Consciousness. Sweet consciousness. It came back to him like a flood. He was suddenly aware, awake. Unfortunately, with it came the pain in his face. He gasped, and he heard a noise right after. The air became still again. Slowly, with caution on his mind, he opened his eyes.
The first thing he saw was the ceiling. Plain, gunmetal grey. Thoroughly unremarkable to the point where it was almost remarkable. He tried to turn his body, but found he couldn't. That's when he felt the restraints on his wrists and ankles, holding him down. That's when he felt the cold metal underneath him, and when he realised he was naked from the waist up. He struggled briefly, before realising it was no use. These weren't normal restraints (he wasn't sure how he knew that), he wasn't going anywhere. He also felt sluggish, and tired….
"Having fun?" He turned his head around to look at where the voice had come from. His eyes met upon a strange sight. From the neck down, it looked to be an ordinary doctor or scientist, with a white lab coat and surgical gloves. Its head however, was masked by a black gas mask, which was intimidating to say the least. It looked like it was a man, but he couldn't be sure. Two black discs that he hoped eyes were behind stared at him. The man didn't know why, but it made him very, very afraid. He realised though, that wasn't where the voice had come from. The only noise coming from the thing in the lab coat was the sound of low breaths, amplified by the mask. He turned his head the other way, and looked upon a man resting in a chair, a smirk on his face.
Seeing the man brought a flood of images to his mind, which caused him to almost gasp at the shock of so much information running through his brain. He couldn't grasp it though, and just like that, the images were gone, leaving him as clueless as before. There was something inherently familiar about the man, and his long, spiky blond hair and glowing blue eyes, but there was also something very unfamiliar and strange about him. He wasn't sure what to think. The man seemed to notice this. He broke out into a broad grin, stood up, and moved towards him slowly.
"You must be…confused," said the man, seeming to savour every word, his voice deep and luxurious like melted chocolate. "I don't blame you. A lot has happened. I'm going to ask you a serious of questions. Do you mind answering them?" He felt like he didn't have a choice in the matter, so nodded stiffly from his prone position. "Good. Tell me. What is your name?" The man seemed to smile wider at this. He suddenly realised that, despite it sounding an easy question, there was no answer in his brain. He felt like there should be, but there was a hole where the answer seemed to have been.
"…I don't know." He answered, in a deepish voice himself, which surprised him. The man seemed to notice this, and gave a throaty chuckle.
"I expected as much, I expected as much…" he seemed to murmur to himself, turning away slightly, before focusing on him again. "Now, tell me. Do you know my name?" Again, he felt like he should have the answer, but failed to grasp it out of his mind. He shook his head solemnly. "That's okay…my name is Matt Revel. I am pleased to meet you. I would shake your hand but…well…for your own protection you see. We didn't know what you would do when you woke." The man gave a gesture, there was some scuffling, and he saw the scientist…doctor…masked thing…whatever it was…leave the room through a door he hadn't noticed before, on the other side of the room, where his legs were pointing. He took the time to survey the room. He was lying on a plain metal table; that much he had figured. Otherwise, the room was spacious and boring, except for a couple of things. One was a large, steel chest where the masked thing had been, with many compartments. The only other notable thing was to his left, where there was a stand holding a bag of fluid, out of which a tube came out and went into his left arm by the restraint. He suddenly had a thought as to why he felt so sluggish.
Drugs?
The man seemed to follow his eyeline, and frowned. "More precautions I'm afraid."
"Precautions?" He managed to spit out. "Why?"
"…you're a remarkable individual in so many ways." Revel stated, not meeting his gaze. "I will explain all in time. However, I must ask you. Do you remember anything?"
He shook his head. "fragments. I don't know what they mean…do you know why I cannot remember?"
"I have my theories. When we found you, you had just emerged from a lake of mako connected directly to the lifestream. Few survive that without severe poisoning. The drugs in your system...we thought when you woke, it may have affected your mind…adversely, should we say. It was for your own protection. But the mako exposure may be what damaged your memory."
"Wait," he said, cutting Revel off, "you found me? How?"
"Well…" the question had clearly caught the man off guard, but he almost instantly regained his smooth demeanour, "…that lake lay at the bottom of the disused mako reactor in Nibelheim. It's been abandoned for several years. My colleagues and I though installed security cameras when it was, though, for security reasons, to make sure no one was sneaking about where they shouldn't. That's how we found you."
Something in the man's testimony seemed off to him, but he couldn't figure out why. He made a note to investigate further later.
"Anyway," the man said, breaking a small silence, "I'm sure you have many questions, and I have more too, but you should rest. We still have to run some tests on you to see if your body is truly fine. I'd like to see if we can do anything to restore your memory too, of course."
"Is it possible I could have somewhere more comfortable to rest?" This caused Revel to chuckle, and grin widely.
"Of course! Here," he seemed to push a button on the wall behind him, and he felt the restraints on his wrists and ankles come free. He slowly sat himself up, feeling slightly nauseous as he did, and slowly removed the IV from his arm with a grimace. He swung his feet over the edge of the table, and tried to stand. He wobbled slightly at first, but then righted himself, to what seemed like a small sound of approval from Revel. The man then made a notion to follow him, and then walked out of the door.
He followed him out of the door, finding himself in a plain, steel walled corridor. There were no windows, just a long expanse of grey. As he followed the blonde Revel down the corridor, he noticed that they passed several doors, all just different slabs of metal with a handle, no label or window on the front. Sometimes, as they walked in silence, he thought he could hear strange noises coming from behind the doors. He resolved to ask about it later.
Eventually, they turned a corner and came to some stairs, climbing them for a minute, then entering another corridor. This one was nicer, and smaller, with actual wallpaper and carpet floors. Revel went left for a minute, before coming to a plain wooden door and opening it. As he followed him into the room, he saw what looked like a comfortable bed, and chest of drawers with a lamp on it. There was a cupboard on one wall, and a door that looked like it led to a bathroom. It was a nice room, but he noticed that there was another odd thing about it: there was no window.
"There are some clothes in the cupboard, and we'll bring you some food if you get hungry. I advise you sleep for now though. Some of the physical tests we'll need to run will be rigorous!" Revel smiled, before he turned to leave.
"Wait!" He called, as Revel was almost out the door. "…do you have any idea what my name is?"
This seemed to give the other man pause as he stood there, before he shook his head. "No. No, I can't say I do. But we'll try and work to find out. I promise."
With that, he left, shutting the door behind him, leaving the man standing in the middle of what seemed to be his new home for now, thoroughly confused about everything, and what on earth was happening…and who on earth he was.