Archive of Our Own

"That's the last Ethereal eliminated. Good work, everyone!" Belle calls through Eous.

Wise lets out a relieved sigh and steps out from behind the others. "Good work Pyrois," he tells his shield. The being dissipates, returning to dust. He glances around at the others.

Ye Shunguang grips her arm with her free hand, the Qingming Sword hanging loosely in her grip. Ju Fufu and the others from the temple are looking around, making sure that there's no more enemies coming to fight them.

Wise is walking over towards the rest of them when Ye Shunguang collapses onto one knee. "'Xiao'guang!" he shouts as he runs over to her.

"I'm… fine," she says as he hooks her free arm around his shoulder and lifts her up. "Just… overdid it."

"You were doing most of the fighting back there," he tells her. "Here, rest your weight on me."

"Thank you." He looks up at her, red eyes meeting gray. There's a blank look in them as she stares at him, before that gets replaced with puzzlement. "I'm sorry, but who are you again?"

Wise stares at her. His heart falls somewhere near his stomach while ice spreads from the hole where it once was. "It's me. Wise. Your junior?"

She blinks at him, uncomprehendingly. Her mouth falls open. "I have a junior?"

Wise's eyes fall onto the Qingming Sword. If he remembers correctly, the power of the sword demands a sacrifice. Senses, memories, but she'd mastered it to the point she no longer needed to give them up. Ye Shunguang hadn't taken any bad falls in that fight, he's pretty sure she didn't get hurt at all-

"I have a junior now?!"

His senior's excited shout draws the attention of everyone else. Several pairs of eyes fall on them both and Wise finds himself staring at a gleeful expression that both warms and hurts his heart.

The pain must be visible on his face, because the excitement on hers dies down immediately. She's back to staring at him like he's a complete stranger. Not her Wise. "Did I do something wrong?" she asks, her voice filled with innocent confusion.

"No, no. You didn't." If she's forgotten him… how much has she forgotten? "We should get your back to the temple. The Qingming-"

Understanding crosses Ye Shunguang's face. She takes her arm off of him and stands up, her legs shaking all the while. "Of course. Let's get going."

Ju Fufu and Yixuan take up positions beside her, helping her walk along the path back to the temple. Ordinarily, Wise would be right beside her. This time, he falls to the back, walking alongside Eous.

"You good, bro?" Belle asks through Eous. Wise shakes his head. "What happened? It didn't look like she got hurt."

"She didn't. The Qingming…" He forces his next words out, as much as he doesn't want them to be true. "I think it made her forget me."

Wise is, unsurprisingly, waiting outside the door to the temple's on site doctor's room while the others are seeing to Ye Shunguang.

He can't hear anything. That might be for the best, because he doesn't want to think about how much she might have forgotten. She didn't recognise him, didn't remember him being her junior, much less anything else. If the Qingming Sword's taking her memories again, how much has she forgotten?

Maybe she's just forgotten him. It's a terrible thought to have, but if it only took her memories about him, then it means she'll remember everyone else.

The other disciples are in there with them, along with Senior Fufu and their Shifu. Belle's still back at Random Play, and Wise had to beg her not to leave the shop to come here. There still needs to be someone there, while he's here.

Waiting.

The door opens. He whips around to look at who's leaving, and his heart soars to his throat as Ye Shunguang leaves the door. "Senior."

"Junior Wise." That, combined with the sad look on her face, sends his heart plummeting back down. "Sorry. Excuse me."

He watches her walk away. He wants to call to her, ask her if she still remembers him, but the words freeze in his throat and fail to form. Yixuan pokes her head out of the room next. "Junior Wise. You should come in and hear this."

Reluctantly, he walks inside.

Ju Fufu is sat on a chair opposite the door, her usual happy expression replaced by a downcast look. Yixuan sits down next to her. Wise takes the seat opposite them both. The doctor who'd been seeing to Ye Shunguang is busy moving things around. It doesn't look like they're going to be involved in this talk.

Wise is the one to break the silence. "Shifu. Senior Fufu. Is Senior Shunguang…?"

"She is healthy." Yixuan is the one to speak. "Her memories of the temple and us are fine." He nods, but she must know what he's going to ask before he does. "But she does not remember you."

"Nothing at all?"

"No." Ju Fufu shakes her head. "I'm sorry, Wise. She's forgotten everything about you."

Everything?

She'll have forgotten their attempts at making osmanthus cakes. The time they failed so badly they had to attend cooking classes as punishment for nearly burning the kitchen down. When they finally succeeded and got to share it with the rest of Yunkui Summit.

That time they tried to rescue the temple's cat from a tree, only to fall from it and have to bribe Cissia with snacks to get the cat down.

Or the time where they went through a haunted house together, and ended up clinging to each other despite all they had been through. It was one thing to face down Ethereals, it's another to go through somewhere blindfolded…

Going to the cinema to see the newest entry in the Stray Paws series, her holding his hand for comfort when it seemed like the dog was about to sacrifice itself to save it's owner, only for them both to survive.

Their sleepover, where they binge watched the Wolf of the Abyss series and fell asleep on the couch together, waking up just in time to see the knight and the wolf reunited at the end…

So many memories, so many things they did together. His Xiao'guang… all of it gone.

Wise forces himself to unclench his hands. "The diaries…" he mumbles.

"It doesn't mean she'll remember you as she did." Ju Fufu says. "You're a stranger to her now, Junior Wise."

He nods. It's always been something that's sat in the back of his mind. She'd mastered the Qingming Sword and been free of the cost the weapon demanded, but Yixuan and the others had said it might not always be that way.

And now the the worst had come to pass. Like the foes she faced, that sword had cut through the strands of her memories, robbing her of all their time together.

Rereading the diaries might bring her memories back. But it might also not work.

Wise nods again. "I know. But she deserves to know the truth and decide for herself."

"She won't be who you knew her as." Yixuan warns him. "She'll be who she was before she met you."

"I know." He's not going to go into this expecting things to be how they were. "If she…" He shakes his head. "I'll do it all over again. Help her, make sure she's alright. Even if she doesn't ever…"

Even if she never feels the same as she did. She's his Xiao'guang. He's supported her all this time, he's not giving up now.

"I'll help her make new memories. Let her decide what she wants." He gets approving looks from both his seniors. It's reassuring, if he's honest.

He just needs to tell her the truth first.

Ye Shunguang finds herself looking out over the area surrounding the Yunkui Summit.

Everything she's done to master the blade, all the training her Shifu and her seniors gave her and she's back to losing her memories to the Qingming Blade.

It's heartbreaking, if she's honest.

She'd been so excited to meet Wise, because she didn't remember getting a new junior, only to find out that Wise has been her junior for a long time. Longer than she had been expecting.

During their last battle together, the Qingming Sword had taken her memories of him. All of them. She knows he's important, she can feel it in her bones, but she can't recall anything of him. Ghostly sensations flit across her body when she tries to remember, but where there should be memories, there is instead the absence she's long since learned are associated with loss.

She really should go and read her diaries to see what she's lost, but when she thinks of them, a foreboding sense of loss fills her. Like what she's forgotten is something dreadfully important.

If she reads the diaries, will she like what she finds? Or will reading what she lost break her heart?

"Senior Shunguang?"

She doesn't jump. She heard his footsteps coming around the corner. But she turns to her new junior. "Junior Wise." He's got the temple cat in his arms!

"How are you feeling?"

Ye Shunguang doesn't answer straight away. It requires marshalling her thoughts, herding them around in her mind until she can come up with a suitable answer. "I don't quite know. I feel… like I've lost something important. More important than the memories I lost before."

Wise is slow to answer. He looks down at the cat and scratches it under the chin. "I see." The sight of him holding the cat makes her heart ache.

All the memories she lost were mainly of him. He stands here a stranger, but feels like someone she held in such high regard before…

It compels her to ask. "Junior Wise. Before I lost my memories… who were you to me?"

His eyes widen. The cat meows and nuzzles against his chest, demanding more attention. Wise walks over to the bench behind her and sits down, loosening his grip on the cat so he can continue petting it.

She sits down next to him. "I'm sorry. That was forward of me, wasn't it?"

"No, it wasn't. I actually came here to find you."

"You did?" She smiles. "You don't need to worry about me. I've lost my memories before-"

"It wasn't that." She stops speaking and looks straight at him. Wise doesn't look away. He looks straight back at her, grey eyes meeting hers. "I want you to know that you don't have to do anything because of who you were before you forgot. I want you to want this like I do, not because you think you have to."

"Okay." This is very serious. Why would he think she would do something because she thinks she has to?

Wise lets go of the cat. It wanders over onto her lap, snuggling down and purring happily. "Before you lost your memories, we were together." She opens her mouth to question what he means by that but he answers before she can start. "We were more than lovers."

Ye Shunguang glances down at her hand in case she's somehow missed a ring. "We were not that far along. Even though Fairy was trying to plan a summer wedding…"

That's disappointing. But it explains the sensations she keeps having. The feeling of someone else's lips on her own, the absence of a hand held in hers…

"Did you love me?" she asks as she looks back up at him.

"I still do." Oh. Her heart leaps to her throat and she looks away. Did it suddenly get hot up here? Her face feels like it's on fire! "You loved me. We were happy together, even more so when I gained control of Pyrois and could fight alongside you."

He loves her. She's not Shifu, or her seniors, but he loved her! And he still does!

But all of her memories of that is gone.

That's not to say the feelings are gone. Even when she lost her memories before, she hadn't forgotten the feelings everything evoked. Awe of her Shifu. Happiness with her seniors. Fear of the Qingming Blade.

She'd thought she'd felt fondness towards her junior. She was wrong. It had been love she'd felt. But these feelings belong to the Ye Shunguang she was before she lost her memories of him. She has emotions, but nothing to associate with them. Her eyes fill with tears and she looks away from him, grief settling in as the scale of what she's lost hits her.

He's not just her junior. He's her Wise. And she remembers nothing of him.

A packet of tissues appears beside her. She takes them and wipes away her tears. The cat isn't purring anymore, instead he's started kneading her legs. "I'm sorry," she says again.

"You have nothing to be sorry for. We knew the risks. I don't regret a thing." She laughs bitterly. He doesn't regret a thing, but she can't remember anything to regret. "I'll be right here to help you, Senior Shunguang."

"Please, don't call me that." She sniffles and looks back at him. "Xiao'guang is fine. I… I think I'll need some time, to process this and figure out what I want."

"That's fine. I'll be around the temple if you need my help." He gives her a smile that warms her heart, yet only makes the grief worse.

It'll take time for her to process everything she's just learned. Finding out the junior she just met is actually her boyfriend (she had a boyfriend! She'd thought she'd never get to experience that because of her duties!) is quite the shock. A good one, but still a shock.

She just hopes she doesn't break his heart in the process of deciding what she wants.

Her diaries sit on a shelf in her room.

She knows what they are. It's only her memories of Wise that were taken this time, not her memories in their entirety. She doesn't remember why the sword used them either, just that there's a gap whenever she thinks of her junior.

Her boyfriend.

It's surreal to think about. She's always thought she'd be too busy training with her fellow disciples and protecting people from the Ethereal threat for a relationship. Yet by Wise's own admission, they'd been more than just lovers.

And she can't remember anything of it.

The diaries will know more of their time together. She writes everything in them, specifically to remind her of anything she's forgotten. She picks the one that looks the least book worn and sits down on her bed to read it.

At least, that's what she was planning to do. Something stops her before she can unclip the latch on it. She's not sure what it is at first, but it crawls up her arms towards her chest and freezes her heart in place.

Fear.

That's the feeling. She's afraid. The diary will contain evidence of her and Wise being together. Irrefutable proof that he loved her. Or at least, loved the version of her that remembered him.

But that version of her is gone. She sits here with no memory of who he was or what they were. What if she reads the diary and finds a version of herself she can no longer be? It's not like she's reminding herself of day old conversations again.

There might be experiences in here that they can never experience again. Inside jokes she won't get, feelings that she no longer recognises.

She can feel ghostly sensations on her lips, but can't remember what caused them. How would she know that Wise loves her for who she is now, and not just the shadow of who she once was? He still loves her, he said as much, but how can she ever be the woman he loves if she can't remember what made him fall in love with her?

It's all so overwhelming.

Ye Shunguang puts her diary to one side, covers her face and sobs. Shifu had warned her about this so long ago. That the Qingming Sword could end up costing her something she'd miss dearly.

And now the worst has come to pass.

So she sits there, quietly sobbing to herself until the tears stop flowing and her crying settles into quiet hiccups. Then she picks up the diary with soaked hands and puts it back on the shelf.

At some point, she will need to read it to figure out how much she's lost. But not right now. Right now, she needs to keep herself busy until she feels brave enough to go through what she's lost.

She'll need to apologise to Wise as well. These feelings are confusing, and she can't tell him she loves him when she doesn't remember what got her to fall in love with him in the first place.

Of all the memories the Qingming Sword had to take, why did it have to be the ones of him?

As part of her plan to distract herself from what she's lost, Ye Shunguang takes over the temple kitchen to bake an osthamus cake.

While she works on setting up the temple's kitchen for it, a pervasive feeling that something's missing crawls over her. She's not sure why she feels like something's missing, though. She double checks, triple checks the ingredients and finds that she's got everything she needs to make the cake.

But the feeling won't go away. She's got everything she needs, so why does it feel like something that should be here isn't here?

She shakes her head and sets to work adding the butter, sugar and vanilla extra into a bowl together. Footsteps approach behind her and she turns away from the bowl to see who it is. "Junior Wise?"

"Xiao'guang." There's a look in his eyes, something like fondness crossed with sadness. He tilts his head, looking around her at the bowl containing the cake mixture. "Osmanthus cake?"

"Yes. How did you know?"

"We made it before. In here, actually."

"We have?" He nods. She turns back towards the bowl and gestures at him to come over. "Would you help me? I want to make sure I get this right."

"Of course."

Wise settles into the kitchen like a five star chef, and the feeling of something missing goes away. They don't need to speak as they work on the cake. Ingredients get passed along into the bowl, Ye Shunguang whisks the mixture together while he holds it steady… they work well together.

Goosebumps erupt where his hands ghost along her arms and her sides as he passes by her to get to another part of the kitchen. It's warm. Comforting. Respectful. His touch never feels like it overstays it's welcome, nor does it leave her wanting more.

It's a reminder than he's here, that he's helping her. It reminds her of what she's lost.

Her hand chooses then to cramp up. She hisses and grabs at it, willing the thing to stop hurting her. Wise is next to her in a moment. "What's wrong?"

"I'm… fine." She flexes her hand, grimacing as the cramps continue. "Just my hand."

"It's cramping again. Here. Let me help." He takes her hand between both of his.

They both freeze. Red eyes meet grey, and they both look away awkwardly. "Sorry. Before, you'd get hand cramps like this sometimes. I can help with it, but only if you're comfortable…"

He hasn't let go, though. Ye Shunguang looks back at her hand, encased in the both of his. It feels like it belongs there, and if he wants to help… "Yeah. Then, yeah. You, uh, may."

For a moment, Wise doesn't do anything. He squeezes his eyes shut, breathes in and out and opens them again, before he starts rubbing a circular pattern into the palm of her hand. It hurts at first, but as he works away at it, the pain fades to nothing.

Not content with working on that part of her hand, he travels down to her fingers, working and pulling at each of them. It's a strange feeling, but it's working. Her hand isn't cramping anymore, either.

His hands glide up her hand to her wrist, working away at the tendons in a way that's helpful and heart-achingly familiar. She lets out a content sigh as he finishes, hands trailing back down to grasp her hand again.

Wise pull it upwards, and for a moment Ye Shunguang's heart skips as she wonders what he's going to do. He stops, stares at it and shakes his head. "Sorry. It-it should be fine now."

She takes her hand back from his, already missing the contact as she flexes it experimentally. "It is much better now. Thank you, Wise."

He rubs the back of his head. "Of course. Anytime, Xiao'guang."

The two of them clean up the rest of the kitchen while they wait for the cake to finish baking. They keep their unspoken synergy as they work, taking care of utensils and counters at such a pace that by the time they're done, they've got the place spotless when the timer for the cake goes off.

Applying the frosting takes very little time, even if they do get distracted dabbing it on each others faces. They laugh, they glaze the cake, they clean up again.

The osmanthus cake turns out to be delicious. They get to share it with the rest of the temple. The proud look on Wise's face as people gush about it is a memory she's going to keep safe for the rest of her life.

Once again, the temple's cat is stuck on top of the temple.

Ye Shunguang considers asking her Shifu to install a ladder so they can get back down. She knows it likes to explore and find new nooks and crannies, but this time there's no one else but her around to get them back down…

She's not sure how to help them. It's far too high for her to reach on her own, the Qingming sword's case is inside the temple and there's no one else around. How can she get the cat get back down safely?

"Oh, evening Xiao'guang."

A familiar voice calls out to her from behind. Ye Shunguang turns around, a smile easily forming at the sight of Wise behind her. "Junior Wise. You picked a good time to appear."

"Why?" The cat chooses to announce it's presence with a yowl. His face falls as he spots the cat trapped on the roof. "Again?"

"You've seen it up there before?"

"Yeah."The last time I found the cat up there, Belion was trying to get it down. Where is Belion? He could try again."

"I think he's recharging." The cat cries out for them again. Ye Shunguang glances away from Wise to look at it, before returning her attention to him. "We need to get it down before it gets hurt. I don't suppose you have any ways of rescuing cats?"

"Not without a Bangboo. Although…" Wise takes a few steps towards her. A faint blush crosses his face, before a scowl replaces it. "I thought that Pyrois could help, but he isn't interested." That scowl deepens and he shuts his eyes. "Thanks, Pyrois."

"What are you thanking him for?"

Wise shakes his head. "Nothing. Don't worry." His eyes snap open and he looks up at where the cat is. "Senior Shunguang, please boost me up onto the temple roof."

"You?" She looks between the roof and him. "Are you sure, Wise? You might get hurt."

"If we don't get up there, the cat will." He moves to stand next to her, looking up at the edge of the roof. "I'm ready when you are."

Reluctantly, she boosts him up. He's tall enough to be able to get his arms and upper chest over the edge, and from there he pulls himself up onto the roof. Ye Shunguang takes a few steps back so she can watch him.

Wise creeps carefully along the roof towards the cat. This time, the cat doesn't rush off or jump on anyone. It remains where it is, meowing pitifully as her junior approaches it.

She lets out the breath she's holding as he scoops it up into his arms. Wise walks towards the edge of the roof and stops, looking down at her. The cat doesn't look too happy to be looking down at the ground, rather than on it.

"Hop down. I'll catch you." She tells him.

"You sure?" He frowns. "It's a long way down."

"I'm sure. Senior Fufu had to get down like that once and I caught her. I'll catch you."

He takes his time sitting down on the edge of the roof, shuffling forwards to get himself in a good position to fall. The cat shifts nervously in his arms and he whispers to it, in a way that sounds reassuring to her. Ye Shunguang moves with him, arms outstretched ready to catch him when he falls.

"Okay." Wise shifts towards the edge. At this point, he's barely sitting on it. "One. Two. Three!"

She catches him in her arms perfectly. Unfortunately, the cat is heavier than she expected. Ye Shunguang loses her balance and falls forwards with Wise in her arms. They crash onto the ground together, but she shifts herself to keep him and the cat safe upon landing.

"Xiao'guang!" Wise looks incredibly concerned for her as she lifts herself up from where she'd landed across his stomach. "Are you hurt?"

"No, I'm fine." Her arms hurt where they hit the ground, but otherwise she's fine. "What about you? I'm sorry for dropping you."

"I'm fine." The cat hops out of Wise's arms and starts trying to nuzzle at his shoulder. "The cat is too."

"Good." She slides her arms out from underneath him and climbs to her feet, holding out a hand to help Wise up. His hand is warm and familiar, and it lingers in hers after he gets up.

"Wise?" Her voice jolts him out of the state he was in, because he pulls his hand away from hers. It's done slowly, so she feels the absence of his warmth and the unexpected chill that rushes in after it.

Her junior backs up from her, putting what she'd call a respectable distance between them. "Sorry. Thank you for catching me. I'll.. I'll see you tomorrow."

That's the opposite of what she wants right now. She doesn't want him to leave, she wants him to stay. But the words won't leave her and she's left underneath by the entrance of the temple with only the cat for company. It rubs itself against her legs in a comforting manner, though it does little to assuage the sadness and loneliness taking root within her.

She's in a temple filled with people who care for her. There's a cat at her feet wanting affection. But right now, all she wants is Wise to come back. To tell her that even if she's no longer the person he fell in love with, that she's still the woman he wants.

Never has she regretted taking up the Qingming Sword more than she does right now.

"We're not sending you out there to fight this foe. That's the Summit's final decision."

Ye Shunguang bows her head. "Of course, Shifu." She turns and walks away from the gathered group.

She understands her Shifu's decision. The last time she went out to fight against the Ethereal threat, the Qingming Sword had taken her memories of Wise. They don't know if it's an isolated incident or if she's losing control over the weapon again. But it still stings.

The last thing she wants is to be cooped up in the temple while everyone else is out there fighting against threats to New Eridu. She knows she said she regrets wielding the Qingming Sword, but that didn't mean she wanted to stop fighting!

"May I make a suggestion?" Wise speaks up. She stops in front of the door out of the courtyard and turns back to look at him.

"You may." Yixuan says.

"Rather than having Ye Shunguang stay behind, perhaps she could be held in reserve? She can still come with us, but would only fight as a last resort." He glances over at her before continuing. "Between Pyrois and yourself, Shifu Yixuan, we should have enough power to deal with the threat with the help of the others."

She looks over at her Shifu. There's a knowing look in her eyes and she has her arms folded, but what she knows she can't quite place. "You would risk her memories and her health, Junior Wise?"

"I would want her to be able to make that decision for herself. The Qingming Sword's always posed a threat to Senior Shunguang. She knew that and still fought beside us. Even if she doesn't remember me now, I know she wants to decide for herself if she fights or not."

Ye Shunguang glances at him. There's a serious expression on his face. She looks back at Shifu and nods her head in agreement. "I would prefer to decide for myself. Even with the risks, it wouldn't feel right letting you all fight without me," she adds on.

Shifu shakes her head. "We still don't know what made the sword start taking your memories again. It could take a lot more if it happens again."

"I know." Even at it's worst, when she lost her senses and her memories, she'd still been out there fighting. No matter the price, she still wants to fight.

She has regrets, yes. But she still wants to protect the people she loves.

Shifu looks around at the rest of her fellow disciples. They all look unsure. Her brother looks like he's about to speak up and suggest something else, before their grandmaster cuts him off. "Very well. I believe this is a risk and a bad idea, but Junior Wise is correct. You should be able to decide for yourself if you want to accompany us.

"Thank you, Shifu-"

"But." She raises a finger. "If you do come with us, you won't be our first line of defence. You will only fight if we cannot handle the threat. Am I understood?"

"Yes, Shifu."

"Excellent. Everyone, prepare to depart."

Ye Shunguang follows the others out of the courtyard. She tries to find Wise to thank him, but ends up losing him amidst everyone else. If he hadn't spoken up for her, she'd have been left behind at the temple by everyone else again.

She does manage to thank him after the fight, though. While she wasn't needed in the end, she at least got to come with them to face down the Ethereals.

Rather than wait for him to find her again, she seeks him out next. She finds him climbing the steps up to Yunkui Summit, dressed in the clothes of the temple.

"There's a new Stray Paws movie coming out," she tells him. She can't hide her excitement; she bounces on the spot as she tells him.

Wise nods. He smiles, before shifting his bag. "It's airing in the cinemas now. We were planning to go and see it together before…"

Before she forgot. That's good, because it makes her next question easier to ask. "Come see it with me tonight, Wise. Please?"

"You didn't need to ask, Xiao'guang." He smiles, and it warms her heart something fierce. "We'll go to the Gravity Cinema."

"Good." She'd say she'll see him then, but she has to walk up the stairs with him back to the temple first.

Hiding her excitement is an impossible task as she goes through the rest of the day. Her seniors in the temple notice it easily, but when she tells them about what's got her so happy they, in turn, become much happier.

"It is good to see you and Junior Wise growing close again," Shifu had said when she found out.

"Stray Paws? From what I remember, you two enjoyed the first one," her brother had said. The reminder of what she had lost had hurt a bit. "But I'm sure you'll enjoy this one too."

Ju Fufu's advice had been more practical. "Remember to bring tissues!"

The unrelenting support of her seniors at the temple makes her happier than she has been since she first lost her memories of Wise. It makes her all the more excited to see the movie with him.

Rather than her normal white qipao, she elects to wear her white and red dress for tonight. It's comfortable, and makes a small part of her feel like she's going on a date with him.

He had said he'd wanted her to want it like he did…

She finds him waiting for her on the steps to the temple, practically where she'd stopped him this morning. He's changed out into the outfit she's seen him in when he's stopping in from working in Random Play. The sight of his jaw falling slack as she approaches him is one she hopes she'll never forget. "Wise."

"Xiao'guang." He closes his mouth and clears his throat. "You look good."

"Thank you. I thought I should wear it again for tonight." She walks down a step to bring herself level with him. "Are you prepared? I am."

"I'm ready. Let's go, shall we?"

They walk together down from the temple. From there, it's a short ride on the metro from there to the cinema, which looks the same as the last time she'd come here to see a movie with Senior Fufu and the others. Wise makes sure to grab some popcorn, and that Ye Shunguang doesn't show off her pastries until they're in the room they're going to be watching the movie in.

"It was why I was in the kitchen earlier," she admits to him. They smell just as good as they did when she'd packed them away for her and Wise to enjoy. He can't stop glancing over at her handbag, and more than one person in the cinema asks about the smell.

She's quite proud of that. They smell delicious to her as well.

Today, movie is a sequel in the Stray Paws series. The last movie had ended with the dog and his master being rescued by the love interest and her dog and them getting married. This entry promises a look into their lives after their marriage, with all new adventures.

The lights dim down after a few minutes. A single ad plays, advertising a new car that's being made, before the movie starts.

It picks up where it left off, before showing them living a happy life together. The master and his wife have a child, while the dogs have a litter of puppies. Ye Shunguang coos at the sight of the puppies and child playing together.

After a short part where one of the puppies meets the neighbourhood cat, who looks a lot like the cat back at the temple, the crux of the plot kicks off when the child wanders off during a festival and falls down a storm drain. One of the puppies, the runt of the litter, falls down after him.

From there, it's a harrowing adventure where the child and puppy must work together to escape the storm drain, facing danger such as rushing waters, attacks from killer bats and being separated by a sudden storm.

With each danger the duo get into, Ye Shunguang finds herself growing more tense. She knows it's not real, but she wants to help them so much. She wants them to be reunited and safe.

Wise must notice her reaction, because he reaches over and pokes the side of her arm. She looks over, watches his eyes search her for a second, before he takes hold of her hand and grasps it firmly. "It'll be okay," he whispers.

She clings to his hand like a lifeline. Déjà vu washes over her at the sensation of his hand in hers, but she holds onto it until the end, where the child and puppy are reunited with their family again after being found by the cat.

"I'm sorry," she mumbles as the credits begin to roll. "I still…"

"I know." He squeezes her hand in a comforting way. "It's okay, Xiao'guang."

"We didn't get to eat the pastries I made either." They're still sitting in her bag. At this point, they'll have gone cold.

He frowns. "That's fine. We can eat them on our way back to the temple."

"But they would taste better warm."

"I know you, Ye Shunguang." He smiles. "Anything you make tastes great."

She smiles in turn. He always knows what to say, doesn't he?

They do taste great, even cold. She vows to make sure they try them when they're hot next time.

The new diary sits heavy in her hand as Ye Shunguang returns to her room.

It'd been a gift from Wise. It's got a picture of an orange cat on the front that looks sort of like the temple cat. The cat looks cute, but it's not that which worries her.

She finds the cat sat on it's bed in her room as she enters. "Look at this," she tells it, showing the cat the picture on the front of her new diary. The cat stares at it, before letting out a disapproving meow and hopping down from it's bed. She knows the route it's going to take; the cat's heading for the kitchens to beg for food again.

Some things never change.

Which is weird to think, given she can't remember if this did change or not. And that's the crux of the problem.

Ye Shunguang's been putting off re-reading her diaries because she's afraid of what she'll find. Wise said they were more than lovers, and she lost all of her memories of him before that fight. She doesn't know what experiences she's lost, but if she rereads her diaries she'll see all she did lose.

There's nothing wrong with mourning for what she's lost. She knows that. But what if some of those experiences are important ones?

Ghostly sensations run along her lips and hands as she pulls out the same diary she did before. They're echoes of memories taken from her by the Qingming Sword. She'd felt them once, but can't remember what caused them.

She'd been afraid that she wasn't the Ye Shunguang he'd fallen in love with anymore. But he's been nothing but supportive this entire time. Distant, yes, but she understands why. If she wants more, she'll need to make the first move.

Because he's waiting for her to be comfortable with him again. The realisation had come to her while she had been working on her garden. If he wasn't interested, he wouldn't be spending time with her. But he's always been careful to make sure she felt comfortable with him. Checking with her to make sure she's okay, never doing anything that could be considered too forward.

It's as comforting as it is irritating. She likes him, even if she can't remember anything before that day. But he's still waiting for her to want this like he does.

She's seen all that makes him who he is. She wants him, but those doubts still gnaw at her even now.

A message on her phone interrupts her thoughts before she can start to spiral. It's an invitation from Wise, to come over to his place and watch movies with him and Belle.

She looks over at the diary she was going to read, then back at her phone. Maybe she should bring it with her, so they can read it together.

It's not as though she'll have written anything down she didn't want him to read later, right?

Naturally, Belle's dragged Cissia with her to go try out a new food place that's opened.

Wise did offer to let them stay and watch movies with him and Ye Shunguang, but Belle insisted on him being left alone with her. Despite Cissia's desire to eat the snacks he'd been preparing, she got pulled out the apartment with her with promises of free food.

So, it's going to be him and Ye Shunguang alone in the apartment together. With only the recharging Bangboos and Fairy for company. Who's already tried to put together a romantic playlist for the night.

At least he got ahead of Fairy when it came to selecting the movies for tonight.

Tonight's selection is a few fun picks across different genres. Action, drama, horror, which was Belle's idea, a couple of romantic ones, which were Fairy's, and a movie about a rat cooking.

That one was Cissia's idea. They're going to have to put it to one side for her to watch later.

He hears someone knocking at the door. Fairy dutifully informs him that it's Ye Shunguang. Wise answers the door, after he sorts his hair out. "Hey, Xiao'guang."

"Hey." She's wearing her white qipao tonight. "I think I saw Belle and Cissia on my way here."

"Yeah. Belle wanted to go try out that new food place with the marinated eggs. Cissia can never say no to free food." He steps to the side. "We can still watch movies together, if you like."

"I would like that." She walks inside the apartment. Wise closes the door after her and follows after her.

Until he remembers she might not remember being here and speeds up to take the lead. Fairy is noticeably silent, which probably means they're either scheming something or saving the recording of him quickly walking ahead of Ye Shunguang to show to Belle and Cissia after tonight.

Neither idea comforts him.

"I hope you don't mind, but I found a movie that I thought we could watch together. I wasn't sure if Belle or Cissia would like it, but if it's just us…"

He stops inside the living room, which has been converted into a nest for watching movies. "Sure. Which one did you pick?"

"I've got it here." He turns around as she fishes inside her handbag for it. "Yeah. This one."

The movie is titled Five Hundred First Meetings. It's a romantic movie about a guy who falls for a girl who can't remember anything because of a head injury she suffered. He spends every day reintroducing himself to her and getting her to fall back in love with him.

He and Ye Shunguang used to watch it religiously. It makes him happy to see it back in her hands. "It looks interesting. Want to watch it first?"

"Sure."

It takes them a moment to get it into the DVD player, before they settle down on the couch together. Ye Shunguang sits close by him, but still distant enough that he can feel the cool air between them.

The movie itself is as good as the last time they watched it together. Shunguang is enraptured by the plight of the girl and is clearly moved by the effort the guy puts in to get her to fall back in love with him each time they see each other.

Wise knows how it goes. She'd asked him if he'd do the same for her if she lost her memories of him. He'd already planned to before he had seen the movie.

He doesn't miss the way her hand hovers over her handbag. He doesn't miss the spine of her last journal peeking out the opened compartment. He's about to ask about it when she swings her legs up onto the couch and rests her head against his chest.

"Sorry. I wanted to get comfortable." Ye Shunguang swings her handbag back over so it's not squashed between them and shifts herself closer. Wise settles his arm around her and tries not to think about how many times they've done this before.

"You brought your diary with you." he says as the credits roll.

Ye Shunguang looks down at the diary in question. He's not sure if her ears are flattening out from the movie or the diary. "I did." She pulls it from her bag and holds it in both hands. "I thought… I was hoping this movie could help me decide something."

"Whether you should read it or not?"

"That's right." She lets out a mirthless chuckle. "I must have told you about this before."

"Not told me. We read one together." At the confused look she sends his way, he explains. "After you mastered the Qingming Sword, you invited me over and asked me to read one with you. You'd wanted to share those memories with me, even though you could remember on your own."

She nods and looks back at the diary. "If I read it, and I will read about all these experiences. I won't remember any of them, and if they're of you…" She runs a hand down the front of it.

"You'll feel like they've happened to someone else."

"Like the movie we just watched. But I wrote all this down to remind me if I lost my memories again. If I don't read them, then it'll sit there. Unread. And I won't know what I've lost." Her eyes are glimmering with unshed tears. "What if I read all of this and find out I can't be the person in here anymore?"

"You already are." Wise reaches over and gently lifts her chin so he can look directly in her eyes. "The Ye Shunguang you were baked osmanthus cakes. She cried over movies, she rescued cats from roofs, she fought with everything she had to protect everyone. You've never stopped being her."

"But what about the Ye Shunguang you loved? I can't remember anything of you before that fight, Wise. How can I be her if I can't remember what made you love me?"

"You don't need to be her. As long as you're true to yourself, my feelings won't change." His eyes drift over to her diary. "In fact… I think it was that diary you wrote in when I told you this before. That even if you forgot everything, I'd be right here to help you learn who you are again. As many times as you need me, whenever you need me."

He lets go of her. She looks down at the diary. Up back at Wise. Then back down at it. "I… I think I'd like to read it. With you, Wise. And I think… I know what I want now."

Her lips taste of osthamus. Like they always used to.

"We're dragging Wise there with us the next time we go."

Belle couldn't be more happy with the new restaurant if it had paid her to go. The food was delicious, the portions were good and the service was wonderful.

Cissia follows her inside the apartment. She's got hold of a portion of food they managed to save for Wise to try, which consists of some of the marinated eggs that had survived. She's barely keeping her eyes off them. More than once, Belle's looked back to see her more focused on the eggs than where she's going.

Apparently, she's not the first person to walk into that traffic light and scare the circuits out of that poor Bangboo.

"We totally are. Can we go back? I wanna go back there." Cissia shuts the door behind them both with her heel. "Let's go back there sometime, Belle!"

"We will. But with Wise. And maybe Shunguang, if she feels up for it."

"Oh yeah. They were watching a movie together, weren't they?" Cissia frowns. "Maybe we shouldn't disturb them. Maybe I should take these eggs to my room. You know, for safekeeping!"

"No, Cissia. Come on. I can hear the TV blaring."

The door to the living room is shut. A faint glow of light illuminates the gaps around it. Belle makes sure to knock on the door first before she opens it, so she doesn't surprise her brother or Ye Shunguang.

Both of them are curled up on the couch together. Ye Shunguang's nestled her head into Wise's neck and the two of them are reading through one of her diaries together. The TV itself is showing one of those comedy movies her brother likes so much.

Lame. If she was in charge of movie night, Belle would've picked a horror movie. That way, her brother and Ye Shunguang would have a reason to cling to each other!

Wise peeks over Ye Shunguang's ears at her. She signs to him, asking if they're okay. He gives her a thumbs up in response.

She closes the door as the smell of marinated eggs wafts over to her. Turning around, she spots Cissia with the opened food container. "Cissia. That's my brother's," she reminds her.

"I know! I was just, uhh. Making sure the smell hadn't escaped." She snaps it shut with a sheepish smile. "I'll just put this in the fridge for him."

Belle follows after her into the kitchen, to make sure it goes in the fridge and not Cissia's mouth and because she needs to write a note for the fridge to tell him the food's for him.

It's good to see her brother and Ye Shunguang close again. Her brother had spent so long fretting about what would happen if she did ever forget them again. But he's done nothing but prove to Ye Shunguang that he had meant every word he'd said when he'd promised he'd stay by her side if she forgot everything.

He's good like that. If they need to remake every memory she's lost, Wise will do all that without a question. Even if his taste in movies is weak, he's a good man.

And she's proud to call him her brother.