Dealer's choice pairing, 18. waking up with amnesia au
Shirayuki woke up on the hardwood floor of… what looked to be a pharmacy and a nice one at that. She didn’t know where this pharmacy was, let alone how she’d gotten on its floor. She pulled herself up feeling a pain in her side and head, being careful to avoid the broken glass. A bottle had been shattered and it’s liquid was seeping into the floor and rug. She looked around the room, disturbed that she still didn’t know where she was and that there was a young man lying next to her.
Noticing him so suddenly made her jump and look around yet again, frantic for someone to help.
“Umm, hello?” She tapped his shoulder and he stirred. “Sir, are you okay?”
The young man sat up suddenly in a crouch and jumped away from her. His blue eyes were wide with alarm and fixed on her for a long while before, “You have strange hair.”
Shirayuki blinked, reaching up to touch her hair, “Yeah I get that a lo-” her hair… she stroked it again, but it ended right at her jaw line. She didn’t remember cutting it.
The young man stood and Shirayuki let go of her hair, “I don’t think you should move around too much.”
He looked around the room with a knit brow, “The pharmacy,” he whispered and relaxed, slightly. He turned to Shirayuki, “Did I take something?”
Shirayuki shook her head, “I wouldn’t know.”
“But, don’t you work here?” he asked and pointed to her chest.
She looked down and saw that she was wearing a necklace with a pink glass pendant. She picked it up to look at it and read, ‘Shirayuki Royal Court Pharmacist of Wistal Castle.’ Shirayuki blinked. That was her name, but she was an herbalist in Tanbarun and Wistal was all the way in Clarines. She rubbed her forehead, unable to make sense of any of this.
“Where’s the chief pharmacist?” he asked. “If she gave me something and I can’t remember, she’d want to know.”
“I-I don’t work here,” she said.
He groaned in frustration and called, “Chief Garrack?” He took a step and crunched some of the glass under his boots. He looked down at the glass shards next to me and jumped back again, “Chief! Chief Garrack!”
There was the sound of running then a door slid open and woman with long blonde hair burst in. “What happened?”
She looked between the panicked young man and Shirayuki on the floor next to shattered glass and hurried to Shirayuki’s side. She took Shirayuki’s hands and turned them over looking for lacerations then turned to the young man. “What happened, Prince Zen?”
“Did you give me something?”
“I don’t remember, did you give me poison?”
“Poison!? What are you talking about?” She turned to Shirayuki hoping for some answers but she just stared at both of them with mounting concern.
“That wasn’t the antidote was it?” he asked pointing at the puddle on the floor amongst the glass.
The woman, Garrack, closed her eyes and held up both her hands, “Okay, you think I gave you a poison dosage.”
“You didn’t?” the price looked relieved.
“No, I didn’t,” she said, and stood to look him in the eyes, “Did you think I was trying to slip it to you without you knowing? We agreed a long time ago that those administrations would all be scheduled and above board. I would never go back on that, your highness.”
The prince looked down and away, “I didn’t think you were lying, I just thought that maybe a side effect of the poison was memory loss and I somehow forgot.”
She crossed her arms, “Well, now I’m concerned. What made you think you were poisoned to begin with?”
“I woke up on the floor. She was there.” he pointed at Shirayuki, “And I didn’t remember how I got there.”
Garrack took the prince by the shoulder and guided him to sit. “Prince Zen, do you know who she is?” she also pointed at Shirayuki but never took her eyes off him. Shirayuki was a little insulted that she didn’t just ask her who she was.
“I thought she worked here, but she says she doesn’t.” the chief whipped her head towards Shirayuki.
“Shirayuki, where do you work, then?”
Shirayuki was a little put off that this stranger knew her name, but she looked genuinely worried, “I just opened an herb shop in Tanbarun.”
Garrack’s eyes where huge, her mouth a thin line of dread. She lifted her sleeve to cover her nose and yelled.
Garrack called for Mitsuhide, Kiki, and Obi to come and see her and explained the situation. The fumes from the shattered bottle had caused Zen and Shirayuki to forget the last two years of their lives.“That means master doesn’t remember me and the miss doesn’t remember meeting any of us?”“The last thing Zen remembers is being grounded for leaving the palace without permission. He thinks he’s not yet eighteen. And Shirayuki last remembers opening her herb shop in Tanbarun.“When will they remember?” Mitsuhide asked.“The mind’s tricky, it could be a couple days, weeks… longer.” Kiki unfolded her arms, “You’re saying that there’s a chance that they’ll never remember?” Garrack nodded, reluctantly. “I’ll do what I can to develop a reversal, but right now, just walk them through their usual routines, be understanding, but treat them like nothing has changed. Familiar sights and smells should help.”Mitsuhide and Kiki nodded to each other. Obi asked, “Who’s going to tell the elder highness?”Mitsuhide’s look of determination turned sickly, “I’ll give it a couple days, but if Zen still doesn’t remember, I’ll have to inform him.” “We’ll look after Zen,” Kiki said, “Obi, stay with Shirayuki.”Obi balked, “Did you forget, too, Miss Kiki? She doesn’t know who I am.” “That didn’t cause her to send you away the first time,” Kiki cocked a grin, “Not to mention, you have a clean slate now.”
The first day was rough. Zen responded to Mitsuhide’s coddling with obstinance. Kiki tried to step in and mediate the situation with reason, but her partner and charge weren‘t the most logical people. She and Mitsuhide ended up spending the evening trying to find Zen who’d run away without telling them. Obi had an easier time with Shirayuki who seemed thrilled to get a chance to have a tour of the pharmacy. Prince Izana was filled in on the situation like Mitsuhide said he would, but to his surprise, Izana took it in stride. “Can’t remember anything from the last two years?” “That’s correct,” Mitsuhide responded with a bowed head.“So he doesn’t remember meeting that red haired pharmacist and she doesn’t remember meeting him?”Mitsuhide looked up to see Izana looking out the window, a coy grin on his face. “Yes, sir,” Mitsuhide watched cautiously, “Will you come see him, I think it might help him recover-““I wonder,” Izana cut him off, “would it be so bad for Zen if he doesn’t remember?”It was rhetorical, Mitsuhide knew that and almost bit his tongue, almost. “Yes, it would.” Izana turned his head to him with narrowed eyes, his smile gone.“Meeting Shirayuki inspired a change in Zen. That person out there who doesn’t have trust in anyone isn’t Zen.” Izana tried to stare Mitsuhide down, but he refused to falter. “Of course,” Izana said slowly, his eyes still narrowed as he looked back out the window, “Forgive me for being optimistic.”
Two weeks passed without change. Zen refused to open up to Mitsuhide so long as he treated him like a child, which was difficult when Zen, himself, kept forgetting that he was nearly twenty. Obi spent the weeks gardening with Shirayuki who took to her old work like nothing was different. Occasionally, though, she’d ask a question that caused him to pause.“How did we meet?” she said one morning over a bed of flowers she was harvesting the seeds of. Obi blinked at her, then shrugged, “We were childhood friends, of course.”“Very funny, Obi.” she said.“It’s true, you were just too young to remember.” She looked at him with a smile and cocked eyebrow, “Tell me, really.” “Okay,” he relented, “We met here in the palace, that was before you were a pharmacist.” “So you were working for the prince, then?”Obi scratched the back of his head, “Not quite yet, no.” Shirayuki put down her work and looked at him, sensing a story. Obi lifted his hands and waved, “It’s really not a great story, miss.” “If it’s something I knew once, help me remember.” Her eyes were so big, “Please, Obi.” Obi sighed, “Fine, miss, you win… the truth is that I’m an ex-assassin who was hired by an evil lord to threaten your life so that you’d be too afraid to return to the palace ever again.” Obi’s hands were lifted by his face where he was scowling ridiculously and wiggling his fingers menacingly. “No, really.” Shirayuki said, unamused. Obi deflated, “But that is the truth, miss.” “What evil lord wanted you to threaten me?” “Okay, maybe ‘evil’ isn’t the right word, maybe… odious?” “Why then?”“Because of your friendship with the prince.” She scrunched her nose. The prince had been rather rude to her the day they forgot. It seemed two years coupled with never knowing her had a large effect on his disposition. “The prince,” she said, trying to make sense of it, “Were we really friends?” “No,” Obi said, to her shock. Everyone had been telling her how close they were, a fact she found hard to believe. She was about to question him when he leaned in close to her partially covering his mouth. “The rumor I heard said that the two of you were lovers.” Shirayuki was mortified. Obi burst into laughter. Shirayuki, beat red, bowed her head until her chin touched her chest. Obi wiped a tear, “Sorry, miss, that joke went a little too far.”She shook her head and knotted her fingers. “I’m so confused.” she whispered. Obi reached out his hand before he knew what he planned to do with it then drew it back. Obi began slowly, cautiously. “You two are close friends and there are such rumors, but the truth is, the miss is someone the prince holds very dear.” Shirayuki lifted her head, her eyes were watery, looking at him. At him. His entire being begged him to end his sentence there… But… “And the prince is a very important person to the miss, too.” Shirayuki looked back down at her work and busied herself, they sat in silence for a minute before she spoke.“Mitsuhide mentioned that when we met we saved each other, do you know what that means?” Zen only ever made small mentions about their meeting to Obi which caused him to have to creatively fill in the gaps. “Once upon a time, there was a spoiled idiot prince. The idiot prince was so used to getting whatever he wanted he thought he could even own a person. However that didn’t sit well with the little red heroine, who ran away from the idiot prince. Then, she met a grumpy prince in the forest. The idiot prince found them and cursed the grumpy prince, so the little red heroine gave herself up in order to free the grumpy prince. That, however, didn’t sit well with the grumpy prince who broke the curse on himself so that he could come to the little red heroine’s side. Together, they vanquished the idiot prince.”Shirayuki’s brow was knit tightly in confusion. “But why did I stay?” she asked, quietly.Obi sighed, again. This was getting troublesome for his heart, “I wasn’t there, I shouldn’t be the one to say.”
Obi and Shirayuki walked out to the gardens carrying empty baskets in their arms. Suddenly their path was cut off by the prince stumbling out in front of them. He looked back over his shoulder and grunted, “He’s driving me insane!”He turned his head to see a shocked Obi and Shirayuki. His glare lingered on Shirayuki, like he was considering her, then he turned to Obi.“You.” He pointed at Obi, “You’re my messager, right?”Obi pointed at himself, “Uum yeah, that’s right, master.”“I told you to stop calling me master.”“Sorry, master.” Obi said with a grin, “I must have forgot.” Zen scowled at him. “Will you please send a message to Mitsuhide saying that I won’t break if I take a walk without him breathing down my neck.”“I have an idea, master,” he handed him his basket, “I’ll go talk to mister while you take a walk with the miss, here.”He was gone before either of them could protest.
“You didn’t actually have to come along with me.” Shirayuki said setting down her basket and kneeling in the dirt. Zen did the same and watched what she was doing.“It would have been rude to say no.”“You don’t have to be worried about my feelings.” she said, “You didn’t seem concerned about them before.”Zen looked sheepish, “I’m sorry if I was rude that day.” “Oh, an apology?”“Yes, I was panicked. These last few weeks have been really confusing.”“I know.” she said, not letting him off the hook. He looked like her reply had slapped him. He stared at her, trying to parse it out, then nodded in acceptance of it. The wind picked up suddenly, rustling the leaves and lifting the smell of warm soil and vegetation. Shirayuki closed her eyes to take it in. The wind wipped around her hair and tickled her nose.She peaked to see the tops of the plants sway and instead saw that Zen was letting the breeze tossle his hair too, a smile crossed his lips, and his chest expanded and fell back with a deep breath. He turned his gaze over the horizon and it landed on Shirayuki, “I love that sound.” She smiled back, “Maybe that’s what we had in common.” “I’m curious about you.”“About us being friends?” It wasn’t really a question, she knew what he meant because she could say the same about him.“Yes. Mitsuhide and Kiki told me how we met.” He noticed that had gotten her attention, “Did they not tell you?”She realized she’d been staring and looked away, “I heard a….funny story, but nothing detailed.”He smirked and began feigning sudden interest in a leaf he’d picked up off the floor. “You’re not going to tell me?” Zen shrugged, “Only if you tell me why people think we’re engaged.” The mortification returned. “I-I don’t know, Obi mentioned rumors about lovers, but…” Zen flushed, “I’m sorry, you don’t have t-”“He said we that we are important to one another. After we saved each other…” she looked around before settling back on those giant blue eyes, “Maybe even the reason I didn’t return to Tanbarun.” Zen nodded slowly, the birds sang during the long silence. “I was worried that you were someone only interested in my title. I-I know that can’t be true, now!” he finished quickly, “Now, that I’ve spoken to you for just this short while.”She stared at him with glistening eyes, “Thank you, Zen.” She blinked suddenly and frantically waved her arms, “Prince Zen, I mean. Sorry, I don’t know where that came from.”Zen laughed, “Shirayuki, If I considered you important once, you’re important to me now.” He extended his hand, “My friends call me Zen.”She reached out and took his hand, a large smile on her face. “Zen.”
