#actually Caesar is worse than hannibal

[shouyou910]

telling my kids this is hannigram lmao

[subtletruamadumping]

Random Bits; Memory Games (2)

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"Memory Games" was supposed to be the sequel to "Cloak and Dagger" (an actually completed NANOWRIMO project from 2016ish). The ensemble cast finishes the first book by getting out of the first round of puzzles and the second book sends them to a whole new realm of loyalty tests, surprise revelations, and... memory games...

Also, yes, the main character's name is Hannibal... not after the cannibal. I hadn't even heard of that when I wrote this. She was named after the guy with the elephants (and the guy from the A-Team... I had a thing for a minute where I wanted to have all of the main cast of the A-Team mentioned somewhere once in my works).

TW: Torture, Violence, Abuse

Written around 2016, but I don't know the exact date.

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The stillness in the room was broken by a soft whimper. Felix and I both looked up, then at each other. We listened intently. We heard it again.

“What was that?” He breathed at me as I rose to my feet.

“I think it’s Hannibal.” I whispered back. Sure enough, when I looked over at her, she was moving slightly in her sleep. If she had been on the ground, she would have been tossing and turning.

“What’s the matter with her?” He asked, now getting to his feet, as well.

“A bad memory.” I guessed “I think she’s having a nightmare.” We took a few steps closer as her breathing came heavier and her movements became more violent.

“If she gets too scared, she might wake herself up.” I muttered to myself.

“What are we going to do?” Felix looked over at me.

“We have to keep the dream going.” I dictated “Help her stay asleep, so she can process the memory.”

“How are we going to do that?”

“Here, pull her down a little.” He took her legs and I her torso and we brought her a little closer to the ground. She gave another soft whimper and tossed her head to the side.

“Try to keep her still.” I ordered, then put my hands to the sides of her head. I tried to soothe her, to keep her mind asleep, but the memory was wreaking havoc. It seemed to be fighting to wake her while I was fighting to keep her asleep. I tried to push the dream away and, to my shock and horror, it flowed into my own head.

It was Hannibal’s memory, but it was also mine, now. The memory had split and shared itself between the two of us. Though I could see and feel everything that was happening in it, it wasn’t truly mine. In this memory, I was Hannibal.

I never liked rats. I’ve never liked the squeaking they make, or the feel of thier fur, or the ways their eyes glint in the light. Still, Caesar insisted on continuing the experiments on the rats and someone had to keep them alive. It was my turn to feed them and, no matter how many times I told Caesar I didn’t like the rats, he never let me skip.

Next to the rat cage were several syringes full of the anti-stardust drug. It seemed strange to me to keep those lying around, but I wasn’t in charge. If I was, there would be so much different that this place would probably be unrecognizable. I continued to look around the room, stalling on my chore. It should have been really simple. Grab the little pebbles of food, open the door, throw it in, close the door. It wasn’t rocket science. I sighed a little, trying to gather the willpower to just do it.

“Tough day?” I turned to see Cesar at the door.

“No worse than usual.” I replied, keeping my tone even, though it unnerved me that he was here. I didn’t like that he was asking since he was the one that made the days tough for me. It seemed like he was trying too hard to be nice, to be friendly. 

“Of course.” He said, giving me a smile. The uneasy feeling grew as he took a few steps deeper into the room. He was probably made at me for taking too long. It was weird that he didn’t just say so. What was with all this smiling and soft words?

“Can I do something for you?” I asked, turning my back on him, trying to give him the hint that I didn’t really want to talk. I heard his footsteps behind me and thought about how far it was to the door. Maybe, if I screamed, Oryian would come find me.

Oryian? That was my name. What was I doing in Hannibal’s memory? It continued without me being able to press this point.

His footsteps were still coming closer as I finally found the bag of rat food. I brushed some hair behind my ear when he came up behind me. I tried not to give a sigh of relief when he took a few steps to the side, away from me. The relief was gone when I saw him lightly lay a finger on one of the syringes out of the corner of my eye. What was he doing? I opened the bag, pretending not to notice.

“Have there been any new breakthroughs with the anti-stardust drug?” He asked casually. 

“You’re the one who reads all the reports.” I said evenly “If anyone would know, it would be you.”

“You talk to Ash more often than I do.” He argued. 

“Maybe you should work on that.” I snapped “Besides, it’s not like he’s the one who runs the experiments. What makes you think he would know anything more than the rest of us?”

“Just tell me what you know, then, if it’s the same  as all the others.”

“It’s the same as it’s always been.” I told him, trying to keep my voice steady “Instantaneous eradication of any stardust in the system. It takes a few hours for stardust to begin being absorbed by the body, again. No other effects on the subject. Hence why we still have to feed the rats.”

“They haven’t found a way to make it permanent?” I looked up at him sharply.

“That’s not what they’ve been experimenting.” I reminded him. He gave me an assuring smile that had the opposite effect.

“Of course.” He said again. After a brief second of silence, I went back to the rat food, though I moved much faster, now. No more stalling for me. Almost as soon as I turned, I felt his fingers curl around my wrist. I didn’t waste any time yanking myself out of his grasp. I took a step backward, towards the door. 

“What’s the matter, Katie?” He asked in a sickeningly sweet voice “Not afraid of me, are you?” I took another half-step back, getting ready to throw a ball of fire at him. To my surprise, when I tossed it, it bounced harmlessly to the side, overturning a table. My eyes widened and I gasped softly.

“Oh, did I forget to mention?” He purred, waving his fingers and making one of the syringes float into the air “Apparently, direct contact with stardust isn’t the only to get the effects. You just have to be in the general vicinity day after day after day.” He lunged at me and grabbed my wrist, again. I threw more fireballs and kicked and screamed, but before I could do any of these effectively, he jammed the needle into my arm. I screamed and squirmed, but he held me tightly in place. He finally dropped the syringe to the ground and I could feel it. The effects were instant. I didn’t have any stardust.

Knowing I now had no powers to stop him, I began to kick and hit and scream at the top of my lungs. His grip was like iron around my wrist and now my other arm and I couldn’t break free. My strength was no match for his and now he had powers that had to be calculated in. I couldn’t get out, so I threw my head back, instead, directly into his face. He cried out and let go of my wrist, so I grabbed the nearest thing, a microscope, and smashed it down on his head.

This got him to release me, so I made a beeline for the door. I jumped over tables and pushed chairs out of my way, hearing him cursing behind me. My hand was inches away from the knob, when I suddenly froze in mid-stride. I hadn’t stopped of my own accord and I couldn’t force my limbs to move, now. No matter how hard I tried, I just stayed there, still reaching out for the door. I was stuck.

“You’re not going anywhere.” I heard Cesar give an angry growl from behind me. I could hear him walking towards me, again, though I couldn’t turn my head to look. No doubt, he was the one who was making it impossible for me to move. He was like Ash, now. My heart pounded in my chest as he took his sweet time coming over to me.

“You know, you’ve always been the one to cause me the most problems.” He snarled as he inched forward “Always the one to question my authority, always trying to bend and break the rules. You even turned Ash against me.” He gave a dry laugh and finally came into my view. He had one arm outstretched towards me, hand clenched into a fist. He was still holding me in place.

“I thought I would need you kids.” He continued “I thought you were the only ones who would be able to handle the stardust. But, now...” He looked down at his fist, a smile flickering on his lips. My only hope was that during this monologue someone had decided to come for me. Maybe they had heard me screaming. Maybe they realized I was taking too long to do a simple chore. Maybe they had seen Cesar coming into the room after me. Unfortunately, Cesar was more self-aware than I knew. His other hand came up, now. He pointed it at me, too, then slowly closed it, like he was crushing something. Pain instantly shot up my leg, starting from my ankle, making my eyes sting with tears. I wanted to scream, again, but I couldn’t.

“It was an accident.” He announced “You were getting ready to feed the rats. You tripped on a chair and fell in. You fell on your ankle. It broke and you couldn’t climb back out. You really should have been more carefull. Such a shame. Ash is going to be devastated.” Tears were racing down my cheeks, now. He released my ankle, not that it mattered, and started towards me. He released the rest of me and I screamed in pain as I stepped down on my newly injured ankle.  He didn’t wait for me to even catch my breath, but grabbed a fistful of my hair and started dragging me to the rat cage. I, again, started screaming and thrashing, hot tears cascading down. I was no use, though. I wasn’t strong enough. It took him no time at all to haul me over to the cage door.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk.” He clicked his tongue “You took too long to feed them. Look at that, they’re starving.” I wailed as he forced my head through the door. The rodents all squeaked and scampered around, eyes glinting. I begged him to stop, to let me go. I sobbed and thrashed, but he still held me still.

“If you’re lucky, Oryian won’t be the one to find your skeleton.” He growled in my ear. With one hard shove, he pushed me down into the pit. 

The rats were on me as soon as I hit the ground. All I could feel was fur, claws, and teeth. I screamed and kicked and swatted, but more and more came. I gagged as I felt fur against my tongue. Cesar said something, again, but I didn’t hear him over the sound of the squeaking in my ears. They tore at my skin and my clothes, tugging at my hair. The door closed with a loud slam, locking me in the darkness. I screamed and screamed and screamed and screamed.

Thankfully, the memory came to an abrupt end. It faded and a new one leaked in, replacing the feeling of terror with calm, soft, warm feelings. The scene changed to a garden filled with glowing lights and I let go of her. I didn’t need or want to view any more of her memories. I had seen much more than I wanted to just to help her.