WHO: Fitz & Daryn WHEN: June 19, 2019 afternoon WHERE: 104 Liberty Street, Daryn's place WHAT: A discovery WARNINGS: None STATUS: Complete
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As much as he didn’t want to leave Kyrie alone, he knew he should check up on Daryn. He’d stopped by a few times, but more just in a drive by fashion to make sure things had been delivered. They couldn’t risk fiddling with her camera’s, as it was clear she was someone they were going to be watched. Which also meant he didn’t want her at Kyrie’s home anymore- because they might finally come and fix her stuff. So, the orange cat that frequents the housing area showed up at her door and scratched at it. “Mew.” Daryn, it’s just me. Please let me in. Fitz called out mentally as he itched at the collar that read ‘Oliver’.
--
The house was dark but Daryn was inside. Curled in a chair in the corner of the living room, she’d heard him approaching by his thoughts long before the cat pawed at the door. With a glance to it, the door opened tekekinetically, allowing him inside before shutting abruptly after he’d entered.
She was so pale her skin nearly glowed in the dark, the bones of her cheeks pressing through the sallow skin. She should have been gaining weight since her release but it seemed to fall off faster than ever before. Shifting a bit, she leaned back further into the shadows of the room, ashamed of her appearance.
“How’s Kyrie?” She’d heard him worrying a mile away, it only made sense to ask even if she could dig out the answer if she made the effort. Her abilities seemed sharper now, more refined despite the lack of use.
—--
The cat entered the apartment and jumped onto the couch. She’s back. Scared, but back. It was all he could hope for at the time. Keeping her safe wasn’t easy, but he’d risk anything for her. Which meant he blamed himself for her getting taken. Not having been there to try to stop it.
I wanted to come check on you. I know others are still coming by, yea? Making sure you’re getting stuff you can eat? And how’s your throat doing? He was concerned about his friend. And yet again he found himself feeling useless to actually help her.
--
Daryn just nodded. She was glad to hear that the girl hadn’t been gone long, and she understood the fear. At least she was safe and looked after.
The others came by, but most of the time she was out of the house or didn’t answer the door. Those bold enough to come in anyway left food for her but she hadn’t touched any of it. At least she’d had the sense to freeze it so it wouldn’t go to waste. “Yes. It’s fine.”
She wasn’t hoarse anymore but she could intermittently still taste blood, or would have painful coughing fits. It wasn’t healing, but it wasn’t any worse. It didn’t seem to phase her either way.
“How are you?”
--
She didn’t sound fine, something in the tone of her voice. And she didn’t smell fine. Fitz couldn’t pinpoint it, but his feline senses told him she wasn’t healthy. The cat climbed to the arm of the couch and laid down, looking at her. I’m fine. Getting back into my normal routine again. My life isn’t that interesting. At least not compared to everyone else. 80-90% of the day in cat form, the rest in Kyrie’s apartment- or Ben’s. He was a nobody, and invisible man, just a cat. And that’s how he liked it- or at least what was required to keep him safe.
But I didn’t come to talk about me. I came to check on you. The cat licked it’s paw and groomed it’s ear. I might also start talking to me in your mind about some things, otherwise anyone watching the camera’s might think you’ve gone insane. He mentally chuckled slightly. Are you still on more soups or have you been able to get down soft foods? He wondered, her health was important. Then he’d ask about her getting out of her apartment.
--
“Neither is mine.” Without the Faction and without the hospital to keep her busy as she once had been, Daryn felt stalled and useless. And hopeless.
She just smirked at his comment and glanced around the room slowly, eyes wandering over the places the cameras probably stood. “Maybe I have gone insane.” But she shook her head no to his question about her diet. She wasn’t eating anything, she had no appetite.
--
Daryn. His tone was soft, caring and worried. You need to eat. If you don’t you’ll just get sick, and won’t finish healing. And worse. The cat tilted it’s head at her and jumped off the couch. Fitz walked over and brushed up against her leg. He may not have been able to comfort her like a human, but he could show physical caring as a feline. I will ask the boss to send someone to babysit you if I need to. He threatened in a teasing manner. I know you don’t want to come back, word spreads quickly. And I can understand that. But that doesn’t mean you don’t still have friends and people who care about you. Being a big brother to Kyrie sort of gave him good practice with the ‘older brother’ speeches.
--
Sighing, she ran her fingers back through her hair and closed her eyes. Responding telepathically, she didn’t acknowledge the show of comfort. ”I have no appetite. And even if I did, I don’t think it would affect the healing. Or lackthereof.”
She ignored his threat of a babysitter, she knew too well that no one would spend more time with her than absolutely necessary. There was no point in torturing someone by forcing them to spend time with her. ”You know I couldn’t go back even if I wanted to. No one wants me back, so it works out.”
--
I know it’s dangerous right now because you’re on their radar. But what makes you think no one wants you? The cat’s brow furrowed, looking up to her. You were- are a big part of what we do. You helped and inspired a lot of people. We’d never have come back from out loses if it weren’t for you. Fitz thought at her, his mental tone a serious, earnest one. What had they done to her?
--
Daryn stared at the cat blankly before setting back into the chair again, staring ahead at nothing. ”Were. Past tense. What did it matter what I did then? Did it change anything? Nothing matters, Fitz. Nothing. It’s all a waste of time and energy.” They’d broken her in so many ways. She had brief flickers of her old self, of that fire, but more often than that she just felt trapped and useless.
--
A small rumble of anger trembled in the cat’s throat, not quite as ferocious as one of his larger forms. So what? Fitz questioned. Let them win? Give up? He hopped up daintily on her lap and stared at her. Just accept that they’ll take anyone at any point and lock them up for no reason? Experiment on them? Let them get more and more of us on this island locked away? Maybe they should just get it over with and put us in cages instead of this illusion of a free life. Just accept that inevitability. The cat huffed. Okay, so we may not be big enough yet to really fight back. But does that mean we should just give up and stop fighting all together? Stop trying to help others make an actual life here? Just give up hope… that’s what you’re saying we should do. The cat’s nose crinkled. If there’s no hope, they should just kill us all now.
He chuffed at the air and hopped off her lap. I love you Daryn. You’ve been one of those people I trust, one of the handful who know who I actually am. But I can’t just give up. I have to try to do my part. He felt guilt. Guilt he couldn’t do more. He’d not been there when Kyrie was taken, or when Daryn was. His friend was tortured and broken and he’d not been able to do anything to stop it. If he could have traded places with her. He would have.
--
Tilting her head to the side, Daryn watched the cat, a faint hint of anger in her own eyes. Was he really trying to give her a pep talk? He had no idea what she’d been through. He hadn’t asked, no one did. When the cat moved off of her lap, she stood, moving slowly toward the kitchen. ”There is no ‘we,’ anymore. ‘We’ ended when I finally, stupidly realized no one was coming for me. No one came for me. How many people on this damned island have I helped? Fought for, cared for, healed? How many of them tried to do any of that for me?” She didn’t expect a response.
Moving to the cabinet, she took out some pills, swallowing them dry. ”I’ve never been a selfish person. But when I realized fighting the good fight was never going to benefit me, well… I guess I did give up then.” She shared the flicker of a memory with him. Daryn, bloody and beaten and in pain, huddling alone in a corner. Waiting and hoping. And nothing happened, no hope came for her then.
”You can do your part. I’ve done mine. Look what it got me.” Just more scars and nightmares.
--
He’d tried to find her. They all had. For all they knew she’d been taken off the island. She hadn’t been put in normal holding. That left the facility. But none of their people could find out where. Fitz had gotten shooed off by guards more than a number of times trying to sneak into the place himself. But they had failed her. She’d come back so lost, unable to recall much of anything- barely even remembered him. At least that had come back to her. He knew she could read him, whether she chose to believe that no one had given up on her or not was her own choice. It had been clear she’d made it.
The orange cat moved and sat by the door. I can’t speak for everyone else. I’m just another soldier in the fight. But I never gave up on trying to find out. His eyes looked at the door sadly.
--
Daryn leaned back against the kitchen counter, weak and defeated. Seeing him move to the door, she used her ability to open it. He wanted to go.
Sliding down to sit on the kitchen floor, Daryn curled into a ball, sobbing softly. She banged her head back against the cabinets hard, trying to knock herself out but it didn’t work. Burying her face in her hands, she pulled at her hair with fists.
As the clock changed from one hour to the next, there was an audible click, followed by brief static before a recording began playing throughout the house, just as it did at the top of every hour since she’d returned home. No one will help you. No one cares. They don’t trust you and you cannot trust them. There is only one way to make it stop. End it.
Pressing her forehead against her knees, Daryn whispered the message to herself repeatedly. She couldn’t tell if he’d already gone, but she did send him one last, desperate telepathic message. “Make it stop.”
—
Fitz paused and let out an angry yowl as he heard the message play. Those evil-
The cat pawed and pushed the door closed before it ran and leapt onto the mantel near the TV that hung on the wall. He’d not wanted to attract attention to her by messing with her camera’s but he had no idea what had been happening. You should have told me. He thought angrily as he pawed at a bundle of wires. He had no way of really knowing if the recording was hooked up through the same source as the camera’s- but he could hope. Those wires the looked just like they belonged to the TV but weren’t.
Fitz took the plastic coated wire into his mouth and started to gnaw on it. It took some time, his teeth were only so sharp. But he broke through and bit and pulled on the exposed wire and-
The orange tabby stumbled back a bit as the wires fell from it’s mouth in two pieces. A mental ‘urk’ of pain. It shook it’s head and after a moment, jumped down from the mantel and over to the woman in the kitchen. I’ll wait… until it comes again- if it does. And if it does… I will claw this place apart to make it stop. He said, rubbing his head against her leg. He didn’t want to risk changing back yet. There was no way to know if they added extra cameras and he wasn’t really in a position to find out. So, he just curled up next to her and waited, purring softly.
--
Daryn just lifted her head slowly, looking to the cat in confusion as it returned and sat at her side. Leaning her head back against the cabinet, she stared ahead blankly. ”Wait for what?” Daryn had no idea that he could hear it. She thought they were her own thoughts. After all this time, maybe they were. They’d been playing the messages to her since a few months after she was detained. They weren’t always the same in content, but it was so frequent that Daryn didn’t question the source any more.
They had released her from her captivity, but they hadn’t really let her go. The only relief she had was the few hours a day she was allowed to work. It was just enough time for her to just slightly get back to herself, to regain her strength, to seem normal. And then they’d send her back home to the incessant voices.
“End it,” she repeated aloud.
--
Wait for the message to repeat- if it does. Fitz thought, nuzzling her. I’ll end it. I’ll stay until it’s ended. As long as it takes.
--
”What message?” Rubbing her forehead, she closed her eyes slowly. Her head was pounding but she knew nothing she took would make it stop.
--
The one on the recording. The one spouting lies about noone caring. Fitz informed her. What had they done to her?
--
“What?” Daryn didn’t know what he recording he was talking about. Could he hear what was in her head without her trying to share it? Turning to lay on her side on the floor, she pressed her palms hard against her eyes. She was so tired, but she couldn’t sleep. Maybe that’s why nothing made sense.
—
He curled up against her arms, purring gently. Fitz has read somewhere once that the purring of cats can help relieve stress. Daryn, they’re trying to break you. They’re trying to make you think you’re crazy. But they probably never expected the stray cat you let inside to not really be a cat and would hear the message. His head nuzzled her arm. How often does it happen?
—
Dropping her hands from her face, she opened her eyes to stare at the cat. ”How often does what happen? I don’t understand. Is it in your head too?”
--
No. The cat meowed. I heard it with my ears. His ears twitched slightly.
—
Daryn furrowed her brow, watching him. He heard it too? That couldn’t be possible, it was all in her head. And she wasn’t trying to make him hear it. Rubbing her forehead, she tried to sort things out and answer his question. ”I happens constantly. All day, all night, all the time…. Except when they let me go to work. Then things feel okay.”
--
Okay, well I’ll wait then. However long it takes to make sure it won’t be bothering you again. Fitz said with certainty.
--
Pushing herself up to sit up slowly, she leaned back against the cabinets again in silence, waiting. At some point, her eyes dropped closed and she fell into a light sleep. But it didn’t last long. Once the hour changed again, the recording began once more. It resonated throughout the house, easily heard in every room. It wasn’t from just one system, the house was wired completely for it, separate from the cameras. When it played again, Daryn’s eyes flew open and she was tense again. She stayed silent, looking to Fitz to see if he heard it too.
--
The cat leapt onto the counter, ears twitching to locate the source of the speakers. It seemed to be coming from everywhere. He wasn’t going to be able to do this alone. While not in the Faction officially anymore, Fitz knew they would help. Come home with me tonight, so you can get sleep. I’ll get you help. I’ll tell them to tear the walls apart if they have to. He said, anger clear in his thoughts. It was clear that if he weren’t concerned about a secondary camera system- after all if they had hooked up the speakers, who’s to say they didn’t hook up more cameras as well- he’d have changed into a big cat and started clawing at the walls.
Once the message ended, an angry yowl escaped the cat. Get some clothes. We’re leaving.
--
Daryn watched Fitz then reluctantly moved to stand. ”Are you sure?” She’d heard his thoughts, he initially didn’t want her in the home with Kyrie. And she couldn’t blame him for that. Maybe she could crash on someone else’s couch, at least for a few hours to get some real rest. Or she could sneak back to the hospital and sleep in one of the open beds. If they didn’t kick her out again.
--
I can’t let you stay here. He was sure of that. Ben had been staying with them a lot, so he’d have to tell the man the room was in use- or find a new place for Daryn. Fitz shook his head. They could figure that out later. In that moment, the important thing was that she get out of the apartment before the message played again. Once they were out, they had all the time in the world to figure out what was next.
--
Hesitantly, Daryn moved to the bedroom to gather a few things. She didn’t have much, and there was even less she felt she needed. She returned a few minutes later with a bag over her shoulder and waited for further direction.
--
Let’s go. The cat hopped down from the counter and waited at the door. Once open he lead Daryn to Kyrie’s place where they’d plan what to do next. He’d find another member of the Faction to put her up a few nights while they tore her place apart.
What they really needed was to call out the government. Make them answer for their mistreatment of residents. But that was a plan for another day. First… Daryn needed to get better.