Hello everyone! Welcome back. This chapter was a bit hard to write. We're over the hump of being halfway done with the story, and I'm trying to make sure the last half doesn't get screwed up somehow lol. My notes for this chapter too didn't give me much to work with as well, so it took a lot of editing to get this to a readable state.
Anyway, let's begin!
Find a group of people who challenge and inspire you; spend a lot of time with them, and it will change your life
Amy Poehler
"Aaron, how are we coming on the order for table 18!?"
Aaron finished the last of the garnish on the plate and handed it quickly to Albern, who looked it over. Turning it around, he scrutinized it in just a few seconds, humming to himself.
"Good, good! Your presentation is getting better, but you could be quicker. Next order!"
"Yes Al!" Aaron replied, grabbing the next sheet of paper off the list of orders and reading it over. With his spare hand, he took the ladle and began to stir the day's soup in order to keep the temperature even on the near-scalding liquid. Albern went off and began prepping for a different order, leaving Aaron to work on his own project.
It was a very busy Friday. The busiest day that Aaron had seen in weeks, perhaps. While this was good for business, it was a rather stressful occasion for the kitchen staff. Ever since they opened that morning, they've had order after order, and had barely been able to keep up.
George came bursting into the kitchen with another order in his hand. "Table 6 says their fish tasted excellent and will be telling their friends to come by for a visit sometime." He flashed a quick smile at Aaron, knowing it was him who made that dish, before racing back to Jack's dish room. He emerged a few seconds later with some freshly cleaned glasses.
"Good to hear." Aaron said, not really paying attention. He began chopping vegetables to add to the next few dishes while Albern raced past him.
"Don't forget to salt the water for the pasta, Aaron." Al said with a teasing tone. "We all remember what happened last time you forgot to do that."
Chuckling to himself, Aaron turned around and looked at the grill, checking the temperature on the meat slowly cooking on its hot surface. "I already salted it, Al. Don't salt it again, because we all remember the last time you did that!"
"I only salted the water that time because I thought that you hadn't and I was in a hurry!"
"Suuuure." Aaron replied, laughing, while wiping the sweat off his brow.
Talia flew into the kitchen, holding a few order sheets as well. She gave Aaron a grin as she almost threw the orders at him. Aaron only barely managed to catch them and glanced down to see what they were. He was almost completely unable to read it though, as Talia had written microscopically. Bringing it close to his face like he often saw Albern doing, Aaron glanced up to see Talia's innocent smile.
"I understand now when Albern says that you and George need to write larger…" Aaron said. He added a smirk in order to let Talia know he was just teasing, and turned away to add the orders to his list.
Talia shrugged and began walking away with a quick spin. "I don't know what you're talking about."
Shaking his head, Aaron went back to cooking as quickly as he could.
Truthfully, Aaron was pushing the boundaries between "stressed" and "overwhelmed". Of course, with how busy it had been so far, Aaron felt like he was at his wit's end. He was moderately hungover after having a few too many drinks last night at the bar, and his head had hurt for hours by this point, likely from a mixture of hangover and stress. He pushed onward though, determined not to let his team down when they needed him. So far, he was pretty successful. He and Albern were chugging through orders and they had managed to keep up, even if they were barely doing so.
What kept him from crossing over into the "overwhelmed" category were his coworkers. After finding out that his headaches were actually caused by stress and/or remembering things from his past, Albern had started being very careful to help Aaron when he felt like he needed it. With how busy it had been so far on this cold Friday though; Al was needed to help with every order. They changed positions on each station, taking turns prepping for future meals, cooking the current ones, organizing ingredients, and finishing up presentation.
The day passed by in a blur. Hours didn't drag on; they were barely there. Aaron glanced at the clock and it was 1 PM, and then felt like he only made a few meals before glancing at the clock again, and it was 4 PM. Laughing to himself at how the time flew by, Aaron followed Talia over to the kitchen door as she was taking a plate over to a single gentleman somewhere in the restaurant. She rolled her eyes at Aaron as he peered through the small window on the kitchen door to get a look at how many tables were occupied. They were to begin closing in an hour, but they often stayed later than 5 PM simply because people would come in and eat right before closing.
A few tables were filled, but it had obviously begun to slow down since the craziness that was pretty much the entire day. Rubbing his hands together with satisfaction of a job well-done, Aaron was right about to walk away when something familiar caught his eye by the entrance. Squinting his eyes to help him see better through the fogging up window on the door, Aaron got a glimpse of a blue-overall-clad man with light blonde hair walking in the restaurant. He looked around for a moment with a smile, seemingly taking in the look of the interior of Restaurant Le Yeah. It was something that Aaron had seen customers do a thousand times, but what was special about this guy? Why did he seem so familiar?
"Hey Al," Aaron began, waving his hand over. "Come over here."
Al walked over without question and Aaron pointed at the blonde man through the window. "Why do I recognize that guy? Do you know him?"
Al squinted as well to get a look, but once he spent a few seconds observing the blonde man, who was now patiently waiting to be seated from either Talia or George, Albern broke into a great grin and laughed.
"Oh! That's Clemont! He's the son of one of my old friends! I haven't seen him in years! He sure has grown up."
Clemont
Unable to believe what he had heard, Aaron stared into space for a moment, shocked at the apparent name of the blonde man.
"…Did you say his name was Clemont?" Aaron asked, just loud enough for Al to hear.
Al nodded enthusiastically, putting his hand on Aaron's shoulder. "Yeah laddie. I haven't seen him since he was a small child. His dad, Meyer, and I go way back. I'll have to go out there and see him in a bit, if you don't mind." With that, he patted Aaron's shoulder and walked off to finish his project.
"No, I don't mind…" Aaron replied, trailing off, as he looked back at Clemont.
Clemont adjusted his glasses and the sun reflected off of them at just the right angle. It was at that moment, a scene he had witnessed perhaps only in one place, that Aaron remembered where he had seen this man before.
His dreams.
How was that possible? Did his mind conjure up an image of a random man and Clemont happened to have matched his description? Was this his craziness making another confusing appearance?
Whenever this "Clemont" was in his dreams, it was always with a little blonde girl who looked somewhat like him, and the teenage version of the Kalos Queen. They laughed over a campfire, ate spectacular food, battled Team Rocket, and acted like a family. There were many scenes in his dreams of him walking down a path somewhere in Kalos with Clemont on his left, Serena on his right, and the little girl playing and prancing in front of them with her Pokémon.
A particular vision of a duel inside Prism Tower came to mind, where Aaron was standing at the opposite end of Clemont, who fielded a Luxray. He remembered the anxiety, the power of Pokémon dueling, and the excitement of a good battle and eventual victory.
What did this mean? How did he dream up complex events like that filled with such intricate details? How did that make any sense?
As he was lost in his thoughts staring at the blonde man, Clemont faced back towards the door just as two other people entered the restaurant. Aaron couldn't hold in his gasp as he saw a woman with fiery red hair dragging a taller brown haired-man by his ear over to Clemont.
Brock and Misty. In person. In Kalos?
They seemed to know Clemont, as he beckoned them over to where he was standing just as Talia seemed to spot them and wave as well. Did she know them too? What?
Aaron put his hand on his head, feeling his headache skyrocketing. Too many thoughts were going through his head at once. He remembered Brock and Misty from their adventures back in his younger days, and he saw them in his dreams too. But where did Clemont fit in the picture? It seemed like too much of a coincidence that he saw Brock and Misty in his dreams and Clemont as well. He knew that he recovered his Kanto and Johto memories with Dr. Carter, and saw some of those scenes were in his dreams too. He knew those were memories. But…if he saw Clemont in his dreams as well, then that meant…
Oh no….
Aaron closed his eyes tightly, feeling his headache becoming too much to continue looking at Clemont, Brock, and Misty. Walking back towards the appetizer station, Aaron quickly grabbed anything to distract himself from the train of thought he just had. Something, anything, that meant he could think about something else.
Scanning his surroundings, a number of empty salt shakers were in the corner on a table. Aaron had pushed off filling them up until after his shift, as he found the task tedious. Sometimes salt would spill off onto the table and floor and it was a pain to clean up, but it was perfect for what Aaron was looking for at the moment. Smiling madly to himself at his genius, Aaron quickly walked over to the table and grabbed the nearby bag of salt. With great care, he slowly tipped the bag over, making sure to not drop a single grain of salt onto the table. He managed to fill up one salt shaker.
Then two.
Then three.
And he was about to fill up his fourth shaker out of the pile when Talia appeared behind him, holding an order in her hands.
"Seems like an odd time to be doing that, Aaron…" She said with a hand on her hip and a small smile. "We still have tables, and Albern doesn't want to do everything, you know."
Not looking over at her, Aaron continued concentrating on the salt shakers in front of him, his head bent low and close to the table. "I have to distract myself, Talia."
"Why?"
Sending a quick glance her direction, Aaron took a deep breath. "Because I've been having some weird dreams for days now, and I think they may have actually been memories."
Talia's teasing smile immediately disappeared. "Oh…." She said. "What made you realize that?"
Aaron flicked his head towards the door. "That group that just came in. You waved at them like you knew them. Did you catch their names?"
Confused, Talia looked at Aaron and then at the door. "Oh, them? With the weird guy, the girl with red hair, and the blonde dude? Yeah! I met them yesterday after work."
"I'm going to assume the weird guy you're talking about is named "Brock"?"
Talia looked at him quizzically. "Yeah, how did you know that…?"
Aaron finished tediously pouring salt into one of the shakers and turned his full attention towards his friend. "Because from what I remember, I knew Brock and Misty from my childhood. From before I lost my memory." Aaron scratched his chin, shifting his gaze down to the floor and attempting not to look at Talia's shocked face. "And…I think I've been seeing Clemont in my dreams as well, as odd as that sounds. I was convinced that the odd dreams were just a side effect of my therapy, but now that I'm seeing Clemont for real, I think that my dreams have actually been memories of my previous life."
Talia seemed to absorb this information readily, appearing more and more excited as Aaron went on. "Are you serious!? When I heard that Brock and Misty were from Kanto, I didn't think anything of it! You mentioned once that you journeyed through Kanto with some of your friends! It was them, wasn't it?"
Aaron nodded slowly, putting his hands over his face. "Yeah, it was them…"
"Why don't you seem more excited about this? They could be the key to you getting your entire memory back, and not just piece by piece!"
"Well, realizing that what I've been seeing in my dreams for days was actually just memories from the past unsurprisingly gave me quite the headache. It doesn't help that I'm a bit hungover and it was super busy today, too."
Talia rolled her eyes. "Oh please. That stuff is all temporary! Your friends are sitting right there and you're too concentrated on your headache to care about it!"
"I do care about them! I just…don't know if I'm ready to see them yet."
"Not ready to see them? What does that mean?"
Aaron stood straight up, no longer hunched over the salt shakers anymore. "I don't know..." He walked over to the kitchen door, peering out the slightly fogged window. Clemont, Misty, and Brock were all sitting at their table, chatting idly, seemingly having a good time waiting for Talia to come back.
"Hold on…" Talia said from behind him, slightly startling Aaron. "Don't tell me you're afraid of going out to see them?"
Aaron immediately balked. "No! Absolutely not! I'm just…confused, is all."
"Sure." Talia replied sarcastically. "While you're in here being confused, I'm going to go out there and help my table. We'll see if they're just as confused as you are." She stuffed her order into Aaron's hands and quickly pushed open the kitchen door, leaving Aaron in his place, stunned.
True to her words, Aaron watched Talia walk up to their table and began talking animatedly like she usually did whenever she was in "customer-service mode". But then she started loosening up her generic customer-service stance, and pointed back at the kitchen at Aaron. Gasping, Aaron ducked away as soon as he saw the three at the table begin to move their heads towards his direction.
His heart racing, Aaron looked down at the order Talia gave him right before she left the kitchen. Looking for more ways to distract himself from whatever was going on out in the dining room, Aaron quickly set about preparing and cooking the order for whatever table it was meant for.
After all, he wasn't afraid of anything like that. Certainly not at the thought of meeting people from his past so soon into beginning to remember aspects of his old life.
That just made everything more real. The fact that he was so close to meeting people from his old life.
Would they like the new Aaron? What even was the "new Aaron"? How different was he from his old life? Were Misty and Brock any different now than they were in his memories? What was Clemont like? Would Aaron remember his previous life just by talking to them? There were so many questions and almost no answers.
Maybe he was afraid after all.
But Talia could never hear about that, of course.
His inner monologue was interrupted by Talia bursting into the kitchen again. She ran straight for Aaron, tapping him on the shoulder quickly.
"I have their order, Aaron." She said. "Found out that Clemont knows Albern too, and I may or may not have mentioned that you wanted to see them."
"What!?" Aaron yelled, staring at her with wide eyes. "Why would you say that?"
"Because it's true! You just don't want to admit it!"
"Well…I…" Aaron sighed. "I don't even know what to say to you…"
Talia smirked. "You'll be thanking me later."
"No I won't!"
Talia handed Aaron their order and he looked it over. It was nothing complicated, and wouldn't take very long. Just the daily special. He put it just behind the previous order he was working on and sighed again. He attempted to lose himself in his cooking, but couldn't concentrate enough. His headache was worsening by the minute. It felt different too though, as it was likely being influenced by his hangover. He took a small break to drink a glass of water quickly, in hopes that it would ease his pain, but that never worked immediately.
"Aren't you hungover at all?" Aaron asked as he was walking by Albern, who was counting the inventory for the end of the day.
Al chuckled. "Yes. I'm just better at hiding it than you are. You have to learn to work through a hangover."
"Easier said than done." Aaron replied, walking back to his station.
He quickly finished the first order and sent it out with Talia. As soon as he had his ingredients gathered, he began the order for Clemont, Misty, and Brock. Like he originally thought, it didn't take very long. He was preoccupied with keeping the pain in his temples from increasing further though. That, and thinking through his future conversation with his former friends that were seated within the dining room, likely having a good time. Once he established that thinking too much about the conversation was aggravating his headache though, he attempted to stop.
Taking a deep breath, Aaron finished their food in no time at all, and waited for Talia to come back in so that she could take it to them. Less than a minute passed and she burst through the doors with a handful of dirty dishes. She brought them back to Jack, washed her hands quickly, and went over to Aaron with a wink. Grabbing their plates without a word, Talia left faster than she came in, leaving Aaron to follow her back to the door.
Peering through the window and hoping not to be seen, Aaron squinted his eyes to try and see through the fogged-up glass. Talia was in front of their table passing out the food, and everyone looked eager to eat. Clemont said something, and Misty and Brock nodded, before they likely thanked Talia, and she was off with a bow.
She was in the kitchen next to Aaron in a moment, and she beamed at him. "They're really nice people, Aaron. I'm sure they'd be excited to see you."
"I know…" Aaron said, looking back at them through the window. They looked very pleased with the food Aaron had cooked, which brought him a great sense of pride. He always loved seeing people enjoy food almost as much as he did. "I just don't know what will happen when I finally do talk to them. Not to mention that my head really hurts…"
"Have you been thinking about Serena? Is that why your head hurts so much?"
Aaron chuckled, as if he was mocking himself. "No, I've been trying not to. Although I've had good luck lately whenever I've thought about her. It hasn't been too bad. It used to be that whenever I would even hear her name, it would give me a headache" He put his hand on his head. "I think it's mostly the hangover, really. It's just not mixing well with my normal headaches."
Talia shrugged. "Maybe you are getting better. The hangover is unfortunate though, but it still doesn't change my mind. I'm going to make sure that they meet you and Albern."
"Gee, thanks Talia. Glad to know you care about my wellbeing."
Talia laughed and began to walk away. "I do care for your wellbeing. I just think that this is more important." She went to go organize utensils and cups for the next day's work, leaving Aaron to sit in his anxiety. He turned back towards his station and decided that beginning to clean it up would both help him leave sooner and give him something to concentrate on.
With each passing minute, Aaron felt his anxiety grow more and more. He jumped every time someone spoke to him, and in addition to the worsening headache in his head, he started to feel a tight pain in his chest too. With his hand over his chest, Aaron took a deep breath in an attempt to calm himself.
"It's okay. It's just your old friends." He whispered to himself. "You traveled miles and miles with them. Meeting them again will probably help you, and maybe make these headaches go away."
After spending an unknown period of time incredibly anxious, Aaron saw Talia walking back over to him. "I'm going to go get Al from out of the pantry. I already told your friends that they were welcome to come into the kitchen to see you." She pursed her lips. "They don't recognize your name though, which is confusing. Are you sure it's them?"
Aaron gulped and nodded. "Yeah, I'm certain it's them." He rubbed the back of his head then. "And, they probably knew me by a different name, anyway. One that I don't remember."
"I guess that makes sense." Talia said while walking over to the pantry. "Hey Al! Clemont and his two friends want to see you!"
Al immediately grinned and placed his clipboard down on a nearby crate. Wiping his hands on his apron-cloth, he rubbed them together and looked around the kitchen quickly. "That's great! Where are they? I can't wait to see how much little Clemmy has grown up!"
Talia pointed out towards the dining room. "They're probably just finishing up their food now. I'll go fetch them and be right back!"
Albern nodded excitedly and went to wash his hands, but Aaron wasn't paying attention. The only thing he could think of was his headache. Reaching for the plastic baggie in his pocket, Aaron was disappointed to realize that he forgot to refill it before he got to work that morning. He was without his medication, and at the mercy of his head. Already he was beginning to feel a little lightheaded, with everything combining together into one giant shooting pain in his temples.
"I really need to get an Abra…" Aaron said, rubbing his head. Talia walked past him, noticed his hurt condition, and flashed a concerned look at him before shaking her head and leaving the kitchen, presumably to head towards his old friends. Walking towards the kitchen door to get a sneak peak, Aaron saw his old friends stand up and stretch, and begin walking towards the kitchen with Talia leading the way. With every step they took, Aaron felt his head getting worse, and he felt like he couldn't breathe any longer. Now taking deep breaths, Aaron put both hands on the wall in an attempt to stabilize himself. With every passing second, he found that his vision was blurring up, he was unable to breathe, and his thoughts were becoming garbled and unintelligible. He attempted to watch as Clemont, Misty, and Brock all looked at the door, but didn't quite know what he was looking at any longer. Clemont held a confused look and squinted at the glass where Aaron was, but Aaron ducked away, unable to keep himself standing anymore.
It all happened in a flash. Aaron ducked away from the door to avoid being seen. He didn't know why he did it, especially since they were going to see him anyway, but his fear was simply too much. What he could comprehend in the blur that became his senses though, was that one second, he was leaning against the door, and that in his haste to get away, he must have lost his footing, and he fell into the rack of pots and pans nearby.
He didn't register the noise, but it must have been pretty loud. His vision was too blurry to register what was happening though. Through his muffled hearing, he heard fast-moving footsteps around him, and a few voices he recognized, but didn't know who they belonged to.
The world was a blur, and Aaron couldn't understand 99% of it. What he did understand came through as muffled yells, and he was only able to understand a few of the words.
"Aaron!"
"—et a wet rag—!"
"—deal with him, just go see—"
"—icked a real good time—"
Aaron didn't know how much time passed. He couldn't think any more. All he could register was the burning hot feeling on his head, which then receded as something cool was placed on him, and his need for breathing. Gradually, after an unknown period of time, Aaron felt himself beginning to return. His headache began to recede, the tightness in his chest went away, his breathing evened out, the sharp hotness on his forehead disappeared, and his hearing and vision began to return.
Blinking his eyes to rid himself of the blurriness, the first thing Aaron saw over him was Jack, holding up his head, and talking to himself. As his hearing returned, he understood what his friend was saying.
"I could be out there meeting new people and making new friends, but instead I'm in here taking care of you. You owe me a drink after this, man. I'm not gonna let you forget it."
Aaron groaned. "…Shut up, Jack…" He said, attracting Jack's attention back down to him. "What happened? Why am I on the ground?"
Jack tsked. "Well, one second I'm in the dish room, being the god of dishes that I am, and then all of a sudden I heard a loud crash and Albern sounding worried. I came out and saw you on the ground, looking totally out of it, and then Albern told me he would cover for you and go out and meet whomever these interesting new people were." He pointed with his head at the door. "They're out there, I think. Or, they've already gone. I don't know. I've been in here with you."
"Oh yeah…" Aaron rubbed his forehead, feeling his senses returning to him fully. Slowly, he pushed himself off Jack and began to stand up. "My old friends are out there…"
"Old friends? As in the ones you had before you lost your memory?" Jack asked, sounding a little suspicious.
"Yeah, a few of them, at least. I think I had a lot of friends over the years."
Jack rolled his eyes, but the rest of his face got a playful smile. "So that's what I missed by taking care of you. I've got see if they're still here!" He said, before running over to the door and violently pushing his way through. Aaron took a deep breath and peeked his head out, preparing to meet the faces of his old friends. After whatever had just happened, he felt like he owed them an explanation, at least.
To his disappointment, instead of seeing his former friends, he saw Talia running towards him with a worried expression.
"Aaron!" She yelled out, bringing him into a tight hug. "Are you okay? I didn't think you'd pass out!"
"Yeah, I'm okay. I think." Aaron replied, shaking his head to rid himself of leftover blurriness.
"Are they gone?" Jack asked, the eagerness on his face quickly disappearing as he saw nobody new in the dining room.
"Yeah, they left about a minute ago. We were just letting Yannick know what happened in here." Albern said, directing his worried gaze towards Aaron. "Remember when life was normal, Aaron? And you didn't have an episode every few days? Those were good times."
Aaron found it in himself to laugh. "Yeah, I remember those days. They were definitely good times." He then stared at the closed door, picturing Clemont, Misty, and Brock exiting it in his mind. His headache was wearing down. "How were my old friends?"
Albern smiled. "They're pretty nice people, Aaron. Clemont has grown up to be quite the gentleman, if I say so myself. You were a lucky guy to have traveled with them at one point."
"Did Brock and Misty say why they were in town?" Aaron asked, a little hopeful.
George, who was quiet up until this point, shook his head. "No, they didn't. But they did say that they're leaving tomorrow for Kanto. Early morning flight."
"Oh." Aaron replied, looking down at the ground. At the end of the situation, despite his fear at first, he found he was actually a bit disappointed he didn't get to see them. Of course, he felt that way after the fact though. He just had to let his emotions get to his head, literally. Between the hangover and the stress, it all may have just been too much at once. He mentally reminded himself to never drink the night before work ever again.
"I can tell by your face that you're disappointed." Talia said as she let go of Aaron and backed up a few steps. She smiled. "I knew that you wanted to meet them again."
Aaron shook his head. "Yeah, I did. I guess I just couldn't get past the anxiety of what would happen when I would actually meet someone from my past."
"Misty and Brock may be leaving tomorrow morning, but Clemont did mention that he's the gym leader of Lumiose City." Albern said, raising an eyebrow. "If you wanted to meet them before the day is over, you could go over there. That's probably where they're going."
Aaron thought for a second and shook his head again. "I'll have another chance. I'm sure of it. If Clemont is the gym leader, then I could go over there any time, couldn't I? I think I might do that on Sunday. That way, I'm on my day off, and don't have to worry about work."
"Whatever works for you." Albern said with a shrug, before walking past Aaron and patting his shoulder. "Hey, there is a positive to this. You knocked over all those pots and pans, and now Jack will have to wash all of them again." He said with a laugh.
Jack's face immediately filled with dread and he glared at Aaron. "I hadn't realized that. I should have let you lay on the ground."
George punched Jack in the shoulder, and everyone laughed. After he was done teasing Jack, Aaron walked over to the company phone and pulled out Dr. Carter's card from his wallet just as the last guest was leaving the restaurant and Yannick was locking the door. After dialing the number, Aaron waited through several rings until Dr. Carter answered her phone.
"Hello. This is Dr. Carter." Came the voice on the other side of the phone.
"Hey!" Aaron began. "This is Aaron. How are you doing?"
"Good, good. Another day at the office." She hummed. "I suppose you aren't calling for anything good though, Aaron. Are you okay? Did anything happen?"
Aaron chuckled awkwardly. "Yeah…you could say that. I just woke up after passing out, I think. I went out drinking last night and am a bit hungover and it was a really stressful day at work, and those two things combined with my usual headaches seemed to be a bit too much. A few of my old friends from my previous life came into the restaurant, and I passed out before I could meet with them."
"Oh my, Aaron! You should head to the hospital right away!"
Aaron waved his hand, even though he knew Dr. Carter couldn't see him. "I'm not really someone to go to the hospital unless I have to, Dr. Carter. I think I'm okay now."
Dr. Carter was silent for a moment before she chuckled. "I really think you should go, Aaron. But the choice is yours. From the few visits we've shared, I think I've gathered that it is very much "you" to not go to the hospital unless you had to."
"Yeah, what can I say. I'm stubborn."
"Did you see your old friends?"
"No, I didn't. I passed out right before I could meet them, and they left right as I was waking up."
"Do you feel okay now?" Dr. Carter asked.
"Yeah I do. I figured I should give you a call though just to let you know what happened. Last time I tried hiding something from you, it ended up affecting me for days!"
Dr. Carter hummed. "Yes, that's correct. I appreciate you being upfront with me. If you are okay with it, you can still come into your session, but we won't do a memory retrieval. I don't want to stress what already could be your fragile mind today. I'm not taking any chances."
"That's okay. I'll be in today at my usual time. I'll see you then?"
"Yes, I'll see you then."
Aaron hung up the phone and looked at his friends. He shrugged, and walked towards the kitchen to begin cleaning up for the end of the day. It took a bit longer than usual to clean up, and Aaron wasn't able to run home and change out of his work clothes before having to run to Dr. Carter's office. Of course, the run was short, but he nearly sprinted it to make up for lost time. He burst into the building just in time, breathing heavily, and waved sheepishly at the receptionist who was staring at him with an amused smile. She looked him up and down, noticing his work uniform still on, no doubt. Aaron made no comment about it, and neither did she.
He waited a few minutes before Dr. Carter emerged from her office and beckoned him into the small room. She looked him once over, obviously noticing his work uniform still on. Aaron walked past her to take a seat in his chair, waving to Alakazam in front of him.
"Late day at work today, Aaron?" Dr. Carter asked as she walked by and took a seat in her own chair.
Aaron nodded. "Yeah, it was. Like I said earlier, it was really busy today, and I didn't really get to start cleaning until later because of the situation at work."
"Yes, you'll have to explain that to me. What happened?"
Aaron looked to the side. "Well, I went out drinking last night, which isn't something I usually do, and I had a bit too much. I was hungover this morning, and today was one of the busiest days I've seen at work in a long time. I was pretty stressed, but not overly stressed, you know? But then I saw people I actually recognized come into the restaurant. Two of them were Brock and Misty, my old friends from Kanto, and the other one was Clemont, who apparently is the gym leader of Lumiose City. I suddenly became afraid of what meeting them would do to me since I'm still pretty new to recovering my memories, and I guess the anxiety just combined with everything else I had mentioned, and I passed out. I didn't get to see them again, as my friend Albern covered for me, and went to meet them without me."
"That all sounds like a lot." Dr. Carter replied, writing a few notes on her clipboard. "What were the chances of you seeing two of your old friends and this Clemont character at the same restaurant in the same day?"
Aaron chuckled. "Probably not high, I'd like to think. You think this was just an isolated incident?"
"It's hard to say. Obviously your condition is improving with time. Are the headaches getting any better, at least?"
"Yeah, they are." Aaron said. "The past few days have been good, I think. Whenever I do get a headache, it doesn't hurt for too long or too bad unless I'm doing something out of the ordinary."
"This was probably an isolated incident, then." Dr. Carter said. "While you may be getting better, every once in a while, you can experience a temporary relapse in your condition. It's impossible to predict, so its best to just react when it does happen. Hopefully, it doesn't happen again."
"Yeah, hopefully so." He paused for a moment contemplating his words. "I actually have a few things I'd like to talk to you about, if that's okay."
Dr. Carter straightened her posture. "Anything is okay, Aaron. It sounds like your stress was just too much today, so if there is anything I can do to help, I'm all ears."
"Well…for a few days now, I've been having some weird dreams…" Aaron said, trailing off. He rubbed the back of his head, not really sure how to put it so that he didn't sound crazy to himself.
"What kind of "weird" dreams are we talking about here?"
"I've been seeing myself travel all over random places in the world, like Sinnoh, or Hoenn, or even Kalos, and I'm with many different groups of people." Aaron began, putting his hand on his chin and looking down at the ground. "I seem to be having a good time in these dreams, I think, and the people I'm traveling with are all fun. I just…thought they were weird dreams that would pass with time. Like a side-effect of my therapy treatments. That is…" Aaron paused again, taking a deep breath. "That is, until I saw Clemont today. Clemont was one of the people that had appeared in my dreams before. Seeing him made me think that…maybe there is something more to my dreams than I originally thought."
Dr. Carter wrote a few sentences down and then circled something dramatically. With a smirk, she peered up at Aaron. "And what do you think these dreams are, Aaron?"
Aaron gulped. "Well…after seeing Clemont in real life when I had previously thought he was only a piece of my imagination, and then seeing him with two people I knew for sure were from my past, Misty and Brock…I think that my dreams are some of my memories coming back."
Dr. Carter chuckled and nodded. "I believe you are correct, Aaron. Reliving memories in the form of dreams is actually one way for them to come back."
"So, if that's true, then why don't I actually "remember" these events in the dreams?" Aaron asked. "When I think about them, I just picture the dream. It doesn't feel like a real memory."
"It's part of the build-up for when you actually recover your memory, Aaron. Your brain is sorting out these events during your sleep, and sooner or later, everything will come back to you."
Aaron pondered this for a moment. "So, you're saying that my memory may be coming back soon?"
Dr. Carter shrugged. "It's certainly looking that way." She smiled then. "Usually people take a bit longer to have the progress you've been having, Aaron. I suppose all of the events leading up to this point have actually helped you along, like seeing Serena at the showcase, or almost meeting your old friends at your workplace. It may be forcing your brain to jump some of these hurdles quicker than usual. While it may not be pleasant, these episodes may actually be a sign of you getting better, if that makes sense."
"Actually, about that." Aaron started, rubbing under his nose. "In addition to having some strange dreams which I now know are memories attempting to come back, I've also been having something else happen too."
Dr. Carter clicked her pen again, ready to write. "And what is this?"
"Well, you might remember my history with my ex-girlfriend, Talia?" Dr. Carter nodded, and Aaron continued. "She and I actually had a talk when we were at work yesterday. Sorted things out between us, I think. I attempted to explain to her how I felt, and I think that went okay. She and I are talking again now. But, when I was talking with her, right as we were about to hug at the end of the conversation, I saw…Serena's face…instead of hers." Aaron winced, expecting Dr. Carter to balk at this revelation. While that didn't happen, she did look slightly surprised, and wrote this down on her clipboard.
"Can you explain what you mean by that?" She asked.
Aaron digested his words in his head for a few moments before continuing. "Well, when I looked at Talia's face, I blinked and then it wasn't her anymore. It was Serena. She was younger than she is now, but I don't know how old she was. Maybe a teenager? Well, she was laughing. Then when I blinked again, Talia was back in front of me." He paused for a moment to collect his thoughts. "It happened later yesterday night too, at the bar. Right when Talia was about to kiss me on the cheek for an unrelated reason, I didn't see her face. I saw Serena's. She was wearing a blue shirt, and had a huge smile on her face. She looked embarrassed, or something. I'm not sure what to make of it, but she did look really happy." These images played in his head as he was reciting them to Dr. Carter, and he was expecting a huge headache to come on. Thankfully, just a small pain emerged in his temples.
Dr. Carter tapped her pen on her clipboard for a moment, looking at her desk in thought. "I'll be honest, Aaron. I'm not sure what this means. I see that this happened both with Talia, who is your ex-girlfriend, and both during intimate or personal moments between you two. I'll have to think on why this has happened to you. Do you think that these images of Serena could be memories?"
Aaron sighed. "They have a similar feel to them, but it's…different somehow. I wish I could explain how a feeling is, you know?"
"That's okay. I don't expect you to be able to describe to me in vivid detail what a certain feeling is like. I only ask that you try to be careful. I don't want you ending up in the hospital"
Aaron nodded once. "I can try, I guess."
"Have any memories of a romantic relationship existing between you and Serena come back?"
Aaron was surprised by this question, but shook his head. "No, I don't think so, at least. Why?"
Dr. Carter wrote a few words down. "I'm just thinking. You had romantic feelings for Talia at one point, and I suspect that you had feelings for Serena in the past as well. Remember when I described her as your potential first crush?" She asked, raising her eyes to see Aaron nod. "That, combined with info I've gathered about how you described her in our previous sessions, makes me wonder a few things. I'm just thinking that these random images of her replacing Talia during a personal moment might mean something. Something I'll have to think about later." She clicked her pen.
"Talia seemed to think that I had feelings for Serena too..." Aaron commented, crossing his arms.
"She may be onto something, Aaron." Dr. Carter smirked. "But I won't make any guarantees about something like that. I'm just repeating what I'm seeing here. Are you going to try and meet up with your friends again since it didn't work out today?"
"I think I'm going to try and see my friends again in a few days, on Sunday. I don't work on Sunday, and Clemont is the gym leader, so he should be around. As for Brock and Misty, they leave for Kanto tomorrow morning, so I might have missed them. I'll have to find a way to see them."
"I'm certain that there will be an opportunity in the future to see them, Aaron. Especially when your memory finally does return." She pointed her pen at Aaron and smiled. "As for now, I actually highly recommend seeking out your friend Clemont, or maybe Serena. I think that spending time around them will accelerate your memory coming back. It's easy to not remember things when you have nothing to remind you, like at work or at your home. But when you're around someone or something that is without a doubt from before you lost your memory, it may make the process of remembering that much quicker."
Aaron nodded again. "I can do that. I do think I'm getting better. Other than today, my headaches have actually been getting better for a bit now."
"Again, That's good to hear, Aaron!" Dr. Carter said. "Now, is there anything else you'd like to discuss today? Since we're not doing a retrieval session, this appointment probably won't be as long."
Aaron shook his head. "No, I don't think so. I talked about Talia and Serena, and my weird dreams. That's about all I had."
Both Aaron and Dr. Carter stood at the same time, and smiled at each other. Dr. Carter reached her hand out to shake Aaron's, which he happily accepted. "I suspect you are on the verge of something great, Aaron. I look forward to meeting the real you. The "whole" you."
"I do too, Dr. Carter." Aaron said with a grin. "I'll see you soon?"
Dr. Carter nodded as she let go of Aaron's hand and opened the door to her office. "Yes, you will. I look forward to it."
Aaron left the room and went up to the receptionist after one final wave to the doctor. He scheduled his appointment for the following Monday once more, and left the building. His walk back to his apartment was filled with positive thoughts and hope for the future. True to Dr. Carter's words, Aaron too felt like he was on the verge of something great. It was just a matter of figuring out what it was
Saturday morning.
The next day
The Lumiose City airport was always busy, it seemed. It made sense, since it was the largest airport in the region, and generally was where most international traffic came in and out between Kalos and other regions. For regular passengers though, large crowds were more of an inconvenience than a sign of Kalos' bustling tourism industry.
Brock rubbed his eyes, wishing that he had the chance to sleep a bit longer than he was able to. Although it was the morning, the sun had yet to rise to a decent place in the sky, a sign of the winter getting closer with each day. It was even snowing lightly. The first official snow of the year. Dropping his bag on the ground, Brock turned around and met the sad smiles of his friends, Misty, Clemont, and Serena. Pikachu was on Serena's shoulder, just like how he used to do for Ash all those years ago. The two Kalosians had decided to see them off on their flight back to Kanto, and willingly woke up early. It was something that Brock made sure to thank them for several times.
Misty put her suitcase to her side as well and sighed. They had arrived at their terminal, and people were gathering for the flight back to Kanto with increasing numbers. "Well…this is it, guys…" She said, a wistful tone in her voice.
"Thanks for coming on such short notice and taking a week out of your lives to help us look for Ash…" Clemont said, looking his friends in the eye. "We couldn't have covered that much ground without you."
"I just wish we came up with some evidence this time." Brock said, putting his hand on his chin. "I know Lumiose City is a big place, but I had hoped that we would be able to find something."
Serena sighed. "Yeah, I had hoped that to. I won't be giving up though. Clemont and I are going to continue the search for a bit longer after today."
Misty smiled. "I expect nothing less of you two. We may have been his first traveling friends, but you were his last ones. It was really nice getting to know both of you over the years."
"It has been." Serena replied, tucking her hair behind her ears then and adjusting her hat. It was her old pink fedora from back when she traveled with Ash. She hadn't worn it in years, but decided to break it out again for old times' sake in seeing off her two friends to Kanto. "I hope that your trip to Kalos was good, despite us not finding Ash again."
Brock chuckled. "Yeah, it was pretty good, other than that. We even got to eat out at a great restaurant last night!"
"Oh yeah!" Serena exclaimed. "I forgot you three had gone there. How was it?"
"The food was great," Clemont replied. "It was a little different than I remembered, but that's because my dad's friend Albern said his assistant chef, Aaron, cooked it instead of him."
Misty put her finger on her chin. "We never did meet that Aaron guy. The waitress was pretty adamant that he knew us, too."
"Really?" Serena asked. "Did she say how?"
"Yeah, she did." Clemont said. "It was an odd interaction, for sure…"
Flashback
Clemont stood in Restaurant Le Yeah, patiently waiting for Brock and Misty to catch up. Apparently, Brock had gotten distracted by a woman, like usual, and Misty had to go reel him in. While he was waiting, Clemont was simply taking in the sights of the restaurant. It had been years since he was last in here, but other than a few modernizing design changes, it looked about the same.
After a few moments, Misty and Brock opened the door to the restaurant, the little bell ringing on top of the door to signify to the staff that a customer had arrived. Misty let go of Brock's ear, as she had presumably dragged him to the building, and crossed her arms, obviously displeased. Clemont adjusted his glasses just as he turned around to see the waitress from yesterday wave at them.
"Hey! Good to see you three again!" Talia said, walking over quickly. "How are you doing?"
Everyone smiled back. "We're doing good," Clemont replied, putting on his formal voice. "I love what Yannick has done with this place. It's been a long time since I've been here."
Talia winked. "Well, I hope it's just as good as you remember. Clemont, right?"
Clemont nodded, and Talia continued smiling. "Well, I'll lead you to your table, if you'll follow me!"
Wordlessly, everyone followed Talia as she weaved through tables, and she set down sets of silverware and menus that were in her hands on the table. Taking their seats, everyone immediately began to look over the menu as Talia beamed.
"Can I get you anything to drink to start off?"
"I'll just have a water." Clemont said quickly, turning over the menu to get a look at the entire thing for a moment.
Misty and Brock agreed, and requested the same thing, and Talia wrote their requests down on her pad of paper. With a smile, she was about to walk away when Clemont called for her to return.
"Hey Talia!" Clemont said as she turned around. "Does Albern still cook here?"
Talia nodded. "Yeah he does! Although he has an assistant now that helps with most of the meals. He still is the main chef though." She cocked her head. "Did you know him at one point?"
Clemont played with his silverware while he was talking. "Yeah, he used to host cooking workshops on the weekends when I was a little kid. My dad used to go to those and he and Albern became good friends." He chuckled awkwardly then. "Those workshops were actually where I learned how to cook! It's been a long time since we've seen Albern though, since my dad has gotten caught up in his business and I'm juggling gym leader responsibilities."
"Oh!" Talia replied. "I think I've heard Al mention those workshops once or twice. Good to know that they worked though, if they taught you how to cook!"
"I bet my cooking would be a lot better if I was formally taught." Brock said with a laugh. "I'm mostly self-taught."
"Each person has their own story on how they learned how to cook." Talia said, before waiting for a response. When she got none, she walked away with a bow of her head back to the kitchen, disappearing behind the door.
Both Misty and Brock looked at Clemont then and they began to discuss the events of the day. They came up with no further evidence of Ash, and it seemed like most of the people they had encountered had at least heard or seen the several radio and tv messages that Professor Sycamore had so generously made to help with the search. Someone was bound to have seen Ash by this point, if he was around.
A few minutes later, Talia burst through the kitchen doors dramatically, and fast-walked over to their table. She still held her great grin, but something seemed different about her this time. She gave everyone their cups of water and pulled out her pen again.
"Hey guys, did you find what you wanted to order today?"
"Yes, actually." Clemont responded as he gathered up everyone's menus. "We'd actually like to have today's special. We simply couldn't decide on what to get!"
Talia laughed, writing this down on her pad of paper, before glancing briefly back towards the kitchen for a split-second. "Hey Clemont," She said, gathering his attention. "You mentioned that you knew Albern? Well, it seems that our assistant chef knows you too." She pointed then at Brock and Misty. "And he knows you two as well."
Confused, all three of the friends looked at each other. "Really?" Misty asked. "I don't think we know anyone in Kalos other than Serena, Brock, Sycamore, Bonnie, and Clemont."
"His name is Aaron," Talia said, tapping her pen on her pad of paper. "He insists that he knows you three, and requests to meet all of you with Albern when you've concluded eating. He'll actually be the one cooking for you today, too."
Brock shrugged. "Well, if this Aaron guy insists that he knows us, I guess we could meet him?"
"Great!" Talia said as she took the menus, and she walked back towards the kitchen quickly again.
"That was weird." Misty commented, squinting at the door Talia just disappeared behind. "I wonder who Aaron is?"
"I'm not sure. I don't know any Aarons". Clemont replied as he took a sip of his water.
They waited a bit for their food to come, passing the time by idly chatting about events around the regions of Kanto and Kalos, and catching up on what Ash's other friends had been doing in the meantime. Not much time passed, and Talia returned with their food. Eager to eat after a long day of searching the city, they wasted no time in digging in. They thanked Talia, who bowed again, and she went off to the kitchen. The food was delicious, and Brock and Misty swore that they'd come back to the restaurant next time they were in Kalos for any reason. Talia eventually returned and began to gather up their dirty dishes.
"You're all welcome into the kitchen to meet Albern and Aaron, if you'd like." She said, balancing the plates in her hand.
"Sure!" Everyone agreed, and they all stood up to stretch. Talia beckoned for them to follow her as she began her walk back to the kitchen. Briefly, Clemont, Brock, and Misty all saw a flash of black hair through the fogged window of the kitchen door, but it disappeared in less than a second. As they were almost to the kitchen door, eager to see this mysterious Aaron-figure, they heard a loud crash. The crash sounded like something had fallen on top of a mountain of metal cooking equipment. Surprised, Talia set the dirty dishes aside and raced into the kitchen, while the three friends simply stood outside the door, not wanting to interrupt whatever was happening inside. They heard loud talking, and a call for someone to get a wet rag to help with Aaron. Whatever had happened, it probably wasn't good. After almost a minute of awkwardly staring and glancing at each other, Albern finally appeared by coming through the door. He took one look at Clemont, and his worried face turned upward into a great smile.
"Clemont! My boy! Wow, you've grown up!" He said while bringing the blonde into a tight embrace.
"Good to see you too, Albern!" Clemont said, returning the hug.
Albern seemed to avoid talking about Aaron, just mentioning that he had an accident in the kitchen, and that he wouldn't be able to meet anyone for the time being. Misty, Brock, and Clemont were all disappointed by this, but understood. Albern was a nice man, and he was easy to talk to. Soon enough, he had to get back to work, and everyone bid their goodbyes. They paid, and left the restaurant, wondering who the Aaron fellow was, and what had happened to him...
Present day
"Apparently Aaron had collapsed for some reason, and Albern said it was alright if we saw him another time, if that was okay." Clemont said, shrugging his shoulders. "The food was great, Talia and Albern were really nice, but I still can't get over how Aaron would have known us."
"That's certainly an odd story." Serena replied, looking at her friends. "I don't think I know anyone who works at that restaurant, or anyone named Aaron."
"That's what we said!" Brock added.
"Maybe we could go back later today for lunch or something?" Clemont said, looking over at Serena with a smile. "For all we know, Aaron could actually be Ash!"
Serena chuckled. "That would definitely be funny, but I'm not getting my hopes up for that one!" She replied with a joking tone. "I'm free this afternoon. We can definitely head there for lunch! If it's as great as you three said it was, then I'm definitely up to try it!"
Clemont nodded, and then looked back at Brock and Misty. "Thanks again for coming, guys. I hope you have a safe flight, once more."
Brock brought Clemont in for a hug and Misty did the same for Serena. They both petted Pikachu on the head and said goodbye to him too. Clemont mentioned having to get a few things done before going out to lunch later that day, and Serena said that she had to make herself look more presentable. She was going to make the visit to the restaurant "Kalos Queen official". She found that whenever she went to a business and the paparazzi were involved, people would often go to those places more. She figured she'd help out Restaurant Le Yeah by doing that for them. With a wave, the parties separated, all thinking about Aaron and how he could possibly have known them. More importantly, they were thinking about who he was…
Here we are at the end of another chapter. Bit of a filler chapter meant to show just a few things. Took a bit longer to get this one out, and not my best work, I know. Sorry about that. This chapter is officially the last chapter before an official reunion though. Next chapter, Ash (Aaron) finally sees people from his past. Been looking forward to that for a while, but I didn't want to rush things before we got there. I wanted to have one last therapy session (even if it didn't have a memory retrieval) before he met with some of his old friends again. Has to be believable, you know? Can't just have all the physical maladies like headaches and the like just disappearing right when its convenient.
Thanks to everyone who has made it this far! Thanks to those who have reviewed/followed/favorited as well. I appreciate it. I'll see you next chapter!
Twilly