The doctors marionette

Part 6

He had never felt pain like this.
The pain in his body and the pain in his head.
Wasn't his big brother supposed to protect him from it?

Zandik had a headache. He had spent the whole night tossing and and turning in his (own) bed (finally), trying to identify what he was feeling. Identifying an emotion was the first step to figuring out what had caused it and by extension recreating it or not. Yet for the life of him Zandik couldn't figure out what it was and he was the clone most in tune with his emotions, not like the others had many to begin with.

It was 6am so he decided to wander around the house looking for something to do; he tried to read a book but lost interest halfway through, he thought about what he would for his next experiment. Zandik's research tended to be on how elemental energy affected the body. He soon got tired of trying to plan it out knowing his next shipment off organs weren't due for another week or so. There was no one awake yet apart from the chef's preparing breakfast for 8.

Zandik had felt restless and a odd sense of familiarity ever since that clone had brought back Kaeya from archons knows where. So he decided to go to the root of his headache.

Kaeya.

Kaeya had been so tired the previous night he hadn't locked the doors or changed his clothes. He was still fast asleep when Zandik entered the room. Zandik silently walked over to a chair with a book he had brought. He analysed Kaeya's sleeping body, noticing the subtle way his hair moved when he breathed out and the way he grabbed on to the duvet around him, satisfied with what he had seen Zandik opened his book and started reading.

It was roughly half seven by the time Kaeya woke up. He vaguely noticed that it was still dark outside before beginning to think about the easiest way to get a coffee. He was in this process when he noticed someone was in his room; he let out a groan. "Can I help you with something?" Kaeya asked face in his pillow, still not sure who it was.

"Oh you're awake?" Zandik replied slightly startled.

"Yep."

"Oh and with your question no. I was simply bored and decided to sit in here,"

"Do you have any idea how creepy that is?" Kaeya said now sitting up and facing Zandik.

"Nope not really.... Anyway you look the type of person that needs coffee in the morning," Zandik smiled through his mask and sprung up from his seat.

"You wouldn't be wrong with that," Kaeya chuckled "also would you prefer me calling you Dottore or Zandik?" Zandik paused to think for a moment before finally answering "You can be one off the lucky few that I'll let call me Zandik. Now do want to come with me to find caffeine or not?"

"Ok sure," Kaeya wasn't entirely sure how these 'segments' as Dottore calls them work but this one seemed so different to the Dottore he had met. Kaeya got out of bed and followed Zandik out of the room, then closed the door. "Archons aren't you slow," Zandik said bored of waiting.

"Maybe you're just fast. Have you considered that." They were walking through another corridor and once again it hit Kaeya just how big this building was, it was like a maze with no exit. "May I remind you who's house you're staying in?"

"Right, my humble apologies," Kaeya stopped and did a little curtsy. "If you were with any other Harbinger, no scrap that, any other segment they'd have your head,"