[RL with Junpei]

[screwloose]

Stein's laboratory was...impressive, and rather creepy. It was an oddly-shaped building, like several huge stone boxes all jumbled together with small windows. The largest part was shaped like an arrow, thrusting upwards towards the sky. Lines of what looked like stitching crawled across the face of the building, each 'stitch' at least a foot long.

The building was surrounded by a wrought-iron fence, the top a forest of points, and there were several scraggly trees planted around the grounds. The trees were devoid of leaves, and each branch ended in an arrowpoint.

A whirring sound could be heard by Junpei's foot and he might look down to see a mouse scuttling by, but the mouse looked and sounded mechanical, its skin formed of random patches of fabric all stitched together roughly.

Welcome to Dr. Franken Stein's Laboratory.

Comments

[iori-junpei.livejournal.com]

Okay, he'd try this one more time.

Stare at the candle. Stare at the candle. Man, this was weird. What good was staring at the candle going to do, when he had a giant badass monster inside him that was immune to fire anyway?

... Wait a sec.

"... Uh, I think I've kinda got something? Trismegistus is totally hardcore with fire. Like, it can't hurt him... and... he can use it!" Junpei declared excitedly, forgetting all about concentrating.

Hey, it wasn't his memories, but it was something, right? He wondered vaguely if the scar he had was from some kind of burn because of fighting, but quickly reminded himself that it wasn't that kind of mark. Burns were more nasty looking than that from what he knew... Besides, he doubted if he saved the world, he'd be lame enough to get hit by his own attack.

[screwloose]

Stein could tell that the hypnosis wasnt' working, but this was a bit of a breakthrough in itself. To have gone from having no idea what his power was at all, to understanding its elemental nature without testing it out first.

"Very good!" he said, beaming. "That's a good detail to remember. You're making progress."

He wasn't entirely certain about that, but it was sometimes good to give encouragement.

Cocking his head, he moved to the case again. "I have something that might help you relax and concentrate. Would you like to try it?"

[iori-junpei.livejournal.com]

Junpei grinned widely at his achievement, feeling slightly better now that he'd made some small amount of progress. It wasn't a lot, but he'd managed to remember something. That meant the other memories were still there, right? Well, his power wasn't really a memory, but it was something he hadn't known until a few seconds ago...

"Sure," he said brightly, still feeling upbeat from having accomplished something. The hypnosis hadn't hurt him at all, so maybe Stein had been telling the truth.

"Hey, does this mean my memories are still there?"

[screwloose]

"I'm not sure what it means yet," Stein said, extracting a needle from the bag and a clear solution. He carefully measured a small amount into the needle and turned to face Junpei. "I'm going to have to gather more data. Hold out your arm."

[iori-junpei.livejournal.com]

And as suddenly as they were there, the happy feelings were long gone.

Junpei eyed the needle before drawing his arm up against himself, shaking his head. This wasn't the kind of help he'd had in mind. Not that he was afraid of needles, but he was definitely terrified of whatever Stein wanted to pump into him through said needle.

"What's that?" he asked, looking startled.

Hopefully not some kind of zombie serum. Or freaky drug that would turn him into some kind of monster. Or some other equally terrible turn of events that belonged in the horror movie he'd somehow stumbled into.

[screwloose]

"Hmm? Oh it's just something to relax you," Stein said soothingly. "It'll help you to be hypnotized, and hopefully therefore help me to get at your memories. I think you're having a bit of trouble concentrating."

Actually, Stein was pretty sure Junpei was hyperactive.

[iori-junpei.livejournal.com]

With obvious reluctance, Junpei slipped off his uniform jacket and dropped it on the table beside him. Roughly rolling up his sleeve, he held out his arm to the doctor.

"You really think it'll help?"

Junpei knew he had trouble concentrating at the best of times, so what Stein was saying made sense. There were times he claimed to be A.D.D. because it made things easier - such as why he'd never bothered joining any clubs - but he half-wondered if it were the truth. He really did have no attention span, except when it came to playing video games...

[screwloose]

Stein would be happy to test Junpei for ADD or FAS, but he wasn't his general physician and wasn't all that worried about that right now.

"I wouldn't do it if I didn't think it'll help," he said mildly, approaching Junpei with the needle. "We both want the same thing, remember?"

He encircled Junpei's wrist with his hand and turned his arm over, bringing the needle close to inject it into a vein in his forearm.

[iori-junpei.livejournal.com]

He was tempted to argue that punching him in the stomach wasn't particularly helpful, but decided against it when he saw the needle draw nearer. There was no reason to antagonize someone when they were about to stick something pointy in you... That would just be stupid, even for him.

"Yeah," he admitted, attempting to keep his muscles relaxed.

"Man, I wonder what the hell kinda monster I pissed off to make me forget all that..." he grumbled, hanging his head slightly.

[screwloose]

"I don't know," Stein said, sliding the needle into Junpei's arm and injecting him with the solution. Junpei would soon start to feel a bit dizzy and sleepy, and this would make it easier for him to become hypnotized.

"Do you know that it had something to do with a monster?" he asked, his tone soothing and gentle, wanting to help Junpei to relax

[iori-junpei.livejournal.com]

"That's what Akihiko-senpai said..."

He flinched slightly at the pinch of the injection, but didn't say anything. It wasn't painful so much as uncomfortable, but he'd dealt with worse. At least it was his arm and not anywhere worse.

"I dunno much about it though," he admitted with a sigh, lolling his head back to stare at the ceiling.

He felt slightly weird, but he wasn't sure if it was the medication. He had just had the crap kicked out of him outside, so that was a good reason to be feeling tired...

[screwloose]

"Akihiko knows the things that you forgot?" Stein asked, catching Junpei lightly by the back of the head and turning it until the candle was in front of his face. "Watch the candle, Junpei. Isn't it pretty?"

"Why don't you tell me what Akihiko told you about the things you can't remember."

[iori-junpei.livejournal.com]

"Nah, someone told him... He doesn't remember it himself," he said slowly, his eyelids drooping. Okay, this was more than tired - more like awesome.

He stared at the candle as he was instructed, his head falling forward ever-so-slowly.

"Akihiko-senpai said that we fought some kinda monster that was gonna end the world with our special powers. That's why there's so many people in our dorm... 'cause we were all on the same team."

The candle really was kind of pretty.

"After we won, our memories of our powers and the fighting all disappeared."

[screwloose]

"I see," Stein said in a soothing tone. "Why don't you tell me about what happened during the fight. Do you remember leaving to go battle the monster?"

It was the most recent thing Junpei had lost, he imagined, and a very powerful memory. Hopefully it would be easy to recall in this relaxed state.

[iori-junpei.livejournal.com]

He sat silently and mulled over the question, trying hard to focus on what he'd done that night. So far as he knew, it had had been a normal one, consisting of his usual ignoring of homework, playing a few video games...

But... No. That wasn't right.

"I... I know that I was kinda freaked out," he said, screwing his face up as he tried to remember. "'Cause everyone said that it was undefeatable..."

He stared hard at the candle.

"I still wanted to fight though, 'cause of..."

That was where it got murky, and he lost his train of thought. He trailed off, unsure of what he was trying to say. Dammit.

[screwloose]

This was promising. The memories were there, somewhere, but it sounded like they were masked or covered up, foggy. "Because of what?" Stein prompted. "You can remember, I know you can. Why did you want to fight it?"

[iori-junpei.livejournal.com]

"Well, if we didn't, everyone was gonna turn into freaky brainless zombies."

He was still sure there was something else, but it just wouldn't come to mind. Junpei was pretty sure it had something to do with the scar on his chest...

"And... 'cause of someone," he said, frowning. "I dunno who, but I feel like I was fighting for them too."

[screwloose]

This was all extremely fascinating. Stein scarcely could decide what question to ask next.

The identity of the person he was fighting for could be key, but instead he turned his attention to the battle once again. He'd explore this thoroughly before changing topics.

"Tell me about the battle. Where did it take place?"

[iori-junpei.livejournal.com]

"Somewhere no one else knew about."

The idea didn't make any sense to him, but it was the first thing that came to mind. Junpei knew his way around Port Island as well as any high school student, but he didn't exactly have a secret fort somewhere. It wasn't a huge city.

"It was... really high up. Like a tower or something..."

Again, how could this make sense? There were no towers in Port Island... Was he wigging out from the drugs? He didn't see what good they would be if they caused him to be delusional...

[screwloose]

"A tower? I see...and how did you know you had to go fight this monster?" He cocked his head. This could all be some kind of invention on Junpei's part, but he didn't think so. He was pretty sure Junpei was properly hypnotized and therefore wouldn't be lying to him.

[iori-junpei.livejournal.com]

"Ryoji told us we had to... It was our fault in the first place, 'cause we killed the Great Shadows."

If the idea of a secret tower had seemed strange, his last statement had been totally out to lunch. Junpei didn't have the faintest clue what he was talking about anymore, but he felt as though he was answering almost automatically. He didn't remember any of those things, yet his mind seemed to be acting on reflex.

"He said we could just forget everything and wait to die in peace, but there was no way we could do it."

[screwloose]

"But you forgot anyway," Stein said, fascinated by all of this. "Tell me about the Great Shadows? What's that?" he added.

They were definitely getting at the memories, but he wondered if Junpei would remember any of what he'd said after all of this was over. Still, he'd see how it worked out afterwards. At least Junpei wasn't distressed at all, and was answering his questions fairly easily.

[iori-junpei.livejournal.com]

"They were these giant Shadows that showed up whenever there was a full moon. Ikutsuki-san told us if we took'em out, that the Dark Hour would go away."

The mention of the Chairman made him frown, though he wasn't sure why. He vaguely remembered him being around the dorm, but he'd died in an accident, hadn't he? Or so he'd heard around the school - yet for some reason, that didn't seem to sit right with him.

"But... he was... Ikutsuki-san used us. He was trying to call Nyx, so he told us to fight the Great Shadows, and when the Dark Hour didn't disappear, we went after him... But it was too late to do anything about it."

[screwloose]

This was all fascinating. Stein checked his watch and decided that the drug he'd injected Junpei with was probably going to were off soon. He hadn't given him very much at all.

"You've done very well," he said. "Now I want you to awaken on the count of three, and you will feel refreshed and your mind will be clear. And you will remember telling me all of the things you told me - but not only that, you will remember those things, as if the fog on your memory has been lifted."

He didn't know if Junpei could break his amnesia by this method, but it was worth a try.

"1...2...3. Awaken."

[iori-junpei.livejournal.com]

It felt as though a switch had flipped somewhere in his brain. Junpei blinked a few times and shook his head, tilting his head to the side. He remembered telling the doctor about... weird things, but the memories themselves were still lost to him.

What the hell kind of drugs were those?

"D-Dude... That was a total headtrip," he said, rubbing his face. "Still no luck though, Sensei. I remember telling you all that stuff, but I don't remember it happening..."

Whatever Nyx was, he really much have pissed it off.