Chapter Text
It burned. It burned. Everything was so blurry, and while most of him hurt, his eye and chest hurt the most. Reaching up to touch his face, he winced at the sharp sting, tears involuntarily welling in his eyes. Filthy fingers came away with purple blood.
[redacted] looked around with the sight of only one eye. What happened to him? What was going on? From the little he could make out, it was carnage. Little remained of the lively village that had been his home for all six years of his life. A charred hand stuck out limply from nearby rubble, and he tried not to think about who it might have belonged to.
[redacted] couldn’t remember what had happened. One moment he had been in the marketplace with his parents, the next he was on the ground, a lancing pain in his chest that radiated outward from the main point of impact.
With the support of what used to be a wall, he shakily staggered to his feet, only to stumble backwards with a yelp when they refused to hold his weight. Squinting as he looked up, [redacted] finally noticed a thing hovered before him, flapping tattered wings. It was a pale blue-gray color, eyes glowing a cold light blue and wore a dark gray tattered robe, secured with a thick sash around its waist. Two others just like it flapped behind, and all three chittered excitedly in a language he couldn’t understand.
Sitting half-sprawled on the ground, [redacted] tried to regain his bearings, finding it increasingly difficult to do so. Oh, the world was spinning! That couldn’t be good.
You know, they’re kind of pretty. [redacted] thought through his increasing delirium, the trio of winged creatures blurring into one incohesive blob. Kind of like… fairies or something. Was he imagining it when the chittering became almost… concerned?
Then the world tilted, and everything went dark.
~*~
[redacted] woke up laying tucked into an uncomfortably hard bed, injuries bandaged and almost completely healed. The first thing he noticed upon opening his eyes was the rotting wooden ceiling of some kind of house. A well secured bandage around his eye partly restricted his sight. Attempting to sit up, he was greeted by one of the fairy things he vaguely remembered from before he passed out. Noticing he was awake, it chittered what sounded like a greeting, though [redacted] wasn’t too sure.
He tilted his head, confusion clear on his face, and the fairy chittered something before carefully hovering closer to him. Reaching out a clawed hand, it touched [redacted]’s forehead. A warm white glow washed over the both of them, and the fairy gave him a toothy grin.
“Can you understand me now?” it said, high-pitched voice neither feminine or masculine.
[redacted] cautiously nodded.
“Lovely! What’s your name?” it asked, voice trailing off into giggles.
[redacted] thought for a moment before coming to the mortifying realization that he didn’t remember. And not just his name, but everything from “before” as well.
The fairy evidently caught on to his inner turmoil. “Well, if you don’t remember, that’s fine! I can give you one!” it said with enthusiasm. Despite entirely blank eyes, [redacted] had the feeling that the fairy was staring intently at him.
“Sure,” he mumbled, absently playing with his fingers, and the fairy looked even more delighted than it already did (if that was even possible).
“Oh, aren’t you just precious!” it exclaimed. “I think I’ll call you… Scar.” [redacted] felt its gaze fall onto his numerous bandages.
After thinking for a moment he gave the fairy a big grin. “Scar! I like that,” he laughed, “It sounds cool! Thanks, Mister- er- Miss? fairy!”
The fairy laughed at Scar’s enthused response. “You’re very welcome!” it said, “but I’m not a fairy - I’m a vex.”
“Oh.” The word felt familiar, but he couldn’t quite place where he had heard it before. Quickly dismissing it as nothing, he perked up, “Well, what’s your name?”
“I am-” The vex let out a series of hisses, shrieks, and giggles.
Scar stared at the vex with wide-eyed wonder. “Woah, that's a cool name! Nice to meet you-” He attempted to imitate the noises the vex made, unconsciously making faces while completely butchering it.
He finished it off with a raspberry in desperation, and the vex smiled. “Close enough.”