A/N: Sorry for the time lapse, I've been away on a residential and my laptop refused to connect to the wifi there so I've been stranded away from the internet. Somehow I survived. This was originally going to be CamxZac, but in the end I had the need for friendship fluff, so there is a distinct lack of romance. Hope you enjoy, and sorry again for vanishing :)

Prompt: Amnesia (Taken from The Ultimate Fanfic Challenge 200 Prompts)

Setting: Canon, set two months after Cam's Betrayal.

Rating: T

Pairings: Cam and Zac Bromance/Friendship.

Warnings: Angst, hurt/comfort, friendship feels and questionable characterisation. F and S words used once or twice towards the end.

Recommended Listening: Hide and Seek - Imogen Heap

Amnesia

Cam hadn't talked to any of the others in just over two months. Or, more accurately, they hadn't talked to him, despite his best efforts to win back their trust. The problem was, he couldn't see very many good reasons as to why he deserved it.

That didn't matter now though. He didn't care that the mermaids glared at him like he was the scum of the earth if he so much as dared looked at them, or that Zac, his best friend in the whole world, was no longer speaking to him. When he heard about the 'accident' he was over at Ms. Santos's house in an instant.

"Cam," his head teacher greeted him when she opened the front door to find him stood there, forgetting to hate him in her momentary surprise. When she remembered herself, however, she did not glare at him. Instead her brow creased and she looked at him with sympathetic eyes. "You heard about Zac."

"Yes," Cam said quickly, his heart racing in his chest as he panted, having sprinted over.

"Come in," Ms. Santos said gently, standing aside to let him in. He followed her lead, diving into the house and running past her, up the stairs without saying a word. He was finding it hard to string together coherent sentences, his mind still in a state of shock. When his mother had come off of the phone with Dr. Blakely and told him the news, everything had gone blank. All he'd known was he had to do something, had to be there. He had to help.

It was more than that though. If he'd wanted solely to help, he would have rushed to Zac's apartment, wanting to see him and only him. He wasn't being a valiant hero. He was angry.

He found Sirena, Nixie and Lyla all sat together on the sitting room's couch, their knees drawn together, their heads bowed. By the look of it, Ms. Santos had gathered them all to talk to them, but when Cam came into the room their mournful demeanours vanished and they stiffened like dogs catching a scent.

"Girls, please be nice to Cam. He's had a friend get hurt too," Ms. Santos instructed softly, arriving in the doorway seconds later. Lyla and Sirena's shoulders slumped, and what contempt they felt for Cam appeared to be gone, but Nixie remained taut, her gaze piercing Cam.

"Zac's not his friend. He has no right to be here," she said coldly. In the past, the venom in her tone might have wounded Cam, but now it failed to illicit even the slightest sense of hurt.

"Nixie, that's enough," Ms. Santos said sternly, walking round from behind Cam and standing between the two parties. "I know that we've all had our differences, but in light of recent events I fear we cannot afford to remain enemies. Zac's welfare has to be the top priority." She spoke and held herself with the infallible authority that she had trained and honed as a headmistress, but then the mask faltered and she wrapped her arms across her chest, hugging herself, her face distant and sad. "Not only that, but I don't think we have any right to hold grudges. We no longer possess the right to judge."

Finally, Cam found coherency and remembered why he'd come. "What did you do to him?" He demanded, his voice low and dangerous. He looked to Ms. Santos instead of the girls, partially because he held her responsible, partially because he wasn't sure he could control his temper if he looked at the girls. After how they'd treated him, he welcomed the opportunity to hurt them, be it verbally or physically. Zac's so-called 'accident' might push him over the edge.

"We thought we'd found a way to help him, to take away his tail. With Evie breaking up with him because of it, and his grades crippling with all the stress it's caused, Zac's been desperate to lose it. Before you accuse us of forcing him Cam, I can promise you that he more than wanted it. In fact, it was Zac who went away and did the proper research and found out how we could do it. It was his idea." She noticed his rising colour and nodded apologetically. "But I agree, it was our responsibility. We should have known better and stopped him.

"Zac found out that it was possible for the Moon Pool to take away whatever powers it bestowed upon people. Apparently the same incident occurred a few years ago with a girl named Charlotte. She published her story all over the Internet, but naturally she was dismissed as insane. Zac, however, read through her blog anyway and found that she was telling the truth; she knew everything. She'd once had powers, and they had been taken from her by the Moon Pool on the night of the full moon."

"You're telling me that you took advice from the Internet?" Cam questioned flatly in deadpan. "You decided to expose Zac to what you consider an incredibly powerful magical pool on the night that it is most dangerous because the Internet told you to?"

"As I said before Cam, it was Zac's idea. But I did some extra research and found that the concept had grounding."

Silent for a moment, Cam looked between her and the girls, all of who had averted their eyes to the floor, even Nixie. "Did you know?" He asked, his gaze lingering on Nixie for a second before he returned it to Ms. Santos. "Did you know what it would do to him?"

"I knew that it was a possibility," Ms. Santos admitted guiltily, hunching her shoulders over as she hugged herself more tightly. "I read a passage that briefly mentioned memory loss, but I presumed that it meant only those memories that involved mermaids and mermanhood. At worst, I thought it might erase his mind only from the point at which he became a merman and onwards. I never thought-"

"What, that he'd forget everything? That he wouldn't even know who he was?" Cam snapped, cutting her off.

Silence. Ms. Santos looked at the floor, the girls looked at the floor. Cam looked past them and wanted to hit something. "I'm sorry Cam. I should have realised, or done something. Truly, I'm sorry for not stopping him," Ms. Santos apologised, and Cam hated how sincere she sounded. He wanted them to all have been planning this from the start, to be rotten to the core. He wanted to be furious at them. Now all he could feel was a desperate hollowness. Why did nothing ever seem to work out like it should?

"You should go to him Cam," Ms. Santos said gently, stepping forward cautiously so as not to trigger his temper. "The doctors have said that his memory might not be gone entirely, just lying dormant. They-"

"I know. That's why they sent him home. They think that familiar things may trigger his memory and bring everything rushing back, as if nothing ever happened, in one big glorious miracle. But that's not ever really going to happen, is it? That's just what they say when-" he found that he couldn't finish without his voice cracking, and so he just swallowed and scowled, angry at himself as well now.

"Maybe it won't. But all we can do now is try and help, Cam," Ms. Santos said.

She reached forward a tentative hand and caught his elbow, squeezing it to try and comfort him. The girls were all looking at him now, their faces pitiful, waiting for salvation. He didn't know if they wanted a miracle or for him to forgive them, but either way he hated them for it. After everything they'd done to him and what they'd made of his life, how could they expect him to save them?

Ms. Santos gave his arm another quick squeeze, and he looked at her and knew he had to at least try. It wasn't for them though. He had to go there for Zac.

When Cam arrived, there were no obvious indicators that something had changed. Zac's apartment was the same as ever, and inside through the open blinds Cam could see a soft, gentle light aglow. Evening had set in, darkening the sky and turning the horizon into a jagged silhouette, the air pleasantly cold. It would have been a peaceful scene were Zac not waiting inside with no clue as to who he or anyone else was.

Climbing the steps to the porch, Cam knocked hesitantly at the door. Back before Cam's big betrayal, Zac would have just yelled for him to come in. Now, there was no verbal reply, although from behind the door Cam could hear someone shuffling about. A couple of seconds later the door was opened and there stood Zac, his ex-best friend who yesterday had informed him frostily that he hated his guts.

His ex-best friend who hated his guts looked back at him with a glazed, distant expression, his brow creasing into slight frown as he studied Cam's face. He was dressed in a hoodie and sweats, his hair untamed and dark circles ringed his eyes. "Do I know you?" Zac asked slowly, his hand gripping the door tightly as he half-hid behind it. There was a complete lack of recognition in his expression, and his usual boyish confidence had dissolved, his shoulders curled over and his face pale.

"Yeah," Cam said, instantly feeling a hundred times more awkward. It was easier for Zac to hate him than for him to not recognise him at all. "Can I come in?"

"Sure," Zac said, turning around and wandering back into his apartment.

With a sorry, lonesome kind of shuffle rather like that of a kicked dog, Zac retreated back to his bed and sat down on the side of it. He didn't seem to know what to do with himself, glancing around uncertainly and occasionally risking looking at Cam. Cam's disconcertion must have shown on his expression, for Zac flushed scarlet upon looking at him and he fidgeted awkwardly.

"How… How do I know you?" Zac asked him in a small voice, wringing his hands together in a nervous cycle. Cam, who was still stood in the doorway, had no idea how to deal with him when he was like this. Oddly enough he felt guiltier now than when Zac had actively despised him, Zac's forlorn, lost expression meaning that Cam could no longer retain his old anger at him.

Shutting the door behind him, Cam paced over to Zac's bed and then sat down next to him, keeping a careful distance between them. "We were best friends," Cam said with a sigh, avoiding looking over at him.

"We were?" Zac asked, and Cam could hear the guilt in his voice. He couldn't even begin to imagine what forgetting everyone he knew would be like; if he had any friends left, he imagined he'd feel guilty about forgetting them completely too.

"Yeah, but I kind of screwed you over," Cam said quickly, his stomach twisting uncomfortably. "You pretty much hate me now."

"I do?" Zac asked, sounding genuinely surprised as he glanced over at him.

"Yeah. You've barely said two words to me in two months," Cam said, with no clue as to why he was telling him this. "After I sort of shamelessly betrayed you."

"Huh."

"Do you remember anything?" Cam asked awkwardly after a long pause of silence, during which Zac did little else than stare blankly at the opposite wall.

"Not really," Zac said with a shrug, glancing over to regard him. "I remember words and what they mean, but nothing that's ever happened to me, or who anyone is. Doctor Blakely," he stopped and corrected himself, "my dad, he said I have something called retrograde amnesia."

"Do they think you're ever going to get your memory back?"

"They said that something might trigger it and I'll get it all back at once, or it might come back in bits and pieces. Or I won't get it back at all. I'm getting a scan tomorrow," Zac said flatly, showing little faith in the idea. "At the moment though I don't remember much."

Biting back on his tongue, Cam decided that making a joke at that point might be a bad idea and so said nothing. How were you supposed to comfort someone who may well have lost all his memories forever? "No sudden flashes yet then?"

"Not really. Sometimes I kind of remember feelings. With my parents, it sometimes feels like I know them. Doctor- my dad, he said that it's because my semantic memory is still in tact, or something like that. It's why I can remember words and such."

"Cool," Cam said, having zoned out the second Zac brought out the technical doctor words. They lapsed back into silence, Cam nodding to himself in an attempt to feel less uncomfortable. This wasn't helped much by Zac watching him, a puzzled frown back on his face.

"See, that's why I don't think I hate you. I don't feel like I do," Zac said quietly, still studying Cam, searching for whatever he'd lost.

"You remember me?" Cam asked, his chest tightening with a mix of hope and fear.

"Nothing specific. It's just a feeling, like I said. Sounds a bit wet I know," Zac said with a crooked smirk. "I know you said that I'm supposedly mad at you, but I don't remember that." He grinned and for a second Cam recognised his ex-best friend. "I guess we used to be pretty good friends. That's all I remember, or feel anyway."

"I don't really deserve that," Cam said sheepishly, matching his grin as best as he could, "but thanks."

"Thanks for coming over," Zac said, "the doctors said that familiar faces ought to help and that they've invited several people over. You're the first one that's come over, save for my parents and some girl called Evie who said that she was my ex-girlfriend. So far it seems the only people I'm close to are all ex-somethings. Is there anyone I haven't pissed off, or who I'm not pissed at?"

"There are these three girls, but I think they're keeping away for now. They feel bad about what happened," Can explained with an awkward shrug, not feeling up to dumping the mermaids in it. He'd make them feel guilty on Zac's behalf; the merman probably had enough on his plate at that moment.

On that thought, Cam remembered why this had all happened and glanced around. Stepping off of the bed, he grabbed a glass of water from the bedside table and turned back to Zac. "This will seem weird, but I just need to check something, okay?"

"Okay?" Zac said unsurely, his gaze switching from the glass to Cam's face and back.

Dipping his fingers in the water, Cam flicked his ex-best friend with a couple of droplets and waited as he sputtered. Five seconds passed, then ten. A minute later and still nothing, Zac was sat there with perfectly human legs and water spattered across his face and dripping from his eyelashes looking somewhat shell-shocked.

"What was that for?" Zac demanded incredulously, pawing at his face with his T-shirt to wipe away the moisture.

"Nothing. Sorry. It makes sense, I promise," Cam dismissed him hurriedly, setting the glass back down and wiping his hands on his shorts.

"You mean, it would if I had my memories," Zac said darkly, his eyes retreating back down to staring at the floor.

"Am I the same?" Zac said suddenly, after a tense pause. He looked up at Cam, wide-eyed and soulful, and once again Cam felt a wave of panicking guilt. "Am I the same as I was before? I mean, minus the memories, obviously. Am I still… me?"

"Sure," Cam said on automatic, only because Zac looked so damn heartbroken. He could tell from how Zac's expression only worsened, however, that he hadn't done a very good job at being reassuring. "You're still you Zac. You'll get your memories back soon, I'm sure. You'll hate me again once you do, but until then I can be here for you. If you need me."

"Told you we must have been good friends," Zac said with a meek smile, his moment of terror seemingly averted. "Thanks, for coming here and offering to do this."

"No problem. It's nice to have a change from you hating my guts. It's also unusual for you to care much whenever I stick up for you; before you just kind of took it for granted. No offense, but you'd best know now that you could and can be an asshole."

"Glad my friends think so highly of me," Zac muttered, although he was still smiling.

"Ex-friend, remember," Cam countered, and together they snickered like best friends reunited. It didn't seem to matter that one of them didn't remember the other.

"Listen," Cam said, resting his elbows upon his legs as he leant forward, "I know that I'm supposed to be here helping you figure out how to regain your memories, and don't get me wrong, that's pretty important stuff. But right now it's late and I imagine you've had a pretty shitty day. You want to get pissed and play video games instead?"

"I might have lost all my memories, but even I know that is an offer I shouldn't turn down," Zac said with a wistful smile. "I have some beers in the fridge."

Playing fetch, Cam went and retrieved the aforementioned alcohol and handed Zac a can whilst popping the tab on his. "You know, this feels familiar," Zac said absently as Cam booted up the x-box and slid in the disc.

"See, I am helping with your memory loss. Who knows, maybe the alcohol will help loosen up any repressed memories lurking beneath the surface."

"Or we might just get pissed and I can stop worrying about the fact that I don't know who I am anymore for a night," Zac suggested casually as he took the controller Cam handed him and rotated around upon the bed to face the television.

"That sounds good too."

Sitting himself down beside Zac and crossing his legs, Cam set up a game of multiplayer FIFA, wedging the open beer can in his lap to secure it. "I just realised I never told you my name," Cam said as the loading screen flashed across the screen, feeling bizarrely alienated to have to do such a thing after knowing Zac for so many years.

"Cam," Zac answered distractedly as he inspected the controller, getting a feel for the buttons. "You know, I think I remember how to use this thing. 'A' is pass right?"

"Yeah," Cam said numbly, staring over at him. Zac didn't seem to realise what he'd done, or that he'd remembered Cam's name, innocently toying with the multicoloured buttons, a stubborn scowl lining his face as he did so.

"You know what Zac, I reckon you're going to be alright. Just promise me you won't hate me when it all comes rushing back," Cam said, his heart feeling oddly large in his chest, half warm, half cold. He was glad for his friend, but this was the first time he'd had a proper conversation with Zac in months, or anyone else for that matter. He didn't want to lose what he'd only just gotten back.

"I promise," Zac said, raising his beer can. Cam gently knocked his own can against it, and they drank in unison. "Just promise me you won't kick my amnesiac-ass until I've worked out how to make the players move."

"I make no promises when it comes to war," Cam said, and with a chuckle from Zac they broke into the game as if time had been rewound two months and all was right again.

Cam didn't know what was going to happen from now on, or what Zac would remember, but what he did know was that he was the happiest he had been in months. That, and he had his best friend back. It seemed that the world was pretty fucked up at times, but at least in that moment, it was good.