Breath fogging in the muted twilight. Rain splattering against the ground. I am surrounded by utter motion, surrounded by the screams of madmen who have deadened their hearts against the atrocities of the world. She is in front of me, just across the bridge, her cerulean hair shining in the half-dark.

I reach out for her, even as the ground lengthens under my feet, and she recedes beyond infinity. I scream her name, crying out, hand grasping at the space that held her only seconds before. I feel as if I should cry, but the tears do not come, will not come, can not come.

Faltering, stumbling, I finally fall, and mere seconds before I am overwhelmed, I look up to a break in the clouds, and beyond it to the moon. I swear that one day, I will find her.

Her name...

...is Italy....

…

Mine is Jeid.

And now I move on, heeding the Call of GEIGER.

I come, my Italy. I come for you, I come for the past, and I come for myself.

But will you still be there, waiting for me?

When we meet, will I still be I, searching for you?

To the old man, I said, “So that's my story, or most of it anyway. I woke up at a RICHTER facility, with only the barest memories of my past, and her name. I've been searching for her ever since. Two months ago, I heard of you, Atarashi. You were called the impartial gateway to... Something I couldn't quite understand. The words were garbled.”

“I see...” He knitted his leathery fingers together. “While I am aware of many of the leaders of both factions... No. No, I've never known of an Italy. But I know someone who might have. Satasha, come out! We have a visitor!”

I heard some grumbling before a head covered in unruly black hair popped out of one of the hundreds of burlap veils lining the cave's walls. “Atarashiiiii, I was sleeping!”

“Tough. Satasha, meet Jeid. Jeid, Satasha. You'll be travelling together.”

“Um. Hi,” I said. Great, Jeid. Real smooth.

“Introductions in the morning,” said the... boy? Girl? What? It's not like I'm totally human. It's hard to tell gender, sometimes. At any rate, the kid pulled his/her head back behind the veil, and before long, I could just barely hear even breathing.

Atarashi and I sat in front of the fire for a few more hours before the old man finally sighed and snapped shut the book he had been ignoring for the last five hours.

“I'm going to sleep. I have a spare bedroll behind that curtain; you can use it, if you like.”

“Nah. Ever since RICHTER did... whatever they did to me, I've found it more comfortable to just lean against the wall. Appreciate the offer, though.”

Atarashi looked at me for a moment before he shrugged. I turned and began to walk to the smoothest section of wall. Just before I reached it, I heard two quietly muttered words. Atarashi.

“Not good.”

I turned and leaned back, looking up with a questioning reply on the tip of my tounge, but the room was empty. I was, more or less, alone.

The cold winds of Mt. Silver howled through the room.

But they didn't bother me.

Not one bit.