The room was silent for a few moments. Her brother didn't move, instead staring at her in disbelief. Her Aunt looked furious, her golden eyes narrowed dangerously. Grisia's face was a mask of stillness. And me? Well I imagine that I looked how I felt.
Like I'd just been hit by a bus. Twice.
The silence was broken when Grisia smiled, walking towards me. His smile was a brilliant as ever, but his eyes were tight and his form was rigid. In a calm voice he said, "We should let your guest rest. I imagine her brother and this charming young woman haven't eaten yet. We ought to show them to the dining room. Immediately."
With that he left, not bothering to wait for us to follow him. I did immediately, no longer able to stay in the room. Her Aunt followed soon after, glaring coldly at Grisia. I heard the sound of her protesting for her brother to stay, but he soon joined us in the hallway. We began to walk quietly, Grisia leading the way to the meeting room. He threw open the door and walked in, pace agitated.
"You swine," The Aunt said in her lilting voice, "Do you have a death wish? Fix her. Now."
"What happened?" Her brother demanded, eyes trained on me and brows pulled down into an angry scowl, "What did you do to her?!"
"We fought," I said tightly, avoiding his glare, "Verbally and physically. All of a sudden she just started acting weird..."
Well, weirder than usual.
"It's not the boys fault," Grisia snapped suddenly, beginning to pace, "Damn it. I thought I'd removed whatever was causing her memory loss, but it's still there."
"But I'm fine," Her brother said, "We were both suffering from the same thing. What if you just made a mistake with hers? Re-do it! If it works for me, it should work for her!"
"I can't," Grisia said in a tight voice, jaw clenched, "If it was just once I was willing to risk it. But it's stronger than yours was. I don't even know what it is, if we're not careful..." He looked grim, "She could lose her memories for good. Or worse. Psychic magic is dangerous and complicated."
"Then what are we meant to do?" I demanded. This can't be happening. Not again.
"I'll have to talk to Pink," He stopped pacing, sighing loudly, "If anybody can fix it, she can."
"Why do you not sound optimistic about this?" Her Aunt asked suspiciously, looking dangerous.
"Pink is..." Grisia hesitated to find the word, "Whimsical. Even if its me, she'll only help if it amuses her. And if she receives something in return."
"I'll pay her whatever she wants," Her Aunt snapped, "Just make her fix Caelan."
"She's a Necromancer," Grisia said frankly, "She doesn't accept payment in gold or coins."
"And?" The Aunt said testily, "I didn't ask what I had to pay her in. Just get her here, now."
"It will take two days of travel," He reiterated, sounding surprised, "She's in the Kingdom of Kissigner at the moment. We passed paths on my way here."
"Then we leave now," She snapped, readjusting her hood and tucking her hair away, "Lead the way, shiny boy."
"I'm coming with you," The brother said suddenly, looking determined.
"Youre staying with your sister," The Aunt looked serious, "I don't trust her here, with these people."
"Why can't she come with us? It would be quicker," He looked panicked.
"We can't," Grisia said quietly, "You can't either," He was pointing to the Aunt, "The journey would usually take a week. I can get there quicker by using magic, but any more people would just make it slower."
"Tcht," The Aunt looked insulted, "Who's relying on you? We just happen to be going to the same destination."
"If you fall back I'm leaving you behind," He said flatly, looking irritated, "You can't expect to get there in a reasonable amount of time without magic."
"I might not have your shiny flare," She sneered, "But I'm no stranger to magic."
"Aunty," The brother looked uncomfortable all of a sudden, shaking his head slightly, "We're in the Church."
"I don't fear these glowing bastards," She snapped, beginning to radiate darkness, "They've done enough damage. I'm going to speak to this Pink, Necromancer to Necromancer. Our kind stick together."
I wanted to be surprised, but I couldn't muster it. Somehow it seemed normal that Caelan's brother was an assassin and her Aunt a Necromancer. Out of all of them, she still scared me the most.
"Fine," Grisia sighed, rubbing his eyes, "Seriph, you inform the Knights what has happened. She can't be seen like that either. Inform the Pope as well. Tell him not to try anything, not until I bring Pink back. If she starts acting odd again," He frowned, looking pained, "Just... Just try Holy Light. It seemed to work well this time."
"Kaiden," The Aunt said, looking at Caelan's brother seriously, "Keep safe. Both of you. I'll fix it, I promise."
Kaiden nodded and Grisia exited the room, followed closely by the Aunt. Kaiden and I stood in silence for a few more moments, neither willing to make the first move. Eventually I shook my head free of any other thought and strode to the rooms of the Twelve Holy Knights, not sure what I was meant to tell them. I met Moon along the way. When I told him we were holding a meeting he immediately offered to help inform the others, looking his usual serious self. I accepted gratefully, knowing that (even if they weren't in their rooms) it would only take him a few minutes to find and herd everybody. I helped as well, of course, but nowhere near as efficiently as him. In less than ten minutes we were all standing in the meeting room, everybody alert and looking worried. I saw their gazes, stuck on the empty chair next to me.
In a loud voice I started, "Ca-Sun has..." How do I explain this?! "Reverted... to the state he was in before returning to the Temple."
They all looked more confused than before I had started. All but one, that is.
"What do you mean?" Ryder looked worried, "She thinks she's Kadence again?!"
"Yes," I answered simply, grateful that he caught on so quickly.
"What happened?" Blaze demanded.
Urgh. This isn't going to be fun.
"We fought," I said slowly, wanting to bang my head on the desk. Stupid, Stupid, Stupid. In a calm voice I continued, "According to Grisia the block in her memories hasn't disappeared properly. He's afraid that if we attempt removing it again, she may suffer complete memory loss. Or worse. He's gone to the Kingdom of Kissinger to find a," Necromancer, "Friend to help restore her. He says it will take two days."
"What are we meant to do in the meantime?" Storm asked seriously, eyes tight.
"Keep him out of sight," I paused before elaborating, "It might be best to pose him as a female until we can fix the problem. At the moment we don't know how he'll react to things," I couldn't help frowning, "And he won't remember-" Any of us? But that's not right. He remembered my name. So then... "I don't know who he will and will not remember. He thinks his name is Kadence, and that he was born in the North. He doesn't remember us."
This was met by a tense wall of silence. And then sniffling.
"B-B-But he just came back," Earth mumbled, tears already running down his face, "He really won't remember us?"
Dont give him false hope. Dont give him false hope. Dont give him-
"He might," I offered weakly.
Damn it, Seriph! Get yourself together!
Earth (thankfully) stopped crying, looking hopeful. Metal stood, sighing loudly and still looking worried as he tried to be optimistic, "Won't know until we find out," He said, smiling reassuringly at Earth, "Lets go see her now. We can sort out what we're going to do there."
They all stood, beginning to filter out. They had worry in their eyes, the only thing keeping me from reminding them that jamming ten people into her room probably wasn't the best way to go about it. So instead I followed, trying to pinpoint in my memories the moment she switched back. I was sure it was in between me tripping her and stabbing the sword next to her head.
I'm such a monster. The first thing she awoke to was me towering over her with a sword, yelling my lungs out. I'm surprised she didn't try to kill me. I wouldn't have blamed her. No wonder she looked so terrified...
"What are you all doing?!" Anastasia demanded as we began to filter in, looking shocked, "Dont just come barging in!"
"Sorry Princess," Metal laughed, trying to seem carefree for the others, "I heard some idiot bonked their head, and I couldn't resist coming to see."
"I told you to stop insulting people!" I heard Caelan yell. I entered just in time to see Metal get hit by a pillow. Without a second thought I moved to the furthest corner, taking in the scene from afar. Caelan was sitting on the bed, wearing a regular pair of pants and a top. She looked like a tomboy, with her hair cut short but obviously no longer wearing her binder. Beside her sat her brother, looking exasperated. On her other side sat Anastasia, who was currently rolling her eyes at Metal. I could see that they were all trying hard to appear normal, no doubt for Caelan's sake.
"Ah!" Metal said dramatically, clutching the pillow, "Death by pillow!"
"I'll make it murder by pillow in a second," She said, looking... normal. She was back to her cheerful self, lips pulled into a wide smile and eyes bright. She turned to the other knights, looking slightly confused, "Hello."
That word was all it took for Earth to start crying again. It was a sight I, and most of the other people in the room, were accustomed to. Kaiden and Caelan, however, looked shocked.
"What's wrong?" Caelan demanded, standing and crossing the distance between them quickly, "Did this idiot bully you?"
"Why am I the bad guy?" Metal looked wronged, putting on an overly innocent face.
Caelan didn't answer, instead patting Earths head and looking kind.
"Earth," Cloud appeared behind them quietly, placing a reassuring hand on Earths shoulder, "Calm down."
"Nice to meet you," Ice said suddenly. The room was quiet for a moment, but he didn't seem fazed. Instead he held his hand out for Caelan, looking slightly pained but determined, "I'm Ashton Ice."
She took his hand, smiling brightly, "Kadence Avick."
Slowly, with eyes pained, everybody introduced themselves as if they were strangers. In that moment I knew they had made a group decision to let her live in ignorance until Grisia returned. I had been planning to do the same. Moreso because I knew there would be no convincing her that she was the Sun Knight who had cross dressed since childhood. Even I was still coming to grips with that one.
"So what are you all doing here?" She asked after the introductions were over, dropping back onto the bed in between Anastasia and her brother. The other Knights had began to sit, some lounging on the chairs and others simply sitting against walls. Metal was actually sitting on the table, one of his legs crossed beneath him and the other dangling down.
"We heard reports of a blonde-haired monster in these areas," He said seriously, "We thought we would come check it out."
Rather than make a quip back she looked distant, raising her hand to her now-short hair, "Mhm."
Metal looked worried for a few moments before bursting out, "Hey, how about we have a few drinks to celebrate your brother arriving in Leaf Bud City?"
She looked excited, "That sounds fun! You're paying, right?"
"Stingy," Leaf commented mildly.
"No need to pay," Anastasia said suddenly, "The Church has a cellar."
Blaze looked disbelieving, "Are you sure?"
"Yep. It's in the Sun Knights' rooms," She stood, looking thoughtful before saying, "Dont tell anybody, though. I'm not supposed to know."
Nobody asked how she did know. They followed her out, Metal quickly throwing a cloak over Caelan, all talking with the laughing Caelan happily. It seemed very much like a family.
Either Caelan had not seen me or, which was more likely, she was avoiding me.
It might seem like a family, but it's not my family. But that's okay. Live for the Church.