Feed The Evil Within, Ruvik x OC

Chapter 7- The Past Still Haunts Me

As I woke from the nightmare that was my past, I realized I was in the Red Room. Ruvik sat on the bed, staring at my face.

"You're awake now." He said quietly, standing up. "What happened? I found you outside of the Red Room."

"I...well, my feet were kind of infected. We forgot to clean the wounds."

"Are you okay?" He instantly ripped off the covers, grabbing my foot and pulling me towards them. As he studied my feet, his fingers slowly traced down the soles of my feet. I felt his burnt fingers linger, and he put down my foot. "There's scars, but it's alright. You're going to be fine. It seems to have healed."

"Ruvik...are you a doctor?"

His face contorted into a surprised expression. "...What makes you ask that?"

I sighed. "You seem to know what you're talking about."

"I conducted experiments of a sort, yes. If that makes me a doctor...then, I suppose I am."

"What kind of experiments?" I asked, curious. Ruvik didn't tell me much about his life, other than of my resemblance to his sister.

"The kind that would give you nightmares." His hands gently brushed up against my face, and finally covered my eyes. "Nightmares I don't want you to see."

I reached my hands up, placing my hands over his and removing them from my eyes. "I want to see your nightmares, Ruvik."

"You're...a splitting image." He whispered. I chose to ignore that. "My experiments...I was a boy when my sister died. After that, my parents....died. I then began using their remaining assets and donated most of it to Beacon Hospital. They gave me... test subjects, in response. It was a mutual deal." I winced. The subjects he was talking about...they must be human. "I was helping them complete a project, named STEM; a machine meant to unite minds into one, felt and experienced by all linked to it. Near the completion of the project- the end- I was betrayed, and they took from me my mind and made it the core. Everything I had done to my subjects was done unto me in the end."

I didn't fear this man. Despite the evils he had done, we all had evil within us, and he was just another victim of the demons that refuse to let people go. If it was as easy as previously expected, then I wouldn't be here.

"I want vengeance. Vengeance on the people who did this to me. I helped them, I did those experiments, and in the end, I became one of them."

"..." I remained silent, my thoughts going to the knife I had on me. I hugged Ruvik, and slowly grasped the handle of the knife, raising it above me as his eyes was closed and his guard was down. This was the link of fate. I could save countless lives by killing Ruvik.

However, my judgement of the situation was wrong.

I couldn't do this to him. To the man that granted me freedom by putting me in a cage.

I pulled away, and held out to him the knife.

"..." He eyes glazed over, and he looked at me.

He knew what I had done. What I had. What I would possibly do. This was a test. He left his life in my hands, and I chose to spare it.

"I choose you, Ruvik. Over the many people who have betrayed you, I choose the person who helped me. I won't betray you like they did, this I promise. You have my loyalty."

"I... am pleased with your decisions. You make me feel the way I did before Laura died. I know you aren't Laura. You're Elise. My Elise."

"Ruvik... Yes, I belong to you. There is nowhere else I can possibly go. There is nowhere else I could possibly go. Possibly want to go."

I signed away my life to this man. It was his to do with as he pleased. My loyalties lay only with him.

"Will you prove your loyalty?" He asked, his eyes tender. "I trust you with this task."

"I will. Ask anything you want."

"I need you to take Laura...and retrieve a boy named Leslie." He said, gently caressing my face. "I need you to bring him back to me unharmed. Both you and I can escape this twisted cage, and our thorns, and fly free. Free to complete my vengeance. My old body is long gone, my mind only remaining. Leslie can be my freedom- he can be my body..."

I nodded. "Yes. I will bring Leslie back, so you can be free. We will get you the vengeance you desire."

He wrapped his arms around me. "Your family will pay, as well." He gently kissed me, and attempted to linger. My fingers slowly slipped away from his. "If you fail, I won't be angry. Just do the best you can."

Laura crawled into the room, and I walked beside her, smiling at Ruvik.

"Be careful. The others who want Leslie have weapons." He said, his face going back to emotionless. "Laura will take hits for you. They can slow her down for a couple seconds, but in the end, she's far superior to them. All they can do is run."

I nodded. I stepped out of the Red Room, only to be met by both Mr. Castellanos and Joseph.

"Holy crap, it's the girl!" Joseph said, backing away from me. Sebastian took a step forwards.

"She was injured before."

They then saw Laura's claws come out of the door behind me. Her nails scratched across the walls, and she wailed.

"I told you she was another of Ruvik's things!" Joseph yelled.

"That's impossible." Sebastian replied.

"How is it impossible? That thing is right there and not attacking her!"

"Or us. And do you recall how twisted anything Ruvik creates is? This is too normal for him."

"She looks a lot like the girl in the news article."

"...Ruben's sister...? Is that Laura? But isn't she dead?"

"...I'm not Laura." I replied angstily. "I'm Elise. I'm not Ruvik's sister. I'm the person he freed by trapping me in a cage."

"... Did she just give us a riddle?"

Crap- the nurses' riddle speech is rubbing off on me.

I then remembered the key, slipping my hand into my pocket. I gripped it tightly. After this, I would seek the truth.

The truth that's been hidden in plain sight.