Ahh! Sorry for the long wait for this, and sorry I'm not being so chatty now, but to be honest, this chapter is quite a bit longer than others, and I suppose you want to start this marathon of a chapter a.s.a.p.
So this is chapter 6: ENJOY!!!
Chapter VI
Shattered By Broken Dreams
Once the patient had been returned back to his room and into the arms of his worried parents, Cameron and Wilson made their way back to House's office, where Drs House, Chase, Foreman, and the child-like Ryuzaki were waiting for them, all standing with their arm folded in annoyance. Apart from Ryuzaki of course, who was still crouching in his seat, now preoccupied with a new lollipop (now a maroon-coloured one – the cherry flavoured variety). Now in the calm of the office, and virtually away from danger, Cameron and Wilson spilled the beans on what had happened during their search for Light Yagami.
Once Cameron had finished telling the team about her and Light's little 'arrangement', each person reacted differently: Ryuzaki carried on licking at the lollipop, pretending that he didn't notice, the only sign that he reacted at all being the narrowing of his eyes behind the mask; Foreman began to look worried, drops of sweat falling from his brow; Chase covered his mouth with his hand; and House – who had every right to be worried at this point in time – just stayed where he was stood, preparing himself to make a witty comeback. "Seven days? Ha! I could diagnose this kid in three days, and with a hand tied behind my back!" There, ain't Daddy proud?
"Per-lease!" replied Foreman, somewhat shifting out of his previous trepidation, "Curing him is going to be harder for us than it is for a drug addict to give up, and even you couldn't do that in three days!"
Suddenly, Chase burst out laughing, his body bent over double, "'you will die in seven days'…hey, Cameron: Hideo Nakata called, he wants his slogan back!"
"Shut up," she retorted, "this is really serious business. We have seven days to diagnose an extremely violent and mentally ill person, who thinks that he is Kira and probably has a split personality to boot. I mean, when we all first met him, he was going on about 'eradicating the filth' and killing criminals, but when he was talking to me on my own earlier, he was saying how he didn't want to be Kira anymore because he didn't want to hurt his family."
"Actually," said Ryuzaki, finally speaking up, "technically we have six days left, since today counts as Day One, and so far we have received the patient, whittled the diagnosis down to four conditions at the most, and have had one interview with him. As Cameron-sensei has mentioned during the explanation, it does not look like Light-kun is going to say anything else today, so until the start of Day Two – which is tomorrow – the best we can do now is just analyse the information we have with us now, and work off the symptoms of the four possible conditions we have to give us answers. Fortunately, we have a presumably adept Neurologist with us," Ryuzaki gave a nod to Foreman, "who will help us determine whether or not he could be suffering from such as Schizophrenia, which actually leaves a neurological mark in the brain, and can be detected in a scan."
"But it can't be Schizophrenia," replied Cameron, "he was perfectly coherent when he spoke to me, with no loss of train of thought or subject flow, and definitely no word salad. He wasn't catatonic, and there was very little affective flattening."
"However," said Foreman, "It might be possible that he is the paranoid type, and since only delusions and hallucinations need to be present for that, it could be possible. In that case, we'll have to put him on chlorpromazine to begin with."
"But how would that account for the major manic episodes, the psychosis, the distorted sense of self and worth, or even the clairvoyance!"
"Would it help if I told you that – according to his medical file – his brain scan showed a perfectly healthy brain, and that there is a possibility that the clairvoyance is not a symptom, but most likely a cause of the illness?" Offered Ryuzaki.
"No!" yelled Cameron and Foreman in unison.
"Dammit…" muttered House, "we're already doing Tailors as it is, and your arguing isn't helping!" Cameron and Foreman stopped yelling as a result, and Ryuzaki jumped off his seat and walked up to House, his mouth stretched in a smirk of curiosity.
"Tailor…by that, do you mean…Lind. L. Tailor?"
"Oh, that guy?" returned House, turning to face Ryuzaki, "Yeah, I'm talking about him. He was idiotically killed by Kira, and used as a pawn by L. Yeah I remember him: I was in Tokyo that day when he died, and saw it happen on the big Fanasonic® TV in the town centre. Ever since then, we use his name as our own little saying."
"Oh, what does it mean?"
"It's when you take a risk," supplied Wilson, "where the odds are completely against you, and it's highly likely that you'll end up dead as a result, yet you take the risk anyway, and damn the consequences."
"A 'Full Tailor' is when you do die as a result of said consequences." Continued Foreman, wiping his brow, "Just like what'll happen to House if we don't get a diagnosis in time."
"So Lind. L Tailor was killed by Kira and used as a pawn by L…do any of you know what else he was famous for?" asked Ryuzaki, ignoring Foreman's previous comment and looking at each of the diagnosticians. It was probably a hopeful look, but with only his mouth on view, and the rest of his face covered by the mask, it was hard to tell. When everyone else shook their heads, Ryuzaki sighed, and muttered to himself (something like 'and they call themselves diagnosticians…'). "So that's no one?" Once again, they shook their heads.
"Let me explain." At this, Ryuzaki got back onto his chair, and began sucking absent-mindedly at the cherry lollipop, "For all of today that we've seen Light Yagami, it seems that his eyes glowed red on a minimum of three separate occasions: when he caused havoc at the Nurses' station; when he first met Cameron-sensei; and when he first met Wilson-sensei. Now, the only possible common factor linking these three events, is that each time the eyes turned red, Light-kun was in the presence of people he had never met before: In other words, if we take what Light-kun said as true, then he was using his clairvoyance as a way to – as he might say – 'judge' people, which would explain why he was so hostile towards House-sensei, and so kind towards Cameron-sensei. Therefore, his power and his eyes are linked." Ryuzaki's thoughts seemed to trail off, and he went silent for a few moments.
"Ermm…" began Cameron, "perhaps the eyes show that he is using his power, like a sort of indicator?"
"Brilliant deduction, Cameron-sensei. Those were my thoughts exactly." Extolled Ryuzaki, giving her a slight smile. "However, it was difficult for me to think of a scientific explanation that would conveniently explain this and link the power and the eyes together. At first, I thought that it could really be the work of Kira and Shinigami, as it was with the Kira case – in which case it would be beyond science – but then House-sensei mentioned Lind. L. Tailor at the right moment, and then everything seemed to make sense with him in the picture."
"So?" asked Foreman, tired of Ryuzaki's non-stop drivelling, "Why would a death-row inmate who got killed by Kira help make sense of this case? Why is he as famous as you say he is?"
"He is famous," replied Ryuzaki, "because – of all things – he was a scientist."
"Was he, by any chance, a mad scientist?" asked House mockingly, giving his own evil laugh.
"Well, yes and no: he wasn't 'mad' to begin with, but, rather as a result of his most famous finding, of which could be linked with our patient."
"And that finding is…?" asked Wilson, somewhat agitated at Ryuzaki's habit of withholding information, and somewhat miffed of the infrequency of his dialogue in this conversation.
"Hmmm…" Ryuzaki paused once again, allowing his team's curiosity to stew a little longer, "Have any of you heard of a condition called 'Lindlism'?"
"Well, since none of us are as much of a clever clogs as you are," said House, "you're going to have to explain it to us, and since that may take a while…" House whipped around to face Foreman, now addressing him, "have the kid put on chlorpromazine: It works with schizophrenics, and if you're right, then my neck's off the dotted line. Besides, it's sedating enough to put him out of business for a while." Foreman just stared at him, unsure if he'd heard him correctly.
"Yeah, you heard me right: Go give him the syrup!" And with that, Foreman left House's office and went down to the Pharmacy, leaving House, Cameron, Chase, Wilson and Ryuzaki to talk in please.
***
Barely half an hour after Cameron and Wilson had dropped Light off back in his room, Dr Foreman entered, seeing Light laying on his bed, the strait jacket on his lap as he drank a glass of water, a reading book in his left hand (Sherlock Holmes, English edition). His mother was sat in one chair beside the bed, twiddling her thumbs while his Father stayed stood up, pacing the room. His little sister was lounging in another chair, a DS in one hand and the little stylus in another. Occasionally, she'd look up, and try to read a snippet of Light's book, but at every such instance, he just closed the book on one of his fingers, and continued when she returned her attention to the DS.
At the sound of Foreman opening the door, everyone looked up from their activities, apart from Light, who continued his reading. When his father noticed, he took the hardback out of Light's hand and muttered something to him in Japanese, forcing him to look up at the visiting doctor. Once again, Light's eyes shone dark red at the sight of the black doctor, making the hairs on the back of Foreman's neck stand on end. Although it was the second time that day that he'd been subject to the young man's mental probe, he was still not prepared for the feeling of nakedness that came with it, like nothing was a secret anymore.
It was only when Light finally looked away, and preoccupied himself with the back of his hand and the peeling skin there that Foreman was finally able to explain his unexpected visit. "Good afternoon," he said, "and I am Doctor Foreman. I will be the neurologist in charge of your son's health."
"Thank you, Dr Foreman, we appreciate your help." Said the father, delivering a speech that he'd delivered so many times before to other doctors. Hastily, he took hold of Foreman's hand, shaking it briskly before introducing himself. "My name is Soichiro Yagami, and this is my wife Sachiko, and my daughter Sayu. Obviously, you already know my son Light." At this point, his blushed a little, coughing slightly in embarrassment of the event in which Light and Foreman 'met'.
Foreman allowed himself a little smile at this: Soichiro Yagami seemed to be a very brisk man who didn't like to waste time, and for that, Foreman was thankful. "Yes, of course, and I am glad to say that great progress has been made in finding out a diagnosis, of which could be any of four conditions. At the moment, the one that seems to fit best is paranoid type Schizophrenia, and while the clairvoyance is as of yet unexplained, the answer to that will come in due time." As Foreman said all of this, he stood in his trademark practitioner pose: Back straight, with hands behind his back and the obligatory squeaky-clean smile, like everything had a possibility of working out in the end.
"Schizophrenia? Is that all?" asked Sachiko, her once dull face lighting up with relief.
"It could be." Foreman answered, "Of course, the nature of the condition means that we can't know for certain unless further tests are carried out, but so far, it's the best diagnosis we have." Translation: It's the only one we have, and the only reason we're pushing for this one is because no one so far is bothered to come up with any better. Otherwise known as 'Lies Doctors Tell You and Get Away With'.
"What do you mean you can't know for certain?" asked Soichiro, a hint of outrage in his voice, "Are you trying to tell us that your staff are so incompetent, that the best they can do is come up with an easy option and stick to it just so that they can go home early thinking that they've done something remotely worthwhile?" You could say that...
"I'm sorry, Mr Yagami, but the fact is that no symptom of Schizophrenia is characteristic of the condition, and while we have no records of recent brain scans, or the possibility of substance abuse, we cannot know for certain at the moment. This is why I require that your son takes chlorpromazine: It's an effective treatment of schizophrenia, so if Light does have the condition, we'll know we're already on the right track."
Knowing he was right, Soichiro gave up easily, sighing deeply. Now that he knew he had their full respect, Foreman took a small bottle of chlorpromazine syrup and a 5ml medicine spoon out of his lab coat pocket and set it on the serving tray, which stood at the end of Light's bed – the bed position where it'd be out of the way, yet close enough to reach when needed. "Now, all Light needs to do is take two 5ml doses of this every 12 hours. Considering it is 12.00pm now, you can give him the two doses now, and another at either midnight or any time close enough before he goes to sleep. Can I trust that you do that without my supervision?"
Soichiro nodded, and so did Sachiko and Sayu. Light, however, didn't appear to be paying any attention, alternating between picking at his hand and scrutinizing the lampshade on the bedside table. "Is that all?" asked Soichiro, not unkindly.
"Yes," replied Foreman, "and I'm sure you all know what to do if you need me at all." It wasn't a question, so as soon as he saw Sachiko reach for the bottle, Foreman left without another word, closing the door behind him.
He had barely walked a few paces out of the room when he felt a tug at his lab coat from behind. Turning around, he saw Sayu standing there, a beseeching look upon her face. "Excuse me," she asked, "but I wanna share something with you." As the girl was only 15 years old, and a little short for her age, Foreman had to bend down on one knee to talk to her, and he did so, allowing them both the luxury of seeing eye-to-eye.
"What is it?" he asked, using his trusting-friend voice, "Do you want to say thank you or anything? Because I'm sure you can say that to me in front of your parents no problem."
"It's not that." She answered, blushing slightly, "It's just that I've few things to say about Light that you might wanna know."
"Oh?"
"I know I'm not smart or anything, but I'm sure they're important, and I wanna help in any way I can." Like with Light, her accent wasn't very pronounced, but it did leave an almost sweet edge to her words.
"Can you tell me them, please?" Foreman asked.
"Oh…er…of course." Clearly, Sayu hadn't expected her request to be accepted so easily. Clearing her throat, she explained. "You see, Light has always wanted to be a detective like Dad, and ever since he was in high school, if we ever had a problem that needed solving, or a little secret that had kept hidden, Light could figure it out, no matter what, and he'd even explain to us how he figured it out." Sayu sighed at this point, "He was so smart, and everything was so easy for him. But, near the end of his senior year, he used to stay up in his room and study for getting into college. At first, I thought that was so… until he slowly stopped speaking to us, until the only time he spoke was when he told us he'd come home from school or when he was forced to at the dinner table. We all thought that he was just being a normal teenager, and that he was probably missing Dad, who was always at work…but I'm sure it's not that."
Foreman had listened intently the whole time, and when she paused, he finally answered, "So? What do you think it is?" he asked, still using his friendly voice.
"Well…I've been reading a few leaflets, and I think he's got anhedonia." As Foreman heard this revelation, his eyes widened, and, without further thought, he enveloped Sayu in a bone-crunching hug, before running off down the corridor, the tails of his lab coat flapping in the breeze behind him. "Thank you!" he yelled from over his shoulder, leaving the poor girl more bewildered than before they'd even met.
Anhedonia…the inability to experience common human pleasure…Foreman thought, running through a pair of doors and turning down a corridor,If he really is as smart as they say he is, then he would have struggled to find a worthy challenge, which would cause a breakdown in the Brain's Reward System, hence the Anhedonia, and perhaps the reason he is Kira! Plus, it's a symptom of Schizophrenia, Schizoaffective Disorder, and Schizoid Personality Disorder!
Now knowing this, Foreman couldn't wait to get back to the team!
It was now coming to the end of Day 1 of the Deal, and even though so much ground had been covered, and although they were so close to the conclusion, that conclusion seemed so far away.
***
Day 2
The day dawned bright that morning, and thanks to yesterday's progress, the team were at Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital bright and early, excited for the prospect of another job well done. Even House was happy that morning, and that usually wasn't possible: thanks to his joviality, many rumours had spread around the hospital speaking of Cuddy spiking the Miser's tea, and of stronger medication in stronger doses – perhaps even marijuana – before the clock could even strike 8:30am.
"Good morning, ever-loving care-givers!" Was what he'd greeted the Night-Shift nurses with as they left the hospital and passed him in the main entrance, the once-grouchy MD practically skipping and whistling as he clocked in. He'd even made a move to put on his lab-coat before he remembered himself, put it back on the dusty hook slowly, before walking to his office with a resumed whistle and hobble. It had been nearly ten years ago the last time he did that, and no one was sorry to see it again.
He walked into his office to find Foreman, Chase and Cameron rifling through their paperwork at the table, eager to get it out of the way before their 'proper' job began – that is, the curing of Light Yagami. They didn't even look up when he walked through the door, maybe because House was whistling, and none of them were even familiar with that sound. Sure, they'd heard him play the piano and rock hard on a guitar, but whistle? Never!
Staring at their hard work, they tried desperately to ignore the whistling sound that hovered over their ears: it may have been a good thing that House was so happy, but the fact that his act of whistling had gone unpractised for a decade, and that the supposedly cheerful sound had suffered as a result was dire...if fact, come to think of it, so was the fact that House was actually happy! Surely it could only bode ill-tidings? Maybe...he'd done away with Ryuzaki?
Thankfully, though, their exaggerations were just that – exaggerated. Perhaps it was just the fictitious marijuana talking? "So, fellow-partners-in-care-giving?" Asked House, slouching into his chair, leaning his cane against the chair and putting his feet up, "Any updates?"
Without even looking up, Chase responded with a deep expelling of air, before continuing, "Nope, nothing. As far as we know, he's still fast asleep in his room."
"Yeah," replied Foreman, wiping his forehead, "I suppose yesterday's mental mayhem tuckered him out a little...and then some." A pause ensued, and House stared expectantly at each of them, eyebrows raised.
"So..." House began, "when you're happy and you know it..."
"Check the medical file?" asked Cameron, putting down the paper work, and taking Light Yagami's medical file from underneath her chair. Chase and Foreman followed suit and began poring over them: Thanks to yesterday's events, they had only had the chance to take mere glances at the medical file.
"Yes, now check for anything odd, anything out of place: Foreman, check through his previous brain scans; Chase, check through the list of previous symptoms and Cameron…" he paused for a moment.
"Yes?" she asked, expectantly.
"Check for…everything else."
"What? Why do I get the short straw? I was the one who trailed after Light when he went missing, while you all stayed here and had a cosy chat, as I remember!"
"Yeah? Well you should've thought about that before you picked up the short end of my wipe board markers!" House glared at Cameron with an overplayed, narrow-eyed accusing look.
"But I never used them!" she half-yelled, horrified at the reproach.
"And I still think that was the right thing to do. Now get checking on the file! Maybe you can see if the darling boy was diddled by Daddy…" And with that, and a disgusted look on her face, Cameron returned to the file, trying her best to curry the favour of her boss. Maybe, if I find anything of worth, he'll let me use the markers!
Now that Cameron and House's conversation had shifted towards its uneasy end, the team sat and stood in silence poring over the files for unchecked anomalies in what could be mistaken for a perfect person. This silent henceforth stood for an unrecorded amount of time – really five minutes, but to the team, it felt longer – before a plain staff nurse slowly slid open the door and poked her head inside. Coughing slightly to alert the doctors, she delivered her message, "Excuse me, Dr House, but a man by the name of 'Ryan Willoughby' says he is here to assist you." Her voice was quiet and uncertain, as though unsure of whether or not she could trust the older man with the full presence of her body from behind the glass shield. "He's also told me to tell you that he's brought a Miss Eve Albemarle with him. Apparently she has an appointment with you and one of your patients."
"Fine," House said, not bothering to look up from his file, "tell them to come in whenever. Now go before my cane makes you."
Her head bent, she made to leave before she remember the second reason for her presence at House's office "Oh, and before I go, I have a message for Dr Cameron." Cameron looked up at this, half-smiling encouragingly for the staff nurse's benefit.
"Right," she said, "could you tell me?" The politeness of Cameron's tone threw the staff nurse off for a moment and she stammered in her renewed shyness.
"Um, yes, a Mr Joseph Denote is being discharged today, and he wanted you to deliver these to the young patient who visited him yesterday." With that, she disappeared behind the sliding door, and reappeared, producing a trolley laden with a basket of fruit and a large bouquet of red and white long-stemmed roses, the flowers arranged to give the impression that they were all of a flattering shade of dark pink, and the arrangement wrapped in crystalline white paper, and finished with a red bow. Cameron's mouth seemed to have dropped to the table, her eyes wide with surprise at the spectacle.
Suddenly remembering herself, she closed her mouth, gave a hasty nod, and replied to the staff nurse.
"Yes, of course, I'll make sure that Mr Yagami gets them." Nodding her understanding, the nurse turned around and left the office, leaving behind the beautiful gifts of fruits and flowers.
It was barely a minute after they returned back to their files again that Cameron put her hand up, motioning for the others. "Look here," she said, pointing to a line on the first page, where the medical history was printed. "According to this here," she continued, the others crowding around her, "Light was actually born a twin."
"You mean his sister Sayu is actually his twin sister?" asked Chase, giving Cameron a puzzling look.
"Personally, I wouldn't have guessed: Isn't she a bit stumpy to be his womb-mate?" asked House rhetorically, swinging his cane.
"No, of course not," said Cameron, shaking her head. "His sister is three years younger than him. No, he has a twin brother...or rather, had a twin brother..."
"So where is this guy?" Asked Foreman, his brow creased with concern and confusion. "Light may be crazy and homicidal, but that's no reason to leave the twin at Grandma's and take the more vulnerable little sister along instead."
"I was getting to that: You see, the twin brother died when they were 8 years old."
"Was it due to a genetic disease?" asked Chase, trying to make a grab for the file. However, Cameron was too fast and she snatched it from underneath his nose.
"Was it some freakishly tragic accident linked to a genetic disease?" Demanded Foreman.
"Was he just plain clumsy?" Asked House half-heartedly, not nearly as excited as he should be: After all, to him, a dead kid was a useless kid as far as his investigations went (it's not like he or she can tell him where it hurts or anything).
"No," she answered, her eyes seeming to space out in a strange daydream, "He was-"
Suddenly, a small beep issued from House's pocket, and Cameron was forever interrupted. Everyone else went quiet, leaving a tense silence except for the continuous bleeping.
"It's our Pookie... suddenly... he doesn't feel so cute..."
***
Sure enough, Chase and Cameron arrived breathless at Light's room, their eyes wide at the sight that met their eyes: Sachiko, Soichiro, and Sayu were around Light's bed, the positioning of their bodies meaning that Chase and Cameron could neither see nor get through to see Light. They could hear him though: His breathing was laboured and came in short, ragged bursts, and occasionally, he'd give a moan of pain that would strangle its way out of a bitten lip.
Finally, pushing their way through the worried family, Chase and Cameron stared in horror at the spectacle that lay before them. Light was in bed, and he wasn't acting crazy, but somehow this seemed worse: He wasn't laying down in his bed or losing consciousness, like they'd expect him to be by the sound of his breathing, but crouched up in a ball like a crow, his knees brought up to his chest and his contorted form balancing precariously on his feet, his shoulders rounded and hands rested on his knees. Purple bruises like bags had formed underneath his eyes from lack of sleep, and these eyes were half-lidded and fogged dark with the pain, the pupils darting from side to side in dreading suspicion and his mouth contorted into a line that turned down at the corners, like a horizontal rip in clothing thanks to the lips that had be bitten to shreds while slowly turning blue.
Had it not been such a terrible circumstance, Chase and Cameron might have been on the floor laughing – the pose and appearance was just too reminiscent of their own boss Ryuzaki.
They heard footsteps behind them, and in entered Foreman carrying a syringe of something or other. Suddenly, Light's expression changed from one of pain to one of utter revulsion. His whimpers turned to growls and his bleeding lip almost gave a narrow smirk. "You!" he said, his voice a mere growl in his throat, his eyes glowing dangerously with fury.
Taking a deep breath, Foreman stepped forward, grabbing hold of Light by the shoulder and pulling him downwards onto the pillows, the young man still keeping his distorted shape. Light tried to struggle, but failed as Foreman inserted the syringe into his too-tense arm, making Light cry out. "You'll pay!" he managed to snarl, before being quietened by arriving staff nurses, and hidden from view by their presence.
"So," muttered Cameron, stepping back a little, "I suppose it's not Schizophrenia, then."
And that was chapter 6 of The Art of Subconscious Illusion. As you can see, I've managed top pack a lot into this chapter, and quite a few things have been discovered, so I hope you paid attention. If you didn't, then oh well, it's not the end of the world. At the point of finishing this chapter, I found it really hard to find a good chapter title for this one, so I went with "Shattered By Broken Dreams", for the effect that the chlorpromazine had on Light (it's easy to see that he didn't get any sleep that night ;P). So that's my lame reason: Please, honourably and respectfully, suck it up.
As I haven't got a lot of time on here before Ophelia Davis shoves me off, this is all I can say for now. There are a few new things coming up, but you'll have to go on my profile to find out.
So, please R&R, and SEE YA!!!
P.S. Note for all of you: If you want a good song for your LightxL yaoi AMVs, then I would suggest "Something in Your Mouth" by Nickleback. Please, listen to it, and make of it what you will (lollipops come to mind, though).