May 30, 2008

4:45 pm

"You Michael Thomas?" Seeley Booth asks the short blonde haired boy before him at the art table. He remembers to be gentle, there's no knowing when a kid like him could flip out but he couldn't help but get angry. He knew Zack very well considered him a friend and the fact that someone so close to Zack would betray him in such a way made the FBI Agent fume. Even so, he was very near to considering Zack someone…he knew…closely before he did what he did. Perhaps this was karma? Maybe he shouldn't even blame Michael. The kid was a schizophrenic with multiple personality disorder. Maybe he didn't even know what he was doing.

"Nope." Michael looks forward at his sketch, a shadowy woman with what looks like a light saber. His accent has changed, it switches from German to French.

"Yes, yes you are. It says here on the roster." Agent Booth argues.

"I was Michael Thomas, but not anymore." Oh not this again. Seeley rolls his eyes.

"Well who are you today?"

"Raven Fabelle. Artiste extraordinaire. I'm sure you've hear of me my work can be found in New York and in Paris. Or perhaps you're a fan of my line of designer overalls." He flips his head to the side and looks up to Booth, a man practically towering him.

"I'm unfamiliar. But I hear you know someone named Orian. I'm looking for him." he talks almost as if he's talking to his son who is nearly a third of Raven's age. Raven utters a tiny whimper much unlike his current voice before he shakes his head.

"Orian is sick." he says, "Orian is dying." he twitches a bit before he starts tapping again.

"Wait, sick like he needs to go to the hospital?"

"No, sick like he is going to die. No one can help him now." Raven seems to crack a somewhat devilish and deviant grin but quickly hides it and grabs a red marker from the middle of the table with greed.

"Now why is that?" Seeley flips out a pad of paper and begins taking notes.

"I have too many faces." the accent is English now. "It's quite cluttered up there." he points to his head.

"Consider it…spring cleaning." He changes characters and accents. He's spanish now. Curling his r's with the tip of is tongue on the roof of his mouth.

"No no no, you see I need Orian for a second, just for a bit and he can go back to being sick. But he did something bad and I need him to talk to me about it."

"What did he do?" the voice is annoyed, the accent American but more feminine.

"He went up to my friend, Zack's room and erased his notes." Booth says. "Look it will just be for a few seconds and then you can get back to drawing your light saber. The boy in front of him, his identity unclear, chuckles.

"You can't curl hair with a light saber." and then, ever so suddenly, he blacks out, slipping from his chair, hitting his head on the carpeted floor. He's out cold.

"Can I get some help here?" Booth asks, holding up the young man who falls limp in his arms. A nurse rushes to his aid and together, they carry him back to his room, conveniently just down the hall. Only when the nurse disappears to get the boys supervisor, does he wake up as Orian, his face pale and sickly. He startles Booth only slightly, as Booths seen scarier, but feels un easy as the boy grasps his arm tighter than normal.

"Help me." he can barely muster.

"Help you with what? What do you need?"

"I'm -I'm dying, sir." the boy talks in whisper much unlike how Agent Booth met him the morning after Mr. Oshiro's death. He shakes and his voice cracks.

"How are you dying?" Seeley asks, checking for a fever or and wounds. Orian puts up a hand to stop him.

"It's my time to go. Don't you fret. I have many other faces. You're lucky, sir, it's usually that no one sees a face die. No one's ever asked upon one while they're sick." he swallows hard and blinks until a single tears rolls down his cheek.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know-" the war veteran and special agent is rendered speechless with no idea what to do next. Never before has he been beside a schizophrenic pretending to die to symbolically say goodbye to a second personality. But he's been beside the dying. And PTSD has him nearly paralyzed with sadness. The boy is so young, at least eighteen, at most twenty-two. His hair is blonde, like Booth's son.

"I was going to drop off the notes in Zack's room like I promised I would. J-j-just not right away. I'm sorry sir. I know I told him I would but, there was someone in his room. That Candace woman. She's a supervisor and I couldn't be caught with a master key."

"I understand." Seeley hides his feelings by talking in a deep authoritative voice. Never once has he cracked during a case. And he wasn't going to give up that streak now.

"I waited until she was done, she was cleaning the walls or something. But something about her, reminded me of something important. Something about the night my Ben-" there are more tears. Orian finds he cannot finish his sentence so he starts anew. "After I became Raven to draw my picture, I knew it was time for Orian to die. Orian was soft. Too affectionate. I knew that after Ben…" it almost as if Orian refuses to admit the reality. "I knew that after that I wouldn't last long. The sadness would crumble…but, I wasn't sad."

"What makes you say that?" Agent Booth asks. It's off topic but he's curious. He's piecing the story together in his head-something he loves to do so very much.

"I met Zack. And how he wanted to solve the case of Benny's…" he picks a new sentence "How he wanted to help everyone who was hurt. It showed this compassion. It revealed someone in this world who loves people no matter what they do. No matter if they're crazy, or were a bit of a player. I didn't know much about how Zack got here but I knew he was lonely. And Lil and I wanted to make him not so lonely. Make him not so sad. We didn't ask for anything in return but-" he squeezes his eyes shut as more tears come.

"If you aren't sad, they why was it decided you should die?"

"I did my part sir, not only am I happy, but Zack is happy. Have you seen him? He's been glowing since he decided to play Sherlock Holmes. I'm ready to go sir. Although," he pauses a long while, as if in thought.

"Although what?"

"It'd just be nice if my two best friends in the entire world were here. If Zack and Lilac good."

"I just saw Zack, maybe if you want-" but Orian shakes his, cutting Booth off.

"I don't have a lot of time. If you could be here. Just stay here until I go. When a face dies, it's always alone. It'd be nice if- I mean, I know I don't know you sir."

"No, no it's fine." Seeley's voice has reduced to a whisper.

It's a minute before Orian's eyes finally close and his head drops down limply. Agent Booth is left to his feelings when a Orian's supervisor enters the room.

"I was told he fainted?" a skinny brunette woman asks, pulling on a pair of glasses.

"Yeah, but he came up for a few seconds." Booth finds himself sniffling and is about to excuse himself when the boy on the bed opens his eyes.

"Good morning. You had quite a fall, young man." his supervisor says.

"I did?" he asks."

"You sure did. Can I ask to I'm speaking to?" there is silence as the boy runs his fingers through his own hair and sniffs the air.

"Charlie?" he asks, like even he doesn't know.

"You don't seem so sure about that." says his supervisor.

"It's a new hat, ma'am." he looks to Seeley like he's a stranger. "Hi, I'm Charlie, nice to meet you." he smiles shyly but holds out a hand.

"Yea, you too…" Seeley looks right into Charlie's eyes as if to find a trace of Orian or Michael or Monroe or even Raven, but finds nothing. The room falls to silence as Charlie re-calibrates as a new personality. But the silence is soon shatter with an ear splitting scream from the hallway.