ATH Not-So-Temporary Thread

[Felixitous]

Trigger blinked and hugged him back, laughing a bit uneasily and kissing his forehead. "Hey, hey kid, I love you too, and glad to hear about Clover." She picked them both up off the floor and ruffled his hair. "So what brought on this display of emotion and actual forming of sentences?"  

[Lady Mimicry]

"Nothing," he said, "I'm just feeling--happy. For once. It's different."  

[Felixitous]

Trigger's smile widened and she gave him a tight hug. "Good, good." She kissed his head again, laughing a little. "You have no idea how good that is."



A few days later, however, Tokka was missing again. Clover went searching as always, but it didn't feel the same. He'd been acting differently, happier for a change. He hadn't gone off on his own.

Trigger and the twins went with her, all searching different parts of town for him, but thus far, to no avail.  

[Lady Mimicry]

When Tokka awoke, the first thing he recognized was darkness. The bindings, around his shoulders, neck, waist, legs, and feet. His tail was immobile beneath him and hurt like a b***h. He tugged against the bindings, but the thick straps only dug into his wrist.

"The ********?"  

[Felixitous]

Gareth smiled. "Good morning. You may not remember me, but oh, I remember you. I remember you so well." The warped old man took a knife from the table, letting the sound ring in the stale air. He watched Tokka for a reaction, then slowly drew it across his exposed wrists.

"Feels nice, doesn't it? Just like old times."  

[Lady Mimicry]

"St-stop," Tokka said, shuddering, "I-I don't do that anymore." The blood had pooled into his hand and he rubbed the wetness between his fingers. That warmth, he'd always found a twisted satisfaction feeling it cool and coagulate.

He closed his eyes, hoping to clear his head, but things were foggy. "Who are you? What are your intentions?"  

[Felixitous]

Gareth laughed--croaked, really, as he was so old. "Oh, you don't do it anymore. I'm sure that's what your mother says, and for a while, it's true. But here's the thing with you people: you always go back and do it again." He sliced neatly across his abdomen, but lightly so that the blood beaded for a second before trickling down.

"Who am I, you ask? I am the man that haunts your mother's nightmares. I am the man who made her. I am the man that made you. In fact, I'm not even a man. I am nothing short of a god." He raised the knife and quickly dug out one eye. It made a sickening pop sound, and he caught it in one gnarled hand.

"I am going to shape you just as I shaped her. I'm down on time, it seems, but no matter. You will be my greatest creation yet."  

[Lady Mimicry]

Tokka struggled, screamed, cursed till his throat was roar, but nobody that cared to help him could hear.  

[Felixitous]

Gareth laughed beneath the sound, plopping the eye into a small jar on the table. "Oh, don't be so upset. You've still got another one. For now, anyway." He poured a solution onto the wounds, causing them to close quickly and painfully. He then limped out, smiling. "I'll be back for the other one shortly."  

[Lady Mimicry]

Tokka banged his head against the table repeatedly. s**t, he'd die here, wouldn't? Close to it, at any rate. The agonizing pain had begun to fade. Must've been shock. He almost wished Clover had inserted a tracking device during her cosmetic surgery. Yeah, then maybe he'd leave with one eye.

"Clover, help me."  

[Felixitous]

Once the search of the city didn't turn up anything, the four met back up at the Shop.

After a small discussion, Trigger closed her eyes. "There's only one place left I can think someone might take him," she said.

Clover looked at her grimly. "No. No."

Trigger looked at her and nodded. "It's the only place left."

Lucy ran his hand through his hair, grabbing the back of it in frustration. "You know, I'd love to know what's going on here. That does happen to be my brother out there."

Clover started walking silently away. Trigger looked at her boys and sighed.

"Gareth."



Meanwhile, Gareth came back. This time, though, all the lights were turned on, igniting the room in a silvery mass of brightness. The light gleamed off the shining walls, off the sharp metal instruments of various sizes, names, and varieties, all looming on the tables, shone off the small flecks of fresh blood on their blades. Gareth came forward and smiled.

"Thought I'd give you something to look at before I remove your eye," he said. "I remember how much your mother hated the dark. I'd gotten her young, so she couldn't really speak anything coherent, but she'd scream and scream when we went to take her back to her room. Just for fun, I think I'll keep you there. Sort of a family thing. What do you think?" He paused, that sinister smile on his face too calm. "Oh, it doesn't matter what you think. You're not like her. She fought me every day, every minute, every second until she escaped. She still fights me. She just had that fighting spirit. You, however, are already resigned to death. I can see it." He paused and came closer. He smelled of old smoke and flesh. "No, it wasn't here. You were already set on dying before you came here." He pulled away and pulled on gloves. "Of course, that was my doing too, but what isn't in your family?"

At that moment, the four were breaching the facility's walls. Clover had quickly dispatched the guards with a method she refused to divulge. Even under the circumstances, she hated death, but she tried to justify it. She was killing in order to save life. Tokka's life.

By the time they made it to the room that held Tokka, Gareth had already plunked the second eye into his jar and sealed it shut, leaving Tokka both blind and alone.

Clover leaped down from vents where they'd entered and ran to him. She touched his face, breathing shakily. She wasn't sure if it was rage or anguish, but something was coursing through her.

"I'm going to get you down," she said quietly. "Don't move, please, it might hurt you." She bit her lip as she pulled off the restraints, bit it so hard it started to bleed just slightly. She pulled him away from the slab and stood him up. Oh god, what they'd done to him.

Trigger couldn't come down. She'd smelled enough blood to know it was bad. Clover was better at handling things like this. She'd get him out, and she could clear the way and not have to see. Lucy and Logan, however, came down and helped.  

[Lady Mimicry]

Tokka leaned heavily against Clover, his entire body was numb.

"Oh, that p***k," he laughed, "I really pissed him off, that I did. Thought I'd scream like a child, crying for mommy. ******** no, I laughed. I learned after the first eye, Clover." He dug his fingers against her lab coat, pulling her close. "He craves that power. Well, I showed him. I laughed and laughed."

He slumped as far as they'd let him, sobbing. Sobbing turned to a hysterical chuckle. "An eye for an eye, for me. For mom. I'll kill him. I'll kill him."  

[Felixitous]

Clover inhaled shakily, then pulled Tokka away and slapped him. "Calm down for now, okay? You can kill him later." Or not at all. "Just...oh, never mind." She hoisted him carefully onto her back with some help from Lucy and Logan, and together, they all got back out safely and to the Shop.

Clover took Tokka inside and immediately got to fixing him up. She was careful to remove the scars like she had before, but his eyes...there was little she could do about that.

"The nerves have been cleanly severed," she mumbled to herself. "There's got to be a way to fix this..."  

[Lady Mimicry]

"Don't worry about it, Clover," he mumbled. "I'm not meant for happiness."

It certainly looked that way to him. He'd finally started feeling better, that darkness beginning to fade and here he was, forced back down into that cold, dark place.

Sitting up, Tokka searched for gauze, wrapping it around his head until he could feel the gauze cover both his empty sockets. "I'm going to lay down," he said, but when he tried to leave, he only succeeded in running into the wall.

His shoulder's started to shake, a growl forming in his throat. Clenching his fist, he punched a hole clean through Clover's wall. When he pulled his hand free, his knuckles were swelling and pieces of splinter were caught in his forearm.

"God dammit, If this is what life's going to be ********."  

[Felixitous]

Clover reached for him, withdrew, then closed her eyes and grabbed his shoulders.

"Listen to me. I'm not going to rest until I find a way to fix this. Your mom is building an eyepiece that will act as your eyes until I can. In the meantime...god, sometimes I wish I'd never met you." She laughed uneasily a moment, then pulled him into a tight hug, her face pressed against the side of his neck.

"I...I don't have any more words," she said. "Just me. And I don't think you know just how much that goddamn scares me."