First of all I wasn't alone in the house when it started. My younger sister Lily was with me, I know that for a fact. Other than that all I remember is entire house becoming engulfed in flames and the dark looming shadows of the culprits armed with weapons and cruel intentions of ruthless murder. Then the smell of smoke and burning stone, earth and wood. Next a loud crack perhaps of the stairs falling or a gun firing. Lily screamed my name at the top of her lungs, I twitched at the sound attempting to push myself off the ground, that I did not remember striking. Then, nothing.
Shuddering I woke. Jolting straight up out of bed. A dream? Had it all been a dream? No, the surroundings told me that much. A bandage around my wrist leading up to long wires which connected to bags filled with clear and crimson colored liquids. I hadn't been dreaming everything really had happened.
I took about five more minutes to take in my surroundings before I ever really took in that Lily wasn't with me. The only reason I was alive wasn't with me. The one person I ever cared about was missing. All of these thoughts spun around in my head. I was unable to calm them until a woman walked in. She had sea foam green scrubs on. Which complimented the curling cascades of brown hair that rolled down her back. She had a calming way that she had entered that caused my breath to slow and to regulate.
"Oh you're up." She said with a smile. I nodded to still to stunned to reply. "Well that's good news. I'm Elizabeta, I've been taking care of you for about two weeks." She nodded at me. I jumped.
"Two weeks?" I stuttered. "Where's Lily?" I demanded changing the interesting topic of what her name was.
"Lily?" She asked. "Your sister!" She recalled I nodded vigorously.
"Where is she?" I managed although I made some stitches on my stomach pull as I leaned over.
"Mr. Vash I can assure you that she will be fine." There was obvious doubt in her voice. I shook my head this time in anger.
"Not how is she!" I growled. "Where is she?" Elizabeta sighed.
"She's in intensive care with a concussion and 3rd degree burns on her neck, arms and face." I slumped down as she explained just how bad it was. "If she survives this surgery then she should hopefully not have obtained a case of amnesia, but expect it." I shook in anger and disbelief. Not only was there a chance she could die, but if she did survive she'd suffer from amnesia! What next?
The news came three days later that Lily was in stable condition but a case of amnesia had certainly creeped into her. She didn't remember what had happened who she was or where she was. She had to stay in the hospital though. There was no other options. So I stayed with her. I ate and slept there, all I had to eat was the cafeteria food which wasn't very good and the besides that all I had to sleep on was a medium sized arm chair.
I must have stirred or said something in my sleep one night because I heard Lily's high pitch voice pipe up.
"Mister are you okay?" She asked. I flickered my eyes open and they came to focus on Lily's face. She looked concerned with confusion in her eyes.
"Yeah." I muttered. "But, Lily what's my name?" I demanded. Lily huffed and fell back into the bed.
"I don't know Mister." She sighed. "I already told you that!" I shook my head in anger but accepted it.
"Alright. Can you think about it though?" I demanded trying to keep my voice soft.
"When I do my head hurts!" she whimpered.
"Fine, don't push yourself." I sighed. Shrugging off the blankets I walked out into the hall way. Elizabeta was pulling a jacket over her shoulders. I called her over. She turned to me.
"Yeah what do you need Vash?" She asked .
"Do you have any idea of something you guys could do to help fix her?" I hissed in a low whisper.
"None right off the top of my head." She said sorrowfully. "I'm sorry, but the doctor may have come up with a way to figure out what caused the amnesia in the first place."
"Alright." I gave in. "I'll ask him when he gets here. When will that be?"
"In about another hour." Elizabeta forced a smile.
"Thanks." I nodded to her and went back inside the dimmed room. Lily was still sitting up in bed looking around the room. Whispering to herself low enough that I wasn't able to catch what she was saying. Her eyes fell on my and her face lit up.
"Hi Mister are you back again?" She asked.
"Yeah." I nodded and sat back down on the chair. Allowing Lily to babble.
And so the doctor arrived. He smiled as he entered, his stubble twitching as he did. He was blond, light blue eyes, and a strong chin. Looked to be in his early thirties. But there was an odd aroma about him. He smelt, how I could only say as, French.
"I am Doctor Francis." He smiled at Lily. Yes, he was French. He had a heavy accent when he spoke which over all proved my point. "And who is this?" He asked turning to me.
"I'm Vash, her brother." I said, he nodded and pulled out a swivel chair and plopped down on it.
"Ah, how nice of you to stay with her!" He smiled at me.
"I wont have it any other way." I muttered. He chuckled at this.
"Alright then Lily, can you remember who he is?" Dr. Francis asked tugging me roughly by the arm.
"Nope." Lily smiled.
"Where are you from?"
"I don't know!"
"Where do you live?" Dr. Francis asked.
"I can't remember!" Lily sniffed.
"Alright, fine then." He stood up releasing my arm. "It appears we do have a case on amnesia. He sighed rubbing the back of his neck. "But I'm not jumping to any conclusions I want to do a KAT scan just to make sure everything is alright up here!" He said playfully knocking on her head with his fist. She giggled.
"When are you going to do the scan?" I demanded pulling Dr. Francis' attention away from Lily.
"Tomorrow at three." Francis sighed shifting his weight so he could push himself out of his chair. "I hope you both will be ready."
"Bye bye Mister!" Lily waved watching the man go.
"How can you remember how to talk and not remember who I am." I grumbled seeing as I was the one to teach her how to talk. Lily shrugged and went back to swinging her feet.
The next day came painfully slow. I watched as Lily struggled to figure out what was going on as a nurse set her up for a KAT scan. Lily shivered as the wheeled her bed out of the room. I waved knowing I probably couldn't be with her if she was getting the scan done.
Minutes seemed to tick on for days as they took the scan and I sat there alone. Unable to do anything but pray that she would be fine. Or that they'd find something and be able to fix it without Lily enduring any pain. I shook, unable to bear anymore suspense. Everything else in the world had just disappeared. Everything other than Lily.
They came back, the results were in. I held my breath when I saw Dr. Francis. He didn't smile like he had the last time I saw him, but he wasn't frowning either. I let another shiver run through me one last time then buckled down for the news.
"With time, she should recover. We never found any actual damage to the skull or brain." I sighed.
"How long?" I could breath again but they still sounded like shallow gulps.
"Hard to say. I would take her home and check back in with us daily to tells us about her progress." I nodded.
"Alright." We could go to one of my friends houses for the time being.
"What have you done this time?" Roderick demanded catching a glance of Lily then looking at me. He was bristled and moody as usual, the mole on his cheek seemed to twitch with his eye. his ear length brown hair was wet and his usual suit was not completely assembled telling me we had probably interrupted a shower.
"Roderick, sorry this is so sudden, I'll explain inside." Roderick sighed and gestured for us to enter Lily skipped in like she owned the place and I followed her, walking like a normal human being.
"Ah, I see." Roderick nodded slowly putting on his glasses. I sighed taking a sip of my tea.
"Apparently the stair case hit her when it collapsed." I added slowly. He shrugged.
"It would be harsh not to let you stay here." Roderick smiled shifting his weight. I smiled and dipped my head at him.
"Thank you."
It was that night at the dinner table that I finally realized that all this might go back to normal.
"Mister, when I remember anything I'll tell you." Lily smiled looking up from her salad she was mutilating with her fork.
"What?" I asked not understanding.
"You keep telling me you're my big brother." Lily pointed out. "If I remember I'll call you that then."
"Lily, please don't hurt yourself." I cautioned.
"No, I think she'd rather remember than live her life without hurt and not remembering the parents she once had, or the family." Roderick spoke up mainly looking at me with his chocolate brown eyes.
"Roderick, she doesn't-" He stopped me.
"Well what both of you need to take from this situation is," Roderick paused wiping the sides of his mouth the a napkin. "Loved ones are to be treasured." He turned to me and looked me in the eye. I couldn't pull away no matter how hard I tried. "Vash, you will never know when your life, or hers," He put a hand on Lily's shoulder. "Will end." I bit my tongue so I wouldn't show any emotion at that statement. "Hold on to each other and stop putting your life on the line for…" He stopped noticing Lily shaking under his grip. He turned to look at her face. Slowly tears fell from her cheeks.
"I'm sorry." She whimpered. "I did all this, huh?" I shook my head, although she probably wasn't looking.
"No, now why don't you leave that at that and go wash up." Roderick told her patting her head as she stood then ran out of the room clutching a fist to her chest.
"What were you saying?" I asked. "Before Lily, you know."
"Yes, you need to stop putting your life on the line for her!" He snapped. I looked up.
"What?" I demanded
"She can't loose her big brother too, and don't try to tell me you don't because I've seen you with my own eyes take the bullet for a lot of things for her." I dipped my head. I have taken a lot for her, but it's for her protection.
"Roderick-" I began but he raised a hand
"No, listen to me, she needs to know that the world is harsh, only then can she be the angel your attempting to shape her into."
"You're right." I laughed tears welling up in my eyes, "I can't protect her for her all her life, but I will, until I die." and with that I stood grabbing my emptied plate placing it into the sink I left.
"Mister?" Lily asked as I opened the door to the room. She was running a brush through her chin length hair, that looked identical to my own. Lily looked up at me with large green eyes.
"Lily." I sighed. "Listen, what Roderick was saying about remembering, wouldn't you want to remember everyone, Mom, Dad, and our brothers?" Lily nodded cautiously. "You have to think then. Picture them in your mind! Try." I added in a whisper. Lily closed her eyes and bit her lip.
Just as I was about to stop her a tears fell down her cheek glistening like the rain as it dripped onto her clenched hand.
"Mutter, and Vatter." She whispered. Remembering what we used to call mom and dad. "Lu-" She stopped and opened her eyes more tears poured down. I rubbed her cheek with my thumb and brought her into a hug, Ludwig, she had almost remember Ludwig one of our older brothers, who now lived in Germany, a county right next to Switzerland, which was where me and Lily decided to move after we saw mom and dad die in the car accident in Germany.
"You did good!" I smiled pulling her closer to me. She sniffed.
"Where are Mutter and Vatter?" She asked.
"They're," I paused not knowing to tell her if they were dead or just gone. "Dead." I decided to say. She nodded.
"Yeah."
"Alright, that's it for today." I scolded and let her lay her head down on the pillow.
"Good night Mister." She looked up at me from teary eyes.
"Night." I nodded and smiled, she would recover.
"Hey big brother?" Lily demanded. I glanced up form the television and beamed.
"Lily!" I laughed standing up. I dashed over to her and crushed her into my chest.
"Big brother I remember!" She blubbered. I just about started to cry with her when she called me big brother. "I remember Gilbert, Ludwig, Iain, Arthur, and Molly too!" She sniffed naming off all of our siblings' names.
"Lily!" and that was all I could say and I said it over and over again. "Lily please never do that to us again." I smiled.
"Where are you from?"
"Freiburg, Germany.
"Where were you born?"
"Vaduz, Liechtenstein."
"Who's he?
"My big brother, Vash Zwingli."
"Mother's name?"
"Lillian Beillschmidt."
"Father's?"
"Ludovick Beillschmidt!"
"Where do you live now?"
"Glarus, Switzerland."
"And your full name."
"Lily Beillschmidt." Lily recited, unpracticed. I smiled in surprised, she had even remembered that I got my last name changed. I patted her back.
"Well, she's not perfect but wow!" Dr. Francis smiled at us his stubble twitching. "Lily you are amazing!" Lily giggled. And I put a hand on her back.
"Yes she is. The most amazing person in the world.
"No, big brother, you are." She wrapped her arms around my neck and I just about cried with joy. Hoping with every fiber of my being that, that occurrence would never happen again.