A Very Simple Story (A VOCALOID Fanfic)

AU Interlude 1

Oliver had lived at the Ocahame House for weeks now, and still hadn't seen any part of it except for the small room they kept him in.

From the day he ran, the only thing he remembered entirely was waking up here. Only little snippets of that day were clear in his mind. The smell of burnt hair and sweat, the rubbery sound of duct tape, and the weight of his brother's hand on his shoulder, urging him to hurt the person kneeling there until—

But now Oliver didn't have to think about that anymore. He didn't have to hurt anyone here. He hadn't used his Lectrinn ability even once since that day; no one had asked him to.

The room was small with painted walls and the only window was a high, frosted pane of glass barely big enough to let in any light. Two vents peered down from the ceiling on either side of a covered light bulb, and the only furniture was a bed with soft blankets and the desk and chair where he took meals.

The shelves and drawers in the desk were empty save for a couple of books, but they were all scientific publications about Lectrinn with long words Oliver either couldn't pronounce or understand. Instead, he looked at charts and diagrams in the books for hours, making up stories about them. His imagination could take a bar graph a long way from human experimentation.

There was one he especially liked, a illustration of veins in the human body, some highlighted in gold where Lectrinn flowed through. He'd trace them with his finger like they made up a maze and give names to the abilities and powers he thought these people could've had.

The only other points of interest were the two doors. One was unlocked, and led to a cramped bathroom. The other door, leading to the outside, was locked all the time. He only got short glimpses of a barren hallway when Fukase opened the door. 

Fukase, the redheaded teenager who came three times a day, was the only person Oliver ever saw. And Oliver waited with impatient anticipation for every visit.

One time when he brought breakfast, Fukase mentioned others who lived in the Ocahame House, and someone he called the Boss, but Oliver wasn't curious. In all honesty, he could not care less about the people he couldn't see.

The room had become his entire world. And he was fine with it.

Fukase would check on him in the mornings, at noon, and every evening, always bringing meals on a tray. Before he left with the empty dishes, Fukase always asked questions, ranging from Oliver's favorite things to the specifics of his Lectrinn ability. That was always Oliver's favorite part of the day. Every now and then he would take samples of Oliver's blood.

Oliver had never liked needles, but because it was Fukase, it was okay.

There was nothing ever new, and therefore nothing was scary. It was hundreds of times better than his life before.

Because of Fukase, he was finally okay.

The reason behind it was simple.

Lectrinn attracted Lectrinn.

A strange substance found in some people's veins, Lectrinn mixed with human blood to build up charges that could be released with the use of unnatural abilities less educated people would call superpowers.

In reality, Lectrinn was a highly evolved network of microorganisms living in a person's bloodstream, feeding off the energy conversion used in Lectrinn abilities.

They were so strong they formed connections with the Lectrinn in other people's bodies from mere exposure, manifesting as close emotional bonds. The brain was left scrambling to accommodate them, paving the way for developing personality and other psychological disorders. This occurrence was known as the Lectrinn Effect.

It was especially apparent in those with high amounts of Lectrinn in their blood, like Oliver.

Like "Fukase."

=•=•=

Fukase wasn't his real name.

The face he saw in the mirror wasn't his. The red curls he blew out of his eyes didn't belong to him.

Yet he didn't feel like an imposter.

Yes, he would love to be back in his own skin and he did feel sorry for the real Fukase (whose Minimized body had been thrown in a dumpster somewhere), but he felt like he belonged. Like fate had guided him to be here, in this very moment.

The old Fukase would've been ecstatic to know that he had been charged by the Boss to tame a Lectrinn user. The new Fukase pitied him, like hearing on the news a bystander lost his life for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

He felt even more pity for the boy in his arms.

Fukase sat on the edge of the bed with Oliver pressed to his side, arms wrapped around him and still.

When he had come in with Oliver's dinner, the kid didn't want to eat. Instead, he wrung his hands and ducked his head, whispering that he wasn't feeling well and asking if Fukase would give him a hug.

Fukase wished a hug could solve all his problems.

"Taming" a Lectrinn user meant exploiting the Lectrinn Effect, almost destroying their sense of self in order to use them as a tool.

In Oliver's case, a human weapon.

The old Fukase would've manipulated the kid until Oliver couldn't live without him, turned into a dependent, subservient mess of a person who couldn't even breathe without being told to.

This Fukase had seen it happen before.

They became like puppets, empty-eyed and smiling. Ready to follow any order, dance to any string pulled. As long as they could stay by the side of that one special person their Lectrinn connected to.

Even now he could see the signs.

Oliver had been kidnapped from a bad situation and put into one only marginally less so, and he idolized Fukase because of it.

And all of Fukase's attempts to slow the process seemed to be backfiring on him. The Lectrinn really had a mind of its own.

Oliver shifted in the embrace, and pressed closer, burying his face in Fukase's chest.

For the first time in years, Fukase could feel his own Lectrinn. He would need Miss Miriam to Lock it again to make sure his ability didn't come back. The Lectrinn buzzed faintly beneath his skin, a gentle, almost nostalgic warmth coming from his deepest veins.

He remembered his sister describing it as magic, and his parents denouncing it as a curse.

It was the last thing they ever said.

He held Oliver tighter.

The kid was powerful. Incredibly so. Enough Lectrinn flowed in his blood to make Fukase's Lectrinn, which had been Locked for years, come alive again.

Oliver's "curse" really was a curse, a magnet for evil. So many people wanted to be in control of it, but they all went about it the wrong way. His parents, his older brother, the Boss, and now Miss Miriam.

Fukase knew what he had to do.

He would get rid of Oliver's curse, and give him a real magic instead. A magic that could protect him. Protect them both.

When Fukase agreed to take this job, the possibility of getting attached to the kid hadn't even crossed his mind.

Now every time he left the room, he promised over and over he would come back to take the edge off Oliver's stress. Pinky promised. Crossed his heart. He swore he wouldn't die.

It was probably making things worse, but in the end it wouldn't matter. He would deal with it when they were out of this prison.

When he came to face Miss Miriam.