Disclaimer - Don't own Rune Factory Frontier.
Side-Note - Well, not much to say, except that this is the second chapter. Enjoy.
The tour Iris had taken Raguna on went well. Iris was disappointed about not being able to go out on the lake, due to both of them having an unusable arm. Seeing how disappointed she was, Raguna promised to take her on the lake once their arms were better, which according to Lara, should be within a week.
Needless to say, the two had continued to grow closer, and the previous two weeks had passed, almost without incident.
Said incident though, had triggered another memory to surface. What he saw had confused him greatly, and had him questioning the nature of his relationship with Iris.
From what Raguna had heard, up until just prior to his memory loss, he never met Iris. But what he was beginning to remember said otherwise.
Flashback
It had been one week since they started living together, and after much convincing on Iris' part, which consisted mostly of Raguna insisting that he was fine with sleeping on the couch, and Iris telling him how bad she felt about taking his bed, the two had agreed to share it.
Raguna had awoken, feeling pressure on his chest, his ribs had healed almost completely, so it only stung slightly.
Opening his eyes, he found that the pressure was coming from Iris laying on top of him. He disregarded it, closing his eyes to go back to sleep, having learned early on, that Iris frequently moved in her sleep.
After laying there for a few minutes he frowned, try as he might, he was unable to go back to sleep. The only thing he thought it could be was a small, pricking sensation that he was feeling.
Focusing on it, he noticed that it felt like it was coming from his neck. Glancing down he saw that Iris had her head buried in the crook of his neck. Upon closer inspection, he saw a small trail of blood, sliding slowly down his neck.
Once realising what was happening, his eyes widened, seeing a memory flash in his mind.
Flashback
He was standing in a circular room, with potted flowers scattered about it.
Before him, stood a woman, eyes closed, that strikingly resembled Iris, with only two key differences. The first was that instead of having purple hair, she had blond. And whereas her attire consisted of whites and pinks with a golden chain around her neck, he was used to her wearing an outfit of black and pink with a silver chain.
She approached him, moving slowly and purposefully. Upon reaching him, she wrapped her arms around his neck, eliciting a blush from him. Leaning foward she whispered in his ear, "You look cute when you blush," causing him to redden further.
"A-Are you okay?" Raguna questioned, nervous from their proximity to each other.
She giggled, it sounding like bells, "Why wouldn't I be?" she asked, still whispering in his ear, "I'm just acting like any woman would around a good-looking guy, such as yourself."
"Y-You're just a-acting different s'all," he stuttered, blushing furiously.
Pulling him closer, if that was even possible, she giggled again, "There's no reason to be nervous Raguna. I can't say that I don't bite, but trust me Raguna, you won't mind at all..."
Raguna's face was flaming red at this point, and he remained silent, unsure of what to say.
She pulled back from his ear, "I never would of imagined that you'd be so shy Raguna, but y'know, it's very endearing on you."
She closed her eyes, and began leaning closer to Raguna. Ragunatoo, closed his eyes, not knowing what to do right then, besides going with the flow.
She continued to lean forward, before at the last moment, changing course and buried her face into his neck, plunging in to it with her fangs.
Raguna's eyes widened as she began to drink his blood, the last thought passing through his head, before the memory ended being, 'W-What's happening...?'
End Flashback
By the time Raguna was aware again, Iris had already finished feeding and gone back to sleep. Not being able to move due to Iris still laying on top of him, he lied there, trying to figure out the mystery that had just arisen from his memories.
End Flashback
Raguna still hadn't brought it up what he saw with Iris yet, deciding that it'd be best to figure it out for himself, then to worry her.
"Raguna! I'm going to go out and buy some groceries, want to come with?" Iris called from across the house.
"No," he replied, "I've still got some things I need to take care of," he finished, thankful for having some more time to think.
"Okay, I'll be back soon," Raguna heard the door close. Laying on his back, he began to ponder just who that woman from his memories was.
She wasn't entirely certain about what she was going to do.
She didn't think much of it after the first few days, but after a week, she started to get worried. And it had been just over two weeks now, and she was distraught with worry, driving her to do something she would of never considered before.
Two weeks since she had seen him. For all she knew, he could be seriously injured, or worse, dead.
She shook her head, that thought had just strengthened her resolve for what she was about to do. She checked to make sure she had all she needed packed in her bag, for she knew that regardless of what she arrived to, she would be there for awhile.
No matter what though, Blanche would find Raguna.
Mist was walking around the Church District, looking for something to do when someone began talking to her.
"Um, hello, I was wondering if you could help me with something..."
Mist turned around to find... Iris? Mist found it strange though, because she looked different, "Sure Iris, what is it you need?"
From stories she heard from Raguna, Blanche recognized her as Mist. She was still confused on how she knew who she was, but shrugged it off, figuring that Raguna must of told Mist about her, "Well, I was wondering if you knew where Raguna was, Mist."
"Raguna? He's still probably at the house," she answered, pointing in the direction of his house.
Blanche sighed in relief, he was still alive, but he'd better have a good reason for not coming to visit her now, "Thank you."
Mist stared at Iris as she walked off, confused at why she wouldn't know where Raguna was.
She stood there for a few more minutes, before Iris walked by her from the path next to the church.
Mist saw her and was confused even more, Iris looked like she normally did again, she called out to her, "Did you already find Raguna?"
Noire turned around and gave Mist a quizzical look, not sure what she was talking about. She didn't think much of it though, chalking it up to Mist being Mist. Giving her a small wave, she turned around again, heading off to the Business District.
Mist stood there for a few more moments, before walking off to see if she could find Rosetta, but not before saying, "Wow, Iris sure does change quickly."
Raguna heard the front door open from upstairs. Confused as to why Iris would be back so soon he went downstairs, "Iris, did you forget somethi...."
There, stood the woman from his memories, the one who looked just like Iris.
She stared at him in shock, "Raguna, you really are alive," she ran to him throwing herself at him. "Please Raguna, don't ever do this to me again!" she sobbed into his chest, "I just missed you so much," she held him tightly, afraid that he might disappear again.
He was shocked, the last thing he expected, was for her to show up at his home.
She pulled back from him a bit and wiped some of her tears, "What happened to you? You look like you were in a fight and lost pretty badly..."
Raguna asked her the question that's been on his mind for the past week, "Who are you?"
She looked up at him, her hurt evident in her eyes, "I-It's me Iris. Don't y-you re-remember me?"
"I'm sorry," he apologized, "I do know someone with that name, but you aren't her."
She staggered back from him, pleading with him, as more tears welled up in her eyes, "Please, Raguna! Please, just tell me you're joking!" she looked at him, the truth clear on his face, "You're not..." Iris collapsed to the floor on her knees, her face in her hands, sobs racking her body, "Y-You really don't re-remember m-me..." she looked at him, her tear-stained face asking for answers, "Why... Why have I lost you too...?"
Raguna may not of known her, but it still hurt him to see her like this, walking over to her, he wrapping his arm around her in comfort, he rubbed her back soothingly, as she leaned into his arm, "Shhh, it'll be alright..."
She looked up at him, tears still streaming down her face, "B-But h-how," Iris broke out into a new set of tears, "You forgot me, I loved you and you forgot me..."
He wiped away some of her tears with his thumb, "I'm not entirely sure..."
"Why, why did you forget me?" Iris was desperate for answers.
Raguna sighed, pulling her a bit closer, "Well, as you can tell, I was in a fight about two weeks ago. And at somepoint during the fight, I got hit in the head pretty hard. When I woke up, I was at the clinic and couldn't remember anything...."
Iris gripped him tighter, "Who would do something like that?"
"It was me Blanche."
Blanche's eyes widened, seeing Noire walk forward, groceries forgotten, and kneel next to them, before her eyes hardened.
"I can tell you everything tha-" she was interrupted by the sound of flesh connecting hard against flesh. Noire rose her hand to the left side of her face, feeling the red, tender area that was now there.
Blanche lowered hers, before collapsing all the way to the floor in tears, "N-Noire! H-How could y-you?!"
She smiled sadly, "I probably deserved that..."
Blanche just continued to sob, "H-He's n-never done a-anything wrong t-to anyone! H-He only t-tries to pr-protect e-everyone!"
Noire awkwardly wrapped her injured arm around Blanche, pulling her close, "I'm sorry Blanche..."
Blanche tried to halfheartedly push her away a couple times, before she gave up, instead choosing to throw herself the rest of the way into Noire's lap, sobbing into her chest, "H-He d-didn't des-serve it!"
Noire held her, running her free hand through Blanche's hair to soothe her, "I know, believe me, I know..."
It had been about an hour, and Blanche was now fast asleep upstairs.
Raguna sighed, leaning against the counter. He looked up at Iris, who was walking down the stairs "I'm guessing you know who that was."
Iris nodded slowly, "She is... my other half."
Raguna didn't really grasp the concept, "Other half?"
"She and I, we used to be the same person."
He was surprised, "But if the two of you were the same person, then what happened?"
Iris began her explanation while putting away the groceries, "Long ago, being the last of my kind, I was very lonely," she had a faraway look in her eyes, "I'm not sure how long it was, but after awhile I split into two different people," she now had a small smile on her face, "And for a little while I was happy," she had a downcast look in her eyes, "But something happened, something that separated the two of us. And to this day, I still don't know what it was."
Raguna was silent for a moment, taking it all in, "So she called you Noire because-"
"Because if we met anyone, we didn't want to be confused by them calling us Iris."
"I see," he nodded thoughtfully, "I think.... I think I used to know Blanche..."
Noire nodded, "From what she told me, the two of you were very close," she added in a mumble, "It actually makes me feel kinda jealous..."
Raguna missed the last part, looking down, "So, she was important to me," this was said in just above a whisper.
Iris chose her words carefully, "I can't be... certain, of that, but I can say that you were, are, important to her."
Raguna digested her words, "I... see..."
Iris stood up from her crouching position near a cabinet, heading towards the door, "I need some fresh air, so I'm going to walk around for a bit."
Raguna nodded, not paying much attention as the door opened and closed, more preoccupied with what Blanche meant to him in the past.
Iris immediately headed for the lake. After ten minutes she reached it, sitting on the bridge and hanging her legs off the side of it.
She looked out at the lake trying to get her thoughts organized,'What am I going to do? I'm glad to see Blanche again, and I'm also glad she found someone important to her, but Raguna is important to me too.'
"You're here late," Noire heard a rather monotone voice, "What's wrong?"
She looked up, seeing a woman in green clothing and a large hat, "Oh, hey Cinnamon," she greeted her pink haired friend, "It's just... You remember how there's another me?"
Cinnamon nodded, "Yes, I remember, and while I still find very unlikely, it isn't entirely out of the realm of possibility."
"Well, she showed up at the house today. The only thing is, it wasn't me she was looking for," Iris trailed off.
Cinnamon thought on this for a second, before the realization hit her and her eyes widened in shock, "You don't mean...."
"That's right, she was looking for Raguna," she said solemnly, "What I didn't know though, is that the two of them were really close before Raguna's accident."
Iris took a deep breath, "I'm happy that I can see her and talk with her again. I'm also happy that she found someone important to her, but," she hesitated for a moment, "Raguna.... He's important to me too."
"I can see how that would be... troubling," Cinnamon said slowly.
Iris put her head in her hands, "I just don't know what to do..."
Cinnamon sat down next to her, "There's not really much you can do, except wait and see how things play out," she looked at Iris, "I know that it doesn't really sound like much, but..." she trailed off.
Noire sighed, "Yeah, you're right, as usual," she looked at Cinnamon, "Thanks though, I really did need that."
Cinnamon blushed, "You don't have to thank me, you're my friend, so I don't mind helping you."
"Still, thanks anyways," she stood up, "Well, I'd best be getting back home, see ya later Cinnamon."
"Bye Iris."
She opened the door, finding Raguna on the couch, looking like he was in deep thought.
"How is she?" Noire asked.
"Who?" he replied, still not entirely there.
She rolled her eyes, "Blanche."
He was about to answer, when they heard someone coming down the stairs. Turning to look, they saw Blanche, yawning and looking bleary-eyed from sleep. Rubbing her eyes, she took in her surroundings, wincing when she saw Raguna. She moved behind Noire, gripping her arm, nervous about how he would react to what happened earlier.
He sighed, "Look, I'm sorry that I don't remember you, but that doesn't mean that we con't start over from the beginning and be friends."
"That would be nice..." Blanche mumbled.
"And since you don't have a place to stay, you can live here with me and Noire," he continued.
Her eyes lit up, "Really?" Raguna nodded, "Oh, thank you very much!" Blanche exclaimed, tackling him to the couch.
He smiled, "I'm glad you're happy. We'll probably have to introduce you to everyone, but it's getting late, so that can wait 'til tomorrow."
"I'm getting kind of hungry..." Noire said from her spot by the door.
Blanche sat up, "I can cook!"
Raguna gulped, "I should probably help..." if she was anything like Noire when it came to cooking, then he should definitely supervise her.
"Nonsense!" she told him, pushing him back gently, "Consider it as my way of saying thanks."
"And I can help her if she needs it," Noire chimed in.
Blanche looked at her, slightly worried, "Are you sure? You are injured."
"Really, it's no problem," Noire reassured her, "I can still be of some help."
"If you're sure you okay..." she trailed off.
Raguna's eyes grew in fear, there was no way he was gonna leave them be in the kitchen alone, if he wanted to eat that evening, "How about we all work on it?"
"Well, I did want to do it by myself to show you my thanks, but this would be more fun..." Blanche mulled it over for a moment, "Alright! Let's do it!"
Raguna let out a sigh of relief, 'Barely dodged that disaster.'
At first, it seemed like everything would go of without a hitch, but things soon took a unfortunate turn.
Blanche sniffed the air curiously, "What's that smell...?"
"Huh?" Raguna looked around, "Ah! Noire! You're burning the food!"
"Sorry..." she took the frying pan off the stove.
Raguna sighed, "It's okay..." he surveyed the kitchen to make sure everything else was in order, "Blanche! Don't put that in yet!"
"Why not?"
"You've got to wait for the water to boil first!"
"Oh..."
Raguna heard a whooshing noise behind him, turning he saw that part of the stove was on fire, "AHHH!" he ran over and put it out, turning the stove off after, "You can't leave the stove on with nothing on it Noire!"
"Sorry..."
"Oww!"
Raguna went back to Blanche, who was clutching one of her hands, "What happened?"
"I accidentally dropped something in there and went to pull it out, but the water burnt me. It really hurt..." Blanche whimpered.
He sighed, "Let me see your hand," he examined it carefully, "You'll be fine, just be more careful next time."
"Why did it burn though?"
"Because it was boiling."
"Oh..."
"Eeep!" they heard Noire squeal, before they were all covered in food.
Raguna hung his head, "You slipped, didn't you?" he asked without even turning around.
"Sorry..."
It continued like this for awhile, before Raguna finally had enough.
"Alright!" he turned to face both of them exasperated, with Blanche smiling sheepishly and Noire looking away in shame, "Both of you! Out of the kitchen!"
Blanche opened her mouth to protest, but Raguna cut her off, "OUT!"
They both shuffled out of the kitchen, leaving Raguna, who was grumbling about how vampires shouldn't be allowed in kitchens to cook.
Blanche sat down at the table and turned to Noire, laughing sheepishly, "That didn't go so well..."
Noire took the seat across from her, nodding in agreement, "Not well at all..."
Blanche looked at her curiously for a moment, before asking, "So, it's been awhile since we last talked with each other..."
Noire gave her a quizzical look, "It's true that it's been awhile, but where are you going with this?"
"Well," Blanche looked off to the side, nervously twiddling her fingers, "I'm just curious how you've been..."
"Oh," she looked a bit downcast, "Up until I met Raguna, it was a living hell."
Blanche winced, realising how lucky she'd been, "Why was that?"
"Gelwein," Noire uttered that name with the utmost contempt.
Blanche gasped, 'He got to her too?'Blanche clenched her hands into fists, 'Just how many people are you willing to hurt to fulfil your ambitions?'
Noire examined Blanche closely, "You know who that is?"
Blanche nodded, "He was my friend," she spat the word 'friend' out like it was poisonous, "But I later found out that he was just pretending to be my friend so that he could use me."
Before Noire could ask anything else, Raguna came in announcing that everything was ready, before making a few trips to and from the kitchen to get all the food to the table.
"Wow..." Blanche's mouth watered at the spread in front of them, "It looks amazing..."
Noire rolled her eyes, "I can't believe that you still get this worked up over food."
Blanche half-glared at her, "I do not always get this worked up over food," Noire scoffed at this, receiving another half-glare from Blanche, "Besides, are you trying to tell me that you aren't excited to try this at all?"
"Well," Noire glanced at the food, "It does look good..." she trailed off.
Blanche let out a cheer of victory, before putting some food on her plate and digging in.
Noire rolled her eyes again, "You and your eating habits."
Blanche looked up from where she was stuffing herself, swallowing the food she still had in her mouth, "What about me and my eating habits?"
"Oh, nothing at all...."
"Tell me!"
Raguna chuckled, watching the two of them go back and forth, glad that they seemed to be getting along well enough. Preparing himself a plate, he then sat back and watched the show.
"Why won't you tell me?!"
"Fine, I'll tell you. You eat like a pig."
"What?! Take that back!"
Blanche plopped herself onto the couch, "I'm stuffed."
Noire muttered something about how it was no surprise, considering how quickly she was stuffing her face with food.
Blanche glared at her, "What was that?"
"Hmm? I've got no idea what you're talking about," she replied without missing a beat.
Blanche tried to growl at her, but it quickly gave way to a yawn, "I'm sleepy...."
Raguna walked in from kitchen, having put everything away, not trusting the two of them to be in his kitchen, "It is pretty late."
Noire stretched, "I'm gonna go ahead and turn in, night you two," she walked upstairs.
Raguna turned to Blanche, "You can share the bed upstairs with Noire, and I'll take the couch."
Blanche looked disappoint for a moment, before going to follow Noire, "Night, Raguna."
"Night," he replied, before turning off the rest of the lights and settling himself down on the couch.
Raguna groaned opening his eyes, 'What?' he took in his surroundings, 'I'm pretty sure it's still dark out, but if so, what am I doing awake...?'
He then felt something shift, ever so slightly, on top of him.
It was then that he finally noticed the weight that was laying on top of him. Looking down he could barely make out head of blond hair that he recognized as Blanche's.
He blinked a couple times, 'What the....?' shaking his head he gently nudged Blanche awake.
She shifted a bit more, before groaning, "Uhhh....?"
"Blance, why are you sleeping here?"
Blanche snuggled into Raguna's chest, "More comfortable....."
Raguna was confused, "How is a couch more comfortable than a bed?"
Still half-asleep, she replied with, "Couch.... has... Raguna....."
Had he been standing, he would of fallen, "Wha?!"
Now more awake than she was, she looked up and answered, "I just prefer it like this, plus it's not like it's anything new," with that she snuggled back into Raguna's chest and quickly fell back to sleep.
Raguna had to admit that she did have a point, ever since she had arrived he started to remember more about her, and from what he could remember, this situation wasn't all that uncommon, but that didn't change the fact that he still found it a bit awkward. Yet, he realised that he wouldn't be able to do much about it right then. Letting out a sigh, he made himself a bit more comfortable, before heading back to sleep himself.
The next time he opened his eyes, he found Noire hovering above them.
Seeing that he was awake, she rose an eyebrow, "Did something happen last night that I should be made aware of?"
Raguna sighed, "No, I just woke up in the middle of the night and found her like this. She seemed pretty intent on not moving, so I gave up on trying to get her to."
Noire nodded in understanding, "Very little surprises me anymore when it comes to Blanche."
Said person began to stir. Raising her head from Raguna's chest she took in her surroundings and she saw Noire, "Noire!" Blanche launched herself at her, nuzzling her check against Noire's, "You're awake!"
Seeing Raguna's astonished face, Noire explained it to him, "Blanche is a very.... affectionate person when she's not irritated. Anyways, come on Blanche," she said, pulling Blanche towards the door with her good arm, that Blanche was clinging to, "You and I've got some catching up to do."
Blanche looked up at her, still clinging to her arm, "But what about breakfast?"
Noire rolled her eyes, "We'll pick up something from Rosetta's."
Content with that answer, Blanche followed Noire out the door.
Raguna was still staring at where they left, confused as to what just happened. He was certain of one thing though.
Blanche was certainly going to make things interesting around here.
There you have it, the second chapter of Amnesia. Just a couple of things. Second flashback was basically the same one from Blood, just re-edited. I actually prefer this one to the original, so I think it turned out well.
Now to reviews.
Fairy of the Flames- Not exactly Noire/Raguna, moreso Iris/Raguna, but thanks for the review.
B. Yipster- *coughs* You certainly seem to have harem on your mind. Anyways not exactly Raguna/Harem, yes some girls we show interest in him, but Raguna will be mostly oblivious to it, considering how dense he is at times. Thanks for the review though.
Anyways, I'll try and update as soon as possible.
'Til next time
Vee851
