HOME | DD

Description
Beeping. That was the first thing he heard as the blackness began lifting slowly. Regular, rhythmic beeping coming from somewhere nearby. Slowly his eyes opened, taking in the ceiling above him in a half-focused haze. It was dark. No surprise. He felt weak, but that had been something of a constant for so long he couldn't remember what it was like not to. Slowly his mind began taking in more information about his surroundings. He was lying on something soft, the feeling almost ecstasy, with something light and gentle covering him. His clothes were gone, a fact which was immediately dismissed. It wasn't as though they'd been doing him much good as they were. Turning his head to one side he noticed wires and tubing running down to his arm and blinked at them.

Wires and tubing.

The rhythmic beeping abruptly sped up. That tube was running down to a needle that was stuck in his arm. No... He began to reach for it, to get rid of it, when a voice made him freeze.

"You're awake..."

Wide eyes snapped to the voice's owner, walking towards him in the dimly-lit room. Grey hair, white coat, dark steel bolt clearly visible over the left ear, glasses reflecting what little light there was. He tensed, one hand gripping the fabric he was lying on.

"Calm down," the figure spoke again, almost within arm's reach. "You've been unconscious for about a day, it's only natural you'd be disoriented."

He kept his eyes on the figure warily, leaning away even as the figure came closer. Just stay away...just go away...he paused, realizing something. He could move. It hurt, but he wasn't restricted to what he was lying on. Slowly he continued moving his right hand towards the needle stuck in his arm. He had to get it out, no one was going to shove anything into his bloodstream anymore.

The figure kept coming. Almost there. It was almost to him. No. He wouldn't stay here. They couldn't make him. Not anymore. He made a grab for the tube in his arm, then froze as a pale hand seized his wrist, stopping him. "No!" A jet-black curved blade appeared on his arm as he tried to pull free, slashing through the sleeve of the figure's white coat and drawing blood.

It worked. His wrist was freed as the hand let go. He rolled off the bed, slipping on the slick, cold floor, and scrambled away, jerking the needle out of his arm as he did. The way out. Where was the way out? His eyes scanned the dim room frantically as he found a corner to put his back against, arm with its blade held up in front of him as a warning. Don't come any closer. Leave me alone. Where was the way out...?

His eyes snapped to the door as it opened, letting light from outside in to brighten the room a bit. Someone else entered. Were they with the other one? He tensed, a twin blade to the one on his right arm appearing on his left. Whatever they had planned, he wouldn't go quietly. Just let them try.

The figure in the white coat held up a hand, stopping the newcomer, and took a few steps around the bed. He watched the figure cautiously as it approached, backing further into his corner. The figure paused a moment, expression on the pale face unreadable. Blood had soaked into the sleeve of that white coat, but the wound itself apparently went unnoticed.

Another step forward, one hand raising slightly. What was about to happen? They weren't going to touch him, he wouldn't let them. He crouched, ready to move in whatever direction would get him out the fastest. Another step. And another. The room wasn't that big...he was almost within arm's reach. The figure's mouth opened to speak. He lashed out again, one black blade narrowly missing the figure's outstretched wrist. "Stay away from me!"
"Senpai..." The word was soft, but it cut through his awareness like lightning through a thundercloud. He looked up at the figure, blinking in slight confusion. Senpai...no one called him that. No one. No one at all...except...he straightened cautiously. Had he really heard it? Had it really been said?

The pale hand he'd nearly severed reached to touch his shoulder. He jerked away. "Don't...don't touch me..." The hand withdrew slowly, leaving a lingering scent. No, that wasn't just the hand...it was the white coat as well. Smoke. Tobacco. Cigarettes. A certain kind of cigarettes. A special kind.

"Senpai...you should sit down."

Sit? He didn't want to. But that word again...and the cigarette smell...he eyed the man standing in front of him, taking in more than just the white coat and the screw. A grey and black patchwork sweater. Black pants. A scar around the left eye, still with stitches. The man shifted his weight backward and the light let up its glare on his glasses, revealing a pale greyish-green eye currently watching him.

He knew this man. Knew the coat, that shirt, the bolt, those eyes. Knew the permanent scent of cigarettes that followed him. Knew it all and recognized it now.

"Stein..."

Stein stood in silence, watching the wild look fade from those grey-blue eyes into an expression of confused recognition. He kept his expression blank and held out a hand, the movement aggravating the cut on his arm. The pain went ignored. It barely registered next to everything else. The redhead in front of him slowly took his hand, and Stein began guiding him back to the bed. He hadn't gone two steps when the other man balked, stopping dead.

Pausing, Stein glanced back at him, taking in the expression of nervous uncertainty. The man's eyes were fixed on the hospital bed, and his hand had tightened slightly around Stein's own. "...Calm down," Stein told him, his voice quiet. "You need to sit down. You shouldn't be moving too much."

The man blinked and looked up at him, then down slightly. Stein sighed softly and changed direction, now guiding him to the room's lone chair. The nurse still hovering uncertainly in the room moved as though to protest, but Stein caught her gaze and held it in intense and pointed silence. Looking away, the nurse bobbed a quick bow and hurried back out of the room. Intimidation at its finest again. "Sit down," he told the redhead as they reached the chair. The man hesitated, then sat obediently, leaning back against the chair.

Stein stepped back, looking him over again. His patient was still breathing fast, eyes darting around the room as though expecting something to jump out at him at any moment. Every so often, his expression would pass over Stein and cloud with vague confusion or over the heart monitor with its attached IV stand and cloud further with suspicion. Stein sighed inwardly, no sign showing on the outside, and moved to pull the monitor towards the chair. Regardless of what his patient might want, what the man needed was the fluids in the IV. And the nurses would probably appreciate the flatline alarm stopping, but that was barely an afterthought.

As Stein drew the monitor up beside the chair, the redhead shifted away slightly. Raising an eyebrow as he reached down to make sure the IV catheter had managed to remain in, Stein looked down at him. "Don't be difficult."

The patient tried to jerk his arm out of Stein's grip, the wildness returning to his eyes. "No...no more wires..."

"It's not going to hurt you," Stein said, inwardly grumbling over the need to get a fresh IV bag. Hopefully that nurse would be bringing one now. As it was, all Stein could do at the moment was reconnect the heart monitor and brood over the words no more wires.

"No!" The redhead pushed Stein's hand away and tried to scramble back in the chair ineffectually. "Leave me alone!"

"Senpai," Stein began, but the man managed to dart out of the chair finally, whirling to face the scientist in a defensive half-crouch. There was no calmness in those blue eyes now, no confusion. Just fear and a wild determination. Stein's own eyes widened. This went beyond simple disorientation.

"Not again," the man said, shaking his head in what had to be an unconscious gesture. "Not again, no more..."

Stein stood, just staring at him in incomprehension. Disorientation leading to panic he could understand, but this...he wasn't sure how to proceed with this, and he didn't like the feeling. It had always been his partner who had been the calmer one, level and keeping Stein's madness to a minimum. Now...he forced out a short breath and reached up to turn his screw once or twice. This was not something he wanted to think about right now, and there were more important things to deal with first anyway.

The nurse came back in then with a fresh IV and paused again, taking in the scene. Stein glanced at her, then moved to take the bag and fresh coil of tubing before leaning down to whisper in her ear, "Until he stabilizes, I think visitors should be kept away." He set the objects to one side, glancing over at where his patient still stood watching him warily before turning back to the nurse. "And fetch a small bottle of ether, please."

The nurse blinked up at him in momentary confusion before his intentions fully registered. She nodded and scurried out of the room as Stein turned back to the scared redhead. He took a step forward, making sure his hands were completely visible, and hoped this worked.

The man backed further away, flattening himself against a wall, unreasoning eyes fixed on Stein as he unconsciously shook his head again. "No...no more..."

"All right," Stein said, his voice remaining cool and calm by dint of long experience. "Okay. No more." He had to get his patient calmed down again...only then would there be any chance of getting him the help he needed.

The man watched him suspiciously, not moving as Stein approached within arm's reach. He flinched away as the scientist moved to rest a hand on his shoulder, but with a wall at his back there was nowhere for him to go. Stein could feel the tension in the man's shoulder as he simply rested his hand on it and all but held his breath until he felt some of it ease out. The redhead was calm once more, looking up at Stein again with that expression of confused surprise, as though it was a complete shock that he hadn't been hit.

"Come sit back down, Senpai," Stein told him, pushing the heart monitor away from the chair even as he led his patient back to it. The man balked for a moment, but ultimately allowed himself to be cajoled back into the seat. Stein paced restlessly, looking up as the door opened again and striding over to meet the nurse before she could enter. He took the bottle from her, glancing at the label, then wordlessly shut the door in her face and moved back to his patient's side.

The man was looking around the room again, as if for the first time, and jumped when he realized Stein was beside him again. "Wha...?!"

"It's just me," Stein assured him.

His patient blinked up at him for a moment before the fresh panic faded. "S-...Stein...?" he asked, his voice wavering slightly. "Stein?"

"That's right." Stein tried to ignore the incredibly sharp pain in his chest, that this man of all people had to verify his identity. "I've got something to help you." He held up the bottle. "It will help clear your head." The redhead drew back a little, eyeing the bottle as though it might bite him, and Stein continued, "It's all right. It will help."

"...Help...?" The man echoed, looking from the bottle up to Stein as if he didn't understand.

Stein nodded, half-opening the bottle. "I promise, it will help." He paused, looking deep into those blue eyes that shouldn't have been so empty, those eyes that should know him, understand him. There was the faintest trace of a tremor in the usually stoic scientist's voice as he spoke again. "Don't you trust me, Senpai?"

"T-...trust...?" The man looked up at him, faint confusion crossing his face as though he had to think about what the word meant. "Trust..." His brow wrinkled as he looked down, and Stein found himself holding his breath, gripped by a sudden fear. "Trust...Stein...I..." The man seemed to curl in on himself for a moment, then his head tilted back to reveal an expression of pain as his breathing picked up again.

Stein didn't even stop to think. He quickly took the cap off the bottle and held the ether under his patient's nose. The man's deep breaths soon had an effect; his eyes shot open and he stared up at Stein with an expression of pure, petrified fear and dread as he began hyperventilating. Stein held that gaze, shaken to his core as the ether's power finally took hold and the man's eyes slid closed. Even in the worst days they'd shared, he'd never seen anything close to that look on that man's face before.

Slowly, mechanically, he put the cap back on the bottle and set it to one side before carefully lifting his old partner out of the chair and receiving yet another shock. The man was incredibly light, lighter than he should have been. Seeing his emaciated state was one thing, but feeling the result in his arms...Stein shut his eyes for a moment before gently laying the man down on the bed. He fetched the fresh IV from where he'd set it and reconnected everything the patient had ripped away earlier, then looked down at him.

The expression of fear had not fully faded from the man's face, and Stein knew that it would likely take restraints to keep the patient from ripping out the new IV like he had the old one. He didn't want to tie the man down, though...not after seeing the intense fear that had come simply from being sedated. But something had to be done to keep the man from hindering his own recovery due to his...

Stein couldn't even complete the thought. He turned away sharply, one hand coming up to hide his eyes even though there was no one else in the room. How had this happened? Who was responsible? He glanced back at the unconscious form in the bed, jade eyes full of pain he would let no one else see, and spoke in a shaking whisper.

"What happened to you...?"

Description
Beeping. That was the first thing he heard as the blackness began lifting slowly. Regular, rhythmic beeping coming from somewhere nearby. Slowly his eyes opened, taking in the ceiling above him in a half-focused haze. It was dark. No surprise. He felt weak, but that had been something of a constant for so long he couldn't remember what it was like not to. Slowly his mind began taking in more information about his surroundings. He was lying on something soft, the feeling almost ecstasy, with something light and gentle covering him. His clothes were gone, a fact which was immediately dismissed. It wasn't as though they'd been doing him much good as they were. Turning his head to one side he noticed wires and tubing running down to his arm and blinked at them.

Wires and tubing.

The rhythmic beeping abruptly sped up. That tube was running down to a needle that was stuck in his arm. No... He began to reach for it, to get rid of it, when a voice made him freeze.

"You're awake..."

Wide eyes snapped to the voice's owner, walking towards him in the dimly-lit room. Grey hair, white coat, dark steel bolt clearly visible over the left ear, glasses reflecting what little light there was. He tensed, one hand gripping the fabric he was lying on.

"Calm down," the figure spoke again, almost within arm's reach. "You've been unconscious for about a day, it's only natural you'd be disoriented."

He kept his eyes on the figure warily, leaning away even as the figure came closer. Just stay away...just go away...he paused, realizing something. He could move. It hurt, but he wasn't restricted to what he was lying on. Slowly he continued moving his right hand towards the needle stuck in his arm. He had to get it out, no one was going to shove anything into his bloodstream anymore.

The figure kept coming. Almost there. It was almost to him. No. He wouldn't stay here. They couldn't make him. Not anymore. He made a grab for the tube in his arm, then froze as a pale hand seized his wrist, stopping him. "No!" A jet-black curved blade appeared on his arm as he tried to pull free, slashing through the sleeve of the figure's white coat and drawing blood.

It worked. His wrist was freed as the hand let go. He rolled off the bed, slipping on the slick, cold floor, and scrambled away, jerking the needle out of his arm as he did. The way out. Where was the way out? His eyes scanned the dim room frantically as he found a corner to put his back against, arm with its blade held up in front of him as a warning. Don't come any closer. Leave me alone. Where was the way out...?

His eyes snapped to the door as it opened, letting light from outside in to brighten the room a bit. Someone else entered. Were they with the other one? He tensed, a twin blade to the one on his right arm appearing on his left. Whatever they had planned, he wouldn't go quietly. Just let them try.

The figure in the white coat held up a hand, stopping the newcomer, and took a few steps around the bed. He watched the figure cautiously as it approached, backing further into his corner. The figure paused a moment, expression on the pale face unreadable. Blood had soaked into the sleeve of that white coat, but the wound itself apparently went unnoticed.

Another step forward, one hand raising slightly. What was about to happen? They weren't going to touch him, he wouldn't let them. He crouched, ready to move in whatever direction would get him out the fastest. Another step. And another. The room wasn't that big...he was almost within arm's reach. The figure's mouth opened to speak. He lashed out again, one black blade narrowly missing the figure's outstretched wrist. "Stay away from me!"
"Senpai..." The word was soft, but it cut through his awareness like lightning through a thundercloud. He looked up at the figure, blinking in slight confusion. Senpai...no one called him that. No one. No one at all...except...he straightened cautiously. Had he really heard it? Had it really been said?

The pale hand he'd nearly severed reached to touch his shoulder. He jerked away. "Don't...don't touch me..." The hand withdrew slowly, leaving a lingering scent. No, that wasn't just the hand...it was the white coat as well. Smoke. Tobacco. Cigarettes. A certain kind of cigarettes. A special kind.

"Senpai...you should sit down."

Sit? He didn't want to. But that word again...and the cigarette smell...he eyed the man standing in front of him, taking in more than just the white coat and the screw. A grey and black patchwork sweater. Black pants. A scar around the left eye, still with stitches. The man shifted his weight backward and the light let up its glare on his glasses, revealing a pale greyish-green eye currently watching him.

He knew this man. Knew the coat, that shirt, the bolt, those eyes. Knew the permanent scent of cigarettes that followed him. Knew it all and recognized it now.

"Stein..."

Stein stood in silence, watching the wild look fade from those grey-blue eyes into an expression of confused recognition. He kept his expression blank and held out a hand, the movement aggravating the cut on his arm. The pain went ignored. It barely registered next to everything else. The redhead in front of him slowly took his hand, and Stein began guiding him back to the bed. He hadn't gone two steps when the other man balked, stopping dead.

Pausing, Stein glanced back at him, taking in the expression of nervous uncertainty. The man's eyes were fixed on the hospital bed, and his hand had tightened slightly around Stein's own. "...Calm down," Stein told him, his voice quiet. "You need to sit down. You shouldn't be moving too much."

The man blinked and looked up at him, then down slightly. Stein sighed softly and changed direction, now guiding him to the room's lone chair. The nurse still hovering uncertainly in the room moved as though to protest, but Stein caught her gaze and held it in intense and pointed silence. Looking away, the nurse bobbed a quick bow and hurried back out of the room. Intimidation at its finest again. "Sit down," he told the redhead as they reached the chair. The man hesitated, then sat obediently, leaning back against the chair.

Stein stepped back, looking him over again. His patient was still breathing fast, eyes darting around the room as though expecting something to jump out at him at any moment. Every so often, his expression would pass over Stein and cloud with vague confusion or over the heart monitor with its attached IV stand and cloud further with suspicion. Stein sighed inwardly, no sign showing on the outside, and moved to pull the monitor towards the chair. Regardless of what his patient might want, what the man needed was the fluids in the IV. And the nurses would probably appreciate the flatline alarm stopping, but that was barely an afterthought.

As Stein drew the monitor up beside the chair, the redhead shifted away slightly. Raising an eyebrow as he reached down to make sure the IV catheter had managed to remain in, Stein looked down at him. "Don't be difficult."

The patient tried to jerk his arm out of Stein's grip, the wildness returning to his eyes. "No...no more wires..."

"It's not going to hurt you," Stein said, inwardly grumbling over the need to get a fresh IV bag. Hopefully that nurse would be bringing one now. As it was, all Stein could do at the moment was reconnect the heart monitor and brood over the words no more wires.

"No!" The redhead pushed Stein's hand away and tried to scramble back in the chair ineffectually. "Leave me alone!"

"Senpai," Stein began, but the man managed to dart out of the chair finally, whirling to face the scientist in a defensive half-crouch. There was no calmness in those blue eyes now, no confusion. Just fear and a wild determination. Stein's own eyes widened. This went beyond simple disorientation.

"Not again," the man said, shaking his head in what had to be an unconscious gesture. "Not again, no more..."

Stein stood, just staring at him in incomprehension. Disorientation leading to panic he could understand, but this...he wasn't sure how to proceed with this, and he didn't like the feeling. It had always been his partner who had been the calmer one, level and keeping Stein's madness to a minimum. Now...he forced out a short breath and reached up to turn his screw once or twice. This was not something he wanted to think about right now, and there were more important things to deal with first anyway.

The nurse came back in then with a fresh IV and paused again, taking in the scene. Stein glanced at her, then moved to take the bag and fresh coil of tubing before leaning down to whisper in her ear, "Until he stabilizes, I think visitors should be kept away." He set the objects to one side, glancing over at where his patient still stood watching him warily before turning back to the nurse. "And fetch a small bottle of ether, please."

The nurse blinked up at him in momentary confusion before his intentions fully registered. She nodded and scurried out of the room as Stein turned back to the scared redhead. He took a step forward, making sure his hands were completely visible, and hoped this worked.

The man backed further away, flattening himself against a wall, unreasoning eyes fixed on Stein as he unconsciously shook his head again. "No...no more..."

"All right," Stein said, his voice remaining cool and calm by dint of long experience. "Okay. No more." He had to get his patient calmed down again...only then would there be any chance of getting him the help he needed.

The man watched him suspiciously, not moving as Stein approached within arm's reach. He flinched away as the scientist moved to rest a hand on his shoulder, but with a wall at his back there was nowhere for him to go. Stein could feel the tension in the man's shoulder as he simply rested his hand on it and all but held his breath until he felt some of it ease out. The redhead was calm once more, looking up at Stein again with that expression of confused surprise, as though it was a complete shock that he hadn't been hit.

"Come sit back down, Senpai," Stein told him, pushing the heart monitor away from the chair even as he led his patient back to it. The man balked for a moment, but ultimately allowed himself to be cajoled back into the seat. Stein paced restlessly, looking up as the door opened again and striding over to meet the nurse before she could enter. He took the bottle from her, glancing at the label, then wordlessly shut the door in her face and moved back to his patient's side.

The man was looking around the room again, as if for the first time, and jumped when he realized Stein was beside him again. "Wha...?!"

"It's just me," Stein assured him.

His patient blinked up at him for a moment before the fresh panic faded. "S-...Stein...?" he asked, his voice wavering slightly. "Stein?"

"That's right." Stein tried to ignore the incredibly sharp pain in his chest, that this man of all people had to verify his identity. "I've got something to help you." He held up the bottle. "It will help clear your head." The redhead drew back a little, eyeing the bottle as though it might bite him, and Stein continued, "It's all right. It will help."

"...Help...?" The man echoed, looking from the bottle up to Stein as if he didn't understand.

Stein nodded, half-opening the bottle. "I promise, it will help." He paused, looking deep into those blue eyes that shouldn't have been so empty, those eyes that should know him, understand him. There was the faintest trace of a tremor in the usually stoic scientist's voice as he spoke again. "Don't you trust me, Senpai?"

"T-...trust...?" The man looked up at him, faint confusion crossing his face as though he had to think about what the word meant. "Trust..." His brow wrinkled as he looked down, and Stein found himself holding his breath, gripped by a sudden fear. "Trust...Stein...I..." The man seemed to curl in on himself for a moment, then his head tilted back to reveal an expression of pain as his breathing picked up again.

Stein didn't even stop to think. He quickly took the cap off the bottle and held the ether under his patient's nose. The man's deep breaths soon had an effect; his eyes shot open and he stared up at Stein with an expression of pure, petrified fear and dread as he began hyperventilating. Stein held that gaze, shaken to his core as the ether's power finally took hold and the man's eyes slid closed. Even in the worst days they'd shared, he'd never seen anything close to that look on that man's face before.

Slowly, mechanically, he put the cap back on the bottle and set it to one side before carefully lifting his old partner out of the chair and receiving yet another shock. The man was incredibly light, lighter than he should have been. Seeing his emaciated state was one thing, but feeling the result in his arms...Stein shut his eyes for a moment before gently laying the man down on the bed. He fetched the fresh IV from where he'd set it and reconnected everything the patient had ripped away earlier, then looked down at him.

The expression of fear had not fully faded from the man's face, and Stein knew that it would likely take restraints to keep the patient from ripping out the new IV like he had the old one. He didn't want to tie the man down, though...not after seeing the intense fear that had come simply from being sedated. But something had to be done to keep the man from hindering his own recovery due to his...

Stein couldn't even complete the thought. He turned away sharply, one hand coming up to hide his eyes even though there was no one else in the room. How had this happened? Who was responsible? He glanced back at the unconscious form in the bed, jade eyes full of pain he would let no one else see, and spoke in a shaking whisper.

"What happened to you...?"