his mind, like a nagging call. Rex... Rex... Oh! "Max? You mean Max, right?"
Alex swatted an insect away from her eyes. "That's what I said. Max."
"I'm, uh, sure he's doing fine back in, um..." Justin trailed off as he squinted at the paper in front of him. "You know. Where we live."
"I thought he was here." She stopped again, puzzled. Images flashed like a strobe light behind her eyes - an embarrassed face beneath a large, colorful hat; a monstrous orange what-cha-ma-call-it with a door carved in the side. She could hear his voice (or was is his?) in her head, speaking nonsense. Like an old radio, Alex couldn't pick up on what he was saying. It faltered, then faded into silence. "Never mind," she said after a moment. "I was probably remembering that neighbor kid. You know, the one who made that stupid video of mom?" She laughed it off. Justin gave her an encouraging smile.
"Probably. But don't worry - we're gonna get this stone thing, and it's all gonna be back to normal before you know it."
Alex nodded and continued at a faster pace. They were going to do this. The perfect brother-sister pair. They would fix things in no time flat. Walking into the sunlight, with warm air on her neck and a calming, earthy scent around her, things didn't seem so bad...
A single tear dripped from her dirty chin to the shoulder of her shirt; she hadn't realized she had been crying. "Justin..." She spoke in a whisper. All at once she felt sick to her stomach; a metallic taste rose up in her throat, choking her.
"Yeah?" There was a strange darkness to Justin's eyes as he stared down at the map, struggling to remember what the word "north" meant.
"I think," Alex said, "that Max was someone important to us." She pursed her lips. "Something's wrong, Justin. I'm starting to forget things. Big things."
He was by her side in a moment, wrapping his arms around her shoulders. The paper of the map tickled her calves, and she reveled in feeling of soft fabric on her cheek. It was comforting. It was real. "I'm here for you." Justin's voice was firm. "I'll be here the whole way. We're not gonna forget each other, understand? I'm your brother, you're my sister, and we're out here to rescue our family." Whoever they are. "And if things don't work out-" His voice faltered. "-I'll be right here when it ends."
Alex let her tears soak into her brother's shirt. "But it's not gonna, right?"
"Right." Justin pulled back and smiled. They walked on in silence for several minutes.
"Justin?"
"Hmm?"
"We live in Boston, right?"
"Yeah. Boston."