Sanitarium - Asylum Finale {Completed}

6. Dead Again

The color immediately drains from my face and I almost forget to dash forward and catch her before she hits the ground. One arm hits behind her shoulder blades and my other arm wraps across her stomach. Why did she drop so suddenly? It's like she fainted.

"Guys," I gasp, still staring down at her. "I don't - I don't know what's wrong with her."

"Move," Jet says automatically. He's in full-on business mode now. There's that serious look in his eye that he only wears when he's diagnosing someone. He pushes me back with one large hand and I stumble backward, bumping into Kobra and Ghoul. Jet catches Paranoia now and lays her down on the ground. Her head lolls to the side and he lays the back of his hand against her forehead. "Her temperature's normal."

I try to creep closer, but Ghoul and Kobra hold me back. "Let him work," Kobra mutters harshly.

Jet continues to inspect her, skirting around her hands that are still cuffed together, like he's uncomfortable with the idea of Paranoia being a prisoner. I can't say I'm too happy with it, either. She used to be so good. The rebellion was her focus - she did what was right for the other Killjoys. Now she's killing them? Oh, how the tables have turned.

"I can't find anything wrong with her," Jet says finally, sitting back on his heels. "She's in perfect health."

Ghoul huffs from beside me. "Besides the fact that she just slaughtered dozens of our Killjoys. Too bad there's not a machine we can use to check her mental state." I hiss angrily and elbow him in the ribs, hard. He yelps and glares at me. "You can't honestly tell me that you think she's normal right now, Party!"

"I never said I did!" I snap back. "But you don't need to talk about her like she's a random psychopath that walked in from the streets! She's our friend, dammit!"

Kobra places his palm flat against my chest and shoves me roughly backward. "You need to calm down. Both of you," he says through gritted teeth, eyeing Ghoul and I with contempt. "Arguing with each other is not helping anything."

Ghoul lets out a long breath and looks apologetically at me, but I ignore him and glare at Kobra. Kobra, in turn, ignores me and looks calmly at Jet. "What do we do now?" he asks.

Jet sighs and brushes Paranoia's hair out of her face. I almost snap at him for doing it, but another harsh look from Kobra stops me. Standing, Jet looks at me. "You need to go down and say something. Everyone is bound to be in hysterics right now. They need you to calm them down."

"But what about - "

He cuts me off. "I'll carry Paranoia to the hospital. Ghoul can come with me." He looks sternly at me. "Take Kobra with you and go calm the masses. It's part of your job, remember."

I nod stiffly, glance at Kobra, and then stride out the door. I have to step around Paranoia's unconscious body to do it, and my heart clenches uncomfortably in my chest. I can hear Kobra's brisk footsteps behind me, but I don't want to stick around any longer to see Jet and Ghoul walk off with her limp body. I can't handle that right now.

"Where's the best place to address everyone from?" I ask quietly as we walk to the stairs. We shut the elevators down when she started heading up to us.

"Probably the cafeteria. You can stand on a table." I can't tell if he's joking or not. "Or you could - Holy shit."

As we reach the bottom of a set of stairs, we find the body of Vengeance Fire lying in the middle of the floor. There's a puddle of blood beneath his body, staining his shirt and his jeans and his white hair. We don't hesitate to run to him. I kneel beside him, careful not to put my knees in blood. I grab his shoulder and shake it. "Vengeance. Wake up," I say roughly, not sure whether to panic or not. I'd grown to know him more since Paranoia's disappearance, but I'm still not sure whether his death will have any effect on me. "Wake up," I repeat, louder this time.