A/N: Finally, an update!
ChetCheerio: I'll take your word for it then, love ^^. I'll try to keep it at T for now, then.
Dogwithnonose: I've got plenty to go around :3
Belial54: oc's are a lot harder to write than I thought; as far as Sues go, I'm certainly doing my best, hehe.
Thank you everyone, for reading and reviewing!
Nightmare
He knew this room.
This was the room where he had peeked in and seen another experiment with wings, a friend, waiting on the table. At first he had thought that he was asleep; in still looking mostly-human, his eyes were closed, and countless wires attached to his skin. The lights had been off then. There were only the spots and flickering coming from the machines that hummed and whirred, surrounding them in the shadows of the walls.
Iggy remembered looking at him sideways, asking why he was up there in the first place. His friend had not responded.
There was a nice doctor that he'd known since he was old enough to walk. Said his name was Jeb. In the play room, months after his encounter with his friend, Iggy had been playing with a cute kid that Jeb said was his son. He wasn't one for toys, but Ari was fun to play with. Three years old, strangely cute, and following him and the other winged-hybrids around with something close to idol-worship in his eyes...Iggy couldn't say no.
They had been playing with letter blocks, the ones with a different color or number on each face. Iggy had been spelling Ari's name, and then Jeb's. He remembered each color: J was purple. E was yellow. B was blue.
So blue. He'd stared at it for a long time.
And then he'd felt their hands on his shoulders, on his arms, lifting him up and ushering him out of the room. He'd glanced back and seen Ari's confused face from behind the glass as the doors slid shut.
That was the last time he'd ever seen him.
The corridors were pale green and gray, empty, long, eternal. What did they want? Iggy had become used to being randomly taken away, so had nothing in his mind to fight against them - it was just the way of things here. It was the way things were. Only when Jeb spoke of greater things in his stories did he ever feel the stirring in his chest to try that life, to imagine it.
But this was all there was.
This familiar room was all there was.
But the lights were blinding.
He could see everything now, and when he did...he immediately wished he couldn't.
He saw his fate, clear as day; saw the certainty in every shining steel object, every intention in the diagrams and pictures on the wall. He knew. He knew as they were forcing him on the table - only now did he begin to resist - and strapping him down.
And there was nothing he could do about it.
Iggy awoke with a jolt, gasping. He was on fire, every inch of him beneath his skin burning, smouldering with fever. The intake of air was sharp, painful, and there was a terrible weight on his chest. It was the same nightmare as always, always the collection of memories that came to haunt him with their vivid colors and outlines.
But always when he awoke, drenched in sweat, it was as if he never had. There were always the lingering seconds where he believed that he was still trapped in the sightless, airless hell of the dream, somewhere unknown, vulnerable to everything, afraid of the darkness.
After Jeb had ran away with them, he was the one that was always there to help him through it. He was the one that was always there to shake him back to his senses, tell him that everyone was still there, that everything was going to be all right.
Iggy, against himself, missed him. Especially now.
And when Jeb left, it was really only Fang had known and made any attempt to help him. The friend on the table. They didn't have names then.
Fang...where was Fang? Where was everyone? He couldn't hear their breathing, couldn't smell them. A little wary, Iggy tried to sit up, and clenched his teeth as a spasm of pain racked him. Bad move...There was nothing for it, then. He forced himself to relax, his sightless eyes staring up at the rock ceiling.
They were wiring him up, just like his friend. Wiring and approaching him with a mask, were forcing the mask onto his face, no matter how he struggled and fought. It was on, and the more he resisted, the more tired he seemed to become. The electrocardiogram beeped as his pulse slowed. Why were his eyelids so heavy? He'd been just fine a moment ago. Why was he so sleepy now? If he went to sleep... If he went to sleep... The lights above him began to fade, as did the doctors that looked down upon him with only their eyes visible between their caps and masks. The last thing he saw was that light, that sparkle in their eyes, the gleaming tools that they were lowering towards his face... They were smiling as they worked, behind their masks. They were smiling.
Iggy closed his eyes, but it had no effect in blocking out the memories. It was like a film waiting to start, every time, all the time. There was no escaping it.
He had to get over this by himself, somehow. He just had to. Jeb wasn't here anymore, and Fang could be there all the time. He couldn't tell Max - she'd probably just think he were even more of a liability. Like I am now...
The geese were en masse as they flew alongside them, honking at each other for fun and imitating their wing movements to ride the thermals like waves. Iggy was in the middle of memorizing a particularly pleasant current of air when he beheld a thought, just a random thought that poked at his brain. Beware, it might have said. Pay attention. But beware of what?
And then he'd heard them. Poachers, gathered at the lake-side. He knew very well the sound of a preparing gun, and knew what they would go for - the largest target.
Since he was higher and further to the side than Max, it might be her; but also, if he stopped her progress, then the rest should follow their leader. There was no time to give a verbal warning - maybe he could knock her out of the way. Iggy braked and dipped, then shot upwards so fast that he nearly met the bullet. His body was then frighteningly numb and weightless in the next instant, and he felt so hazy...
...So cold...
"Iggy?" someone said quietly.
Gasman. Iggy managed to twitch his fingers feebly in reply. I'm still here.
Like after he'd woken up from surgery, alone and in the dark, as his friend had been.
He was still there.
