[ Before he'd come to this place - before this precise moment - Ben hadn't quite realized how much he's been avoiding dealing with any of this. He had thought, naively, that he'd processed it maturely and put it away, that he was miles ahead of his siblings like that. The only one who got over it and moved on. But really, all he'd done was taken those messy, scared, awful feelings around their father and buried them, intact. Now, running into him like this, it is like the world has taken a shovel to that shallow grave. So much easier to lecture other people about their coping mechanisms. So much easier to be detached and mature and recovered when he was a ghost and everything was numb and separate.
His breaths come in shallow little gasps, and he wants so badly to believe Diego. Turns to Diego only, face pleading, wanting to be rescued. Logically, he could just walk away. Nothing is physically preventing him. But he can't move his legs. And Reginald does not stop. The words are familiar ones, to Ben. Etched into his brain the way water carves a path through stone over time, wearing away at it little by little. ]
You are an abomination, Number Six. We have discussed this. Evil lives inside you. It is a part of you and always shall be. Since it is sadly not possible to change your wretched nature, you must learn to exercise constant, perfect control. I have taken the time to craft a regimen that will teach you to do that. Must I remind you what will happen if you fail?
[ Ben hangs his head and gives it a tiny shake. He doesn't need to be reminded, doesn't want to be. Even with his eyes closed now, he is hyper aware of Diego's presence. That he is hearing this. Hearing the sorts of things their father would say when it was just the two of them alone. He'd only ever told Klaus, about this part. Never the others. Never Diego. And now, all Ben thinks is that he's going to hear it and understand how true all of it is, and always has been. ]
Containing that darkness is your responsibility, Number Six. Weakness is not an excuse. Come with me this instant or I shall have Pogo fetch Number Seven and bring her to the training room. Do you want that?
[ And then Ben isn't thinking about Diego, anymore. Doesn't remember that he is an adult and his father is dead and they are in the Anchor a million miles and a universe away from that old mansion. Ben's face crumples even as he struggles to hold in his tears and he shakes his head, hard. This wasn't a trick Reginald had had to pull very often - threatening to bring one of his siblings in and punish Ben by making him use his powers to hurt them. He'd never had to carry it out, but the mere threat of it had been enough to overcome his objections, to force him into compliance. ]
No.
[ This version of Reginald reaches out, sets a hand on Ben's shoulder to steer him firmly away from Diego, and he doesn't resist, coming along the way he'd always come along while he was still alive. He'd never rebelled, like Five, like Diego, like Klaus in his own self-destructive way. ]
no subject
His breaths come in shallow little gasps, and he wants so badly to believe Diego. Turns to Diego only, face pleading, wanting to be rescued. Logically, he could just walk away. Nothing is physically preventing him. But he can't move his legs. And Reginald does not stop. The words are familiar ones, to Ben. Etched into his brain the way water carves a path through stone over time, wearing away at it little by little. ]
You are an abomination, Number Six. We have discussed this. Evil lives inside you. It is a part of you and always shall be. Since it is sadly not possible to change your wretched nature, you must learn to exercise constant, perfect control. I have taken the time to craft a regimen that will teach you to do that. Must I remind you what will happen if you fail?
[ Ben hangs his head and gives it a tiny shake. He doesn't need to be reminded, doesn't want to be. Even with his eyes closed now, he is hyper aware of Diego's presence. That he is hearing this. Hearing the sorts of things their father would say when it was just the two of them alone. He'd only ever told Klaus, about this part. Never the others. Never Diego. And now, all Ben thinks is that he's going to hear it and understand how true all of it is, and always has been. ]
Containing that darkness is your responsibility, Number Six. Weakness is not an excuse. Come with me this instant or I shall have Pogo fetch Number Seven and bring her to the training room. Do you want that?
[ And then Ben isn't thinking about Diego, anymore. Doesn't remember that he is an adult and his father is dead and they are in the Anchor a million miles and a universe away from that old mansion. Ben's face crumples even as he struggles to hold in his tears and he shakes his head, hard. This wasn't a trick Reginald had had to pull very often - threatening to bring one of his siblings in and punish Ben by making him use his powers to hurt them. He'd never had to carry it out, but the mere threat of it had been enough to overcome his objections, to force him into compliance. ]
No.
[ This version of Reginald reaches out, sets a hand on Ben's shoulder to steer him firmly away from Diego, and he doesn't resist, coming along the way he'd always come along while he was still alive. He'd never rebelled, like Five, like Diego, like Klaus in his own self-destructive way. ]