Dark and large bronzed eyes simply looked at the being in front of him , unsure of what to make of the person yet as he was entirely different to anyone he had come across before. Both in mannerism and apparel , this brown haired guy in front of him stood out like a sore thumb compared to others ; having this air of formality yet aloofness around which wasn't off putting like the guards but it wasn't something he could consider exactly nice either.
That being said though , even though he looked certainly well off compared to both him , the stone faced ladies and majority of other people he came to know through his visits in town and from seeing others around , he somehow fit right in with the bland and pursed look etched into his face , as if such an expression barely moved. Always serious or in deep thought , just like the stone faced ladies.
But unlike them , somehow he wasn't as incensed by the look of him like they were so maybe that was a good thing? Or maybe he could have been but he hid it so well? He couldn't really tell because of how the guy's eyes were hidden behind these small window looking things on his face that were enclosed in dark frames.
Any expression he could have shown seemed to be filtered out through those things he said or maybe he just thought that.
But then again that made him think , even if he did look out of place in the middle of his room with his apparent clothing , the look on his face that hadn't changed since he met him made up for that difference and he somehow blended in with the dreary vibe he knew to surround him in these dull stone walls.
The bluenet allowed his legs to dangle off the foot of his bed , languidly kicking here and there in boredom as his eyes went to see the overflowing book that the man flicked through before looking down at his lap. The book that this man seemed to be reading and also writing into seemed rather boring. Not a picture in sight , and from what he had glanced over it , it was just words and more words.
Like the book that the adults would read.
Yet the words that were written in this guy's book specifically didn't even look like words at first glance , but almost tiny scribbles or something. And they were being added by the man alongside as he read which made him curious as to what he could be adding though he didn't want to spare too many glances his way in case he did something he wasn't meant to do.
With that being said though , for some reason he got the feeling that this book that the man was focusing on specifically was probably even harder to understand than the prayer book the ladies would read (and he just about could do so). With how much focus that the man was putting into just reading through the paper , having laser-like focus and not even uttering a word.
Kind of like him when he would be trying to comprehend the harder part of what he would read , but of course he was just a child and very limited in his knowledge and he struggled a generous amount in things which adults seemed to do flawlessly.
But this guy was no child and that was obvious , he looked probably as old as the stone-faced lady with bandages or maybe just a bit more , but he was still struggling with his task of reading through whatever he was.
Which made him wonder ,
Even if it was something boring he could have been reading , what sort of knowledge could it have held that made it so difficult for even an adult to understand?
"Hmmmm…"
Jellal was broken from his thoughts hearing the first sound that this man had made in front of him since he had arrived. His eyes glanced up to see what could have changed , only to find the man also had swiped a look at him , scanning over his being entirely before looking back at his book and jotting something down in the paper which confused the boy a bit.
'Is he writing something about me?'
The thought of that was odd to him. Considering he had just met the only a while back , they had barely shared a word between each other and yet somehow this man was writing things about him? Glancing up every now and then with a pause in his actions before continuing to do so and he couldn't help but be wary yet curious as to why this man was doing this?
What could he have been writing about someone like him with such focus?
And not just that,
But why was he here in the first place?.
And why did he need to meet him either?
"15th of September…In the year X763…"
"Given today's date , that should make him 6 years…heading towards 7…"
"Is that correct?"
The man spoke for once , catching him off guard as he heard the sound of momentary clicking coming from the pen in hand. What he sounded like , the guy's voice was just as serious as his looks , and with what was being spoken about he could only imagine why as he barely understood any of it.
'What's being spoken about?'
'And how does it relate to me?'
"Y-Yes."
Out of the two stone-faced ladies that were accompanying the strange man , one spoke up finally after being submerged in thick silence and of course by the quiet and nervous demeanour it was none other than Irose.
"T-That's his birthdate w-we gave the last time you came to visit."
She added , her eyes down towards the ground to avoid meeting the man's as her slender fingers fought not to play around with each other out of her habit as she awaited what was next to be said.
From this new information , even more perplexity crossed the bluenet's face as it tried to make comprehension of it all. Regarding that, this was his first time actually hearing about a thing called a 'birthdate' and also due to the fact that this wasn't the first time this guy had come here.
What was he doing with information about him like this?
Birthdate?
And why did he come last time too?
Honestly he knew nothing of this encounter and it put him in such a weird place. Not just mentally but just out of comfort too. The stone-faced ladies told him nothing of the sort until suddenly one of them barged into his room and told him he wasn't allowed to go out due to someone important coming to visit , and for that he needed to stay indoors for the meantime until he left.
That of course made him feel disheartened as he had plans to go out and play with Hazel , but due to the order of the ladies , he needed to oblige and because of that put his wants on hold for now.
At least until what was needed to be done with this special guest was out of the way.
And regarding that 'important someone' , all he had been told was his name was Doctor Laurus and he was someone from the special facilities of Taïr , who was incredibly smart and would be asking him some things and doing some things which were necessary now he was 'coming of age'.
He of course had no idea what that last bit was meant to mean or refer to and all this information only served to puzzle him further.
Why would someone from Taïr come to meet him?
And ask him about what?
What could a kid like him know that would be of any use of someone important like this guy?
And he had been here before?
When?
And for what?
Knowing that he deduced that this guy had either come when he was out of the house or even asleep so he couldn't have acknowledged him. Though that made him question , if he had conducted the visit then in his absence , then what was different with this visit that he needed to be present for it now?
Or if it wasn't present , then conscious of it?
And why had he been told he needed to start getting used to visits from this guy too?
So many questions addled his little mind with the more he was left in the dark about this Dr Laurus guy and what he did , and it only frustrated him even more that he had been told he wasn't allowed to ask too many questions on the matter.
Simply only answer what Laurus would ask of him and nothing more than that.
"And he's been eating better has he?"
'Why does he need to know that?'
Before the look of uncertainty could finish crossing his face completely , he felt glare come down on him from the other stone-faced lady that was in the room beside Irose , the lady with the colours over her face. To which he simply took her vivid glower as a warning and kept his reactions intact by looking down at his lap again as the conversation ensued.
"Y-Yes."
"Good."
"Maybe this time we will actually yield some results."
The man breathed before his sight settled down at the bluenet whose bangs obscured the majority of his expression , taking note of how visibly the boy did look a bit different compared to the last visit that was made when he was unaware of the brief inspection and sampling that took place not too many months back.
Considering the concerns that had been raised regarding the child and his suspicious lack of ability , he had been the one tasked with investigating the worry deeper and finding out if it really was a present problem or something that was just a mere ignorant hypothesis.
Jellal bit the inside of his cheek , somehow off put by what was being said even though he barely understood it. The vibe of it all seemed so questionable , and the fact that no one was telling him exactly what was going on just made him all the more anxious.
If he was important for it , shouldn't he have at least had the right to know?
'Results?'
'What is he talking about?'
He barely had time to ruminate the question as he felt a more solid focus forming on him which had him turning still from the presence. His small hands threatened to play with the loose material of his trousers to abate his want to fidget , but he knew how bad of an idea that would be if it was to get on the nerves of the stone faced lady or even this strange man.
"But before that."
"We have some things to get done first Gerard."
The man said firmly , putting voluminous book of notes to the side on the chair he had been given as he turned to reach a weighted bag that held all sorts of items needed for today's thorough and proper inspection and sampling ; from a tape measure , to scissors , to a weighing scale , to blood vials and everything else necessary to make sure the doctor wouldn't go back empty handed when returning back to the research facilities.
All the while Jellal's look of confusion stuck to him incessantly , now not by the indiscernible information which left this man's lips , but given what he heard at the end and how confidently he said it.
'Gerard?'
Who's name was that?
Was that meant to be him?
The thought of that baffled him even more. Because his name wasn't Gerard , it was Jellal , how could someone that supposedly smart get that mixed up? Also given all the information he was collecting on him for whatever reason? He seemed so concise and focused with everything but somehow got the name of the person he was meant to be attending to wrong?
The bluenet looked up from his fixated gaze , witnessing the fairly tall and slender man digging through that huge bag he had come in with and searching through what seemed like endless compartments.
Though he knew he wasn't allowed to engage much with the doctor , he believed he had the right to correct the man's blunder with his own name at least , that should have been a given if he was meant to get more familiar with him, no?
"Erm…Doctor Laurus?"
He started softly , a moment or two later causing the man who was probing through his bag to come to a halt with his actions before he looked over his shoulder to the young boy asking for his attention , a little surprised the kid actually had something to say since he had been so quiet and kept to himself all this time , he was actually wondering if he was near mute or something.
"What is it?"
The man asked with barely any patience as he brought out more items for the examinations to take underway , evidently not really that interested with what could be said as he was more focused on his own actions, laying out the items he took out out on the rolled out fabric case beside him as the young boy's hushed voice hit his ears again.
"T…That's not my name."
"It's Jellal."
He told the older man , hoping his words didn't come off as too rude or anything as it probably was weird for someone of his calibre to be corrected by someone insignificant as him. And for a minute with how the room suddenly turned thick with silence and how he could feel that glare coming back at him from Alika's visage , he wondered if he should have just kept his mouth shut and not given too much mind to Laurus's mistake.
"Oh sorry."
But weirdly enough the man didn't have hell to give him. Simply brushing over the matter with an apology as if something like this was normal for him before finally standing up from his crouched position near his monstrous size of a bag and turning to face him fully.
Jellal's eyes travelled over to look at the bag pushed to the corner of the room , astounded by both the size of it and how much that came out of it. As if one could put their hand in and keep pulling out more and more , like the bag didn't have a bottom almost. He wondered if it made it really heavy or light for the doctor to carry with him then.
Though before he could become engrossed in that new train of thought , the sound of something snapping loudly brought him out of his mindless ramblings as he looked towards the man who was stretching some sort of contraption in front of him , with one side being chunkier and made of some kind of object whilst the other was made of some sort of lengthy thing that kept stretching as the man pulled at it , before letting it go abruptly and seeing it get sucked into the object.
'What's that?'
He could only question from seeing nothing like such a thing. And to see this strange man approaching him with it , it made his nerves jumpy again , especially from the loud sound that emanated from it to begin with. He couldn't help but wonder what this sort of thing was meant to be used for and how in relation to him.
And with what he heard next , there was no mistake he was going to find out now how.
"Now I'm going to need you to stand up for me Sellal."
'Sellal?!'
His unease was still playing into him , but hearing that this guy got his name wrong a second time (though admittedly it was closer than Gerard) , especially after having just corrected him was baffling and not in a good way. And for some reason now he felt like this wasn't going to be the end of such behaviour from this strange man , but nonetheless he did need to still try to correct him.
"Again , it's Jellal."
He said in a more firmer tone , wondering if maybe the man didn't hear him properly the first time and maybe that's why he mixed up this time around. But just like before a nonchalant apology ensued , as the man walked up to one of the nearby stone walls and tapped the hardness in waiting for the bluenet to follow.
"Come here."
To which he sprang off his bed in obedience , feeling his feet hit the cold floor and sending a slight shiver up him as he walked over wordlessly to the wall before he's being pressed firmly by said doctor against the dull structure as he saw that weird contraption being pulled out.
"Stand still."
The doctor ordered , to which the bluenet was trying to do on command but he felt his restlessness playing up due to his nerves seeping his hidden anxiety out and he had the crave to fidget again. Laurus took note of this as he was glancing over at the child and his strange behaviours , observing how the boy was slowly being seized by tension and somehow looked almost scared of what was happening.
Which to him was rather strange given they hadn't even got anywhere near to the horrible part of the visit but there was no way for the kid to have known of that either.
His framed gazed followed to where the azure haired boy's visage briefly had focused before falling down. On where the two ladies who were the numbered few of his chosen caretakers. To which the man couldn't help but ask the boy if it would calm his anxiety as it would just make the matter tedious to conduct his duties in this state.
"Do you want them gone?"
The question surprised Jellal , making him blink out of the trance of nervousness he was in as he considered what was being asked. For the stone faced ladies to be gone?
Was that really allowed?
If he had to be honest , he would have preferred to have only Irose there with him as she wasn't as mean or intruding as the other one could be. But if he was to say that , he had a feeling that would erupt in something after with Alika and he didn't want anything to do with her more than needed.
Also he had no idea what this Doctor Laurus was going to do either and didn't feel comfortable being alone with him even though he didn't show any form of threat like he had witnessed with those other weird men he came across.
With a subtle shake of his head , the bluenet let out a breath as he tried to rid himself of that which could have been a bother to this process or could have made any of them unnecessarily angry. Doing his best to stand still , he felt his head being tilted upwards in alignment to the thing beside him that was stretched out and somehow holding itself without being sucked back in.
"Now stay like that."
The touch of that man on his skin wasn't anything dreadful but he didn't like it either way. It brought back the horrid memory of what happened not even a year back and that alone had his muscles tensing disgustingly. But it was obvious to him Dr Laurus didn't have any weird intentions like those rat faced creeps , even though he wasn't exactly as readable and open as them either.
"That's….123 centimetres…"
"Certainly in the higher percentiles for his age…"
The doctor mumbled to himself , using a pen the bluenet hadn't even noticed to make a mark in the wall above where the top of his hair ended behind him. All the while he couldn't help but remain absolutely confused about what was to go on or what was even going on , why the doctor needed such from him and what he would do with it?
'Is this something that happens for other people too?'
"Now to check the weight."
A huff left his lips inaudibly , his eyes having moved to the long thing that was stretched beside him , astonished to see it was slowly getting eaten up again and diminishing in length. All these things the doctor was doing was so new to him and he couldn't quell his curiosity regarding it all and wonder if it was something he should fear or not.
"Hmmm…The findings are rather something indeed….He's underweight yet somehow possesses strength that alike to a child probably 3 or 4 more years of age. His organs and senses seem to be all in good conditions…And his diet before didn't affect his growth spurt as would have been expected , despite the fact he wasn't getting adequate nourishment at the time…"
"Why could this be the case…?"
Jellal listened to the ramblings of the man who had gone back to making notes in his mountainous book after he had been given some form of pardon from the weird activities they did. All these sorts of things which made no sense to him but the doctor made findings of and kept talking to himself with everything he looked at with a hawk like eye , as if completely zoned out from the outside world and simply focused on his being alone.
Like he was studying him like a book or something.
Though of course as serious as this man was , throughout the duration of the duties needed to be fulfilled , he got his name wrong more times than he wanted to count. To the point he simply gave up on trying to correct him and just hoped he wouldn't try to use it at all anymore as that was better than any attempt he tried.
'How can someone this smart be so silly at the same time…'
The bluenet thought to himself as his fingers fumbled with buttoning up his shirt that needed to be opened due to inspection that needed to happen. This of course was really odd to him , and honestly he didn't want to bare himself in that way to Doctor Laurus as it only reminded him of that incident , but he couldn't tell him that.
It was embarrassing enough and disgusting to remember as it is.
He didn't even get why Laurus needed to look at his body in such detail , what was special about it that he needed to look that invasively at him? And write about it too?
But thankfully it was just his shirt that needed to be opened for a short amount of time and Irose was here the whole time so he felt safer obliging to the doctor's orders under her watch. Also since Laurus allowed him to do things himself , in that way the control was comforting and did help him differentiate this situation from the trauma suffered.
"Jallal before I do the sampling , I need to ask you some questions."
'This guy…'
This was probably going to be the closest to his name this guy was going to get from all he heard. He regrettably accepted that. Given all the weird variations that this man somehow derived from one name , he would say this one was unfortunately the best one he'd settle with.
Though after he gave mind to the doctor's incessant blunders long enough , his focus turned from what disappointed him to now that which was of his interest.
'Questions?'
This was what the ladies had told him about and after doing all of that now , they were finally getting to it. He wondered why it took so long to get to this , why all that had to be done beforehand when this was the thing of importance he had been told?
Then it came to him.
Was this possibly why he needed to meet this guy this time? That maybe last time when he came , what he wanted to do or needed to do wasn't successful because he wasn't conscious or there? But then the question that came from that train of thought , was what was he doing in the first place that needed him anyway?
"These questions may or may not seem strange to you."
"Don't think about them too much."
"Just give me an honest answer."
The sudden depth in this guy's voice really made him feel the change in importance for this matter upcoming. And because of that he couldn't help but wonder what was with the sudden strictness applied in the matter and why everything felt so strangely suffocating out of nowhere.
"Make sure you answer him properly…"
Alika scoffed , saying the first thing since she had accompanied the doctor with Irose. He could feel her gaze piercing through him , relaying the threat that her words didn't as he could tell what that speech of her's was actually meant to convey.
Make sure you answer him properly or else…
Why she didn't outright threaten him in front of the doctor or not , he didn't know. But either way he remained wary of the sharpness in her behaviour , whether she announced it or not.
"To begin with…."
"Do you ever feel anything weird with yourself?"
The man started , taking the bluenet's attention back to him as he considered the question and what it was meant to ask. Weird with himself? What exactly was that meant to refer to? Like in a physical sense? Mental sense? Understanding sense?
His features had visibly knit together to show how vague the question had come to him , to which the doctor seemed to read his expression carefully before deciding to elaborate on such.
"Like pulses inside you….Or maybe sudden temperatures that feel unbearable…Even headaches when you're not ill."
"Weird things like that."
Laurus stated , hoping that one of the known symptoms that the child's bloodline descendants were known to experience around similar ages or younger would be recognised by the bluenet and hopefully give some sign about his possible magic potential in that sense.
But to his dismay , with the long awaited answer that the bluenet gave him , it was in the negatory.
"It doesn't need to be exactly like that though."
"Just weird like them."
Jellal thought deeply if he had experienced that which was being named or anything alike , which he could tell now was definitely to do with something physical and internal , but he couldn't really recall any instances of things like that happening.
Well with the headaches that happened when he wasn't ill , that was more to do with the shouting that would happen at home or through looking at a book for too long , and when that would happen he would just sleep it off. That was something he could say but for some reason that didn't feel like the answer this man was looking for.
"No…I don't think so…"
He mumbled , still trying to think back to if there was any instance of such in his memory , but he really couldn't find any. With a firm judgement he shook his head , to which a look of disappointment flashed across the doctor's face before being hidden as he looked down at his book and penned down the conversation.
"How about strangeness in taste?"
"Or feeling sudden rushes of energy?"
"Or burning sensations?"
"Or even getting sick regularly?"
"Or maybe shortness of breath?"
He listed more of the lesser known symptoms of imbued magic potential to the child , hoping that one at least would resonate with him like it did with his ancestors but the results were not pleasing.
"No…"
"Nothing like that either."
The azure haired boy answered , however there was a slight falter in his tone. Not because what he was saying had to do anything with lying , but because of the disappointment that he could feel coming from the doctor as he answered. Even though he knew that what he was saying was no word short of the truth , with the reaction he was getting , he started to wonder…Was he meant to have said something different?
Was he meant to have been experiencing such things?
If so…
Then why?
Was it normal for such stuff to happen?
Before he could think more on the matter , a sharp voice broke him out of his pondering with a sneer.
"I was saying he's probably defective!"
Alika said with a laugh in her words , to which the brunette stood beside her simply looked at the bluenet who was visibly hurt from hearing her say that before glancing over at the older man , silently asking for an answer herself.
There was that word again…Defective. And coming from her lips he had no doubt now it wasn't meant to be something good. But that still didn't tell him what it meant , or how it related to him. What was he meant to be defective in? What did it mean to be defective?
And why was there so much importance around it if he was?"
"What does that mean?"
The words left his lips without even realising. Hushed like always , he didn't even expect someone to have caught notice of his response to that being said. But sadly an answer did come to him.
"You're worthless that's what."
But it was not something he wanted to hear either.
"Oh…"
Dejection broke out of him , unable to hide as his bronze and bright eyes fell down with his spirits from the words that he unfortunately understood now. Irose's baby blue orbs stilled from the sight of the evident sadness over the child , her own sight having become downcast as those words hurt more to hear than she thought , but she couldn't allow that to be noticed.
"I wouldn't say that with certainty yet."
Laurus broke the awkward atmosphere , having taken note of the sudden change in things but not being concerned enough to put out his true thoughts about it.
Jellal's thoughts of despondency passed over with the older man's comment. He didn't know if it was possibly said in his defence , but it did give him some comfort to hear that this strange man didn't entirely agree with such a harsh statement.
That being said though…
He didn't know if hearing such a thing was meant to be something of relief or not yet. As he was still in the dark about all of this and this 'worth' that Laurus and Alika seemed to be referring about.
"Besides…"
His sight turned from the tattooed boy to the items he would be using to extract the samples necessary from the young child.
"It's now for the final part of our meeting."
The doctor stated as he got the instrument ready for the first round of sampling that was meant to take place , blood sampling. Easily one of the most painful aspects , especially with the amount that was required from the child to study properly.
With all the abnormalities that this child had been showing and relaying, there needed to be a surplus amount for inspection , test and trial at hand when research would go down and so the mystery regarding whether this child's magical affinity existed or not could be solved.
"Roll up your sleeve tightly Gerard."
The subtle pang of annoyance crossed his mind as he did so as told. However that all went away from his mind when from the side of his eye he caught sight of a long , needle-like thing that was poking out of an empty large sterile syringe which had his blood turning cold from the sight of it.
And what made it worse was the needle wasn't something acute but certainly thicker than a hair's width , and that made his fear all the more worse with how apparent that device was.
'What is that ?'
The doctor finished putting on some white latex gloves he had at hand , the snap that sounded as the stretch of the gloves hit back rang against his ears regrettably as the male's attention was fully turned onto him sitting on the bed and his eyes couldn't help but focus on the thing in his hand.
"I'm not going to lie to you and tell you it won't hurt , because it will."
"And it could take some time."
The trepidation that Jellal was feeling was all but soothed from hearing something so brutally honest. His blood was beginning to pump in terror with each step he could hear being taken to come close to him as he was already dreading what level of pain was to come from this thing that was somehow meant to be used on him.
Without even realising , both of the stone-faced ladies sat beside him , blocking off any form of escape as he simply watched and waited in anxiety for this instrument to be put in him somehow.
He saw a glint crossed the doctor's frames as he neared his proximity. Having been seized by his nerves and subconsciously trying to push himself back in his bed away from that which coming his way , he found his attempts were futile as his bare arm was caught in a firm grip and stretched out as the doctor seemed to wear an expression on his face glazed with morbid curiosity as he had the syringe ready in one hand.
"But as soon as we get over it , the sooner you will forget about it so don't focus too much on it."
That was the last he could process before he felt a piercing pain come through his bare arm with no notice , and then soon after feeling as if his being was being sucked out of him through the glass instrument jutting out of his arm as he watched in shock as it was slowly getting filled up with bright , sticky and plentiful amounts of red.
It all made him feel so dizzy and light at the end of it. Even now he was struggling to keep his eyes open as the need to sleep kept coming and going from him with all that was extracted from him.
He didn't know which vial the doctor stopped at , he stopped counting at 3. Not because he wasn't interested , but his senses had gotten faint and he felt so weak after that horrid pain and suction that he had to go through. And as if sampling his blood wasn't enough , Laurus also took other things from him which he didn't understand why and said they were 'necessary'.
Taking a sample of his spit , his nails , the skin on his hand and even part of his hair.
Though honestly he didn't feel the rest happen as he was so disoriented by so much blood being taken out of him. It was a lot more than he had bled out from with his punishments , and his brain was still struggling not to become a mess because of it.
Why would so much of him be needed anyway? Why so much blood? What was meant to be accomplished by taking this from him?
He honestly wished he had the strength to think more about it , but his mind just wasn't allowing him. All he wanted to do was sleep , but because of the pain in his left arm and his body just being difficult with him , he found he kept fading in and out of consciousness even whilst being put in his bed.
Was his being like this due to something that the doctor had done to him or what?
Speaking of the doctor…
He hadn't left yet from what he could hear. Even though it was only barely , Laurus and the other ladies were for some reason discussing something between themselves that he was just about to get some grasp of as his head continued to spin from all the blood loss.
"With the amount I've done , he's going to be weak for a while so don't get him doing anything too demanding."
'What?'
He was going to be like this for a while? So how long did that mean? Would he be well enough at least when it came time to ask about the meteor shower? Or at least be able to meet Hazel again soon?
"He's going to need all the rest he can get to replenish."
"And make sure to document his recovery as it goes along for me to check up on."
"Y-Yes Doctor."
Hearing Irose speak reminded him that he still hadn't had the chance to ask her about the thing on the flyer , though at this rate he didn't know if he would be able to in time since all this was taking such a toll on him.
"I should start taking my leave now. I need to get these samples tested and studied as soon as I can."
"See where these anomalies lie , or if they do in the first place."
He could hear things getting packed up from where he lay , the sounds not really welcomed by his pulsing brain as it all seemed louder than he desired. His eyes screwed tightly on each other on his colder and pale face as he tried to become subdued by the sleep he wished to claim him but conversation still continued.
"Wait Doctor."
"Did you really think that he's not a defect after all these evidences?"
Alika asked in her usual nasally tone which made him wince regrettably. Her voice was like hearing metal grate now , not what he needed to listen to and hopefully he wouldn't now he could feel the darkness getting heavier around him again like he wanted.
But with this turn in question and how the Doctor had become so quiet all of a sudden , what was still lingering of his curiosity did wonder what would be said , even if he was barely holding onto consciousness.
"There's too many factors to consider before I can give a definite judgement."
"First of all this sort of thing has always been a mystery to us , even with the advance in science we have now and research we've been doing , we're still in the dark about a lot of it."
'In the dark about what?'
It seemed like what was being spoken about was something of high importance , or at least that's what he could decipher even with half his brain fading in and out as he tried to submerge in a world of darkness and silence.
"Then there is also the fact that what the bloodline was known to follow and how that could have affected the child's potential alongside."
There was that word again…Bloodline. Even someone so knowledgeable from Taïr also found something like that important. And somehow it related to him too. It made him wonder why but with what was coming to claim him , he didn't think he would be present enough to hear where this conversation went.
"Not to mention the father himself was also an anomaly from what records state. Mentality , personality and also it seems possibly even genetic wise given the information I could source and reference about him."
His father? They were speaking about his father now? How did he link up with all of this? Or was he hearing it right in the first place? With how tired he was , he could have well been hearing things and to be honest he shouldn't have been focused on following the dialogue said in the first place.
"To the point he could have cancelled out the potential for the child completely?"
"From such an eminent heritage?"
"How much was wrong with this bastard?!"
"I'm not sure honestly though in that judgement. It's fairly possible that maybe his genes even had no intervention for how the boy turned out."
"As the science of eugenics already is known to have hits and misses to begin with , adding Ethernano to the equation was soon bound to cause some form of problem sometime or later. Considering how much her ancestors had sought to heighten their abilities and capacity through these means."
"Even though that practice did stop sometime ago , the complications were bound to prop up in one of these descendants."
"It's just unfortunate that he's possibly the one who is to bear the ramifications of such doings."
What doings? He really did not understand that which was being said anymore. Everything now sounded so abstract and secretive. And because of this he wasn't going to put his mind to it anymore. Not when he wanted to focus on recovering in time so hopefully he would be well again to ask about the meteor shower and hopefully go with Hazel.
With an inaudible yawn , the azure haired child sank deep into the depths of slumber , the world completely drowned out from his senses and falling hard into the darkness that welcomed him , making him ignorant to that which was being discussed right beside him.
"But? Then we could have lost the power their ancestors held completely!"
"We would have lost the ability of one of the strongest guardians of the nation and I don't even know if it would even be able to pass it on like it has been with others!"
"He was the only child she could conceive. Hell, when they tried to breed her before drainage with other members of the remaining high ranking bloodlines , they found out she was incapable of pregnancy so because of that they made her a whore in the first place!"
"And we don't even know if it's the bitch's genes or that psycho's who's to blame for us having a defective devil in our arsenal!"
Alika exclaimed in irritation , as her hate for these descendants was great but the fear that the nation would be vulnerable due to their doings was greater. She had hoped that at least if the blue haired brat was not defective , then his fabled powers could be passed on to someone else more worthy of being their new guardians like it had been done for previous shields that had been revoked but were not of such a high standing.
"I know…That's why The Capital has me looking into it. We all know what could be at stake for the country if we lose that source of power that was once held , and magic affinity of that calibre is not something easy to come by , especially not one that was incessantly honed through such an obsessive ancestry."
The doctor remarked as he finished packing up his items , his teeming brain rambling with possibility and theories of what could have been the meaning behind such a lack of presence in this child's blood. Was it something genetic? Was it something to do with how he was raised? Did he simply not hold it? But if that was the case then why?
His ancestors were all nearly flawless in this aspect , so why was he so muted? They held high amounts of Ethernano and magical affinity naturally , and those who had themselves enhanced did not show any problems with their descendants. So why was it showing now out of all the lineage that could have been affected?
It wasn't like the child was affected in any other sense. He retained the notable strength , stature , things that should have been diminished if the bloodline's affect didn't somehow apply to him. But who was that due to , that was another question that propped up in his mind with countless others about this enigmatic child.
Was he just lacking in the department of magic or was there something more yet to be uncovered?
That would only be found out honestly through what would come out through close inspections of the samples that had been sourced today. Seeing as they had been taken whilst the child was awake , hopefully that would have preserved the presence of Ethernano in the child that could have then been studied , though that was only if it was there in the first place.
Though as he was letting his mind run through all the possibilities , more factors became present to him through his mental ramblings that also could have been plausible.
Factors which weren't known really meant to be said to the public due to their confidential nature.
"It could maybe be due to the fact that the experiments the father had been a part of might have disabled the potential to be passed on to the child…"
He mused to himself lowly , ruminating on the possibility. As from what he knew , the father had been part of quite a few experiments in volunteering for Almeta's research , that possibly it could have impacted the child , and given this was the first time someone of such a high eminence had made child with one of the country's less promising test subjects , there wasn't enough known to actually have predicted the outcome of such an act. Or calculate the problems that could come with it.
"I need to look at the findings of Reiz's case again…the details aren't so fresh in my mind…Damn it…All this exposure to Ethernano is starting to get to me...
He mumbled inwardly in irritation , kind of annoyed that the effects of working with such an enigmatic matter did impact his own mental prowess and behaviour. Like it was known to cause mental defects to even some mages who were honed to it's affinity such as memory loss or even impaired brain cognition through prolonged overexposure. So for someone like him who did not even carry something naturally inclined to the matter , he was bound to suffer his own sacrifice in the search for this forbidden knowledge.
That's why he needed so many extensive notes , that's why his own mental functions seemed to not be as sharp as they once had been and almost shorted out , just like many others who also studied the phenomenon alongside him.
And sadly with the additional exposure to such raw matter , the worse the affect would become , regardless if imbued with it naturally or not.
Hence the essence of magic was truly something of awe and wonder , despite warnings and horrors that were said to come with it.
Though of course in the search and understanding for such power , this was but a small price to pay.
"Just make sure to keep feeding him better and don't let any of his physical needs be neglected , if anything more time might be needed for him to show his powers with all these unlearned factors involved for him."
He stated in confidence , hoping that with some changes to the boy's routine that maybe that would yield results , and with doing so , start the studying of his newest subject on a good foot and give it fairer ground for that which was looked for to truly come forth.
"I'll come back again with my findings after some time when I'm sure about what I discover. Though I'm not sure when that exactly will be, when the time does come to pass, then we can see what will happen from there on in regards to him for The Capital's interest."
"T-Thank you Doctor…"
With his items packed , and all his samples neatly enclosed for the research to commence , the doctor took one last glance at the unconscious boy , ruminating over what an unusual and unprecedented case he truly was and how much his case truly interested him , before turning his back and deciding to make his return to the facilities that awaited to help crack this mystery.
Author's Note:
This chapter was once again to explore a little more on Jellal's family history I spoke about in the previous chapters and also answer some questions regarding his new 'good treatment' , which I think you can tell what it's actually for now since the poor boy is well...being studied like a test subject...
You won't be seeing too much of this , we're getting darker from the next chapter again , but this is another plot working alongside my grand scheme of things so I thought I would include what 'The Capital' seems to have in mind for the blueberry and how that will unfold into something greater in the later arcs.
Also the doctor's involvement with Jellal is actually a plan I have to foreshadow a crucial plot which will start to emerge very soon and really start to shine in the darker portions of the story , just so I can leave hints of the darkness when it will become apparent and doesn't look like it just came out of nowhere lol.
Honestly there is going to be a significant amount of build up made with even the smaller details and I just can't wait for it all to come forth together in time!