Lost & Found

Ch.5 - Broken

Sly Blue. The group was in shock, especially Ren. In the end Aoba and Sly made amends, Aoba finally accepting him as a part of him. He would’ve guessed that Sly Blue wouldn’t take over Aoba’s body without permission anymore.

“What happened exactly?” Mink asked, turning to the doctor.

“The patient woke up just as we were about to change his bandages, and he proceeded to attack the nurses.” The doctor explained. “Is this a case of multiple personality?” The group remained silent. They didn’t know exactly how to explain it. Saying that his brain was split into three, and that one of them was actually Ren wasn’t an easy thing to swallow when you follow logic as a career.

“Please allow us to calm him down, doctor. We know just what to do.” Ren said. He lied. He had absolutely no idea how this was going to turn out. Regardless, the doctor reluctantly agreed and stepped just outside the doorway with her nurses at hand in case of anything. The group focused their attention back on the scared bluenette, who still held the chair like a weapon pointed at them.

“Aoba, Sly, it’s me, Ren, remember?” Ren spoke, hoping the other personality would remember. Sly Blue’s eyes narrowed in disgust.

“You mother*cker! I refuse to talk to you, stay away!” Sly Blue screamed, pushing the chair towards Ren, who dodged it by jumping back slightly.

“Please calm down! We’re not going to hurt you!” Koujaku explained. Sly shook his head violently.

“Lies, lies, lies, LIES! You always say that! You always say it won’t hurt. That it won’t hurt. But it hurts. IT HURTS!” Sly screamed. He was frantic, his voice cracking as he looked at the verge of falling apart into pieces, both physically and emotionally. It was scary to see, especially considering that Sly always kept his cool and calm. To see him like this terrified Ren, because it only confirmed that their mind was much more broken than they originally thought.

“Put the chair down, everything is going to be alright.” Koujaku spoke, trying to talk his way into Sly’s trust as he did with most women he encountered. But then Mink took a note of something unusual.

“Why haven’t you used Scrap on us?” Mink asked, gaining the gazes of the three men within the room. “You said you want us to stop. You can use Scrap to make us stop, yet you aren’t, why?” A gasp escaped Sly’s mouth, stammering out words as he chocked upon them.

“B…B…” Sly muttered, finally letting out a cry of anguish as warm tears fell down his face. “Because Scrap doesn’t work…!” He screamed, or at least he tried to, as his voice only came out as a strained whisper. “Aoba screamed, I screamed, we both screamed, we used Scrap, we used Scrap every day, every single time. But it doesn’t work. You can see my vocal cords, your ears are immune to it. I scream, I scream, but it won’t affect you, and you won’t stop! We didn’t believe you when you told us, yet we tried and…and…” Sly dropped the chair as he fell onto his knees, crying as his fragile body finally gave up on its adrenaline rush.

“Us?” Koujaku muttered. Mink was quick to respond.

“He must mean you-know-who.” Mink said as he turned to Ren and Koujaku. “Back in Platinum Jail, I used contacts in order to be immune to the light drugs from the place. It is possible that they could have gotten something that made them immune to Aoba’s Scrap.” So that’s what he was referring to. Not that it brought any comfort, as the words that Sly had yelled at them started to sink in.

“He screamed…and they didn’t stop…” Koujaku held his head as he felt his body shudder at the thought, knowing full well what Sly had meant by those words, and guilt starting to fill him. “Aoba…” Koujaku glanced to see Sly still crying on his knees. Now that there was no chair in between them, he proceeded to carefully walk towards the fragile boy, kneeling down in front of him. Koujaku reached out gently, his fingertips barely brushing against his blue bangs. Sly suddenly jerked violently at the touch, slamming his back rather painfully against the cement wall. He started to push himself across the floor using his feet, until he had found himself trapped in a corner of the room, to which he still tried to push in further, trying to disappear from sight.

“…I…we’re sorry…I’m sorry…w-we didn’t mean to…I know he didn’t meant to…please…” He whispered. This voice was much softer. As the boy rose his face to be seen, you could see his eyes turning red from the tears, his lip quivering as his expression was full of fear. “We didn’t meant to disrespect…I didn’t meant to…please don’t put me in the box…please...I’ll be a good boy…” Aoba begged, his entire body shaking as he moved his hands in front of him and knelt down, his forehead pressed against the floor. The sight, the situation, it was just too much. Koujaku just lost it. Tears started to fall down his cheek as he tried to hug Aoba, to which Aoba reacted by fearfully pressing back against the corner. Ren felt his knees weaken as he allowed himself to collapse on his knees, his heart aching as if it had been shattered in a million pieces. Though Mink remained silent, you could see his fists tighten as a few tears rolled down his cheeks. Aoba was truly broken into pieces. Such reality was too much for them. But they couldn’t give up there.

After about thirty minutes of waiting for the situation to calm down, Aoba was passive enough for the nurses to be able to fix him back into the bed with his medicines. By passive of course it meant that he wasn’t throwing chairs around. He made the nurses go through hell to have them make him lay on the bed, even more to have his medicine. Eventually Aoba’s body ran out of energy, and with him panting to catch his breath, he just let the nurses do whatever they wanted with him, as if accepting whatever fate was awaiting for him. After Aoba was stabilized again, and the guys had updated the rest of the boys of the turn of events that had taken place, the nurses and the doctor allowed them to be able to stay with Aoba for their visiting hours. Most of the visit was silent, even with Aoba awake, he didn’t say a word. His gaze remained low, and his hands trembled whenever someone did speak. Any movements made him flinch for cover. His eyes followed every time someone stood to move around the room or pick sometime up. It was tense for the guys just as it was tense for Aoba, it seemed. Suddenly there was a knock on the door of the room, to which it startled Aoba to jump slightly from his bed. Mink opened the door to let in a familiar white haired robot with beautiful pink eyes, holding something large in his hands.

“Is master feeling better?” Clear asked to the group in general, to which they shrugged. Clear’s gaze then landed on Aoba, his eyes widening with joy to see him awake and conscious. “Aoba-san!” Clear smiled. This only made Aoba’s eyes widen and his heartbeat accelerate, the young man not knowing what was going to happen. Mink reminded Clear that Aoba needed to be treated gently in his current condition, to which Clear gave an understanding nod. Clear turned back to Aoba and walked a bit closer, this time speaking in a much softer tone. “Sorry to have startled you, Aoba-san. I didn’t mean to be as loud.” Clear spoke, his voice so smooth it eased the tension in the room. Even Aoba didn’t flinch as much to his voice, his heartbeat returning to its natural pace. “I would’ve come earlier, but I was making something for you. Do you wish for it now?” Clear smiled as he showed what seemed to be a box with a handle, or at least one of those food carriers. Clear lifted the lid to reveal his creation: it was a cake.