At long last, it has arrived—the beginning to Alister's story arc.

A big thank you goes to Alister's Girlfriend for giving me an initial plot bunny to work with. I was trying to figure out what I could do with Alister when she gave me a suggestion (if I say what it was, I'll spoil it). I was pondering and puzzling on that when I left on vacation, and then last week a plot bunny poked its head out from its burrow and gave me this.

On another note, continue to vote on my poll please. Your input is as valuable as silver, and reviews are worth more than gold :D


His head hurt.

Ultimately, that was what woke him up; the throbbing of his skull was in time to the rhythm of his heartbeat, and it was painful enough to pull him out from the shadowy recesses of his mind. Before that point, though, he had been sleeping dreamlessly, so the transition from sleep to reality was slow and sluggish.

As he woke up more he determined that something was distinctly off about his surroundings, because his bedroom at home certainly didn't smell like rubbing alcohol and didn't beep constantly. Come to think of it, why did his arm hurt so badly? It felt heavy and when he tried to lift it up a distinct fiery spike of pain traveled up from his wrist; it hurt almost as badly as his head, which felt like someone had weighed it down with concrete and then driven a hammer through it.

Something had happened to him, that much was obvious…but what had happened to cause pain like this? Was whatever had happened serious? Was he in a hospital? Maybe he had crashed his motorcycle and had broken his wrist or something like that. He wouldn't be surprised if it had happened—it was rare for anyone who owned a motorcycle to not get in a wreck.

He thought he could hear someone talking, though they sounded like they were from a distance. He was grateful for the muted tones of their voice, whoever they were; they must have realized that he had an awful headache, and he was pleased that their words did little to worsen the pain in his skull.

He could not physically frown at that moment (it hurt his head too much), but that didn't stop him from feeling puzzled when he realized that he could not hear either of his friends talking; there was no gruff but concerned voice asking questions or an Australian accented voice muttering about careless behavior to mask his own concern. If he had been in an accident, shouldn't they both be nearby? It was not like them to ignore him if he had gotten hurt.

Then again, if they didn't know that he had been in an accident then it would be silly to assume too early that they had run into a spot of trouble and weren't coming. Since it would most likely hurt to open his eyes, he kept them closed and listened to the murmur of the voices around him. He determined he was in a hospital of sorts, since he could hear hissing noises and similar beeps coming from all sides.

As he listened to the two voices nearest him, he figured out that one of them was a woman (most likely a nurse) and the other was a young boy; the child sounded oddly familiar, as if he had heard that voice before. Perhaps it was Mokuba…but no, it couldn't be. Why would Kaiba's brother be here, unless he had been involved somehow?

He deciphered that the conversation was not pertaining to him in the slightest, since it sounded as if the questions were being directed at the boy concerning his health. He disengaged himself from the conversation and was actually about to drift off to sleep again when a woman's voice said, "You and your brother were lucky enough to survive such an awful experience. I heard about that tank explosion earlier from one of my colleagues, and I'm just thankful that you boys weren't hurt worse."

Immediately, all drowsiness fled and warning bells began to go off in his mind.

What tank? What explosion? What on earth had he gotten himself into? What was a tank doing in Domino City? For that matter, what did this woman mean by "brother?" The only brother he had was dead and had been for nine years.

The questions were more than enough motivation for him to open his eyes and to figure out what on earth was going on. Of course, he opened them too quickly in his alarm and the blinding white light of the hospital was more than enough to make his already aching head throb worse. He let out an inadvertent groan and closed his eyes again, mustering up the energy to open them again.

It was just disorientation, that was all. He had misheard things and there was probably someone near him who the nurse was talking to. But still, he would feel much better if he got a look around at his surroundings…just to be sure…

"Alister? Are you waking up?"

A child's hopeful voice, so achingly familiar and yet so far away…he knew that voice, it was too familiar to not remember…there was only one person in the world who had that voice…

"Please wake up, big brother."

And that person was dead.

The earlier alarm Alister had felt returned in full force, and his eyes snapped open. He sat bolt upright, ignoring the way his head was now pounding from the movement and from the abrupt exposure from the light as he looked around at his surroundings wildly.

A small boy was seated near the bed, his gray eyes widened in comical alarm. His copper colored hair was ruffled and unkempt, but it was recognizable—as was the child.

Even as Alister watched, the boy's alarmed expression vanished to be replaced with a relieved one. "You're awake!" he cried, shooting out of the chair and leaping up onto the bed to hug him. "I was so worried you weren't going to wake up!"

The alarm was replaced with numb disbelief, and it was more out of reflex that he returned the hug. "M-Miruko…?" Alister asked uncertainly, noting with surprise that he didn't recognize the voice who had spoken. Certainly, it didn't sound like his normal tone…it almost sounded as if he had gotten younger…

Miruko beamed up at him, grinning widely. "Yup! You were sleeping for a long time, 'cause you got hurt. But now you're fine and awake again!" he said cheerfully, and in spite of his confusion Alister had to smile.

Dream or not, Miruko was more than welcome here.

"The nurse told me to go get her if you woke up, so she could make sure you were really okay," the boy continued, sliding off the bed and looking reluctant to leave.

Alister thought about it. Perhaps the nurse could answer a few of his questions and help him puzzle out what was going on. "Go ahead and get her, Miruko. I'll be here when you get back."

Miruko's eyes lit up and his head bobbed enthusiastically. "Okay!"

He watched his brother bounce away down the aisle, noting that his bed wasn't the only one in here; it seemed like there were others, hidden by curtains. He decided that it wouldn't hurt to try and figure out what was going on around here until the nurse came, so he looked around at his surroundings.

He was in a hospital, Alister was certain of that much, but beyond that he was not sure about much else and he…wait a minute.

His wandering gaze locked onto a bed across from him, taking in the sight of a wounded man laying there. It was no one he knew, but that wasn't what had made Alister look.

What had caught his attention was the military helmet perched on the bedpost at the end of the bed.

Alister looked around at his surroundings uneasily, and suddenly he realized that this was a temporary hospital, nothing like the ones he'd been in recently. In fact, if he didn't know better Alister would say that he was in one of the field hospitals that had been set up in his hometown during the war.

He blinked in puzzlement when he realized that someone was looking at him and Alister turned his head to meet their gaze.

A boy of about twelve stared at him, his unruly red hair framing his face. A pair of startled gray eyes peered out from beneath the bandages wrapped around his head and through his hair. He wore a faded teal shirt, and Alister could see the bandages wrapped on the boy's arm; they were stained a pink color, probably from a cut of some kind.

Abruptly, his breath caught.

He was looking in a mirror. The boy staring back at him was Alister himself.

This was a dream, it had to be one. There was no way that this was real. He knew that, and yet the sharp smell of the rubbing alcohol was real, the pain in his arm and head was real, the weight from Miruko's body on the bed had been real, and Miruko's hug had been real.

But then what about his friends? Had everything that had happened…had it all been a dream? It could not be, it was all too vivid—

Even as he thought about it though, he found with renewed alarm that he could not remember what either of them looked like, let alone their names. He barely could remember anything pertaining to them, in fact, and he could not recall the organization that he had spent most of his life working at.

How had he gotten hurt then? He tried to remember…he'd initially thought something about a motorcycle and something about a domino, but even those thoughts were faded and blurred…as if he'd been dreaming the whole time.

"Are you all right, honey?" asked a woman's voice, and Alister looked up in time to see a dark haired woman cross the room to his bed, a concerned expression in her blue eyes. He realized that it was the same nurse that had been talking earlier. Miruko was behind her, his own gray eyes were concerned as well as they looked at Alister.

The redhead stared at the friendly looking nurse with a dazed and confused expression on his face. There were so many emotions churning in his mind right now, so many questions plaguing his thoughts, that it physically hurt him, and now he was just so...so…

The words slipped from his mouth before Alister could stop them. "I'm lost."