Chapter Text
Darkness.
Then, all of a sudden, light, burning against his eyelids as he awoke.
Wait- he? He was... someone. Conscious. Alive.
He blinks dazedly at the pale blue sky above him, littered with little white clouds, absentmindedly deciding it was very pretty. If he's someone, then who is he?
Bambi.
The name was so clear in his mind, clearer than the fog and static in his head as he registers existing for the first time. That was him.
Bambi draws in a conscious breath. There's the faint thumping of his heartbeat in his chest. His fingers dig into the ground gently, forming fists around the green strands growing from the dirt. Grass, his mind supplies helpfully. He wasn't sure how he knew what all these different things were called, but the information seemed natural, ingrained into him, almost as clear as his own name in his head.
But not quite that clear. Of all the things, Bambi was most certain he wouldn't forget his name. He was sure of it.
He doesn't know how long he lays there, just breathing, running a hand through the grass as he gazes at the sky, but eventually an uncomfortable weight makes itself known in his stomach, a sort of twisting and turning that demands one thing.
Eat.
He stumbles to the ground clumsily as he adjusts to both standing up and the new command making itself present in his body. It's then that he notices a piece of fabric wrapped around his body. Some kind of clothing? He takes the hem of it in his hands to examine. It was worn and tattered, and there was an odd red stain near the bottom, but it felt normal and familiar so he supposed he wouldn't mess with it.
He also registers a faint pressure on his head, and reaches his hands up to take the hat he apparently had off. It's... covered in holes. The... other clothing, the cloak, he thinks? That had holes in it too, but they were from wear and tear. These are a completely different shape, a lot bigger too, and something about that makes him feel... uneasy.
A shiver runs down his spine, and he decides to deposit the hat back onto his head so he can stop looking at it.
Going back to his other train of thought, he ponders on what to do. Eat... what? What was there to eat? How did he even know what could be eaten? His gaze turns to the grass below his feet, and he promptly rips a handful out of the earth and shoves it into his mouth.
Not even a second later he's spitting it out and regretting having tried it. It tastes awful. Was food supposed to taste this bad? Probably not. Thankfully, his brain finally decides to supply him with information. Food grew on plants and stuff, right? Like, trees and bushes or whatever. So all he had to do was find somewhere more forested, and he was bound to find something edible, right?
New goal in mind, he sets off on shaky legs to find somewhere a little less barren. He tries not to lament the fact the grass is nearly half as tall as him, coming up to around his waist. He raises a hand above his head to try and shield his eyes from the sun, because for some reason it seems like it specifically wants to blind him, and he squints a little.
He loses track of how long he ends up walking for. Not that he has much of a grasp on time right now, anyways, but after a while the sun finally ceases its attack on his eyes and he drops his hand back to his side. A light breeze blows through the air, and he realizes it's noticeably colder and darker now. Not by a massive amount, but it'd probably be night soon.
Thankfully, his wandering finally pays off, as he sees a line of trees up ahead. He quickens his pace, eager to investigate the area.
Branches and leaves tower over him as he makes his way into the forest. Now that he's here, he should look for some kind of food. He checks around trees and in bushes, but struggles to find anything. The most he comes across is a clump of mushrooms, and his mind harshly reminds him that usually those are poisonous and it wouldn't be a very great idea to try eating them.
Now that he thinks about it, aren't a lot of berries usually poisonous, too? He groans in frustration, before promptly getting startled at the fact he made the noise. Right. He can do that. He still has to get used to existing, it seems.
At the very least, he can remember- wait, no, not remember, there's nothing to remember if he's never existed before- he has the image of a few edible things in his head, so he tries to look specifically for those. It grows increasingly darker, and the cold is starting to make him shiver, so he'd really like to stop hunting for food soon and find somewhere to hide for the night.
Finally, he's able to find one of those edible things in his head. They're round-ish and red, apples he thinks they're called? Problem is they're currently residing in a tree that is way, way taller than him. He'll have to climb it, he supposes.
He clenches and unclenches his hands a few times, not quite sure how to proceed, before deciding to just fling himself at the tree and dig his fingers in. Okay. This is good. This is how climbing works, he can do this.
He clumsily scales the tree, making his way to a branch that's close enough to the top that he could probably snag some of the fruit from. Pushing himself onto the branch, he reaches up for one of the lower hanging apples and promptly snags it off the tree.
The hunger immediately makes itself very known again at the sight of food so close, and he shoves it into his mouth with no hesitation, a loud crunch sounding out as he bites into it.
It's really damn good. Maybe that's just cause this is the first time he's eaten in his short existence, but right now he doesn't think anything could taste better than this.
He's pretty sure he blacks out for a moment, because it doesn't feel like any time had passed by the time he'd eaten it down to the core. He decides it's best not to eat the seeds. His brain tells him that it wouldn't be a very good idea, and besides if he leaves the seeds out somewhere they'll probably grow, right?
He promptly chucks the apple core off... somewhere. He doesn't know where it lands, or where he was really aiming for in the first place. But hunger still nags at his stomach, and he decides eating another one wouldn't hurt. Maybe he should take some extras to save for later, too. Would give him more time to explore the area, not that there's anything in particular for him out there (at least, he thinks so) but he wants to see more of this place. Living is nice, he decides.
He practically inhales another apple before discarding the core again, and then plucks an extra apple from the tree. The rest are out of reach from the branch he resides on, and he decides if he really needs to he can always come back some other time. Plus, having more than one or two would probably be inconvenient to carry around, anyways.
He's about to figure out some way to climb back down the tree before he takes a peek down the branch. And it's then that he realizes he is really high up.
He blinks. His free hand reaches to firmly grab the tree trunk. He swallows thickly, and he can feel his heart start to beat uncomfortably fast. He wonders why that's happening before he realizes-
Oh. Yeah. Fear is an emotion.
He breathes shakily, trying to reason with himself that there is literally no reason to freak out right now, if you can get up the tree you can get down fine, but another part of him is arguing that if something goes wrong, if he loses his grip and falls...
He shakes his head rapidly. No. Not thinking about it. Everything is fine he is not going to freak out about this. He presses himself against the tree trunk and shimmies his way down with only one free hand, and he definitely does not think about how he's so much more likely to slip without the extra support from his other hand.
Before he knows it, he's already climbed down, safely at the base of the tree. All of that panic was for nothing, of course. He knew there was nothing to worry about.
His shaking limbs tell him otherwise.
It's very dark now, and he's really starting to get cold, so he curls up against the base of the tree. He decides it's a good enough spot to sleep for now. He holds the apple he took protectively against his chest, not wanting anything to take it from him after that whole mess with being in the tree. Going back up there sounded less than pleasant, so he simply wouldn't. Unless he had to...
He could probably find some other source of food that wasn't so high up. He'll be fine. He pulls his cloak more snugly against his body, trying to fight off the chill from the night, and closes his eyes.
And with that, he falls into unconsciousness.