Disclaimer: I do not own any characters/places/etc. from Guilty Crown. Everything belongs to their respective owners.

First Song

~ (1) ~

The first sight that she could remember was one of the world divided. Behind her lay burning ash, while in front of her was a view full of life. Anything before that was a blank slate for her.

The meager slip of a dress did nothing to protect her against the chill of the wind when it blew. The air should have been warm - what with all the fire behind her - but the setting sun stole the warmth from that air, leaving behind the cold that seeped into her. The 'fire' in front of her came from the sky; from behind, it was from the buildings set ablaze.

How did she know that? Understand it? Why did she know simple words and facts at all? If everything in her memory was blank, shouldn't she have understood nothing at all?

The girl didn't know the answers to these questions, so they remained in her mind. She was unable to move, simply because she didn't know where to go. Where had she come from? Some part of her wanted to say the burning buildings. She was facing the sky – the world full of life – was that where she was supposed to go?

Footsteps sounded from neither behind nor in front of her. They came softly from her right, where the hill rolled gently downwards. The grass beneath her feet was cool and wet. It wouldn't catch fire, common sense told her so.

The appearance of the footsteps' owner was one of a tall man, his blonde hair long and swept by the wind. His eyes fell upon her, calculating as she sat in the grass. Her arms were wrapped around herself, some part of her wanting warmth and the other safety. What did this man want?

"It looks like you escaped alright," the man's words seemed to hint that she had some sort of connection with him, but she didn't remember him. His appearance wasn't familiar in her mind, but his voice didn't scare her like she thought it would; somehow, it seemed comforting.

When she hadn't answered him, instead opting to stare at him with half-closed eyes, the man walked a bit closer to her. She didn't move away, rooted to her spot with uncertainty. "What's your name?" The man's question opened something inside of her; something that she didn't know existed.

Her lips were parted as she tried to come up with something. A name: something that would identify her as an existing being. Without it, she felt that her existence was futile. She grasped at the empty caverns of her memory for the slightest clue, but could find none.

"'What's your name'?" she repeated, voice soft and throat sore. Her lips were strangely dry, which was probably where the soreness came from. A lack of water… that's what her mind said. She looked up at the long-haired man in desperation, her eyes seeing only him. The burning buildings behind her were starting to fade, smoke rising to paint the sky black.

His eyes narrowed at her actions, but – she noticed as he walked closer – they were full of sympathy. "Gai," the man answered after a few moments as he stared down at her. The word – name – imprinted itself in her once-empty memory.

"Gai," she repeated, her gaze seeking his once more as she reached for his outstretched hand. "Gai, who am I?"

The question burst from her with despair. She somehow didn't seem to show it, but her voice had been the outlet through which it had been let free. The answerless words were driving a pain into her chest – her fragile heart – as he helped her to her feet.

"You…" Gai had started as he looked at her, but seeming to gaze at something far beyond as well. "You are someone special. Someone who can help me and the Funeral Parlor to free the world. Do you want to help others?"

The sense of self was slowly seeping into her, despite her lack of an identifying name. It helped to ease the pain inside of her. "Yes," she answered with a timid nod, not sure of what to do to help.

The girl was fully standing now, wobbling a bit of her unsteady legs. Gai still held her upright, allowing her to walk on her own but making sure that she could stay up. His eyes were full of understanding as she gazed at him.

"Then come with me. In doing so, you might find the answers you truly seek."

~ (2) ~

It had been when the girl was passing by a puddle from the day's rain. Gai was walking with her, making sure she was strong enough to keep going, but the discoveries of the new world gave her strength. She wanted to see what he saw and understand it.

She had leaned down to stare into the puddle, finding that another person stared back at her. The girl she saw had loose pink-hair that was tied at the bottom. Crimson eyes stared back at her in wonder. The girl opened her mouth to say something, but stopped when she saw another peculiar thing happen: there was another Gai beside the puddle-girl.

No, it's a reflection. The girl is me. Her thoughts corrected her as she looked to the blonde-haired man in delight. A small smirk was on his face, as if he was enjoying her discovery as much as she was.

Her gaze – which she now knew was bright crimson – flitted between Gai and the puddle. Her slender fingers pointed at the water's surface. "Look, I found-" 'myself' was what she was going to say, but stopped in surprise when the lips of the puddle-girl moved as well. Her hand went to cover her mouth.

"Yeah, it's like a mirror," the man answered as he bent a bit closer, his reflection doing the same. There was something in his voice that made her believe he knew from personal experience. For some reason, she found herself repeating the same question.

"Gai, who am I?" she whispered as she stared at the reflected girl in the puddle. The 'mirror' gave her no answers, so maybe Gai could…

"You'll discover that in time," he answered, standing straight and holding his hand out towards her again. "I know what it's like to not remember, but you will find your place again. I'm certain you will."

She gazed at his hand before taking it again. Their reflections left the puddle, leaving the watery surface empty except for the endless sky reflected in it.

~ (3) ~

Many hours had passed since the girl had seen Gai. The man had led her back to a building where many other people were. One such person that Gai had introduced her to was Ayase. The brown-haired girl had been confined to a wheelchair because of an accident when she was younger, but she was very kind and good company.

"What do you do here?" The pink-haired girl asked one day while they were sitting alone. She hadn't seen Gai for a few days and Ayase seemed to be the one person she could always find. It seemed like everyone here – in Funeral Parlor, as Gai had put it – had some sort of job.

So far, the girl didn't know what hers would be or even if she would have one. She didn't want to be useless, but what if they couldn't find something for her to help with? What if she was deemed worthless and abandoned? Again, the word rang in her mind for a reason, but she didn't receive a reason why it would.

"Hmm?" Ayase made a small noise from the wheelchair beside her, glancing over at the girl. "I help with manning the Endlaves, among other things."

"Did Gai give you that to do?" the girl wondered, still finding that whenever she said the man's name, it was a sort of life line. It was like he was the one thing anchoring her from fading away.

A small blush adorned her friend's face. "Ah… well, yes. B-but it's not like I'm the only one. I'm only a small part of a larger group." The slight stutter in the brown-haired girl's words, as well as the increasing blush, led the pink-haired girl to a strange conclusion she didn't know existed.

"Do you… love him?" The words came out almost hesitantly, like she didn't know what she was saying. That was quite true though; even when she said the word 'love,' she didn't have any recognition of the word.

Ayase seemed to get even more flustered at the question, waving her hands around in defiance. "A-ah! N-no, that's not it!" she sputtered, face beat red. "I-it's just that I look up to him. He's a great leader and has helped a lot of people…" the brown-haired girl trailed off, fidgeting a bit in her wheelchair. She seemed a bit more collected though. "He's helped me and I'm grateful for that, so I want to help in any way I can. We all respect him here."

The words hung in the air for a few moments. The girl thought back on her own first-encounter with Gai, remembering that she had wanted a purpose. He had helped her, so she wanted to help him. Ayase's words were true. She still didn't know fully what that purpose was, but she felt less conflicted about everything than before.

"So… I know you don't talk much since you're shy; we all have our unique quirks and pasts, but could you at least let me know your name? Saying 'hi' when we see each other but not having something to answer to doesn't have as much meaning. If you don't mind, that is." Ayase's inquiring left the girl silent again as she thought. What could she say? She didn't have anything to call herself by, but her friend was right.

"I… am one who has no name," she answered, staring at the wall across the hallway. Saying the words brought her both pain and peace; it was a strange contradiction.

"What…?" her friend muttered beside her, looking a bit lost at her words. "You… don't have a name? Or you can't remember?"

Gai had probably told Ayase a bit about how they had met and the fact that the girl had memory loss didn't help things. Still, the brown-haired girl's concern at the words made her feel something foreign.

"I'm not sure," she whispered, shaking her head a bit. She didn't want to delve into the subject any further. Another glance at her friend's face, however, somehow translated into "I'm going to have to talk to Gai about this."

~ (4) ~

The pink-haired girl had been sitting in one of the spare hallways with large open windows. The sunset's light was filtering through the windows, dying the floor around her a mixture of oranges and red. She had been given a new dress a few days earlier, this one black with red ribbon decorating it. Somehow, it seemed to fit and was quite comfortable.

Ayase had been introducing her to some calming music for the past few days, playing the tunes through some sort of tablet. It did have a peaceful effect on the girl, who found that the different melodies were enjoyable. The girl had also found a new purpose for her voice: she was able to hum the musical notes with accuracy.

The new pastime filled up the hours that Gai was gone and Ayase had work to do. Her friend had left the tablet with the girl, telling her that it was find to browse the music when she felt like it.

The pink-haired girl was now sitting on the floor, humming one of the tunes from earlier. She liked the higher notes and how they would sound when she used her vocal cords. It left her with some sort of satisfaction, despite the fact that she couldn't easily remember the words to the songs. Ayase had said that this was probably because the songs might not have much personal meaning to her.

The familiar sound of footsteps behind her stopped her musical humming. Her crimson gaze cut through the room, settling on a figure that had entered: Gai. The blonde-haired man had stopped a few feet away from her, most likely listening to her humming.

"Sorry if I interrupted you," he apologized, coming to sit beside her. She wasn't quite sure what to say. Was she embarrassed or happy that he had seemed to enjoy it? She couldn't decide.

Instead, she opted to start humming again, enjoying the way it made her feel. Gai continued to watch her with the same calculating eyes, but she enjoyed his presence too. She hadn't seen him for a while, so the visit was nice. Maybe they didn't have to talk. Maybe they could just sit in this partial silence and enjoy it.

When her humming had died down into quiet tunes in her mind, Gai spoke again. "I've been looking for someone to sing for Funeral Parlor." His words confused her. They were trying to free people, so what did singing have to do with it?

"Why singing?" she asked gently, finding that the music in her mind had disappeared. Gai was silent for a few moments, watching the sun sink below the buildings in the distance.

"We will continue to fight on, to continue singing, but we can still sing the songs of the deceased. Those with no names, who are oppressed because of the world we live in." The man's words caused her to look over at him. They struck a chord in her heart, causing her to lift a hand to her chest. Somehow, she understood him. She understood what it felt like to have no name, nothing to identify yourself by.

"You want me to sing… for those that have no name? Just like me?" she inquired, finding that her heart was beating a little faster. Somehow, the idea was both frightening and welcoming. She was stuck between the two when Gai spoke.

"That's your decision to make, Inori."

The unfamiliar word caused her to tilt her head in confusion. "'Inori?'" she repeated, finding that it had a nice ring to it. The word caused warmth to fill her for an unknown reason.

Gai looked over at her with a smile. "That's your name." He answered, moving to leave the room. "If you decide to carry out this task, then you will be the 'prayer' that sings for those who have no voice."

The man left the room a moment later, leaving her alone. Inori, the name rang in her mind again, filling her with happiness. That was her name, who she was. Now, it was up to her to fill her role. She moved to get up from the ground, but stopped when her hand brushed against something.

It was a sheet of paper, simple notes and words written on it. Gai must have left it here; she concluded as she picked the page up, reading the words silently in her mind. A moment later, she followed the notes on the page, singing the words written there. It was a song; her very first.

Now, I don't know if the anime covers much of Inori's backstory; I just remember her telling Shu that Gai had given her a name and a purpose, so I thought that this would be interesting to write. Sorry if there's something like this already covered or if anyone else has written anything on it; I haven't looked at the archive yet since I'm slightly scared of spoiling myself. This was also my first writing of Ayase, so I apologize if she isn't entirely the way she is in the show. I'd think that she might open up a bit more to a girl than to Shu, or maybe things have changed since the time the show starts. Either way, I hope you enjoyed this and I thank everyone for their support so far! It means so much!

-AnimeWolfGirl9