theirlithium | (no subject)

Charles always tried to prepare himself for the pain, for what he knew was coming, but each time it still served to shock him. Each time the burning was that much more intense. Like claws scraping along his skull, infecting his brain and leaving puffy infected flesh in their wake. The only actual painful physical actions was the insertion of the probes. Pressed down into his skull, digging through flesh in order to make that connection. To read the pulses in his mind and produce their own. Charles had always been a pacifist, even under Kurt's heavy hand and his mothers constant drinking but as things stood he found himself having moments where he would give anything, anything, to be free of the torture they inflicted upon him.

He would be a great asset to the government. A great asset to war.

But for all he could do for them, they could do nothing for him, he wasn't human-- he had no rights or hope of safety. They could test for as long as painfully as they liked, he was less than an animal, creatures who at least had laws to protect them.

The pain shoots like fire from his skull and down his spine, digging in and refusing to let go. The harsh pulse enough to cause convulsions, his body straining against the black straps that kept him form leaving the chair. Time and time again they pushed him, harder, further, testing the limits of his ability and their own to control his brain. Between the tests and the sedation Charles didn't stand much of a chance. After every session he was an exhausted mess, too weak to even walk once it got to this level. They'd hose him down and toss him back into bed-- a place he had hated so much when he first arrived that he longed for every evening he was dragged here.

"Please..." He always uttered, almost pathetically, as they pushed the small tufts of hair to the side to insert the needles. He'd been shaved in patches, and then fully, only bits growing back now, uneven and no longer the full locks he had been so proud of in his youth. Please let him go home, please let him out, please make the pain stop, please don't do this.

But after that, the pain always came.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ For a moment there's a spark of something in his mind, heavy with memories at the sound of twisting metal, painful but familiar. The screaming and chaos, however, draws him from that. As close to the surface as he can get-- as if he'd been dipped down below the water and watching the world through the fog and haze that was confusion and pain. Through the dizzying sensation of electrodes firing in his skull causing actions he has no control over. A human battery for the machine, a human radio signal-- reaching out to capture more of his own regardless of his own protests. There was nothing quite as terrifying as not having control of one's own body, own mind and abilities. He hadn't thought they could manage to do worse than they had-- but he had been wrong. Now, amongst the noise he looks almost bleary. The first round of shocks ending as it always did-- but this time it didn't begin again. This time there was no one to flip the switch, and through that dazed haze he sees a familiar face. Not the one he expected, but welcome none the less.

It's a few moments later when Charles actually can work up the will to use proper words he isn't even sure what to say. The words didn't come to him the right way, words don't even seem to process properly. ] Gabriel... [ He hesitates, what is there to say to him? Charles is a mess, humiliated and dizzy and he doesn't even know why the man's here for him. Didn't know why he expected anything else. Glad but terrified. He's been here so long... ]