"Hey! Would you look at that? It worked." the doctor leaned over Kokoro and grinned. There was an odd pinch in Kokoro's back and when he looked over his shoulder with teary eyes he immediately saw the strange addition to his back. "You've got a whisker now rat. You'll be useful now."

The two men who had been standing at the door pulled Kokoro from the table and tossed him carelessly out into the room before they pulled another child into the unexpecting room.

"Hey Kokoro, are you alright?"

"It hurts."

Orga didn't comment as his eyes flickered to the newly installed whisker in the boys back. "It'll be ok. Me and Mika are here to get ours to remember so you're not alone."

Mikazuki nodded and offered a piece of food from his pocket. "Orga won't betray us."

The three waited silently after that as Kokoro ate the bitter food Mikazuki had offered him. It wasn't too much longer that Mikazuki was called. His screams weren't nearly as long as the others, and Orga was even quieter. The two men hit Orga and yelled at him for a moment before they reached for the final boy.

He screamed loudly the entire time and when he grew silent the two men dragged out another motionless body. The remaining boys all sat quietly and a few minutes later a man came in for Orga and Mikazuki as well as the other more tan boy, leaving Kokoro to wait by himself, surrounded only by the blank stares of the others who had been forced into the surgery.

It wasn't too much longer before another man came for Kokoro and pulled him forcefully by the arm from the room leading him in a different direction that his cell was in. "You're going to start working today so you'd better stop acting so pathetic. You obey your orders and maybe they won't kill you. Nah. They won't kill you. You're too valuable for that. They'll just break you."

Kokoro remained silent and forced his legs to follow after the man, trying to ignore the pain in his back. The man forced him into another room and led him around the well-lit room to a large open doorway. It was busy with activity, people yelling over the loud roar of machines, and others unloading large boxes from trucks.

"Just one this time? Damn. We're already short on the kids who can use mobile workers, and another one just died last night too."

"Ain't anything the doc can do about it. Just take the rat and get on with it."

Kokoro was roughly pushed forwards and the second man glared at him and looked down at the boy on the ground. "Maybe this one will last a bit longer than the last one." Kokoro was forced to his feet and lead towards and a large machine that looks oddly familiar to the one he had been taken here in.

There was another man standing next to it watching as he approached. "You can call me Sir, and now that you're working under me I expect only silence from you unless you're spoken to. From now on you'll be driving our new catches back here so we can use them."

Kokoro was forced towards the man standing before the strange vehicle. He was holding an odd piece of grey metal that looked like half an egg. "From here on out you'll be 3. You will answer to no other name but this. Got that?" When Kokoro didn't answer the man's hand swung out and backhanded him. "I asked you a question! Answer it!"

"Yes, sir."

"Good. This is your Captain. You will respect him and do what he commands. He is responsible for you and will not hesitate to punish you." With that, he walked away leaving Kokoro in the care of the man standing before him. His eyes scanned him and he sneered.

"You won't be good for much." Kokoro scrambled to catch the half egg when it was tossed at him. "Put it on and get it immediately."

Kokoro fumbled around to get the half egg onto his back. He couldn't figure out where exactly it was supposed to go but after a moment the half egg finally stuck to his back covering its new edition.

Afterward, he quickly scrambled into the machine and looked around for the steering wheel he was used to seeing in vehicles.

"Are you really that stupid. You're a rat so we're going to use you like one." The man, no Caption, forced him to sit back in the seat where the mechanism on his back connected to something built into the vehicle.

"I don't like having to show you rats this stuff but I can't help but love the pain you feel when you first use it." a sadistic grin crossed over his face, and that was the only warning he gave before starting it up.

Kokoro let out a sharp yelp at the pain of the information filling his head but soon grew used to it and complete the activation. The van roared to life and Captain began barking orders of where he should drive.

The mid-day sun beat down harshly on the van as they drove, and Kokoro steadily grew used to the new way of moving the vehicle despite the strain it was putting on his body. Kokoro almost lept out of the van when he saw three men in the same uniforms as the men back as the man next to him, but a quick slap to the face had him sitting stiffly back in his seat as Captain climbed from the van.

"Just toss em in the back."

"You got a new rat to drive you around? Didn't you kill the last one?"

"Yeah yeah. You act like you thought they would punish me for getting rid of the trash."

Kokoro tensed for a moment but didn't move from the car, his split lip already dripping blood onto his dirty shirt. He forced himself to remain in the van as they forced the two children into the back, and felt the childish urge to wine once again, something he had thought they had beat out of him.

Captain stepped back into the van and motioned for them to drive farther into the town, bare of all human life, with only the occasional slamming of a window shutter to show that it was not, in fact, a ghost town.

There were a few more stops where children were forced into the back of the van and each time Kokoro's grip tightened weakly on the panels and machinery used to drive. The strain on his body steadily grew heavier. By the time they made it back, Kokoro was sure that his legs really wouldn't support his weight.

Captain had already left him after disconnecting him from the machine. The children in the back had since been taken, and it was only Kokoro sitting there as he watched the sun lower beneath the houses the large open garage door overlooked.

"Are you hungry?" Kokoro forced his head to turn and look at the source of the voice. The boy looked a few years older, with long brown hair pulled back into a ponytail. He had a fair amount of muscle and was wearing a blank grey shirt, as well as the same bright orange pants all of the other children had been wearing. The orange jacket was wrapped around his waist.

"Yes."

"Then I'll help you over there. You're the new kid right?" As he pulled Kokoro's limp form from the van he also pulled of the half egg from his back. "You know the one you replaced was my brother. He was only a year older then you must be."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't bother. He's better of where he is now than he was here." There was a moment of silence as Kokoro was carried through the hallways like a sack of potatoes. The large room they entered next was well lit, and there was a dull thrum of conversation between the children of all ages sitting at the tables. "This is where we all go to eat. You see the nine boys sitting over there quietly."

He pointed at the group he was trying to describe. Kokoro tried to raise his head but only succeeded in catching a brief glimpse of the group of nine. "Why?"

As Kokoro was carried to a table with an opening for two with two plates already sitting there with food ready to be eaten he explained. "Those are the other's who have the Alaya-Vijnana."

The two boys sat at the table with Kokoro's weight still being largely supported by his new acquaintance. "So this is the new guy! What are we supposed to call you! I'm C17!"

"I almost forgot. You can call me C1." the boy who had helped Kokoro to the table dug into his food immediately after presenting his name.

"Uh, It's 3."

"3? So you really do have the Alaya-Vijnana! Can I see it?"

"Let him eat first. You have all night to pester him."

C17 let out a huff of disappointment but allowed Kokoro now appointed the name of 3 to eat the meal set before him. 3 welcomed the food and found his plate empty a few minutes later with C1 still eating beside him. The tree of them built a friendship in the few minutes they had known each other, and silently vowed to never abandon each other.

If they did they wouldn't stand a chance to survive the life fate had given them.