Snippet #2680742

"Here, follow me." Aldred grinned as they head towards the Bin, making sure to take the long way around. The short way contained the canteen, which had to be avoided if Aldred wanted Sillo to still believe in the lie. As they walked down the hallways; Aldred making brief commentary that described the functions of the rooms they passed with a professional smile on his face, acting like a tourguide. Nothing out of the ordinary, until a stout middle aged woman with freckles and bright red hair spotted them. Slowing down slightly, she grinned and said in a thick Scottish accent that made it almost impossible to hear what she was saying properly,

"Oi, Smilin' Robot! Showin' yer new frein aroond the place?"

"Ah, Marcie!" Aldred smiled brightly, and when he spoke next his voice was faster and more singsong like Marcie McSkinner's speech, as if he were trying to copy her speech patterns. "And aye, I am!" Aldred called back, shooting a smile her way as if he understood what she was saying. "Sillo, this is Marcie, a regular customer at the gym. She's got superstrength. Marcie, this is Sillo, he's new here." He introduced them quickly with a smile, without a pause in stride. "Also, I'm not a robot. I'm made out of flesh and bone. Why does everyone keep calling me that?"

"Aye, aye, keep on thinkin' that. Pay no attention to him, me lad!" Marcie ignored Aldred's puzzled frown in favour of shooting a mischievous, broad grin at Sillo that'd looked a bit unsettling on her face. She threw back her head with a friendly, explosive laugh and patted Aldred's back with a thump that made Aldred stagger a few steps forward. "Ye see how he's always smilin' even when its minging? Why, this one time he-"

"Marcie." A smile was technically a warm and peaceful gesture, but Aldred's smile felt cold, almost like a warning. "Remember the time with the dog and the tar and feathers?"

"Ach, dinnae get yer knickers in a twist, Aldred, ay ken what ay said," Marcie said, waving her hand in the universal gesture of 'nevermind, nevermind'. "Change oh the subject, aye? Ahm headin' hame, now. Night Shift's over, and ah miss me kids. Those wee bairns are gonna be the death of me someday," she chuckled fondly. What about you lads?"

"We're heading to the Bin."

The Bin?" A disconcerted look flashed past Marcie's face, as if she'd just heard that a bomb disposal squad was on their way to her workplace. "You sure? Ye do realise that -"

"Yes, I'm sure." Aldred interrupted, his faint grin turning into something that was still a smile but more long-suffering. He looked as if he wanted to sigh, but was keeping the urge in check by forcing his lips to curve upwards. "Just because I accidentally pulled out the plugs, spilled water on the electrical fuses and made the whole room explode doesn't mean I'm incapable. It was two years ago! Surely they'd be over it now?"

Marcie shot him an odd look. "Ye do remember that Don got stuck in the hospital fer a week thanks to that..."

"Ah." Aldred blinked as if he'd just remembered that fact, then shrugged tentatively. "... Sillo's with me, they can't just refuse to serve someone new?" He tried, shooting Marcie a hopeful grin. "Plus, Mr Cohald helped me reserve the disc; they can't just ignore that either."

"Guid luck gettin' Don tae forget that." Aldred sighed ruefully as Marcie laughed loudly, throwing her head back. "" They reached a bend in the hallway, and Marcie took the left while Aldred turned right. "I'm headin' home fir a kip. Bye now! Ye wee laddies have fun!"

As they continued down the hall Aldred leaned towards Sillo. "Don't worry if you don't understand," he whispered quietly out of the corner of his mouth "She's Scottish, but whenever she meets new people she exaggerates the accent and the slang until she sounds like she's from Glasgow to people who don't know Scottish. Normally it isn't that noticeable." He shrugged. "Apparently she thinks its funny, and it kind of is, I guess. Ah, here we are."

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"ALDRED! EVERYONE CODE R.B.W.E., CODE R.B.W.E.!!"

"KYNN! DON'T YOU DARE ENTER THIS ROOM! STAY OUTSIDE THE DOOR!"

"Very funny, O'Hara, Don. We're just here for a disc."

"A-Ah, really? Which one? But can you blame us?! That explosion would've taken the whole place down if it hadn't been for the wards! You wrecked a rooms worth full of cameras! Do you know how much time it takes to reset it back up?!"

"Well..."

"The answer is two months, Kynn. Two months of checking that everything was in place and fit and magicked to standards. You nearly killed everyone in that room, especially me! I looked like a half cooked lobster with a toupee; I had a date that day! A hot date. My first time out with a girl in months and we had to spend it in the hospital thanks to you, you electronically inept bastard. I'm not risking that again, so stay out of the room!"

"That was two years ago, Don, geez. I got better! Now I only break my phone every half a year or so."

"And that's suppose to reassure us how? Back me up here, O'Hara."

"Gotta agree with Don on this one, Aldred. Sorry. Which room and time are you after?"

"Training room 24, yesterday evening. Mr Cohald helped me reserve it; is it there? And Don, If she broke up with you just because you had second degree burns and lost every single hair on your body then she clearly wasn't right for you. It takes someone with true love to go on a second date with someone who looked like a hairless overgrown baby-"

"Whatever you say, battle freak. At least I don't laugh like a maniac when I see someone being trampled to death by a bunch of cows. I'm not crazy like you are. O'Hara, found it?"

"Not yet. Got any idea where it is?"

"Hmm. Gimme a sec, I think its in those boxes. Ah, here it is. Aldred, if I give you this CD promise me that you'll never step foot in this area again. My arm still itches whenever I remember what happened last time. I don't care if you step foot inside a tv shop in the mall - just not here. I'll get in trouble if anything else blows up. Got it?"

"I give my solemn word not to step into this place unless absolutely necessary. Can I have the disc now, Don?"

"Say it with more meaning! My job's on the line here! Ugh, whatever. Here - no wait, better let your friend hold this. And don't come back!"

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And with that conversation Aldred and Sillo found themselves seated onto a soft couch rewatching the clips of the fight on a tv screen, with a bowl of popcorn inbetween them. Aldred chewed slowly on a handful as he leant forward, studying the footage with an analytic glint in his eye and a cheerful smile on his lips, mentally calculating a few moves he could have done to make things easier. Despite treating the whole thing as easygoing as watching a movie, however, his eyes gradually turned distant, half lidded as if he were recalling something else.

Which he was. Aldred's smile faded into a rare look of seriousness, and subconsciously the blonde teen leant forwards, chewing on popcorn automatically as his eyes narrowed at the screen. This might help in figuring out what had happened, and it was good entertainment at least. Small him on the screen cracked Sillo's elbow, and Aldred was suddenly reminded of the nightmare that woke him up at the crack of dawn.

Sleep well, yes. Waking up well? No.

Flashback:

Darkness was everywhere, a pitch black so dark that it was as if his eyes had been covered in thick black paint. Aldred looked around him blindly, a snarl on his face. The blonde teen looked ragged, worn out, skin covered in blood. His face was rounder, and he was shorter, thinner, but just as muscular as he would be in four years time.

Normally fourteen was a very awkward age, but Aldred didn't really care at the moment. The worries over puberty and growing spurts had long faded way into the horizon in comparison to being unable to see and unable to move, and -

Pain struck through him like lightning, blazing through his body fast and harsher than anything he had ever felt before, stabbing through him like white-hot knives. Aldred collapsed onto the ground faster than he could register, curling into himself in agony as pain washing over him in waves and throbbing wherever it touched. He tried to move, but the moment his muscles tensed the pain intensified, and Aldred's strength failed him. It was too much for him to handle. All he could do nothing but lie there and bear it the best he could, pain encompassing him until all he could focus on was the pain.

It wasn't until the air was suddenly silent that Aldred realised that he had been sobbing, the harsh keening cut-off wails of an animal with not enough air to do more than gasp pitifully as it lay dying in wretched agony in a death trap. Too much in pain to even scream, sensations heightened by the lack of sight, Aldred wasn't sure how much time had passed until the pain lowered down to more bearable levels. An hour, two hours, a whole day? Not that it mattered anymore, Aldred thought dizzily, gasping shallowly as the agonising throb died down. Dimly, he realised that there was a warm liquid running down his palms. Probably blood - he could feel his nails digging in so deep that they cut flesh. Yet another wound, although the pain was atomically small compared to the agony he was experiencing.

Despite the pain fluxing through him in waves, what really hurt most was the emotion he was feeling. Pain he could handle. Despair so deep that made his heart feel like it was being torn into pieces, settling into his bones like lead weights and taking away his strength and the will to live and continue living, replacing it with the bleak urge to just give up and curl into a ball and cry until the world ended, that was a little bit harder to handle.

It wasn't suppose to turn out that way. Aldred had spent years researching, working things out, testing. He was certain it would work! Why hadn't -

A faint tap from the ground, the sound of converse against rock. Aldred tensed. There was supposed to be nobody but him present in that location, and yet....

Someone was here.

..... Funny, he could have sworn that there was more to the dream. Ah well, no matter.

The sudden silence snapped Aldred back to the present. He blinked, shaking away the memories mentally as he looked at the screen. The video was done playing, great. Taking a moment to collect himself, Aldred plastered a smile on his face and turned to face Sillo, painting on what he hoped was a convincingly cheerful look, instead of the gloom he was feeling. It wasn't that hard - crinkle your eyes, curve the lips upwards, and that was enough to convince anyone who wasn't looking close enough. It never failed.

Well, most of the time.

Grabbing some popcorn, Aldred stuffed some into his mouth. "Well?" He asked Sillo around a mouthful of half-chewed popcorn, raising an eyebrow after a beat or two. "What do you think?"