White︱BenEarth AU

19

"J-Joong?"

Ben was taken aback. This couldn't be the same Joong Earth had been seeing in his hallucinations. No, other people were named Joong as well. This was just a coincidence, he told himself. 

Joong nodded a little wearily. He looked like he was going to sprint inside the building, but at the same time he looked like he didn't want to move an inch. "W-Why do you seem s-so surprised?"

Ben shook his head to get rid of his thoughts. "Oh it's nothing uhm, you don't happen to know a person named... Earth, right?"

"H-How... How do you..." Joong gulped and turned fully back to Ben. "E-Earth is not real..."

. . .

Earth was in a state he never thought he would be in. And that was a state he couldn't recognize. He didn't know if he was asleep or awake. Hurt or fine. 

Sane or insane.

All he knew was that he had cried, a lot, after Ben stepped out of those doors. He tried to understand, he really did, but he couldn't fathom why Ben would leave him alone when he promised he would help him. He promised.

He promised.

He promised.

He promised.

After Ben left, Earth had broken down for some time, he couldn't quite tell how long it was, but it felt like days that he had cried his eyes out, spilling his soul around the empty room as he felt himself shatter.

He smelled something suddenly, a smell of strawberries. He liked strawberries. Ben had bought them to him when they were in the cafe. He inhaled the smell through his clogged nose, wanting to smell something else than just dust and rust. 

Earth felt his mind go more numb by the second, until he didn't see the back of his closed lids anymore, but only the thought of Ben leaving him stayed printed to the back of his mind as he fell asleep.

. . .

"-enol, just put the whole syringe."

"Are you sure? Won't he-"

"Yes, Pavel, that's like the whole point. Now do what I say."

Earth heard distant voices rang around himself. He felt weird. He wasn't sitting anymore, no, something was off.

He opened his eyes just a little, seeing two men dressed in hospital cloaks and masks, the other holding a syringe with neon green substance in it.

Earth hated needles. They reminded him of the nails the clown had, the ones that scratched his skin wherever he tried to ignore it.

Realization hit him when he opened his eyes a little more. He was laying down, his hands were trapped onto his sides, his ankles also tied down. He tried to wiggle around.

Bad move.

This attracted the eyes of those two men. Earth was able to tell the other man being Dome. 

"W-What are you... doing?" Earth asked. His voice was almost gone, probably from the amount he had cried, his throat felt like sandpaper.

Dome moved to Earth's right side, touching his hair softly with his hand that was covered with a rubber glove. "You don't have to be afraid. You won't remember this after a while." He said and took a cloth from the medal table next to the bed Earth laid on. This room was all white, sanitary like a hospital room.

"What... do you mean?" Earth asked as Dome ran the cloth over his arm, like cleaning it. "Why am I here."

"Don't worry about it." Dome simply said. "Pavel, now." 

The other man moved onto Dome's place. "I'm sorry about this." Pavel said in a silent voice, poking the needle into Earth's arm. Earth let out a whimper, looking to the other way. 

He felt his arm burning, making him scream, but he tried to muffle it. He could feel some liquid entering into his body, and it felt very uncomfortable. It hurt, oh it hurt.

Earth's head snapped to the door as it smashed open, showing off a boy Earth didn't think he would see again. The two boys just stared at each other with widened eyes.

"What is it Joong? You shouldn't be here." Dome said angrily, moving to the door where Joong stood.

"No, y-you have to let him go now, you c-can't do the same to him as you did to Nine!" Joong yelled, his eyes tearing up because of the mention of that name. Earth didn't know what was happening, he was too occupied with the fact that Joong, his imaginary best friend was here, and now someone else saw him as well.