A white ceiling was the first thing I saw after I woke up.

Sitting myself up on the bed I realised I was in a hospital room, wearing a patient gown. I moved my hands and legs to find that I could move it all easily. I felt a little stiff, but it was better than nothing.

Much better than the last time I’d been to a hospital.

Wait a minute.

I’d never been to a hospital. So why did I have a clear memory of me sitting on a hospital leg with a broken leg. My parents had been there as well, standing next to-parents? I’d never met my father before today. And the man in the memory looked nothing like him. He had hair that was blonde with blue eyes that were lighter than his.

As for my mother, I tried to keep what happened to her as further away from my thoughts as I could.

My name was Jacob Lekkas and I was twelve years old. Never in that time had I been in a hospital room. Nevermind having my stupid father look after me. So what had happened to me? The last thing I remembered-the last thing I remembered was getting into Mark Nine.

The sides of its head had opened up and Lou and I had-wait Lou? That was a nickname for Louisa, I knew that, but she hadn’t told me, had she?

I groaned as I stood up, using my arm to steady myself since my legs felt like jelly. I sluggishly walked to the door, willing myself to move in order to find him. Dad sent us over there. He’d know what was going on. I was certain of that. He sent us to do whatever we did.

Was that what piloting the Progression Series was like?

The door was unlocked and I went through it. The corridor outside was normal, some seats for the people waiting, although no one was there, and blank white walls decorated it. Turning around while still supporting myself with my left arm on the wall, I saw the one thing that was out of place.

Louisa Annelie Beckenbauer, how I remembered her name even though I didn't know how, was looking straight at me, in a position mirroring my own.

“What happened?” we asked each other, speaking in perfect sync.

And I understood what she said? She wasn’t speaking English. I knew that much, so how did I understand her? Although now that I thought about it for a moment further, did she speak Greek?

“You can speak Greek?” I asked her in shock.

“You can speak German?” she asked me, I assumed also in shock.

German? I wasn’t speaking it though. I couldn’t. A few words and phrases maybe, but those were ways to give the most basic information or counting up to one hundred. Looking at the girl in front of me I could tell she was just as confused as I was.

“Children.” I heard my father’s voice behind me. He sat in his wheelchair, holding a teddy bear with a blue tie in his hands, Henry standing behind him. “Get back to your rooms. Louisa, your parents are on the way, Henry will wait with you.”

As Henry and Louisa went back into her room, I kept staring at my father’s eyes. And the teddy bear that he had brought with him for whatever reason.

“I don’t need your help.” I told him. I didn’t mean to, but I really didn’t want to be alone with him.

“You do realise you’re speaking German, right?” he asked me, a smile on his bearded face, but I couldn’t bring myself to mirror it.

“This is your fault.” I told him. “Your fault! Your fault! Your fau-”

“I’m not a good father.” he spoke, interrupting me for the second time in the one day I’d known him. “But there are other people in this hospital. We couldn’t keep it all to ourselves so let’s just go back to your room and we’ll talk. No need to cause a ruckus.”

“Fine.” I sighed, and led him back to the room. I felt tired anyways, so I just headed straight back to the bed.

“Jacob.” said my father as he closed the door and came next to me and my bed. “This is for you.”

He handed me the stuffed bear and I looked at it intently. I noticed its head began to get some wet spots on it. Bringing one of my hands up to my face, I realized that I’d started crying. “Why?” I said quietly.

“I am not a good man Jacob.” said the man sitting next to me. My father. Although I had more and more trouble calling him that. “Have you ever heard of the seasons?”

“A little.” I replied, although that was more than generous. School had given us barely any information, only that autumn, spring and summer existed and that they were warmer than winter, and that was all I could get out of Mr Chris as well.

“Surely you’ve learned that the other three seasons existed once?”

“Yeah.”

“But to see it. To smell it. To feel it. I’m sorry that I had to father you in a world where you’ll only know the melancholy of winter.” A proper smile then broke out on his face, not like any I’d seen on him. “Try to picture it. Summer’s warmth and the rush of going to the beach and swimming in the actual sea. Spring’s liveliness and the blooming flowers and trees. Even the first rains of autumn and its atmosphere of change.

“Even winter was nice in its own way. It was cozy and drove us together in other ways. The world back then, it was far from perfect, some would even say it wasn’t even all that good. But it was, it was…beautiful.”

As much as I didn't want to agree with him, it did sound beautiful. Everything was so cold for as long as I could remember. I could barely go outside half the time and when I did it would be with a bazillion layers of clothing. To be warm, to be able to see what he described.

I couldn’t picture it, no matter how hard I tried.

“It sounds nice.” I told him after a moment of silence.

“We have a great purpose here. You are a pilot and I am in charge of getting you and your copilot ready.” he said as he removed his glasses and looked down at them. “What happened yesterday was the result of you not being ready. I risked a lot getting you and the girl in that fight.

“You speaking German and her speaking Greek are the result of that, although those are temporary side effects. Unfortunately your memory loss is another matter. However if we continue our process properly we can fix it all.”

I gripped the bear tighter. I wanted to scream, cry, throw it at his stupid face that looked too much like mine and tell him that it wasn’t fair. I had always wanted to pilot a Progression Series. Have a partner that I’d go into battle with, defeat monsters and other robots.

“Can I go back home?” I asked him, looking into his eyes for the first time. Well, it was the first time that he wasn’t wearing his glasses and he somehow looked very different. I couldn’t tell what it was but it was something.

“I’m afraid not. We all have our roles to play and they must be executed properly. Which is why from now on I am Professor John Lekkas, your commander. Nothing more, nothing less.”

Suddenly a flash of a memory came back into my head. “Foretold?” I said out loud.

“Jacob?” I felt my father’s hand on my shoulder.

“I have a memory,” I began, not sure on how to phrase it. “That I was in a hospital bed with my leg broken and a man I thought was my father was next to me. Only it wasn’t, it wasn’t you, or Mr Chris or anyone I knew.”

“A memory of Louisa.” said my father with a sigh. “Do not worry.”

“But the word ‘foretold’ just came to my mind. What does that mean?”

He put his glasses back on as he turned to leave. “It’s not anything important. Just get some sleep. Hearing you speak German is rather off-putting. And I’m sure you’ll need it.”

Sleep? After this conversation I wasn’t sure I could. I looked at the teddy bear in front of me once more. That was my father then. I just wanted to go home, but it looked like I couldn’t. I tried to force myself to sleep but the thoughts of the future wouldn’t let me.

Was this really what my life would be like?