Room 401
1 - Screams
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Cobalt blue
eyes open slowly, blinking to take in the blurry white smear before them. The
screaming continues, like an alarm that incorporates itself into your dream until
you finally submit to it and awaken.
Slowly the
white smear resolves itself into a paneled white ceiling, as you would find in
school… The bands between the panels are a faint purplish white, the panels
themselves looking light and eminently removable. Am I… at school?
Who’s
screaming?
“Hold him –
hold him, he’s violent!”
“Oof-!”
“Hold him, get
his other arm! Get some restraints!”
“Sedate him!”
Who are all
these people, yelling…? Why are they in the school?
“Mister
Bakura! Yami, calm down!”
Bakura? Yami
Bakura? Why are they calling him that? He is a yami… but that isn’t his name… Is it? No… He’s just Bakura… Of
course he’s violent. I could have told you that.
Why is he
screaming?
“It’s not
working – he’ll break the restraints! Sedate him, now!”
It’ll take a
lot to sedate Bakura…
The screaming
tapers away, and panting can be heard from those who were holding the violent
boy. Someone finally thinks to check on the blue-eyed boy in the other bed.
“Seto?”
Blink. Oh. There’s
more than ceiling. He slowly turns his head; the room spins, performing its
ballet of vertigo. Blue eyes focus slowly, gradually making out the shape of a
person standing by the bed.
“Seto?” the
man asks again. He’s wearing all white… how come? That’s not very stylish… Was
he one of the ones who just sedated Bakura? Why did they sedate Bakura? Why was
he screaming?
“Where am I?”
“You’re at the
hospital. You were pretty seriously injured in that accident.”
Accident?
Why… “Why was
Bakura screaming?”
The man…
doctor? Don’t doctors wear white all the time? The doctor glances back toward
Bakura. “His twin was killed in the explosion. We haven’t told him yet, but
twins sometimes just know these things…” He shrugs slightly.
Twin? Ryou? They must have thought… or been told…
that the yami and hikari were twins. So… Ryou is dead?
… Explosion?
Seto ignored the middle school class being shown
through the high school chemistry lab. He just calmly went about his
experiment…
“Why’s
everything so blurry…?”
“The chemicals
you were working with reacted in the explosion. We were able to save your
eyesight, but it may take a little while to return to normal.”
“Oh.”
Chemicals… that explains it… should have been wearing those stupid safety
goggles… Wait… I was.
“Where’s
Mokuba?” He should be here… Maybe they didn’t pull him out of school for this.
He’ll be here as soon as they let out for the day. He always worries so much…
Clearing
throat noises. Blue eyes look up to meet white doctor-blur.
“Nii-sama,
I get to see your school today!”
“You
probably won’t be in any of my classes.”
“But I’ll
still see your school. Maybe I’ll see you. Wave if you see me in the hall or
something, ‘kay?”
“Of course, Mokuba.”
“Seto… Mr.
Kaiba… Your brother…”
“Seto! Hi!
I’m in your class after all!”
He smiles
and ruffles Mokuba’s hair lightly. “Guess so. Go listen to your teacher; I have
to work.”
Mokuba
smiles brightly. “Okay! And then you can take me home – no work tonight!”
He can’t
resist. “Sure, Mokuba. Just go sit down and be good.”
Mokuba
waves as he goes back to stand in his group of classmates… Wow. They’ll all be
in this high school next year…Incredible. He can’t believe that Mokuba is
anywhere near that old…
He goes back to his experiment with a slight smile,
tuning out the boring middle-school teacher.
“…He didn’t
make it.”
No… Mokuba…
where’s Mokuba? He’s not dead! You filthy liar! MY BROTHER IS NOT DEAD!
“He’s stopped
breathing!”
“Hurry up, get
that crash cart – he’s going into arrest!”
Mokuba…
Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeee…
Mokuba…