"He's what?"

            "Awake." Jasmine repeated. "James is awake."

            Adriana felt a small bubble of joy rise up in her chest.

            "That's wonderful! May I go see him?"

            Jasmine and Rissa exchanged glances.

            "No." Rissa whispered.

            Adriana felt the bubble of joy pop, leaving an empty, hollow pit in her chest.           

            "No?"

            "No." Rissa repeated. "You see Adriana, he's not in good condition, and we believe that if he sees you right now, he might become...confused."

            Realization dawned on Adriana.

            "He doesn't have his memories, does he?"

            Rissa and Jasmine both looked down at their feet, neither desirous to see the princess' face as they shook their heads.

            Adriana felt all the air leave her lungs. It was as if she had just been punched in the face by someone she loved, or as if she had believed in something for so long, only to find out that it had all been a lie.

            It was as if all the hope, all the twisted optimism that had been in the forefront of her mind for the past few days, had suddenly disappeared, to be replaced by the prowling fear that her dream would come true. The same fear had lurked in the back of her mind ever since Dawn had left, ever since the one constant support she had in life had left her, stopped loving her, and started hating her.

            That same person now had the capability to further ruin Adriana's life by taking away the next most important thing in her life: James.

            He's not the most important thing in your life. Stop being dramatic. Adriana chastised herself. She looked back up at Jasmine and Rissa, who were staring at her in a mixture of fear and pity.

            "I'm fine. Really, I am." Adriana promised. "I just don't know what I'm more shocked about—the fact that James is awake or the fact that he doesn't know who I am."

            "I know this must be hard for you." Jasmine put her hand on Adriana's knee in what she must have felt was a comforting way, but in actuality just made Adriana feel like she was being treated like a three-legged horse with no hope for a future. "Perhaps it wouldn't be a good idea for you to see James right now—"

            "No." Adriana interrupted firmly. "I want to see him."

            Rissa shook her head sadly.

            "Jasmine, would you let me speak with Adriana alone for a little while?"

            Jasmine nodded silently and stood up, walking quickly in the direction of the infirmary.

            "You can't do it." Rissa whispered to Adriana once Jasmine had left. "You can't restore his memories."

            Adriana sat back in her chair and crossed her arms. Raising both eyebrows, she phrased her next words with the perfect mix of annoyance and anger.

            "Why not?"

            Rissa looked down at the ground, clearly aware of the fact that her niece was not going to truly listen to a single word she said.

            "This isn't a fairytale, Adriana. You can't share true love's kiss and magically expect him to regain all the wonderful memories you two share. He won't lay eyes on you and immediately remember everything about you and who you are. The magic surrounding a spell like this is intricate and difficult to understand, but the premise is this: only the person who caused him to lose his memories can even have a chance of restoring them."

            Adriana's breath caught in her chest and she felt her face turning red.

            "Dawn."

            Rissa nodded sadly.

            "Dawn struck him with the blow that caused this lapse of memory. No one but her will be able to restore those memories, and no one in this castle is going to allow her to come anywhere near James."

            Adriana could barely breathe and she felt the tears coming on. James would never remember her. James would never remember Skylar. He wouldn't know anything, he wouldn't be able to tell Adriana all the dry jokes that he loved so much, he wouldn't be able to be his usual blunt self and look so surprised when Adriana was perfectly content with his comments. He wouldn't be able to tease her about her lack of exposure to the world outside of the castle, about how she hadn't had a sip of tea until she was sixteen.

            He wouldn't even know his own name.

            "I still have to see him." Adriana whispered as a single tear rolled down her cheek. "I have to see him."

            Rissa nodded.

            "Go ahead."

            Adriana stood up and started to walk off, before turning around and relaying one last comment to her aunt.

            "Also, you can't have "true love's kiss" with someone who doesn't love you."

***

            "Jasmine?"

            Adriana entered the infirmary quietly, calling out for the nurse. The candles were lit, which Adriana hadn't seen in over a fortnight; since James had been admitted into the infirmary, no candles were lit in hopes of keeping his mind at ease instead of occupied by the light in the room. Jasmine had always believed that the mind, no matter if the body was awake or asleep, was constantly aware of its surroundings.

            "I'm right here, Princess." Jasmine replied, rounding the corner and placing a wet cloth on the forehead of someone across the room. "Here is your visitor." She whispered to the person she was helping.

            Adriana crossed the room quickly and looked down at a very innocent-looking James. His eyes were wide with wonder and interest, while his face seemed free of the worry that the past month would have undoubtedly laid on him. He wore a simple infirmary gown that all the patients treated in the infirmary wore, and his hair was an absolute atrocity; if he had seen it himself he would have made some sort of remark about the strands standing on end and the clumps that stuck out from the rest.

            "Goodness," James said as she approached, "You're—"

            Please say my name, Adriana pleaded against all the reason in her head. Please remember who I am.

            "You're beautiful." James smiled up at her. Adriana felt her heart plummet. The James she knew would have laughed at the worried look on her face before giving her a hug and letting her know that everything would be alright.

            "Thank you." Adriana accepted the compliment gracefully as Jasmine slowly backed away from the two and left them to be by themselves. Adriana sat on the edge of James' bed and smiled at him, holding back tears.

            "I've hardly ever seen anyone quite like you before." James continued, "You must be from Heaven."

            Adriana laughed quietly.         

            "No, no. I'm from the same place as you."

            "Then you must be a princess." James countered, "Since no regular person could possibly look like you."

            Adriana felt the tears leave her eyes, unable to be stopped. He was so sweet, so kind, but he was talking to someone who he didn't know. He was speaking with a girl who had walked in who he found beautiful, who he found different from anyone he had seen before. If he had even the faintest idea who she was, he would have said she looked familiar, or that she looked like someone he had met before.

            "Why are you crying?" James asked. "Generally, when people are called beautiful, they don't shed tears."

            Adriana shook her head and kept crying, unable to stop the tears, unable to stop the thoughts that kept reminding her of how she would never be able to talk to James, the real James, again.

            James sat up in his bed and hugged Adriana, a confused expression gracing his face.

            "I apologize if I made you cry." He said, his arms still around her. "I didn't mean to upset you."

            "You didn't." Adriana choked out, trying and failing to keep the tears back. "It's my own fault. I set myself up for disappointment."

            They stayed that way for another hour, two friends, one without memories and the other without the faintest idea of how to continue her life.

—-

A/N: I feel like I wrote this entire chapter with like no heart and then after I wrote it I felt so bad for Adriana and was like "Wow this author is rude."

Haha that would be me.

Anyways, I'm going to try and write more of Mask (the new dystopian story I'm writing) today so that I can upload it soon. I'll try to get the summary written by the time I upload the next chapter of Shattered so that you guys can tell me if you like the idea or not.

Quick question that I want every person who reads this chapter to answer:

Do you prefer the action chapters with battles/arguments/big events, or do you enjoy the chapters like this, where the focus is on one scene and it's more descriptive and (sometimes) sad?

As always, make sure to vote, comment, and check back for the next update! And make sure to answer the question and let me know what you thought of this chapter.

-Katherine