Magic Knight Rayearth Fan Fiction ❯ The Man Who Fell to Earth ❯ What's in a Name? ( Chapter 3 )

CHAPTER 3:

What's in a Name?

 

 

“Mister, are you awake?”

 

He blinked at the sound of the young girl's voice. Yes, he was awake. He turned his head in the direction of the sound and saw the hospital volunteer. How ironic that he'd actually gotten a candy striper named Candy. It was bound to happen sometime.

 

“I am now,” he said in his hoarse voice.

 

“Good,” the girl bounced. “I brought you some more books and magazines. You really tore through the other ones I brought you!”

 

“I didn't rip them,” he said with a frown.

 

“No! I mean you read them super fast! Wow, I wish I could read my school assignments so fast. My friend Jennifer says…” And the girl babbled on.

 

He sighed and let her talk. The theory was that eventually the girl would need to take a breath some time. If she read as fast as she talked, she'd probably be at the head of her class.

 

As her monologue finally started to lose its steam, he heard Candy say, “Well, like I said, I brought you some more books and magazines, and I was supposed to give you a message.” She wiggled uncomfortably as she said it.

 

“What's that?” he prompted. It was beyond his imagining that anyone here would want to leave a message for him.

 

“Someone's here to visit you!” she said, pointing her finger decisively. “It's that Japanese lady.”

 

“Umi?”

 

“Yeah, whatever her name is,” Candy said glibly. “Enjoy your books! Bye!”

 

Candy blissfully pushed her cart out of his room ready to spread joy to whomever was next. Behind her entered the woman in question, his visitor Umi.

 

She stood still, just staring at him for a while. In her hands she clutched a small colored cellophane bag with fruit inside it. He was surprised to see that she'd come alone without her entourage following her.

 

“Please, sit down,” he invited as he indicated the chair to his right.

 

“I just came to give you a gift,” Umi said, sounding nervous. “If you were sleeping, I can go.”

 

“No, don't!” he said and held out his hand for her to stop.

 

She smiled unsurely at him. “These are for you. I hope they make you feel better.”

 

“Thank you,” he said graciously, not pointing out that the hospital had fed him. One could argue the quality of the food, but he was being fed.

 

Umi sat down beside him and watched. She honestly wasn't sure what she wanted to say, but she did want to see him again alone and preferably while he was awake.

 

“Piece of fruit for your thoughts?” he asked as he gave her an orange from the bag.

 

She laughed. “Thank you.”

 

He turned his blue eyes to watch her fumble with the fruit in her fingers. She didn't peel it, but she turned it over and over.

 

“If you're not going to say anything, maybe I should start,” he said to Umi while waiting for her to look at him.

 

“Oh, okay,” she said with a jittery smile. “What do you want to talk about?”

 

“Why were you here waiting in my room?” he asked. “I remember you were here once all alone. It was before Mr. Templeton offered for me to come to his ranch. You looked so sad.”

 

Umi fumbled with her orange and almost dropped it because that information had startled her. “You knew I was here?”

 

He nodded at her, dropping his eyelashes as he studied her.

 

“I wanted to see you to make sure you were all right,” Umi finally answered. She was being honest, but that wasn't the whole truth of it. She had wanted to see if he was really Clef or if her mind was playing tricks on her.

 

“Feeling a bit guilty about running me over?” he sharply criticized.

 

“Yes, of course! But there's something else,” she added in a confessional tone.

 

“What?” he asked, looking at the blue-haired angel that had come into his room.

 

“You remind me of someone I used to know,” Umi admitted. “The resemblance is uncanny. He was shorter than you, but everything else is the same.”

 

He tried to joke about it. “The doctors tell me I have amnesia, but somehow I think I'd remember if I'd met you before.”

 

“So you really don't know who you are?”

 

“No,” he said as he looked away from her.

 

Umi put her hand up to his. “That has to be frightening.”

 

He didn't answer her with words. He merely nodded his head once while still looking away.

 

“So tell me about this man who looks like me,” the stranger asked after the silence had gone on too long.

 

She took a deep breath. There was really no reason why she shouldn't tell him, though she'd never really spoken about it to anyone else.

 

“I did some traveling when I was a teenager, and I'd met him when I left Japan. We didn't like each other very much at first,” she said with an embarrassed smile, “but by the time I left his country, I was in love with him.”

 

Umi breathed out a sigh. She finally said that out loud to someone who wasn't Hikaru or Fuu. Actually, they'd never talked about it, either, because the two girls knew both her feelings for the mage and her desire to keep that information private.

 

“Did he love you?” he asked simply.

 

“I… I don't know,” Umi said sadly. “I never got a chance to tell him.”

 

“So you ran me over so you could tell me, is that it?” the man deadpanned.

 

Umi didn't realize he was joking at first, and denied it. “No! Of course I wouldn't do that!”

 

He laughed at her upset reaction. “Relax. Just what did this man do anyway?”

 

Umi looked away from him. Certainly she knew what the Master Mage did, but magic of that sort just wasn't done on Earth. Being a liar wasn't in her nature, so she modified her answer to more earthly terms. “He was a magician.”

 

“A magician, eh?” he asked thoughtfully. He reached over to take the piece of fruit from Umi's hand and juggled it with his own pieces. “I like it.”

 

He continued to juggle while Umi watched in fascination. Her Clef hadn't done that, but it was still interesting. Juggling wasn't even remotely close to magic, but he seemed entertained as he did it. A smile that made Umi's heart lurch appeared on his face as she watched him.

 

Interrupting them was the nurse, who entered and asked, “Mr. Doe, how are you feeling?”

 

“About as good as can be expected,” he said with a bark of a laugh. After he took a winking look at Umi, he added “I think I'd like to change my name, though.”

 

“Do you remember who you are? Can we contact your family?” the nurse asked with a hopeful expression that was mirrored on Umi's face.

 

“No, but I've had an interesting chat with my guest. I should like to be called… Harry,” he declared.

 

“Harry?” Umi asked in consternation.

 

“Yes,” the new Harry said. “You mentioned your magician. Who is better than Houdini? Or if you prefer,” he said as he handed her a book that had been put on his bedside, “there is the young Mr. Potter.”

 

“You're going to call yourself Harry Potter?” the nurse said with a laugh.

 

He smiled enigmatically. “No. Until I find out who I really am, you can call me Harry Eric White. I think that fits.”

 

“Harry White,” the nurse said as she manipulated the name in her mouth. “It's as good a name as any other, I suppose.”

 

“And it has a lot more personality than John Doe,” Harry said.

 

While he and the nurse talked, Umi got up and made to leave, but he stopped her by reaching for her wrist.

 

“Thank you for coming to visit.”

 

“Oh, you're welcome, but I really should be going. Harry,” Umi added.

 

He wasn't Harry; he was Clef! If he wasn't that, he was the best doppelganger she'd ever had the pleasure of meeting.

 

Reluctantly he let go of her and gave his attention back to the nurse who continued to speak.

 

“You'll be going home with her soon, Harry,” the woman said with a chuckle at his new chosen name. “The doctor feels fit to release you to the Templetons tomorrow.”

 

“That's good news,” Umi said in a breathy tone. “Well, I'll see you tomorrow!”

 

He barely had time to wish her goodbye as she rushed out of his room.

 

-&-

 

Harry couldn't sleep well that night. The few times when he did, his dreams were riddled with images of blue-haired Japanese women. It was one woman, actually—one very engaged woman who he didn't know anything about except that her fleeting smile was enchanting.

 

If this is the kind of man I am, he thought to himself about his immediate fascination with the other man's betrothed, I'm not going to like myself very much.

 

He might not know who he was, but he had a sense of his own inner character. He felt that he was honorable and would not do such a thing as covet that which was not his. Staying at the Templeton Ranch where he would have more access to Umi Ryuuzaki would be a definite test of that self-assertion.

 

When the morning came he was given the once-over by doctors and nurses. Physically, his ailments were in his leg and his head, but both were on the way to healing. Mentally, he still didn't know who he was, and he needed to keep his regular appointments in case his memory returned.

 

The nurses and orderlies had been very helpful in getting him ready to leave. He was placed in a wheelchair while his meager belongings were gathered. He was making idle talk with his nurse when Scott bounded in like a great Labrador retriever ready to play.

 

“Mr. Templeton! It seems our Mr. White is ready to go,” the woman said with a smile.

 

Scott frowned at first hearing the strange name and then looked to Harry. “Your memory has returned? Why wasn't I told sooner?”

 

“No. It's a joke,” the other man explained. “I was having a discussion, and came up with this name. You can call me Harry”

 

“Harry?” Scott said again in a surprised tone.

 

“Like Houdini, Mr. Templeton,” he supplied. “His real name was Ehrich Weiss, so I just changed it a little.”

 

“Oh,” Scott replied, wrinkling his nose. “What made you think of that?”

 

“It was actually your fiancée that made me think of it. Is U… I mean, is Miss Ryuuzaki here?” he asked, trying to appear nonchalant.

 

“No, she stayed back at the ranch to bake you a cake! She likes doing that. If I didn't work outside, I'd probably be a fat man by now,” the brown-haired man said as he patted his belly.

 

“What do you do at the ranch? You said you could help me, but I still don't quite understand,” Harry asked as they went to the ranch's van.

 

“Basically, it's a private boarding school for kids at need,” Scott explained. “Some of them have physical handicaps, and others… are a little bit harder to reach.”

 

“Are you a teacher?” was the next logical question.

 

“No, and Umi isn't either, in case you're wondering. I'm going to be a veterinarian. In fact, I'm currently taking university courses part time. I help take care of the animals there. It's one of the things that we think helps the children.”

 

“It sounds nice,” the older man said quietly. “So what does your girlfriend do when she's not baking cakes?”

 

Scott breathed in loudly while trying to think of what Umi did. “She's not a teacher, but she helps the teachers and my mother in the office. She gets things ready, and she also helps direct some of the fun activities.”

 

“Oh,” Harry said with a nod, “she's a glorified secretary.”

 

Scott laughed. “Yes, I guess you could say that. And here we are,” he said motioning to the van.

 

Before the orderly could assist Harry in getting inside the vehicle, the man stopped and looked at the young man. “Are you going to drive?”

 

“Yes,” Scott said, for the first time unsure of himself. “Does that make you nervous?”

 

“Would you prefer that I lie and tell you `no'?” he asked, fixing his blue-eyed gaze steadily on him.

 

“Uh, no…” the younger man fidgeted.

 

“Then I'll not say anything at all,” he concluded and nodded for the orderly to help him up inside the vehicle.

 

Scott got in the driver's side and buckled his seatbelt. He took a deep breath before starting the ignition and driving the vehicle away from the hospital.