damned_institute | Night 69: M31-M40 Hallway

Entry tags:

barnaby,
castiel

Night 69: M31-M40 Hallway

With the St. John's wort officially passed off to Kobayashi, Castiel realized that he could finally move past all of the problems created by that illness. He still needed to heal up, true, but he was at a point where he could work on something more productive without constantly being distracted by the possibility that he or someone he knew might end up turning into some bloodthirsty creature.

The intercom came on as Castiel slipped on his trenchcoat and gathered his items for the night, and while he was expecting to hear the usual taunting, something that was actually of interest came out of the tinny speaker.

The third floor -- had a patient truly found a way to get there? From what Castiel understood, no one had ever made it past the second floor, regardless of any unorthodox ways that they tried to get there. When he'd temporarily been granted the ability to use his wings again, he still hadn't been able to reach it. It was clearly warded off and well-guarded, and Landel seemed to intend on keeping it that way.

But whoever had made it far enough to earn a specific comment on it from the Head Doctor clearly had to be getting somewhere with it. Castiel would need to look into that when he had the chance, but for now he was set to meet up with Soushi.

Working with a demon -- even if it was a very different kind of demon, it still rubbed him the wrong way. But that didn't stop Castiel for setting out with his flashlight and angel sword in hand.

[To here.]

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That wouldn't have been half as painful if Kotetsu had just chewed and swallowed it the first time. But, honestly, that seemed to be a reflection of how he was in general. Ripping the metaphorical band-aid off in one go was the preferable way to go about doing those sorts of things, but some people just couldn't quite bring themselves to do it, making the whole process a lot more agonizing when all was said and done.

Which, when he thought about it, was why Barnaby had to corner Kotetsu tonight in the first place. What a mess...

"Let's keep an eye on your rash," Barnaby said, seeing little point in babying him about his brush with nearly throwing up. "It didn't take mine long to start fading."

"Oh! yeah, good idea!" Honestly, after everything they had been dealing with the last few days, the rash had been the least of his concerns. Sure he had symptoms, but they outweighed the superficial evidence of his illness.

Unbuttoning his cuffs, Kotetsu rolled up his sleeves past his elbows to get a better look at his bare arms. He was so dark it made it hard to see in the dim lighting, but it was there. He even unbuttoned the first three at his collar to see how far it had spread the last few days.

Barnaby brought his light over some of Kotetsu's skin in an effort to get a better look. He knew there was a possibility that the flower wouldn't work the same way it had for Barnaby, whether due to its makeup, or some kind of placebo effect. Regardless, though, they needed to keep an eye on his symptoms in case there was some change.

When his partner unbuttoned part of his shirt, though, his light caught the bare skin there, and Barnaby frowned.

"Actually, could you undo the rest of the buttons?" he bluntly asked. "There's something I want to check."

What? "Y-You... You want me to take my shirt off?" For whatever reason, Kotetsu could feel his heart seize for a beat after his partner's question, and he clutched his shirt tightly at the collar like he was scandalized by the very idea. It was probably just from the randomness of the question! Really, it was just so sudden and, uhmm, random that it caught him off guard. That was all!

"Ah, o-okay. Hang on a sec--" Unbuttong the rest of it, the older man tried to think of what reason Barnaby would want to look at his bare chest. He could see the rash on his arms just fine. By the time he got to the last button, he still had no better clue than that, so he sat there awkwardly waiting for Barnaby to do... whatever it was he was going to do.

"You don't have to act so weird about it." They had seen each other without clothes before, so Barnaby didn't understand why Kotetsu was shy now, of all times.

At least his partner complied -- and it was ultimately a good thing he did, because Barnaby confirmed the suspicions he'd been harboring for several days now. It was subtle, and easy enough to miss even for someone with good vision. But, up close like this, with the light shining on him, and Barnaby wearing his glasses, the discoloration on Kotetsu's chest was unmistakable.

"What happened to you?" he asked, his green eyes faintly widening.

He wasn't acting weird! It was just the question! When had they ever asked each other to take off clothing? Never? Okay then! Barnaby would feel just as weird if Kotetsu popped the same question without any context.

Of course, he should have known where this was going. That damn flower threw off his entire groove! Looking down at his chest, he could see the expanse of scar tissue illuminated by his partner's flashlight. It had been coming to this for days and now he could no longer stall for time. The question was so specific, but the answer was just so all-encompassing that the older man could only sigh as he shift his gaze away from the blond in front of him.

"Look," he started, laying out his disclaimer first with another tired sigh. "Before anything's said, just--Know that I didn't intend for this to get so far. I thought, you know, we'd get out of here in a few days and then then there'd be time to talk, but the first day you had your memory wiped and I didn't know where to begin--Maybe I was scared, I dunno, but it wasn't because I wanted to hurt you or because I didn't trust you. Just know that." And if this ruined their partnership... Well, he just hoped Barnaby left knowing it was without malice that he waited too long.

And so he'd gotten to the heart of the matter within a few minutes. It hadn't been completely deliberate on his part, but the moment Kotetsu started to unbutton his shirt, he knew he needed to seize the chance to learn more before it slipped away. Maybe it was selfish, but Barnaby still felt perfectly justified.

That preface didn't do much to ease his concerns. Steeling himself, Barnaby's expression grew stoic, and his green eyes hardened like emeralds.

"The first day I had my memory wiped?" he echoed. "What do you mean by that?" His gaze narrowed as he fought to keep the anxiety roiling around in his stomach under control. "How much time have I forgotten? A few days? A week?"

Oh shit. Kotetsu hadn't meant to just throw that delicate glass vase of knowledge at a brick wall to let it shatter and shred whatever leverage he had going for him in that disclaimer into bloody little ribbons. God, they hadn't even really started yet and the older man was already drowning.

"Like... two months--B-But, okay, but before you yell at me, just listen! I didn't know it was two months until we got here! All I knew was that you retired and I went back to Oriental Town and then out of nowhere I wake up stuck here and so are you!"

That answer felt like a punch to the stomach, blindsiding him until he could barely even see straight. "Two months," he echoed. His voice sounded strange to his own ears. "I can't--I can't believe this..."

But he had to, because he'd seen and experienced enough to realize that Kotetsu wasn't lying to him about this. But that still didn't let him off the hook.

"But you still knew!" Barnaby heatedly countered, growing more tired of his partner's excuses. "You knew for a whole week and didn't say anything. Did it not even occur to you that Judge Petrov would say something if you didn't?"

Kotetsu had enough shame to wince when Barnaby didn't fall for his excuses. Yeah, he had known the whole time they had been here. He had known something was terribly wrong with his partner's memories again, but he had chosen to be selfish instead, hoping that it might work itself out naturally. When the days just kept progressing and nothing between them had changed, it seemed like the time for talk had passed and bringing it up became impossible for him.

Genuinely, he feared for what it would do to Barnaby. The older man didn't want to see him overcome with grief or depression, or let it drive a wedge between their partnership. He had been doing it to save the blond, but half of it was to save himself as well. And now all he feared was coming back around on him.

"I... I dunno, I just... hoped that he... wouldn't," he moped, wringing his hands together so hard he was certain he would eventually dislocate one of his fingers. "I'm sorry... I am--I'll, I'll tell you everything right now, okay? We'll, We'll just sit down and talk!"

Did Kotetsu not understand that Barnaby would have rather had these sorts of bombs dropped by someone he knew and trusted, rather than a professional acquaintance like Petrov? At least he sounded apologetic, although Barnaby couldn't tell whether he was genuinely sorry or if he was just sorry he got caught burying his head under the sand.

"At this rate, I might feel like you're still hiding things from me even after we've talked," Barnaby reminded him. "How can I rely on a partner who keeps me in the dark about my own life as long as it's convenient for him? How can I know you're not going to just put off telling me something else because I'm already upset?"

He wanted to trust Kotetsu, so much that it almost hurt. But he'd already been blinded by his own adoration of the man more than once. Part of him was frightened that he was doomed to repeat this exhausting cycle as long as they were partners.

Edited 2013-06-02 18:19 (UTC)

And here Kotetsu thought he couldn't feel any worse. Knowing he had irreparably damaged the trust between them, he fault nauseated from a punch to his gut. "No, I won't!" he said before thinking his outburst through. It pulled him onto his feet and in front of Barnaby. Grabbing both of his hands in his so the young man couldn't get away, Kotetsu hoped the looks of utter misery gave him enough of a pause to remain, at least for the entire story.

"I'll tell you everything! I wouldn't leave anything out--You're right! This is your life, and I've been such an idiot!" His hands were so restless as he babbled on and on to Barnaby that his rough thumbs worried the skin of his partner's knuckles back and forth. "I'm sorry," he said again, He had no idea if it had any potency anymore since he had to apologize all the time these days, but he wouldn't stop trying. If it took 139,607 apologies, he would give them! "I didn't think--" But Kotetsu stopped himself, knowing that was where most of his problems stemmed from. He didn't stop to fully think. "Everything that happened, it almost destroyed this--us--and I just... I guess I was afraid if I had to tell you all over again you might... leave?" It was selfish and cowardly, he knew, but he couldn't deal with it if Barnaby left him, whether it was from sadness, from madness, anger, depression, betrayal, it all would hurt.

Caught off guard by the warm, dark hands that closed in on Barnaby's, he found it difficult to avoid Kotetsu's amber eyes. With such an earnest expression, with promises of openness and honesty, Barnaby's heart raced and he couldn't quite push him away. Still, that admission had hurt his feelings. If Kotetsu still couldn't trust him, how the hell could he ask Barnaby for the very thing he wasn't willing to give? That was so hypocritical, and it put Barnaby in an awful position.

But, on the other hand, Barnaby didn't think Kotetsu had actually lied to him at any point since this whole mess started. In some ways, Barnaby realized the fault was partly his for not getting to the heart of the matter more aggressively. Maybe, on a subconscious level, he hadn't wanted Kotetsu to talk about it either.

Besides, his more calculating side reminded himself, he would gain nothing by refusing to hear Kotetsu out. Storming away would serve no purpose except to protect his wounded pride, and he had everything to lose by giving up on the two of them now.

The feeling of Kotetsu's calloused thumbs brushing against his knuckles brought him back to the matter at hand, and Barnaby let out a slow breath.

"All right," he said after a long pause, though his tone still remained stiff. "Sit down. We'll talk."

He was both thrilled and terrified that he had won his partner back. On the one hand, Barnaby would hear him out! On the other, Barnaby would hear him out. Suddenly his hands were clammy as he let go of the young man and sat back down on his bed, wiping the cold sweat off his palms.

"What was the last thing you remember...?" he asked, though it was more to himself despite it being Barnaby's memory. "It was when I hit you, right?" A flush of red covered his cheeks after being reminded of that mess they had left in the skating rink. "I'm sorry about that! I swear I didn't mean to, but you just knew exactly what to say to piss me off, and--! Anyway, I, ehh uhm, ah, I'm... sorry..."

Sitting on the bed across from Kotetsu, Barnaby clasped his hands between his knees, his expression stoic for now.

"Yes, it was after our fight in the skating rink," he confirmed. "I was on my to Mr. Maverick's office..."

That name stirred up a lot of the anxiety Barnaby had been battling the past couple of days, ever since his conversation with Petrov, but Barnaby managed to swallow it down. "We've already gone over that with each other, and I've apologized as well, so there's no need to rehash any of it."

It was so easy for Kotetsu to go off on tangents, even if he normally meant well by them. Barnaby pursed his lips and tried to steer them back on course. "Go on."

"Ehhh he heh, right right, sorry... I just wanted to make sure, y-you know..." Well so much for that distraction. Barnaby was just too good at this game. Why was he even playing games this late into this mess?! Kotetsu needed to push his worries to the side before Barnaby lost his patience with him once and for all.

"Okay, so, right, you left and I... Well, I didn't know what to do really," he recalled. He thought it was going to be a lot harder to put himself back into those shoes and retell the story, but for now it was simply the progression of his pathetic misery since he hurt Barnaby. That wasn't too hard. "I tried calling you later, but you never answered, so I just went home. The next day, you weren't there, but Maverick..." Kotetsu could no longer hold the contempt from the man's name when he said it. "He told me you 'couldn't trust in anything anymore' or something and went totally AWOL. Well... I think--Yeah, that's when... Samantha called me." Damn, this was one of the parts the older man really feared to tell him. It was a lot to be hit with out of the gate. "She said she had something to show me, said she'd come to Apollon Media. But of course I had to go out on a call right when I got there--" Though now that he was actually looking back on that day instead of just trying to bury it under layers of denial, he wondered if that terrorist attack and been just another game to Maverick. The idea made his lip curl in a snarl. "So by the time I got back, she'd gone home. So, I figured I'd just go to her house instead.

"I was there all night, and she never--" Kotetsu paused to sigh, his amber eyes suddenly affixed to his nerve-wracked hands. "Never came home. I had to go back to work, and that's kinda when it all started. I... found out that Samantha... She'd been murdered."

Edited 2013-06-03 00:52 (UTC)

At this point, he should have braced himself for anything, but the rest of Kotetsu's words seemed to fall away with that last piece of information. Barnaby felt his limbs go cold, and for a beat all he could do was stare at his partner in stunned, horrified silence.

"Murdered -- Aunt Samantha?!" There was no doubt in his mind that Kotetsu was telling the truth. The problem was that Barnaby felt sick that he'd apparently forgotten something so huge. "But...why?! Don't tell me it was...because of what she wanted to show you..."

Because whatever it was, he knew it had to do with his disappearance. Her death had to have been related to that.

He was so glad his partner could make connections so quickly, because if their roles were reversed, Kotetsu wasn't sure he would have been able to figure out where half of these pieces of information fit together in the clusterfuck of a jigsaw puzzle that day had been. One damn day and there had been enough terror and grief and rage to last a lifetime!

"Y-Yeah... You... You remember when you asked Samantha what she'd been doing on the day your parents were killed? Well, she found something out. When you and Maverick got your picture taken in front of the tree... Sounds familiar, right?" Wetting his dry lips, the former Hero made sure to catch Barnaby's eyes when he let the next ball drop.

"Bunny, it wasn't with Maverick. It never was. Think about it--Think about that day. Samantha had been with you the whole time. She was the one in that picture with you, and she got killed for it."

That's a lie very nearly flew from his lips, but Barnaby stopped himself. The serious stare his partner gave was all he needed to see. Kotetsu wasn't making any of this up -- he wouldn't.

"There must be some kind of mistake," Barnaby doggedly said instead. His fingernails dug into the palms of his hand as he leaned forward, eyes burning just as fiercely as that fire all those years ago. "It was Mr. Maverick who stood in front of the tree with me. I remember it vividly! I..."

Then why don't I have a copy of the photo?

That stray, paralyzing thought cut him off mid sentence, and he bowed his head. For someone who paid painstaking attention to detail, his faulty memory was a difficult pill to swallow. More than that, it made him sick to think that he'd spent all those years forcing himself to relive that nightmare, clinging desperately to every piece of information he could, only to have someone close to him tell him that everything he knew was wrong.

Kotetsu didn't have the heart to refute the blond's outburst. It would turn into the one thing he didn't want to broach yet, not until he had heard everything, just like Barnaby wanted. Only then would he allow his partner to break down.

Instead, he moved on with his story as he rubbed his palms together back and forth restlessly. "Well, she was killed for that picture, and they... blamed it on me. God, it all looks so obvious now, the set up--I had my finger prints all over her place, her stuff, and no one to know the difference. I even went back to Apollon as if nothing was wrong--Well, except you were missing--but they wouldn't let me in. The same damn security guard I passed every day into the building didn't recognize me! None of my security badges worked and all of a sudden I'm the most wanted man in Stern Bild!

"No one recognized me--Well, except as a homicidal NEXT. Everyone was after me, the police, the Heroes, Antonio--That cow almost broke my damn ribs trying to arrest me!--And all I could think is what the hell went wrong..." He grew silent for a moment, remembering how hopeless he had felt. His entire life had been obliterated, wiped away like a ink smudge out of the history books. It still made his stomach hurt when he thought too long about that day.

"But then I saw you on the big screen when I was trying to lay low, and--" he sighed. "I was so relieved to see you were okay. You were with Maverick, though, who just happened to tell me the day before he had no idea where you were. And suddenly you're hell-bent on arresting me? Your own partner? You didn't even remember me!" He hadn't meant his words to be accusatory. Wanting nothing to do with that day, the older man had never explored it with more than a flippant laugh and wave of his hand. Now that he had to rehash it to the one person who was supposed to already understand implicitly without words was harder than he had anticipated.

The story sounded so unreal, and yet it wasn't as though Barnaby was in any position to refute it. Still, hearing Kotetsu explain that even Barnaby had once turned against him was almost too much. He would never suspect his partner of murder. Kotetsu had many faults, certainly, but he simply wasn't that kind of man.

If he didn't even remember Kotetsu, however, and the evidence pointed toward him as the killer, then Barnaby was well aware of how he would have responded to the man accused of murdering Samantha.

"I'm glad you're all right too," Barnaby quietly said after a long moment. He sounded composed for now, but tears were starting to sting at his eyes, and he still couldn't quite fight the anxiety and grief mounting in the pit of his stomach. "Who could even do all of that, though? A NEXT?"

Barnaby's voice was starting to crack.

"Y-Yeah," Kotetsu admitted, trying to keep a way from the name until he could try and gradually feed his partner enough information to fill in the mystery. "A real nasty one. He had his hands in everything--Ouroboros, Hero TV Live--Hell, most of the crimes he staged for ratings--Apollon... He even had connections with your parents, Barnaby. They were good friends." He hoped that would be enough to let the light bulb go off in Barnaby's head.

"After your parents were murdered, he helped fund all of that bastard Rotwang's androids from your parents' research, trying to make other Cis that'd take our place as Heroes. Apparently, they required less upkeep." The older man couldn't help but snort at that last comment. They certainly showed them who were the ones in sore need of "upkeep". He could still feel the satisfying tingle on his knuckles from that right hook he'd thrown to Maverick's fat face.

That was all Kotetsu needed to say for him to draw the inevitable conclusion. Mr. Maverick.

Barnaby had half-expected that bomb to drop all night, but that didn't stop his blood from running cold.

Even entertaining the idea felt like a huge betrayal. While he wouldn't say Mr. Maverick was exactly like a father to him, he was still the closet thing to one Barnaby had ever had. The man had raised him and paid for his education. It was through his influence that he'd made it to Hero TV, and with his council that he'd made such a splash during his debut. Maverick had never given Barnaby any reason to suspect he had nothing but his best interests in mind.

Suddenly, he couldn't stand all this beating around the bush.

"Just say it straight already," Barnaby snapped. "Mr. Maverick was a NEXT with the ability to tamper with memories, is that what you're saying? He killed my parents, he killed Aunt Samantha to cover that up, and then tried to use her death against you because...what, you knew too much, and he couldn't physically get to you? That still doesn't explain why he murdered my parents in the first place. They were friends!"

Frankly, Kotetsu had no idea why Maverick went through such an elaborate trap for him. The older man had known nothing of his plans and remained blissfully ignorant almost until it was too late. With as many connections as the bastard had, he could have easily killed him and blamed it on one of his orchestrated crimes.

He really didn't think he was important enough to warrant such "special" attention, but maybe Maverick knew that he would go to any length to reach Barnaby and his partner would have done the same. Or maybe he completely underestimated Kotetsu like everyone else did. There were reasons he never went out of his way to destroy that well-placed assumption.

Ultimately, he didn't know, but he could answer Barnaby's other questions. "They were friends, you're right," Kotetsu amended, trying to calm him down enough so he wouldn't bolt for the door. "You told me that your parents helped him fund Hero TV Live. When it wasn't getting the ratings he wanted, he started working with Ouroboros to create fake crimes, and he'd been selling some of your parents' research and inventions on the side. They confronted him on Christmas Eve and... he killed them to keep them quiet.

"And then he... He kept you under his control ever since. He erased your memories and gave you new ones." The words tasted in bitter in his mouth. "You told me it all came back to you after Samantha sent you that picture after you left the ice rink. You went to Maverick for help, and he erased your memory. Eventually, I snapped you out of it, but damn, you almost got me..."

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Night 69: M31-M40 Hallway

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Whoops forgot to tag this whole thread with SPOILER warning

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