damned_institute | Nightshift 35: Disciplinary Therapy Room 5 [M-U for Yue]

Entry tags:

m-u,
yue

Nightshift 35: Disciplinary Therapy Room 5 [M-U for Yue]

And it was going to be changed, if the doctor in charge of this room had anything to say about it. His test subject was sound asleep, and the doctor took a bored glance, as if sizing him up. How typical. Seemingly harmless weaklings were always hiding something powerful, whether they knew it or not.

The doctor did have to admire this Clow Reed, a master of his craft. While the doctor would have loved nothing more than to test the scope of Clow's power with the actual wizard himself, he'd have to settle for one of his creations. Ah, you can't always get what you want, he supposed.

But that didn't mean he couldn't have a little fun, right? This being was crafted out of forces that the ignorant populace called "magic", and could therefore detect similar forces. The doctor was quite eager to test just how perceptive Yue was, and managed to procure an item that could radiate an aura similar to Clow's. Was this being powerful enought to tell the difference, he wondered?

Well, he would find out soon enough, once Yue awakened.

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Something was wrong. Something was very wrong.

Yue gradually returned to consciousness with that thought at the forefront of his mind, breaking through the dull haze of artificial sleep. It wasn't that he'd returned to his true form without realizing it; he'd learned in the last few days that control over that had been taken away from him. No, there was...something teasing at the edge of his awareness. Something very familiar, and he was both eager and afraid to investigate it further.

For the moment he remained utterly still, though, but for his gaze shifting over what he could see of his surroundings, the restraints holding him down. Yukito's recent memories were a little fuzzy - he'd likely been sedated, to be brought here, wherever this was - but it didn't take a genius to realize what must be happening. Hadn't he been warned of doctors taking patients for experiments at night?

And yet he couldn't focus on that, or worry about what was going to happen. That hint of an aura kept drawing his attention back, and he silently cursed his dulled senses in this place as he concentrated on it. He had to be mistaken. It couldn't be, no matter how much he hoped. "...impossible," he breathed, despite himself.

"Or is it?"

Finally, he had awoken. The doctor had half a mind to wake Yue himself, via an electrical shock to the temples. He had Yue hooked up to a machine that seemed to be measuring vitals, but the doctor himself was out of Yue's field of vision, standing at the head of the table and watching his patient with some disinterest.

"Nothing is impossible here. Except maybe escaping," The doctor let out a harsh laugh as he finally moved to the edge of the table, where a cart of medical equipment was waiting.

The voice shattered Yue's concentration, and he glanced around in a vain attempt to see its source. Whoever spoke, though, didn't have the right voice - that he would have known immediately, even if he wasn't certain about the aura. Was another present, silently watching? Was he...

No, impossible was still impossible, no matter what this man said. He had to be imagining things.

The guardian shifted slightly, trying to unobtrusively test his bindings. He'd no idea what they could want with him or what he could see of the equipment around him, but he'd no intention of just tamely letting them do whatever they wanted. Especially not when he had to investigate the source of the power he could sense.

Yue wasted no breath on speaking to the alleged doctor when the man finally showed himself, though, only giving him a look of icy disdain even as he tried to call upon what magics he had remaining to him in this place. He'd not be able to use the bow without the use of both hands, but perhaps there was something he could do...

The doctor made a tsking noise as he watched Yue struggle. Of course, he was a man of science, so he could tell by the increased heart rate displayed on the machine monitoring Yue's condition that the patient was most likely trying something.

"Try not to waste your energy, hmm? You're even more powerless here than you are out there," The doctor scolded him lightly, idly reaching for the table and letting his hand hover the array of equipment, letting his hand hover a scalpel for a moment before he reached for a syringe.

"I guess we can finally start now. Tell me, is Yukito aware of your predicament right now?" The grin on the doctor's face was terribly heartless as he started to fill the syringe with a strange clear liquid.

Yue knew the power had to be there, as without it to maintain his form he'd begin to fade away once more. But try as he might, he couldn't reach it - not even the bare minimum that he'd been able to access in the last few nights in this place. Even after the doctor spoke what he knew to be truth, though, Yue pulled against the restraints holding his arms against the table, stubbornly refusing to allow that to be the end of his efforts.

But then the man spoke again and Yue froze, still as ice and gaze just as cold as he turned it on the so-called doctor. "What do you want?" he demanded, as he silently reached again and again in vain for the magic that was somehow sealed away from him.

His powers sealed away, like his wings. And this man who seemed to know about him and his false form. Beneath the facade Yue felt a sting of uncertainty - was that Clow he sensed? Who else would be able to do such a thing to him?

A little psychological warfare never hurt anyone. It was much easier to get results when the patient's defenses were down, and if the doctor remembered correctly, Yue was quite the stubborn one.

"I never quite understood why you were made the way you were. It seems the Cerberus was a more efficient being, able to power himself independently. And then there's you, who could barely hold your other form once your power source started to run out."

He said this all thoughtfully, looking at the situation from a completely cold, scientific point of view. He understood the symbolism, yes, but it was also completely inefficient and unnecessary.

"Yukito couldn't even keep up enough energy to maintain your existence. Terribly, terribly inefficient." The syringe was finally filled to his liking, and the doctor held it with one hand as he picked up a cotton ball and started to swab a spot on Yue's bound arm.

"What do you know of this?" The words were again spoken in the same icily demanding tone, as though Yue were standing upright and in his full power, rather than bound to a table, wingless and defenseless. If nothing else, at least the moon guardian still had his pride.

Each word the man spoke, though, only fanned the internal flicker of doubt into stronger life. He not only knew of the two guardians, but how they functioned? Not only that, but was aware of the difficulties he'd encountered when his Mistress didn't have sufficient power to maintain his form?

How?

Yue automatically tried to pull away from the touch on his arm, drawing in a breath that hissed between clenched teeth when he found that impossible. All he could do was twitch his fingertips against the table in a futile gesture, nails digging against the surface for an instant before he closed hands into fists.

"How do you think? Clow told me, of course."

That was a lie, of course, but what proof did Yue have that the doctor actually didn't meet with the man? He certainly had enough information that was true and furthermore, Clow's "presence" was felt by the being. All Yue had were his memories of his former master, and memories were useless things. Inaccurate, tainted by one's feelings. The doctor would never rely on memory and impressions. Only cold, hard data, which he was on the verge of getting as he finished sterilizing the area, carefully inserting the tip of the needle through Yue's skin and into the vein.

"I told you not to struggle. It makes my job easier and your experience slightly less painful."

The drug was a bit slower acting than the doctor would have liked, but it's effects should have become evident soon. A foggy sensation would invade his patient's mind, and the mental barriers between the two forms should slowly crack down.

Clow told me...

The words echoed within Yue's mind, seemingly growing louder and louder until it was a near-deafening shout drowning out coherent thought. Impossible. Impossible. Clow was dead. Many years dead, reincarnated into the form of a boy who had his own guardians, his own life, and no more need of those he had discarded in a time long past.

But the aura Yue could sense ever more keenly with each passing minute told him the doctor didn't lie, that Clow was here and aware of what was happening to his creation. And he must approve of it, as well, for there was no force on Earth that could stop the powerful magician if he did not.

Doubt flared into a roaring icy flame of despair, cracking the guardian's facade at last, and Yue's eyes widened as he once more breathed, "Impossible." This time, though, it was said with no force, no true belief behind it; it was merely the last dying ember of conviction.

He hardly felt the needle or the sting of its contents entering his vein, offering no more resistance for the moment. Let the sham of a doctor do as he would; there was no more purpose for a guardian abandoned twice over by the one to whom he'd devoted his soul.

Oh, but Yue was still useful for something. Actually, the doctor seemed pleased that the wingless being didn't take the news too well. It was much easier to work when the patient's mental defenses were down, granted... it wasn't as much fun.

Well, a price had to be paid for optimal results, he supposed.

"Yukito? Can you hear me?" He wondered if the drug had started working already, and with Yue properly subdued, it would be much easier for his false persona to emerge.

Yue let his eyes drift closed again, welcoming the fog slowly drifting across his mind as he hoped it would bring the welcome oblivion of unconsciousness. He reached automatically toward his false form, willing the change that would let him fade into dormancy, before he remembered that such a thing had been impossible since he'd found himself in this place - and was more than slightly startled when he felt a reaction.

Not a physical change, no. Not the shift into his false form. But something was different. Wrong.

And then the doctor spoke, calling to Yukito, and he felt the other stir in response.

The guardian's eyes opened again as he automatically surged against the unyielding restraints, trying to physically flee that which existed only within him. Yukito was but his false form, one who was supposed to be there only when called upon. The boy should not be awake and aware and looking through his eyes.

And yet even as he struggled to free himself, Yue couldn't escape the slow-uncoiling awareness within him, the confused voice of one awakening from sleep. Yue-san? What...?

Yue's sudden reaction was very favorable, and the doctor could only smile as he finally saw some results. He could not hear the being's thoughts, no, but he could tell that Yue had sensed something was wrong and that was precisely what he was looking for.

"It's unpleasant, isn't it? Having to share a body with another person. Tell me, Yukito, how do you feel about that? Does the world look different through another's eyes?"

Really, he had done the human (Well, Yukito wasn't a human, merely a facade) a favor. Being able to view life through another perspective was not something that every person had the chance to do.

He was just too nice sometimes.

Though he knew it was futile, Yue yet fought against restraints both physical and magical, against the undeniable truth of his senses. No! No, this wasn't happening -

Yue-san?

His memories had been altered by Clow before, he knew that, but to this extent?

Yue-san, what's going on?

For what purpose would this be done? Why would Clow want to...

I've never...I don't understand. Did Clow-san...?

"No," Yue whispered, weakening at last and sinking back against the table. When the doctor spoke he turned his head slightly toward him, and for an instant the guardian's harsh expression faded, replaced by Yukito's utter confusion. But it lasted only a moment before Yue shuddered, gently but firmly pushing the other to the back of his mind. His mind.

His gaze flickered around the room, toward the darkness his sight couldn't penetrate, searching for the source of the aura. And despite himself, despite all his resolve, a single word escaped his lips in a breath almost too faint to be heard: "Clow..."

For a moment, the doctor could tell that the serum really had worked, and it was Yukito who gave him that confused glance, not Yue. Unfortunately, it didn't work well enough, as Yue was able to regain control of his body. But it worked, and if his hypothesis was correct, it should have been harder for Yue to keep themselves separate as time wore on.

Of course, some encouragement wouldn't hurt.

"Now, now, let Yukito speak. I didn't even get to hear his response before you interrupted. How rude," The doctor let out another 'tsk' as he filled up the syringe again, grabbing hold of Yue's arm and injecting another dose.

"It's not like you to interfere with Clow's will, after all."

With every heartbeat it grew harder to focus, harder to think. Yue clenched his hands tighter, deliberately digging nails into palms as though that could anchor himself firmly within this body. His body. His true form, albeit altered and crippled by this place.

By people like this doctor? With Clow's permission? Was he here because Clow wanted him to be?

He twitched at the touch on his arm, unconsciously trying to pull away, but then froze again as the doctor's words echoed his own thoughts. (Whose thoughts?)

Clow's will. But Clow wouldn't do something like that.... Would he? Who else could have done it?

And if it wasn't him, then whose presence did he sense?

As the second dose of the drug seeped through his veins the fog in his mind only grew stronger, his thoughts moving slower and with more difficulty. "You..." With some effort he managed to focus on the doctor, expression shifting between Yue's icy despair and Yukito's softer confusion. "You're not Clow-san."

The doctor could only give Yue a glance as he nodded, writing down what he was seeing on a clipboard that seemingly came out of nowhere. Gotten while Yue was struggling to keep Yukito down. Given the slight difference in speech, the doctor could safely conclude Yue's efforts were not working.

Excellent.

"A brilliant deduction," The doctor chuckled, walking around the table like he was examining the being.

"Such a shame. If I was, I could do much more with the both of you."

"Do...with us?" Thoughts shifted and wavered, their origins uncertain as the two personalities moved in an uneasy balance, the barrier which had once separated them entirely impossible to find. Which one spoke the words was uncertain, even to them.

Confused and hurt, Yue felt long-nursed grief flaring anew and even more painful at the latest abandonment. It was hard to believe that this was Clow's will, and yet he had nothing but his own memories to prove it should not be, memories which had been shown in the past to be tampered with as his creator wished. He didn't know what to think, what to believe, and so he finally fled, retreating into himself as best as he could without being able to change forms.

Yukito drew in a breath that was almost a gasp, startled at the sudden abandonment, and focused on the man with the clipboard. Made uncomfortable already by the situation, by the acute awareness of Yue's presence, he couldn't help but feel distinctly uneasy at being observed like a butterfly pinned to a display. "Why?" he asked, struggling to make his thoughts line up in a coherent fashion. It was like wading through deep snow, and difficult to force his/their mouth to form words. "What do you, does Clow-san, want...?"

If only the doctor could read minds: He would have been delighted to see how hurt Yue was, how doubtful the other being had become. But he had some physical evidence to show for it, as Yue's form gasped, looking like he had just woken up. The doctor deduced that Yue yielded control to Yukito, and only smiled heartlessly as Yukito questioned him.

"Because I can." And it was true; he was able to prove his hypothesis and break down some troublesome barriers. Really, he had done the patient a favor; reminding him that he was nothing but useless trash to the one he looked up to.

"You have provided me all the data I need, so do give Yue my and Clow's regards, will you?" The doctor laughed, and he started to clear the room, pushing the table with the supplies to one side before pausing thoughtfully.

"When you wake up, that is."

He grabbed one last syringe, a filled one that had been on the table the whole time, and this last injection was unlike the other two Yue's body had suffered. It would have left them feeling extremely tired, on the verge of sleep but not quite there. The doctor hummed lightly as he finally undid the bonds holding them down, knowing Yukito would be too tired to fight back - and probably unable to, not being in his usual body.

Well, who would take back over for the night would be left to the patients as the doctor exited the room, vanishing into the shadows as the door clicked open.

Though he heard the words the doctor spoke, Yukito still couldn't quite comprehend what was happening or why. Whether it was because of the drugs the doctor had administered, the fact that he was awake within a body almost but not quite his own, or he was just simply going into shock, nothing seemed to quite make sense. Data? What data? Why would Clow-san want such a strange thing to happen?

As he attempted to find words to speak, though, again came the prick of a needle, this one bringing a heavy lassitude across limbs he wasn't entirely sure he could properly control anyway. Lacking the strength to even consider fighting against the drug, Yukito allowed his eyes to drift closed, only peripherally aware that the doctor was removing the restraints holding him down and taking his leave.

It didn't matter, not at the moment. Right now it was easier not to move. Not to think. Just...to wait, for morning, or whatever might come.

The insubstantial weight of the sedative slowly faded, but still Yukito remained where he was, drifting in a half-conscious state as he attempted to reconcile himself with the current situation.

It's unpleasant, isn't it?

The doctor's voice echoed in his memories, mocking and cruelly amused for reasons he couldn't comprehend. Whatever had been said, had been done, had caused his other self to withdraw entirely, even though his presence was still uncomfortably strong. It was like being trapped in a small space with another person who refused to even acknowledge your existence, despite the fact that you were pressed up against them in unwanted intimacy.

And when said space was the body of someone you knew shared your existence, but had never seen or otherwise tangibly experienced, only known as a silent voice within your mind - it made the entire thing even more surreal.

But after a time (how long, he had no way of knowing) he began to feel...something. Like a faint sound from afar, the barest hint of a strange scent, the brush of unfamiliar fabric against skin, yet none of those. A sense he'd never experienced before and couldn't place until a drifting fragment of his other self whispered, Magic. Unknown, an aura never before sensed, but still an unmistakable skin-pricklingly strange sensation.

Yukito slowly opened his - their? - eyes, blinking several times before attempting to sit up. Each movement was difficult, awkward not just because of the dizzying fog still lingering in his mind and making it hard to think. But with time and much clinging to the table and walls, he finally managed to make it to the door. A couple of faltering tries later and he had it open, and he staggered into the darkness beyond.

[going here]

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Nightshift 35: Disciplinary Therapy Room 5 [M-U for Yue]

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