damned_institute | Day 30: Staff, Morning

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Day 30: Staff, Morning

Burly orderlies and agile Calm Effect nurses flooded the cafeteria from the Courtyard while regular hall nurses filed in from the Sun Room and ushered out those not involved in the rebellion. It indeed seemed as if Landel was sending out all the cavalry, and an effective cavalry they were: The riot didn't continue for much longer after the alarm sounded, though it seemed strange just how quickly all of the mutinous patients fell, even the ones who hadn't been injected with anything.

The hall nurses were quick to escort their well-behaved charges back to their rooms, praising those who hadn't joined in and chiding those who muttered under their breath in response. There were some exceptions, of course: One nice young man had even defended one of the nurses from the violent patients! Now, wasn't that exemplary behavior? Dr. Landel would be so proud to hear about it...

Within half an hour, all of the so-called "loyal" patients had been safely deposited in their rooms, and it was then that the alarm finally stopped and the true difficulty of the situation was tackled. There certainly weren't enough rooms in solitary to accommodate such rampant disobedience, and yet measures would have to be taken to ensure proper consequences for each and every patient involved. After all, something like this couldn't be allowed to happen again!

Different options were considered. Perhaps they should make an example out of the girl who had sparked the riot, but then again, perhaps not. This certainly wasn't the first case of patients attacking nurses or their peers in a crowded area, but what had been different this time was the sheer support that the other patients had shown for her. Should the staff then make examples of all those who had tried to "protect" her from the well-meaning nurses? No, there were too many for that...

In the end, it was decided that the best immediate solution would be to treat the rebellious patients in the Medical Wing while they were unconscious and then move them back to their rooms to await punishment. To ensure the safety of both their roommates and the patients themselves, however, the staff decided to securely fasten their limbs to their beds and keep them heavily drugged. Such a sad sight they were to see, but... it was necessary.

Finally, when each and every patient had been escorted back to their respective rooms, the staff hurried off to an emergency meeting upstairs. Strangely, Head Nurse Lydia was the one taking care of the proceedings in the Head Doctor's stead. She calmly told them that he was preoccupied with more urgent matters, and as she began to speak to the crowd, the staff could only wonder what could possibly be more important than an unprecedented patient riot...

[ Comment to this post with separate threads for each patient room, and please put your character's room number in the subject line. Thank you! ]

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Artemis considered this for a moment. Did he actually want to know? Or was Haku just teasing him again?

"Do you want to tell me?" Artemis asked tentatively. "Because if it is something you would rather keep to yourself, I would understand completely. Humans always have things that they would prefer to keep hidden from the cloying eyes of friends."

Haku shrugged slightly, so that he didn't dislodge his hand from Artemis' shoulder.

"It isn't a secret from anyone that I know, so I don't see why it should be a secret from you." Haku smiled and then looked over at his bed, as if he found it interesting.

"I was fighting, I lost the fight, and so... I died." There, he told himself. That wasn't difficult.

Artemis looked as though Haku had slapped him across the face. The thought wasn't registering in his mind properly. Haku couldn't be dead, because he was sitting there--alive. Artemis was alive as well... wasn't he?

Unless he'd died too... It was a possibility. He had been standing on a volcano ready to erupt and rip the time space around him to shreds moments previous, but he could have sworn he had been traveling through the time tunnel.

While he fought with his thoughts concerning whether or not he was dead as well, and this was some twisted form of hell, he stared at Haku blankly. Almost as though he didn't want to understand what Haku had just said.

"No... you can't be dead," Artemis' eyes were welling up with silent tears. "You're sitting right there... you're not dead. Unless... we're both dead...?" The panic was coming back. He wanted to hold Haku again--remind himself that they were both living, breathing entities. He pulled against his restraints--he'd forgotten they were there. "You can't be dead Haku... you're right here with me...!"

Artemis had never taken death very well.

"Shhhh. I'm not dead. Not now. I'm very alive, and so are you." He bent down and lay against Artmis' chest, his hands reaching up to still his struggling, and his cheek pressed against the other's chest.

"It's okay. Neither of us is dead. I'm right here."

Artemis squeezed his eyes shut and let out a rather unattractive, pained sob. It had been the same watching Holly, Qwan, and No. 1 being killed--like watching Butler fade into oblivion on the floor of that disgusting seafood restaurant. It almost felt like his heart had exploded in his chest while time jerked to a stop. He was hyperventilating now, trying not to think about the various and horrible ways Haku could have been killed.

His breathing slowed to small gasps every five to ten seconds, but otherwise normal when Haku lay against him. Artemis could feel Haku's heart beating against his stomach through the bandages, which comforted him. He stopped trying to frantically escape his restraints and let the only thing he thought about be Haku's heartbeat.

"I-I--" Gasp. "I'm s-sorry Haku, I j-just can't un-understand..." He felt the tears spill over down the sides of his face. "A-and, and now I'm terrified I'll l-lose you. That y-you'll g-g-go someplace I c-can't follow...!"

"It's okay. I'm not going to go anywhere." He'd made that promise already to Zabuza-san. Offering it to Artemis wasn't any different. "I swear. I will always be right here for you." Now that Artemis wasn't struggling as hard, he brought one hand down to brush some of the other boy's hair back.

"Please calm down. I'm sorry."

Artemis shook his head, "Th-there's n-n-no need to apologize. I've... just witnessed m-many of my friends die and, somehow I've brought them back to life and...! I-I ca-can't do that for you...!"

He shook slightly, but didn't say anything more. He tried to enjoy Haku's touch, but it was literal torture not being able to reciprocate when he needed to the most. But as it stood, he was forced to lie in the most unfeeling, immobile posture possible, which only made him even more frustrated and upset.

Patients were strapped to their beds to prevent them from harming their roommate, but the only purpose the restraints were currently serving was causing Artemis more heartbreak.

Artemis took several deep breaths, trying to return to some sense of normalcy. His eyes remained wide and staring the ceiling, trying not to blink. When he closed his eyes, he saw Haku's broken and lifeless body, beyond his help.

Haku kept lightly stroking Artemis's hair and temple for a moment before speaking again.

"I'm not dead, and I won't allow this place to kill me. Ever. Just like I won't allow it to take you either." He shifted, keeping himself in physical contact with the pale boy every inch of the way, and pressed another cool kiss to his lips, pulling back and tucking his head under Artemis' chin.

And just like that, he was speechless. Which didn't happen very often.

There had been something different about this kiss as compared to the one he'd received last night. This time, Artemis happily welcomed Haku's lips and did his best to reciprocate. Who knew if he was doing it right, but it seemed as though, for a moment, he was close and comfortable to his friend and could express himself even though he was chained to a bedframe. He could express his gratitude and passion and depth of feeling freely, without the use of his arms or legs.

Artemis rested his chin on Haku's head and lay there in silence while he returned his breath and thoughts to a more leisurely, rational pace.

"I won't let this place take you away either," He vowed, his voice still slightly hoarse from crying. "I won't let it separate us. I... want to always be your friend Haku. To always be able to talk with you, and laugh, and hold you when either of us is in need of help or support.

"I don't care if you died in your world," he said firmly, more for his own benefit than Haku's. "You are here with me, now, and I won't let anything change that."

Haku smiled and lightly patted Artemis' chest. "Good. We will be friends for a long time to come then." At least until he found a way home. Artemis was trying to get home, after all.

He was quiet for a while, listening to the slowing heartbeat of his friend. "Are you okay now?"

Artemis nodded, "Yes, I'm recovering," He gave a little laugh. "You must admit, Haku, learning that you died before coming here is... a bit of a shock."

Of course Artemis understood that a natural part of life was death, but the boy was still just a boy. He hadn't come to terms with the one great mystery he'd had several brushes with. Even when his father had been pronounced officially dead, Artemis had refused to accept it. When Butler had been shot in the chest and was insisting that his number was up, Artemis refused to let go. He saved Holly and his demon friends through the use of the time overlap around the volcano. He was Artemis Fowl--Conqueror of Death.

Apparently, not anymore. Martin Landel had snatched Haku from the jaws of hell, not him.

"Before I came here," Artemis began, "I nearly died myself. Would you like to hear about it?"

Talking about something closer to home might help him overcome or at least push away the looming sense of helplessness.

Haku smiled in his position against Artemis' chest. "If you're willing to tell me, sure."

He hoped there wouldn't be a repeat of the panic attack from before.

Artemis smiled. He was always happy to talk about himself. Sure he was slowly changing while within these walls, but he was still the conniving, arrogant, self-centered businessman that so many hated--and he loved it.

"I haven't told you much about myself, have I?" He sighed, "I haven't told anyone much about myself, really. I should preface this with a bit of background. I discovered, back home, that an entire world of fairies existed beneath the ground. There are seven species of fairy: elves, dwarves, pixies, sprites, goblins, centaurs, trolls, and demons. Before I came here, I'd managed to pull a demon out of dimensional limbo. The skirmish quickly turned into a full-on hostage situation, complete with bomb handcuffed to my friend's wrist.

"I was moving it with her and two other demons when her wings gave out. We all fell at least ninety stories before I managed to pull of the silver bracelet that grounded my demon friend to this dimension. We rapidly returned to his home world of Hybras, which was falling apart at the seams. Time sped up and slowed down, moved forwards and then back.

"We were confronted by a whole army of demons, ready to tear us apart at the word of their leader. We fought against him, but he killed Holly, my elf friend, No. 1, my demon friend, and Qwan the demon warlock. He was about to kill me when I took advantage of the time lapses and fired a gun where he would have been when he killed Holly. The minute skipped backwards and I... shot him. He hadn't killed them yet, so they lived."

The boy fell silent, contemplating how that was even possible.

Haku listened carefully, filing away the unfamiliar words and nodding at the right places.

"Had you killed anyone before then?"

"He wasn't dead. Just stunned, fortunately. Because in order to get back to my own dimension and time, we needed five magical beings to complete the spell. We used the bomb as the energy source, and the five magic beings were me, Qwan, Holly, No. 1, and Abbot--the demon who killed the other three. We were passing through the time tunnel, and I was guiding us home and..."

Artemis tugged on his restraints again, "I woke up here."

"Hmmm..." Haku frowned slightly. "That's certainly one of the more interesting methods of arriving here that I've heard."

He reached up and placed a hand on Artemis' arm. "Don't move around so much, you might wind up hurting yourself."

Artemis laughed, "I am nothing if not complex," He said with a certain prideful tone in his voice. "If I didn't have the flashiest entrance into this god-forsaken building, I don't know if I could live with myself." He chuckled.

The boy smiled down at Haku, "I'll try, but it's difficult not being able to move. Or return the affection."

Haku laughed softly. "I think bombs and volcanos can tump just about anyone here."

He patted the arm and then slid his hand back to rest on Artemis' chest once more. "With you tied up though, that means you're at my mercy." He said this with a smile and the barest hint of teasing tone to his voice.

Artemis laughed, "Well, I'm at least grateful that I can impress you more than anyone here. Perhaps I should thank Mr. Kong for cuffing that bomb to Holly once I'm out of here?"

At Haku's teasing remark, Artemis laughed again, turning up the corner of his mouth in a teasing smirk, "I'm mortified."

Haku nodded slightly. "It is fairly hard to impress me, yes. You should thank him properly once you get home."

His grin widened slightly and he gently poked artemis in the chest with a finger. "You should be!"

"Really?" Artemis raised his eyebrows, "Well, I should send him something nice in prison. Perhaps a nice bouquet of flowers."

The boy gave a short laugh, "You don't scare me, foul tempter!"

"Why would you give him flowers? You should give him a decent gift." He smiled.

"Foul tempter? I'm hurt, really. I don't think I'm all that foul."

"Ah," Artemis smiled evilly, "But flowers say so much sometimes. But I suppose I could send him a nice nail file." Artemis could be so merciless when he wanted to be.

"Fine, I suppose you're right," The boy thought for a moment--as if he actually needed to. "Cruel tempter?"

Haku laughed. "That sounds much better. Perhaps with some nice sweets or something as well."

With another laugh, Haku lightly tapped Artemis' nose. "Cruel. That sounds about right."

"Oh I suppose, if you insist. You actually want me to thank him, so I suppose I should comply," Artemis said with a world-weary sigh.

When Haku tapped his nose, he laughed. He was getting used to these small touches and enjoyed them. "Torture. Sheer, unadulterated torture behind a beautiful face."

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