i won't tell one soul [closed]

[memoryshell]

Who: memoryshell and corpsecakes
What: Jack is out of the Unnatural. Xion finds him
Where: The beach
When: Morning
Warnings: Likely triggers for torture?

Comments

[corpsecakes]

[Xion won't be incorrect in her guess at the beach, but it isn't the memory of that cottage, all too distant and foreign to him all at once, that guides Jack there. Rather, it's an entirely different beacon altogether.

You can come here, if you can make it.How long has it been? He was afforded no sense of time in that laboratory; all his memories of the place are blurred together into one long nightmare, and only the pain in his arms assures him that it had been real

... lmfao keywords fit lasdkjfk

[memoryshell]

[Something in her chest skips a beat when she sees him.

He's here. Thank goodness.]

Jack!

[Xion calls out, waves, runs towards him. Thank goodness. Thank goodness. I'm so relieved.

When she gets closer: He doesn't look so good.

That same thing in her chest squeezes. Please... Please, be okay.]

oh goodness

[corpsecakes]

[Jack starts upon hearing her call his name, and instantly snaps around to see her.

Xion.

But his throat won't make a sound.

What had she said to him? "It's all gonna be okay-" Something like that, yes. But he'd been caught in the end, hadn't he? Caught and dragged to the cell and then the laboratory where the scientists were waiting...

He quickly shakes his head - no, she must have meant now. He was out of that place; it was behind him now. His arms still hurt, but now, it was just a nightmare. Just a nightmare...]

[memoryshell]

[At his reaction -- such a sharp turn, then, the shaking of his head -- she slows earlier than she normally would have. What...? What was that? Why did he shake his head?]

Jack... Is everything okay?

[corpsecakes]

[He can't not speak to her. He can't. He's only been stunned into silence once before, down in Rapture, but this is nothing compared to...

"Is that your puppy? She's very pretty..."

Nothing. It's nothing.]

I... [But if it's nothing, why can he hardly speak? He shakes his head again, more deliberately than before.] No.

[memoryshell]

[She hesitates, then reaches out for his hand.] I... I'm sorry. What happened?

[corpsecakes]

[He snatches his hand away purely by reflex, and his face contorts at the instant bolt of pain that goes shooting through his arm at the movement. No- Why did he do that? She has no reason to hurt him, but still he felt - no. It hurts.]

The... The Unnatural. [He doesn't know if he can say much more than that at the moment.]

[memoryshell]

[Xion recoils, too, out of surprise. Just as the first stirrings of hurt rise in the back of her head, he says those words.

The Unnatural.

Everything stops, then.]

They...

[She takes a deep breath.] It's okay. You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to.

[... what should she do?]

[corpsecakes]

[Oh. He didn't mean to make her... No, no. This is all wrong.]

They... [He doesn't have to, he doesn't want to, but what else is there to say?] They did... They wanted to see-how my plasmids worked.

[He stares down at his wrists then, down at the black chain links that bind them, turns them face up, flexes his hands and feels the pain that continues to shoot through the muscles of his arms.]

Inside me.

[memoryshell]

[Xion's eyes widen.] Inside...?

[He's looking at his arms, and then she remembers the situation that started this whole mess. That... No wonder he didn't want her to touch his arms. That makes sense now.

She... What should she do? He's hurting. She can see it. She has to do something, but -- what?]

Do you... [She hesitates. What should she say?

... lamely, because it's pathetic, but it's all she can think of:] Do you want some ice cream?

[corpsecakes]

[The question surprises him enough to get him to look at her again.

Does he?

After another long moment, he decides with a nod. He no longer remembers just why he came out all the way to the beach, except that it must have been to get away - to get as far away as possible from where he'd been - and he wasn't sure if he could trust himself now to further accomplish that.]

[memoryshell]

[Xion is... relieved. She dreams up two bars of sea-salt ice cream and offers one to him. They can eat it here on the beach, together, where it's peaceful and beautiful.

She hopes this will work. She hopes this will help.]

[corpsecakes]

[The beach. It's still a source of turmoil for him no matter what, what with the memory of that cottage, Ryan's office, that damned lighthouse still in view from here...

But Xion is here. His friend is here with him. He shouldn't have to pay any mind to anything else for now.

He offers her a slight smile in return as he takes one of the ice cream bars.] Thank you.

[memoryshell]

[yay ice cream fix it? ;n;

At least he smiled a little. That's something, isn't it?]

D'you wanna sit down? I could get us some chairs or something...