Amber Memories, Forgotten

-Yet the Stars would soon fall-

A/N: Reviews have been low, does the story rot? ):

Hey Aki, do you know how much I've missed you since you'd been away?

It was with you that I showed the true side of me, the side where it really hurts.

You brought me so I'm here, you taught me so I'll believe.

Yet I'm regretting now, regretting that I should not have started all this.

Would you tell me I was wrong?

Would you forgive me?

"Charles?" demanded the stern voice, impatience creeping up like a latent poisonous snake. "Charles? Where's the young ladyship?"

The old man felt blood draining from his face as he rushed up to his master's drawing-room. "My lordship, Lady Kaeda has gone…"

"I don't care why she has gone to," shouted the man as he smacked the table next to him. "She better get back home for the next party. I need her to entertain those annoying rich brats. Charles, by hook or by crook, I better see that darn face soon."

"Yes Master," sighed the old butler as he quietly excused himself out of the room. His heart was pounding hard despite being relieved that he need not have to explain her sudden unexplained departure to the man. It was not the first time she had disappeared and he knew to use the usual excuse of the young lady being on a tour or out on a hunt. However, he noted with a worried tone, it was different this time, as he walked next into the Earl's youngest daughter's room. A rifle was resting in peace on the shelf with a crimson tulip lying on it despite the frightening thoughts that was plaguing the butler's old mind.

No matter how far she went, the weapon would always be with her. She would have informed him. Relenting, the butler finally decided to pick up the phone by the bedside and dialed the numbers he had so engraved into his memory.

"Someone, anyone please, please save my mother! I beg you! Mama!"

The flames were approaching fast, licking its lips as it began to approach her, like predator to prey. The crimson tongue disgusted her, frightened her, hurt her. Much as she wanted to, it was out of her ability to control it. Water did not help, neither did anything else. It was pathetic. The building was collapsing. Precious seconds were seeping through her fingers like sand.

"No, please don't leave me alone!"

The smirk on the man's feature scarred her as it turned around to face her. The flame strengthened its evil aura as he walked away, his crimson hair swaying along with the wind handsomely despite the disaster. She wanted to hate him, to kill him, to stop him, yet it hurt her deep inside where her heart lies to know that it belonged to him.

"Please, anyone!"

Tears were flowing frantically down her flushed cheeks as she tried to rush towards the scene but someone pulled her back, as if to prevent her from saving the ones she loved. Why, why were her tears not enough to extinguish the fire? A loud scream pierced the sky as she turned around to find a man, the same man she loved, standing beside her father and sister. He was still smiling. Why, why don't you help? she had asked as she looked at them with pleading eyes. The grins on their face seemed so make-believed, as if it had been formed by needle and red thread.

Another scream slashed through the crimson sky.

Turning around, she yelled out her younger brother's name- it was he who had screamed in fear. He was in agonizing pain, she knew, as the flames slowly engulfed his small body, his black hair and his blue eyes. It would soon hurt so much that you would pray for an immediate death instead.

She knew; because she had been burnt before. She smiled, as the flames slowly approached her and consumed her within their arms too.

"I'm coming home, Mama."


Tyki frowned as his fingers slide slowly on the object, his features stern as he inspected the curve of its neck. Picking up the small piece of sandpaper, he filed along the curve carefully. The young man was about to pick up his curving tool once again when the sound of the door opening stopped his movement. He stuffed all the materials into the drawer and was careful not to make any noise that would raise suspicions or wake up his two other friends.

"Nightmares again?" queried Tyki as he observed the white figure slowly approaching him with a troubled face she tried so hard to conceal. He placed his hands around hers, his callused hands rubbing against her smooth arms, pulling her towards him, smiling sadly as the young lady shook her head in denial. She was too tired to even lie, he noticed.

These were the nights when she would come out in the middle of the night to take some fresh air and have a walk with him. However, he knew he could only comfort her to an extent. There were still times when she had chosen not to come out of the room or when he was fast asleep or away.

It had been a month since he told her the truth- the part where Ezzz and the rest would have known- and she had woke up in the middle of the night numerous times with complains and lies that she could not sleep because of this and that. He knew, however, that she was not sleeping well due to dreams. He used to have those recurring nightmares too. Though he did not know what had caused hers, his was certainly caused by the alternate life he had been blessed upon. Or cursed, he would sometimes think. Did her past hurt too? Did it hurt so much so that she could not recall anything even after he had told her part of the truth?

"Let's take a walk, shall we?"

Noticing that she had been the one who requested the walk first instead of him being the usual one, he stood up without a word and followed Aki as she wandered out of the house, a blank expression hanged on her features.

A gush of wintry breeze greeted them immediately once the door was opened. The night sky was clear as usual, with stars studding the dark canvas like decorations to an already-beautiful room. The ground was littered with dry leaves, as the deciduous trees had shed its coat at this time of the year again.

His lips curled with an amused expression as the young lady walked ahead of him without notice, wandering in her own world while her gaze moved through the woods to look at the untidy rows of naked trees and structured branches. A solid neat sound was made every time she took a step forward, her feet crushing the leaves under. Her silhouette was comforting, he thought, as he slowly followed the girl.

Just then, the girl stopped abruptly beside a random tree. Fearing that something ill had happened, Tyki quickly made his way towards her, the sound of leaves crushing under and brushing against his shoes and pants grew louder with each step.

Then he too, paused in his track.

Aki was putting her hand slightly below a brown leaf that was still dangling from its branch. It was dangling because it looked as if it would fall down any moment from now. The cold autumn wind was making it tremble even harder. Tyki glanced around his surroundings. It looked as if that leaf was to be the last one that would fall. Then it did. He was about to point that out to her until he saw that she was hiding her face from him when he diverted his attention back to her.

"Hey," he whispered, afraid that any sound he make would make her vulnerable composure crumble like those leaves on the floor. He walked up slowly to her, holding her upper arms to make her face him. "Aki," he called softly once again, wanting to embrace her to protect her current state but fearing to do so. He stared down, trying hard to see her face.

"It's nothing, Brother," she answered suddenly, opening up her palm to display the leaf that had fallen. Maple, he realized silently and swallowed a lump in his throat, as if to hide something away from her. The wide grin that cut through her face surprised him- she was not crying, perhaps. Yet why was her voice so raw and painful?

"I've caught the last autumn leaf! It's said to be good luck. Pretty, isn't it?"

Tyki was about to answer when the young lady walked out from his grasp towards a tall tree. She sat down abruptly and crossed her legs underneath her. Aki's fingers traced the lines and veins of the leaf while her other hand held onto its stem delicately, as if trying to recall something or someone. He noticed that she did not realize, or bothered, when he sat next to her.

"Aki…"

"Pretty, isn't it?" laughed the latter as she looked up at him for that fleeting moment before gazing into the sky and leaning back onto the tree. "Everything is so pretty…" Her expression appeared as if the stars had stolen all emotions from her. Tyki felt a tight feeling in his chest. His throat felt dry.

"Aki…"he whispered once again. The sweet name sounded so coarse when called out by him, he thought.

The young lady finally turned with a small smile and diverted her eye contact and attention on him.

"Don't you love the autumn night sky? It's so pre-" she paused suddenly as her breath was stolen at that sudden instant by a soft pressure on her lips. Blood rushed through her veins to her cheeks and accumulated there, flushing her face to a pale pink that blended in well with the ochre background. Her eyes were wide open and staring into a set of closed ones that was so near hers, his long lashes so visible. She realized this was the first time seeing him without his glasses. They were beautiful, she thought.

The pressure on her lips pressed harder, making her eyes closed as well. She felt his fingers, long and thin, combing through her hand before stopping to support her head, while his other hand was on her right shoulder, pinning her to the tree. The moist pressure was now even harder against her dry lips, before it parted hers too and sealed her breath before she could take another. Her composure was melting under him; she knew but ignored it willingly.

The stars continued to shine its affectionate glow over the couple for some time before the young man opened his eyes in a fleeting moment, his lips still with hers but his mind darting off somewhere else. What was he doing, he chided himself alarmingly.

He was only going to end up hurting the one he love by loving her more.