Made for BentenBLT. Hope you enjoy.
Trigger Warning: Drinking, Overworking, Smoking, Drugs, general angsty themes.
Repression is the restraint, prevention, or inhibition of a feeling, quality, etc. Some people repress their own memories, because of regret. Other times, because of trauma. But sometimes, repressed memories come and go as they please, sometimes they stay silent, other times they jump out at you when you weren't expecting it. But other times, they come back naturally.
It had been a long day for Agent Six, since even after the Nanite Event had ended, Providence was still very much alert, in case anything else resurfaced. The stress that White Knight had put onto the top members (including himself and Rex) was beginning to take a toll on Six.
"I don't get why we're still active. The Nanite Event is over, no more E.V.O's." Rex grunted, he, Bobo, and Six coming back from another outing that just included watching over the place to make sure that no trouble was arising.
"You said it." Bobo agreed.
"I swear if we get another call today I'm going to..." Six muttered to himself, before being cut off by an announcement on the loudspeaker.
"Agent Six, report to White Knight. I repeat, Agent Six, report to White Knight."
"Looks like I have to go. I'll see you later, Rex." Six just walked off, grumbling to himself.
"Aight, if you need me, I'll be with Noah." Rex waved.
Six was less than happy about having to deal with White Knight. He had already interacted with White Knight three other times that day. On every mission, there was nothing to deal with. No E.V.Os, no Nanites, and no danger! Six just grumbled his way to White Knight's office.
"You wanted to see me, White?" Six asked, hiding his frustration.
"Ah yes, Agent Six. I just wanted to tell you that you shouldn't let your guard down. Danger could be lurking everywhere." White told Six.
"Last time I checked, there were no E.V.Os anywhere. Rex cured them all, remember?" Six grunted.
"That doesn't matter, nobody knows if there are more out there." White pointed out.
"Well at least try and let us have a break every once and a while. Today you've been throwing orders at Rex and I non-stop."
"There will always be something happening out there, and do you think the world can just wait for you to get some RR?"
The twos conversation went on for a little while longer, as the two talked about how White insisted that breaks were a waist of time. Soon, Six had walked out of White Knight's office, more annoyed than ever, so he decided to vent his frustrations to Doctor Rebecca Holiday. Unlike Six and Rex, Holiday's work was actually pretty easy.
"Good afternoon, Doctor Holiday." Six greeted.
"Afternoon, Six. How much work has White put on you, today?" Rebecca asked.
"Too much." Six bluntly replied. "I don't get why White is still putting a shit ton of work on us. There aren't any more E.V.Os to take care of."
"He's paranoid." Was all Rebecca said.
"I'm honestly tired of going out all day, it's giving me a headache." Six complained.
"May I offer you some headache pills and some water?" Rebecca offered. "It'll hopefully help with the headache."
Six nodded, accepting the kind gesture from the doctor. However, the thought of beverages had given Six an idea...
That night, Six decided to go and get some alcoholic beverages. Nothing too much, however. He had also gotten a pack of smokes, since they were selling them for free at the place where Six also got the alcohol.
When Six arrived back at Providence headquarters, Six started drinking.
After five bottles of beer, Six felt slightly better, but then he realized that he still hadn't had a cigarette. So after a couple more minutes, Six grabbed one, lit it up, and took a long drag. His body relaxed almost immediately.
"Wow, what are these made from?" Six commented, looking at the bottle and cigarettes curiously. It didn't look familiar.
Six opened it up and smelled it again. Nope, still not familiar. He shook the bottle, causing some liquid to dribble out onto his hand. That liquid tasted disgusting, and Six knew that this was probably something illegal. After taking another hit, Six chucked the bottle in a corner, and walked off. He would figure out how to clean it up later. At that moment, he felt really relaxed...
The next day, Six had woken up late, because he had stayed up half the night smoking and drinking the previous evening. The fact that he hadn't had a smoke before breakfast made him feel hungover. Not to mention, he was wearing the same clothes that he'd slept in yesterday. Six couldn't find any clean clothes, and it wasn't like he could just ask somebody to bring fresh ones in. It would probably end up being one hell of an awkward situation to face White Knight, and Six didn't want to have to explain his state of dishabille.
The next few nights went on like this, every time White Knight would send him and Rex out on a mission that ended up just being watches over the area, Six would treat himself to one more drink and cigarette. Then, whenever he woke up the next morning, he wouldn't be able to focus on anything for a couple of days and it might be awhile before the hangover wore off completely.
One night, Six awoke from one of those terrible hangovers, to find that he had fallen asleep in Rebecca's laboratory. His head hurt worse than it had during his whole life, and he felt like shit. When he managed to move a bit of his limbs, they seemed stiffer than ever.
As he sat up, Six tried to remember what happened last night, but he was too drunk to remember anything. And besides, he didn't like remembering his past. What did it matter if his childhood was filled with bad experiences? It was nothing compared to what Rex had gone through growing up. As long as Rex was alright now, everything else would fade away eventually. Right? Even so, he had learned over time, that he could never escape his past. And sometimes, that just meant trying to avoid it by doing things that only made him relive the worst moments of his life.
As Six stood back up, he immediately collapsed back onto the ground, being so drunk, that his legs gave out beneath him.
He slid down the wall and eventually lay on the floor, staring blankly into space. All he could think about was how he wanted nothing more than to curl up in bed, and never wake up.
"Six!?" He heard someone call out in alarm. It sounded like Rebecca, but it couldn't be. Six struggled to sit up, and looked around. There wasn't anyone near him. Had he dreamt Rebecca calling his name?
But before Six could get a bearing of his surroundings, he fell unconscious again.
The second time he woke up, he found that he was lying on a bed, which, upon closer inspection, was white. The walls were pure white. And everything was spotless, as if a new room had just been installed. This was most definitely not Rebecca's lab.
"What..." Six muttered.
Then, a door opened up. Rebecca had walked into the room.
"Six, are you ok?" Rebecca asked.
"I'm... What the fuck?" Six grumbled.
"Rex saw you unconscious, so he went and got me." Rebecca explained. "I took a sample of your blood, and I found alcohol in your system."
"Here, have some painkillers to help with your hangover. We can talk later." Rebecca gave Six two painkiller tablets.
"Doctor Holiday... I..." Six muttered.
"Just relax, Six." Rebecca ordered. "You're safe here, and I'll inform Rex about your current state."
"But what about..."
"Don't worry, when I connected the dots, I figured out that White Knight was overworking you, luckily I sneaked a substance that'd knock him out for a while in his beverage." Rebecca explained.
As Rebecca left, Six swallowed the pill, and fell back asleep.
Yeah, so I wasn't really sure how to end this. Hopefully, it's good? But i definitely have to admit, I enjoy writing angst, even though I'm more of a hurt/comfort kind of person.