Archive of Our Own ^beta

Kosovo prided herself in her love for the outdoors.

Many things that were outside the house scared her, anything that wasn’t in her home was stranger and she didn’t like the unknown.

Yet the vast outdoors compelled her, the second she got the chance she’d leave the house and go to the nearest park.

She was at the park now, throwing old breadcrumbs at the ducks in one of the ponds. She was happy she had remembered to take the breadcrumbs with her.

Her bad memory- caused by genetics, a disability, and a sickness that she got as an infant that stunned the growth of her memory gland— caused her everyday issues. It wasn’t something she could live with, it was infuriating, and no matter how much she tried to adapt it was impossible.

Kosovo spent every waking moment trying to remember if she had forgotten something.

Which is why she was understandably very happy that she had finally not forgotten the breadcrumbs and had taken them with her.

One of the ducks approached her further, it's dark eyes glittering in the still rising sun.

Kosovo reached her hand forward, crumbs in hand, and smiled as the duck ate it straight from her palm. She liked the ducks, even when they weren’t interested in her because she didn’t have any crumbs.

The duck looked up at her again, with expecting eyes.

”No, sorry, I’m not giving you anymore special treatment. I need to save some for all your friends,” she explained, laughing as the duck’s expression seemed to sour, as if it had understood her.

It turned around, chin up high as if it was mad, and walked away towards the pond again.

Kosovo sat for another few minutes, before she stood up and turned to start walking back home.

Some feeling inside of her told her to stop.

She looked back towards the pond and the ducks.

In some weird hallucination of her memories, she saw the pond flicker, look like one shaped like her land, then flick back to its original.

She blinked, and it flickered again. Kosovo dig deep in her memory, what the hell was this?, but she couldn’t think of anything.

She debated walking away, but instead she turned fully towards the pond. And in the blink of an eye, she had forgotten she even intended to leave.

The pond flicked again, and she saw two silhouettes sit by the edge. A voice echoed through her weird hallucinogenic state.

“See that? That is the shape of your future land. That’s the shape that you will lead.”

Kosovo blinked again, the geographically-shaped pond disappearing and being replaced by its previous form.

An ache in her heart began, and she put her hands in her pockets, staring out at the pond. She felt her hand hit something star-shaped, and she didn’t have to pull it out to know that the star was red with a gold trim.

Kosovo looked between the star and the pond, which had now gone back to the shape of her land.

She didn’t even try to rely on her memory, this was probably something that had been forgotten but then came back and then was just a dream.

Yep, nothing weird at all.

She told herself.

…

Kosovo threw the star in the pond and walked away.