Chapter Two: Welcome
Darkness ruled Subaru's world as he fell for what seemed like an eternity.
Then, becoming vaguely aware of himself, he remembered seeing flashes of color and blurred figures moving around just above him, but these short flashes lasted only a short time before everything would go black once more. This went on for what seemed like an age, him falling in and out of this loop, it was maddening, even as stupor as he was.
Then, quite abruptly, he opened his eyes and everything seemed to clear... for the most part at least.
Wincing as light streamed into his eyes Subaru covered his face, shielding his stinging eyes from the light that was assailing him. After a few moments he'd at last adjusted to the room's light, blinking he the soldier looked around the room in confusion.
Looking around, Subaru noted he was in a long room with at least thirty or so cots. It was fairly dark, save a brazer that was lit a few paces away from his bed, which he assumed had been the light that had stung his eyes when he had first awoken. From the dim light, he could just barely make out several of the men that occupied the cots nearest to him. The men laid either sleeping or letting out low groans of pain, as most looked quite pale, sickly even. They were all dressed in plain clothes, brown or green tunics with soiled brown pants, which might have been white once but dirt and grim had long since ruined them. Subaru couldn't help but think to himself that they all looked rather uncouth compared to the civilians he was used to seeing on patrol.
Where the hell am I? Subaru thought as he tried to sit upright, but quickly backed down as his muscles rejected the move. Grabbing at his right shoulder Subaru was reminded of the thick metal that had impaled him, along with the bullets that had ripped his body to bits. How the fuck am I even alive?! I had to have been shot at least a half dozen times!
Coughing into his left hand, Subaru smacked his dry lips together. Good God was his mouth dry. Looking around Subaru spotted a large barrel next to the brazer, perhaps it might contain some drinking water. Quenching his thirst quickly became Subaru's top priority, thinking to himself that if he didn't get something to drink he might turn to dust.
Looking around he saw a figure moving from cot to cot, and for the first time Subaru wondered who exactly had pulled him from the fighting. For a moment, he considered that he might have been caught by the insurgency. No, that wouldn't have made any sense, the insurgency would never waste valuable medical supplies on saving his life, he didn't have anything to offer them anyway. Perhaps he was back in US controlled territory? It would make sense, this must have been some kind of temporary field hospital.
Coughing again, Subaru called out to the figure in the dark. "N-Nurse," Subaru found his voice strained, his throat felt drier than if someone had a handful of sawdust stuffed into his mouth. "W-Water." He pleaded.
Seeming to heed his request, the figure quickly moved over to the barrel of water and walked into the orange light emitted from the fire within the brazer. The figure was a woman. She was maybe three of four inches shorter than himself had he been standing next to her. She was in a long navel blue dress with a white collar, and over that, a white apron with various stains covering it, along with a white nurse's cap that covered her head, pulling the whole uniform together.
Subaru thought she looked like something straight from a bygone era, but he was far more focused on the bowl she was carrying over to him to care how she was dressed.
kneeling at his bedside, she pressed the bowl to Subaru's lips, offering him the cool water.
Thankful, Subaru quickly gulped down the water until the bowl was completely drained. His throat feeling infinitely better upon receiving the refreshment, Subaru thanked the woman.
Feeling free to observe her a little more closely, he looked at her face, which was fairly dirty but easy enough on the eyes. She seemed to keep her brown hair shorter, ending at her shoulders with a few messy strands falling just above her eyes, which were what really caught Subaru's attention. They were a deep bronze color, odd, like a cat's eye, in fact her pupils were nearly identical to that of a cats.
Blinking, Subaru thought he had simply imagined them, and yet her eyes didn't really appear to be a hallucination, no matter how much he told himself they where. "What's with your eyes?" He asked bluntly while looking to see if her eyes where real, or just something his mind had conjured up.
"My eyes?" The Nurse sounded puzzled. "What do you mean exactly?"
"T-They looked just like a cats eyes." Subaru felt dumb just for saying it, perhaps he really was just dehydrated, and imagining that something was wrong with her.
The woman blinked a few times before her expression soured. "Don't tell me you're one of those purist nut-jobs." She exclaimed.
"Purist nub-job? I don't follow."
"You mean to tell me you've never heard of purists? Are you still suffering from some kind of head trauma or something? If you're dealing with headaches at this stage you need to tell me straight away."
"I… I don't think I hit my head on anything." Well, truthfully it might have been possible that he'd suffered a head wound of some kind during or after the explosion, he hadn't exactly been all there when he'd woken up. In fact, it was a miracle he'd even been able to save the kid with the state he'd been in. "And by purists, you mean shit like Neo-Nazis, right?"
"Neo-Nazis? I've never heard any purist group go by that name." This genuinely confused Subaru. Who had never heard of the Nazi Party? It was clear by her voice she was a native English speaker, so how was it even possible that she'd never heard of Nazi Germany.
Shaking his head Subaru decided it was best to just drop it for now. "It doesn't really matter.
I need to get into contact with my commanding officer. Does anyone know where I am right now?"
"Commanding officer? You mean you're a soldier?" The nurse sounded surprised. "You've been here for a month, no one's come looking for you in all that time."
Subaru's eyes widened. A month?! That's… that's insane! How could it have been THAT long without anyone from Alpha company getting word of his current location. Was there some major screw up or something? It was clear this woman wasn't a foreigner, but she clearly wasn't working for the US Military either. What kind of negligence had it taken for whoever it was that had found him to NOT report that he'd been acquired. This was a shit storm waiting to happen, and by now he'd have been reported to be MIA. At the very least once this mess was sorted he might end up on every major news channel.
"Who's in charge here?" Subaru demanded.
The woman seemed a bit flustered, but only for a moment. "The supervisor's name is Jovan, but he works for the Councillor of Public Health, he's the one really in charge, if that's what you're asking."
"Councilor of Public Health? You mean like the head of the CDC? What the…"
"CDC? No, the Councillor the Public Health is an office appointed by the Sage Council.
I'm not surprised you didn't know that one, it's not a very interesting position.
Mostly the Councillor rations medical care to the Public at large." The Nurse explained.
"Mostly we just make the sick comfortable here, it's costly to treat so many.
However, you were one of our special cases, if I'm not mistaken."
"Sage Council, what the…" Subaru was lost now. None of this was making any sense. "What do you mean I was a special case?"
"I was told your injuries were quite serious. Initially we were going to... well, going to let you pass on. However, we received a large sum of money out of seemingly nowhere with orders to ensure your safety. Your patron was anonymous, but whoever it was, they saved your life.
We'd been keeping you in a nicer wing, but we moved you here a few weeks ago, we need the space. Speaking of which, if you're feeling better by the morning it would be best if you left.
Jovan's been eager to free up your cot for a while now." Subaru didn't know where to start.
Opening his mouth he watched as the woman stood up abruptly from his side. "You should get some rest. I've lingered here too long already."
Turning she walked away. That's when Subaru saw a cat's tale sticking out from her dress.
His eyes widened, and Subaru couldn't explain what the hell was happening.
Somehow Subaru had fallen asleep in the night, despite his racing mind, and the sound of the sick around him. When he'd awoken he was greeted by a plethora of creatures he had not noticed in the dark the night before.
Around him he saw what could only be described as lizard people, werewolves, and other humanoid creatures. Most of them were even more odd than the nurse from the night before. These things were mixed in with, as far as he knew, normal people. It'd taken everything he had to not panic when he first looked around, and even more when he met the clinic supervisor, Jovan.
The thing called Jovan, was about seven feet tall and broader than any man Subaru had met in his life, but it was more than just that, Jovan was covered in fur and had the head of a wolf. However, in sharp contrast to his beastly appearance, Jovan was dressed in a suit, with a bow tie and a pair of round classes that rested upon his snout. It was perplexing, and despite all his training to maintain a cool head, Subaru found himself struggling to hold it together. He couldn't explain it, but he knew this was real, somehow, and that was terrifying.
"Well, it appears you've finally come to," The supervisors noted as he stood at the edge of Subaru's cot. "You should know that I have around two-hundred citizens of our Kingdom on a waiting list to get some kind of care. While I don't mean to be harsh sir, I will be blunt with you. The money your patron gave us to watch after you has long since bought you your care, and you've been taking up valuable space. If I keep you here any longer I risk losing the profit we've made on treating you. I have numbers to keep, I hope you understand this."
Subaru nodded, he didn't feel like arguing with this… thing. "I-I don't know where I am exactly."
Jovan let out a low sigh. "You're Lugnica, obviously." He pulled up a chart at the end of Subaru's cot and read it. "The items you had when we found you where… let me see. One… odd looking vest and assorting items attached, one damaged foreign garment, and one knife." Putting back the chart the supervisor motioned to a nurse who left the room. "I must say, none of us have the foggiest idea about your personal items, even your blade looks odd. Clearly you're not from around here."
Subaru chuckled at that. "No… no I most certainly am not."
Jovan narrowed his eyes. "Well in that case you best mind yourself. But before I send you off, I'd like to inquire about what exactly happened to you. Keep it brief as you can, I just need it for our records."
Subaru thought about explaining what an IED was, along with the circumstances that had led him to getting ambushed. However, even if this thing could understand it all, his mission was on a strictly need to know basis. "I was jumped in an alleyway. I can't remember much, just that they worked me over pretty good." Subaru lied.
Jovan nodded. "Perhaps they were magic users, that might explain those odd holes we found in you. At any rate, I'll put something down in my report." Turning, Jovan address a human, a blond haired nurse with glittering blue eyes. "Jess, see that he's on his feet and out of here within the hour. See to it he's got his things and show him the door once he's had a chance to bathe." Turning back to Subaru the man nodded. "Good day Mr. Subaru."
The nurse named Jess helped Subaru to his feet and showed him to a small room with a wooden tub, it positions set in the corner of the room. Leaving she explained they had pour some hot water into the tub, and that once he was washed he would be shown his way out.
Once the nurse had left, Subaru pulled off the ragged clothing he was in, stepping into the tub of steaming water. He was surprised at just how much dirt and grime had piled up on his body in the time he had been under. Using a cup to poor the hot water over his stiff body Subaru looked down, observing just how bad the scarring on his body looked. He had three scars where bullets had hit him, one on his leg, one on his left arm and another on his right, he imagined the other bullets must have been caught by his vest. Looking to his right shoulder, Subaru winced at the rippling scar that had formed, he imagined it might not have been quite as bad if he hadn't pulled himself from that damn metal pole. But aside from the stiffness he wasn't all that bad, and while he'd definitely lost a few pounds from the coma, he knew he could gain back all that muscle mass he'd lost with a little time.
"I wasn't made a Green Beret for nothing." Subaru told himself, but damn it all if this whole situation wasn't one big mess. He couldn't explain anything, this obviously wasn't his world, he could only assume that something or someone had brought him here. Perhaps the anonymous donor that had paid for his medical care had something to do with it.
I don't have any intel on this world, or the creatures that inhabit it. I don't know anything about the culture, aside from what Jovan guy mentioned about magic. So what, this world has wizards or some shit like that? I guess that's a starting point...
Stepping out of the tub, Subaru walked over to his gear and looked it over, first picking up his uniform. Someone had been kind enough to sew the rips in the fabric together with a brown thread, it didn't clash too bad with the desert camo either. In addition they had also washed it, even managing to get out the blood stains somehow.
Pulling on his uniform, Subaru felt slightly better as he took inventory over the rest of his gear. Observing the damage to his vest, he could see where three bullets had been caught. While it's integrity wasn't perfect, it was better than having nothing, and if Jovan thought a magic user could have done the damage of an AK-47 then he definitely wanted to keep it around. Besides, Subaru had no idea to what extent the weaponry of the world was at, and maybe it would be useful for non-magic users as well.
Looking over everything else, Subaru found he had a single MRE, his combat knife, his compass, a flip lighter, and a multi tool which had all been in his load bearing vest when he'd passed out. He'd hoped he would have at least had his side arm, but perhaps if he had come here with it they would have found and confiscated it. If they knew what it could do, they would definitely want to get their hands on it.
Pulling everything on, Subaru stepped out of the room where the nurse named Jess was waiting. She eyed him up and down, looking at him as if he was the craziest thing she'd ever seen, it was so backwards, what with all the lizard and wolf people around that Subaru could have laughed. The woman didn't say anything though, and just led Subaru down a flight of stairs, through a thick oak door into an open lobby area. The lobby had at least twenty people inside, all crowding a desk with three workers frantically trying to get to everyone. Looking past the crowd Subaru could see the city's streets
The city seemed quite lively as people moved together in large crowds. Carts drawn my what looked like some kind of giant lizard raced down a the brick roads, traveling faster than any horse and buggy could hope to go. "That direction is the market, and over there is the administrative zone. Good luck." The nurse said before leaving Subaru standing alone as she went to fetch one of the many people massed at the lobby desk.
It was quite daunting really. Just how different everything was, and yet parts felt somewhat familiar. The city looked rather clean, with the buildings reminding Subaru a lot of old Germanic architecture. The city was on a gradual incline and he could make out that the top was much flatter and less crowded with buildings until it reached a grand looking palace at the peak. It was quite impressive, if Subaru had to guess he'd say that the city was home to well over a million people, if not more.
My first order of business should be to gather intel on this country. Looking behind him Subaru saw the odd lettering on the sign for the Clinic. That's a start, their written language is nothing like anything I've seen before. Maybe their spoken language is completely different as well, but whatever brought could have somehow bridged that gap. If they had any libraries they'd be of no use to me, and I don't have the luxury of having someone spend months of their time to teach me how to read and write. Looking down the street to his right Subaru recalled the nurse saying the market district was down that direction. If I hang out down there, maybe I can find out more about what these people eat, and how the currency works. Plus I don't think I've had anything solid to eat since before everything happened.
Wandering down the street, Subaru looked over the crowd of people around him, noting that the majority of the people there were human, or at least passed for human. Groaning, Subaru stopped to stretch out his limbs, paying particular attention to his shoulder, trying to work out the stiffness.
"Hey, kid." Turning to his right he saw a man standing underneath an awning with a variety of produce on display. The man was in an open shirt, his hair was an emerald green, and he was sporting a forked beard. He was a mass of muscle, and Subaru imagined he'd either been a soldier or had gotten himself into fights more than once on the account of the long scars on the right side of his face.
Looking around Subaru noted a distinct lack of children around him. "You're talking to me." Subaru noted in annoyance.
"Yeah, those are some weird clothes you've got there, you're not from around here. You must be a traveler of some kind." The man smirked. "Tell you what, I'll give you a discount on some appas on account of you not being from around here."
"Well, I'm afraid I'm not carrying cash on me right now." Subaru admitted.
"What? No money?" The man frowned. "I might accept a trade, if it's worth while, you look like you've got a lot of stuff on you, what with all those odd looking pockets."
Subaru looked down at the fruit. It reminded him of an apple. Reaching into his pouch he pulled out his MRE. It was a ready to eat "chocolate cake", they weren't half bad. He'd been saving it for later, but now he was more than willing to trade it for some fresh fruit.
"I've got this," Subaru said showing off the brown air tight package. "There's a dessert inside." Subaru handed it off to the man who grabbed it and inspected the packaging.
"What's with all this weird lettering all over it?" The man asked as he shook the package.
"It was made in my home country." Subaru explained. "It's nothing important, it just explains the contents. One small chocolate cake."
"Chocolate cake you say?" The man rubbed his chin. "So you just rip it open then? and I assume this lump is the cake." Subaru nodded. "Well, that's something. Okay, I'm interested in taking it off your hands. How about… three appas?"
Subaru thought on it for a moment. Truthfully he had no idea what a fair price would be. "How about two appas, and you pay me the worth of two more, I'd like to have a least a little spending money to carry around. I think that would be more than fair."
"Two appas and some Holy Coins?" The man rubbed his chin thinking, before nodding. "I can do that, but if this cake tastes like shit, next time I see you, I'll kick your ass friend."
After pocketing a small handful of various coins, Subaru took the appas and wondered further down the street until he found a nice quiet l-shaped alleyway out of the sun. Sitting on some stairs, Subaru put one of the two appas into an empty pouch, Subaru started to munch down on the fruit. Unsurprisingly it tasted just like an apple, the only difference being that it was far larger than any apple he had ever seen. It was nice to just relax, and for once he took his mind off everything and just enjoyed the succulent snack he'd acquired, but it seemed destiny still had it out for him.
"Hey guys, look at what we have here." Looking up, Subaru spotted three thugs lined up in order of height. The smallest looked like a midget dressed in thick clothing with an orange cap. Then there was the skinny pale looking one with bleached hair that had streaks of pink, he was the one who'd spoken. Finally, there was the big fat one with puffy lips and a wrapping around his head, like the fruit seller he had an open vest, but instead of muscle a fat belly spilled out.
"I think we've got ourselves a catch here. Tell you what, give us whatever valuables you've got, and I promise we won't ruff you up too bad." The skinny thug smirked with glee.
Subaru groaned in annoyance. "No, I'll tell you what. If you fuck off, I won't have to break your goddamn nose."
The skinny thug seemed quick to anger as he took a step forward. "The fuck did you just say to me?!"
Subaru stood up tossing aside the leftover appa core. He took a fighting stance, but before he had a chance to bust open he jackass's face, he heard a high pitched yell from down the alley behind the thugs. "Hey, out of my way!" Looking past the three thugs, Subaru saw a girl running at an astonishing speed for her size toward them. The first thing he noticed was her short blond hair and the fact that she was dressed in a small shirt that left her entire belly exposed. She also had a flowing red scarf around her neck which matched the color of her strange eyes.
Dodging just as the thugs did, Subaru watched as she jumped from one wall to the next before landing on the rooftops. If Subaru hadn't seen it himself he would have thought such a thing was impossible. So… magic. He thought to himself.
Shaking his head, Subaru put aside the girl and returned his attention to the thugs in front of him, who looked equally puzzled as he'd felt. Not one to wait for an invitation, Subaru quickly planted his fist into the jaw of the big fatty on his right, before he planted a solid kick into the head of the short orange capped thug, knocking him out cold.
Seeing one of his companions dazed and the other out of it all together, the skinny pale haired thug back peddled before he pulled two knives he'd been concealing behind his back. Flashing them around, the thug attempted to intimidate Subaru.
Reaching to his side leg holster, Subaru pulled his own knife out holding it so that the blade faced the ground. "Before we start, you should know, I wasn't trained to wound with this thing. I'll try not to kill you, but accidents happen."
Hearing that, the thug seemed to hesitate, but he must have been confident in himself as he quickly made up his mind and came charging at Subaru with a wild grin plastered on his face. "Bravado won't get you far in life! I'll just take your shit after I cut you up a bit!"
Despite his body being sore as it was, Subaru was still quicker than the thug. Quickly boxing out the right side of the thugs body, removing one of his knives from the equation, Subaru used his free hand to his grab hold of the thugs skinny arm, moving it and the knife out of his reach before slamming the degenerate into the brick wall of the alley. Before the thug had a chance to react, Subaru pressed his knife into the bastard's neck.
"I didn't know it was going to be THAT easy." Subaru smirked. "Now, I'd like you to drop those knives, unless you want me to open your throat." The man did as he was told, dropping the weapons. Just as Subaru was about to knock the wind out of the guy he saw a flash come from his left moments before something slammed into his side knocking him flat on his ass.
Gasping, Subaru grabbed at his side. "What the..."
Looking up, he saw a woman standing at the entrance of the alley.
A/N: Forgot I had written this. Found it while I was cleaning out my docs. Decided to clean it up and post it for anyone who's following this story. I might update this story every now and then... maybe once every two months? I don't know, my main commitment is to my A Song of Ice and Fire story. Hope whoever reads this enjoys it.