~Patrick's POV~

I shot up from my bed, breathing heavy. Talk about deja vu.

"Pat?" I looked around the room until I saw Gerard at the end of my bed. He had a look of concern that lightened a bit when he saw me look around at him. "Are you okay?"

"I guess?.." I slowly sat up and rubbed my head.

"You had an incident." Gerard said, holding out my glasses, "Your abilities were taking over."

"Oh no...Not again..." I mumbled quietly. Last time I lost control I was found and brought here. It had been months since that. "Did they see?" I asked quietly, in reference to the scientists and doctors surrounding us.

"No. I convinced them you fell back asleep... And that I was a clutz with my plate." He nodded over to the wall. There was a streak of poorly cleaned dried syrup running down the wall.

I was moving things again. "Oh crap...Gerard I'm so sorry!"

"Hey, it's fine." Gerard waved away my concern, "we've been left to stay in our rooms all day anyway, you're fine."

I sighed. I felt less in control everyday, but I had figured it was just this place. The effect it was taking. It was becoming slowly unbearable.

"Oh sorry by the way." Gerard pipped up, "About the, ah..." He tapped his forehead with his index and middle finger.

"No! No it's fine...I wasn't very responsive, was I?" I asked, feeling irritation at myself for loosing control.

"Afraid not." Gerard confirmed, "You were completely lost up in your head."

I sighed. I hated myself for it. It's not like this was the first time...It made me afraid that it wouldn't be the last either.

~~~

~Pete's POV~

While we were trapped in the room, I decided to try and expand on my own powers. Frank encouraged as I held out my hand to manifest my energy.

I closed my hand, then opened it to reveal a small, shapeless ball of black surrounded by that distinctive red glow. The more I focused, the longer I could hold it before I got light headed.

"You're picking up on this fast." Frank grinned.

I looked up, breathing heavy. "Thanks...Dude..." I pushed my fingers through my hair before holding out my hand again. "Let's try something bigger..."

I had already began to focus on my hand when I heard the locks on the rooms door *click*. I threw my hand behind my back, breaking the focus I had on manifesting the energy just as the door swung open. It revealed a doctor as well as a very irritated looking Brendon.

"About fucking time..." He grumbled. He walked over to his bed and plopped down face first, regardless of Frank sitting there.

Before I could even say anything to or about Brendon, the doctor pointed at Frank and I.

"You two! We have a new room assignment for you."

"Are you fucking kidding?" Frank asked with anger evident in his tone, "What are you gunna do with us now? Hu?"

"We're moving you." The doctor said, "Wasn't my call, so don't shoot the messenger."

"What about Brendon?" I asked, looking over at my friend. He seemed to have passed out, because he was still and not arguing against the doctor's point.

"He'll stay here. His new roommate is a...Mr. Smith?" The doctor looked at his clipboard and nodded, "New arrival, coming in today."

"Why does he get-"

"Look, like I said kid, I didn't arrange this. Can we just get moving?" The doctor cut me off with a groan. I could faintly hear him mumble something about 'not being paid enough' before I finally stood. Frank hesitated slightly, but also stood.

"What after that?" Frank asked the doctor.

"Not my department."

~~~

~Patrick's POV~

Gerard spoke lowly, sitting next to me on my bed.

"A link?" I asked, "Why didn't you say anything the first day we were here?"

"Because... I don't know..." Gerard sighed, "It was just something between me and him...You know?"

I nodded. I didn't know the feeling, but I could understand his point of view.

"It felt like something stupid to share..." Gerard looked down, twisting his fingers around each other.

"It's more personal." I said. He looked up with a weak smile. "Then why tell me now?"

"Frankie was roomed with that Pete kid and it got slipped." Gerard looked at the door, causing me to turn as well. "There's also something changing here..."

I didn't even have a chance to ask what when the door *clicked* and swung open.

"Way! You've gotten new room assignments." A man with short blonde hair ordered, "Hurry up."

"Why?" I asked almost silently. I was going to be alone. Not now, please not now. I had a friend in Gerard. I wasn't ready to be alone again.

"Don't worry, Stump. You get a new roomie." The blonde man grinned.

Somehow I didn't find that comforting.

Gerard stood, giving me a sad look before he left through the door and it was shut with a *click*.

Alone again.

Just like before.

I slid myself across my small bed to lean against the wall. I brought my knees up to my chest and held them there.

What if they knew what really happened with the plate? What if they were going to punish Gerard for covering the incident up? I winced at the mere thought of it.

I sat in silence for what could have ranged from minutes to hours. Eventually, however, the door let out another *click* before swinging open. I looked over and saw Pete stepping into the room with the door swinging shut behind him.

Pete looked nervous, but he relaxed a bit when he saw me. Although, when he took note of how I was sitting, a frown appeared on his face.

"Patrick?" I remained sitting in the same position as he walked over to my bed, "Are you okay?"

I nodded, not letting any words escape my mouth. I just looked him over, absorbing the colors hidded in his tattoos. My eyes drifted to his chest.

"Your shirt." I suddenly realized. They had gotten him into the white scrubs. I had known it would only be a matter of time, but it still saddened me. They were already beginning to take a little bit of him away at a time.

Pete looked down at his shirt and sighed, "Yea...They made me give up my tank..." He looked back up at me, "Are you sure you're okay?"

I nodded again, avoiding looking at his eyes...Even though I craved their color.

"So does this mean Gerard and Frank are roomies?" I asked with a forced laugh, trying to prove that I was okay.

"I think so...Sure they're happy about that." Pete laughed lightly. He hesitated for a moment before sitting on the edge of my bed. He tried to look me in the eye, but I looked down. I couldn't bring myself to meet his gaze.

"Please don't lie to me Patrick..." I forced myself to look up at him. He had sadness written across his face as he looked me over, "I can tell you're not alright..."

"...I don't want to talk about it..." I said lowly.

"Alright, that's fine...But please, don't lie and say you're fine..." He reached out and put his hand on mine, jumping back a bit when a blue glow had appeared.

"What the hell?" He looked at his hand, then over to mine and back again.

I let my legs straighten and looked at him with curiosity. "What was that?"

He looked at me with a confused expression. "I don't know! It-it kind of looked like...Energy?" He said with a questioning tone.

"But your energy is red, isn't it?" I asked in confusion.

He looked at his hand, and back at mine again. He bit his lip, closing his hand. He opened it again to reveal the black shapeless blob and its red glow. My eyes trailed down to Pete's hand, which also had a faint red glow over it.

"Red...Not blue..." I said absently, observing the color in wonder. It was faint, but at the same time, so bright and vivid...

Pete suddenly closed his eyes and gasped. I blinked quickly and shook my head. I had been mesmerized by the color. I looked up at Pete's face and saw him closing his eyes in what looked like pain.

"Pete?" I crawled across my bed to him. I reached out to him, but hesitated slightly. Would that blue glow appear if I touched him?.. I retracted my hand just as Pete opened his eyes.

"Still learning." He laughed lightly. He let out a deep breath and looked down and his hand. He looked up at me with a slight grin, "Can we try something?"

I nodded, not really sure what he was leading up to. He held out his hand, holding it just between the two of us. I looked at it, then back to Pete's face. He smiled encouragingly with a nod.

"You said we could try it."

I reached out my hand, holding it just above his. I was a bit hesitant to see what would happen. What if there was no blue glow? But then...What if there was?

Pete rolled his eyes and brought his hand up to mine, gripping it lightly.

As soon as I felt his skin come into contact with mine, the faint blue glow appeared. My eyes opened wide in surprise as I looked at our connected hands.

Blue? Why was it blue?

The light surrounded both of our hands, but it was brightest right by Pete's.

"This is trippy..." Pete tilted his head, looking at our hands, "I've never done this before..."

We both continued to stare at it. I felt transfixed, just as with Pete's red energy before. Except... This was... Different... As if... I couldn't put my finger on it.

"Oh shit..." Pete pulled his hand away. I shook my head once again, feeling like I had been under a trance and looked up at Pete. His cheeks were a light pink as he scratched the back of his head, revealing the tattoos that lined the back of his arms.

"T-that was a really long time." He laughed nervously, "Sorry 'bout that, Patrick..."

"Oh, no! It-it's fine! Totally fine..." I looked down at my white bedsheets, beginning to feel my own cheeks heat up.

I didn't mind the connection with Pete. He was strange... Not like many I had met, even including Gerard and Frank. It was nice to just feel a closeness to someone. Maybe that's what it was. Just wanting to feel wanted by someone.

Stop it Patrick. You just held hands. It's nothing more and never will be...

I sighed, letting my eyes flash yellow as I sometimes did. It gave me a fresh prospective on things...As much as I despised their existence.

"I love that."

I looked up and saw Pete staring at me with a slight head tilt to better veiw my face as I looked down.

"The eyes...It's just such a strange color for eyes..." Pete smiled, looking straight into my yellowed eyes.

"Strange and abnormal." I said bitterly.

Pete frowned at that. "What did I already tell you about normality? Fuck it. You are what you are. You just got stuck with things not everyone can do." He gave me a grin, "It's called being unique. There's probably not another human out there with dope eye colors like yours."

I looked down again. I saw his message, and I got it. What had normality ever done for me except send me to this place? What was normality? In my eyes, it was fitting in. Not being out of place like I had been my entire life. Pete was on the other end of the spectrum. He didn't care. He was an outcast and he accepted it with pride.

Why couldn't I accept it so easily?..