` the challenge begins }}

[type.]

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"Little by little, day by day, okay?" // "Get. Off. Right now." // "...That's it." // "So, uh, we should... pro
bably run now." // "You're insane! I love it." // "Hey, I offered to help you." // "Who's laughing now?" //
"Would you please just be quiet?" // "Whoa, buttercup, whoa." // "I can't believe you talked me into this
." // "Marry me?" // "Hey! I was gonna drink that!" // "You did all of this for me?" // "This isn't over." //
"If you die, I'm gonna kill you." // "Well, this is awkward." // "It was you who was standing there." // "T
hat is the stupidest idea you've ever had. Of course I'm in." // "Hey, I'm with you, okay? Always." // "Uh,
she's gunna punch you, man." // "BAHAHAHA- ahem." // "I think I am concussed." // "You have got to be
kidding me." // "This ain't that kind of movie." // "Is it... dead?" // "I'll just sit here and wait for you to
be finished." // "You wound me." // "Trust you? PAH." // "I don’t know who you are." // "It's okay. I pro
mise. I'm here." // "Oh, this is going to be good." // "Well, I finally got your attention." // "Like a hole
in the head." // "I'm... okay." // "Well, are you coming?" // "Where are your pants!?" // "Help me push i
t." // "It's almost midnight, no way!" // "Positively smashing." // "Don't let go, okay?" // "You can't leave
me like this." // "Say that to my mother." // "Sing me a lullaby, please?" // "This hurts worse than I thou
ght it would." // "Hah! - oh, wait, you're serious?" // "As much as I'd enjoy that..." // -gasp- "The plague
!" "No!" "YES." // "I won't let you do this." // "I've still got it." // "I can't do it. I just can't." // "Don't you
ever do that again!" // "I thought I lost you." // "Teach me?" // "Don't you dare throw that snowball-" //
"It could be worse." // "We're in the middle of a thunderstorm and you wanna stop and feel the rain?" //
"I've seen the way you look at me when you think I don’t notice." // "What are you so afraid of?" // "Ho
w did you get that scar?" // "You said WHAT?" // "Can you stop bringing that up?" // "Wait for me!" // "
We'll be dead by morning." // "STOP TALKING." // "I do." // "I don't want to." // "What did I ever do to y
ou?!" // "Follow me." // -SIGH- "I can’t reach it." // "What are you waiting for?" // "WAIT NO THAT'S NO
T WHAT I MEANT-" // "I don't need you." // "You deserve better." // "If you love something, let it go." //
"Why do I have to wear this?" // "Here goes nothing." // "Where the heck were you?!" // "I don’t need he
lp." // "We're gonna be parents..." // "I didn't think you knew." // "I thought those were poisonous." // "
Don't make me go alone." // "I'm sorry... I didn't know." // "I'd be lost without you." // "Just leave me!"
// "I dare you to..." // "Run!" // "How did you manage that?" // "Liar!" // "I don't even want to be here
." // "Oh crap, we fell asleep!" // "Is this the life you wanted?" // "GIVE ME THAT." // "Get back here!"
// "Let go of me!" // "I'll just follow you." // "YOU DON’T SAY." // "And yet, you love me anyway." //
"I just thought I'd have a swim." // "Don’t cry." // I am deciding to change my ways; feel free to post!

[type.]

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ｏｌｉｖｅｒ ａｎｄ ｍａｄｅｌｉｎｅ

She was awake.

Finally, that sleeping beauty had opened her eyes again, and he was captivated by the astonishing blue that stared back at him when they hadn't in so, so long. Really, it hadn't been that long; it had been one month and sixteen days. But it had seemed like an eternity to him.

"Oliver?" She murmured, gaze unfocused and blurry but connected to his face. He turned pale. She remembers me. He opened his mouth to speak, words ready on his tongue, but none came out. He knelt next to her instead of standing. "Oliver." He managed to repeat, but he figured she got the message. His hand found hers, and her blank expression curved into a small smile. He glanced up at the doctor. "She remembers me, but.. doesn't she have Amnesia?" He questioned almost flatly, the clever-looking doctor smiling slightly. "She does, but it is Retrograde Amnesia, and she has an.. odd type at that. Retrograde Amnesia is loss of memory before an injury or disease, in her case, a bad car crash. That means that usually she is only able to recall remote memories instead of ones closer to her incident. But," He cleared his throat. "In her case, she seems to be able to retrieve older memories over time. Eventually, she will gain most of her memory back."

A large exhale escaped his lungs, one he didn't know he had been holding in. He looked back at her. "What's your name?" He asked, as if he was testing her. She blinked. "Madeline." He smiled, and so did she. "Easy."

Then she frowned, her mostly blank expression turning down out of nowhere. "Why can't I remember what happened to me?" She mumbled randomly, gaze flitting up to his again and glancing at the medic. "I don't know how I got here." The doctor turned around to his computer, typing furiously and mumbling, "Mood swings?" in an interested, inquisitive tone. She blinked curiously at him, the glassy face disappearing and evolving into one of emotion; confusion and slight sadness. "What happened before I got here, Oliver?"

He sighed inwardly. He had known this would come eventually after knowing she wasn't in her coma anymore.

"Well, uh.." The doctor turned around to look at him, finished typing, looking intrigued and picking up his clipboard with a pen in hand. He coughed nervously. "I was driving you home after a trip to the movies, and it was pouring, really raining hard. It was also at rush hour, so there was some traffic. I, um.. I saw some people behind me attempting to move into different lanes in my mirror, so I looked behind me, and, uh, well.. there was a speeding car the had gone hay-wire in the rain. It crashed into the car behind us which shot into our car, making it flip onto it's side. On the side you were sitting." He said the last part numbly and shifted his feet, glancing at the man scribbling down notes and then back to Madeline. She still appeared confused, but slightly less, like she was starting to understand. "Uhm, that's pretty much it.." He mumbled. His gaze trailed downwards; he hated to remember it, but it was so fresh in his mind that it was hard to ignore every day.

"Okay." She said softly, vision appearing unfocused yet focused on him. She smiled a little bit and touched his cheek with one hand, the other lightly crawling over his short, orange-red hair. He blinked, and a smile slowly crept onto his features. He did the same for her, one hand on a cheek and the other gently feeling her soft, dark brown locks. Her hair ended in a shorter place than he remembered; it used to fall down some of her back, but now it was just barely past her chest. The taller man had turned away, typing a little more and backing out of the room with his clipboard. They were alone.

He paused for a moment, steadying his breathing. "Madeline," She straightened slightly, moving her hands slowly away. "How much do you not remember?" He asked, deciding to remove the hand at her hairline to her shoulder. "..How far back is your mind blank?" She looked like she was thinking for a moment. "A couple months." She said sadly. "I think it's the past three or four months I don't remember." Her eyes looked glassy, not blank, but full of emotion unlike before. "It's okay," He whispered. She shook her head.

"When will I remember?" She said quietly. "How long will it take? How will it happen?" Her upset tone made his chest tight. He wasn't sure what he could say to make her feel better, more hopeful. Then he grinned slightly again. "Little by little, day by day, okay? That's how you'll remember. It'll come back to you over time." Her eyes closed for a couple seconds, then fluttered open again. "..Okay," She said again. "Good." He said calmly, and she settled back into the perfectly white bed. "Little by little." She repeated slowly, closing her eyes and yawning slightly. "Little by little."


８５８

[abeille]

i really, really, realllllyyy love this. oh my gosh.
there's something so tragically sweet about temporary amnesia.
this is my favorite 'little by little' prompt fill so far though type.
jeeze louise, so good. c:

[type.]

thank youuu so much agh i had lots of fun writing it~
i though about it before i started the challenge when
i was staring at all the prompts, and i just got this idea
out of nowhere so i did it. c;

[ʞ ɔ ǝ ɹ ʍ d ı ʞ s]

... oh my god this in intriguing
Oliver seems nervous
whatcha worried about Oliver?
something you dont want her to remember?
something you're anticipating her remembering?
ohhhh he did something I can feel it
he's hiding something
...
I'm overthinking this aren't I
... well
I guess it's just that good :D
ok I'm done here
-floats away-
I got my eye on you Oliver

[type.]

you're probably just overthinking it
but maybe not

[type.]

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ｘａｎｔｈｅ ａｎｄ ｚａｃｈａｒｙ

Putting a finger to her lips to signify quiet, she lowered herself from the window carefully, a foot stepping on one of the few bricks sticking out of the building. It was out thanks to her; she had planned this little escape, and a few days earlier had loosened a few bricks while doing chores outside so they could be used as footholds. She jumped down when she was close enough to the ground and losing patience, locking eyes on a pair smoky blue ones. "Come on," She whispered, and he probably didn't hear it due to the soft wind blowing around; her voice had been even softer. He came down quickly and recklessly and almost slipped off a few times, making her frown at his impatience. He leaped down next to her, stumbled for some time, before regaining his composure. "This better be worth it." He muttered darkly, following her through the winter night.

Tiny, soft snowflakes fluttered down from above and got stuck in their hair. It looked normal in Zach's hair; his was platinum blonde, very, very light and the snow was a perfect white color. In her dark brown hair it looked out of place almost, though it seemed attracted to her slightly curly long locks. She breathed in cold air thankfully, and noticed he was doing the same. And they.. walked. Just walked. It was so.. refreshing, to hear snow crunching under your feet after being locked up in a mansion as a maid for quite some time. She hadn't even wanted to be a maid. She'd just been bounced to them after her parents 'disappeared' to Thailand and left her behind. They hadn't wanted to. But she had insisted she would stay and wait for them to come back, not wanting them to waste the little money they had on her. She planned on visiting or going to live with them someday. But nooo. After three years, one would just think they had died, and she'd been adopted. Adopting a so called orphan was cheaper than a maid, and they needn't be paid for anything.

Nevertheless, she had become one, and wasn't allowed out of the house unless doing chores for them. Zachary was their actual son. They just kept him there; he never got to go outside, maybe on a car ride to go somewhere, but not actually out. It wasn't fair. She heard him sigh with happiness a few times. This was a better Christmas gift than her homemade letter and sweater she had secretly got for him. He hadn't got her anything, but that was okay with her.

Unbeknownst to Xanthe, he had a box hidden in his coat. A simple cardboard box with a gold ribbon on it that he had managed to salvage. Though he 'didn't get out much', he knew where they were going.

Soon they came to a small frozen-over lake, and she smiled. Around it were bald, snow-blanketed trees with icicles hanging off of their branches. She sat on a log near the edge of the lake and stuck her tongue out, tilting her head upwards. She caught a few snowflakes and smiled, and he couldn't help it; he smiled, too. "Hey," He said, standing behind her. "I lied." He pulled out the box, and she stared at it, blinking. "You're joking, right? This is a trick. Nothing's in there." She said skeptically, but her voice had a hint of hesitance, like she wanted to believe it contained something and he had thought of her. He smirked at her. "Maaybe, maybe not. Open it. You'll find out." She raised an eyebrow, but took it carefully, slipping off the ribbon atop the box. It was heavier than she expected, and when she opened it all the way, she sat silently.

Ice skates. He got her ice skates.

Before she could say anything, she heard the sound of ice being scraped delicately, and looked in front of her to see him skating on the lake. Her mouth gaped open at his grace and elegance while going across the ice. "How did you get my shoe size?" She blurted suddenly, and he laughed. "I know things." He said simply, and did a little jump on the frozen lake. "I don't know how to skate." She said quietly, but he appeared to pick it up. He seemed to be able to stop himself, and he did, staring at her quizzically. "You don't?" She looked back at him. "No." He narrowed his eyes, not seeming to believe her. She watched him for awhile, before she was unable to resist asking. "Will you teach me?"

Her question took him by surprise, and he skated to the edge of the lake, close to land and, well, her. "Teach you?" She looked nervous, but she nodded. He gave a short laugh and stepped onto land. "I've never taught anyone, I'm not a tutor a-" He was cut off, "But you know how to skate. And I don't. And I want to know how now." He raised an eyebrow, and came over to her, taking off her boots. He got them off and the skates on in about two minutes, tying them up and all. That was talent. "Is that a yes, then?" She asked him in a challenging voice. He shrugged. "Maybe." Taking her gloved hands, he helped her step onto the ground and made sure she didn't wobble too much.

"Woah. I don't like this." She said in awe, and he found it ironic. He stepped onto the ice. "Okay, now put your feet here," He said softly, and he had never been so gentle. She placed a foot shakily on the ice and yelped at the unbalancing feeling. Her other foot accidentally found the ice, and she almost fell down right there. He grabbed her waist and pulled her back up. Her breath came out in visible puffs, and she laughed anxiously. "Don't let go, please." She said shakily, and he said nothing, a silent agreement. He dragged her carefully across the ice with ease, and she appeared amazed. "Woah." She repeated, and looked at him, hazel eyes wide. Her cheeks were flushed from cold and fright, eyes sparkling, hair untamed, and she looked so.. alive. A small exhale escaped his lungs, and he pressed her close to him, pressing his lips briefly against hers. "Merry Christmas." He murmured, smiling faintly. She stared at him, offering a half-smile. It grew into a grin.


１０８１

[abeille]

ily so much, oh my gosh.
bless your soul you beautiful person.
you amazing writer.

[ʞ ɔ ǝ ɹ ʍ d ı ʞ s]

... Oh, I ship it
I definitely ship it
take note, Oliver
that's the kind of stuff you hide
oh dearest me
I do believe I am growing too fond of your characters

[type.]

oh my goodness you guys tHANK YOU
you have noo idea how awesome that approval feels
i am loved
wow
someone likes my characters
wow