One Shots

18. [Forgotten Fragment]

Swirls of light fluttered and faded in front of his eyes against the night sky.

What was he doing here, standing in the middle of a crowd of people? It was as if he had suddenly woken up there. A lingering headache became more prominent to him now, but he tried to ignore it.

Who...am I?

The boy turned his head side to side, trying to identify the things around him. More swirls of light filled the sky, and the people around him "oohed" and "aahed" at the sight. They were all smiling, many of them raising decorative fans and ornaments around in the air.

He was also holding one in his hand, though he couldn't remember how to use it. It was an odd contraption, a circular ball that had many sorts of strange lines and grooves that were not making any sort of sense to him. It glowed softly in a yellow orange light that was oddly calming to the boy. This...wasn't a normal ornament, was it? It didn't seem like it.

What's...my name?

He carefully made his way out of the crowd of people around him. The clothes he was wearing, something of a festive style with folds reaching to his knees with black pants, were restricting his movement. Jostles to his head as people nudged him with their elbows made him realize his hair was longer than he thought, falling from the small knot and brushing against the nape of his neck in gold wisps.

"Hey, where are you going with that?!"

Someone firmly grasped the boy's shoulder, forcibly turning him around. He was met with a tall man wearing what seemed to be an army uniform.

Run.

Do not let them get the relic.

Relic? What were these thoughts of his? What did that mean?

He was acting on impulse. The boy turned around and ran as fast as he could, the yells and screams of the man chasing him drowned out by another bang as more swirls of color filled the sky and fizzled out of sight.

His hand were tightened around the ball in hopes of not letting it go by accident.

"Hey, over here!" A girl's voice whispered urgently. "Keith!"

The boy ducked towards the girl's voice just before the man turned the corner.

"DAMN IT!" The man roared angrily. "SEARCH THE AREA! DON'T LET HIM GET AWAY WITH THE RELIC!"

The voices faded away. The boy didn't realize how closely he was pressing against the girl who had called him until she sighed and slowly pushed him away.

"Honestly Keith, we've been looking for you for so long," she said quietly enough so that he could still hear her without anyone else being alerted. "And when we find you after so long, you end up having the thing we're looking for."

"Who...are you?" The boy asked faintly. His grip on the ball was only tightening, scared to let his fingers loosen. A lump of panic was rising in his throat. She had called him Keith. It wasn't until she said that did he realize that he didn't even remember his own name. Was that his name? Keith? It did seem to have an air of familiarity...but he couldn't place from what, exactly.

The yellow-orange glow of the ball in his hand outlined the girl's features of dark hair and gray colored eyes. Her mouth twisted into a frown, her eyes growing worried. She reached her hand towards his face. Even though he felt that he should have avoided it, he let her.

The touch was reassuring to him.

"It's me, Alexandra," she whispered. "You don't remember, Keith?"