Meliora - Emanate - 25

[lady_mab]

Lionel Darcy

After three months, I've gotten better at deleting Lia's shot information while sitting in the waiting room. It doesn't even take as long as it used to.

I just squeeze in with the backdoor I left propped open, and then viola. A few clicks later, the information is gone.

The nurses have not shown any indication, either, that anything is amiss. I'm sure they see so many people for the shots, Meliora related or otherwise, that it would be hard to tell one androgynous blond from another.

"Lions and No" are called from into the waiting room, and I slip my laptop into my bag.

At my side, Kaito rises gracefully to his feet and stretches his arms up over his head.

We head toward the door leading into the examination rooms when a man in a suit knocks into my shoulder.

I stumble under the force of his momentum. "Hey," I snap, swinging around to face him despite Kaito's tug on my arm. "Watch it."

The man turns to look at me, and I immediately regret saying anything. It's the man from the side street that Lia and I ran into -- his face looking completely different from how I thought I remembered it, but I would never forget those eyes.

Apparently he recognizes me as well. A slow smile takes over his face, and he says, "Lions, wasn't it?" The smile means that he knows the difference between Lia and myself. The way he looks at Kaito means that he's holding on to that little secret. "Here for your shot?"

"Li--" Kaito starts, but I elbow him hard. Not a terribly discreet way of getting him to shut up, but I honestly can't think at the moment. He wheezes, rubbing his diaphragm. "What the hell?"

"Nothing, Kaito. Let's just go."

"Nonsense, I would like to talk." The man weaves around me to hold open the door for the surprised nurse. "Mind if I join you? It is not often that I get to interact with Participants."

The nurse squeaks in confusion. She's close to my height, clutching the data readers close to her chest. Her eyes dart between Kaito and myself, looking for any objection, before glancing to the side.

It takes me a moment to realize that she's looking to the receptionist for assistance.

The woman behind the desk, dressed in crisp ALICE greys, blinks with no further evidence of a reaction. She watches the entire thing play out with a hint of curiosity in her eyes.

The man reaches for the data readers when he decides that we're taking too long. "Let's see what we have here..."

This gets the nurse to react, flinching away from his reach. "I'm sorry, but these are classified documents."

His brow darkens. "I work for ALICE."

"Just because you work for the parent company does not entitle you to a patient's records," she scolds. "Mr. No, Mr. Lions, this way place." She doesn't give the man another moment's consideration, turning sharply on her heel and leading the way down the halls.

I start to follow after, eyes glued to the linoleum beneath my feet.

Kaito's hand reaches for my bag. "What the fuck," he grits out in a low voice.

I try to shake him off, try to ignore the trembling in my limbs, but he doesn't let me. His grip tightens, knuckles straining white. It’s all I can do to steady my breathing. "Not now."

My answer is a dangerous glare.

The nurse leads us to one of the examination rooms, the same warm hues and medical posters as the previous times we have been here. I set my bag down on the bed, the tissue paper crinkling under the weight, and push myself up.

Kaito stands unmoored for a moment in the middle of the room before dropping down into the chair in the corner. His jaw strains, and his leg bounces in irritation. At least he hasn’t taken out his phone to text Rhys. I don’t know how I would be able to handle the distraction of my brother knowing.

The ALICE agent casts a glance around the room before taking up residence against the far wall. Enough to keep his bulk out of the way.

He smiles as the nurse lingers in the doorway. She’s clearly uncertain if she should leave him in here with us -- I really wish she would stay, or pull someone else in to watch over us. “I promise I’ll keep an eye on them.”

She looks to us, but Kaito stubbornly refuses to answer. So I shrug, and she hesitantly backs out of the room. At least she takes the data tablets with her and leaves the door open.

The silence in the room is palpable, but I’m not about to be the one to break it. I don’t trust myself to say something that won’t be the key to unravelling our frail little structure.

To my surprise, it’s Kaito that speaks first. “I’m clearly out of the loop here. I wasn’t aware that ALICE agents were even interested in the teams.”

“I happened to run into Mr. Lions on a recent outing when I was setting up.”

Kaito arches an eyebrow. Even though he’s maintaining his tense posture, he manages to keep up a conversational air with the agent. “Setting up?”

The man chuckles, arms folded over his chest. “You don’t think that those QR codes just pop up on their own, do you?”

“I suppose not. Were you in on the destruction of the tunnels along the railways, then?”

“A few of us might have had a hand in that, yes.”

“And then you went and plastered them all up after?” I ask, unable to help it. We had all been shepherded out of the underground room through the same exit, which meant that the others were inaccessible -- or they wanted to keep us from exploring.

The man looks at me, but Kaito doesn’t. Shit, I’m going to get in so much trouble for this. Liala and I agreed to keep it to ourselves for as long as possible, largely because we didn’t want to have to deal with thinking about the creepy man who currently lurks in the corner of the room. The tenuous peace of mind lasted barely two weeks.

“A few of us might have had a hand in that as well,” he echoes, a thin smile in place.

The nurse returns a moment later, and I can feel myself breathe a little easier with her presence. The shots are administered and the nurse waits for all three of us to leave the room before she joins us in the hall. The data tablets remain tucked under one arm. She hasn’t added the notes of our visit. Probably won’t until the man is gone.

“Thank you for letting me sit in,” the ALICE agent says with the same tone he said I hope you learn from this mission.

I think it’s sheer force of will alone that keeps me standing without shaking.

He nods to each of us, and the nurse waits until he’s gone to hurry to her next station. It’s then that I realized that I never actually got the man’s name.

Kaito’s grip finds its way to my elbow and he yanks him along behind me. I don’t even bother arguing or trying to free myself.

He storms out through the lobby. He shows no sign of stopping until we’re half a block away and I’ve stumbled twice under his headlong pace.

“Okay, fuck, Kaito, your legs are longer than mine.” I tug him to a stop, and he lets me. His chest heaves and I can hear the breaths.

I flinch back a step without even knowing what he plans on doing.

All he does is let the tension hover in the air for a beat before pinching the bridge of his nose. He mutters something in Japanese but I guess to be a string of swear words. “What in the ever loving fuck was that about?”

“I--”

“And don’t you dare say you don’t know. He recognized you.”

I can’t back my way out of this, but I can at least spare Lia. It’s a small blessing that the ALICE agent didn’t ask after ‘the other’ Lianel Lions.

“I… might have set up a proxy to catch messages from other Informants.”

His jaw actually drops, though I can’t tell if it’s an impressed sort of shock or an angry one. “Why?”

“That’s… a very good question…” In all honesty, I don’t have an answer for that. I only did it to prove that I could. “I just wanted to know how it all works.”

“Is this also about what happened that day you were missing for two hours?”

I jerk back a step, breath catching in my lungs. “This doesn’t really--”

“Lionel.”

My words stop, falling from my mind. I can’t hold them together long enough to form an excuse. So I struggle for a moment before forcing out the best answer I can give. “I know--”
“No, you don’t. You very clearly don’t.” When he lowers his hand, he looks like he’s aged ten years. “Remember what we agreed upon at the start of this game?”

My stomach drops to my feet and flops about on the ground. I can feel the blood drain from my face. I know what he’s going to say, and the problem is that I can’t muster the strength to tell him no. “That as long as no one asks about it, it remains a secret?”

He nods, once, solemn. “Rhys already asked me about it. I have to tell him.”

“Okay.” My voice wobbles, thin and child-like. I lick my lips, clear my throat, and try again. “Okay, I understand.”

I would rather have Kaito break the news to Rhys. I wouldn’t be able to face my brother and see his disappointment. I don’t know how I would explain myself to him.

Kaito watches me, shoulders slumping. “Go home and get some rest, Lio. I’ll try to smooth it over with him tomorrow.”

It’s my turn to nod. I turn away, feet dragging over the sidewalk. I have as long as it takes for me to get home from the city center in order to pretend like there’s nothing wrong so Lia won’t get suspicious, but I’m not sure if I’ll be able to manage it.