Nov 6, ‘81: Amnesia: Thadkins Flat: Pheddie/Kabs

[Phoebe Bones]

Heels clacking against the pavement, Phoebe Adkins just desperately wanted to get home. The last week had been a strange one, people wearing strange garments lingering around London, apparently celebrating something. It was hard to tell, with all the hushed whispers the strange folks in robes were doing. But it wasn’t any of her business to question them, not when she had a million other things to do. She was so close to making something of herself, being more than just another lawyer on a team. She wanted to be leading cases, not just doing the research to help make a defense. Sure, she was familiar with essentially all the immigration laws of not only England, but Scotland and Wales as well. But she’d been loyal to the firm for years now, ever since her graduation from University. If they would just make her a partner…

“Pheebs?”

The nickname rang out like of the blue, a question hanging in the air. She looked up, surprised to find two men in her path. They looked...familiar, but she knew she’d remember them if she had seen them before. The one who called out to her, dark hair and tall. The first thing she noticed was his golden watch once she finally tore herself away to glance at the other, her stomach lurching. Part of her wanted to kiss him, but that was mad. His green eyes were to die for, and she had to be blushing under his gaze. Two fit men just standing outside of the door that lead up to her flat. “Oh, excuse me,” she managed out, pointing to the door. The first man moved out of her way, and Phoebe was soon up the stairs to the flat she shared with her best friend.

“Kiki, the strangest thing just happened,” Phoebe said as she dropped the mail on the table by the door, turning to look at her best friend. “There’s two fit blokes down the street, and one of them called me Pheebs. No one calls me that but you.” Shoes kicked to the side, bag of files dumped by her desk, the brunette took up a spot on the opposite end of the couch from her. “I was just staring at them both like a I was a love struck teenager. So what I’m saying is, we should get a cat.”

A knock at their doorway drew her attention, and she sighed and stood up, “Tell me you’ve got plans for tonight because I’m dying to get out of this flat and our crazy neighbors.” Phoebe motioned to the door with the latter, rolling her eyes before she undid the lock and opened the door. It took every ounce of willpower in her not to laugh as she surveyed the two men from downstairs that were now in her front door. “Uh Kyra…”

[Kyra Thatcher]

Her roommate's address brought the twenty-something out of her head, and Kyra was grateful for the distraction, even if Phoebe's assertion was off-putting, considering her recent thoughts. The last few days were somewhat of a blur to her; Halloween night was a full night of revelry, and the resulting hangover was bad, but she didn't usually feel the effects for so long. But Kyra hadn't felt like herself since before dressing up as the legendary Zelda Fitzgerald - seriously considering cutting her hair in the aftermath, given that she'd rocked the blonde bob as well as the first flapper. She had vague memories of her trek to work the next morning, and while that could be explained by the pounding in her head...that didn't explain why adults were still running around in costume days later.

Something's amiss. If I could just put my finger on it...

But the young woman put her guitar aside as her best friend's words caught at her ear. Fit blokes on the street. One of them calling her "Pheebs." Said Pheebs reverting to her fifteen-year-old self...Kyra grinned, properly distracted, and went to the window to see if she could catch a glimpse. "I won't say no to a cat, as long as it's not black, we shouldn't put in for bad luck," she said, sweeping the fringed curtains aside to look out onto the street for a pair of blokes fitting Phoebe's brief description. She turned, eyes wide in exasperation, at the knock at the door; their newest neighbors were just out of university, and while she remembered those years well, and knew she'd been an obnoxious fool at times, surely she hadn't ever been as helpless as the girls were. The last time they'd come to the door, Cadence had spilled on herself and wanted a home remedy to save her shirt instead of calling her mum...

"It's Friday, we're young and beautiful, so - yes, I have plans for us. Get rid of them and get your little black dress on while I open a bottle, we're gonna meet Liz at that new club on the water once it's dark." Kyra was heading to the kitchen to make good on her word when she was called to the door by her friend's unusual hesitation. Bottle of red in hand, she turned, preparing to tell the girls to bugger off when she caught sight of the men framed by their door.

"This is them, eh?" She came to Phoebe's side, the hairs on her forearm standing as she took them in. "Don't look like evangelicals, so I take it you meant to knock to find us in particular. Or Pheebs, at least." While it wasn't every day that handsome men came to their door and stared at them in the lovestruck manner that these two were, Kyra nevertheless gripped the door with her free hand, readying to shut it with a moment's notice. There were too many creeps in the world, blokes who preyed on unsuspecting women, to let her relax enough to fall into that category. Even if, when she met the eyes of the one who'd been to a barber much more recently than his mate, she so wanted to ler herself be as disarmed as she instinctively felt. Could they have met these two when they were out and had one too many? Shared a good time? You'd remember them. "What's it you want? Have we met?" 

[Fabian Prewett]

“So uh, I know that coming to their flat was my plan and all,” Fabian spoke as they reached the door, turning to look at his mate. “But now that we’re here, I’m beginning to think maybe it wasn’t the best plan I’ve ever come up with.” Not only had it been seven years since the last time either of them had really seen Kyra or Phoebe, but there was no way to guarantee that the girls would even be home. Or even want to see them, for that matter. When Edgar and Phoebe had split, the separation from Kyra had been natural. He couldn’t blame either of them for being upset about being lied to for so many years, and in the end it was safer that the girls hadn’t been around. But the war was over - at least for the most part, and Fabian was tired of spending his life relatively alone. There would be no more six days of work a week, no more charging into battles and not knowing if they would make it out alive. Voldemort had been bested, and even though Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew had it out in a very public manner, their world was changing for the better.

It’d taken a lot of his willpower to wait this long, but the plan he’d put together and presented to Edgar had seemed perfect. It was a much better plan than the matching tattoos he shared with his long time friend. Two single girls on a Friday night were bound to want to go out, but that was assuming that both of them were single. And that they didn’t already have pressing plans. It was all becoming very real, standing out here in front of the building where the lived. Glancing up at the woman walking down the street, Fabian was caught off guard when he realized it was Phoebe walking towards them, and her name escaped his lips as a question before he could stop himself.

She looked good, although she seemed unsure about the both of them. But when her gaze moved to Edgar, well, it was the same googly eyes she’d given him when they were fifteen. Fabian wanted to speak up, wanted to say something, but she was quickly moving around them and heading inside. Edgar’s face said it all, and Fabian cleared his throat uncomfortably as he looked between the door and his friend. “I mean, it’s been seven years. We’re basically coming back from the dead, ya know? It’s...it’s probably nothing,” he supplied quietly, before pulling open the door and making his way inside.

The seconds that went by between his knock on the door, and Phoebe answering it seemed to drag. She seemed surprised to see them at her front door, which was a bit strange - but there wasn’t much time to think about that. Not when Kyra had come into view, looking just as beautiful as she always did. He chuckled at her words, exchanging a worried glance with Edgar before he found his voice. “I mean, I know it’s been seven years since we’ve seen you guys but c’mon Kyra, you can’t still be that mad at us.”

[Edgar Bones]

Edgar Bones was, at best, hesitatingly optimistic about the harebrained scheme his best mate had cooked up. 

Not that he hadn't envisioned seeing Phoebe again once the war was won. Not that he hadn't practiced his speeches - apologetic at the lies that tore them apart, hurt that she couldn't stay to support him through the trials he'd been through, frustrated that his compulsion to join up had ruined their future, depending on his mood and how long he'd been in the field. But the weight of the world was finally off of his shoulders, only to be replaced with a mass just as uncertain as that burden had been.

What now?

He could return to Hogwarts to teach. Return to the Ministry as an Auror. Hell, he could try out for a professional Quidditch team, or try something completely foreign. Just as important as how he would spend the next phase of his life, however, was determining who he'd spend it with. And while Ed knew that it was a longshot to imagine that Phoebe Adkins was 1) single, 2) willing to hear him out, and 3) still in to him, he had to tag along with Fabian as he figured out the same thing for himself with Phoebe's flatmate.

"Not your best plan? You think?" Ed shot the bloke an apologetic look at the sharpness, nerves getting the better of him as they stood outside of the women's apartment. He fidgeted, uncomfortable in muggle civilian clothing, tying the top of his long hair back as they waited for Phoebe or Kyra to come home from work. Will she even want to see you? She did the leaving, and never reached out again... Doubts that had plagued him for years - that he'd felt more for her than she did for him, that she'd never want him back, that she couldn't forgive him - intensified a thousandfold as Phoebe Adkins rounded the corner. His tongue swelled up about five times its normal size, or so it felt, as he was left incapable of speech at the sight. While he'd respected her space, in dreams, as the voice of his conscience, she'd been with him these long years. But time changed memory, and time changed appearances; whatever nuances he'd gotten wrong with the passage of time, Edgar didn't worry them, because she was here. And beautiful, so beautiful. Fabs blurted out her name and the brunette looked up to see them both. A thousandfold of doubts became a millionfold as, after they locked eyes, she shortly squeezed past Fabian and disappeared.

This was a mistake. Edgar let the full weight of his disheartened accusatory stare fall onto his best mate until the bloke spoke up. And in a way, Fabian was right. Seven years was a long time. Their years fighting with the Order felt like a lifetime. He and Phoebe had been apart, completely, for longer than they'd been together. There was no denying that he'd changed over the course of the war; while he wished to regain the carefree lenses that had colored his youth, and he'd never lost his ability to hope, Ed didn't know if he'd ever again sleep without one eye open. But had he changed so much, truly, that the woman who he'd thought was the love of his life no longer recognized him? Swallowing back his fears at this being a terrible idea, he caught the door before it closed behind Fabian.

"It's a long time, but we recognized her - do I really look so different? It's the hair, the beard, should've shaved." Edgar broke his silence as he hurried up the stairs after his brother. Before he knew it, they were all face-to-face; in a way it felt like being transported back in time, to arriving back in Barking from the Hogwarts Express, surprising the girls at Phoebe's house. That same shock, but...his worry was transparent as Kyra gave them a hard time, and it only grew worse as Fabian tried to tease recognition out of them. The blonde's face darkened at his address, and Edgar stepped in, chancing a smile as he looked between them until settling on the woman he'd never stopped loving. You know me. You'll always know me. "Phoebe," he swallowed, trying to rid the desperation from his voice as his eyes searched hers, "it's me. Edgar. I know we should've called, not just shown up, but - it's really good to see you."

[Phoebe Bones]

She let a laugh tumble out, glad for her best friend’s weird superstitions, “No black cats then, we don’t need any more bad luck.” Her head was still fuzzy from the Halloween party, which was too many days past for her not to be a bit concerned. But as she headed to the door, she couldn’t help but grin as she listened to Kyra’s plan for the night. Maybe it wasn’t the best idea to go out and party like they were still the age of their endlessly annoying neighbors. The little black dress in question was perfect, and clearly she needed to try dating again if she was practically falling in love with strangers. Strangers that were so suddenly in front of her, the grin on her face now more forced than she would have liked. They had to know Kyra, that’s why they’d known her name. But her best friend didn’t seem to recognize them either, and Phoebe was having a hard time tearing her eyes away from figures in her doorway.

Her heart was practically leaping in her chest as she stared at him, the bloke she hadn’t looked at much outside. There was something about her that made her feel fifteen years old, falling in love with the neighbor boy from down the street. She’d dated the football player for years, and then he’d just up and left her during the summer before her last year of Uni. That had been hard, and she’d never truly gotten over Nicholas. But there was something about the green eyes on the man outside her door that made her feel safe, like everything in the world was going to be okay. If she’d met him before, she would have remembered. But then again, her memory hadn’t ever felt right.

The other man spoke to Kyra as if they had known each other for years, teasing her best friend in a way that reminded her of Kyra’s ex on again/off again boyfriend. He’d left around the same time Nicholas had, become a permanent ex in her best friend’s life after that. But that had been seven years ago, and an uncomfortable shiver ran down her spine. She snuck a look to her best friend, who looked less than pleased, and was soon distracted as the man she was definitely not falling in love with. The way he said her name was tugging at her heartstrings, but she took a step back instinctively, hating the hurt she could see in his face when she did. Edgar, it’s...familiar. But the last time she’d known someone named Edgar, she’d been in primary! Could this handsome man really be the boy that had once lived down the street? “I don’t know you, I’m sorry,” she spoke quickly, arms crossing in front of her as she tried to desperately remember where they kept the self defense spray from the class they had done years ago.

Had these people come by the office and met her there? She wasn’t as good with faces of former clients - or perhaps they were friends of former clients who they hadn’t won cases for. That would explain how they knew her name, and potentially Kyra’s. But the one still in the doorway had called her by a nickname, and they didn’t seem like they meant them any harm. “How did you find out where I lived?”

[Kyra Thatcher]

Kyra said at the familiarity with which she was being eyed, and that she was addressed with. He sounds just like Caleb. "Or talk to me like that, for the matter." While she was curious, absolutely, to who these men were and why they wanted to Pheebs and herself to get tangled up in their mess, she was more concerned for their safety than anything else. The pleas from them, the specificity of years, how Phoebe couldn’t keep from staring at the long-haired one but did step away in trusting her gut…that's what we trust. These weren’t a pair of dweebs-turned-gentlemen that they’d paid no attention to at school in Barking, they couldn’t be fans of the band, or looky-loos from Phoebe's work. Maybe if they weren’t home, or if Phoebe recognized them, she’d feel less defensive of herself, less protective of her friend.

However, that was not the case.

They were staring at them as if she and Phoebe had freshly broken their hearts, and the way the one had spoken to her, she should know him. Seven years. I was mad at him, them...Don't get sucked in, this isn't safe.

"We're gonna have to move again, Pheebs," she said firmly, giving the little stand by the door a significant side-eye. Spray hanging on the underside. Kyra gripped the bottle of wine more firmly around the neck, eyeing the pair of them. It was an unfair matchup, if they really were nutters. Hoping she'd be fast enough, or they'd give it up like reasonable people, she made to shut the door. "Okay stalkers, show’s over."

[Fabian Prewett]

How was he supposed to look at her in any other way, when she was just as beautiful as the last time he’d seen her. War had taken its toll on him, scars that he didn’t used to have something he’d been worried about. The tattoos he’d gotten in the past seven years weren’ t of a concerned, he was sure she would some of them amusing. He knew that coming clean about magic to them both had been upsetting, but could she really be holding a grudge against him? This was supposed to be a romantic gesture, them showing up. A chance to show how fun magic could be, how it wasn’t all dangerous. But there wasn’t going to be a chance to do that if the girls were really this determined to keep them out. And good old “Eddie” was doing what he always did, believing that love could counter anything. But the glances the girls were exchanging, the concern on both of their faces…

Do they really not recognize us?

        Something’s not right.

Phoebe was inching closer to the table by the door, away from Edgar after she spoke, and Fabian frowned. Not recognizing them on the spot was one thing, but claiming to not know Edgar? His best friend had never forgotten the muggle girl, never gotten over her. “We kept a tab on where you guys were, protections around the apartment and such,” he called over Edgar’s shoulder, and immediately regretting it as he saw Kyra’s tightening grip on the neck of the bottle of wine. While it wouldn’t be the first bottle he’d had smashed on him - Bellatrix Lestrange would use anything as a weapon - he wasn’t exactly keen on it happening to him. “Okay, you can move again if you want but the two of you are hearing us out,” he pushed in the door, closing it sharply behind him. Kyra was not having it, shouting at Phoebe - who suddenly seemed to have some sort of pepper spray in her hands. A quiet silencing spell muttered under his breath, and a quick thank merlin for having mastered some wandless magic for some spells.

[Edgar Bones]

Do you really not know me?

    Are you afraid of me?

It was one thing for Phoebe to not want to see him. To be upset at how they'd left things, to lash out at the surprise, to ask him to leave. It was another entirely for her to continue claiming ignorance of them, and to back away as he came forward. Never having been able to keep his features in line around her, Ed felt his face fall along with his heart. He wished he could step aside and have a conference with his brother because this was wrong, they'd never anticipated something like this, and the only thing that could explain this was that their memories had been tampered with - but there wasn't time.

There wasn't time because Phoebe was frightened of them; Kyra was growing heated and shutting them out; Fabian determinedly blocked the door; and they were all shut inside.

No way this ends well.

Back to the door, Ed immediately held up his hands, eyes laser-focused on Phoebe as he earnestly pled, "I promise, we're not here to hurt you. Please believe me. There has to be some part of you that remembers me enough for that. We just want to talk - "

His words were cut off by a blast coming from the small canister she held. Ed choked, hacking coughs raking his lungs as his eyes closed against the burning, and he stumbled back into the small table, upending it as he crouched against the door. Survived the war, come to see the girl you love, and this is what you get? Should've left to regroup when she didn't stop outside, idiot. He rubbed at his eyes but that only made things worse, a cry of pain slipping into the coughing fit as he tried to force his eyes to open against the tears. Where is Fabian?! They would figure this out later, come back and calmly explain the situation and lift the memory charms that had been placed on Phoebe and Kyra. But now? He took his wand in hand, unable to see or breathe properly and - what do the muggles put in this shite?

"Fabs - memories - modified - gotta - go - "

[Phoebe Bones]

It was almost unsettling, the way the men on their doorstep were looking at them. The long haired one’s gaze made her feel like she was fifteen again - which was absurd, she knew - but it was like there was some connection between them. Don’t you even think the word ‘soulmates’, you learned better with Nick. And the other man? He might as well have been Caleb, the way he was looking at her best friend. It was the same intense look that had made Kyra go back every time, but it didn’t make sense to be coming from them. None of this made sense, really. It was too much, and Phoebe didn’t know how to handle it. Her mind was telling her that this was dangerous, that they needed to ring the police at the first second they could. This was how people got murdered, for circe’s sake! And how many people had been slaughtered over the years around London? But her heart was doing flips in her chest as she looked between the two of them, aching in a way she thought she would never have to feel again.

The bloke standing in the door answered her question - protections around the apartment? - but caught Kyra’s side eye to the little table by the door. And as soon as the short haired man pushed in their door she darted for the table, shaky hands finding the pepper spray quickly. Something in her gut was telling her to listen, to not be so afraid of this Edgar, but her mind won and she was quite pleased when she managed to not spray herself with the contents of the little bottle. Edgar, if that was even his real name, was down at the spray, and Phoebe was at the phone quickly, picking it up to dial when it suddenly flew out of her hand and across the room. Looking up, her heart almost stopped. The short haired man was doing his best to support his friend, words of memories being modified spoken, and both were holding thin pieces of wood in their hands - one pointed in her direction.

You’re either going to be murdered, or these men actually do know you.

        Kyra is going to kill you in your next life if you’re wrong about this.

“Wait,” she spoke, looking between the two of them. “Oh sh*t f*ck this is the craziest thing ever, but just...don’t leave.” She shoot an apologetic look to her best friend, arms crossed in front of herself as she surveyed the two of them. “You’re not...not Edgar Bones are you?”

[Kyra Thatcher]

The bloke she told off didn't seem to know how to take it, although Kyra felt she'd been perfectly clear.  She didn't know him from Adam, so he didn't get to look at her like she was his long-lost-love, the way she sometimes hoped Caleb would, if he ever showed his face again. Because she'd had one love in her life, one real one, and it was not this man. Even if his words about protecting them struck a chord within her, raising her ire for reasons she couldn't understand, and didn't have time to process. Because as Kyra made to shut the door, he decided it was his place to invade theirs; seeing a bodily struggle against him as futile - not even in her wildest dreams could she take him out, even with the wine - Kyra frantically stepped back into the apartment, heart a damn mess in her fear.

"Don't listen to him Pheebs!" she yelled as the long-haired one tried to talk her out of acting. Her fight-or-flight response was acting keenly, and as her best friend sprayed the intruder, she called her towards her. "C'mon, out the fire escape!" The apartment door was blocked by the men, and even though one was out for the count that didn't mean they were in the clear. No - better to get out and get help than wait like sitting ducks. 

Evidently, Phoebe didn't agree.

The brunette was rushing for the phone, but then the device was soaring through space to land by the intruders, and as Kyra looked over in shock...You have got to be f*cking kidding me. The pair was now holding magic wands, and talking about leaving, and memories, and Phoebe asked them to stay?! Phoebe's apologetic look was met by her furious one, but Kyra stepped away from the window escape to stand beside her regardless. Not letting you here alone with them, but you'd better be right about this. For even though she may have just witnessed actual magic happening, and she'd been wanting that for as long as she could remember, and there were strange things about her memory that she couldn't always ignore, there was no way that this was remotely safe. They were feeding into the story the men were trying to convince them of, and letting her guard down could be their downfall...

Edgar Bones? Her curiosity got the better of her at the mention of the neighbor boy she'd all but forgotten. Maybe she could see features of Eddie in this man, but if it was him, why was he doing this? And who was his friend?

"Stay back, and nothing but the truth," she insisted, hating the waver in her voice, and perhaps because of that...overcompensating as she went on.

[Fabian Prewett]

Fabian had tons of ideas, but not all of them were smart. He knew his forced entrance into the apartment wasn’t the best plan, but at least it was a plan. Get inside the apartment, keep the girls from leaving the apartment and calling the cops. Check for other signs of magic, because tt was obvious that something was wrong here, it didn’t take an idiot to figure that out. Or maybe it did, because how could someone have modified the memory of the girls without them knowing? They’d long ago agreed to keep tabs, keep wards up - but stay out of sight. Obviously something had happened to their memories, because there was no way Phoebe would have forgotten Edgar to this degree. Be angry with him? Sure - but he didn’t think she was angry enough to pepper spray his brother in the face until she, well, did. And the look of fear on Kyra’s face was enough to tear his heart into pieces. He’d hurt people, he was a soldier, it was his job. In the past, he was sure he had hurt her as well, but never physically. He was a sub par boyfriend by all means, but he’d never harm her.

He pulled his wand from his pocket as his counterpart went down, glad for the seriousness of the moment to control his laughter. He knew Phoebe was quick, but Edgar hadn’t even tried to stop things. He watched as the two of them ran for the fire escape, glad for the moment Phoebe stopped to grab the phone. “Accio,” he muttered, the phone flying across the room to him. That caught the attention of both the girls - and he held his hands up as a surrender before he knelt down to help Edgar to his feet. Whatever their next move was, it had to be stopping the girls from fleeing the flat, but when he looked up Phoebe’s expression had changed. She was asking them to stay, or was she asking Kyra to stay? Either way, this was an advantage. He gave a nod to Kyra’s words, a long sigh escaping him.

“My name is Fabian Prewett and yes, this here is Edgar Bones,” he spoke slowly, carefully inching closer. “Let me just get him holding himself up, yeah?” Moving to a nearby chair, he deposited Edgar under the watchful gaze of both the women, before turning back to look at them. He picked up a nearby vase, whispering quietly under his breath as it turned into a purple lilac before he gently floated over to Kyra. “Your name is Kyra Nelle Thatcher, born on February 25th. Mine and my brother’s - twin, his name is Gideon - is on the fifteenth of the same month. You may not know me, but I promise you I do know you.” He needed to win her over, for both his sake and Edgar’s. He’d gotten them into this mess after all, and while they would hopefully look back on this and laugh… “I know that you trust your horoscope, and that you’ve always wanted to go to Loch Ness and see what’s really going on. You’re a great singer, you taught both me and Eddie here how to drive the summer we graduated from school. Maybe you can’t remember me, but you have to remember some of that.”

[Edgar Bones]

Edgar Bones felt like a moron, and he knew that Fabian would never let him live this down.

He knew Phoebe didn't know him. But even so, he hadn't thought his the girl would harm him. Dead wrong on that. He missed most of the ruckus, unable to even open his eyes to see after she got him, just hearing Kyra yelling and her and Phoebe running about as he felt Fabian lift him to his feet. "We can't be here like this, just scaring them," he reasoned in a hurried muttering to his brother, although Ed honestly didn't have the power to think through an explanation that would allow them to leave without doing more damage. Hanged for a dragon as an egg by this point.

The only thing that kept him from finding a way to run was Phoebe's plea.

And he knew he must be a gory sight, face blotchy red, eyes watering outside of his control, but his painful grimace turned briefly to a smile as she said his name. The false memory charms were still in place, but maybe whoever had put them on her hadn't gone back to the beginning. Just to their relationship, so she wouldn't ever come looking? What did you two run into? he couldn't help but wonder, worry; a hell of a lot of magical and muggle encounters had happened in the last years, the high majority of them unpleasant for their non-magical brethren. She and Kyra hadn't been accosted by Death Eaters or anything, had they? Surely they'd just witnessed something they weren't supposed to? His smile turned into a knowing laugh as the blonde piped up so aggressively, and he gratefully followed Fabian's lead and sat as directed.

While breathing still wasn't exactly his strong suit, the relief he felt at this progress was doing wonders. As Fabian spoke, he felt around for a pillow and shrunk it, doused it with water from his wand, and spread a freezing charm over it until he had something to put over his eyes to counteract the burning. He knew their cavalier use of magic wasn't exactly prudent in terms of the law, it was necessary in order to help them all in the long run. Because they needed to get to the point of the women allowing them to use magic on them to recover their memories...

When Fabs trailed off, his own heart going out to his mate, Ed carefully took the ice from his eyes and looked the two women over seriously as he spoke. "Have you ever looked back on a day, an event, even a relationship, and it didn't - it didn't sit right? It felt different than others? Maybe images were distorted, voices were off like they're coming through a faulty record player, or the events, the sequence, just didn't add up?" Watching their reactions as carefully as he could through the lessening water in his eyes, he went on. "We knew you a long time ago. Very well." He shifted his gaze to Phoebe's, willing her to keep giving them a chance. "You asked me to a back-to-school dance when we were fifteen. We slow danced in my room while these two and Gid were trying to flirt downstairs. I was yours, that minute on. If you'll let us, we can take away the false memory charms that have hidden us, and probably quite a bit else, from you."

[Phoebe Bones]

She was glad that Kyra was backing her up, Phoebe’s hands reaching out for her best friends to squeeze. Was staying in the flat the most reckless thing she’d ever done? Probably. But something was just too familiar about these two, Kyra had to see that, right? Her initial reaction on the sidewalk when she’d first seen them - her heart had said friends, more than friends. But she had no memory of the two of them - and they seemed to be concerned about that. Putting this much trust in two complete strangers was the worst idea, but yet she’d gone with it. She watched as the me navigate to a chair, a cautious eye on the wands in their hands. The name Fabian didn’t meant anything to her, except she felt a smile tugging at the edge of her lip anyway.

She watched in awe as one of her vases became a lilac - holy hell, it really is magic isn’t it? - and floated gently over to her best friend, before Fabian kept talking. Her eyes fell on Edgar though, Edgar Bones, the boy who’d disappeared from her life the summer she turned fifteen. She couldn’t recall if the family had moved, but perhaps she’d just been so focused on her boyfriend that she’d forgotten about the odd family. If magic was real, and it was looking that was the case, it would definitely explain why the little bit about the Bones family that she could remember was strange. Edgar was shrinking one of her pillows, doing more magic right in front of her, and while she was hearing Fabian - she was fascinated. Her eyes snapped back to him though when he mentioned Loch Ness. But as he continued to speak, mentioning when they taught them to drive. We taught Nicholas and Caleb to drive.

Could their exes could have set them up for this? That didn’t seem to make sense, but it was almost like Fabian was Caleb. When Edgar spoke up, Phoebe felt herself tense, because how could he know that? The day after Halloween, the whole night before - it was fuzzy. She could recall it all perfectly, and yet it seemed like she was forgetting something. And now that she was really thinking about it, everything about her past seemed off. She’d thought that she just was feeling the residual heartache of losing Nicholas, but if magic was real, if memories could be altered? No, that’s insane. And yet at the same time she felt tears at the corners of her eyes, as if she had lost something. This was the strangest day of her life, and her heart was beating in her chest as Edgar brought up the school dance she and Nick had gone to - or as it her and Edgar, as he was saying?

Phoebe shook her head, wiping the tears from her face before she spoke. “No, you’re lying,” the words rushed out, her grip on Kyra’s hand tightening. “I don’t know if Nick and Caleb put you up to this, but it’s not funny. You can tell them that, alright? And I can prove you’re lying, so you can stop.” Letting go of her best friend’s hand, she took a few steps towards her room before she spun on her heel. “And if you pull anything while I’m searching for it, Kyra will rip your head off. Don’t doubt her.” She was soon darting down the hall to her bedroom, digging in the closest for the box of things from her parents house. Her secondary school diaries were in there, all carefully labeled, and she pulled the one from the summer of 1968 out, making her way back into the bedroom as she looked through the pages until she got to August. 

Come on, where is it, you know it’s in here.

        There! Today I asked out Edgar Bones. 

She stopped in her tracks, wondering if her heart had just stopped. Because there was no way that this was true, was it? That she’d asked out Edgar Bones back then, and not Nick? She could remember it so clearly, dancing around his bedroom, Kyra keeping the twins busy - Caleb didn’t have a twin- this couldn’t be really happening. She found her feet again, shoving the diary at Kyra quickly when she got back into their living room. “You remember me asking out Nick, don’t you? Went over to his house and everything, and I know I wrote about it in my diary, and here it is but according to this…”

[Kyra Thatcher]

You barge into my house and, what, you don't expect this to be a nightmare? Kyra turned her accusatory glare onto the bloke who hadn't yet introduced himself but was giving her major Caleb vibes nonetheless - It's those brown eyes, dammit. - and was daring to look forlorn at her less-than-pleased reaction. And daring to stop Phoebe from phoning for help. Not gaining any points here, doll. He at least had the decency to look chagrined at her tirade, although his friend found her amusing and her blood boiled in an oddly familiar manner; Kyra clasped her friend's hand tightly as he moved towards them, his incapacitated-enough second in tow. Fabian Prewett. What sort of fairytale name is that? Explanations needed - You said you wanted us to hear you out, and you've forced us to stay. Out with it. - she watched the pair of them warily as they seemed to weigh their words, and...it really is magic. Because Fabian had transformed one fo their vases into a purple lilac, it flew her way, and when she plucked it from the air it was as fresh as those that came in the spring and no one knew to get her lilacs except for her first love and...this is mad. He spoke, and he knew her, and he shouldn't. He couldn't. With every target he hit, her curiosity and discomfort grew together hand-in-hand. Her eyes locked with his, heart thundering with still a fair bit of fear, but with anticipation now. Because what else would he get right? Or would he mess up? But no - how could any of what he said truly be real? Because the experiences he named as happening with him and Eddie, they were ones she and Phoebe had had with others.

But you've always known the world was bigger than it seemed. Is this your chance to see it for what it is?

Her throat went dry in the slight lull before his partner, recovered enough to see them through squinted eyes, carried on. And despite herself, Kyra's intrigue grew. Because how could he know what worried her most? That her mind wasn't her own? That memories were fuzzed in a way that she didn't think were normal, that experiences didn't add up, or were glossed over? The insinuation that the men had known them very well made her eye them both with more scrutiny; they were strangers to her now, but the implication that they'd been with them in the past, that their relationships with the partners they remembered were somehow falsified, made her intestines squirm.

They can take away the charms?

    There are charms on us?

Why would anyone want to make us forget?

Pheebs started clenching her hand in earnest, and Kyra looked over to see her best friend in tears. She couldn't argue against Phoebe's points, the most logical - until it came to the magic they'd seen - explanation for this was that their exes were suddenly trying to get back at them for some long-forgotten ills and taking a rather convoluted way about it. But Phoebe took off for proof, and Kyra didn't quite know what to do. Yes. Utterly terrifying, I am. Just...keep them talking, right. "Oh, yeah, good stuff," Kyra called after her belatedly, waving the lilac around. "Just leave me with my flower and the wizards, it's fine. Because you're proper wizards, aren't you? Not illusionists or any of the other fakers?"

She could hear Phoebe rummaging around in her room and willed her to hurry up; her mind was buzzing as she tried to figure out what, or who, to trust. And at her return, and seeing the entry in the diary...Kyra exchanged an apprehensive look with her before shutting her eyes tightly, willing herself back into remembering that day. Lynn and I convinced you it was a good idea to ask Nick, so we walked over. And he'd been running around with Caleb, so I distracted him so you could get Nick upstairs. So far, so good, they must've gotten to the diary -

Kyra's eyes popped open, a mix of fright and thrill. Because she'd seen glimpses of two boys she'd kept busy. Twins, unmistakably. "This is so f*cked," she muttered, taking the diary back and beginning to pace as she flipped through the decade-old pages. "Pheebs - Pheebs, they're here. And here, and - shite, you had a good time at that dance, did you?" She couldn't resist the tease, but stopped short as a free page - heavier and unlined, some sort of parchment? - fell from the diary. She knelt to pick it up and felt herself smiling as she skimmed through it, although she didn't quite know why. "I'll be damned. It's from him." Kyra cleared her throat as she stood, deepening her voice to read. "Pheebs, I know I've only been away at school for two nights, but I'm already planning my escape. Not a word to Kyra, I can't risk Fabian finding out, he'll never let me out of his sight..."

[Fabian Prewett]

For the first time since they had arrived, Fabian was feeling a tad like there was no hope as his voice faltered. Edgar filled the silence that he had left, and Fabian watched the girls closely. It was obvious by the way they reacted that they both had memories they were questioning. Someone had done a good job with the memory charms - good enough that he wasn’t entirely confident he’d be able to reverse it. If they couldn’t do it, they would be able to find someone that could. Fabian doubted, however, that the girls would be easily convinced to leave the house with two complete strangers. It was hard to look at the two of them, especially as Phoebe lashed out at them, tears running down her face. We’ll figure this out Edgar, I promise.

Phoebe was suddenly leaving them with Kyra, and he couldn’t stop the chuckle as she re-stated the threat Kyra had made earlier. Kyra didn’t seem to be thrilled though, calling after her friend as she left. “Proper wizards, I promise,” Fabian said eagerly, although he was concerned about this piece of evidence that Phoebe claimed to have. In the meantime, he could at least do his best while Phoebe was gone to figure out a healing spell to help his friend. “Would have brought Roddy if I’d have known you were going to get pepper sprayed,” he joked under his breath as he crouched down next to Edgar, “Episkey.” Much to Fabian’s surprise (he tried to hide it), the spell seemed to do the trick.

Phoebe had returned, some sort of journal in hand, a journal that was apparently one of her diaries. Phoebe was clearly upset by the contents. He listened carefully, exchanging a glance with Edgar. If the diary still had their names in it, perhaps convincing the girls they weren’t complete strangers wasn’t going to be as difficult as they thought. There was no stopping the grin on his face as Phoebe explained that his guess was correct - Edgar’s name was in that book. It was hard to keep his composure, because how perfect was this? Whoever changed the girls memories obviously didn’t know the girls well enough to know that Phoebe was the sentimental sort, the kind who would keep a decade old diary just because. He watched with amusement as Kyra teased Phoebe, fond memories of times together at the front of his brain.

A letter fell from the journal, and Fabian was admittedly curious. But - Oh Eddie, it’s our lucky day - the letter was from Edgar. He didn’t stop the laugh as Kyra lowered her voice, the impersonation of Edgar heard many times before, but caught himself at a glance from Phoebe that he was all too familiar with as well. “You two,” he said, looking between Phoebe and Edgar, “Are so cute it’s actually disgusting, you know that?”