Chapter Nine –

Medicine Cures All

Albedo scribbled his words down quickly on the white piece of paper that was soon being covered in messy, wobbly writing and splotches of blue ink. His hand moved quickly; moving the pen in the direction he wanted it to go in. His hand felt weird as the activity was unfamiliar to him – he had never written anything in his life. The only thing he remembered writing was his number 667 and that had been years and years ago. The words on his paper were just about readable; it was a French piece. He had become quite fluent in the language Sedaytion had begun to teach him a couple of weeks ago.

He was sat in his room at the table; the bright sunlight leaked in happily through the window; spreading its joy with the world. The table was a mess with a few scrunched up pieces of paper, and some had been angrily torn in pieces in his little fits of child-like rage.

Albedo's hand froze as he felt the presence of Rubedo. He could feel his eyes looking nosily over his shoulder; interested in what he was doing. "Go away, Rubedo," Albedo said, pulling the paper close to him so Rubedo couldn't see the words (even though he wouldn't be able to understand them if he saw them or not). "I'm busy."

"What are you doing?" Rubedo asked, tilting his head.

"I'm writing a French letter to Sedaytion," he said.

"French? Since when did you know French?" Rubedo asked.

"Sedaytion's been teaching me," Albedo replied. "She's teaching me about Christianity, too."

Albedo quickly stood up, and turned the paper over so Rubedo couldn't see the writing. He went over to his bed, and pulled out a few books. One was The Bible, the other was the Unlondon book that she was reading when he first met her, and there was another one in French called La Rose Princesse.

"She gave me some books," he said. "She's really clever, Rubedo!"

"How's she holding up?" he asked him. Albedo sighed deeply.

"Okay, I think," he said. "She can contain herself really easily, y'know? So sometimes it's a little hard to understand her … I want to help her Rubedo – I really do!"

"I know you do, Albedo," Rubedo said, putting a hand on his shoulder. "You're helping her by being by her side and by keeping her occupied."

Sedaytion quickly ran out of the Medicine closet. The closet was filled with hundreds of different medicines and vaccines. She had stolen some herself, and was quickly shoving the bottles of tablets, liquids and syringes into her bag as she left the room. As she left the room, she was greeted with Nigredo. His arms were folded; his back leaned against the cold wall and it seemed he was waiting for her and guarding the room she had been in.

The teeth of her bag moaned as she zipped them together, firmly closing her white backpack. Nigredo shut the door behind Sedaytion and they quickly walked down the hall, to make sure no one would catch them near that room. Only high doctors were allowed to go near the Medicine closet.

"You're going through with it then?" Nigredo asked her when they turned the corner. Their pace slowed and Sedaytion nodded.

"Can't hurt me, so why not do it?" she asked, swinging the bag over her shoulder. The bottles knocked together making a loud noise. Nigredo sighed, knowing he wasn't going to win the fight so he didn't even try. Sedaytion was always determined and if she had her mind set on something that was it – there'd be no changing it. That's what he had learned over the few months he knew her and he liked her determination.

"Robert's funeral is tomorrow," she said, smiling at a U.R.T.V as they passed him. "Can't believe its been a week since he died. I can't even believe he's dead – nothings changed."

Sedaytion quickly went home and dropped her bag off in her room, before meeting up with Rubedo and Nigredo in the park. The air was refreshingly warm, and the sun was happily out. The weather on Vartas was so unpredictable, but it would always make the warm, sunny days more memorable and meant they appreciated them more. It was just too bad she wasn't allowed to leave the Institute walls – she was kept prisoner there, just like the U.R.T.V's.

"Where's Albedo?" Sedaytion asked as she approached her friends. Her bright red hair seemed brighter in the sunlight and her pink and gold eyes flashed beautifully as she looked at Nigredo. She smirked as she saw him turn a little strange shade of red.

"He went to do an errand," Rubedo said. "He'll be back soon."

Sedaytion nodded. She waited for Albedo to return, and for the rest of the day they laughed and joked around. It was another day where there were no deaths, no dives and no fights. For once they felt normal, yet the words of her father clung to the back of her head and she couldn't shake them away. She patiently waited for the night, where she could finally get rid of them.

The night came quickly and Sedaytion found herself in her room, once again. The house was silent and Helen slept peacefully in her own, soft bed. The light in Sedaytion's room was dim, and she was pacing around; her hands fallen limply to her sides. Her mind was confused, and the little bit confusion and determination was in her stomach. She was torn between two choices; one she wanted to agree to so badly, yet she still worried. What if it went wrong? Or what if it didn't work?

"This is stupid," Sedaytion scolded herself. "You've done this so many times before."

She picked the bag up off her floor, and dumped it onto her soft bed. She undid the zip and emptied the contents of the bag on her bed. There were half a dozen bottles of liquid, and half a dozen of red and white pills. She had a handle of clean, new syringes and she picked one up. She tore the paper off, and took the syringe from where it had been resting. She quickly, without thinking, opened the bottle with the liquid medicine and sucked the foul smelling vaccine into the syringe. She closed the lid, throwing the bottle on the bed. It landed softly so it didn't break, and she stared at the medicine.

"This is it," she whispered, putting the needle near the vain on her left arm. She hesitated and her hand began to tremble.

"You can't do it, can you?" an o-so familiar and unwelcoming voice said. The voice crawled up her spine, making her shiver.

Sedaytion turned her head, unsure of whether she wanted to see who was in her room or not. Her heart thudded and her eyes widened. Stood, leaning on her desk was her dad. He was grinning evilly at her. His body looked untouched, as if he hadn't died. But that was impossible! He did die: she saw him shoot himself. She saw it all – she nearly murdered the man herself. Sedaytion blinked hard a few times, hoping he was just an illusion but he didn't disappear: instead he laughed deeply.

"You don't want to do it," he said. He suddenly yelled at her, standing up properly. "You're weak! I never created you to be weak!"

"Then tell me how to act, dad!" Sedaytion screamed, throwing the syringe to the floor. "You tell me how to act: you've lied all this time and suddenly you want me to change?"

"I don't want you to change," he yelled. "You are changing whether you wish for it or not."

"No I'm not!" Sedaytion yelled. She picked the syringe back up and put the needle on her skin, above her blue vain. "I'll stop it – I'm not going to addicted to death or be a monster."

"It won't work," he laughed.

Sedaytion pushed the needle into her skin, almost missing her vein. She gasped in slight pain as the needle pushed its way into her vein. She pushed down the syringe; emptying the liquid into her blood. When it had gone, she ripped the syringe fiercely from her skin and then threw it to the floor. She felt the liquid in her vein as it moved around. She breathed out deeply, letting all the anger disappear. She looked at her father, who was turning into a faint figure. His body was disappearing, and she knew it had only been a cruel illusion her mind had been pulling on herself: just to push her into doing it.

"Bye," Sedaytion whispered as his figure disappeared. She looked down at her arm and a sigh of relief left her lips. "It's … over."

As she lay in her bed, her hand moved under her pillow. Her fingers met with a cold, fragile thing and for a moment she wondered what it was. She squeezed it, and the thing crunched gently under her fingers. Sedaytion lifted her head and lifted up the pillow. Sitting neatly there was an envelope with the words 'Ma rouge calmant' wrote messily on it. Sedaytion's lips instantly curled into a smile, and her heart began to thump quickly.

Gently, she opened the letter and pulled out the tatty piece of paper. She smiled at Albedo's child like and messy handwriting. He wrote the French words perfectly, even though his handwriting was a mess. He described how much he loved Sedaytion, and how he was grateful to her for just being there at his side.

"Merci de me sourire le matin," Sedaytion read, smiling to herself. "Merci de me pardonner quand je vous ai frappés."

Her cheeks began to glow red, and her smile didn't leave her face as she read the last sentence. "Je vous aimerai pour toujours."

She put the letter back in the envelope and smiled to herself.