Story requested by shanzaynoob 💕
You've been working in the lab for some months. You've been taught to strictly do your duties, not to ask questions on what happens within those clean, white walls, not to share out of the building anything about what you see.
And what you see just leave you speechless.
There are children living there, children with incredible abilities.
And they go daily under various experiments. And sometimes they are punished in harsh ways.
But your job is not judging.
You are just an orderly, who accepted the job for the generous wage.
"How does the sunset actually look like? Do the whole sky turn red? Or just around the sun?".
You are always surprised when children talk to you and ask such weird questions, like they lived their whole life into that building.
You follow Eight's eyes and look out of the window, at how the sunset is warm and colorful.
"You've never seen a full sunset?".
Eight shakes her head, her braids dancing around her.
There are no balconies you know off, so your idea is to simply step out of the building and let the girl see the sky.
You know there are guards patrolling the place and there is a barbed wire fence to protect you.
"Come" you say taking her hand and guiding her downstairs.
"Where are you going?" the receptionist asks at your back.
You smile at her "She just needs some fresh air".
You keep walking, Eight pulling you, impatient to go outdoor.
"It's soo big" the girl comments stretching her neck to look up.
You barely get the chance to see Eight's face full of wonder at the sight of the sky above her, when strong hands grab you and separate you from the child.
"Where do you think you're going?" an angry guard ask you while Eight tries to fight the two men pulling her back into the building.
"Nowhere" you say nervously "She just wanted to see the sky".
The man tsks you "The children are not allowed to leave the building. Never".
"We were not leaving, just standing here by the door..." you try in vain to justify, but the two guards holding you drag you inside.
You try to free your arms from their iron grips, letting them know that you can follow them willingly, but they don't listen to you.
They drag you in the basement, until you stand in front of Dr Brenner.
"She brought one of the children out of the lab. To see the sky, she says" the guard tell to the doctor with an unpleasant tone, the one of whom dislikes new employees and is impatient to see them in trouble to report them to the boss.
"Is that true?" Brenner asks staring at you.
"Yes. I only wanted to let Eight see the sky. Just for a moment. Also to get some fresh air. We weren't going anywhere" you say, confused by what you believe is just a misunderstanding.
"That's a lovely thing" he says and you feel grateful that he understands, until... "But it's forbidden to let any children out of this building. Actually they should always stay in their quarters".
You widen your eyes "I didn't know...".
When you got the job, you got an endless list of rules to follow, but you can't remember anyone forbidding to let out children.
"You see, Y/N, when you let a bird see the sky, it wants to fly to it" he says like he's teaching to a child "It gets stubborn until it gets to spread its wings and fly away. Our children can't learn about their wings and that they can fly, or they become obsessed with testing their wings to fly away from here. They are safe here. We protect them".
"I understand" you say, although his bizarre speech made you frown.
"I'm sorry, Y/N, but you broke a big rule. And we can't predict the consequences of your apparently innocent gesture" he says looking sorry for what he's saying "Children and staff that don't behave are punished here".
You stiffen, hoping he just means that you're going to get extra work to do.
But the look on the two orderlies that approach you isn't encouraging.
They are like hungry wolves surrounding a lamb.
You shoot a questioning look at the doctor, who is just impassible.
"It's for your own good, Y/N. To make sure you learned the lesson".
You wince when other hands grabbed you and dragged you to another room. The electroshock treatments room.
"No, no, please... I'll never do that again, I swear" you say, starting to pant heavily and panicking. You hate electric stuff. The idea of being treated is your worst nightmare.
The men are just numb to your words and your begging.
You start to cry as they force you to sit on a chair and tie your limbs.
"Stay still" one of them command as you keep looking around and begging them.
"I said, stay still" he hisses and wrap a collar around your neck.
You understand that what Brenner is holding controls the collar on you.
"Don't misunderstand me" Brenner says without looking at you "This is unpleasant for me as it is for you".
You stare at his thumbs, your heart beating so wildly that you risk a heart attack.
You're not going to survive it, you realize.
Brenner should know that your health isn't so strong, that you suffer from panic attacks and other ailments.
Yet, he presses a button and your world burned in a pain that shakes your whole being.
You stop sobbing and crying, and let out a scream of agony.
It doesn't stop there and other waves crush against your weakening body.
Also your brain is going to explode.
They are monsters and they are slowly killing you.
You start to feel numb, like you're watching the awful show from another point of view. You hear your own screams and see your own body convulsing, feeling the end coming as a dark shadow, a welcomed one, if it meant the end of that agony.
You think of the sunset, the beautiful colours of a dying day.
"Stop!" a voice shouts.
You hold your breath, knowing it wasn't your voice saying that, not anymore.
No more waves.
The collar holds your head up and your burning eyes follow Brenner as he turns to the orderly who joined the macabre show.
"What did you say?" Brenner say with a tone that menaces punishments.
You cross the eyes of the orderly. Dreamy blue eyes. The most beautiful things you can see in that ocean of pain and agony.
Those eyes leave yours to hold Brenner's gaze.
"It's my fault. I challenged her to take the girl outside. I didn't expect her to actually do that".
You barely registered those words and their meaning. But you notice the change of expression on the doctor's face, like he made a terrible mistake.
He lowers his hands and say "Let her go".
You are too exhausted to be exultant.
The collar is removed from your burned neck and your head falls forward so your eyes see the fingers unlacing the belts.
Strong hands pull you up, but you can't stand.
You lean against someone and watch as the orderlies grabs the one who intervened.
He let them drag him to the chair, taking your place.
You start to understand what's going on.
"You enjoy to embarass me" Brenner hisses and nods to the orderlies. They have prods in their hands and use them on him.
Henry.
That is the name of the orderly who replaces you.
He has never been mean to you in those months and you don't understand why he is sacrificing himself.
At first he doesn't scream, but you see how his muscles contract under his clothes and hear how strongly he clenches his jaw.
"No!" you manage to exclaim with your weak voice.
But no mercy for him as well.
The prods keep teasing him until he breaks and let out shouts of agony that break your heart.
The arms wrapped around you drag you out that room and at every breath you beg that the punishment ends.
Henry's screams chase you for a while after you're left alone in an empty infirmary room. Not lying on the stretcher, but on the floor.
You curl and cry as the awful noises go on for a while. And then silence.
Only the soft sound of your sobs.
It's not true what Henry said. He never challenged you.
He never teased you as the other orderlies did, when they tested your patience with their wicked pranks.
He is the only angel in a building full of demons.
You hear approaching steps, then see the orderlies dropping an unconscious Henry next to you.
They tortured him until he passed out.
You stare at him in shock, fearing that maybe he's not waking up anymore.
So you stare at his chest, depending on the weak movements that prove you that he's still breathing.
He is in that state because of you.
The guilt teases you and you find the strenght to pull yourself up and crawl to him.
You grab his hands in yours and watch his messed up face.
He is bleeding from his ears, his eyes are swollen for the tears, his bottom lip is broken and bleeding after he bit himself.
You're never going to forget it.
You raise a hand to brush his hair from his face.
"Henry?" you call him, needing him awake, so you can stop depending on his breathing to know that he's alive.
"Henry?" you shake his shoulder and squeeze his hand, eager for a reaction from him.
You need to insist for a while before hearing a moan from him and his fingers squeezing your hand back.
His eyes finally open, although they look so empty that it's another heartbreak for you.
"You're here. You're here" you say with gratitude, bowing your head and resting your forehead against the hand you're holding.
When you lift your head, his eyes are fixed on you and there's more life in them.
He struggles to pull himself up so you help him to sit up.
He curses softly "I hate this".
"I'm sorry" you say, the sobs in your throat choking you.
"Water?" he asks looking at you.
You nod and he plants his hands on the floor to move his legs and stand up.
If he can, you can stand up too, so you gather your little energies and pull yourself up.
Once on your feet, you feel so dizzy that you almost faint.
Henry lifts his hands and delicately pushes you to the stretcher.
You sit down and watch him stammering to the faucet and fill a glass of water.
He swallows it in one gulp, then fills it again and walks back to offer it to you.
You realize how thristy you are, but swallowing is more painful than you expect.
Also moving your neck is agony.
But your body welcomes the water.
Seeing how weak he is, you pull his arm so he sits down next to you.
You look at his broken lip "Why did you do that?".
He licks the blood on his lip and looks at you "They would have broken you".
They wouldn't have stopped until you passed out too.
"I'm used to it. You're not" he adds "You would have been irreparably broken".
You hold your breath. Broken in your mind? In your body? Or simply dead?
You don't mind. You don't want to know.
You only know that if you're still alive it's because of him.
"But they tortured you" you say weakly, the echoes of his screams risking to drive you insane.
His fingers look for yours and wrap around them.
"It was worthy. I didn't want it to happen again".
You freeze at the idea of how many other people went through those punishments and never see another day.
You don't dare to ask. You don't want to know.
All that hell... only because you wanted to show a girl the sky at sunset.
"I'm so sorry" you say desperately, leaning towards him. His arms welcome you and you rest your head on his shoulder, letting out the last sobs left in you.
He pulls you closer and you calm down under the soft brush of his hands on your back.
"You're alive now. This is all that matters now" he whispers resting his head on yours.
You stay there for a while, until you feel a little better.
You lift your head to see his eyes.
"Thank you" you say with deeply gratitude, then wrap your arms around him to hug him.
You move your head to press your lips on his cheek and linger there.
He is your saviour. He sacrificed himself to save you, without you asking for anything. And you will never betray him. You feel less lonely in that hell.
Song: Sky's Still Blue - Andrew Belle
A/N
Tuesday 13th September 2022
This turned out a little too dramatic, but I'll reprise this theme in another similar story without torturing the characters too much 😅
I felt a little inspired by a short movie with Daniel Sharman that is about sunsets too in a saddening way and it said something like "Don't look at the sunset". And damn, I love sunsets 🌅
This is an open ending.
You can go on imagining how you can comfort each other.
I mean, after having being punished when you didn't deserve it, you deserve some reward, right? 👀🔥
Here's the little part I've cut from it, because I don't feel comfortable in writing smut and it was going in that direction. Check it as a tease, but don't ask me to continue writing it 🙃🙈
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*
He moves his head and you pull back before your lips can touch his.
"I don't regret it" he whispers and his breath kisses you.
He leans closer until he rests his lips pn your neck, placing delicate kisses on your skin that turn the burning ache from the torture into a different kind of burning.
He removes your hand from his shoulder and pull it down between you two.
Your breath hitches when you touch him below his belt.
He looks at you like searching for approval and you just nod that it's alright.