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[Tenma Institution: Ability-Experimentation Facility, date 27/12]
I can’t see. Everything is black. No, wait. There’s some light moving around. What is this? A cloth of some kind. Maybe they were considerate enough to wash this thing after all this time before gagging me with it. It doesn’t matter actually. The light is growing. No. Not again. Please let me stay here. Let me hide in these shadows. That rough hand grabbed me by my forearm and yanked me into standing.
“Get the hell up, lamb. You’ve got more testing to undergo in today’s schedule.” a man’s voice boomed in the cell.
No. No, please. No more testing.
I clutched onto the man’s arm, as he dragged me out of my safety and into the dull gray hallway. Howls and shrieks were easily heard there. I’m not the only one here.
“Haha...”
Did he laugh? Oh no. Is he going t—
Slam
The icy wall connected with my light figure. It was icy indeed, my short-sleeved gown made sure of that. The man laughed again and carried on dragging me towards familar pathways I’ve grown to learn through daily trips to and from the testing area.
“Oi, I’ve got the runt.”
“Excellent. Place her on the restraint chair and cuff her. Gently.”
The other voice accentuated that last word. Funny. Nothing here is gentle. Maybe the smooth tint of his voice is the exception, luring unknowing hopeful souls into his scientific torture traps.
The rougher man did as he was told, in the gentlest way gentle existed in this facility; as gentle as his own two palms. In addition, he granted me my eyesight, however painful it was, and I was faced with the big bright circle above and in front of me. He loosened the gag as well, letting it fall around my neck; a collar of sorts. Familiar bony fingers placed the rubber suckers on my upper back and front, connecting me to the even duller apparatus scattered around the edge of the room. The man in the pristine white lab coat, curly chestnut hair and yellow teeth always displayed through his grins, approached my limp body.
“Be good now, (F/N). You know the drill. Stop the objects from hitting the ground, and you won’t feel pain. You know you can’t get out of these restraints either. So make it easier for you and me both, will ya?”
I don’t want to. You won’t get anything out of me. I don’t even know how I can do these things. I never asked for any of this...
“Very well. Beginning experiment number 1427, dated 27th of December, time 0700, situated in testing area 7B, Subject 9 (F/N) (L/N), on the study of subject’s ability and source. Experiment carried by Dr. Hinohara assisted by crew B, to conceal identities of assistants.”
Ah yes. Hinohara is his name. I seem to have forgotten it. It’s such an insignificant detail in the face of my everyday torture... The metal claw slowly and heavily dragged itself towards the middle of the ceiling accompanied by a string of dissonant screeches and clanks of metal on metal contact. The light of the circle above me was reflected in, from what I could barely see, an average-sized glass vase.
In a blink, the light shifted in the room; I realise its cause is the vase now descending rapidly towards the cemented frigid floor.
Am I supposed to stop it? I’m so limp, my body can’t even properly register the resounding smash of the glass promptly striking the floor.
There’s a pause. A rather uncomfortable one. Then it hits me. The painful memories of the consequences which follow failure, in this case signalled by the shards of glass scattered everywhere, reaching my bare feet. But it’s too late to try anything. A beep is all it takes, and my body goes into agony, seisuring and frantically pulling at the restraints. I could hear a distant scream, getting gradually louder and louder, while the only things I could comprehend in the room were the zapping sounds filling my whole being and the big bright circle, imitating a smiling face, almost mocking my pitiful self.
Ah. I think I am the one who’s screaming.
And it all stops completely, letting my form limp once again, taking in the feeling of the chilly floor through my feet, and inhaling the faint smoke in the room. Scratch that. The smoke is emanating from my own skin. I think these ‘people’ mistook me for a rag doll; I can feel how I’m being lifted from the chair by my lengthy and unkempt hair.
“Shitty brat, what part of ‘cooperation’ don’t you understand?”
His scream echoed throughout the area, but my brain took some time to process his words.
“All you have to do is focus on that damn vase. Didn’t mommy ever teach you to take care of fragile objects? Oh wait. She was dead before you could wipe the drool off your chin haha.”
Mama...
“AGAIN!”
~•~
*Thud*
Ugh, I may have landed on my hand this time... I started patting the floor carefully. Ah there it is. I palmed the minute crack in the flooring that I’ve grown to learn by heart these five years. I’m back in my little house. I crawl my way towards the far left corner, in my living room, where I start to tend to today’s burns and wounds.
Click clack. Click clack.
She’s back. Feeding time?
“Come out, kid. Make this easier for me as well. I want to be here exactly as much as you do.”
A sudden clatter made its way through the screams of the others. Whoever they may be. The air smelled of beans and potatoes this time. Interesting. I came out of the living room and made my way sloppily towards the dining table, next to the bars where the only light came from.
“Extend your hand, kid. Come on, quickly now.”
I do as I’m told since it’s the only thing you can really do in this place. I extend my hand through the bars towards the lady with a rugged voice. I don’t have any reason to fear her, she’s always been nice to me, never hit me. Perhaps she’s what I’d call ‘gentle’.
In my hand I can feel a petit object with a tousled wrapping.
“Take it in quickly, you know what could happen if they know I’m doing this. Now hurry up and eat. Here’s some water. Eat dammit.”
I don’t wait to be told again. I gulp down the relatively warm food and the small chocolate (I’ve come to realise) and down the water in one go. I push the tray outside, through the specific gap under the bars, careful to hide the golden wrapper under the makeshift plate, and crawl to the bedroom, opposite to the living room. Finally laying down, I close my eyes, and hope that tonight’s dreams won’t be too cruel...
~•~
“—/N). (F/N). (F/N)!”
I sit up screaming, with my hands automatically extended in front of me. The mirror on the opposite wall reflects my (S/E/C) eyes. Looking around my vicinity, I spot the brown curtains and the crack between them, through which light floods into the cream-walled room. To my left, a startled Akutagawa stood over my form, frozen, his eyes emphasising his worry, and the bags under those silver eyes telling me that he’s come back from another all-night mission. The reflection in the mirror reminds me of my active ability, therefore I calm down and lower my arms, giving back everyone’s motion.
“Ryuu... I-I...”
“Was it the same one?”
I nod sheepishly.
“You’re here, (F/N). In my bedroom, with me. You’re no longer there.”
Throughout his consolating words, he slipped his arms around my frail figure, embracing me and making me melt in his warmth and unusually calming scent of blood on the devil coat. I glance behind him at the large monochrome clock on the wall.
5:18
“Come to bed, Ryuu. It’s almost sunrise.” I muttered sleepily in his ear.
The cool air of the early morning hit me suddenly, as I mentally appreciated the comfort of the warm blankets. Akutagawa disconnected his body from mine and took off his long coat, which he lazily threw on the nearby backrest of a chair. With my half-lidded eyes I spot his cravat being downright thrown on the same chair, along with his frilly shirt and pants. Seems like the chilly air showed no mercy to anyone, because he visibly shivered while clothing himself with more comfortable attire.
I felt the bed dip down to my right and caught onto his faint cologne along with a mild scent of blood (which is nothing new to either of us). Draping his arm over me (under the blankets, thank God), he shifted so that I nested myself in his chest, and he buried his nose in my hair (shit I didn’t wash it).
“(F/N).”
“Hnn?”
“Make me that white tea of yours once we wake up, will you please?”
I heard myself chuckling at that.
“I don’t know... have you been behaving, Puppy?”
“Ha. Ha. Very funny, still stuck with the Puppy joke.”
“Silent Rabid Puppy of the Port Ma..fi....a...”
“Mhm, stubborn Little Thief... I hope that’s a yes...”
I fell asleep listening to Ryuu’s calm breathing.