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Amnesia [Suki & Summer]

Yeah, their rivalry will probably keep the tensions between the capital and Hope running high even after Cas starts making changes to the way Aspiria is run

Amnesia [Suki & Summer]

Caspian had had nightmares before, but this was different than what he’d experienced in the past. When he’d been young, he’d had some wild dreams influenced by movies he’d watched that he shouldn’t have at his age, but as he’d gotten older, his nightmares usually revolved around things that had caused him stress. Like other high borns, he’d lived a sheltered life, never facing worse than a broken bone and never finding himself in a dangerous position as long as the capital had been secured by the military. He dreamt of missing deadlines, failing at important tasks, and of course, the all-time classic: giving a public speech while naked. While such nightmares were disturbing in their own way, they couldn’t compare to the terror of seeing the faces of the dead over and over again.

Distantly, he heard Iris speak up beside him and felt her squeeze his hand reassuringly. Using her as an anchor to recover from his fright, he turned toward her and took a deep breath, reminding himself that he was far away from the plaza, taking cover in the woods with her. Repeating the truth to himself, his tense muscles began to unwind, and he took the water bottle from her to wet his throat. “Sorry if I startled you,” he sighed, a little embarrassed that she’d seen him freak out over a bad dream. He wished he hadn’t jolted awake so violently, but it wasn’t something he could have controlled, since he had been asleep a second before.

Setting the container back down, he glanced up at the sky. Between the tree branches and the haze in the air, he couldn’t see it clearly, but he could tell that it was still sometime in the late afternoon. Good, he thought. That meant he still had some time to try to forget about his nightmare before he laid down to sleep when dusk fell. He had a feeling that if he tried now, he would just end up reimagining the same scenario in Bel Bicis that had woke him up the first time. He didn’t feel like going through that twice.

Turning back to Iris, a half smile pulled at his lip. He appreciated that she had helped him ground himself. The lingering fright was fading faster than it probably would have if he’d been alone. With a burst of affection, he leaned over and pressed a soft kiss to her lips, relishing their renewed closeness. He rested his hand on her leg and pulled back from the kiss to meet her gaze, “It was stupid of me to ever think I could go back to living without you. I hope you know that now that I’ve got you back, I’m never letting go again.”

Though he spoke partially in jest, he was earnest about how much he liked being with her. If she wanted to be with him for the long haul, he knew he wouldn’t be opposed. Far from it, in fact. Even though they hadn’t known each other for very long, going through multiple near-death experiences had a way of bringing two people together. He was prepared to fight his father tooth and nail if that’s what it took to keep her by his side for the rest of his life.

Amnesia [Suki & Summer]

I figured that was a good time to throw in his nightmare about the plaza.

And same, he'll have to learn how to manage a country fast. It'll also be interesting because he'll have a very different view about it than Atlas does, and he'll have to figure out what to do about Hope

I like that idea too! We can definitely bring Ethan back into the story later on :)

Amnesia [Suki & Summer]

“If you say so,” Cas shrugged, closing his eyes as he rested his head against Iris’s. Even after everything they had been through that day, taking the leap to be more than friends with her again still overshadowed all the rest. With her in his arms, it was easy for him to pretend like everything was just fine and that they hadn’t just fled from an imploding building. Of course, the trauma from the event hadn’t vanished, but he was enjoying the respite while it lasted. For the last week, he had been in a nearly constant state of stress, so it was nice to finally relax long enough to remember what it felt like to be at peace, even if it was temporary.

Taking her up on her offer to nap, he nodded faintly and let himself begin to drift off. The hard ground beneath them wasn’t as comfortable as a bed would have been, but Iris’s warmth made up the difference. In no time at all, he’d fallen into a light slumber with his arm resting limply over her body, his jaw hanging slack, and his chest rising and falling with slow, even breaths. He had hoped to wake up feeling well-rested, but apparently his brain had other ideas.

After about an hour of pleasant, fleeting dreams that didn’t last long enough for him to remember, his unprocessed grief over the war and his father caught up with him. He found himself back in the plaza in Bel Bicis, surrounded with exaggerated mounds of blood-covered bodies. Immediately, a sense of panic set in, and he ran, desperate to get away from the wreckage and corpses. But the plaza was never ending. The further he ran, the larger the piles of bodies became until he was completely surrounded. He could feel his sense of urgency swelling until he finally came to a halting stop, too overwhelmed to continue as he dropped to his knees among the ruins.

It was then that he felt a hand on his shoulder. Turning around, he saw his father standing behind him. The familiar face gave him a fleeting moment of relief before he watched in dismay as Atlas curled his lip with disgust and walked away, leaving him alone with no one but the pale, lifeless war victims around him for company. For a moment, he sat still, frozen with shock that his father would abandon him when he needed him most, but he didn’t have long to dwell on it when two of the corpses slowly crawled from one of the mounds and grabbed hold of his arms with clammy hands—the mother and daughter whose faces he would never forget. They grinned, showing bloodstained teeth, and began dragging him toward the other bodies. However, before he reached them, he awoke with a jolt.

Scrambling into a sitting position, Cas gasped for breath, trembling with residual fear from the vivid nightmare. It seemed like even though he had been relaxed when he’d fallen asleep, he wasn’t as recovered from the traumatic day as he’d thought. He dragged the back of his hand across his sweaty forehead as he tried to calm down again.

Amnesia [Suki & Summer]

Cas is having a hard time not smothering Iris right now xD

I'm excited for the next part too. And I have some ideas for when I switch back to Jacob's POV

Amnesia [Suki & Summer]

“I missed you too,” Cas said in return, unable to stop smiling while he could still feel the ghost of Iris’s lips against his. He was still a little nervous about the pandora’s box they might have opened by choosing to be together when the future was so uncertain, but he was dedicated now to enduring whatever hardships they were going to have to face. If he stayed with her beyond the capital, they would probably have to live on the run for a while until the rebels no longer wanted to kill him. If they went back to the capital, he was going to have to figure out a way to smuggle her in with him and convince his father to stop planning to arrange his marriage to someone else. Both options had their pros and cons, so he wasn’t ready to make a decision either way yet.

When she suggested that they slow down their trip to the capital, he nodded without hesitation. “That’s a good compromise,” he agreed. Hopefully by taking their time instead of rushing, he would have enough time to make up his mind before they got there. It would also help him stall as he tried to figure out how to approach his father about their relationship if he decided that he did want to go home. When he had tried to date high born women in the past, Atlas hadn’t even considered the thought of letting him choose who he wanted to be with, so he was sure it was going to be an uphill battle trying to convince him that a common girl was a better match for him than someone who had an upstanding reputation and valuable connections. If the king found out she was Regis’s daughter, it would be even more difficult.

Although he wanted to keep kissing her in the grass, he knew he should give her a break to catch her breath since she still had a fever. Not wanting to overwhelm her, he removed himself from on top of her and laid on his side next to her, propping one arm underneath his head and draping the other over her middle. The bombing in Bel Bicis had been nothing short of terrifying, but in a way, he was glad it had happened. If he hadn’t faced a life-threatening crisis that had made him second guess all of his life decisions, he would have continued to keep Iris at arm’s length and gone back to the capital without ever finding out the truth about who was really on his side. He was glad he’d found out before they had parted rather than after.

“Are you still sure you won’t be able to sleep?” he asked, letting out a long exhale. “I’m starting to think I could use a nap, myself.” Thoroughly distracted from their close encounter with death, his exhaustion had hit him like a freight train. It was still far too early to go to bed, but he was physically and emotionally drained, and he was comfortable nestled with her against his chest, so the thought of dozing under the trees was tempting. The only thing keeping him awake was the fact that he knew they weren’t as safe out in the open as they had been in the apartment they’d broken into earlier. It would have been easy for a rebel to stumble upon them out here if they were searching for them in the forest.

Amnesia [Suki & Summer]

Yeah, I imagine it's going to be rough when they get caught

Also, I might get my next post up later because I'm getting some stuff done for my projects right now :)
I'm officially down to just one presentation and one paper now! Then it's over

Amnesia [Suki & Summer]

Yeah, I think it'll add another level of depth when they get caught by the rebels again too, especially for Iris, since they want to kill Cas

Amnesia [Suki & Summer]

Iris’s affirmation that she believed he would be a great king only reassured Caspian that for once, he was making the right decision. He had always been insecure in his own abilities, following in the footsteps of a powerful ruler like Atlas. His father had the fortitude to effortlessly make difficult decisions that he’d never been able to commit to without squirming. He was apprehensive that when he was eventually crowned as the next monarch, he would fall short of the Aspirian people’s expectations and undo all the hard work his father had done to build the nation into a respectable one. So, hearing her say that she thought he was what the people needed elicited a sense of self confidence that he’d never felt before.

He leaned into her lips as she reciprocated the kiss, as if he could make up for all the time they had lost since the incident in the capital. The instant he had caved to his desire for her, he’d realized just how foolish he had been by fighting back against the bond that continued to form between them. He cared about her more than he cared about anyone outside of his immediate family, and he was being a coward by pushing her away. No matter what he decided, the journey ahead of them most likely wouldn’t be easy, but she was worth fighting for. If he returned to the capital, he would do just that, no matter what his father or anyone else had to say about it.

When she pulled back briefly, he panted to catch his breath, having lost control of his respiration in his hunger for her lips. The words she whispered sent shivers up his spine, and he smiled, happy to hear that her feelings for him hadn’t wavered. Being with her felt right, and for a moment, he let himself forget about everything they had just endured in Bel Bicis as she kissed him again. Right now, there were no war zones, dead bodies, bombs or uncertainties. There was only the two of them, finding comfort in each other alone in the trees beyond the eleventh district’s border.

Heart pounding, Cas pressed his weight into Iris and slipped his hands from hers, bracing himself as he pushed her down on the blanket and hovered over her without breaking the kiss. In the back of his head, he knew he shouldn’t put too much strain on her when she was still sick, but he couldn’t help himself. He had craved to be with her since the day they had escaped from Regis’s basement, and her touch was driving him wild. It was like he was an addict on withdrawal, and she the drug he’d been abstaining from. Every movement of her lips, sweep of her tongue, and caress of her fingers lit him up like fire.

Leaning his weight on one arm, he held her by the waist with the other, kissing her deeply until he felt dizzy from lack of oxygen and had to come up for air. “I missed this,” he breathed, studying her blue eyes in the hazy, afternoon light that filtered through the swirling dust over their heads.

Amnesia [Suki & Summer]

His willpower finally broke cx