"Excuse me?"
The guard poked his head in the doorway to his superior's office, nervous expression plastered on his face.
"Yes?"
"Um, we have an inmate who has some info on the murders that have been happening in Cell Block 2."
"Bring him to my office. And don't forget the handcuffs this time."
"Yes, sir."
...
"Oliver Kirkland? The boss wants to see you."
Oliver smiled weakly and stood up, brushing off the blue striped pajama bottoms. Flavio smiled at him, waving a little bit. "Have fun, Ollie! Don't stay too long!"
As soon as Oliver and the guards left, Flavio smiled, and went back to his sewing.
"Well, as long as the suspicion is off my back, I don't feel sorry at all."
...
Oliver took a seat in the hard plastic chair, watching as the guard clasped two iron cuffs around his wrists.
"I'm going to inject some sodium thiopental into you, to make sure that you're telling the truth. Do you understand me?"
"Yes, sir."
Without a word, the guard pressed a syringe to his neck, moving the needle right above a particularly vivid vein, and pressed the plunger down, ignoring the squeak of pain from the british inmate.
"So, you said you had some information on these killings?" The boss, as Oliver learned to call him, leaned back in his chair and propped his feet up on the table. Oliver's strawberry blonde bangs fell into his eyes as he avoided the iron gaze Boss was sending his way. "Y-yes."
"Well, spill." Boss cocked an eyebrow. "I don't have all the time in the world."
I'm going to get in so much trouble...
"I'm waiting..."
Well, best get it over with.
"It was me, but not of my own accord." He blurted out, clasping and unclasping his fingers. Boss leaned forward, suddenly interested.
"What?"
"Please, hear me out." Oliver said quickly. Boss leaned back, still slightly hostile. "Tell me everything, and maybe I won't sentence you to the death penalty."
Oliver took a deep breath. "I've always been very susceptible to outside factors, such as friendship or..." At this, he swallowed. "...love. Or at least, what I thought was love. Once I had a bond that I thought would be forever lasting, I would do anything for them." Oliver shifted a little bit, a dribble of sweat trickling down his temple. "Even kill a person. I was like a trained dog, hopping around on my hind legs trying to please people. I've made this mistake twice, and I don't want to know how many times I might make it again in the future."
"Get to the point." Boss hissed. Oliver swallowed anxiously. "Right. Anyway, after ending up here, my only companion seemed to be a grumpy Italian and a patient with brain damage. Then Flavio showed up, and it was like instant relief. Finally, a friend! Or at least, a friend capable of making conversation for more than two minutes without collapsing or yelling at me to leave and stop annoying him." Oliver chuckled slightly, causing another angry glare to erupt from Boss. "Sorry. Well, I was tickled pink, to say the least. I was happy, I had a friend, food, help. At least, until the week Flavio got angry." Oliver gulped. "I've always been a rather violent chap, that's one of the reasons why I'm here, y'know. It was just the best...way to vent myself after the incident. Flavio knows that, he always knew. Sometimes he helped me. He's always been rather calculating, too. He convinced me that we made a great team, and so, he helped me pick off our first victim. He had the initial kill, but he made me...pretty him up a bit."
"Interesting choice of words." Boss snarkily commented, earning a cheshire smile from Oliver. "Yes, I've always felt that it was my one talent, after baking, of course." His fingers began to intertwine with each other like snakes, his eyes beginning to gain a pink tone. He closed them and shook his head a few times. "N-no, it wasn't a talent, it was a curse. I managed to put it to bed when I got here, but when Flavi arrived, it just woke up again. He took advantage of that, used me like a little puppet. He made me kill Luciano, Ludwig, and..." Oliver gulped again, trying to regain the ability to breath. "...Matthew. I never wanted to, well, my bloodlust did, but that isn't me, it never was me." He took a shaky breath, ignoring Boss' stares. "I got tired of it. If I satisfy this urge, this hunger inside me, if I indulge it, it only grows. It consumes me. I want it to stop."
"So, what you're saying is, you weren't in the right state of mind?"
"Yes. That's exactly what I'm saying." Oliver sighed. "But I want you to know something. Flavio is in the right state of mind, he's not insane. He let himself get caught. He's always been such a good actor. He wanted to get revenge on Luciano, that's all he ever wanted."
"Thank you, Oliver." Boss stood up and, surprisingly, went to pat Oliver on the shoulder. "I suppose I have no choice but to believe you. We're going to put Flavio into a more secure prison, perhaps a mental asylum, and get you some help for that mental condition of yours. After all, the point of this prison is to help the inmates."
That's bullcrap, Oliver thought, but he smiled graciously at the menacing man in front of him. "Thank you, sir. Um, and Allen..." He trailed off, thinking of the red haired man.
"Don't worry about it. This experiment was a failure. I'll get him to some real professional help and he'll be fine. Now, stay here until we take Flavio into custody and call a mental hospital. I don't want you near him at all."
"That's nice of you, sir. Thank you, sir." Oliver fiddled with the cuffs on his wrists; they were really starting to chafe.
"I'm going to go take care of this now. Wait here." Boss unlocked the door and slipped out, beckoning the guard to follow him. Oliver sat there, mulling over the situation in his head.
I don't have to live like this any longer...
...
Arthur was fairly surprised when they unlocked the door to his cell and started to unlock the restraints to his straitjacket.
"What happened?"
"Apparently they caught the perpetrator." The guard said, slipping the white jacket off of Arthur's arms and allowing him to shake them free. "All of you are deemed innocent."
"Who else has died while we were stuck in this hellhole?" Arthur said cynically. "A boy named Matthew." The guard said, oblivious. The news hit Arthur in the gut like a bullet. "O-oh...well then..."
"I am sorry for you. Matthew seemed like a good friend to you." Ivan shook out his arms and "He was like a little brother. We've been in this place the same amount of time, I got to know him so well..." Arthur swallowed and wiped a tear from his eye. "You're crying." "No I'm not!" Arthur said loudly. "My eyes are just being stupid!"
"Sure." Ivan wasn't buying it. "It is okay to cry, Arthur. Everyone has emotions." With that statement, Arthur buried his face in Ivan's jacket, and let the tears slip from his sockets. Years and years of bottled up emotions hidden by an ice-cold exterior came gushing from those emerald orbs, staining the front of Ivan's prison uniform.
"It is not good to pent up all your emotions like that." Ivan said, rubbing circles into Arthur's back.
"I know. I just didn't want to be vulnerable...I thought that if I showed my emotions all the time, people would think I was weak. This is a prison, after all." He coughed, chuckling dryly. Ivan smiled. "Don't worry. I will be here to protect you. If they call you weak, I'll break open their faces."
"Then I'll report you." The guard said, releasing Toni from his cell. The stay in solitary really hadn't helped the mental and physical health of the Spaniard. His brown hair was shaggy and went down to his neck in lifeless curls and split ends, his body was frail and the tan had faded slightly from his skin. The hollows in his cheeks, almost unnoticeable before then, had grown bigger, giving his skin a pasty tint. The life in his eyes had faded to a dull glint, the shimmer gone from them. He was walking in loopy circles, muttering to himself.
"Um, I think we might need to get this one some mental help." Arthur said, not joking. "He's been talking to himself this entire time."
"To my knowledge, we have mental help coming for two people today. I guess he really needs it, so I'll talk to Boss about it." The guard shrugged. "Thanks, I don't want him hurt. Even if he is an idiot at times." Arthur grumbled.
...
"Flavio Vargas?"
Flavio looked up from the magazine he was reading, magenta eyes hidden behind pink lenses. "Yes?"
"We're here to escort you to a mental hospital. We have identified you as the murderer behind the killings of Cell Block D."
Flavio smirked. "Funny joke." He turned back to his reading, not bothering to look at the guards entering the room. "Everybody here knows that Oliver is the killer."
"That is none of your concern." One guard ripped the magazine out of his hands and tossed it to the floor. Another grabbed Flavio's wrists and handcuffed them, metal chafing the delicate skin. Flavio paled.
"W-what is the meaning of this?"
"We have given Oliver sodium thiopental. He told us everything." The second guard said calmly, forcing Flavio to stand. The blonde italian emitted a low growl before getting shakily to his feet, tossing his bangs out of his eyes.
"Well, take me to your pretty little mental hospital. Lock me in a padded room with a straitjacket, that'll surely help me! I'll be back, I'll find a way!"
"Keep telling yourself that." The first guard checked his wristwatch. "The asylum people should be here any minute now."
"Perfect. Our orders were to get him into a private holding cell until the truck comes, and stabilize the lunatic in there." He nodded to the dormitories where Allen was sleeping peacefully. The guard holding Flavio opened the door, grabbed Flavio's shoulders, and firmly escorted him from the nursery. The other headed into the darkness of the dormitory, searching for the bed with the sleeping figure upon it, creeped out by the way there seemed to be no light switches.
"H-Hi."
In relief, the guard turned to see a sleepy Allen, sliding off the bed and rubbing his eyes. "Hey, big guy. I've gotta stay with you for a bit, and then we're gonna move you to a new home, where you're gonna get some help."
"R-real help?"
The guard blinked. "Yeah, real help." Allen's teeth burst into a blinding smile, showing a missing incisor."
"T-thanks. I-I've been waiting for y-you."
...
The first thing Ivan witnessed when he stepped back into the cafeteria was a tight hug from Tino. The finnish boy squeezed the life out of him, blonde hair disheveled and cap askew. "I m-missed you so m-much!" He cried, tears soaking the front of Ivan's (already damp) uniform. "I missed you too, Tino." Ivan replied, wrapping his arms around the slight figure. "They're about to e-explain some things to us." Tino released himself from Ivan and went to stand next to him. "Your english is very good now, have you been practicing?"
"Yes, that n-nice guard helped me sometimes when w-we were alone. I think her n-name was Julia."
Ah. Of course.
"Well, I am being glad that you are getting help. Shh, she's about to speak." Ivan pointed to the woman who was standing at the front of the room.
"Hello! Well, I'm sure all of you wonderful people are looking for some semblance of an explanation, and I'm going to give it to you."
Everybody leaned in to pay attention to the mysterious worker, the one who was going to finally explain this whole mess to them.
"For the last few days, you've been subjected to seeing your friends murdered in cold blood by some mysterious hand. You've had to see the bodies of your cell mates cut up like sides of beef, by some sadistic person who people suspected were your other friends. They were taken to solitary confinement, and you all were left wondering what the heck happened."
"Gee, thanks for the exposition." Arthur muttered, rolling his eyes.
"It was a horrible, horrible thing for anybody to have to go through. Well, the mystery has been solved, as you can tell. We have apprehended the killer, and we can ensure that this will never happen again."
She took a deep breath, and continued her speech.
"The killer was Flavio Vargas, aided by the help of Oliver Kirkland, who was acting against his will. Both have been taken into custody, and will be transferred to a mental hospital as soon as possible, along with the remaining inmates with mental illnesses."
This took everybody by shock, mixed reactions echoing through the cavernous room.
"I knew it. Flavio always seemed suspicious."
"I was not suspecting Oliver to help, he seemed a bit odd, but nothing that serious."
"They b-both seemed nice."
"Flavio was kind of a prick, I'm glad to see him go."
The woman looked at them meaningfully, and they all shut up.
"Anyway, we have reason to notify you that all inhabitants of Cell Block F will be transferred to World Wide Affairs mental hospital to continue their treatment, seeing as custody here failed to take any effect. This extends to patients who are having mental problems that were not an inmate of Cell Block F, specifically your friend and fellow inmate, Antonio Fernandez-Carriedo."
"Toni." Ivan heard Tino whisper.
"You have probably noticed the disturbing lack of inmates in Cell Block D. Not to worry, you will probably be receiving some new 'friends' soon, due to the amount of idiots in this city." The woman rolled her eyes. "I have information that more inmates will be arriving the day after tomorrow, some transfers from a different prison, others just recently admitted."
The woman smiled at them. "I know I shouldn't be saying this, but I'm actually kind of glad we're getting more inmates in your category. You've seen so many of your friends die, that you should have the chance to make more."
It doesn't work like that, but I would like to meet some new people, was the thought on the mind of every inmate as they stood and prepared for lunch.
...
Lili looked up from her crouched position on the floor as somebody unlocked the door, for once in what seemed like a lifetime. She usually got her meals pushed through a slot in the door.
"Why are you here?" She hissed, recoiling at the bright light shining through the doorway.
"You're being moved, dearie. Can you stand up for me so I can put these handcuffs on you?"
Lili complied, letting the lady snap the stupid metal things around her delicate wrists. She didn't know how they found handcuffs this small, locking around her wrists so tight they hurt.
"Where am I going?" She asked, her voice hoarse. "A hospital, a place where you can get help."
Help.
"Okay." She said softly. The nurse smiled and ruffled her hair. "Thank you, Lili. It's nice of you to accept help like this instead of kicking up a fuss." Lili was silent, just following the nurse out of the room.
Help... would be nice. I was just trying to help Big Brother, and look where it got him...
I want somebody to help me...
Nine Years Later~~~
Tino was happy.
He had a job, he was speaking english, everybody around him was happy and nice and not convicted of manslaughter.
He could get used to this.
With a smile, he turned back to the cafe's countertop and set down the mug he was polishing.
"Can I take your order?"
...
Arthur had missed being able to visit bookstores.
He was surprised his childhood favorite was still open, an old favorite he had known since birth. Moving back to England had been a hard choice to make, but he felt like it was the right choice. America just held too many bad memories for him. He hadn't liked the new inmates very much, the ones after losing Matthew. An upbeat man named Matthias who had decapitated his sweetheart with an axe, a sweet girl named Emma who had picked off her brother, and a crossdressing male called Feliks who somebody had attempted to sexually assault, thinking he was a woman, and he fought back "in self defense". Both men had landed in jail, but Feliks with a lighter sentence, much to Arthur's joy.
Well, all of that was in the past, and I'm free now, Arthur thought, taking a sip of his tea.
...
Roderich's first thought when he got home was I need to find a piano.
He was lucky that he still owned his house, actually. A couple of the house staff weren't scared away by his, um, accident, and they had been taking care of it for when their 'master' returned.
He felt a lot better as soon as his fingers touched the ivory keys, letting forth a melody he had never heard before, but when the music reached his ears, all tension melted away.
He could resume his normal life. He could forget everything that happened in the prison.
He could forget that Toni died in that mental hospital, due to stress and improper diagnosis of his illness.
He could forget the terrified look on Ludwig's face, his last expression one of fear and horror.
He could forget the bloodstains that matted Elizaveta's hair as he dragged her corpse to the nearest graveyard.
He could forget all of that. Right?
...
The taxi ride back to the city had been long and boring, but it was worth it. Ivan took a deep breath. The air smelled clean, an improvement over the stuffy air of the prison. He took another, and another, smelling all the wonderful smells and seeing all the sights of the city that he missed. He could get used to America, the real America. Not that concrete death trap, but the cities and sights and sounds. After taking his last deep breath, he took his first step as a free man.
And immediately bumped into somebody. Smooth.
"Aiyah, I'm sorry." The man stumbled to his feet, scrambling to pick up the books he was carrying. Ivan bent down to help him.
"Oh, thank you." The man's brown eyes met Ivan's violet ones.
"What's your name? I haven't seen you around here before..."
"Ivan Braginski. You?"
"Y-Yao Wang." The man smiled at him.
"U-um, do you want to get some coffee or something? My treat. I feel like I'd like to get to know you better."
Ivan nodded, also smiling. "That would be lovely, thank you!"
This, he thought, could be very interesting.
And here we go. It's over. The End. There will be an epilogue chapter, but you can count this as the end of the story.
You can skip over this next part if you want (it's mostly a huge pile of emotions that I've been wanting to throw at people since chapter 1)
I would like to specifically thank a couple of people~
A Broken Imagi-NATION: Oh my gosh, where do I begin? You've helped me this whole time, listened to me ramble, given me ideas, helped me with beta reading, you've basically been my internet big sister since day one. Danke, grazie, merci, all the ways I can say thank you, I want to throw them at you throws huge pile of thank yous
pastaaddict: Thank you, your reviews always make me smile, I always look forward to them, you've cheered me up too many ways to remember! You deserve, like, 500 cookies.
poisonlilie: You've also stuck with me for a very long time, THANK YOU. Your reviews helped me with the story, and made me laugh a bunch of times. Keep being fabulous!
asdfghjkl: You are an amazing human being. Thank you so much. Your reviews made me smile, laugh, experience emotions, THANKS.
Calistrophia: You managed to make me smile and strive to do better all at the same time. THANK YOU throws cookies
topaz3: You offered me new insight and ideas on this story, so thanks for that! I always looked forward to your reviews :3
Also, thanks to every single person that followed, Favorited, and and reviewed this! I thank all of you profusely...
Okay, last order of business! I am about to begin a new story, a special dystopian AU called 'Imperfection', and I hope all of you want to read it! If you don't, that's fine too shameless self promotion
Peace, love, pasta, and beer,
Aria