Chapter One: Good Morning!
"Hello?"
The little bear's bright amber eyes slowly slid open upon hearing that little girl's voice. She quietly groaned in discomfort as her stomach swam and a wave of nausea washed over the white and orange bear, immediately followed by a sharp searing pain that shot down her throat and down her embroidered stomach. The bear shot up, instinctively grabbing her throat as she attempted to cry out in shock and pain, but she released no noise as more searing hot agony ran through her throat and once again shot through her stomach. She clenched her teeth tightly, to keep herself from trying to make more noise, she just wanted it to stop hurting.
"Oh dear!" She heard the little girl gasp in fear and concern, "Are you okay?"
The bear felt the girl place a hand on her back, in an attempt to keep her up right. Pain filled tears stung the white and orange bear's amber eyes as the pain slowly faded to a dull throb. She turned her tear blurred gaze to the girl who was attempting to help her, which the bear appreciated.
Sitting next to her was a little girl, who looked no older than ten or maybe thirteen, it was a bit hard to tell. The girl had long golden blond hair that was tied into a loose braid and decorated with beetle and butterfly barrettes, her dark brown pools were filled with concern as the girl stared at her.
"Are you alright?" The girl asked the white and orange bear again, slightly tilting her head to the side.
The bear nodded and was about to try to speak, but remembered the searing pain in her throat only moments ago and decided against it.
The girl's dark brown eyes narrowed at her, skeptically, "Are you sure? You looked like you were hurting."
The bear silently sighed, and brought a paw to her throat and softly rubbed it, it did nothing to sooth the painful throbbing in her vocal cords but it got the point across to the girl.
"Your throat hurts?" The girl asked, scooching closer to the white and orange bear to inspect her throat.
The bear would have nodded if the girl hadn't had her mouth forced open so the girl could see inside. She looked around the bear's mouth, carefully inspecting her teeth before drawing closer to attempt to look down her throat. The girl soon let the bear go after finding that, surprisingly, the bear's throat wasn't inflamed or anything like that and backed up.
"So, what's your name?" The girl asked her, tilting her head to the side again as she took the bear's orange paw to get a closer look at it, "I'm Valarie." She said, gesturing to herself with the bear's paw.
The bear was going to try and answer, only to realize she didn't know the answer to her question. What was her name? Who was she? Heck, what was she? The bear looked down at the ground in thought as she found herself asking… well, herself questions she should already know the answers to. She knew nothing about herself, but… why? She looked back up at Valarie, expressing a confused look on her face and shrugged.
"You don't know your own name?" She set the bear's paw down and gave the white and orange bear a concerned look.
The bear shook her head.
"You don't know anything about yourself, do you?" Valarie asked, her tone sad and a bit confused.
The bear once again shook her head, she didn't know anything, she was just as confused as the girl.
Valarie's dark brown gaze shifted away from the confused white bear in thought, trying to figure out what to do with this odd looking… Polar bear? She looked like a polar bear with the white fur, though her orange feet and left paw were odd for a polar bear. It made her look like she was wearing socks and a glove. And as far as Valarie knew, bears around here did not have pictures on their stomachs.
Anyway, it didn't matter what kind of bear she was. What did matter was the fact that she was hurt and could clearly understand her, but couldn't speak. What was she going to do with this odd bear?
Well one thing was for certain: Valarie couldn't leave her here. What if someone else found her and took her away to do something bad to her? A bear like this could sell for millions and who knows what those people would do to her if they had her!
Valarie shifted her brown eyes back to the bear and stood up, offering her hand to help the polar bear up. "Come on, it'll be safer at my house."
The little bear seemed hesitant to take her hand, but considering she had nowhere else to go, what choice did she have and besides, Valarie seemed trustworthy enough. She might be able to help her remember who she was! And if not, at least she'll have a new friend, right?
With a thankful smile, the bear took Valarie's hand and allowed her to help her up.
As the bear stood up, she found that her body was very stiff, simply straightening out her back hurt a bit and caused several joints to crack. Jeez how long had she been out, how long had she been here? And why was she in the middle of a tall grassy field, how did she get here? Why was she here?
She had so many questions, none of which she had the answers to. But at the same time, it made her wonder, did she even want answers. What if there was a reason she didn't know anything, a very good reason. Should she even try to get her memories back… if she had any to begin with.
Valarie led the bear through the tall grassy field, holding her paw the whole way, so she didn't lose her in the tall grass. It didn't take her long to get to her house, considering the grassy field was part of her quite large back yard, which led to a fairly large, rustic looking cabin. Valarie led the bear through the yard and into the house through the back door.
The bear's bright amber eyes scanned the room as she entered it. She knew what the room was the moment she looked at it, it was a kitchen. She also knew what most of the stuff in the room was, like the refrigerator, the oven, the mixer, the microwave. Though she wasn't sure how she knew, maybe someday she'd find out.
Valarie led the bear to the living room, where she told the bear to sit down on the couch. The bear watched as the girl walked over to the staircase, she stopped at the first step.
"Willy! Come down quick!" She called up the stairs, "You're not gonna believe what I found outside!"
There was the sound of a wooden door creaking open from the second floor, followed by the sound of floorboards creaking as Will stepped out of his room and stopped at the top of the stairs, "Vally, shouldn't you be doing your homework?" The bear heard the boy respond.
Valarie groaned in disdain at the idea, "Ugh, but it's sooooo boring!" The girl whined.
"So, you know what grandpa Vern always says." The boy called down.
The girl rolled her dark brown eyes as she replied, "Education is important, I know. But you've gotta come down here and see what I found!"
The bear heard the boy sigh and begin to descend the stairs. Stepping onto the last step was a boy that looked a lot like Valarie, from his bright blond hair to his muddy brown eyes. The only difference was the length of his hair, which was shoulder length.
"What did you find, Valarie?" The boy asked, his arms crossed as he narrowed his eyes skeptically at his sister.
The girl smiled and excitedly skipped over to the white and orange bear, Valarie helped the bear off the couch and brought her over to meet her brother. Willy's eyes widened in shock at the little white and orange bear that stood before the final step of the staircase. His sister's smile grew as she introduced the odd looking orange and white bear.
"I found her asleep in the field, she can't talk and she doesn't remember her name either." Valarie explained, to which the bear nodded, trying to vouch for her story.
The boy stepped off the last step, getting closer to the bear so he could inspect the odd looking bear, "Is she some sort of weird polar bear?" Willy asked, glancing at his twin.
"I'm pretty sure," Valarie held the bear's head and rubbed her cheeks, fluffing up the white fur on her cheeks, "Look at her, she's bear shaped." The girl exclaimed. The bear couldn't help but silently giggle at the comment.
"She's the strangest bear I've ever seen," Willy replied, "Why do you have a weird looking snowflake on your stomach?" He asked the bear, looking back at her.
Valarie peered at the bear's embroidered stomach for a moment before commenting, "It kinda looks like a bat."
The bear shrugged, she wasn't sure why there was a bat shaped snowflake embroidered on her stomach. Perhaps it could be a clue to who she once was? Maybe one day she'd find out, well if she wanted to find out anything at all.
The boy's muddy brown gaze shifted away from the odd bear in thought. After a moment, he ran back up the stairs, his feet thumping against the wooden stairs and through the carpeted upstairs hallway. The bear glanced at Valarie in confusion, who shrugged, just as confused as she was. What was he doing?
Willy soon came back down carrying what appeared to be a black and white notebook and a newly sharpened pencil. He handed the two items to the white and orange bear and asked, "You know how to write, don't you?"
The bear thought for a moment… Did she know how to write? She figured she must have before she lost her memories, she guessed she was going to find out. The bear shrugged, but took the notebook anyway. She opened it to the first page and wrote down her answer to Willy's previous question.
'I have no idea why I have a bat shaped snowflake on my stomach, honestly I don't know anything about me. I can't remember a thing.'
The bear handed the boy the notebook allowing him to read what she had written, "So you do know how to write, that's good." He murmured to himself as he skimmed the note she had written.
Valarie peered over her brother's shoulder, wanting to read what the bear had written. The girl's dark brown eyes swept over the page before turning back to the little bear, "Maybe we can help you remember!" The girl suggested, with an excited smile.
The little white and orange bear gave the girl a thankful smile, before turning to the boy and silently asking for the notebook back. Willy gave her the book back, both children looking over the bear's shoulder wanting to see what she was going to say.
'Thanks both of you. But how are we going to get me to remember anything?'
To that the two shrugged. They weren't sure how to help someone with amnesia, then again they had never met anyone who had amnesia. So what were they going to do?
"We could ask Mom." Valarie suggested, "Mom was a p- psych- cholo- gIst?" The girl struggled to say the word, but she managed, "Maybe he could tell us something."
Willy nodded in agreement. It was true, their mom was a therapist, maybe she could help, "Maybe, we'll have to wait for Momma to get home." The boy stated, "In the meantime, you can stay here, since you have nowhere else to go."
The bear nodded and smiled at the twins thankfully, she was extremely lucky to have found these two, they were the sweetest. Though she could only hope that they could help her get her memories back, for now however, she was happy living in the moment. She didn't have to remember anything right away, perhaps living with these two could help her remember some things. But of course only time would tell.
...0o0…
The next few hours were uneventful. The twins had mostly spent the whole time asking their new friend questions, mostly to see if anything they asked could help the bear remember anything. They didn't of course, but it was worth a shot. However, their conversation soon drifted from asking and answering questions to trying to decide on a name for their new friend. The twins wanted something to call her and since she didn't remember her original name, if she even had an original name, they decided to try and think of a new name for her and if they were lucky maybe one of the names might trigger something in the bear's memories.
They had gone through all the winter or snow related names they could come up with off the top of their heads. Snowball, Snowflake, Winter, Holly, Valarie had suggested Snowbell, which while it did sound pretty, the bear had turned it down with the claim that it didn't sound right, that and Valarie had said she had wanted to use that name for her future cat, she didn't want to take a name that Valarie had already wanted to use. They had also gone through autumn or halloween themed names, but after they had exhausted all the names they could think of, Will had decided to go to their mothers computer, which sat on a mahogany desk in the corner of their mothers office, to look up names and read them out one by one to let the bear decide which one she liked best.
"There's North," Will said, looking over at the orange and white bear that watched the computer screen on the right side of the computer chair, "It's a pretty popular name, nowadays."
The bear thought for a moment, before shaking her head. Again, while it was a pretty name, she just felt it didn't fit.
"Oh, what about Noelle?" Valarie pointed at the name that appeared on the computer screen as Will scrolled up.
The bear once again shook her head, that name didn't sound right either.
"We could call you October or December." Will suggested, looking over at the bear, sighing as she shook her head again, "Come on, there's got to be at least one name on here you like."
The bear shrugged and gave him an apologetic look as she watched the page scroll up. She placed her cheek onto her orange paw, looking at each name that scrolled past. Before she found a name that she really liked. The bear perked up at the sight of it and pointed at the name on the screen. Something about it sounded familiar, but she wasn't sure why.
"Lumi?" Valarie questioned with a light giggle, "It's cute! I like it!"
"Well, at least it's something." Will smiled, as he closed out the page and pushed himself away from the computer, "Nice to officially meet you, Lumi." He greeted the white and orange bear, holding out his hand for a hand shake. The bear smiled back happily and took the boy's hand.
The sound of a sharp squeal from the living room made the three perk up. Lumi looked over at Will while Valarie excitedly ran to the bedroom door. She gave the boy a slightly confused look as he slipped out of the computer chair.
"Mom's home." Will told her simply, "Come on, we've gotta introduce you to her."
Lumi followed Will out of the room, she trailed closely behind him as they entered the living room where their mother was just walking in. She let out an exasperated groan as she kicked off a pair of light pink high heels and set a laptop case onto a wooden coffee table next to the door. She then stepped deeper into the house and smiled tiredly upon seeing her son and daughter. Lumi peered out from behind Will and curiously watched the tallish woman with shoulder length strawberry blond hair bend down to hug Valarie.
"Did you finish your homework already, Vally!" She asked, her voice low and slightly raspy, like she had been talking loudly all day.
Valarie looked down before murmuring, "Not yet… But I have a good reason! We met a new friend!"
The woman stood, her tired smile slowly fading, "New friend or not, you still should have done your homework."
"I know," Valarie said as she quickly turned to Will and Lumi, "I'll get to it when you meet our new friend!" She exclaimed, trotting over and taking Lumi's paw.
The woman sighed, "Alright, lets see this… friend…" She trailed off as Valarie led Lumi closer to her mother. The bear swore the woman's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates upon seeing her, "What is that?"
"Her name is Lumi!" Valarie smiled, gently pushing the bear forward, "She's very nice and needs our help."
"Does she now?" The woman hesitated as she stared at the white and orange bear, "Help with what?"
It was Will who responded this time, stepping up besides Lumi and his sister, "Valarie found her in the field outside," He told his mother, pointing at the backdoor, "She can't talk and apparently has no memory as to what happened to her." The boy explained, "Didn't even remember her original name."
The woman stared at Lumi for a moment longer before sighing, she closed her eyes and rubbed her head like she had a bad headache, "Ugh, I'm too tired for this." She groaned, walking past the three on her way to the kitchen, "You three want pizza or chinese?" She asked, pulling a cell phone out of her pocket, "I don't feel like cooking for four tonight."
"Oh! Pizza!" Valarie immediately shouted, happily grabbing Lumi's paw to drag her into the kitchen, "What do you think, Lumi?" The girl asked, looking over at the white and orange bear.
Lumi could only shrug, given that she didn't know what a pizza was and if she did, she didn't remember. Though she couldn't help but wonder if maybe a pizza could help her remember something.
Will smiled and followed Lumi and his sister into the kitchen, "I'd like some pizza."
"Great, glad to hear a unanimous answer for once." The woman sighed as she dialed a number that was stuck to the fridge via a turtle shaped magnet.
Lumi hopped up onto one of the chairs next to Valarie, watching as Will sat down across from them and their mother talked to somebody on the phone. The little bear couldn't help but look down at her paws, she knew this family was accepting her with open arms but for some reason she felt out of place. Then again she was an apparently odd looking bear surrounded by much taller, less fuzzy creatures.
She liked it here though, it was nice. And so far, the twins mother was pretty nice, despite how grouchy she was acting. Though Lumi wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt, she probably had a hard day at work and was just a bit tired, was all. Perhaps as time went on, she'd feel more in place. It's not like she had anywhere else to go anyway.
Soon the woman hung up with whoever she was talking to on the phone, she set the phone down on the island counter that sat in the center of the kitchen before shifting her attention to Lumi and the twins
"So, you kids found this bear in the backyard." She asked, to which the twins nodded.
"Yup!" Valarie exclaimed, "She was asleep in the field out back."
"Okay, what did you say her name was?"
"Lumi!" Valarie once again responded, "She picked it out herself because she can't remember her original name."
"You have amnesia then?" She asked Lumi this time, who nodded, "That's lovely. And you can't talk either."
Again Lumi nodded, before flipping open the notebook Will had given her to write something down, "Yeah, it really hurts when I try." The bear handed the notebook to the woman for her to read.
She skimmed the note, then handed it back with another sigh, "Maybe I can see if Samantha can take a look at your throat."
"Oh yeah!" Valarie exclaimed, "Mom's a vet, maybe she can tell us what kind of bear you are!"
Lumi smiled at the suggestion, learning what kind of bear she was the first step to possibly getting her memories back and finding out where she came from. At least she hoped it was, there was no guarantee that Samantha would be able to tell what kind of bear she was, considering she was an odd looking bear, who was to say she was from this world at all. She couldn't be sure until she got her memories back… if she had any to begin with.
"Now as for the whole no memory thing," The woman continued, "I don't have a ton of experience with amnesia cases, but I have dealt with people with memory loss and heavy forgetfulness. So, I can at least try to help you get your memories back." She told the bear as she sat down at the table, "Give me some time to do research on this and we can get started."
The bear smiled gratefully and wrote down another message, "Thank you." Valarie read the message from over Lumi's shoulder and read out what she wrote.
The woman sighed a bit, "In the meantime, I've got to teach you sign language. So you don't have to keep writing your messages in that book." She then hummed in thought, "Though, maybe keeping a journal or a diary would be a good idea in the long run." She spoke under her breath, loud enough for Lumi and the twins to hear.
Valarie gasped in delight, "I've got a spare diary she can use!" She exclaimed with an excited bounce, before turning to Lumi, "So you can write your personal thoughts down without us reading them." The girl whispered to the bear, "You can still use the journal Will gave you to write notes down and stuff though."
Lumi nodded in understanding, that seemed like a good idea. She had already lost her whole memory, she didn't want to forget anything else.
"Now, since you have nowhere to go, Lumi," The woman spoke up again, "You can use the couch tonight until we can get you a spare bed."
Again Lumi gave a nod of understanding, greatly appreciating the woman's kindness, Lumi was already starting to feel very welcomed here. She couldn't wait to see what was in store for her in the future. She smiled and wrote, 'Thank you Miss." Before showing it to the woman.
The woman smiled softly at Lumi, "Name's Alex." She told the bear.
Lumi looked down at what she wrote, quickly erased Miss and replaced it with Alex. Not wanting to forget the woman's name. She also wrote down Will's and Valarie's names as well, just in case.
"Come on Lumi!" Valarie suddenly jumped up, and began to pull on the bear's arm, pulling her along, "Lets go pick out some pillows for you to use while we wait for food!"
Lumi silently giggled as she followed the girl up the stairs, leaving the book on the kitchen table for the time being. As the two went up the stairs, Alex picked up the book that Lumi had left and absentmindedly flipped through the few pages the bear had written in.
"Thanks for letting her stay mom." Will piped up, giving his mother a smile.
Alex smiled back, "I didn't feel like hearing you kids beg." She softly huffed, "And you kids were right, she does need help. Something happened to her and I'm going to find out what." She stated, determined, "I'll do some research, try to find out what bear she is before I take her to see Samantha." Alex added, leaning up against the table.
"Okay, I'm gonna go and keep an eye on Lumi and Vally while I wait for the food to get here." Will told Alex, "You know how Vally can be."
Alex gave her son a nod, "Yeah, might wanna make sure Vally didn't tire the poor bear out." The woman chuckled.
Will giggled as well before leaving the kitchen to run up the stairs. Leaving Alex to think about everything that had happened over the past hour. That bear… something about her was so familiar but she just couldn't put her finger on it. She could only hope that Samantha, or more likely the internet, could help her figure out what kind of creature she was dealing with.
Lumi had to be mythical or magical in some sense, right? No normal bear could walk upright nor did they have odd pictures on their stomachs. Alex couldn't help but wonder if that picture was symbolic, maybe the picture meant something, but she wasn't sure what a snowflake in the shape of a bat meant. Could it be a clue to who or what they were. Maybe it was like cutie marks from that my little pony show the twins liked so much. Well, she supposed there was plenty of time to find out, Lumi would be here for quite a while. It's not like she had anywhere else to go.
This was going to be interesting, she could just feel it.
(A/N): Yet another thing I wrote while I should have been working on other things. I'm sorry, I got a bit too nostalgic and came up with this, I hope you enjoyed it anyway. Please feel free to ask questions about whatever the fuck I'm doing either in the comments or on my tumblr (link in bio) I'll be happy to answer them.