Some of the claims made sense, but others were bizarre- what did "eating with death" mean? From the absolute mess of a speech, the king could pick out two common themes he'd expected anyway-

Helplessness and loneliness.

Rex finally finished his rant and glared at the man, realizing that most of what boosted his little tantrum was his mind's retaliation against insulting his own parents. He hated the king for forcing him into this position and pretending to be oblivious about the cause of his suffering. As if a garden was some end-all cure.

Furthermore, he hated himself for dirtying his parents' names, and on top of it, not being able to find a way out of this whole mess. Normally he would have escaped Abysus in a few hours at most, but he'd been trapped here far longer than that. He hated himself for allowing the older EVO to use him so easily.

To put it simply, as of right now, he hated

everything.

The two sat quietly for a few moments, the younger of them visibly stressed out. Van Kleiss decided to break the silence first.

"Rex, you've only been conscious here for a day. You're overreacting."

"I'm going to assume you just went deaf."

"While what you said was quite heated and a tad inappropriate, it wasn't unexpected," the man went on. "You need to understand that you're only harboring these resentments because your mind is still clinging to a lie. In time, when you learn that not everyone here is out to kill you, you'll relax. But for now, I don't believe the best solution would be to leave you alone to yourself."

Rex's stared at him incredulously. "You literally just ignored every word I said!"

"I heard it all, I assure you. But these thoughts are building up from painful solitude, and not to mention, fear. Healing is a painful process, but if you do what I tell you to do, you'll be better for it in the end."

"No, I won't be," Rex vehemently denied. "You just want me to do every little thing you say for your sake while pretending that it's good for me. Just hurry up and admit you're a liar! It's not like you haven't done far worse to me before."

"Different situations call for different actions, Rex," Van Kleiss insisted, paraphrasing himself from yesterday. "For example, I have no need to throw you off of a plane at this moment, even if I believed it necessary before."

Rex dropped his head onto the table again, hissing into the wood. "You're delusional! I'm just going to accept the fact that I'm going to have a breakdown or something whenever I see you. There's nothing you can do about it. You're too far gone."

"Perhaps I could treat you to some therapy?" The older EVO offered, disturbed by the thought of facing a loud fit whenever he met his newest soldier. "It might-"

"I'm not crazy," Rex shot back. "I'm not the kidnapper here."

The king, for the first time during the heated chat, grinned in amusement. "Therapy isn't necessarily for people who've lose their minds- although, you seem to be toeing that border. It's for people who want to get their thoughts and emotions back on track."

"You mean, bend them toward your will? That's called brainwashing."

"Call it whatever you like, but I refuse to have you meet me like this every time we come into contact. You need to fix yourself one way or another. You don't want to suffer every second while living here, do you?"

"I don't want to live here in the first place!"

"And what could you possibly do about it?"

Rex rolled his head sideways to face the older EVO better, and grimaced. "Tell your parents."

Van Kleiss fell into a sudden silence, making the teen feel slightly uncomfortable. Rex hoped he hadn't said anything that would get him killed in two seconds flat- but then again, the older EVO would probably give some lecture before carrying the murder out. More time to live, right?

"I have no idea what you're on about," the man slowly responded after a while. "Is this your attempt to lash back at me for mentioning yours? It's not a very good one."

"It will be when they come visit," Rex dared to continue, raising his head. "I'll tell them everything you've ever done to me and watch them disown you faster than you could flash your claws."

"Rex, once again, you aren't making any sense."

"Neither does the fact that you still brunch with your folks, but here we are."

The king stared at the boy, utterly confused, then nodded. "I... see. Biowulf?"

Rex turned around to find the mechanical EVO appear from behind the entrance of the mess hall, welding a massive dart gun. He froze in shock while the two stared at him, waiting to see what he would do next.

"Wait!" Rex pleaded. "Don't shoot! Why-"

"Complete your orders, Biowulf. You'll see exactly why."

Luckily for the teen, the needle was so sharp, he hardly felt the sting.

(I think I'm losing my head)