EPILOGUE

Jeremie walked half-heartedly down the street, kicking at a can.
He'd skipped school and snuck out, unable to bear the thought of having to attend all the classes he and Aelita had with her empty seat next to him.
He rounded a corner, and found himself staring up past a gate at The Hermitage, back to it's normal, pristine form.
He stood and stared at the house which they'd all worked so hard one, remembering with a sad smile all the laughs and jokes they'd had while sweating and groaning in the heat as they'd hammered, painted and polished the house back to almost new.
Sighing, he turned to leave when a sudden chill ran up his spine.
Spinning around he looked up at the house again, frowning.
Slowly, he opened the gate and walked up the road to the stairs, and then up the stairs to the door.
"Hello?" he asked as he opened the door.
"Hmm, wasn't the door suppose to be locked?" he thought, carefully walking into the quiet house. "Hello, is anyone here?" he asked again as he walked into the living room...
...and froze as someone, a kid, ran from one of the chairs to hide behind the couch.
"Hey, whose there?" he asked as he walked up to the couch.
"Please, don't hurt!" the kid, a girl by the sound of it, cried out, her voice muffled by the couch. "Don't worry, I won't" Jeremie said, stopping a few feet away.
"Promise?"
"I promise" Jeremie said, trying to sound as kind as possible.
"So, would you please come out of there?"
"Ok" the girl said, standing up.
And Jeremie gasped.
"Aelita?"
"Who?" the girl asked, staring at him in confusion with her large green eyes, her pink hair looking slightly wild and ruffled, like she'd a bad case of bed head, her pink skirt, white shirt and long sleeve reddish jacket looking very wrinkled.
"Aelita?" Jeremie asked, stepping up closer.
"Uh, sorry, no, I don't know who that is" the girl said timidly, blinking at Jeremie.
"Oh. Oh!" Jeremie gasped as he realised who she was.
I'm going to merge us back together as one
Jeremie's heart thudded hard and fast in his chest as he looked on the girl who was neither Aelita nor Taelia yet both of them as one.
"So that's why she doesn't remember" he thought, a lump in his throat.
"So, uh..."
"Oh, sorry, I don't have a name. Or one that I can remember" she said, shyly.
"But there is a name that keeps on popping into my head"
"Yeah?"
"Lea"
"Lea" Jeremie said, smiling.
"Well Lea, I don't know how you got in the house, or how you lost your memory, but I promise my friends and I'll do everything we can to help you"
"Oh, really?" Lea asked, smiling.
Jeremie nodded.

As they walked out of the house Lea suddenly stopped at the stairs and stared at Jeremie. "What?" Jeremie asked, blushing slightly as she just stared at him.
"I don't know... I just..." She leaned forward and kissed him.
"Oh!" she gasped, blushing, "I'm sorry, I don't know why-"
"It's ok" Jeremie said, smiling.
Lea smiled shyly. "Sorry, but it just seemed so... familiar"
"I know" Jeremie said, swallowing a lump in his throat.
And as they walked down the road to the gate and out, neither one of them made any comment on the fact that they were holding hands the whole way.

THE END