Love and Betrayal | Wriolette

Chapter 15: Unfaded memories

Weeks on end went by, and Wriothesley tried every way he could think of to make him remember everything. Little by little, Neuvillette's memory was coming back to him. They went out for tea, they went water tasting, Neuvillette even started going back into work. His memory was almost completely stabilized again, and he remembered almost everything.

Almost. He still didn't remember them.

-

"Today, we'll head to the Fortress. Walk around, try to refresh your memories more. Sound good?" Said Wriothesley as the two of them walked outside of the house.

"Whatever you think is good.." Said Neuvillette in a slightly sad tone. He just couldn't recall anything about him, and he was starting to lose hope, as was Wriothesley. They headed down to the Fortress of Meropide and walked around. They walked around several times, but Neuvillette's mind was blank. In the end, they decided that they'd just go in for a quick check-up with Sigewinne before heading out. As she ran some tests and went on with the normal check-up, she walked over to Wriothesley to talk about the situation.

"How has his memory been? Flowing back nicely?" Said Sigewinne. But her smile quickly faded when Wriothesley responded.

"He remembers practically everything except us. He remembers practically nothing about our relationship." He said looking down, no identifiable expression. He wasn't even sad anymore, he just felt empty. Neuvillette was back, but was he really?

"Your grace.. I'm so sorry." She said with a frown. "I understand how you're feel-"

But before she could finish, a load of guards ran into the room.

"YOUR GRACE! There's been an escape!" Yelled one of the guards. The last time this happened was 4 years ago, and although he was left injured, he was glad it had happened. It was how he and Neuvillette got together.. But there hadn't been another escape since. 

"Seriously!? I thought you guys became more competent.. Whatever, you know I'll deal with it by myself. Let me guess, it's that same damn guy from before?" Said Wriothesley with a sigh. Last time, he almost let them get away. But Neuvillette was there for him. He truly missed those days.

"R-Right your grace, of course!" Yelled another one of the guards. They explained the situation and told him where he was. 

"Underwater? An underwater base? You've got to be kidding me.." Said Wriothesley, putting his hands on his face, pissed off with the whole situation. He wasn't the best swimmer either..

"I could help you, Wriothesley." Said Neuvillette from the corner of the room.

"Really? Are you sure?" Responded Wriothesley, turning around to face the Iudex.

"I'm a good swimmer. And from the look on your face when the underwater base was mentioned, you might need some help. I can lend a hand." Neuvillette said. Wriothesley contemplated letting him come, but agreed eventually, and they headed off.

"According to the directions given by the guards.. We should get in the water from here." Said Wriothesley, and the two of them dove into the water. For most of the swim, Neuvillette needed to drag Wriothesley along.. He wasn't a good swimmer at all, but he didn't mind being dragged. After all, it meant getting to hold Neuvillette's hand, which was something he missed. As they swam on, Wriothesley spotted the cave that the Guards mentioned, and they swam towards it.

"Ah- Finally!" Exclaimed Wriothesley as they went into the dry cave. "It should be this way now.." He said, and they walked on. They both heard some loud noises coming from up ahead, and they jogged forward to see what was going on, and found that same fatui asshole with his stolen artifacts and treasure hoarder buddies.