Day 32: Cafeteria, Breakfast

[darwinism]

Sylar's gears were still turning as the nurse and a burly orderly escorted him down long halls and through a strange, sunlit room. He'd been forced to drop his pen when the orderly had seen it, and since then, he'd realized that this place had better security than he'd originally anticipated, as well as a large population of patients. It looked like he'd have to bide his time for now, pretending to be this 'Zachary Blaine' and trying to figure out how the hell he'd gotten here.

His mind went over and over the events in Mohinder's lab, tracing every second that led up to his unconsciousness. According to the computer logs and the decked-out loft, Mohinder was working for the Company now, so had that woman with the electricity been an operative? Was this all a Company front? Even so, it didn't make sense for them to drop him off somewhere without any close supervision. They knew how dangerous he was. How special he was.

But right now, his abilities had been nullified and he was left only with the option of playing along. It was a very good thing that it was something he excelled at, even with his sudden loss of the cure clouding his thoughts and telling him to do something drastic.

Still, it was fun to take ahold of strings and let someone think they were pulling him when in fact he was the puppetmaster. Who knew? Maybe he could find a new toy now that his last one had worn out.

Sylar took his syrup-covered waffle to a table and tried to keep track of both the security and the people flooding in. Soon, he'd find an opening, a weak link he could exploit. It was only a matter of time.

Comments

[notachick.livejournal.com]

Making sure to keep his injured arm beneath the table, Okita set his hand in his lap and kept it there. As painful as the burns were, it would certainly slow him down should he feel the urge to strangle the man across from him for any reason. Not that he had one, or really wanted to, but it was always good to remind himself of what he should not do. Smiling, the swordsman picked up his fork and began with the potatoes - tater tots were what the nurse had called them. They were vegetables and that's what mattered.

"Mm, I did once. I didn't find it all that pleasing," he said, trying to keep his disgust from his face. He'd eaten some before, but once he had realized what it was, he just couldn't do it anymore. It was like eating Saizou. Certainly the Shinsengumi had begun raising pigs for food, but after Okita adopted Saizou and his little family, he couldn't bring himself to eat any. "You know what I want to ask you, Sanosuke-san. Why don't we just get to the point?"

[damnrudecock.livejournal.com]

Sanosuke didn't miss the fact that Okita seemed to be moving weird, but it was probably par for the course in this place. Still, Sano had to hope it hadn't been something like that weird kid thing from last night. Bad enough that it somehow made it next to impossible to breathe. What would they have done if it was something that could do more physical damage, while they couldn't fight back at all.

Crappy to think about, so Sano didn't. Okita had brought up a good topic anyway, something that they needed to take care of.

"Yeah, I know. And Kenshin already told me not to tell you." Of course Sanosuke wasn't going to tell him just because Kenshin had said not to. There were other good reasons, one that Sanosuke even put down his food for. He met Okita's gaze from across the table. "Didn't do Kenshin any good to hear about his future, right? And it's probably the same for you."

[notachick.livejournal.com]

Kenshin. Damn him and his secrecy. It wasn't even secrecy though, it was some sense of protection that the rurouni was trying to extend to Okita and that just rubbed the swordsman the wrong way. He didn't need anyone to soften the blows. He wanted to know whether or not going home would kill him. It was a simple yes or no answer, but only if he could bring himself to ask the question. At the moment, it didn't seem to coming out.

Allowing himself to make a very clearly displeased face at Sanosuke, he pushed a tater tot across his plate before stabbing a piece of fruit. "Probably is the operative word there. I think I have the right to know my own death, especially when it seems such common knowledge for everyone else."

Okita hated having things hidden from him. Heiji knew, the twins knew, Kenshin and Sano knew and that meant five too many knew before him. It was simply unsettling to have anyone else know more about him than he knew about himself.

[damnrudecock.livejournal.com]

“Hey. It’s not anyone’s fault they lived after you do. If you’re going to blame anyone, blame yourself for being so famous.” Sanosuke thought he could understand Okita’s frustration, in a way. Especially given what he’d seen of the swordsman, it’d piss the guy off to know he’d died of some disease instead of being on the battlefield. But Kenshin did tend to be right about this stuff, usually, so the fighter would go with his judgement.

Beside, it wasn’t like Okita could stop it. Consumption was just something there was no cure for, not even a decade after the fact.

But then Sanosuke had a thought, a rather powerful thought that made him stop eating for a moment. They were a long time past a decade, weren’t they? And the future was fucked up in so many ways. Moreover, they were in the West, and the West was supposed to be way advanced when it came to medicine even in Sano’s time. So who was to say that they didn’t have a cure here and now?

Except, if Okita was cured here, and he didn’t die in the past…what would that mean for Sano’s present? Or for Kenshin’s?

“Shit.” Unaware he’d even cursed out loud, the fighter scowled. This time stuff was giving him a headache, and now he was even more unsure than he had been. One thing he did know, though, was that he and Kenshin were going to have a long talk about this complicated crap.

[notachick.livejournal.com]

There was that word again - famous. Several people here had said that he became that in the future, the famed Okita Souji, the genius swordsman. He never really thought of himself as anything but an extension of the sword. What in the world had he done to warrant so many people talking about him other than lose a war? "I could blame myself if I knew what I was so famous for," he said, sighing as he went back to picking at his food.

Sanosuke fell silent and Okita had to wonder what it was the man was thinking about. Watching him for a moment, Okita eventually got bored of looking for clues and let his eyes wander to the plate. The grease was not sitting well in his stomach, but the fruit was welcome. He enjoyed the syrup as always and dipped his finger in it, sucking the sweet liquid off the tip as he again glanced up at Sanosuke.

What in the world was the man thinking about? Sooner or later, Okita was going to unravel the truth about his death so why did everyone think he couldn't handle it? It wasn't like he didn't already have a pretty good idea. Coughing up blood was a pretty severe sign of a very specific disease, after all. He knew the truth, he just wanted confirmation.

"Shit."

Okita blinked and tilted his head, bewildered at what exactly could have drawn out that lovely little world. "Is something wrong, Sanosuke-san?"

[damnrudecock.livejournal.com]

"You're famous because you were so damn good." Sanosuke practically mumbled over the answer, trying to figure out what the hell he should do now. He had to talk to Kenshin; that much was easy to figure out. The problem was talking to Kenshin would come later, after the talking to Okita that was happening now.

Shit.

"Nothing wrong." Nothing outside of potentially fucking over the world so many people had fought so hard for, anyway. If Okita hadn't died, what would've happened to Japan? Not to mention all the people who had survived it, who Sano knew now. Especially Kenshin. He may have hated the Meiji Government, but Kenshin had faced the Shinsengumi leaders numerous times. Would he have lived if Okita hadn't died?

"Just had a bad thought." There wasn't much of a way to keep Okita from prying now, but that didn't mean Sano would have to answer. "I'll talk to Kenshin and see what he thinks about it. Maybe hearing about what happens to us changed his mind or something. Never know, right?"

[notachick.livejournal.com]

"Well, there were many good swordsman during my time, Sanosuke-san. I still don't see how talent would cause you to look like you were hiding something from me," Okita said, smiling patiently at him. The way the man was acting, mumbling his words, distracted slip-ups - he was trying to avoid telling Okita the truth. It was easier to tell since the captain knew Sanosuke held that particular tidbit of knowledge, but that didn't make it any easier to decipher.

"Bad thoughts shouldn't be left to stew for too long." He went back to his food, polishing off the fruit and then pushing his plate back. Sano wouldn't tell him anything, no matter how hard he pried and he knew that. He supposed he could guess, but then there was no guarrantee that he would get it right and revealing weakness to the enemy was just not something Okita Souji did. "I hope Himura-san can help you clear that up," he finally said, leaning his chin in his good hand as smile turned warm and pleasant. "Whatever it is, Sanosuke-san, you'd be surprised at how little can shock me."