Chapter 2: Constitution

Two pairs of eyes mixed with worry and amazement stared at me as I drank up all the water that was offered to me. In one go. Directly from the pitcher. And then I finished off the glass that Amber was so kind to fill up for me beforehand.

The blond woman, who earlier introduced herself as 'Acting grandmaster Jean', shifted her seat behind the desk.

"Thirsty I presume?" she asked with a smile.

"My throat was a tad dry." I exhaled with satisfaction. "Who knew almost drowning and lying down motionless for weeks on end would leave someone parched?"

Without missing a beat, Jean gently got up from her seat and walked around her desk. She stopped in front of me and leaned back on the desk while crossing her arms.

"About just that. What were you doing in the middle of the lake? Your rescuer didn't see any sign of a boat around where you were picked up. You don't look like someone that's from around here, if I may be so bold to presume."

Her voice stayed gentle but firm. She sounded more curious than anything else still.

"From what I've seen outside these walls, I'm ready to agree with your assumption, ma'am. And I wish I could tell you how I got there, but unfortunately your guess is as good as mine."

I could immediately tell that she was not buying it. I do not blame her. I have a hard time believing that myself.

"So where are you from?" Amber asked, which almost made me jump from my seat, I almost forgot that she was still standing beside me. Getting up from the bed against the nuns recommendations seemed to be a bad decision on my part. I'm having a hard time concentrating thanks to a bomb headache and I can feel how my legs are questioning my right to rule over them.

"oh, um… I'm from Sweden."

"Sweden?" Jean asked with an uncertainty that she pronounced the name right. "Never heard of it… Is that in Snezhnaya?" She ever so slightly tilted her head.

The room fell silent for a few seconds.

"You know… Sweden? One of the Nordic countries in Europe? Ikea? Abba? Surströmming? Ring a bell?! And what's a Shnechniya? Sounds Russian." My headache started to get worse. I could feel a throbbing sensation behind my eyes. I quickly started to rub them. The pressure somehow helped a little bit.

"Are you ok, Martin?" Jean's voice was as calm as ever. But I had a feeling that if I would lash out and become aggressive, my ass would be up in the sky and my face would kiss the ground in seconds. I can see that those clothes she's wearing aren't just for show. She's ready to throw hands whenever the situation calls for it. She can be very dangerous when she needs to be.

"I'm sorry… I'm just… Wait…How do you know what my name is?" Things started to get blurry. I could feel how my heart pounded harder and harder. Was I always sweating this much or..?

"You- You introduced yourself when you entered the office, remember?" Amber's voice was filled with concern. She placed a gentle hand on my shoulder as she looked worryingly over to Jean.

"Amber, gather some knights that can help us carry him to the sisters, quickly." Jean ordered calmly as she removed one of her gloves and walked up to me. Her hand against my forehead felt cold as ice. My eyes had a hard time focusing on anything. But those few things I could distinguish in front of me looked nice… Like her desk. It's a nice desk. Mahogany perhaps?

"Stay with me, Martin. You need to stay with- dammit…" I had no idea what was happening. But there is one thing I felt before I fell asleep. my neck felt heavy.

I slowly opened up my eyes, much to my regrets. The sunlight from the window felt like needles covered in acid upon my irises. I instinctively tried to cover my eyes with my right arm, but for some reason it did not move. With my eyes closed as hard as I could I tried to move my fingers, which responded, thankfully. I tried to move my toes, and they too responded without problems. But when I tried to move my legs they were stuck in place. It took a while for my eyes to lose their sensitivity before I could take a good look around. The very first thing I noticed is that all my limbs have been strapped multiple times to the bed itself.

"What the actual fuck…?" Was the only thing my raspy voice could mumble out. I gave my arms a few tugs to see how strong the straps were, and let me tell you… I'm stuck. I gave out a long irritated sigh as I took a look around the room I was in. It kind of reminded me of the first room I woke up in. But a few changes stood out. One, this looked more like a hospital room with chairs next to the bed and a small desk at the other opposite side of the room filled with papers and some vials. Two, the door looked more sturdy than the first room. Like it was designed to keep anyone from entering or leaving… But I'm guessing it's the latter that was in mind when it was constructed. Three, the window is a lot smaller than the first one. But it was perfectly placed to let the sun beam the absolute shit out of my eyes.

Despite my eyes being less sensitive, I still had a hard time to see properly past the window itself. So it can be any time of the day for all I know. But the sound of the birds brings a calm in me. It reminded me of the early birds from back home and how they tormented me every morning. I did not appreciate them then, but I sure as hell am now.

As I tried once again to look past the window I could hear the door opening and closing followed by footsteps leading to the desk. I slowly moved my head to that direction and saw the back of a woman looking through some of the papers and vials. Her hair is long and light green with some branchings to the sides, almost making it look like dog ears.

Kids these days and their radical hair-dos! Why can everyone make it look good except me!?

Her clothes are fascinating however, it looks like a mix of a lab coat and an actual coat for outdoors activities. The mix of blue, white and gold is a good combination, I gotta give her that.

I can hear her mumble ever so softly to herself as she picks up a vial and inspects it intensively. She looked busy, but my nose started to itch. So I came to the conclusion that my rhinal irritation is overweighting the importance of her work.

"Excuse me, miss-" she let out a frightened yelp as she quickly turned towards me. Unfortunately the vial that was previously in her hand was now splitting its sides on the floor. Quite literally. This made the poor girl repeat her yelp once again, and for a moment we both were looking down at the mess she/I created. I could notice that she had golden eye color and sported large, rounded glasses. It looks cute on her.

"Umm, I'm sorry about that, but do you think you can help me out here? It seems like I've lost my safe word. and my nose itch-no wait, don't go- god dammit!" She already left. She even left the door open. Maybe if I thrust my body repeatedly I can get closer to it? So I decided to do just that. It didn't work, it almost felt like the bed itself was stuck to the floor. But now that I'm thinking about it. What the hell would I do if I managed to get to the door?!

I let out an irritated growl as I looked back to the window, only to get blinded once again. A few colorful curses later I could hear multiple footsteps getting closer and closer. Now this could go two ways, either I'm getting out of here or I wont. Or maybe I will, but not alive. But that does not count.

two gentlemen peaked around the corner into my room. Both were blond and seemed to be at the same height. The first one's eyes are as blue as they come. His face looked relaxed but one could tell that he was a very calculating person. The second one's eyes however were piercing yellow. Can't say that I've ever seen that before, but his smile looks reassuring.

"Wouldn't you look at that? Looks like your work is paying off, Albedo!" The second one says with a happy tune as he walks in. His clothes were simple but obviously made for movability in mind. And the yellow cape kind of tied the whole outfit together. But let's not get into the whole stomach window business. I haven't been able to show off my body that confidently since 2013.

"So it seems, but I would like to run some tests, just in case." The first one responded as he walked in. His voice was as calm and methodic as his face. His clothes were a lot more complex than the other ones. But it somehow reminded me of the half coat half lab coat the girl from earlier was wearing. Same colors and everything.

"Sorry to seem rude, but can you hurry up with the tests in that case? My nose itches like crazy!" Mr stomach let out a quiet laugh as he sat down on the bed and looked down at me.

"Sorry there, buddy. But last time we released you we wrecked two rooms. I admit that you look more 'here' than last time, but let's agree that it's better to be safe than sorry, ok?"

"I… I did what now?" I asked with a hint of concern. I'm not a morning person and I tend to go 'auto pilot' from time to time, but destroying rooms? I haven't done anything like that since- oh… Oh dear.

"You were under some kind of psychosis. It wasn't entirely your fault, I admit." The lab coat man calmly explained with his back turned on us. He was busy mixing different liquids into the vials that were still functional. "My assistant and I managed to figure out that you were suffering from some sort of abstinence. We could not figure out exactly what was causing it, but we did manage to come up with something that would help your body's natural response to it. However, I made the mistake of placing too much confidence in it." His tone did not change at all under the entire explanation. It almost sounded cold and uncaring.

"Don't be so hard on yourself, Albedo. We all were eager to see him getting better. I'd say that it was a misjudgment by all of us." Mr stomach reassured Mr lab coat as he got up from the bed and headed to the desk."

"I didn't hurt anyone… Did I?" My question stopped both of them in their tracks. Mr stomach turned to me with yet another reassuring smile.

"No." he said after a moment of heavy silence. "No one came to harm. But I gotta give you credit, it took some serious effort to keep you down." I guess it was an attempt to make me feel better. But I gotta give this man some credit as well, he sure is charismatic.

"Here." Mr Lab coat said as he reached a vial of sewage brown liquid towards Mr stomach. "This is the same dosage we gave him yesterday."

"I'm sorry, boys. But my mother taught me to never accept suspicious drinks from strangers. May I know your names at least?" I asked with a little bit of tongue in cheek. If they wanted to harm me they sure had the time and means to do so a long time ago. But I'm getting tired of calling them mr stomach and mr lab coat in my head.

"Ah, I shouldn't have expected you to remember who we are. Sorry about that! My name is Aether." Damn that smile. Wait, they have already introduced themselves to me? My god, I must've been really out of it lately.

"My name is Albedo. The chief alchemist and the captain of the investigation team." Mr lab co- I mean, Albedo stated as he turned to me. Damn, by the looks of him he doesn't seem older than 21. And he's already a chief alchemist AND a captain of some sort? No it's ok, I do not feel worthless at all. "And the woman you met earlier is Sucrose. She's the one who came up with the base formula we've been giving you these past few weeks."

'Sucrose' eh? fitting name for such a sweet looking girl.

"Nice to meet you, gentlemen. My name is Martin Holm. I would shake your hands but…" I wiggled the hand closest to them. "My hands are tied. Literally."

"Nice to meet you, again, Martin. Now drink up. We have a lot of questions for you." Aether chuckled as he sat down on the bed once again and reached the vial over my face. "Now, say 'aaaah'."