XxXxXxXx

CHAPTER 4

A week passed, possibly more. Soul visited me every day, but she usually couldn't stay for long. I looked forward to her visits, both because it was always the highlight of my day and I actually had someone to talk to. My side was nearly completely healed, the rapid mending mostly thanks to a strange chemical they spread on my side every two days. Those were the easy days.

Then Soul and a couple of others took me back to the room I had first woken up in. They tried to get an idea about how much I could actually see, but I'm pretty sure I just confused them. Soul then lead me to a room I had never been in before. She just left me there and the door locked behind me. It took me a good half of an hour to figure out that I was in some sort of maze and had to find my way out. I knew right from the beginning this was next to impossible. When I was younger and still with my family, I had done mazes that Cobalt had set up for me. I learned never to follow the walls, just the path.

I figured I had better try. Twenty minuets later I couldn't find my way out of a dead end and Soul had to drag me out of there. Failed.

The professor put me on a treadmill and told me to run. I had never been a strong runner, and the smoke in the air where I lived just made it worse. In no time at all, I was gasping for breath and my nearly healed side felt like it was being split open again. I ended up falling off the thing, twisting my ankle and putting an end to any more physical tests for the day. Failed.

My reflexes weren't as sharp as the doctors expected. My lungs were clogged with smoke residue from over the years, and they had me inhale a stinging gas to help break it down and turn the smoke to a harmless substance. My hearing was better in my left ear. I was a failure.

"Well…you're not a complete failure," Soul said. "your hearing is actually above normal in both ears, but your left is actually formed differently."

"What difference does it make?" I muttered.

Soul still sounded worried. I didn't know what she had on her mind, but it seemed really important. "What's wrong?" I asked.

"Nothing, why?" She asked a little too fast for everything to be completely fine.

"You sound worried."

"I always sound worried." She retorted.

"Not this worried," I countered.

"It's nothing, ok?" She sounded a bit annoyed.

The professor's voice came from around a corner. "Are you still here? We have nothing else for you to do."

"Oh, good," I found the wall and started using it as a guide to find the door. "are you coming, Soul? I still want to talk to you."

"I'm coming." She said.

We went back to the small gray room I had learned to call home. She sat on the end of the bed and leaned against the wall. "Can you really tell that I'm that worried?"

"It's not that hard." I replied.

She took a deep breath. "Don't….don't ever let the professor hear that, ok?"

"Hear what?" now I was a bit confused.

"Hear that you have the uncanny ability to sense emotions, even if they're a bit stronger than normal."

"Why?"

"Silver, just don't!" Soul shouted.

I took a few steps back from her. I had never had anyone shout like that; her words were full of hatred. Of me? It was hard to tell.

"Sorry," She whispered. "It's just—"

"Soul you're needed again."

The professor's voice made us both jump. Soul quickly crossed the room to the door and they both left, the door sliding into place and locking with a soft beep. I heard Soul and the professor yelling at each other. What really was going on? I made my way to the door and tried to make out their words.

"You can't do this to him. I don't care if we've made a discovery like this, it's inhuman!" Soul's voice was angry and slightly scared.

"But if we succeed, he would be able to finally see again. Can't you, with all your perfect eyesight, see that?" The professor countered.

"Don't hurt him." Soul hissed.

"I'm afraid we have to,"

I had heard enough. Obviously Soul knew about this for a while, but didn't quite know how to handle the situation. I knew I would fight if the professor came near me from this point on. I followed the wall back to my bed and tried to come up with a plan.

What did he mean he could let me see again? I wanted to see more than anything, but the way the professor said what he did…it didn't sound right. I would find a way out of here and escape back to Blaze.

XxXxXxXx

I don't know exacally how much time passed, but the door opened and Soul entered the room. "Are you hungry?"

"A little." I said, switching off the radio and making my way over to her.

"I have something a little different this time. This is called pineapple, have you ever had it?" Soul handed me a small bowl.

"Is it like apples?" I asked.

"You'll have to eat it and decide for yourself."

It was sweet. Although it burned the inside of my mouth slightly, it was one of the best things I had ever eaten. I devoured the entire bowl in about a minuet, much to Soul's amusement.

"I've never seen anyone eat that much in one sitting." She said.

"Can I have more?" I asked hopefully. "I think I like it better than bananas."

"Maybe later. Come on, I want to show you how to get through the maze so you can astonish people tomorrow." Soul headed for the door, but I stayed where I was.

"What were you and the professor talking about earlier?" I asked nervously.

"Nothing." Soul said. "And don't worry, he won't be coming near you. Not as long as I'm there."

I hesitated a bit more. "Are you sure?"

"I promise," Was it just me, or did her voice just break?

I followed her to the door and cautiously made my way down the hall with her, watching out for any whitewashed figures that seemed like they wanted to bring me down. Soul must have noticed how nervous I was because she said, "Don't worry, they're all off working on something."

I didn't relax. Something was telling me to go back, but my thoughts were telling me to just keep following Soul; she knows how to keep the professor away. We came to a door, which she opened. Something was wrong. This wasn't the door we entered into earlier…

"Sedate him."

I jumped backwards as a figure rushed at me. Soul dived out of the way and shouted, "Run, Silver! Just run!"

I turned and nearly ran into the wall. I managed to stumble down the hall, listening to the fight behind me. Apparently Soul was buying me time to try to escape. I threw my hands out in front of me and sort of speed-walked down the hall, careful not to run into anything. But I wasn't fast enough.

Someone had broken through Soul's barrier and caught up with me, knocking my feet out from underneath me. I landed on my back hard, knocking the wind out of my lungs. I kicked out randomly, trying to keep my attacker at bay. The white figure grabbed my foot and flipped me onto my stomach, pinning me there with their foot to my back. I tried to escape, but the pressure from my attacker's foot was preventing me to draw in a deep breath and continue to struggle. My side burst into pain again.

There were footsteps approaching and then the professor's voice and he spoke with my attacker. "Take this."

"Silver!" I heard Soul scream. "Professor, don't hurt him! Don't hurt him!"

"Dr. Green, calm yourself. This part is painless." The professor said.

Liar. There was a small, sharp pain to the back of my neck, and the world began to grow dark. The pain in my side was fading, as were Soul's shouts of protest. The crushing weight was lifted off my back, but I didn't have the energy to stand and continue to run. I managed a feeble attempt to get up, but my arms gave out underneath me and I plunged into darkness.

XxXxXxXx

I don't know how much time passed. I seemed to be out for an eternity. When I did finally become aware of my surroundings again, the first thing I noticed was both my hands felt like someone had taken a hammer and smashed them into the cold table I was lying on. I couldn't bend my fingers. I tried to move my arms, but thick restraints cut into my wrists and upper arms, securing me firmly in place. Same for my legs. Something was keeping me from moving my head side to side. All this sparked a bit of fear inside me, but not enough to wake me up completely. I could finally make out sounds as my head cleared from whatever knockout drug they used on me. Voices and beeps, from the machines behind me.

"Are you sure that he can survive this?" someone was asking. I hoped that Soul was somewhere nearby, trying to save me. I kept my eyes shut and tried to remain calm.

"He's come this far." The professor said.

"That's exacally what the other one did. He died when we tried to awaken his dormant senses." The assistant said in flat tones, like he didn't even care.

"Then again, this one is different," I heard the professor begin walking around the table I was on. "he's nearly blind, for one thing. If my theory is correct, his body will welcome the dormant senses and use part of them for healing his sight… he should survive."

"But he was injured not that long ago. He could have been weakened enough so this process would kill him."

"Don't worry. We won't awaken all of his senses. Just enough to be of use to us so we can study the effects," The professor continued walking slowly around me. "he won't be threat to us."

"Sir, you said yourself that this is unpredictable." The assistant said worriedly. That wasn't a good sign.

"So I did. I have ways to control him if I get more than I bargained for."

A door opened. I heard slow footsteps walk into the room, and then a voice. A reluctant, scared voice. "I'm ready when you are, professor."

Soul! She came back! My heart rate spiked at her voice, giving me away. The professor came back towards the table. "Well, look at that. If he can fight off drugs that strong, he's bound to survive."

I opened my eyes slightly to only see a glaring light above me. I couldn't turn my head away from the light, so I squinted as best as I could and muttered, "Soul, help me!"

She didn't answer me. I strained to look in her direction, but the restraints dug into my arms and wrists, forcing me to lay still again. The professor chuckled cruelly.

"I think he's ready, don't you?"

"Soul, what's going on? Soul!" I shouted as I caught sight of the professor's shadowed figure out of the corner of my left eye. "Soul!"

She still didn't do or say anything. I stared up at the professor's figure, trying to see what he was doing just to the left of me. A harsh beep sounded, and then a few quieter ones that blended in with the heart monitor. What was he doing? What was he going to do to me? Why was Soul just standing there?

"Silver, please…just lie still and it'll be over." Soul finally said so softly I could barely hear her voice. "I promise."

The professor began placing electrodes on my head. They were heavier than normal and a lot thicker than the ones monitoring my heartbeat. I tried to move away, but the restraints cut into my wrist. I felt blood began to drip down my hand. "What are you doing?" I managed to say.

"We're going to awaken your dormant senses. Everyone has them, but you seem to be able to express some already in a distant way. We're just going to fully awaken about half of them and see if this can be done to humans as well." The professor said, continuing to place electrodes on my skin. Soon at least twenty covered my head and chest. He put one on the back of my hands and in my palms and then stepped away.

"Where are you going? What are you going to do to me?" I couldn't stop my voice from breaking. "Soul! Please help me!"

"I can't," I heard her whisper. "this is my life's work."

"Ready for this?" The assistant asked.

"No! Let me go!" I started tugging at the restraints, trying to break free. That proved next to impossible.

"Let's get this over with." The professor said.

There was another harsh beep and the light above me flashed red as what felt like lightning coursed through my body. I couldn't hear myself scream over the sound of my blood rushing in my ears. I thought at any second my heart would give out and I would end up dead, like the other poor unfortunate prisoner of these humans. He didn't die from his wounds, he died from this torture they called 'science.'

I felt like I was being torn apart from the inside out. And yet…there was a part of my mind that was calm somehow. Even through all this agony, it seemed to know it would end and would wait patiently for that moment. Just when the lightning coursing through my veins became unbearable, that part of my mind acted. I felt more calmness spreading from that place over my entire brain, countering the pain. It spread over my entire body, blocking out everything save a slight humming sound and leaving me in a quiet place. Was that just my body completely shutting down? Was I dead? Was I dying? Where was I…?

And just like that, the humming stopped. I couldn't hear anything now. I couldn't see anything, even though my eyes were open. And then it hit me like a crashing wave.

The sounds, smells and feelings were overwhelming. My senses had tripled…no, quadrupled from the state they had previously been in. The light hit my pupils and I squeezed my eyes shut.

"Let him go! You did what you wanted to him! Let him go!" Soul was hysterically screaming. Someone was holding her back, judging from the sound of straining fabric. I slowly opened my eyes.

There, standing above me, was the professor. But now I could actually see him. My eyes were back! I could see! He had gray hair messily sticking out from his head on all sides; dark, oval glasses and cruel, green eyes. He smiled coldly down at me and stepped back. "It worked. Our first success."

Something cloth ripped and Soul was at my side, one sleeve of her white lab coat ripped completely off. That was why they all appeared whitewashed before I could finally see again. Their coats were so bright it almost blocked out any other colors. Her blue eyes were wide and scared. She looked completely different from the professor. She only wanted me to be away from this place, somewhere safe. "I'm sorry." She whispered. "I'm so sorry…"

The professor roughly pushed her to the side and held up something circular and metal. "This will keep you from getting any ideas about escaping." He hissed, unclasping part of it and wrapping it around my neck. It latched with a loud click. "Soul, get him out of here and put him in the intensive research unit."

He left, along with his assistant. Soul wasted no time in tearing the electrodes off me and unlatching my restraints.

"I'm so sorry…Silver, are you all right? You went completely still and your heart stopped for about twenty seconds…" she brushed her black hair away from her face. "I didn't know if you were going to make it…" she held out her hand to help me up.

I reached out to push her arm away but my hand caught my eye. It was bandaged fingertips to wrist, same for my other. But underneath the bandages, something semicircular was …glowing?

"They implanted a piece of metal that would react with your brainwaves to take in your surroundings. If you touch something, you should be able to feel emotions that have been riding on it and who had it before you." Soul said softly.

I stood up shakily on my own, although my legs were shaking terribly. I got a look around the room to see that it was gray, cold and…it felt evil. I could sense fear from the other Mobian that was here before me. I wanted to leave.

I used the wall for support rather than guidance this time. Soul was always right behind me, making sure I didn't fall. She gently guided me down cold white halls to another cold white room with a rather large cage near one wall.

"I'm not going in there." I said firmly.

"I'm afraid you have to." Soul whispered.

I tugged at the metal collar around my neck. "Get this off of me." I hissed.

"Silver, I can't. If the professor found out I-"

"I don't care! Get this off of me and get me out of here! I can't live another day in this place! The new senses are overwhelming! You went along with this plan from the beginning, didn't you? I wish I died that night you found me!" I couldn't describe my anger. I just wanted to let Soul know how I felt, but then this happened. Her eyes were startled, and then full of sadness. I never wanted to hurt her with my words.

"I'm sorry." I said softly.

"I'm the one who's sorry." She muttered. "I let this happen."

I couldn't make eye contact with her. Instead I made my way to the cage and walked inside, shutting the door behind me. I found a thin blanket and a old, lumpy pillow thrown in one corner. My new home.

Four beeps sounded and the door locked in place. The only light came from the door, where a small square was cut out of the steel. Two large, thick bars covered the space. The walls and floor were freezing and hard.

"I'll check on you in half an hour. If you need anything, tell me, ok?" Soul looked in at me from the window.

I didn't answer her. I curled up in the corner , clutching my knees to my chest and facing the bare wall. I didn't even touch the pillow or the blanket. I somehow managed to slip into a well needed sleep, dreaming of being stuck in a white box that was slowly closing in on me.