Sometimes life changes for no reason. The interesting thing is whether these changes are good or bad.
Does waking up in an unknown world with many people who develop a crush on you count as a nice thing?
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It burns. Your whole body feels as if it’s on fire. Whatever Dottore put into your bloodstream, you want it out – preferably with your blood staying inside.
“...What was in that syringe?”
“I see no point in explaining it to you. Neither would you understand a single thing I am saying nor would it change anything about your situation. …But since I am such a generous person, I will give you a comprehendible summary. This poison – in this dosage not lethal – sends your body in a panic-mode which makes it more responsive to my… treatments. Satisfied, little mouse?”
Satisfied isn’t the right word, but you nod nevertheless. You don’t really know how this sadistic maniac ticks, so you prefer to play it safe for now. Scaramouche for example would certainly break you a bone if you don’t appreciate this so called ‘generosity’. Though, something tells you Dottore gives close to zero fúcks about your behavior. His focus is probably on his research only.
“Let’s start with the main event, shall we?” He walks around the table, slowly, like a predator waiting to jump on his prey. He stops at the opposite side of where he started. Out of his white coat he takes a shiny silver object.
Observing the scalpel, your heartbeat quickens. “I- Didn’t you say you would deliver m-me to the Balladeer after this? Wouldn’t cutting me open k-kinda… you know, k-kill me?”
“Not if the cuts are small and not around vital areas. Like for example…” He lowers the scalpel to your upper arm. “- here.”
You hiss out of displeasure, feeling the sharp edge cut your delicate skin. It isn’t the nicest sensation, but at the very least the small knife is moving sideways, rather than brutally stabbing you. The relief doesn’t last long though as a few more cuts follow the first one. Some part of your brain wants to look at your arm to figure out what in the world that madman is doing with it, but the rest of your brain decides against it. You don’t want to get nauseous from the display. Still, you can’t help but spill hot tears out of sheer helplessness.
Time passes and Dottore finally ends the procedure with a swift tug, causing a more intense form of pain to appear. All the effort you put into avoiding seeing anything gory was for nothing as you catch a glimpse of a bloody piece of flesh in his hands while he walks back to his desk.
“Did you just… cut off a piece of my…”
“Skin, yes. I need it as a sample.” He says it so nonchalant as if he is talking about the weather.
You have to try really hard to not throw up.
Somewhere in this room you hear a bell ringing. Your teary eyes wander around the room and between the collection of colorful bottles you find the source. Rosa is sitting there inside a small bird cage. Why is it here and not with Aether? “Ro… sa?”
Now Dottore too shifts his gaze to your companion. “Hm… It is shaking, similarly to you.”
Shaking? Yes, he’s right. You haven’t noticed till now due to the adrenaline and the overwhelming pain.
“I wonder…” The scientist turns back towards you and takes your hand. More precisely, he takes your index finger and pushes against its nail in an unpleasant way. “…does it feel your pain? Do you two share a bond that goes beyond simple companionship?” Slowly but surely he increases the pressure on your nail. You wince quietly in response. “This won’t do. I need a stronger reaction.” He lets go of your hand and walks away. As quickly as he left you, he is back, but this time with a pair of pliers.
You look back and forth between your hand and his tools. Eyes widening, you want to retrieve your hand, hide your fingers, anything but this. “No no no. Please don’t. I’m begging you.”
Unimpressed by your pleading voice, he grabs the same index finger from before and rips out its nail with the pliers.
Immediately, you let out an agonized scream. At the same time Rosa’s sounds become louder as well.
Dottore lets out a low chuckle. “Point proven. What a special connection you two have… For the sake of completeness I should also check if it works the other way around.” Leaving you with your open wound bleeding, he walks to your Seelie to continue his torture session with it.
Normally, you would retort something and try to protect those precious to you. But right now, you can’t form a single proper thought. The sensation of your nail missing is clouding your mind. Even when Rosa’s bell-like screams fill the laboratory, you can’t find a fitting reaction to it.
“Interesting. It feels your pain, but you are unable to feels its suffering. How odd…” The doctor pauses, seemingly thinking about his newest discovery. After a while he speaks up again. “As I am very limited in options of conducting experiments on you, would you tell me your take on this matter?”
No answer comes out of your mouth.
“Hm? Don’t tell me your mind is already drifting away. We barely started, dear.” Before you know it, he is back at your side and puts a needle into your arm close to where the first one punctured you. This time you don’t flinch. “This should force your brain to focus.”
Unfortunately, he is right. Shortly after the injection your foggy mind clears up and has to face this messed up reality again.
“So, to repeat my question from before: Do you have an explanation for this interesting connection you have with the Seelie? Or any other oddities in your life while we are at it?”
“I don’t- How am I supposed to know? Things always have been this way…” You aren’t completely sure what he meant by ‘other oddities’, but you do lack knowledge about the bond between you and Rosa and its origin. It was just there when you woke up in this world.
Laughter escapes the lips of blue-haired maniac. “Ha! So you are not only a fool, but an ignorant one at that! How pitiful.” For the first time in your presence, Dottore takes off his mask, revealing his piercing red eyes. “Doesn’t it bother you that a stranger like myself knows more about you than you yourself?”
“Then enlighten me for fúcks sake.”, you hiss back.
“You must be quite mentally exhausted to loose your composure over a simple question like that. After trying so hard to play nice…” Suddenly, he puts his hands around your neck and squeezes it. “A dog that bears its fangs isn’t deserving of a treat.”
The wild chaos of emotions – mostly fear and anger – becomes weaker with each passing second until it dies down completely, sending you into pitch black darkness.
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