Title: Repression

By: Bleeding Destruction

Began: October 13, 2013

Summary: Raye Penber was an average teenager, that is, until he failed to prevent his parent's deaths. Now, at sixteen, he's left alone to raise his ill sister. No one seems to notice his suffering, and if they do, they don't care. No one seems to care about the teenager. Pre-series. Can fit into canon.

Warnings: Triggers for self-harm and suicide.

Author's Notes: This was the hardest chapter for me to write, for reasons you'll see later on in the chapter. I honestly cried while writing it. I don't think it's very good, but under the circumstances outlined in the chapter, it was the best I could do. It's also rather short, something I tried and failed to remedy. Anyways, I hope you enjoy…

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Chapter Six: Empty:

Aiko had pulled through on her birthday but barely.

Four months later, and Raye found himself in almost the exact same situation, struggling to leave his car and face reality.

He finally gathered enough courage to go into the hospital and see his sister.

Room 126 was bleak. Excluding a chair and all the machines attached to Aiko's frail, skeletal form, it was completely empty. The room was colorless too. Everything was white, and Raye hated it, because Aiko was fond of colors, especially red and purple, and to see her like this, colorless in a room without color nearly broke him.

She was dying.

There was no doubt in Raye's mind that she was dying, for she had never seemed this small, save for when she was born. A breathing tube, heart monitors and several IV's were strapped to the skinny baby.

It took Raye several moments to feel the wetness on his face and even longer to realized that that wetness was his tears.

A doctor came in, not much later.

"Mr. Penber… I don't know how to tell you this gently, so I will just say it. Aiko is brain dead. There's nothing we can do for her; no chance of recovery. We… we just need permission to pull the plug."

Raye felt empty.

There was nothing to live for, then. That was it.

Shaking, he whispered, "Do it."

He signed the papers required, acknowledged but did not accept the condolences offered to him, and dried his eyes.

At 6:03 PM, Aiko Penber was declared dead at the age of sixteen months.