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During her practice as a doctor, Diana Cavendish-Kagari had heard her patients tell her many times that they had missed the signs. That they had only noticed something was wrong when it was too late.
And each time they did so Diana had corrected them. Because who could blame them when they were not doctors themselves?
So the irony of now being told the same thing by another doctor was not lost on her.
It had all started two months ago when Diana had received a call from their bank to inform her about a missed payment. While it had been surprising to hear, it wasn’t that unusual for Akko to forget to pay a bill.
Still, she mentioned the phone call to her wife, who gave her an apologetic smile and promised to not forget again.
“I’m so sorry Diana!” Akko had told her with the pout she knew made Diana forgive her anything. “I really forgot about that card payment.”
“That’s alright.” Diana kisses her softly while hugging her tight. “We can all forget things at times. Maybe you’re getting too old.” she jokes.
Akko pouts at her.
“Excuse me!” the brunette huffs. “Who are you calling old? I look amazing for my age.” she poses and this makes Diana laugh.
“You are still the most beautiful woman I have ever seen.” Diana tells her seriously.
“Maaaan.” Akko blushes. “If this is what I get for forgetting to pay the bills then I should do that more often.”
“Don’t you dare.” Diana threatens her. “That will affect our credit.”
“Yes, yes.” the brunette says and then gets closer to Diana so she can whisper in her ear. “Since I happen to be the most beautiful woman you have ever seen, how about we go to our room and I show you how much what you said means to me?” she kisses her wife’s ear and chuckles when she feels her tremble.
Diana doesn’t say anything else and pulls her straight to their bed.
“ Miss Cavendish-Kagari…” she hears the representative speaking on the other side of the line. “It seems like you have forgotten yet again to make your monthly payment.”
“I have?” she asks confused.
Surely Akko couldn’t have forgotten yet again to make the payment, right?
“I apologize for that.” Diana says instead. “Let me give you my account information to process the payment right now.”
When she got home, Diana was ready to ask Akko about what had happened this time with the payment. Maybe the card Akko used was expired or she wrote the wrong number.
Honestly, her wife was so careless at times…
Akko wasn’t home yet. Which was strange because Akko finished teaching classes at the high school at four in the afternoon.
It was almost 7:00pm.
Taking her phone out to check for any missed calls, she sees that she has ten missed calls from Akko.
Panicking, Diana dials her wife and starts walking around the house, not being able to stay still while the phone kept ringing.
“Diana!” she hears Akko crying her name and this makes the blonde freeze.
Her wife sounded terrified.
“Darling…” she tries to say soothingly. “Where are you, what’s wrong?”
“I… I can’t find our house.” she cries. “I was driving back from school and I got lost and I don’t know where I am. Diana, I forgot where our house is!”
“Calm down sweetie.” Diana puts her coat and shoes on. “Look around you and tell me what you see.”
After calming Akko down and getting her to describe her surroundings, Diana had found her wife sitting in her car three blocks away from their house.
“I... “ Akko looked at her with fear in her eyes. “I think there’s something wrong with me Dia.”
“Miss Kagari-Cavendish has what we call Mild Alzheimer’s disease.” the doctor tells Diana seriously and Diana feels like the weight of the whole world is on her shoulders. “Based on the episodes she has experienced, the interval in which these episodes have occurred as well as the memory tests and MRI scans we performed, we can say that Miss Kagari-Cavendish seems to be in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease.”
Diana turns to look at her wife and can see how the news has affected her. Her Akko, who was usually so positive and talkative, was now just staring at her hands, a blank and empty expression on her face.
And Diana, who usually knows what to say, for the first time in a long time, also doesn’t know what to say.
“Does that mean then…” she hears Akko whisper. “That I will lose all my memories?”
This breaks Diana’s heart even more.
“I hate this!” Akko screams at her while throwing her phone to the ground. “Why can’t I remember such a simple thing as the phone number to the pizza place?!”
“Darling…” the blonde tries to grab her hands. “It’s okay.”
“It’s not! Do you know that today while I was teaching a class I blanked out?! For two whole minutes! I just froze and didn’t speak! It took for one of the children to grab my hand to make me realize that I had no idea of what had happened!” she cries bitterly. “The doctor said it shouldn’t be this fast.”
“Akko…” Diana doesn’t know what to say apart from hug her tightly.
“I told the school today that I was resigning.” Akko cries into her shoulder. “And I…” she chokes. “I was hoping I could get more time with them Dia.”
“I know sweetie.” she kisses her wife softly and holds her close.
They were running out of time.
“I don’t want to make you choose between your job and me.” Akko tells her sadly while watching Diana finish her phone call. “I know how hard you worked for that position and what taking a leave of absence could do to your chances of obtaining it.”
“That doesn’t matter to me.” Diana tells her vehemently while kneeling in front of Akko, who stares at her. “You are what matters to me. You are my world, Akko. And being with you is what is most important to me.”
“Diana…” Akko cries and kisses her on the lips, their words not enough to convey the passion, sadness, desperation and longing they felt for each other.
“My Darling.” Diana whispers while kissing her again and caressing her skin. “I love you so much.”
“I love you too Dia.” Akko tells her and pulls her wife up, taking her hands and leading her to their bed.
All discussions about Diana’s job were forgotten to the feeling of each others’ body on top of the other.
“You know…” Akko tells her while they were watching the sunset together. “When we met in high school I really didn’t like you.”
Diana laughs.
“I know. You were not the most discreet when it came to showing your dislike of me.”
Akko pouts.
“You were kind of obnoxious though. Acting all high and mighty as if you were the queen of the school.”
“I did not.” Diana huffs. “I admit that I was at that time a little unapproachable.”
“A little…”
“But it wasn’t out of malice or thinking myself superior to others.”
“I know that.” Akko pecks her lips with a smile. “Can’t believe I have to thank Amanda for locking us together in that closet during senior year.”
“Why did she even do that?” Diana asks curiously.
Akko blushes and knows her wife has noticed by the way she’s smirking at her.
“I won’t tell!”
“Now you have to.” Diana teases her while kissing her neck.
“Alright, alright!” she gives up. “It was because I may have admitted to liking you when we were playing truth or dare one day at her dorm.”
Diana smiles brightly at her.
“I thought you hated me.”
“What can I say…” Akko hugs her tight. “I also ended up falling for your cool and sophisticated charm.”
“And I’m glad I fell for you too.”
“Even after all of this?” Akko whispers to her and Diana feels her moving away from the hug. “Even after knowing that this would happen to me? Knowing that at one point I will forget you, forget our love and the life we have built together?” she feels tears in her eyes.
Diana stares at her, feeling just as bitter and upset as Akko was feeling. But even though it broke her heart to even think of the moment Akko would look at her and see nothing more than a stranger, she still didn’t regret a thing.
She would always love her Akko no matter what.
“You may forget.” Diana tells her the truth and knows she’s crying as well. “But I will always remember for the both of us. And when you don’t remember, I will remind you of how wonderful our time together was. Of how much fun we had. Of all the places and people we got to see and meet. I will always remind you of how much we love each other.”
“Do you promise?” her wife asks, no, begs her.
“I promise you.” Diana vows and kisses her on the lips, a kiss to seal their deal.
“NOOOOO!” Diana woke to the screams of Akko.
Running to the living room where she knew her wife was, Diana abruptly stopped when she saw the brunette staring at her completely terrified and holding a knife in her hand.
“Darling?” she asks her softly. “What’s wrong?”
“Where, where am I?!” Akko screams. “What is this place, where am I?!” she then says the words that Diana had hoped she would never hear. “Who are you?!”
Feeling like her heart was breaking at the reality that her wife had forgotten who she was, it takes all of Diana’s composure to remain calm.
“You’re in our house darling. You were watching T.V while I was taking a nap. The two of us have been married for 28 years.” she can’t help but choke out the last part.
This makes Akko stare at her and then turn towards the T.V which was still on.
“I…” Akko tries to say but can’t get her words out. “I can’t remember who I am.”
“That’s alright my Darling.” Diana moves closer to grab the knife Akko is holding. “I will help you remember.”
When Akko sees Diana reach out towards her, the brunette reacts and swings the knife, almost getting Diana’s arm but still scraping her hand.
Ignoring the cut, Diana tries yet again to calm her wife down, who had now frozen and was staring at her bleeding hand.
Grabbing the knife and throwing it away from them, Diana ushers Akko to the couch, sitting her down and whispering soothing songs while explaining where they were and what they were doing.
When she feels the brunette’s body relax in her embrace, Diana knows that her Akko is back.
“Diana?” Akko asks her confused and her gaze immediately goes towards her bleeding hand. “Your hand!” she cries. “What happened?”
“I…” Diana doesn’t know what to say and can see the moment her wife finds the knife she had discarded on the floor.
“I did this to you?” she cries. “I hurt you?!” she is hysteric.
“It wasn’t your fault darling.” Diana tries to soothe her but Akko moves away, looking apologetically while doing so and then running towards their studio, the sound of the lock being placed clearly heard.
And Diana, who hadn’t yet gone over the fact that the love of her life had forgotten who she was, could now only feel the anger and bitterness of watching her wife fade away.
For the first time in what had been years, Diana cried and cried. She remembers people always telling her that no matter what, she would always have her memories. And she had believed that. Diana had honestly believed that.
But that really wasn’t the case, was it? Because to Diana, Akko still looked like the woman she had married 28 years ago. She was still the woman she loves.
But to Akko, she was a total stranger. Because when you have Alzheimer, you don’t have your memories.
“How is she feeling today?” Diana asks the nurse who is smiling at her.
“Today is a really good day.” the woman tells her. “She woke up in a really good mood and is very talkative.”
“Do you think she’ll want to see me?” she asks unsure.
When Akko’s health turned for the worse, Akko decided that she would go stay at a nursing home, refusing to keep Diana from doing her job and living her life. While Diana had vehemently refused, and had explained to her wife that they had enough money so that Diana could retire, Akko told her bluntly that she didn’t want Diana to see her like that.
“I don’t want to hurt you like I did that time.” Akko had begged her with tears in her eyes.
So Diana had accepted Akko’s wish and had helped her find a nursing home that was close to the hospital so that Diana could visit all the time.
Yet although she visited Akko everyday, it wasn’t everyday that she could see her.
Diana had found out that soon after Akko hurt her with the knife, it was more often than not that Akko didn’t remember who she was. And while that hurt Diana, she still wanted to be close to her wife. Because although Akko didn’t remember who she was, to Diana she was still her Akko.
She was still the woman she fell in love with.
“Akko always wants to see you.” the nurse tells her kindly and this is enough encouragement for Diana to open the door to her wife’s room.
Entering the space, she can’t help but smile at the sight of her favorite brunette who was gazing at the gardens from her window.
“Hello.” Diana says to her and this gets her wife’s attention.
“Hello!” Akko smiles brightly at her and turns towards the garden again. “Isn’t it a wonderful day?”
“It really is.” Diana tells her and gets closer. “Do you mind if I sit?”
Akko nods in confirmation and watches the blonde woman sit, feeling for some strange reason that she knows this stranger.
“Do I know you?” Akko asks her once she sits down. “Because you look like someone I’ve seen before.”
Diana chuckles.
“Are you saying that I have one of those faces?”
Akko pouts.
“Nooo! I mean, you’re very beautiful and gorgeous… Wait, I, I mean that, but…” she starts stuttering and this makes the blonde woman laugh even more.
“Thank you for saying that.” Diana feels like crying and knows she probably is when she sees the concern on her wife’s eyes. “You are very beautiful as well.”
“Thank you.” Akko murmurs and the familiarity of her not being able to accept compliments yet again reminds Diana of the young woman she had fallen in love with.
The woman she was still madly in love with.
“I know this may seem very forward of me.” Diana starts telling her. “But how about you and I take a walk in the gardens? It would be such a waste to just stare at them from here, right?” she turns towards the nurse to see if that would be okay and gets a nod in confirmation.
“Really?!” Akko asks excitedly. “You really want to go with me?!”
“I wouldn’t be asking you if I didn’t.” she chuckles and stands up to grab Akko’s hand. “So how about it, Darling?”
The moment she says that word, Diana can see the haze that was now almost all the time on Akko’s eyes dissipate, leaving instead the familiar sight of the ruby eyes that had captivated her when they were both high school students.
“Nothing would make me happier, Dia.”