They sat him down with some of the nurses bringing in his food, he gradually shook himself free of the influence of his fear while also feeling a little ashamed of himself for his previous outburst.
"Are you okay?" The asked after seeing him sigh, they had never dealt with something like that before and as such where a little lost as to how to handle it, waiting until he calmed himself down before asking, faces full of concern.
"I'm fine," he waved them off and took a second look around him "where are we anyway?" The two looked at each other awkwardly and tried their best to tell him what they knew, it hadn't been long since they had gotten there themselves so they didn't know much.
Zed quietly listened to the two and found himself astonished by how stupid sentient races could be, with the abyss beasts destroying ships and obliterating people's sanity, somehow the ability to experiment on the less fortunate never eluded them.
"Hmm, well at least, we won't be test subjects anymore, I hope." He stretched his neck, feeling like he had strained something, it didn't seem serious he hoped.
"So are you going to go home or something?" The girl posed him a question, from his conversations with them, they had been in the labs so long he wasn't even sure they even had a home to return to, he looked down at his hands and back at them and shook his head.
"hah, there's no way I can go home like this"
"That's true" Demiurge raised his shoulders and shook his head "Guess we're stuck together for life", Sona jabbed him in the shoulder and they all spent some time talking and laughing amongst themselves for a bit while demiurge told them all about his new found love of stories.
The next morning he opened his eyes flashed open with cold sweat on his forehead as he gazed at the dark metal ceiling. The lights had yet to come on, he groaned and turned himself over in an attempt to continue his sleep when he suddenly froze, his eyes wide.
That terrifying little living doll was staring him in his eye sockets. The boy slowly and carefully blinked the doll like things eyes unchanging, he continued to stare at the doll, his confidence ever so slowly evaporating the longer she continued to watch him.
"Do you sleep with your eyes open?" the doll asked, shattering the awkward silence with her melodious voice that tickled his thoughts, he small pinkish lips causing his brows to furrow.
"N..no?" The dolls expression changed, raising one eyebrow with clear confusion written on her facial feature, her small pink lips parted and she addressed her concerns.
"Why are you just staring like that then?"
Zed felt the sudden urge to grasp at his hair and scream while bashing his head against the wall but maintained his fear induced poker face. He just closed his eyes as he sighed and tried to get back to sleep if he was lucky this would be nothing more than a dream, after all why would a doll be in his room 'This is all a bad dream, that's definitely it'
His eyes remained tightly shut, perhaps too tightly with how an uncomfortable feeling kept gnawing at him, slowly peeking out his eyelids he saw the dolls face was hovering above his her hair cascading down like a curtain around her small and flawless face.
"I can't sleep if you keep watching me like that". The doll tilted its head slowly before rolling over to the other side of the bed and just continuing to lay down, he may have been afraid, initially, but perhaps due to fatigue he was just more bewildered than anything.
"You think I'm a doll, don't you?" Zed closed his eyes and had a pained smile form on his face, he highly doubted his uneasiness stemmed from the fact she looked like a talking doll.
"so, you're saying you're not?" he could swear he heard her chuckle ever so slightly shaking her head the girl stretched out her arm and placed a palm to his face and he watched her in confusion Wondering what she was doing.
"My body is warm, see?" Zed was more than a bit speechless, he had his fear had practically been removed altogether, he was now sure of one thing, this girl was just a weirdo, armed with this information he completely allowed his mind to relax, a weirdo was something he could manage.
"Yes, yes, it is". he sighed and pulled up the beds blanket and turned towards the ceiling and yawn "Good night pretty little doll girl" The doll like girl smiled and closed her eyes as well, leaving them both drifting off into sleep.
The next morning was almost too normal for Zed, much like he had experienced before becoming a lab rat, he woke up, ate food, showered, and sat on his bed just relaxing, no shock tests, no nerve ending removals, no organ replacements, just peace and the oddly fresh air in the lab for some reason.
"You seem pleased"
"You think so?". This was perhaps the only strange thing at the moment, the doll like little girl from last night had been following him since he woke up, even now that he was taking a walk around the facility she was still trailing by his side.
"Oh? Who's your new friend?" He stopped in front of Demiurge, who was holding a book in his hand, something that was quite rare these days, he seemed to enjoy the novelty of being able to hold the stack of paper in his hands.
'And here's another weirdo'. Demiurge was wearing glasses, another novelty that had become more of a fashion statement than a necessity and he could imagine it went doubly for someone like him who had and enhanced body like his.
Taking a second look at the girl beside him his expression changed slightly, it was such a mild shift that it might not have actually been anything, he adjusted the glasses on his face and opened his fanged mouth. "OH, this is—"
"Mercury Deadman" she raised the sides of her dress and bowed slightly, this was the first time Zed has heard her name since she had been following him.
Demiurge seemed to flinch slightly at the mention of her name, He continued to stare at her for a few seconds before Demiurge suddenly placed a palm to his chest and returning the bow. "Demiurge, I have no last name"
Zed found this whole interaction quite queer but didn't know exactly what it was he found strange about it. Perhaps it was the fact that Demiurge looked like a dragon with a lion's tail hanging off his back or perhaps it was the little gothic Lolita doll that was speaking to him, he wasn't quite sure.
Demiurge glanced at the confused white-haired boy and smiled adjusting his glasses and closing his book with a thud. "Are you exploring?" His eyes scanning the passage behind him "You haven't gotten an official orientation yet then, you were bed ridden for quite a while someone is supposed to pick you up"
"I don't remember seeing anyone who expressed any particular interest in me" Demiurge scratched his head and groaned
"Are you sure?" Zed glanced at the doll-like girl who simply smiled at him and placed a finger to her lips making him look back at Demiurge who continued. "This little lady is someone rather special" Zed was starting to wonder where he was going with this long-winded speech of his.
"She's one of the Facilities tops ranked in terms of combat power and authority" Zeds eyes were slowly starting to Widen with each word that left the dragon like mans mouth.
"Rank 6, The Demonic Marionette, Mercury Deadman"