All I've ever done in my life so far is ask questions.
Where did we come from?
Who am I?
What is my purpose?
I was never answered, they never cared, never explained, we were just expected to live on in ignorance as if none of it even mattered, every moment in my life was frustration and confusion.
We were referred to by codes, not even important enough to receive actual names, even then I guess there was no real point in handing out names to us, we were just expected to live and die for the adults, no reason to give identities to statistics.
Those with lower code numbers like me received special treatment, apparently the lower the number the higher your aptitude, whatever that meant, it was just a way to force a hierarchy out of something us children couldn't even control.
They kept saying I was special, that I was very important, but I don't care, I was always pre-occupied asking about what no one else would.
Where are the children going?
Why are we here?
What is outside the walls?
When I was designated a special research target I was less than joyful, all it meant was they would just find more reasons to keep me busy, prevent me from figuring out anything,
If I did well I received a reward, but it never mattered, it never stopped me from wanting answers.
None of the other children were like me, many would simply sit on the floor with a dead look in their eyes, others would quietly play with a few things the adults would occasionally leave out for us.
There were a few people I was close with, a surprisingly emotional blue haired Vaporeon girl, a rather timid dirty blonde haired Jolteon boy, and an easily excitable brown haired boy to name a few.
Yet despite my efforts, giving them names, talking about the stars above and the past of the world, it all resulted in nothing.
They were all complacent in their meaningless life.
One day however, I saw something that gave me the answer to a question I was desperate to find, a small horned girl in rags desperately trying to free themselves from the grip of an adult, they were growling and snarling at them in disgust, my shock and relief was immense.
There really were others like me.
-
We were running hand in hand across the bleak tundra before us, the bitter snow beneath us made my feet numb but I couldn't care less.
We were free.
Everything that just happened was merged together in an adrenaline fueled blur, I had just broken the red skinned girl out of her confinement, a few days ago after a test I managed to slip away and explore a bit, and after coming across a windowed room I saw her being tortured, they were torturing a damn child, and I thought taking the children away to who knows where after being deemed useless was the extent of their cruelty, they were monsters.
While I did not have a plan beyond using a light fixture to bust through a window, the best option was to try to put as much distance from us and the garden as possible, but seeing as the only provisions I had on me were the sweets I was rewarded after my tests, hiding wouldn't be possible forever.
Without noticing my surroundings while deep in thought my foot snagged a small dip in the snow and I came crashing down onto the frosty ground, bringing the girl with me, by the time I had lifted my face up she was already trying to eat a family of mice, I quickly reached out to pull the rodent out of her mouth but she growled and bit down hard onto my hand, I yelled and began to try and sooth the girl by patting her head, her eyes softened as if remembering something, and she slowly let go of me.
Pulling back I examined my hand, aside from some saliva and weird traces of a viscous blue liquid around the punctures there was nothing really too alarming, once she seemed calm enough I took her hand once again and began trudging deeper into the woods with her in tow.
The static hurts.
We both tumbled down again, I was tired, she was hurt, a break was definitely needed, I noticed that she had grazed her leg on her way down, and seeing the injury I remembered something I had read in a book once, Animals in the wild would lick each others wounds to heal them, realistically that would work in their case too right? It was worth a try anyway, I didn't want any potential injury related roadblocks as we continued to run.
Stop it stop it stop it stop it
She seemed really confused at first, but I explained to her that this should help her get better, the blue stuff I licked up tasted weird, metallic is the only word I could really come up with, but it wasn't really of any consequence as long as the scrape got better, it didn't seem like it was harming me in any way.
Stop it get out of my head get out of my head get out of my head get out of my head
After a bit more walking we found a little alcove near a small incline, it was big enough to fit both of us, but small enough for it to be very uncomfortable, as we huddled together for warmth my body felt a bit itchy but it went away after a while, the frigid temperatures had my full attention already.
It hurts so much get out of my head get out stop it please
-
I gave her a green sweet.
She handed me a picture book.
We made a promise.
They surrounded us.
She was crying and snarling.
I was hit across the head.
This is a story of remembrance.
What could have been, and what will be.
The pages have been re-written.
And the story will begin anew.
-
Everything hurts.
Is this snow?
Where am I?
Who is that?
Wait...
-
A frail raven haired boy laid splayed out in the snow, a small pool of blood collecting around the side of his head, staining the slush in a deep crimson, his labored breathing drowned out by the heartbroken cries of an equally feeble horned girl in rags, her skin an inhuman shade of scarlet.
These two had previously been on the run for a total of 2 days straight, all caused by a spur of the moment decision made by a build up of frustration from a boy born into an unfair regime who deviated from those around him, he rescued someone who he saw as an equal, a marvel of scientific advancements destined to lead humanity to prevail against the Klaxosaur threat.
The pair were surrounded by faceless uniformed men, all with their weapons trained onto their targets, the girl was attempting to lunge and scratch at the men, but to no avail, the guards with magma tipped spears prevented any further assault, all she could do was call out to the only one who ever cared through the tears.
Deep within the forest echoed one word.
Dah-lin!
-
What is that noise?
Why is this happening?
I have to help her.
She will never be alone again.
-
With a grunt of effort the boy slowly pushed himself into a kneeling position, his teeth gritting in agony, even with one eye blinded from the profusely bleeding wound he refused to give up, not on her.
His remaining eye burned with malice, he despised the people who kept him locked up as a lab rat, his questions were never answered, children went missing like it was nothing, and no one else would so much as bat a god damn eye, that's why he couldn't give up on the girl, she wasn't like the other children, she was strong, she had her own thoughts.
He was tired of feeling alone, like he was the only one who wasn't blind to the cruelty of it all, the injustice dealt by the hands of the adults, if he was gonna end up dying in a metal sarcophagus for the sake of his captors, he would rather make his mark before his time came, he wanted to give a chance to the strange girl.
And if it meant he died trying.
So be it.
He'll at least know he died protecting her.
The Only One Who Fought Back.
-
His nails began to pierce his wrists, pure rage flowed throughout his small frame, a primal, violent surge of energy coursed through him, eyes aglow with a cobalt hue, the guards faltered, unsure of how to address the new development, the spears now aimed at the boy, yet a trace of hesitation reached them, and with their attention drawn the girl saw her chance.
"What are you doing?! we have orders to retrieve the escapees! hit him again if you have to!"
As the guards wearily stepped towards the disruption the girl lunged at the guard in front of her, digging her fangs into his leg.
"AGH! What th-"
A second guard was tackled to the ground, a blur of blue and black were tearing into his torso, monstrous screams emanating from his throat, the sight was truly gruesome, through the brief respites of the attack flashes of the boys hands could be seen, in the span of a few moments his nails had grown exponentially, everybody was stunned, how could such a weak child be capable of such horrific acts?
Both children were ripping into their respective guards, each adopting an expression of pure hatred as they let out growls and screams, the entire area around the boy was drenched in blood, soaking his face in a sickening crimson, seemingly taking joy in seeing the adult struggle underneath him, all while the second guard remained incapacitated by the fierce grip of the oni's jaw.
After realising they all still had duties to do, the remainder of the guards snapped out of their horror and worked to tear the two children off their respective victims, each proving to be significantly difficult to overpower, scratching, kicking, punching and biting being the main methods of retaliation.
Both children were thrashing wildly in their grasps, howling in anger as their aggression only ramped up in intensity.
The once quiet forest was now filled with the whimpers of the girl were now flooded with the groans of the two guards and the guttural howls of the animalistic duo, both now laying face down in the snow, right back where they started, their eyes locked as shock collars were quickly forced around their necks, through the snarls the boy managed to gasp the words that stuck with the girl for her entire life:
"I will find you again"
"They can't keep us apart forever"
"I promise I will protect you"
"Forever and Always, Darling."
-
His entire world went dark, the only light prevailing was a small rectangular object, A book by the name of 'The Beast And The Prince'.
A tragic love story between two members of separate races, a reminder of what could have been, but never flourished.
But what's stopping us from rewriting a new ending?
-
A cloaked figure rushed towards a set of double doors while clutching a brightly lit data pad, crashing into the room.
"Sir, the two escapees have been recaptured, however there is something requiring your urgent attention." He sputtered.
Werner Frank stood facing away from the guard, staring blankly out at the frostbitten tundra before him, hands clutching the handle of a walking cane, the remaining human features of his face were contorted into a mix of fascination and fury.
"I believe I said to NOT use the shock collars unless it was a LIFE THREATENING DISASTER, YOU WERE OVERPOWERED BY TWO CHILDREN EVEN WITH THE BEST WEAPONRY WE HAVE TO OFFER!" His mechanical body whirred with effort as he spun around to chastise the faceless man.
Despite cowering slightly the man continued his report:
"We apologize sir, but we encountered an anomaly with the male subject, 016, and we believe your uh... 'expertise' will be able to come to an understanding of it."
Werner raised an eyebrow, his interest had certainly been caught, to be honest the boy had always intrigued him, from his mannerisms to his personality, a truly strange specimen, and this "incident" had only made his itch stronger, he needed to understand what happened, and needed to investigate the boy, judging from the sounds of it an interesting development had arisen, potentially relating to his position as the 'special specimen', and as a man of science he wasn't one to squander an opportunity.
He gestured to the guard to lead him to the misfits, intending to observe them for a time, halfway to their destination Werner asked the burning question:
"So please explain to me what on earth happened out there?"
Although he expected the same old song and dance of 002 reacting poorly and lashing out again, perhaps even 016 putting up a fight, the words from behind the guards faceplate made metallic jaw drop, nothing could have predicted something of this magnitude.
"After previously being rendered unconscious, 016 re-awoke and began to brutally attack one of the guards, it was horrifying, something we had never encountered before, the only notable changes in 016 were elongated nails and a slight glow in his eyes, even 002 had never reacted this aggressively."
The guard ended his explanation with a shudder, no doubt remembering the scenes that just played out, only reacting when realizing the doctor had stopped behind him, his body shaking in excitement, a large grin plastered onto his face, his mind racing a mile a minute.
Excited by the new development, the doctor remained giddy until they reached a set of doors leading to one of his 'test' rooms, peering in through the glass he could see two figures restrained on the tables, already attempting a feeble escape again, 016 being especially ferocious, even breaking through one of the wrist locks at a few intervals, however he was immediately re-secured each time, studying the boy's body, mind blowing was putting his new discovery lightly, the boy's features had completely altered, his nails had grown exponentially, with a fade from their natural white to a brilliant azure blue, even his eyes burning with rage with a similar colour as the nails, and his canines seemed more developed, far sharper than humanly possible.
While entering the room he continued to observe the two children, they were clearly attempting to reach each other, with a distinct lack of success of course, he would have been amused if he was not already completely blown away at this development, he would need to run some tests to be certain, but for the time being he swapped priorities, the growls and calls for one another were important in their own right, the boy had taught her a word in less than 2 days, something they'd been attempting for months now to no success, indeed, he would have to keep an eye on him for some time.
The doctor had his suspicions but he wanted to be completely sure of the theory, he began to prepare for a test, desperate to see if the changes in the boy were more than visual, a machine slowly lowered from the ceiling and positioned itself over the boy's hand, a small laser aimed at the center of his palm, the doctor gave a nod to a nearby assistance, and they pressed a button.
Sensing some sort of incoming danger, the boy ramped up the intensity of his struggles, his awful screams only echoing louder in the room and into the halls, frantically clawing at the nearby attendants and forcing himself out of his restraints, leading to several guards piling onto the boy to hold him down, one unfortunate soul having the displeasure of having a finger bitten off.
A loud hum filled the room, followed by a thunk and a sickening crunch, the center of the boys hand had been completely annihilated, he cried out in agony while writhing in pain, blood poured from his lip as he bit down to suppress the screams, Werner watched intently for a moment, when he noticed two things, the blood leaking from both wounds was still mostly red, but featured a slight tint of blue, this was no doubt caused by the saurification, but the next spectacle had him at a loss for words.
The boy was regenerating.
-
016 laid whimpering in a puddle of tears, sweat, and blood, the guards carefully removed themselves from the quivering mess, choosing instead to assist the injured guard, it seems the procedure had finally but a dent in the boys relentless struggles, seeing this as a newfound opening, Werner quickly approached the boy, reaching a hand to part his shaggy hair, a barely noticeable pair of budding horns stared back at him, he glanced into the boys eyes, noticing the glow had subsided, and decided to ask him a few questions:
"What were you thinking? Surely you realized escape is pointless, you would never have made it out of the Garden."
No response.
"Why her of all things? it's not like you had any personal attachment to her, she's simply the result of years of experimentation."
Agitation crept onto his face, but the boy stayed vigilant and refused to respond.
"I've heard you've been naming yourself and your fellow parasites, I must say I am intrigued by your thought process, could you tell me your name?"
His face scrunched up in thought, then he mumbled in a hoarse voice, "Hiro, all I did was give the others the courtesy of having names, or are we not good enough for those?" all the screaming had done a number on his vocal chords.
"Are you aware of what's happening to your body currently then 'Hiro?' Your body is quite literally at war with itself, and if you don't explain how it occurred I may not be able to help you."
His features softened, and seemed to contemplate it, then gestured for the doctor to move closer.
After reaching his side and leaning down, Hiro opened his mouth to speak, but instead spat right into his eye, the doctor reeled back shocked at the display of aggression towards him, he was truly a fascinating parasite and would need to be more cautious around him, he prevented the guards from injuring the boy any further, and instead wanted to leave the two for a while, he wanted to see how they reacted with one another, so he asked an attendant to free the children and allow them to stay in the room for the remainder of the day.
"Cheeky little bastard."
After exiting the room he made his way back to his office, opting to view the pair through security footage while he went over some data, all of his previous beliefs had been flipped over and dropped on their head, knowing now that saurification was possible on regular children instead of creating genetic clones opened the door to many new possibilities, but he decided against any further actions until he was completely sure of everything.
-
Ugh, I feel awful, I can barely tell what's going on around me...
Everything that just happened is a blur, I can hardly remember what happened after we were surrounded...
Who was that old guy?
Wait.
I need to get to Angel!
Hiro shot up looked around frantically, his head pounding and his vision a blurry haze, only coming to a rest when realizing he was no longer shackled to the table, looking to his right he saw the red oni staring back at him, tears brimming in her eyes, she dove onto him while clinging onto his midsection while bawling her eyes out.
"Dah-lin!"
*sniff*
"Daaah-linn!"
*sniff sniff*
To try and sooth her he began to stroke her hair, as her whimpers died down his eyes began to wander to her crimson protrusions, there was something so profoundly beautiful about them as they shone in the artificial light, it only made him want to protect her more, however he had no time to admire the girl, something a bit more pressing required his attention, specifically the gaping hole in his hand that had barely begun regenerating with the muscles and tendons slowly repairing themselves, he could tell his nerves were completely shot, he jumped from feeling nauseating pain to nothing at all every few seconds, not to mention a sickening odor emanating from within that made him quickly pull his hand off the oni's hair, while she protested at first she soon came to realize the cause of his sudden act, the horror portrayed on her face mirrored his own as they both looked on at the pulsating mess that was soon to become his fully formed hand.
The wound itself was horrifying to look at, but even more scary was the fact he was healing, his body was forming the missing pieces right before his very eyes, it was all so much to take in at once, the escape, the capture, the sudden awakening from his weird delusion like state, his lack of understandable memories, it was all too much for him, but knowing the small girl was safe kept him going.
Although the pain came in waves Hiro resolved to keep it to himself, not wanting to worry the already hysterical girl any more than he already had, instead he took her hand in his and lead her to a corner of the room, he sat against the wall and pulled Angel into his arms, trying to keep her warm and comfortable the best he could, Angel pulled out her favorite book from under her rags and held it up to Hiro, as if to say "read it to me!", he chuckled and happily obliged, ignoring the agony to keep the ball of energy happy.
Once the story had come to a close, he brought her closer to his chest, protectively wrapping his arms around her, and as the two began to drift off he whispered into her ear:
"I'll keep you safe, you won't need to worry about anything anymore."
"I promise to always be by your side, no matter what may try to break us apart"
"I just can't let you be alone again..."