Rayne On Me 14
The next afternoon, Adam pulled his SUV up in front of Jeff's house. He grabbed the shopping bag of stuff Jeff had asked him to pick up and warily headed to the front door. He raises his hand to knock, only to knock Jeff in the forehead as the smaller man swiftly opens the door without Adam’s noticing.. Jeff pulls him into the house, closing the door behind him quickly, "You got the stuff?" "The darkest sunglasses I could find and earplugs.. I still don't know why.." Jeff grabs a folded comforter off of the sofa. "He's been in absolute dark and silence for 4 days.. well.. I was reading Seth's notes.. far as I can tell.. The box is designed for total sensory deprivation.. Coming out of it can screw you up, all the sudden overloading your senses.." Adam nods, pulling the sunglasses and the package of foam earplugs from the bag and walking toward Jeff. "lets get this over with, before Lena gets back.. : ..this contraption of hers doesn't sound too fun.." Jeff nods and opens the door to the basement. "I'm warning you.. once we get down there.. no noise.. and don't touch anything.." "I got it.."
Jeff and Adam head downstairs and across the basement toward the black chamber. setting the blanket down, Jeff opens a release valve. The two stand there, watching the water drain from the box through clear tubes. Jeff takes the sunglasses and earplugs from Adam, gesturing toward the blanket. Jeff releases the latch on the door and steps inside, putting the earplugs in Seth's ears. Once the sunglasses are on, Jeff helps Seth out and into the folds of the waiting blanket. Adam closes his arms around Seth, wrapping him in the blanket, holding his brother in his embrace for a long moment. Jeff speaks to Seth almost inaudibly. "Seth, this is Jeff.. Adam is here with me.. you're going to be alright. We are going to go into the garage and get into Adam's truck. We're going to take you to Adam's to get well.." Adam felt the slightest movement of Seth’s nod as his brother clung to him. Sure, he hadn’t run to be super brother when he’d found out about Seth, but these kids were supposed to be family to him to and they had almost killed his little brother. .
Carefully, the two helped Seth up the stairs and into the garage where Matt is sitting behind the wheel of Adam's truck. Jeff climbs into the back of the truck and helps Adam lift the kitten like man onto the bed of blankets in the back of the truck. Jeff covers him in additional blankets and throws one of the lighter blankets over Seth’s head to help shield his eyes from the sun as Matt pulls the truck out of the garage. Once they reach Adam’s house, Matt and Jeff close all of the blinds and turn off anything that might make loud noises. Adam stays in the back of the truck, talking quietly to his brother who is now sitting up, still wrapped in several blankets. "I know you can't talk to me right now.. but I'm here.. I've let too many people hurt you.. no more.."
After a while, Adam helps Seth into the house and up to the guest room. Through the rest of the night, Seth slowly shed the layers of blankets as his body temperature regulated, he shed the sunglasses, and asked Adam to turn on the hall lights. The night, Adam slept in a chair by Seth's bed, determined to be by his brother's side no matter what.
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Lena and Syn arrive home from their shopping spree to find no one in the livingroom, no one home at all. Upon entering the kitchen, Lena notices that the garage door is ajar and she doesn't even have to look to know that Seth isn't down there. "One of them caved.. they let him out.." "Maybe it's for the best.. he was suffering.. We all felt it" "I didn't feel anything, he’s just making you soft." "Seth is the only one of you with hope, he keeps the rest of you going.. without him, this house is empty.." "Are you questioning whether we should have put him in there?" "I agreed to it Lena, I'm just questioning how long he could have lasted in there."
The next morning, the Matt and Jeff wait for the girls to leave for the show before they go back to the house for their things. In an effort to dely the drama for as long as possible, Adam and Seth head to the arena on their own, agreeing that Seth will stay with Adam instead of going back to his usual locker room with the Hardys. They had no idea how Lena was going to react to their having freed Seth, but they wanted to be in public the next time they saw her just in case.
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After they arrived at the arena, Lena went to see if Taker had checked in yet, wanting to talk to him before the show. Syn stood anxiously at the top of the ramp, just past the curtains, watching the crew finish setting up the ring. Feeling a warm breath on the back of her neck, Syn turns expecting to see one of the crew people kicking her out. Instead, she is face to face with one of the Copeland boys, but she is unsure of which one it is due to the dark shades he wears. "Seth?" No answer. She reaches out, fingering his sleeve tenderly to show her compassion toward his situation. "Seth.. Don’t be like this, it isn’t funny... Lena isn’t mad at you, she knows you didn’t mean to do anything wrong... she'll take you back.. you know that's best for you." Nothing she said could elicit an answer from Seth. His eyes just seemed to bore holes into her from behind his glasses. "He's been doing that all day.." Syn snaps around, suddenly aware of Adam leaning against the wall. "Doing what?" "Exactly.. he just.. stands there.. and watches.." Adam smirks and walks toward his brother, placing his hand on Seth's shoulder. Seth returns the gesture with a half smirk and a reassuring nod. “Don’t be too long..” Adam adds before he walks away and Seth turns back to Syn.. "What's wrong with you Seth? Say something?" He slips his arm around her waist and flashes one of his brother's infamous grins before leaning down, kissing her forcefully. Syn pushes against his chest, trying to break away to breath. Finally, needing to breathe himself, he releases her and she stumbles back against the wall gasping. He still stands there, unaffected except for a small smirk.
"Seth Orion Copeland, behave, now." Lena hisses, coming up behind Seth and moving to stand beside Syn. Seth continues to stare blankly at Syn instead of turning to face Lena. "Be smart Seth." He turns slowly, removing his sunglasses as he looks into her eyes. He stares through her with his hollow blue eyes. Seth growls angrily at Lena, stepping toward her defensively. He reaches his hand out, brushing her cheek with his thumb. In the same gesture, the turns his wrist, grabbing her neck tightly, lifting her off of her feet. His lips twist into a sneer as he lifts her higher. Lena pounds her fists against his arm and kicks at him, but the blows don’t seem to register.
"Put her down Son!" A deep southern voice grumbles from the direction of the ring. Syn turns her panicked gaze to Taker who had reached the top of the ramp and was closing the space between Seth and himself. "You aren't stupid kid. You're gonna put her down."Seth snarls but slowly lowers her, releasing his grip on her throat. Lena gasps, cursing him as she braces herself against Syn. Taker places a hand on Seth's back. "Come with me Son, we need to have a talk." Seth looks from Taker to the girls as though he is going to resist, but the hand clamping onto his shoulder didn’t give him any choice.