Chapter 103: The way of the Water: Unlocked

!!!!

Hearing Axel's words, Daphne's heartbeat sped up for some reason, and her tears temporarily stopped, as she felt a burst of excitement in her heart for no apparent reason.

But, as she tried to think why,

her head began throbbing badly, and her thoughts were in a complete mess just looking at him.

"Axel... Hunt... right. You're that guy..." she murmured, but as she tried to recall, she began to feel that something was amiss. "What the—"

The pain in her head intensified, as she realized her head was filled with a lot of blanks. Her memories... they were... fragmented... incomplete... as if parts of it had just disappeared out of the blue. She felt as if something precious had just been ripped away from her, causing her an unbearable pain.

Daphne's confused face started to turn into one of pain and panic. "Mom? W-What happened to me?! Who is he? Why... can't I remember?! And why the hell... does it hurt so much?" She asked, tears streaming down her cheeks as her breathing became uneven.

"Daphi..." Astoria could no longer hold it in. She hugged her sister, as she began crying as well.

"It's alright, honey," said Evelyn, as she hugged her as well. "Everything's fine. It's just a memory loss..." Daphne was already quite shaken after losing finding gaps in a majority of her two years worth of memories. The Greengrass matriarch couldn't bear to tell her that she had lost something she cherished the most at this moment.

On the other hand, Axel's fists clenched as he saw her situation becoming unstable as soon as she saw him. 'System, what should I do?! How can I make her situation better?'

[Axel, seeing you, or thinking about you stimulates her mind to search the freshly formed gaps in her memories, which used to be her memories with you, causing her mental pain and anguish at their sudden loss. For the moment, the only thing you can do is to stay away from her until her memories settle down. Getting close to her would only cause her more pain.]

'Fuck...' Axel cursed, as what he feared became true. This is in line with what the healers had said. Daphne had just lost something precious from her memories, and her mind was protesting at the sudden loss.

It's not something new, since similar cases have happened when wizards have used obliviation spell to make a person forget all about a significant part of their lives.

The solution the Healers had suggested, was to keep Axel out of her life for the time being until her mind gradually settles.

Axel and the Greengrasses had, of course, held some hope that the healers were wrong, but seems like that was not the case.

So, while hugging Daphne, Evelyn looked at Axel over her shoulder and gave him an apologetic nod, meaning they would be proceeding according to how they had discussed.

Axel looked at Daphne who was in an extremely bad state due to him, her beautiful but pale face contorting due to pain and panic and her nose red from crying, and his fists clenched.

'Damn it...' he thought as he reached out his hand towards her.

He wanted so much to just hug and comfort her, to let her cry on his shoulder and say it's alright, to tell her that he's sorry for being such an insensitive fool. But...knowing that it was not an option, he sighed and withdrew his hand back to his side, lowering his presence instead.

"Temporarily, you are free of me," he murmured silently to himself as he got up, his presence low enough to escape the women's notice.

From now on, Evelyn and Astoria are going to do their best to erase all traces of Axel from Daphne's life. There's no point of him staying here any longer. Sighing, he turned his back on her.

"Wait... mom, where is that guy?! And what in Morgana's name was he doing in my bedroom in the first place?! argh! Son-of-a—!"

But, before he left the room, Daphne had already noticed his absence, frantically looking for him. But her condition only got worse at once again trying to remember him in vain.

Feeling extremely stifled, Axel fled the Greengrass manor, only stopping after he was far, far into the wilderness.

As soon as he stopped, he released his Occlumency, causing a magical shockwave to ripple throughout the surroundings with him as its center.

Lightning crackled, and it started to rain, soaking through his skin which was practically blue at this point.

Scenes of Daphne flashed through his mind. Them laughing together, training together, or just sitting together, in each other's company. All that, was gone.

"Fuck!" Axel punched the trunk of a big tree that was beside him, causing it to shake.

*BOOM*

He punched again, taking out his frustration and helplessness, and the tree shook even more violently due to the sheer physical force. He wasn't holding back right now. Each of these punches could burst right through a human skull.

*BOOM*

*BOOM*

*BOOM*

Under the rain and thunder, he punched out again and again as the stiffling feeling inside him became unbearable. His insides felt hot, as if his blood was boiling.

Another scene flashed through Axel's mind, this time of Daphne hugging him tightly. "Anything. I'll do anything for you." she had said.

*snap*

Axel let out a roar, as his fist broke through the thick tree trunk which should have been impossible to do with his strength.

?

Looking at his hand which he was expecting to be broken, he found it enveloped in a water thick coating of water, preventing it from any damage.

[Congratulations, you have unlocked your Water Affinity]

[Congratulations, you have unlocked the skill, water Bending]

Notifications flashed in front of Axel's eyes, but he paid them no heed. At the moment, he couldn't care less. But at least the stifling feeling he had been feeling was now gone, and he was now feeling... relieved... energized... and stable.

'System... how do I bring back her memories?' He demanded.

[Axel, it's possible, but the information cannot be directly disclosed to you.]

"CUT THE BULLSHIT, AND TELL ME!" he exclaimed. "Or Voldemort will not be the only Dark Lord you'll need to worry about."

Axel was not in the mood to mess around at the moment.

[The mission. A chain quest of five tasks. You will have to accept it without choice in the future. The information can be given to you right now as one of the rewards.]

Axel almost laughed out loud. "Oh, you're good…" he muttered. The system definitely knew how to take advantage of a situation.

Daphne meant it when she said she'd do anything for him. Well, he now realized that he felt the same.

"Fine. I accept."

The information got transmitted to Axel's head, and he slowly nodded in understanding, his expression changing to one of serious contemplation.

"It's troublesome, but at least it's possible," he muttered, beginning to walk again, hope once again igniting inside him. The method was difficult to execute, but it was definitely possible. Thinking of his next destination, he prepared to use Apparition.

He had already known how to do it, but had never tried before since he didn't want to take the risk of flinching. But when he needed to go to Saint Mungo's urgently to see Daphne, he had apparated there directly without much thought. It was a hospital anyway. They could have patched him up if he didn't arrive in one piece.

Thankfully, he had arrived smoothly and realized that it wasn't much of a big deal. If you're not a clumsy idiot you can do it in one try. So, he had learnt Apparition.

With his destination pictured, Axel disappeared with a loud snap. He now already had a clear goal in his mind: To Bring back Daphne's memories as soon as possible. And he knew what he had to do in order to achieve it.

"Guess I have a lot of work to do, huh?" For what he was about to do, he would need a lot of money. And what better place to get it than from the most from the people who had been accumulating an unimaginable amount of it through various crooked means? The Mikhailovs.

It also happens that he has a small grudge to settle with them, for making his Incoming days at Hogwarts much worse by revealing his past information to the world.

"Thanks for your memories, Maksmilian," he muttered, feeling grateful for knowing exactly how to get the money.

…

January 2nd, 1993.

Kings Cross, Platform 9 ¾

The familiar scarlet engine emitted steam as hundreds of students and parents passed through, carrying all sorts of trunks. The new year's holidays were over today, and the students were catching the return train to Hogwarts in states of reluctance or excitement.

At the barrier between the platform, a significant crowd was gathered, some reporter while some just students and parents. Surprising, all of them waiting for the arrival of one Axel Hunt.

The reporters were already hounding him for his brilliant performance at the Quidditch match, but then in one night, he was declared the son-in-law of the Valentino family and had beaten up the Heir of the Mikhailov family. If that wasn't enough, it also turned out that he was actually, just an orphan with no family background, probably even a Muggleborn.

Such a person, who used to live in a dilapidated Muggle Orphanage being ostracized, had crawled his way to the top of the Wizarding world in just two years.

Without a doubt, he was the hottest topic of discussion, debate, and controversies in the Wizarding World right now. His name was on top of the most searched list in 1993.

The crowd had been waiting for a while, every time someone would step through, they'd be surprised by a gathering of so many people and cameras. Some partially famous people would put on a surprised expression, misunderstanding that the crowd was waiting for them, but their delusions would quickly get crushed when they would be completely ignored.

Standing not far away, Daphne Greengrass looked at the crowd with some puzzlement. Now she could bear the pain of trying to recall the memories enough that her mom had allowed her to rejoin school.

"It's all for him?" She muttered.

She could hardly believe that the Hunt guy was actually her friend at some point. At least that's what she had found out through her sources. She herself had no memories of the guy. From what she had gathered, they had stopped being friends after he had gotten famous, with him not even talking to her anymore.

'Typical celebrity behavior,' she thought with some disgust. The fame most likely got to his head.

'Who wants to be friends with him anyways?' She thought to herself, suppressing the unknown pang of sadness she felt at that.

Her mother and sister had kept their quiet whenever his matter came, so she figured she was hurt by his actions. But so what? She had changed ever since the memory incident. Now she was no longer naive enough to want to be friends with such a person, was she?

While she was lost in thought, the crowd began clamoring, making her pay attention. The reporters were flashing their cameras, and the civilians had taken out their Magi-mirrors to record.

'Is he here?' She thought, her heartbeat quickening for some reason.

Sure enough, through the partition, a tall and extremely handsome boy stepped through. Looking at him, Daphne had to accept that he was somewhat good looking. His dark hair with Amber streaks, coupled with his Amber eyes and two light scars on his eyes and cheek only added to his charm. And she finally understood why she was probably friends with him.

'Was I this shallow?' She thought. She would never give a second thought to anyone's looks now. She scoffed. If that was it, then it's no problem. The boy can go fuck himself for all she cared.

Just as she was about to forcefully walk away, she heard the questions posed by the reporters, causing her to pause.

"Axel, how is your Engaged life with Miss Valentino fairing for you?!"

"Mr. Hunt, How does it feel to marry rich?!"

"Is it true that you're a Muggleborn?!"

"How was your life after the Orphanage?!"

At such rude questions, a small frown came onto Axel's face. The attitude of the reporters had gotten much worse compared to the last time, most likely due to his background. 'Alright, if that's how you wanna play...'

"Axel, do you not feel shamed getting engaged to Miss Valentino with your background?"

Axel looked at the reporter with a smirk. "Why? Are you jealous?"

"Mr Hunt, do you think you deserve someone as beautiful and capable as Goddess Martina?"

Axel cast a suspicious glance at the reporter. "You sound like a creep. She's only 15, you pedo."

"Mr. Hunt, what tricks did you use to get yourself engaged to Martina? Is she pregnant?"

"No, not everyone got their wife like your father, you pitiful mistake." replied Axel.

Boom. The questions lessened after that. The reporters weren't too eager to get roasted on live tv in front of everyone. These clips often go viral, and the reporter in question is then forever disgraced.

"Axel, have you kissed Martina yet?" Another one dared, but… it might be the worst mistake of his life.

"No, but I've definitely kissed your mother."

BOOOOM. OOOOOHHHH...

Axel looked around, daring the reporters to ask more questions, but after the last, the reporters were really scared.

"Mr-Mr Hunt! W-Why are you being rude to us?" Asked one of them after gathering his courage.

Axel nodded at the reporter understandingly. "Sucks to be on the receiving end, eh? Ask reasonable questions next time, I might be lenient and just ignore you."

With that he walked out of the encirclement, forcefully pushing past the reporters in his way. No one had anything to ask anymore. The replies were getting more and more savage, and… they really didn't want to be at the receiving end.

As he walked by, he paused a little when he was Daphne among the crowd, but activating his Occlumency, he looked away as he continued walking.

"That was..." said someone as he had gone.

"Savage?"

"Yeah!"

"It's Savage Axel!"

"Hey did you record it?!"

"In 4k, mate."

"Upload it now!"

The crowd began clamouring with excitement. Other than the reporters who had gotten their asses served, the rest of the crowd definitely had a blast witnessing the spectacle.

...

Ba-dump, Ba-dump, Ba-dump

Daphne looked at Axel with her heart beating like a drum. Pointing a hand to her chest, she tore her eyes away from him. So, it wasn't only the looks.

'Alright... Now I understand why...' she thought with some helplessness. She might have a real problem at hand.

....

A.N.: Axel vs Hufflepuff in the next few chapters.

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