His name was Cezary Regard; that much was certain. Rather he assumed that it was certain. After all, his belongings had that name written on all of them with a message informing anyone who read it that it was indeed his property. It seemed unlikely that he would write someone else's name on his own things, and it certainly wouldn't do any good to second-guess the only bit of information he had to work with.
The truth was that he had no idea as to who he was beyond that name. From what he had been told he was found a three months ago in a nearby forest with a serious blow to the back of the head. A bit of Ragnaid had ensured his survival and had mended a little of his fractured skull, but it still had taken him another month to wake up. Since then he had been trying to piece together his identity, getting nowhere other than the fact that his name was Cezary Regard.
"Well now, you've healed up nicely." His musings were interrupted by the doctor pulling the Ragnaid capsule off the back of his head and reapplying his bandages, "Seems you're back in one piece finally. You should probably keep the bandages for a few more weeks; you know, just to make sure that you don't agitate the fracture too much. Though I'd say your best bet is to avoid trees for awhile."
"Right, thanks doc…" Cezary tried to laugh at the joke. It was the least he could do. Doctor Engel had been well more than hospitable to him during his recovery. The good doctor had been the one who found him injured underneath a tree while on a walk one day. He had taken him in, gotten him fixed up, and helped him rebuild his strength since he had awoken. Even after Cezary admitted to having no money he had still treated him without complaint. When questioned as to why, he had just shrugged and said that back in his army days he would treat anyone regardless of what side they were on or how bad their wounds. Apparently he had served as a doctor in the Imperial army back during the war. Afterwards, he found himself liking Gallia enough that he emigrated with his family after the treaty had been signed, coming to settle in the small mountain village of Breeden. While initially distrusted, his jovial nature and willingness to help around town had earned him the acceptance of the locals. Quite frankly Cezary couldn't think of anyone better to have stumbled upon him.
"You seem preoccupied." Engel noticed his rather quiet composure today "Come on, if you want to climb a tree don't let me stop you. Just make sure not to fall down this time!"
The younger man sighed, though not at the joke. Truthfully, from his time in Breeden he knew that he was terrified of heights, and could only wonder what had possessed him to even try to climbing anything larger than a waist high fence.
"Sorry…I was just thinking that maybe I should try and head off soon." He said, "Of course I don't know what I'd do. Kind of hard when you can barely remember your own name huh?"
Engel nodded with a low 'hmm' and sat down across from him, "Still haven't remembered anything?"
Cezary shook his head "No.…At this point I'm wondering if I'll ever get anything back."
"Well, like I've told you before I'm not sure how long you were out. Plus we still don't know enough about the brain to know what's going on up there right now." Engel rubbed his chin thoughtfully, looking like he was trying to find a better answer than that, "But I suppose you're right. Staying here isn't going to help you get your memory back. Maybe you should try to find out more about yourself. Maybe find someone who might have known you. They say that if you're exposed to something from your past it might trigger a memory or two. It was something of the sort. I'm no psychologist!" he laughed.
"Yeah I guess, but where would I start? I don't even know where I'm from or anyone who might have known me." It wasn't entirely true. One thing that he had realized while staying in Breeden was that he was probably from Gallia. He didn't have any sort of travel papers indicating that he might be from the Federation or Empire. Going over his possessions he saw that he was traveling rather lightly, as though he was just visiting these mountains to do something, and then leave. The problem was that there was enough traffic through the area that no one remembered him coming into town. So beyond that he was from somewhere in Gallia that was not Breeden he had no ideas.
"Heh heh…well I might be able to be of some help there. Wait just a minute." Engel chuckled as he walked out of the room. When he came back he had something in his hand that he tossed to Cezary. It was a bullet, one of the things found in his pack.
"I dug out enough of those from our soldiers to know that's a 7.92mm Gallian military round." He grinned, "and my son's taken a liking to your rifle. He says it's a really good one, a…ah…GSR model thirty…I think. The boy loves reading those military books so I'll take his word on it. A good rifle he says, not too many issued."
He leaned in a bit closer, still grinning "From that alone I'm willing to bet that you've served in the Gallian military during the war Mr. Regard."
"Me? A soldier?" the thought seemed foreign, but then again so did just about any other one.
"It makes sense, Gallia has universal conscription, and most young men were drafted into the militia when the war began. Really, for a man your age I'm surprised I didn't think of it sooner." Engel leaned back, still bubbling with excitement, "In fact I bet if you contacted the army you could find out all sorts of things about yourself!"
"The military huh…so I guess I have to go to Randgriz then?" Cezary had to admit he was getting excited about this himself. Months of trying to recall who he was revealed nothing, now he finally had a clue. If Engel was right then there would have to be records of his time in the military. There was just one problem with that, "Eh…but how do I get there?" he asked, somewhat embarrassed at how easily he had gotten caught up in the idea .
"Just leave that to me." Engel said, "I was going to travel to Randgriz in a few days actually. I have some supplies to pick up and some paperwork to fill out." He sighed with a sad smile, "Citizenship is a long and arduous process my friend, but if this time around going there will help you as well I'd be more than happy to give you ride."
"You will? That's…I really can't thank you enough for this…" Cezary stammered, still shocked at this sudden revelation.
"Well a doctor must help his patients right?" Engel chuckled, "Though if you're feeling up for it I could use an extra pair of hands around the home today."
"Uh yes…uh thank you again doctor…" Engel simply nodded with a smile and left him to getting out of bed. For once he felt like he actually had some energy to spare. After getting dressed he took a moment to gather his thoughts by the window in his room. After all this time of not remembering anything he finally had a clue as to who he was, and idea as to who he may have been before all this. He almost didn't want to wait the few days it would take and leave for Randgriz right then. It was a silly idea that he quickly perished. The capital was at least a week away by foot, and it would do him no good to try and rush things. No, it looked like he'd just have to be satisfied with a few days of busy work before he could go there.
Still, he wanted to know who he was. Who was he beyond the name Cezary Regard? No matter what it took he knew he would find out.
Author's notes: Probably a bit shorter than I wanted, but this first chapter is up. After beating the game I was kind of bothered by Cezary's epilogue. Even though I didn't use him too much (Catherine and Marina being my main snipers) it seems like they didn't put too much thought into it. 'Oh he uh...just lost his memory yeah...' seems cheap (on another note I think the same thing about Catherine's ending 'She...uh...became a hermit! That'll work right?'). True, not many seem to like him, but since he's a secondary character he never gets much character development unlike the main cast. Unfortunately we don't know much beyond a paragraph in the book, and his potentials. So while Rosie moves past her hatred of Darcsens he never gets the same treatment (though from what I've seen of the manga he might actually be getting some redemption), and we're stuck believing that the guy hates Darcens throughout the whole war, despite being in the same unit as several of them and liberating a concentration camp. Now I don't expect him to do a full one-eighty right away, but is it too much to ask that he might have come out of the war better than going in? It's the main reaosn why I decided to write this, to see his growth throughout the war, as told by his old comrades.
As for Dr. Engel...The thing is when I was playing the game I noticed how you could pretty much predict how most of the Imperial soldiers would act (EVIL!!!). Now I know that there is the one chapter where the lieutenant lets Welkin and Alicia go, and there is the Behind her Blue Flame DLC (though let's be honest, they were going against Damon. He makes anyone look good); however most Imperials tend to be depicted as trying to be as evil as possible. Even if you point out the parallels with World War II, there were plenty of Germans who weren't that evil. So really Engel was just my little attempt to give the Empire's military a bit of a break.