He didn’t understand.

The room spun around the man as he stood from the bed, his head throbbing with the pain of a hangover. Where was he? The room around him was pure, perfect. Pristine. His body ached, and he could see scars in a variety of places across his body. As he looked in the mirror, a one way window, his fingers ran across the scar along his cheeks. White bandages wrapped around his head, tufts of black peeking through the bandages.

Bags under his eyes made him flinch, his body seeming a little taller, a little longer than he remembered. Not by much, but enough to make him feel strange. Was this some sort of second puberty? A scoff escaped the man as he limped around the room, checking for signs of where he could be. He missed his friends. A part of Nicholas knew something was wrong, shards of memory he couldn’t quite place. His locks of raven hair fell over his eyes.

Where were his friends? There was something sketchy about this, an unsettling feeling making its way into his stomach. Why wasn’t Meryl barking orders around outside? Why wasn’t Milly follow her like a dog? Where was Vash? He sucked in a breath. No, no, surely they knew he was here. Slumping down against the wall, he sat down. He looked..taken care of. An IV hooked to his arm led to a stand, letting the bag drip the IV into the tube connected to his arm.

It wasn’t long until his thoughts were interrupted by the door swinging open to reveal someone he didn’t recognize.