damned_institute | Day 34: Breakfast

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Day 34: Breakfast

[starting off in M13]

The last part of the night was little more than a blur in Homura's mind. The men had rushed in, but not joined them, instead staying off to themselves. Before any of them had a chance to react, however, a voice sounded through the air, mocking some other person Homura had never heard of, and the patients themselves.

To Homura, whoever that man was, he sounded a great deal like a god.

But before he could ask questions, the demi-god found himself no longer in the chapel, but some strange room on a bed. Is that what Kenren had meant from his earlier warning? Homura sat up, glad at least that the world didn't spin when he did so. Then the same man from before began to speak again, with a completely different tone. It was confusing to hear him talk that way, calling them patients instead of prisoners as he had before. Homura listened quietly as the announcement was made, then got out of bed.

Maybe he wouldn't have to go anywhere yet. It wasn't like Homura knew where to go anyway, and that meant he had time. If this was his room, and if he had been here as long as Kenren had said, there was a chance he could find something with answers. The Taisho had even told him that Homura had seen Rinrei. Certainly he would've written something down, made a map, something that could let him find her again! He started with the desk at the end of his bed, first finding a small stack of notebooks. Picking up the first, he flipped through, turning the pages with quickening desperation as he found each one to be blank.

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"We will," she agreed, her tone determined. She didn't know how, but they'd find some way. "Maybe I can find the records of what they did tonight. Maybe there's something helpful in there that we can find to reverse it."

Shana watched as Shadow got up and went to fill a plate for Valyn and sighed quietly. "It's like a completely different person..." she murmured.

"I know," Valyn said. "It's...this is how slaves are, once they're conditioned. Personal house slaves, anyway." And it wasn't right. He wasn't even hungry.

"We can't take him with us tonight," he added.

Oh sure, talk about me as if I'm not here. What am I to do tonight? You're going to have to tie me to the bed because from what I see I'm following you around like I was attached to your hip.

Shadow internally sighed once more, watching as the stranger sat by Valyn's side, napkin in hand as he waited for Valyn to begin eating. He would be there to clean the master's mouth and cut any food that he was having trouble with.

Val, at this point I think we're running out of options. But, think of it this way. If Shana still wants to go searching for cats I'm the perfect bait. All you have to do is stick me in a hallway and command me to stay. Just tie a rope around my middle and it will be the same as if you were fishing.

"One of us can stay in," Shana suggested with a thoughtful frown. "We can cover as much space with two people as three or four. Or maybe Keman will have an idea when he gets here."

"Alright." Valyn nodded. "I can't risk it. I can't risk him...like this with those things out there." He wouldn't let Shadow come to any danger in this place, even like this.

"Shadow, I'm not hungry," he said, pushing away the plate. "But thank you."

He couldn't keep up acting as though he were a true Lord to his cousin. It was making him sick.

The stranger didn't quite understand but he nodded and returned to staring down at the table, waiting the next command.

Ancestors! Shadow thought. I am so boring! And you two look as if you're at my funeral! Well, if this is a glimpse of what it's like I'll tell you right now that I want none of it. There better be some harem girls sending me off or I'm coming back and haunting you both. And if you think I'm bad now you've yet to see the places I well get to when I'm a wraith.

Keman didn't want to deal with it. Any of it. Ignoring his nurse's insistence that he go sit with his friends, he grabbed a table as far away from Shana, Valyn, and the Changed Shadow as he could. After a few minutes, though, it got to be too much to bear. Guilt mixed with anger mixed with annoyance. Like last night.

Hopefully he wouldn't have to explode again.

The dragon slammed down his try hard enough to knock Valyn's juice onto Shadow's lap. "Hullo, Mero!" he said brightly, a patently false grin plastered on his face. "Still playing the obedient slave, are we? Excellent! Are you going to lick Valyn's ass clean, or is that next shift?"

Shana jolted as her brother slammed his tray down on the table, spilling Valyn's glass onto Shadow's lap. Green eyes wide in shock, she stared up at her normally-mild-tempered foster brother.

"Keman!"

"Keman!" Valyn echoed, grabbing a handful of napkins and wiping at the spill on his cousin's pants. "Ancestors!" He wanted to crawl under the table. Why was the dragon being so...crude? This was upsetting for all of them, but....

Gods and demons, there was no call for that! Shadow couldn't control it, didn't want to be this way!

"He can't help it, Keman! Have some compassion!"

Shadow was surprised at Keman's outburst and his expression mimicked the one the stranger was currently wearing. Did Keman truly believe this was a joke? He was a bit hurt that the dragon thought so little of him. Shadow would never stoop this low to tease them. This would go too far. Still, there was something behind Keman's words and Shadow could see the dragon was hurting too.

Ah, Keman, Shadow thought. You know, if it would make you feel better, I'd kiss your ass for the world to see. And I'd thank you for dumping the juice on my lap because that's as much action I'll see from Valyn for awhile, now that I'm like this. I'll get better, Keman. But calm down. You're scaring Shana and Valyn.

"Compassion?!" Keman was practically shouting now. "I'm not the one treating him like a mildly intelligent piece of furniture! I was watching you two from across the room. You're...talking about him like he can't even hear you!"

Shana flushed at that, ducking her head, unable to argue that. "You're right," she murmured, her green eyes flicking across the table to where Shadow still wasn't looking at them. "I'm sorry, Shadow," she spoke directly to the halfblood, uncertain if he was even listening. "I didn't mean to do that."

Valyn continued to mop up the spill, sighing. "Keman..." How could he explain? What were they supposed to do? "Please calm down. This is difficult for all of us. He can't react to us. He can only...react within the realms of his conditioning. For all we know he can't hear us."

I'm beginning to think it would be better if that were true, Shadow grumbled inside his head, the stranger looking at the empty glass with a worried expression. He was torn between fetching the lord a new glass and waiting until he was finished cleaning. Wait... cleaning?

"Oh, my lord!" Shadow said suddenly, looking nervous as Valyn cleaned his lap. "No, it's alright. I can do that. No need to trouble yourself."

Shadow hated the anxiety that coursed through him, finding the up and down emotions of a slave extremely tiring. He hated that he so preoccupied with displeasing Valyn that his own life didn't matter any more. If Valyn ever struck me I'd probably apologize for spilling my blood on the floor. This is madness.

Keman opened his mouth to say something else, but he closed it again when Shadow started to apologize to Valyn for...making him clean up the mess that Keman had made in the first place? Well, whatever it was, he'd suddenly run out of steam. He just sat back in his chair, staring at the stranger that had once been his friend and looking defeated.

Seeing her brother's expression, Shana leaned against him, slipping an arm about Keman's waist, sadness shadowing her own bright gaze as she looked at him. "It'll be alright," she murmured for his ears alone, letting Valyn calm Shadow for the moment. Her and Keman might as well have not been there, for all the other halfblood noticed them. "We'll find some way to fix this. We've... been in worse fixes before."

Hadn't they? It was hard to remember at the moment, with this laying so heavily on all of them.

"I'm taking care of it," Valyn said, blankly. He cast a strange look to Shana and Keman, half apologetic, half pointed. "Don't concern yourself with it." He finished cleaning the spilled juice and turned back to the table, head in his hand.

He didn't know what to do. He wasn't prepared to handle this, not from Shadow.

"I'll stay with Shadow tonight," he said. "If you think these records they keep will help any...."

This was quickly moving from a bad situation to something worse. Shadow wanted to shake them all, to get them to stop mourning him when he was sitting right there. It was depressing and Shadow did not do well in depressing situations. It smothered him, making him feel claustrophobic and helpless. He was already caged in his own mind. Shadow didn't need to feel anymore caught.

Do something, he silently pleaded with them. Pretend it's normal. I know it's hard but you have to do something or else I'm going to lose it. Ancestors, Val, put your foot in your mouth and make Shana irritated at you. Keman, look bewildered and shake your head, wondering what these strange elves and halfbloods are up to. Be yourselves! You're not changed!

Keman just gave Shana a blank look. "We have?"

They'd started a war. They'd revealed the existence of one race of people to the elves, and reaffirmed the existence of another. They' faced down entire armies.

But they'd done it together. This...this was worse. Mero was sitting across the table from him, barely four feet away, but it could've been hundreds of miles for all of the reaction they were getting out of him. He suddenly found himself missing even the most embarrassing of Shadow's teasing. It was just too quiet without him making fun of...all of them.

"Valyn." Keman shook his head, but instead of looking bewildered...he looked mildly insulted. "How can we not 'concern ourselves' with this? He's our friend."

"This involves all of us," Shana agreed, determination back in her tone again. "Keman and I can find those records. There's the doctor's offices and the room upstairs. We'll go through all of them if we have to."

She looked to Shadow, who still looked upset that Valyn was tending to him, and offered him a smile. "Don't worry, Shadow, we'll have you back to normal in no time."

Valyn blinked at Keman for a moment, confused.

"Keman...I was talking to Shadow," he explained. How could the dragon think he'd tell them to just dismiss something like this? But they were all out of sorts....

"If I don't take care of this, he's just going to sit here with juice soaking through his clothes. And I'd rather it be cleaned up, then dabbed at and abandoned...."

The moment he needed anything.

Shadow was quiet now, the other's somber mood finally rubbed off. What if he was stuck like this? Well, he thought bitterly. I'll be like this until Lord Dyran reappears putting the rest of his plan into action. He shivered, his body quaking as fear of Lord Dyran was one the stranger shared.

"My lord," Shadow said meekly, daring a glance up at Valyn. "Is there anything that you need?"

"Oh." Keman flushed a little and looked away. "All right, then."

His embarrassmentt was soon forgotten, however. Shadow...looked terrified, for some reason. "...Mero, you're shaking. What's wrong?"

Not like he expected his friend to answer at this point, of course.

Shana frowned at the way Shadow's expression changed, and the tone of his voice as he questioned Valyn. There was something more here than what they knew about, and again, Shana could feel herself getting frustrated with their helplessness, with her own. She wanted to do something, but at the moment, there was nothing to be done.

She looked to Valyn, knowing he would be the only one able to calm Shadow back down from whatever had frightened him. She hoped he could manage it.

Valyn frowned, resting a hand on Shadow's shoulder.

"What's wrong?" he asked, hoping at least that his cousin could respond to a direct answer. He wasn't sure if this was simply a slave's fear of being hurt by his master, or something more.

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