Clextober19: SCREAM
For three years, Lexa had been rewinding Aden's memory.
"Why do we have to keep doing this?" Madi sighed as she looked at her best friends blank expression. She pushed his floppy blonde hair out of his eyes as he stared at the wall in front of him.
"I told you," Lexa says softly. "He can't know you're a witch."
"He keeps figuring it out, though," Madi counters. "Every single time we erase it, he figures it out a different way. Now, he's just losing more memories." Her blue eyes lingered on his face, his blonde mustache that he started growing. At fifteen, Aden still looked like a twelve year old, chubby cheeks and innocent eyes, and he was desperate to look older - hence the tiny patch of hair above his lip. "Soon enough, he's not even going to remember me."
"She's right," Clarke said. She sat next to Madi and slung her arm around her daughter's shoulder. "You never erased my memory."
"Trust me, my parents tried. Many times. You're just remarkably stubborn. I just - I need to keep you safe, Mads."
Clarke pulled Madi into her chest and sighed. "Just for now," she whispered to her daughter.
"Okay," Madi sighed.
***
Aden rang the bell to the Griffin-Woods home, excited to start the movie marathon he and Madi watched every Friday night.
Startlingly blue eyes stared up at him, a pretty smile on his best friend's lips. Aden blinked, his hands suddenly getting sweaty at the sight of her.
"Hey, loser," Madi teased. "You coming in or what?" She asked.
Aden laughed, shouldering past her to get into the house. "Last one to the couch smells like feet!" He called, then raced to the couch in her living room. He leapt over the back and crashed onto the cushions. "Beat ya!" He called out before Madi had even turned from the door.
Madi rolled her eyes and settled onto the floor in front of him.
"I'm just kidding. Come sit up by me." He moved his legs and tugged on Madi's sweater until she relented and moved to the couch with him. "So what do you wanna watch?"
The brunette shrugged.
"Slasher? Freddie? Jason? Killer Clowns? Scream?" He asked.
Madi laughed. "What is it with you and scary movies lately?"
Aden shrugged. "I find them funny." He looked at his best friend through the corner of his eyes. "The supernatural doesn't scare me."
"Jason isn't supernatural. He's just a crazy dude."
Aden cleared his throat. "Yeah, we can watch something else. What about a witch movie?"
Madi's cheeks flushed. "Why a witch movie?"
Aden lifted one shoulder and let it drop when he said, "I think they're cool. They're just normal people with like… extra powers."
"They're not normal at all," Madi disagreed. "It's weird, having powers. You're not like everyone else."
"Yeah, you're special. You get to see the world through a totally different lens. Being a human kinda sucks. We're squishy and whiney and usually prone to doing dumb things." Aden pointed to the DVD case in his hand. "Like, always run towards the sound of murder."
"Witches are squishy and they can do a lot of harm to people."
"Or they can save people. Hello, Harry Potter."
"Voldemort."
Aden leaped across the couch to cover Madi's mouth with his hands. "Don't say his name," he hissed. His heart beat unsteadily in his chest.
Madi giggled underneath him, and for the briefest of moments, she thought about what his lips would taste like and if the hair above his lip would tickle. The thought startled her, knocking her stomach into her shoes, and she licked his palm. Aden's nose scrunched up and he pulled away immediately at the wet feel of her tongue, wiping his hand on his pants.
Her cheeks turned bright red, and she tucked her legs underneath herself in the corner of the couch trying to distance herself from the feeling. "Just pick whatever movie you want."
"What about Bewitched?" Aden chewed his lip as he cast a nervous glance at his best friend.
Madi blew a raspberry. "That's like ancient."
"Yeah, but she wiggles her nose," he commented with forced nonchalance. "Seems kinda relevant."
Everything suddenly went eerily silent. Madi swallowed down the knot in her throat and avoided her friend's eye.
"I know you know that I know," Aden said. His brow scrunched and he shook his head. "I mean - I know you're a witch. And I know your Mama's a witch."
Madi hissed, "Aden, stop -," her eyes widened as she looked around, looking to see if her parents were listening. Surely, they'd rewind his mind of tonight and Madi wasn't ready for that again.
"No wait, listen Mads." Aden turned to face his friend fully. "I know. And I know you're going to delete my memory again or whatever it is that you guys do, and that's cool, but just know that I know and I'll always know and I'll always keep it a secret. Clearly, it needs to be since you keep wiping my memory."
"How did you…"
Aden shrugged. "It makes sense. There's pictures of things that we've done together, places we've gone, but when I try to remember them, I can't even recall one single memory of the day. You always have to tell me what happened, and you haven't ever told the same story twice."
"Your amnesia isn't -,"
"And how you always take the entire week off if you're sick. And how you always make me jump because I'll be sure you aren't around and then you just poof right into existence next to me."
"Yes, but -,"
"And how your Aunt Octavia is never in any pictures I've ever seen. I've even tried to take a selfie with her and she nearly broke my hand. She's a vampire, isn't she? And how defensive you are over what witches actually look like. You even coined witch-ist."
"I didn't coin anything."
"Okay, well, what about that one time I was playing soccer and you were the only person in the stands and I kicked the ball from half-field and it literally spun around all the defenders to end up in the net."
"Physics?" Madi said awkwardly.
"Madi," Aden sighed. "You're going to wipe my memory anyway, you might as well not lie."
Madi sighed and ran her hands down her face. "Fine," she murmured. She looked up into earnest blue eyes and said, "yeah, I'm a witch. My mama, too, and her sister. But aunty Raven and my mom aren't."
"And your aunt Octavia?"
"Vampire."
"Uncle Lincoln?"
"Werewolf."
"Those are real?!" Aden shrieked. Madi cast a wary look at him and Aden cleared his throat. "Those are real?" He hissed.
The brunette nodded, and started playing with the ends of her braids.
"Okay, wow," Aden said. He ran his hand through his hair and asked, "so can you fly? Do you need a broomstick?"
Madi laughed. "Nope." She wiggled her nose and levitated off the couch a few inches. Aden's eyes widened comically.
"Cool! Do you make potions? Do you have any warts? Can you teleport? Is there a killing spell? Do you need a wand? How come you have to wiggle your nose? Do you wear gowns? Did you have to go to witch school?" He started asked the questions so quickly that Madi couldn't keep up with them to answer.
"Whoa, Aden, holy, wait!" She cried. She laughed at his excitement. "First of all, this isn't Harry Potter. Secondly, I'm a half-witch, so I have my own set of special powers. Each of us are different. My mom's got super athletic/physical stuff and I -,"
"Can talk to animals," Aden supplied.
"You - you know that?"
Aden smirked. "I saw you in the park last week. A wolf came up to you and you followed it. A wolf, Madi. You followed a wolf. Anyway, I followed you."
"Oh," Madi said, a strong swooping feeling in her stomach made her skin hot. "Why would you follow me if there was a wolf?"
"You were talking to it. And then when you found the litter, you talked to them, too. The pups came right up to you. You talked to them like they could understand you, and I just pieced it together."
"You followed me because you thought I was a witch?"
Aden swallows loudly. "Uh, yeah."
"Oh," Madi said, her brow furrowing at the fact that her stomach had dropped unpleasantly. "Right, yeah, well, I can talk to animals."
"That's cool."
"How come you're not more freaked out by this?" Madi asked, diverting the attention away from her disappointment.
Aden shrugged. "You're my best friend. You're important to me, and I just… I want you to know I'm not gonna hurt you. So when you wipe my memory this time you can at least know that you're safe with me."
Madi leaned over and hugged her best friend tightly. "Thanks, Aden."
"Anytime, Mads."
***
"You can't rewind his memory this time," Clarke hissed at her wife.
They were doing what any good set of parents would do - they were eavesdropping.
It's not that they meant to, but Aden's voice was changing, and it cracked when he was excited. He spoke with such excitement that both Clarke and Lexa thought it would be safer to know than not know.
"I need to protect Madi," Lexa said sadly. "I don't enjoy doing this. I adore Aden."
"I know you don't, but it doesn't seem to matter anyway. He keeps figuring it out. We've rewound his memory almost thirty times already. Nothing even happened this week and he figured it out. What are you going to do, kill him?"
Lexa opened her mouth only to snap it shut seconds later. She couldn't kill the boy. "What if we move?"
"I will literally kick your ass, Lexa. You're not doing that to Madi. You'd have to rewind to her toddler years and I am not going through the fire burping phase again!"
Lexa slumped into the counter. Clarke stepped into her space, cupping her chin and directing green eyes to meet hers. "Aden's a good kid. He's Madi's best friend. Maybe we should just trust that the universe wants him to know." She pressed a soft kiss to the pouty bottom lip of her wife.
Lexa wrapped her arms around Clarke's waist. "When did you get so wise, Mrs. Griffin-Woods?"
"When I married my best friend." She kissed Lexa's smirking lips and then pulled away. "Let's go talk to them."
***
Madi was in the process of returning Aden to his human form after she had turned him into a desk lamp.
"Whoa," he gasped as his butt landed on the side table. "That was so cool!"
Lexa cleared her throat from the entrance to the living room, and both teenagers froze.
"Looks like you're having fun," she commented. Aden jumped off the table and sat on the couch in a poor attempt to feign innocence.
"Mama wait, I can explain."
Lexa held up her hand to her daughter. "Nope."
Madi looked at Clarke, who just shook her head at her daughter. Lexa took a seat on the arm of the couch next to Madi and Clarke sat beside Aden, her hand running soothingly along his back. "We want to talk to you both," Clarke said.
Aden sighed, his shoulders hunched forward. After a long moment, he said, "Alright, I'm ready." He sat up straight and looked at Madi. "Thanks for being honest with me."
"We're not removing your memories," Lexa said.
Aden gasped at them. "You're - you're not?"
"No, we're actually going to give them back to you, if you want. I'm sorry I took them from you, but I needed to protect my daughter."
Aden shrugged. "That's cool, I get it." He looked at Madi. "I'd protect her, too."
Lexa shared a knowing look with her wife, then turned back to the boy. "Do you want your memories back?"
"You can do that?"
"Yes. It will disrupt the timeline, but it won't make too much of an impact because you continuously figure it out. At least, well, I hope."
"You hope?" Clarke hissed.
"I mean, well, it's not like I ever had to do this before!" Lexa said.
Clarke groaned and ran her hand down her face. "Fucking magical children I have.
"Anyway," Lexa cast a look at her wife before turning back to Aden. "I can, but it's pretty painful. Like, extremely painful, so you need to be sure you want --,"
Aden cut her off, "Yes, I want them. I want to remember."
Lexa nodded and switched seats with Clarke. Clarke took hold of her daughter's sweaty hand, stifling her chuckles. "He'll be okay."
Lexa placed her hands on either side of Aden's head and breathed in deeply, closing her eyes. He followed suit, squeezing his eyes shut tightly.
She whispered an incantation that wasn't English then released Aden's head.
Nothing happened. Aden opened one eye, and then the other, and then pouted at the ordinary room.
"I don't think anythi -- agghhhhhhhhhh!" He screamed, clutching his head between his hands as the waves of memories were dumped into his subconscious.
He fell over, his body crumpling to the floor in pain. His head felt like it was being squeezed in a vice. He saw glimpses of fire and ice and blinding, painful lights.
Images flashed before his eyes of all the adventures he and Madi and been on since they became friends on the apple farm. Moments of terror and fun and pre-teen awkwardness, and images of Madi's face and her wiggling nose illuminated his mind.
His body seized and convulsed with the rewiring of his brain, and after a long, long moment, his body went still.
Madi was beside him instantly. "Aden? Aden?" She asked as she shook him.
Aden gasped and bolted upright, clutching his head as the visions swam before him. Madi stumbled back, her eyes warily watching her best friend, waiting for him to say something.
"Madi," Aden gasped, eyes landing on his best friend.
"Hi," she said quietly.
His face broke into a large, beaming grin. "Hey, hi, hello," he laughed at himself. "Holy shit, hi!"
"Do you remember anything?" Madi asked, still wary.
"I remember everything," he cheered, then lunged at her to give a tight hug.