Chapter Text
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"He's getting away, after him before he makes it to the city!!" One of the least five people chasing after me shouts as I keep using the trees to my advantage. I don't know what these people want with me, but based on the fact the first thing I saw when I woke up is them trying to force a mask onto my face I'd rather not stick around and find out-!
"Ugh... not now..." I grumble as I struggle to stay awake. I don't know if this is something those people did or it's just because I'm tired, but ever since I woke up I've been fighting the urge to pass out again. I can't let that happen, at least not out in the open.
Thankfully the yelling of my pursuers is becoming a lot more faint, and I can see the city up ahead, and those people clearly didn't want me going there so if I make it then I'm home free. I really don't want to ask for help, and if anyone recognises me I doubt I'll receive any, but so long as I'm away from these fools who make Weissmann seem sane I'll deal with it-
"Come on... just a bit farther..." I mumble as I feel my legs starting to give out as I make it to the city, and once I'm inside I try to catch my breath. Thank Aidios.... Now what the hell do I do now? And... how the hell am I alive-!
"No..." I manage to get out as I feel myself hit the ground, and I barely hear a few panicked gasps before everything goes black.......
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“Hey! Are you alright?! Wake up!”
“Ugh….” I groan as I slowly blink myself awake. What…. What happened…..?
“Oh thank Aidios you’re awake,” the person who woke me up (a blonde young man) says with a sigh of relief, “listen, I’m sorry to put you in such a rush, you’re in the middle of the street so you have to get us. I can either bring you to my estate to heal up or give you directions to the doctor but we have to get going now. Now, please say you can walk?”
“I…. I think….,” I struggle to say as my throat feels dry and I try to remember anything, “but…. Where are we…? I… I can’t remember anything….”
“!! Ugh, this is worse than I thought,” he says as he pulls me up and leads me into a large manor, “alright, just keep your head down and don’t say anything until we make it to my room, we’ll try to figure this out then.”
Nodding in agreement as I don’t have much of a choice at the moment, I let the young man lead me into the sickeningly indulgent manor, and while a few people do give us some weird looks they quickly shrug and move on with their day. If I had to guess, they’re probably servants who don’t get paid enough to care.
“Alright, we should be safe in here for the time being.” The young man says once he leads me into a bedroom that’s as lavish as the rest of the manor, and while he’s closing the door I take a look at what in the world I look like.
Apparently I look about sixteen or seventeen with white hair and lavender eyes, my clothes look too big and are badly torn even ignoring that, and I’m also covered in cuts and bruises all over. That explains why I feel sore all over and why the young man was so concerned but that doesn’t give me any clues about who I am. Also, while this face does feel like mine, something about it still feels…. Off.
“Here,” the young man tells me somewhat forcibly as he hands me a damp rag, “your injuries don’t look too sever but you should still wipe up the blood before something happens. I believe my clothes should fit you so just let me get a spare set.”
“…… Thank you.” I agree after hesitating, half expecting there to be a catch, but when he turns away to look through the closet I assume there isn’t one, at least for now, so for now I take advantage of the generosity and wash up my face and hands, before taking off my ruined jacket and shirt to do the same to my arms and chest. Thankfully all the cuts there have already closed, but there’s still a lot of dried up blood, namely around my stomach where once I get the blood off I see has a massive scar on it, though it has faded.
“These should do it for now,” the young man tells me as he hands me a clean grey shirt and black pants, “now, do you want me to throw these away or try find someone who can salvage them?”
“Just… throw them away I suppose….,” I answer as I look at the shirt and try to process all of this, “why are you helping me?”
“Isn’t it obvious? Unlike what one of my former classmates thought when we first met, I’m not a heartless monster,” he tells me simply, “I’m not going to make you pay for this, and if you need a place to stay for the night to get your bearings then be my guest.”
“…. I see,” I say feeling more shocked than I probably should be, “I’ll take you up on the latter if you’re offering but I’ll try not to be in your hair for too long.”
“No need to worry about that, for now just try to relax a bit, I’ll have someone get you something to eat.” He assures me before leaving the room. That… that seemed too good to be true, but nothing about the man seemed like he was lying, so I should be safe for now?
Still, there’s not much I can do in here so I just quickly change into the clothes I was given, which thankfully do fit like a charm, and I just take a look around the room for anything noteworthy.
Not much in that regard, but on the desk in the back of the room I see some pictures, three to be exact, however all but one have their contents faced down. I hesitantly turn them both over, and one is of a stern older man, and the other is of a younger version of the young man who helped me smiling next to a more confident man who’s in between the two age wise. Judging by the fact they all have the same shade of blonde hair I presume they’re family, but, why are they facing down?
Putting that question aside for now, I instead turn to focus on the one picture that is facing up, and again it’s of a younger version of the young man, though not as young as the last one, and is surrounded by fourteen other people, thirteen teenagers and one adult, plus a random black cat, with most of the teens wearing the same red uniform jacket.
The singular adult has pink hair, and of the teenagers, the girls consist of a tall girl with dark blue hair, a very short girl with light blue hair, a nervous girl with pink hair and glasses, another short girl this one with white hair, a confident looking blonde, a very short girl with brown hair and wearing a green version of the uniform jacket, and a girl with short purple hair who isn’t wearing the jacket at all.
Meanwhile for the boys there’s the younger version of the young man, a green haired boy with glasses, a taller boy with brown hair and with a noticeable tan, a smaller boy with red hair, a white haired cocky boy who’s in a green version of the jacket, a large man with brown hair and wearing a yellow jumpsuit, but what catches my attention the most is the black haired boy in the front. Nothing seems too special about him, he’s even wearing the ‘standard’ red jacket, but, something about him just seems somewhat familiar-!
“Rufus what are you doing?!” I hear the young man shout in panic, making me jump away from the desk and reach for something that isn’t there as the door swings open revealing the slightly older man from the second photo.
“Calm down Jusis, I just heard the reports and I wanted to check in on your guest.” The older man, Rufus I assume, assures him and I assume myself, but has he steps a bit closer to me I’m anything but reassured.
“Who the hell are you?” I ask as I take a step back and look for anything I could use to defend myself.
“Calm down,” the young man Jusis tells me probably so I don’t get arrested, “this is my, older brother Rufus. Rufus, as you already gathered, this young man here is my guest, however whatever happened to him has made him loose his memory.”
“Truly?,” Rufus asks with some surprise and I hesitantly nod to confirm, “hmm… interesting. Are you certain you remember nothing?”
“….. The word Leonhardt, but that’s about it.” I reluctantly admit, and though it’s only for a split second I see Rufus’s face turn into a satisfied smirk.
“A shame, I wish you good luck in reclaiming them soon,” Rufus tells me but I’m fairly confident he’s lying for whatever reason, “although it is odd, a young man appearing out of nowhere with no memory and no one’s filed a missing person report.”
“Rufus don’t start implying that he’s not telling the truth.” Jusis fires back at his older brother defensively.
“I’m not, it’s just strange, especially because it means he likely has nowhere to go,” Rufus clarifies- oh I don’t like where this is going, “though, I may be able to sort something out there.”
“If it’s with you then I’ll take my chances on the streets.” I tell him bluntly because I do not trust this man at all, and this makes Jusis visibly panic while Rufus just laughs it off.
“Don’t worry, I’m too busy at the moment to handle that even if I wanted to,” he assures me before getting a bit more serious, “I was just wondering if you would like to attend Thor’s Military Academy for the year.”
“Thors?” I ask more than a little confused.
“It’s the school I attended, despite the name it’s not just for military training, it’s just the general best school in Erebonia that puts a large emphasis on combat training as well,” Jusis explains looking a bit surprised, “but, Rufus are you sure this is a good idea? There’s only a few days before the new school year starts so he’d likely have to start late.”
“Aha, don’t worry, I’m still on the board of directors, and the branch campus’s headmistress is in no position to deny me right now, even if it’s last minute I can get the paperwork filled in and get him there just in time,” Rufus says in a smug tone before turning back to me, “so, what do you say?”
As much as I would really like to tell him to fuck off to his face and either wing it on my own or maybe stay here with Jusis, something about Rufus is telling me that I don’t have a choice and that I’ll either be strong armed into this or that there will be consequences if I say no. Plus, it is a place to stay and Jusis at least thinks it’s a good place so it’s hopefully fine?
“…. Alright.” I reluctantly agree after thinking it over, and now I’m praying to Aidios that I’m not walking into a trap.
“Excellent,” Rufus says in a smug tone and oh Aidios let me punch this man, “now, those clothes confirm you’re about Jusis’s size so I don’t have to take you for measurements, and until we know otherwise I suppose today can be your birthday, so that just leaves the matter of your name. Should I just put it down as Leonhardt or would you like to pick something else?”
“Leonhardt is fine.” I tell him bluntly. I have a hunch it’s not my actual name but calling myself that feels somewhat natural so I’d rather stick with that.
“Alright then,” Rufus says as he walks past a baffled Jusis to (THANKFULLY) leave, “I’ll be on my way to get everything sorted, but I’ll be back in a few days with your uniform and other essentials. Still, while a bit premature, I’d like to say, welcome to Thors, Leonhardt Albarea.”