A Blank Slate

By the time Silas arose from his sleep, he felt a throbbing sensation in his head. The first person to notice him was Hachigen.

"Oh my!" the friendly giant said. "You're awake, you're actually awake!"

He quickly stomped his way toward Silas, waking Kensei up from his nap. Silas was too delirious to make sense of his surroundings. All he could think about was what had last happened. Kensei, still a tad sluggish, yawned to see what the commotion was about.

"How are you feeling?" Hachigen asked in concern.

Silas remained quiet. He then looked around before placing a hand on his head.

"Ichigo... we were all really worried about you. Can you tell us what happened?"

"I... I don't remember."

Kensei had a look of uninterest on his face, so he threw himself back on the couch. There was an anxious expression shown on Hachigen as he said, "We all saw you run into your past self and—"

"No, I mean I don't remember anything," Silas interrupted. "Who is Lisa and where am I?"

Kensei leapt from the sofa, alarmed at what he just heard.

• • •

When the other Visoreds came back to the hideout, Hiyori was surprised to see Silas sitting in the kitchen by himself. She immediately tried to harass him. But when he didn't respond, giving her a confused look, Hachigen came to explain things.

A few hours ago, after Silas had woken up, it was confirmed that he had amnesia.

"He has what?!" she yelled.

"It's true," Kensei said, walking in the room. "Hachigen tried to fix him, but couldn't. I think he said something about a temporal ano-something."

"Anomaly," Love finished. It came as to no surprise the Visored who constantly read comic books all day understood what time distortion effects were.

From a medical and a spiritual standpoint, Hachigen explained that whatever happened to Silas, his memories became corrupted after interacting with the young Ichigo. And after scanning his brain, it was confirmed that a large part of his hippocampus region was damaged. Not even Hachigen could heal it.

Lisa apologized, claiming that she should have kept a closer eye on Silas. But Hachigen reassured her with some good news. Although Silas didn't have a clue of who he was or who they were, his mind was gradually trying to recollect his lost memories.

"I can try to speed up the process," Hachigen stated. "But if I do that, he might lose some important memories in the long run."

"So what you're saying is that we have to babysit him until his memories return," Shinji concluded, walking toward Silas.

The two locked eyes with each other as Shinji waved his hand in front of the latter's face. Silas, a little annoyed, moved it back and stood up.

"Look," he said. "I appreciate everyone for taking care of me, but I don't want to impede on you any further."

"And where do you think you're gonna go?!" Hiyori lashed out.

"I... I hadn't thought about that."

From everything they all knew about Silas, he showed no hostile intentions and bore a Hollow mask. That alone was enough for them to accept him. He was like family, so they weren't planning on letting him leave. Especially since he didn't even know who he was.

"I'll take it Hachi's already filled you in on some things, huh, Ichigo?"

Silas looked at Shinji, believing him to be the leader of this group.

"Haha-ha," the Soul Reaper laughed. "I'm not the leader. Let's go ahead and take things from the top. Maybe it'll help speed up your recovery."

"Before that," Silas said. "Can I change out of these clothes?"

The entire time, ever since he first arrived to the Visored's hideout, he had been wearing a Gigai's standard uniform. It was an all-white gown.

"This ain't gonna be easy to explain," Love said.

"What do you mean?" Silas asked.

"How do I put this...? We offered you clothes, but you said that you were more comfortable with what you had on."

"Well, now I'm not..."

• • •

Not much time was spent explaining to Silas of his own background. Everyone chimed in on what they thought about him.

"You're like an orange I can eat!" Mashiro commented. Hearing that made Silas think she was some sort of childish girl who hadn't learned to grow up yet.

"Don't go putting stuff in his head!" Kensei yelled. "Anyways, you're a tough guy and don't take crap from no one."

When Silas heard that, he thought Kensei was like a drill sergeant, so he embraced the idea of being strong. That's when Love added that Silas had a knack for creativity. He only said that because, at the time Silas was befriending the Visoreds, he managed to compliment Love on his storytelling.

"Actually, your creativity stems from the way you string my guitar," Rose stated. As gay as that sounded, Silas couldn't help but think that he had a passion for art or music before his amnesia. Perhaps both.

The idea was tossed aside when he heard Hiyori yell that she didn't want anyone else playing music in the warehouse. Then Lisa said, "From what you told me, you think girls who wear glasses are cute." This statement was followed by her adjusting her bifocals, causing light to reflect off them.

"You're also really great at kidō," Hachigen added. "I should know because I helped you practice some of my more difficult spells."

"Are you trying to give him more brain damage?!" Shinji insinuated. "Don't listen to any of them. You're one of us and that's all you honestly should know."

Hiyori further backed that idea up. And when Silas looked at all of them, he believed one thing: this group of misfits were his friends. How else would they know so much about him? Little had he known, these were all the things he relayed before his memories were lost. Now things were coming into full motion.

Upon learning who they thought he was, he was given clarity on his "mission", a mission in which he time traveled to help everyone. This was a lot easier to explain, as it correlated with his amnesia.

Silas felt a tad sad that he had made a mistake, forgetting everyone present. If he was on such an important mission, he should have been more diligent. They all assured him that they were here to help him in the end. That's what it meant to be part of their group.

With everything else explained, such as what the Soul Society was and who their "main enemy" was, he accepted his role as a Visored again.

"Someone's gonna need to teach him how to use his powers," Mashiro randomly said.

The group had not only forgotten about that, but they didn't even know what sort of powers Silas had. Let alone what the name of his Zanpakutōs were.

"Is it even a good idea to let someone with amnesia wield a weapon?" Love wondered.

Before anyone could consider the idea, someone spoke up, saying that they would help train him. Silas got up and said, "I'll be in your care then, Lisa."

She blushed upon hearing that.

Before anyone could tease her, he asked how long he had been asleep for. Kensei scratched his head, not wishing for anyone to answer. That's when Mashiro raised her hand and yelled in a quirky voice, "It's been two months!"