The Fourth Investigation

[airlockedmods]

[Come early morning, the station is still and quiet. Nothing seems amiss in the area around your living quarters. It's a little while yet until C.E.C.E. makes her typical morning announcement, but of course you're still free to move about the station at your leisure.

Maybe you had better look around?]

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[airlockedmods]

[There is a terrible smell coming from the general direction of the infirmary.]

[dejabrew]

Jesus Christ, no-

[He stops short, leans against the wall. They were just in there last night playing DnD.

His throat is tight, and the noise that escapes him is like a wounded animal. But he goes to the door to see anyway.]

cw: gore

[airlockedmods]

[The stench in here is nearly overwhelming.

A good part of the infirmary looks as if it's been sprayed with a fine red mist. Nearer the door, at the edges of the splash zone, it's starting to fade to brown. Farther in, the blood glistens in thick semi-coagulated droplets, and slick-looking chunks of what must have been organs or muscle cling to the walls and floor. A few even made it up onto the ceiling; it may be best not to walk underneath them.

At the center of the mess, over where you all played Dungeons and Dragons last night, a still form is lying on one of the beds. Its shape is strange and lopsided now, and not only because of the gaping hole where there was once an abdomen; the left arm and leg are gone too. The face is turned to the side, as if to avoid seeing what happened, but blood and viscera are still spattered across the lenses of his glasses. Bits of gore are stuck in his hair.

Max Olguin is dead.]

cw: emeto mention

[dejabrew]

[A scream builds up in Bolton’s throat, but more than anything he feels a giddy, overwhelming sense of numbness. His knees give out and he slumps against the wall, not sure if he’s going to scream or throw up.

He scrubs his hands down his face, breath coming in harsh pants, until the sound that comes out of him isn’t either of the things he expects.

Just hysterical, joyless laughter.]

[le_mat]

[He had heard Bolton hollering for Max earlier- hard not to when he was right next door and it was cracked so Karamatsu could come and go as needed while they were getting ready for the day. If he hadn't been getting dressed he would have been here sooner.

He stares at the scene for a long moment. Max. Max...

But Bolton is losing it, and Akira moves- because as long as there's someone else he can still move. Even if that person laying there on that bed (the same bed he had been in 12 hours before?! Him or Kaiba, he can't think clear enough to know for sure) is someone he was so close to.

He doesn't kneel, just kinda... tries to tug the older man away frantically. Panic giving his limbs more strength then they've had in days]

[dejabrew]

[Bolton barely registers the hands pulling at him. His face feels hot and tingly, the tip of his nose is numb and hands don’t obey him.

His breath sticks in his throat like napalm, and no matter how hard he gasps, in between sounds that are more like muffled screams now than laughter, his vision is starting to go black.

He can’t take his eyes off Max’s face.]

[le_mat]

[Bolton isn't a small man, Akira is still hurt. But he plants his feet anyways and yanks, intending to pull his dead weight on pure force of will alone if he has to.]

Bolton, please!

[playthedamncard]

[Kaiba might not be staying in the infirmary any longer, but it still has useful supplies for an injury like his and Akira's. But the smell...and the laughter...make his whole body feel cold. (Well. Colder.)

He sprints.

He nearly trips over Bolton and Akira both, and his foot lands in the dried blood close to the door trying to avoid them--he'd reel back if he could, but the scene is...

It's...

He opens his mouth to say something, but nothing comes out. Seconds pass, but they feel like hours. He backs up one step, two. Doesn't turn away, but he gropes blindly until he feels fabric and holds on tight, pulling. Get out. Get them out, and keep anyone else out.]

[dejabrew]

[His own name hits him like cold water, and he grabs onto Akira’s wrist, his voice hoarse and shaking.]

Max- it’s, it’s Max! We j- I- [He breaks off into a high, desperate sound.]

He was supposed to be safe with us!! I h- Oh, God— JAMIE!

[He stumbles and almost eats shit if not for the two teen boys pulling on him, and isn’t that fucking ironic, he and Max had carried the boys up here on Monday and now they were pulling him and Max was-]
I have to- we- Jamie can’t see this.

[le_mat]

Go to him- he probably heard you yellin' and is on his way here. We... shit... We can handle it here.

[playthedamncard]

We've got it. [Do they? Do they?] Go. Nobody else should have to see.

[dejabrew]

[He’s still panicking, but breaking line of sight has done wonders.]

No, you’re both- you’re just kids, he wouldn’t want you to- to deal with this.

[le_mat]

Someone's gotta. You want Jamie to? Thomas?

It's... it's fine.

[dejabrew]

I’ll- I can do it, I just- need a minute.

[le_mat]

...

[He won't stop him, but he's not leaving either.]

[playthedamncard]

You go be with Jamie. [he says it much more like the tone he would use to order someone around without question even if it doesn't quite reach it] We're already here.

[unhappylittletrees]

[Almost as if just saying his name summoned him, Jamie is behind them and staring pale and wide-eyed past them at the remains of his closest friend in the station. He doesn't say anything at first, just stares at the blood and the gore until a soft whimper escapes from between his lips and explodes into a despairing, horrified scream.]

[playthedamncard]

[NOPE he is not here for this right at the very moment, no. The scream startles him enough that he at least gets his gaze pulled from the scene, and, sorry Akira, you're going to have to keep pulling Bolton's ass on your own. Because Kaiba stalks to Jamie and physically pushes him out of the room, all the way to the wall opposite the entryway, pressing an arm across his chest to keep him there for the moment.]

[dejabrew]

Hey!

[Bolton moves on his own, pushes Kaiba aside (not cruelly, just so that he’s the one holding Jamie back).]

Jamie, J, look at me... Honey, please, I’m here, just- just look at me, okay?

[unhappylittletrees]

[He can hear Bolton but everything sounds distant and muffled. It barely registers when Kaiba pushes him against the wall and even less so when Bolton more gently takes over but his screaming stops abruptly, replaced with wheezing, hiccuping attempts to breathe.

Max, that was Max. What's left of Max but no, there's pieces missing why are there pieces missing everyone likes Max why would someone do this to Max-]

[dejabrew]

[Bolton blocks Jamie’s line of sight as much as he can. He brings his hands up to cup Jamie’s face and brings their foreheads together.]

Baby, please. Say something. Come back to me.

[unhappylittletrees]

[Any other time he would have been thrilled by Bolton feeling comfortable enough to show him this much affection in front of everyone else, to be this open. But this time Max is dead and Jamie is completely breaking down. He leans into Bolton's touch instinctively and closes his eyes but all he can see is the blood sprayed on the walls and Max lying there and-

Rosa Barks. Max's sweet spaniel back in Florida. Who's going to take care of Rosa Barks now?

A wheezing, broken sob breaks free from Jamie's throat and he jerks away from Bolton suddenly, breaking into a run to the teleporter.]