By RegalOneByTheStream
Thanks for positive reviews! Also, the Otayuri seeds will be planted, no worries, but the ship is not going to be as centralized as Viktuuri.
So without further ado.
Chapter three.
Enjoy!
XXXXXX
I am a human being; capable of doing terrible things.
~Run, AWOLNATION
XXXXXX
The Apocalypse had not been pretty. No shit; it was the freaking apocalypse.
It hadn't been a meteor like what had happened to the dinosaurs, or global warming like what liberal scientists told people. The cause wasn't some sort of alien invasion or zombies or a special government-made virus that was an instakill bioweapon. No, it had all been on people.
People had destroyed themselves.
And no, it wasn't nuclear warfare that did it.
Humans have always been afraid of things that were different. Massacring Jews, smothering out Christians, pushing homosexuals and the disabled to their deaths, dishonoring and disrupting the peaceful natives in a new land, humans did anything and everything to make sure that the normalcy of the world was absolute. But the world was changing, and these stubborn humans would change with it, forcefully or otherwise. And so God played a cruel joke. Somewhere in the line of evolution, somewhere in the biology of the family or the transferral of the genes from the father to the mother, there was a mutation, and the first winged child was born.
And the internet exploded.
On the web, there were pictures of the baby as a fetus and the baby just after birth and the baby at two months, which was adorable, seeing the child cuddled up next to its mother, grinning a toothless smile at the cameraperson as its wings fanned out behind it, a little angel, beautiful as could be.
Unknowing that in just a few short weeks, it would be dead.
The baby's name was Elizabeth. Elizabeth Montgomery. A little Caucasian girl in a little hamlet in little old West Virginia. She was 104 days old when she, her mother, and her father were taken into government custody and were never seen again.
Needless to say, the pictures were taken down.
And the internet exploded again.
But there were always exceptions to rules, and if there was any country more accustomed to breaking the rules, it was the United States of fucking America.
Surprise surprise. They were also the country with the loosest hold on their gun supply.
It took about fifty years for the Apocalypse to really kick into gear: time to get enraged, time to band together, time to plot, time to lay in wait like a venomous snake, readying itself to strike when the time was right.
The first revolt killed five million humans and twenty-four Avians.
The Avians had struck precisely. They had set up homemade bombs and blown up buildings, subways, foregoing suburbs in favor of taking out taller, more prominent structures. Several of them, all at once, all over the country. Fifty years of plotting had come to the beginning of the climax. Elizabeth would have been fifty years and 104 days old.
Once the Avians had used their weapons in a flashy, horrific display, they began on smaller scale attacks, killing anyone they could get their hands on. Avenging the Avian children who, like Elizabeth, had been discreetly taken out of existence. Massacring people like cattle in the streets; police, black, white, man, woman, all the same, as long as they were not winged. The Avians armored their wings with bulletproof material and took down planes. They kept bombing cities. Their base of operations was unplaceable. The military was confused. The president was enraged.
Just like that, the Human-Avian wars began.
Just like that, the Apocalypse began.
XXXXXX
Day 336
2206, Thursday 12/27, Year X427 of Nea Epochi
Yuuri Katsuki
The scientists won't stop trying to break into my infirmaries to try and steal Beta-831756 from his place in my hospital quarters. They have accused me of being Sympathizer. Disgusting. I have made a formal request for a security guard. The last one was not up to par, and did not appreciate the practices I put into place, saving lives so that they can be reused for the En Vivo projects. I pray that the next guard will fit the criteria listed in my last journal entry. I also pray that Celestino knows that, as a soft-spoken and devoted man, I wish for a guard who is quite the same.-
Yuri spluttered in his laughter. "Soft spoken and devoted?" he choked out between laughs, "What does that even fucking mean?"
Yuuri winced, looking back down at his entry. "They're code words," he replied softly, "Meaning I want a Sympathizer as a guard." The Delta snorted in response, picking at the underside of his fingernails, but he looked contrite, maybe even had a tinge of pity. Which was probably Yuuri's mind just randomly coming up with things; he didn't deserve any pity, not after all that humans-Yuuri's own kind-had done to him and his.
The younger of the two was walking around, pacing almost. Ever since he'd been told he could get up, Yuri had barely sat down, only doing so when it was time to sleep, eat, or go to the bathroom.
He hadn't bathed for quite some time, and Yuuri didn't have the luxury of a bathroom that wasn't strictly for medical purposes. Besides, Avians were apparently all ingrained with a fear of submersion into water. That had been one of the first things tested, and one of the first things the scientist put to the side, because Yuuri Katsuki knew how to save a drowned man when he was out of the water and knew how to pull him up and out safely, but when the man was weighted down with waterlogged wings, then it became a problem. And showers counted in the category. So the groomers used hoses, with freezing water and dry soap, but it was better than nothing.
Yuri halted his pacing to eye the doctor. "What?" He snapped, and Yuuri quickly looked away.
But he was proud of the Avian boy's medical journey so far. To Yuuri's delight, the katsudon had worked its magic, and the young Avian looked much healthier, his ribs only jutting out slightly, now. An undressing of the wounds on his hand told Yuuri that Yuri's missing pinky finger's nubbin hadn't gotten infected. In fact, none of his wounds had, an astonishing feat. "Talk, Katsudon, you're freaking me out with that half smile." Really, though, Yuri was faring so much better than any of the other Avians...it was probably just something to do with his age…
"Katsudon!"
Yuuri snapped out of his reverie. "Mhn!" he gasped, "Sorry, Yuri! I was...doing doctor stuff."
"Whatever," the young Delta snapped, "don't do it again."
And then Yuuri noted the shake to his tone and the way his eyes were no longer trained on him or the blade dancer, but flitted regularly between the door, the window, and the tray of instruments on the desk. Ah. Yuuri was making a surgeon face. And Yuri Plisetsky associated that face with pain.
Looking decidedly away, Yuuri stood. "I, um, I'm going to go meet with Celestino to interview the new guard. Um...don't break anything else."
And just like that, he fled from the room, thoroughly scared away by the teen's sudden fear of him, and Yuri Plisetsky stared after him, wondering for a moment whether or not he still wanted to go through with his evil plans to annoy the fuck out of Katsudon. Sure, he deserved it for forgetting to tell him the date he could walk again, but the guy was so easily broken, and with the way he had scurried out of there upon noticing Yuri's discomfort was like someone had lit a fire in his asshole, and it was less funny than he would have imagined it being.
Yuri snorted. Of course he would go through with it. His grandpa hadn't raised him to be a quitter.
XXXXXX
Mila Babicheva was a Sympathizer.
Yes. A surgeon in sect 2, the area known for its mortality rates being significantly higher than even that of area block 4 (which was only that way because it was the farthest area block from Katsuki's Infirmary), had joined the rebellion against the cruel treatment of aviankind. How utterly ironic.
But then Sara Crispino had turned Avian and Mila had had a change of heart. She had only just gotten her out of this damn facility, using a Sympathizer network that helped to "kill" the patient and smuggle her out from the Incinerator where all of the dead bodies went.
Michele had been ecstatic about her return. Despite the fact that he was human and she was Avian. Despite the fact that his sister was homosexual, the forbidden relations. Mila had seen to it that her tracking was erased from the DNA corps, and then she went on like nothing had happened.
Until that doctor came ambling on in like Bambi on a frozen pond.
Mila had him pegged as a one month wonder from the start. Once he saw the horrors, he and his shaky demeanor and frightened doe eyes would be gone, working in a human hospital where things were less...graphic. But the man had stayed longer, two, three, four, five months coming and going in a flash, money changing hands every week he continued to show his face, sprinting by the offices like a goddamn track star. He had more backbone than she'd thought, which was scary, because Mila had always considered herself an excellent judge of character.
Yes, Mila was a Sympathizer. But she didn't know about Yuuri Katsuki.
The man was a mystery, known to be quiet and introverted, but extremely rude and snooty when he spoke. Ha. He had a nice mask, but anyone who looked him full on in the face, like she had, would be able to tell that his holier-than-thou mask was that: a cover. He spoke with his mouth, not his heart, and it showed in his eyes. He wasn't necessarily a bad actor. Mila just knew better. Also, she wasn't invested in her projects so far that her attention was severely skewed, like everyone else in this damn facility.
Mila wanted to open him up like a flower in spring, to get behind that mask and make either an ally or mincemeat out of the infamous doctor. However, she hadn't been able to even near him, what with the scientists' sudden lack of interest in slicing other Avian's bodies apart that accompanied the arrival of the oversized beta.
She had heard tales of when Katsuki had gone into Grand Bay, calming the Avian like he was taming a naughty child and then sticking it with a needle. They made her shudder.
But Mila had also heard tales that Doctor Katsuki could not handle alcohol. And that was the start. Operation: drunk!Katsuki was launched.
The operation crash 'n' burned so badly Mila didn't even know anymore. She had intended to give him a cup of "water" which was actually a highly alcoholic beverage concocted by someone in area block 5, the chemical innovation, preparation, and administration blocks. She had a contact in 5 who had given her a small dosage of it. It was basically the equivalent of chugging down an entire champagne bottle.
Mila sniffed, smiling wearily. She'd tried so hard to stop him. Couldn't he see what he was doing, by reviving the Avians? He was playing right into the hands of the enemy!
So yes. She'd spiked his drink, if only to try to see whether or not he was on their side, and if he was, to get him to clumsily understand that he needed to allow the Avians to die. There was nothing they could do; Sara's case had been extreme, and it would not happen twice. The only exit was death. At the very least, he could make that quick.
And he ended up not drinking one drop, spilling it all over himself in the process of leaping up to answer yet another urgent call for his presence.
But Mila was determined. She only had one dosage of the beverage, which had been sloshed all over the front of Katsuki's scrubs, but she had other, natural, feminine assets in spades. Plan B was less admirable, but it would probably be even more potent than sloshing the guy and interrogating him.
Mila was the hunter, not the hunted. She went to bars. She knew this game inside and out.
And it infuriated her to no end that, aside from the occasional glance in order to see where he was placing his hand to push her out of the way of his work, Doctor Yuuri Katsuki was unflinchingly oblivious to Mila practically baring her chest to him right under his nose.
Homosexuality was a horrible crime in the Nea Epochi, punishable by death, because a relationship that did not end in reproduction was unhealthy for the newly grown-and still growing-environment. Mila briefly considered it before pushing the thought away. Mila herself was lesbian (Sara being her lover) and she knew when she was confronted with a gay man. That doctor was a prime example of "not gay". Which, in fact, would be played on for Option C. Like it hadn't been in B, she wanted to reprimand herself, but even the several gay men that she knew at least appreciated breasts.
The doctor was a twenty-two year old man. Katsuki was a shy, bumbling fool, but he was cute. Mila thought for certain that he had gotten laid at least once in his life.
So yes, she felt like a bitch when she started talking dirty to him, hoping to set a mood, and the guy turned bright red and literally leapt away from her, moving completely around the operating table and babbling something about "reaching a new angle", which was obviously a plea crying "someone save me from this crazy lady who spiked my drink and shoved her boobs in my face and commented on how good I am at sex but I don't even know her holy fuck SOMEONE HELP." She quickly retreated after that, questioning if her gaydar had failed her for the first time, and then feeling even more awful for considering it.
Well wasn't she just a bucket of shit today? She sneered at her thoughts.
Luckily, redemption found her in the form of one of Katsuki's patients defiling his office.
Okay, defiling was kind of a strong word for what he was doing. But the kid was taking all of the writing utensils from the room, and Mila knew that she freaked out when there were no pens in sight. Knowing Katsuki, he would have a full blown heart attack.
But Katsuki had been avoiding her ever since she dropped the hint that she might want to get in his pants, which she didn't, but using her sexuality to get what she wanted was easy in a building full of unintentionally celibate psychopaths, and she had been blessed with a good body, so she would make use of it how she pleased.
Again, the possibility of the man being gay flashed through her mind.
Mila had gone into his infirmaries to enact plan C. As she sulked and contemplated the innocent doctor's sexuality, she walked past door after door, passing by a young man in aqua scrubs, a red streak marring his otherwise perfectly coiffed and spiky blonde hair, facial features indicating that he was from the eastern side of Metropolis Sigma, maybe Beijing-xīn or Neo Tokyo. Mila stifled a giggle as he gave her what was supposed to be a stern look, totally morphed by his boyish features to look like a grimace mixed with a fishy face. Adorably hilarious. Mila could see why the doctor kept that one around.
It was purely chance that she glanced into the room at the end of the hall, intrigued by its being the only door cracked open a smidge, and saw a cackling Avian boy shoving every vaguely pencil-like object he saw into a makeshift sack crafted by folding his shirt up his waist, exposing a scarred swath of skin. Mila could see a long line of stitches poking down his midsection.
After wrangling the writing utensils out of the squirming, cursing patient's hands, Mila smacked him on the head with a forcefulness that obviously surprised him and shot him a glare. "Don't steal what's not yours," she told him, and the young man rolled his eyes and spat back, "Don't think you can tell me what to fuckin' do, hag! Doctor Katsuki has me under his protection! You're not able to even touch me!"
Mila narrowed her eyes at him. "The same doctor whose pens you're stealing?"
The boy flinched, his wings unfolding from his shoulder blades instinctively as he went on the defensive. "It's just a prank," he finally shot back, "It wasn't like I was going to keep them or some shit."
"Obviously," Mila said drily. He glared at her in response, his wings ruffling softly behind him in testimony to his irritationlxm with her.
There was a slamming of footsteps on the ground outside, and then the doctor himself skidded by them, grabbing the door frame to swing himself around and into the office, pushing past the two occupants without so much as a glance in their direction, vaulting over the desk, slamming open the cabinets, grabbing a certain medical kit, and then going back, pausing breathlessly by the door to briefly bow to the two people, offer a quick apology for his rudeness and his brief counsel, and then sprinted away. The Avian boy scoffed. Mila looked at him, half interested. "He has different kits for different operations. That one was his extra suture kit. You wanna bet on what your fucking psycho colleagues did this time?"
Mila's head whipped towards him. "Not all of them are that bad...Dr. Trillizos Sr. is okay."
The kid snorted and held up his left hand-and Mila flinched at the lack of a pinky finger. "Dr. Trillizos was the one who did this to me. He's fucking fantastic, you know?"
"I'm a Sympathizer, you idiot. And I'm not talking about Trilly Jr., I'm talking about his dad."
"Ah, torturing Avians is a damn family business, now. Good to know that there's no fucking hope whatsoever in this bullshit Nea Epochi."
"Shut up," Mila hissed, "I'm trying to help you! I don't know whether or not Dr. Katsuki has your best intentions at heart, and I just want to guarantee your safety before-"
"Yeah, and what's in it for you?" the boy asked, raising an eyebrow at her as he hissed out a mocking, "Moral justice? Aw, fuck off, hag. Katsudon promised me that he'd buy me time to get out, and he's too much of a pussy to back out. Besides, he at least does something to help. I remember you in the labs. You watched them take out my insides and you didn't do shit! I don't want your goddamn help!"
And then Mila's temper snapped. Grabbing his arm, she snapped, "They're making drugs down in area block 5, chemical cocktails that they intend to use on everything from Lambda to Delta! No test subjects have survived yet, but every time they die a little bit slower, and soon they're going to have it perfected." Her eyes found the Avian boy's, the shining blue irises of Delta-009863, reflecting terror and disbelief and resentment. "Let go of me," he hissed, and she complied hesitantly.
"They're trying to make artificial Alphas," she whispered to him, ignoring the strangled noise that escaped his throat, "and as soon as the drug is perfected every Delta in this shithole is being carted to area block 5."
The boy was frozen in place, terror written across his features. Mila grimaced. "Katsuki can't protect you forever," she continued, "but I can. Let me help you to get out of here."
He was going to take her offer. No one ever denied unlimited protection.
And then he unfroze. Terror was replaced with resignation. And Mila thought she had him.
"Yknow, I think I'll stay with the katsudon, thanks," the Avian boy said slowly, his eyes flickering between her and the door.
Mila held on for a little longer, just staring. Surely he didn't mean it. Surely he was joking.
His eyes didn't betray anything. His resolution was flawless.
Mila backed off, turning away. "If you ever need my help," she said quietly, "Tell Katsuki to send a message about peaches and zucchini to lab 2E."
And then she strode out of the room.
"Fucking hag," she heard the boy swear behind her.
XXXXXX
21:35.
Yuuri had finally gotten back to his labs. He was off-call for the next twenty-four hours; something about a mandatory weekly break time Celestino had forced into his schedule. He had work to do on the no-longer sleeping Alpha. He hoped Minami had warded off any intruding doctors well enough.
Brushing past the young assistant, Yuuri tentatively walked into the medical room. The Avian man was awake in his bed, bright blue eyes fixated on the opposite wall, but when Yuuri walked in they latched onto him and stayed. The doctor shifted in embarrassment under his scrutiny. An awkward pause stretched out between them. Finally, Yuuri tried to breach it. "Hi..?" He said softly, wincing as his voice cracked.
"You're not an angel," the Avian man said decidedly, "that's the second time you've drugged me and knocked me out. Plus you didn't put my fingers back."
Yuuri winced again. "I'm sorry."
But the Avian man was on a roll now. "I tried so hard to hold on! Why save me if in a day or a week or a month they'll just cut me up! They know that I'm an Alpha, they just use the term oversized Beta as a formality! This is hell! Jesus, I don't even know what your name is and God forbid I ever learn it! You told me Doctor Yuuri Katsuki would help me! Where is he? I don't want you, I want him!"
Yuuri cowered under the Avian's words. He wasn't good enough, he knew that, but...to hear it from this angelic creature, this regal beauty…
The door behind them creaked open, and Yuuri straightened like a marionette, turning to face Minami. "Get a strong numbing solution, heavy painkillers, and a new set of sutures. Fishhook needle, as well. I don't think he's torn anything, but it doesn't hurt to check. I'll check his eye's 1-to-10 and check his eyes, ears, throat, etcetera while you get that. If I'm not done by then, check the bandages on the wing muscles by the back joint. They targeted that area almost as badly as the neck and Achilles. I want him out of bed quickly so that the leg muscles don't deteriorate too badly. He has about six more weeks in the boot. Can you tell one of the others to put it in my schedule to work on PT every Thursday? Thanks."
Minami nodded silently and walked over to the cabinets. Yuuri approached the Avian, who looked up at him, anger reflected in his eyes. "Don't touch me," he spat as Yuuri reached out to him.
But the doctor mask was on, and unlike the real Yuuri Katsuki, who cowered at his tone and flinched away, begging for forgiveness, Doctor Katsuki was used to and unimpressed by such remarks. The only thing the doctor did was shoot the Avian a dry stare before he touched feather-light fingers to the Avian's throat through the bars of the brace. "The skin seems to have taken to the area well." He would rather not change that, so he moved up to the Avian's black eye. "Rate your pain from one to ten," he told the Avian, pressing lightly on the edge of the dark area.
The man stared at him, anger and resentment gone and replaced with curiosity and disgust. Yuuri Katsuki shrieked and buried himself deeper under the doctor mask. "A two. What are you doing?" the Avian asked. Doctor Katsuki raised an eyebrow. "Basic checkup. There's no concussion, probably, judging by the width of your pupils and your memory span, but Minami brained you pretty hard. With the lamp, I assume, judging by the size and darkness of the bruise, and the blood on the base. I'll avoid the cut. Here?"
The Avian flinched, but Yuuri kept his fingers there. "Six," he decided, "And it's not my fault that when I woke up I was freaked out."
Minami snorted and muttered, "I told you 'good morning' because you'd just gotten up and you attacked me. Doctor Katsuki was the only reason you're not cuffed down, you jerk."
The Avian glared, but didn't move. "I want my dog," he told Yuuri. "She's a beautiful brown poodle."
"Here?"
"Ouch! Fuck!"
"I assume that that means a ten, hm?"
"Nine. It smarts, but it isn't a ten. Ten is my throat." His eyes slid to Minami. "Hurts almost as bad as when I molted."
Minami snorted again. Yuuri shot him a warning glance and he clammed up.
There was a sudden crashing noise from two rooms over. "Ah, damn," Minami swore, "I think Plisetsky is acting up again. You know that you're like the only one he listens to? And he still calls you mean names! Mah…pardon my hasty extrusion," he said, depositing the asked for items on the small table beside Doctor Katsuki, bowing to the room, and departing to go and reign in the small blonde firecracker.
Yuuri Katsuki surfaced for a moment at the thought. The boy was a knife right to the eardrums, ready to deliver insults like a rapidfire machine gun, but Yuuri Katsuki could come out around him, and so Yuuri enjoyed his company.
"So," Doctor Katsuki said, sliding back into place, "your dog. What's her name?"
"Your face softened," the Alpha told him, ignoring his statement, "Who is Plisetsky?"
Doctor Katsuki glared at the Avian. "You'll meet him in time. Be ready for that. He'll insult everything from your Achilles boot to your receding hairline."
"Hey!" the Avian looked genuinely insulted as he reached up with his good arm to shield his forehead with his hand. "It's not that bad! Don't mock it!"
Yuuri Katsuki surfaced again. "I'm sorry," he said, stooping slightly in apology as Doctor Katsuki wrangled for control. He touched his fingers lightly to the bruise, not pressing as he had been but laying his cool fingers on the spot. As expected, the Avian groaned in pleasure. "That feels good!" he said, "It helps with the throbbing."
Minami strode back in. "He wants you, doctor. Said something about katsudon?"
Yuuri huffed. "Darn it. I'm still working with Nikiforov though."
"You could bring him in here-"
"Absolutely not." He couldn't have Yuuri Katsuki surfacing any more around this one, it was too dangerous, especially because Yuuri Katsuki was-
"OI! KATSUDON!" Yuri poked his head in through the door. "Make me some! I'm hungry, dammit-" his eyes alit on Nikiforov, and they squinted. "So you're the one that's taking up all of Katsuki's time. I see why. You look like shit. Maybe it's the hairline."
"Leave my hairline alone!" the Alpha whimpered, glaring at Yuri.
The Delta laughed. "I gotta talk to you, though, Katsudon. Super serious. Don't let Red Riding Hood in on it."
"What is it with you and insulting my red streak!?" Minami blurted as Yuri cackled, reaching up and placing his hands around it as if he could protect his hair from the angry blonde's words. Yuuri put a hand on his shoulder to calm him and said to Yuri, "I can't talk right now, I have to check up on his condition," he nodded at Nikiforov, "So can it wait for a few minutes?"
Yuri snorted. "Oh, yeah, I forgot, the ever-hardworking Doctor Katsuki actually has work to do inside his infirmaries-"
"Oh my God!" Nikiforov shouted over them all, effectively silencing Yuri with a grunt of irritation. Yuuri made a guttural shushing noise as Minami hissed, "The other patients!"
But Nikiforov ignored them and their discomfort, complaining, "Who is Doctor Katsuki?"
Minami laughed, and Yuuri shushed him. Then he turned to the Avian, opening his mouth to tell him-
"Are you stupid?" Yuri asked, snickering, and he raised a finger to point at Yuuri. "That's him, you dumbass."
Yuuri winced. Minami looked between the three of them in confusion. Yuri was scowling heavily.
And Nikiforov?
He uttered a quiet, "oh," and fell backward into his pillows in a dead faint.
XXXXXX
Fin.
Sorry about the wait.
Also, Mila is fun and newly developed, and Viktor is so confused. God, I hope I got her character right. I don't want to have to go back and fix it. Ugh. Another also: I felt like Yuuri was getting a bit too independent and strong-willed, so I gave him character splits. I feel like that would be a plausible course of self-preservation in a place like the Facility for a cute lil' marshmallow like him.
Love you guys for putting up with crappy updates. Oml I'm so awful at that.
Follow, fave, and reviews are welcome!
But no flames. Douse those flames.
~RegalOneByTheStream
