Pov + Au: Experiment Subject x Specimen
You wake up in a sterile white room, on a bed covered in medical equipment and bandages on your arms and upper body, but when you remove them, there are no wounds.
'That's strange…' That's what you thought.
Perhaps a side effect of the anesthetic or the coma in the hospital bed caused temporary amnesia. You sit up with a headache and body aches, but even so, you manage to sit up and remove all the monitoring equipment.
Due to lying still for so long, your body feels temporarily paralyzed. It takes you a while to stand up and move normally. Ignoring your confusion and inability to remember anything, the iron door in front of you opens. Outside, the hallway is eerily quiet, painted as pristine white as your hospital room.
You wander through, disoriented, unsure of your identity or location. The other rooms are empty, devoid of any human presence.
That gives you a chilling feeling along with the suffocating silence in this space.
As you go further, the initially white corridor begins to show large scratches, and the floor is covered in dried blood. Everything becomes increasingly unsettling and eerie. You walk into what appears to be a staff storage room, you put on a long, thick white coat to keep you warm, with the name of some research institute written on it—perhaps the coat of the scientists and PhDs here.
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You rummage through drawers and cabinets, only to find a pile of experimental files. Ignoring the strange names, you stop at someone's file named Pierrot. The name and information evoke a sense of nostalgia and ease your unease, but you can't remember who this person was in your life.
It states he was a dangerous test subject, with identifying characteristics such as three long horns, long white hair, pale skin with black marks on his arms and legs, razor-sharp fingernails and toenails, yellow eyes with dark rims, etc., and his condition is classified as: Difficult to control.
When you turn to your file, it says you were a test subject, but the red stamp below states you died once, the cause of death simply being an accident.
You're bewildered and shocked when you read more about the times you were used as a test subject for experiments, such as how your survival was due to another test subject accidentally saving you, and how your body inexplicably regenerated injured parts, or how you were thrown into another experiment's cage for testing.
The more you read, the more your hair stands on end at what happened here to you or anyone else. This place even discovered and experimented on mysterious non-human creatures; Pierrot is one such creature.
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The reason everyone here is constantly trying to save you is because the test subject, Pierrot, has 'taken notice' of you. You don't understand what makes him 'pay attention' to you to the point that scientists and doctors decide they must save you, since you're a quickly replaceable sample if damaged.
His records only state that whenever you're with Pierrot, his behavior becomes less aggressive and he cooperates voluntarily. Below that is a bright red line:
'Absolutely do not let Pierrot see Y/N in pain or injured.'
Before you have time to figure out what happened, someone outside the door is screaming like a mad, desperate creature. The screams grow closer, forcing you to quickly put down the stack of files and hide under a small table, slowing your breathing and remaining still.
The noise outside grew louder, accompanied by loud screeching and violent smashing, until things finally quieted down, at which point you dared leave your hiding place and go outside to observe.
The hallway outside was now a scene of utter chaos and destruction. This destructive force made you even more tense, but you wouldn't allow yourself to be afraid at this moment. You rummaged through the rubble for a long iron bar for self-defense, not too heavy for your still-weak physique.
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You continue moving forward, your hands gripping the corridor, unable to remember the exit, each step guided by instinct.
You push open the large iron door at the end of the corridor, and beyond lies the observation area for the experimental subjects. Most of the cages have been destroyed, and the thought that the people/species inside have escaped is palpable.
You take each barefoot step on the cold floor, feeling as if you're wearing a heavy vise, burdened by the thought that this place is extremely dangerous, even more so because you can't remember anything.
You stop when you hear a faint groan from someone in the same space. Hesitantly, you follow the sound and find a living person sitting with their back against a broken door. The person had a very large, severe wound in their lower abdomen.
You knew they wouldn't survive even with immediate first aid, so you had to accept watching the few survivors die before your eyes. Yet, you suppressed your grief and asked for information about what had happened and where the escape route was.
The person, in a weak, labored voice, looked up at you and explained what had happened: how the test subjects had conspired to breach the security system and attack everyone here, leaving no one untouched.
Most of the test subjects had fled, but some had chosen to stay, searching for something or simply not wanting to leave. Ultimately, this place remained dangerous, despite its current dilapidated and abandoned appearance.
And the escape route? The test subjects who chose to stay destroyed the exit, and since the experiment site was underground, it had become a graveyard for anyone or anything that remained.
As he spoke, the light in his eyes faded, his breath ceased, and the warmth left his body. You sat beside him, numb with despair, your hope slipping away.
You didn't have time to grieve at this moment, unsure of your own future. You continued through the various rooms and passageways. Although the previous person had mentioned some test subjects had stayed, you found no one. Food and drink were plentiful in the staff canteen.
Perhaps because the attack happened so quickly, there were few survivors, so the available food supplies were enough to sustain you for two to three months, consisting of dried or canned goods with long shelf lives.
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Vague memories constantly resurface in your mind whenever you go somewhere or read information about yourself, from memories of being a normal person in society to the horrific accident that killed you, a group of strangers bringing your body to this research institute, or your resurrection and brainwashing into believing you were born a 'product' of this institute and that you have a responsibility to serve it.
You vaguely remember the image of a man named Pierrot, but every time you think of him, you only hear the sound of gunfire and his agonizing screams as he tries to wake you up. After pondering for a while, you can only try what you know about your body: the ability to regenerate.
You've tried inflicting minor injuries on yourself a few times, and of course, the wounds heal quickly, but the consequence is that you feel exhausted just as quickly. This is similar to how a serious injury requires a massive amount of material and energy to create new cells, tissues, and organs.
This process demands frantic eating or severe exhaustion and weight loss. Furthermore, if you're severely injured, the rapid regeneration generates a large amount of heat, potentially causing high fever, even self-immolation from within. Worse still, the brain constantly processing the destruction and regeneration of the body can disrupt neural connections, leading to memory loss, hallucinations, or brain damage.
Perhaps this is part of the reason for your temporary amnesia, but another sign that gives you relief is that, fortunately, your regenerative abilities don't have physical drawbacks like cancerous cell reproduction or the extremely painful process of nerve regeneration and bone and joint reshaping; you don't feel pain during that process.
After a moment of dazed reflection, your state of mind fluctuates between despair and acceptance of reality, yet unwilling to give up. If you can't escape from here on your own, then you must seek out the chosen test subjects who remain here. Surely, one of them is very strong, and luring them to break through the blocked path might be possible, but it would also be life-threatening for you.
That was the plan, but two or three days had passed since you woke up, and you still hadn't seen anyone. It was as if those creatures might have slaughtered each other or self-destructed in a deeper corner of the research facility that you couldn't reach. You tried to recall what was in your head and decided to return to where you woke up, as it was the only place you had nearly encountered any experimental subject.
Clenching your homemade long-handled weapon, you advanced toward the ruined path. After a while, you heard the creature's scream.
Still desperate and desperate as when you first heard it, you swung the iron rod violently against the rusted rubble, creating a high-frequency echo that reached the creature.
Fear gripped your head, but you remained determined, taking a risk to find a way to survive rather than slowly die in this place.
But you find the creature in the dimly lit corner of the hallway reacting strangely and suspiciously as it turns its head to look at you and freezes there. The silence only intensifies your unease, so you bang hard on the iron bars again and raise your voice.
"Hey! You! Can you hear me?! Come here and catch me!"
And then you finally see the creature lunge towards you, its massive size crashing against the rubble, causing your feet to instinctively recoil and you turn to run as fast as you can towards the nearest blocked exit.
Each time you ran further and turned in a different direction, the creature screamed more desperately, even mixing in whimpers and pleas that you couldn't clearly hear from behind, making you wonder why it seemed to be in more pain when you ran out of its sight—perhaps it was a trap to catch you. Thinking this, your steps no longer hesitated as you sped towards the blocked exit you had found over the past three days.
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Just as you were about to run to the marked area and turn to let the creature attack the area it needed to destroy, you felt your foot slip. The floor beneath your feet was no longer intact; the force of the creature's impact caused the ground to collapse, sending you tumbling into the void below, leaving you trapped beneath the rubble, partially obscured by the creature's shadow.
At that moment, you heard the creature's voice as it frantically tried to lift and remove the crumbling concrete from the area where you were trapped. The madness in its eyes made your heart race, but it called your name, repeatedly saying it had finally waited for you to awaken. It thought it had lost you completely; it… called you its love.
When it finally pulled you out of the sinkhole, it immediately embraced you tightly in its massive body, stroking your hair and whispering words of relief and gratitude that you were there, still beating and filled with the warmth of life.
You braced yourself against its strong arms, struggling to push it away, fearing the worst might happen, like it was about to manipulate you. Your wrist was caught as it pressed your palm against its cheek.
“Please don’t push me away right now…Y/N, I need you right now. Please—…don’t push me away, to see you fall before my eyes again…it’s so painful.”
Tears trickled down your surprised face. You didn’t understand, but your mind believed he was telling the truth, there was no lie here. His other hand moved up, gently stroking your cheek and wiping away the dust and sand clinging to your face.
“You…don’t remember me? Please don’t look at me like a stranger in those beautiful eyes. You’re so important to me…no…it’s okay, I can help you! We have all the time in the world to help you remember together!”
He started getting excited like a child who had just made a smart decision, hugging you tightly and spinning you around, making you feel a little nauseous as your head spun. You had to pat his arm several times before he stopped, only then realizing what he had done wrong. He looked like a big, apologetic bear in front of you, worried about your condition even though you said you were fine.
In the end, you still had to ask him to take you back to the recovery room where you first woke up to rest and allow your body to heal its new wounds. During that time, you talked to him a lot, only to find out that he was Pierrot, the test subject who had 'taken notice' of you, as written in those files.
Things became quite awkward each time you said you really couldn't remember what had happened between you two, making him look resentful and hurt. Each time, you would quickly grab his large hand and reassure him that you would remember soon. Pierrot would look at you for a long time and then utter words that confused you, such as:
"You're always so radiant…"
Every time you wanted to ask him what he meant by saying that, he would cover your eyes, saying it was time for you to rest, and that he would give you the answer when you were more stable. Besides that, he refused to say anything else to you, no matter how many different approaches you tried, so you resigned yourself to your fate and drifted off to sleep.
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By the time you fully recovered from your dazed, sleepy state and could react to what was happening, he had brought you to an area that looked clean and relatively undamaged.
“Why did you bring me here?” you whispered anxiously, tightening your grip on his soft white shirt.
“This place has better medical equipment for your recovery, my Y/N… Besides, I saw signs that the old place was about to collapse, and the power supply there was running out…” Pierrot quickly replied, explaining why he had suddenly brought you away from the old area while you were still asleep.
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Here, you encounter other test subjects besides him, some who can no longer speak like humans, others who have lost control of their behavior. There are also individuals or creatures with exceptionally powerful abilities, housed in isolated rooms, seemingly living there voluntarily.
Most remain, accepting this place because it's the only place that accepts their monstrous/abnormal existence. Those who experimented on them are gone, but they still carry the consequences of their physical transformations.
They don't want to venture out into society and be misunderstood as having evil intentions, attacked by the protective forces of normal human society, or even have their families forced to remove them from the world—a cruel reality for everyone.
The suffering is unavoidable; they accept their own demise ending here. Living out the rest of their lives with their 'kind' is probably the best option for everyone.
That is the final wish of everyone here.
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The atmosphere of everyone trying to remain optimistic gradually faded into tiny dots in the distance. Pierrot carried you to what appeared to be his private room, gently laying you down on the soft bed before slowly kneeling beside you.
Once again, he tenderly cradled your hand in his, gently stroking your thumb against your knuckles in a reassuring manner, causing you to shyly ask about the state of your relationship.
“Uhm… were we this close before? I mean, how did we meet?”
Your voice softened, becoming gentler as you longed to learn more about your past. You slowly sat up in bed, your hand slightly hesitant as you tentatively reached out to connect with him again, intertwining your fingers.
“Please, Pierrot. Can you help me learn more about my past?” Your eyes pleaded for an answer.
You could see the deep golden pupils of his eyes trembling violently as you asked him about what had happened. You pursed your lips in embarrassment, but without knowing, you would never be able to accurately recall your forgotten self.
“I know that past is probably very heavy for you to remember… not pleasant things… but… but I have the right to know that past, the void in my memory!”
Your words were cut short as Pierrot raised his hand to cover your lips, his body trembling as if afraid of that time. It took several minutes before his face turned less pale as he began to tell you everything he knew.
-------------------------------The flashback begins.
The story begins from the moment you were resurrected from the power of a runaway test subject, a fact unexpected by everyone present, as reviving a deceased person without losing their memory or behavioral control was truly astonishing.
You were an accidental incident, an unintentionally saved 'product.' Even during the examination of your vital signs, the medical team discovered your rapid regenerative abilities, though these weren't perfect as you could faint due to a lack of energy and nutrients to heal your wounds.
From that moment on, you were assigned to high-level specimens, constantly being used as a test subject for scientists to observe the reactions of experimental subjects—when they were calm, angry, explosive, etc.
You survived all those attacks, each time you were chosen as a test subject, you had to constantly regenerate your 'damaged' body. This condition left you constantly weak and malnourished, even though your caregivers provided you with adequate food and exercise, you still couldn't have 'enough' nutrients for the projects that required continuous work.
The first time you met him was also during one of the projects requiring test subjects. At that time, Pierrot was severely injured, perhaps having just resisted and been subdued, hence his condition. The deafening sounds of his massive body colliding and scratching on the stone floor made everyone want to stay away.
You entered that white room, beneath your feet were the brutal marks of destruction, accompanied by the oozing blood from his wounds. With each step closer, he hissed a warning, threatening to hurt you, but at that moment, you seemed on the verge of giving up.
Ignoring the growls through his sharp teeth and his wild, piercing eyes, you went straight to where he lay. You invaded his space by crouching down, resting your chin on your hand, staring blankly at his condition.
“Hey… what do you think life means? Why resist so much? Trying to fight an entire organization alone? Only to be captured and brought back in a dying state?…”
You asked him many questions, seemingly blaming him for his foolishness, but gradually becoming more like questioning yourself. Pierrot, for some reason, answered you when he interrupted your increasingly inscrutable and relentless questioning.
“Life is an instinct of all living beings; life has meaning when you have a goal you want to achieve or protect… or simply when you create meaning for yourself in being alive.”
As he spoke, Pierrot looked up at you, his gaze filled with both empathy and pity for your shattered spirit. He didn’t answer your subsequent questions because he knew that someone who doubted even the meaning of life would never understand the meaning of resistance leading to freedom.
For the rest of the time, you both sat quietly together until the guard asked you to leave.
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Your meetings became so frequent after that, almost regular, because the other scientists saw no signs of him attacking you; in fact, he seemed to care deeply about you.
Your mental state improved significantly after talking to him more. You said he was the first test subject who could talk to you for so long, and that you greatly valued his presence in your life.
Pierrot asked you about the human society you had lived in, your dreams, your hobbies, etc. He inquired so much about you that he wanted to know everything about you. When you jokingly asked him why he asked so many things about you, he seriously replied that he wanted to protect you.
At that time, you didn't understand why he wanted to protect you, since he was the one facing more danger. All you could think was that he was being overly worried; who would protect someone with the ability to regenerate?
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Then that day comes, you follow the manager to the next experimental project to continue your sample work. You've heard scientists say they're creating an essence that can suppress the animalistic instincts of aggressive test subjects. You've skimmed that information because it's nothing new, but you wouldn't expect Pierrot to be the first test subject to be tested.
That essence was made into a gas pumped into Pierrot's room, but instead of calming him down, it stimulated his hunting instinct to a high level. The scene was very chaotic at that time and you were asked to urgently summon the security force and a number of other specimens at the same time.
The room was filled with the aura of that new essence, which stimulated even ordinary people, let alone specimens like you. You injured yourself, using the pain to bring your sanity back but at the same time weakening it because the ability to regenerate requires a lot of substances.
You called his name until he was hoarse, but it didn't wake him up. The other specimens also used their abilities to help control him, but failed when he was like a huge animal going on a rampage.
The sound of gunshots rang out, and those guys chose the other, more brutal option. One of the people who didn't hide behind said something you couldn't hear clearly other than "It would be a shame for such a rare experimental subject to die…"
The thought that he could leave, even in the form he hated the most, made your adrenaline surge. You ran straight through the bullets, letting the bullets pierce your skin as you entered his area.
Before you can reach him, call his name again. A bullet had pierced your throat, making every sound you could make a rough gasp.
How ironic, right at that painful moment. The image of you in a wounded body entered his shocked eyes, you fell down right before he could catch you.
Everything then ended with him accepting to be controlled again, placed under stricter house arrest as well as obediently accepting to be experimented on as long as he would receive full medical care and be healthy again.
If not, he will show them what a real monster is.
-------------------------------The flashback ends.
“What happened after that?” You interrupted his story with pure curiosity, wanting to know what happened next, causing him to hesitate slightly before continuing.
“After that… a group of test subjects gathered to destroy the research area, and things… as you see now…”
Pierrot gently caressed your fingers in his palm, still somewhat disbelieving that you were awake and healthy before him.
“Y/N… if you’ve remembered everything…” Pierrot swallowed nervously, a vague anxiety building up within himself.
“You once said that if you couldn’t be a normal human being anymore… then you wanted to live with me…” His voice trembled slightly, his cheeks visibly flushing. “I stayed here to wait until you woke up, so I could push back the rocks blocking the path. That is, if you want to leave this place…”
You lowered your head slightly, lost in thought as new memories flooded your mind. After a moment of reflection, Pierrot pulled you into a firm embrace. He rested his forehead on your shoulder, his hands gently stroking your back, his back slightly hunched as he leaned against your small body.
“I want to follow you, wherever you want to go… wherever you are is my home, my safe place, a place where I can protect you. You said… you have to keep your promise… Y/N”
