"Speaking"

Thinking/Flashbacks

"Radio/screen-talking"

Telepathy

"Where… am I?" he muttered before his legs gave out, and he tripped across the pavement. He landed on something soft and scratchy and could vaguely hear what sounded like a siren and running steps getting closer. Why were those sounds making his heart race and a cold feeling run through his blood?

"No…" he murmured as he felt hands on him, dragging him under his arms. "Stop… Let…"

"He's incoherent," one voice said, "what should we do?"

Another voice sighed, "Let's take him to the infirmary for now. We'll talk to Lord Ashford in the morning. Let's just keep an eye on him."

"Yeah, yeah, sure," the first voice agreed. He then felt one hand leave his arms and hook under his legs.

"It's all right, kid," the second voice said, "we'll get you some help and figure this out."

"No…" the boy managed to croak out. He struggled to say more. Most of his thoughts were all over the place, except for one.

Voltron… Voltron, we need to…

"F...find Voltron-" Whatever else he tried to say was interrupted by a series of coughs.

"Whoa! Hey kid, stay with us! Shit, let's hurry, Willy," the second voice pressed, and the two security guards quickly picked up the pace.

"Voltron? You ever heard of that Ernest?"

"Sounds like something from one of those old Eleven cartoon shows to me."

"Um, yeah, they called it anime or something, right?"

"Is that seriously important right now?"

"Er, right, sorry. Hold on, kid, we're almost there."

If the men said anything else, the boy didn't hear as he slipped back into unconsciousness.

*RING* *RING*

He groaned as he blindly searched for the offending phone. Did he seriously forget to put it on silent before bed?

Growling at the ID, he reluctantly answered, knowing she would keep calling him unless he answered.

"What?" he said, not caring if he was rude. "Do you know what time it is?"

"Time for you to get an alarm clock," the voice on the other end answered. "Why, pray tell, are you still doing in bed?"

"It's Saturday?" he replied like the answer should be obvious. "Why are you up at 6:00 in the morning on a weekend, Milly?"

The girl, Milly, sighed, "Look, sorry to wake you, but it's kind of an emergency. Can you meet me in the nurse's office? My grandfather is waiting for us there."

That immediately woke him up, "Why? Did someone find out-"

"No, no! It's not that, Lelouch, calm down. Look, long story short, the campus alarms went off last night, and security caught the guy, but things are… complicated. Just… just get here as soon as you can so we can figure out what to do with him."

Lelouch blinked, not entirely understanding the girl on the other end, "Milly, I think I'm missing some context here."

"Can you just get over here?" she snapped, "It should make sense once you see for yourself!"

Lelouch sighed, "Fine, I'll be there in ten."

"Great! See you soon!"

Lelouch grumbled as he put his cell phone down and threw on a shirt and jeans. He swore that if this 'emergency' wasn't really an emergency, he would…

Now that he thought about it, he couldn't really think of any way to get back at Milly. At least not in a way that could stick. Plus, she'd probably seek revenge too.

Suppressing a shiver, he exited his room and nodded to the only other person awake in their home at this hour.

"Sayoko, Milly called," he addressed his maid, grabbing his rusty red jacket from the hook, "something about an emergency. Let Nunnally know I'll be back before lunch at the latest."

"Is everything all right, My Lord?" Sayoko asked, frowning in concern.

"Hopefully, it is. I'll see you later. Bye!" he called over his shoulder and ran out the door.

"...And he's been unconscious since they found him?"

"Yeah, he kept muttering some weird stuff, though. Something about a video game character named Voltrek or something?"

"Voltron."

"Right! That!"

Who…? Who's talking? He recognized those voices.

"Voltron? Never heard of it."

"Me neither."

"Besides that, though… I don't know where this kid came from, but it looks like he's been through it."

"What did the medical report say?"

"Scarring, emaciation, there are signs of drowning too, sir…"

"Yes, what else?"

I've gotta… gotta what…? Find something?

"Lord Ashford, I've seen scars like this on soldiers. Particularly ones that came back from captivity."

"...Torture?"

"This is… troubling."

"Wait, I think he's waking up."

Deep blue eyes struggled open. When the world around him finally became clear, he realized he wasn't alone. Next to the bed he was lying on was a group of people looking at him with various emotions, from caution to concern. The ones that stood out to him the most were a tall girl with curly blonde hair and blue eyes and a boy about his age with purple eyes and dark brown hair. Behind the duo was an older man with greying hair that was probably strawberry blonde in his youth, and two other men dressed in security uniforms. Finally, there was a woman with her red hair in a bun, wearing plain clothes and some sort of medical instrument over her shoulders.

"Hey, good morning, Sleeping Beauty. You decided to wake up, I see?" the blonde girl asked with a small smile.

He blinked, turning his head and looking around, "Where am I? What is this?"

"Ashford Academy, son," the older man said. "May we ask for your name?"

"I.." he muttered before clutching his head, "I don't know…"

"Hm, amnesia…" the bun woman murmured, jotting something in a notebook.

"Hey, take it easy, kid," one of the security guards, the bulkier one with blonde hair, said.

"Maybe some introductions will help?" the girl said, "My name is Milly Ashford, and this is Lelouch Lamperouge. Those two are William and Ernest. That's Nurse Collette, and this is my grandpa, Ruben K. Ashford, principal of Ashford Academy, which is where you are now. Well, in the academy's nurse's office anyway."

"Um… hi?" he said awkwardly, eyes shifting to everyone in the room as Milly pointed them out.

"Do you remember anything else, kid?" asked the second security guard, Ernest, a lanky man with darker skin and black hair. "Address? Parents?"

"I…" the boy shook his head helplessly. He couldn't remember anything. His head felt like someone had taken a blender to his brain.

"Does the word 'Voltron' mean anything to you?" Lelouch suddenly asked. "William and Ernest kept hearing you say that last night."

"Vol… tron…?" he asked, that name sounding vaguely familiar. He grit his teeth as something pulsed in his head. That did mean something, but what was it? It sounded important!

"Getting straight to the point, I see, Lulu," the girl smiled slightly.

Lelouch shrugged, "It's the one lead we have. Figured it would shake something in his head."

"Well, I don't think he quite remembers. Do you, son?" the older man asked again.

He shook his head, "Sorry…"

"Hm, well, Grandfather, until he gets his memory back, why doesn't he just stay here at Ashford? The clubhouse should have another room he could use for the time being."

"What?!" the boy gasped before frowning, "Milly, that's-"

"Oh, come on, Lelouch!" Milly interrupted. "We can't just kick him back onto the street. With no memories, who knows what kind of creep will try and take advantage of him? Besides, it will be temporary until he remembers something."

"If you're not comfortable, Lelouch, we can try and find other accommodations." Milly's grandfather tried to reassure him.

Lelouch sighed, "No, it's fine. He doesn't look dangerous, so I'll comply for now."

"I… thank you," he said graciously. He wasn't sure why he had agreed to this offer. He was honestly still trying to process everything that was happening around him. But at least they were offering him a place to stay, so he figured it was better than nothing.

"Why don't you enroll him at the academy too, sir?" Nurse Collette suggested. "That way, we can monitor any changes to his condition."

"That's a good idea," Ruben nodded, "I'll allow it. But if I'm enrolling him, he'll need a name. You sure you can't remember anything like that, son?"

"I… no, sorry." He shook his head.

"Hm… how about Rai?" Milly suggested.

"Rai?" Lelouch asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, for his hair. It looks so blonde that it looks like lightning struck it."

William turned to him, "What do you think, kid? You okay with being called that? It is an Eleven name, so if you'd prefer something else…"

"Um, no!" 'Rai' protested. "I… I like that, actually. I'm fine with that."

"Okay then! Welcome to Ashford Academy, Rai! Lelouch and I can introduce you to the rest of the council after you've settled in."

"The council?" Rai asked.

"Student council." Milly clarified. "Everyone needs to join at least one club while attending here, so we'll make it easy for you and make you a member. Of course, if something else interests you while you're here, there's no rule saying you can't join a second club."

"Okay… yeah, sounds good." Rai tried to sit up, but a sharp pain in his chest stopped him.

"Easy!" Nurse Collette cautioned. "Lie back down for now. We'll keep you here in the office until you regain your strength. And get you changed out of those rags."

Rai looked down. He could see now that he was wearing a long-sleeved dark purple undersuit and a tattered, lighter purple shirt over it. The shirt looked old and like it hadn't been washed in a long time.

"Oh…" Rai muttered, suddenly feeling a little self-conscious, curling in on himself.

"We'll have a uniform prepared for you in a couple of days. In the meantime, just rest." Principal Ashford said. "Lelouch, let's go make arrangements in the clubhouse, shall we?"

"Sure. I'll let Sayoko know." He nodded, pulling out his phone.

"Thank you both for your help with this, you two," Ruben thanked the two security guards. "Why don't you get back to work?"

The men mumbled and nodded before heading out of the room.

"Let me know if something changes or if he needs to go to the hospital." He instructed the nurse sternly.

"I understand," she replied.

As the three turned to leave, Rai suddenly felt tired all over again. Before he fell asleep, he couldn't help but think back to what Lelouch asked. Voltron. Whatever it was, it had to mean something. He could feel it.

That was the last thing he thought before drifting back to sleep once more.

Author's note: Hey there! I'm officially back to writing, as you can see.

You can also see that I've completely restarted this fic. And that's mainly because of this prologue I thought of today (and the fact that, unlike AO3, Fanfiction . net doesn't let you insert a new chapter in between existing chapters. Maybe take notes, website designers). I was initially planning to delete all of the old chapters in the old story and then upload this, and then reupload everything as I went along. BTW, if everyone would PREFER that method, please let me know, and I will do that instead of uploading a brand 'new' story.

Anyway, this is a little introduction to how Rai got to Ashford a little while before the events of Chapter 1 start. Rereading it, both Rai & Voltron are kind of thrown in a little abruptly with no warning or foreshadowing. Hopefully, this fixes that a little.

Now, my next step will be going through the chapters and making a few changes. Mostly to dialogue to match character personalities better. Once all the chapters are reposted on this fic, I will be deleting the old fic. (Unless you'd prefer the method mentioned above).

Also, I posted a new poll on my page regarding the lions' names and whether I should keep them, change them, or remove them altogether. I mentioned this in my future plans note, but I found myself cringing at some of the names I gave the lions before. Please, answer it when you get the chance so I can have a plan for that moving forward.

Thank you to everyone who has stayed with me on this journey through this fic so far, and I hope I can continue the adventure with you now!

R&R, update the TvTropes page, and I'll see you next time.