Fan Fiction ❯ Goddess of Soul - The Altered Judgement ❯ The Man Named John Doe ( Chapter 1 )

G of S - Part One -

[Wake up…]

The voice seemed to beckon to him from everywhere and nowhere at the same time. It was a sweet voice that came from the darkness and it spoke like one new to the common tongue.

[Why do you not wake?]

He thought for a moment, maybe it was an angel, come to lead him away though… he knew it could just as easily be a demon come to steal him away and bring him to some eternal hell.

[Hn…]

With thought came recognition and the presence of new sounds came to him; the wind rustling against the foliage, the grit of shifting sand and swoosh of water coming up on shore. A light in the far black appeared, one he was unsure of approaching, but the gentle voice beckoned again, this time more concern tingeing its vocals.

[Won't you open your eyes, please?]

The light grew from a pin prick to a blinding glare and everything else seemed to come back to him. An awareness of heat, and of the pain that throbbed in his head. The sky's blue seemed evaded with white and yellow as the man became able to recognize how the sun's light scorched his unadjusted eyes. His squinted eyes widened though as a figure blocked the rays of light and cast his face into a soothing shade. A pair of dark silvern eyes gleamed, before light sandy blonde hair fell back into place and covered up one of the orbs. The manner in which the sun shone down on the crown of the child made the hair seem pure white and engulfed by a shining halo. The brown tanned skin was dually noted in contrast but what left the man in awe was the smile that stretched across the child's face, "Ah! You are awake." She said this as if the concept refreshed her, and continued to smile in a manner that seemed to have the possible ability to show any dark creatures the meaning of gaiety.

The man groaned lightly and raised his hand up, moving it to his forehead which throbbed so rhythmically with his heart. He tried to push back the damp bangs that had plastered to his face. "Where… am I?" He muttered a bit weakly and let his hand drop back down to the hot sand.

The child tilted her head slightly and moved the bangs he had missed out of his face with a special care, even for such a simple task. "You are on Tohma, I named myself." He didn't understand exactly, but had little time to question it, because she continued on speaking, "You not from Tohma? Where are you from?"

The simple question brought on a frightening new realization for the man. He wasn't sure… he honestly wasn't sure where he was from; though for some reason Tohma didn't seem like the right answer. He tried to think it through, but was met only with the pain he felt. Images came to him vividly; a storm that moved violently over open waters and a ship that was being tortured by heavy waves and winds. He forced himself to sit up, but found that the young girl immediately helped him to do it. The truth was he honestly couldn't have done it so easily without her. He gave her an inquisitive look but she didn't react to it, the obligation to help was instinctive for her. She put her hands on her knees and waited patiently for an answer. It took him a moment to gather what she was waiting for, but he could only stutter on an, `I… uh, well…" before new voices called out from further off.

"Chim-chim, hey! What are you doing?" came one feminine voice; "Are you bugging people again?" came another. Both children shouted out as they ran down the sand towards the pair. It was only then that the man noticed an oddity about the child next to him. She had pointed ears, which lowered a bit when she heard the dreaded nickname `Chim-chim'. The two others reached the pair quickly, each having secretly been racing the other.

Something about the child's shining presence seemed to die down and she looked to neither of the identical twins as their questions came on. "What are you doing, well?"

"Uh… nothing, I found him." She muttered softly.

"You found him!?" One of the twins stepped closer and stared at the man.

He could do little but watch at this point, it felt much like he was only seeing a show and wasn't truly there. He brought his sandy hand up again and cupped his head in it; a light-headed feeling had flooded into his consciousness making it hard to concentrate. The silvern eyed girl looked back up to this odd man and reached out for his shoulder, concern riddling her expression again. She pressed down there so she could give him support, but he gave a strong grimace and jerked away. The girl's hand pulled away quickly and she got to her feet. It came only to him then, his arm was numb and he could hardly move it, as heat radiated off of it.

"Chim-chim," One of the girls wailed, "Don't touch him!" The other sister was quick to support her sibling without a thought. "What's wrong with you, weirdo? Can't you see he's hurt!?"

The man clenched an able fist, and closed his eyes as he tried to fight off pain. "Stop that!" He shouted out, not opening his eyes still. The silvern eyed girl looked away from him, then quickly back before she started off in a sprint down the beach. With a troubled look she tried to run faster. The man's eyes opened the moment he heard the sound of her feet coming down hard against the sands. "Hey… wait." He muttered out but she was much too far gone to hear it. She ran now with a new goal; the crimson staining her hand beckoned to her to search for help.

The children that remained stared dumbly as the man clutched his arm closer to his side. The y had never faced this sort of situation before, and one was considering running, but the other spoke up first, though quite timidly, "What's your name, sir…?"

He stayed silent for a while, too proud to admit that he honestly wasn't sure. "John… John Doe." He muttered hoarsely, hoping they didn't know the common use of the name.

She had made it back to the place the twins had strayed from. The classes were scattered around the beach, but the teachers were still easy to pick out. Finding one she knew, she hurried over and while holding out her bloody palm she pointed in the direction and said only: "Man hurt," before she began walking away. The teacher was going to question the young girl, but she knew the ways of how this one could be, but she also knew that this child was no liar. Alerting a few other adults, they hurried off in the indicated direction.

The twins still stared in bewilderment at the man, this John Doe, "So… where did you come from then?" He barely heard the girl, his head felt like it was spinning, but he managed a spacey, "Huh?" before he realized what she had asked, then the silvern eyed girl's smiled flashed for his eyes… only for a second, but her voices rang out again, `Where are you from?'. Suddenly he could remember more and her voice merged with the crashing waves. He reached out his hand to grip something and the sisters took a few startled steps backward, giving each other questioning looks. To him, however, he was gripping a rope as the water crashed heavily on the deck of the boat. He shouted to a few deckhands to get to a secure planted part of the ship as he frantically tied the rope down. A vicious wave hit the side of the ship, shaking it terribly. The next thing he knew was that as the water cleared from his eyes, there was an aching in his left shoulder, and small shards of wood were falling with him as the side of the ship and a shouting head and shoulders above were all he could see. He was falling and as he struck the angered waters, he found himself sinking as any light dimmed and he lost consciousness.

The teacher saw the figures ahead and she pushed herself to run faster, driven by the new motivation, but the man's tensed body relaxed and he fell backwards into the sands, his reaching out arm falling to his side limply and his eyes closing shut as he lost all awareness.