"Red": Prologue
AndrewJTalon
Experienced.
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Pain... Fire... Darkness... And always yellow eyes. Eyes staring at him in fear, in worry... What did it mean...?
Steel, flames, smoke... Someone was screaming... Who was screaming? Why were they screaming?
He had to find her. He had to see her. Why was she screaming why-
He felt Aura, and sprung up. He threw a punch out of sheer instinct, only for it to be caught by a strong fist.
He opened his eyes. The world resolved itself. He saw his fist was buried in the fist of a tall, blond man with a beard and scar across his right cheek. The man sat in a chair next to the bed he was lying in.
And despite the fist he had caught, the blond man was smiling.
"Good to see you moving around," he said in a kindly baritone, "For a while we thought you'd never wake up."
He... His head hurt. The world seemed to spin. He felt strong arms lower him back into the bed, and felt a straw pressed against his lips.
"Here, drink, it will help," the man said. He sipped it, cool water going down his very dry throat.
His heart slowed. The pain in his head dulled, though he still felt achy all over. He blinked his eyes, and again the room came into focus: A hospital room of some sort, he guessed. It was comfortably lit, and there were machines beeping softly as they monitored his vitals.
A shorter blonde woman with her hair in a tight bun, square glasses, and wearing a white labcoat entered briskly. She scowled at the tall blond man.
"Nick, how many times do I have to tell you not to play nurse?"
"You trained me as a nurse, so it's kind of your fault, Izzy," he chuckled. "Izzy" sighed, before turning a warm smile onto him.
"How are you feeling?" She asked.
"... Where am I?" He asked. "What happened?"
"You're in Arc-En-Ciel Hospital, Radian," Izzy answered. She sat down next to him and began examining his vitals with a Scroll. "My husband found you in the wreck of a train crash."
"You were in pretty bad shape, son," Nick said with a wince, "Had to call in a Bullhead to evacuate you. You're lucky your Aura is as strong as it is! You almost died."
A pale girl with yellow eyes and black hair...
"Was... Was there anyone else... On the train?" He managed. Nick shook his head.
"No. It was an Atlasian supply train. Just robots... Though apparently there were people aboard." He snorted. "Faunus for the SDC."
"That would explain it," Izzy sighed, touching his face. He stared at her uncomprehendingly.
"Explain what?"
Izzy blinked then frowned. She looked to Nick. He was concerned, but dutifully picked up a mirror and held it up to him.
A face stared back. A burn scar was over his... Left eye. It was healing, but it would always be there. Horns stuck out of his forehead, one broken. A fuzz of red hair covered his head, where several surgical scars were fading away.
He blinked a few times.
"I'm... A Faunus?" He managed.
The blond humans looked at each other in concern. Izzy looked back at him first.
"... Can you tell us your name?" Izzy asked.
He tried. He really tried. The face in the mirror looked lost and scared. He reached up to the face and touched it with his hand, still not fully convinced it was real.
"... N-No... I can't remember..."
He tried. He tried so hard. But it was like looking a broken pieces of a mirror in a fog. He had flashes, but...
"... Anything," he whispered.
- - -
His options had been few after he healed. He hadn't been carrying any identification. If he'd had a Scroll, it had been destroyed in the crash. And thanks to the injuries to his face, facial recognition wasn't much help either.
He'd been lost... Until Nick Arc, the man who brought him in, made a suggestion:
"We need a hand on our farm. Why not work for us until you remember something? Or until you decide what you want to do?"
He'd agreed. Isabel Arc (Izzy) had seconded the motion.
"It's possible you were just going to end up labor for the SDC anyway," Isabel said, "So finding any friends or relatives is going to be hard. But we'll keep trying, I promise."
He'd thanked her very kindly. She'd given him a hug, which... Felt nice and yet made him sad.
Not something he could really explain.
He took the name "Red", seeing as it was the color of his hair. It was better than 'hey you' or 'No-Name', and it was... Well... It was his. He had nothing, having a name at least let him have something.
The Arcs took him in and were very kind. Orchid Arc was a computer expert and helped him search for anything that might give him a clue as to his identity. Unfortunately, there were a LOT of redheaded Bull Faunus out there, and genetic record keeping was still new. Still, she kept searching and played video games with him.
He wasn't very good, but she just appreciated having someone to play with. That made him feel better.
Lilac Arc didn't stop mothering him from the moment he arrived. She cooked many different meals to help him figure out what he liked, she made up a room for him and changed anything he didn't like, and did his laundry. She also played piano for him, which was very comforting, and listened to him when he complained. He didn't like to complain, but his frustration over not being able to remember anything was difficult.
Isabel listened too, when Lilac wasn't around. She was no less mothering than Lilac, if more scientific about it: Asking questions about how he felt, how he reacted, and many other things. It was no less out of concern though: She was trying to help him too, and he appreciated it very much.
Coral and Verdy, the twins, had wicked senses of humor but were careful around him. He was easily startled, and he actually punched Coral when she woke him up in the morning. He apologized endlessly, feeling absolutely horrible, but Coral just waved it off: She shouldn't have forgotten a basic rule of waking people suffering from trauma, to wake them gently.
Verdy was rather protective of Coral after that, though she did admit that her twin hadn't done things right. They resolved things when they asked Red to test out the balance on some swords they had made for the militia.
For some reason, holding a blade felt... Right.
Nick had been overjoyed, and offered to spar with Red. The Arc man was a Huntsman, and an incredible swordsman. Red had taken to it with enthusiasm, some old feelings of delight rising up as he clashed steel against steel.
Isabel had been very unhappy about that, so they'd switched to wooden swords. Which felt no less positive to the amnesiac.
Much of his time though, he worked. He helped with maintaining the farm fences, he helped feed and water the animals, he helped Nick when he dug a new irrigation line or picked something called 'wasabi' he was growing in a shady area of the farm-He worked.
It was the least he could do for such kind people.
The neighbors were just as kind. Mercer Sith Senior was an old tawny cat Faunus, with a big bushy beard dressed in blue and greens. He welcomed him grandly, and introduced Red to his family. Katy Sith was a very pretty blond cat Faunus girl who blushed a lot around him (which also felt familiar, but in a strange way that made him uneasy) while Mercer Sith Junior was boisterous, loud, and enthusiastic. Especially about fast cars, an interest that Lilac's boyfriend Primo also shared.
Primo was a mechanic and racer, and taught Adam how to do maintenance on the farm vehicles. It was almost familiar, and while Isabel forbade him from doing any racing (as he was still recovering), he still enjoyed working with Primo and Nick on the vehicles.
Nick though had a tendency to wing it when it came to maintenance, which could be amusing (and terrifying).
The days turned to weeks, and then to months. Red became familiar to the people of Radian, and they all treated him kindly. Papa Shirou, the Arc family patriarch, invited him into his restaurant in the town center and told him stories of the Great War. His wife, Nana Arturia, worked at the restaurant and as a swordsmanship trainer, and she also regaled him with tales of her own fights in the past.
She also did some light sparring with him. He could safely say that the old lady was much more formidable than she appeared, and a strange urge to train harder to one day match her appeared in his heart.
Father Percival was the old Pastor of the local church. He was a pigeon Faunus, and very kind as well. Red wasn't sure what he believed, gods or whatever, but the father always had time to sit with him and talk. The interior of the church itself was beautiful, filled with statues and stained glass that showed many stories. The battle of Jeanne D'Arc against the Witch Queen of Argus, the ressurection of the Table Breaker, and many more beside.
It was all incredible. He had no past, nothing at all, so everything he learned became precious.
Yet his memory did not return. Only brief flashes every now and again. Isabel did her best, but as she explained, the brain was the most complex instrument in the human or Faunus body. Severe trauma could do strange things to it. His memories might be gone forever.
Red wondered deeply about that. He wondered who he was. What he was, before all of this.
And what did the pale girl with the yellow eyes have to do with him...?
- - -
Open and free for continuation!
Steel, flames, smoke... Someone was screaming... Who was screaming? Why were they screaming?
He had to find her. He had to see her. Why was she screaming why-
He felt Aura, and sprung up. He threw a punch out of sheer instinct, only for it to be caught by a strong fist.
He opened his eyes. The world resolved itself. He saw his fist was buried in the fist of a tall, blond man with a beard and scar across his right cheek. The man sat in a chair next to the bed he was lying in.
And despite the fist he had caught, the blond man was smiling.
"Good to see you moving around," he said in a kindly baritone, "For a while we thought you'd never wake up."
He... His head hurt. The world seemed to spin. He felt strong arms lower him back into the bed, and felt a straw pressed against his lips.
"Here, drink, it will help," the man said. He sipped it, cool water going down his very dry throat.
His heart slowed. The pain in his head dulled, though he still felt achy all over. He blinked his eyes, and again the room came into focus: A hospital room of some sort, he guessed. It was comfortably lit, and there were machines beeping softly as they monitored his vitals.
A shorter blonde woman with her hair in a tight bun, square glasses, and wearing a white labcoat entered briskly. She scowled at the tall blond man.
"Nick, how many times do I have to tell you not to play nurse?"
"You trained me as a nurse, so it's kind of your fault, Izzy," he chuckled. "Izzy" sighed, before turning a warm smile onto him.
"How are you feeling?" She asked.
"... Where am I?" He asked. "What happened?"
"You're in Arc-En-Ciel Hospital, Radian," Izzy answered. She sat down next to him and began examining his vitals with a Scroll. "My husband found you in the wreck of a train crash."
"You were in pretty bad shape, son," Nick said with a wince, "Had to call in a Bullhead to evacuate you. You're lucky your Aura is as strong as it is! You almost died."
A pale girl with yellow eyes and black hair...
"Was... Was there anyone else... On the train?" He managed. Nick shook his head.
"No. It was an Atlasian supply train. Just robots... Though apparently there were people aboard." He snorted. "Faunus for the SDC."
"That would explain it," Izzy sighed, touching his face. He stared at her uncomprehendingly.
"Explain what?"
Izzy blinked then frowned. She looked to Nick. He was concerned, but dutifully picked up a mirror and held it up to him.
A face stared back. A burn scar was over his... Left eye. It was healing, but it would always be there. Horns stuck out of his forehead, one broken. A fuzz of red hair covered his head, where several surgical scars were fading away.
He blinked a few times.
"I'm... A Faunus?" He managed.
The blond humans looked at each other in concern. Izzy looked back at him first.
"... Can you tell us your name?" Izzy asked.
He tried. He really tried. The face in the mirror looked lost and scared. He reached up to the face and touched it with his hand, still not fully convinced it was real.
"... N-No... I can't remember..."
He tried. He tried so hard. But it was like looking a broken pieces of a mirror in a fog. He had flashes, but...
"... Anything," he whispered.
- - -
His options had been few after he healed. He hadn't been carrying any identification. If he'd had a Scroll, it had been destroyed in the crash. And thanks to the injuries to his face, facial recognition wasn't much help either.
He'd been lost... Until Nick Arc, the man who brought him in, made a suggestion:
"We need a hand on our farm. Why not work for us until you remember something? Or until you decide what you want to do?"
He'd agreed. Isabel Arc (Izzy) had seconded the motion.
"It's possible you were just going to end up labor for the SDC anyway," Isabel said, "So finding any friends or relatives is going to be hard. But we'll keep trying, I promise."
He'd thanked her very kindly. She'd given him a hug, which... Felt nice and yet made him sad.
Not something he could really explain.
He took the name "Red", seeing as it was the color of his hair. It was better than 'hey you' or 'No-Name', and it was... Well... It was his. He had nothing, having a name at least let him have something.
The Arcs took him in and were very kind. Orchid Arc was a computer expert and helped him search for anything that might give him a clue as to his identity. Unfortunately, there were a LOT of redheaded Bull Faunus out there, and genetic record keeping was still new. Still, she kept searching and played video games with him.
He wasn't very good, but she just appreciated having someone to play with. That made him feel better.
Lilac Arc didn't stop mothering him from the moment he arrived. She cooked many different meals to help him figure out what he liked, she made up a room for him and changed anything he didn't like, and did his laundry. She also played piano for him, which was very comforting, and listened to him when he complained. He didn't like to complain, but his frustration over not being able to remember anything was difficult.
Isabel listened too, when Lilac wasn't around. She was no less mothering than Lilac, if more scientific about it: Asking questions about how he felt, how he reacted, and many other things. It was no less out of concern though: She was trying to help him too, and he appreciated it very much.
Coral and Verdy, the twins, had wicked senses of humor but were careful around him. He was easily startled, and he actually punched Coral when she woke him up in the morning. He apologized endlessly, feeling absolutely horrible, but Coral just waved it off: She shouldn't have forgotten a basic rule of waking people suffering from trauma, to wake them gently.
Verdy was rather protective of Coral after that, though she did admit that her twin hadn't done things right. They resolved things when they asked Red to test out the balance on some swords they had made for the militia.
For some reason, holding a blade felt... Right.
Nick had been overjoyed, and offered to spar with Red. The Arc man was a Huntsman, and an incredible swordsman. Red had taken to it with enthusiasm, some old feelings of delight rising up as he clashed steel against steel.
Isabel had been very unhappy about that, so they'd switched to wooden swords. Which felt no less positive to the amnesiac.
Much of his time though, he worked. He helped with maintaining the farm fences, he helped feed and water the animals, he helped Nick when he dug a new irrigation line or picked something called 'wasabi' he was growing in a shady area of the farm-He worked.
It was the least he could do for such kind people.
The neighbors were just as kind. Mercer Sith Senior was an old tawny cat Faunus, with a big bushy beard dressed in blue and greens. He welcomed him grandly, and introduced Red to his family. Katy Sith was a very pretty blond cat Faunus girl who blushed a lot around him (which also felt familiar, but in a strange way that made him uneasy) while Mercer Sith Junior was boisterous, loud, and enthusiastic. Especially about fast cars, an interest that Lilac's boyfriend Primo also shared.
Primo was a mechanic and racer, and taught Adam how to do maintenance on the farm vehicles. It was almost familiar, and while Isabel forbade him from doing any racing (as he was still recovering), he still enjoyed working with Primo and Nick on the vehicles.
Nick though had a tendency to wing it when it came to maintenance, which could be amusing (and terrifying).
The days turned to weeks, and then to months. Red became familiar to the people of Radian, and they all treated him kindly. Papa Shirou, the Arc family patriarch, invited him into his restaurant in the town center and told him stories of the Great War. His wife, Nana Arturia, worked at the restaurant and as a swordsmanship trainer, and she also regaled him with tales of her own fights in the past.
She also did some light sparring with him. He could safely say that the old lady was much more formidable than she appeared, and a strange urge to train harder to one day match her appeared in his heart.
Father Percival was the old Pastor of the local church. He was a pigeon Faunus, and very kind as well. Red wasn't sure what he believed, gods or whatever, but the father always had time to sit with him and talk. The interior of the church itself was beautiful, filled with statues and stained glass that showed many stories. The battle of Jeanne D'Arc against the Witch Queen of Argus, the ressurection of the Table Breaker, and many more beside.
It was all incredible. He had no past, nothing at all, so everything he learned became precious.
Yet his memory did not return. Only brief flashes every now and again. Isabel did her best, but as she explained, the brain was the most complex instrument in the human or Faunus body. Severe trauma could do strange things to it. His memories might be gone forever.
Red wondered deeply about that. He wondered who he was. What he was, before all of this.
And what did the pale girl with the yellow eyes have to do with him...?
- - -
Open and free for continuation!
) but yeah I have an idea of what's to do till like chapter 10? but this will be a long-running project. Should I do it? Especially since I'll probably have to remake my outline if I truly decide to do it.