Chapter 2-1: The new "Gaia".
Note: I will be constantly switching between first-person and third-person style of writing, so please bare with me
If I write in First-person (Using I), then it is, no matter what, in Axial's view.
If I write in Third-person (him, her), normally I use it to refer to something Axial can't see / isn't referring to / isn't doing and the like.
"Ugh…"
As I opened my eyes, I managed to get a good glimpse of my vision. It was very blur.
I blinked my eyes a few more times and started to focus them. Then I got a clear view of the place I was in.
It was a room… a really neat room. I was lying on a snow white bed, wearing very loose and comfortable white garment, and I was tightly tucked into the bed. Then my head hurts. Trying to touch it, I felt some bandages wrapped over my forehead. Wondering what happened, I saw the window right beside me, and took a glance out.
"What the hell?" I first thought this was a dream. It was so bright outside – it was as if I was in another place.
"Is this even Comodo?" I took as much of the town in as I could. There were buildings that were three-storey high, but were made out of stones. Trees were planted in a systematic way, and there were weird pathways with weird… things constantly running on them to its destination.
As I scrutinized every detail I manage to get, especially those weird things, I noticed that there were humans inside it! What, was it some kind of a new item that is made for our use?
I stared at the ceiling and I was attracted by the bright light. Since when were they so bright?
And then only I observed my room. The walls and the ground were made of rocks, while the ceiling was made of white wood. There were square tables beside me, and flowers on top of them – all bundled up neatly in the most beautiful vase I've ever seen.
There were papers stuck to the flowers, and it kept me thinking, "What are those?"
I laid down on the soft bed, enjoying the comfort. I held up my hand, and stared at my palm.
"Wasn't I… burnt to death?"
Right after that thought, there was a knock on the door.
"May we come in?" asked the female voice.
"Um…uh, sure…?" I answered, still confused. The new surroundings were already too much for me to handle, and now – out of the blue – strangers are visiting me?
The door opened and slowly, one by one, kids of my age began filling up the room, all wearing a set type of uniform.
The boys were wearing a cape – probably the part of the bard's suit. Their shirt was as white as my garment – and most of them were wearing black pants, some others had dark blue instead, but it looked very much like black anyway.
The girls were wearing red skirts almost up to their knee, and also white collar shirts – the sleeves up to the arms and brownish pinafores over them.
Each of them had a logo on the left side of their chest, and the logo was simply the silhouette of a dancer and a bard.
I gazed blankly at them as the last one came in, and closed the door.
Thankfully, the room was a bit spacious. There were probably at least a dozen of them – I couldn't count. There were too many heads in the room, and they were all higher than me.
"Axial, do you remember me?" Once of the amethyst-haired students asked.
"You're…" and when I paused, my memories flashed right through me.
"…Rins,"
"S-She remembers me!" she said, astonished at the "feat" I've managed to achieve.
That sent me further into a confused state.
"Then what about me?" The only emerald-haired girl asked.
"You're Ayla onee-san!" I immediately recognized her face. Why was she in that… uniform?
"Well… at least she remembers my name," she said.
"Ah, we were so worried about you, Axi,"
"You almost gave us a heart attack!"
"Do you know how important you are to us?"
"Thank God you're alright,"
One by one all these remarks and statements flood my consciousness as I had no idea what the hell happened after the Chimera incident. Besides, among the people that I recognize are only Rins and Ayla. The rest were probably my… classmates.
"Since when did I have so many friends?"
The noise seemed to be getting to me as I closed my eyes. Amidst the noise, someone clapped a few times before the noise calmed down.
"Now, now, everyone; She's a patient in the hospital, and she needs some rest," the really, really familiar voice told them what I thought. It was as if he read my mind.
The person – more specifically, the boy – stepped up and looked at me.
"Z-Zero?" I gasped at him.
"Zero? He isn't here," the boy told me.
"Then you're…?"
"I'm Keiro," he said as he bowed.
I simply smiled at him. But there were too many things on my mind, so I had to do something.
"Um, everyone," I asked timidly. I froze for a short while when everyone diverted their eyes towards me. It was so scary – the way they all did it at the same time. "C-Can you let me rest for a bit? Um… I have some stuff that I would like to ask Keiro privately,"
"Oh come on! What is it that you've got to hide from us?" voiced out the voice I knew too well – Vincent.
"This has nothing to do with you, Vincent," I said with a sly look on my face. Everyone laughed at that and began to leave the room.
All, except Keiro, as requested.
"So, what is it that you'd like to ask me?"
I looked outside the window. "It's a beautiful day, isn't it?" Keiro laughed when he heard me say that.
"What's so funny?" I hissed at him.
"You never say these types of things before," he remarked. I was quite confused.
"What do you mean?"
"Nothing really. It's just my first time hearing you say that,"
I had a faint smile on my face before it quickly faded away. "What happened to me?" I asked him hesitantly.
"You were in a car accident,"
"Car…?"
"I'll explain more to you later," he added before he continued. "You received a hard hit to your head, so it bled – and apparently it…" he paused to take in a deep breath. It looked like as if he was choosing the right words to use. "…well, somehow, it affected your memory,"
"I think my memory is fine,"
"But it isn't,"
In what way was my memory wrong? It was all because of this new surrounding. Suddenly there were... cars, or whatever he called it, and the sudden flood of friends that I have. For some reason, Ayla onee-san is also a student, and I haven't seen my parents yet.
Did the Chimera really caused so much damage that Comodo was completely destroyed and someone had to take over and completely rebuild the village? But now it doesn't even look like a village anymore. What happen to the traditional wooden houses? Where are the shrines that were set up to honour the lost spirits? And more importantly… how the hell did I survive its Fireball attack?
But all these unanswerable questions were simply obstacles to my mind.
"Anyways, the doctors call it a partial Amnesia, but that's not what I think,"
"Then what do you think?"
"I think you just need time to get in touch with your old self," he said. "Then you'll be normal again,"
"Am I not normal now?"
"Not to us, no,"
"Souka…" and I thought this was the most natural expression I could've ever shown to anyone… anyone at all.
"When can I leave this place?"
"You'll be discharged in a few days time, when they think you're alright,"
"You mean there's still something in me?"
Keiro nodded. "They believe that the partial Amnesia is caused by a substance inside your body and blah-blah-blah"
From there on, I had no idea what the hell he was talking about.
My face showed the rather obvious expression though, so he stopped.
"I take it that I lost you?"
I simply nodded.
"Okay," he scratched his head before he started all over again.
"They believe there is something in you, which is messing up your memories,"
"Just what could affect my memories?"
"That's what they're trying to figure out," he said. "Until then, you'll have to stay here,"
"Oh… okay,"
Silence crept in as I had trouble processing all the new information I just received while he probably had nothing else to say to me.
"You really worried all of us, you know,"
"Am I…"
"Hmm?"
I shook my head. "Never mind,"
"Anyways, get some rest, okay?" he added before he stood up and was about to leave the room.
"Um… please wait!"
He turned his head so that I was within his view.
"Do you know where my parents are?"
"I'll have to ask your sister about that," he then opened the door and went out of the room.
Something is very wrong here… that, was what I finally concluded, even though I never wanted to believe in that conclusion.
------------+
Outside of Axial's room, all her classmates – well, friends – were waiting patiently outside, trying to remain silent but obviously couldn't.
"I feel so special – especially since she can still remember my name after that partial Amnesia!" Rins remarked.
"But why am I remembered as her sister?" Ayla asked.
"Maybe you two did something," Vincent said slyly while poking her. Ayla grabbed his finger and twisted it, sending him into the depths of pain.
"Isn't it great? She managed to survive that incident without any scars at all!"
"Maybe they used make ups to cover them up?"
"No, you silly! It won't be good for the scars!"
"How would you know?"
"I just know!"
Everyone was busy chatting away about what happened to Axial, except one boy – a navy-haired boy.
The moment the door opened, silence returned and that navy-haired boy stood up.
"How is she?" He asked.
"She's lost," Keiro replied. "And she mistaken me for you," he added.
Zero scratched his head, wondering what to say. "I guess I'm sorry?"
"It's okay," Keiro told him. "As for everyone else, she needs to rest for the day, so let's visit her next time, okay?"
"Awwww" the crowd moaned.
"No buts! Now, go home," he said kindly before he showed them the exit. Depressed, the group of students slowly exited the hospital, and so did Keiro.
Zero sighed. He approached the door and went in…
------------+
The door knob twisted as I observed the door itself swing open, revealing Keiro again.
"Did you miss something?"
"Of course I did," he replied. He walked in and sat right beside me.
"What's wrong?"
He was looking at me, his face was sad. He went out calmly and suddenly came back a sad boy? Obviously something wasn't right.
"You're Keiro… aren't you?"
He shook his head. I-It was Zero?
"I thought you left!"
"Since when?"
"Since that day…" and I screened through my memories again.
"I don't remember telling anyone I was leaving," he told me. And there I was – confused yet again.
"Zero, can you remember what happened?"
"You were involved in a car accident," he said. There's the "car" thing again.
"What's a car?" I asked him timidly, knowing that it was probably the most common thing known to everyone of my friends.
He stood up and went towards the window. "You see those big, moving things that people sit in?"
I turned towards the window. Ah yes, those weird things. Wait… those?
"They're vehicles, but the ones you see are generally known as cars," he explained to me.
"Are cars animals?"
"They're machines,"
"Those are machines?"
Zero nodded. "These things were invented by humans so that we are able to reach our destination safely,"
"Not only that, it is used to transport items and even other humans,"
Now that explains why occasionally there is more than just 1 person in that thing.
"What about the bigger ones that I see once in a while?" I asked him.
"Depends on how big they are. They could be lorries, buses or even vans," he told me.
"I think this is really going to be a big problem for me,"
"Don't worry, I'm here to help,"
It was that moment that I finally felt the feeling of being safe and secure, that feeling where you won't be left alone… oh, how I missed that wonderful feeling.
"Yeah… you're right," I said with a smile.
