Chapter one :

"I already told you," Kurogane said bitterly, glaring at the dark haired woman that sat across from him. "I was in Celes with the others, I gave my arm to get us all out alive and when I woke up I was here."

"And do you know where here is?" The woman asked, looking up from her clip board with a twitch of her eyebrow.

Kurogane sucked in a deep breath as he clenched a fist, narrowing his eyes down to the ground. "I'm at Clow Reed's Institute for the Criminally Insane." They'd told him that a million times now and it still wasn't sinking in. An insane asylum? How did he get here?

The last thing Kurogane remembered was being in Celes. There had been a fight, he could remember a lot of screaming and a lot of blood. He'd killed a man and the world begun to collapse. That was when they tried to escape, nearly costing one of them their life. Instead, Kurogane cut off his arm to save them both. He fainted and thought he would have awoken some place safe. Instead…

"Good," the woman said writing it down. "You're finally starting to admit the problem."

"Problem?" Kurogane asked snapping his eyes back to the woman. "I don't have a problem," he hissed. When a snicker arose, he remembered they weren't alone. There was a group of them there, all gathered in a circle with the woman at the head. Half of them were familiar faces, while the others were new to him. None of them were his travel companions however.

"The first step to recovery is admitting the problem you have," the woman commented, writing something else down. Kurogane just watched her, then glanced around the room. This was day four now and he still hadn't gotten all the facts straight.

Kurogane groaned, it was the first sign he was still alive. Then he shifted his weight, finding he was laying down on something hard pretending to be soft. A sheet over some kind of table maybe. He wasn't sure. He squeezed his eyes tight trying to block out the painful sun rays beating down on his face. Where did they land this time anyway?

"He's moving," a voice said in the distance. It didn't sound like any of his companions. Maybe they'd gotten separated. No, that couldn't be it. He wouldn't be able to understand the other person if their translator wasn't around. "The sedatives must be wearing off."

Sedatives? They'd drugged him? Kurogane whined again before finally letting his eyes open. It wasn't the sun burning his face, it was some kind of light fixture. Florescent white lights, angry and unmercifully destroying his retinas. "The hell…?" He managed to say, going to lift his hand to cover his face. That was when he noticed it.

The surface he was laying on was some kind of bed, if you could even call it that. A far too soft pillow supported his head so that it was almost invisible. He wasn't wearing the clothes he'd been wearing when they'd left Celes either. He was in some kind of long white t-shirt and black pants, barefooted so his toes were cold. Then heavy leather straps were slung over and around his body, tying down his arms, legs and torso.

Kurogane struggled to get free, thrashing about as a circle of figures surrounded him. "Give him some more," the voice from before said. Kurogane glared at the person, unable to see with the florescent veil.

"Who the hell are you people?" He growled before he felt a sharp prick over his left shoulder. His eyes went wide a moment as his body begun to tingle. Right away he started going numb, every muscle in his body relaxing and melting into the bed.

"That should do it," another person said beside him. Probably the one with the syringe. They went on talking for a while, exchanging pity looks at him before talking some more. Kurogane couldn't understand what they were saying though, too drugged up to pay much attention. His head rolled to the side and he begun to stare off into nothing.

Where was he? How'd he get there? The people around him seemed familiar though he didn't recognize their faces. He didn't recognize anything for that matter. A web of questions begun to spin in his head as he thought about the others, his sword and his clothes for that matter. Then…

His arm.

The same one he'd cut off back in Celes. He tried to flex it but his body was still numb. Even so, he managed to make a finger twitch and he knew it was real.

"Where…?" He asked no one when he drew enough breath to form a word.

"You're in the hospital," the voice from before said. He couldn't tell which one or where they were. "You're safe now mister Suwa."

Safe?

He highly doubted that.

"Does Kurogane want to share anymore for today?" The woman asked when she looked up from the clipboard. That was the one of the things he absolutely hated about this place. So far he'd noticed everyone liked to talk in the third person. As if it'd make him feel less 'insane' as they put it.

"No," he said right away, narrowing his eyes and staring at the floor as another person started talking. Everyone in this place had problems with their brain. They called it a mental hospital for the criminally insane. Criminally? What did that even mean? Half the people here were just flat out crazy; and then there were others like himself who were probably just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"Where am I?" Kurogane asked, sitting up and rubbing his wrists where they'd been raw from being tied down. They'd held him there for an hour until feeling started coming back and they let him go. Now it was just him and some other lady. She had a clipboard and seemed to be taking notes on him. It was only kind of creepy.

"We already told you," the woman said as she wrote a few things down. "You've been in Clow Reed's hospital for over six months now. You don't have any memory of before now?"

"No," he growled angrily. "Not of this place. I already told you. I'm traveling with a group through dimensions and I must have gotten separated when we landed on this one."

"Yes…" The woman said doubtfully, writing more things down. "And where are your friends now?"

"I told you," Kurogane said glaring at her in annoyance, "I don't know. We got separated."

"Shouldn't they come looking for you then?" She asked raising an eyebrow. When she noticed he was glaring at her she shook her head and moved on. "Where do you come from then? Celes, you said?"

"No," Kurogane shook his head some more, "I come from Japan. Celes was the last world we were in. I cut off my arm to get out of there and ended up here."

"You cut off your arm?" She asked looking at the appendages, "which one and why?"

"I cut off my left arm to get out of that world and come here," Kurogane said again in annoyance.

"And where were you before this?"

Kurogane made a frustrated noise. They'd been like this the whole time. She'd ask something, he'd answer. She'd ask something else, he'd answer. Then she'd ask the same thing from before, he'd answer the same and it just kept going. A vicious circle of mass confusion and headaches.

"I just need to leave," he said standing up. "Give me my things and I'll be on my way."

"On your way where?" The woman asked, not moving from her chair on the other end of the room and she continued to write things down.

"To find the others. They can't be far away if I can understand what you're saying."

"And…what does that mean exactly?" She asked calmly.

He didn't bother to answer. Instead he stomped over to the door, reaching for the handle and yanking on it. It didn't budge. "You locked the door?" Kurogane asked, annoyed once more as he looked at the woman.

"You're not allowed out of your room unless it's time for recreation or group. Neither of which are going on right now, so you'll take your seat again and continue speaking." Was she ordering him around? When he didn't move, she stood up and stuffed a hand in her pocket. "I see we're done for today."

"I'll get out you know," Kurogane said narrowing his eyes.

She ignored him as she took out her key and slipped out the door.

Four days had been like that. He'd figured out the dynamics of the place by now, but still didn't like it. They had him locked in his room most of the time, and then certain days for certain hours he would do other things. Recreational time meant him and the other 'crazies' would go outside and spend time playing games and what not.

Group was the time when they all gathered around and shared their problems. He hated that most of all because it was really just a bunch of people complaining about their lives. They were nothing short of pathetic in Kurogane's opinion.

Food was brought to the room in periods of two hours. Breakfast at seven sharp, then a snack two hours later, lunch two hours after that, another snack, dinner, lighter snack then bed. It wouldn't have been so bad if most of the food wasn't made of cardboard.

He had to ring a bell on the outside of his door in order to get the assistances to come and take him anywhere. The bathroom, the meetings, ect. Then other times, they'd come to him and demand things of him without his consent. So far, he'd gone along with it all, trying to find his way of escape.

Nothing yet.

No sign of the others either. Kurogane wondered if they weren't locked up somewhere deep in the hospital, studied like lab rats. He felt like he was most of the time.

He wasn't use to being watched all the time. Kurogane was always escorted in the hallways, with constant guards on patrol in case he decided to run. There were cameras that were guided by motion sensors so they caught every move he made. If he even breathed wrong, they'd all know about it.

The escorts were leading him down the hall, now that he was done with group time, and going back to his room. They hadn't said any real words, just would grunt something now and again.

There was a fork in the hallway, going to the right would take you to the dorm rooms (holding tanks were more like it) and the left would take you to the offices. As Kurogane turned for the right, one of the grunts grabbed hold of him and motioned him the other way. "You're seeing the shrink today," he said sternly.

"Shrink?" Kurogane asked, somewhat annoyed at the tone the grunt had used. How was he suppose to know that?

"Yeah, she wants to see you," the second grunt said with a quick nod of the head as they took Kurogane down another hall. There were lots of rooms in the building, Kurogane decided, and most of them contained crazy people. The rooms were white, everything was white here; with a hard counter-top bed, barred off window and some rooms even had padding lining the walls.

The offices, however, seemed almost normal. Most of the doors were open and inside was color and accessories Kurogane didn't even think existed on this world. A few of the workers looked up as they passed before going back to typing or writing things down. Always busy.

At the end of the hall was another fork and when they lead him to the left they stopped in front of a black door.

"It's black," Kurogane said dumbly.

"Yeah," the first grunt said before knocking. There was a long pause.

"Come in," a calm voice said from inside. When the grunts pushed open the door, Kurogane expected to see a huge desk, a bunch of ink blot pictures hanging on the wall and couch for him to lay back on and 'talk about his feelings'. He'd seen things like this in the past.

Instead, it was a dark room that was only candlelit, which meant the air was filled with smoke trails. There were decorations on the walls, but not ink blots. Abstract artwork either way, but these ones were full of bright colors that didn't fit in the black room. There was a desk but it was off to the side and seemed to be far out of use. There wasn't a couch either, just a bunch of pillows scattered on the floor, and a familiar woman laying down somewhere in the middle.

"Your files say you claim to be called Kurogane? Is that correct?" She said taking the drag out of her mouth. He wasn't sure if the woman he knew smoked or not, but this one did.

"Time witch," Kurogane said in half awe, ignoring her question. The role was fitting for her, he thought, as he carefully walked over and took a seat.

"No need for names," she said blowing a puff of smoke in his direction as the door was shut. "Because I'm sure I could think of a few good ones for you." Kurogane narrowed his eyes a bit and she sat up, "I am Yuko Ichihara. The psychologist here at the hospital. Sorry it's taken so long to speak with you."

"I'm not crazy," Kurogane said right away.

"I didn't say you were," she said with a faint shrug before blowing another puff out of her mouth. "Why? Do you think you're crazy?"

"No, but everyone else here seems to think so," Kurogane replied. Yuko smiled as she reached over to an ashtray and smashed the smoke.

"Crazy is a bad word here," she said leaning back against a large pillow. "I like to say the patients here all have an interesting way of seeing the world and its laws. Like you, Kurogane. You claim to come from many different worlds."

"I do," Kurogane said bitterly. "You were the one who-"

"I have never done anything," she said just as calmly as before. "In fact, until today, I've never even met you. I meant to see you when you were first admitted but things happened and I had to pass. My point is, you and I have never met."

"Yes we have," Kurogane said stubbornly, "Princess Tomoyo sent me to your shop in another Japan and then you gave me and the others the ability to travel other worlds."

"Princess Tomoyo? Another Japan? Ability to travel other world?" She chuckled, "you truly are a fascinating one. I've seen many psych patients who claim to travel through time and such, but you are the first who has had enough courage to speak with pride."

"What's that suppose to mean?" Kurogane said clenching his hand into a fist.

"It means," she said leaning in closer to him, "while most of the others look mad and wild with insanity," a smile tugged on her lips, "you speak with such certainty it's almost as if you're telling the truth."

"That's because I am," Kurogane said narrowing his eyes at her.

"Yes," she said, pulling away from him once more. "The paperwork mentioned you had acute amnesia. Is it true you can't remember your life up until the last four days?"

"I remember everything just fine," he said shaking his head. "I remember leaving Celes and waking up here."

"But you don't remember every being here before?" Yuko asked as she stood up and made her way to the desk.

"No," Kurogane said watching her out of the corner of his eye. "I've never been here before."

"Interesting," she said reaching up and under the desk, finding a slot where the drawer hid. She pulled it open and took out a green colored folder. "You don't have any memories of being here, but you don't have memories of anything else either."

"What are you talking about?" Kurogane frowned, turning to face her. "I just told you, I remember being in Celes and waking up here."

"Yes, I know you said that," she said narrowing her eyes at him. "I'm wondering, though, if you're sure that wasn't just another dream. Can you remember anything else besides 'Celes'?"

"I-" Kurogane started then paused, staring back at her with confusion. He couldn't remember anything up until then. The other worlds… Everything seemed blurred to him. Even the last world was starting to feel distant. "What'd you do to me?" He demanded angrily.

"Yes, I thought so." She just smiled in return.