Awake

A Chapter by ocoldstar

Kin wakes up.

Where am I? What's the time...? It's so cold... I'm so hungry...

Without another moment wasted, a man arose from the ground, unclothed and shivering.

"Wh-Where am I?" He'd reflexively ask, half-expecting the person he thought woke him up to just appear out of thin air and explain everything to him. "Why's everything so bright?" He'd ask himself yet again, using one of his pale hands to cover his eyes and protect them from the sun.

The unclothed man would stare out, trying to catch up with his surroundings.

"Trees... Lots of trees. Trees and... Shrubbery? Am I in a forest?" He'd keep on asking himself these questions, knowing nobody would answer them for him. However, it brought him some comfort; hearing the sound of his own voice. He knew that at least for now he was alone in this large forest during the bright day.

The man would walk around, the sound of his bare feet crushing the dry leaves and making a *crunching!* noise very apparent as it echoed throughout the large yet silent forest, the sound of the crunching filling the soundless void. The only sound in the forest were the birds chipping at irregular intervals, sometimes chirping in quick succession while sometimes remaining silent for whole minutes only to break the sound of the crunching of leaves with their chirps yet again.

"Hey, lost out here?" A new voice broke the repetitive crunching and chirping with the sounds of crunching following it as well.

"Whos' there!?" The unclothed man would yell, turning around to see who had just spoken to him.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Calm down! I just came out here for a walk and happened to see you taking a stroll in the forest by yourself naked and looking like a missing duck." The man would laugh hysterically at his comparison, bending over and nearly falling over.

This guy. He really likes his own jokes. The man thought to himself.

"I-I'm sorry," the hysterically laughing man said, putting his hand up as if he anticipated the unclothed man to hit him for making fun of him. "Ok... What's your name and what're you doing here?" He asked, his expression and tone changing from comedic to serious, almost as if he were interrogating the boy.

"Wait a minute..." The boy would ignore the older man's question for now, trying to get a better look at him.

Am I hallucinating? This is... Fur! This man's covered in fur! Not only that... He looks like a damn wolf! Ears and all! What the hell!? I've gotta be hallucinating!

"Umm. What was the question again?"

"Oh, I'm sorry if I was speaking too fast earlier. You look kind of tired and it was my mistake to think you'd want to listen to me asking questions at a thousand miles an hour... Now, about that question. I was asking: What's your name and what are you doing here? That was the question."

"Oh, um, right!" The unclothed man would explain, trying to make it seem like he was in fact paying attention the whole time. "My name... I can't... I can't remember my name! What the hell!? I don't even know what this forest is or what I'm doing here! Where am I!?" The unclothed man would suddenly ask, grabbing the man in front of him by the shirt as if he was in some sort of a rage and wanted to desperately know the answers to his questions without a moment's hesitation.

"Hey, boy! Get off!" The man demanded, pushing him off him. "Relax. I'll answer your questions. Alright, so what was it again?"

"Where the hell are we? What's this forest called?" The unclothed man asked, adapting to his environment as he no longer used his hand to try and block out the sun. He had stopped shivering as well, now being fully awake.

"This forest. You swear you don't know what this forest's called?"

"I really don't, I swear! I don't even know what my name is or what I'm doing or how I got here."

"Strange... Well, I know how to help you but for now, I'll tell you that this forest is my forest. Klaus City Forest."

"Wait, you own this forest? And your name's Klaus?"

The man would nod, keeping his arms crossed.

"Yes. This place is my forest and my name's Klaus," the man said, looking up at the sky as he saw birds pass by. "Say, you haven't told me your name but you told me that you don't remember your name, right? Well, if that's the case, I can give you a nickname while we're here talking."

"A nickname? What is it?"

"Well, that depends... Are you looking for a place to stay? I've got a wonderful loving family and I'm sure they wouldn't mind if we took you in while you're like this."

"Huh? Taking me in? Like an adoption?"

"Well that depends if you even want to stay a part of our family. I can either shelter you or have you declared as one of my sons."

"Wha-? I mean... I don't know who I am. I don't know where to go. I don't know what's happening at all... I guess you can shelter me."

"Perfect," the man said as he turned his back the unclothed man as he started to walk, the leaves crunching under his feet.

"Wait, what was the nickname gonna be?"

The man would turn around briefly and look the unclothed man right in the eyes. "Kin. That's what I've decided it'd be. Do you have a problem with it?"

"No... Not at all. It's fine."

With all being said, Kin followed Klaus on a straight path.