The First Step (Closed)

Hours later, Sarah had gone to rest, and Valo was in his lab sitting by himself. He was sitting at a table, sharpening his arrows to make sure they wouldn't fail him later. She had made sure to give him a lecture on taking it easy, but for some reason, he just couldn't sit still. He was tired, aching, and fatigued, but his mind wouldn't stop running. He was doing everything he could to keep it occupied.

"A-argh..." His head started to ache uncontrollably, and he fell to the floor clutching it. It felt like something wanted to escape his brain, like something was clawing at him from inside, and it wouldn't stop. The pain escalated, and he started to scream as things began to flash through his mind. Needles, tubes, scalpels, and lots of white. It was all things he couldn't recall any memory of, and yet they seemed vaguely familiar. And suddenly, the pain all stopped.

Valo slowly stood to his feet, still clutching his aching head before he opened his eyes. What he saw shocked him. He was standing in a completely different space. Valo found himself in a public park, and the sun was setting. It looked an awful lot like Central Park, but something felt off about it too. It looked different, it looked surreal.

"And you'll always be there to protect me... right, Valo?"

He spun around when he heard a voice saying his name, looking in shock at what he had saw. There he was, walking down the sidewalk, giving a girl a piggyback ride. She had long blue hair, tied up in a ponytail, and she was smiling as she hugged him close.

"Of course. No matter what happens, I'll always coming running to save you. I promise." He heard himself say. The two of them walked right by him without even acknowledging him.

"Hey, wait!" He called out, but they didn't turn around. He decided to follow them, trying to figure out what was going on and who this girl was. Why was she with him? He had no memory of her or this moment in time, not with anybody.

It wasn't long before reality began to bend, and everything in front of him looked as if it were being sucked into nothingness. His head began to hurt like crazy again, and he groaned in pain as the world around him changed. After moments of excruciating pain, he opened his eyes and looked around. This time, he found himself in what looked like a small coffee shop. Looking over, he saw himself and the girl again, drinking slushies.

"So, Valo, is there anyone that you like?" The blue haired girl spoke, and Valo saw the other him almost choke on his slushy. "Ahem... uh, well. There is, actually." He stated, and the blue haired girl leaned closer, curious. "But I'm pretty sure she doesn't feel the same way about me." She scoffed at that, smiling at him. "You're such a great guy though. If she doesn't see that, she's stupid. Tell me, who is she?"

He began to shuffle nervously. "Well... she has the most beautiful blue hair, with matching eyes that I love to look into all the time... and she's sitting right here next to me." Real smooth, Valo thought of the other him with a shrug, especially as he saw the girl's uncomfortable reaction. "Do... do you really mean that?" She asked him, and he saw other him nod. "I do. I've loved you for a really long time..." He said, and after a moment, she leaned close to him and kissed him lovingly. People in the building began to cheer in joy and clapped for the new couple. Both Valos looked on embarrassingly.

"Huh. Seems like something out of a cruddy romance movie..." The real Valo remarked. His head began to ache again, and he shut his eyes and braced himself for the pain. As expected, the world around him once more warped into nothingness. A few moments later, the pain would fade away, and he'd open his eyes. He only saw the girl this time. She was chained up, beaten, and bruised. Outside, explosions and gunfire could be heard for a few moments before a sudden quiet filled the air. A minute passed before the door opened and light filled the room. It was night, and from the light that the moon brought in, Valo saw himself walk in. He was covered in blood, some of it his own as evident from the huge wound on his shoulder. He stumbled into the room, falling to his knees on the ground.

"V...Valo..." The girl spoke weakly, trying to reach for him. He was panting heavily, reaching for her hand too. "I'm... I'm here..." He spoke, delivering a swift blow to the chain that shattered it. Taking a deep breath and ignoring his wounds, he shifted her body so that he could carry her piggyback, and he stood up weakly, starting to walk out there. The real Valo followed quietly, and what he saw outside were at least a dozen unconscious men on the floor and the wreckage of a vehicle. A huge metal scrap of it was covered in what Valo assumed was his blood. They were in a junkyard.

"You...really came for me...like you promised..." She spoke quietly to him, laying her head on his shoulder. He continued to walk, leaving the junkyard and continuing to soldier on to the city. "I promised you... that I'd never let you get hurt... and I broke that... I'm so sorry..." He said through tears, and her hand reached up and touched his cheek. "You're here now... and that's all that matters..." He kept trying to hold the tears back, but Valo could see that he was in pain for letting this girl get hurt. "Let's get you home... I got to treat your wounds... and I'll make sure you're safe. Tonight, and forever. I won't let you get hurt again..."

The real Valo looked on as the two began to walk away, and the world began to swirl into a void again. The pain was there, but he was ignoring it due to how shocked he was by all of this. Moments later, he found himself standing back in his lab. Looking around, he saw the arrow he was sharpening earlier.

"What... what was all of that..."

They felt as though they were flashbacks of some distant memory, and yet... it was nothing that he remembered at all. He knew no girl like that, and he figured with memories that dear, he would never forget someone like her. He wasn't sure why, but an unbearable pain began to take a hold of him. He felt like something was torn from him, he felt like something was missing. There was a small part of his life that he couldn't remember at all, could it be that she was that part? Why would he forget her? Who was she? What was her name?

He fell back into his seat, feeling empty, and a tear would stream down his cheek. Why was he crying?

"Who... who are you...?"