Oh, silly me. How could I expect you to move to see the illustrations in the AO3 fic when I haven't even given you the link?

/works/20090821/chapters/47586289

For some reason it won't let me type in the full URL. There's the tail though. Just make sure to add archive**of**our**own .org but remove the asterisks because if I didn't use the asterisks, they would have been deleted after I saved. I don't know why.

In short, type the words without the asterisks, then paste in the whole /works tail thingy.

Man, what a bunch of work.

Eyes Open, Mouth Closed

Ryoga opens his eyes, a whimper escaping from his throat. He can barely remember anything, his head feeling as if it was stuffed with cotton. What did he take last night? Was he ripped off by his dealer? He knew he shouldn't have trusted them. He should have stuck with the barianite. It was cheap and easy to obtain for the likes of him. Although lately it hadn't been as effective as before. Ugh . He knows he shouldn't do such things, but life had become inconceivably dull for him the past few years.

A dull pang fills his body and he shifts uncomfortably. His dealer will definitely be hearing from him along with a few other things. No. Wait. IV. Tears? But Ryoga wouldn't cry. What would have made him cry anyways? Unless he was so out of it, he couldn't remember...Apparently, there had been times when he had been given a bad batch and spent most of the high locked up somewhere crying. But barianite didn't do that to him. And he could remember exactly what happened to him after he took barianite.

Loss…? The feeling of it…? What was taken from him? His head feels so heavy...No. This wasn't something he had taken of his free will. He was drugged. The cookies. The tea. IV had never touched the cookies, now that he thinks of it. He only nibbled on a chocolate square. Damnit, damnit all. Just what the hell did IV want with him? There's holes in his memory. He knows it. There was something cold and metallic against his back. He's pretty sure he was strapped to it. But why? A knife. A marker. A saw. The hell? Did IV want his organs? Well, he must have been pretty disappointed when he opened Ryoga up.

Someone is running their lips down his chest. Swallowing, Ryoga grimaces at the dryness.

"Fuck off..," growls Ryoga, trying to bat them away.

His arms don't obey him and he grimaces. Sleep paralysis? At a time like this? Fighting the urge to go back to sleep, Ryoga groggily opens up his eyes. He's so cold...and then he sees IV and his blood freezes.

"F...four?!" exclains Ryoga. "What are you…"

He tries to back away, but he's against a wall. Thomas looks down at him, a smile playing on his lips. Ryoga tries to move his legs, scoot away, anything...but he can't. Looking down at his legs, his breath catches in his throat. Hooks and loops with joints. What kind of a sick joke was this? And what was he wearing anyways? Lingerie? Black and lacy with red accents, a sheer silk piece of fabric serving as thin covering.

Oh gods, what kind of sick fantasy was this? Swallowing hard, he glares up at IV.

"What the hell, IV?!" he snaps.

Yet IV continues to smile, tickling Ryoga under the chin. Ryoga scowls in return.

"Answer me," demands Ryoga. "What the hell is this?"

Oh, he was so cute.

"From now on, you will call me master," says Thomas as he runs a finger down Ryoga's chest.

"Shut up!" shouts Ryoga. He tries to move again but to no avail. "What the fuck did you do to me?!"

"You're a doll now!" laughs Thomas. "Just like the others!"

The...others? Ryoga scans the room and stops when he sees a doll with pink and chocolate curls. Its deep green eyes holds his gaze for a few moments. Then, it blinks and Ryoga nearly screams. Please... mouths the doll. Its lips continue to move, but Ryoga is no longer able to process. Instead, he focuses on a regally dressed doll. Its cold and elegant beauty was reminiscent of the eldest Arclight brother. The resemblance was too much. He swallows hard and is about to turn away when the doll turns to him. Immediately, Ryoga's heart leaps to his throat.

That must be him. Those piercing blue eyes, now so sad. That tricolored mass of hair that was now organized into a tower of curls. Skin that was so pale, now even more so. Like that of a corpse's. Ryoga.., V mouths. His eyes are pleading, rimmed by thick eyelashes. There was something nightmarish about all the makeup he wore, making him seem more severe than usual.

Once again, Ryoga turns to III. He's still trying to communicate with his panicked mouthing. Turning back to IV, Ryoga begins to feel the first spark of fear.

"Aren't they beautiful?" asks Thomas, his voice ringing across the room. "I created their new limbs myself."

New limbs…? Ryoga looks down at his own arms and legs. He swallows hard. Either this was real or he had overdosed on something that wasn't barianite.

"Wh...what do you mean? Wh-why aren't they moving? Why can't they speak?"

Ryoga can't help but let the panic creep into his voice. Thomas notices and gives him a reassuring pat on his head. He would rather wake up in a hospital, connected by tubes and a dialysis machine, his kidneys completely devastated by the drugs he had taken than to this. This was too much.

"They're dolls. I had to remove their original limbs and give them more suitable ones. And they can't speak because they don't have vocal cords anymore," explains Thomas calmly. "After all, these kind of dolls don't have voices, so why should they?"

A whimper escapes from Ryoga's throat.

"Then...w-why can I speak?"

Thomas gives him a beautiful smile that in other situations, Ryoga would have sneered at.

"Because. I want to hear your cries and helpless pleading when I play with you."

Those words make Ryoga want to escalate into full-blown panic. When Thomas picks him up, Ryoga feels a tightening in his chest. The effects of the sedative were beginning to wear off, much to his dread. Reality was coming in, whether he liked it or not. M...maybe he had signed up to film an adult video? With IV? But why would III and V be there? Then why could he no longer feel his arms and legs? No, no...this...this must be reality.

V and III's eyes follow him piteously. Their mouths have stopped moving.

"Why are you doing this…?" asks Ryoga, trying to fill in the void of panic.

"Is it too much to ask to be loved?" murmurs Thomas as he carries Ryoga into his room.

He places Ryoga on the bed and proceeds to kiss his neck.

"Stop," begs Ryoga. "I don't want this…"

Thomas pulls away, cupping Ryoga's face in his hands. Ah, fear.

"You don't have a choice in this..," murmurs Thomas as he pulls off the silk covering.

"No! Stop! Back off or I'll…"

What could he do? He could barely move. There's an amused smirk on Thomas's face as he unhooks the bra and pulls it away. A whimper escapes from Ryoga's throat as Thomas's finger hooks onto the edge of the panties. When he pulls it off, Ryoga lets out another whimper. He's so cold.

Moments later, the dolls in the dolls' room hear a bloodcurdling set of screams. A new doll had been born.