001 | [video]
[The world Naoto wakes into is clearly not her own. Soft white snowdrifts, a real sky, even living trees scattered around and in the village nearby, there's not a building over four stories feet tall. The soft breeze doesn't smell like chemicals or rot, and the silence is a silence like something she'd never heard before.
Naoto notices none of these things. In her mind, there's only one thing in the world right now, and it has her undivided attention. She's on her feet almost before she can process the fact that she's on her back, ready to move at an instant's notice, but that instant doesn't come. Nothing comes but snow.
Gradually, she relaxes enough to take in the unfamiliar surroundings. Nothing is reassuring. As a general rule, it's not a good thing to regain consciousness in a strange location wearing unfamiliar clothes. It's a terrible thing to happen when one's last memory is speaking to Magato.
After surveying her surroundings, she finds her coat and one of her dresses neatly folded beside the indentation she'd left in the snow, alongside two boots that were already collecting flakes. Naoto grabs the coat immediately, but when she pulls it over her shoulders, she feels a sharp pain, almost razorlike--when she removes it, a single grey feather falls to the snow. A spark of fear settles in her thoughts and a gentle touch to her back serves as tinder: wings. She's woken up with with wings. And considering the pain she felt when she touched her shoulder blade, they were both new and expensive. Naoto sensed where this was going, and she didn't like it.
After pulling on the coat more gently and lacing her boots, she notices something in the snow. A notebook. No, not a notebook, she sees when she opens it. Some kind of communicator. She stares at it for a long moment before touching the button marked 'video.' It's a long shot, but Naoto is desperate.]
Hello?
Naoto notices none of these things. In her mind, there's only one thing in the world right now, and it has her undivided attention. She's on her feet almost before she can process the fact that she's on her back, ready to move at an instant's notice, but that instant doesn't come. Nothing comes but snow.
Gradually, she relaxes enough to take in the unfamiliar surroundings. Nothing is reassuring. As a general rule, it's not a good thing to regain consciousness in a strange location wearing unfamiliar clothes. It's a terrible thing to happen when one's last memory is speaking to Magato.
After surveying her surroundings, she finds her coat and one of her dresses neatly folded beside the indentation she'd left in the snow, alongside two boots that were already collecting flakes. Naoto grabs the coat immediately, but when she pulls it over her shoulders, she feels a sharp pain, almost razorlike--when she removes it, a single grey feather falls to the snow. A spark of fear settles in her thoughts and a gentle touch to her back serves as tinder: wings. She's woken up with with wings. And considering the pain she felt when she touched her shoulder blade, they were both new and expensive. Naoto sensed where this was going, and she didn't like it.
After pulling on the coat more gently and lacing her boots, she notices something in the snow. A notebook. No, not a notebook, she sees when she opens it. Some kind of communicator. She stares at it for a long moment before touching the button marked 'video.' It's a long shot, but Naoto is desperate.]
Hello?