POV: Experiment "X"
I closed my eyes, lying on my back on the stiff bed. It's been an hour since the man came in and took my lightsaber. One of my hands rested on my chest as I began to drift out of reality. My lips parted slightly. "X!" a voice whispered above me. I tried to push the voice away, but its owner began to shake me violently. "Hey, wake up!" I groaned, opening my eyes slowly. Y's big blue eyes were directly above me. I gasped, ducking away from her. "Geez, relax." Her left palm pressed against my chest, feeling my rapid heartbeat. "Relax." I nodded, meeting her eyes. She took a seat beside me. "Do you have any questions that I may be able to answer for you?"
"Where are we?" I threw out.
She chuckled, patting my leg. "I'm not sure, but do you feel like something is familiar? Like you know something or someone, but you've never seen it or heard it before?" I nodded, wanting her to continue. "I've formed several thoughts on that. One, our minds were wiped and now we're being used as pawns in some game. Two, we have some illness that's slowly deteriorating our minds. Three, we're a clone of someone. Or four, we were created from scratch in a laboratory."
"Wow," I whispered, shocked. "You really put some thought into that. Which one do you believe is true?"
"I'm hoping that it's the first or second theory…" she muttered. "Anyway, I discovered a lab on the far side of the building and supposedly the Mistress is meeting someone when she wakes up in the morning."
"I have training in the morning…"
"I have meditation, but no one watches me. I can go listen to the conversation, but you need to act natural and go about your business."
I nodded. "When will you come for me?"
"How does after practice sound?"
I sighed. "I'll be exhausted, but that sounds great. I'm going to shower when I get back, so give me an extra ten minutes."
She nodded. "Sounds fine to me. I'll remember everything I hear, so I can easily share my findings with you."
"Okay."
After a few hours, we grew increasingly familiar with each other. She shared her first few experiences here with him while I told her what I'd experienced, though it didn't hold as much detail as her story. She was lying beside me on the bed, staring at the ceiling. She turned her head towards me. "What if we have a family? Children, siblings, parents?"
I put both of my hands on my stomach, holding them, sighing in thought. "I don't know. It doesn't appear as though we can search for them. As far as we're concerned, there are four models of people in this building."
She flipped over onto her side, staring fully at me. "There has to be some way…"
I smiled weakly at her. "You're very persistent."
She smirked, rolling her eyes. "I want to understand my life. Don't you?"
"Of course," I whispered. "But what if we don't have one?"
"We'll figure it out."
"Someday."
"Soon," she said, authority and determination in her voice. She relaxed beside me again, leaning the tips above her head on my shoulder. Her eyes closed shortly after.
I breathed slowly for a few moments before I wrapped my arms around her. I pulled her closer to my body, feeling that it was right. She seemed important to me, like she was a part of me. I didn't even understand that. How could this individual be a part of me?
Her arm draped over my side, sending a wave of shock through me. Somehow it felt like this had all happened before. Maybe she was right about our minds being wiped. I closed my eyes, slowly drifting off once again. I heard a lot of noise. There were blasts, explosions, the faint buzzing of a lightsaber. I heard a scream and it sounded like me.
A bright light flashed in my dream and I saw some sort of ship – a golden one. There was someone in the cockpit, manning the controls themselves. I attempted to get closer, but I couldn't move. Several missiles with a blue flame streaking behind each one were heading directly towards the ship. I could hear the breathing inside of the ship, most likely the pilot. There was a faint screaming inside, possibly from a transmission. "You have to get out of there!" a muffled female voice screamed at the pilot.
"The ship is locked. I can't move. I'm sorry. I love you." That… pilot… sounded like me.
"No!" the girl screamed moments before the ship was hit. The golden ship burst and pieces of debris scattered the space around it.
I jolted into a sitting position, sweat pouring down my face. I gasped, breathing heavily. What had I just seen? I glanced beside me. Y was gone, so I could only assume that morning had finally come and I had overslept. The man that had taken my lightsaber came into my room again, holding it out for me. "Time for training, X."
I nodded, getting up. I took the lightsaber from him and he led me back to the training room. My squadron was waiting for me, especially Rex. "Mornin', X," he smiled. The others turned around, smiling widely at me as well.
"Good morning, guys," I laughed, walking closer to them. The man left me alone with them.
Killshot nodded his greeting. "How'd ya sleep, X?" Rex asked.
"Pretty good, thanks for asking."
"All right," Cat chuckled. "We best start soon. Cody's squad's gotten a head start. We've got a competition in a few days. Ya think you can handle the pressure, X?"
I nodded slowly. "Just tell me what I'm going to need to do."
"Since you seem a bit better… equipped with your weapon, I think you should lead. We'll follow you, kid. Rex usually leads, but he likes you, so I don't think he'll mind."
Rex laughed. "'Course not. Let's see whatcha got, kid."
I smiled warmly at the men. "All right, follow me." I spun around, igniting my lightsaber. I dashed into today's session, leading them through each obstacle that was placed before us.
POV: Experiment "Y"
I crawled through the vents and peered into the training room as I passed. I smiled as I watched X slice through his combatants without a problem. He looked… amazing to say the least. At first, I watched his face. He looked so determined and confident. Then I began to trail down his body, growing excited as my eyes crossed his midsection and below.
I mentally kicked myself. Why would I thinking about him like this? It didn't make any sense. I just met him. There's nothing special about someone that could still be a threat to me. I shook my head, choosing to finally continue towards the laboratory. I peered into the room to see a few men standing in front of computer screens. There was a picture of me and of X on a screen. The door hissed when the Mistress entered the room. "I'm here, boys. What information do you have for me? I hope it's good."
"We've discovered that these experiments have been malfunctioning. You reported X running off in the middle of the night and that you just found him again. Clearly the curious side of him is beginning to show itself. As for experiment Y, she seems to be growing defiant. We've been monitoring her brain scans and she's learned more than she should have in the last few days alone. Isn't she being contained within her room?"
"X has no memory of his escapade. We left him outside after wiping his memory bank. Experiment Y hasn't shown me any defiance, nor has she shown me any sign of knowledge of life outside of her dorm. She's always inside of her room. There's no way for her to escape unless I order someone to release her, which is very rare because of all of the men in this building."
Experiments. X and I were experiments. I had been right. The Mistress shook her head. "What are we going to do about them?"
"That's your call, Mistress. X seems to be regaining some memory. Soon, he might discover the truth about himself. If he finds out that Y is within the building, he might find the connection there as well. Neither of them can discover this or they'll be useless in the war."
War? We were going to be used in a war? "What must be done about them then? Do we wipe their memories again?"
"Due to the extent of their malfunctions," the one man sighed. "We may have to destroy them."
I gasped quietly and the man looked up. Blast! I quickly moved through the vents, making a bit of sound. I kicked the vent protector into the training room, falling to the floor. I slammed down onto my stomach, but quickly stood up. I pulled my lightsabers into my hands as the clones stared at me. I saw X chuckling in a corner with his men, at least until he saw me. He stared wide-eyed at me, as did everyone else.
I nodded for him to follow me. He stepped forward, jogging towards me. He held his activated blade in front of him as he stared at me. "What's wrong?" he whispered. "You look terrified."
"They're going to kill us," I whispered, breathing heavily. "We're experiments." He stroked my cheek lightly. I leaned against his hand. "We need to leave now, X." Guards had surrounded us by now. They knew I'd been here, but they didn't know that we'd had time to communicate with each other. He spun around just as a blast was shot. He deflected it quickly, grabbing my wrist. We dashed out of the training room with the guards trailing behind us. "Do you have a plan?" I asked, glancing at him while we continued running.
He glanced sideways at me. "Not yet. Just run until we find something."
"Fantastic," I sighed.
I fell behind him a little and I wondered how he was able to run that fast. I crashed against the floor as a searing pain raced through my back. Electricity washed through me as I screamed. X turned around and immediately ran to me. He picked me up, throwing me over his shoulder quickly. I clutched the back of his shirt tightly while he started to run again. Somehow, we'd managed to make it outside without getting hit again.
He quickly scanned the area and found a Rigger Freighter. How did I know what that was? He practically flew towards the ship, running up the ramp quickly. He set me down carefully. "Just hang in there for a sec, okay?" he whispered quickly. I nodded, watching him close the ramp and begin to fly the ship. I was amazed by how well he was doing. For being a few days old, – according to the last thing I knew – he seemed very skilled with the controls. I felt the ship elevate and fly forward.
He spun the chair around and quickly came back to me, kneeling in front of me. "Aren't you supposed to be flying?"
"It's on autopilot. It'll fly us out of the atmosphere and directly ahead for a while. I have no idea where we are or where we're going…" He gingerly touched my knees and I groaned. He wiped the blood with his fingers. I nearly kicked him because it hurt so badly, but I knew he was just trying to help. "I'm sorry."
"For what?"
"Allowing you to get hurt."
"It wasn't your fault. I'm the one that burst into the training room without giving you any notice."
He shrugged, checking my back and shoulders for any injury. "You look a little burned."
He pulled back to stare into my eyes. I stared back and felt tempted to press my lips against his. He stood up and walked back into the cockpit. I slowly got up and walked towards him, sitting in the seat a short distance away from him. I stared at him as he held the controls firmly in his hands. For a moment, I actually felt afraid of the outside world.
I'd known nothing else but the facility for the longest time. This was all brand new and adventurous. I felt his fear as well, but he seemed a bit more controlled. The only nice thing about leaving was that he was by my side. I knew he'd protect me from whatever we faced out here.
