7 Chapter 6 - Doctor meets Patient

A few silent nights passed for the white-haired girl, though she never moved from sitting where she initially awoke. Lost in thought, she was searching her memories as finely as possible, which only served in causing more confusion. Although James, which they were not entirely sure was even really their name now, could clearly remember his last day in class, the material that they had gone over was a haze.

It felt similar to when someone was recalling childhood memories – none of the specifics remained, but how he felt was still clear. The first night was spent, almost exclusively, trying to remember his mother's name. But nothing sounded right. In contrast, he could still recall every moment that he witnessed between losing consciousness on his way home and waking up in the forest of ice.

However, perhaps the strangest thing of note was what she accidentally discovered something she was capable of. Whenever she lost the reins on her emotional state, like she did just after opening her eyes, it seemed to affect the world around her. Like the spots one could see in their eyes, if they unfocussed them, she was able to see the air around her. It moved about constantly, moving more quickly up above than it did lower to the ground. With every breath that she took, she could see the air particulates, directly in front of her face, come to almost a complete stop. That effect then dominoed out, diminishing in its effects the further away it spread.

A rather curious thing to see, especially as she had expected to see them get pushed away from the force of her breath – which she admittedly experimented with in between emotional downs.

Having fallen asleep, at some point, she woke up as the sun started to set for the second time, since their awakening. Having decided to at least look around the area to curb their current boredom, she stood up and brushed the accumulated frost off of the hem of the cloth that acted as a secondary skirt. Not that she felt cold, quite the opposite actually, it was brushed off more out of habitual movement.

Looking around at the ground, and remembering that she was barefoot, she took her first step carefully. But, despite the layer of ice on the ground, the step was firm. After testing a few more cautious steps, she then expanded the search area.

The walk seemed to thoroughly help with clearing her head and easing her mood. As she came across a pack of wolves, currently frozen in place, rather than feeling a sense of wrong she just felt curious. After walking up to them, she ran her hand over the frozen fur of the nearest one, and smiled at the surprising softness that she felt. Rather than function as ice should, it ruffled like one would expect fur to. After she stopped petting it, she noticed, rather curiously, that the fur always settled back into its original position – like one would expect fur to do normally.

Like a child with rampant ADHD, she then searched around, examining every creature that she came across. Small and large, furred, feathered, or scaled, she examined all of them. Some of them looked a little monstrous, but even then, she did not feel any discomfort, choosing to instead inspect them a little more closely.

After hours of looking around, even giggling at a few creatures that were frozen in a particular funny stance, it finally dawned on her that she was forgetting something. Just like that, with the simple act of just looking around, she had forgotten, entirely, about her state of confusion. Her memories even more faded now, like that of a dream.

'Who am I?' She could still remember the name James, but it did not feel right now. Rather, the more she thought about it, more and more names came to her instead. James, Carmen, Thomas, Nlef'thagen, Katrina, Annika, Draktharian and so very many more. They all felt like hers, but none of them felt like her. Even the face that she remembered as her mother felt foreign now, only appearing in a row of faces in her memory, each of which with the same feelings attached to them – a mother, and, at times, a guiding light.

Even feeling sad felt wrong now. Feeling, rather, like she was remembering someone else's mom. Someone else's family. Feelings of someone else's attachment. Someone that she may not have even known – similar to the way a dream used the faces of people seen throughout the day.

With the growing feeling of detachment, she was overcome with an overwhelming sense of urgency – to do what, she was unsure. If nothing else, she knew that she should work on leaving where she was now.

On her way out of the forest of ice, which she used the stars above to retain a straight path, she came to a hard stop as she crossed the threshold between what was frozen and what was not. Feeling a sudden headache, an unprovoked thought entered her head, 'why can I remember so many names, and why do they all feel like they're mine?'

The white-haired girl did not feel perturbed by that thought, only curious. She knew she should feel more strongly about that revelation, but she simply did not. As if she was watching someone else, she sorted through her emotions from before as she started walking away from the alien land that she woke up within. Giving the frozen forest not a second thought.

If anyone had seen her, they would have seen a pretty lady, in a complete daze, walking down the carriage tracked dirt road. Never blinking, as she felt no physical need to, she just walked while lost in thought. At times she walked like she was lost in a daze, and others she would walk while balancing on a fence, arms spread out – smiling all the while.

As morning neared, however, someone did finally see her. Someone that did not expect to see clothing from his world, even if from a different country, make an appearance here.

Since the night before, the three Homunculus that kept an eye on Scarlet had been acting strange. Well, stranger than usual. Having grown used to their not sleeping, and choosing, instead, to stand in corners, like a creeper, while he slept, it stuck out like a sore thumb when the three of them gathered up to look out a window.

Finding them, still, looking out the window when he woke up earlier than usual, he decided to look as well. Allowing his curiosity to finally get the better of him. As he did, he watched quietly as a white-haired woman dressed in a kimono walked right up to the village center, on the side opposite the gate. However, his breathing halted when their eyes met.

With bright red eyes, that were practically glowing, she just stared at the four of them. When Scarlet turned to head outside, to meet her, he felt a firm grip lock around his left arm. Looking back at his captor, he seen the 'Catherine Series' Homunculus looking at him, fear clearly etched across her artificial face. However, curiosity seemed more important than her worry. Prying her hand off him, he quickly dressed and ran outside.

Surprisingly, she was still right where he seen her last.

He had since grown used to the lifeless eyes of the Homunculus when they were not putting up their fake human front. Despite that though, the look in her eyes made him uncomfortable. There was little to no emotion behind those eyes. He felt like an alien entity was watching him.

He had no idea when they joined him, but each of the three Homunculus surrounded him – the smallest two standing in front of him, in between him and her. Unperturbed by their jumping out the third story window, she just tilted her head to the side. He was not sure how to proceed from there. His initial curiosity was still there, but he was now too spooked to get any closer.

"Why are you guys acting so cautious? Its unlike you." Not caring for the odd silence, Scarlet spoke up with a question for the three Homunculus. Of which, the one behind him, and the tallest of the three, answered him.

"Look at her like you would a spell and you should understand." After shrugging at her reply, he did exactly that. One of the first things that they had taught him was how to see mana fluctuations and sense congregating magic – after all it was a must if someone was expected to survive an encounter with a mage. It was especially useful for someone that was previously wanted, preferably dead, by the country they were currently traipsing through.

What he seen, though, put him at a loss for words. The amount of mana that radiated from her was like the core of the underground lab that he found himself in months ago. However, what stood out to him was something else. The mana that he could see took the form of faces from time to time. Each time one formed though, it was rapidly pulled into the girl's chest, obvious duress on their faces. He had no idea what he was supposed to make of that.

Not having spoken yet, her voice caught him off guard. "Where am I?" That was all she said, her head still in a tilted position, her face unchanging. Her eyes made her look like she was still half asleep, slightly drooped as they were, but she was otherwise picturesque. She was pretty, but in an eerie kind of way.

However, instead of answering her question, the Homunculus behind Scarlet asked one in response. "I thought all of the spirit folk had disappeared from the lands, how are you here?" Artificial or not, her voice was a little shaky, which sounded more human sounding than her usual act.

She straightened her head for a moment as she looked down, perhaps in thought, before tilting it to the other side and looking back at them. Her eyes moving from left to right, before returning to stare Scarlet in the eyes. His messy bed head left his brown hair poking out at random angles, which she seemed to examine for a second. "What do you mean? Are there others like me? Could you show me?"

Her brows squeezed together as she spoke, but she gave no other signs. Maybe she was only curious. At least, that was what the former resident thought. After all, he had no idea what a 'spirit folk' was, in the first place. It was the first time that he had ever heard mention of one.

The Victoria model Homunculus on his left turned to look back at him, before whispering to him, answering his unasked question. "Spirit folk, or Fae, disappeared thousands of years ago. Before the kingdom of Divinum had ever even formed." The white-haired girl straightened her head before squatting, bringing her roughly eye level with the shorter Homunculus that had spoken.

"Please, tell me more." The Homunculus, who used mana fluctuations much like priests, rather than facial cues to recognize emotions, all turned around to look at the strange woman before them again. To them she felt just like a spirit folk, or at least how they were supposed to feel. Despite none of them having been seen for tens of generations, they were still surprisingly well documented – although few people ever researched them.

Seemingly noticing for the first time that they were on edge, the strange girl spoke up again, though. "This one thinks that we are making you uncomfortable. Should we leave?" No judgment could be heard in her voice, nor felt in her mana. She was honestly curious and seemed to genuinely worry that she was doing something wrong.

"Is…" stopping to point at her as he turned his neck to look at the Homunculus behind, he then continued. "Is she okay?" She spoke very strangely. Even in Scarlet's opinion, she was just odd. Otherworldly was probably an apt description for her, in the way that she did everything. Every movement seemed to be done slowly, and intentionally. Like they were still getting used to their own body.

After seeing a nod of the head, Scarlet returned his attention to the white-haired, so called, Fae. "Um…" Hesitating to continue at first, Scarlet decided to speak his mind, "So, my na –" but the Catherine behind him stopped him, roughly shaking his shoulder as she interrupted.

"Stop! Do not tell her that!"

Now he was simply confused. It seemed that some of the stories that he heard about back home bore a resemblance here – but it was not as if he was asked for his name. "Anyway, my name is Scarlet," he reached out a hand as he spoke, trying to shake hands, "what's yours?" Apparently recognizing the gesture, she stood up, and wiped her hand off on her skirt before reaching out to take his.

At no point had Scarlet ever thought he would see the ever-stoic Homunculus react in a human way. However, after his right hand was crushed to a pulp, he watched each of them face palm before he dropped to the ground, screaming in agony.

"Oops…" With a dog-like tilt of her head, that was all she said.