Chapter Text
...
"Sir."
...?
"Sir, you need to open your eyes."
Sir...?
"If you don't, I'm going to have to have you carried to the count myself."
Uh...
"I know you can hear me. Your legs work, don't they? I need you to use them, and get up."
Who is--...?
There was something fighting back against my eyes, as if there was an unknown force trying to keep them closed.
Was I...asleep? Was this all a dream? What did dreaming even FEEL like, and why was I so certain I knew so much about it?
Oh, Grambi, my head is throbbing so hard right now.
My hand was the first to snap out of this weird trance I'd found myself trapped in, raising itself to my head to try to massage my temples. I think that helped calm things down a little bit...?
Nope. Nope, it didn't. Ow. What did I do to give myself such a killer heada--
A sudden force around my chest area pulled me up to a sitting position. If that wasn't enough to wake me up fully, then I don't know what else could be done.
Okay, geez. I'm awake.
My eyes fluttered open to find who I was assuming to be a young woman, maybe some fancy office lady, holding onto my shirt collar.
...Who?
"Good. You're awake." She let go of me with a huff, then stepped back a couple steps to adjust her glasses. "You don't remember why you're here, correct?"
Why I'm here...? Where even IS here, anyway?
Taking a look around finally, I couldn't even tell where here was if I wanted to. Whoever designed this place, they must REALLY like black, 'cause that's all I can see.
It's 'kinda...suffocating, if I have to be honest here. Black's probably nice with clothes and stuff, but to live in it? Talk about depressi--
"Sir, you have to answer me." the fancy office lady spoke up again, leaning in closer until I had no choice but to be looking at her face. "Do you remember why you're here?"
"Uh..." was all that would come out of my mouth, weirdly enough.
Why...AM I here? I don't even know where I am, yet alone WHY I'm here. And she expects me to be able to answer that?
So I shrugged. It made the most sense, despite all of...this.
"No clue, ma'am," I admitted. "You gonna tell me why I'm here? Is that what this is about?"
I mean, if she's so eager to figure out why I'm here, maybe she's the owner of this place? Maybe I'm just some homeless guy that happened to wander into some rich castle...thing...with no recollection of it.
Okay, yeah, that makes even less sense.
Much to my surprise, the lady seemed...happy that I didn't know, a smirk curving the side of her mouth. It didn't last for very long, perhaps a few seconds, but I definitely caught it.
"I feared this much..." she sighed, crossing her arms. "It was a miracle I found you here, sir. Especially after the state your family left you in."
"My family?" I parroted. "My, uh...family?"
I felt that deep, deep in my heart. My family what now? I have a family, and they're not here with this lady? They're not looking for me, or worried about me?
Okay, don't get ahead of yourself there, bud.
"Yes, your family." the lady confirmed, nodding. "They, um...cast you out."
"Cast me out?"
"Set you aside."
"Set me aside?"
"They abandoned you, okay?" She adjusted her glasses again. "They left you here to fend for yourself. You're lucky I found you when I did, or they might've come back to finish you off."
There was a pause between us as her eyes rather uncomfortably scanned my face.
"And by they, I mean what threw you here in the first place. There was, um...a large quake. A natural disaster, if you may. If you could call it that, when actual people caused it."
She let out a sigh before giving me room to breathe again, deciding she needed to adjust her glasses a second time.
"I saw the whole thing. Your so-called family fled and left you behind to deal with it yourself. I wanna say you took the brunt of it, but that supposed family of yours ran right into the mess."
Tapping her chin, she sighed again, turning away from me.
"So...yeah. It's safe to say their games were ended by it. You're the lucky one, sir."
...
What?
I want to understand what she's telling me. I feel like I SHOULD be understanding all this, but literally nothing is clicking in my head right now.
I don't remember any family. I don't remember any...anything.
But if I don't remember anything, why did my heart just jump up into my throat...?
Everything feels...painful all of a sudden. It hurts to swallow, and there's this weird...heat by my eyes.
I can't even figure out what she's talking about, but my heart apparently understands everything here. If only it could clue the rest of me in, 'cause I'm literally crying over something I don't understand a single bit of.
The lady turned back to me and held out her hand, adjusting her glasses yet again.
"I'm sure you want to avenge them," she assumed, continuing as I took her hand and allowed her to help me to my shaky feet. "You DO want to avenge them, don't you? 'Cause those game-enders are still out there. They left here without a scratch."
"Uh, ma'am, I--..." I shook my head. "How am I...supposed to do that when I--... I-I don't even know who you're...referring to. I don't remember any of this."
"Of course you don't," she accepted, not even batting an eye at the discrepancy here. "You probably hit your head pretty hard back there."
The lady then let go of my hand and wagged her finger in the air, quickly bringing it close to my face.
"The leader of the game-enders. He did it. He made sure you hit your head."
The...leader, huh? It'd explain the headache, at least. It's faded a bit more, but not very much.
"So," She pointed at me with that same finger. "You can avenge your family. Get revenge on those game-enders. If you join us, we can make them all pay. Does that sound like a good deal?"
Uh.
"Us?" I noted with a small step back. "There's more than just you?"
"Of course there is, Mr..." she trailed off, scanning me over once more.
Her eyes stopped at the top of my head. At least, that was what it seemed like, from my perspective. She stared at it for a couple moments, then smirked again.
"Mr. L," she declared with a nod back to me. "I can't get to the bottom of all of this myself. Strength in numbers, as people say. It keeps game-enders on their toes."
That weird smirk finally crept over the rest of her mouth to form a full smile. I only saw it for a few seconds as she turned around completely and began to walk away from me.
"I need to introduce you to the others. The count will be rather pleased to know I found you before the game-enders did."
She motioned for me to follow, but I...couldn't get my legs to move.
Not yet, at least.
I wanted to believe her. It felt like I had no choice but to believe her, though, considering what my situation apparently was.
I have no memory, but my family abandoned me. They left me behind to rot, it seems, as their games were ended by this...unknown group of rebels or...something.
I have to know more. I need to.
So I forced my legs to head after her.