Man is born crying.

When he's cried enough, he dies.

- Ran (Akira Kurosawa)

Cacophony echoes off the walls. It travels down the metallic corridors. I can hear the noises clearly.

Booming. Crackling. Explosions.

Gunshots. Missiles. Mines.

And screaming.

Lots of screaming.

The soldiers are screaming. I recognize their voices. There are some women screaming as well. Some of the scientists were women. I can't pinpoint which scientist it is though. I'm not too familiar with them. They don't speak to us much. They're always behind bulletproof glass.

But a very familiar sound echoes from down the halls.

It's my screaming.

But which me?

I can't be 15… right? Right?

He said he'd be back. He said he was going to distract the red-haired man, and that I needed to wait in this locker because my kneecap got dislocated. I already snapped it back in place. It's kind of swollen, but I can probably move just fine. I really want to go look for him.

Surely… surely he doesn't need help right? I mean, he's really good at fighting. He always beats me, and he's really smart too. The red-haired man can't be better than he is… no. Definitely not. 15's gonna come back, then we're gonna escape together. All seventeen of us. That's what he promised. I'll just have to trust him.

There's so much screaming outside...

It's not gonna be all 17...

The screaming has faded. It's only coming from really far away now. The red-haired man is still alive and he's deep in the bowels of the facility. What happened to 15? I'm going to go find him.

I open the locker door and carefully listen for anybody nearby. There's no noise. It's quiet. Did 15 get lost or something?... no. He's never gotten lost before. Where could he be? The closet he shoved me into is really dark. I step out of the locker and grope for the door. My feet make squelching noises with every step I take. I reach for a doorknob. When I find it, it's covered with something warm and sticky. I freeze before turning the handle and sniff the air. Iron.

It's blood.

The door opens with a creak. Fluorescent white light floods into my field of vision.

Then red fills my vision.

There's red everywhere. Thick, sticky, oozing red. Who's…

Mine.

My blood.

Look, there's 3. He was the punk. He always had a practical joke or a funny prank to play. He was the fun one. We all liked to hang out with him, but only a little. If you stay with him too long, you'll find a raw fish in your underpants or something… we sort of had to take shifts. Heh. Good thing there were 100 of us… no… 16…

That doesn't matter anymore… He's dead. He'll never make anyone laugh again. There's a gash in his throat. Is trachea had been sliced cleanly through. He's staring at me with cold eyes. His blood stains the wall behind him.

Three… he's gone…

I was 6. Now I'm number 5.

Look… it's 10. The snarky one. He does his hair too much. Pissed everyone off because he was such a diva… well we weren't really pissed off. Just a little. He was an okay guy… his head is hanging off his neck. I can see his vertebrae poking out. It's horrible. Horrible. Did the red-haired man do this? I can't believe it. How could he! Even to 10!

My vision is getting a little hazy. I don't know what to think anymore. I'm feeling sick. The light is too bright. I'm getting dizzy. I stumble down the hall and round a corner.

Maybe this is just a nightmare… Please just be a nightmare.

Is that 7 and 2? No No! They died together! 2's arms are holding 7 around the waist. But his head has fallen off. It's on the floor next to where they're sitting. Those two were always best friends… just like me and 15. Where is he?! Why hasn't he come back yet? I need to find him.

"Six… how many..."

Somebody's crying. I hear the sound of someone wailing. Raspy breaths. Despair. Who's crying? What's wrong? What is it?

"Shh…shh… just tell me… who's left?"

I open my eyes and look down. I'm holding myself in my arms - well, he looks just like me. All 100 of us looked the same. But now… now there's only two. Just me and 15… and soon, it'll just be me. I'll be all alone.

I don't want to be alone.

I hug him tightly and rest my cheek against his forehead. His skin is clammy and feverishly hot. He grips my arm weakly - the strength had all but drained from his hands. His breathing is getting slower. His eyes are glazing over. I'm not watching, but I've seen myself die many, many times. I know exactly how it happens. I know what it looks like. I'm…

I'm the one crying.

I sob into his hair. My face is all wet. There's so much liquid in my eyes that I can hardly see. The guys would definitely call me a crybaby for this. I wish they would… I'd gladly be teased for the rest of my life if only they were alive. If only the red-haired man…

"Six?... getta hold…of yourself… where's my leg-... oh… oh shit… "

He's already lost too much blood. The moment I saw him, I knew. The red-haired man had snipped his leg off at the knee. There was nothing to be done. I bandaged it but I didn't cauterize. I don't want 15 to suffer any more than he needs to… oh… but I wish he would stay with me.

Please stay with me… Don't go.

"Six… am I dead?"

15? Die? Impossible. He was the best of us. He was the strongest. He was the fastest. He was a little mischievous, but he was a leader. He cared about us. After we went through another one of the scientists jacked up experiments, even if he was all torn up, he would still go around and try to encourage us. We needed him. Without him, we would have fallen apart a long time ago.

"Six."

He's my best friend. He's my brother. He's me. Ever since we were born, we've been together. He went about doing crazy stuff. I held him back and begged him not to be so daring. He staged a prison break every three weeks. I tended his wounds afterwards. He was a dreamer. He talked big. He said we were gonna get out of here. We were gonna experience the world outside.

"Six… it's cold."

I kissed his forehead. I wonder if he can feel it. I wonder if he's still thinking. He's limp in my arms. His voice is barely audible. So soft that I need to strain my ears to catch his words. I don't know what to say to him. There's nothing to be said. There are no words of encouragement to be offered. There is nothing left. Everyone is gone. Everyone is slain.

"It's dark... I'm... "

The red-haired man. He killed us. He violently ended out miserable lives.

Since the day of our birth, we've suffered brutally at NESTS' hands. Experiment, tests, procedures... it didn't matter what they called it. It was torture. Sometimes, we wouldn't survive the procedures. Each time the scientists thought of something new, sometimes only 10 of us would die. Sometimes twenty. I've seen myself drowned, bisected, dissolved, burned. The sound of my own screaming is the most familiar sound in the world. We suffered without a moment of respite. Now we die brutally by the red-haired man.

"... Six? say... say something."

I hold him closer. What is there to say? Where were our good memories? The moments we should be able to look back on and smile and feel like our lives were complete? There was nothing. Nothing. The only moments of warmth we had were from comforting each other after another torture session. I can't speak. My words are chopped by my sobbing. I don't even try to stop it. Nobody's around to judge me anyways.

"... it's ... too cruel... This world is too cruel for us. I'm sorry... I'm sorry."

I don't know if he heard me.

His grip on my arm slackens, then releases.

His hand falls the the floor with the soft thump.

I crouch there on the facility floor.

I hold on to his cold body.

And I cry.

There's nothing to do but cry.

Iori Yagami storms the Brazilian Nests base to rescue his abusive boyfriend.

Kyo clones are less than happy.

They're actually really unhappy.

T^T