Courtyard (North)

[Kimihiro_Watanuki]

Glancing at Lena, he saw her fall into a short trance and then shudder like she had foreseen some horrible event. Taern knew this expression and knew what was happening because he had experienced the same thing far too many times.

He saw Lena take a deep breath to calm herself. Something was getting at her but Taern couldn't quite place his finger on the exact thing but he could; however, grasp the general concept.

"You look like somethings bothering you. You just saw something now, didn't you?"  

[Shadow_Phoenix_Blade]

Lena blinked and looked at Taern carefully. "I thought I saw..." She shook her head frowning. "I don't really have any memories beyond the time I was 7 years old. Anything that came before is merely a blank. I'm not certain why but it is that way. I thought...I saw a memory." Lena frowned gently, perplexed over it.  

[Kimihiro_Watanuki]

Taern now knew exactly what had happened. It had happened to himself one too many times since he came to Ria.

He then remembered back to when he did some to Ria, beaten and broken, blood on his face. He also remembered the one girl who rescued him. He remembered her name, Celeste. He wondered what she was doing now.

All of a sudden his logic gripped him by the throat and shook the memories out of him, putting his mind back on the present and Lena.

He looked at Lena face and saw the subtle frown she was now wearing. He knew it was as puzzling for her as it was for him to try to piece together parts of her past, if that's what she was doing.

"Hmmmm....Well, don't tress over it too much. You don't have files and the like to research like I do I guess these things will naturally come to you, if that's what you want."  

[Shadow_Phoenix_Blade]

Lena shrugged slightly. "I suppose your right. So do you have any idea what you did before you came to Ria? There wasn't much to tell you on what I did and I already did so." A smirk appeared breifly and she glanced at Taern. It really was interesting to talk to Taern. He definitely wasn't just human.  

[Kimihiro_Watanuki]

Upon the impulse to do so, he tried to remember anything before he came to Ria but nothing came to him. All he could see in his mind's eye was a an empty void. It was dark, cold, and when he could see himself walking into it, his logic always pulled him away from it.

"I can't remember anything before I came to Ria. AS far as I know, Ria is my home."

Taern folded his hands behind his head and rested it against the tree.

"But I guess, I had lived a life before I came here, ya know?"  

[Shadow_Phoenix_Blade]

Lena nodded slightly. She pulled in a slow deep breath, her eyes closing. She wanted to sleep. Something about this place put her more at ease or maybe it was just being around Taern. She wasn't certain. Not one bit.  

[Kimihiro_Watanuki]

He saw Lena nod in reply from the corner of his eye, and then watched her close her eyes. She seemed to be at ease and more relaxed than Taern had ever seen her. He figured it was a good thing to just rest once in a while but his logic and instinct always pulled him away from it, regarding sleep as something only meant to be done when one could afford to and when it meant refueling.

He could see Lena was probably going to does off for a decent amount of time so he felt it was his job to at least, stay alert and not necessarily awake. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and just listened to all the things around him. It helped him clear his mind of anything that built up.

For once is his life, Taern was at peace.  

[Shadow_Phoenix_Blade]

Lena could feel the edges of sleep lapping at her mind but it refused it. It's instinct was as always keeping her slightly aware. After an intermittant amount of time, she spoke softly. "Why is it that this place makes it seem that nothing could ever go wrong in life?" It was a matter of just listening and the aura of peacefulness surrounded the school, no matter how many fights were fought.  

[Kimihiro_Watanuki]

He heard Lena speak and looked over in her direction. She asked something that Taern was going to respond to, but later saw that she had answered her own question just by thinking about it. The he began to think himself.

In his mind he kept asking himself why he was here. If what Lena has said about him was true, then why was he at Ria High of all places? This was no battlefield, and it didn't seem like there was much to learn from an intellectual standpoint. If fighting a war was his purpose, why was there no war to fight?

He then thought back to the day he came to Ria. They day when he was completely broken, no emotion or soul, no reason to think or feel about anything at all. He was also physically broken but had only healed in a few days and then was back on his feet, everything, including his mind, intact.

Taern then had a very short vision that screamed through his mind like a bullet through the air. He saw himself running from black, shadowy figures. They had guns with them and they were shooting at him, trying to make him stop. Then Taern turned around to face them and all he did was raise his hand and they were gone.

Coming back to reality he opened his eyes wide, gasping for air like he had almost drowned. His red eye hurt and he held the side of his face with his hand to dull the pain. He then looked out into an empty space and saw nothing but sunlight hitting the grass. He felt nothing but the tree to his back, Lena's presence, and the wind blowing gently at his back.

He stopped gripping his face and relaxed again, resting against the trunk of the tree. He opened a file with his eye's HUD and began to read through it, picking out any important details.

"Let's see what I find this time.",he spoke to himself.  

[Shadow_Phoenix_Blade]

Lena had turned as she heard Taern's gasping breath. Her eyes widened a fraction and she stilled. Her breathing grew a bit quicker. "Let's see what I find this time." There was determination in his voice, causing a slight shiver to race down her spine. She reached out and hesitated before touching Taern. The moment she touched him, her mind seemed to scream. Her eyes went blank and suddenly she was seeing something else. His memories...  

[Kimihiro_Watanuki]

I the middle of reading his file, his eye all of a sudden shut off. He tried to gain access to the file but couldn't. It was locked away and he didn't know how to backdoor his own head. He eventually just let it be, returning his eye to it's standard visual mode.

He then took a deep breath and closed his eyes, resting his head against the tree.

When he opened his eyes, he wasn't at Ria anymore. Everything around his was made of metal and there were signs on the wall. A ominous, green glow filled out the room he was standing in. He saw several men of varying ages staring at the light. They were all wearing lab coats and carrying notepads, writing down notes and observations.

What he saw next left a disgusting taste in his mouth, a disgusted feel in his stomach, and emptiness in his eyes, and a pain in his head. In side that green light that lit the room was a tube. Inside that tube was liquid. Inside that liquid was himself. Several tubes and wires came from his body and the base of the tube, running to different machines around the room. Why was he in that tube and what was he doing there?

He turned to leave but then he felt something. The feeling was familiar. He looked at his arm and a hand appeared on it. Then slowly, Lena came into view. He looked at her, and then back at the men in their coats, and himself in the tube. He wanted to destroy everything here, he felt the need to, but whenever he tried to touch something, he couldn't. His hand would pass right through it. He tried and tried again, go into a mad rage, roaring and screaming, trying to destroy his own memories but, everything he tried yielded absolutely no results.

When he realized this fact, he stopped. He stood still, breathing heavy, eyes wide. He then receded into a corner, fell against the wall, as sunk down to the floor, blankly staring at the tube he was concealed in. It was what he wanted to get rid of most. He wanted to destroy himself but he couldn't so he just sat there, wondering what to do next.  

[Shadow_Phoenix_Blade]

Lena came back to herself in gasping frenzy. Her hand was still on Taern's except she was still seeing the horror around her. She trned to Taern. They had come when she had touched him so maybe if she let go, they would vanish. She hesitated only breifly and then pulle dher hand off his arm. Her vision flickered between Ria and the memory. She shuddered, a soft moan escaping from her. Maybe she could escape...She didn't want to see anymore.  

[Kimihiro_Watanuki]

Still sitting in the corner shivering in terror whit murder burned into his eyes, he began to fall to pieces. Lena was disappearing, fading in and out of the horrific memory that was before him.

He knew that he would sink into a totally dormant state if he couldn't gain control and find a way how but he did not know what to do next. He just sat still, looking about the room, trying his hardest to find someway to escape.  

[Felicity Sumner]

A small girl had been skiping her way about the courtyard, giggling and humming a juvenal tune between giggles. Some event had caught her attention off towards a corner and driven by her endless curiosity she made her way towards Taern and Lena. She had never understood anything about personal boundries or the like, she simply went where ever she pleased when ever.

"Hi!" Her bright and innocent voice chimed in as she immediatly went towards the one who was huddled and shivering. Her tiny body leaned in almost to the point of leaning on the man. A curios glance was soon thrown back to Lena, accompanied by a bright and lively wave.  

[Kimihiro_Watanuki]

A shirll and high pitched greeting raced through the memory he was trapped in. He knew it came from the outside which meant that he still had a chance of getting out. The only was he was going to accomplish that task is if he conquered this nightmare he was in.

Suddenly, the room began to spin, getting faster and faster until a whole knew memory was before him. The same scientist were now standing over his body, which was lying on a table. Mechanical arms meticulously cut as Taern's body, taking out organic parts, and replacing them with metal ones.

Again. Taern felt the strong urge to destroy his own mind, his own memory, maybe even destroy himself. But time and time again,. he came to realization that it was all to no avail. These things weren't going to go away and no matter how hard he tried, he knew he couldn't bring himself to even try to get rid of them.

Then Taern came to a shocking conclusion. Why was he so afraid? What was there top be afraid of? Whatever happened in the past had not killed him. It may have stolen his humanity but that didn't seem like anything to cry over. Taern finally stood up and began to laugh. He started with a soft soft chuckle which, within a few seconds became a hysterical laugh.

He knew there were still things to find out about himself. He knew that they're were things that he would find out, and then they would horrify him but, Taern was focused on the here and now. There was nothing to be afraid of. If anything, these memories were hilarious.

Taern opened his eyes. Things were a bit foggy and then he focused. First his natural eye, then his artificial one. He then looked at Lena, who was sitting beside him. She had withdrew her hand, but still seemed to be fading in and out between reality and somewhere else. He then looked up. A young girl was staring him in the face, smiling.

Who is she?, Taern thought to himself. Why is she here? What is she doing? Taern kept asking himself questions until he spoke.

"Can I help you?"