Work Text:
Aris pulls his knees up to his chest, gently placing his chin on top of them. The nurse watches him from the other side of the room. She’s putting together something in a syringe.
“This is for your next test,” she explains softly.
“You mean experiment?” Aris asks, his eyes dark, the light having gone dim years ago.
“No, I don’t. I mean the next test. You always do so well in these, I don’t know why you’re fighting me on this now.”
Aris shrugs as much as his position will allow.
“I know, I know. I’m not going to do anything again.”
“Well, you know what they’ll do if you get physical again,” the nurse says, crossing the room to him.
“No, I actually don’t, but I don’t want to.”
She hums as she holds her hand out. He offers her one of his arms, looking at how his bones stick out against translucent skin. She slides the needle into his skin, and he doesn’t even flinch. The corners of Aris’ vision start to turn dark, and he doesn’t fight it this time. He lets the darkness take over everything.
It’s still dark when he wakes up again. He doesn’t feel tired or sore like he normally does after they drug him. Instead he feels kind of jittery which is odd since he hadn’t eaten in at least thirty six hours before he was drugged, and he has no idea how long he’s been out. Far too long for him to have any leftover energy. He sits up, realizing that he’s on the floor.
“Where am I?” he whispers.
The floor underneath him is cool metal, and he quickly realizes that he’s only wearing shorts and a t-shirt. That would explain why he’s cold. He only fumbles through the dark for a minute before blinding lights turn on overhead. He immediately covers his eyes, trying to shield them. It takes a few minutes for Aris to even be able to see again.
The room isn’t as big as he thought it was originally. It’s only big enough for him to walk a few feet in any direction from the middle, and it’s completely metal. There’s a door, but he can already tell that he won’t be getting it open any time soon. It’s unnaturally cold in the room, and the lights are insanely bright for the small space. There are no windows, or anything for him to be able to tell what time it is
“Not an experiment, huh?” Aris says, climbing to his feet.
He puts his hand against the wall closest to him with a small sigh.
“I guess I just sit here, and wait for them to do something? I don’t think they want me to puzzle my way out of the room, everything’s too plain for that.”
He settles down on the floor with his back pressed against the wall. It’s quiet, but that’s pretty normal for a W.I.C.K.E.D. facility. However, it still makes him feel impossibly small and alone. He has to force his breathing to stay calm and even, not wanting anyone to see him like this again. Though it wouldn’t be the first time the workers have seen him break down, or have a panic attack. With what they’re doing, it’d be weirder if they hadn’t.
Aris knows that there are other kids his age being held in the facility, but he hasn’t met them yet. He’s heard people talk about them calling them trouble makers, sweet, quiet, or even stupid. There seems to be all kinds of children, and Aris can’t wait until he gets to meet them. They sound wonderful, actually any kind of human contact seems wonderful. He pushes the thoughts out of his mind, putting his head back.
He sits there for a long time, then he gets up and paces around. That goes on for hours. Eventually he starts to get tired even with the lights, and ends up curling up against the wall. As soon as he closes his eyes for more than a few seconds, a loud beeping echoes through the room. Aris covers his ears immediately, wincing as the sound continues. This goes on for not quite a full minute, and then the noise is gone just as fast as it came.
“What the hell?” Aris mutters, putting his hands down gently.
He looks around for the speaker, or wherever that noise came from, but he can’t see anything. Not even any cameras or anything that they would watch him with.
“Oh this is going to screw with my head isn’t it?” he mutters, putting his head in his knees.
The noise starts again once his eyes are out of sight for more than thirty seconds. It lasts longer this time, continuing for a couple minutes this time. Aris makes sure not to cover his eyes, settling his head on top of his knees this time. He blinks, still a little tired, though there’s no way he’s going to go to sleep with that obnoxious noise.
It takes even longer for his eyes to droop this time, and he fights it desperately. Eventually it takes him too long to open his eyes again, and the noise starts blaring. It lasts twice as long, and he’s curled in on himself with his hands tightly clenched over his ears. He makes sure to keep his eyes open even though they are cast down towards the floor. The time starts to feel eternal though he’s sure that it’s less than three hours before he starts to close his eyes again.
This time the noise has been going on for a while before he feels something start to slide down the sides of his face. He reaches up as the noise disappears. His hand comes away red, and it takes him a few minutes to realize that he’s bleeding. That his ears are bleeding. Aris blinks hard, trying to process what’s happening. He feels it as he starts to get light headed.
He wipes the blood off on his shorts, then focuses on breathing. Eventually the blood stops running down his face, and he can breathe again. However when he raises his head, someone is standing on the other side of the room. Aris jumps, his heart beating fast. The woman stares at him with such a loving smile that he’s immediately taken aback.
“Oh, baby. You look terrible. What happened?” she asks, walking over to him.
She pulls him into her arms, and he immediately melts into her hold.
“Who?”
“What do you mean? I’m your mother. Don’t you remember me? I know that I gave you up, but it was just for a better future.”
Aris stares at her, still confused.
“If you’re my mother, then how are you here?”
“It doesn’t matter because I am here, and I’m going to keep you safe. Now what happened to you?”
Aris shrugs.
“I’m not even sure what they’re trying to pull this time. Everytime I start to fall asleep, they start blaring some really loud buzzer, or something. My ears were bleeding, but I can hear you and me just fine, so I must be fine.”
She nods.
“Well, in that case, come with me. Let’s get you cleaned up and into a warm bed. It’s quite cold in here isn’t it?” she asks, leading him towards the door.
He feels his knees go out before he gets there. He passes out as soon as his head hits the floor with a sickening crack. He’s not in the room anymore when he wakes up, and for a second he wonders if his mother took him somewhere else. Then he realizes how stupid that is.
I must have been hallucinating. Maybe I was awake longer than I thought.
He looks around. He has an IV stuck in his arm, and he immediately recognizes the infirmary. It’s somewhere that he’s spent a lot of his life. No one is there, but he’s sure that there are guards outside of the door in case he wakes up. So he closes his eyes and goes back to sleep again, hoping to dream for a little while of the woman that he saw. He has no idea what his mother actually looked like, but for now it doesn’t matter. He’s always wanted someone to love him, speak softly to him, and wrap him up in their arms when he needs it. So, he goes back to sleep hoping to have that for even one more minute.