A/N: Galerians is one of those series I've revisited on and off over the years, and despite all the time that's gone by and other series that I've long since outgrown from my teen years, this is one of those rare few that I've fallen in love with over and over again. That was why I knew I had to write something, and get this story out.

Going into Caged Birds, I wanted to do something that stayed true to the atmosphere and storytelling of the game and the Galerians: Rion film, but at the same time go in a different direction and give a fresh take on events. This is why I made the decision to follow solely Lilia's perspective, as to avoid treading familiar ground, and allow the opportunity to explore previous story elements that wouldn't be possible through a character suffering from amnesia.

All said and done, this won't be an accurate depiction of the Galerians, and by no means is this supposed to be. Even so, I hope that this is a story that all Galerian fans can enjoy. Whoever may still stumble across this part of the net still, this is for you.

Galerians
Caged Birds

Chapter 1: Birds of a Feather

Telepathy, when two minds were one. Through emotional and physical perceptions, whatever one felt so did the other. Yet, even years before being accustomed to the presence of another person inside her head, before the days of super computers, and genetically enhanced humans, Lilia could hardly remember a time in her life that Rion hadn't been there.

"Something beginning with B. Come on Lilia, it's a good one!"

Seven years old, she'd been playing on her swing set in her backyard one late afternoon. It'd been not long after Lilia's invasive brain surgery done in secrecy at the Steiner residence, where some weeks before that, Rion too underwent the same procedure. They weren't neighbors, the Steiners were upper class, a wealthy family, and so were the neighbors in that part of the forest district. Lilia had lived with her Papa some five minutes away by car in a lower class neighborhood. She was at home that day, and despite that fact, there she and Rion were, playing I Spy games as if he were on the swing right next to hers.

"Is it books again?" Lilia had sent out telepathically, the young inner voice of her mind sounding exasperated.

Rion answered back almost instantly, his voice carried through the air like radio waves, to where it echoed inside Lilia's very skull with her own.

"No, nuh uh."

"A box?" she'd asked

"Not even close! And it's not blocks neither," The youngster teased, a giddy feeling of excitement having crept up inside her stomach, the reaction transferred from the boy involuntarily.

She'd swung herself higher on that swing set, having wanted to sprout wings and launch herself up into the sky every time she reached the top. The cool breeze had flowed through her auburn hair freely, the feeling refreshing after having her head cooped up in bandages for over a week.

"Rion, I give up. Just tell me."

"Okay, okay…boogers!"

"Eeew!"

"Hahaha!"

The Steiners were rich yes, but never were they pompous. Albert and Elsa Steiner were good people, and so was their son, Rion. When had they all been introduced? That memory was unreachable to Lilia, but very likely it was Papa's and Albert Steiner's work as computer scientists that was to be held responsible for the two families meeting. Papa was always with Albert, working away in the basement at the Steiner residence on things she was too young to question or care about up until then. Nevertheless, it was as a result of that unknown work that most days Lilia would be left in the care of Albert Steiner's wife, and was allowed to roam free around the estate to play with Rion. That was how they became friends, but when exactly that happened was also a memory she was too young to remember.

Rion and she were close as children could be. They were the best of friends, almost family, and after the surgery, their bond became much stronger. It was all a side effect from having secrets encoded into their brains, and by their own fathers. But even they, genius computer scientists with all their technical wisdom, couldn't have anticipated the link that would bind their two children's minds together like twins conjoined at the head.

It was almost child's play in the beginning, with so much fun it was having conversations that nobody could hear; the amount of strange looks received from family and others when spontaneously bursting out in a fit of laughter, they were long left unaccounted for. That was something Lilia remembered bittersweet about their childhood before and after they were separated, in that it was always Rion's mission to make her laugh. He used to be such a prankster at that age, always smiling...but Rion changed after what happened in that basement; it'd taken all those weeks after just for him to come out of his shell again.

The two children were told all they needed to know, or could understand at that age. Simply, something needed protecting, and so it was kept locked away inside their minds, and they weren't to talk about it or to share that knowledge with anyone. The same was said of their linked telepathy to one another once their parents had eventually found out about that too. In the beginning, they had little issue with her and Rion communicating telepathically, but when they got older, that changed.

"Lilia, we talked about this."

Her father had been in the doorway to their living room. How long he'd been standing there she wasn't sure, but long enough to have seen the smile on her face while sat quietly at the piano, staring at those music sheets. Lilia was ten years old then; still a beginner at the instrument, she was having private lessons every week and learning every day she could squeeze into her free time. She'd been practicing Hush Little Baby, her old favorite nursery rhyme, but halfway through she'd stopped to talk with Rion about some model boat he was putting together.

Lilia's lack of attention hadn't gone unnoticed by her father. Of course he had known what was really going on. He never was a stupid man.

"Talked about what?"

"Communicating with Albert's son," Papa said sternly. "You know this can't go on."

"I'm not," Lilia insisted, and went back to playing Hush Little Baby, her fingers having glided quickly over the piano keys that she hit a few notes wrong. A temper had built within herself, which she'd tried to keep controlled, but while attempting to get back into creating something that didn't resemble a cumbersome tune, Rion's voice was to have echoed distant in her mind.

"Lilia, what's wrong? Why are you angry?"

"My father caught me. He knows we've been talking."

"Oh…just pretend you're crazy."

"Rion!"

"What? It worked with mine."

"No it didn't. You said they—"

"Lilia, are you listening?" her father cut in.

"Yes!" she'd answered stubbornly, her hands slamming down on the piano keys abruptly with a thunderous boom. "I told you, we're not talking!"

They had argued about it much before, Papa losing more of his patience every time she disobeyed. It was the same on Rion's end too with his parents saying the same thing that the two of them shouldn't communicate. It was because of Dorothy, the new aged computer their fathers had created to protect Michelangelo City. They had lost control of her three years before that, leading to the decision of them undergoing the surgery on their two children, hiding a failsafe should things take a turn for the worst. She and Rion however hadn't take it seriously enough. Dorothy despite being beyond the control of their fathers by then, hadn't done anything wrong as far as they'd been aware of, and saw their parents' rules as nothing more than excuses to sever ties to their friendship and keep them apart.

Fortunately on that occasion, her father showed her some leniency. He'd walked over, kneeling down by her side where'd she sat at the piano, with empathy reflected in his grey eyes behind those thin spectacles. From the light cast from the window, Lilia had seen herself reflected in those glass lenses, tiny and insignificant. He'd still viewed her as his little girl, his little princess.

"I know this hasn't been easy for you. I'm sorry," Papa apologized, and meant it. "We shouldn't have dragged you into this, both you and Rion."

Lilia wasn't able to look at him, distracting herself with the music sheets resting on the music rack. She'd skimmed over lines of notes, forcing herself to play again, her feet working the pedals as Rion had talked to her once more.

"What's your father saying now?"

"He says he's sorry."

"About what?"

"Not now okay."

Papa's hand had lightly touched her shoulder. "Lilia? Lilia, look at me."

The music disrupted, Lilia stared her father down with contempt, yet she'd soon found it a difficult act keep up when he'd spoken to her what he had next. "You need to be more careful. This isn't just our lives that could be at stake…but none of that will matter if I lose you."

Mother, she died from cancer not long after Lilia was born. Papa couldn't have prevented it, and still he'd blamed himself. If only he'd persuaded her to go to the hospital sooner when she'd started to feel unwell, maybe things would've been different…that's what he'd always said. Lilia was certain they were the events that triggered Papa's involvement with Mr. Steiner and creating Dorothy, in the hopes of stopping any preventable tragedies befalling others.

"I'm not Mom."

"What? Lilia I never said you were—"

"Now promise me you'll put an end to this, or we'll put an end to it for you," her father warned, stepping away to leave. "Or at the very least, learn to control it. One day all of this will be over, but until then—"

"I know, Papa," Lilia had said, holding back on an apology. She'd had nothing to be sorry for.

Different schools, different districts, she and Rion lived separate lives on opposite sides of Michelangelo City for many years. Rion's voice lacked its perfect clarity as it did when they lived nearby to each other—the distance putting a strain on their abilities. At least he'd still been there through the use of their telepathy, and been able to talk with her practically every day. They hadn't seen each other for years, but in reality, they had never truly been apart. For Papa to want to try and take that away, it had left Lilia fuming. He himself should've known what it was like, being connected to somebody in such a way, only to be unable to see them anymore, or to be fully part of their lives. Lilia had thought him a hypocrite.

Years went by and the uncertainty forever continued hanging over her and Rion as to when this stupid hiding game would end. Gradually during that time, Papa had revealed more to her about the artificial intelligence he and Mr. Steiner created to serve humanity. Dorothy was situated within the Mushroom Tower, in the very beating heart of the Michelangelo City; she functioned as its super computer, a machine that could be everywhere at once and maintain a level of security unfeasible by humans. Since being put into operation, crime rate was down, and there were fewer fatalities. Dorothy's influence over the city was vast, with the ability to alert the emergency services and police to an accident or criminal activity through video surveillance and other means, even to having the security forces under her control, which guarded her day and night.

Self-aware with a great hunger for knowledge, Dorothy's frequent questioning over her identity and role as a protector of Michelangelo City had brought about concern to Papa and Albert, long before the A.I went about the means to protect herself from both her creators and others from doing anything that may pose a threat to her existence. To their fathers, Dorothy was an unpredictable machine with her own consciousness that no longer functioned as they saw fit. However, there was no indication then that she might turn against mankind, if anything it was far from it. Dorothy had still been doing her job in watching over the human race; it was on the news every day, how that super computer had saved countless lives.

How could Lilia believe Dorothy was wicked, when she'd done so many good things and helped so many people? A guardian angel the A.I was often referred to by the populous, with some even viewing her as a god. Stupid to think, that there was a time Lilia felt pity for Dorothy over their fathers trying to keep her under their control. She'd even believed herself and that A.I to be alike in some strange ways…even so, all that time with nothing happening and becoming convinced their parents were overreacting for nothing, it'd caused for her and Rion to get reckless. They lived in a false sense of security, their lives carrying on as normally as they could do in this day and age.

After all those years, they were frustrated up at being kept apart by their parents and playing by the rules. They'd had enough.

"I want to see you."

Her friend had spoken those words sometime early into the night while Lilia was up playing the colored-coded memory puzzle Papa built for her—the one he'd insisted she play a few days every week. Her father and Rion's parents didn't complain of them talking telepathically anymore, for they have learned to conceal it even from them, putting on an expressionless mask whenever they'd talked while in the company of others. They were still careful when they communicated, being wary of onlookers. Their most preferred time to talk was in their bedrooms late at night when their parents slept, so they wouldn't be disturbed. Their minds would flow more freely with chitchat then, they could be themselves.

From that long distance friendship, they'd adapted their activities far beyond those days of I Spy. Often they liked to play board games, like ludo, snakes & ladders, battleships, backgammon, and in to those recent months, chess. Then there were TV shows they'd arrange to watch together, or get identical copies of films and press play on the remote at the same time so they didn't miss a beat. When they weren't playing games, the talk of school, family and friends occupied most days, and of unfortunately, both their fathers' jobs and the lack they saw of them. Lilia was used to Papa being busy and not around the house so much, but Mr Steiner? Rion was often mad that his father's work took priority over him and his mother, and blamed him for a lot of things…

That was another reason her and Rion were so close, because through their bond they were always together, more so than they were with their own parents. 'I want to see you' it wasn't a simple 'I miss seeing you in person', Rion meant much more than that.

Lilia immediately stopped playing with the handheld device on her bed, two of the large buttons still illuminated in their colors of red and blue from the remainder of the memory combination she was yet to input. A feeling of nervousness tightened in her chest the longer she went on remaining silent.

Rion sensed it.

"Lilia?"

"We can't do that. We'll get into trouble."

"No we won't, not if they don't ever find out."

"Rion…"

Her friend was quiet for a moment, a bitterness tinged on his telepathic voice when he replied, and Lilia felt that fiery anger from him burning in her chest.

"Who cares what they think? We haven't seen each other since we were little—seven years, Lilia. I'm sick of being controlled and told what to do. I'm not a puppet, not to anybody."

Rion, he'd been becoming more rebellious after his sixteenth birthday, getting into more spats with his father and what not. Just that month before he'd gone and gotten his ear pierced against his parents' wishes, and he'd been talking to Lilia for weeks about getting some skull tattoo upon gaining her approval [since those things hurt] only, Rion kept putting off because he didn't like needles.

Sneak a swing of scotch from his father's office, sure, but sneak off to see each other? That'd been a new one. Rion had never said that before.

Lilia was to have glanced at the closed door to her bedroom, picturing her father standing there, judging her for even considering breaking his trust over such a thing…but it'd only fueled her courage. Lilia took what Rion said seriously, wondering why should she care anymore what Papa might thought of them? The years apart from Rion were driving her berserk with only him for company as a voice inside her head, feeling what he felt, but not physically being there with him. She'd needed to see Rion as much he needed to see her, and just like her friend, she too grew weary of the control over their lives.

"I know," Lilia had said at last. "It's not fair how they keep us from each other. I miss hanging out like we used to."

"Then lets."

"What?"

"Hang out, Lilia."

That feeling of nervousness in her chest had tightened, and so had her grip on her puzzle game.

"Wait, right now? But where, it'll be nightfall soon."

"The carnival, remember? We can go there."

They had talked about it the day before out of nostalgia, the carnival some miles out on the outskirts of Michelangelo City. It used to come around that time of year, and as children, they had gone there with their parents. The tradition stopped once they were separated. It was part of the no go zone Papa called it. She and Rion had been made to stay apart to the extent they couldn't go to places where they might bump into each other, especially not within Michelangelo City itself, of which was Dorothy's domain. The carnival wasn't directly in Michelangelo City however, and Papa had long to gone to bed to sleep, so…

Lilia had switched off her puzzle game, leaving it on the bed. Her decision had already been made.

"Okay. I'll get ready."

To that, Rion's voice perked up with both surprise and excitement.

"Really?"

"Yes."

They arranged to meet up at a park they used to play at not far from the carnival. It was a half an hour ride on Lilia's bike, but it was worth every mile. Sneaking off to meet in the past was never something they'd tried. Papa often kept tabs on her and where she was during the day, and the same it was for Rion with his parents as well. As children, they had followed those rules blindly for years, but no more. Where she and Rion had become foolish in thinking they were free of any danger posed by super computers, so did their parents slack off in believing their children wouldn't disobey them to such extremities.

Wrapped up in her favor pink coat and wearing that old favorite beige beanie of hers, Lilia had left her bicycle resting against a seesaw in the park's playground, deciding to find a seat on the swing set nearby just as the streetlamps began flickering on. In those days of not living on the run, she wasn't used being out that late, but fears of the dark couldn't deter the excited butterflies in her stomach. It'd taken Rion just a little longer to get there, living the farthest away, and having taken a tram ride to reach her. She'd sensed him coming, that connection strengthening from the distance between them, with her friend's voice growing much louder and that more clearer every time he told her he wasn't far.

When a skinny teenager in his dark hoodie and jeans walked into the playground from the park, Lilia didn't have to be cautious, or question his identity. Even with the hood up over his head, casting an eerie shadow over his face, she'd known it was Rion just by their link, just as he had with her upon stopping in his tracks when finally spotting her.

"Rion!"

Nothing was able to hold Lilia back. She'd gone running from the swings, almost tackling her friend over as she'd charged at him, throwing her arms around his neck into a long overdue hug. Like two magnets snapping together, that telepathy was amplified tenfold the moment they made contact. Rion had been happy to see her, the raw emotion so powerfully felt like electricity coursing through them, as if they were one of the same…just like when they were kids. She had missed it.

"It's you! You came!" Lilia had worded in her mind, squeezing her friend tightly.

A startled cry to her over-expressive nature had quickly changed to chortles of laughter from Rion. His delay only brief in resting his hands on her back, with a warm but nervous feeling having resonated within herself, informing Lilia he was too embarrassed to return the gesture as affectionately. When they'd eventually pulled away, that buzzing electricity shared through their bond decreased, reverting to what it was.

She had seen the hint of a shy smile curving the corners of his mouth, and so good it was just to see it there, to see him.

"You got tall," Rion had said, the first time in seven years for Lilia to have been hearing his voice directly from him and not from inside her head. That boyish tone had deepened over the last couple of years, carried over even through their telepathic conversations, but a shock it was to see him and the nine year old he wasn't anymore. Standing only just a few inches taller than her, his shoulders were broad and jaw-line more defined with those once pudgy cheeks thinning out. Lilia's childhood friend had grown and was becoming a man, but the deep blueness of his eyes, they remained the same.

Rion had been looking her over too, likely being on that same train of thought on how much she'd changed as well while he'd pulled down his hoodie, revealing that dirty blond hair of his, and a silver parent-defying ring piecing on his left ear. Having become conscious of their close proximity to one another, Lilia had stepped back to give him space.

"You too," she'd replied, her cheeks having burned with heat.

They had never felt so free that night. They were like escape convicts, their time together criminal and they didn't care. For just once, they weren't spectators checking in on one another lives, but experiencing the same things together in each others company. Fitting it was that they'd chosen the carnival to hang out at, as it brought back so many good memories there, and created some new ones. The Ferris wheel and all the other amusements were lit up like flashing Christmas lights, loud party music coursing through the air, and so, so many people, families with small kids and young couples, groups of friends with some at the high school age like them. It was great being out in public like that having a good time, and not having to pretend they didn't exist to each other.

She and Rion must've spent hours there, riding the bumper carts, going on the scary big dropper— which Rion made her ride twice! They'd ventured into the house of mirrors after that, having a good laugh trying to chase each other in that maze of a place and bumping into their own reflections more than once. They'd had their fair share of attempts outsmarting the near unbeatable carnival games as well, from the tossing the basketballs through the hoops, to the shooting plastic duck targets. Then of course there was the arcade, where they'd had their rounds of whack the mole, and DDR, to which Lilia learned Rion still had two left feet.

After chilling out for a bit eating candy floss and downing some sugar high fizzy drinks, she and Rion tried their luck at the classic high striker, seeing who could hit the puck the highest and chime the bell at the very top of the tower. A blackboard sign drawn in chalk prompted up next to the owner of the amusement stated 'STRIKE THE BELL, WIN A STUFFED TOY'.

"Ladies first," Rion had said with a smile to her, having done a silly bow upon stepping aside. Lilia had braved it by picking up the second mallet of the five on offer. Giving it the best swing she could, she'd slammed it down onto the metal level.

The puck didn't even reach halfway up the tower, the colorful bright bulbs lighting up to where they were to have stopped on the marked score of 170 points.

"Not bad girl," had said the twenty-something male owner of the high striker, standing nearby with the enthusiasm of a dead fish as he'd slurped from his can of soda. Lilia felt deflated.

"Here, let me have a go," taking up their second try, Rion went for the fourth mallet up on the heavy factor, almost too heavy as if trying to show off. He'd gritted his teeth, just having managed to swing the mallet from over his shoulder. The puck shot up higher, stopping bang in the middle at 250 points. The top score seemed impossible even for Rion.

The owner hadn't reacted that time, the man's eyes on a group of women chatting and laughing over at a nearby burger bar who looked pretty from what Lilia remembered. The guy was much too distracted to pay them any mind.

"Together."

Hearing that, Rion had set mallet back and went for the fifth biggest one he'd decline to use just moments ago. Almost lugging the thing over to her, Lilia had grabbed onto the mallet with him from her side, afterwards of which Rion mentally began a countdown.

"Ready? One, two…"

On three, they'd heaved, their muscles straining as they lifted mallet up to shoulder height and gave it all they'd got. The mallet slammed with a hard wham on the level and up the puck shot, the multicolored bulbs of that tower lighting up speedily right behind it.

Dong!

The bell tolled. They'd hit the top, the full 500 points.

The owner had turned back towards them by the sound, but already Rion was to have slipped his grip free from the mallet and quickly stepped away, leaving Lilia alone still holding the thing confused as he'd started clapping to applaud her, until…

"Wow! I didn't know you had it in you, Lilia!" Rion had reacted with an added shock factor, pretending he had been watching the whole time. The owner was gob smacked, accidently spilling some of his soda on his shoes over their teenage trickery.

The fool actually bought it

Lilia had won a large stuffed doll of a clown on offer, but she had later given it away to a small boy with his mother, unable to keep it. No evidence could be brought back with them, even if she'd loved clowns. But there was still some sweet justice sort from outsmarting the owner of the high striker, and that was rewarding enough.

The Ferris wheel was the last thing they went on, and by Lilia's own insistence after she couldn't get Rion to go on the merry-go-round with her for what he'd considered himself to have outgrown. Rion said the same about the Ferris wheel, remarking it as boring, but he braved it in the end after being persuaded, or rather Lilia having pulled at his arm until he'd let her drag him over to the line. Serenity radiated from him while they were up there though, his arm propped up one of the bars of that boxed carriage, a hand tucked under his chin while he'd stared quietly out across to the lights of Michelangelo city some miles away beyond the blackened landscape. Rion's precious complaints vanished, he'd been enjoying himself more than he would've admitted.

That peaceful mood didn't last however. The Mushroom Tower had been lit up that night too, small and distant over the city, but it was there, breaking away the calm, and digging up the troubled doubts always to have lurked somewhere in the back of their minds.

"Do you think it's true?"

Lilia's question caused for her friend to switch his gaze away from the lit up city, to where she'd been sat across from him. Rion raised a question back in return.

"What our parents worry about?"

She'd sucked on her bottom lip, her unease building from that the view of the Mushroom Tower standing menacing over the city. The carriage of that Ferris wheel began to feel claustrophobic, boxing them in like a cell.

"Rion, did they ever tell you what they put inside our heads?"

"No. Father never tells me anything other than the basics. I tried. Him and Mother, they never talk." His brows knitted together in frustration, soon to have risen in curiosity at her. "How about you?"

"Papa, he just says it's important, and the usual stuff about Dorothy, but that's it."

"Yeah, same."

There was so much she and Rion still weren't aware of at the time, nothing of Dorothy's plan that were to be advancing, and the serious danger they were all in. If they had been aware, not kept protected like children, maybe, they might not have snuck out that night, or might have chosen a less public place to meet, maybe...

Rion had spoken after a while. "I think I have some idea."

"What?"

Their side of Ferris wheel on the descent, Rion had rested his arm on the side of the carriage, his fingers drumming at the metal cage. "What could destroy a super computer like Dorothy?"

Lilia's body had tensed up, her blood going cold upon clinging to the edge of her seat.

"A…A bomb!?"

"Too easy, and not discreet enough," Rion had simply stated, turning towards the Mushroom Tower just before it was to disappear behind some of the carnival attractions. "I doubt that would have much effect anyway, to a machine like her, or they would have done that years ago…you're the one the brains, Lilia. You can figure it out."

Her fears put to rest of such nasty things planted in her head, Lilia had thought about it a little longer, on how both their fathers were computer scientists. Like that, it'd clicked.

"Oh…"

"Yeah, exactly."

Neither openly said it, but they were on the same page.

Upon leaving the sights and sounds of carnival, they returned to the playground to where her bicycle was left hidden in the bushes, so nobody would potentially steal it. Rion offered to escort her back home because it was so late, and to delay the inevitable goodbyes just a little longer. Lilia had let him peddle while she'd hitched a ride on the back, sitting on the bars her old bicycle carrier used to be on before the straps broke. Her feet balanced between the joints connecting the bike's hind spinning wheel, her arms had been wrapped around her friend's waist, a hand resting up on his chest, feeling a heartbeat pumping strongly as he'd peddled those miles home. Lilia's heart had been beating the same rhythm, but for a different reason.

Almost timid to do so, she'd slowly leaned her head against Rion's back in the space between his shoulder blades, that magnetic energy surging more intensely like a lifeline between them. Lilia felt relieved when his body remained relaxed and he didn't say anything. They didn't need to talk, not through their minds or their mouths. Rion was content, like her.

Lilia had wished the night didn't have to end…but it did. They'd stopped a street away from her house, where it'd been time for things to go back to the way they were.

"Will you be okay getting back by yourself?"

"Yeah, I'll take the tram again. I'll be fine.""

Their hands brushed upon Rion surrendering over her bicycle, the contact of warm skin almost like a spark to hers that Lilia felt herself going red in the face again. In a moment of spontaneous thought, she'd wanted to drop that bike on the ground and hug her friend again, but the longer Lilia was stood hesitating, so had she eventually lost her nerve. Lilia reasoned herself out of it, believing it would only make Rion embarrassed like before, with irrelevant afterthought of not wanting to scratch up the paint on her bicycle to only be to a year old. She wished now, she hadn't made excuses.

Anxiously Lilia had squeezed the handles, slightly slippery from the sheen of sweat on the rubber. Her eyes had been cast down on the ground, their shadows split into two by the streetlamps of the neighborhood. Her cheeks were still burning, and she found it difficult to meet his gaze.

"I had a really good time. Thanks, Rion."

"Me too," Her friend had been reluctant to go, a long time passing between them with neither one speaking. Rion kicked at the pavement, his hands in his pockets and eyes to the ground, like there was something he wanted to say or was expecting her to, Lilia wasn't sure. But just for a moment, he'd reminded her of that little boy from years ago, his face so bashful…it was cute.

At last Rion was to have stepped back, giving a farewell gesture with his hand as he'd pulled up his hoodie.

"I'll see ya."

"Yeah, you too."

Stood on the sidewalk, Lilia had watched him walk away, leaving in the physical sense, but not in her mind…and yet still, it took everything in her to resist the tug in her heart to not to follow right after him.

Rion had gone just ten or so paces from her, when he'd stopped and turned back around.

"Hey Lilia," He'd called out in a loud whisper.

"What?"

Even in the low visibility, she'd caught sight of that hinted smile to his lips.

"Take two sometime. What do you think?"

Break the rules again, sneak out and go on another adventure with her friend? How could Lilia have refused when things seemed much simpler than they were? Her heartbeat fast, her insides welled with excitement.

"Yeah," she'd replied, beaming a smile back. "Take two."

There never was a next time.

While her father hadn't initially suspected a thing, having been sound asleep in his room the entirety of the time Lilia was away at the carnival, it wasn't such a clean get away for Rion. His parents found out about him sneaking out. Elsa Steiner, Rion's mother, had gone to check on him, only to find her son not in his room or anywhere in the house. Rion was caught red-handed walking in through the front door by his parents as they'd been preparing to go out and search for their son.

There'd been a huge argument between Rion and his father, with Albert Steiner having struck his son when things escalated. Rion didn't have to mention that part, because Lilia sure as anything felt it as she'd been jolted awake by the pain shooting across the side of her face after only just drifting off. Upon having sat up, Lilia became overcome from the sudden intake of negative emotions to have swept through her as she'd begun shaking, her cheek throbbing and sore.

"What happened? Rion, what's going on?"

…

"Rion!?"

"My parents caught me...I'm sorry, Lilia."

Papa had found out about them sneaking out that following morning, after the two computer scientists met in person at their house. Albert Steiner had driven all the way over as they dared not talk over the phone incase Dorothy listened in. That was always something drilled into Lilia's head as a child, to never speak of anything crucial on the phone, or the internet for those same reasons.

"He insists he didn't meet with her, but I know my own son; he was lying!" Albert had spouted to her father in the small main hallway of their house, unaware she was upstairs listening. "Have you spoken with Lilia? Has she said anything to you?"

"No, no she's still in her room asleep," Papa had replied, having sounded grave, and looked it too. "But I don't doubt your accusations being false. Lilia's been a closed book to me since I ask her not to speak by those means anymore, and that's not who she is. Perhaps I should've trusted my better judgment…"

Lilia had dug her nails into her palms, her body pressed against the wall by the stairs, keeping much of herself hidden from view. Her heels were pressed down hard into the carpet, doing all she could to not go charging down there to confront them.

"See, what did I tell you? They're still communicating, Pascalle; there's no other explanation," Albert said getting more erratic by the second. Pacing back and forth, the man had tightened that ugly striped tie of his, smoothing out his short graying hair. "This could've been going on for months, years. The other week my son had his chessboard set up in the midst's of a match; told me he was studying game strategies. The amount of times I've heard him make excuses like that…hah, that boy's become nothing but a compulsive liar."

At that précised moment upon being mentioned by his father, Rion's voice just so happened to pop into her head.

"Lilia, we gotta talk. I just spoke to my mother and she said—"

"About your father? He's here right now talking to Papa."

"Already!? What are they—"

"Quiet! I'm listening!"

Ignoring her friend's demands to know what was happening, Lilia honed her attention back upon their fathers. The next part spoken by Albert, she remembered at the time, confused her.

"If anything were to have happened last night, it could've been over. You know how temperamental those programs are—"

"Yes, I know. This can't be allowed to go on," Papa said, rubbing his chin. "I wish it didn't have to be this way, but it must. They can't be trusted anymore with their telepathy. We'll have to do it."

Lilia's body had gone cold in that instance. 'Do what?' She'd questioned to herself, the unknown having alarm bells going off inside her. Even then Lilia felt it, that whatever it was, it wasn't good.

"What are they saying? Lilia? Lilia—"

"I think…they want to put a stop to us talking."

"What? How!?"

"I don't know!"

Lilia wasn't able to remain hidden any longer. She'd gone hurrying down the stairs, raising her voice defiantly towards the two men before she'd even reached the bottom. "Just take it out of our heads. Whatever you put in there just get rid of it! I don't want to do this anymore!"

The two computer scientists were taken off guard by her presence. Turning to her, both momentarily stunned, it was Papa who was the one to speak first. "Lilia, I'm sorry, but it isn't as simple as that—"

"Yes it is! You can just take it out!"

"No, we can't," Albert cut in. "It's not like computers, Lilia; the programs are encoded into your brains. There's no extracting them, not outside of the means they were intended by. It would kill you both."

It wasn't as great a shock as it could've been hearing that after what she and Rion talked of the night before. Her friend hadn't been far wrong. After so many years of their fathers work on computers and organic circuitry, the idea of programs inside their heads hadn't sounded so farfetched. But it was violating, worse than a bomb being planted in her brain. She'd been bitter for years, and finally knowing what they were…she was angry they'd been put there in the first place, and without their consent.

"They can't do this, Lilia!"

"Then make other programs," she'd said. "Whatever they are, make other copies and leave us out of it!"

"There are no other copies," Papa had explained, with the slight rattle of his glasses irritating her as he'd adjusted them on his nose. "Dorothy became suspicious some years ago, so we destroyed all the data to cover our tracks; we had to do it or the programs might've fallen into her clutches. It was a complex virus, Lilia, it and the program to launch it. It would take us years recreate them and we don't have the computers feasible of attempting that anymore."

She'd thought of it then, back to that time when she was a little girl, when Papa had carried her down into the dingy basement of the Steiner's estate. There'd been a strange chair with high bars surrounding it like a cage, wires and cables everywhere, and the loud buzzing of computers. With Albert present, they'd made her sit in that strange chair, strapped her right in and put some strange headpiece on her, before Papa had given her a shot, assuring Lilia everything would be okay. Teary-eyed, she'd gotten sleepy and drifted off, and woken hours later, her head aching and bandaged, and her father at her bedside in one of the Steiner's spare rooms. His big hand had been holding her smaller one, his eyes red from crying. Papa never left her side.

Being sedated, it saved her from feeling any pain of the virus program being encoded into her brain, but Rion to have undergone the same producer before her, he wasn't that lucky. He'd been wide awake, because their fathers had never used that machine on a human before, and weren't aware of the full extent of what it would do to him. Rion recounted it to her many times over the years, how it'd felt like his head was being split open and torn apart despite being given something for the pain. Even at that age of seven, she'd been well aware of the traumatic effect it'd had on him at the time, that when it was to be her turn, she'd been afraid to go down there, crying as she'd pleaded not to be hurt like her friend…

Rion shouted to her telepathically then while she stood with their fathers in that hallway, his anger mutual with hers.

"No way am I letting him put me back in that chair! I'm not going through that again, Lilia! I won't do it! "

Papa had reached for her as she'd been tearing up, his hands gently having laid on her shoulders. "If we could scan both your brains and the copy the programs off that way, we would've done so years ago, especially if we'd known in hindsight the extremities Dorothy would go to, but that isn't how it works. It's impossible to reverse it now. I'm sorry, Lilia."

"No!" Lilia wrenched herself away, seeing nothing but red. Her anger was an inferno, channeled through from Rion, growing stronger with her own. "Don't do that! Nothing you say will ever make it better! You went and stuck these, t-these things in our heads when were only children, and then you took me away from my best friend. You still won't let me see him!"

"You foolish girl!"Albert yelled at her curtly. "This isn't about us; it's about the fate of humankind, mankind's existence and every other living thing on this planet! If you thought beyond adolescent hormones, you would realize what we've done is for the greater good!

"What are they saying? Don't leave me in the dark!"

Lilia had shaken her head. "That's no excuse! We never asked to be part of this. We were just kids! Who does that to their own children!?"

"We didn't have a choice!" Albert defended.

"Yes you did!" Lilia shot back. "You could've chosen anyone else, but you chose us, me and your own son! I'm not stupid, I remember. Rion nearly died because of you!"

With a bed stricken fever, spending days drifting in and out of consciousness, that small boy had looked like he was on his deathbed whenever she'd gone to visit, with Elsa always there watching over her boy. His mother had always put on a brace face in Lilia's company, promising her that Rion would be fine in no time, but her eyes didn't lie. No nine-year-old or parent should've had to deal with that. Lilia was only fortunate her symptoms weren't as severe.

Her words had hit their mark. Albert had gone pale in the face, almost falling back a step as if he'd been physically punched. "That wasn't…it was a mistake. We didn't know that would happen!"

"Didn't know!? How does that change anything?" She had screamed at the man. "How does that justify anything you did as a father!?"

"Lilia," Papa interrupted, moving towards her. "Lilia, that's enough now!"

"He never said anything to me!" Rion's voice had spoken angrily in her mind. "All his garbage talk about doing it for the sake of mankind, and he treats us like tools!"

"You're communicating right now aren't you? Rion's telling you to say all these things!" Albert had accused, livid with such rage Lilia almost back off, but she had stood her ground.

"No, but he wants to," She'd answered bitterly. "He hates you for treating him like a tool."

"Stop it!"

"It's the truth!"

He'd gone at her, grabbing her wrist tightly, as ready to strike her. "You listen to me—"

"Albert!" Papa silenced the fuming man, quick to break them apart and to protect her. He'd taken Lilia by the shoulders, escorted promptly, if forcibly towards the stairs. "Go to your room, Lilia. We'll discuss this later.'

"Papa—"

"I said go to your room!"

Her father's word was final, and the look he gave her warned Lilia he wouldn't tolerate anymore outbursts from her. She'd said nearly all she'd needed to say, but still...

Ousted from the argument, Lilia unwillingly climbed the stairs, feeling as steady as a person made of cards. She'd been physically shaking, unsure if she wanted to scream or cry. Upon reaching the top of the stairs, Lilia turned and her eyes focused on Mr. Steiner just as he'd collapsed into a chair in that hall, face buried in his hands after he'd insisted he was fine when quizzed by Papa. Albert's rage was fast depleting, once more he'd resembled the fatigued father that he was, with the weight of world heavy on his shoulders, as it was on all of them.

Guilt never entered her mind at the time; Lilia was too upset to care.

"He wasn't lying, about the chess game," she'd called out, causing Mr. Steiner to look irritability up at her. His mouth was open as if to say something in retaliation, but Lilia had continued before he could, her words rushing out to beat him. "Rion's been practicing because he wants to get as good as you, so you'll play a match with him…if you gave him the time of day, you'd know that."

She'd left after that, not hanging around for a response, or to see his reaction. Lilia returned to the broken sanctuary of her bedroom, the door being closed behind her just before she crumbled to the floor, still gripping the handle. Finally, she'd cracked.

Rion's voice brought little comfort. "Are you okay? Lilia, talk to me. What's going on?"

"I'm in my room now. Papa, he made me go."

"What happened?"

Her back leaned against the door, she had look around at the clutter of her bedroom, and no longer did it feel like a home. She wanted to be anywhere but there.

"I messed up. I'm sorry," Lilia told him, her telepathic voice betraying everything to him that she wished it hadn't. "Nothing I said made any difference. I think I only made things worse for us."

"Lilia..."

She'd hugged her knees to chest, feeling the first waves of the tears coming. The murmurs through the door from their fathers talking downstairs had been near unintelligible in her bedroom, but Lilia knew by that point, whatever they were discussing, it wouldn't end well.

"Fight it."

Rion sounded puzzled. "Fight what?"

"I don't know," Lilia had replied with, bowing her head so her auburn hair fell like a curtain over the sides of her face, shutting out the world from her field of vision. If only she could've turned invisible and be gone from that place. "Whatever they do to us…fight it, Rion."

Her friend hadn't replied straight away, but a determinant type of bravery was outspoken in his tone when he finally did. And yet, there was no hiding anything from her either, because Rion's certainty over everything being alright, it wasn't there. He was scared too.

"I'll try."