8 » [video; broadcast dream/memory]
Static.
The scene unfolds, wavering and hazy, twitching, gasping. There's no sound, just a lullaby playing in the background. His head turns, searching, searching for someone, anyone. The room is stark white and empty, save for medical equipment, machines, and odd marks on the walls. And the flowers. So many of them, lotuses, growing from the ceiling, from the walls, from the windows.
He isn't tied down, but there are black bands on his arms and legs that restrict his movement, and a metal triangular ring that fits right over his heart.
Muffled voices, unclear, faint, just barely audible. Like listening to someone from underwater. Just a tiny bit clearer.
He remembers, doesn't he? He remembers.
He musn't. He can't.
But he does. They've resurfaced again. The memories.
He looks to the side. Beyond the window is a handful of people in lab coats, talking, pointing, and several more hooded figures. One of them is in the room, and takes a step forward.
He'll go mad at this rate, for sure.
A moment of quiet, the lullaby still playing in the background.
Terminate him.
The song halts abruptly. Two seconds of silence.
And the screaming begins, loud and clear. Convulsing, agonizing, electricity and alchemy fusing and diffusing. Sparks and flashing lights. Burning. Destroying.
It stops. There is more silence. More muffled voices.
Dead?
There is no heartbeat. But there never has been one. Just a slow, muted, steady pulsing, growing more and more erratic as time goes on.
An inaudible gasp of breath, and the screen jars to show it. A bare chest heaving for breath.
No. Once more.
That's all the warning there is before the screaming begins again. But it stops quickly. The electricity, however, continues. More sparks. More smoke. More dust.
Screaming.
Silence.
Keep going. He isn't dead yet.
More screaming, pained, broken.
More silence.
Once more.
Screaming. Screaming. Screaming--
The flowers are fading, the young woman next to him is fading away, and everything is breaking down and falling apart, and--
The last line rings out too loudly. Too clear.
"Subject Yuu Kanda has been successfully terminated."
--And everything is silent and black.
The scene unfolds, wavering and hazy, twitching, gasping. There's no sound, just a lullaby playing in the background. His head turns, searching, searching for someone, anyone. The room is stark white and empty, save for medical equipment, machines, and odd marks on the walls. And the flowers. So many of them, lotuses, growing from the ceiling, from the walls, from the windows.
He isn't tied down, but there are black bands on his arms and legs that restrict his movement, and a metal triangular ring that fits right over his heart.
Muffled voices, unclear, faint, just barely audible. Like listening to someone from underwater. Just a tiny bit clearer.
He remembers, doesn't he? He remembers.
He musn't. He can't.
But he does. They've resurfaced again. The memories.
He looks to the side. Beyond the window is a handful of people in lab coats, talking, pointing, and several more hooded figures. One of them is in the room, and takes a step forward.
He'll go mad at this rate, for sure.
A moment of quiet, the lullaby still playing in the background.
Terminate him.
The song halts abruptly. Two seconds of silence.
And the screaming begins, loud and clear. Convulsing, agonizing, electricity and alchemy fusing and diffusing. Sparks and flashing lights. Burning. Destroying.
It stops. There is more silence. More muffled voices.
Dead?
There is no heartbeat. But there never has been one. Just a slow, muted, steady pulsing, growing more and more erratic as time goes on.
An inaudible gasp of breath, and the screen jars to show it. A bare chest heaving for breath.
No. Once more.
That's all the warning there is before the screaming begins again. But it stops quickly. The electricity, however, continues. More sparks. More smoke. More dust.
Screaming.
Silence.
Keep going. He isn't dead yet.
More screaming, pained, broken.
More silence.
Once more.
Screaming. Screaming. Screaming--
The flowers are fading, the young woman next to him is fading away, and everything is breaking down and falling apart, and--
The last line rings out too loudly. Too clear.
"Subject Yuu Kanda has been successfully terminated."
--And everything is silent and black.