Day 34: Intercom, Noon
"Good afternoon, patients, and I am glad to see our new arrivals are already making such good friends with our current population!" The Head Doctor's words were usual, unremarkable, which meant that whatever had gone out of control these past couple days was evening out into some form of Dr. Landel's nefarious schemes. For now, however, he simply
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He groaned, opening his eyes slowly. He blinked a few times, frowning when he didn't recognize his surroundings. Everything looked so...faded.
Shit, he thought, sitting up quickly. He didn't know where he was, but he remembered the last place he'd been...At Orochimaru's lair, seeing Sasuke again for the first time in a few years. Sasuke's words and his attempts to hurt them, and then...Orochimaru stopping him. They'd left. It wasn't possible that he'd somehow been brought to Sound. And if he had, shouldn't Sakura, Sai and Yamato be there as well?
He looked around, frowning slightly. He couldn't remember anything after he'd been overwhelmed by a wave of...he wasn't sure how to describe it. But he'd never felt so weak and worthless before then. The feeling still lingered, but for now, his heart was beating fast at the thought of where he just might be.
He'd always been under the impression that Sound would be even stranger than this place. More unsettling. Darker. And he'd thought that, had they ever for some reason wanted to capture him and succeeded, there would be more security than this. He couldn't feel any chakra, which was odd.
He could barely feel any of his own. He frowned further, looking down at his hands. That wasn't right.
"Oh, you're up!" A cheerful voice sounded through the room, and Naruto yelped, startled enough that he slipped off the bed.
The nurse rolled her eyes and leaned down to help him up, taking his arm.
Naruto stumbled to stand, jerking his arm away. He glared, backing up away from the woman. "W-who are you?"
He gave her a once over, noticing she didn't seem visibly armed. She had long red hair and freckles on the bridge of her nose, and was smiling at him. She didn't seem like a bad person, but something was off about her. That smile didn't make him feel comfortable in any way.
"I'm your nurse, Mr. O'Malley," she said, her voice sending chills down Naruto's spine. Something was wrong with this woman, but he couldn't tell what.
Then he blinked again, confused by her statement. "My...nurse?" He looked at her like she'd just told him he was the king of a foreign country. What would he need a nurse for? Had he fought that hard back then? Had he suffered from chakra exhaustion and been sent to the hospital?
He looked around again, but absolutely nothing looked like Konoha's hospital. Then something else hit him.
"Wait -- Mr. O'Malley? That's not my name!" He said, as if this fact alone would fix everything. They must have the wrong person. They'd know this now, apologise, and send him back to Konoha where he was supposed to be. Where he wanted to be.
The nurse gave him another smile, this one looking almost like she was pitying him. He glared.
"Yes, it is, honey. Your name is Nathan O'Malley, and you're here in Landel's Institute for delusions and bouts of dementia." She spoke as if it was all fact, as if nothing could be argued about this.
Naruto's glare intensified. "What the hell are you talking about?! I'm not delusional or -- or demented! I'm a shinobi from Konoha, in Fire Country," he said, hoping telling her this would make her finally realise he wasn't meant to be here. She was bound to have heard of Konoha.
"Konoha?" She asked raising an eyebrow. "You poor thing, Konoha isn't a real place! You made all of that up on your own," she said, taking his arm again. "Come now, it's time for lunch!"
Naruto was too shocked to struggle much, and the iron grip the nurse had on his arm convinced him not too try to hard -- and his stomach had grumbled loudly when she'd mentioned lunch. He felt like he hadn't eaten a thing in days.
Maybe some food would make him think more clearly.
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