"Oh, there's no need to worry about that. You don't have to do anything in this procedure, really." The doctor pointed out to his patient. Luke's words may have rung some truth in them, but that didn't mean there were no other means to trigger his special little power. Improvising was always a doctor's specialty, so it didn't take much effort to hop over the hurdle and get the job done.
After a few more moments the man finally found what he was looking for, pulling out said instruments and began to prep them accordingly. They appeared to be two long metal poles with rubber grips on one end while the other side were encased with metal slabs no bigger than a stethoscope’s end. When held together they almost looked like they were fit to grab at something, which the doctor did by sliding them carefully against the redhead's temples. The metal band he'd placed earlier served its purpose by keeping them firmly in place while the doctor finished setting up.
"All your body needs is a bit of agitation with the right amount of a specific current. Once I've triggered one set of fonons it in turn will trigger the others next to it and so on and so forth."
By then the man had flipped on all the machines, displaying Luke’s vitals on the screens.
Luke had no idea what the doctor was talking about, but it did sound like he had other plans for Luke. But how else was he going to cause Luke to use his power? Torture? Luke wasn't going to submit so easily, but he was starting to get a little scared.
Of course he would be scared! He had freaking metal poles attached to his head!
"Shut up! That doesn't make any sense!" Luke grumbled. Was this guy just going to shock him or something? Probably the worst thing about this whole ordeal is that Luke had no idea what was going on.
It was a good thing that the doctor was patient with Luke's idiocy or else he would've upped the voltage just to spite him. But no, there was still the risk of destroying the equipment if he had done so, so it was best to be cautious. All he needed was to see if all of this worked out, and that in itself would at least partially disintegrate the straps at best.
But still, something like that was frightfully boring, so the doctor decided in the last minute to up the factor a bit. As previously planned, he took his spot behind the redhead so he'd grant himself access to the machine that was wired to the ends of the poles. And yet without so much as a warning he reached under the table and pulled out an apple before prying Luke's mouth open and shoving it in.
"Don’t worry, there’s no need to pay. This one’s on the house." He spoke in a melodious tone, already flipping the switch and in an instant a strong surge of some electrical force sped through the poles and into Luke's temples. The metal band that held the poles in place also played their part, carrying the shock so that it completely encircled the patient’s head.
Luke might have had a retort for that, if it weren't for the fact that the apple shoved into his mouth was hindering him from speaking. His response wasn't too elaborate, something along the lines of Shut up, you bastard, I know how to pay for things!, and Luke was still trying to say that sentence.
There was a humming sound as the machine started to run, and the shocks that ran through Luke's body were fast and painful, coursing through his body and tearing it apart.
"AHHHHHHH!"
Luke's scream wasn't audible at first, the apple acting as muffler over his mouth, but as the current went on, his body started to glow faintly, emitting it's power as the apple started to slowly fade away, and Luke's screams got louder.
"Amazing." This was exactly what the doctor had hoped for as he watched, furiously scribbling down his notes on a clipboard that he seemed to have pulled from out of nowhere. The current remained steady as it flowed through Luke's body, and eventually with enough time the man would shut it off.
However, he was feeling rather spiteful at the moment and watched in glee as the apple slowly disappeared, letting the machine run for longer than he'd originally planned. Simply outstanding.
Much to Luke's relief, although he sure wasn't feeling it right now (he'd probably look back on it later and sigh, though), the doctor didn't up the current that was ripping his body apart. However, it still didn't change the fact that Luke could literally feel the seventh fonons that were binding his body together tearing away from each other, vibrating fiercely.
There were no words to really describe the pain he was being - how does one describe the feeling of being erased, and Luke wished he could pass out. But he couldn't have that luxury, as the pain was so strong it kept him awake.
I can't die! I won't! I won't! Luke desperately thought, trying to keep his thoughts together, but death would mean that this horrible pain would stop -
The power of hyperresonance was a dangerous one, as the doctor gleefully might have noticed, but it was also rather uncontrollable, as the doctor might have not so gleefully noticed when his clipboard started to slowly vanish, it's atoms vanishing into the air.
The last thing the doctor expected was for his own plan to backfire on him, sighing loudly as the clipboard he was holding slowly vanished before his eyes. Ah, everything for the name of science, he supposed.
He waited at least ten more seconds before it was obvious that Luke was nearing his limit, reaching a hand forward to switch off the machine with a simple flick. His clipboard wasn't the only one that suffered a gruesome fate, as the tips of his protective gloves had dissipated as well.
"How are you feeling, Luke?" For a moment the doctor almost sounded concerned, but of course it was nothing more than a tool to play with the redhead's emotions. If he was even alive, that is.
It took an eternity, but the doctor finally flipped the switch off and one last shock went through Luke's body before he slumped back down on the table. The little experiment had disintegrated the bonds keeping his head down, as the doctor had predicted. But it didn't really matter, as Luke was barely in the room at all. Literally.
His body was rapidly fading and out, his breathing slow and ragged as his fonons eventually stopped vibrating. He was literally inches away from death, but the doctor had wisely stopped the experiment just before they seperated for good.
Luke said nothing, turning his head slightly the the doctor and squinting his eyes.
When were there four of them?
"Wha-" he croaked, trying to ask that question, but the effort was too much on his strained body - he descended into a series of coughs, coughing up a wad of blood that splattered on the cold table.
The doctor paid no mind to the blood that was now collecting on the table as he made his rounds about the machines. Thankfully the recordings remained undamaged and were thus ripped off and tucked under his arm, and with his sharp memory he'd be able to rewrite the notes he had lost.
Unfortunately (or fortunately much to his amusement) the same thing couldn't be said to his patient, who looked to be on the verge of fading away all together. But his calculations were never wrong, and he left just enough to keep Luke alive. The doctor circled the redhead a final time, pulling off the wires (whatever was left of them) he attached and slowly chuckled when he was finished.
"Say hello to Asch for me, would you?" And just like that the doctor left the room, quickly pushing open the door before disappearing all together.
Considering that Asch had never visited the experimental halls before, he really had no idea what to expect as he entered the room. With that thing outside, he really wouldn't have been that surprised to find something similar inside.
However, there was nothing like that in here. There was only a lone patient laying on a blood-splattered table. Luckily, or rather unluckily considering the situation, the familiar red hair paired with the fact that he looked about ready to fade completely, made identifying said patient much too easy.
Asch had already reached the table before he thought to call out "He's in here!" in order to alert Guy and Claude. Without waiting to see whether or not they heard him, he turned his attention back to Luke.
"Replica," he spoke as he used his knife to cut at the bonds holding Luke to the table-- or the ones that hadn't already disintegrated, at least. "Can you hear me?"
Claude had begun to worry when Guy discovered one of the doors was locked. After all, he wasn't 100 percent sure how Dias and the others had reached Ashton, considering they'd gone and accidentally left him with that horrible creature's hand, and he'd had a feeling the locks for the experimentation labs themselves were a bit sturdier than some of the other doors in the institute.
He was, however, a little startled when Asch discovered one of the doors was actually unlocked, and he ventured in after the redhead, glancing back to make sure Guy was following.
What he saw when he made it inside made his stomach turn.
Sure enough, Luke was strapped to the blood-spattered table. And he looked like he was on the verge of just...literally fading away. Like his atoms were dissolving, or like he was being...erased! Whatever the bastards had done to him, it must have been really awful. Claude couldn't even image the hell Luke must have gone through while he and Guy had been waiting around downstairs.
They hadn't jumped to conclusions after all, but Claude sorely wished they'd had.
"Dammit!" he quietly hissed. "This looks really bad..." The blond approached the table as Asch finished freeing him from his bonds, but he was sure not to get too close, so as to not crowd the table too much -- Guy would undoubtedly want a better look, and he wanted to let Luke actually get some air.
Guy had followed in right after Claude, eager to see what state his friend was in. Now he was wishing that they had thought wrong, that they had in fact come up here for no good reason -- that would have been better than seeing his friend like this!
He couldn't stop himself from pushing past Claude to stand next to Asch, placing his hands on the edge of the metal table as he leaned forward and stared down at Luke.
"Hey, Luke! Talk to us!" The way he was fading in and out -- what had been done to him? "C'mon, buddy, you've gotta hang in there." Guy didn't usually lose his cool, but this looked bad, and he wasn't willing to accept that they had come to late.
He glanced quickly to Asch. If anyone would know what was going on, he would. "Do you know what's happening to him?"
There was an eerie silence that filled the room for quite some time, though Luke wasn't sure if it was because there was nothing to listen to or if his hear had dissolved. If he had the energy to lift his hand and check, he definitely would have done so.
But lucky for Luke, his ears were still there, as he heard Asch before seeing him - or at least, he thought it was Asch, the guy sounded like him and Luke could see lots of red - and then a couple of other voices. Claude and Guy? He could see lots of blond too.
Damnit, how long had he been out?
"I'm... I'm fine," Luke grinned, or tried to, weakly lifting up a hand to show them he was OK - which might have worked if he didn't suddenly see light shining right through it.
Needless to say, he dropped it down really quickly.
"When did... when did yo..." Luke tried asking again, but the strain of a few words was starting to show as Luke coughed again, this time remembering to swallow the blood back down.
"Like hell you're fine," Asch frowned and moved around to the other side of the table as Luke did his best to speak. Hearing him talk, however, was somewhat of a good thing. Even though it was obvious he was far from being okay, the fact that he could talk even a little meant he was still holding on.
He had his suspicions as to what had happened, too. He had never seen Luke looking as bad as he did now but, if he remembered correctly, this was the sort of thing that should've happened on the Tower of Rem. Did that mean they had forced some sort of hyperresonance here?
"It's his seventh fonons," he replied, glancing to Guy. "Whatever they did to him, it's causing the seventh fonons in his body to separate."
Resting his hands against the table, Asch turned back to Luke. "Hey, look at me, replica. Did you use your hyperresonance?"
Claude was glad to hear Luke was conscious, at least, but when he caught sight of his transparent hand, his stomach practically did a backflip. What had those doctors done to him?! Did the people here really have the power to just...erase someone? To delete them as if they were a piece of data? It was sick...
Asch's response to Guy's question was a little hard to grasp right away, but Claude did his best to figure out what it meant. It certainly wasn't the first time he'd heard about fonons. Guy had told him they were the energy that made up everything on Auldrant. The Earthling had likened it to what made heraldry tick, but now he was starting to think they were more like atoms.
...And Luke's were separating. That's all Claude needed to know to understand the gravity of the situation.
"We shouldn't be making him talk," Claude cut in sharply, a frown creasing his features. He didn't like this attitude of interrogating Luke, not when he was obviously in such bad shape, and he didn't make any effort to hide it. "It's better to let him conserve his strength and get him somewhere safe. Let's save our questions for when he's actually in one piece, huh?"
The way Asch had addressed Luke as "replica" wasn't lost on Claude, either, but he wasn't even going to touch that when there were obviously more important things to be worrying about, like Luke's life.
It was definitely a relief to hear that voice, as weakened as it was. Luke could barely get complete sentences out, and he was still fading in and out. Guy watched Asch with narrowed eyes as he moved around, though his words only confirmed what he had already been suspecting.
But this world didn't have fonons. If Luke had been made to do a hyperresonance, then the only fonons he could pull from was his own. While Guy didn't understand as much as someone like Jade might have, he knew enough to realize that this might be beyond repair.
That kind of thinking wasn't going to help anyone, though. Luke was strong. He had fought through tons of things, and he could live through this. He had to.
"You're right," he said to Claude under his breath. "Don't strain yourself, Luke." He looked across to Asch as he started to slide his hands underneath Luke's back, not seeming to care that he was getting blood on him in the process. "Help me lift him?" It wouldn't be easy for them to carry Luke all the way back, but there was no other option.
After a few more moments the man finally found what he was looking for, pulling out said instruments and began to prep them accordingly. They appeared to be two long metal poles with rubber grips on one end while the other side were encased with metal slabs no bigger than a stethoscope’s end. When held together they almost looked like they were fit to grab at something, which the doctor did by sliding them carefully against the redhead's temples. The metal band he'd placed earlier served its purpose by keeping them firmly in place while the doctor finished setting up.
"All your body needs is a bit of agitation with the right amount of a specific current. Once I've triggered one set of fonons it in turn will trigger the others next to it and so on and so forth."
By then the man had flipped on all the machines, displaying Luke’s vitals on the screens.
"I suggest you prepare yourself for the worst."
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Luke had no idea what the doctor was talking about, but it did sound like he had other plans for Luke. But how else was he going to cause Luke to use his power? Torture? Luke wasn't going to submit so easily, but he was starting to get a little scared.
Of course he would be scared! He had freaking metal poles attached to his head!
"Shut up! That doesn't make any sense!" Luke grumbled. Was this guy just going to shock him or something? Probably the worst thing about this whole ordeal is that Luke had no idea what was going on.
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But still, something like that was frightfully boring, so the doctor decided in the last minute to up the factor a bit. As previously planned, he took his spot behind the redhead so he'd grant himself access to the machine that was wired to the ends of the poles. And yet without so much as a warning he reached under the table and pulled out an apple before prying Luke's mouth open and shoving it in.
"Don’t worry, there’s no need to pay. This one’s on the house." He spoke in a melodious tone, already flipping the switch and in an instant a strong surge of some electrical force sped through the poles and into Luke's temples. The metal band that held the poles in place also played their part, carrying the shock so that it completely encircled the patient’s head.
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There was a humming sound as the machine started to run, and the shocks that ran through Luke's body were fast and painful, coursing through his body and tearing it apart.
"AHHHHHHH!"
Luke's scream wasn't audible at first, the apple acting as muffler over his mouth, but as the current went on, his body started to glow faintly, emitting it's power as the apple started to slowly fade away, and Luke's screams got louder.
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However, he was feeling rather spiteful at the moment and watched in glee as the apple slowly disappeared, letting the machine run for longer than he'd originally planned. Simply outstanding.
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There were no words to really describe the pain he was being - how does one describe the feeling of being erased, and Luke wished he could pass out. But he couldn't have that luxury, as the pain was so strong it kept him awake.
I can't die! I won't! I won't! Luke desperately thought, trying to keep his thoughts together, but death would mean that this horrible pain would stop -
The power of hyperresonance was a dangerous one, as the doctor gleefully might have noticed, but it was also rather uncontrollable, as the doctor might have not so gleefully noticed when his clipboard started to slowly vanish, it's atoms vanishing into the air.
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He waited at least ten more seconds before it was obvious that Luke was nearing his limit, reaching a hand forward to switch off the machine with a simple flick. His clipboard wasn't the only one that suffered a gruesome fate, as the tips of his protective gloves had dissipated as well.
"How are you feeling, Luke?" For a moment the doctor almost sounded concerned, but of course it was nothing more than a tool to play with the redhead's emotions. If he was even alive, that is.
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His body was rapidly fading and out, his breathing slow and ragged as his fonons eventually stopped vibrating. He was literally inches away from death, but the doctor had wisely stopped the experiment just before they seperated for good.
Luke said nothing, turning his head slightly the the doctor and squinting his eyes.
When were there four of them?
"Wha-" he croaked, trying to ask that question, but the effort was too much on his strained body - he descended into a series of coughs, coughing up a wad of blood that splattered on the cold table.
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Unfortunately (or fortunately much to his amusement) the same thing couldn't be said to his patient, who looked to be on the verge of fading away all together. But his calculations were never wrong, and he left just enough to keep Luke alive. The doctor circled the redhead a final time, pulling off the wires (whatever was left of them) he attached and slowly chuckled when he was finished.
"Say hello to Asch for me, would you?" And just like that the doctor left the room, quickly pushing open the door before disappearing all together.
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Considering that Asch had never visited the experimental halls before, he really had no idea what to expect as he entered the room. With that thing outside, he really wouldn't have been that surprised to find something similar inside.
However, there was nothing like that in here. There was only a lone patient laying on a blood-splattered table. Luckily, or rather unluckily considering the situation, the familiar red hair paired with the fact that he looked about ready to fade completely, made identifying said patient much too easy.
Asch had already reached the table before he thought to call out "He's in here!" in order to alert Guy and Claude. Without waiting to see whether or not they heard him, he turned his attention back to Luke.
"Replica," he spoke as he used his knife to cut at the bonds holding Luke to the table-- or the ones that hadn't already disintegrated, at least. "Can you hear me?"
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He was, however, a little startled when Asch discovered one of the doors was actually unlocked, and he ventured in after the redhead, glancing back to make sure Guy was following.
What he saw when he made it inside made his stomach turn.
Sure enough, Luke was strapped to the blood-spattered table. And he looked like he was on the verge of just...literally fading away. Like his atoms were dissolving, or like he was being...erased! Whatever the bastards had done to him, it must have been really awful. Claude couldn't even image the hell Luke must have gone through while he and Guy had been waiting around downstairs.
They hadn't jumped to conclusions after all, but Claude sorely wished they'd had.
"Dammit!" he quietly hissed. "This looks really bad..." The blond approached the table as Asch finished freeing him from his bonds, but he was sure not to get too close, so as to not crowd the table too much -- Guy would undoubtedly want a better look, and he wanted to let Luke actually get some air.
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He couldn't stop himself from pushing past Claude to stand next to Asch, placing his hands on the edge of the metal table as he leaned forward and stared down at Luke.
"Hey, Luke! Talk to us!" The way he was fading in and out -- what had been done to him? "C'mon, buddy, you've gotta hang in there." Guy didn't usually lose his cool, but this looked bad, and he wasn't willing to accept that they had come to late.
He glanced quickly to Asch. If anyone would know what was going on, he would. "Do you know what's happening to him?"
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But lucky for Luke, his ears were still there, as he heard Asch before seeing him - or at least, he thought it was Asch, the guy sounded like him and Luke could see lots of red - and then a couple of other voices. Claude and Guy? He could see lots of blond too.
Damnit, how long had he been out?
"I'm... I'm fine," Luke grinned, or tried to, weakly lifting up a hand to show them he was OK - which might have worked if he didn't suddenly see light shining right through it.
Needless to say, he dropped it down really quickly.
"When did... when did yo..." Luke tried asking again, but the strain of a few words was starting to show as Luke coughed again, this time remembering to swallow the blood back down.
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He had his suspicions as to what had happened, too. He had never seen Luke looking as bad as he did now but, if he remembered correctly, this was the sort of thing that should've happened on the Tower of Rem. Did that mean they had forced some sort of hyperresonance here?
"It's his seventh fonons," he replied, glancing to Guy. "Whatever they did to him, it's causing the seventh fonons in his body to separate."
Resting his hands against the table, Asch turned back to Luke. "Hey, look at me, replica. Did you use your hyperresonance?"
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Asch's response to Guy's question was a little hard to grasp right away, but Claude did his best to figure out what it meant. It certainly wasn't the first time he'd heard about fonons. Guy had told him they were the energy that made up everything on Auldrant. The Earthling had likened it to what made heraldry tick, but now he was starting to think they were more like atoms.
...And Luke's were separating. That's all Claude needed to know to understand the gravity of the situation.
"We shouldn't be making him talk," Claude cut in sharply, a frown creasing his features. He didn't like this attitude of interrogating Luke, not when he was obviously in such bad shape, and he didn't make any effort to hide it. "It's better to let him conserve his strength and get him somewhere safe. Let's save our questions for when he's actually in one piece, huh?"
The way Asch had addressed Luke as "replica" wasn't lost on Claude, either, but he wasn't even going to touch that when there were obviously more important things to be worrying about, like Luke's life.
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But this world didn't have fonons. If Luke had been made to do a hyperresonance, then the only fonons he could pull from was his own. While Guy didn't understand as much as someone like Jade might have, he knew enough to realize that this might be beyond repair.
That kind of thinking wasn't going to help anyone, though. Luke was strong. He had fought through tons of things, and he could live through this. He had to.
"You're right," he said to Claude under his breath. "Don't strain yourself, Luke." He looked across to Asch as he started to slide his hands underneath Luke's back, not seeming to care that he was getting blood on him in the process. "Help me lift him?" It wouldn't be easy for them to carry Luke all the way back, but there was no other option.
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