The Star Patient

I don’t know if drugs would even work on him! He’s a glitch demon; his body doesn’t exactly react like a human’s.

Yeah, it’s probably something from the hospital, either a powder or a liquid. I don’t know a lot about the various kinds of drugs so I tend to leave it vague ^^”

Those are all good questions! The serum is intended to protect them, give them some strength against Anti’s influence. Whether or not it actually works remains to be seen and as of yet, none of them have found out. Jameson didn’t think to say anything to the others; he trusts Schneep, and if he did mention anything it was probably that his arm hurt for a while after his shot.

XD It wouldn’t surprise me if that was Chase!

He wouldn’t be consoled. No matter how Marvin soothed or shushed or promised him that he wouldn’t be hurt, it wasn’t enough. They were doing this the hard way, Marvin dragging his hands through Splendor’s tangled hair, forcing his head down against his shoulder, and the magician screaming and screaming into his shirt until his voice gave out to heaving sobs.

Marvin ached as he held him, trying not to flinch away as needy fingers clung and dug and bruised. He hated seeing him like this; he wanted a miracle, he wanted the demons gone, he wanted him whole and sane again -- but that Splendor, it seemed, had died with Puppetmaster.

“You need to breathe,” he pleaded, drowned out by wheezing moans in German. “Henrik. Henrik, you need to breathe for me.” Prying one arm free of him, he groped for the nearby mask and its lead. Tightening the grip of his other hand on Henrik’s skull, he guided him. “Here. This is going to help you, okay? Your asthma. Trust me. Please, trust me. Big breath now.”

And with childlike trust he obeyed, his watery cries muffled under the plastic. It seemed as if he only registered what was happening halfway through, as bloodshot eyes shot open and he bleated in a panic, struggling to twist his face away. It didn’t last long. Marvin kept his head down, held the mask firm, and finally, finally felt free to weep when his friend went limp and soft in his hold.

“What’s wrong, little Küken? You look like you’re seeing ghosts,” Albrecht purred, dragging a hand through Henrik’s dripping hair to wrench his head close. “Do you see them all again? All of those patients who cried for you, who slipped through your hands like water...” 

Oh, the sound Henrik made at that! Nothing at all like his usual defiance. Snatches of unclear, guttural noise echoed around him amidst a rising wave of whispers that felt wet in his ears. Save, lost, longing lips, far, salvation, unraveling, yearn, abyss...With every blink of the light overhead, the walls began to breathe, as if the room were bobbing on a black ocean. The walls had faces now, empty eyes and old flesh bursting and bubbling as it stretched. 

He had seen those faces before in his nightmares. All he could do now was choke in the face of them. “Nein, bitte...G-Go away! Please...Es tut mir leid...”

JJ got high once, though it was by accident! He ate some brownies that Schneep was making for a patient without knowing there was medical marijuana in them ^^”

“Lean on me, Edward. Lean on me.”

Whining lowly, the doctor stumbled as Google gripped his arm, clumsily half-bouncing on one foot to fall against his side. “Wha’s...going on? Y’walking too fast, Neel...S-Stop, m’dizzy...Stop...”

With a paranoid peek over his shoulder, Google obeyed, positioning him with his back to the darkness of the street. Edward didn’t resist, humming unintelligibly as he let his head fall against the android’s shoulder.

“Wha’s happening?” he asked again, slurring tiredly as his eyes closed.

Confusion, slurring, nausea, loss of coordination, drowsiness. He isn’t intoxicated. His missing enzyme prevents him from consuming alcohol; he’s been drinking soda all night. Processors churning, Google sent another narrow glance down the street, crimson light sputtering to life in his eyes. “You’ve been drugged -- and we’re being followed.”

Sometimes he is, but Schneep keeps him topped up on at least a few so he doesn’t have to face a clear-minded Jack who’s furious at what he’s doing.

It took every ounce of strength Jack had in him to make it to the door, twisting the handle in a clumsy grip as his heavy head fell against the frame. Somewhere in his loose conscious he knew he had to stay quiet, but the majority of his thoughts were of the hallway outside. He rattled the handle again, weak desperation welling in him. An open door, freedom, he had to get --

“Ahh -- !” His hoarse cry was muffled by the plastic mask forced over his nose and mouth. He reeled, trying to clutch at it, but it didn’t take much effort for Henrik to reach and push them aside. 

“Jack, Jack, Jack, my friend,” Henrik murmured, his voice close and calm in Jack’s ear -- one of the few things to pierce the thickening fog in his mind as he wilted, slumping back against him. “You know you are not to be out of bed without me there to help you. Tsk...You must be exhausted already.” 

Oh no! Now the next time I drink something that tastes weird, you’ll have put that thought in my head XD

His brothers and children being eaten by rats and insects, eating each other, people crying and banging inside the walls, patients without faces, organs strung up on the ceiling, dripping down on him, all while he felt like his body was decomposing from the inside out. They’re still fuel for a lot of his nightmares.

JJ wasn’t answering texts. Chase hadn’t gone with him, for obvious temptations, but when he told Jackieboy he hadn’t heard from him in the last hour, Jackie had promised to check on him. He’s probably just taking some time for himself. That’s good for him! He wasn’t expecting to find him stumbling half a block away from the bar, looking confused and unsteady. “Jameson?” 

“Jackie-e-eboy,” he slurred, his speech slide a flickering mess. “Jackie-sir...” Now that he was close, Jackie could see his pallid face and dilated pupils. JJ gladly slumped against him as soon as he opened his arms. 

“Are you drunk, buddy?” he questioned, unease stirring as the younger Ego laid his head against his chest with a drowsy shiver.

“Jus’ two spirits...F-Feel...woozy...”

“Hey!” Another voice made Jackie look up, tensing a little when he saw two men approaching. They in turn seemed startled to recognize the hero, but the larger of the two still spoke up with a forced laugh. “Sorry about him; he gets kinda clingy when he’s drunk. We were just about to head home. He’s with us.”

As JJ hid his face from the pair, Jackieboy’s skin prickled with realization...and rage. “No,” he growled, tightening his hand on the back of his brother’s neck. “He’s not.”