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Chapter 2: Catharsis

This song inspired this entire fic. ERROR.

Henry looked up from his blood-stained hand and immediately plastered on a smile upon hearing a light, even gait enter his room. He found himself to be disappointed when faced with a blonde stranger, instead of Valkyrie. She wore an immaculate uniform which marked her out as a doctor. He supposed this was Dr Synecdoche. Henry glanced down at his slick crimson hand and back up at Synecdoche, realising how bad this looked.

"I- um..." He bit his lip and the doctor raised an eyebrow at him.

"You'd better not get that on my sheets," she warned. "Do you have any idea how hard it is to get blood stains out?"

"It's harder to get strawberry jam stains out, than blood stains," the response was natural and quick. Henry had no idea how he knew that, or if it was even true. The blonde woman approached his bed and motioned for him to lean forwards. He felt his stomach clench as he bent forwards, trying not to touch any of the immaculate bedding. His scalp tingled slightly at the feeling of gloved fingers prying through his hair. The doctor made a concerned noise.

"I'm going to have to rebandage that," she stated matter of fact. Henry fought to keep the friendly smile on his face as he gently removed her hand from the back of his head. She met his eyes and blinked in surprise. "Your irises are red. Is that normal for you?"

"Yes, they're meant to be red, I'd be more worried if they suddenly turned green." He nervously laughed to himself. "First, I want to know what happened. How did I end up here?" Synecdoche sighed and opened a cupboard Henry hadn't noticed until now. Her eyes flicked up and down as she skimmed its contents.

"I don't exactly know what happened. Valkyrie ran in early this morning carrying you -you were having a panic attack at the time and were completely unresponsive- to the medical bay in a hysterical blubbering mess. I examined you when you eventually fell unconscious, and bandaged your head wound upon its discovery." She pulled a roll of bandages out of the cupboard. "We didn't heal you due to uncertainty on how that would affect you due to your, ah, previous condition. Anyway, I suspected you might have temporary amnesia due to the severity of the wound, and I was right. You should have your memories back in 7 days." She closed the cupboard and approached Henry, holding up various bandaging equipment. "I'm going to need you to lean forwards again." He waved his arms embarrassedly.

"There's no need for that," he awkwardly said with twitching grin.

"Actually, Henry, there is a need to rebandage your head. Henry, please lean forwards." Her words carried a sort of forcefulness and power that almost compelled him to obey her, but he wasn't about to waste people's time.

"Uh, no it's fine." Synecdoche wore an expression of utmost surprise, that Henry believed was a bit excess for simply saying 'no.' "I'm a doctor myself, I'm more than capable of doing my own bandages. Well, it's more of a multitude of doctorates, but I took biology and often find myself bandaging mys- people up anyway. I wouldn't want to waste your time."

"Doctor," she said with a small smile. "I'm afraid I'm going to have to insist."

---

Valkyrie stepped out from Synecdoche's office and into the waiting room, which as per usual, was thick with nervousness and worried ruminations. God, she hoped beyond hope that Synecdoche was wrong for once.

Ghastly was the first one of the Dead Men to rush over to her, the signature of distress written on his face. "How is he? Is he going to be OK?" Valkyrie bit her lip and avoided their expectant gazes. She didn't want to have to deliver this information, that's what doctors were for.