Purged [Open]

[rr]

The first things he saw were stars.

His body was crumpled against the corner where wall met ground, like a broken doll's--as if some far larger child dropped him there. Darkness wound tight around his arms, congealed in a marred heart at the center of his chest, paled at his sides in tattered cloth. His brow furrowed and relaxed when his eyes opened. When they lifted and found the light first, he only stared for a long moment.

Emptiness.

Fear didn't come to him right away, because he'd forgotten any reason to be afraid. He was himself and he was here. But it didn't stay that simple.

He got to his feet--slow, with a stagger as he caught himself with one hand on the wall--and started to wonder where he was. Realizing that he couldn't remember anything about this place made his breath catch. He felt like finding someone else and remembered there were others; felt like asking for help and remembered words. But there was so much he'd lost. He couldn't determine why he knew everything and anything he did, couldn't remember learning it. And if he didn't know where he was, then in relation to others he had to at least know...

But he didn't know.

Already so much had happened, because there was no time before this--no concept of time before this. In fact it seemed like time was not happening at all, and he looked at the stars again. They were the very first things he'd seen--a thousand twinkling mothers whose name he knew before he knew.

Who am I?

[michael]

The black and red gummi ship began to land with a hiss. Michael who was in the cockpit looked down, making sure he wouldn't land on anyone. With some difficulty the young man landed his ship on a nearby roof. Pressing a button the ship's cockpit opened up, and Michael jumped out of it. He landed on the ground next to it, with a smile on his face. Finding this Gummi Ship was sure something else. He then sighed, placing his hand on its side. Darkness covered the ship, and it soon faded into the back ground. "Now I just got to remember where I put it." he said chuckling.

The white haired golden eyed man looked down from the roof, and into the darkness off the ally. His sword rested on his back, and Michael grabbed for it. Feeling it in his hands always gave him rush. He jumped down into the darkness, and landed behind a man. He looked at the man's back. Before placing Red Queen back on his back.

Michael placed his hands in his pocket. The wind than began to blow, pushing around Michael's jacket and hair. He smiled, and started talking. "Hey you wouldn't happen to know where an Inn is?" he asked. He wasn't sure if maybe he was going to scare the man or not. Or if the man was hostel, but if he was Michael wouldn't have a problem handling it.

[rr]

Gradually, he stopped looking to the stars for guidance. It still felt like an eternity before he did, but it could only have been a few seconds. Time didn't sift past like grains in an hourglass, but slipped jarringly like a glass emptying drop by drop.

A noise behind him made him turn his head sharply to one side and stop.

What was that, instinct? He didn't remember being with anyone, but he didn't remember much. Turning happened slowly, since while he knew the mechanics of it he didn't completely trust himself not to fall yet.

The stranger looked like him. The boy knew he did, because both of them had arms and legs and a head. That's what others were like, now that he thought of it, instead of the amorphous idea of "someone else" that hadn't fully realized itself in his head. The stranger even had white hair, and the boy briefly looked up at his own bangs to confirm. His was more silver than the stranger's, but still.

And then words. They happened with ponderous slowness as time refused to pass, and the boy looped meanings around each one with all the dexterity of a drunken horseshoe player. "You" he got, and he understood. "Happen" took a minute and he lost a few while he figured it out, but "in is" didn't make any sense. He stared at the stranger blankly, absolutely missing every cue he needed to respond and not sure he could in the first place.

"..."