Disclaimer:I own no characters in this story. They are all from Albert Uderzo and Réné Goscinny. I just toy with their minds :)

I use the original French names, since I'm most used to them.

Idéfix: Dogmatix

Panoramix: Getafix

Falbala: Panacea

I will add more if they turn up in the second chapter

P.S. This is my very first fanfic, so reviews are much appreciated!

Travelling without magic potion was a bore. Even when the voyage from Condatum to their village was really nothing compared to the world-spanning journeys they made on a regular basis, it still seemed to take forever. Tragicomix held the ropes, Obelopalix and Astronomix on the other hand provided comments about every interesting Inn (good beers) and nice restaurant (roasted boar) on such a regularly basis that even Obelix seemed to lose his appetite. This left very little to do for the two warriors other than watching the scenery. Asterix was happy enough to see his father again. Astronomix looked at the Romans from another point of view, essentially a warrior's but without disregarding the benefits that came from the organization of the roman empire. And because he lived in Condatum, he was more up to date about every day live in this empire.

Asterix realized more than usual that his own views on the Romans were getting colored by the fact that he usually only saw them when he needed to repair the occasional chaos caused by an in general quite organized civilization.

But this wasn't what occupied him when Obelix noticed his pensive mood, while they were both sitting on the edge of the carriage that guided them back home. They spent a few nights at Tragicomix' and Falbala's place while repairing the damage caused by the recent break-in in their fathers' shop. Since eight hands (especially potion-spiked ones) worked faster than four, they had decided to do a quick make-over for the entire house: getting rid of stocks from the shop that littered the attic, renewing the roof and even adding some typically Roman infrastructure for their mother's shared bath room.

It had been a while since Asterix had gotten a compliment about his plans from Obelix, but this idea had been brilliant. It made up a little for the disappointment that came from their lack enthusiasm to get married (thank you very much but no!), all the while proving that a lack of female influence didn't mean they had no homecare skills whatsoever. Compared to making peace between Sicilian tribes or building an Egyptian palace, this may have seemed a small accomplishment, but Asterix knew his mom could be more stubborn than a roman army on the move. He had good hopes to leave her speechless with this though.

The thorough make-over had not left enough room in the house for everyone to sleep there and so they had agreed to stay with their old-time crush. Rather longer than Asterix had hoped. He was suspicious of Obelix prolonging their stay by inventing new things to repair (or just creating damage by 'miscalculating' his own strength). This puzzled Asterix, because it was obvious that Obelix was worrying over the still missing Idéfix.

One evening, Tragicomix had invited Asterix outside to look at some horses he recently bought. He was demonstrating how to get the horses used to pulling a carriage together. Asterix watched for a while, then said good night to Tragicomix, who went to do a last inspection of the stables for the night.

Asterix walked back to the house on his own, lost in thoughts. Sure Tragicomix and Falbala were nice as ever, and usually he felt right at home wherever he stayed, but things were different now. Obelix was usually the one who blended in best, his unprejudiced and blunt but friendly behaviour created goodwill wherever they went, and they had lots of fun joking about the strange habits of their hosts together. But Falbala was nor strange, nor someone to joke about, Obelix missed Idefix ànd something else was off. Asterix couldn't put his finger on it, but their friendship was a little more awkward than usual, Obelix just a tad more polite and careful around him. It wasn't as if he was mad at Asterix, but...he seemed to take him less for granted than usual.

Which bothered Asterix, since he had no idea why...

There was a gap in his memory starting when he first went to ask Obelix to join him to Condatum, and ending where he woke up on a small rock in the middle of the sea. Of course something had to have happened to make him end up there.

But in all honesty, strange things happened when living in a village that thanked its existence to magic potion, and it was sometimes best not to linger over every odd thing that occurred there. You risked getting a little light-headed if you tried to outreason magic potion. However, it was after this episode that Obelix' started to behave differently towards him.

Simply asking Obelix what was up proofed to be no good, since he was quite touchy about the subject. They had argued about whether to go to Condatum (and leave fake-Falbala behind), made up like always and that was supposed to be that. Only it wasn't really.

"Since when did I start overanalyzing things like this?" Asterix wondered. "Since I have too much time and nothing live-threatening to solve," he answered for himself. It was usually Obelix who complained about new adventures not coming their way fast enough. Asterix liked some peace and quiet from time to time, and he wasn't easily bored. He found interest in many things, like Getafix' experiments, the changes in the forest, just following the interaction of his fellow villagers. But it was no fun when his own interactions became a source of trouble!

By now, he had walked the short distance from the barn back to the main house, and he found himself right in front of the side entrance. He had left Obelix there after dinner, Obelix had said he wanted to return to the shop and replace one of his 'life- sized' menhirs more up front; so the passers-by could see his 'real' work. There was little point in Asterix coming with him to help; without the magic potion, he simply couldn't carry a menhir. Nor could any potential customer.

Just when his hand touched the knob of the door, he heard Falbala's voice coming from inside the house: "When did you last see him then?" Almost instinctively Asterix retreated, peering through the window. Sure enough, Falbala and Obelix were still seated at the dinner table. There was a scraping sound of the chair over the floor, which Asterix recognized as a typical gesture Obelix made when he was nervous over something. "Just after the last...well I was with Asterix and then...and then he was there and then after that he was gone."

"...Ok then," Asterix thought, "If Falbala manages to make sense out of that, thumb up for her." He had no clue what Obelix wanted to say. It was quite clear that they were talking about Idefix, but otherwise...

Falbala just ignored the vague explanation: "Yeah, but where were you then, in the forest? A Roman camp? Were you already on your way to Condatum?"

"No....just in the village. Besides, Idefix even found us in a pyramid once, he doesn't get lost!"

"Sure, but when he was in the village, then you maybe just missed him when you were leaving? He knows you'll return, so wouldn't he just wait there?"

"He was gone the day before we left. I've been calling him. And to miss dinner..."

"Yeah, of course who does that?" Asterix thought a bit irritated. "And where was I during all this searching activities? After all, when Idefix takes off, he usually just stays with me? I you had asked me, you might even have noticed I was behaving a little different form usual."

Falbala seemed to agree on the first part of his thoughts "He usually stays, with Asterix a lot too, doesn't he? Didn't he go with him?"

The scraping sound again. "No, hum he stayed with me. But maybe he got fed up with... with me." Obelix almost whispered the last part. Falbala leaned in a bit and Asterix had to step closer to make out what she was saying next: "Fed up?" she asked softly. "Yeah, um, well we were kind of... arguing a lot. I didn't want to leave you at the village. Not that you were ever there of course, but if you had been...If me or Asterix aren't there it's just..." Obelix did not finish, but Falbala knew what he meant this time, and so did Asterix."It's just not as safe," she finished, in a quiet but quite affirmative tone.

Asterix was suprised. He always thought that he and Panoramix were the only ones who really took this in. But it was true, they left the village in danger every time they went on their journeys, and sometimes, when they were doing something silly like chasing herbs for a stupid ragout that really bothered him. Also, why did he propose to go looking for Tragicomix without Falbala in the first place? She was behaving a bit strangely (not like uhm herself), but not unwell. And to ask Obelix to leave her behind again, when she just arrived at the village asking specifically for him, was that not just...too much? No wonder he had disagreed to that, and maybe rightly so. It was just not a very good idea. "I should have realized that, or at least have talked it through", he thought, feeling somewhat guilty.

Falbala leaned in a bit closer again, putting her hand on Obelix' arm. His startled reaction was a little less amusing given the situation. She had a smile in her voice when she spoke: "Really Obelix, you and Asterix, you kind of bicker all the time. I'm sure Idefix is used to that. I know I am. You guys are a bit tiring sometimes but usually it's just kind of cute."

The scraping intensified, and Asterix started to wonder how much longer Falbala's furniture would hold Obelix' fidgeting.

"It wasn't ... 'cute' this time", Obelix started, and it was his turn to lower his voice. "We...I we were really fighting."

There was a pause from Falbala."I stil don't see how...' she started, and suddenly Obelix cut right through her words. "I HIT him," he exclaimed miserably, "I HIT ASTERIX". There was a loud bang, as Obelix let his head fall to the table, and both Falbala and Asterix jumped back in surprise.

"Oh", she said weakly, seemingly at a loss for words. Then the full implication of Obelix hitting someone started to sink in."OH....oh my' Falbala felt a little nauseous when she realized why Asterix had a gap of more than a day in his memory. A slap from Obelix permanently stopped a Roman from attacking him, but when you realized how strong he really was, you knew he was holding back everytime he fought the Romans. They would not remember to be frightened next time if he didn't. "He must have been very very angry, to get to the point of actually hitting Asterix full-force, and it must not have been a pleasant experience."

Asterix felt like he was being hit in the chest right now. It dawned on him why he had lost his memory, and how lucky he was to have made a full recovery; there were bunches of roman soldiers who had seen their vocabulary limited to "mwah" forever by Obelix holding back on them. He felt really quite upset "He hit me? Just how mad whas he then? Obelix never hits me. What on earth did I say or do to make him that angry?

Falbala had said nothing for quite while now

"I'm so sorry Obelix," she finally said. "You must have felt terrible. But he's ok now though. And you made up so…maybe you should let that go"

"But he doesn't know, Falbala. You know that Asterix had this amnesia-thing and he doesn't even remember talking to me, let alone how it ended. And then we talked and we-sort of made up, but he was behaving strangely. I didn't realize it was the amnesia-thing so we started fighting AGAIN, and then Asterix hit ME, and after that Idefix disappeared. So I think he just got sick of me, and I can't blame him, but I just miss him so much. I really messed up, first with Asterix, than with Idefix…

Obelix said all this with his head hidden in arms, so it sounded quite muffled. Falbala rose from her chair and walked over to him. She put her hands on Obelix' shoulders, getting no visible reaction this time. "He is really, really miserable about this," she thought.

"Look Obelix, this is what we're gonna do. The shop is finished, so we can go to the village tomorrow. Tragicomix and I will come with you, we'll have a chance to visit my parents and I can help you looking for Idefix. I'm quite confident that he'll just be waiting though. In the mean time, talk to Asterix!"

"But Falbala, he'll be really mad! And he's the only best friend I have" Obelix obviously had not been planning to tell Asterix about this for a long time. But Falbala was uncompromising "And as your best friend, he knows something is not right and he is worried. Besides I think he's quite worried not knowing what caused his amnesia."

"Yeah, me too," Obelix said thoughtfully, "I whish I had been there when it started."

Falbala was perplexed. Asterix hit his forehead with his hand. "leave it to Obelix to miss the most obvious link in the entire story," he thought. "On the other hand, maybe it's a good thing he did, he'd just feel even more miserable."

So when Falbala made an attempt to explain the connection between there quite literal fighting and Asterix losing his memory, the latter one hastily yelled "Yeah, good night Tragicomix! See you in the morning!" and barged in. No need to cry over spilled potion

Obelix jumped up in surprise, sending the stool he was sitting on all across the room. "Ah huh Asterix we were just ah see we were…" he was fidgeting, turning red and stuttering at the same time, no doubt wondering if Asterix overheard their little chat.

"We were just saying that it would be nice to return to the village and look for Idefix" Falbala said, searching Asterix' face for something. Did she notice he had been listening in? He flashed them both a confident (and hopefully warm) smile and replied "Excellent idea Obelix, I' ve been missing him too. Let's leave early then." He yawned "Well, better go to bed then, we have to clean up the shop a bit before we leave, so it's really spotless even in our mams' opinions."

Obelix sighed in relief and was no good in hiding it. He seemed to realize, cause he turned quite abruptly and murmered: "Right…go to bed…yes, Good night Falbala!" and then he was marching up the stairs, heading for the spare room he shared with Asterix.

Just as Asterix turned to follow Obelix, he noticed the blond woman was staring at him from across the room, a questioning look on her beautiful face.

"Does she realize I was…"just as the thought started to form in his mind, he saw a change in her expression. His somewhat guilty face confirmed her suspicion that he had been listening in on the conversation. However, before he could say anything, her blue orbs silenced him. Yes, women could be disturbingly talkative, but they also mastered the art of conveying entire messages with a single look. Falbala tilted her head towards the stairs. "Follow him, talk to him," was what she said without words. Asterix quietly wished her good night, and went upstairs, his head brimming with questions, answers and not a clue on how to formulate them.

This was two days ago, and they did not talk yet. Asterix knew by now that is was really necessary, Obelix continued to be jumpy around him, and he didn't talk about missing Idefix as much as he usually would. They lost a bit of what made them life-time best friends. Obelix did not want to talk out of fear of doing even more damage so it was up to Asterix to start the conversation that was supposed to make everything ok again.

But he still had a lot of questions left. He must really have hurt Obelix by what he said during their fight. It was hard to apologize for something you didn't remember. The idea of Obelix hitting him was not nice, it was kind of a black page in the book of their friendship. However, you needed two people to fight, and he knew he could get quite rude when he was irked. It kind of bothered him that Obelix felt this bad over the whole thing, especially when he didn't even realize the full consequences of the "fight". Obelix was way more sensitive than Asterix, and if he did not handle this conversation carefully, he was sure to leave some unresolved issues in the mind of his large best friend.