Something was humming. The sound was like wind, but also distinctly metallic. It was the first thing he noticed, and he couldn't place it. It didn't sound like the quiet humming of an aldnoah drive, or the nonexistent purr of a landing castle under foot. It also didn't sound like the din of a television, or the wind as it beat against his window. It didn't sound like any of those things.

The second thing he noticed was that his breathing was normal, and steady, not slow or fast, and not shallow. Deep heavy breaths in and out, that he only noticed because of how he had lacked them so recently. Had the whole thing been a dream? Had he been having nightmares? It had been terrifying, and so real, but now that he was awake and breathing normally, it was over. Just another one of the many demons wearing him down.

What a relief it was, to feel the steady up and down of his chest as his lungs filled with air. But the dream had felt so real, all of it terrifying, and utterly mortifying as well. He vividly remembered begging and pleading for the Princesses forgiveness, as if he deserved it. What a pitiful thing to want at this point, he was long past the point of deserving her forgiveness.

He let that thought fester in his head for a few moments, and wondered if he could just sink back into oblivion, to the nightmares and terrors that waited for him. But the world around him continued on, the humming he could not place continued. He could hear some small sounds, like someone shifting in place, their shoes softy scraping the ground. Was someone there? 'Of course', his mind supplied. There was always a guard now; the days of imaginary privacy were long over. The thought made him more inclined to just lay there and forget the world, to find solitude in any way that he could.

"Slaine" He recognized the voice. His emotions sneered 'Orange' while his brain reminded him, 'Kaizuka'. The want to escape, even into sleep that promised terror, was hard to ignore.

"Your breathing has normalized, and you are visibly frowning, both obvious indicators that you are awake and aware of your surroundings." Aware was a bad way of putting it, because he wasn't aware of anything, other than being awake. He felt heavy, and there was the undeniable urge to just sink back to sleep. Now that he knew Kaizuka was there, it was more tempting than it had been before. But Kaizuka usually got what he wanted, and Slaine found he was too tired to fight.

He opened his eyes, and the world bled into painful existence. Everything was much too bright. He winced, and as if waking from a deep slumber, he was suddenly aware of himself. He was in pain, his arms and legs hurt all over, as did his hands, his throat, his chest and back. The sensation startled him, that one minute he would feel almost nothing, and the other he was so aware of how broken he felt, and broken was the right word for it. He felt his pulse quicken, but his breathing remained stable, to stable. He looked down and there was something over his mouth. A respirator? Was that why he was breathing so normally? He didn't know, and though he wanted it off, he hesitated. What if it was making him breathe normally? He didn't want that to stop, but the thought of being connected to it, of having something else forcing air in and out of him was unnerving. There was only one person who'd ever done that, it seemed like a mockery to let some machine take her place.

Slaine eventually settled on raising his right hand slowly to inspect the instrument. Even the small movement hurt, and now that he could see his hand and arm in proper view, he noticed that there were large black bruises on it. Sudden realization hit him; he had not been dreaming. That pitiful display had happened. He'd pushed over the doctor, he'd banged on the door, he'd begged for Princess Asseylum, for anyone who had ever given him any kindness, and the guards had held him down as something was injected into him. Now that he thought about it, it had likely been a sedative. He hadn't exactly been rational.

"Excess force was used. I would not like a repeat." Slaine let his arm fall back down to his side, and shifted his gaze towards where Kaizuka's voice was. Kaizuka sat next to him, and Slaine noted that he looked a little more tired than usual. Slaine wondered if he was imagining the deeper black around Kaizuka's eye, but dismissed the thought. It struck him that Kaizuka's statement almost sounded like he was displeased, with what, Slaine couldn't tell. Likely, it was him. It made sense for Kaizuka to warn him not to make trouble again. Slaine didn't like the commanding tone that went with the statement, but he also did not want a repeat of the event. "You are being relocated."

Slaine wanted to ask where, but the machine around his mouth made the thought cumbersome. He realized a few seconds later that it didn't matter anyway. It made sense that they were going to foist him off on someone else after an incident like that. He'd been treading thin ice since the hanging incident; it was not surprising that he was being dumped on someone else now. He allowed his eyes to stray from Kaizuka. He only realized it at that moment, but they were in the medical room, the humming next to him the steady pumping of the generator he was connected to.

"We're moving you to a military hospital for treatment. You are to remain silent about your living conditions here, and should you in any way hinder your care, appropriate action will be taken. You are also to start eating. Regularly. This is no longer negotiable."

He wanted to ask what 'treatment' he was going in for. Some twisted part of him wondered if they still did lobotomies, but he dismissed that thought back down to the nightmares of his subconscious. There were plenty of real concerns, without him inventing some. He almost hoped 'treatment' was meant in the very loose sense of a bullet, but they wouldn't need to move him for that. No, if he knew Kaizuka -and he was pretty sure he did at this point- they were going to try and stitch him back together. Like a puzzle, Kaizuka was going to fit him together again: his worn out lungs, his bruised limbs, and whatever madness had taken over him mind. Like any problem, Kaizuka was going to get to the bottom of it, and as always, Slaine would be the worse off for it in the end.

He almost wished that bullet had killed Kaizuka, but then he remembered the woman, and he felt more loathsome and disgusting than before. He wondered how many more storms he was going to have to weather.