Chapter Text
He wakes up to the sound of shouting.
Not at him - his brain, though it feels like it’s full of molasses, can at least tell that much. After a few seconds, he’s able to actually process the words.
“Damn it! He’s gone!” A pause, then, “How’s the kid?”
“No obvious injuries, but he’s not responding,” says another voice, much closer.
It’s at that moment that he notices a slight pressure on his neck, searching for a pulse. He lets out a soft groan, barely a breath, and tries to edge away from the touch, only succeeding in rolling his head to the side.
There’s a sharp intake of breath from above him. “Kid? Are you with us?”
Slowly, and with a great deal of effort, he pries his eyes open. He’s laying flat on his back in a narrow alley. It looks like it’s evening, or maybe early morning; the sky is just a little too light to see the stars. And there are two cops leaning over him.
Danger! Get away! Some instinct in his brain screams at him, and he struggles backwards, only able to shuffle a few feet before his arms can’t support him anymore. The cops startle, but thankfully stay where they are.
“Kid? Are you okay?” asks the one who’s still kneeling down, the one who had tried to take his pulse.
Is he okay? He doesn’t seem to have any injuries, so he nods in response.
The kneeling cop sighs in relief. The standing one takes a step forward, but stops when it looks like he's about to shuffle backwards again.
“What’s your name, kid?” asks the standing cop in a gentle voice.
His… name? “I, um… My…”
After a few seconds of his struggling, the kneeling cop’s expression softens. “Hey, it’s okay. I know this situation is scary. How about we drive you back to the station, and you can answer questions while you wait for your parents to come get you?”
Normally, he thinks he would say no. He should say no, probably, but his thoughts are currently a jumbled mess, so he simply nods. He ignores the hand that’s offered to help him up, and leans against the wall as he struggles to his feet. He doesn’t miss the way the two cops glance at each other in concern, but he chooses to ignore it. He is at least able to stumble his way from the end of the alley to the squad car on his own two feet, but once he is seated inside, he can't ignore his whirling thoughts anymore.
The cop had been wrong. He was scared, sure, but not of the situation. He was scared because when they had asked for his name, he couldn’t remember. Why couldn’t he remember his own name!? He spends the whole ride to the station thinking about it. It starts with an… L, he thinks. No, an O? There’s an O in it somewhere, at least. He shuffles through different names in his mind, but nothing sounds right. The car pulls up to the station, and he’s starting to lose hope that he’ll recognize his name even if he hears it, but finally, something clicks.
Leo. Yeah… yeah, that’s his name.
With renewed confidence, Leo walks up to the doors of the station. He only has a moment to see his reflection’s dark skin and coiled hair and he pauses because wait no something’s wrong-
-before one of the cops opens the door, and he’s ushered inside. He’s led into a small room with a couple of armchairs and given a cup of water. One of the cops, the one who had tried to take Leo’s pulse, he thinks, sits in the chair across from him, while the other stands nearby and flips open a notebook.
“Alright,” says the one in the chair, giving Leo a smile, “my name’s Jay, and my partner here is Tom.” Tom gives a small nod. “Do you think you’re ready to answer a couple questions now? I promise it won’t take too long.”
Leo shrugs. “Yeah, I guess so.”
“Great,” says Jay, smile turning a little more genuine when he sees that Leo seems to be doing better. “So, first of all, what’s your name?”
“Leo,” he says, feeling relieved that he could finally answer.
A feeling that is immediately squashed by the next question. “Last name?”
“Uhh…” Leo, drawing a blank, scrambles for a way to stall. “Can we maybe come back to that one?” he asks with a weak grin.
The two cops glance at each other with unreadable expressions, but Jay turns back towards him and nods. “Sure. Next question, then. Do you know why that mutant hippo man was attacking you?”
What. Leo is actually surprised his brain doesn’t make a record-scratch noise out loud. He doesn’t… remember that? That feels like something he should remember. That seems pretty important!
Once again, Jay mistakes the reason for his shocked silence. “Ah, you must be from out of town. New York has a bit of a… mutant problem. I know it sounds weird, but it’s true.”
“No, that’s… I’m not…” Leo struggles to find words in his chaotic thoughts. He eventually settles on, “I don’t know why.”
The cops give each other another unreadable look. “Really? No idea at all?” presses Tom. When Leo just shakes his head, he sighs quietly. “Well. You got parents we can call, kid?”
Leo opens his mouth. He frowns. No. Not another blank. Not now!
“I… um…”
His phone! Surely that will have the number of someone who could help! Leo frantically checks his pockets, ignoring the cops’ looks, growing slowly more concerned. No, no, no! Where is it? Did he have it with him before he was attacked? What - what was he even doing before he was attacked?
Leo’s breathing grows erratic as he searches through his mind and finds… nothing. Not a single memory before he woke up in that alley.
“Kid? Hey, Leo? Can you hear me?” That’s Jay, kneeling in front of him. When did Leo curl in on himself?
“I don’t… I can’t - I can’t remember anything,” Leo finally manages to choke out.
The two cops look at each other with wide eyes. The next few hours pass in a blur. Or it could be a few minutes, for all Leo can tell. He spends most of the time reaching inside his mind for something, anything, from before that alley, but always coming up blank. He answers questions without really paying attention, and nods along when he’s told that one of the other cops is going to search their records to try and find his family. Unfortunately, with only a first name and physical description, they can’t turn up anything very specific. Apparently, Leo hadn’t been carrying any identifying information on him at all. Seriously, what kind of idiot is he? (Unfortunately, no one else finds it very funny when he says that out loud. He goes back to being quiet after that.)
Finally, after the windows have been dark for a long time and when everyone Leo meets looks tired, he’s led deeper into the station to a temporary holding cell.
“Sorry,” apologizes the cop who led him there. Leo can’t remember their name. “It’s the only place here with a bed. I’ll leave the door open, and you can ask the people on night duty if you need anything, okay?”
Leo shrugs. It does have a bed. That’s… something. He flops down, but despite feeling physically and mentally exhausted, sleep doesn’t come easily. His thoughts chase each other around in a frantic circle, never seeming to slow down. Who did he use to be? Why was he attacked? Did the hippo man have something to do with his missing memory? Did he always have this much trouble falling asleep!? Leo does eventually manage to drift off, but he’s not quite sure how much sleep he actually gets before he’s being woken up for more questioning. It doesn’t feel like enough.
The second day passes much like the first - a blur of questions, none of which Leo is able to answer. The only useful information they get out of that day is that Leo is pretty sure he’s from New York. Or at least, some other, similar big city - he just gets the feeling he’s always been around other people. A lot of calls are made, most of which Leo doesn’t get to hear, and he goes back to bed that night feeling frustrated and lost. Is this it? Is this just… how the rest of his life is going to be?
But on the third day, something changes. Leo finds out that one of those calls that he didn’t get to listen to was to find people with open foster homes. A couple has agreed to take him in, if he wants them to. Leo agrees to meet them, at least.
Their names are Marie and Dennis Fletcher. The first thing Leo notices about them is that they’re incredibly kind and gentle, in an almost grandparently way. He learns that their youngest moved out not long ago, so it would just be the three of them. He would also be their first foster kid, if he chooses to go with them - which he is seriously starting to consider. As much as Leo thinks that he does probably have a family out there looking for him, he’s not exactly jumping at the chance to stay another night in the police station.
After talking for a while more, Leo agrees to move in with Marie and Dennis. They live nearby, so maybe he’ll even come across someone who he used to know. It’s a bit of a long shot, but at this point, he’s willing to take just about anything.
Since Leo doesn’t have anything to pack, as soon as the paperwork is signed, he’s whisked off to the Fletchers’ home. Marie and Dennis show Leo around, from the kitchen, to the bathroom, to the bedroom that now belongs to him.
“What do you think?” Marie asks him at the end of their little tour. There’s a little worried crease in her brow, and Leo suddenly realizes he’s been quiet for too long, but the only thing he can think to say is a dumb joke.
“Well, the bed is bigger than the one in the station, so, y’know, you’ve got that going for you.”
The slightly worried look gives way to a smile, and Leo gets the feeling he said the right thing. Note to self, dumb jokes work here. The three of them eat dinner together, and get to know each other. Or rather, Leo gets to know Marie and Dennis; the two of them already know pretty much everything he knows about himself. (And if that thought makes Leo feel so transparent and exposed and seen, well, he’s just going to shove it all aside for later.) Marie is a grade school teacher - third grade, to be exact. Dennis is an accountant… or something. To be totally honest, Leo kind of zones out when he starts getting into the complicated details. The important thing is that he’ll be the one driving Leo to school in the morning, while Marie picks him up in the afternoon.
And that’s another thing - Leo will be going to the local high school once the next week starts. It’s currently Thursday, and the Fletchers said that they didn’t see a point in rushing Leo in for one day of school on Friday when he could just have the whole weekend to get ready. Tomorrow, they say, they’ll take him out shopping for any supplies he needs - both for school, and for home. But for now, they’ve managed to scrounge up an old pair of pajamas that used to belong to one of their kids that Leo can wear to bed.
Leo lets out a long sigh as he shuts the bathroom door. It’s been a confusing, exhausting day - couple of days, really - and this place isn’t familiar yet, and he’s no closer to finding out who he is than when he first realized he had no memories, but -
…But it’s a start. It’s some of his worries taken care of, so that he can take a moment to focus on finding clues.
And speaking of taking a moment to focus… Leo braces his hands against the bathroom sink and leans into the mirror to take his first good, long look at his reflection. Dark skin, and even darker bags under his eyes. Shoulder-length coils of hair that are messily trapped in a ponytail, and a loose, faded jean jacket rumpled from the nights he’d slept in it. Dark green eyes that stare at him without recognition.
If not for the reflection following his movements exactly, Leo would think he’s looking at a stranger. Starting to feel uncomfortable, he turns away from the mirror. He finds a spare toothbrush and fresh travel tube of toothpaste that Marie and Dennis have under the sink (though it tastes absolutely awful - he’ll have to ask to get a different brand when they go shopping.) Finally, the only thing left for Leo to do before bed is the one thing he's been putting off - change into pajamas.
He reaches for the brooch pinned to his jacket - and freezes.
Leo had fiddled with it a bit over the past few days, even thought about taking it off a few times. It’s bright and gaudy and completely clashes with his outfit, not to mention the fact that he couldn’t sleep on his stomach without it digging into his chest. Yet, every time his hand approaches the brooch, a wave of fear washes over him for reasons he can’t even begin to guess at. Maybe it’s some sort of super-important family heirloom, and he’s worried he’ll break it or lose it?
I’ll be super-careful with it, Leo reassures himself. I’ll just leave it right by the sink for a few minutes. Nothing will happen to it while I’m not wearing it. Somehow, he still doesn’t feel any better when he reaches for the brooch again, but he pushes past the fear and forces himself to slide the pin out of his jacket.
In a swirl of color and light, everything Leo thought he knew from the past three days shatters, because whatever it is that’s looking back at him from the mirror now? It definitely isn’t human.