damned_institute | Day 44: breakfast

Yuffie had died.

No, really. Seriously. She had actually died. Bleeding all over the place, making a horrid, sticky mess and scaring the hell out of Suzaku; she remembered it clearly. Kind of. Sort of. Through the blood loss, the pain, and the visions. Through Aerith's voice whispering in her ear, Cloud's stricken eyes, and her own panic. As bad nights went, it had been Bad, capital B and all the trimmings, and oh, god. She sat, trembling on the edge of her bed, eyes closed and hands pressed hard over her racing heart. The by-play between Landel—Landel!—and Lydia barely even sunk in. There was nothing in the whole world, any world, that could prepare you for something like…

Had it all been some kind of hallucination?

Had she imagined the whole thing?

No… She didn't think so. Nightmarish or not, Yuffie knew reality. But if it had been real, how was she alive now? That kind of pain wasn't something you could just cook up, was it? She thought about it all the way to the cafeteria, drifting behind her nurse without focus or intent. Maybe if she tried to stay clinical, tried to step back… But she'd never been good at that when things got personal. And every time she closed her eyes or blinked, she swore that the scenes played back to her, like an overused commercial on a crappy channel on a crappy TV, in a run-down dump of an inn that smelled like mothballs and yesterday's breakfast.

The scent of blood and damp, rotted wood clogged her nose. Disgusted, Yuffie shoved her bowl of cereal—handed to her by a clucking Plucky—off to the side so that she could melt into her chair, palm heels scrubbing against her eyes. Too much. This was… Too much. She couldn't even paste a plastic smile on her face to make herself feel better. Her usual shield, the white noise of inane babble that could filter out almost any crisis, was in tatters all around her. Five minutes, she gave herself.

Five minutes (not) to think, five minutes to get her act together, because there was no way she could let herself shatter here. No way…

[Closed to Sheena]

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Almost died last time? A distant corner of Lelouch's mind, untouched by his current rage, filed away that information for later, but the rest of him was far more interested in and infuriated by Rolo's apparent unwillingness to believe him. "I'm not lying! You've been nothing but a hindrance to me since day one! The only reason I kept you around was so that I could use you, not because I actually cared about you! And then you killed Shirley!"

His hand curled into a fist around the locket, pressing it deeper and deeper into his palm until the pain made him stop. "All she wanted to do was help me, but you killed her just because you thought she was a threat! She wasn't a threat to anyone, you fucking moron! Did you even give her a chance to explain herself?!"

He raised his fist, clearly intending to strike the boy. If it hadn't been for him, Shirley would have lived that day, and even though it wasn't Rolo's fault that Lelouch and Nunnally were being kept apart right now, did it really fucking matter when he'd taken so much else away that had been hers?

This had been such a busy morning for the nursing staff! What in the world had gotten into everyone? If it wasn't breaking up couples that seemed to be a little too clingy with each other (and that alone was scandalous), it was breaking up fights. Honestly, the nurse didn't think they paid her enough for this sometimes.

"Brendan! Spike! What in the world has gotten into both of you?," she demanded as she walked up to both of them, syringe in hand. She couldn't let things escalate, so she walked up to the dark-haired boy first, quickly injecting him with a dose of the sedatives before turning to the younger one. "Are you going to be good, or will I need to prepare a second dose?"

Rolo thought, hoped that Lelouch would calm down, but on the contrary, his words seemed to make the whole situation worse as Lelouch screamed more, bringing up the fact that he was nothing more than something his brother wanted to use (he knew that) and... Shirley?

"Huh?" Shirley? Why was he bringing up that girl? But... but Lelouch had praised him for getting rid of Shirley, because she was a threat! She was going to meddle with them, and besides, Lelouch even said that he did a good job! Why was he bringing her up, after all of this time?

It was only then did Rolo realize that Lelouch had raised his fist like he was going to -

"What are you doing?!" The teen didn't even register the threat that the nurse gave him, pushing past her to try and get Lelouch away from her. What did she inject him with?! "LEAVE HIM ALONE!"

Lelouch had been at least peripherally aware of the fact that a nurse was going swoop in at any moment, but that didn't stop him from being surprised when the woman finally stepped up to them. The sight of the syringe made him jerk back reflexively and lower his arm, but naturally, he was too slow to both evade and avoid the needle.

He shivered slightly at the slowly spreading cold of the sedative in his veins, his glare resting on the nurse now but growing hazier by the second. Rolo's (loud) reaction did keep things somewhat more in focus for him, but why the impostor should care at all after the things he'd told him-- was he really that stupid?

With a snap of her fingers, the nurse called over a pair of orderlies, who quickly restrained the younger boy. "I'm sorry I'm having to do this, Spike, but you're going to have to get along with your friend better in the future. You can't go getting into fights," she said, as she calmly prepared a second syringe and injected Rolo with it.

She wasn't able to stay long after they'd taken effect; it was a busy morning, and she was being called away almost immediately.

[I always forget to sign these - Jen again.]

"What did you do to him?!" What the hell did they inject Lelouch with?! Rolo only struggled more and had to be held down long enough for the nurse to deliver a dose of... whatever for him. The sedative had an almost immediate effect, Rolo struggles growing weaker and weaker by the second.

"Let... go...!" But it was obvious that, even drugged, the boy was intending to fight until the bitter end, and the orderlies were quick to start hauling the boy out. Where, he did not know, but Rolo was adamant in trying to wriggle from their grip until the sedative gripped his entire body and he finally went limp as he became vaguely aware of his surroundings.

Before he completely blacked out, one thought kept haunting his mind, providing him no comfort despite it being all he had.

Lelouch...

Why--?

Lelouch sat down heavily in his abandoned seat, somehow avoiding the mess he'd made of his breakfast and cradling his head in the hand that wasn't still clutching Rolo's locket. His fury from earlier was fading fast now that he no longer had anyone to focus it on (the sedative was helping in that respect, too, of course), and although under normal circumstances something like that might mean it was now time to turn his thoughts towards more productive matters, these were anything but.

He closed his eyes, deliberately ignoring the orderlies as they dragged the impostor away. That was more than enough from him for the day, and although Lelouch knew he should probably be showing more concern for both the boy and what damage the things he'd said to him might have done to his public persona's reputation if nothing else, he simply didn't care. Enough was enough.

Head still swimming, he leaned (more like fell) onto the table and pillowed his head on his arms. From the sound of it, his nurse had chosen just then to show up with a fresh plate of food and plenty of admonishments (especially when she saw the piece of toast he'd spat out, and damn it, he should have swept that onto the floor, too), but sitting up straight again and eating like she insisted would have to wait for awhile.

Day 44: breakfast

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