Forgotten Memories

Chapter 18

Arael watched as the teacher introduced Cole to the class and he moved to sit next to her. She remembered how she felt towards him and how she hated him. The eyes during art came back to her and her conversation with Kyla. She remembered walking home the wrong way and getting stuck in the rain where she saw Cole again. She remembered the smell of his jacket and how she forgot to meet Heath at the coffee shop. She remembered Heath's jealousy and how everyone thought she had cheated on him. Everything came back. Their first kiss seemed to play in slow motion and she remembered looking up at Cole as she fell after a fallen had cut her wings. She remembered thinking that she would never get to tell him she loved him and she would never be able to spend the rest of her life with him, marry him or have his children because a fallen felt that she needed to be killed. She remembered the pain she felt and how she had fought to stay with him but after she had closed her eyes she had no more power or energy to stay awake. She remembered letting the darkness consume her, knowing she had loved someone and been loved and that that was all she needed...

"... and my father and I were talking about how I'm going to be King in a month. He brought up letting you go again so that I could find a Queen but I walked away again. I don't know how he can expect me to let you go and to find or love another womam",Arael heard a feint yet familiar voice as a warm hand held her cold one. It was a voice she had been hearing for more than two years.

"You're going to wake up... Someday",he whispered. She tried to squeeze his hand to tell him she could hear him but all she could manage was a twitch. Her body was stiff and it hurt to move but she had to try. He was hurting, she could feel it, and she didn't like it. She wanted to hold him and reassure him but it would take a lot of energy. Energy she didn't have.

"Arael?",he asked softly. He had felt the twitch but he didn't want to get his hopes up. She tried again and managed to squeeze his hand slightly. He gasped and she smiled internally as she felt his soft, warm lips press against her forehead, her cheeks, her nose, her jaw and every other place onher face before finally resting on her lips.

"You're awake",he whispered as he pulled away slightly and ran his fingers through her hair. He watched as she slowly opened her eyes and looked around before looking up at him. She looked at his face and noticed how he had changed from her memories of him. He looked older, his body was bigger and more muscular, he had a slight beard that was clearly well groomed and he had a stronger presence about him. He walked across the room and poured her a glass of water that she gulped down eagerly.

"I thought you weren't going to wake up. I tried to get myself to believe again but I started to think you weren't going to wake up",he told her softly. She noticed the moisture in his eyes and frowned.

"What do you mean? I was only asleep for a few hours",she said confusedly with a hoarse voice. He smiled sadly and shook his head.

"No, little bird... You were asleep for eight months...",he told her softly. Her face fell as she realised he was going to be made King in less than a month. That meant he had less than a month before he turned twenty three, less than a month to get married to someone or he wouldn't get the throne.

"I remember",she told him, trying to forget about everything else. He looked at her in confusion.

"I remember everything... I remember the first time I saw you, I remember your jacket, I remember the daggers, I remember the kiss, I remember the fight, I remember dying... I remember you",she told him. He smiled widely as he realised what she meant and she watched as his eyes and face lit up. She laughed as he raced over to her side and stumbled slightly as he tried desperately to get to her as quickly as he possibly could. He leaned down to kiss her as he smiled so widely his cheeks hurt.

"You remember?",he asked as he rested his forehead against hers.

"I remember",she told him as she kissed him again.