A/N: Well, this is it guys, the beginning of the most dramatic chapters in 'water mirror'. There will be angst and tears and violence, I warn you now. Anyone under seventeen/anyone who's really sensitive to that stuff, leave now. As usual I only own Hana, the guards and the evil doctor. Now, this's the last time I'm gonna say it: sensitive or under aged people don't read this. And to the chappy we go….
The hospital was completely silent the calm, peaceful night outside hiding the turmoil that reigned within.
Hana was the first to wake, her sobs pulling Houjun out of sleep and making him worry over her for an hour before she finally calmed down enough to tell him she was alright and to go back to sleep. He refused to believe her and Hana found herself recounting her nightmare to him.
She told him of the black demon and of the endless black voids that had threatened to pull her in and send her spiraling downwards into eternal darkness, of her desperate flight and finally of how the last thing she ever saw before waking was the demon's glowing red eyes burning into every part of her. Houjun pulled her close and told her so long as he was there, the darkness wouldn't claim her and that, if he had to, he would fight it to protect her. Hana gave him a grateful little half-smile, even as new tears gathered in her green eyes, feeling strangely safe in the arms of her young patient and squeezed his hand in gratitude. Houjun gave her a gentle kiss on the top of her head and she put her head down on his chest, letting her eyes slide shut once more.
Barely three hours later, Hana found herself startled awake by the sound of someone calling her name. She pushed her exhaustion aside and forced her eyes open only to find Houjun curled up in a little ball sobbing and desperately whispering her name. Hana took him into her arms and told him over and over that it was alright, that she was with him and that he didn't need to be afraid anymore. Houjun gradually calmed under her soothing touch and Hana listened as he described the agonizing memories that haunted his dreams. He told her about what he'd done to Hikou and how every night he had to watch again and again as his best friend fell to his death, told her how every night he felt his heart break all over again and how, no matter what he did, the nightmares wouldn't stop and about how all he wanted was to find a way to forget everything. Hana held him until Houjun's anguished sobs had quieted into the soft, even breathing that meant he was asleep once more.
So it was that the next morning found the two asleep in each other's arms, both being supported by the wall behind them. As the morning light gently filtered in through the window to play across their motionless forms it gave them a peaceful kind of glow, the light making Houjun's soft chestnut locks shine golden against Hana's pale cheeks and giving the young woman an almost angelic appearance.
The scene was only momentary however as the door of Houjun's room suddenly slammed open and Dr. Johnston stormed in.
"I knew it!" the doctor cried, roughly pulling Hana off the bed and away from Houjun. "I knew you'd be in here! What do I have to do to get you away from him?!"
Ignoring the pain that shot through her entire being at the sudden movement, Hana wrenched her arm back from the doctor and put herself between Houjun and the older man. "I'll obey to your authority as soon as it's worth my time." the nurse shot back, her emerald eyes glittering with a cold, hard light. "In other words; there's not a damn thing you can do to keep me from him."
"Really now?" Johnston asked in mock surprise. "And what if I told you there was a way?" He grabbed hold of the young woman's wrist again and pulled her to him so that they were nearly nose to nose. "What if I told you I could break him right here while you watched, helpless to save him?"
Hana kept silent, knowing that if she rose to his taunting she'd be giving Johnston exactly what he wanted. She tried to pull her arm free of the doctor's surprisingly strong grip, but this time his hold on her was too tight.
"No escape this time…" the older man purred, slowly tightening his hold on Hana until he felt her start to struggle in earnest to free herself. "No one's going to come save you…"
Suddenly Johnston felt a hand close on his wrist and he looked up to find Houjun's sparking mahogany eyes burning into his light grey orbs. The youth tightened his hold on the doctor's wrist, driving his thumb into the same spot Hana had used on him.
The doctor yelped in pain, releasing Hana at once. "You've forgotten, haven't you?" he asked softly, his voice holding a dangerous note to it. "You've forgotten what I can do to you…"
The doctor reached into his pocket and Hana saw the cold, silver top of a syringe appear in his hand. Houjun jumped back, releasing the doctor's arm as if he'd been burned. His eyes went wide with fear and he started to tremble, slowly backing away from the older man until he was forced to stop because Hana was behind him.
Johnston laughed, slipping the instrument back into his pocket and taking a step towards the frightened youth. "So you do remember…"
The nurse gently pushed Houjun behind her, putting herself between him and the doctor once more, and stood her ground. "He won't hurt you." she reassured, her voice steely and compassionate all at once. "Not while I'm here."
"Oh you won't be, trust me on that." Johnston cut in, his tones almost conversational as he advanced on Hana once more. "After all, it wouldn't be as amusing if he had someone protecting him…"
The young woman was ready for him. She reached behind her and took hold of Houjun's wrist. "Hold tight sweetie." Hana instructed "If he wants to throw me out, you're coming too!"
The doctor sighed wearily. "You and your heroics."
He shook his head sadly and then, faster than Hana or Houjun could react, the doctor pulled both of them forwards. Hana fell to her knees as her injured foot gave way beneath her, Houjun catching himself at the last second before he fell on top of her. For a split second they slipped out of one another's grasp and Johnston pushed Houjun backwards before the two could regain their hold on each other. The young man fell backwards and landed with an audible smack on the cold cement floor, his one good hand falling directly onto the broken glass that still littered the floor.
He screamed in agony as searing pain flashed through him, the tiny needles of glass piecing his skin and driving themselves deep into his palm. Hana shot to her feet and tried to run to him, but Johnston grabbed her around the waist and dragged her backwards towards the door.
"Not this time!" he growled from between clenched teeth, pulling the door opened and shoving Hana into the hallway. "This time it's my turn to play!" With that the door slammed shut and Hana heard the soft click that meant the lock was turned.
"Dammit!" she swore, desperately jerking the handle from one side to the other in an effort to force the lock. Her efforts were in vain, however and the nurse knew it. These were specially made locks, designed to withstand even the most extreme amounts of force on them and she could hardly hope to exert the amount of pressure needed to break them.
"Open, damn you open!" she cried, tears starting to make her way down her face as she heard Johnston's voice from behind the door.
"No where to run now…" the doctor was saying, his voice holding a kind of sick satisfaction in it. "Just you and me…and this."
At these words Hana's eyes widened in fear. What exactly was this? And what was the doctor going to do with it? She pulled herself up onto her tiptoes and looked through the small pane of glass set into the top of the door.
The young woman watched as Johnston slowly got closer and closer to Houjun, the needle he'd pulled out earlier now in his hand and poised to strike. The nurse caught her breath on a horrified sob as she saw the silvery liquid held in the needle's barrel gleam in the faint sunlight coming in through the window. It was an antipsychotic, the strongest and often most dangerous form of sedative the hospital could legally use.
Hana dropped to her feet immediately and redoubled her efforts to force the door open, this time throwing herself against the solid wood as she worked the doorknob, trying to splinter the wood that held the lock in place.
Meanwhile, inside the room Houjun had scrambled around Johnston, trying to head for the door and escape, but Johnston cut him off.
"Don't make this any worse than it has to be." he advised, grabbing Houjun's upper arm and deliberately pressing his fingers into the gashes that ran across it. "We don't want you getting hurt…"
The young man's face twisted in pain and he bit down hard on his lower lip to stifle the scream that rose in his throat. He felt something warm trickling slowly down his chin and mix with the tears already gathered there. Johnston laughed in malicious glee and tightened his hold even more. He raised his other hand above Houjun's arm, the loaded needle ready to pierce the youth's flesh with its razor-sharp tip.
Houjun's eyes went wide with panic and he jerked his arm out of Johnston's grip, feeling his injuries being torn open even more as the doctor's fingers pulled the still-healing skin apart. He made to duck around the older man again, but at the last second jumped backwards as he saw Johnston's arm shoot out to grab him again.
"Stop fighting…" the doctor warned, his tones becoming ominously soft "You know it only makes it more painful for you…"
Houjun looked around desperately for something-anything- he could use to ward off the doctor backing away towards the opposite wall as he did so, but to no avail. With a growing sense of dread rising within him, the young man knew he was trapped. Even if he did manage to miraculously find something he could defend himself with, how long could it possibly last? Both his hands were handicapped, one having been rendered useless because of the bandages around it and the other being full of fresh gashes, and his arms weren't any better.
Bracing himself for what he knew was coming, he did the only thing he could think of as he felt his back hit the solid stone wall behind him; he dropped to his knees and curled up in a tight ball, crossing his arms under him and shielding as much of his head as he could with his hands.
Johnston paused for a second, his eyes flickering with pity for a brief moment, and then shifting just as quickly back to sadistic joy as he knelt by Houjun and roughly pulled his right arm out from under him. The young man's forehead smashed against the floor as he was lifted off the ground then dropped again and he tried to pull his arm away from Johnston, his entire being trembling uncontrollably as terrified sobs escaped him one after the other.
The doctor's smile widened as he felt Houjun give up his weak struggles and he tenderly lifted the other's sleeve up past his shoulder. "Now don't move or I'll miss." he cautioned in mock-concern.
Houjun tensed as the needle penetrated his arm, just inside the gash in his shoulder, and he hugged himself tightly as he waited for the effects of the drug to wash over him.
He felt arms around him and he was lifted into a sitting position. He quickly pulled his arm back and wrapped it around his knees, burying his face in his knees, muttering faint, incoherent phrases as he felt his heart rate start to quicken and sleep start to tug at the edges of his mind.
"You see?" Johnston whispered, catching a droplet of blood as it fell from the young man's arm. "This is what happens when you fight, this is what I can do to you…"
The doctor got up to leave when suddenly the door crashed open and three figures burst into the room, one of them knocking him backwards and pinning him to the ground.
"Hana! Max! Get 'im outta here!" Alex yelled, digging his knee into Johnston's back "I dunno how long I c'n keep this idiot down!"
Hana nodded as she rushed to Houjun's side. "Houjun!" she cried, raising the youth's head and looking into his clouded, unfocused eyes. "Houjun, speak to me, show me you're awake!"
Houjun looked back at her, blinking in confusion, and slowly took hold of her shirtsleeve with his hand. Hana sighed in worried relief and gently put his arm around her shoulder. "You're okay sweetie. We're going to get you out of here…" she told him "Just hold on"
"Hana! On three pull him up!" Max's voice came from her left as he carefully pulled Houjun's other arm around his shoulders. "Johnston's startin' t'throw Alex off!"
The young woman nodded and thrust her hand towards Max's behind the youth's back. "He won't be ale to stand, take my hands and lift him!" she instructed "Fast!"
The guard did as he was told and together they lifted Houjun to his feet, bending his knees and locking their arms under him to form a kind of chair.
"Run you guys!" Alex yelled urgently, his voice strained as he struggled to keep the doctor pinned beneath him. "He's startin' t'get loose!"
The two younger ones didn't need to be told twice and they ran for the door.
"Wait!" Hana cried, looking over her shoulder as she ran "What about Alex? That madman's going to kill him!"
"No he ain't," Max reassured. "Alex is a trained security guard, he may be older n' I am, but he can still kick anyone's ass! 'Sides he's got mace on 'im. Worst comes t'worst, he'll use it and get away that way." the guard continued, pushing open a door with his foot and leading Hana towards a small room to one side. "He'll be fine."
Hana nodded. "Why did we stop?" she asked breathlessly. "We have to get Houjun somewhere safe!"
"This is somewhere safe." Max told her "It's my room for when I'm on night shift. Here, we've gotta put him down so I can open the door. Hold on tight."
Hana put herself behind Houjun as they gently lowered his feet to the floor, using her body to keep the young man standing and her hands crossed over his chest to prevent him from falling forwards. She felt the rapid beating of his heart and his grip on her sleeve started to weaken as he got heavier and heavier in her arms.
"Too late…" she whispered to herself "He's too far gone, nothing I can do…"
Just as the tiny nurse thought she'd collapse under Houjun's weight, Max turned back to her and took Houjun in his arms.
"Stay here and take care of him." the guard instructed as he gently lay Houjun down on his bed. "I'll get Alex. Okay?
Hana didn't answer. She was already checking Houjun's vital signs and trying to see if she could do anything to lessen the effects of the drugs Johnston had injected into the young man.
Max shook his head sadly as he watched Hana bow her head in grief, her shoulders shaking with sobs and her hands trembling as she carefully brushed her hand over Houjun's cheek. He silently backed out of the room, closing the door on the heartbreaking scene.
A/n: And so it ends for now. For the record, I made up the silvery drug. It probably doesn't exist, but I didn't make up the part about antipsychotic drugs being horribly damaging to you or the after effects. If I got anything wrong, do tell me about it because I'm not a doctor so I don't know about these things but I do want to be precise in what I write. That being said, Whatcha think?! Was I right about this being my worst chappy yet? Or did I just turn myself into a liar? I can take whatever answers ya got, so tell me!
Must go to class now, later days all.
~Tenshi Kitsune~