Ed groggily woke up. He tried to rub his eyes before remembering he currently had no arms. He was staring at a white ceiling while lying in a bed. 'A hospital?' He sat up and looked around. There were a large number of flowers piled up in the corner of the room. They literally took up almost a fourth of the entire room. 'The hells with that?'
The door swung open and a doctor walked in with a clipboard. "Oh, good! You're finally awake! We've all been quite worried about you, young hero."
"Where am I?" He questioned. 'There shouldn't be any functional hospitals left in Atlanta by now... Why is he calling me such a stupid name?'
"Ah, right. You must be a bit confused. This is Macon, Georgia. A lot of the survivors from Atlanta were brought here."
"Is that so? Am I free to go now then?"
"Free to go?" The doctor hesitated. "What about your arms? It looks like you lost them in the battle. We can work on getting you some simple prosthetics before you go."
"Don't need them." He replied in a gruff voice. He swung his feet to the left and slid off the bed to stand up. He began walking towards the door.
"Wait!" The doctor yelled. "Can you tell us who the girl that was with you is?"
"What girl?" He questioned.
"Follow me." The doctor waved his hand. "The two of you were originally dropped off here together."
The duo walked down the hall into another patient's room. A girl was lying on the bed. The entire right half of her face was covered in a lightning scar. It looked like a light pink tattoo of many tree branches.
"Yuki?!" He blurted out in shock.
The girl turned towards him with her calm black eyes. She spoke in a soft voice. "Doctor. Who's this?"
The doctor smiled, "This is the boy who was with you when you were dropped off."
"Oh?" She nodded. "Then I must be Yuki?"
Ed turned towards the doctor while raising a questioning eyebrow.
The doctor sighed, "I'm afraid she has amnesia. No idea who she is. Are you related to her? Know any family we can bring her to?"
"I see..." He nodded. "Well, I'll take her with me for now."
"Alright then. That'll make things easier for us as well. Almost every hospital in Georgia is filled at the moment."
"There were that many survivors of the nightmare attack?" He questioned.
"Yes!" The doctor released a beaming smile. "An esper saved almost every citizen of Atlanta early on in the attack! This has gone on record as the nightmare attack with the least number of causalities in all of history! That esper likely saved you two as well!"
"Is that so?" Ed nodded. "I suppose I'll have to thank the man if I ever meet him."
"Ah, that..." The doctor sighed while shaking his head. "I'm afraid that won't be possible. The man died due to overuse of his powers. A grand ceremonial funeral is being held for him here in a few days. He chose Macon as his resting place after setting his mother up in a home here. The city has already donated the house to his mother."
"Sounds like things will get crowded here soon. Think I'll go ahead and leave before things get crazy."
"YOU CAN'T!" The doctor screamed in panic.
"Hmm?" Ed made a confused face. "And why the hell can't I?"
The doctor rose his hand with his index finger up excitedly. "You're one of the two guests of honor for the ceremony of course!"
"What?!" He replied in shock. "Why would an ordinary man like me be part of the ceremony?!"
"Gah!" The doctor slapped his forehead. "Silly old bones me. I forgot to explain. Yuki dear, could you show him that flier I gave you?"
"Mm." She nodded. She grabbed a sheet of paper off a nightstand to the left of her bed. Then she handed it over to the doctor.
Ed glanced at the paper and his eyes widened as his body trembled. His face was advertised on the 3rd panel. Included was a brief description of how he'd inspired the esper to save the city. "Fuck. Fuck. Fuck! What the FUCK?!" He glared sharply at the doctor and growled, "How many people know about this?! How many fliers were passed out?!"
"That..." The doctor took a few steps back while slightly nervous. "Everyone should know about it. Fliers were passed out in every city in Georgia. They're quickly being reproduced and spread to other cities as we speak. I've heard that some espers are even bringing back the fliers to other continents to advertise the story. It may inspire other espers to do similar actions in the future!"
Ed stood there frozen like a statue. 'It's all over! My plans! My ambitions! Even if I can fool Fang again, everyone will still think I'm an esper. There's no way Sinless would let me stay in the organization. Everyone in the world will treat me like some dumbass hero because of that stupid esper's mistake!' He woodenly turned towards Yuki. She was watching him with a blank face. "Let's go..." He sighed.
The girl nodded and stood up from the bed. She followed behind them as they exited the room.
...
Yuki stared at the boy with no arms in front of her. 'He looks upset, but there's nothing I can do to help him...' She hung her head down while following behind him. They were walking down a long hallway towards the hospital lobby. They both looked a bit odd since they were still wearing hospital gowns.
The boy gave some information to the staff at the lobby desk. Then he exited the hospital in a rush, but she had an easy time following him. 'I must be quite athletic...' She thought to herself. 'Who is he though? My brother? A distant family member? He couldn't be that could he...?' Her face blushed as she thought of the final possibility.
They left the hospital and walked on the streets. She looked at her surroundings with curiosity. The buildings were several stories tall for the most part. 'Is this a smaller city?' She wondered. 'Oh, maybe I'm from a big city since this feels small?'
She followed behind him for several streets before her curiosity got the better of her. She spoke so quietly it was practically a whisper, "Where are we going?"
The boy glared at her. He seemed to be quite irritated. "Hotel." He said. Then he turned and kept walking quickly.
"A hotel?" She tilted her head. "Ah!" She exclaimed while blushing. She pouted, "I'm not doing that with you! I don't even know you!"
The boy looked at her once again, but now with a confused expression. It took a moment before his eyes widened in realization. He chuckled, "Don't worry tree-face. I wouldn't touch you that way even if you offered."
'Tree-face?' The girl wondered. She rubbed her face before remembering the lightning scar that now covered nearly half her face. "Jerk!" She yelled in a somewhat hoarse voice as tears formed in her eyes.
...
Ed continued leading them. He planned to find a hotel to stay in for a few days while figuring things out. He had yet to decide whether to participate in the ceremony or not. The girl behind him occasionally interrupted him with dumb questions or misunderstandings. He sighed to himself, 'I liked her better when she was arrogant. It's like her personality has done a complete 180 degree turn. Does she really think I'd touch her? The end result would be OP Baldy killing me or becoming my father-in-law. I'm not fond of either idea.'
Suddenly, a shout rang out. "That's the hero from Atlanta!"
Another person echoed him, "The one from the posters!"
"It's thanks to him my family was saved!" Another yelled.
A crowd began to form as people walked towards him excitedly. They wished to thank the hero and hear about his first-hand experiences of the events from that day.
"Look at his arms." One sighed while shaking his head. "The doctors didn't even give him prosthetics. Is this how the government treats our heroes?"
"Tsk. The government isn't good for anything. What did their men even do while we were all dying? It was this boy here and Earnest that truly saved us!"
"Right!" Another agreed wholeheartedly.
Bu-bump, Bu-bump, Bu-bump. Ed could feel his heartrate speeding up as the crowd closed in on him. Sweat covered his back. 'Calm down... I've dealt with crowds plenty before. No need to be nervous. Just need to find an exit.'
He looked around and tried to squeeze past the people, but more kept coming. He frowned, 'Can't use my limbs to escape at the moment. The fire would burn these morons and I'm missing my arms. Should I use my powers to escape? Then I'll be admitting I'm an esper though!' He ground his teeth while the voices echoed around him.
His body began to shake. 'Shut up, shut up, shut up!!! I'm trying to think! No, calm down. A calm mind will help me find the best solution here.' He tried to calm down repeatedly, but it wasn't working. He was out of ideas.
...
Yuki watched as the boy in front of her shook. 'Is the jerk bad with crowds? Humph! Serves him right!' The crowd continued to grow and push against them. Loud chattering voices echoed everywhere.
Suddenly, the boy looked up with sharp eyes. She didn't know why, but she felt like something really bad was about to happen. She instinctively grabbed him by the shoulder and pulled him close into a hug. White snow began to fall over the crowd. It was absorbed into their skin as it landed on them. The crowd slowly calmed down while peaceful smiles remained on their faces.
Yuki grabbed the boy and pulled him from the now calm crowd. He looked at her in confusion and spoke, "Could your powers always do that?"
"Powers?" She glanced back at the snow falling on the crowd. Her eyes widened in realization. "I did that?" She questioned.
"Obviously!" The boy grunted. "Whatever. Thanks. Let's go." He quickly began to jog away.
She stifled her laughter as she saw him jog. It was mean but a bit comical seeing a boy with no arms jog down the street. She quickly jogged up next to him. "Your name?" She questioned.
"Huh?" The boy glanced at her.
"You never told me your name!" She complained.
"It's Ed." He replied.
"Ed. Got it." She gave a very slight smile. They soon reached a tall building with a hotel sign out front. They entered and headed for the front counter to get a room.
"Sorry, we're completely booked full." The clerk shook his head. "Not just us. Every hotel in the state is pretty much full right now."
The boy began to frown and Yuki stepped in front of him. "Don't you recognize him from the fliers? It should be your honor to have him stay here!" She complained.
"Fliers?" The clerk glanced at the boy before his eyes widened in surprise and realization. "Hold on! Let me go speak with my manager!" He left the counter and went into a backroom. Some arguing voices could be heard by the duo.
A fat man with white hair exited the backroom and stared at the two. "Damn esper!" He ground his teeth. "I don't care if the world thinks you're a hero. Your kind isn't welcome here! Scram!"
"A Sinless member?" He questioned.
"Right!" The fat man nodded proudly. "So what if I am?!"
Yuki looked between the two with confusion on her face. 'What's Sinless?' She couldn't help but wonder.
...
'Damn!' Ed ground his teeth. 'As a Sinless city branch leader, I should normally be treated by other Sinless members with great respect. But I don't have proof with me and even if I did who the hell would believe me? My reputation has been ruined by those damned fliers!'
"Let's go!" He turned and left. Yuki followed behind him while still glancing back in confusion. They had to try several more hotels before a manager at one made a special exception for them. They were given a small room with only one bed.
He fell onto the bed and stared at the ceiling. For once, he didn't get lost in his thoughts. He just stared quietly for nearly an hour. He was tired. So very tired. Over the past few months his life had gone through such drastic changes and insane schedules that he could hardly believe he hadn't collapsed yet. He couldn't help but chuckle to himself, 'Just how many organizations have I joined now? Steam Work Academy, Blood-Lust, Sinless... I can probably be counted as half a member of Phantom's group... All this over just a few months. If it was a resume with workplaces listed, then I'd be one sketchy applicant! Haha!'
...
Yuki stood in the bathroom while staring at the mirror. She rubbed her scarred face while frowning. 'I was probably pretty before whatever happened to make me lose my memory, right? The scar feels new...' She opened a jar on the counter that contained makeup and began applying it. It covered most of the scar in color, but the raised skin still made it obvious. 'I can worry about this later...' She sighed. 'Time to get some answers from that jerk about who I really am!' She marched out of the bathroom towards the boy lying in bed.