Chapter Text
{Warning: Memory Files Corrupted.}
…Huh?
{Attempting to salvage damaged memory files. Attempt failed.}
What’s going on?
{Warning: Numerous injuries detected in the hippocampus. Attempting repair... Repair failed.}
You’re not making any sense…
A soft groan rose from beneath the rubble of a collapsed building. Dust stirred as a slab of concrete shifted—moved by a figure clad in sleek blue and black armor.
Slowly, he sat up, blinking against the harsh light filtering through the ash-choked sky. He looked around, disoriented. The landscape was a wasteland: twisted steel, scorched earth, ruins stretching in all directions.
"Where... am I?" the boy whispered, his voice hoarse.
{Location: Unknown.}
He flinched at the sound. A voice—mechanical, emotionless—echoed in his head. It was the same one he’d heard earlier. The one that had woken him.
“Where are you?” he asked, twisting around. “I can hear you like you’re right next to me... but I can’t see you.”
Nothing. Just debris, smoke, silence.
What happened here? How did I get here? Why was I under that rubble?
The questions tumbled through his head like falling stones. But one rose above the rest: Who am I?
Suddenly, something moved—loud, deliberate. His head snapped in the direction of the noise just in time to see chunks of debris shoved aside. From the wreckage, a massive creature emerged.
It was huge—black and grey armor cladding a hulking form that easily dwarfed the boy. Red eyes glinted beneath a cracked helmet. Instinctively, the boy stepped back, trembling.
“What’s going on…?” the creature muttered, its voice low, rumbling, with a strange growl threading through it.
{Warning: Unknown lifeform detected. Hostile intent registered. Measuring threat level…}
The creature turned, locking its glowing red eyes on the smaller armored figure. The boy froze.
“Who are you?” the hulking being demanded, raising what should have been an arm—but instead was some kind of weaponized cannon, aimed directly at the boy’s face.
{Attempt 13 to salvage memory files: failed. Initiating Attempt 14…}
"I-I don't—" the boy stammered. A high-pitched whir filled the air as the weapon charged, glowing ominously.
“Who. Are. You?” the giant snarled.
{Warning: Hostile threat level at 85%. Survival odds: 24%. Attempt 19 to recover memory files… failed.}
"I don’t know!" the boy cried, cowering, hands over his head. His breath hitched. His voice cracked.
It was too much—the weapon aimed at his face, the aggressive demands, the voice rattling in his mind, the endless ruins stretching around him, the sheer weight of not knowing who or what he was.
It was too much for someone who had just woken up in a world that felt like a nightmare. Someone who didn’t even know his name— practically newborn.
He expected the larger creature to finally attack him with his arm-weapon thing, dissatisfied with his answer. But nothing happened.
He peeked through his fingers, confused to still be alive. The black-armored creature was staring at him, red eyes wide—not with rage, but shock.
“What did you say?” the creature asked, his voice quieter now.
“I-I don’t know my name,” the boy repeated, still keeping his arms partially raised in case the creature decided to attack after all. “I just… I just woke up here. And there was this voice, talking about corrupted memory files…”
The weapon-arm lowered with a soft click, shifting and reforming back into a hand. The boy stared in confused silence.
“Who are you?” he asked cautiously.
“…I do not know,” the creature replied. He turned away slightly, surveying the ruins around them. “I have only just awoken here.”
He’s like me, the smaller one realized. He’s lost, too.
Despite the fear still curling in his chest, he felt a flicker of sympathy.
He studied the larger figure more closely. They did look similar—for example, they both had pincers protruding from their backs. The boy’s were thin and wiry, like insect limbs. The larger creature’s were thick and jagged, like scythes. They even had matching chest insignias, a strange symbol etched across their chests.
Maybe…?
“…Are you… my dad?” the boy asked hesitantly.
The creature blinked. “What?” he growled, more confused than angry.
“I-I mean, we kinda look alike, right? So… maybe you’re my dad?”
The boy braced himself for another outburst, but the creature just stared at him in silence for a moment. Then, with a rough exhale, he muttered, “…That does sound… logical.”
Something warm bloomed faintly in the boy’s chest. It wasn’t confirmation, not really—but it was something.
{Suggestion: Form alliance with other Scarab-Wielder. Utilize potential familial bond to recover memories.}
He blinked. That… made sense. Maybe together, they could figure out who they were.
He cleared his throat. “Um—”
“We are teaming up,” the creature interrupted. “Just until we find our memories.”
The boy nodded quickly, grateful. The taller being turned away, his back shifting—Scarab, a voice in the boy’s mind supplied—and his pincers retracted as large, sleek thrusters unfolded. With a burst of purple light, he launched into the sky.
“Whoa…” the boy whispered, awestruck. Then panic set in. The older one was already getting farther and farther away.
“H-Hey! Can I do that too?!”
{Activating rocket boosters.}
With a mechanical clank, his own Scarab reconfigured, unfolding small but sturdy thrusters that ignited with blue flame. With a startled yelp, the boy took a breath and launched himself into the air.
The sensation was terrifying. And exhilarating. And weirdly… familiar.
“Woooohooo!!” he cheered, twisting midair in a spontaneous pirouette, like it was second nature. As if he’d flown like this a thousand times.
He caught up to the larger figure and hovered beside him. The black-armored one huffed, clearly unimpressed with his antics.
The boy grinned sheepishly, rubbing the back of his helmet. But something had shifted between them. The tension was easing.
Together, the two soared across the starless night sky—one a trail of violet flame, the other bright blue—twin comets streaking above the broken landscape.