SEA BIRDS [FLASHBACK]

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Did time exist when you were dead?


Life all seemed to start at once. No warning, no preparation, the shipwrecked teen hadn't a single image of a life before opening his eyes. The bed was unfamiliar...his room unfamiliar...his own voice unfamiliar. Life itself was so new to the nameless boy as he spent his first few hours bedridden and afraid. No amount of kind words and warmth could settle his never-ending anxiety, the thought of having lived an entire life he couldn't recall...but the family did their best.

They called him "Percival." Washed up ashore in the South Blue with nothing but the clothes on his back, the boy clenched a rugged looking broadsword with the name etched into the hilt. They'd call him such until the day he'd regain his memories...if it was ever to come.

The first few days with the family were spent repaying their kindness. He cleaned, cooked, and tended to the children as if he himself were one of their servants. It wasn't until he was urged to join the children in an art lesson that the family began to discover the wide range of abilities under the amnesiac's hand. Art was like a second nature to the boy. He could weave the most intricate of worlds with less than a pencil and craft entire universes with a brush. For someone so young to not have a single memory at his grasp, every day revealed a new gift for the boy.

When it came to the sword he had no equal. Percival boasted a way with a blade that went unchallenged in all of the castle. It came as a monumental surprise to the family to see the young male sparring the guardsmen with just a tree branch. As far as he knew he'd never picked up a sword or even been in a fight, but they way he moved a maneuvered a told a completely different story. From the outside looking in, it was obvious to all what Percival was - he was a warrior.



The question took Percy by surprise. A crisp breeze settled low between the two as the knight allowed a pause before answering his benefactor. His gloved hand was all it took to stop a flutter of golden locks from dancing in his face, but all the knight could do was cast a smile on the horizon. "Lady Suzanna..." he began. Percy kept his gaze fixed on the rosy heavens. "I can't say for sure what kind of person I was before...but I can say..." he trailed off, tilting his head at the princess with a gentle smile. "You'd miss me too much if I left your side."

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Percy watched through joyfully narrowed slits as the princess teetered closer to the edge. At this point in their relationship the guard had grown pretty aware of the subtext behind the girl's words. She'd always been guarded in her speech, guarding weaknesses at every turn, but the knight had always been able to snuff out her real feelings when she spoke.

The pearly white digits of the blonde warrior's right found a resting place atop his sword's pommel. Percy heaved an inward sigh, at his answer moreso than her earlier question as it was one he asked himself nearly every day. They'd searched all over the South Blue for a wanted poster of the younger castaway but could find none. Even with all the family's resources, they couldn't find a single whisper of the boy in all of the seas: no missing persons report, no identical family members, no nothing. Ser Percival of the South Blue was in all sense of the word "nobody." Hell, even the name he answered most to probably wasn't his own.

Remembering who he was was a thought that actually scared the man. He'd come to enjoy the life he was living, but the doubt of never finding out always did nip at the back of his head. He took each of Sue's words with a grain of salt, the curl of his smile flattening to a lusterless grin. As much as she probably hated to admit it, the girl had come to care for the homeless knight probably as much as he for her. Through their six years with him as her sword, they'd spent countless hours together and had just about become family. He couldn't bear to see sadness or despair fall in her path, even if the feeling wasn't reciprocated.

"A part of me is always wondering what I was. Knowing who I could've or might've been never really escapes my thoughts and I'll always want to know, but I've found happiness here with your family" he stroked the jewel of the pommel with his gloved pointer, his azure gaze opening again to peer at the garden below. It'd become a scene he'd come to love, the vibrant hues on the ground twisting about in a mass of beauty. Did the old Percy even like flowers? The truth in Sue's words was all too prevalent, even if he himself wouldn't say it aloud. There was no guard on the castle grounds that could match his tenacity with a weapon, even when he fought blindfolded. Fighting had grown so droll to the knight that he had run out of ideas for handicaps in his first year.

"I'm fulfilled here m'lady. The man who knows nothing wants for nothing...right now I only wish to serve you" he started, turning to face her with a solemn gaze. The neutral look on his face was a rarity if ever there was one as Percy had always bore a smile on his lips. "But I can tell this isn't about me lady Suzanna. From the very first time I ever laid eyes on you, there, behind your eyes was the same thing I'm seeing now...dissatisfaction."

The girl wanted more out of life, but what she wanted he hadn't a clue. "Where will we go?"

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The gold-locked knight of the South Blue allowed his crystal blues to drift over the rolling hills beyond the princess. With all their power and wealth Suzie would without a doubt own everything as far as the eye could see, but from what he could see, she didn't want a bit of it. Her prancing and posturing from the day he met her had always been an act and no matter how well she performed to the other residents, Percy's eyes had always been a bit more...sensitive to her visage.

It was for but a moment but Percival could feel the tone shift between the two. In that single second, space seemed to stretch on endlessly like an entire universe was plopped dead center their conversation. She wanted to cry. Whether from despair or joy he couldn't tell, but the nagging drop at his gut warned him of the impending tears.

But she bit them back.

No tears came from what he could tell, but the woman had slipped her face from his view. She uttered her words in a voice far too vulnerable compared to her usual. Where she had a tendency to show no weakness, Percy gathered his responses had taken her off guard. While her words rang true, he knew those walls of defense had yet to come down, her mind far ahead to a day where he might betray her trust. But to her dismay, Percy was sure that day would never come. He began to cross the distance between them. Soundlessly, a delighted smile etched across his lips. Percy breached her personal space with little less than a single breath before lowering just a tad above her level. He plopped a single gloved hand atop her precious head, his eyes falling to a close as his lips parted for what they both knew all too well.

"Because I've come to love you more than anything Lady Suzanna. You are my family. I'd follow you to my grave in two lives if I could."

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Percy hadn't a hunch what either of their next moves would be. For the young woman who'd grown to be his sister, he'd tear down the very moon and he knew she'd do the same for him. She had aspirations to escape the castle walls that'd threatened to keep her prisoner for a lifetime, but what exactly did she plan to accomplish? The dangers of the world outside the walls were all too real to the girl, she had to know that much, but just what did she wish for? Wherever it was she wanted to go - whatever it was she wanted to do - would he even be able to protect her?

There wasn't a blade in the kingdom that could threaten the knight's throat, but the big wide world beyond was vast and scary. News had rang in daily of the pirates who sought to end peace on the seas. Of the revolutionaries who wanted to dispose of the government that brought them safety. What saving grace could the two souls have in the world once they set foot outside the castle's protection.

Blonde locks danced like wildfire as a brisk breeze fluttered over the castle walls. As Suzie swept the gloved palm from atop her head, Percy returned his grasp to the handle of his unsheathable sword, his eyes falling on the same spot as his benefactor's. There wasn't much he could say. All he could do was follow. Whatever move she made next would determine the fate of the two individuals and here was no telling if they'd even return to the castle. The bold smile returned to the guard's lips once more as his eyes drifted to the rolling hills beyond their reach where a troupe of Marine soldiers sped by on horses. "So M'lady, where to?"