Hakumei stared down miserably at the floor as she was dragged back to the labs. Apparently, Karl had lied. As soon as they'd come to retrieve her, they'd shackled her again. Her arms were heavy from the chains so she let her body crouch forward. She felt so weak. It'd been so long since she'd eaten last. She looked up when they came to a halt and her tired eyes widened. She was led over to an examination table and was laid down. For the most part, she didn't move. Though she knew Karl had lied about the chains, she had a feeling he was being more honest about her thrashing; perhaps Amshel wouldn't torment her as badly if she tried to cooperate. That thought sailed out the tiny barred windows when he brandished a big, thick needle. Hakumei immediately sat up and tried to run, only to have them hold her down—without much effort due to her weakened state—and strap her down like when they had first put her through the MRI.
"Be sure to strap her down tightly," Amshel ordered simply, seemingly distracted by the needle as he held up a bottle of a dark red, almost black, liquid.
Hakumei's diminishing strength didn't deter her from thrashing. She didn't want to think of the pain that was to come. There'd been too much pain already, why did she have to be given more?! After she was tied down so tightly, to the point that she couldn't move a muscle, Amshel leaned over into her face and gave her a sickening smirk.
"This is going to hurt," he spoke gravely, before jamming the needle deep into her hip, into her bone. Hakumei screamed with all she had. Her hip felt as though it could be detached from her body! She tried so hard to writhe against her bonds. Tears leaked from her eyes. No human could have ever put up with so much pain—then again, she wasn't human anymore. She felt a pressure in her hip; Amshel was injecting her with something. The pressure she felt was very minimal; she was focused too greatly on the pain of the needle in her hip. Then, as soon as the pain had begun to reach the breaking point for her, the needle was pulled out of her hip. The pain hadn't stopped, but it was dulling and was now a throbbing pain. Hakumei panted and cried as Amshel refilled the needle.
"Now," he began, "I want you to brace yourself. They're all wearing earplugs, but I'm afraid if you scream like that again, you'll break their eardrums."
Hakumei glared at him through her tears.
"I shall be returning to my office until they're finished," he continued, "I tell you to brace yourself because I was being merciful. I started with one bone. They'll be doing the same thing, only to multiple bones simultaneously. I just wanted the pleasure of tormenting you first and seeing your face when you heard that it would only get worse."
Hakumei couldn't see him anymore, because he was walking away, but she could hear his footsteps over the ringing in her ears caused by her own screams. Her body shook with fear of the oncoming pain. She almost wished Karl had taken her back with him when he'd come to see her earlier. At least then, she wouldn't have to suffer this. Closing her eyes tight, she readied herself for more pain as Amshel stopped at the door.
"You may begin," he ordered before walking out and leaving Hakumei to the torture of a thousand needles.
After a few hours of utter pain due to the lack of anesthesia, Hakumei began to notice the areas they were probing. They'd begun with her legs, had moved to her vertebrae, and ribs. At the moment, she was blinded by pain as they ever so carefully injected the marrow in her skull. She hadn't a clue why they were being so erratic with the areas of her body, but at the moment, decided not to distract them. She didn't want to take chances with that needle in her skull! After the needle was pulled away from her skull and the blinding pain subsided slightly, she decided to question them.
"Wh-What are you trying-to do to-me?" she asked in grunts and pants.
One of the scientists turned to her.
"Amshel instructed that we inject this enzyme into your red bone marrow," he explained. "There are only few places that we have left, since you are between adulthood and childhood."
Hakumei didn't really understand, but questioned them no further. It hurt too much to think. She'd heard of bone marrow transplants and had vaguely remembered Ms. Lee lecturing them about it. She mentioned that the transplant caused little discomfort, due primarily to the anesthesia injected into the patient, but the woman decided not to inform them what might happen if the donor decided to skip the pain killers. It was Hell. Every part of her body felt as though it were on fire. She began writhing more. She had yet to notice that the men had all backed away. Why? Why didn't they continue? Why didn't they get it over with? Or were they finished? Were they truly finished with the hell they'd put her through? She didn't have time to analyze her thoughts as she writhed and screamed, and as everything suddenly went dark.
With a moan, Hakumei slowly opened her eyes. Everything was hazy. She could feel that she was no longer tied down, but was being held down at the moment. Why? She glanced up and saw a blurred figure above her. It was holding something. A glint of steel-an ax swinging-pain shot through her body from her right arm. Blood gushed from her shoulder that was all that was left. Hakumei screamed again; loud and nonstop. The pain from her stump of an arm matched the pain of the bone marrow injections. The scientists moved away as soon as the ax met the floor; they weren't about to tangle with her while she writhed and screamed in pain. Hakumei shot up and held her bleeding shoulder, trying to stop the blood flow with her hand as she tried to find a position that eased the pain. Her eyes widened in shock as she felt the blood stop gushing. She glanced down at her shoulder and shook as a new appendage, very slowly, grew in place of the arm now lying motionless across the room where the scientists had kicked it in their escape. After a long moment-how much time had passed?-she was able to gaze at her new arm. It was strange. She shook as it made her think of Karl's arm. Her slender, new limb was a very pretty shade of light, crystal-blue with, curving, dark-blue lines running all the way up to her fingers, which were now sharp-looking claws. She oh so gently touched one of the barb-like nails and pulled back in pain; it was horribly sharp. As she turned it over and over, she noticed that the curvy designs shined so beautifully in the light. There were flat, triangular blades that protruded in a line down along her arm from her elbow to her wrist. The blades were laced with a pretty blue and shined white in the light. Anger coursed through her body. First Karl decided to mar her body, now Amshel? She fell back as a now kite-shaped blade flew from one of the protrusions on her arm and cut through the wall in front of her.
She stared at the hole in the wall in awe before gasping as scientists ran in and held her down again. One jammed a needle into the hardening skin of her new arm and was able to inject her with the medication that kept her bloodlust to a minimum. After it mixed in her system, her arm returned to normal; reverting back to the human flesh she feared she might not get back. They picked her up roughly and began walking her back to her cell. She noticed one of the other scientists pick up her discarded arm and carefully carry it along as they exited the bloody room. Why would they need that? She didn't have time to ponder this as she was led to her cell to rest for a moment before the last test of the day.
After being sent back to her cell, Hakumei was left to think for a few hours. What value did she even have to this place? To these people? That was easy…she was nothing—meant nothing. All she was was an experiment…There was no true value to her. They didn't think of her as anything but a lab rat…She came to wonder about Nathan. Was he just being nice to make her feel safe before she was sent off to more pain and suffering? Was it just another way to torture her and make her feel lower than dirt? And Diva…It was because of her that Hakumei was here…Diva had claimed that Hakumei was her little sister now…was this how she really thought a little sister should be treated? There as a large gap in Hakumei's heart that she feared would never be filled. She didn't mean anything to anyone. There wasn't a single person who thought of her as any more than an experiment or something to hurt and break. Yes, she'd considered that maybe Kire thought of her as a friend, but, seriously, if that were true, she wouldn't still be here. It was like that old saying; 'A good friend will bail you out of jail. A true friend will be sitting there beside you saying "Well we raised some hell didn't we?"' Where was her friend now? Probably all snuggled up to the person she loved. Hakumei had given up such a feeling. It only caused more pain. She couldn't deny that she couldn't be rid of it. However, she did try to ignore the love she still felt for Karl…she didn't want to love him. All he's ever done was break her over and over again…why should she love him? Perhaps it was because he was all she had? Hakumei sniffled a little and wiped away the tears. What was the point in crying when no one cared enough to wipe your tears away?
She glanced up as the door to her room opened again. Another scientist walked in and ordered her to follow him. Hakumei didn't hesitate. She didn't want Amshel on her case any more than he was already. She followed obediently, though she feared the consequences of not listening. She shielded her eyes as she was directed into a brightly lit room.
"Welcome," Amshel's voice boomed from nowhere, "I hope you had a nice rest, because, now, we're going to put that new arm of yours to the test."
Hakumei looked back to the scientist who'd ushered her here to find him gone and the door closed.
"Ready yourself," Amshel advised, "Send in the Chiropteran."
Hakumei froze as a grotesque creature stumbled into the room from a n opening to her left. Its elongated fangs bordered its mouth and it's long, slimy tongue hung loosely. It was definitely not a Chevalier. Though she had little knowledge of them, she at least knew that they were supposed to be more intelligent than this. Angry red eyes focused on her and it raced at her with ravenous hunger. Hakumei tried to dodge it and only succeeded in being tossed aside. The ugly claws on its hand dug deep into her torso and blood gushed from the wound. Anger and fear over took her body. Her arm transformed, the designs along the back shining a brilliant blue-white in the bright lights as she raised it to the oncoming, bloodthirsty creature. She dug her claws into its torso and twisted her arm; utterly digging her claws in deeper. She nearly tore it in half, but was sadly, unsuccessful. Pushing her arm against its torso horizontally, she tried to keep it back; digging the disc-like spikes into its skin. Her eyes began to glow green. With a scream of fury, the discs shot from her arm and chopped the beast in half. Her claws were still deep in the creature while she's holding her arm against it before it falls to the ground. She glanced at the corpse with the spikes in it as her eyes stopped glowing and then turned to her clawed hand. Terror ripped through her as she saw the discs re-growing in her flesh.
"IYA!!!!!" she screamed, holding her head and clawed hand against her face, "OWARASERU!!!!!"
With that, she fell to her knees and wept horribly praying she would soon be returned to Karl and wishing this nightmare would just end.