I.

It's sudden. It always is. The entire room spins violently out of control, lights shine brighter than usual and voices sound unrecognizable. Perhaps, he thinks about the last part, it's because they really are.

Now he's got that familiar ringing in his ears and its all he can do to slump down to the floor and hope it passes. He was so unreliable. 'Oh, make sure Dan does what he's supposed to do... he's likely to forget.' Not that it wasn't true but it still bothered him nonetheless. He should be capable of making his way to the control room without nearly blacking out, but yet he wasn't.

"Hey, Dan, you alright?"

His vision's still a little hazy, jagged white points crowd his surroundings. He's not exactly sure where the voice is coming from but he knows its near.

"Dan, can you hear me?"

A little closer than before he thinks. Whoever it is is all fire and light as far as he's concerned because he still can't really make out the shapes that make people distinctly human.

"Yeah... pretty sure." His reply is distant.

"Good, good. What happened then?"

He couldn't remember. He couldn't remember what he was doing, where he was headed, or what caused him to wind up on the cold steel floor.

"Never mind then, never mind. Easy question, how many fingers am I holding up?"

It's a she. He thinks he's onto something more but he's not fully there... yet. He's trying really hard to concentrate on the apparent hand in front of him but he keeps seeing flashes unrelated (he thinks) to where he is at the moment. Tall grass. A dark cave. A small community on an.... island?

"Come on Dan, you can do this. How many fingers?"

It takes so much effort to narrow his eyes and look directly in front of him. He could see clearly now, finally. But who was this woman? Why did she know his name? How did he know his own name?

"Three. Three fingers."

He could vaguely make out a smile on her face. It looked so familiar...

"Excellent. Now let's get you back to your room, yeah? I'll help you up."

She extended the same hand towards him, the one with the three fingers. He reaches for it and feels one step closer to where he started.