119 Re-li

"I understand, but I do not accept," Vixen sighed, holding on to Regan's hand tighter when he felt her twitch. "It wasn't irrational fear and this is probably due to my own biases since I am capable of staying calm during times like this but, I despise the way you ran away from the issue. You were made to assist the people that are here. That is your job."

Vixen picked up a short piece of bandage on the bed and wrapped it around Regan's wrist. He pulled out bandage tape from the first aid box and taped the bandage tight. When he was done he turned to Ryder and completed his sentence. 

"In the time you were running away to me, what if something had happened? What if she passed out? And even the door was left open," Vixen muttered, his eyes running up and down Regan's face, "What if somebody even less experienced would have seen and actually had the courage to help but made it worse? I would have killed you."

Ryder flinched, a shiver running down his spine. There was not a scent of hesitancy in Vixen's voice, every word he had said held a lot of gravity in it. He meant every word he had said.

Vixen turned to Ryder. "I would have made you just like her and just like you did to her, let you stay there by yourself having fits and episodes of one traumatic scene in your life and the blessed day that you decide to throw up, your head will be faced upwards and you'd choke on your own vomit. Leading you straight to death."

Ryder shuddered at the thought.

"Don't tell me you didn't know that could have happened to Regan? That she could have really choked right there and died in the time you were gone if she had fallen to the ground in the wrong way?" Vixen let out a burst of shallow laughter, not a single muscle on his face smiling. "What would we be then? Did you forget the floor we're on? Or did you just forget your contract altogether?" 

Ryder looked away from Vixen, unable to face him. 

"Mentioned there was the need to sell your soul away to protect these people. Your every being to not only keep them in this building but to protect them at the same time," Vixens eye twitched, "Just because they are villains doesn't mean they have to be treated that way. If Regan died, then it would have been just a valid death as your mother dying. This is not only a prison, it is an asylum that was made to nurse these people into health not provide them with helpers that would lead them to their death."

Ryder's head hung low. Guilt plummeting on his shoulders.

Ryder's head remained hung low.

"Outside these walls and gates you may be someone that has a family and is loved by many but in these walls, you're as valuable as a worker bee helping its queen. Your death would be thought of as disposal, not something to lament over. But theirs? It's the whole purpose of this place existing," Vixen's eye twitched again as he tried to subdue his anger. "If they die at our hands are we even fulfilling our job here? Some people here are placed in our hands by their families to protect and heal. We'd only be going against our role if we kill. What would be the point of us being here then?"

Vixen's anger slowly reduced and he finally saw Ryder as a human rather than a being worth throwing away. He looked depressed.'I went too far,' Vixen thought to himself, 'but..' His point got across. 

"We're all stuck in this hell whether it was by choice, like you to get rid of debt or others who have been bound here from birth. Slowly, a lot of us have learned to make something out of it, so focus on your job," Vixen sighed, "The quicker you can help these people and pay off your debt, the quicker you can leave. Don't make people who are actually bound to be stuck here for eternity feel worse when they see someone staying here momentarily and not even trying their best in that time."

Ryder didn't reply. His eyes were dazed. Vixen tapped his shoulder and Ryder flinched, his eyes brightening. 

"Antonin," Vixen muttered, "do you understand?"

Ryder nodded his head, in his mind, Antonin nodded too. The room seemed to quiet down and Ryder's eyes were finally cleared. He turned to Regan, completely looking past the fact that Vixen's hands were still holding hers, and the anger in his chest slowly dispensed. 

It was this feeling of being humbled. Having his being ripped to shreds without him having a single remark to say back and then this feeling of lightness after. Like enlightenment almost. It felt unreal but it was there. Ryder was calmed and Antonin just the same, their views on their situation finally being leveled and built up anger they didn't even know they had been squashed. 'It felt light.'

"What do I have to do?" Ryder asked. 

"Write the next message," Vixen muttered, "We have a few more messages to get through and other things to do and then we'll be done."

Ryder nodded turning to Regan. He was well aware of who he was touching and what she meant to him but those feelings were numbed. 

Accompanying the enlightenment was the feeling of numbness. Certain colors dimming and certain emotions fading. It was the feeling of being tamed, to the point that almost a piece of him had been lost. Despite that, he wasn't the only one in the room that had been tamed and the only whose colors had dimmed. There was only one fully colored being in the room. Colored in the deepest shades of her colors and dashes of lightness, they were tended to. 

The rest was the work was done smoothly and quickly. Her bandages were all written on and Ryder was told what to do when she woke up. Then at 11:10, he was told the recollections of the events that led up to now after Ryder left. It was shocking to Ryder. 

The fact that she had let him do all of that and the fact that Vixen never fazed once when performing the actions. At the same time, it was understandable but held an air of eeriness. Vixen just seemed like a different breed of human. One capable of doing things that required little to no emotions yet every movement embedded with more emotions than a human could have. He was mysterious. 

"How exactly is this all going to help Regan or help me trick Regan?" Ryder cocked his head to the side. 

"Because now you have all the things that I do and will do all the things that I have done," Vixen replied.

"What?" Ryder muttered, utterly confused.

"You know what happened with us this morning and know exactly the order in which things took place. In a way, you experienced it with me. To her, you were me. She would ask questions of what happened to fact check as she would have a loose understanding of what happened and when you answer her fully, there will no longer be a suspension of another person doing the same thing as you will be able to tell her," Vixen explained, "anything that would link to me by her memory would ultimately be refuted."

Ryder nodded. 

"The reason why you wrote on the bandages is the same thing. I could have done it myself, just like I did the first bandages. I could have written on them and done the rest but that would lead directly to me when she asks you to write for her," Vixen explained, "you know of every action that I did because of the slim chance that she might ask you about it and you'd be able to answer."

"How do you know she will ask those questions?" Ryder asked. 

Vixen looked at Regan. "Because of what's under those bandages. That will be the last thing she will ask about. If you saw it."

Ryder nodded. He waited for Vixen to tell him what was there but no answer came. "Are you not going to tell me what's there?"

"As I said, that is for her to say not me," Vixen sighed.

"Then how do I react when she asks?" Ryder asked.

"Simply dodge the question. It'll be more than enough for her to believe and a little more than that," Vixen replied. He looked up at the time. It was 11:15. They had gone overtime just a bit but it was enough to act out his plan.

He removed his fingers from Regan���s and took Ryder's hand, placing Regan's hand in it. 

"It's time for the last part of the plan. Sleep."