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?]

Comments

[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.]