Small Note
Sakura: It's time for another chapter! I hate to say it but this is the last chapter to Childhood Returns and I'm sorry that I kind of sprang it on everyone. I wasn't sure when to end this story, but then this ending hit me. I never planned on this story being this long and I ran out of ideas so I figured I better end it rather than put it on hold. So enjoy the last chapter and I do have one more surprise at the ending note.
Chapter 24: Remember When
Numbness was all he felt. He had a feeling of being awake, but his eyes felt heavy and he was not sure if he could open them or not. There was no pain just nothing. It was confusing all the same, because he could not remember what had happened. He knew he had gone on vacation with his siblings, but when he returned home everything else was blank or at least his brain was trying to make him forget. This did not go well over with him, so he forced himself to wake up.
The lights in the room were blinding at first, so he had to rub at his eyes before letting them adjust to his surroundings. Everything was white from the walls to the ceiling and judging by all the medical supplies he would have to say he was in a hospital. However he did not remember why he was in the hospital. After a minute of sitting in the hospital bed letting his mind try to remember, he heard the door to the room open. When he looked up he saw his beautiful mother walk in.
It took a minute for her to realize her son was awake, before she rushed over and kissed his forehead. "Oh honey you had all of us worried."
"Mom what's going on?"
"You don't remember?"
At the shake of her son's head the young mother explained. "You and your siblings were in a car accident on your way home. You've been in the hospital for two days now. The doctors had to sedate you after they told you the news."
The young man was still clearly lost at what she was talking about. "Why did they sedate me? What did they say is it something bad?"
A look of realization dawn on the woman's face as she realized her son was still suffering from memory loss. The doctor had told her it would take a while for her son to wrap his mind around the news. "Atemu, sweetie, I don't want you to freak out when I tell you this okay? Just stay calm and remember mommy is here for you."
"Mom, what's going on?"
His mother sighed and finally said the words they both dreaded to hear come out of anyone's mouth. "Honey, the doctors say you may never walk again."
It took at least a minute for those words to sink into Atemu's twelve year old mind, before he threw off his covers to see his legs. They were still there and looked perfectly normal minus a few cuts and bruises, but as he looked at them it dawned on the young boy that he couldn't feel them. Nothing at all could be felt from the waist down, even as he tried his hardest to get his legs to move. "No!"
Tears of frustration rolled down his face as he tried to beat the feeling back into his legs. He did not even feel the pain of the hits, which caused him to scream wanting the numbness to go away.
Finally his mother had had enough and grabbed his wrist keeping him from hurting himself anymore. She couldn't stop the tears rolling down her face either as she wrapped her arms around her son. "It will be okay…" She kept whispering in his ear as he continued to cry.
The door opened again at that point as his father walked in with a young eight year old Yuugi. She held tightly to Atemu's father's hand not sure what to make of the situation. "Dear is everything alright?" Aknamkanon asked his wife. He had remembered her going to check on Atemu, but then he heard the screaming.
Amara sadly looked at her husband and shook her head. "I had to tell him again. He did not remember what happened when he woke up." She informed him while holding tightly to her son so he did not try to hurt himself again.
The little girl hurried over to the bed and placed a hand on Atemu's leg. "Atemu, what's wrong?"
Atemu looked at the girl through his tears before his eyes drifted to the hand on his leg. He could not even feel her touch and something about that threw him over the edge. "Get away from me!" He yelled not sure where his sudden anger came from.
Yuugi backed away in shock. Atemu had never been angry like that at her before. "Atemu…"
"Go away!" Atemu yelled again. He did not want her to see him like this.
"Atemu, she only wants to make sure you are okay…" Amara told her son wondering where his anger was coming from.
"I'm not okay and I never will be! I just want her gone!"
Yuugi did not need to be told twice as she turned and ran from the room in tears. Aknamkanon went after her to make sure she would be okay, he had no idea what was going on in his son's head, but he sure wasn't thinking straight.
Once the two were gone Atemu buried his face in his mother's shoulder holding on to her tightly as he cried all his pain out.
Crimson eyes slowly opened to a bright and clean smelling room. It was silent in the room, but noise could be heard outside the room thanks to the thin walls. A beeping monitor was heard nearby and a mask was over his nose and mouth. Atemu groaned at the aching in his body alerting the only other person in the room.
"I'm so happy to see you awake!"
Atemu slowly turned his head to see his mother's worried face staring back at him. She had tear stain tracks going down her cheeks from all the crying she had been doing.
"Mother…" He whispered, before reaching up and pulling his mask off so he could talk. "Where am I?"
Amara grabbed her son's hand and squeezed it, relived that her son was alive. "The hospital, you and Yuugi were in a car wreck early today and you've been out for a few hours now. The doctors said luckily you did not have any brain damage and it would not take long for you to wake up."
As his eyes drifted to the window in the room, he saw that the sun had already gone down. He thought back on what happened earlier that day hoping to trigger some memories. The young adult remembered getting out of the house that morning with Yuugi while everyone got the surprise party ready. It was after the two got in the limo to head back home that his mind drew blanks.
"It's alright if you don't remember sweet heart. You were already knocked out when you arrived at the hospital so the doctors figure their might be some memory loss." She then reached out and hugged him. "I was so worried when I got the news."
Atemu carefully wrapped his arms around his mother hugging her back. He hated that he had worried her so much. This was the second time in his whole life that he had scared his family by being in a car accident. Neither times had been his fault, but last time he had lost his ability to walk and it worried him what this accident might have caused. However first things first he wanted to know what happened to his fiancée since remembering she had been in the limo with him.
"Where is Yuugi?" Since she was not in his room worrying over him, he almost feared the worst had happened to her.
Amara put a hand on his cheek in comfort. "She's fine, a few cuts and bruises, but nothing major is wrong. She had to have a few stitches on her arm, but it will heal. The doctors had to give her some pain killers, so she was out for about as long as you were. I believe she woke up an hour ago and Amun took her to get something to eat. There was no sense in her coming in here worrying over you on an empty stomach."
Atemu sighed in relief at the news. "She's a tough one, I'm just glad to hear she is alive. I can't believe this happened to us on her birthday." He looked at his mother and was just glad to see her finally smiling at him. "I guess I'll be here for a few days?"
"Yes, the doctors told us when we got here that you had a few cuts and bruises also just minor things, but with you being paralyzed already they want to keep you over night. You don't feel pain from the waist down, so if you have any kind of hairline fractures you wouldn't know it. They did x-rays once already and all was clear, but they want to wait and see how you feel tomorrow." Amara explained just glad she wasn't going to have to bury her son. If Atemu already didn't have a fear of vehicles, Amara felt she was going to fear ever putting her son in another car or limo again.
"Do you know what happened to cause the accident?" Atemu asked next since he didn't know what really happened.
"The most we were told was that it was a police chase," Amara replied. "The person had stolen the vehicle and led police on a high speed chase. The limo happened to be going through the intersection when the car came through. Police said that the person tried to miss the limo, but failed since he was going too fast. Surprisely after plowing into the tail in of the limo, the driver was okay and is going to jail."
"I would say Yuugi and I are lucky to be alive." Atemu said looking down at his hands. They worked fine thankfully although they felt a little sore and he was sure if he tried to move his whole body would be in pain. The last car accident he had been in did not end well, but this time around he got really lucky.
A whole hour Atemu had to wait before he could see Yuugi. After his small talk with his mother, she had gone to find a doctor to let them know Atemu was awake and of course they wanted to run all kind of tests. Most were for memory and motor skills, to check and make sure he wasn't paralyzed worse than he already was. The only memories Atemu could not recall was the accident itself and Atemu wasn't sure he wanted to remember it.
When everything was said and done, the doctors left and it was only a few minutes later his fiancée walked in with all his siblings and father. His mother went to stay by her husband as Yuugi threw herself into Atemu's arms and cried.
"I was so worried!" She cried out clinging tightly to him, but not too tightly so as not to hurt him.
Atemu wrapped his arms around her and patted her back. He hated when she was like this, but she had every right to be concern about him. "I'm alright Yuugi, so you don't have to worry anymore."
"But I'm always going to worry," She pulled back to wipe at her eyes. "When you saw that car coming our way and you threw yourself on top of me to protect me I thought I was going to lose you."
"I had to protect you honey." Atemu grabbed Yuugi's hands in his and smiled at her. "I would rather die than let you get hurt." The thought of Atemu dying scared everyone in the room, but there was so much sad truth behind his words. There were so many things Atemu would do to make sure Yuugi was happy and safe no matter his disability.
"I love you so much, so don't go dying on me just yet okay?" Yuugi asked trying to lighten the mood. "No dying before we get married. I want to be able to call you my husband and mean it."
Atemu kissed her hand. "I already consider you my wife now just like I did all those years ago. The only difference is I'm not going to push you away. I can't lose you again."
"I'm not going anywhere, no matter what you say." Yuugi said before she kissed him.
Two days Atemu ended up spending in the hospital and for those two days Yuugi stayed with him. The doctors found nothing wrong with him, but they had to be sure so as not to cause Atemu any more pain. During visiting hours Atemu and Yuugi got a few guests to come see them mostly friends, but the surprising one of all had been Anzu. At first Yuugi had not been sure what to think when Joey bought Tristan and Anzu to his and Atemu's hospital room. However unlike Anzu, she did not turn her friend away and heard her out.
In the end Yuugi decided to try and be friends with Anzu again, but she knew nothing would be the same for them. It would take years to even get remotely close to where they once were, but they would at least stay in touch when Anzu returned to New York. It was nice to have all her friends back together and Yuugi couldn't ask for a better birthday gift.
When the limo finally arrived at the manor, the driver quickly got out and went to the back to open the door. Amara stepped out and thanked the driver, before moving out of the way so Yuugi could get out. After both of the females were out, the driver bought Atemu's new wheelchair from the trunk to the side so Atemu could get in it.
"It's great to be home," Atemu commented as his fiancée pushed him up the wheelchair ramp to the front door. "I hope I never have to visit the hospital again."
"So your telling me you wouldn't come with me if I was having a baby?" Yuugi teased him.
Atemu rolled his eyes. "Of course I would dear. You know what I really meant."
"Alright you too, it's too early to be talking about children. I'm too young to be a grandmother." Amara said even though she knew they were joking with each other.
Yuugi and Atemu both laughed at that as Amara knocked on the door and the butler opened the door for them. As they all entered the manor, Yuugi and Atemu listened to how quiet it was.
"Where is everyone?" Atemu asked.
"I'm not sure…" Amara disappeared into the dark living room, so Yuugi and Atemu followed.
Once the two were in the room the lights came on and everyone jumped out yelling surprise. Yuugi and Atemu let out a scream and put hands to their fast beating hearts, they had clearly not been expecting that.
After she calmed her racing heart, Yuugi glared at her laughing friends and family. "Alright who's idea was this?"
Everyone's hands went up, which for some reason did not surprise Yuugi. "We figured since you had to spend your birthday in the hospital we would all throw a happy birthday slash welcome home party." Joey explained.
"We both appreciate the gesture, but you didn't have to nearly give us heart attacks." Atemu said still trying to get over his shock.
Amun came up and put a hand on his baby brother's shoulder. "You better get over your shock quick if you want to ask Yuugi that question."
Yuugi moved around to the front of Atemu with a confused look on her face. "Ask me what?"
Amun slipped something into Atemu's hand before quickly moving away even as his baby brother glared at his back.
"Atemu…" Atemu glaze soften as he looked at Yuugi and clutched tightly to the small box in his hands.
"I was going to ask you on your birthday, but then the accident happened and I completely forgot about it." Atemu explained as he gently took one of Yuugi's hands into his. "Yuugi, back when we were little I had the hugest crush on you. You were always so cheerful and full of life. Even if I was having a bad day you could make me smile and I couldn't believe I was lucky enough to have you as a friend. Then I got you that toy ring and asked if you would marry me. I was little and neither of us understood what real marriage was, but I was still overjoyed when you said yes. Everything was going so well until my accident, and then everything changed. I hurt those I truly loved and I pushed the one woman I wanted to remind by my side away. I regret the way I acted toward you Yuugi and you don't know how happy I was when you returned…"
Atemu opened the box he was holding and presented it to Yuugi. "I jumped at the chance to propose to you when you returned and after a year of being with you again, I know I want to spend the rest of my life with you. So I'm going to do this the right way in font of all our friends and family." He smiled at the surprised look on Yuugi's face. "Yuugi, will you do me the honor of marrying me?"
The ring inside the box was the same one Atemu had given Yuugi a year ago expect this time it was a blend of a crimson and amethyst diamond into the shape of a heart. A few weeks before Yuugi's birthday, Atemu had been approached by Yugi about her ring, because the amethyst diamond had almost fallen out. An idea sparked and Atemu knew of the perfect present for his girlfriend. Amun had picked up the ring the day before the party from the jeweler, but with the accident, Atemu nearly forgot about it.
Everyone in the room was dead silent as they waited for Yuugi's response to Atemu's question, although everyone knew it was going to be yes.
Yuugi couldn't keep the smile off her face as she slipped the ring back onto her finger where it belonged. "No matter how many times you ask me the answer will always be yes." She said before leaning down and kissing her fiancée.
All the others around them had smiles on their faces glad that those two were together and would always be together.
Sakura: Surprise time! So instead of ending it here, I do plan on typing one more chapter, but it will be the sequel chapter. Once I have typed and posted chapter 25 that will be it for Childhood Returns and I will hopefully move on to a new project. I hope all my readers have enjoyed this story!
Yumi: Review!