Chapter 1: Where

A cloudy sky of crimson rain falling all around me. 

That was the first thing I saw when I first opened my eyes.

The second thing was a person lying beside me on my right, a man/woman staring back at me. 

Their Blonde/Red hair with a Red/Blonde strand visible from their right bang and green eyes that I could swear give off a light glow.

As I lifted my left hand to touch them, so did He/She.

"Who are…" He/She spoke at the same moment I did and as our hands touched, all suspicions were cleared, the cold feeling of our hands touching telling me everything I want to know.

I was staring at myself. Gripping hands with a me of another form, despite these two forms being different in every way.

But with the blood rain growing colder against my skin, I'm brought back from my initial shock. Sound comes out of our mouths as we speak at the same time once again. "What's... going on? Where... am I?"

Steadily, I try to use my arms to lift my body off the ground, a feeling in the back of my mind tingling before growing into a painful scream, 'This isn't right!' till I slipped, falling face-first into the cold mud.

Everything I touched sent more warning signals throughout my head. All these signals are being thrown throughout my body, filling it with a growing irritation as my head feels like it will split in two.

My legs, my arms, my hands, and my mud-covered face, all signals being sent into my skull. 

'I can't understand what's going on! I need to figure it out! Now!' 

Wiping the mud off both faces as best as possible, most sliding off thanks to the now clear rain, I move my body away from every irritation, from the feeling on my female leg being poked by a stone to the pebble sticking to the male's hand.

I look left and then right; taking in my surroundings, but all this information fed to me is becoming too much due to these 4 eyes of mine.

'Nothing with this makes sense!' 'Everything that's happening isn't what's meant to happen!'

These thoughts flooding my head weren't helping either. At the very least, I can tell I'm in a crater surrounded by a dense population of trees over 200 meters tall.

'What kind of forest am I in?'

'Are there creatures nearby?'

My attention shifts to the ground beneath me, at the uneven dirt that irritates my being beyond this... these bodies... I can't even imagine how bad this will feel when I try to stand. Like learning to walk all over again.

'Though I guess this situation is double that thought considering I'm now two.'

That's when it hit me: 

I can't remember my birth. 

I can't remember anything of my life before. 

I can't remember anything.

As the realization hit; everything in my mind felt clouded, like the information that was around naturally became blanketed in fog. 

'What do I know and why can't I remember it?  Can this be fixed?  Am I safe? Will I survive like this?'

The rain was now completely clear, blue droplets of water that would dilute and wash away the blood. 

'At least I know the answer to the last question. Like an infant, I'm vulnerable. Maybe worse as I can't even crawl properly. If I want to live, then I need to move, I need to be able to run.'

I try once more to get my body off the dirt, both bodies cold from the rain and mud. But I have more important worries than being cold.

'How am I going to get out before this rainfall ends?'

The rainfall was important when trying to hide. Most sounds are muffled, and all scent gets drowned out. This is my only chance to leave without alerting animals with good hearing or a strong nose.

'Together... If I can get both bodies together, I could carry myself, using multiple legs to help keep myself stable.'

With that plan worked out, I got both of me together, crawling to one another till I was in each other's arms. That was the easiest part when compared to everything that came after.

It took me who knows how long to stop moving in sync long enough for the male body to grab hold of my female's arm, a horrible choice as I could feel the intense desire to fight back.

And the feeling of holding onto my other was made worse as the guy felt as though he himself was being grabbed in the same spot on his arm. But I had to push through, swiftly attempting to throw her arm over his shoulder and being made to fight off that growing desire to struggle.

Everything was so... Uncomfortable! Even though I'm being as gentle as possible, it's such an irritating feeling being held like this! It wouldn't be this bad if the female body didn't fidget so much! 

This made me realize quickly that both bodies have their own nervous system but are still deeply connected somehow.

While one is being grabbed, the other just as much gets the desire to react as though they're being gripped in the same spot, if not feeling like I'm about to be. A connected mind that made my entire nervous system share these senses from sight and touch to sound and taste.

'I don't even want to think about what it feels like when I take a punch.'

When I was stable, I took a moment to look for a pathway out of this crater, But having four eyes didn't help with the search. So, I closed one and focused these single open eyes on the same area. I had to decide which direction I could go but I could only go with my gut as I began moving in a direction in hopes the wall wasn't steep. 

Getting out wasn't as terrible as keeping a tight grip on myself without giving in to the desire to throw myself in the dirt. It helped to have a total of four legs, allowing the tall female to lean on the short male's shoulder. With two step at a time, I have a growing confidence that I can make it out. 

Something that helped relieve the irritation of being grabbed was when I held onto the same place my other was currently being held. It stops being an itchy feeling when both bodies are experiencing the same thing at the same time, as though the saying I... think I used to say? was true, "An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth."

I stumbled the entire way up but never fell thanks to the extra feet till I made my way out of the crater. And with me being out, I can finally see that beyond the crater was a forest, a truly dense forest of trees that if I hollowed out, I'd probably have enough room for a twelve-floor building of four rooms a floor. But despite the length and depth of the trees, I had enough room to walk forward, and with enough thickets and bushes to hopefully hide myself if a desperate situation arose.

The rain continued pouring on my walk through the woods. I tried to avoid any large puddles or patches of grass that could hide a big enough pebble to trip me up and make me start reconvening over again. But my persistence was finally rewarded as I saw something up high. A building sat on a cliff.

'Are people nearby? If it's abandoned, it can at least be shelter. But if someone's there, they could help us out of these woods!'

"But... why does it have to be uphill?!" I shouted from both mouths.

By the time I make it to the top of the uphill climb, I'm pretty much out of breath. But I don't separate, 'as much as I want to, I won't! Not until I know for sure it's safe!'

My persistence won't fail. Just like how I didn't fall backward the two times the tall female form almost leaned backward to far.

'Thank this male body for being so stubbornly resilient.'

Despite wanting to rest, I only just arrived and still need to check if this shelter is abandoned or not. Taking a quick glance; I see no cobwebs, the wood isn't old but partially weathered, and the campfire is still warm, all signs this isn't abandoned.

'But is that really a good thing?'

I shake my head, knowing I couldn't run even if I tried before shuffling over to the door. I attempted to knock but both left arms moved forward, the female arm forcibly shoving my male counterpart's head into the door with a "THUM!" 

I grip the pain on my forehead with both bodies, but I'd consider that short bump to be more tolerable than the torment that is the attempt to restrain myself. A light headache from my male counterpart's side and nothing but a feeling from the female's.

I'm glad it isn't a one-for-one but with no sound coming from within, I guess no one's home. 

'I'm in a safe place and have time, I should probably practice getting used to moving these two separately so we...? Me? Us? Not the time...' 

I should be able to hide the fact we're the same person if I work hard enough. Just writing off my hesitation to stand as muscle pains or something. 'There was a crater, I could say I was near the crash zone when it landed.'

I began to practice the moment I could, spending who knows how long trying to keep from speaking the same words from separate mouths till, eventually, my female counterpart was able to stop reacting to my attempt to speak.

"A success!" I shout, only for the female counterpart to do the same thing.

"Huff... Guess I shouldn't get overly excited..." We both sighed.

After a few more attempts, I notice a silhouette steadily making its way up the cliffside.