29-10-2010
AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is obviously an AU. I'm playing with Subaru's past. And the past that isn't covered between the end of Tokyo Babylon and X1999. (There's lots of possibilities there!)
Snapped?
By Zuzanny
lionette AT mailcity DOT com
Part 3
Nursing Notes
Patient admitted to ward via A&E after being brought in by ambulance and police post collapse and possible sudden onset of hallucinations and delusions. Episode including attempt to self harm, scratching at his face and right eye. Patient had been secured chemically in the scene as per protocol. Obs stable as charted. Pupils equal and responsive to light. No sign of injury apart from the facial scratches. Patient's family deny knowledge of mental health issues or illicit drug use. Pathology attended. No abnormality or toxicity detected. ECG attended. CT attended. Mental health worker and doctor in attendance. No medical or surgical history. No known allergies. Facial scratches cleansed with normal saline. Scars noted on the back of both hands, possibly self inflicted? Restrained physically as per doctor's orders, awaiting return to consciousness...
Subaru wrapped his arms around his drawn up knees and rested his cheek against his knees, eyeing the doctor who was seated across from him, with charts and papers resting on his lap.
"Well, Mister Sumeragi... May I call you Subaru? How are you feeling?" The doctor asked holding a pen ready to scribble on one of the charts.
Subaru bit his lip and shifted briefly, trying to decide if he should be honest with the doctor, or if his honesty would get him into more trouble than he already was in. He decided that he would tread carefully, but honestly, as he was never any good at lying. "I feel..." he closed his eyes, assessing himself and the sensations of his body. "... like I'm coming out of a drug cocktail that was used to forcefully sedate me."
The doctor blinked at him. "You have been sedated before?"
Subaru nodded his head against his knees, and picked at a few pieces of fluff he found there. "I've been kidnapped a few times." He replied. "On one of the last times, they drugged me, and kept me drugged for a while. It felt kind of like this."
The doctor was quiet for a few moments. "Did you receive any counselling afterwards?"
Subaru shrugged. "Grandmother didn't like the idea of the media getting wind of it." He didn't mention what else happened to those who had kidnapped him, or how he was rescued. He stopped himself from rubbing the back of his hands moments after he had already done so, and swallowed back the bile that had risen to the back of his throat. The doctor frowned and scratched down some notes.
"Were you hurt at all during the..." The doctor trailed off.
Again Subaru shrugged. "Not really. Can we talk about something else please?"
"Do you know why you are here?"
"Because either I have been transported to some kind of alternate reality, or I have gone mad. And since I know I can't really prove the difference, you are going to treat me like I am mad anyway."
The doctor leaned back in the chair for a few moments, simply observing Subaru for a few moments. "Tell me about it." The doctor finally said. At Subaru's expression of distrust, the doctor raised an eye brow. "Indulge me. We have found no physical cause for your... experience, so if you are unwell I need to know what I can do to help you."
"And what if I really am who I say I am and you treat me like I'm crazy anyway?"
"Tell me." The doctor gently insisted. "What were the last things you remembered before the ambulance arrived? Why did you scratch at your face? Why were you yelling? Your grandmother mentioned you said you had killed your lover and blown up a bridge, but that has not happened."
Subaru bit his lip, and was about to answer when what the doctor said actually registered. "Wait, WHAT! My LOVER! I don't have a lover! I've never even!" Subaru's face went bright red, unable to even say the words. "How long has THAT been going on? And who? No wait. It can't be... Seishirou?" Subaru paled at the thought, wondering how sick the game Seishirou was playing really was, and if 'he' had ever suspected a thing. "I think I may vomit."
"I take it you don't remember that kind of a relationship?"
"No." Subaru said firmly. "He is an assassin who murdered my sister after he spent a year stalking and trying to seduce me. I then spent the next nine years or so tracking him in order to bring him to justice." Subaru took a slow, deep breath and closed his eyes. "War had just broken out a couple months ago and we were on opposing sides. I had just fought and killed him when I found myself standing in this different reality, five years in my past, and Hokuto still alive. So no. I may have loved him, but we had never been lovers."
The doctor stared for a few moments before clearing his throat. "So why did you scratch your face?"
"A week or so ago..." Subaru's eyes gleamed with remembered horror. "during a battle with Seishirou's... boss. He caught me and just for fun poked my eye out. It was not pleasant. I was told I would never see again. So here I am suddenly with both my eyes. I'm sorry if I found that to be unnerving and overreacted."
"W-was that when you were kidnapped and drugged?"
"No, THAT happened... earlier."
They talked for what seemed like hours after that, and when the doctor left, he still couldn't decide if he had witnessed a case of an acute schizophrenic delusion... or the possibility that Subaru was telling the truth. How ever, he didn't think he would look at that Mister Sakurazuka the same way ever again.
To be continued...