Work Text:
She's floating, somewhere far off there's a distant and the muffled sound of footfall. Whether it is man or beast is unknown to her, and in the moment she can bring herself to care.
There's a voice somewhere off to her left. It's deep and calming in an odd familiar way.
“-dy Luluci?”
Her eyes open slowly, everything still muffled and blurry. The ground hurts, rocks and sticks dig into her side and she can feel dirt and mud stick to both her and her clothes.
A man stands above her.
“Lady Luluci!? What happened? Are you feeling alright?”
It takes a second for her brain to process what had been said, but the second it does all she can think is ‘Danger’ and her body reacts on its own, forcing her to sit up.
“Don't you dare touch me!”
She doesn't know who this man is, she doesn't know where she is, she doesn't even know how she got here, and for a moment she's scared she doesn't even know who she is.
Her eyes jump from the man, to the ground to where a red cap lays a few feet away and then to what she recognizes as one of The Knights Capture Pennants right beside her. Her eyes can't help but drift from the Pennant and cap to the Knights robes she's wearing, to her body much larger than she remembers it.
“Why am I..”
The man backs away from her, ‘Good’ part of her says, ‘Hes our friend’ says another, ‘I don't even know his name’ she says
“L-Luluci? Are you hurt? How can I help?”
Her head is a cacophony of her own voice ‘Who is he.’ ‘What does he know?’ ‘Its okay, he's a friend." "Where are we?’ ‘I want to go home.’ ‘Danger’. And like before, the last one wins as her body moves on its own to grab the pennant beside her and points it at him. Her hands shake and her grip on it is improper even to the outside eye, but she doesn't care she needs to be away from here and this man who she doesn't know.
“How do you know my name?! Who are you?!
“I- you- I'm Galga. You helped me out yesterday. Please put the pennant down, I mean no harm. What do you remember?”
A flicker of a moment flashes in her mind, of standing side by side with him, of a dance, of battle, and then its gone all that's left in its wake is that odd feeling of comfort form before and the part of her saying ‘Hes safe’ over powers the one screaming ‘Danger’ for so long.
Slowly she lowers the pennant to no longer point at him but she keeps her grip on it strong. The fear is still there, that she really doesn't know this man and her mind is playing tricks on her and she'll be back with her Master and being sent to the Knights once more for simply protecting herself and Eryenne.
“I- I was being brought to the Knights because-” Her thoughts and memories overlap, cutting from one to the next as the mix of her own voice talks over one another. Her master brought her to the Knights for attacking a patron, training with 2 men, one with beautiful black hair the others short, messy, and red. Then to a child leading the way then disappearing from her sight as her body froze.
“I was training with- there was a kid and-” The more she tries to grasp onto the memories the quicker they slip from her as her mind gets louder. So she goes for what stays the clearest in her mind.
“My master was going to take me to the Knights.. I don't know how I got here.”
“But you... you are a knight. You should... I need to get you medical attention. I think I should-”
She finally looks at the man, Galga, as he pauses. His face scrunches slightly with a hint of an emotion she can't fully place slipping in before he straightens his expression back out.
“Just... okay, take a deep breath. Do you remember who you are?”
She hesitates before she nods, feeling sick that she even had to think about it. “My name is Luluci, I am- was? An apprentice under..”
She cuts herself off, breaking eye contact with Galga. Shame creeps onto her face. She doesn't know what she's more ashamed of, that she doesn't want to say his name, and even if she did part of her is screaming and ripping his name from her mind, or that with her size, despite what hints of memories slip in and out of her mind. That part of her knows she's not an apprentice anymore, it's not possible it's been years, yet her mind feels stuck there, like she's 12 again and doing everything to keep her and Eryenne from what would be the end. That every bit of memory from then to now is gone only leaving her aware that the time has passed but she was stuck there frozen.
Galga waits, she can tell he's waiting for her to continue, to say something, anything but she cant, and she wont.
“An apprentice? So you remember magic, at least. That's good. You're... you're going to be okay. You haven't been an apprentice in a long time.”
She knew that, of course she did. Yet still her stomach twists again at the reminder.
“Just... take a breath. I'm here.”
‘He's a kind and dependable man, you can trust him’ her mind whispers to her once more, and so with another nod she takes a deep breath then finally pushes herself to stand. Her legs are shaky and she's unbalanced, not ready for the weight of her own body. She takes a moment to steady herself then dust herself off, the dirt and sticks still clinging onto her robes.
“You wouldn't know where we are right now would you?”
Galga offers his hand, “We’re in the forest of Thristas. I found you with my guidance orb. We really aren’t too far from the windowway to the Great Hall, though. I’m more than happy to show you the way.”
It's like a switch in her brain has flipped as she takes his hand, things quiet down and she stops grasping for memories that refuse to stay for more than a second. Because she may not remember him but he's kind and dependable and he's ‘safe’.
“Please, I haven't been out of the Great Hall much.”
She stops for a second before picking up the cap that still sat by her foot.
“This was mine right? I never imagined I'd be a Knight.” It's a silly question, the evidence is there both on her and around her, but she's desperate for something set in stone of this life she apparently had lived yet missed.
“It was. And you wore it very well. If I were a Knight, I would want to be one as considerate as you.”
“Oh, thank you.”
She ducks her head, ‘He really is kind.’ she thinks and she 's met with a ‘I told you he was.’
With that she follows him to the windowway.