Venous

Venous: Chrono Stone I

Like fire, searing hot and fast, too fast, no way to stop it. Burning away his memories as something fundamentally shifted, forcefully changing.

For a moment, he hadn't known anything.

I love soccer and I don't care about it.

I love my friends and I don't know them.

Things he'd known for as long as he could remember, torn away and replaced by other things, cold and unfamiliar and different and painful.

For a moment, he'd been someone else and it was terrifying.

And that particular line of thought leads to Raimon. If Alpha's words – and his own experiences with them – are any indication, they really forgot everything. They went through the same process, the same pain, the same lack of identity.

That, more than the beating or the bruises that will undoubtedly cover his skin tomorrow, makes him feel like throwing up.

''Hey,'' says a soft voice and Tenma tears his eyes away from the window when Fei sits down next to him. ''How are you feeling?'' he smiles sympathetically. ''I can imagine all this is a bit... much.''

The brunet shrugs. Fei is nice, definitely, but he's still a little uncomfortable around the other boy- the time traveler. If he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, he would never believe it. ''I- I guess it is,'' he mutters finally, staring at his hands. ''I'm worried about my team- oh, crap.''

Fei furrows his eyebrows. ''What's wrong?''

Tenma grimaces and holds out his hand. The other's eyes widen when he sees the blood covering it and for a minute, Fei seems speechless. ''Oh jeez,'' he says after a moment. ''I'll- I'll go grab the first aid kit.''

He quickly stands up and moves to the back of the caravan and the brunet holds his injured hand with his other, making sure not to stain his uniform. Fei returns a second later and quickly sets to cleaning the blood and bandaging the rather small cut.

Despite that, it's still large enough to bleed quite a bit and Tenma would find it strange he didn't notice it before, if his whole body wasn't still sore from Protocol Omega's attack.

''Done,'' announces the time traveler once he finishes treating the wound. ''That okay?''

Tenma stretches his fingers and turns his hand a bit, then looks up and smiles at Fei. ''Thank you.''

Fei returns his smile. ''Don't worry about it, I'm glad to be of help!''

And in that moment, the brunet is sure they will get along perfectly.

  ~'0'~  

Tenma can't possibly describe how relieved he was to see his team.

They're alright.

It's a shame he doesn't really have time to think about it, because soon enough they're off to bring Tsurugi back, and then Alpha teleports them and they're on Raimon's inside field, about to have a match.

''The place where your soccer will be buried for good,'' states Alpha, his voice as monotone as always.

Fei smiles, a fire of determination burning brightly in his eyes. ''We'll take whatever they throw at us,'' he says. ''That's why we came here.'' He snaps his fingers and suddenly the Dupli are there, dressed in Raimon's uniform.

Tenma blinks and looks down when he notices that he and his friends have changed clothes as well – that will be weird no matter how many times Fei does it – and his eyes widen when he catches sight of his arms. ''Oh my god.''