After a few minutes that felt like hours, there was a knock on the door. Dr. Kirksen opened it, and two guards walked in, a man in between them. Faye couldn't see the man, but the three stopped in front of Lyon, who blocked her view. "Dr. Ruska, I have a very special patient for you to meet." Faye didn't have to see Lyon's face to tell he was grinning widely.
She tried looking around Lyon, but Lyon turned around, one hand on the mystery doctor, guiding him towards her cage. "But, I believe you've already meet?"
Something in the back of her throat swelled up. She struggled to draw breath, and forced herself to look into Dr. Ruska's familiar grey eyes. "Jyri?"
"Faye..." Jyri broke away from her gaze, and closed his eyes. "I'm sorry. Odis, I'm so sorry."
"You... you're..." Faye's stomach lurched. The world seemed to spin around her, and she placed a hand over her forehead. After everything they'd been through, and all she'd done for him. And she was a fool to trust him. Tears filled her eyes.
"It's not what it looks like," Jyri said pleadingly, but Faye barely heard him. Or the conversation that ensued.
"Since we found such a valuable creature thanks to your disobedience, I've decided to lighten your sentence," Lyon said to Jyri. "You'll be imprisoned for life, let out only to do your former job. Starting with your little friend here."
Jyri turned to Lyon with a set jaw. "I won't."
Lyon stroked his chin, smirking. "Really? What a shame. I have a long list of theories I want tested, and I'd hate for it to go to someone as incompetent as Dr. Kirksen, who can't go a week without an accident."
"Apologies, your majesty," Dr. Kirksen said with a slight bow of his head.
Lyon held up his hand. "No worries. We always find more." He raised his eyebrows at Jyri. "But it would be dreadful to have to execute someone with a mind as brilliant as your own. If you know what I mean."
Jyri looked to the floor. Smiling an evil smile, Lyon snapped his fingers, and a guard brought him a clipboard, which he handed to Jyri. "Try to get these results by the end of the week. And, to make sure no funny business goes on, Dr. Kirksen can be of assistance."
"Actually your majesty," Dr. Kirksen said, "we have a new wave of students who came in, and it would be a good learning experience, if they were to sit in."
Lyon's smile grew wider, revealing perfect teeth. "An excellent idea." He turned to Roark and Kern. "You two lovebirds can stay here, in case there's any issues unbefitting for doctors to handle. Now, if you'll all excuse me, I have more important matters to tend to." With a sweep of his cloak, Lyon and the other guards left.
"Dr. Ruska," Dr. Kirksen said breathlessly, eyes filling with admiration. "I've heard such great things." He held out his hand. "It's an honor to meet you."
Jyri didn't take it, opting to scowl at him instead. Dr. Kirksen ran his hand through his balding hair. "I'll gather the students then." He hurried out of the room.
Leaving Faye and Jyri alone, though Kern and Roark were still in front of the door. Jyri faced Faye, hooking the tips of his fingers through the square bars of her cage. The holes were too small for his fingers to fit in. "I'm sorry. You have no idea-"
"How could you?" Faye's voice cracked. "How?"
"I never wanted to. Trust me."
"I can't."
"Faye-"
Faye turned away from him, and stared at the aluminum backing of her cage. First the berries, then the parallel universe. Why should this have surprised her?
"It was either me, or people like Kirksen," Jyri whispered through the bars. "You're just animals to them. But I care about non-humans, and-"
"And yet you still torture us." Faye buried her face in her knees, forcing back tears. A lump grew in her throat.
"Faye..."
But Faye didn't respond. She heard the rattle of the cage door opening behind her, and then a hand on her shoulder. She slapped at it. "Leave me alone."
"I can't. You heard what Lyon said." Jyri's voice was gentle. "I'll do everything I can to make it as painless as possible." This time, he wrapped his arm around her stomach, and pulled her out, cradling her in his arms. The process of it made her feel like a sick pet. And the way her stomach felt, she might as well have been one.
"You're going to have to change." Jyri set her to her feet. "Where's your pack?"
Faye spotted it thrown haphazardly on the floor, near the side of the unit.
"I'm surprised they didn't take it away." He studied her, then the clipboard. "You can keep your pants on, but put on the open-backed shirt. We might need your wings free."
Shivering, Faye dug through her pack, in search for the shirt. She refused to look at Jyri, though he continued speaking in a low voice.
"What happened to you? I thought you were behind me the whole time, but then I didn't see you... I went back for you, and got caught on the way."
"I didn't know you were going to run off until you did. And then Roark grabbed me."
"I told you to follow me."
"I couldn't hear what you were saying." Faye's voice came out harsher than intended, given he had tried to warn her. Or maybe she did intend it, given how disgusted she was with him. But he had risked his life to go back for her. Or was that just another one of his lies? She watched him flip through the papers on the clipboard, pen in hand. "What will you do to me?"
"Right now, just a standard checkup. We have to do this first, so we have something to compare our... results to."
Faye pulled out her shirt, and glanced up at him, then over to Roark and Kern. "In front of them?"
Jyri focused his attention on Roark and Kern. "She needs to change," he said to them.
Roark and Kern shared a look, shrugged, then turned around.
Faye pulled off her shirt and corset, and yanked on the other shirt. She stretched out her aching wings, and looked up at Jyri's back. "I'm done."
Everyone turned back around, and Faye shoved her clothes in her pack, and closed it, kicking it back against the side along with her cloak. Jyri walked over to a shelf filled with potions and empty bottles, rubbing his chin. Normally Faye would have asked what he was doing, but she was too disgusted to even look at him. It didn't matter anyway, because just then, the door opened.
"Nice wings," Dr. Kirksen said, smiling at Faye. A group of several students in white coats followed him in. They couldn't have been older than her, and she noticed they were all men. Dr. Kirksen frowned at Jyri, who had stepped away from the shelves. "Why isn't she in a gown?"
"She doesn't need one." Jyri led Faye to a scale, and took her weight, then had her sit on the table, to take her pulse. Faye fought back an urge to punch at him and escape. But she had no chance of getting away with guards blocking the door.
"We're doing a standard check-up now," Dr. Kirksen told the students. "But once we get that information, we'll get to the action."
"What's wrong with her wing?" a student asked, pointing to Faye's twisted wing. Faye folded it behind her back, pressing it close to her body. But students circled around her, so attempting to hide it was useless.
"There's nothing wrong with her wing," Jyri said, his grip tightening on Faye's wrist. "All bodies have flaws and imperfections."
"It's really weird," another student said, reaching out to touch it.
Jyri swatted his hand away. "Don't touch her."
"Are you done yet?" Dr. Kirksen asked.
"I have to redo her pulse," Jyri said, "seeing as I haven't been able to focus with all this chatter."
Everyone managed to stay silent for a minute as Jyri took her pulse rate. He scribbled something down afterwards, muttering something about it being high. Brushing her hair aside, he checked her ears, then her eyes, and instructed her to open her mouth. The group watched with bored expressions as he ran his hands down her body, squeezing parts of it in a gentle manner. It wouldn't have been too horrible if there weren't six people watching the scene. Eight counting Roark and Kern, who remained at the door but watched on curiously. Along with the added bonus of horrors to come. Nausea overcame her, and she had to force herself to sit upright.
Jyri wrote something else down, and glanced up at her, smiling. "You're in good health."
"Wonderful news," Faye said, in a voice laced with poison.
Jyri flipped through the papers on his clipboard, folding them over. Faye wrapped her arms around herself, breathing heavily.
"What's first?" someone asked.
Jyri frowned at the clipboard. "Sugar in a wound? What the demons for?"
"You know how when there's salt in a wound, it stings?" Dr. Kirksen asked. Jyri nodded. "I think King Lyon wants to know if sugar does the same."
"I highly doubt it would," Jyri said.
"Do you think it could cure it?" Dr. Kirksen asked.
"Wait..." Jyri pinched the bridge of his nose. "Are you insinuating that, if you rub sugar in an open wound, it will heal faster?"
"Yes." Dr. Kirksen turned to the students. "What do you think will happen if you rub sugar in an open wound?"
"I think it'll heal faster," a student said.
"It won't do anything," another student said.
"Is that all we're doing to her?" a third student asked.
"We need to start with the basics," Jyri said to the third. "At your experience-level, you can't jump in giving lobotomies."
"Is that on the list?" Faye asked, her trembling voice low enough for only Jyri to hear.
Of course he didn't answer, and lifted up Faye's arm. "First, we'll need to rub alcohol-"
"Alcohol!" Dr. Kirksen exclaimed. "What for?"
"To numb it, so it's less painful."
"But that will affect the experiment. We need it to be as accurate as-"
Jyri whipped out a scalpel from the cart. "Would you like me to slice your arm open without numbing it?"
"I mean, well... she's just a huminal," Dr. Kirksen mumbled.
Jyri sneered at him. "And then you wonder why they die in your care. Bring me the alcohol."
Muttering under his breath, Dr. Kirksen walked over to a grouping of shelves, and pulled a jug of clear liquid out. Jyri dribbled some into a towel, and rubbed the cold liquid over her arm. Faye shivered as she watched Jyri pick the scalpel back up. He held her arm out straight, and placed the sharp edge of the scalpel against her outer arm. "This is going to hurt."
Like she couldn't have guessed. Faye squeezed her eyes shut just as the scalpel touched her skin. She braced herself for the pain.
But none came.
"What are you waiting for?" asked an impatient voice.
Faye opened her eyes and saw Jyri hadn't moved. Instead, he stared at the scalpel in his hand, shoulders drooped. His eyes met Faye's, and darted back down at the scalpel.
"Is something wrong?" Dr. Kirksen asked.
"No, everything's fine." Jyri's voice cracked at the last word, and he closed his eyes, his clammy hand still wrapped around her wrist.
It was then when Faye realized how much it truly pained him to have to go through with this. Whatever he might have done in the past must've been long behind him.
"Are you... crying?" asked a student standing near him.
Jyri rubbed at his eye. "No, I'm... Allergies."
"He's crying," another student said.
Faye furrowed her brow as she recalled his journal. Didn't it say something about leaving a job? That he refused to return to? She'd feel sympathy for him if it wasn't her on the receiving end of that scalpel.
"This is a disappointment," Dr. Kirksen said. "Dr. Ruska, the King's highest ranking huminal tester, doesn't even have the stomach to give one a minor cut."
Jyri had a knuckle-white grip on the handle of the scalpel. He loosened his hold, letting out a breath.
"If you can't do it, I will."
Dr. Kirksen's voice was chilling. Enough to get Jyri to continue. He pressed the scalpel back down, and Faye looked away right as he sliced it into her arm. She let out a scream as sharp, burning pain ran through her arm. Several students cheered.
Lunacy. That's what it was. Lunacy normalized. Everyone treated it as a fun and exciting thing, watching a huminal get tortured. And they all huddled in to watch the next step. Faye had never felt such pain and humiliation in her life. And she was no stranger to such things. Something wet trickled down her arm, but she couldn't bring herself to look.
"It would've hurt more without the alcohol," Jyri said to her, grabbing a fresh towel. Faye focused her attention on a file cabinet against the wall, and managed to hold back tears. Jyri patted the towel on her wound, and whispered an apology to her. Then, glanced at Dr. Kirksen. "Where's the sugar?"
Dr. Kirksen handed Jyri a small bag of sugar. Jyri took a pinch of it, keeping one hand on the towel over the wound. He looked in her eyes. "I don't know if this is going to hurt or not."
"Does it matter?"
Jyri moved the towel away, and dropped the sugar into the wound. And another pinchful. The throbbing pain remained.
"How's that?" Jyri asked.
"It feels the same." Though suddenly it didn't hurt as bad. "Wait, it's starting to hurt less."
Jyri frowned. "Seriously?" Faye nodded. The pain was still there, though she no longer felt like crying. Not over that, anyway.
"I told you!" Dr. Kirksen said.
There was excited chattering among the students. Shaking his head, Jyri wet a towel, and dabbed it around the wound, cleaning it before wrapping a heavy bandage around it. He gave her a weak smile that she found herself returning in spite of the madness.
"What's second on the list?" Dr. Kirksen asked.
Jyri flipped a page on his clipboard, and momentarily froze. The corners of his lips twitched back, and his eyes widened.
"What is it?" Faye asked, feeling as though she would be happier not knowing.
"We should, take a break now," he said, running a hand through his hair.
"That's it?" a student whined.
"More to come later," Jyri said, tossing the clipboard on the counter next to the sink. "Our patient needs rest."
"All she got was a cut," Dr. Kirksen said.
"And how many patients have died in your care?" Jyri asked, eyebrows raised.
Dr. Kirksen shook his head. "It's getting late anyways." He motioned the students out. Roark and Kern stepped aside to let them leave, while keeping a watchful eye on Jyri and Faye.
Jyri turned to Faye. "We got lucky the first experiment was so minor." He lowered his voice to a whisper. "Hopefully we can escape before the second."
"What's the second?" Faye asked, her voice shaking.
The door opened, and in stepped King Lyon, flanked by guards. He strode up to Jyri. "I hope you got something done today."
"Only the first one," Jyri said. "Sugar feels better on a wound."
"That's all you did?"
"The students had a lot of questions," Jyri said.
Lyon narrowed his eyes. "It's time for you to go back to your cell anyway. Lock the thing away, and come with us."
"I can't stay with her?" Jyri asked.
Lyon scowled, folding his arms. "Are you insulting my intelligence?"
"Of course not, your majesty." Jyri's voice trembled.
"Because I haven't forgotten what happened last time I left you alone with one of your little huminal friends. And you're lucky I'm letting you off so light. Now, lock that up, and come with me before I change my mind about letting you live."
Jyri scooped Faye up in his arms, and carried her to the caged unit. Faye wanted to break out of his hold, but found she didn't have the energy. He got on his knees, and set her down next to one of the bottom cages. Once he opened the cage door, he gestured inside it with his hand. Like how a gentleman would open a door for his date. It made her feel like gagging, and the grin on his face told her that he knew it would. Faye rolled her eyes at him, but crawled in anyway.
"Goodnight, Faye," Jyri whispered to her as he latched the door, then looked up at Lyon. "What about food?"
"Food?"
"She, all the non-humans, they need to eat."
Faye could only see Lyon's legs from where she was, but heard a scoff from him. "Do you honestly believe we have the funds to feed them regularly?"
"But-"
"They'll eat tomorrow." A pause. "Shackle him."
A guard grabbed Jyri's wrist, yanking him up to his feet. Faye heard the clink of the shackles locking, and all the legs in front of her cage walked away. Though she caught Lyon's words to Roak and Kern. "Keep an eye on that half-fairy. I'll have someone bring you food from the banquet." The door creaked open, then closed.
The cage Jyri had put her in was larger, but it was still too small to stand in. At least it was long enough for her to lie down, although the bottoms of her shoes pressed against the side of the cage.
I should be back in Acren, Faye thought as she settled down to sleep. She should be in Acren, sleeping in one of her old haunts. Where she survived by pick pocketing, and lived in fear of her identity being discovered. It was far preferable to her current situation.
The smell of beef wafted through the air, which must've meant Roark and Kern were given their dinner. Her stomach gnawed at her insides. No funds to feed the huminals, but plenty for a banquet. She let out a groan, and her mind wandered back to Jyri. He had been so nice to her. Most of the time, anyway. But he had tortured her kind for a living. Something in her throat swelled up. What a mess I've gotten myself into.
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