Whispers In The Dark (Marik/Nico)

It's hard to move and even think in the moment. The room is white, and part of me wonders if I'm dead. The lights are bright, blinding, and every once in a while I see people waking around, sometimes they stop next to me, other times they just keep moving. It makes me wonder what's going on, but I can't move to ask them. Sometimes I hear machines beeping rapidly, and other times they're beeping slowly. It's hard to tell what's normal and what's not, but I know if the machines are beeping rapidly and loudly, everything goes dark, and I assume I'm drifting back into a dreamland. Only it isn't a dreamland because it's dark like a room without any lights on, and I can hear everything going on around me. It just doesn't seem real and all of it sounds distorted. Until it goes quiet. I've never understood what it's like to be forced to go asleep, but now I've learned, and I hope to never experience it again.

I open my eyes again, and this time a lot of people are gathered around me, and I'm not sure what is going on. But nobody is moving around me, nobody is talking. I sit up in the bed and look around the white room trying to figure everything out when someone finally sits down beside me. "Ah, Marik, you're awake." All I can do is nod my head because in this moment words are hard and they make very little sense when I try forming them in my mind. "You're safe. You're back in the Capitol. The games have completed." He tells me things that I already know, but it shows me that I'm not stuck in a dream, and that I am alive. I didn't die. I nod my head again as I listen to the rhythmic beeping of a machine nearby. "We're just monitoring your vitals and making sure that they stay within normal range. We want to make sure everything has stabilized before you get to roam around." I just nod my head again. It's easier to do than to try and speak.

I just roll over in bed, though. I don't really want to talk to anyone who works here because they won't understand. They can't understand what it feels like being alive after murdering others. But I know a few people who will understand. Well, more than a few. Every victor understands the feeling of being alive. I want to speak with them. I want to talk to them because I just need advice and want to know that it's going to be okay. Although, I know it won't ever be okay as this game has come to an end, but I know another is just beginning. "Is there anything I can get for you, Mr. Shadow?" For a moment, I just pretend I don't hear what's going on around me. I completely ignore the person, but then I realize they can help me. They can offer me some help. "Yea, I'd like it if you'd bring in Nico, Stella, or another district twelve victor." I watch as he walks away, and then I close my eyes. I'm not sure where to go from here, but I am grateful I don't have to go through this mess alone.