It was damp and cold. The chilly air swirled around like rushing water, cascading over every surface and enveloping everyone within in its reach. Someone shivered, pulling his arms closer to his body. Everything was so fuzzy. Where was he? Who was he? He stood up, walking over to something, though it was too dark to tell what until he collided with it; a stone wall. He let out a small groan of pain from the light collision. Rubbing the back of his neck, he turned around to see shadowy figures not too distant from him. Shadowy figures just like himself, reflecting off of the walls.

"Hello?" he called to them. They all stood and watched him, their lips moving in sync with his. As he walked closer, so did they, until they were right before one another.

He placed his hand on the shining wall, his fingertips meeting with his reflection. He couldn't quite make himself out, though. His skin was caked in dirt and dried blood and his hair was a tangled, muddied mess. It was too dark to work out the colour of his eyes.

He began to walk through the strange chasm he'd found himself in, his hand against the wall as it grew too dark for him to see where he was going. There had been the smallest amount of light in the area he'd been in before thanks to a small crack in the stone above, though he knew he couldn't get through it.

"Hello?" he called out again, his voice dreary and eyes tired. What was his name? Surely he should remember a detail like that?

More light up ahead. He let out a sigh of relief and quickened his pace as he approached it.

A shining blue underground lake, once again illuminated by cracks in the ceiling which left light beams on the water, dancing like fairies as the water rippled gently. The only thing that could be causing such movement would be life in the water, so the man was wary as to not disturb it too much. But he needed to clean himself off. Maybe if he could recognise himself, he'd remember what he was forgetting.

Perching himself by the water's edge, he trickled water over his face, rubbing at the dried blood and dirt, allowing it to drip off him into the lake. When that wasn't doing enough, he ditched his shirt and splashed water over himself. So much for not disturbing whatever life was in the lake, but he needed to know. He needed to remember.

The water was choppy now, but - glimmering in its blue hues - he could see.

* * *

"H-hello!" a timid voice called beside him. He couldn't really move that well, though he could understand just about what she was saying to him. "M-my name is Vicky. And your name is Nyais," she smiled. So that was his name...

* * *

"Vicky, you've got to stop doing that," a frustrated, young Nyais muttered. He was about 6 days old at the time. Vicky was his carer - a sweet young woman with black hair and big blue eyes. She turned to look at him with worry.

"Doing what, sweetheart?" she asked.

"Acting like you're our mother." He looked at the other young boys grouped with him. Sadly his memory failed him and he was unable to recall a single one of their names. But they were there; fuzzy in appearance but present.

"Sweetheart, I'm your carer. It's my job."

"Stop calling me sweetheart," Nyais snapped, "and have some respect."

* * *

His relationship with Vicky had been a distant one as it was with most carers. Once the carers realised the children had no care for them or their wellbeing, they usually hid themselves away in their room, exactly as Vicky had. She'd managed to live the 21 days somehow, but was quickly taken off to the elites and killed. Well, what was to be expected? Nyais wasn't sad, and nor were the rest of the kids he'd been raised with. By god were they glad to get away from one another, too. Being cooped up in the same room for such a long time was physical torture.

Nyais moved into a tiny apartment in the middle of the main part of the kingdom - the bulk of the kingdom, one might say, and by god did he have a welcome that he wasn't expecting.

"You fucking lunatic!" a woman screamed from the apartment two doors down. Nyais was instantly on high alert, stepping out of his new place and into the walkway that led to several other apartments, all identical in interior. A girl with cropped brown hair and a long red dress came running from the apartment. "Keep your pervy facts to yourself!" she hissed. A man wearing a black long-sleeve jumper and denim jeans came from his room and called out to her - what was her name? Nyais couldn't remember. She didn't turn back to the face the man; kept walking angrily. To Nyais' surprise, the man let out a chuckle and shook his head, before turning to look at Nyais.

"You're new," he hummed. "The name's Rayne. And you?"

"Um... Nyais," Nyais muttered, walking forwards and extending his hand for Rayne to shake. He did so, before staring off in the direction of the girl who'd run away. "Mind if I ask what that was all about?"

"I'm still trying to work out how to be around girls," he laughed, "and talking about work apparently isn't the way to do that." He paused. "Have you ever tried wine before?" he asked. Nyais shook his head. "I could never afford the stuff myself but that girl has an elite for a father, so she brought some over. Didn't take it with her though. Care to share?"

"Y-yeah," Nyais stuttered, still baffled by the whole thing, "why not?"

* * *

"Nyais!"

Nyais spun around - he'd been walking down the street (the main part of the kingdom is like an underground city, streets with shops and all sorts) when his voice had been called in a familiar slightly pitchy voice. Nyais spotted his new friend Rayne approaching him with an exhausted look on his face.

"Rayne? You alright?" Nyais questioned. "And can you please not yell so loud... my ears are sensitive," he muttered, rubbing his head.

"Ah yeah yeah, freak of nature hearing, gotcha," Rayne laughed, "but seriously Nyais. This is important. Follow me," he smiled, grabbing hold of Nyais' wrist and tugging him along behind him. Nyais blinked in shock but allowed himself to be dragged behind the man, all the way to... a doctor's office? Since when was there a doctor's office here?

"Guess who has his own profession now?" Rayne grinned. Nyais took a moment to process the new information before patting the newly appointed doctor on the shoulder, grinning excitedly.

"Congratulations!" Nyais smiled. And then, suddenly, a voice sounded from behind them.

"Rayne, is that you?"

The voice was female. Both males turned to face the girl — long blonde hair and pretty blue eyes. A warm smile and an excited gaze. She wore a skintight dress, quite revealing admittedly.

"Leya?" Rayne asked with surprise. "It's been years since I last saw you! How have you been holding up?" he asked. The way she ran up to him and hugged him as an answer... it was pure, yet similar to how a child would hug her father when she needed comfort. She was captivating. An element of allure, mixed in with the purity of a little girl.

"I've been alright. Whoa, is this place yours? I know you always liked to study human medicine," Leya said in surprise, eyeing the doctors surgery behind them. Did it feel a little bit disheartening to not even be noticed? Yes, it did. Nyais watched with a smile, though he did at least wish for some acknowledgement. Was that selfish? She was reuniting with her old friend. He didn't interject, not wanting to seem self-absorbed.

"Yep! I convinced the authorities that it may be a good idea," Rayne smiled, dipping his head. He then paused, looking over at Nyais. "Leya, meet Nyais. He's a good friend of mine," he smiled. "And Nyais, this is Leya. We used to share a flat a while back, but Leya found work so she went on without me," Rayne added with a hint of melodrama, placing his hand to his heart as though he'd been wounded, which of course he hadn't. Leya chuckled and gave him another hug as apology, before letting go of him and extending her hand for Nyais, just as Rayne had done when they'd first met.

"Nice to meetcha, Nyais! A friend of Rayne's is a friend of mine, so if you need anything, call on me anytime," she grinned, "if you can find me, that is," she added with a mischievous wink. Nyais laughed at this, shaking her hand in turn.

"Pleasure to meet you too, Leya," he smiled, "and the same goes for you."

* * *

He remembered everything. He re-experienced everything. The warmth of friendship, the thrill of love— he remembered what happiness felt like, what annoyance felt like... love, hate and all the in between.

And grief. Grief clung to him like a loyal leech, refusing to release its hold on him.

Then it occurred to him.

He had to find [Y/n].

* * *

Damien woke up on a hospital bed, clutching his side with discomfort, though quickly realising he wasn't actually in pain - his mind was playing strange tricks on him. He lifted his top to see the stitches there. His eyes narrowed. Why bother stitching him up? Had they not seen that the wound was gonna close quickly anyway? He huffed, leaning his head back, before sitting up straight again. A nurse came in, her face relieved when she saw he was awake.

"Goodness gracious, thank god you're okay," she sighed happily, "I've never seen someone heal so fast! It's quite amazing," she awed, before clearing her throat when the boy gave her no response. "Um... is there any family I can call?"

He hesitated. "Nope."

"Your friend is waiting outside... her name is Tara Lazenby?" she said unsurely. A small smile formed on Damien's face. "Shall I allow her in?" she questioned. Damien nodded, and the nurse stepped out of the room. Moments later did Tara burst in like a whirlwind. Her eyes were full of tears and her body was shaking.

"Why the fuck did you go on a run at 3am?! Don't you know how dangerous that is?! What if they hadn't reached you in time?!" Tara yelled at him - the nurse rushed back in to tell her to be quieter, but Damien waved his hand to gesture that it was alright.

"Calm down Tara," Damien laughed softly, "I'm fine now, alright? Are you okay?" he asked.

"Don't ask me if I'm okay when you're on a hospital bed..." Tara tailed off, walking over to the boy and pulling up a chair beside him. "You had me worried sick... I saw the ambulances around your area and then I— I called you and called you and you wouldn't pick up, which was so weird because it says you were online when the ambulances were there, a-and... and— so I came here and here you are."

"You know where I live...?" Damien whispered.

He'd never told any of them where he lived. And for good reason. He spent so much of his time pretending to have a family, so if they came to his place and found out he was on his own, he figured they wouldn't be too pleased.

"Of course I do, dummy. You never turn off your location settings."

"Stalker much?" Damien joked. At least she hadn't mentioned the family thing.

"Oh, by the way..." she began, standing up, "I'm gonna go get your parents. They need to know you're—"

"No!"

There was a sudden tension between them that neither could really understand that well. Things usually got tense between them regarding [Y/n], but never anything else. So why was it getting tense now? Maybe everything felt slightly tense because he'd just been stabbed... god, this was a bad time to be hospitalised. Then again, isn't it always a bad time to be hospitalised? He didn't want the image he'd built up of himself to be torn down now. He had so much to lose.

"No?" Tara echoed. "But... they need to know," she muttered. Damien shook his head. He lifted a bit of his top to show where the wound had been, and how it'd almost completely disappeared already. She'd never seen anything like it.

"Damien... how—?"

"Don't worry about it. If we tell them they'll just panic. They'll want to move house, but we don't have the money to do that, so it'd be better for them to not know. Plus, my little sister's doing great in school right now. I don't want her to start worrying and getting bad grades."

He was an amazing liar. Tara believed every word of what he said and nodded her head.

"Plus, at this rate I'll be able to get home at about 6am," he smiled, looking at the clock — 5:30am. "I can probably discharge myself now."

"Well... whatever you say, I guess," Tara said, sighing and hanging her head. Damien gave her one last bright smile, before calling for the nurse once again.

No one could know.