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“I will be just a moment. Just sit tight and behave.”
That was the last thing Miss Warfarin had said before storming out of the room half an hour ago. Restless, the young Liberi kicked his legs anxiously as he sat around the sterile examination room.
“Miss Warfarin said she would only be a minute, but it’s been much longer than that. Could something have happened to her?”
Should he get up and look for her? He was beginning to work up the courage to brave the outside world from this room, when the door suddenly swinged upon. The young Liberi, startled, leaped from his spot.
“I apologize for the wait. I had to notify the staff about your… ‘arrival.’” She said, taking a deep sigh.
“Naturally, your presence would be a shock to some, so I made the rounds to let everyone know and make sure that no one pulled a quick one and tried to swing a weapon at you while I wasn’t paying attention.”
The young Liberi’s eyes widened in worried confusion.
“Well, let’s begin the examination. Open your mouth, please.”
The examination took longer than he would like, but shorter than he imagined. He doesn’t ever remember getting treated in a doctor’s office before. He doesn’t even really remember much, really. Rather, what very little remained of his memories was fire. Most of his memories were scattered to the wind, but the few that remain… Burning roads, burning corpses, burning cities. The screams of men, women, and children alike.
“Hm. Your heart is racing and your breathing is heavy.“ She mutters, a stethoscope placed against his chest.
“Ah… I’m really sorry, Miss Warfarin. I was just thinking again… About that city. Was that my fault…?”
“Well, considering that you don’t remember anything. It’s not ‘your’ fault, necessarily.“
He waited for her to speak again, but for a while, she faltered to find the right words to say to a young boy.
“Perhaps it’s best not to sugarcoat it. While you do not seem to carry the same temperament or memories of your predecessor, he was one of our most sadistic enemies in the Age of Terra. His atrocities cannot be forgiven, but I’m not so keen about prescribing my judgement of him on you as well.”
She took a breath before continuing.
“Similar to you, some of our more senior operators too have their own predecessors who clashed with yours. However, they do in fact have some of their memories and might mistake you for him and lose their cool if you appeared without warning.”
His arms shuddered at the thought of being hated so viscerally, even if he might have deserved it, he doesn’t remember it himself..
“Was I really that bad…? I guess I would understand if someone felt the desire to take their revenge on me then… But I don’t want to be hurt though…” He looked at her, a glint of fear in his eyes.
She frowned at him. However, it was not a stern look, he would discover. It was more a mild annoyance that she would allow something like that under her watch.
“Well as long as you’re under my watch, you’re a member of Rhodes Island. Besides, I can’t have people swinging their blades at one another in the premises. Do you know how much time and money repairing the facilities cost? I’m already understaffed and overworked as it is!”
“I’ll try not to cause any problems then…”
“I understand everything must be quite scary and confusing for you, but let’s try to calm down for now.” Her voice was tired, likely from all of the stress he’s been putting her through. But even so, he can tell she’s trying her best to be comforting.
After the examination was completed, Miss Warfarin allowed him to get up from the examination seat.
“No oripathy according to the bloodworks… You seem to be fully clean. However…”
She attaches a device to him.
“Just in case, we’ll attach a monitor to you to ensure that things are in order.
While his physical examination completed without any complication, the Liberi noted she seemed much more hesitant to test his Arts.
“Do you still remember how to channel Arts?”
“Um… I think so…”
“Alright, when you channel your Arts, try humming a tune. Just anything that comes to your mind.”
Nearly all of the memories in his mind were akin to the aftermath of a catastrophic storm, shattered and broken across the ruins of that smoldering city. As he sifted through the rubble of what once was, the Liberi found him. The boy who stood by ‘his’ side through it all. The only refuge ‘he’ had in the hell that was the living world, and the one thing ‘he’ did not ever want to forget.
Even now, the Liberi’s mind was soothed by the thought of him. And in that calm, a familiar, yet distant song appeared in his fragmented mind. A song meant for that boy.
A gentle breeze filled the room. Ethereal feathers began to gently descend, and where they landed— warmth. Miss Warfarin stood there with a distant stare. He could only guess she saw something different in those feathers.
As they walked the halls to Miss Warfarin’s office, she broke the silence first.
“Lastly, we need to have a name to refer to you within our records.”
“Couldn’t you just use my predecessor’s name? I assume no one else is using it…?”
She frowned at him again. There was a pain in her eyes, he noted in his mental notes. He felt bad. He didn’t want to make her keep frowning at him.
“While you are intertwined with him, you are not him. You are your own person, and you should have a name of your own.”
“My own person… huh.”
“Your seniors also chose a new name for themselves as well. Take your time, there’s not a rush. I’m already swamped with work as it is. Just bring the document over whenever you’re decided.”
The following week was a learning experience, to say the least. Clearly, the staff had been informed of him, but not to the full extent of his origins. Often times, he was overly apologetic for any perceived slight or wrongdoing he inflicted upon his fellow Rhodes Islanders, but more often than not, he was often met with kind voices and gentle reassurances.
To the people of Talos-II, he was simply a young harmless boy. But sometimes, he could feel eyes boring into her back. A cold reception. A quickened step down a different hallway. It was clear when someone else had also “returned,” by the way they acted around him. Thankfully, Miss Warfarin’s promise held true, and no one attacked him as he walked down the hallways.
After he was finally deemed stable enough to go on excursions outside the medical facility, he would help out in the infirmary, reading books to young children receiving treatment for their illnesses. He’d also use his healing Arts to sing songs to patients to help them feel better, in both an emotional and quite literal sense. To see people’s pain disappear from hearing his songs…
After each shift, the young Liberi stared at the blank record file in front of him, and at his own reflection in the mirror. In his free time, he had read his own file, and that of the boy whose absence left such a burning hole in his chest.
He often thought about that boy. That boy was ‘his’ sole reason for living. But what did that mean for the Liberi who breathed and walked alone today? Who was “he” without that boy?
Oh, how he missed him so dearly…Oh, how he wished to meet him for the first time… Oh, how he wanted so desperately to call out—
The next morning, he carried the slip of paper to Miss Warfarin’s office.
“I’ve decided on a name.”
“Well… you should have decided on an appointment time first, but that’s okay. I’m currently available. What shall we call you from now on?”
Miss Warfarin’s eyes widen as she glances over the sheet. Her workplace smile drops, but this frown is different. It’s not a look of annoyance, or frustration. It is a frown born from a grief and understanding. Thus they sit there in knowing silence together. She too longs to say the names of the people who she will never see again.
“Even if there is no longer anyone by my side, this time… I won’t forget that name again.”
“…I understand. Welcome to Rhodes Island, Operator Sascha.”