Part 1 – The specified user does not exist

~AC 197, March 3rd, L4 – B289, 10:34am~

If it hadn't been for the sign at the gate, no one would have taken the big, cozy mansion nestled into a green park to be the Fatimah Psychiatric Clinic. This had been the aim of the people who had founded the institution. This very private clinic sheltered a large range of people suffering from different addictions and mental illnesses, and prided itself on its security and comfort for its patients. The Winner family had been one of the largest contributors, and still donated huge amounts from time to time, ensuring that neither the staff nor the patients had to worry about financial problems. In the last decade, the clinic had welcomed many lost souls into its walls, and the dedicated staff had done all they could to ease the pain of those unfortunate enough to end up in what was, however pretty the exterior, a hospital for mentally unstable and clinically insane people.

"Hey, Carl!" Jay called as he made his way out for a smoke. "Back from your holidays? How was it?"

"Hey, Jay! Paradise! I mean, come on, you can't expect a man to work here of all places and remain completely sane without his holidays from time to time. I'm tellin' you, I was glad to leave the alien farm for a while."

"Tell me about it," Jay sighed. "I'm on break in a week and I just can't wait to be outta here. All those psychos are driving me nuts, honest! If I don't get a break, I'll put on a nice hospital gown and join them inside!"

The two male nurses stepped out in the bright morning lights. Both took out cigarettes and lighters and indulged in just smoking in silence for a while.

"So," Carl finally said, "new director still not here?"

"Nope, not yet. From what I've heard, she's coming all the way from Earth. Should be here before the end of the week, though, she's supposed to be a great specialist of whatever the nutcases in here suffer from."

Carl snorted.

"Any new people came in while I was havin' fun?"

Jay slapped his forehead.

"God, I can't believe I didn't tell you about that one, or you didn't hear already! We had a new one, about three weeks ago, I think."

"Really! So what's he like?"

"I dunno what the matter is with him, he's been put in isolation fairly soon, I heard he can become violent. Actually, Mason told me he knocked out cold two orderlies who tried to restrain him, and he almost killed one of the paranoids. Apparently, the guy was convinced the newbie wanted to finish him and jumped him. He ended up with his two legs broken and a concussion."

"It's been a long time since we got any real violent ones, huh?" Carl asked, intrigued.

"Yeah, and you wouldn't believe it from him, I mean, he's just a kid! He looks barely older than fifteen, and he's got an angelic look on his face. Big blue eyes, blond hair, a bit skinny. But he's nuts alright, I mean, when you talk to him, it's like you're not there. He just looks through you and never answers."

"Sounds strange."

"Hey, you wanna see him?" Jay asked excitedly.

"Can we? I mean, isn't it against regulation…"

"Come on, no one will know. I swear he's a pretty thing, you won't regret it," Jay added with a saucy wink and a leery smile. "I know where they keep him, and no one will be around at that time of day. Maybe we can even have a bit of fun, who knows?"

Carl smiled too.

"Okay. Lead on, pal."

/danger/

/someone's coming/

Jay led the way into the isolation ward. This ward had been built since the start, but it was rarely used. The clinic did not often have patients whose psychosis necessitated total isolation. Most of them were stable enough to at least interact with the other patients without incidents. Some of them needed occasional isolation because of self-destructive behavior or bouts of violence towards the staff or other patients, but this new one had been sent into total isolation after only three days here, as Jay explained. The only people to interact with him were the two female nurses assigned to the isolation ward and his psychiatrist.

Jay used his pass to open the secured door to the ward. Without hesitation, he took his colleague down a corridor, then turned right to one of the isolation suites. Those were not the simple matted bedrooms you could find in a regular mental ward. The money provided by donators had seen to that. The suites had a bedroom, a bathroom, and a living area. In that living area, a large panel of the wall was covered by what looked like a regular mirror to the patient inside, but it was in fact an observation window to anyone who was standing in the corridor, just as Jay and Carl were.

Carl almost gasped when he saw the young man sitting on the windowsill. Beside him, Jay, chuckled.

"Told you he was a pretty thing."

"Pretty doesn't cover it, man," Carl breathed. "What's his name?"

Jay shrugged.

"Dunno. I've never been assigned to him, and Dr Carter doesn't discuss his case with anyone. He's weird, heh?"

Carl nodded. The young man inside was a vision. He was barefoot, wearing simple white hospital pajamas. The shirt was a bit too large for him and bared a slim but muscular shoulder. The lights inside the suit, along with the joyful artificial sun, were playing on his light blond hair and white clothes, making them glow. But for all his beauty, the boy could have been a statue. He was staring straight ahead at the wall that encased the window, his green-blue eyes completely devoid of any life.

Both men jumped slightly as the boy suddenly turned his empty eyes to the mirror, as if feeling their presence.

"He can't see us through this, right?" Carl asked uneasily.

"Nah, he can't. But you know those weirdoes, sometimes it's like they can feel you come before you're in. I heard one of the doctors say we had at least three patients with limited empathic perceptions, and maybe a telepath. Freakin' New Types. Human evolution is a bitch if it turns you into some kind of mental freak, if you want my opinion."

Jay gazed trough the glass for a moment, before he nudged Carl.

"Ya wanna see him close? Get inside?"

"If he's violent…"

"Oh come on, I bet Mason exaggerated, I mean did you look at him? How could a kid like that knock out two of us? And who will know if we had a bit of fun? It's not like he's gonna tell on us after all, he doesn't speak at all. I don't even know if he can."

"Okay, then."

Jay went to the door and used his magnetic pass to open it.

/danger/

/too close/

/people coming, bad intentions/

/danger/

The boy didn't move or even turn his head as the two orderlies came inside. He kept staring straight ahead, not giving any sign he even knew someone was in the room with him. The two men almost jumped out of their skins when he suddenly got up in a fluid movement. But once he was up, he remained where he was.

"Come on," Jay whispered, as if afraid he would awake a wild animal. "Let's get closer."

"Jay, I'm not sure we should…"

"What, you're chickening out now?"

Carl sighed.

"No."

Jay got to the boy in three steps and held out a hesitant hand. A flash of something passed in the green-blue eyes, so swiftly that Carl was not sure he had really seen it. What was for sure was that Jay had not seen it. He was running the back of his hand on the smooth cheek and cooing.

"Now that's a good boy! It's a shame to hide you beneath all those clothes, though. I bet all of that white skin is as smooth as this lovely cheek."

Jay's other hand closed around a slender arm, steering the boy against the wall. And this time…

/danger/

/bad intentions/

/anger hatred/

/get your hands off me/

"Jay, I think you should let him go," Carl said, a bit worried.

The boy was flinching away from the touch, even if his face remained perfectly calm and collected. His fists were clenched, and Carl could see the outline of very well-formed muscles ripple under the pale skin. Then, the young man began to frown and wince, as if experiencing some pain.

/fear/

/lust/

/other one feels fear/

/let go of me/

"Why? He isn't saying anything!" Jay protested. "Hey!"

The boy had taken the wrist circling his arm in an iron grip.

"Let go!" Jay ordered. "I'm not gonna hurt you!"

The boy only glared back. Right now his eyes were impressively expressive, compared to what Carl had seen before. There was a cold fury alive in them, and something else that made Carl shiver.

"Let go of him, Jay."

"I didn't come here just to let a sick boy grab me like this and get away with it," Jay snapped. "Let go," he added again for the boy.

The boy only tightened his grip. Carl saw Jay pale.

"Jay?"

"Shit, that hurts! Let go!"

Carl suddenly heard a bone creaking and Jay cried out.

"Fuck! Carl, help me, that little piece of shit is breaking my wrist!"

A few other cracking sounds just confirmed that. The boy was still staring furiously at Jay's face, his own face expressing nothing except for the eyes. Carl felt terrified by those eyes.

"Carl! Damn it! Do something!" Jay screamed as he tried to get away.

Carl took a step towards the boy and tried to catch the hand that was mercilessly crushing his colleague's bones. In a second, the boy literally hurled Jay into the wall, all but knocking him out in the process. Carl never saw the fist until it caught his jaw, sending him staggering backwards.

"Anything else, Shannon?" Dr Carter asked, bending on his files.

"That's all, Doctor. I'd say he had a quieter night, but I'm not sure he even slept at all," the nurse answered.

Dr Carter sighed and put his pen down.

"Putting him on sedatives again is out of question, Shannon. You know what they did to him."

"I know, doctor. But still…"

"No. Natural sleep is what is best for him. What little amount of natural sleep he can get, anyway. I…"

An alarm interrupted the doctor. He frowned, turning to his computer. Then his eyes widened as he saw what was going on.

"Shannon, was there a cleaning of the isolation suite planned for today?"

"Yes, doctor, but not until this afternoon. Moira was supposed to do it. What is going on?"

"Someone just accessed the suite. The name is…"

Dr Carter clicked on several windows, calling a video feedback from the surveillance camera and scanning the database for the ID number the digital pad at the door had detected.

"… Jay Maleda. I don't know him."

"He should not be in there, doctor," Shannon said with a frown.

Both she and Carter gasped as the video file opened in a new window.

"Oh my god," Shannon breathed.

"Let's go, quick!"

Five minutes later, Dr Carter burst into the isolation suite, followed by a slightly out of breath Shannon. What he found…

His patient was standing near the window, exactly at the same place where he had last seen him on the video. He was hugging himself and staring straight ahead, not paying any attention to anyone. One of the men was sprawled on the floor, looking dazed, a bad bruise beginning to darken on his jaw. The other was sitting against the wall, his eyes shut, cradling his left wrist and whimpering softly. Shannon went to the boy immediately.

"Quatre?" she asked very quietly. "Quatre, are you alright?"

The boy looked up, but did not make any other move to show he had understood he was spoken to. He did not answer.

"Of course he's alright! He's the one who attacked us," the injured man whined.

Dr Carter turned to him, his eyes very cold.

"That's not exactly what I saw," he said icily. "Would you please care to explain what you were doing here? You have no right to enter the isolation ward, even less to open a patient's suite without supervision or orders from a member of the medical staff."

"How do you know we don't have it?"

"Because I'm the only one allowed to give permission to get into this suite and I know quite well I didn't give it to you. The only people allowed here are Shannon, Moira and myself. Then, there is also the fact that you practically assaulted this boy."

"We didn't…" the other man tried to say.

"Silence! I don't want to hear any kind of excuse. The feedback from the surveillance cameras is enough to prove that you came here with less than friendly intentions. At best it would be unprofessional and would earn you a warning. But this kind of behavior is totally inexcusable! You tried to take advantage of a patient who is entitled to this institution's care! This would be a crime had it been attempted on any sane person! It is even more criminal to have tried it on this boy! He already suffers from severe mental pain and doesn't need you to add physical trauma to this! You will …"

/anger concern/

/worry/

/fear/

/too much input/

/hurts it hurts/

A small whimper interrupted Carter. The young doctor turned to his patient. Quatre was clutching his head and wincing. Shannon immediately put protective arms around the boy.

"Doctor, please, not here. He's in pain from it all, we should…"

"You're right, Shannon."

Carter walked to the young man and signaled his presence with a gentle touch on his arm.

"Quatre? Shannon will take you to your room now, okay? I'm sorry I yelled like this, it wasn't directed at you. Just… go with Shannon. You're safe now. I'll make sure you stay safe from now on. You'll be alright."

Shannon looked up, and she prudently directed Quatre to the door leading to his bedroom. The young man didn't resist, only hugging himself tighter and following the nurse without a look back.

/safe/

/but too much input/

/hurts my head hurts my heart/

/doctor said I'm safe/

/…/

/incorrect input /

"Alright, where was I?" Dr Carter said, turning back to the two male nurses. "Oh yeah. I was about to call security and have you arrested and charged with assault and breaking of the doctor-patient confidentiality."

"You can't do that!"

"You are Jay Maleda, right? And you are…?"

"Carl Benson, Doctor," the man answered lowering his head.

"You will both face disciplinary measures and answer for your actions in court. I have no doubt what the issue of the court case will be since your victim is unable to deliver any kind of testimony. However, I for one will make sure that you never ever work in a hospital again. And you can consider yourself fired."

"You can't do that!" Jay Maleda said again.

Carter raised a sarcastic eyebrow.

"Wanna try me? In the absence of our new head of clinic, I have every right to dismiss any member of staff whose behavior is not deemed appropriate by the standards we set here. Groping a patient is not appropriate."

"He broke my wrist!" Jay complained. "And he decked Carl!"

"This was merely self-defense, and it's your fault you got hurt. Didn't it occur to you there was a reason why this patient was in isolation? Didn't you see the memos that alerted about his possible bouts of violence?"

"How was I to know…"

"That's enough! Get out of here! If I ever see you around this hospital I'll have you arrested! You jeopardized the well-being of my patient! Your injuries will be seen by a member of staff and then you will be handed to security. I'll ask you to leave the premises of the clinic as soon as you're ordered to."

Jay started to protest again, but Carl Benson bowed his head in shame.

"Yes, doctor. I… I am sorry."

"It's a bit late for that, Benson."

"I know… I know it's never gonna make it up to him, but…"

"I request that you both write a letter of apology before you leave. Now clear the way."

"Yes, Doctor."

Carter sighed as the two men exited the room. Then he took several deep breaths to calm himself down. Being in that state of mind to meet Quatre would only hurt his young patient, he had soon learnt about that. When he estimated he was calm enough, he went into the bedroom.

Quatre was sitting on the hospital bed, hugging his knees and staring in the void. Shannon was walking in the room, tidying things and talking continually. This was a thing they had agreed they should do, talk as much as possible about mundane things. Since Quatre was unresponsive most of the time, Shannon, Moira and Carter tried their best to find something that would make him react. They hadn't succeeded so far.

"Quatre? Are you alright?"

The young man looked up and in Carter's general direction, but his empty eyes did not see him, or so it seemed. Carter was still very uneasy under this look. It gave him the impression he was a piece of furniture, or that he didn't even exist at all. Yet, they had made some progress in the last week. Quatre had become accustomed to the presence of the two nurses, Shannon and Moira, and if he didn't show any reaction to their words, he didn't shy away from their touch and followed their lead when asked to. There were also times when Carter thought Quatre actually heard what he said and understood. Times when his gaze on people, and on him particularly, would be more focused. But it never lasted long. Most of the time, Quatre wore an unreadable face, and the only expressions that sometimes crossed his handsome face were of pain and sadness. Carter had never seen the boy smile.

"It's gonna be okay, they won't bother you again. Nor will anyone else. I am really sorry for what happened, I had no idea someone would actually try this."

Quatre just rested his chin on his knees, staring straight ahead again. Carter sighed.

"I know I said this a lot of times already, Quatre, but if you wish to speak about it or anything else, I'm here to listen. Don't worry about the time, just press your buzz button and Shannon or Moira will get me, okay?"

No answer. Shannon followed Carter out of the room.

"He didn't touch his book, doctor."

"What?"

"The book you left here. He didn't touch it."

"I see. Well… it doesn't hurt to leave it here anyway. I suppose he didn't ask for anything either?"

"No, doctor, he didn't."

Carter shook his head.

"I just hope our new head of clinic arrives soon. I really don't know what to do with him. But one thing is sure, I won't give up on him. It's not fair that someone so young should waste his life here."

"I know what you mean, doctor," Shannon said sadly. "I really wish I could help him more. It breaks my heart sometimes to see him like this."

Carter patted the nurse's shoulder.

"You're helping, Shannon. You are. But it's difficult because he can't help us. I just wish he would talk to me."

"So do I, Doctor," Shannon sighed. "So do I."