Even though Gavin didn't know what was happening, or even what his name was for that matter, as he started walking through the hallways of what he easily guessed was a castle, he started to remember. They weren't big memories, just tiny fragments of some, and not even really that. When he walked past a tapestry in the hallway, he had the distinct feeling of 'that's not right'. When he watched people go past him, and they dipped their heads respectively, as much as he hated it, that also had a distinct wrongness of it.
His bravado soon returned. The meekness that had been with him in the plague doctor's room had quickly dissipated.
And really, he still believed that he should have been dead, which in and of itself had a weird feeling attached to it.
"Oh! Is that him! Did it work?" a spritely woman walked up to them with lengthy strides. Her dress was the color of a noble purple, her brown hair done in coils that resed below her shoulders. Gavin hated her already. She seemed like a noblewomen, and those beasts always seemed to have a head for only one thing- gossip.
'At least that's progress. At least I remember something.' The weary thought wasn't enough to cheer him.
Gavin was now increasingly tired of people expecting him to know what was going on. "Was what supposed to work?"
The woman eyed him, one brow raised. Her lips pursed together and the men next to him stiffened at attention.
"Your highness, I beg your forgiveness. Captain Gavin has been experiencing some of the… side affects." One of the men beside him replied politely. Gavin eyed the woman. She didn't seem to be that special. She seemed rather ordinary to him.
"I can tell." She began slowly. "Well, Captain Gavin. This is the part where you bow down onto your knees," She said kindly, as if telling a dog to sit and it will get a treat afterwards.
Gavin didn't move, instead bridled at the expected respect he was supposed to give her. He raised an eyebrow right back at her. "And why would I do that?"
"Sir.. please." One of the men whispered next to him. He didn't even know who was who, and irritably refused to glance away from the woman.
She smiled at him.
He frowned back.
"I'm Princess Marie," She puffed, looking like a ridiculous peacock. Three words, as if that was the entire reasoning for her to order him around. Which, he supposed the title 'princess' did give that right. Gavin knew he ought to be impressed, but another… 'fragment' of himself resurfaced. His disdain for nobles. They had wronged him previously, that much he knew.
"My apologies, Princess Marie." He sketched a bow, just to be polite, and just to get on her nerves that he wasn't getting on his knees. "Would you please step aside so I can move along? You do seem to be taking up the space."
The men around him went silence, and he saw one of them openly gaping.
Princess Marie deflated and stared at him. "Hope you feel better soon. You sure seemed to be nicer when you remembered who I was," She jabbed. The words landed flat though, as he took her in one last time before stepping past her. She didn't seem angry though, more amused than anything. As if this was a game to her, and he was a worthy opponent.
"I'm sure everyone is, your highness. No one would dare say the truth to such a pretty face. Or should I say title? Yes... I do think that it's the title that does it.
"Sir!"
"My apologies, my sincerest apologies, he is still rattled from the experiments and-"
"No worries." Princess Marie said cheerfully, eying him. "I do hope he feels better soon, though. And Raul, please tell Gimzen I'd like to talk to him later." She strode confidently away.
"Yes, your highness…" The dark haired man said.
Raul and Polin stared after her a moment longer before slowly turning towards him. 'So Raul is the one with the black hair. Polin the one with the brown.' Gavin noted. He watched as Princess Marie turned a corner and disappeared.
"Sir…"
"Well that was a disaster, wasn't it." Gavin sighed, rolling his eyes. "Let's get on with it. Where are we going? Who's Gimzen?"
Raul began walking and Gavin followed suit. "Well, sir. Uh. We're going to the soldier's barracks. You're… you're our captain. And Professor Gimzen is the person who performed the experiment on you."
"Oh the doctor?"
"Well he's really-"
"What experiment?" Gavin interrupted, not interested in the life story of this 'Gimzen'. They turned a corner and down a flight of stairs. Polin kept pace behind Gavin, the steps echoing eerily downwards. It sounded like there was a whole army following him. Down the flight of stairs there were windows in the walls, and Gavin paused.
Raul, noticing he was no longer being followed, came back up a few steps and answered. "There was the plan of infiltrating King Henry's Kingdom, sir. Professor Gimzen had been practicing with patients for the past year, you know… transporting their souls, exchanging them. All that… wizardy stuff." Raul waved his hands as if he expected some magic to puff out of them. Gavin eyed them.
"So…" Gavin didn't finish, digesting his words and starting over. "So… this… isn't me?" He waved at himself, noticing what he wore for the first time. A crisp purple uniform, embedded with gold. He frowned again. They felt wrong on him. Everything felt wrong about this.
"Well, the experiment… failed. So you're still here. You were supposed to become some peasant boy we had planted in King Henry's kingdom a while ago. But that didn't work so… we think this is you."
"What do you mean, you think?"
"We… uh. We will see in a few hours. Or a day. Yes, Professor Gimzen gave you a day."
Gavin didn't answer, his mind churning. He knew he wasn't the captain of the guard- he was almost certain of it.
The thought itched at him again.
"Am I supposed to be… dead?" He asked suddenly. Polin answered now, with a startled glance towards his companion.
"Mm… we don't… think so?"
"Hmm."
The plague doctor had said 'he wasn't dead' when Gavin woke up. And he was still certain that he should be, though not for the reasons the doctor had presumed.
The two soldiers glanced at each other again, not speaking as Gavin stared out the window and at the landscape in front of him.
He didn't belong here. Not this stuffy castle where he had not a care in the world to be 'respectful' towards posturing pigeons who called themselves nobles.
His hatred of them surprised him, and he chewed at his cheek thoughtfully. The story was unraveling, slowly but surely. He was confident he'd remember soon enough. At least now he sort of knew what had happened. The two men besides him were waiting anxiously for him to follow, so he turned away from the window and continued down the stairs.
"Princess Marie… it would do you well not to provoke her," Polin murmured softly as they descended after clearing his throat for a solid minute.
"What ever do you mean?" Gavin said sweetly. They reached the bottom and continued onwards.
"She's royalty, for God's sake!" Raul exlaimed in an outburst. "She could have us all hanged at a word!"
"Would she though?"
"What?"
"Would she actually do it? She doesn't seem the cruel type." Gavin shrugged. They were now walking through a courtyard, full of blooming flowers and women picking them or sitting on benches nearby.
"I… I suppose not. But, Captain, forgive me for speaking out of turn, you do need to give her the respects all royals need."
"Not forgiven, and I'll keep it in mind." He continued to walk briskly, and the fear of Gimzen's words followed him. How quickly he said he was to be executed, not waiting for an explanation.
His human instinct of needing to stay alive kicked in. Even if he wasn't supposed to be here, even if his name wasn't actually Gavin and he had no care in the world for all the nobles that suddenly surrounded him, and even though he absolutely knew he was not supposed to be alive right now, he knew he wouldn't let himself be executed.
Even if it was just to spite the old doctor.