Chapter Text
"what's 2+2?"
The man blinked, disoriented. He could feel his throat burn from the way-too-long plastic tube the weird robot above him just removed from his mouth.
He coughed a mouthful of water, still unable to force his voice out.
"Wrong. What's 2+2?"
Oh my god. The urge to punch this dang robot almost gave the man the strength to get up from the bed. Almost. He was still unable to move a muscle, of course.
After some more drifting in and out of counciousness, he was finally able to slightly move his fingers, and shoot an annoyed "ffough" (four) to the robot, just to be met with another "Wrong, what's 2+2?"
"ffou rr." the man managed to spit out, which this time seemed to finally shut the robot up.
After a bit of finger wriggling, leg twitching and blinking the man managed to painfully, very slowly sit up and look around. A fully white room, silent and empty. It seemed almost like a... laboratory? It didn't seem like a hospital. If he was in a coma, why was he not at an hospital?? Or is this a containment room for a highly infected disease?
Before he could even wonder where he was, he started hearing some steps rapidly approaching, startling him on his feet. Scary! But, maybe it was just a doctor?
As he saw the small door above the small stairs on the ceiling open, another man popped his head down from the opening. He looked around his mid 30ies, disheveled dirty blonde hair, a shaved slightly darker beard and a grin wide from eye to eye.
"Ry! God, you're finally awake! I was gonna push you down the bed myself if you went another day not moving." the weird man said, carefully descending the stairs.
At first, the other was too stunned to say a word.
"Ry? Who??" his voice was still too rough to form full sentences, but he could manage to spell out two very confused words.
For some reason, that seemed to shock the other man enough to freeze him on his feet. He looked over in disbelief for a few beats before opening his mouth again.
"W-wha- what do you.... Ry? You know who I am, right?" his voice cracked slightly while he stuttered, his grin wavering into a weak, uncertain smile.
'Ry' slowly shook his head. "I... uhm... d-don't think I even know my own name..."
The man stares at him blankly, and there's a pause.
After a bit of blinking, he seems to remember where he's standing.
"There's, uh... nothing about me that feels familiar? At all...?" he asks cautiously, pointing at himself.
"Uh... Is there something about you that should feel... familiar?"
The other lets out an exasperated sigh, taking 'Ry''s arm without warning and yanked him along.
While being dragged, he looks at the rough, firm arm clutching his own.
The touch felt warm. Tight, sure, but also warm, and... familiar.
A few twists and turns later, they stop in front of a mirror, and the man forces 'Ry' to look at their reflection.
First, there's confusion, then sudden realization. There's a pause.
Ry looked at himself, then at the other man, then at himself again, like watching a ping pong ball.
Deep blue eyes. Dirty blonde hair. Sharp jaw. They looked the exact same.
Well, not the exact same per se, Ry's hair was long and unkept and so was his beard (which, quite frankly, made him look like an homeless man who still had drug problems), but the resemblance was uncanny.
"Am I... A clone?" the man mumbled, in a way-too-serious tone for the crazy sounding words that just came out of his mouth.
For a moment there was silence, but it was quickly broken by the other's loud hearty laugh.
"God, no, Ryland... No." he almost struggles to breathe while between words, earning a confused look from Ryland. Ryland... At least he's got a name now. That's a start.
"We are... Twins. Identical twins." the laughter abruptly stops, his voice smaller now. "glad to know you're still the same nerd, even without your memories." as he stops talking, a small, strained smile appears on his face. For some reason, that made Grace's heart squeeze. Wait, Grace...? Was that... his surname...? Something clicked inside his mind.
Ryland Grace. His name was Ryland Grace.