Fandom [CLOSED] Tokyo Ghoul: Dead Enmity

[yaint]

For once, Jackson had nothing to say; he could only sit, red-faced and fuming, as he watched Daryl turn his back and strut out of sight like the conceited pig he was. Stupid, he thought, idiotic, pretentious, selfish, pillock... Who the hell did that guy think he was? He was practically keeping Jackson prisoner on the ground floor of a shit-hole full of ghouls, if he despised the man so much then he could at least do himself a favour and let his human hostage go.


Unable to contain his bubbling rage any longer, Jackson's hand reached for and grabbed the nearest throwable object. His fingers curled around the edge of the burning coffee mug and turned it upside down. Tiny drips of fiery liquid trickled down his hand, but instead of gasping and letting go, he hurled the mug across the hallway at full strength, shattering it into countless shards which skittered and scattered across the floor below. Rachael was lucky not to get hit - had she been standing a few inches to the left, that flying mug might have knocked her off her feet. Fortunately, however, now the worst thing that could happen would be for her to step on the fragments, but she probably knew better than to go running blind after that.


"S-sorry," he muttered quickly again after taking a deep breath. He was coming back to his senses now, he had realised the damage he had done, but for once he could not truthfully say that he regretted the outburst. Electing not to look Rachael in the eye, he simply pushed himself back through the hall and towards the tiny room where he slept, making sure to use caution with his fractured arm all the while.


This was pointless, this was all pointless, he kept realising over and over, each tiny epiphany jolting a new sense of awareness into him as he backed into the room and tried to ignore whatever reaction Rachael might have given him. Daryl was never going to make any progress without Jackson's help. Anything he did, it was all going to be for nothing... Or for Adrian's continued pain.


Not for the first time during his stay, Jackson wished that he could simply go back to a better time - back into a memory, back when everything was okay, when they were just dumb children and when Leo was there to solve all of their problems...


*** 


"Leo?" Jackson cracked his neck from side to side and released a quick sigh. He tried again, reaching high up to knock at the thick, heavy door with a balled fist. 


Damn, he thought, frowning at his own hand as he brought it down to hang loosely by his side. This wasn't the first time that this had happened, and he knew that it wouldn't be Leo's fault for being so tired, but it was still frustrating to be left hanging outside by himself. This was his weekend he was giving up today, not just a few free hours when school didn't want him.


Eventually Jackson simply decided to try opening the door himself, and oddly enough he was not surprised to find that it was unlocked. Huh... Leo had at least thought in advance. That was good of him.


Out of manners he stepped quickly in, clicked the door shut behind him and then chained it shut before kicking off his shoes one by one. "Adrian!" he called out, his voice projected and yet hushed at the same time; if Leo was asleep, he didn't want to ruin the nap and wake him, and being too loud would just frighten little Adrian as he had learned from experience several times over. "Leo? H-hey, I'm here..."

 

[Yoki]

"Adrian...Please don't do that..." Leo's voice could be heard from the couch, it sounded extremely tired, "Look...Jackson's here... Go say hi will you..." He really did sound more than exhausted, he was meant to let the other in, but he didn't even want to get up. 


Adrian's little head could been see poking out from above the sofa as he stood up, he blinked, smiling as he saw Jackson and running around to sofa to go and sat hi to the other. He waved just as Leo started to force himself to sit up and move off of the couch. "Hey..." He mumbled, standing up and rubbing his eyes, "Thanks...seriously..." His eyes were almost closing every second, Jackson knew how many hours he spent up looking after Adrian. Plus he had to work, and Adrian had kept him up almost the entire night three nights in a row, he looked to be on the verge of passing out. 


When Leo had moved to stay next to Adrian, the younger boy hand grabbed hold of the older's hand and just staring smiling and rocking back and forth. By this point it would have been quite obvious to Jackson that Adrian often had a lot more confidence when his brother was around. 


"Jackson... Will you teach me how that cuby thingy works that Leo has..." Adrian looked up at the teenager who had just come into the house, "He says he's too tired to..." 

 

[yaint]

"N-no problem," Jackson insisted rather quietly when he finally found the image of a woozy-looking Leo rise from the sofa. There was a strange sinking feeling in the boy's stomach all of a sudden. Were things really that bad for his friend? They must be... Jackson knew what kind of a handful Adrian could be, but other things like work had to be hard too. He wished that he could say he understood, but what did he know? Leo was eighteen, an adult, he had a job and was practically a parent already. All that Jackson could say for himself was that he was a thirteen year-old boy.


At least he could take Adrian off the man's hands for a while. It wasn't like he was expected to feed the kid or anything, just play for a while, keep him busy to let his big brother get some rest. A few weeks ago that might have sounded like a chore, but seeing Adrian time and time again had changed his mind. He liked Adrian - a little needy, yes, but sweet enough.


With a soft, warm smile Jackson took the child's hand and swung it from side to side to match the rhythm of his own heartbeat. "I think that's a Rubik's cube," he explained simply, crouching down so that he could meet the boy at his own height, "I can show you how it works! - If you want... Leo's going to bed now, anyway. You know - uhh, taking a nap, like you do sometimes."


With that he pushed himself out of the crouching position and untangled his fingers from Adrian's, making sure to whisper something akin to 'you can go' as he passed by Leo. It did not take long for Jackson to find the small plastic cube made of six different colours - he picked it up in one hand and bounced it up and down, feeling its weight in his palm. As if in thought, he nodded to himself and then turned about on his heels. "Adrian, you coming?"

 

[Yoki]

"A...Ru..." Adrian attempted to say 'Rubik's Cube', but gave up before he started it, instead just smiling and grasping Jackson's hand tighter, letting go of Leo's. His attention was now on Jackson, having been told by the teen that his brother was going to go and sleep. He got that Leo was tired, but he didn't understand just how tired he was. 


"Thanks Jackson. Means a lot." Leo grinned once more and then started to walk towards his bedroom, rubbing his head. He really just wanted some sleep.


"Bye Leo!" Adrian called, to which he got a small wave before his older brother disappeared into another room with the small click of a door as he shut it behind himself. 


As Jackson moved around the sofa to find the Rubik's cube Adrian ran to the other side, sitting down on the ground and smiling happily, he was just glad that someone was there to entertain him. He never stayed still, even sitting on the ground with his legs crossed Adrian found a way to move, it was mostly either playing with something around him and rocking. Leo had told Jackson about it before, and how it sometimes got the kid in trouble at school, along with his short attention span. He didn't really know he was doing anything wrong, and he couldn't stop regardless. 


"I can't get the colours to go on the same sides..." He told Jackson, reaching up to point at the cube, "I tried taking the stickers off...but Leo said I was cheating and put them back on..." 

 

[yaint]

"Yeah, you're not supposed to do that," Jackson explained again as he dropped to his knees by the younger child, subconsciously mimicking his position by crossing his legs over and then placing the cube on the floor between them. "Ah, anyway, the stickers won't work if you move them too many times. It's hard to explain, but, uhh... Hey! Adrian, I can teach you how to solve it if you want."


Keeping a smile plastered to his face was not hard nowadays, but Jackson was beginning to wonder whether or not that offer had been such a good idea. Explaining things to Adrian could be infuriating, he had to be careful like that... Recently he had become a lot better at maintaining his calmness - probably out of practice - so he should be fine anyway... Whatever, he thought eventually with a shrug. How hard could it be? All he had to do was solve it once whilst talking bullshit, then let the kid play with it for the rest of the day. That should keep him entertained.


Without waiting for Adrian's response, he picked the cube back up and held it in front of the boy's face. "It's like a puzzle," he said quickly, "You have to turn all the sides around and get the same colour on every face. Uh, look, you have to do it like this - make an aitch-shape and then turn the bottom side to the left..." He continued to explain the method, often making parts up as he went along, knowing that his voice may or may not be enough to keep Adrian's attention. By some miracle, within the next few minutes he had it solved but for one white square and one orange square positioned in each other's place.


Damn, he thought, but still handed the cube back to Adrian. Maybe he wouldn't notice it was wrong. "See? It's not hard, you try."

 

[Yoki]

"Oh." Adrian was sitting and waiting as Jackson came to sit by him, he didn't seem to realise that the point of the cube was to solve it without moving the stickers, at least not until he was told that by Leo. It wasn't obviously to him and he thought that you could do it any way you liked, which obviously wasn't true. The boy was waiting for Jackson to start explaining, eyes fixed on the small, colourful cube in front of him, he seemed like he'd listen when Jackson started to talk. 


However, Adrian's attention was taken away after around a minute of Jackson explaining, instead of listening to the other he started messing with other things, but he never moved from his position on the floor in front of the older boy. He just didn't look like he was paying attention at all. He didn't mean to do it, but he just couldn't listen for too long and take it all in, he had to be doing something instead. 


"Um." Upon being handed back the cube the boy stared at it aimlessly for a few moments, before grabbing it with both hands and starting to mix it up again. Once it was all throughly mixed he started to try and perform the parts which he had heard Jackson explain, but he didn't remember all of what he'd heard and so he really just ended up turning the cube in random directions, hoping it would somehow sort itself out. Adrian let himself fall onto his back so that he was laying down, with the cube held up in the air in front of his face as he tried to solve it, but despite his many efforts and random pattern of turns he just couldn't do it. 


"It doesn't work..." He mumbled, getting bored and rolling the object away from himself within minutes of starting it. Adrian rolled onto his side, his head resting on his arm as he stared at the leg of the couch in slight annoyance. "I don't work." Upon saying this he hit himself in the forehead with the palm of his hand, before curling his legs towards his chest and sighing. After a few seconds of laying there, staring, he rolled onto his back again, arms outstretched and grey eyes staring at the ceiling with a slightly disappointed look in them. 


"I'm bored." 

 

[yaint]

Had Jackson been watching, he might have been there to make notes, intervene and help Adrian solve the puzzle - buy he knew that the longer he could keep the child busy the better. The longer Leo would have to sleep, the longer Jackson would have before he would need to come up with a new source of entertainment.


A movement on the edge of his vision caught his attention. Jackson raised his chin to watch Adrian roll backwards with the cube still in his clutches. For a few seconds he smiled, but a tiny sigh escaped him after watching those tiny hands part and let the object roll away.


"Okay," Jackson said rather loudly. He scratched with an index finger at the side of his bare face, then dropped down to his hands and knees to pick the cube up. Great... Bored already. What more did Leo even have to do in this house? If Adrian could not even understand a Rubik's cube then there was barely any hope of him managing a videogame. Unless it's something like pong, he added silently with a smirk. Whatever, though - he had to find some way of keeping the younger boy's attention now. "Err, so, let's find something else, right?"


With another deep breath, Jackson pushed himself back up to his feet to take about another look around. Cube, games, food... There really wasn't much to pick from. How did Leo even do this every day?


Eventually his eyes settled on his own bag, a small, colourful rucksack thrown carelessly against the wall by the door. Genius, he praised himself suddenly, a wide grin spreading across his face. He had brought his own toys from home, the ones he kept in his bedroom... Surely Adrian would like those.


With a little skip, Jackson danced back to the wall and grabbed his bag in the crook of his elbow. "Adrian, look here," he instructed as he slumped down on the sofa. "I've brought some - err - stuff. Check it out, it's like... Figurines, and a little RC car somewhere... Oh! My GameBoy too! Come on, I think you'll like it."

 

[Yoki]

For a few moments Adrian just lay on the ground, kicking his feet up now and again, he needed something to do, but he didn't seem to know what exactly he wanted to do. Which was why he needed someone to entertain him, it wasn't easy for him to find anything to do when he was on his own. 


"Huh?" Hearing Jackson mention that he had something else that the boy could do, Adrian sat up straight, inquisitive grey eyes staring over at the older male, head tilted slightly to the left. The more Jackson explained the wider Adrian seemed to smile, by the time the other was done explaining what he had in his bag the boy had jumped up from his position and ran to the sofa, climbing to sit down near the other. He didn't touch anything of Jackson's, but he was watching the bag intently, waiting for the other to give him something that he could play with, or even just watch, though that probably wouldn't keep his attention for too long. 


"Someone at my school has a GameBoy, they bring it in all the time..." He told Jackson, smiling brightly, "But the teachers don't like it... So he has to hide it..." Adrian played with the top of his socks, not really looking at Jackson whilst he spoke, "He doesn't like people touching it either..." 


After he'd finished speaking Adrian had leaned forwards, trying to stare into the bag and see if it was open, he was obviously eager to find something new to play with, and quickly. 

 

[yaint]

Upon hearing Adrian's comment, Jackson glanced up from his bag. He sniffed quietly, pressed his face against one shoulder to push up his thick rectangular glasses, then nodded.


"Oh, yeah. They're expensive, see? So he probably wanted you to be careful, in case you dropped it," he explained to the boy, wondering if he was even educated enough to know a word quite that long and difficult. Maybe he doesn't, he thought in his head whilst resuming his search. Eventually he produced a small, plastic box-like object with a printed logo on the front that read 'Game Boy Advance' in white lettering. With one hand he passed it up to Adrian, reminding him to, "Be careful 'cause it's exp - it costs a lot of money."


He didn't bother to explain how to turn the toy on, instead leaning over and extending his arm to click in at one of the buttons. Suddenly the screen flashed into life, flickering white for a few seconds before then displaying a colourful logo in the middle. "Go on then, play it," he demanded before leaning in to click another button, too impatient to wait. "Uh, you just start doing it and I'll tell you what to do for a while..."

 

[Yoki]

"O-Okay." Adrian took the device very carefully in both hands, making sure that it was positioned over the sofa so that if he did drop it he wasn't going to drop it anywhere it might break. He couldn't say that he understood it, but Jackson was doing things for him anyway, so all he had to do was play around with buttons whilst he was taught the controls and commands. 


This must have gone on for around thirty minutes, a little longer than usual, before Adrian got bored and wanted to do something else. That just started a cycle of Jackson having to find different things for the boy to do whilst Leo slept, which could definitely be a pain considering how quickly he got bored of things. 


A few hours later there was noise from Leo's room, before the man emerged, looking a lot better than he had when Jackson had gotten there. 


"Leo!" Upon seeing his older brother Adrian abandoned what he was doing and ran to the other, grabbing his hands, "Did you sleep good?" 


"Huh? Oh...yeah..." Leo smiled, walking Adrian back over to the sofa, "Did you have fun?"


"Mhm!"


"Really takes it outta you, huh?" He looked to Jackson, smiling in thanks.  

 

[yaint]

It had been hours since Leo had first left the two boys to their own devices, trusting Jackson with the safety of his brother and the taxing task of keeping him busy long enough to catch some sleep. Compared to the three nights' worth of rest he had missed out on for this job, six hours or so was just a blip for Leo, a tiny boost... But when the man finally reappeared, Jackson finally allowed himself to feel a little bit of pride - or smugness - probably some of both. He had actually made it through a whole day with little Adrian.


"No. W-well, uh, yeah," Jackson corrected himself. He had been so eager to take his leave that he stood too quickly and dizzied himself, but he managed to grab at the sofa before he could trip. Even if Leo felt worse, his younger friend could not lie and say that Adrian had not tired him out. His head was pounding from all of the talking he had to do, his mouth felt rather dry and he had sore knees from sitting down for so long. "...But it's fine! It was fun. Adrian's been really good, actually, uh..."


He turned his head away in case his face had begun to turn red, but still managed to shuffly quickly towards and then past Leo, bending down to pick up a number of toys that littered the floor on the way. He decided that he would leave the remote controlled toy car tucked away under a cushion - Jackson himself never used it, and it would be a nice surprise for Adrian to find later on in the day. The rest of the items he quickly threw back in his bag, which he then picked up and slung over one shoulder ready for taking his leave. "So, uh... You're good from now on, right? Like, I can always come back, but you're okay for today. Oh... Ah, okay, well - I'll see you, bye, go easy. Bye, Adrian!"


A quick wave and a few hurried footsteps later, Jackson clicked the door shut behind him and trotted homeward.


***


Blue lines. Blue lines. That was all that Jackson could remember thinking about when he had first woken up to the mesmerising pattern of the curtains that hung around him, having been roused from what felt like the densest, realest nightmare he could ever recall having. 


It still felt like as though it should have been a dream. Maybe, if he closed his eyes again he would wake up somewhere else - somewhere he wasn't surrounded by bleeping machines, trapped in bed with drips in his arms and a foam brace bound around his neck. But every time he tried to sleep, there was always someone there to stop him from escaping this reality. At first it was always one of a selection of nurses, here to greet him and smile and chatter away about nothing, like everything was still okay, and after that they began to run tests he could not even feel. Then his mother had come in, and there were stitches all across her face... 'Dad's okay,' she had comforted softly when her son asked, 'He can't come to see us yet, but he's okay.'


For now, though, for what felt like the first time since he woke up, Jackson was as close to alone as one could be in an environment as crowded as here. He swallowed to wet the back of his parched throat, grasped with one hand at the sheet-thin blanket laid over his chest and closed his eyes once more.

 

[Yoki]

Leo had just chuckled and nodded towards Jackson, Adrian's attention already on his older brother and wanting him to entertain him somehow. The break was obviously very much needed and you could see on the man's features that he had genuinely appreciated every second Jackson had spent with Adrian for him. 


"Uh, yeah, thanks again Jackson! See ya!"


"Bye Jackson!" 


---


It seemed that yet again someone would be interrupting Jackson's attempt at sleeping as the door to the room quietly clicked open, giving way to a tall figure who stepped inside before closing the door again and turning to face the boy laying on the bed in front of him. Whether Jackson would be annoyed or not was another matter. 


"Jackson?" Leo's voice was quiet, but clear enough to be heard above any of the machines. He walked over to the side of younger male's bed, worried eyes scanning over his entire body. It was strange to see Leo with a straight face, he was hardly ever seen without a smile on his face, but after seeing Jackson it seemed that that smile had faded a little. 


He seemed like he was going to say something for a moment, but then stopped, closing his mouth and taking a step back for a moment, placing something on one of the chairs next to Jackson. He didn't know what to say, there were a bunch of cliche things that would only make Jackson feel worse, and he obviously didn't want to say any of them. He looked to be stuck, unable to decide what would be the best course of action here. In the end he settled with something that hopefully wouldn't upset anyone, after all it was only one word. 



"Hey." 

 

[yaint]

At first he had tried to ignore the sounds - he had already heard the click and creak of that door a thousand times over, heard the sound of footsteps mixed in with the hundreds of muffled from the ward outside too many times to count. Even the game of guessing which nurse was going to scurry by grew boring after a day. This time Jackson kept his eyes closed and tried not to think about what they wanted now.


Perhaps the sound of another person's soft hello should have jolted Jackson back to his senses, but instead of jumping or peeling his eyes wide open, he remained quite still but for a sudden twitch in his arms. He knew that voice, who it was - it could not be a nurse. In fact, it could not be anyone but...


"Leo," he murmured so quietly that it came out as a whisper. Swallowing again, he inhaled slowly and decided that this was a visitor worth opening his eyes for. They were glazed - unfocused and drowsy, but even without his glasses the boy managed to find Leo's face. "Hey... S-sorry. I - I didn't know it was you."

 

[Yoki]

"Oh, it's totally cool." Leo replied, smiling down at his friend, "How're you feeling?" He asked, it was obviously awkward for him to say anything to Jackson, he didn't know what he wanted to get across...he just wanted to make the other feel less...well stuck. "Sorry I didn't come sooner, y'know it's uh, I got kinda help up with work and Adrian and all." He put a hand behind his head, trying to smile again, it was hard for Leo to get off work and he couldn't afford to lose another job. 


The male sat down, moving a small box that he'd brought with him to the left, he looked down for a moment, awkwardly playing with his sleeves, oddly like Adrian didn't when he felt uncomfortable. After a moment of doing that Leo slapped his hands onto his knees and sighed, he wanted to keep the mood up, but it was hard. 


"They been bothering you huh?" He laughed slightly and shook his head, "Yeah, I get that. I was in hospital for about a week when I was fifteen, they never stopped bugging me. It gets irritating really quickly right?" 

 

[yaint]

Almost without thinking, Jackson put a hand on the front of his neck brace so that he could pull it down. He nodded senslessly in time with the man's words, opening and closing his eyes for several seconds at a time as he struggled to fight that constant weariness that seemed to drag him out of his own head.


When Leo was done, the younger of the two parted his lips in a thin smile and began to make an odd scoffing noise, most likely in some weak attempt at a laugh. "Y-yeah, no kidding," he agreed eventually, glancing to the other side with a quick flit of the eyes to make a point. "And every time I give them a funny look they - ah, they add on another day 'til I get to go home. Mum gets pissed at them for that." The curtains were dancing at the touch of somebody moving around on the other side, probably a nurse or visitor here to see one of the other patients.


It was busy... It was always busy. But despite the fact that nobody ever left Jackson alone in this place, seeing Leo after all this time was so refreshing. This was someone he could actually talk to, someone who was here just for the sake of company as opposed to gossiping over a blood test. He didn't care that the conversation was forced. 


"So... Uh, you good? What's up?" Jackson suddenly choked out after a strangely long silence. "It must have been hard - I mean... Finding me. With work, and stuff, and Adrian. Is he with someone else?"

 

[Yoki]

"Damn...they can do that?" Leo raised an eyebrow, "That sucks." He shook his head, managing a weak attempt at a laugh as he watched the boy in the bed. Although he was trying to keep up everything being fine, it really wasn't, he didn't want to see a friend hospitalised like this, it would have an effect on anyone. 


"Uh, yeah, I'm fine. I mean, everything has been good, Adrian has actually been letting me sleep at night. Which is great." Putting a hand behind his head, Leo looked down once more, he wanted to keep the conversation going, he knew that Jackson needed someone to talk to right now and he'd come for that reason. "Adrian, ah, he's at home." He replied, biting the inside of his cheek at the thought of having to leave his little brother alone, "I would have brought him but he'd get really uncomfortable in this place, and I don't really trust anyone I don't know alone with him y'know? So...I left him alone." 


That seemed to bother him, "I'm sure he'll be okay, he's been left alone before, though he's not really a big fan of it." Leo ran a hand through his head, "He um, he was wondering how you were, so I told him I'd tell him when I got back. He did want to come, but like I said before...not a great idea." 

 

[yaint]

"That right? Well... Th-that's good, then. Uh. Yeah, I'm glad." So Adrian and Leo are okay too, Jackson thought with a softly-breathed sigh. That was a relief. The fact that Leo was even able to stand without swaying was proof enough that he spoke the truth, but without seeing Adrian, Jackson had begun to wonder. He clearly did not know the child to the same depth that his brother did, but even just a few months was enough to be able to pick up the idea that there was a social phobia in there somewhere. Yeah... Leaving him at home for today was probably for the best. Jackson wished that he could at least say hello, but it didn't look like that would be happening any time soon.


"Speaking of which..." He spoke aloud without even realising, eyes still staring blankly upwards without seeing. There was a point... But how was he supposed to bring it up? Things were already awkward enough, what with him looking half-dead in a hospital bed and Leo just hovering around, unsure of what to do with himself. 


Well... Now is as good a time as any, Jackson finally decided. He didn't know how Leo would react, well or not, though the boy was more concerned about what this would mean for his older friend's own well-being. He might get tired again without anyone there to take over... "Um... Hey, Leo?" he began suddenly, still trying to keep his head still like he was supposed to, "Did - sorry - did anyone actually tell you what happened?"

 

[Yoki]

"Oh, uh," Leo pulled his sleeves up to his elbows shaking his head, "Well, I mean, not totally." He replied, "I didn't want to say anything, I mean it's not really any of my business if you don't want to say anything. So, don't feel you have to or anything." Again he smiled, rubbing his arm as he watched Jackson. 


The machines around them seemed to grab the older's attention every now and again, in such an awkward position his similarities to his little brother were definitely highlighted, although Leo definitely wasn't as severe as Adrian. "I just, I heard that you were in hospital and came the second I had a free minutes, I wanted to make sure you hadn't died on me or anything man." Again he grinned, attempting to somehow make the mood a slight bit lighter, they must have both felt as awkward as each other, sitting in that room with Jackson unable to move much... It really didn't look good. 


With another sigh, Leo surveyed the area, hospitals were always awkward to speak in, he didn't seem to be a fan of them. 

 

[yaint]

Jackson had been listening intently, clinging on to every word despite feeling far too weary to look anymore. It was hard to keep his eyes open now, and whatever drugs they had pumped into his bloodstream probably weren't helping. That constant beeping which was beginning to drive him mad was one of the only things keeping him awake.


For once, though, Jackson was glad not to fall asleep. His smile had faded into a grimace, which then slowly morphed into a tiny frown on his otherwise-unreadable face. That joke had passed him by, completely forgotten as he just lay there and thought: so he doesn't know.


"Oh," Jackson said simply, clasping his hands together over his chest. Now he had the job of explaining everything, great... As if things weren't awkward enough as it was. He could just try and get it over with quickly, that way they could just move on right away and talk about something normal. "Oh... Okay. Nevermind - nevermind then. I just thought someone might have told you, uh, we - I mean, me and Mum and Dad - some guy in a lorry crashed into us. Stupid, right? Uh... Yeah, they're okay but - I broke my back. So... I d-don't think I can look after Adrian for a little while. Well, a long while. Sorry..." It was clear that all this talk was putting the boy in a deeper level of discomfort; Leo was going to suffer for it too, but not wanting to be made guilty, Jackson wished silently that he would swiftly change the subject.

 

[Yoki]

"Ah, okay, I see." Leo seemed to want to ask something, but in the end he decided that it was best not to, "And, that's fine. I think I can do it, and Adrian's growing up, y'know, I'm sure once he gets a little bit older he'll be able to look after himself." Again he smiled, trying to take it away from the solemn mood that was now encompassing the room.


The two sat in silence for a minute or so, Leo was unsure of what to say, and Jackson seemed a little uncomfortable. The older of the two seemed to be trying to find something that they could talk about without touching on any sensitive topics, but it wasn't really working, he wasn't coming up with anything. Well...


"Oh!" Suddenly, Leo's head shot up and he stood up, grabbing the small box that he'd brought with him, "Ah, so...it might sound stupid, but I brought you something." He took the box, placing it on the bed and opening it up. Inside there was a little golden bullet on a silver chain, it seemed to something engraved on the side of it, two small initials. 'L.S'. "I mean, I've owned this for awhile, it's been kinda like a lucky trinket, y'know?" He smiled, "So maybe it'll do something for you, it's worked for me so far." He held his hand out, offering the item to Jackson, "I hope it brings you some kinda good luck, it'd be much better in your hands than mine right now." 

 

[yaint]

"Oh... Good, that's good," Jackson said, feeling as though a heavy, restricting tightness in his chest had just loosened. It was okay. He could stop holding his breath. "Sorry - I don't actually know how long it will be for... Um, but yeah. Thanks. M-my parents should be around to help out soon, y'know, just in case you want help."


In the seconds that followed, Jackson continued to stare at nothing in particular, neither speaking nor even attempting to. He was tired. His eyes kept closing, and his clouded mind could not think of anything to say - until Leo finally took the wheel and broke the silence himself.


Jackson's eyes slid open again at the sound of his friend's voice. He had something... What did that mean? He didn't notice at first when something fairly large was laid down by his side, but a shimmering light in the corner of his eye caught the boy's attention. Almost without a second thought Jackson held out his hand to take the mysterious object, his arm somewhat trembling and fingers clumsy and unresponsive. Eventually, though, he managed to take hold of the chain and carefully dangled the bullet overhead.


"It's not stupid," he assured as the sight of the tiny bullet restored an honest smile. When he lowered it closer to his face he could see those two letters carefully carved in the metal. Leo's initials, he realised rather quickly. This must really mean something... Did Leo really care that much? But I'm just some dumb kid, Jackson thought, almost in disbelief. He... Leo had really given him something precious. Whatever newly blossomed friendship they had must have meant more to Leo than Jackson had thought.


Not quite knowing what to do with the sparkling bullet, Jackson simply wrapped his hands protectively around it and cradled it against his belly. "I'll look after it," he promised, letting his eyes drift closed once more. "Thank you. Thank you, Leo..."

 

[Yoki]

===


"Oh? She wants to go ahead with that?" 


"I suppose so." 


"Do you think it's a good idea?"


"That's not something I can say." 


"Aw, come on Felan, you must have somewhat of an opinion." 


Two people stood in the hallway of a rather empty building, the whole place seemed to be made of stone, metal doors lined the walls as far as the eye could see. A woman and a man stood in front of a set of wide stairs that led up to a second floor, the woman was leaning against the wall, looking at her newly painted nails, whilst the male simply stared ahead, arms crossed. They were waiting for someone, waiting until they could go upstairs and get out of the damp basement. 


"We're not discussing this right now." Felan sighed as his female companion continued to ask questions, he was not here to discuss Shania's decisions with the woman, she always got involved when she didn't need to. "And if I were you I would stay out of it yourself, as it is none of your business either." 


"Oh you are no fun." Ilia laughed, waving the man off, "Stickler for rules. Rules are meant to be broken, honey, isn't that why we're here? Hm?" She looked up, raising an eyebrow and grinning in a teasing manner.


"Not all rules." 


"When did you become so uptight?" The woman pushed herself off of the wall and walked over, placing a her index finger of Felan's chest, "You used to be so much more fun!" With that she lightly pushed him, but, as expected, he didn't move, "What happened?" She raised her hand, balling it into a fist and bringing it to the other's head, but her hand was seized before she could knock on his temple. Felan placed Ilia's arm back down at her side, staring the female ghoul straight in the eyes, "Fine, fine. Have it your way." With that she returned to her original position, now also looking down the hallway. 


"So, where are they anyway?" Ilia asked, sighing impatiently, "We can't wait forever." 


"Just hold on for a moment would you? We haven't been standing too long, they'll be here promptly." 


"Whatever you say, babe." She sighed, "Is Dechlan already inside?"


"I wouldn't be surprised." 


"That guy likes to be on time." 


"He's reliable, unlike you." 


"Yeesh, that one really stings. I didn't join you guys to be given commands like a dog, you've got that kid for that. Anyway, you're the only one it seems to bother, something you want to tell me?"


"Nothing at all." 


----


"Here Nathan, take that to your brother too okay?" Bella smiled, handing the young boy two mugs and watching him nod before disappearing into the living room, she was hoping she'd be able to get everyone in for one night and that they'd be able to do something, but with some many people around that was really difficult. She'd tracked down Daryl, which was always the hardest job, Kedin would be home in no time, Rachael was upstairs, Dane was working, but he would be finished soon, and she wasn't sure where Caleb was, but she'd texted the other. Jackson was in, and hopefully doing better. She should check on that. 


Leaving the kitchen she was about to turn a corner towards the man's room when she saw the main door being opened and closed again, two figures entered, one was the very familiar face of Caleb and the other was a smaller female individual. Her hair was curly and dark, along with her eyes being the same. "Oh!" Bella waved, smiling towards the two, "Mari! Hi!" Hearing her the girl turned and blinked, giving the woman a waved back. 


"Hey Bella." She replied, letting her hand fall to the side as she started to take off her shoes, along with Caleb.


"I didn't know you were coming tonight."  


"Oh, uh, did Caleb not say anything? Sorry, ah, is it cool if I hang? I can leave if it's awkward."


"No, no, it's totally fine. Feel free to stay, actually, if you wanted to you could join in the games we're playing later? Or...at least I'm going to attempt to get everyone down to play."


"Oh, yeah, totally. Sounds like fun."


"You um...maybe have to cross Kedin off...um...off that list..." Caleb's quiet voice chimed into the conversation as he put his shoes inside of a wooden box to his left, "She's...sleeping at a friend's..." 


"Right, that's fine. She'll just be missing out." Bella grinned and shrugged, holding onto the door frame, "Rachael is upstairs if you guys need her! Drinks and food in the kitchen."


"Thanks Bella." 

 

[yaint]

Games? Jackson's placid face quickly darkened to a stormy glower. He tensed his arms to squeeze tighter at the fat, felted cushion cradled against his chest, pushing his face down into the feathery softness as a slow groan escaped from the back of his throat. Great. As if the endless noise of daily life was not enough to keep the man apart from his thoughts... Now there was this. 


Eavesdropping from behind a closed door was just one new habit that Jackson had developed over the past few weeks, and a useful one at that, he had figured out; it allowed him to quietly and secretively decipher the goings on around him without having to properly interact with anybody. For the majority of the past month Jackson had sat isolated in the darkness of his room, listening to the household and only ever emerging when he needed to. He could not recall going outside.


This time was different, though. He had eaten that day already, and as far as he could tell there would be no need for him to show his face for at least a few more hours, but as he kept listening in on the conversation between Bella, Caleb and whoever else was nearby, Jackson could not help but notice an unfamiliar voice which was beginning to pique his curiosity.


Who's that? he wondered, hugging the cushion more tightly now. A stranger. This person wasn't part of the household, were they? They might even be a ghoul, like everybody else here seemed to be. That could either be a good thing or a bad thing, but despite his uncertainty Jackson suddenly found himself reaching for the handle of the door.


He only opened it an inch or so before pushing himself over to peer out with one eye. At first the light was blinding, but in a few seconds he could make out a sliver of that curled, dark hair. That must be the stranger, Jackson realised with a gulp. A girl, almost certainly, the name definitely didn't sound like it would belong to a man. Carefully he pushed the door further open and slid halfway out to check.


Yeah, he thought as he laid eyes on those soft and feminine features for the first time. It was a girl after all... Mari?

 

[Yoki]

"I'm sick of waiting." Ilia's impatient muttering could be heard from across the hallway she wasn't willing to wait in the same spot for another half an hour or so for someone she hadn't even met before, that was Felan's job, not hers. 


"Be patient." The male's calm and sturdy voice replied, showing no signs of letting up and going up the stairs without whoever he was waiting for. 


"Tch." Ilia rolled eyes, "No, y'know what, sweetie, I think I'll let you wait here for me." She pushed off of the wall once more and grinned, "I don't feel like waiting for another one of your losers to get here. Meet me upstairs!" With that she gave the male a smile and a waved before hastily making her way up the stone staircase quicker than Felan could turn to protest. In seconds she was gone, leaving the male alone down in the damp basement. 


"Goddammit." Sighing out of exasperation, Felan turned, now debated whether or not to follow the woman up the stairs. After a few seconds of fighting with himself he casually started to make his way up. 


At the stop the staircase opened up into a large room that was much more elegant looking than the downstairs area. This place had been carpeted black with a red strip in the middle, leading to a simple area draped with purple cloth, inside there was a desk and a chair with several different coloured, slightly transparent cloths draped over it. Behind the staircase there was a large opening that led to another part of the building, to the left and right patterned walls could also be seen as well as two small doors that also led to different parts of the building. 


An older woman stood in the purple lined area, seemingly writing something, whilst several others stood around the room, most looking bored or waiting, others talking. 


"Dechlan, don't tease the kid." Ilia looked over to her right where a brown haired male sat on the ground, legs crossing, holding something in the air. In front of him sat another male ghoul, but he was much more restricted than the other. 


"Hmm..." Was the only reply Ilia got from the brunet as he proceeded to hold a small piece of flesh in front of the other boy, as the smaller of the two launched violently to grab it, the other pulled it back, causing a clinking noise as the black haired boy came to the end of a chain that attached him to the wall via a metal collar around his neck. He put his hands around the metal, pulling at it lightly, as if that'd allow him to move a little more. 


After the food was pulled out of the boy's reach once more he backed up, proceeding to play with the rather generous length of chain that connected the metal cuffs around his wrists. Dechlan continued to try and grab his attention, although it was becoming less and less effective. 


"Dechlan, you're being cruel." Ilia whined, walking over to the two and squatting down in front of them, "Look you've upset him. Tsk." She reached a hand out, which the boy shied away from, but it wasn't like he could go far, she just shuffled forwards and took hold of his face before he could protest, tilting it upwards to reveal slightly crazed, slightly afraid, grey eyes behind black hair. "Look how cute he is, how could you do that?" She pouted at the brunet, who just continued to wait for her to leave again. 


"Would you two stop playing around? We have things to discuss here." Felan looked over to the group, sighing and continuing to walk forwards, towards the purple area of the room. "Shania."


"Oh. You're finally here." 


----


After waving the two off Bella headed towards Jackson's room again, pushing the door handle with her elbow and entering the room. Jackson hadn't been out much, but she'd made a habit of checking to make sure he didn't need anything, she didn't mind it, and Daryl wasn't going to do it, so someone had to. 


"Hey, Jackson, everything alright?" As she opened the door she started to look around the room, trying to locate the other. Was he even still in there? He had free roam of the house, but he didn't seen to enjoy coming out too often anyway. Maybe he'd gone out? She'd never seen him leave, but it wasn't like they were forcing him to stay, if he had wanted to go out he could, she might offer that at some stage, just to remind him. 

 

[yaint]

So absorbed by the image of the strange woman in the hall, Jackson had not even noticed the red-haired lady pass right in front of his eyes. In the end it was the sensation of his hand, still attached to the handle, being pulled away from him that brought the man to his senses.


At first he jumped: his head jerked back, his ears burned red and one hand went to cover his face. It only took him a few seconds to recognise that voice. "Bella," he breathed in a voiceless sigh of relief, pressing a palm to his chest to check that his hammering heart had begun to slow again. "Sorry."


Even if he was still put on edge by the fact that nobody within a ten-metre radius was human, there were some people Jackson had reluctantly come to accept after this point. Bella was among them - as was the other, younger girl named Rachael. He didn't mind Caleb quite as much, either, and there were still a few people he had barely even seen. That was odd, considering what a long time he had spent living here. How many weeks must he have already stayed - five, six? Enough for his golden hair to have grown a little way past his shoulders, anyway, and more than enough time without shaving for him to have grown the humble beginnings of a soft, thick beard. That probably doesn't look very good, he thought calmly as he felt with one hand at the side of his long-bristled face.


Instead of answering Bella's question, Jackson simply stretched his neck outwards so that he could see beyond the line of his own doorway. "Who's that girl?" he asked quickly, jabbing a finger at the brunette named Mari and squashing the cushion beneath his elbow until it started to bulge. "Is sh-she a - a ghoul, too?"