"D-do you think he will live?"

"With wounds like that? I highly doubt it. No human can survive with these cuts all over their chest!"

"But he's breathing, i-isn't he?"

"Just because he is breathing doesn't mean he will make it. And honestly, Christine, stop shaking! If you cannot handle this sight of blood, then you shouldn't be here!"

Voice, never ceasing voices echoing over and over again in my ears. My whole body was in pain, to the point where I could barely feel a thing. Where am I, who are these people that are talking? Why am I hurting like this? I try to open my eyes, but it takes much effort. I tried to see my surroundings, but everything is incredibly blurry and out of focus. From what I could tell, I was in a room, laying on some kind of bed with two women beside me.

"Martha!" one of them exclaimed, her voice high pitch. "H-he's awake!"

"Yes, I can see that," the other woman snapped. "Now, keep your voice down. You're only going to alarm him."

She put her hand over my forehead, and though I couldn't see her clearly, I could tell she was looking down at me.

"It is alright, sir," the woman, Martha, said, her voice gentler than it was before. "You are safe now. We are just tending to your wounds now."

I blinked.

"...What's going on?" I asked, my voice hoarse. "Where am I?"

"Should I get him some water?" the second woman, Christine asked. "Martha, do you think-"

"Christine, get a hold of yourself!"

Martha turned to her.

"Go to the kitchen if you must, but let Daniel, Simon, or Jasper bring it. It is obvious you cannot handle it."

"N-no, I'm alright! And I can handle it! I'll be right back, I promise!"

From the corner of my eye, I saw Christine's blurry figure run off. Martha sighed.

"Stupid girl. Sweet, but too naïve."

She then grabbed something from what I guess was a nearby table and started to place it upon my bare chest. It felt cold, me shivering at its touch.

"I hope you can forgive me for tending to you while you were unconscious," Martha said softly. "When our lady found you gravely wounded just outside the manor, she immediately ordered that you were to be taken care of. I don't know what happened to you, but you are lucky to be alive."

"I...thank you," I said, too confused to say anything else. "How long have I've been out?"

"Hard to say, but from what I can tell, these wounds are fresh. We've only just recently found you."

Martha paused.

"Though, I will admit the cuts in your skin are unusual. Must have been a special type of blade, for I haven't seen anything like it."

After putting...whatever it was on my wounds, she then reached over to the table again and picked something up.

"I did all I could to prevent the bleeding and I stitched your wounds up to the best of my abilities," Martha told me. "You also received some head injuries, and I'm afraid all I could do was put a bandage over it and hope for the best."

She looked at me.

"How are you feeling, sir?"

"I...I don't know."

It was hard to answer, as the pain in my body was very distracting and made it very hard to think.

"But thanks for all you have done, I guess."

"You are welcome, sir."

She then picked something up from the table again. I couldn't tell what it was, but I knew it was something red.

"Since you are awake, I assume you will want your spectacles back," Martha said.

She studied them for a moment.

"Strange pair, but then again you look a little strange yourself. Aside from my lady, I've never seen a person with hair as red and as long as yours."

She handed me the spectacles, which I took hesitantly. I studied them for a second, bring them close to my face so I could see the thick red frame and the skull like silver chain that hung from them. They were strange, though I couldn't remember ever wearing them. I put them on, and immediately, my vision cleared up.

It was like a night and day difference, nothing blurry and I could see everything perfectly. I was indeed in a bedroom, the whole room white and mostly empty. I laid on top of a bed, two chairs at the bedside. The chair on my right was empty while the one on my left sat an elderly woman with curly white hair in a maid's uniform. Martha smiled, her faded blue eyes having a wise, experience glow to them.

"I bet that is better for you."

At that moment, another maid with a water glass came rushing into the room. Unlike Martha, she looked incredibly young with long black hair, big brown eyes, and a thin figure.

"Here is the water for our guest," Christine said with heavy breaths of air. "I tried to get here as fast as I could without spilling the water and I-"

She cut herself off as she noticed that I was staring at her. Christine blushed.

"Oh! You must have been waiting for me to return..."

She quickly rushed to my side, offering me the water.

"I-I hope you didn't have to wait too long, sir..."

"...It's fine."

I grabbed the glass and took in large gulps of water, it feeling good down my rough, dry throat. I handed it back to her.

"Thank you."

Christine's eyes widened, nodding her head respectfully as she backed away. Martha rolled her eyes.

"Christine, will you please tell Lady Edna that our guest is awake and doing well. I'm sure she will want to see him."

Christine nodded.

"Yes, Martha!"

She then left the room.

"I apologize for her clumsy, nervous nature, sir," Martha said with a small sigh. "She is new to the manor and has only been here a week. She is going to be the new maid, for I will be retiring soon."

She smiled.

"How rude of me to have yet introduce myself to you. My name is Martha Alcock, maid to Lady Edna Redwood. The girl is Christine Doyle, who, like I mentioned, is in training to be a maid. And what would your name be?"

I smiled slightly.

"Nice to meet you. I'm..."

I cut myself off. I blinked.

No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't say what my name was. I couldn't remember what it was! My heart beat grew faster. I tried to recall something, anything, about myself. My name, who I am, how I came to be injured... Nothing, all a giant black blank.

Black...such a dull color.

The panic I felt must have shown on my face, because Martha gave me a worried look.

"You don't remember, do you?" she asked.

I gave a small nod. Martha sat back in her chair.

"Oh dear...it must be from the head injuries. I'm so sorry, sir."

I looked down at my bare chest, seeing all the bandages that covered it.

"It...isn't your fault. I'm lucky to be alive."

There was a small silence.

"...I'm sure Lady Edna will want to see you as soon as your able," Martha finally said, standing up from her chair. "I shall leave you to dress. Stay in the room until myself or Christine comes in to check on you. Are you comfortable with that?"

I nodded. "Yes, thank you."

Martha smiled in reply. She then left the room, closing the door behind her and leaving me all alone.

A feeling of dread fell over me as I let out a heavy sigh. I had no idea what to do, I had no memory beyond waking up in this room and who knows what was going to happen next. This Lady Edna...what would she do with me now that I'm well? Or...mostly well, as I still felt very fragile and that I could bleed out any second. Though, I should probably thank her for bringing me to her home, as I would most likely be dead now if it wasn't for her.

I carefully got myself out of the bed, my head banging with pain and my chest aching as I moved. On the floor, I could see a torn up and bloody brown vest and white shirt thrown together, along with a torn, yet still intact long red coat. I guess they were my clothes. I stood up, though I quickly lost my balance with the high heels I was wearing. I frowned, seeing how ridiculous in height they were. I took them off, finding it easier to stand as I reached down for the coat. I didn't see any other shirts I could use that weren't destroyed, so this coat would have to do.

I slowly put it on, feeling a strange sense of security feeling its fabric against my skin. My heart also began to beat faster for some reason, but I could not understand why. Closing the buttons, it was the best I could do to cover my chest. Seeing a small dresser and mirror, I approached it, curious to see how badly I looked. And...what I looked like, as I couldn't even remember that. I stared at myself, taking in every detail of my face and figure.

I looked terrible, my face extremely pale and bruised up, my long red hair all tangled and wild, and my yellow-green eyes dull from the pain I've been feeling. I had a large bandage across my forehead, parts of the bandage damp and red from where the wounds had been. I sighed, knowing that I've must have looked much worse before Martha fixed me up.

Suddenly, I heard a knock at the door, it catching me off guard. I tensed up, expecting someone to come in. When no one did, I then realized that they were waiting for me to let them in.

"Uh...come in."

The door knob turned, and a woman stepped in. Only it wasn't Martha or Christine, in fact she didn't even look like a maid.

She was a tall woman, wearing an aristocratic gray and white dress and having an elegant posture to her. She was very beautiful, but what I found myself staring at the most was her hair. Her long, waist length, bright red hair, hair as bright and thick as blood. I didn't know why, but just seeing that bright red color made my heart skip a beat. And it also...had a strange nostalgia to it, hair red like that.

The woman, who must be Lady Edna, studied me with her dark eyes.

"I take it you are feeling better, sir," she said. "I hope your wounds are not too serious."

It took a moment for me to reply.

"I...don't think they are too bad," I finally said, trying to stop myself from staring. "I will recover, I know that much."

Lady Edna smiled.

"Good, I am pleased to hear that. You had me quite worried when I found you. I was afraid that I was going to have a dead body on me."

She stepped closer to me.

"Martha told me that you couldn't remember anything about yourself. Is this true?"

I nodded.

"I'm afraid so. I'm sorry if I caused any trouble for you, but I thank you for helping me."

"It is no trouble. You were hurt and something had to be done."

Lady Edna paused for a moment.

"...Since you don't know who you are, I cannot allow you to just leave my manor with nowhere to go, especially in the state you are in. You are free to stay here at least until you have recovered, and perhaps in that time your memory will return."

I hesitated to reply, for I kept having my mind drift on me. This woman...she reminded me so much of someone, and it frustrated me that I couldn't figure out who.

"...And what happens if my memory never returns?" I asked, speaking out before I could think about what I was saying. "What then?"

Lady Edna took a moment before replying.

"...I don't know. Suppose that would be up to you. However, if you are willing, you could always stay and become my butler, as I'm always looking for new servants and Daniel can have the extra help."

A butler...

"...I can accept that. Thank you, Lady Redwood, I believe your maid said your name was."

Lady Edna smiled, though I could see some irritation in her gaze.

"Just call me Lady Edna," she said politely. "I hate over the top formalities, especially with my own servants."

She studied me again.

"But I will have to call you something as well. Is there any name you can remember?"

I was silent, thinking long and hard to see if any name came to mind. And unfortunately, just like everything else, nothing did, only a black, dull, empty void.

"...I'm sorry, I just can't give you any name..."

God, this was frustrating!

"...I see," Lady Edna said. "Then I'll just give you a temporary one until we find out what it is."

She tilted her head, her eyes meeting mine as she thought. I was uncomfortable with the intense look in her eyes, it just made my heart accelerate even more. Oh how pretty she would look if she had a red dress on instead of gray...

"Hmm...how about Sebastian?" Lady Edna finally asked. "Would that be an okay name?"

My eyes widened.

"'Sebastian?' Why 'Sebastian?'"

Lady Edna shrugged her shoulders.

"You just look like a Sebastian to me. Of course, you don't have to use it if you don't like it."

I shook my head.

"No, it's fine., It's just..."

Just what? Why did the name Sebastian bother me so much? I was going to go mad with all these questions that I had few answers for!

I tried to hide my irritation with a smile, as I could see the concern look Lady Edna was giving me.

"...Sebastian will do. I guess I don't like it because I can sense it isn't my real name."

Lady Edna nodded.

"I understand. And let's hope it will return soon."

She made her way to the door.

"I'll have my butler, Daniel come here shortly to bring you some fresh clothes. If you are up to it, he can show you around the manor or get you something to eat. If you wish to see me, I will be at my study or get one of my servants to bring me to you."

She smiled.

"It was a pleasure meeting you, Sebastian."

And with that, she left.