Chapter Text
Light fell across Scott’s eyelids and he opened them in the familiar routine he had gotten used to. His irises slitted at the brightness but that was normal, he kept his arms crossed over his chest and waited for the humans to say something.
“Is… he dead? Abolish do you know-?”
“He’s alive.” The man replied.
Scott would’ve scoffed if it wasn’t a useless sound. Everyone knew Scott was dead, he was a vampire… a beast and an unholy creature.
The undead were not given the luxuries of the living. They did not need it… Which was why he was in this current situation.
“Could you come out for me?” Abolish asked. Scott instantly stepped out of his coffin, well, coffin was a generous term, it was more like a locker. He stood at attention before the man and awaited his next orders. That’s what the dead did, they made themselves useful for the living.
Abolish did not seem to think so. A twitch went through his expression before he schooled it, Scott had gotten good at reading reserved characters like him, he had to watch himself around this one.
“What were your last orders?” Abolish asked.
“Shut down for storage, sir.” He answered.
Abolish glanced at the metal box he had walked out of, “Storage, right… and that entails?”
“Awaiting next orders.” Scott answered. It was common for this scenario to happen every few years, he had been handed between so many owners as humans died so quickly… he wondered how much Abolish knew of the vampire in front of him. Was Scott passed along in the family? Was he sold to a corporation? Or was he a bargaining chip?
“What were your orders before that?” Abolish asked.
Scott did not let his face show any changes. “Dispose of everyone at the harbour.”
The woman standing next to him sucked in a breath. “It’s him.” She whispered.
“I know, Drift.” Abolish replied, he met Scott’s eye. “You’re coming with us.” He said.
Scott’s feet did not falter as he followed him out of the room, Drift took up the rear but that hardly mattered. This was familiar… this had all been done before.
Scott wondered how Abolish would react when he learnt the vampire couldn’t die.
-----
Time moved differently for Scott than it did for most people. At least he assumed so as the humans around him grew frustrated with his ‘progress’. The new fun challenge of the century was convincing him that he was allowed autonomy and should practice making his own decisions. He knew better but he indulged them, apparently he wasn’t doing enough of it.
“Please,” Abolish said, he didn’t usually plead like Drift but that almost made it worse, Scott always saw him as the rational one so it was hard to stomach that the human wanted him to ‘be his own person’ as much as the others. “We’ve explained why you’re allowed to eat whenever and I’ve told you many times that it’s ok to have preferences, what’s holding you back still?”
Scott frowned. It had only been three years since the man released him from his coffin, he’d taken him to an organisation that helped vampires and everyone there - the living and the dead - insisted he needed to heal and relearn how to live. Scott had never fully agreed with their ideals, even if he became what they wanted for the next hundred years he would still need to go back to what he was trained for. He killed, he served and he followed orders.
“I’m not hungry.” He dismissed. The opaque containers in front of him held different kinds of blood, Abolish had taken him to a café to eat but the vampire’s options were limited due to society still viewing creatures like him as myths, legends or monsters.
“You can eat here, no one will know.” Abolish sipped his coffee and looked him over. His food in front of him was untouched, he’d learnt that denying himself on Scott’s behalf usually got the vampire to break. It wouldn’t today, Scott had been going on a bit of a hunger strike.
“I’m not worried about that.” Scott’s eyes trailed over the customers milling about. The temptation to eat them wasn’t there, he knew live kills were off limits.
“Then why have you stopped eating?” Abolish looked tired, all those sleepless nights were catching up to him and the coffee in his hand wasn’t fixing it. “You’ve been making such good progress, you mentioned you felt stronger, you’ve enjoyed the leisure activities we’ve offered and the alone time has helped you recover from the past 30 years of… storage.”
Abolish always struggled to use the terms Scott mentioned, he was the only one at the organisation who bothered talking the way Scott did, which he appreciated, but it fell short when the man didn’t have the guts to ask the right questions about them.
Scott had been eating a lot while awake, he’d gone three years drinking blood once a month consistently and it was too much, he couldn’t stomach another drop. He was used to starvation, hunger tearing him up was a constant and suddenly it was becoming a memory for him. He couldn’t let that happen, he couldn’t allow his mind to clear, his instincts to settle and his body to recover. When the food inevitably disappeared it would hurt him more. He’d been here before… hope made him recoil, leaving a bitter taste in his mouth from the last time he’d dared indulge in it.
He let his eyes fix on a wall and for his hands to still, Abolish sighed from across him as he waited. His food went cold and his worry grew. Scott was not interested in playing their games anymore.
-----
Abolish had never expected the mission he was assigned to consume so much of his life. The file he’d been given was a big one but it held more statistics on the casualties of the harbour massacre than on the vampire who’d caused it. He’d combed through it diligently, not letting the photographic evidence of torn apart victims disturb him. This was what happened when a vampire went crazy.
For years he gathered as much information as he could on the case. Several people before him had went searching for the vampire and they gave up as ‘too much time passed’. Abolish knew that 25 years meant little to a vampire, he was right as 6 months after hiring Drift they found the creature.
He was… in bad condition.
There were rarely cases were humans one upped a vampire and caused them severe harm, this was the worst instance as Scott followed them back to headquarters and robotically fulfilled orders.
The vampire’s history was a blurry one, he’d been alive for a long time and dropped hints of time periods instead of concrete dates. Scott spoke very little of himself and gave confused looks at anyone who tried to bring him up to date with recent events.
Abolish had gained some ground as the years ticked on. He got Scott to eat, taught him to do ‘meaningless’ tasks for fun and had him open up in a few conversations.
It seemed they were on the path of recovery, whatever Scott had gone though, whatever ‘training’ humans had put him through to wield him as a weapon was fading.
Apparently he was wrong because all that progress had gone down the drain.
Scott zoned out, ate nothing and ignored anyone who spoke to him. He only made eye contact with Abolish and Drift when they spoke to him but often, if he didn’t like what they had to say, he went back to staring at the walls. It was a struggle for Abolish to remind himself that Scott couldn’t die. It felt like the man’s mind was slipping from him as the months passed and he didn’t want to get to the point where he lost him.
He called in many contacts for advice but it was one of the last people on his list, a retired war veteran and medic that he found his solution.
Legundo marched up to Scott and ordered him to eat with an authoritative voice.
The vampire broke his hunger strike with a nod and drained the bag of blood he was given dry.
-----
There was a lot that Legundo hated about himself.
His history as a soldier was one of them, and the fact he’d joined the military of his own eagerness was another.
Legundo had been good at his job. He’d killed, maimed and relished in the glory like the worst monster on this Earth, to him it didn’t matter that he’d changed his ways, that part of him would always be inside of him.
When Abolish had contacted him, Legundo arrived swiftly to his office to help. He was a doctor first and foremost, but when he heard more about Scott he realised a soldier was what he needed.
He marched up to the vampire and like it had never left him his experience as a high ranking officer shone through his voice. He ordered the man to eat and so he ate, he made eye contact with the curious gaze of the creature and as he saw the urge to challenge him cross his expression he gave a pointed look that told him he caught it. Scott sighed and accepted his fate.
The vampire needed a retired soldier not a doctor.
Legundo was glad his past could be useful for something.
-----
A fresh page, a shaky hand. Legundo sighed as he wrote out his patients details on the front.
-Scott-
-Male-
-Age: Unknown-
-Vampire-
-Mental state: At risk-
-Current symptoms: PTSD, conditioning, shut down emotions...
Legundo rubbed his hand down his face and took a second to compose himself. If he took away Scott’s name and physical traits he could almost mistake himself in the diagnosis.
He would have to be careful… Once he’d pulled Scott away from the edge, if he could educate Abolish a bit in his time here, then he could leave the last of the recovery work to the two without him present.
Legundo didn’t know what the final stages of healing looked like… He’d only gotten to the part where he distracted himself with serving others. If Scott could get there then maybe he would be fine. Maybe he would be better off than he was…
-----
Legundo finished his check up on Scott. He put his flashlight in the pocket on his chest and took down some notes.
“How are you feeling Scott?” Abolish asked.
The vampire didn’t give a verbal answer, Legundo saw a brief shrug in his peripherals.
“I admit I don’t know much about vampire anatomy.” The Doctor said. “By all accounts you look fine, though the lack of heartbeat and respiratory system would be concerning on my usual patients.”
“I can breathe if you want me to.” Scott says.
“No need.” Legundo dismissed. “I’m not asking you to be performative.” He finished off the notes he was writing. “Now, Abolish mentioned something called ‘storage’, can you describe to me what that term means?”
Scott blinked at him. “I enter containment and shut down.”
“What does shutting down entail?” Legundo kept his pen on the desk, hands folded as he made eye contact with the vampire.
“Eyes closed, head empty, wait till I am released for my next orders.” Scott reported clinically.
Legundo hummed. “Did shutting down always follow that process?”
A ghost of a smile crossed Scott’s face before it disappeared. “No.”
“What were the steps before?” Legundo pressed.
“Enter my container and wait.” He said.
Legundo let the silence sit between them. “Why was that process updated?” He asked gently.
“I got too many ideas and found too many loopholes.” Scott replied.
Legundo nodded and wrote a couple sentences down.
“Who is in charge of updating your orders?” He asked.
“Whoever is in ownership of me.” Scott answered.
Legundo paused then brushed off his own reaction. “Who is currently in ownership of you?” He asked. He hated asking such a thing like Scott was just an object but it was necessary in breaking down the vampire’s worldview and rebuilding it. God knows Legundo was like that as a soldier… he’d only ever cared about which battalion he was a part of, who his higher ranks were and whether he was following his orders.
“Abolish.” Scott replied.
Legundo glanced at the man, Abolish was clearly surprised by this.
“So he can update your old orders?” He asked.
Scott nodded.
Legundo hummed. He could work with this.
“What was the role your higher ups gave you?” He poked.
“I’m their weapon.” Scott said.
Legundo tensed at those words. He knew what being a weapon felt like…
“You don’t have to live like that anymore…” He said quietly.
Scott frowned at him. “It’s what I was made for.” He refuted.
Legundo closed his eyes and looked away. It’s what he’d been made for too… It’s what he spent every day avoiding and escaping.
“No… You were made for much greater things than someone else’s violent tendencies.” He said.
Scott did not reply, Legundo didn’t expect him to. He looked to Abolish and the man was clearly seeing them both in a new light. The Doctor closed his notebook and stood up on admittedly unsteady legs.
“If you’ll excuse me.” He said as he started heading for the door.
“Legundo, wait.” Abolish followed him. “We need to talk about-“
“Later.” Legundo snapped. He caught his harsh tone and sighed, “I just need a minute, I’ll come to you in the next hour.”
Abolish nodded before Legs marched to the door, once it closed behind him he rubbed his hand over his face and exhaled shakily. A headache pounded gently at the back of his head and his knee ached from his old injury.
Scott and him were not the same. He hated that he was so shaken when Scott had it worse. He was supposed to be better than this.
-----
Things got easier as Abolish started ‘updating’ his orders. Scott found it amusing that one day of the Doctor being around fixed three years of miscommunication. Abolish had never been conscious of his wording and he’d twisted so many of his sentences to be suggestions or questions instead of direct instruction. Now Abolish told him what to do and how to do it. Scott fell into the rhythm of it and found a relief in knowing where things stood. His only issue with their new routine was how Abolish had started forcing him to make decisions with no right answer.
“Red or blue?” The human held up two cups for him to drink his next meal from. Scott raised a brow at him. “Pick one.” He said instead of asking.
“Blue.” Scott grit his teeth to hide his annoyance. This was a waste of everyone’s time.
Abolish warmed up the blood they had refrigerated and poured it into the blue cup. He passed it to Scott and ordered him to drink.
Scott shot him a glare and had his fill.
He took back everything he said. This was the worst, he preferred it when Abolish was oblivious to his power.
“Legundo will need to do another assessment of you today.” The human warned him. Scott watched as he cleaned the dishes.
A snarky remark sat on the edge of his tongue but as always he held back on speaking. Whatever turmoil the Doctor had was none of his business really.
He sipped the blood he’d been given and thought about it. He wished he could poke him on it; The old him, the wretched untrained beast who needed to be taught better, would’ve loved to open old wounds and watch the human’s squirm. He hadn’t felt that urge in a long time, not since he’d been made to go through it so much himself, he was sick of writhing under another person’s grip, he was sick of being corrected and so he played his position well.
He was a sharp, well balanced sword. He only swung when he was told to and he stayed sheathed when not in use.
He finished his meal and mourned how his claws stayed unused. He wanted to rip and claw and bite.
He wouldn’t… not unless he was given permission to.