Thank you guys so much for sticking with us even in our hiatus! Our other project is finished now and we are extremely happy to be back with Mary Sue!! Expect a couple more updates in the next week or so as we'll be finishing up the story pretty soon and then possibly making a really stupid awesome dating rpg sim out of it so anticipate that too! the single spaced format of this chapter is bugging me but unfortunately I can't figure out how to double space it ugh sorry

"Do I look good in these?"

You looked up at your boyfriend as he posed with a ridiculously large pair of sunglasses on his face, the bright green frames extending a few inches out past his face. You just giggled in response, causing his expression to turn a little sober. He took the sunglasses off and put his hand in yours as you continued your walk through the mall.

"Don't seem too excited," he teased softly.

"Sorry, Himchan," you said with a smile that didn't quite reach your eyes. It's just, with the whole memory loss thing, you had a hard time assimilating back into normalcy. Or at least, what you thought was normal for you before you lost your memory. Everything around you seemed only vaguely meaningful, and the relationships you apparently had formed, you only had fragments of memories from them. It was like you were just suddenly into somebody else's story and given no backstory of how you ended up there aside from random pieces of information that people told you, and you just had to trust them.

It was all a bit unsettling, and you would explain this to Himchan now if you hadn't already done so a few times before. At least he was understanding about the whole thing. If nothing else, you were just really happy that past you had managed to get a boyfriend like Himchan. You don't remember much about your relationship exactly, just some vague memories about dating him and going to Homecoming with him. Sort of.

Well, Sunny had informed you that you had gone to Homecoming with Himchan, which must have meant that it was a pretty serious relationship. Either way, you were glad that he was here to help you through this whole amnesia thing.

"I just wish I remembered more about us from… you know, before," you sighed.

He just smiled reassuringly at you. "It's okay," he said. "It doesn't matter. We'll make new memories."

The two of you made your way over to the food court where your other friends were already sitting.

"Hi, Mary Sue!" Sunny called excitedly, waving you over. You were extremely happy to see her since Sunny had been a beacon of stability and support in helping you to deal with all of this. Her boyfriend, Sungmin, also smiled and nodded at you and beckoned the two of you over to sit near them.

"What's up?" you asked as you sat down, Himchan taking the seat beside you and resting his arm on the back of it.

"We were just talking about how Jessica, Nichkhun and Fei are graduating next month," Sunny caught you up.

"Oh wow, that's big!" you exclaimed, tiny vague memories flitting through your head that connected faces to names.

"Should I throw a party?" Himchan looked around at the group for confirmation. "Just one big joint party and invite everyone?"

"Well we have to commemorate our time here somehow," Fei remarked, catlike features twisting up into a small smirk.

"That sounds really fun," you agreed. "You guys'll have an awesome time, I'm sure."

Sunny frowned slightly at you. "Aren't you coming, Mary Sue?"

You didn't really know how to answer, considering you were still trying to figure out how you belonged in this group of people.

"Of course she is," Himchan insisted in your stead.

"It wouldn't be a party without Mary Sue," Nichkhun added with a wink.

"I can't believe it," Chanyeol moaned for the nth time in the past week. "Himchan actually won. He's dating Mary Sue."

"He wouldn't be if she had her memory," Amber assured, as if that was reassuring.

"That's the problem," Chanyeol said. "She doesn't even remember who I am. It's not that she's lost interest and decided to move on. She legitimately doesn't remember anything about me." 

"Well I like new Mary Sue," Key remarked offhandedly. "She's a lot less annoying now that she doesn't remember she was once The Chosen One."

"She's a bit less self-important, yeah," Amber agreed, "but that doesn't mean the amnesia is an improvement."

"Speak for yourself," Key muttered, and went back to lazily tracing the lines in Jonghyun's palm.

Chanyeol sighed heavily. "What do we do?"

"Well," Amber said thoughtfully. "We could wait for her memories to come back? The doctors said it could take up to two weeks for them to return, if they do."

"If they do?" 

"They most likely will," Amber reassured him. 

"I don't think I can wait that long," Chanyeol lamented. "She'll be so caught up with Himchan at that point."

"Mary Sue is super nice," Krystal added. "Not to mention she can get any guy she wants. If her memories return but she's been dating Himchan for the past two weeks, do you really think she'll want to come back?"

There was a pause as they all considered what might happen in the near future. In that moment of silence, a breeze filtered around them and lifted the grass and leaves from their weak anchors, and Jonghyun's eyes flitted closed as he relaxed in their patch of grass.

"I have to get her back," Chanyeol insisted lowly, with no small measure of resolve.

"We'll figure out a way to get her memories back," Amber said, as if she was searching for her own resolve.

"How?" Key demanded.

"I don't know," Amber admitted. "We could just remind her of things that happened in the past few months?"

"What if we reenacted some of her best memories of Chanyeol?" Krystal suggested.

Amber chewed her lip as she thought about it. "That could work."

It was Friday evening and you were hanging out at Key's house with Key, Amber and Jonghyun, pretty drained from the past week of being social with Himchan and your other group of friends while trying to remember why you liked them. Key and Jonghyun were sprawled out perpendicularly on the bed, Key resting his head on your brother's stomach, while Amber sat behind you braiding your hair.

"What have you guys been up to?" you asked, wondering what might have made you begin to drift apart.

"Just hanging out, mostly," Amber said. "What about you? How's Himchan and his posse?"

You sighed. "He's fine, I guess." You grabbed one of Key's colorful throw pillows and hugged it close to your torso. "They're gonna throw some big graduation party at the end of the year," you mentioned.

"Well that's perfect!" Amber said.

You frowned. "I… guess?"

"We should go dress shopping," Key said mechanically, as if he was pressed to say it, before closing his eyes and falling silent again, relaxing as Jonghyun ran his fingers idly through his hair.

"Oh, well, I don't know if it's going to be a formal thing," you said.

"Nonsense!" Amber exclaimed. "And even if it's not, we should go anyway."

"Why?"

"For funsies," Key flatlined.

You pouted.

"Are you free tomorrow evening?" Amber asked as if she was persuading you with something tantalizing.

You shrugged. If nothing else, getting to go out with your close friends seemed like a really nice change. "Alright," you decided.

"Yes," Amber hissed.

The next day, you were herded into a small dress shop at the corner of town that was vaguely familiar even though you didn't remember ever being there before. As you looked around at everything from cocktail dresses to long evening gowns, Key strutted up to the counter and rang the bell loudly.

"Wooyoung!" he called, just as a frazzled looking guy shuffled out from the back room to greet you. "We're looking for something casual yet fabulous," he announced, and clapped twice. Wooyoung, the shop employee, just kind of stood there, eyes shifting around, as if he was trying to figure out why he was being clapped at. Key sighed. "Do you have anything like that?" he asked pointedly.

Wooyoung frowned thoughtfully. "Yeah, we do."

"Where is it?" Key pressed.

The shop worker shrugged. "Around."

He seemed to have better things to do since he turned back around and headed into the back room, not without a sweeping gesture that Key interpreted as "help yourself to anything in the store." Key shrugged in return and started looking around, searching the store, and immediately started pulling dresses of racks and hangers and pushing you into the dressing room with handfuls of garments to try on.

After the twelfth dress, you were tired and decided you would rather sit down and watch the others have fun with their own fashion montages. Amber was sitting on one of the ottomans looking at her phone while Key and Jonghyun were taking turns picking out different dapper ensembles for each other.

Without thinking, you turned to Amber and asked, "So how was your study date?"

"Hm?" It took a second for her to register what you said, and when she did she stared at you with her eyebrows knitted slightly in confusion. "Study date?"

Wait, study date? Why did you even ask that? You shook your head. "I don't know, never mind," you muttered.

"No," Amber said, "why did you ask me that?"

You thought about it, but you couldn't come up with a reason, so you just shrugged. 

"Mary Sue," Amber began hesitantly, as if she was solving a puzzle as she spoke. "Do you want to… go for a walk?"

You frowned. Why would you want to go for a walk? Was she saying you needed fresh air? Because you felt fine. "No, I think I'm good," you answered.

"I think you should go for a walk," Key interjected. "It might be good for you."

"No, I'm really fine, you guys," you said.

"Seriously, go for a walk," Key insisted. "Just around the block. Real quick."

"Why do you want me to leave so badly?"

"Because we know what's best for you, Miss Memory Loss, now go take a quick walk and be back in fifteen." With that, Key snapped the dressing room curtains shut over his face, and you figured the conversation was over. With a sigh, you stood up and complied, figuring it might be at least nice to enjoy the cool air for a while and think.

You stood outside for a few moments, looking around, before deciding to go left. You weren't sure why, it just seemed like a good direction to go, but after a few seconds a weird sense of deja vu hit you, and a shiver ran up your spine. But you brushed it off and kept walking, until you turned a corner and collided with a tall figure that was vaguely familiar.

"This had better work," Kris muttered to Chanyeol as they stood against the brick wall of the alleyway, waiting for their cue. "Because if not, I'm gonna feel completely ridiculous for nothing."

"Just give it your all, okay?" Chanyeol pleaded. "I need her to remember this."

Kris rolled his eyes and sighed, rubbing his hands together. "Alright, I'll do my best, but let me tell you"--

"Sh!" Chanyeol shushed, holding a finger up and listening. "I think she's coming." 

Kris stood there for a moment, trying to listen too, before Chanyeol shoved him over.

"Go!" he hissed. "You're gonna miss your cue!" And with that he pushed Kris out and around the corner, just as Mary Sue rounded it.

He heard Kris clear his throat and glanced around the corner. Mary Sue was staring up at Kris curiously and just looking vaguely confused, like she was trying to figure out where she knew him, and Kris squared his shoulders and tried to look menacing.

"What are you doing alone?" Kris asked unconvincingly. "Out here. Outside, by yourself."

Chanyeol's palm made contact with his forehead.

"Just walking," Mary Sue answered casually. "I mean, I'm not totally alone, my friends are just right inside there"--

"Sshhh," Kris hushed, and took an awkward step towards her, causing her to step back a little. "It's dangerous to be out here alone at night."

She glanced around. "I mean, it's not quite night yet, is it? More like… mid-evening, really."

"Uh," Kris faltered. "I-it's dangerous to be out here alone mid-evening."

Chanyeol rolled his eyes. This was starting to spiral out of their hands. So he jumped out before his cue and shoved Kris against the wall with a loud, "Eurgh!"

Mary Sue jumped from the entrance and watched the proceedings with wide eyes.

"Give me one reason why I shouldn't kill you," Chanyeol recited, holding his knife up near Kris's throat.

Kris glanced between Mary Sue and Chanyeol, looking at a loss for words. Chanyeol sighed. If Kris had just rehearsed his lines like Chanyeol told him to, they wouldn't be having this problem.

Before Kris could get anything out, though, Mary Sue spoke up.

"Because he has a right to live!" she stated firmly.

Chanyeol and Kris both turned their eyes to her, unsure of how to respond.

"I don't care what he's done to you," she said. "Or to anybody. Nobody deserves to die over their mistakes."

"But…" Chanyeol stammered. "H-he's… a vampire," he floundered, mind racing to try and adapt the script to this turn of events.

Mary Sue just scoffed. "Please," she said. "Vampires aren't even real. And besides, even if he was, I still stand by the fact that you shouldn't kill anyone, no matter who they are, or what they are." She placed her hands on her hips for emphasis, clearly not ready to back down from her opinions.

Chanyeol didn't know what to do. If he stopped the charade, then there was no way she would remember how they met. But if he kept it up, he would look like a terrible person to Mary Sue, and she would hate him forever, and there was no way they would get back together. It was a lose-lose situation. After a few moments of weighing the decision in his head, he lowered the knife from Kris's neck and slowly stepped back, eyes fixed on the ground. Kris looked at him, trying to read from his actions what he was supposed to do next, and ended up just walking wordlessly away. Seemed like the play was over.

Back at the former hideout, Chanyeol sighed and dropped his head onto the kitchen table. "I'm screwed," he muttered into the wood.

"More like not," Kai retorted.

Chanyeol lifted his head for the sole purpose of glaring at Kai, who returned it with a cheeky expression.

"Just being realistic," he said.

"I'm sure she'll get her memories back sooner or later," Suho consoled, although the slight waver in his voice betrayed his doubts.

"Come on, there's gotta be something that will jog her memory," Kris supplied. "We just haven't found that trigger yet."

Tao sighed from his spot leaning against the wall. "If only I still had my time powers," he lamented. "I could just rewind her brain."

"Like a computer?" Sehun said. "Like when your computer gets a virus, and you just set the time backwards to a point where it didn't have a virus anymore."

"Yeah, only, Mary Sue lost all her recent memories," Xiumin said. "It's more like a factory reset, and you can't really go back on those."

"Do you think healing her would've helped at all?" Lay asked tentatively.

"What does any of that matter?" Kai scoffed. "We lost our powers. There's no point in saying, 'Gee if only I could still whatever,' because we can't. It's ineffective, and discussing it is getting us nowhere."

Tao stared evenly across the room at Kai, expression unflinching. "Well, do you have any ideas that may help us?"

Kai shrugged noncommittally. "You could try hitting her over the head again, see if that brings back any other memories she has of being knocked out."

"Maybe she's suffered permanent brain damage from all the times she's been knocked out," Xiumin wondered aloud.

"Guys," Chanyeol cut in. "None of this is helping, and it isn't really making me feel any better either."

There was a somewhat awkward silence, and a few of the former Hunters took the empty space in the conversation as their cue to leave the room. Suho sighed softly from next to Chanyeol.

"Well, we'll just have to keep doing what we can then," he decided.

Chanyeol sighed hopelessly. "Do you have any ideas?"

Suho frowned thoughtfully. "We could keep going on the same track you tried before," he said. "We might have to enlist some help though."

You were pleasantly surprised to get a message from Donghae asking to hang out the next day after school. You didn't have any plans that day other than going to the mall again with Himchan and your other friends, and figured you could blow them off just this once since you'd been spending time with them about every day now. 

You met up with Donghae in front of the school and he smiled when he saw you.

"Hey, Mary Sue," he greeted with a warm smile, sparking vague memories of time you'd spent with him before.

"Hey!" you replied. "So what did you have in mind for today?"

He shrugged. "I figured we could…play it by ear," he said, putting a crescendo'd emphasis on the last four words without any sort of explanation.

Your eyebrows furrowed slightly in confusion, but you didn't have much of a chance to say anything in response as several figures in dark hoods suddenly surrounded you on all sides from nowhere and began closing in.

"What's going on?" you demanded, alarmed at the sheer amount of threatening people circling you and Donghae in broad daylight.

"I have no idea," Donghae said loudly, "but we should probably comply with everything they say."

Your head whipped around at the eight or so bodies stepping ever closer and you thought quickly. Donghae was trustworthy and a voice of reason, but you didn't want to just give up that easily.

You dug into your pocket and pulled out your phone, holding it up threateningly. "If you don't leave now, I'm going to scream and call the police!" you announced. 

Most of them stopped advancing, and Donghae glanced apprehensively in your direction. "Mary Sue, are you sure about that?" he insisted quietly.

Your jaw set with resolve. "It's the middle of the day and school just got out," you reasoned. "The faculty hasn't even left yet. Look how many witnesses there would be!" You gestured to the ten or so students scattered throughout the parking lot and front lawn. The group of figures exchanged looks amongst one another. "Do you really want to pull whatever it is you're about to do?" you demanded.

There was a tense silence before the group surrounding you seemed to simultaneously come to a decision in response to some unseen signal, and they quickly backed off and dispersed, disappearing around the corner and leaving you and Donghae standing there alone and unbothered.

Donghae cleared his throat after a moment or so. "Wow, Mary Sue," he said. "That was… impressive."

You shrugged. "Or maybe they were just stupid," you said, then turned to him. "So, what did you have in mind for today?" you asked again.

"I can't believe he took her to his uncle's art museum and the Rising Gardens of the East," Jonghyun grumbled at the lunch table.

Key raised an eyebrow at his boyfriend. "What do you care?"

Jonghyun sighed. "That's where he took me before," he said. "I feel like it was more our thing."

Key's judgmental gaze was unwavering. "Need I remind you that that was when Donghae still thought you were Mary Sue?"

"Yeah, but still," Jonghyun said. "That doesn't mean it wasn't real for me."

Key rubbed the bridge of his nose and sighed. "Alright, whatever."

"Guys, what are we going to do?" Amber asked, looking around at them and then to Chanyeol, who was slumped over in his chair with his head on his arms, glaring over at Mary Sue's table.

"I still think nothing is an awesome plan," Key remarked, "but no one ever listens to what I want to do."

"What about you, Chanyeol?" Amber said, ignoring Key completely.

Chanyeol sighed. "I don't know."

Amber followed his gaze, looking back and forth between him and Mary Sue. "You sure? There might be something that we're missing."

"We've already tried the first two times we met," Chanyeol said. 

"We haven't tried the third time yet," Key interjected, cheerfully sarcastic.

It was quiet as Chanyeol kept staring wordlessly at the other table, and the expression Himchan shot back when he noticed the other's gaze on him from across the cafeteria, smug and triumphant, was not missed.

"Yeah," Chanyeol agreed defiantly. "You're right. We haven't tried that yet."

"I wasn't serious," Key muttered, but Chanyeol had already straightened his posture and was sitting tall, glaring at Himchan with slightly more dignity than before.

"We can't give up now."

That afternoon, Jonghyun was laying on Amber's bedroom floor while Key sat leaning against the bed.

"So, are you gonna do it then?" Amber asked him.

Jonghyun glanced up at the wall clock, watching the second hand tick by, and sighed. "I just don't know if it's going to work at all," he said.

"You never know for sure until you try," she reasoned, and Jonghyun didn't like how reasonable she was because he couldn't argue with that.

"Honestly, I think it's kind of a stupid idea," Key said with a shrug. "But, you know, with how everything else has been going lately…"

He sighed again, his chin resting on his arms. Amber nudged him lightly. "Make the call, Jjong."

He only procrastinated a few more seconds before sitting up on his knees and pulling out his phone. A few taps at his screen, and he put the phone up to his ear. Seconds later, there was the characteristic, "Hello?"

"Mary Sue," he said. He paused, not knowing how to begin.

"Hi, Jonghyun!" she said. "What's up?"

"Uh," he stalled. "It's… it's Donghae."

"Donghae?" She sounded distracted, and he could hear murmuring of laughter and conversation in the background.

"Yeah, he's… He's a fish, Mary Sue." Jonghyun felt even more ridiculous saying it out loud than the first time he'd had to make this phone call.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, he's a fish. He's literally a fish." There was an awkward pause. "… What should we do?"

She laughed lightly into the receiver. "That's impossible," she said. "Nobody just turns into a fish. What a preposterous and inconceivable concept!"

"It's true, Mary Sue," Jonghyun persisted. He had to make this convincing if she was ever going to believe him. "He's really a fish. Mary Sue, we have to do something!"

There was another pause as he supposed she was trying to register the possibility of Donghae randomly turning into a fish being true.

"Okay," she said warily. "What should we do?"

"I don't know," Jonghyun said. "There has to be somebody who we can go to for this kind of thing."

"Hold on, I'll ask Himchan. Maybe he'll know something."

"No, Mary Sue." Jonghyun brought the phone away from his face for a second and let out a tense sigh. This was about as difficult as he'd predicted it would be. "I mean, shouldn't you ask someone a little more… qualified for this type of thing?"

She hesitated. "Like… Nichkhun?"

"I…" He bit his lip. "No, not like Nichkhun. Actually, nevermind," he said. "He's not a fish, I just… My mistake, trick of the light. Have fun." He hung up the phone without waiting for a response and glanced at the other two, who's expectant faces stared back at him.

"So," Key said. "How'd it go?"

Jonghyun sighed and glared at the ceiling. "There was a zero percent chance of that working and we know it," he said. "If she doesn't remember Chanyeol, why would she even think to go to him?"

Key shrugged. "If anything, it was worth the amusement," he said cheekily.

"So it's hopeless then," Chanyeol concluded the next day, staring wistfully at Mary Sue across the grounds. 

"No," Amber said, trying to stay reassuring. "We haven't tried everything yet. There's still a chance we can--"

"Face it, nothing has worked and nothing is going to get Mary Sue's memories back." Chanyeol sighed and looked away from where the love of his life and Himchan were smiling and laughing happily. "I mean, you've said it yourself that it's pretty much impossible to get through to Mary Sue in any mental capacity," he said. "There's really nothing we can do."

The rest of them stared forlornly at Chanyeol as he swallowed his pride and stalked over to his amnesiac girlfriend, ignoring the smug raised eyebrows Himchan shot at him and focusing in on Mary Sue's face. She looked up at him questioningly. He cleared his throat awkwardly.

"I know you don't remember me," he prefaced. "But if there's any glimmer of memory or feeling or… something in there…" Chanyeol reached into his pocket and pulled out a slip of paper and handed it to Mary Sue. "Can you meet me tomorrow? Five o'clock?" 

He held her hand for a moment and held her gaze for a moment longer before he let both drop and turned away, shoving his hands in his pockets as he made his way to his car.

It was questionable and mysterious, but something told you you didn't want to pass up the offer. Just something about that guy was so… you couldn't place your finger on it. Sad? Meaningful? 

Himchan had warned you not to go, saying something about how dangerous it might be and you didn't even know the guy, but you didn't care. You felt safe in your decision.

Turning the wheel of your Ferrari as you navigated through the dark and dingy outskirts of town, you scanned your surroundings for the place you were told to meet. You spotted a cemetery a block down and pulled up, noticing the tall familiar figure standing there waiting for you as you got out of your car and walked over to him.

"Is anything about this place familiar to you?" he asked, all earnest and serious, and you looked around at all the headstones and the mausoleum. You couldn't say any of it looked like something you'd seen before, so you shook your head. He nodded, eyes downcast, and took your hand. "Come on," he said, leading you toward the small building in the center of the plot.

In the building was a gaping entrance in the floor to some underground passageway, a large marble slab skewed as if it had been pushed aside, and you were led down into the depths to be met with an intricate series of hallways and doorways which your guide expertly took you through as if he'd been there countless times before.

After twists and turns, you finally came upon a large room with high echoing ceilings and a massive stone apparatus in the center of it, slightly raised, its smooth surface facing the sky spilling through the window in the ceiling. He dropped your hand and looked at you, stepping back to let you take everything in. Strange feelings ghosted through your nervous system. Pulsing anxiety and phantom jolts of pain. Hellish imagery, rivers of blood and walls of fire. Nightmares of death playing and then playing again in reverse.

"Mary Sue?" You glanced over at him, and he was staring back at you, eyebrows cinched in studious concern. "Do you remember anything?" He almost sounded desperate for you to remember, but you couldn't. Everything was beginning to slip away as soon as it had struck you.

"I… don't," you said.

After a moment, he sighed and his head dropped in defeat. "I see." He was reaching into his pocket again. "In that case, I won't bother you anymore. Here." He pulled out a chain with some sort of charm hanging on the end of it and held it up. It glinted in the dusky light streaming in from above you. "Take this," he said. "I don't need it. Besides, it belongs to you."

With that, he dropped the ornament into your hands, which you hadn't realized were outstretched to accept it, and walked past you, back the way you had come through. There was something about it, though, as you stared into its shiny depths. Something familiar…

Suddenly everything came rushing back. The arranged marriage plot. Being in two places at once. Being kidnapped by vampires. Donghae turning into a fish. Training to fight. The vampire apocalypse. Dying. Coming back to life. Being avenged. Joining a gang. Being kidnapped again. Being avenged again. Being protected through almost everything. Chanyeol.

Chanyeol.

"Wait!" you called out, spinning around to see him before he could leave. He stopped and turned to stare back at you questioningly. 

You remembered everything.

"Chanyeol," you said breathlessly, and you watched as his face turned from confused to surprised as he registered.

"Yes?" he said uneasily, like it was too good to be true and he couldn't let himself hope too much.

But this was real. "I remember," you said.

"What?!"