The Night Of Swords

He pulls curiously at the ropes still attached to him. He frowns when it becomes clear that they won't come off, and he's about to search the room for a knife when a sudden movement catches his attention. His head snaps up to see what it is; it's someone else, another person.

It takes him a moment to get the words to come out of his mouth right, but he manages to ask, "Who are you? Where am I?"

 

"What?" The thief is holding himself differently, and he doesn't seem scared anymore. Just confused. They move closer to get a better look at him.

...Huh. "You're not Mica, are you?"

 

"Who's Mica?"

When the other person doesn't answer, he goes back to tugging at the ropes. Wait. "You've got a knife, help me out," he says. "And you never told me your name."

 

"...Mutt." They don't take out their knife, not yet. This is new. This wasn't supposed to happen. This shouldn't be possible.

 

"Okay. Mutt. Where are we?"

 

"You really don't know?" The - what used to be the thief shakes his head. He doesn't recognize them, either...

"Hey, what's your name?"

 

"My name? I'm..." And there's a big gaping hole where his name should be. He stares straight ahead, trying to get his memory to work right. His name is.... He's from..... He's....

He presses his hands against his head. Why can't he remember anything?

 

"Okay. Okay. I'm going to cut you free now. Don't do anything stupid." Wait, does he know what's stupid? "Don't hurt yourself or me."

They kneel next to him and carefully cut him out of the ropes. He stays still until they're done, which is good. He must have some sense.

"I'm going to take you to someone I know, okay? She'll probably know what to tell you."

 

"Okay. Thank you."

 

Mutt helps him up and sets out to find Legion.

 

Legion is in her room, with Even, sharing dinner, and perks up as Mutt enters. "...hey, you've been gone awhile, everything go okay... with.. .the... Que...Ennnnn Mutt who the fuck is that?"

 

"I don't know. He's different than he was before. Can you fix him?"

 

"...Mutt. Use your words. Who is this? Where did they come from?" Legion pinches the bridge of her nose. "Fix them how?"

 

"I don't remember anything," he offers.

 

Mutt looks at the not-thief for a moment before answering. "The Queen gave him to me. He was Mica, and he was bad, and then suddenly he wasn't either anymore."

 

Legion gives Mutt a long-suffering stare. "...if you don't know any of what happened, I'm not sure I can help."

She stands, circling the newcomer. "Why did the Queen give you this... Mica guy? New job offer?"

 

"He's the other half of me. He was the half that got to go home."

 

"...wait. seriously? Your Fetch? Or.. wait. Wait. How did she define 'other half'?"

 

They frown. "She didn't, but I know. We used to be one person and then we weren't."

 

"....okay. shit. Lemme... hell. Even?"