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Reintroducing an old character!

Content warnings: there’s some lab scenes – nothing super graphic, but my poor boi is basically a living experiment so take that as you will 🙁

Kit:

“Subject 1711 – divulge your deepest regrets.”

“No.”

I turn to my right to see a tall figure fiddling with his restraints.  Pitch black curls bounce around his pale skin as he glances up at me, scanning me with narrowed eyes.

Oh no.

“Basil?”

My hurt turns to lead in my chest as the screen flickers to life, illuminating his delicate features.  Basil wrinkles his nose. “Oh.  You’re here too.”  I wrinkle my nose right back at him.  “Well someone sure sounds enthused.”

10

….

9

…

Panic crawls up my chest as the numbers flash across the screen.  I yank against my restraints and hurl a curse at the screen.  “You leave him alone, ok?  You can do whatever you want to me – I’ll even share my second worst regret, if you’ll just leave him alone!”

Basil cocks his head. “Third.  You already shared your first two.”  A new wave of panic seeps into my veins.  Those were secrets I never, ever wanted him to know.  It’s bad enough sharing with complete strangers, but at the end of the day, we’re all going to part ways and take each others secrets along with us.  I live with Basil, though, and I really do love him dearly – just as much as any of my other brothers.  It’d hurt so bad if Basil started distancing himself from me too.

Nothing’s changed in his inky gaze, though.  He looks just as miffed as always, but hardly uncomfortable.  “You’re ignoring me.”

“Oh, shut up.” I mutter.  “Look, do you want me to do you a favor or not?”  I glance back over at the screen.  “Third then.  There’s plenty more where those two came from, you know.”

Basil glances back and forth between me and the screen, lips splitting in a triumphant grin.  “It’s ok.  I don’t have one anyways.”

5

…

4

…

3

…

Basil squints, covering his eyes as the numbers flash across the screen. “It’s too bright,” he murmurs.

2

…

Basil jumps up from his seat.  I crane my head as he walks off, helplessly watching as he melts into the dim shadows beyond the circle.

1

…

The screen flashes red, and dims.

Basil walks through a stark white hall, flanked on both sides by armed guards.  His throat is locked behind a thick black band – the shock collar he was wearing when Milo and I first found him.  His dark curls bounce as he marches down the hall, eyes flickering back and forth between his guards and the smartly dressed officer in front of him.  He suddenly collapses to the ground, arms splayed out behind him.  The guards stop short, one gently nudging him in the ribs with his heavy boot.  The officer whips around.

“Get up!”

Silence.

A smile tugs at my lips as the officer grabs him by the belt and drags him a couple of feet, cussing under his breath the entire time.  We all know by now this was a favorite ploy of his – making people drag him places he didn’t want to go.  Was – He stopped soon after we got him, maybe because Eli never forced him to go places he didn’t want, or maybe just because for once he felt safe and secure, and free to give up control.

I’ll have to ask him about that one sometime.

“I said GET UP.”

Silence.

The officer pulls a little remote from his pocket.  Basil’s collar flashes lightening blue as a strangled squeal rips from his throat.  Anger pulses in my temples as he flinches back and writhes on the pristine white tiles, hands desperately clawing at the collar.

“It’s ok Kit.  The collar can’t hurt me anymore.  I beat it a long time ago,” Basil murmurs darkly.

“You’re starting to sound like Eli, you know.”

“At least I’m not starting to sound like you,” he mutters.  I roll my eyes.

“Yeah whatever.”

“The shock wasn’t as bad when I held it with my hands, but he never figured it out.”  There’s a distinct note of triumph in his voice, but I can’t hear the slightest hint of pain.  I’m honestly pretty surprised – he’s the one reliving it, after all.

“You actually thought of that?”

“No.  Dr. Corvo did.”

“Dr. who now?”

Scene after scene of Basil plays out on the screen – Basil stashing crackers in his pockets at a meal and getting in trouble, Basil launching himself onto some ridiculously high surface and getting stuck, Basil playing with ants in a wall and getting bitten…

A lot of these are looking pretty…mundane, if I’m going to be honest.

Is the castle just playing all of his regrets until it finds a suitably regrettable one?

Scratch that – does Basil even regret any of these?  He’s awfully calm right now for a guy witnessing – no, reliving his supposed greatest regret.  I groan.  This could take forever.

I crane my neck, searching the inky shadows for a glimpse of his paper white face.

“You know Basil, I’m getting the impression that you couldn’t really care less whether or not we actually see your greatest regret.”

“Nope.”

“Well hurry up and tell, because this is getting really old.”

“I already told you I don’t have one,” he snaps.

I rub my temples. “This is so blazing boring,” I groan.

The screen fades.

Basil’s in a stark white room, propped up on a gurney.  The pastel green curtains part as a doctor walks in.  Basil yelps in pain as he rips off the bandage on his arm and roughly adjusts the IV drip, squeezing the bruised flesh as he smears on a new one.  As soon as the man turns his back, Basil hurls his pillow to the floor and collapses against the bare gurney.  “My pillow!” he wails pitifully.  His lips quirk in a malicious smile as the doctor bends over and picks it up, firmly patting it in place behind his head.  The curtains part again as another man walks in,

“Dr. Corvo!”  Basil’s face lights up with excitement as soon as he sees the man, but a shiver runs down my own spine.

That Dr. Corvo?

Dr. Vitus Corvo – a notorious criminal of the Great War, and currently the most wanted man in the Western world.  They say Kardova got their hands on his colleagues, but Corvo was always said to have escaped the ruinous end of the war.  He’s a scientist of sorts – formerly esteemed, but highly unethical in his approach.  But then again, “ethical” and “war criminal” are kind of mutually exclusive.

I shudder, remembering the night Basil unintentionally burglarized our apartment, cold and hungry and supremely confused.  He couldn’t have walked too far in one night…meaning that wherever he came from is likely somewhere near our district, which also means that Dr. Corvo is likely somewhere near our district…

I’m not too keen on that one.

Basil leans back as Dr. Corvo sits by the side of gurney, reaching out to gently ruffle his curls.  He hands him a spoon and a waxy cardboard container.

“Ice cream?”  Basil gasps and shreds the cover, plunging his spoon into the cup.  He shaves off a small bite, licking the spoon as the doctors push back his blankets and examine his leg.

I smile.  Basil is a greedy eater, but he’s always made sure to savor every last bite of the food he really, really enjoys.  Like ice cream, and chocolate, and especially chocolate ice cream, which seems to be what he’s eating.

“I guess I kind of regret leaving Dr. Corvo.” I flinch, turning around to see Basil standing over me.

“You’re kidding, right?  He’s evil, you know.  You should be glad you left him – he might’ve experimented on you or something if you’d stayed any longer.”

“He wasn’t evil to me, Kit.  And it wasn’t an experiment because he knew what he was doing.”

“Uhhhuh.”

Wait…

I stare back at Basil, studying his features in the white glow of the screen.  Did Dr. Corvo experiment on Basil too?  Basil’s eyes widen as he catches my gaze, features crumpling in a scathing glare.  I shrug.  “Dr. Corvo’s a bad man, Basil.”

“You’re a bad man,” he hisses back.  I groan as Val represses a snicker beside me.  “How?!!”  Basil’s lip curls.

“I’ll think of something,” he whispers menacingly.

That’s a bit concerning.  To be honest, Basil has a whole arsenal of retorts for that one, and I don’t really want Val hearing any of them.

A new scene flashes across the scene: Basil perched high on a cabinet, staring down with feral eyes.  Milo scurries by, baseball bat locked between trembling hands, blanket trailing from his shoulders.  My face flames as I pop into view – knife in my left hand, a can of beans in my right (the only two weapons in my arsenal), snugly wrapped in an elegant velvet dressing robe.

And yeah…I’m not really wearing much else besides that.

I bury my face in my hands.

I was so sure I was going to be home alone – no one ever invited me to parties anymore, and instead of sitting around crying because everyone was going except for me, I’d decided to throw myself one instead.  I’d prepared a nice dinner and a bottle of champagne, and I’d even bought new bath salts specifically for the occasion.  It was going so well, but then Milo suddenly came home early with food poisoning and forgot to lock the door, and then Basil just walked right in and ate the leftovers of my dinner right off of the stove…

So there I was, dripping wet hair, lounge robe and all, with a severely nauseous Milo and a seemingly super human burglar on my hands.

How the blazes am I ever going to explain this one to Val?

“Look Basil, this isn’t just about you anymore,” I hiss. “Literally everyone here can see me running around in my bathrobe, ok?  Do you really not see the issue here?” Basil’s curls flop against his face as he shakes his head.  “It’s embarrassing, Basil.”

“I don’t see anything embarrassing about it, ” he whispers back.

“You absolute pest.”  I rub my temple as the me on the screen hurls a can of beans at Basil’s head.  He yelps, cowering against the wall as his hand flies to the bruise.  I’m sure it looks absolutely horrible, but in my defense Basil was an intruder after all.

“TO BE CLEAR,” I yell to no one in particular, a final plea of desperation.  “Basil was an intruder in my own home at the time, and I did what I must to protect myself and my younger brother.”  I flush as someone snickers.  Horrible explanation, but I guess I’d rather have people see me as completely stupid than completely cruel and heartless.

On the screen, Basil’s eyes blaze as he reaches into the cabinet and hurls a china teacup right at me.  Milo wails as the teacup splinters on the floor. “Eli’s china!”

Basil tenses beside me.  “I actually do regret that one!” His voice is taut, eyes wide with distress.

“What, throwing Eli’s china at me?  You should regret that one.  You could’ve given me a concussion or something there.” Basil’s face crumples. “Actually it’s because I made Eli cry.”  I groan.

“Fair enough, but he was crying of stress, not because you broke his teacup.”  A smile tugs at  my lips.  I can see Milo so clearly now, pale blue eyes wild with despair, his white-blond bangs flopping as he shakes my shoulders. “Stop it, Kit!  Please stop it!  You’re gonna give Eli another nervous breakdown!”

Basil’s shoulders droop in relief.  He furrows his brow, scrunching up his face like he always does when he’s thinking.  “You know, Kit, I actually think it’s because I didn’t actually aim it at you.  I aimed just beside you because I didn’t want to hurt you…”  His glances up, inky eyes widening with sudden realization. “I could’ve hit you with that thing, but I really tried not to and I regret it.”  Basil’s shoulders droop as he fidgets uncomfortably. “It was the one chance I’ve ever had to fight back,” he mumbles.  “You would’ve deserved it too.”  The screen flashes green and flickers out.

I whistle.  “Well, well, well.  Only took you ten minutes to spit it out.”  I shrug. “I guess that’s understandable.  I would’ve hurled that thing straight at my face if I were you.  Still…”  I sigh and slump back in my seat.  “What’s up with me and being everyone’s worst regret,” I mutter.

“It’s because you’re annoying,” Basil says matter of factly.

I snort. “Says you.”

“He’s got a good point, Kit,” Val murmurs thoughtfully.  I turn around and flash her a dazzling grin.

“Well, I suppose that’s only fair.”

Basil’s lip curls. “I said it before she did and you tried to argue with me.”

“I’m only accepting constructive criticism from Val, ok?”  Basil squints down at me.  “But I’m your friend.”  I shrug and roll my eyes.

“And she’s my girl-UMM extra special friend?”  A fresh wave of panic splits my chest as I  wildly glance over at Val.

I’m so so sorry Val it was an accident and it just slipped out and I didn’t actually mean it but-

Val’s lips twist in a thin, wavering line, like they always do when she’s trying really, really hard not to smile.

She’s…not actually mad at me?

I wink back at her.

This is fun!

“Anyways you’re not my friend Basil – you’re definitely more like a brother.  And I never listen to my brothers, so your opinion doesn’t matter to me.”

“I know that.  Eli says so.”

I snicker.  “Yeah, and I don’t care because he’s my brother and I don’t listen to him.  You see, Val is the kind of friend I’d buy flowers and chocolate for.  If I bought you flowers and chocolate you’d probably eat them or something.”

“You’re supposed to eat chocolate, Kit.”

“E x a c t l y.  Anyways, I couldn’t buy you chocolate and flowers anyways because that’s the kind of thing I’d only do for my girlfriend.”

Basil shoots me a skeptical glare. “You have a girlfriend?”

“Well not yet, but I will someday.  Hopefully someday soon-”

“But you just told me you’d buy flowers and chocolate for V-”

“OH SHUT UP!” I wince.  That’s another close call.  “ALRIGHT alright I get it, it’s a bad, irrelevant analogy, ok?  I really just wanted to see if you’d agree to the ‘eating flowers’ part – which you didn’t and that’s really a good sign.”  Basil’s face twitches in a cool glare.

“No one’s stupid enough to eat flowers, Kit.”

“Well I wouldn’t put it past you, but I guess you just proved me wrong.”

 

I was not expecting this much secondhand embarrassment from these two, but oh well XD