A deep breath.

"Lewis? Matty? Is that blood?"

Charlie took a deep breath and sat up in his bed. His heart was racing in his chest, but that was nothing new. He woke up, every morning, with the same replay in his head. His room was dark and his bed familiar, but that wouldn't last for long. Pulling the sheets off him, he ignored the dampness of them and padded naked to his bathroom. That was new - sleeping naked. It was easier to just wash the sweaty sheets than soak another pair of pajamas that he's only worn for at the most four hours. He was sleeping less and less. More of the same changes.

Charlie flicked on the bathroom light and stepped directly into the shower. He quickly showered, ignoring the new feel of his skin. It was baby soft and lacking the calluses he had gotten so used to having. His hair was softer, even after having shaved it off in frustration; it still grew in baby soft and pure black. Running his tongue over his teeth made the hysteria he felt on a day to day basis almost peak within five minutes of waking up and every time he closed his eyes, his brain showed him something never seen but apparently had forgotten. If that made any sense.

Stepping out of the shower, Charlie toweled himself off and hung it back on the towel rod to dry. Even the backs of his hands looked wrong. He didn't bother to look at himself in the mirror. It was too upsetting still. He supposed it could have been worse. He could've just died.

No, he had never been that lucky.

Charlie Hammond 12 years ago
Charlie closed his apartment door behind him with a soft click. He was early, but he never used to be. Red always came in and jumped on his bed, waking him up with his god awful guitar. That idiot was a better alarm clock than his phone any day, but he doesn't do that much anymore. Red's changed, too.

Walking slowly down the long corridor of the Pipers wing, he made his way down to through the dining hall, out the back doors to the Long Run. It was still dark outside, but he could smell the warmth of the sun burning the dew off the trees. Charlie just stood there. Staring.

"Hey, Charlie."

Turning he saw the Elder Jameson, his adopted grandfather. Duncan Jameson was taller than Charlie, certainly more handsome. Charlie greeted him with a silent smile. Duncan waited a moment, as if he expected Charlie to say something. The silence was uncomfortable for Duncan, but Charlie preferred it.

"How's the running coming along?"

The Elder was asking if Charlie was back up to his optimal speed yet. Discovering that, although everything about his physical appearance looked brand new, his muscles betrayed him. Charlie looked down and saw the muscles on his long arms and legs, but his stamina and endurance was off. His innate abilities could only carry you so far. Even his muscles forgot how to be fast.

"Coming along," Charlie said softly, his eyes squinting up at the Elder against the slowly rising sun behind the Elder.

"How are you feeling?"

Charlie smiled. "Fine."

"Good, good."

Charlie realized that he made people uncomfortable now. Whereas before his laid back attitude was almost a comfort to people. Now? Now people just stare and ask him how he's feeling. He'd tell them the truth, if he knew what that was.

The others were coming now. The Commander and Beta were already off running alone, but behind Charlie he heard the distinct breathing of LT and Marko. Behind them, Dom, the old dog - Marthinus, Lewis, Dougie, and the newcomer Paulson. Well, JT Paulson was only new to him. There had been two other Pipers, but they were gone now.

~
"Charlie. You're awake?"

"Lewis, why are you covered with blood?"

"It's been a long day, man. A long day."
~

"Sup, man. Sleep good?" LT said as he reached out to grab Charlie's face like he always had. Charlie grinned and shrugged.

"He's slept long enough," Red said, bringing up the rear. The Pipers chattered as per the norm, much like the questions. It was the same thing, every day. Charlie stood in the group, blending into the camaraderie but never quite fitting into it.
Charlie Hammond 12 years ago
It was after their run now and time for his evaluation. A quick sit down with the Commander and Beta followed the run and after breakfast was a recap of the day before. Charlie dreaded it.

Sitting in the Commander's office, the Beta stood next to him, leaning back against the wall looking as comfortable as a Hammerthynn could. Even the stoic Beta had changed; the way he talked to others, his fiance - at least Charlie remembered that. The Beta and the Alpha's mother were engaged to be married and the Alpha was a Hammerthynn. Helluva thing to remember, but not the other things that he thought would be more important.

The Commander leaned forward on his elbows, making his chair creak. Charlie's eyes focused in on him and raised his eyebrows.

"So are you still finding similarities?"

There was a thin line between Charlie's dreams and his reality; things remembered but never seen. It adds to the stress of not remembering and yet they keep asking him about it. Can he remember what he's forgotten? What kind of question was that? The conversation would last about a hour with Charlie maybe saying no more than a dozen words. He didn't talk much anymore. Even the sound of his own voice terrified him.

"Vivienne is waiting for you in her office," the Beta said. Then some sort of look would pass between the Beta and the Commander. Something he couldn't quite put his finger on, but he knew what it was about. He just wished he understood.

"You feeling ok?" the Commander asked.

With a nod, Charlie left the office quietly.
Charlie Hammond 12 years ago
"Hi, Charlie."

Looking at Vivienne made him feel absolutely nothing. That apparently was wrong, from what he gathered from Red and LT. Talking to her made him extremely uncomfortable. It was like she was constantly searching for something in his expression. The spark of recognition, some sign of a tangible recall of who she was, but really...he couldn't remember her at all.

Charlie had woken up and forgotten the past twelve months of his life.

So, aside from waking up in a brand new body he hadn't realized he had misused to the point of complete destruction, his brain had been so severely damaged that when it fixed itself with the help of the Eternity given to him for over nine months, he lost all his memories of that previous year. He had no idea who Vivienne Sena was or that he had been so deeply in love with her. It was unrequited love, but in love with her like no other. Charlie had at least been spared the heart ache of never having her since apparently she was with the Commander and their baby girl was almost three months old now.

"How are you feeling?"

Charlie couldn't help but grin. How did he feel? Like his skin was not his own and even his eyes were betraying him. Having been color blind in his left eye for half his life, he woke up to perfect 20/20 vision and was missing all his scars. He couldn't run as fast as he used to and his friends all looked at him strangely. But the worst part was seeing Vivienne and the pained look on her face whenever she saw him. She blamed herself for whatever happened, and honestly, he did, too.

Charlie read the report of what happened during the sewer mapping incident downtown. He read what happened last winter in Siberia and how the events of that week made his life and recovery possible. He read it all, several times, and could not remember one lick of it. He lost a piece of himself and gained something...wrong.

"Feeling fine," Charlie replied.

"Remember anything yet?"

Charlie shook his head. "Not since yesterday, Vivienne, no."

He hated her questions. The same questions, every day.

"I'm sorry, Charlie. I have to ask."

"I know. Nothing's changed." He almost started to laugh just saying that. "Every day starts with a deep breath. Pretty much ends the same way, too."

Vivienne looked away from him finally, nodding her head. She was pretty; he could see why he must've been attracted to her. The scar on her right cheek was recent, Red said. He could see it clearly as she turned her face. Red said the Elder Hammerthynn had done it and he was her adoptive father. She was Vyusher R'asa and the Elder had raised her after wiping her family out. She was some sort of physiologist for the Pipers, among other things, and Charlie had fallen in love with her the first moment he saw her.

"Any questions, Charlie?"

"No," he said immediately.

Vivienne flicked her gold ringed, brown eyes at him and gave him a halfhearted grin. Red told him Vivienne was being evaluated from someone outside the pack, as well. Whatever happened to him, happened to Vivienne apparently. At least she could remember. Maybe that's why she couldn't look at him for very long. After the soul searching look, she'd never make eye contact with him for the rest of the session. Guilt was funny that way, he figured.

Without asking if they were done, he knew they were. Charlie slipped off the couch across from her and stood. He stopped saying good bye or making the necessary noises and being sociable. He left without another word.

((OOC out - continues in Right as rain ))