[Plot] A universe clothed in flesh.

[Basil Benson]

Basil paused visibly in his task.

"What if I don't get an upgrade." He said outloud, staring at the ground. "What if I just go back to the way it always was?"

[Colette Rosenhof]

Colette gently cupped Basil's cheek. "Basil, I do not zink zat zis is an upgrade. I zink... zat spending time as a person just let me... break zrough. All my life I have focused on trying to be more human, I ignored ze possibilities. Once I was human I realized zat zere were many zings zat I missed. I zink zat zis is just my way of separating ze two sides of me. Perhaps ze furzer I push myself to be inhuman, ze better I will be at being human... no?"

She squat down just a bit, to be closer to him. "You heard what Robin has said. It may have hit me harder because of how my mutation manifested, but eventually you will begin to feel ze effects as well. Maybe you will have a breakzrough of your own, oh I hope zat you do. But if you do not, zen maybe zat simply means zat you must practice more instead. I have been doing zis since I was born, you have not.

"Whatever ze outcome, zis does not change what we have togezer. One week ago, you were prepared to live a comfortable life wiz me by your side, in a place zat we can call our own. Is zis not true today? It is true for me, and will be no matter what ze outcome is... so long as I have you."

[Basil Benson]

Unsurprisingly, over the course of the day, Basil's mind had been racing about how much he really did not want to do this. Accepting his 'gift' back sounded like a nightmare scenario.

In Basil's mind, on this 'Island of Misfit Toys' he found himself, he wasn't a 'Charlie In A Box'. A perfectly functional toy with a silly name. He wasn't even the 'Cowboy Riding An Ostrich', an admittedly cool if completely random combination of parts that still works the way that it should. In his own mind, Basil was 'The Train With Square Wheels On The Caboose'. Completely impractical and utterly useless. It was not a mantle he had any inclination to willingly take back. Rejecting his x-gene's return sounded like an initially painful but eventually easier way out. And he could deal with physical pain. 

But she was too attached now to just let him die. Too invested. So invested she wasn't even aware of what he was considering because they were happy, so why would he think such things?

And he'd let it happen because he needed her affection so badly.

I'm such a piece of shit.

Basil averted his gaze as a fresh batch of tears started to well up, and swallowed hard to keep from crying out.

"Yes Madame. Of course." He slipped his face from her hands by looking away, and sniffed as he stood.

"I'll figure out who's in charge of... this project and get it over with."

[Colette Rosenhof]

Colette gently placed her hand on Basil's shoulder after he turned away.

"We do not have to do zis today, if you are not feeling up to it."

[Basil Benson]

"Timing doesn't matter Madame." He choked out, keeping his back turned to her. It was easier to confess his thoughts when he didn't have to see her reaction to them.

"I don't want to do this. I won't want to do it in a week, or in a month, or however long I have before the sickness sets in.

The longer I stay like this, the more I'll become comfortable with normalcy again and the harder I'll want to fight for my right to just roll over and die normal." He added, getting it all off his chest.

"Better to rip the plaster off quick."

[Colette Rosenhof]

Colette gently wrapped her arms around Basil's waist and held herself against his back.

"Do not give space in your head to such dark zoughts, Basil. If you were to die, your family and friends would be devastated. As would I." She reached up to play with his hair a bit, trying to console him.

"If I can learn to better control my powers, so can you. I promise."

[Basil Benson]

Basil sputtered up a wry chuckle for the only part of the statement that landed.

"It's just you, you know.

I love you. I don't say it more because I know how uncomfortable it makes you to hear me say it. Perhaps you're more British than you think..." He quipped.

"Though I can't really blame you. If I was hearing it from me, it would probably make my stomach churn as well." He swallowed again then sighed and began to pull away, intending to go and find the appropriate medical staff unless he was stopped again.

[Colette Rosenhof]

Colette held him back from walking away, pulling him against her chest with surprising strength. She really didn't look like she could handle the large man that easily, and yet here they were.

"It is more zan just me. I know zis to be true." She said not sternly, but more matter-of-factly.

"I love you too, Basil. If it made me uncomfortable before, it was because I zought zat zings were too good to be true, or zat I was fooling myself, or... somezing. But I know it to be true, and I am sorry zat I ever made you feel as zough it was not."

[Basil Benson]

Basil didn't fight against her physically, however, the strain in his voice was evident. He placed his left hand a top one of her own.

"Then let me go and do this before I change my mind and make you miserable as a result."

[Colette Rosenhof]

Colette loosened her grip, allowing Basil loose as she looked up at him.

"You do not wish for me to be zere wiz you, as you were for me?"

[Basil Benson]

"You may if you wish to. But I must get this done before I lose my nerve to follow through. "

[Colette Rosenhof]

Colette gave Basil's hand a little squeeze, there to help him steel his nerves.

[Basil Benson]

The next several minutes played out roughly as one would expect. Basil flagged a nurse and returned to the room used to treat Colette. In the interim time he dressed down to the level he needed to in order receive an injection, throwing his jacket over the back of a chair to prevent it from wrinkling, and undoing his cuff-links with unsteady hands then slipping them into his breast pocket so he wouldn't lose them. He followed suit with his dress shirt, and rolled his tie neatly into his left jacket pocket.

As he did, a nurse arrived with his vial. As if it were attempting to match it's owner in some strange universal joke, the contents of Basil's vial were so black that looking upon it made it seem as if it was eating the light around it.

"Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'intrate." He thought to himself as he stared at it being prepped for him.

The nurse looked at him and awaited his consent.

"Bye kitten." He commented to Colette. He gave her hand a squeeze and then proceeded to allow himself to be injected.

At the exact point the nurse pulled the syringe free, Basil was gone entirely.

Well, visually. She could still feel the pressure of him holding her hand, but she appeared to be holding nothing at all, his undervest and trousers and shiny fancy shoes all gone with his body.

After a moment, his weight would shift and she'd feel his fingers slip away.

But after a few more tense moments his jacket and shirt were collected off the back of the chair. A thank you was murmured to the member of medical staff who assisted him.

[Colette Rosenhof]

Colette swallowed quietly. She might not be able to see Basil but she could tell how upset he was. And of course she felt guilt over it. But what was she supposed to do, let him waste away and die?

She waited patiently to see if he'd take her hand or arm again. Once they got back to the house she'd do her best to console him.

[Basil Benson]

He did not.

He walked ahead on his own in silence, a disembodied jacket and dress shirt, folded over.