Okay. I'll admit this is taking longer than expected...

CH3 (Day 2-3)
= Dave: Start the journey
We head out at the crack of dawn. Rose sends us of with her best wishes, but Roxy has a much more lengthy message she wishes for me to send to Dirk.
"Are you going to-?"
"Hell no." The cutie giggles. If he wasn't so darn cute I would have found that incredible off-putting. "If she truly wants some Strider attention she should be willing to put in the extra effort to show how she feels."
"..." He suddenly fell silent. I look at him and raise an eyebrow to his reaction. It looks like he's trying to concentrate hard on something.
"What is it? Don't be afraid to speak to me about anything."
"Uh- how did you-?"
"You're not that hard to understand y'know sweet cheeks." He gives me a confused look.
"I thought my nickname was Cutie?" I couldn't help it.
"Y-yeah."
"Why are you laughing?" The pout he gives me only spurs me on.

About nine hours went by when the cutie ended up dozing off. I had him lay in the back in which he covered himself with a blanket. Some time after that two people on horseback came riding from the opposite direction. Or perpendicular I guess. They burst out of the woods about four feet in front of Lil' Hal which didn't bode well with him. He let out a gruff and stern huff at the other horses. The people were taken aback for a moment before coming to a halt in front of us. They were both female. One of them actually looked a little sheepish while the other had on a calm expression.
"Sorry about that. We're just in a bit of a hurry." Weirdly enough they were both covered head to toe in clothing. It was afternoon, but it wasn't that cold outside. I nod in response and they take off again. I look at them leave for a moment and see certain symbols on the back of their clothing. A red Aries sign and a green Virgo sign. Something about them is a bit unnerving. Oh well.
The cutie woke up an hour later and spent his time looking at every bit of road we passed. It was almost as if he had never seen the wilderness before. Which is most likely du to his ;loss of memory. After all, it couldn't be that he has never left home right?
= Dave: Set up for the night
Five hours later and I decide that Lil' Hal has walked far enough. Not that the constant stops that we take are enough to satisfy him. He just likes being on the road. If it wasn't for the cart and his breaks the journey may take much less time.
I had the cutie go collect some firewood while I set up for the night. After an hour I realize that there is a pile of wood nearby but the cutie is nowhere to be seen. I go in the direction of where I believe he went and-
Then I hear a wolf howl. I freeze. There weren't suppose to be any in this side of woods at this time of year. It must be a stray. I don't know what pushes me forward, but I traverse through some bushes and I see a grey wolf. It's in a defensive stance. And in front of it was the cutie. I clutch my sword and I'm about to step out of the bush when the cutie takes a step forward. Is he crazy!? It seems that even the wolf finds this weird as it seems to lower its guard down. Then he takes another step towards the wolf. It takes a step back and he stops moving in response. He gets down one knee and reaches his left hand out. The wolf slowly approaches him and sniffs at his hand. It stands upright and then circles the boy before running back off in to the forest.
"How did you do that? What did you do?" I step out of the foliage and notice that he's missing his glasses. He seems to have dropped them before I found him. That and his eyes are dull and glazed over with what seems is bewilderment. He gradually moves himself to kneel on both knees and then plops down on the ground.
"I-I just knew..." He stutters out in disbelief of what he did.

= John: Realize that you could have potentially been mauled alive
It...it didn't want to fight. It was just as scared as I was. It was looking for someone. I'm looking for someone...
I hear the rustling of leaves nearby, but at the sound of Dave's voice I know that it isn't anything dangerous.
"How did you do that? What did you do?" He asks me but sadly I don't know what to say. I don't even know what just happened. I just did it...as if I had done it before. But how? Who taught me that that was what I had to do?
"I-I just knew..." That was dangerous. Whatever the heck it was that I just pulled off was incredibly dangerous, but it also filled me up with this weird sense of conformation and excitement.

Dave led me back to where we left Lil' Hal and thankfully didn't question me any further. Not as if I could answer him anyways. I laid down a bit away from Dave and looked up the sky. I don't know what it is about being quite a distance away from civilization that makes me proud of myself. But there's this unnerving feeling that I'm forgetting something important. Something really urgent...

"I'm so proud of you..." What? "You learned so quickly" I hear a deep voice say to me as a big, warm hand is placed on my head as they proceed to shuffle my hair. "It took Jane over three years to even gather the courage to approach a wolf" I feel a broad smile upon my face as I felt so proud of myself. I wanted this person's acknowledgment so much. I felt safe beside him. I trusted everyone of his decisions. The tall figure bends down and engulfs me in his arms. "I am so proud of you John." John, my name. Its John!
I reach out to hug the figure back. "Thanks d-"
But then he is gone.
I look around and I'm back in the forest. Far away from the figure. Far away from the security that they gave me. The warmth is gone. Everything is gone...

= Dave: Wake up the cutie
I am awoken by the guttural cries of my friend. His eyes are firmly shut, but its as if he's searching for something. He's waving his arms around grasping at the air as he chokes out the words "Come back"
I grab him by his shoulders and shake him awake. "Wake up. C'mon, get up." He wakes up and through his sobs he coughs out my name "D-Dave!" and he throws his arms around me. We end up falling asleep in each other's arms.

= Dave: Be John
I wake up in Dave's arms and let out an unmanly squeak. (No scratch that it was manly... or as manly as one can be at least)
"You up Cutie?" I am pulled closer to Dave's chest and I let out another more high pitched squeak. I can feel his lips on my head curve into a smile. I can feel the same warmth that I felt in my dream as I lay there in his arms. Then I remember something.
"Dave!" I get up so that I'm above Dave.
Dave raises an eyebrow, wait...is he still hiding his eyes? "Yes?"
"I remembered my name!"
"Huh? How?"
"It's John! I heard someone call me it when I was sleeping and now I recall it being John!" Dave sits up and I move to sit by his side. I'm literally bouncing as I continue to tell Dave of everything that I remembered because of the dream. "That thing that happened yesterday was something that I was taught by this person!"
"Someone taught you that?"
"That's what I just said! I learned it when I was younger from someone!"
"From who exactly?" At this I stopped moving and my eye widen.
"I don't know..." Dave is about to say something when I continue "...but I know that they were important. And that I was important to them."

= John: Change perspective
John. Hmm, the name suites him.
"Someone taught you that?" I say in disbelief cause who in the word taught him to tame a wolf.
"That's what I just said! I learned it when I was younger from someone!" Someone? So he outright tells me his name, but his teacher remains nameless? I'm confused...does he trust me or does he not?
"From who exactly?" John freezes up.
"I don't know..." Oh. Well, one thing at a time is okay. Just as I'm about to tell him so he continues "...but I know that they were important. And that I was important to them." John looks of in the distance as if remembering something else.
"well at least we know someone is looking for you. Now c'mon we have a long trip ahead of us."

The rest of the day goes on almost exactly like yesterday except that we don't run into any frantic women on horseback. At least its not as boring to traverse the terrain with John by my side. You know what, I think I prefer calling him Cutie.
"You okay there Cutie?"
"Dave! my name is John! J-o-h-n!"
"Fine then Cutie can be your last name."
"Dave!"
"John Cutie. Its perfect"

That night we set up camp again, but this time there was a stream nearby in which John decided to bathe alone; he was much to shy to do so with me. There were no more wolf interactions and John didn't have another memory dream. But John cuddled into me while he slept. Whether he knew he was doing or not didn't matter. He was just so cute.

I woke up early and headed towards the stream to take clean myself. I didn't hear him when he drew close, but when I turned around I came face to face with John. I quickly turned away and proceeded to place them back on as John began to profusely apologize and covered his own eyes. Oh right. I'm buck bared naked. And besides his innocent little mind its surprising that he's so hung up on being modest. He probably didn't see my eyes or if the event with the wolf wasn't a fluke then the kid was actually quite fearless. I get changed and return back to Lil' Hal to head back home. Its about a mile or two from home when John suddenly speaks up. Though he says it with a small voice I still catch it.
"Your eyes are red." And I swore my stomach dropped in distress.
"I like them. Reminds me of a garnet."
Wait. What?

= Dave: Question the boy
"Do you even know what a garnet is?"
John looks straight at me and with childlike honesty responds "Nope! but I'm guessing they're beautiful and vibrant like your eyes!" Damn this kid is smooth.
"If you keep saying such things I'll end up falling for you."
"What?"
"Nothing." I look away as I feel my face heat up a little. The blush is small and unnoticeable, but I can hear my heartbeat increase in speed.