Angel laid in his chair, staring at the ceiling while the monsters discussed their plans to torture him into being normal.
It made Angel sick to his stomach. His family never loved him for who he was, even after they had all died. It was their cold and abusive behavior that made him turn to burying himself in his mafia work, then to drugs, to sex, and eventually, to Valentino who made his life so much worse. The sins were his, but the self-hatred came from them. It was all their fault. It always was.
Now, their prejudice had enabled Alastor to do the same thing to Vaggie and Sir Pentious to Cherri.
It was the cycle of continual hatred like Charlie had talked about in one of their therapy sessions. First, you decide to hate a person and then you do everything to hurt them more and more and more until eventually you destroy them and everything they care about.
Their hatred hurt him and extended its reach to the people he loved the most just to hurt him even more. It was bullshit, and it had to end.
Angel closed his eyes in the first prayer he had said in decades and felt his resolve grow stronger.
His family wouldn't win. They couldn't. Angel wouldn't let them or Alastor or Sir Pentious for that matter. Even if he got sent to Double Hell in the process, he wouldn't.
Angel would beat them all. All he had to do was wait.
"I'll come upstairs to join you for breakfast once I get Anthony fed and into his bath," Dr. Red said, calling Angel back to reality.
"Good, we'll see you then," Henroin replied, walking up the stairs. "See ya later, Anthony."
"Yeah, we'll see you on Friday, little brother!" Arackniss called over to Angel from the bottom of the stairs. "Please be a good boy for the doctor while we're gone."
After that final plea, Arackniss followed his father up the stairs and left the basement, leaving Dr. Red alone with Angel.
Dr. Red stood over Angel's chair and studied his face for a moment before adjusting the chair so that Angel was sitting up again.
Angel hardly lurched forward at the sudden movement since his restraints kept him so snugly in place. He bowed his head down to stare at the floor with the most pitiful expression he could as Dr. Red pulled out his bag of medical instruments and started rummaging through it.
Once he found what he was looking for, Dr. Red turned back to Angel.
Much to Angel's surprise, Dr. Red placed a finger under his chin, moved his face so that the two of them were looking eye-to-eye, looked at him with a warm and comforting expression, and said, "Don't look so hurt, my patient. I know this process hurts now, but as soon as it's over, you will be normal and so much happier. I promise."
Dr. Red wiped away a few tears and the corner of Angel's eyes with his thumb before he let go of Angel's head.
Angel continued staring at the ground, feeling completely confused and taken aback and trying his best to hide it on his face.
Without any warning, Dr. Red pulled out his stethoscope, reached the cold end inside the straitjacket to the skin beneath the fur on Angel's chest, and said, "Take a deep breath, Anthony."
Despite the uncomfortable sensation, Angel immediately obeyed, breathing as deeply as he could muster in his straitjacket.
"Good," Dr. Red said moving the stethoscope down to Angel's heart while looking down at his watch. "Just as I hoped. The electroshock therapy has calmed your breathing and your heart rate."
Dr. Red stuffed the stethoscope down into his doctor's bag, walked over to a cart with a covered plate in the kitchen area that Angel didn't notice before, and said, "Now, Anthony, it's time for your breakfast."
Dr. Red uncovered the plate to reveal a steaming breakfast tray with eggs, ham, and toast cut into small pieces with butter and jam on the side and orange juice with a straw sticking out.
"Let's get some food in your stomach and we'll get you ready to take your medicine," Dr. Red said, spraying sanitizer into his hands before cutting up Angel's food with the fork and knife on the side.
The gargoyle demon picked up a piece of ham with the fork and offered the food to Angel.
Dr. Red held the fork in front of Angel's mouth and cooed, "Here comes the airplane coming into the hangar now. Easy does it…"
Angel opened his mouth and bit the ham off the fork, swallowing all his pride with the food in his mouth.
"Alrighty then," Dr. Red said, putting down the fork to jot down some notes on his notepad. "Subject now seems to be obedient."
Dr. Red quickly rubbed some sanitizer on his hands before he returned to feeding Angel and said, "I'm so glad to see that you're now obeying me, Anthony."
Angel didn't respond, except to sit back comfortably in his chair and open his mouth so that Dr. Red could continue to feed him like a baby.
Dr. Red picked up another fork full of food, fed Angel, and said, "You don't know how happy you'll be when you're straight. I know the treatment feels harsh now, but you'll thank me for it later. At least, I hope you will. None of my other patients ever thanked me when I was alive…"
Without changing his facial expression in the slightest, Angel chewed his food while Doctor Red prepared the next bite and continued, "…You see, I was part of the Eugenics Movement at the turn of the last century, a movement dedicated to improving the genetic quality of the human population through selective breeding and the sterilization and suppression of the inferior and unfit. One way I helped keep the fit, superior members of the white middle- and upper-class strong was by helping parents whip their wayward sons and daughters into shape whenever they were more interested in pursuing their lusts than in doing their duty of increasing the white superior stock with advantageous marriages, if you know what I mean…"
It was all Angel could do to hold his tongue. As he received the next bites of food, he chewed his food into mush without swallowing just to keep himself from saying anything.
"…I kept these rebellious children from eloping, from committing miscegenation, and of course, from engaging in sexually deviant relationships, like you. I did such a good job with them. They married advantageously and produced genetically superior children. But none of them ever thanked me. I can't figure out why…Anthony, you need to swallow your breakfast or you're going to choke on it."
Angel reluctantly swallowed and bit his lip while Dr. Red picked up his knife and spread jelly and butter on the pieces of toast. If it weren't for his restraints, Angel would have been fidgeting uncomfortably.
Completely oblivious to the discomfort Angel was feeling, Dr. Red continued, "Anyways, I don't know why none of my patients ever thanked me. I mean, most of them didn't want to be there. Sure. Others tried to fight me and had to be given medicine and special treatments like you. But still others seemed willing and left happy. I don't know why they didn't thank me. Those ingrates! Some of them even committed suicide!"
Angel couldn't take it much longer. Thankfully, Dr. Red fed him pieces of toast before and after he continued speaking.
"I don't understand why God sent me here either," Dr. Red said, gently feeding Angel a piece of jelly toast. "I directed human evolution in a positive direction for him. I did so much to improve the white race and the black race when they gave us the opportunity to improve them. I helped people defy their base desires for the greater good of reproducing a superior stock! Surely, that's a noble cause that heaven must recognize!"
Angel finished eating his toast and Dr. Red placed a straw in a glass of orange juice and offered it to him.
"What an ungrateful bastard he must be to deny that!" Dr. Red raved while Angel managed to get the straw in his mouth. "If it weren't for the Eugenics Movement, there would be even more burdens than there are now. It's not our fault that Adolf Hitler decided to go as far as he did…Wait, Anthony."
Dr. Red pulled the straw away just as Angel was about to take his first sip and said, "I almost forgot. I need to give you your medicine. Hold on a moment."
Dr. Red took out a white prescription bottle and took out a red-colored pill that looked like no pill that even Angel had ever tried before.
He eyed it nervously while Dr. Red took it in his fingers and said, "Open wide, Anthony, and don't worry. This pill will help you feel better. I know. I made it myself."
That hardly reassured Angel. Despite his usual penchant for drugs, he didn't want this one. Even if it did what the good doctor said, Angel knew there was more to it than what he said there was. It was meant to keep him under their control, just like Val kept him under his…
"Anthony, you don't need to be nervous," Dr. Red said, interrupting Angel's thoughts. "Open up…Oh."
Angel opened his mouth wide and allowed the doctor to drop the pill in his mouth.
"Good boy," Dr. Red praised while offering Angel his orange juice again. "Now, drink this and wash down your pill so we can get you into your bath."
Angel obediently sipped his orange juice through the straw until it was all gone.
When he finished the drink, Dr. Red put the cup back on the tray, petted Angel's head, and praised, "What a good boy! You're behaving very well."
Dr. Red then picked a napkin off the cart and wiped the crumbs and juice off Angel's face.
Once he was done, Dr. Red took the tray to the sink. While he wasn't looking, Angel opened his mouth, lowered his tongue with the pill wrapped around in it, dropped the pill, and let it fall onto the floor.
Angel smiled to himself. That was a trick he had learned long ago when dealing with Val. It was one of the few tricks he rarely caught on to.
"Alright, Anthony," Dr. Red said as he finally made his way back to the chair and started unbuckling Angel's restraints. "It's time for your bath. For now, your baths will be lukewarm to hold down your urges until you are strong enough to resist temptation and expose yourself to hot water again."
Angel nodded silently and sat patiently while Dr. Red unbuckled the last of the restraints.
Dr. Red then helped Angel to his feet, put a hand behind his back, and guided him gently to the bathroom.
The bathroom was a plain one with white tile and a white toilet on one side, a sink, and a shower with a tub to match on the other side of the room. There was no color to be found except for the soap bottles on the shelf beside the tub. Even the towel hanging on the rack below the shelf between the wall and the door and the mats on the floor were white.
Dr. Red turned the faucets on and put in the stopper. The lukewarm water began filling up the tub while Angel watched patiently, resisting every urge to kick Dr. Red into the tub himself.
Dr. Red turned to Angel, requested for him to turn around, and finally undid the straps of his straitjacket.
"There, we go," Dr. Red said with a warm smile as he pulled the jacket off and carried it out of the room.
Angel moved his arms around in relief at finally being able to use them again. He retracted his third pair of arms and stretched his two other pairs of arms around to get the blood flowing.
Angel turned and looked at himself in the mirror. The white shirt and black pants Alastor put on him the other day were still there looking slovenly yet classy, too classy for his taste. As soon as he got the feeling back in his arms, Angel began unbuttoning the shirt to let his fluffy chest breathe.
Unfortunately, before he could get too comfortable, Dr. Red walked in and coughed to get his attention.
"Anthony, you should wait for me to leave before you start undressing," Dr. Red reprimanded.
Angel looked at himself in the mirror, summoned the most defeated look he could muster, turned around to face the good doctor, and said, "I'm sorry, doctor."
Dr. Red's disappointed look slid back into a warm smile and he said, "All is forgiven, Anthony. Now take a look at your new clothes."
Angel looked down and tried not to grimace at the clothing in Dr. Red's arms. It was the gray uniform that Vaggie described.
It was a gray long-sleeved t-shirt, long gray slacks, a white undershirt, a gray pair of underwear, and a gray pair of flats to cover his feet. By anyone's standards, the clothes were atrociously dull.
"Do you like your new clothes?" Dr. Red asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Oh, uh, they're just fine, Doctor," Angel replied shyly as he held his arms open to take the clothes.
"Excellent," Dr. Red said, dropping the clothes into Angel's arms. "You have seven other uniforms just like this one in case this one gets dirty. I'll wash them weekly to make sure you always have a clean outfit to wear."
"Thank you, doctor," Angel replied.
Dr. Red smiled and walked past him to turn off the water in the tub.
"You may take your bath now, Anthony," Dr. Red said, reaching outside the room and placing a white basket in between the door and the tub. "I shall go upstairs to eat breakfast with your father and brother. Then, I'll come back here and clean up your kitchenette. Please do remember. Turning on hot water is not allowed yet, so don't turn it on."
"Yes, doctor," Angel said submissively.
"As for the clothes you're wearing now, please put them into basket you see there," Dr. Red said, gesturing with one hand while holding the other hand behind his back.
"Yes, doctor," Angel replied. "Is there anything else?"
In one swift movement, Angel felt the gargoyle doctor's stone arms wrap around his chest and hold him close. Dr. Red's lips curled into a smile as he shut his eyes and leaned against Angel.
If Dr. Red could see Angel's expression, he would have seen his face contort in confusion at the sudden mood swing. And Angel thought Val had wild mood swings…
"I'm so happy to be working with you, Angel," Dr. Red whispered. "I know this is hard, but I'll get you through it. I promise."
Angel's mouth fell open in absolute bewilderment and his eyes stared down at the doctor holding him for an uncomfortably long time.
They stood there like that for over a minute with Angel at a complete loss for how to react. He literally felt like he was embracing a statue and he might as well have been. The stony body was hard, cold, and confining.
Angel looked down at Dr. Red's face and grimaced. The doctor's expression was a genuinely warm and comforting smile that he found more unnerving than comforting.
Angel kept his form rigid transferring the clothes he was wearing to his lowest pair of arms to make his position more comfortable. Apparently taking that as a sign that he wanted to be comforted even more, Dr. Red moved even closer and held Angel more tightly for yet another long, uncomfortable minute.
So, Angel stood still, not knowing whether this was a test or an honest-to-God attempt to show compassion.
Finally, Dr. Red let go and said enthusiastically, "Enjoy your bath, Anthony. I must go meet with your father without any further delay to discuss your treatment plan."
Without another word, Dr. Red left the bathroom and shut the door behind him.
Angel stood there completely dumbfounded until he heard Doctor Red climb up to the top of the stairs and lock the basement door behind him.
When he was sure Doctor Red was gone, Angel stepped back until he reached the toilet and sat down. He sighed deeply for a moment before setting his new clothes down, undressing, and climbing into his lukewarm bath.