Breaking my back just to know your name...

[moonlit_mirage]

Characters: ES!Uchiha Itachi/Crow (moonlit_mirage ) and OPEN
Date/Time: Any time this week
Location: The Safezone in AD/The Wilderness
Rating: ???
Summary: Crow has gone to explore the wilderness and finds it to be a ruined city. But unlike the last time the Wilderness was a city this city is populated with real people. And killer bunnies.

Comments

[moonlit_mirage]

Crow ignored the bird calls, though he hadn't seen any birds. He was more interested in the river. When was the last time he'd seen flowing water? He couldn't recall. He hadn't been in the wilderness at any point it was likely to have running water. Something about the river though... Or the thoughts of a river, triggered that vague headache and feeling of uneasiness. A ping then.

He had just started to crouch by the water's edge when someone touched his arm, and he started slightly, looking to the side and down at the cheerful face of a blond boy. Vaguely familiar, he'd seen the face in the market before. Who..?

Oh yes. But why was he speaking to him so familiarly? And no one knew of his fever or his illness, not even Argent or Bastet. Flight had known, but Flight was long gone.

"I apologize, Fullmetal-san." Crow smiled, gentle and slightly puzzled. "I did not mean to make you fuss." He paused, studying the boy thoughtfully. "I have no reason to fight with Sasuke-san. I do not believe he and I have even formally met yet." Why yes, yes he was looking at Al a bit strangely.

"Are you feeling alright, Fullmetal-san?"

[bloodseal_soul]

Al had never once been able to sneak up on Itachi before, and to see him actually jump when he touched him was more than a little strange. What had happened?

Before he really thought about what Itachi was saying, Al had unzipped his coat and shrugged it off. It wasn't big enough for Itachi to wear, but at least with it around his shoulders he might be protected from the rain. "Here," he said with a worried sigh, and swung it around Itachi's shoulders, pushing up on tiptoes to pull up the hood. "You're really out of it if you're apologizing. Are you still a little hungover from last ni-" and he froze when he saw the smile, as well as the glasses.

... and his eyes.

Alphonse stared wide-eyed at him. This... couldn't be Itachi, but his face was...

Fullmetal-san? Sasuke-san?

Alternates? Like Kamui? But he knew Ed's military name, and Sasuke... what...?

Al took a step back, half-raising both hands, not sure what he was guarding for, but deeply disturbed and uneasy. "Who are you?" he whispered.

[moonlit_mirage]

Crow blinked when the boy tried to wrap his coat around him. He knew Fullmetal was sort of entirely a sweetheart, but wasn't this a bit much? He started to shrug off the coat and offer it back to the blond when Al's reaction had him pausing and looking consideringly at the younger boy, lifeless eyes seeming to stare through Al, instead of at him.

Crow folded the coat gently and held it out, non-threatening, to Al, his own expression thoughtful as the boy turned from friendly to wary.

"I have not been drinking, Fullmetal-san." Crow said quietly, examining the boy closely. When asked for his name... Fullmetal wasn't that forgetful. And he hadn't died again, not that Crow was aware of.

"I am Crow." He said, one eyebrow raising questioningly at Al's reaction.

[bloodseal_soul]

After a moment, Al reached up and took his coat back. With cautious movements he shrugged it back on. Though he was wearing a sweater underneath, it was a bit chilly. He pulled up his hood. Never once did his eyes leave the man's face.

"Crow," Al whispered, studying him. He straightened up. He looked wary but not particularly afraid, and more curious as he seemed to get a little more used to the idea. Crow had not offered him any hard, and seemed to recognize him, if not as a friend, then as someone he knew. "I'm sorry, Crow. I mistook you for a very dear friend of mine. He looks exactly like you, but... a little younger, and his eyes are different, and he doesn't wear glasses."

"... I am not the person you are thinking of," he said softly as he zipped his coat up. "My name is Alphonse. Fullmetal is my older brother's military title."

[moonlit_mirage]

Crow met Al's eyes, watching the boy watch him warily. Not Fullmetal after all. But he knew a Fullmetal. This was making less sense then usual. And yet... He could come up with a theory or two.

"I apologize for mistaking you then, Alphonse-san." Crow's tone was unfailingly polite. "It seems we both saw someone else for a moment." he fell silent, thoughtful, as he studied Al's face. No, he wasn't mistaken, this was Fullmetal, or Fullmetal's twin. He'd never sketched Fullmetal's face, but still...

"Would you indulge an odd curiousity of mine, Alphonse-san? What is your friend's name?"

[bloodseal_soul]

The word for this was trippy. Yes. Trippy. This man looked exactly like Itachi, but the differences were jumping out at him like a picture in one of those strange patterned puzzles, and optical illusion.

"It's all right," Al reassured him, and though he didn't smile, he seemed to brighten. This Itachi didn't give off any aura of... danger, really. He had a commanding presence, but there wasn't the sense that he could gut you with a flick of his wrist, if he stopped finding you interesting.

... and that was how his Itachi could be with strangers. Especially strangers he might be threatened by.

"His name is Uchiha Itachi," he answered, tilting his head to one side slowly. "... you're looking at me as if you know me."

[moonlit_mirage]

Crow closed his eyes a moment. The sound of birds, and this time a stabbing pain in his chest. But he still hadn't caught the name. Interesting. He opened his eyes again and examined Al thoughtfully, making a gesture at the blond's face.

"I am not well acquainted with Fullmetal-san, but he is close to those I know. You look just like him, Alphonse-san. Perhaps as much like him as I resemble this friend of yours. Perhaps more so." Curiouser and Curiouser. What was that book he'd read? He felt like he was down the rabbit hole than a little more usual, if that was possible.

It was exciting, but he knew well enough to be wary.

The calm pleasant expression remained, smooth and unruffled. "I am sorry for startling you earlier with my appearance." Was Al even real? He'd never heard of real people in the wilderness. And if he was real, what did that imply? That the person he knew, whose name Crow could not hear, was real and here? What would that mean?

"I was not entirely expecting this place when I took the elevator down, today." He commented, more to himself then Al.

[bloodseal_soul]

The name seemed to affect Crow in a strange way. It was hard not to go to him, when he had his eyes closed like that he looked exactly like Itachi, the man who just three days ago had shared his coat with him and showed him an illusion of his homeland, who had talked him through a breakup and some hard times, who had come through his window and dodged a crowbar just so he wouldn't have to be alone with his Voices.

Crow didn't know him, but he knew Fullmetal, this mysterious person who looked just like him and had his brother's name.

"It's not your fault," Al said with a reassuring smile. "Nobody ever expects this place when they come. You're taking the shock better than most." He assumed that the "elevator" had been whatever Crow had been doing when he merged with this world. This meant that there was an alternate world, a different world where Itachi was called Crow and had such dead eyes, where he was named Fullmetal, and they knew each other. And Sasuke --

Sasuke-san.

"... wait a minute, why did you call your brother "san"?" Al asked.

[moonlit_mirage]

Crow raised an eyebrow. "Well I had expected a candy factory, but the wilderness was due to shift soon anyway. It was not particularly alarming to find it had changed." The man said calmly, not puzzled, but explaining as if it made sense. "Finding someone here was more surprising. Especially with your resemblance to Fullmetal-san."

He paused a moment when Al asked about his brother. He hadn't mentioned Drake. He hadn't even mentioned Flight. Crow frowned, half a moment of puzzlement.

Had he mis-heard the blond? No, had asked about Crow's brother, not Al's, who apparently went by Fullmetal.

It felt a bit like they were talking in the same language but speaking different tongues.

"Pardon. I do not recall mentioning my brother." Crow finally answered, very carefully. He was watching Al a little too intently, dead eyes much harder to read than Itachi's.

[bloodseal_soul]

"Nobody ever expects Adstringendum," Al said conversationally. It was a bit cold, especially by the river. The least they he could do was move Crow back out of the rain. "Wherever you were expecting to go, this is not the place you think it is." With those ominous words he beckoned Crow to the side, reminding him to watch his step as he ducked under a branch to a place with a fallen log, and settled down on it, watching the river.

He could feel the eyes on him, and it was so hard not to shudder.

... three years. Crow looked older. Was he... had this Itachi died from his illness? Was that why his eyes looked so filmy and pale? No sharingan at all. Huh.

"You did. You said "Sasuke-san"." Al stared at him with wide, curious eyes. "When I asked if you had had a fight. Sasuke is your brother." Alphonse paused, glancing down at his hands, then back up again. "... maybe he goes by a different name, in your world?"

[moonlit_mirage]

Crow raised an eyebrow at the odd declaration. Cryptic. He followed the beckon, however, and settled down next to Al. The damp was a bit irritating, but he'd found he didn't mind discomfort all that much. He watched Al watch the river, not in the least attempting to conceal that he was paying attention. He knew his eyes unnerved people, generally he was more polite, but sometimes he simply didn't try to conceal them, and looked. This was one of those times.

"This is a possibility." Crow agreed when Al mentioned the different name. "I know my little brother by Drake, though neither of us know his real name. Perhaps he is called Sasuke where we are from, but I do know a Sasuke as well, at least, I have exchanged writing with one."

Crow went over the words in his head and realized no, none of that would make a lick of sense. "Forgive me, we seem to be going at this in the wrong order."

[bloodseal_soul]

Every time Crow opened his mouth, Alphonse seemed to become more confused. He pulled both legs up to his chest and hugged them, bracing his heels on the wood, and lay his cheek on his knees as he watched Crow, eyes wide and obviously lost as anything.

"... wha."

There was a long pause before he laughed and nodded, reaching up to rub the back of his neck. "... yeah, this is more than a little confusing. Maybe you should start at the beginning. Where you're from, why Sasuke can't remember his name... and you write letters to another Sasuke?"

[moonlit_mirage]

Crow looked at Al thoughtfully, and then smiled, amused. "I will tell you mine if you tell me yours, Alphonse-san." His voice was gently teasing, just a little like Itachi's only softer around the edges.

"In Edensphere, the tree, each of us hatch from a cocoon. Not terribly pleasant. Sometimes we hatch alone or with others, but one thing we all have in common is we remember nothing. Not our lives, or our names. We pick a name, are given a basic introduction, and then we are sent to make lives out of a dream and vagueness. Some of us do this. Other seek the past. There are ways to recover memory, but it is--" Crow stopped, expression going blank and cool.

"That is the basic gist of it. I was born with one called Flight, and I have met another, Drake, who I know was my brother in whatever life we held before. The wilderness of the Sphere changes periodically. Last it was a candy factory, most recently I see it is this place."

Crow paused again and fished a plain looking notebook from his pack. He flipped it open, thumbing through pages and pages of various different handwriting, sketches and ink scribbles, and stopped at a page. "This is Sasuke's handwriting." He indicated a line of text, sloppily written and badly spelled. Further down on the page was almost obsessively neat writing. "This is Drake's. We are each given one of these journals when we hatch, anything written in one journal shows up in all the journals. It is a means of communicating, more or less."

[bloodseal_soul]

That smile almost visibly knocked Alphonse off balance. It was so open, friendly, sweet. He seemed so nice. For a moment, just a moment, Al felt as though he must be looking in through a window and watching the older brother that Sasuke knew before the massacre, the one he loved so dearly. That cool expression, though... he knew that one far too well.

Alphonse went quiet as he listened. So this other world... wasn't quite what he had thought. This Fullmetal, this person he'd thought was his other self, wasn't him from an alternate reality. It WAS him. It was him without his memories, everything... but a name. That name, Fullmetal. He must remember something. He must remember Ed. Al smiled a tiny smile. Of course. No matter what, he'd always, ALWAYS remember his brother. The smile disappeared.

But he did Fullmetal remember Sasuke?

"This place is called Adstringendum. Scientists tried an experiment and somehow messed up the flows of reality and time. Now all the worlds and times are being pulled to this place." Al indicated their surroundings, tilting his head. "People from all different worlds are pulled here, but we all have our memories intact. There's no way to get home."

Alphonse reached out a hand to slide his finger under the writing identified as Drake's, feeling a little breathless. Suddenly he had an idea. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his PCD, flicking it on. He cycled through his folders until he pulled one up, and turned it around, showing Crow the screen. On it was a picture of Itachi, Al, Sasuke and Sasuke's kitten Shadow.

"Sasuke and the you that's here are my best friends," he said quietly, desperately, almost begging Crow for some spark of recognition.

[moonlit_mirage]

Crow's expression changed drastically for a moment, actual shock as he looked at the picture. He reached up, hand steady though he was barely breathing, and touched the screen, tracing Sasuke's face.

The last time he'd seen that face, Drake had been dying in his arms, blood everywhere.

Crow closed his eyes a moment, still touching the PCD. He exhaled slowly and evenly, and looked at the picture again, studying himself--he was younger in the picture, and his eyes were not blind or dead--Al was happy, and looked like he belonged between the brothers, yet Crow felt no ping of recognition or hidden memory. The ripples of a lost past did not sound. And Sasuke, or Drake... He knew that face intimately.

This meant that either this place was one of Fugue's illusions, or the people were alternate versions or... Or. There were unknowns. It could be anything.

Al's explanation was certainly bizarre, but after living in the 'Sphere for so long Crow simply nodded, taking it at face value. The thought that he was here, as was his brother, with intact memories was intriguing. It was so tempting.

It felt like a trap.

"There's always someone who will mess with things that would be better left alone." Crow said, almost resigned as he sat back and looked at Al thoughtfully. He could see the desperation, the desire for recognition and memory, and he touched Al's shoulder gently, compassionately.

"The me that is here must be lucky to have such a good friend then." He said gently, sincerely.

[bloodseal_soul]

There was recognition in his eyes. Instant, horrifying recognition, and Alphonse was suddenly sure that Crow had remembered something less than good. If Crow had come directly from his world, not taken from here after he died... that would make sense. And it would explain completely why the memories were less than good.

Reaching up, he smiled sadly and squeezed Itachi's hand. "Thank you..." His eyes were far too knowing, filled with a terrible understanding.

Al had the deep sick feeling that this Itachi was much, much better off without knowing, without remembering. But still, there was some sort of... longing, on that face, a sadness so deep he couldn't pinpoint exactly how he knew it was there. Al touched the buttons of the PCD, bringing up a folder full of pictures of the three of them, Itachi and Sasuke lounging on the bed talking, Itachi making dinner with a kitten on his shoulder, Sasuke staring out a window with his elbow propped on the sill. There were several pictures that were just snapshots, some with Al in them, most not. And there were a lot of Sasuke.

Stopping at the last picture, a particularly beautiful one of Sasuke sitting on the edge of the roof, shown against a backdrop of night sky, staring off across the ruined city. Half his face was lit by the dull glow of firelight.

"This was taken last night."