Elijah sat with his hands in his hands folded neatly in his lap. His expression was resigned, almost sulky. The doorways passed him by at neat, regular intervals as he was pushed along.

"I don't suppose you'd listen if I ordered you to take me home, would you?"

"I didn't listen the first thirty-seven times you ordered it, so I don't see why I'd start now." Connor replied cheerfully, continuing down the hallway, checking the symbol on each doorway as he passed.

"Would it help if I threatened to fire you?"

"You'd fire me? Hey, that'd give me time to actually finish all the Final Fantasies! Which weren't very final, when you think about it," Connor mused.

Elijah sighed and ran a hand through his hair in frustration. "Why have you brought me here?"

"Haven't we been through all this?"

"Yes, but you still haven't given me a suitable explanation!"

"Well, you've lasted this long without one, I'm sure you'll make it through the next five minutes, too."

Elijah twisted his shoulders so that he could glare up at the man currently pushing his wheelchair.

Connor smiled down at him and then returned to his examination of the doors. "It should be close now... Sagittarius... and... here we are, Capricorn."

"What's with all the zodiac symbols?" Elijah asked suspiciously. "This isn't one of those new-age places is it? Healing with crystals and auras and positions of the stars?"

Connor grinned. "No, no, this place isn't anything like that." He began patting each of his pockets in turn, eventually finding the item he was looking for. He pushed the silver key into the lock and twisted it, hearing the click as it turned over.

"Well, what is it then?"

"Ahhh, you're not going to catch me out that easily." Connor pushed the door open and guided the wheelchair inside. "The pages have already brought your bags up, they're over in the corner there. You'll be sharing your room with another guy. His name is Kiseki. Be nice to him, ok?"

"Sharing!" Elijah said in dismay. "You didn't even pay enough to get me a room of my own?"

Connor shrugged. "You know how Huntingdale gets. We must stick to the budget. Waste not, want not. Don't forget to put the milk cartons in the recycling bin." He mimicked Iris' disapproving tones commendably.

Elijah was unamused. "Please tell me that we have separate bathrooms, at the very least!"

Connor shook his head. "Nope." Carefully, he slipped one arm beneath Elijah's knees and the other around his shoulder, and lifted him onto the bed.

"Connor! You can't do this to me... please..."

Connor tried to harden himself against the pleading blue eyes of his charge. "It'll be good for you."

Tears welled, threatening to spill over. "I don't want to be here."

"I know you don't, mate, but give it a few days, please?"

Elijah shook his head, tears spilling over and down pale cheeks.

Connor pressed the key into Elijah's hand. "Don't lose this, ok? I'm going now, but if you need anything, ring the bell and someone will come."

Elijah glared through a blur of tears. "Fine then. Abandon me. I know you only look after me for the nice fat paycheck."

"That was uncalled for," Connor said, deeply hurt.

"I don't care!" Elijah turned away and buried his face in his pillow.

After a few minutes, when it was obvious that Elijah wasn't going to say anything more, Connor left the room, pulling the door closed behind him. As he walked back down the hallway, he shoved his hands in his pockets, trying to be firm in his resolve not to turn back and try and comfort his charge. It was just a few days, and it was for his own good.

He was almost out of earshot when he heard Elijah's wail. "Hey, there's only one bed!!!"

Connor grinned to himself and kept walking.

Elijah buried his face in his pillow and cried until he was all out of tears. When his breath had stopped coming in erratic heaves, he sat up, wiping his face with his sleeve. His face felt raw and puffy. He knew he probably looked a fright. He didn't particularly care.

He scanned the room, looking for a phone. Connor might have left him here, but there was nothing stopping him from calling a taxi to take him home. He couldn't see one handy, though. In fact, there didn't seem to be any means of communicating with anybody outside of this room, save for the brass bell and cord tied near the door, and he just didn't have the energy to get up and try it right now.

Then he remembered the silver key, still clenched in one of his hands. He opened his fingers and looked at it, a heavy weight in his palm. The head of the key was moulded into the shape of a goat with horns protruding backwards, but the lower half of the body, instead of having two back legs, had a tail like a fish. The fins fanned out at the bottom, just above the teeth of the key.

Elijah re-clenched his fist and then threw it suddenly across the room. It hit one wall with a clatter and then fell silently to the thickly-carpeted floor.

"I hate you!" He shouted, voice hoarse. "It isn't fair!" But he wasn't entirely sure who -- or what -- he was referring to.

He lay back down, wrapped his arms tightly about himself, and eventually drifted off to sleep.

From the shadowed corner of the room, blue eyes watched.