Dead Men Don't Speak [Carter&Faux]

[Dana Lheureux D9F [Tom]]

Get out of your head
the voices don't know what is best for you
in the pouring rain
I head the devil call me out

The rose arrives that morning.

Orange colored with the letter W carved into a leaf. Pretty in nature, but the words mean nothing now that he's a walking corpse in the eyes of Wander Sibley. A huff of air as the quiet bird stares at him in the cage that was given to him. Something else that reminds him that he's alive, just like Faux Rhodes who lives in this space with him. Silence in Carter's presence as if Carter didn't want to speak. Not yet. Dead mean don't talk. Dead men are supposed to remain dead. Fear is in both of their veins, but he can't let it be shown. Hours ago, Carter might have cut Faux's leg off. With no remorse for the man, other than to get home, but now, that thought is poison.

A groan as he slumps against the floor letting the cool ground ease his warmth. Strange things have happened in the past day or so, with the silence in his ear remaining and the pain of his chest still there. Heart surgery was never an easy process and Carter knew why now. Silence passes between them as Carter holds the rose in his hand thinking of how he was going to get water to put the rose in an how he's going to get the rose back to Wander or even to Mitchell's grave. A sign that they were alive even if the screen showed their death like it was the most exciting thing in the world. Mutts tearing him apart as he doesn't scream. Announcers excited to see such a determined kid throw away his life to mutts.

They speak of his brother's legacy like they were one in the same. None of them had been the same.

A breath of air as he pulls out the cards with a hole in the middle, still usable, but a reminder that Mitchell Laws had saved his life once again. Time and time again, Mitchell had protected him and even now, Mitchell protected him from death despite dying already. Anger is in his veins, but not at anyone else. Only himself. Anger that he had lost himself in order to live once more. Born to live, but at what cost.

Wordlessly, he shuffles through the cards, giving the best smile he's got at Faux and says.

"Wanna play a game or two?"

I finally feel okay
in the pouring rain
you say 'leave from the fog
inside my head'

song: rain

[d4a tide evros {ems}]

I'm dancing with my demons
I'm hanging off the edge
Storm clouds gather beneath me
Waves break above my head
Head-first hallucination

Sleep knocked at his door all night long, but Faux refused to let it in, and now he's paying for it. A frail brain pounds against his skull with every beat of his heart. Heavy eyes barely remain open. Unsteady gait carries him from one side of the room to the other. The stitches holding his scalp together ache, yet Faux doesn't want to sit down. The unknown is real, crawling against his skin with each breath entering his lungs. Strange dots dance before his eyes, and he can't tell if it's from lack of sleep or the blow to his skull, but the nightmare is almost over because now he's not along.

He isn't sure what time Carter arrived, yet his heart dances with joy since he now has someone to talk to. The loneliness is gone, but it's not one of his friends. They're still in the games fighting for the chance at survival, however, they don't realize that they'll all somehow make it out of here alive.

The first thing that catches him off guard is a bird flapping about in a cage. Carter holds a rose in his hand, and it's such a beautiful sight, but it came from the arena. The games. A place Faux wishes to never return.

Yesterday's events play over and over in his mind with bits and pieces missing. Surgery is hard, it's difficult, and having his skull freshly reconstructed doesn't make it any easier. The pain is almost gone, but when the stress is going it's hard to close his eyes. The brightness of the room is slowly slipping away, yet the silence carries on.

He isn't sure what to say to his new roommate. Faux simply leans against the wall watching him as Carter reveals a deck of cards. A heavy heart punches his ribs sending pain crawling throughout his body. Kaiba loved playing cards. He loved handling money, and making people realize that he's good at what he does. One time he let Faux win, and it's a day he doesn't want to forget, but the details are lost within the depths of his foggy brain.

Carter asks if he wants to play a game or two, and in that moment Faux feels lost. It's better than pacing endlessly without a care in the world. It can pass time. It's something to distract him. Something to make him realize that he isn't alone. That this isn't a dream, and maybe everything will turn out okay.

One step after another, he makes his way over to Carter before sitting down in front of him. A shaky hand met his lips as he tried figuring out what to say. The connection is gone, and he hangs his head for just a moment. "Y...y...yeah." He raises his gaze allowing his eyes to rest on the eyes of what could potentially be a new friend. "Ga...ga...games y..you know?"

He only hopes Carter understands.

---

table by Kaplan
art credit: Kap's photoshop work
lyrics: Linkin Park - Nobody Can Save Me

[Dana Lheureux D9F [Tom]]

Get out of your head
the voices don't know what is best for you
in the pouring rain
I head the devil call me out

Words lost in death reside in his throat.

They scream at him with the cover of a silent fog that resides in his right ear. No static. No sound. Only the muffled sounds in his left ear as if he could only hear half of the truth in the world. Or a reminder that Carter Laws didn't belong here. A curse to live with the world that didn't belong to him. Gulping down air, he holds the cards flipping through them for a shuffle like if he didn't, the world might dissolve. Ripred, he hoped for it some minutes throughout the day. To feel the fire in his chest and see the wind blow from Mitchell Laws' chest once more. Fuck, he needed to do something before he loses all sense of sanity.

Faux Rhodes was a giant in Carter's eyes. Always a silent creature watching and waiting for anything other than himself. Cautiously waiting on the outskirts of reality, but always there. Despite what Carter's seen so far, Faux Rhodes was not a threat to his well being. They both carry legacies on their skin. Rhodes. Laws. Two very different legacies with very different realities. A hum in the back of Carter's throat finds it's way to life as he thinks of home and the empty walls that will haunt him if he ever makes it back. The way Raisa Mortuus may look at him as if he were a breakable man or a ghost of who he was.

Eyes glance back to Faux as he responds to Carter's offer.

"Y...y...yeah." Silence fills his throat as those eyes speak more than words can. "Ga...ga...games y..you know?" Words fail Faux Rhodes like Carter's ears do. Things they'll have to live with for as long as they can. Not like the capitol couldn't fix them completely up, but why should they. The cards in his hand feel heavier than they are as he continues to read into Faux's eyes. Caution is on the guy's body with a layer of friendliness. A hum of his throat as Carter thinks of all the games they used to play long ago.

Twenty one, Go Fish, any sort of gambling, that one slap game, and so many others that Carter can only slightly remember in the back of his memories. A peacekeeper sounds from somewhere almost startling Carter since he's so used to being able to hear everything around him. Defenses down from his lack of hearing, the vulnerability set in. A silence fills his chest before he lets out a friendly smile for Faux to see and begins to let words of the old Carter Laws spill out. The Carter who used to be just a kid with his brothers and family. The Carter Laws that used to spend hours and hours a day just doing tricks in his hands for the younger children to laugh at and believe in something less painful than reality.

"Go fish? Easy enough to last awhile."

Pulling up a hand, Carter giving a friendly smile to Faux before grasping his hand and giving the brightest smile Carter could muster up. It wasn't much, but it was better than letting the pain set in. Letting go of Faux's hand in favor of dealing out cards and thinking of what to say next.

You should be dead, Carter Laws.

I finally feel okay
in the pouring rain
you say 'leave from the fog
inside my head'

song: rain

[d4a tide evros {ems}]

I'm dancing with my demons
I'm hanging off the edge
Storm clouds gather beneath me
Waves break above my head
Head-first hallucination

Silence devours him tearing away his soul like it's nothing more than a frail piece of meat. Faux looks around still unsure of what to do. Lonliness doesn't exist anymore now that a new being, a friend of sorts resides with him.

Yet the eerie sound of nothing claws at the back of his mind.

Carter is just a man, and he's safe here. They're both safe here, but the words fail. They're trapped within this prison the gamemakers threw him in where his life is slowly falling apart. Being a Rhodes is one thing, but living a life like this -

I want to go home.

This isn't the world he chose to live in, yet it's his home. Even in moments like this it still feels like a dream. Like they're going to snatch it away and murder them in front of everyone in one mass setting.

He shakes his head softly because he knows those thoughts shouldn't exist.

"Go fish?"

Back home Faux played different games with Kaiba, but the names are gone right now. They can't slither through the narrow passages. Sometimes it seems easy enough.

The fish game is one he can live with. It's a kids game people made fun of him for playing, yet it was the only one he knew how to play without any problems in the world.

"F...f...f...fish."

If only speaking was easier, but how is he going to say when the cards match? How can he show Carter that he doesn't have the cards? It's a game of trust, but can a broken mind be trusted?

Faux takes Carter's hand unsure of what to do with it. Sometimes friendships are formed in unlikely places.

"P...p...play f...f...fish."

It's almost like he's a child again leaving out various sentence structures, but it's truthfully the best he can do.

He watches are Carter deals out the cards, and he's ready to play. Ready to try to relax in this awful place. Hopefully it's more than just a dream.

"Th...th...tha...thank y..you."

It may not seem like much, but to Faux this means the world.

---

table by Kaplan
art credit: Kap's photoshop work
lyrics: Linkin Park - Nobody Can Save Me