Chapter Text
Ace was pissed. Deuce thought he was so much better than the rest of them, didn't he? Deuce was the newest person to join The Room. Based on his information, he'd been at the facility for about two months, which was really fast for him to be joining Ace and Sebek. Ortho had taken six months, which was a rough estimate, Jack had taken four months, and Epel had taken almost twelve. So, two months was very quick.
It was clear in the way Deuce behaved, he was angry. Ace would never understand the anger that the others felt. They had people looking for them, people wondering where they went. Ace had no one out there, no one who cared about him outside of this room.
Deuce thought he was better than Ace. He constantly glared at Ace, stole his things (even if his things were just a pillow and blanket), and would always choose him for sparring. Clearly, Deuce had some sort of problem with him, and Ace needed to figure out what it was.
"Here," Sebek says, placing a roll of bread onto Ace's tray. Ace didn't bother fighting it anymore, Sebek would always give Ace (and Ortho, though that was less frequent) part of his food. It made Ace feel guilty. All of them sat at a shared table in the same empty room that they always ate in. Ace could feel Ortho kicking his feet on the metal table legs, the gentle movements shaking the table a little bit. No one commented on it, they were used to it. Epel sighed and ate his apple, always going for that first.
"It's not as good as home," the boy sighs, "it's so dry!"
"We know," Jack growls, "you say that every day."
"Well, it's true!" Epel had a funny accent, one that Ace had never heard before. Ace picks at his bread, placing half of it back onto Sebek's plate, who eats everything with strict precision that he trained in himself.
Ortho' little kicks shake the table again.
Ace gets a shiver up his spine. He's used to the feeling of being watched, but damn, sometimes it was stronger than others. He wondered where the staff were watching him from in this room; he never quite figured it out.
"Sebek," Ortho asks meekly, "Can you do my hair too?" Sebek looks over to the flame-haired boy with a raise of his brow. Ortho gets nervous. "Ace's hair always looks so nice, and you do it every day!" Ortho's hair fell around his waist, flickering licks of blue latching onto everything the touched.
"I can try," Sebek was always quick to take care of others, and never himself. Ortho kicks the table again.
"Stop it!" Deuce shouts, glaring at Ortho next to him. Ortho shrieks at the raised voice. "Sevens, you're all so insufferable! I can't even eat, you're shaking the whole table! Can you hold still for one second?" He huffs and turns back to his food, his longish dual colored hair covering his face like a curtain.
Ortho burst into tears, nervous and sensitive as always. "Deuce, there's no need to be harsh!" Sebek starts to lecture Deuce, but the other just scoffs.
"Shut up! You think you're better than us all, don't you! Both of you!" He looks at Ace. "You think sucking up to these assholes will get you out of here? Well newsflash! We're stuck here! We're gonna die!"
"You shut up!" Ace stands, slamming his hands down on the table, his glass of water tipping over and pouring across the table. "You think we like it here?"
Deuce stands too, eyes sharpening to a glare.
"You think I like hearing your stories about a world I'm never going to see? You think I like watching Bek go to bed hungry to make sure we don't? I'm so tired of you thinking you're better than the rest of us! You think becuase you were some badass little punk out there that you're so awesome here- no one here cares! We're all just numbers here!" Ace barely finishes speaking before Deuce is leaping across the table, grabbing Ace by his shoulders and pushing him to the floor.
"Ace!" Sebek shouts, hand reaching out for him. The other three watch on in shock and the two begin to fight on the floor. Deuce grabs Ace's hair, pulling on his pigtails and making Ace scream.
"Get off me!" Ace screams, kicking Deuce's legs and punching at his face.
Deuce pulls his hair, lifting his head off the floor and then slamming it down. "I hate you!" Ace slams his eyes shut, turning his head away from Deuce. Ace pulls his hand back, punching Deuce right in the nose, and Deuce screams as blood begins to drip onto Ace's face. Deuce punches him back, right on his eye.
The rest of it passes in a blur, suddenly Sebek is there, trying to pull Deuce away with his hands on either shoulder. Deuce and Ace continue to punch until Sebek is grabbed and he falls to the floor, and then there are the staff grabbing Deuce and trying to inject him with a sedative. They're successful, and Deuce stops fighting when the needle pierces his neck.
"No- no!" He screams as he's started to be dragged away, "Momma! Momma!" He screams as he's pulled through the door, only echoes of his words remaining in the room when the door clicks shut.
"Ace! Are you okay?" Sebek is at his side, gently turning his face in either hand.
"Y-yeah," Ace whispers. "Head hurts, but I'll be fine,"
"That was sad," Epel says. "And not in a 'imma cry' way, in a 'tha' was stupid' way."
"He needs to learn more discipline," Jack sighs as he shakes his head.
"I don't like when you fight..." Ortho mumbles, wiping tears from his eyes.
That evening, Sebek is brushing Ace's hair. He brushes all of their hair each night, except for Deuce. He didn't try to connect with anyone else at all. Epel and Jack were already in their bunks, and Ortho sat patiently on the floor waiting for his turn.
The conversation was something light that Ace wouldn't remember. Sebek pauses and turns to the door, which means Ace turns too. His brother had really good hearing, for some reason.
The door opens, and Deuce stumbles in. His face is hauntingly blank. His feet are bare, even though everyone usually wears socks. Well, they're not completely bare, wrapped in blood covered bandages. Bandages that are still wet enough to leave red marks on the floor. His face is bandaged as well, a splint on his nose. Ace is proud of himself for a moment for being able to break it.
His arms, they're also covered in red bandages. No one said anything. They all knew what punishments one might receive. Ace's least favorite was the drowning, when they shoved his face down into tubs of ice water.
Deuce dragged himself to his bed, falling on top of the covers, and started sniffling.
After a moment, Sebek turned back to Ace's hair, finishing getting the last bits of knots out. When he's done, Ace crawls onto the bed next to Sebek, laying towards the wall and closing his eyes. Ortho and Sebek speak quietly, and soon, Ortho is gone to his bed, Sebek leaves to turn off the light, and then he's back in the bed, and his back is touching Ace's.