Well, this is a short prequel to ZoE: FoM. There are spoilers for the game, beware.
"Tomorrow will be a brighter day"
Finally, everything was set. His sister was among the Bonaparte III's passengers, the frames were safe in the deck, Lewy would be aboard, too... and Cage didn't suspect anything. Everything was just like another trip on the Bonaparte III...
Ares sighed, tired but satisfied with his job. Anxious with the events to come tomorrow, he sat down and laid on a sofa, as he stared at the wide space that was just a window away from him. The shinning stars made him feel small, even if he was so used to them that he usually paid little to none attention to them. That night, everything was different.
He found it strange to be alone, as he had gotten used to having Cage following him everywhere. Whatever, it was peaceful. Cage wasn't a bad guy, but he could be really dull, heavy and tiring, sometimes. Especially with that lack of self-steem and love for himself that he had, which meant that he, Ares Enduwa for everyone there, would have to go to his rescue every now and then. "It's so proper of a Martian", he thought, bitterly. "He can't do anything on his own, and the others are always to blame for his actions -or lack of actions, which is the same"
But tomorrow... Ahhh, tomorrow...
"Tomorrow will be a brighter day", Ares found himself saying out loudly.
His eyes opened quickly, and he felt cold for a second. That silly, innocent phrase was bringing back to him lots of painful memories, but also the reason that explained why his tomorrow was going to be so special...
"I'm sick of this place", a young light-haired boy said, annoyed.
"Don't use the word sick, or they'll dispose of you sooner", a gorgeous black-haired girl, around twelve-years-old, just like the boy, said quickly. "The least you call their attention, the better"
"I know, but I just want to leave this place"
"That's what we all want here, Vale, so you aren't being original", the girl said, as something that resembled a smile arose in her face.
Vale sighed, hoping that all that torment would end up really soon. A thing that he had been expecting since... he had already lost the count. It could have been weeks, months or even an entire year since the spaceship he had boarded with his parents and his sister had fallen down and they had been captured by a fat, grey-haired Earthian by the name of Dr Zephyrs. He took all the survivors to his Lab, and then he used them as subjects in experiments. He had changed their name to "Subject n something", and did with them what he pleased. He took the children away from their parents, and placed them in a different sector. He had never seen his parents alive again, and he was sure that they were dead by that moment. He had seen them being taken to Zephyrs' Labs, but he had never seen them coming out from them. Now that he thought about it, he had never seen anybody coming out well from that room. He hadn't actually seen anybody that got out from it, but he had heard many hideous things about the consequences of being there. And considering that he didn't have a good time outside, in his room, with all those odd and terrible physical tests and the strange substances that he got injected in his blood, he didn't find those rumors strange or unreal. All the contrary.
"Hey, where's Pharsti?", the girl asked, looking at him concerned with those strange, yet pretty violet eyes she had.
"She's with the youngsters", Vale said proudly, even if he wasn't much older than the young kids he referred to before. "She enjoys her motherly role so much... I think I'll have a tough time in the future with all the guys that will try to get too close to her...", he said.
He stayed silent. Like always, and like everyone who was trapped there, he projected his future outside the hidden Research Complex. There would be a time where everyone would be living their normal lives once again, with their families and friends. And then, the awful truth struck them, one more time. If they were to live outside the complex, they would have to live something different than what their "previous" life was.
The girl touched Vale's shoulder gently. "Don't worry, Vale. Don't let those bad feelings overcome you", she said, as if she knew what he was thinking. Thing that wasn't really difficult in that place, because everyone kept on thinking about their previous lives, their loved ones, and what they would love to do once they were outside. "Tomorrow will be a brighter day", she said, with a sweet smiled in her lips.
Vale stared at her violet eyes, wondering how she did to have a -to him- supernatural strength. "How can you believe in that, Faith?", he asked her, almost crying. It was in times like that when he thought that her name suited her extremelly well.
"Because it's the only thing that we have left here: to believe", the girl said, as a short, dark shadow made her purple eyes darker.
Vale stared at her. "Believe in what?", he asked, angstly. "You may be able to believe... but I can't believe I'll make it here..."
Faith bit her upper lip, trying to find the correct words to encourage his friend. "If you don't concentrate in something else rather than the great life you would have been leading outside if you hadn't been captured, you won't resist this", she said, strongly. "I know this sucks... and that what I'm asking you is difficult to do, but you have to try it. Take a look at Pharsti, for example. She spends most of her time with the little kids, encouraging them and trying to light up their lives in this Hell... I'm not saying that you have to do the same thing she does, but you have to concentrate in something else... while still waiting for the day we'll be free from this place"
Vale sighed. She had a point there.
"Alright, Faith, in what do you have your faith placed on?", he asked, teasing her with her name.
The black haired girl smiled, and her purple eyes shone cheerfully, even in that Hell they had been thrown into. "I try to convince myself that I'll get out of this place, and I'll re-start my ballet classes"
"You did ballet?", the boy asked, puzzled. He should have imagined it. She was so graceful, just like a doll.
"What? Don't I look like someone who can dance?", she asked, doing some ballet positions to answer his question.
She looked lovely. The way she exposed her hands, and how her entire self seemed so light were enough to convince him.
Vale chuckled. "We are both the artistic type, I guess", he said, smiling lightly.
"Really? What are you into?", she asked, enthusiastically.
"I took some piano classes... not much, but well, I can defend myself if I have to play a piano or something like that"
"Wow, you are right", she said, smiling. "We are the artistic type, then... and that gives me an idea!", she exclaimed, happily. "Let's promise each other that, when we get out from here, we'll resume our studies, and, in the future, you'll compose some classic ballad, or something romantic, for me to dance, okay?"
Vale stared at her astonished. "Faith... how can you be like this?"
"I don't know... and it doesn't really matter. Are you going to accept my offer or not?", she asked, impatiently.
Vale smiled gratefully. It was better that than nothing. "Alright... It's a promise", he said, shaking her hand, closing their agreement.
"Cool! I can't wait for that tomorrow to come, now!", she said, stretching her arms.
Vale smiled. "If only I had a small part of the strength and the faith she has...", he wished, silently, as he stared at her stretching, already believing in a miracle, rather than a dream.
Pharsti returned to the big cell that was the teenager's room, followed by several little children. She sat down on her bunk, and the kids sat down on the floor, right under her. Pharsti giggled and hugged them, while caressing their soft hairs and kissing some others. Then, she told them to return to their cell, before the soldiers thought they were gone. She promised them that she would visit them soon.
The kids left happily, as they knew that Pharsti kept her promises.
The other youths in the room smiled, proudly. Pharsti let go a long sigh. "I can't believe it... they'll drag all my energy out. I'm dead tired, and it's not even midday!"
"Do you expect to see a kid tired? Then, you'll have to wait... maybe they'll be a little sleepy at bed-time... or maybe not", Satomi, a Japanese teen teased her, smiling.
"You are doomed, girl", Martina, a brown haired Latin girl said, smiling.
"Well, at least they'll enjoy their time here in a way...", Pharsti said, finally catching up her breathing. "That makes me happy enough to be tired every day"
Vale smiled proudly at his sister. He didn't have that charm with kids... they just seemed to avoid each other. Pharsti, on the other side, was really motherly, at the point that the grown-ups called her "the Pharsti hen and her little chickens" whenever they saw her followed by the kids.
"That's nice... and they know it, and they already acknowledge it to you", Faith added. "Or else, they wouldn't be looking for you everyday"
"Well, at least, they have someone who thinks well about them and loves them", said Sven, a Nordic-look alike boy, even if his family had moved to Mars a long time ago, even before his parents had been born.
Sven had started a tough topic: the "how did you end up here?" one. Even if they already knew it, they had the urge to talk about it, some times.
Derek, a Martian for generations, had been handed out by his family to Zephyrs, just like Sven. Only that Derek didn't want to think about it, while Sven still couldn't forgive his parents for his actions.
"Well... I bet your parents thought you would be much better with someone else rather than with them", Faith started saying, trying to cheer him up.
"No, they did it for the money", the blonde boy replied bitterly. "For the money, and because they wanted to get rid of me, the failure, and stay with my brother, the prodigy", he added.
"Well, my situation was different...", Derek said, sighing. "My parents handed me to them for the money, too, but I also think that they may have thought that I was going to have a future... or that I would die too soon to realize what was going on", the copper haired teenager said, sighing once more. "We were such a huge family... too many mouths to feed, and so little money..."
"Well, since it's the revelation time once more, I'll explain my story, again", Satomi said, cracking her fingers. She was the oldest of the group, being almost 17, while the Shatner siblings and Faith were the younger in that group, being 13. And she had also been at the Labs for the most time among them. How she did to survive, it was a mystery. "I'm an orphan, you see? I was taken into adoption, but instead of meeting my new Mom and Dad, I met Zephyrs and his nurse... and arrived here. I think they didn't adopt me at all, even if I was told another thing. Maybe it was because they received so many new orphans and they needed the space... and maybe I was too old and ugly for some caring family to adopt me, that I was given to this people... I'll never know..."
"But you've been here for quite a while, didn't you?", Martina asked, touched.
"Almost two years... maybe it was because I was too old to be adopted, now that I think about it..."
Martina hugged Faith and said, "Well, Faith and I could be siblings... we were caught on the same bus... we didn't know each other until that day... it was a summer school trip... the bus had an accident. We were hurt, and thought that the ambulances would take us to some Hospital... instead... well, you can easily figure out where we ended up being, can't you?"
Faith looked down, her eyelids hidden the sorrowful look in her eyes. Silently, she played with her distinctive plastic blue bracelet, making it spin around her wrist. It was the only thing she had from her previous life.
"And we", said Vale, grabbing Pharsti's hand. "we have been caught in a spaceship crush... on a suppossed accident. All the survivors have been taken to what we thought would be some Hospital, too... We haven't seen our parents since", he said, coldly.
An uncomfortable silence filled the room. It was tought for all of them.
"I wonder how my kids ended up here", Pharsti finally asked, softly. "But I'll never ask them directly... if they tell me, I'll listen... I just want them to be happy..."
Everyone nodded, in agreement.
"Hey, look at Faith!", Derek exclaimed, excited.
Pharsti, Martina and Satomi rushed to their cell, followed shortly by Sven and Vale, who were outside. The group found the pretty black haired girl dancing, with a piece of cloth -a blanket, most probably- around her waist, resembling a below-the-knee lenght skirt. She was already practicing for the day she would dance with the music composed by Vale.
Vale looked proudly at him, and suddenly felt he had to try harder. Not only for Pharsti's sake, but for Faith's. And for himself.
Faith stopped dancing when she noticed her fellow friends. Embarrassed, she looked down, but it was just a moment. She wasn't a girl to be beaten that soon, not even by becoming embarrassed. After all, she hadn't done anything wrong. "Hi, guys!", she said, panting. "Did you like it?", she asked, smiling.
"It was beautiful", the Japanese girl said, touched.
"It was so ethereal...", Pharsti said, wishing she could do something like that. However, she knew her talent wasn't in the art department, but in the motherly side, as all the little kids could show anyone, as they always followed her everywhere.
The others agreed, nodding and congratulating her for her -until then- hidden talent. Only Vale remained silent, staring at her with a strange smile on his lips.
"Didn't you like it, Vale?", the girl asked, staring at him with her deep, purple eyes.
Vale chuckled. "What can I say? You are not from this world, Faith", he said, touched.
Pharsti stared at his brother surprised. She wasn't used at him saying things like that.
Faith smiled, blushing at that kind of compliment. "I have to say that you are quite original when flattering girls"
Vale chuckled. "I don't think so... I just said the truth"
Martina coughed. "It looks like we have a couple in sight", she teased them, grinning.
Faith chuckled. "It's not like that...".
"So, why were you so interested in listening to his opinion?", Derek asked, mischeviously.
"We have a promise to fulfill in the future, out there, and I'm already getting ready for that", she explained, smiling.
"And it'll be better if I start working on it right now... or I'll ruin your future ballet career if you depend on me for the music", Vale said.
They all heard footsteps coming. They must have been doing much noise without realizing.
"Hell, there they come", Sven said, annoyed. "Let's be silent and obedient again, maybe they'll leave soon if we do that".
And that way, the boys and girls sharing that cell returned to their bunks, hoping that the soldiers would leave soon.
From that day on, Vale concentrated on writing the music in whatever sheet of paper he could find. He also managed to build some sort of electronic keyboard with an old PC, which he got ahold of after convincing a rather friendly guard, who was about to take it to the garbage processing area. Soon, he managed to play a few songs with that rudimentary piano. He started playing most of the functional music that played at the Labs, especially the days when some people were chosen to be part of the experiments.
One of them, a slow, touching ballad, was the first one he could play by heart.
"You are a wiz, kid!", the nice guard complimented him, surprised. "You play it wonderfully! And just by ear!"
The guard couldn't come out from his amazement. He must have thought that all the guys under his care were already handicapped by Zephyrs' experiments, or that they were already disabled.
"Thanks", Vale said, surprised that someone -apart from his friends and fellow "subjects"- recognized a good thing in that place. "By the way, do you know how this piece of music is called?", he inquired, curiously.
The guard rubbed his hair. After some moments, he recalled the name. "It's "Promise of Reunion"", he finally said. "Quite a metaphore, or a cruel irony"
Vale sighed. The guard was right. It was something completely ironic. Such a cruel name to a beautiful song... attached to a wicked event. Because most of the people that left that day, wouldn't come back.
"It's not cynical", Faith protested, after Vale commented her the name of the song. "It's actually a way to enlighten up our spirits, and another proof that we have to believe", she said, determined.
Vale rolled his eyes. "Faith, you can believe in everything, because, from your name to your spirit, you are filled with faith, and not with blood"
"Quite funny", she said, annoyed. "It's not like that. They are trying to calm us down that way, can't you see it?", she asked. As Vale shook his head, she sighed. "Alright... see it that way. We already know we won't see that people again in our lives... in this life, at least. They are telling us that we will be reunited some day... some day, we'll be together again"
Vale thought. He wanted to be together with his family and his friends in this life, not in another.
"I know what you are thinking. But isn't this better, rather than having to think that you won't see anyone loved any more?"
Again, Faith had another point there. Vale sighed, defeated.
Faith smiled triumphally, and her purple eyes shone beautifully. "And... this is another hint that we will fulfill our artistic promise once we get outside of this Hell", she said, smiling. "If we are to be separated, we will find each other someday, again, and I'll dance, while you'll play a proper piano... and we will fulfill both this promise of being reunited again, and the artistic one"
Vale sighed. How could she be so strong and determined?
"Come on... try to think it that way... it helps", she said, softly, staring at him in his eyes.
And Vale couldn't deny anything she asked him, every time she stared at him with those piercing, yet gentle, big, purple eyes.
The days passed, and the youths grew older, knowing little to nothing of their families. Derek had befriended a guard, and from time to time he learnt things from the outside world or from the adults trapped. Few adults remained in the east cells. Derek knew the details, but he kept them for himself. They were too terrible, so he wouldn't tell the others and screw up their lives. He had no one there, and he already knew he was going to die there, so he didn't mind much. He just told Vale, after his persistance, that his parents had both passed away.
There had been a huge fuss in the outside world, in Jupiter. Many kids had been orphaned in Antilia, during a raid. Satomi couldn't help thinking that the orphanages there, and in the surrounding collonies, must have been crowded with new children. She also wondered if there would be another Zephyrs out there, taking children from orphanages to some sinister Lab, in order to make room for the newcomers.
Vale was looking for Faith. He hadn't seen her in the morning, and he was fearing that she had been taked to the Labs, from where she wouldn't return, most likely.
The big cell was deserted. His fellow friends were gone. Hopefully, they would be in another cell. They had to be.
He shrugged, trying to think where his black haired friend could be. He was about to go to the small yard they had to catch some little fresh air, where Pharsti was, along the little kids, when he heard something. He made some efforts, and managed to hear something like a sob.
He started walking along the cell, looking from where it came. He ended up standing in front of the only wardrobe they had.
Softly, he opened the door, intrigued. And, finally, he found Faith, who was hiding there, her head buried in her legs.
He found her crying. "They are all gone. Derek, Martina, Sven, Satomi... they are all gone. They'll come for us next", Faith cried, bitterly. "They've come earlier and took them to that Lab... I've managed to hide, and they didn't notice me, thankfully", she explained, in tears.
It had to be the first time that Vale found Faith crying. And as soft and delicate she always looked, staring at her crying would make the strongest man tremble, touched. Only that the people at Zephyrs' Labs didn't know what mercy and pity meant.
"Faith, you have to be strong... this is not like you!", Vale finally said, staring at her wet violet eyes.
Faith sobbed even more. "I can't take it any longer, Vale!", she protested. "One thing was to be separated from the grown-ups, then we started seeing their corpses, then, they started taking the little ones... we are coming next. And I'm not numbed, after seeing so much death here, but desperate! I thought that I would have followed them obediently when my time came, but now... I don't want to die, Vale, I don't want to!", she said, hiding her head in his thin chest.
The light haired boy hugged her, softly. He thought like her. He didn't want to die. Not there, not that way. He hated the fact of having survived the spaceship crush. He would have given anything to have died at that moment.
Slowly, without really realizing it, he started caressing her soft dark hair. He didn't know what to say, but he started touching that beloved head that had helped him so much before. He felt so small, to not be able to calm her down when she was angsty.
However, she seemed to calm down a bit with Vale's silent support. At least, she stopped sobbing. "There are so many things I want to do outside this place", she finally said, a small smile in her lips. "I want to see all the places I can. I've already been in one place for too long, I want to wander through the Universe, if possible. I want to study, I want to become someone. Who knows? Maybe I could become a lawyer and demand Earth for what has done to me and the others...", she said, chuckling.
Vale couldn't reply. He had a knot in his throat. That girl was just a miracle. Just a few seconds ago, she was crying, desperately. Now, she was making plans for an improbable future.
"And I want you to come with me", she added, staring at his eyes. "We've been together in the bad moments, so I want to share the good ones with you, too"
Vale nodded, silently. He wasn't going to loose track on that girl, never in his life.
Once more, Vale found Faith crying, hidden in the wardrobe. This was getting more and more frequent since most of their friends were gone. Vale grabbed her hand and pulled her out from there, bringing her to the light.
He stared at her, worried. This was not the Faith he once knew. She was cracking, she was letting them to defeat her. The real Faith wouldn't have allowed that.
She stared at him with her wet eyes, defiantly. She didn't like him that he stared at her with pity. "Stop looking at me like that!", she finally protested. "I don't need your pity... as you don't need mine", she said, between sobs.
"It's not pity... It's just that I'm surprised with your current behavior... you weren't like this..."
Faith bit her upper lip. "Vale... I can't go on with this hopeful facade anymore... I mean, I can, but sometimes I'm too tired to go on with it... I'm hopeless. I know that we won't fulfill our promises. I know I'll never get to dance ballet again in my life. I know I won't get out from this place alive... All my dreams will vanish the day I'll be taken to the main Lab..."
Vale hugged her, trying to be strong for both of them. She laid her head over his shoulder. "You were right from the beginning... You showed your disgust from the very first day I met you... I made up a story and tried to cling to it, wishing that it would come true in the future. No, I didn't wish. I hoped, I believed it would become reality. Now, I don't know... or I don't really want to admit that it will not happen"
She sighed, before talking again. "And you... you too, Vale, you too had been trying to prove yourself to be stronger than what you really are. At least, you try to convince Pharsti that you are in a better state than the one you really are. I've seen you several times rubbing your stomach, while you've given her part of your food to her after saying that you were already stuffed, when we all knew that couldn't be, with the... horrible stuff we are given. I've seen you smiling at her so she would calm down, while your fists were tight and tense. I know you... you know me... we are in the same boat"
Vale sighed. There was nothing he could do to hide his feelings from Faith. She now knew him really well, and listening to her description was like watching at his own reflection on a mirror. He, on the other hand, didn't manage to catch her despair. He thought that she was stronger, or just out of that world, with her odd yet positive phylosophy. Now, he also knew her crystal clear.
Faith looked to him, determined. "I just have to ask you one thing", she asked, slightly embarrassed. "Please, when you think about me in the future, recall me strong and positive. That's how I want you to remember me. This is just a temporary depressive outburst, at least I hope it is. Please, remember me strong, Vale"
As a reply, he hugged her tighter, as if he could protect her from anything that way.
In just then, in all her despair, she managed to whisper, "Don't worry, Vale... Tomorrow it'll be a brighter day"
Vale had to close his eyes too tightly to repress his tears.
That evening, Vale was feeling uneasy, as if he was expecting something bad to happen.
He was alone, in his cell-like room, laying on his bed, trying to take a nap. Pharsti was in another cell with the little kids, trying to enlighten their poor spirits, telling them stories and making up games and stories for them. Some of the other teens were with her, and some others had been taken with the guards.
He tried not to think what was happenning to them at that moment, but he couldn't help it. It always happenned to him, to try to imagine what was going on in the Labs while the others waited.
He tried to set his thoughts in something else, in something more productive. He was wasting his time, and he was hurting himself, all in one.
Just then, he heard the sound of a door opening, and some wheels along the corridor. That meant that the Lab practices had to be over. Curiously, he got out from his bed, and approached the cell, having nothing better to do.
He saw the guards carrying a stretcher, with a body covered with a white blanket.
"One less", Vale thought bitterly, as they walked next to his jail room. He was used to that, to the continuous parade of death bodies being carried to who knew what place. It was as if they did it on purpose, carrying the bodies in front of the still alive ones.
However, this time, his blood froze, and his eyes opened wide.
Clinging from the litter, a delicate hand hung, and he managed to see a plastic blue bracelet hanging from that hand.
A blue bracelet.
"Faith...", he mumbled, terrified.
He hadn't seen her around in the last hours. She was the only one wearing a blue bracelet. And the surviving test subjects were fewer and fewer each day. It had to be her the one that was covered by a white blanket.
He followed the guards with his sight, until they turned in a corner and dissappeared, taking Faith with them forever. It was then when he "awoke" from that spell and turned back, looking desperately for her among the survivors. He didn't find her, as he expected. Her things were still in her place, just as she had left them. He checked inside their wardrobe, but she wasn't there.
Vale sat down on her bed, still warm. His fists tightened, his hole body filled with rage. He couldn't move, and what was worse, he couldn't cry. He couldn't say a word. He just stared there, sitting on his beloved friend's bed, hoping that it was just a misunderstanding. She could have given her blue bracelet to someone else. He waited for her to come. He still hoped that she was somewhere else, but alive.
However, she didn't return.
Just a few days took the guards to pick Vale and Pharsti for a new round of experiments, this time at the main Lab, from almost no one came back alive, and from where no one returned sane. The siblings tried to oppose at first, but after a few hits from the guards, they knew they wouldn't resist much, and followed them obediently.
"So this are the siblings, uh?", Dr Zephyrs asked, once he got into the Lab, after his test subjects had been prepared for the intervention.
"Yeah, the Shatner siblings, a boy and a girl", a nurse said, uninterested. "They are the same age"
"Good, maybe that will come in handy for the outcome of the experiment", the doctor said, checking their faces.
Vale controlled himself and didn't spit that ugly, disgusting man on the face, as he would have wanted to do. Instead, he studied him well. If he was going to get out alive and sane from that Lab, and if he was going to survive, he was going to track him down and give him his deserved punishment.
"So we have a tough guy here, uh?", Zephyrs asked, as Vale didn't lower his head under his gaze, but the contrary. "You'll learn to be obedient... if you survive from this, you know"
Pharsti sobbed, angstly, and afraid at that threatening tone of voice.
"Sis, calm down, everything will be alright", Vale whispered to her, sweetly.
Pharsti stopped sobbing, but she wasn't as positive as he was.
"Well, give them the anesthesia, I'm eager to begin", the doctor said, in a hurry.
Vale tried to keep himself awake, but it was impossible. As he was falling asleep, he wondered if he would be reunited with his family and with Faith in little time.
He saw a bright light. Maybe he was dead, finally. He was too confused, his head hurt him. He started looking desperately for a familiar face, for some known sound. Everything was silent. He started wondering if he had passed out during the surgery. He was starting to feel relieved when he noticed the lights... they had to be from the operating room.
He had survived, apparently.
He tried moving his head, but he could only do it slowly, as everything spinned around him. It was a hurtful feeling. His head itched and hurt. Slowly, he managed to move his head to where Pharsti was before he lost his consciousness.
He found her looking at him, with some despair in her eyes.
He sighed. They had both survived.
Pharsti was fine, looking puzzled as well. Vale sighed relieved. At least, they were together.
He felt very dizzy, and the world spinned at his eyes again, confusing him even more. Apparently, he was still at the operating theater, shortly after whatever they had done to them.
He managed to see Zephyrs smiling, cracking his hands. "It's been a success!", he said, satisfied.
"Maybe the fact that they are siblings had some effect, after all", the nurse said, approvingly.
"We've never got this result... it's awesome!", Zephyrs said, excited. "We'll let them rest for a while, then we'll see if we got some real results or not", he said, washing his hands before leaving the theater.
Vale moaned. His head hurted, and he was dissappointed at everything. There was more to come, still? Wasn't that enough?
He didn't know why they were taking them from their cells this time, but they had no other thing to do but to obey the orders given to them.
They had been taken to a new Lab, where some giant structures stood. They look humanoid, but they were giant. On the other hand, they were just skeletons of a bigger machine to come.
A cold chill run through Vale's spine. He didn't want to be there.
"Alright, 478, get into that cockpit", Zephyrs ordered, anxiously.
Vale stood on his place, determined to not do anything he was told.
"Oh, so you are a cocky one, aren't you?", Zephyrs asked, sarcastically. "I'll show you who's the boss here, and who was to obey, no matter what", he said, picking a strange device from his lab coat pocket. Then, he touched something there, and a strange sound appeared.
The chilling sound filled Vale's head. It hurt. Slowly, he felt as his energy left him. His pupils dilated.
"Now, get into that cockpit, 478", Zephyrs repeated.
This time, he did what he was told. He just moved because he had been told to move, not because he wanted it. Once in the cockpit, he felt like a synergy with the strange material found in the cockpit.
A bright light started shinning. He could feel as if that material -Metatron, he would later know that name- flew along his body.
"It's a success, a real success!!!", Zephyrs exclaimed, excited. "This is what I've been looking for my entire life, this... this is a great day in History, even if it's just a couple of people who know this!"
After some time, he was ordered to get down from the cockpit. Zephyrs touched his device once more.
Vale started feeling himself again, but he felt very weak and fainted.
Shortly after his experiment, the siblings were taken to another room, filled with suppossed garbage. This time, the one who had to be tested was Pharsti.
Ares remained in a room next to the one Pharsti was, with Zephyrs and his assistants. From there, Zephyrs ordered Pharsti to burn everything in the room, using the OF prototype.
Pharsti started crying, shouting that she couldn't do such a thing.
Zephyrs took his device from his pocket, again, and the sound filled the other room. Vale saw how his sister's pupils dilated, and soon, she looked more like a robot than a human being.
Terrified, he saw the light surrounding the prototype, and his sister doing what she had been order before. The entire room set up on flames.
Zephyrs laughed like a madman. "She hasn't the same levels that her brother, but this is awesome, nonetheless! I've been able to perfect the human species! I'm a genius!", he started praising himself.
Soon, his assistants stopped the fire, and Zephyrs asked Myona to get out from the frame. Once outside it, he touched his device once again, and Pharsti regained control of herself, but like Vale did before her, she fainted.
Vale hugged his sister before she fall, and cried bitterly over her unconscious body.
Many other rounds of experimentation followed those traumatic ones. Vale showed better results than his sister. Other kids couldn't resist them, or died during surgery. The siblings found their parents, after a long time, but what they found was traumatic. There were no real traces of their parents, just parts of them. They had gone under several experiments, and while they kept on living, they weren't themselves anymore. Many cruel things had been done to them. Vale, at heart, was thankful that Derek had told them that they had been dead for a long while before, as those who found where his parents' remnants. However, he would have liked them to die before, so they would have suffered less. Eventually, they died. Only that Vale and Pharsti thought that they should have all died in the spaceship crush.
Their friends were dead from a long time ago. The little kids followed the grown-ups.
Vale wondered why did he survive. He thought about it, but he could never find an answer. Faith deserved to be alive, but considering what he was going through, it was a blessing that she had stopped breathing a good while ago.
His parents suffered a terrible agony. Who knew how much time they were in that cruel state they were when they found them? Months? Maybe years? His heart was filling up with hatred, but he couldn't do anything against Zephyrs. The old man had programmed him and Pharsti well, in a way that they couldn't rebel against him, and could only do whatever he wished. They were just puppets, once the horrible chilling sound appeared.
He tried to cheer his sister up. Pharsti had a slightly better time than what he did. He tried to fill her head with good, possitive things. And in those times, he couldn't help but recalling Faith, who had guessed that aspect of his personality. He had to recall her possitive energy, her liking for life, her hope in the future...
He sighed. He needed her, or someone like her, desperately.
But no one came to his rescue.
After many rounds of experiments and hyperalignement, the Shatner siblings were exhausted. Each time, it took it more and more time to recover from a round of experiments. Zephyrs was thinking of getting rid of him and trying to do some new research with new people, but Earth was getting more and more eager of results. Of real results. Zephyrs project was starting to be more troublesome than what it was worth. Especially if only subject 478 -Vale- showed good results in any machine. This couldn't happen to him now, now that he was so close to being able to produce a version of the MindFlow System that could be used in any human, not only on the enhanced ones.
One day, while the siblings were trying to have some rest, but their minds were too troubled to actually catch some sleep, Dr Harris, Zephyrs' assistant, appeared in their cell. With a strange smile, he told them to pick their few things and follow him. He took them to some hangar, and asked them to get into a LEV, as they were going to be transferred to another facility. The kids just did as he said, resigned. They couldn't question anything, because they had never received any kind of answer. They just obbeyed, hyperaligned or not.
They slept through the ride, and when they awoke, they found themselves in a room in another complex. Pharsti stared scared at his brother, but he hugged her, trying to calm her down.
Facing them, Dr Harris and two other people were standing. One was a tiny, teen-alike red haired girl with yellowish eyes. The other was a man in his twenties, with a reptilian face.
"Hi, I'm Lance Jimmer", the raptor-like faced man introduced himself. "We can help you to avenge all your beloved ones killed at those Labs"
The offer was just too tempting to be refused.
Some long months passed since Pharsti and Vale were recluted to be part of BAHRAM by Jimmer. They got new names and new lives, but the pain was still in its place. They did some research, and found out that an Earthian ship, the Bonaparte III, was smuggling items to Mars for Zephyrs. It's been decided that Vale was going to get there as an infiltrator. And after that, a plan was made to avenge their pain and punish Zephyrs in the same move.
The following day, Vale was anxious. He recalled Faith's death several times, and that made him uneasy. It helped him to not give up on his revenge, on one hand, but on the other, it was just a torture.
He checked everything once more. He bid Pharsti goodbye the previous night, and now he saw her as she was waiting to get into the Bonaparte III, in the check-in area. The entire Spaceport was a mess, there was so many people. It even looked as if there had been more people than always, but that couldn't be, it was a normal day. It was just his mind playing tricks with him.
He started walking his way to the Bonaparte III, among that sea of people, with his mind somewhere else. However, distracted as he was, he couldn't help listening to some good-byes.
A couple kissed by his side. A lone man checked his passport. A group of girls took photos, smiling broadly at the camera.
"Oh, don't look that sad, I'm not going to die! I'll be back in a couple of weeks!"
"Come on, Tommy, wave goodbye to Mum", a man said, holding a little boy in his arms.
The kid did as he was told, looking for his mother with his eyes, anxiously.
The mother waved at them back, teary eyed. "I'll try to return as soon as I can!", she shouted back, anxiously, throwing kisses to her baby.
"Mom, I'll be alright!", the light-blue haired teenager protested, under her mother's hug.
"I know, dear, but... I don't know, I feel bad about leaving you behind while your father and I go on a business trip", her mother replied back. "I've never left you behind before"
"But I'll be fine! I've already told you!", the girl said, smiling. "I'm not a kid anymore... and you don't need to carry me with you anymore!"
"She's right, you are making too much fuss", her husband said, in behalf of his daughter. "Besides, it's a few days trip"
"The last one", his wife replied. "I'm also sick of this continuous trips, even if we can get way too many traveller's miles to enjoy some great holidays later"
"I want you to come back in one piece!", the tall, well-built teenager said to his thinner sister, who sighed at that comment.
"Stop nagging me, Alen! You are worst than Dad!", the girl replied, annoyed. "Now, kiss me goodbye and don't bug me!"
The boy did as she said, also sighing. "Alright... it's just that I want you back for my next tournament... I'll rock it there!"
"You bet I'll be there!", she said, winking at him before leaving.
Many other noises and good-byes resounded in Vale's head. Kisses, cries, wavings... people shouting each other's names... he barely noticed them. He walked among the people without noticing them, heading to the Bonaparte III. Close to the personel deck, Cage was already waiting for him.
"Oh, here you are, Ares!", the blue haired boy exclaimed, relieved. "I was looking for you!"
"You always are", Vale thougth bitterly, yet he smiled at the boy and asked, "What's the problem, this time?"
"Oh, the luggages!", Cage said, confused. "I have a lady that says that she needs to travel with her parrot, while I have already told her several times that she has to leave it on the deck. She doesn't listen to me at all!"
Ares sighed. "Alright, I'll go with you", he said, following Cage to where the annoying lady was.
"Tomorrow will be a brighter day"... Faith's voice filled Vale's head.
He nodded at that. "Surely, it'll be a much better day", he thought, relieved.
The End
Notes: I was trying to write something short, with a conciser style than Countdown, where I find myself writing neverending paragraphs and scenes. On the other hand, it's like a small gift for taking so long to go on with Countdown, for those who cared. Finally, it's a small "add-on" for what's to come in Countdown.
I hope you enjoyed it... Personally, I'm quite happy with the outcome.