Author's Note: This fanfic is set during the Cicero Crisis, in the Shi no Ryoshu clan Dojo. Also, this concerns the Warframes that I own, but as separate Tenno operators.

WARFRAME

Alius Somnus — abnormalSleep

"…hey…hey…hey, hey… Erik!"

The voice jolted me awake. The white of the Shadow Barracks greeted my eyes—bit too bright at first, but soon I could make out the cryo-pods behind the glass walls. I was still suited in my grey-and-blue Warframe, curled up in a corner of the room. The exo-suit's lights burned a pulsing dark red. I had my Pendragon helmet in my arms, its fin-like horn pointing up and to my right, at the guy who was standing over me.

He was wearing his usual Loki-type Warframe. Just like mine, his was colored dark grey and dark blue, pulsing with small dark red lights. Unlike mine, however, his had some blood-red outlines. He had one arm propped against the glass wall, and the lighting made his silhouette look almost imposing. His hammerhead-shaped helmet didn't help matters.

I brought one hand up to rub my right eye. "What the hell, Logan…?"

He chuckled, brought his hands up to his helmet.

Click—hisssss…

As he pulled it off of his head, his jet-black hair fell over his pale face. He smiled as he wrapped the helmet in the crook of his arm. "Jus' stoppin' by," he replied with the usual glint in his glowing eyes. "I was on distraction duty earlier."

"How long?"

Logan shrugged. "About twenty, twenty-five minutes. That netted us a lot of resources; you can look through 'em later, if you want to."

I nodded, briefly closing my eyes. "Sure thing."

"By the way, Erik," Logan asked me, sounding slightly worried, "why aren't you sleeping in your cryopod?"

I opened my eyes, looked up at him. "I dunno, it just…" I trailed off, then found the right words. "This feels more natural somehow. Not like the pods, you know?"

Logan nodded. "True, true, but at least you won't grow old in a pod, right?"

"Yeah, well, I wish that was good enough for reason."

He raised an eyebrow when I said that. "What?"

I looked at my hand. My Warframe had been with me for a long time—through hundreds of battles against Grineer marines, Corpus crewmen, and the Infested. Same for the others in my group of friends, including Logan. Ever since the Lotus had woken me up, I've been through mission after mission, trying to find my place among the Tenno. I'm glad that our current Clan—the Shi no Ryoshu—accepted us as part of their number. I especially felt useful to our future.

But…

I stared at the course, roughed surface of my hand. "It's just… When the Lotus brought me out of cryogen, my memory was a haze. Same with you and most of the others, right?"

Logan nodded again, looking at me oddly. "Yeah? What about that?"

"All I could remember clearly was my name. Erik." I took my helmet, held it up to face me. "I want to find out my past, Logan—what happened before I entered that cryopod. Sure, it's not as big a problem as the one we've on Earth right now—"

I think Logan looked down at the floor, slightly hurt.

"—but what if it has something to do with the now? Why we're here fighting, now? What happened so long ago in the past to make us…us? I just…I don't want to risk forgetting what I've got now, when all the progress I've made is just my name. I've already forgotten once; I don't want to forget again."

Silence.

Then Logan hmphed.

I looked up at him. The Loki-type was smirking down at me, but this time, without mirth. It was…encouragment. And sympathy.

"Yeah, you're right about one thing, Erik," he said. "I'd like to find out what I was before I wore this thing." He tapped his forefinger to his chest. "And before that, too. If I had a family who raised me, if I do have something passed down to me from before Orokin—hell, even the histories of Orokin and the Grineer an' all that—it's pretty hard for me to dismiss as 'trivial' or, or 'illogical'."

I smiled. Last time I'd smiled, it was three weeks ago—before we'd started clearing out an Orokin Derelict of all of its Infestation. Too long. "Can you imagine the Lotus saying that?"

The Loki-type grinned. "Yeah, but I wouldn't try mimicking her."

With that, we both laughed.

Just then, the barrack door opened with a hisssss...

Logan straightened as he faced the figure now entering the room. "Well, look who we have here," he said, grinning.