"Would you like some chocolate, Angelika?"
Despite his broad smile and the sweet goodness he was offering, the young girl cowered, pushing her fragile body further into the chair. The man, as if he was feeding on her evident fear, laughed out loud and patted her dirty cheek.
The year was 1944 and it was hell on Earth.
Families were torn apart, homes robbed and blood spilled for the most insignificant reasons because some felt entitled to gift humanity a better tomorrow by eradicating those they deemed inferior.
Encountering thousands and thousands of Jews every day, the Nazis began to take notice on the... unnatural ones. Regardless to their struggles to remain unexposed, their fear and anger made them an easy prey. Thus, behind the ludicrous scientists who thrived for insignificant gene alteration, Klaus Schmidt trained the stray mutants, conducting experiments to see how far their abilities could be stretched.
To mutate a mutation.
"Why are you scared of me, my dear?" Schmidt asked as he leaned forward. "I am merely making you stronger so you can achieve greatness."
A shudder shook Angelika's body violently. Tears rose to the brims of her dull grey eyes as she hiccupped. Grasping on the worn hem of her stripped uniform, she tried to calm the tremors. She closed her eyes as she endeavoured to recall the moments of happiness she had lived a lifetime ago and clung on the echoes of her mother's soothing voice.
"Have the men been treating you poorly?" Schmidt manifested faux-concern as he got up from his chair and stood next to her. Angelika screamed at the proximity, the sinister and vile aura radiating from the scientist suffocating the telepath.
"P-Please, get away from me. I beg of you, please."
"Let's play a game, my little Angel," he paid no attention to her pleading. He patted the top of her head and lifted her chin with a single finger, forcing her to look him in the eyes. "Tell me, what am I thinking of right now?"
Gulping, she shook her head, expressing her refusal.
"If you disappoint me, I'll be forced to punish you. Or better, your dying friend, Henryk, will no longer get the treatment he needs."
Her ashy face paled with dread at the mention of her ill friend. Although it was a good thing he did not risk getting gunned or abused by a pig while living in horrible conditions, Angelika despised the fact that Schmidt could also easily kill him if she ever displeased him.
"I am waiting," Schmidt reminded impatiently.
Dirty, calloused hands rose hesitantly on both side of his head. A manic grin spread on his face as he felt the shy intrusion. He sensed that Angelika was too frightened to venture further, so he showed her the special project he had on-going in his beautiful mind.
The young mutant's mind - for the sake of her sanity - jolted back to reality. For her stomach was as empty as the day she was born, she threw up stomach acid.
Schmidt clicked his tongue in disapproval, "I thought you'd be enthusiastic to exploit your powers without restriction?"
"You want me to become a human gas chamber," Angelika paused as she drew in a shaky breath, "It's cruel, even from someone like you, Doctor."
"Someone like me?" The despicable man regained his seat and stared at her. "Since the very day your family was brought to the gas chamber, I have been nothing but a warm father figure to you, Angelika. You have harmed officers of high-rank; I could've ended your pathetic life. Instead I granted you a new, promising one. Moreover, I even took your good-for-nothing friend under my care. How can you spew out such ungrateful nonsense?"
"I begged that day," the young girl shook her head, fat tears moistening her face. "I offered myself so that you would spare my aunt and her family. But you've done nothing but take advantage of my vulnerability."
"Once you grow up, you will comprehend the greatness of my plans to make this world a better place."
With those perplexing words, Schmidt rung the bronze bell to indicate he was done with the mutant. Heavily armed soldiers entered the office and dragged her away.
Angelika didn't even bother to struggle in their grasp. During her extra special imprisonment, she learned that the more damage she caused without eliminating them from the root, the more they killed in retaliation as a proof of her powerless position; a lab rat impersonating a non-existing hero.
She nibbled on her lips nervously. Where were they going to lock her up? Solitary confinement? The barn wh-
The soldiers threw her to the ground and spat on her, disgusted to have had to touch something so filthy. Angelika painfully landed on her back and instantly curled into a tight ball, blocking her ears as they shouted hurtful slurs at her.
Her mother had referred the horrors she could do as gifts, that God favoured her so much that he granted her something more precious. But if it were the truth, why hadn't she been able to protect any of her loved ones with her so-called gifts? Because she was too young? Or wasn't she trying hard enough?
An agonising scream burst from the back of her scratchy throat.
It was a curse, a curse so deadly it harmed those around her. Henryk was the perfect example. Remembering clear as day how the boy suffered from different sickness, Angelika couldn't bring herself to imagine how Schmidt managed to keep him alive.
A small voice constantly argued how her friend might have died long ago but Schmidt chose to lie - like the manipulative bastard he was - to keep her putty in his hands. She scoffed. Even if it were the case, she did not dare to rebel against him.
Droplets of water fell from the rusty pipe adorning the ceiling, hitting the ground rhythmically. Angelika got lost in a depressive tidal of nothingness and failed to notice a presence lurking in the corner.
"What brings you here?" A quiet voice asked, breaking the vehement silence.
Angelika hiccuped, startled by the sudden presence. "I-I-I-" she stuttered, "What?"
"Have you gone deaf with all the screaming? I asked why you were here."
Schmidt wouldn't have separated the boy from the faceless mass of prisoners if he did not possess an ulterior motive. Hell, he wouldn't risk her running away by putting a prisoner who knew the camp like the back of their hand in the same cell. Angelika penetrated his mind and accessed his memory system.
He was the same as she - a monster.
The darkest part of his memory system held the murder of his mother and the countless experiments Schmidt forced him to undergo. His pain, his agony, she could feel them all. Tears cascaded down her face before she shakily wiped them away.
The boy continued to stare at her expectantly, his frown deepening. "Do you understand German?"
Angelika found herself entangled in the vines of the boy's mind. The harder she tried to pull away, the harder they tightened around her. Every figment of his mind begged for her aid, something she could not give. She clenched her fists, her broken nails digging into her skin and drawing blood. The sharp pain severed the connection she built
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry that you had to go through all that."
"What are you talking about? I didn't-"
"I can read minds, it's one of the things I can do." Her words froze him, his eyes widening in fright. He felt violated, shameful almost as though he was standing bare before her. How much did she know about him? "I'm sorry, it was rude of me. I just wanted to know who you were."
"Well you could've just asked like a normal person," he snapped.
"I'm anything but normal, Erik Lehnsherr."
The male mutant's blue eyes darkened, his jaw clenched. "You know my name. What else do you know?"
Ashamed, Angelika dropped her gaze to the cement floor. "How Schmidt murdered your mother and forced you to be his lab rat. That's all I saw, I swear."
"Tell me about you then. Make it even."
Erik's face was blank but held no anger.
"My name is Angelika Frank. I ended up in Schmidt's clutch when I destroyed the gas chamber that my parents died in." A sigh rattled Angelika's chest, her hands raking air. She frowned. It was almost like muscle memory, a denial of her current predicament. Lengthy curls used to brush against her back, right above her buttocks. Now, her hair was completely shaven off. "I'm a monster who's too weak to save and protect her own."
"I wouldn't call you a monster."
The young girl snorted then laughed out loud. What wasn't natural was an abomination. How did that not qualify as being a monster? With her emotions all over the place, she could easily harm, even kill, if triggered. She was like a ticking time bomb, wanting to detonate at the worst time.
"Listen," Erik began as he plopped down next to her, "Despite what Schmidt constantly tells us, we are not weapons. We were not born to kill; we are the special ones, a gift to this world."
"You sound like my mother." Angelika rolled her eyes and turned her back to the boy. "Then riddle me this, if we are so special, why are we in this situation?"
"Because they envy us," he stated as if it was the most obvious fact, "They want to be like us and they think experimenting on us is the key."
Oh? Erik didn't seem to know that Schmidt was a mutant as well. Instead of correcting him, Angelika remained silent on that matter. What good would it bring if she told him the truth? It was better to let him think this way .
"It it means anything, I promise you that we will get out of here and I will kill Schmidt one day," Erik said.
"That's a big promise from someone I just met."
"I know but how will we survive without hope?" His words elicited a soft smile from the telepath.
Wiping her right hand as well as she could on her uniform, she offered a handshake, a sincere smile on her face, "I, Angelika Frank, would like to get the hell out of here with you."
The boy vigorously shook her outstretched hand.