Follow The Trail.
~ x ~
A week has gone by since Leslie last seen Ruvik and the Doctor. The nurses aren't nice to him when they try to take him out of his room, he thrashes against their cold hands. Yet he has no idea why he fights. It's confusing and suffocating, he wants to go back and that very thought terrifies him. What if it was all a false sense of security, a trap for Ruvik to get him under his control like he always seemed to do. Control. Control. Control. It was all the man thought about, the same with the Doctor.
The tests seem to be simple and strange, yet it never bothered Ruvik that much. Or maybe Leslie never noticed the difference of each of the test's limit that went further and steeper into Ruvik's subconscious mind. Constant changes his brain waves and stalling most of Ruvik's memories and sometimes his emotions. Whatever the Doctor injects in Leslie, it seems to work in some ways. A sort of sympathetic view clings to Ruvik, yet his words are always cold and hollow and his actions differ. So confusing. The thought aches at his mind, building on tentative headaches that never seem to go down. Insomnia crackles at his skull, he fights off the sedatives, ignores the threats the nurses give him. Something about not having food or water, or bathroom breaks. Sometimes they hit him, strap him down and spoon feed him. He always ends up covered in small bruises that fade in a day or so.
The Doctor never says anything about it, nor does Leslie comment on it. His minds reels at the prospect that maybe the Doctor doesn't care about many people. Did he ever care about Ruvik?
That entire week was terrible and when Dr. Jimenez came to retrieve Leslie, he only looked at him for a split second. Viewing the small bruised marks on his pale skin that were at his wrists, knuckles and along the side of his face. No words escaped his lips as he strapped Leslie to a wheelchair and left the common room and back down into the basement where the STEM program was. At least the one that Ruvik created. No one questioned Dr. Marcelo Jimenez, no one cared. There were too many patients to take care of and lately a lot were dying or gone missing.
As Dr. Jimenez pressed the elevator button, the screeches of metal rattled Leslie's anxious feelings. His fingers curled inwards, gripping the arm wrists as tightly as he could. There was no relief but they went down smoothly without any fuss.
"I'm thinking a few hours, but they want you to stay in there for a day or two. At least with the new serums they've given from their own laboratories.." Dr. Jimenez spoke, mostly to himself.
"R-Ruvik.." Leslie murmured, his heart thrummed so quickly he wished for it to calm down. The thought of seeing Ruvik again unsettled him. Last time it went well, Ruvik protected him, but he did say they weren't friends and nothing changes between them. How could they ever be friends? There was no way.
"Yes," Dr. Jimenez said as the elevator doors opened, he took the wheelchair handles and pushed Leslie down the hall, "The serum will make Ruvik comply in different articulate ways without his usual abhorrence. I'll watch both of your brain waves for any anomalies."
"Anomalies.. anomalies.. a-anomalies..." Leslie murmured as he shook his head, not understanding what it meant nor the pounding headaches at his temples. He groaned several times, but Dr. Jimenez simply ignored him until they were in the Lab.
"Yes, Leslie. Anomalies," Dr. Jimenez said impatiently, he pushed Leslie towards a work bench and began fumbling with several needles. There was one kit with Leslie's name on it, another with Ruvik's. He watched as Dr. Jimenez went to the tubing area that kept Ruvik's organs alive, mostly his brain, he pushed the needle inside of one of the tubes and walked back to the bench.
With a sigh, he turned to Leslie and pushed up Leslie's white shirt, wiped the artery before puncturing Leslie with the needle. Leslie squirmed, but Dr. Jimenez wouldn't remove his grip on his arm. Once he was finished, he pushed Leslie to the tub and told him to get in.
Leslie swallowed nervously as he stood up and climbed over the tubs railing and laid down. It was the same procedure whenever he was told to go into Ruvik's mind. Leslie was the only one to actually be able to come out alive, simply having control over Ruvik's mind. It still confused the doctor and his so called co-workers.
Dr. Jimenez was able to keep them off of Leslie for now, simply by giving them more results on Ruvik's mind. Since he was known as a serial killer and psychopath when he was technically alive. They wanted to explore that more and see different realities by using Leslie as their tool.
"1.. 2.. 3.." Dr. Jimenez counted, with each number that passed by, Leslie's eyes began to droop shut. He felt his skull tickle and realized he was entering Ruvik's mind. It was quick and the next moment he opened his eyes.
He was inside his bedroom at Beacon Mental Hospital, lying on his bed and staring at the ceiling as if that was what he was doing previously. The door was wide open, letting in the flickering light from the hall. He could hear the groaning of those monsters and knew he had to be quiet enough to slip past them without them noticing him.
He sat up and carefully got off the bed without making it creak like it usually did and moved towards the door. He stayed in the dark, keeping his breathing shallow enough to glance into the hall. There were five of them lurking several doors down, pulsing with sick infections and terrible wounds.
Whatever the doctor had given Ruvik and himself. He had to make sure he stayed alive and keep himself far away from Ruvik. He closed his eyes and tried searching for him, but from what the small pulses gave him, Leslie knew Ruvik was far inside his memories, deep into the recesses of his distorted mind. All he could feel was warmth on his skin and the smell of sunflowers.
.
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a/n: Hey. I wanted to do something a bit different with this story than my last. It's a sort of sequel from the other one. I also tweaked the story. I don't want to involve Mobius because I think those guys are assholes. But I decided to just subtly hint that they're still around. Since they have Ruvik's brain, I decided to use serums to change his emotions and distort his memories.
Sebastian and the others aren't making an appearance. I just want to make this a Leslie/Ruvik story. :D Fluffy, maybe angst, lovey crap. :P
Reviews are appreciated. No flames or bashing please.