thearena | they should really label these things before handing them out [closed]

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they should really label these things before handing them out [closed]

WHO| Gary Epps and Kousuke Nitou
WHAT| Gary is in bad shape and Nitou decides to fix him up with an unmarked syringe he found. It's probably medicine! Probably.
WHEN| Week one, Wednesday night (12/17)
WHERE| Outside the science labs
WARNINGS| death, chemical poisoning, the usual

Gary's had a bit of a rough week and a half.

The numbness and energy his returned abilities provide can only do so much. He's gone for hours before, walking around on sprained ankles and sliced legs, running purely on adrenaline; he has never gone a full week, and that week would not normally consist of constant sprinting, hiding without sleep, or a diet consisting solely of cake and water. He also didn't plan for the gravity to cut off for two days, throwing him mid-step and mid-jump into walls and aggravating already crippling injuries. By Wednesday, Gary decides that he needs a break.

It's while he's curled up against a dark wall leading to the science labs that an ominous green gas starts wafting through the vents overhead. Gary is dozing, more unconscious than asleep, so he doesn't notice until he's already taken in several deep lungfuls of it. He wakes up when he realizes that he can't breathe.

Within seconds Gary is up and blindly staggering down the hall, wheezing and gaping, trying desperately to find a way out of this haze. Or at the very least, find someone who can help him get out of it.

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Gary misses most of Nitou's revelation because he is too busy coughing up a lung. That might be a more literal description than the phrase usually entails; the coughing stops only because Gary's exhausted himself, once he's hacked several mouthfuls of blood, and can no longer recover because half of his chest isn't moving with the rest. He can feel his ribs shifting around, some dull, nondescript throbbing in the pit of his stomach where one of them must have traveled, and while it doesn't hurt, it is still quite alarming. There's a visceral sort of fear that comes with being unable to breathe. It's the same one that Gary has for large needles.

His eyes widen when he sees the syringe and he immediately shakes his head.

"Come on," Nitou protests, "It's just medicine!" He thinks. "Future medicine!" He's really quite worried at the blood and all. "Maybe it'll patch you right up--at the very least, it's probably an antidote for that gas stuff!"

Medicine? That makes sense, Gary thinks; Eponine had mentioned having a first aid kit immediately after the Cornucopia, so it's likely that Nitou could have found one, too. And this is definitely what medicine from the future would be like, isn't it? If only his brother was here! Clayton is so much better at identifying random pills and shit than he is. But what else could it be, Gary thinks--whatever it is, it's probably good. He just...has to get over the whole 'getting stabbed' thing.

Gary takes as deep a breath as he can manage. "You think so?" he croaks. It's surprising how difficult it is to talk. There's a lot of effort and time needed to get enough air to work with. "...Okay," he says, finally, squeezing his eyes shut. "Just...do it quick. Please?"

"Yeah, I think so!" Nitou gives Gary a reassuring grin. "Just hold still, and I'll fix you right up! So fast, you won't even notice I did anything!" He's not really ever given anyone a shot before, but he doesn't think Gary needs to know that. At least he is, true to his word, quick about it as he administers the shot of the stuff that is definitely not future medicine.

Nitou's assurances are comforting enough for Gary to relax, even open his eyes and flash his friend a grin. That doesn't last long. Getting shots hurts enough to begin with, but one from somebody who has no idea what they're doing creates a wave of discomfort that breaks through the adrenaline haze. Gary makes a strangled noise and tenses. It'll be fine, he tells himself. The medicine will kick in and everything will be just fine. He's already starting to feel something--a bit of tingling in his hands and feet. That's probably normal.

He recovers from the shock slowly, hindered somewhat by another fit of coughing that doesn't last long because he lacks the strength to continue. "Th--Thanks," Gary wheezes with a sluggish blink. He's suddenly feeling very tired. "...You'll stick around, right? Until it, um...until it kicks in?"

"Of course I will!" Nitou gives Gary's good shoulder a reassuring squeeze. "And I'll keep anyone who thinks they'll get away with trying something funny off of you. Make a snack out of 'em if it comes to that." This feels almost familiar somehow. Protect the Gate from the Phantoms, reassure them that they'll stop the Phantoms no matter what...

That's good, yes, very good. Gary attempts a laugh, something that comes out as more of a gasp with an expression that is more strained than amused. "Are you sure you can eat 'em raw? No mayo?"

"That's a different sort of eating. Magical eating." Nitou's just going to keep right on pretending like nothing at all is absolutely wrong. He can give Gary that much of a...well, he doesn't know if it's a comfort, but he figures outright worrying won't help at all. He slaps his stomach. "That's where Chimera comes in."

Gary is okay with this. It is a comfort--the comfort, typically--to pretend like everything is normal. He doesn't need to worry about the tingling numbness, very different from the stiff numbness of adrenaline, creeping through his arms and legs and up his back. He doesn't need to worry about how sluggish his breathing is getting, or his erratic heartbeat. He's tired because he hasn't slept and the anesthetics in that medicine vial are kicking in. Yes, that must be it. Everything's fine.

Perhaps it's a good thing that Gary isn't thinking straight enough to realize that Nitou is being serious. "Is that like...where you pull a bunch of flowers out of a hat, but in reverse?"

Nitou is not liking how sluggish Gary's breathing is getting, but at least he's calming down? But that growing stillness isn't really a reassuring calm, is it?

Still, Nitou carries on like nothing is wrong. Together, he and Gary have the absolute best coping skills, right? "Nah, it's more like whatever I'm trying to eat gets magically sucked into my stomach, and since I've got Chimera living inside me, he actually takes care of most of the stuff like digestion and junk."

It's finally starting to click with Gary that maybe Nitou is referring to actual powers rather than cheap magic tricks. Very familiar powers, actually. No, not the eating part.

"...Chimera?" Gary squints in confusion. "Is that like...are you a shapeshifter?"

"Kind of!" Nitou slaps his stomach. "Chimera kind of lives inside me. I feed him magic, and then he gives me power and lets me transform with some magic rings. I've got the coolest armor!"

This is a pretty good distraction from the numbness creeping up the back of Gary's neck and settling in his chest. It is...it's getting really, really hard to breathe, actually. But maybe he's just feeling especially sluggish from the medicine and the presence of his friend is lulling him to sleep. Yes, that sounds nice. Sleeping. Gary could do with a good sleep. His eyelids threaten to drift closed.

"...Neat." Hard to breathe, hard to talk. Gary's voice is a hoarse, burbling whisper, spoken through a smile. He's got to be so high right now, he thinks. "He'll...look after us...right?"

"He'll, uh..." Nitou gives a nervous laugh. Gary looks so sad there, he doesn't want to say that no, actually, Chimera would probably eat them both if Nitou died and let him loose. "Yeah, sure. He'll watch out for us. He's a cool dude." The hoarseness of the whisper worries him. "You sure you're feeling better?"

"...Good." That's an indirect answer and Gary is making no attempts to clarify. Good that Chimera will look after them? He's feeling good? We may never know. There's an attempt at a weak thumbs-up, a sluggish grin, then his eyes flutter closed and he seems to drift off.

A few seconds later his breathing slows to a stop. Gary recognizes this after a slight delay--his chest convulses and his eyes fly open in panic, his neck arcs in an attempt to struggle, to claw at his spasming throat, but his arms won't listen, nothing will. It takes a bit longer for the neurotoxin to kill enough nerves so he stops moving entirely.

A full minute later, the siren blares.

That sudden convulsion and the way Gary's eyes suddenly open startles Nitou, to say the least. He jumps back, then rushes back towards Gary. "Gary? Gary!" He's shaking his friend, trying to shake him out of it, to do something, and then...

...then the siren goes off. Nitou slumps back and away from the body, freezing there in the sudden horrible realization of what he's done. Did he...did he just kill someone? Did he just kill his friend? He scrambles farther and farther away from the corpse--he made Gary into a corpse, why is this happening?--and takes off into a run.

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they should really label these things before handing them out [closed]

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