A/N: Here comes another chapter! The truth begins to unravel here!

But first, I'm going to reply to chloemcg's reply (since your PM feature is disabled)

Thank you! I don't know why you didn't see it earlier, but I love that you like it so much! And I'm glad Star came as a surprise. That's what I was going for, hehe. And that… is actually a very good theory that I wish I had thought of before I got this far. But I've already built up the plot I do have planned too much to change it now… oh well!

Now, onward to the chapter!

…

Chapter Fourteen – 7 Months Ago: New Beginnings

Astrapi

Beep-beep. Beep-beep. Beep-beep.

"…Still out…"

"…years…"

"…wake up…"

Sound slowly filtered into my consciousness. An annoying beeping. A soft shuffle. Papers? Quiet voices talking.

My body felt heavy, like my blood had been replaced with stone. My head was foggy. Where was I?

'Crunch...

"Get him down from there!"

"Guys what's going on?"

"No, Zeus, don't mo-!"

CRUNCH

"NO!"'

What was that? Those voice and noises were different from the others… like a memory or something.

Huh?

I moaned softly, turning my head slightly. The voices stopped.

"Mr. Tyr?"

Who?

I cracked my eyes open slightly, before closing them quickly against the blinding light. Another pained moan escaped from me.

"Doctor, he's waking up! Mr. Tyr, can you hear me?"

That's not my name…

I blinked open my eyes again, and two unfamiliar faces swam into view against a bright light. A man and a woman. Both wore half-awed, half-relieved expressions.

"Mr. Tyr… this is amazing! You've been in a twenty-three year long coma!" the woman said, her face breaking into a huge smile.

Coma…? Twenty-three years…?

"Nurse, careful. We don't want to over stimulate him. After all, Mr. Tyr won't have any memories," the man said.

I'm not this Tyr guy! I remember… remember… Thalassa! Apollo! What happened!? Why am I here? Where are they?

I worked my jaw slightly, but my voice wouldn't come.

"Ah. Right doctor," the nurse said, looking abashed.

"Now, Mr. Tyr," the man turned back to me. "We didn't think you'd ever wake up," the doctor informed me.

What…?

"You wouldn't remember, but someone broke into your house. You tried to stop him, but… he shot you in the head. It hit the part of your brain that handles long term memory, so you won't remember anything at all," the doctor explained.

Break in? Shot? No, I was doing a show. Something happened… something was wrong… I'm not Tyr! Why can't I talk? Why can't I tell them? I'm not Tyr!

I'm Zeus Justice!

"Doctor… why isn't he talking?" the nurse asked. The doctor frowned slightly, seeming unsure.

"Let's take him in for an MRI. There' could be more damage to his brain then we are aware of," he said.

"That makes sense," the nurse said, looking down at a clipboard. "After all, it says here that the last time he got a brain scan was twenty-two years ago."

"Okay, we'll just take the bed. We're not sure if his brain is up to working his heart and lungs yet, so we need to take those machines too."

…

According to my scans, my brain had healed itself, so I can retain long term memories again. I couldn't talk yet because my brain was still booting up, like a very old computer. It wasn't just talking, but also fine motor movement, walking, and even breathing on my own. I felt like screaming. Everyone was convinced that I was a man named Astrapi Tyr.

I learned that Astrapi Tyr had went into a coma after being shot in the head during a botched home robbery, and that his wife and son had died that same night.

I also learned that it had been twenty-three years since Zeus Justice went into a coma after a tragic accident during one of his shows, and that his wife had signed off on them pulling the plug.

Twenty-three years.

I didn't blame Thalassa. I knew she did what she thought best for Apollo, and frankly, I couldn't blame her.

But they pulled the plug on the wrong person.

My brain finished 'booting up' about a week and a half after I woke up, and I decided to keep the name and persona of Astrapi Tyr. Who knew what was going on with Thalassa or Apollo now.

I then had to undergo about six months of physical therapy. Doing nothing but laying in a bed for twenty-three years meant that I had a horrible case of muscle atrophy. As in, almost no muscle mass at all. Walking was impossible at first. Slowly, but surely though, I worked on walking, then running, until I had a full range of movement again.

I woke up in April. It was currently the beginning of October.

I was up and moving around the room, absently changing into the clothes a nurse bought me, a tee-shirt, gray hoodie, and pair of jeans.

I was being discharged today, though I had no idea where I would go.

As Zeus, or as Astrapi.

Just as I finished pulling my shirt on over my skinny torso (I lost so much muscle!), there was a knock on the door.

"Come in!" I called. The door opened, and a man(?) entered. He had large, poofy pink hair, a purple coat, and painted stars under his right eye.

Over all, he was the most flamboyant man I'd ever seen, with the air of a performer about him.

And I lived in Vegas for two years.

"Um, hello?" I asked.

"Hello, Mr. Tyr. I am Maximillion Galactica," he said with a flourished bow.

"Uh…"

"The doctor told me about your condition…" Galactica said, sounding a lot more serious then his greeting. I smiled wryly at him.

"You mean the amnesia."

"Yes. Which means you won't remember the job you just got, right before the robbery," he said.

"A job?" I asked.

"Yes." Max continued to tell me how Astrapi – I – was approached by a man named Russell Berry, who was starting a circus called the Berry Big Circus, and was offered a job as a Contortionist.

"I'm… a Contortionist?" I asked uncertainly. Max nodded with a smile.

"Yes. And when we read the news that you woke up, Moe, our new ringmaster, sent me along to see if you'd still be interested, sweetie," Max explained.

"'S-sweetie'!?"

"So, what do you say? Will you join our little circus family?" he asked. I sat on the bed, thinking about it.

A chance to perform in front of an audience again and a place to go.

There was just… one little issue.

"I don't know if I can do what I used to do," I said truthfully. Physical therapy didn't include body contortion.

"Well, Moe said you were so skilled because most of your body is double jointed," Max pointed out.

Astrapi too, huh?

"And we can help train you again, if you want."

"Would the ringmaster be okay with this?" I asked.

"Oh, I'm sure he's expecting it!" Max exclaimed, and I had to laugh. He was right, of course. Who wouldn't?

"Okay, Mr. Galactica. Thank you."

"You're welcome, Sweetie. Please, just call me Max."

…

Mr. Lawrence 'Moe' Curls was indeed expecting my need for training, and had already told the head acrobat, a man named Trap Ease, about it. As it turned out, though, I still had the muscle memory of contortion in what little muscle I still retained. After only a week, I was already performing for the audience.

"That was a FABULOUS show last night, sweetie!" Max said, sitting across from me at breakfast. I cringed slightly at the volume of his voice, but smiled all the same.

"Thanks, Max. I still will never understand how you fly, then disappear though," I admitted. This really bothered me, actually, considering I spent a year with the Gramaryes.

Speaking of which…

"Hi, guys!" a very bubbly voice said as the equally bubbly and blond owner of it sat next to Max.

"Hi, Regina," I greeted the animal tamer with a smile.

"Hi, my sweetie pie princess!" Max greeted his wife, kissing her cheek and proving, yet again, that he wasn't gay.

"Have you seen the news?" she asked. I shook my head.

"No, what's up?"

"Troupe Gramarye is finally getting back together!" she said excited.

I felt like I was kicked in the gut, and it was kind of hard to breath. Especially when choking on scrambled eggs.

"Really!?" Max gasped, neither of them noticing my reaction.

"Really! Apparently, it's three members, like before. Trucy, Valant, and Thalassa," Regina explained. This sent my head spinning.

Thalassa…

"Oh yeah!" Max suddenly said in recognition. "I did see something about that. Trucy revealed that even her brother, that lawyer, might come on stage. What was his name?"

"Hm… oh yeah! Apollo! Apollo Justice!"

My vision dimmed for a minute, and an image of Thalassa and Apollo flashed before my eyes, just as I'd last seen them, right before that last show.

My fists slammed against the table, and I stood suddenly, startling them both.

"When's their first show?" I demanded, looking at Regina. Her blue eyes were huge and surprised.

"Um… Three weeks from now... H-Halloween night… why?"

"Are you okay, Astrapi?" Max asked. The name bought me screeching back to reality. I wasn't Zeus Justice. I was Astrapi Tyr.

And Astrapi Tyr had no personal connection what-so-ever with Thalassa and Apollo.

But still… I still needed to see them.

"Oh, uh… I... I don't know," I sat back down, doing my best to look confused.

"I bet you used to be a fan of Troupe Gramarye," Regina said brightly. "And when you heard the name, it bought back the same excitement!"

"Maybe," I said with a weak smile. Max leaned over the table towards me with a smirk.

"I want to see how good this new Troupe Gramarye is. I plan to buy tickets tomorrow, Sweetie. Care to join me?"

Score!

"Yes, Max. Thanks."

…

A/N: So, those of you who guessed Zeus and Astrapi were one in the same, you were right! And now you know why he has that alias too!

ONTO THE NEXT CHAPTER!