Seven years old. That's all he was. Just seven. The tender age where children develop the wildest imaginations that drive their parents up the walls yet...he hadn't. Instead, he sat alone, confused, scared on a hospital bed in a dark room where everything smelled and sounded of death. He stared at his pile of belongings on the chair in front of him, neatly folded as if a mother might have done it but no, that couldn't have been right...he was parentless...or, so he thought from the shameless whisperings of the doctors and nurses. "Poor dear" "No one left" "...wish there was something we could do..." The list went on and on. He sighed, a long drawn out breath like the one people take when they're reaching the end of their days but he wasn't. He was just seven. He stared at the pile of belongings still, a blood stained t-shirt, a ripped pair of jeans and some muddy trainers...What did they mean? Where they his? Was that his blood on the t-shirt? It couldn't have been...but it was and deep down, he knew it, somehow. 'This is pointless' he thought as he remembered the way the doctors had looked at him, with sympathy and pity for something that he had no memories of, gently lifting him from his bed to dress him as he weakly protested, his energy depleted in only a few mere seconds. They treated him as if he was some kind of miracle but he wasn't, at least not to himself, he wasn't. To himself, he was just a living, breathing corpse and he often wondered if maybe death would have been nicer. He often wondered about a lot of other things too, like who he really was? Who he had been? Who his parents were? and more importantly, where he was? But the answers were lost inside his head, barricaded by a headache and dizziness. Amnesia. He had overheard the doctors pronounce one day but he didn't know what it meant. They had never told him and likely never would. He was logical enough to know that it had something to do with the brain, his brain, but that was the extent of that pondering before a wave of pain had throbbed through his head and he had given up on it. He was also logical enough to know that he was no longer in his hometown although where that was and the name of it, he couldn't say. He just knew that it wasn't here. It was something deep inside him, a numb-ish pulsing feeling in his gut that told him that this was a new place, an unfamiliar place that didn't smell like the idea of his hometown that he kept inside his head. He sighed again, another long breath, his eyes still trained on the clothing on the seat as if it could give him answers but it couldn't and if it could, it wouldn't since it hadn't been for the last month of his life that he could remember; although he couldn't say if he had been awake any longer because he couldn't remember. He stopped thinking too much into it, it would hurt his mind otherwise and instead, listened in to the clock ticking the seconds of his life away and the murmur and bustle of the hospital around him. 'It seems like everyone has a place...except me...' He thought as he glanced up to his door, the doctor pushing it open and smiling cheerily, waltzing over with a plate of food that would probably never be eaten as per usual.

"Hey there, how's my little miracle doing?" His doctor cooed in an overly happy voice that sickened him to his very core.

"Fine." Was his short, dull reply. Simple yet effective. The doctor's smile faltered a bit before he waved his hand, bounding over to the side of the bed enthusiastically. The doctor was so hyperactive that even he himself wondered who the child in this equation was.

"C'mon, smile. You have a visitor today!" The doctor said, grinning happily as he stared at him, his face impassive and void of excitement.

"Do I? That's good...now please, leave me alone." He stated in a calm yet irritated tone as the doctor frowned, straightening up.

"Eh! You should be grateful you know, if it wasn't for us, you wouldn't be here!" The doctor chimed before he turned around and bounded out the door, waving back to him. With a glare in the direction of the doctor, he shoved the food away from himself, determined not to touch it.

"Aren't you going to eat that?" A voice from the doorway asked as he glanced up again, seeing a man in a long black suit with greying white hair underneath his hat and blue eyes, hidden behind glasses, that seemed neither friendly nor unpleasant.

"Who are you?" He asked, his voice void of childlike enthusiasm yet still inquiring.

"Ah, of course, how rude of me. My name is Quillish Wammy-

"The inventor?" He asked, raising an eyebrow in the direction of Mr Wammy.

"Yes, the inventor -It's good to see that your cognitive abilities are still working- however, I prefer to be called Watari." Mr Wammy stated as he shrugged his shoulders, not really caring much either way.

"Okay. It's all the same to me." He replied, looking dully down at the food on the tray on his knees. Mr Wammy sat down in one of the chairs next to his bed, taking his hat off out of politeness and smiling softly.

"So they tell me that you're name is Cobi?" Mr Wammy asked as Cobi glanced up at him, shrugging his shoulders.

"I don't know." He stated back, his tone of voice dull, his eyes lifeless.

"Well, let's just assume that it is?" Mr Wammy asked in a friendly tone as Cobi shrugged again.

"Sure...it's not like it's a terrible name anyway." He commented, staring at his hands as they proved to be more interesting than the old man who was still watching Cobi intently.

"You don't like it here, do you?" The old man asked as Cobi shrugged once again, if he was honest, he couldn't really care. It wasn't like he knew any other places to go.

"I don't care...it doesn't matter to me if I'm here or not, I haven't got anywhere else to go." Cobi replied in a bored tone, still staring at his hands, a fleeting thought of where he had once lived shot through his mind too quick to decipher and he rubbed at his temple softly, grimacing.

"What if I told you that I could offer you a home...a place to live away from here?" Mr Wammy asked as Cobi glanced up, frowning.

"Why would you care?" He deadpanned, in no mood to be fooled around.

"Your answer first." Mr Wammy smiled politely, his blue eyes calm behind his glasses as Cobi frowned more, turning his face away. 'He's confusing' he thought.

"Whatever. As long as it's not another hospital...I've had enough medications and whatnot shoved into my veins and down my throat." Cobi replied, glancing up to the clothes on the seat in front of him, questions bubbling in his mind but he knew that to ask them would only create more questions that didn't have any answers yet.

"I assure you, it will be nothing like that. Cobi, I don't know if you know this or not but I funded an orphanage some time back, Wammy's House, have you heard of it?" Mr Wammy asked as Cobi glanced over, the name sounded vaguely familiar but he couldn't say from where.

"I feel like I have...but I don't know..." He said in a careful tone of voice as Mr Wammy nodded, a soft smile tugging at his lips.

"Good, there's evidence that your memory may return. As I said, I funded Wammy's House, it is for gifted children like yourself who have been orphaned in unfortunate circumstances...I feel like it might help you recover a bit better if you're around children of your own age." Mr Wammy explained as Cobi listened, keeping his eyes turned away. He didn't want to seem interested in the whole idea but he couldn't deny that anything was better than this wretched hospital.

"I suppose it sounds okay..." He said in a dull tone, refusing to meet Mr Wammy's eyes. "But how would I be able to socialise? I don't remember a thing about myself..." He asked, the first hint of worry lightly tainting his voice but was gone the instant that he glanced up to Mr Wammy's face, staring into his eyes with an eerie calmness that no seven year old should posses.

"I don't see that you would have any problems. The children in the orphanage don't usually divulge into their personal backgrounds...in fact, it is usually forbidden but I'm sure you'll find something that will be of interest to someone. If not, you can just focus on the schoolwork." Mr Wammy said as Cobi nodded, not enthusiastically but not saying no either.

"Okay." He replied, his face turned down to his hands as a questioned burned inside his mind, on top of all the others. "When can I go?" He asked as Mr Wammy smiled, his blue eyes brightening.

"Soon...when you are a little stronger. I'll come back to see you so that we may prepare for your arrival." Mr Wammy said as Cobi frowned slightly, shaking his head.

"I am strong enough...I want to go now. Please...I can't stand being in this hospital a moment longer..." He said, his eyes finally pleading with Mr Wammy as he smiled softly, shaking his head.

"I am sorry, little one. I will try and make sure that we do not take too long, in the meantime just focus on getting stronger okay?" Mr Wammy asked as he stood up, still smiling, before pulling an apple from his pocket as Cobi looked at him quizzically.

"An apple?" He asked as Mr Wammy nodded, winking with a smile.

"Trust me, you'll like it." He said before he turned around and returned his hat onto his head as he slipped outside the door. With a click, the door shut and Cobi started to wonder why Mr Wammy had shown up on that particular day when he had felt like he'd lost all sense of direction. He glanced down to the cherry red apple with freckles of yellow and green, wondering what he should do with it before he tentatively brought it up to his lips and bit a little bit off, chewing it as the juices exploded onto his taste buds, assaulting them with a sweetness and sourness that seemed so foreign yet familiar all in one.

"You weren't kidding..." He murmured to the silence, in his head he saw Mr Wammy smiling happily as he took another bite and then another until he had finished the whole apple and was left with a browning core that had four seeds inside it. "Here! It's an apple!" He heard a voice shout with a happy giggle from somewhere in his forbidden memories. He knew that voice but he couldn't tell where it was from. He sighed and stared at the apple core for a moment, wishing that he hadn't been so greedy and ate the full thing so quickly but also relieved, it tasted like something from his childhood; although he couldn't remember what that something was...or even his childhood itself.

"Ah, I see you like apples then?" Another doctor asked as he walked into the room, a clipboard in his hands. Cobi liked this doctor, he wasn't overly happy around him and kept a level head and calm exterior whenever Cobi got snarky with him...he was nice as well. He treated him like a person, not a miracle.

"Yeah...Mr Watari said I would like them...he was right." Cobi said, his voice sounding more relaxed than usual which made the young doctor smile softly.

"That's good. I'll see about getting you some more apples for tomorrow eh?" The doctor asked as he walked over to prop up Cobi's pillow as he nodded, his eyes brightening for a moment.

"Yes please." He replied, looking up at the young male as he finished plumping up the pillow and pushed his glasses back up his nose with two fingers. "How did he know that I would like apples?" Cobi asked, a frown creasing his forehead as he remembered the confidence in Mr Wammy's voice as he left. The doctor glanced at him for a moment, looking a little uncertain.

"Well, I assume that most people like apples...he probably just thought it would be a safer alternative to sweets." The doctor replied as Cobi sighed, handing the brown core over to the doctor.

"Okay...can you bin this for me?" Cobi asked as the doctor raised an eyebrow slightly.

"Can't you do this yourself?" He laughed as Cobi shook his head, looking glum.

"I'm not strong enough..." He said in a quiet voice as the young doctor sighed slightly, shaking his head.

"Well alright, why don't you keep the seeds? You could ask Mr Watari if you could plant them at the orphanage?" The doctor asked as Cobi glanced up, his eyes curious.

"Plant them?" He asked as the doctor nodded, a smile tugging at his lips.

"Yeah, so that they grow into apple trees." The doctor replied as Cobi's eyes lit up more at the mention of that.

"Oh! That's a brilliant idea! M-maybe the other children would like to plant some as well..." He thought out loud as the doctor smiled, nodding.

"I'll see if I can find some apple seed packets for you to take with you, if you want?" He asked as Cobi nodded, his eyes sparkling with life as the doctor smiled, seeing something in Cobi that he had thought was gone.

"Can you really? Oh wow! It'll be so fun!" He enthused, laughing for the first time in months as a nurse poked her head around the door, smiling happily before she continued off on her round.

"Glad you're happy. Now, c'mon, it's bedtime. I'll be back to check on you in the morning and slip you a few apples here and there." He said, tucking Cobi under his sheets as he giggled, feeling alive for once. "Goodnight, squirt." He said, calling Cobi by his pet name as he giggled again, for once not glaring.

"Goodnight, squid." Cobi replied as the doctor mock-glared at him, causing another giggle to escape Cobi's lips as a soft smile appeared on the young doctors face before he slipped outside the room and turned the lights off. Cobi sighed once he left, feeling a little empty inside and came to the conclusion that he didn't like being alone before he curled up and fell asleep, clutching his four apple seeds in his hand tightly.