THREE

The time comes.

There wasn't a time in the past week she hadn't been counting down the days until the start of Phase Two. Since List's announcement of it a week ago, dread had become a constant companion in the bones of her being. Every visit from other people dressed like List, calculating her vitals like he would do, made the feeling grow more and more paramount. It was always worse at night.

Whatever nightmares she would ultimately forget the next morning were replaced with various things Phase Two would do to her. These new nightmares would wake her in cold sweat, flashing in front of her eyes like a lingering ghost that refused to leave her. It was the first time she was grateful in her tendency to forget those haunting dreams when she woke. While she felt remnants of their horrors, Aerith at least didn't have the graphic glimpses of whatever they were branded against her eyelids.

The days would become almost unbearable. It prowled around her like a hunting lion, waiting to strike at the very moment where she was weakest. Yet the truth was that she was weak.

Aerith could not deny that. She would not stand tall and proud; unafraid and defiant of what was to come. How could she? How could she when she didn't know how?

The instincts would try and try to make her see but she couldn't.

Because how could she become that defiant without an incentive to do so?

There was no hope for her. The walls became blaring reminders of her weakness. It reminded that there was no escape; no way out of the infernal prison. Each minute that listlessly passed by was a step towards a hanging tree. Like a prisoner that reaches the end of their death march, Aerith would find the reckoning day upon her feet, binding her to the inevitable.

Then, the time came.

Rough hands grabbed her arms, hauling her up and forcing her to walk.

She had no energy to fight; resigned to whatever fate would befall her. She stepped on familiar paths until they reached the doors that led to the corridor of her doom. However, as her little troop reached ten feet from the doors, it was pushed roughly open. Another troupe of guards much like hers came out. In the tight grasps of two guards, there was a man with ruffled brown hair dressed in white — dressed like her.

Suddenly, hope reignited at the sight.

As the two groups would pass each other by, her green luminescent eyes sought his. Electric blue met her brilliant green, and the world became brighter than it used to be. In his eyes, there was a flare of shock and hope that rivalled hers. It was clear to Aerith that she was the first person he had seen for some time. That moment – though brief in reality – lasted an eternity. Time seemed to slow down and breath was caught between her lungs.

Alas, like it always has been, time resumed.

Aerith released a deep and restrained breath that found its way out of her. The blatant emotions of his shock gave her worry. It made her question just how long he had been restrained in this bleak prison. With this, she wondered how long he had been imprisoned here, and if she would be here just as long. Dread and fear pooled in her gut. The thought of remaining imprisoned here was a wound slashed across her chest.

However, electric blue became the soothing balm of her soul.

Aerith wasn't alone, and that alone made all the difference to her. It made it easier to deal with the feeling of the cold, unforgiving metal slab she laid on; with its tight leather straps. It sparked a flame of hope inside her, bringing her a sense of comfort even at the presence of cruelty.

"Don't worry, Aerith." the voice of Doctor List snuck into her attention.

She looked at him; her eyes shining brighter in a tame, subtle but tangible defiance. Her jaw tightened at the use of her first name. He had no right to use it.

"It is going to hurt more this time," he continued on, "but if you survive this, you will become something greater."

"A miracle, you mean." Aerith said tonelessly.

List looked at her; an unreadable shine in his eyes. His lips pulled up into a small – almost pleased smile.

"Yes."

He said it in such a frank and blasé tone, like every action from then and now was for the sake of something greater. Even if it was, Aerith hated it with a passion she didn't think existed within her. Nothing would be able to justify this.

In faux gentleness and care, List pulled a leather strap between her teeth and made sure the leather straps securing her limbs were locked tight. Aerith didn't struggle. There was no point; no choice than to face this head on.

The eerie blue lingered in the corner of her eyes. She turned to look at the foreboding light. The mystical jewel held aloft on the tip of a golden sceptre. A niggling feeling within her bothered her. As she stared, it started to feel familiar – like she had seen it before.

She could not linger on the thought further when suddenly flashes of blue covered her. The sceptre loomed over her ominously. Almost in a hypnotic rhythm, the sceptre started emitting blue pulses that seemed to seep into her body.

Slowly, it began to feel like an army of ants were dispersed beneath her skin. Gradually, it began to sink deeper and deeper until the pain turned unbearable. Like wildfire, it spread to every part of her body. It touched her face, her lungs, and her limbs. There was no place it left untouched. The pain multiplied until she felt like it was burning her flesh and bone.

Aerith bit down on the leather strap.

Muffled screams were restrained in her throat and blocked by the strap. Her body began to twitch uncontrollably. Suddenly, the pain was too much to bear. She screamed and screamed and screamed. She was in a headspace of agony that she could not vanish. Tears escaped her eyes and everything was burning. Pain rippled in her mind. Then, it weakened.

The pain dulled and her vision began to blur.

It became distant to her now. Her eyes were trained onto the lights above her. Suddenly, she could see stars and lights. Flickers of blue, red, and violet. There was no sense of awareness left within her. The laboratory disappeared into the white light. The sounds of machinery dulled and were replaced by voices. They were soft yet powerful. Most of all, they were singing.

It thrummed a cord inside her chest.

It felt like home.

In the back of her mind, the pain still existed. The fire raged and raged within her. However, she was entranced. The sounds of rustling leaves, gentle rain, and melodic chants echoed through her. Pain did not exist here; only peace. Something was being released within her, opening and changing. Slowly, like a lullaby, her vision began to darken. Sleep would claim her and she was embraced in the field of light within her dreams.

LIST

Everything was going according to plan.

It all started out the same way as every other phase they performed. The patient was induced by the serum and bathed in the energy of the sceptre. Pain from it was felt by the patient. It was not any different for Miss Aerith Jude. She was – for the most part — cooperative, but he knew the spark of defiance better than anyone. More and more each day, she was growing a bit of a backbone.

Herr Strucker was not at all pleased by this progression, but List was of a different mindset. It was good to have a backbone. It may even give her a chance to survive this.

Phase Two was cruel in its regard to the patient. If Phase One was first-degree burns on a person's skin, then Phase Two was roasting deep until it hit the nerves. It was relentless in its endeavor and treated Aerith the same way as any other patient. The room was filled with muffled screams and uncontrollable twitches of pain. List had grown apathetic to the sight and sound of agony. He wouldn't be head of these trials if he wasn't. However, it didn't mean that everyone was the same as him.

In the corner of his eye, he glanced at a particular scientist in the room with him.

He was a young man; not so young that he was inexperienced, but young enough to have much room to improve. His golden copper skin was a great contrast against the stark paleness of all the other scientists in the room. Compared to the others, he was slightly unkempt in his appearance with his thick, curly and bouncy dark locks that looked like they hadn't been brushed in days.

Crisp and Neat were two words he wouldn't associate with Doctor David Wang. However, despite his appearance, he was – without a doubt — the most promising and brilliant mind in the trials. David was more observant than people gave him credit for. His work ethic was always prudent, factual, and organized. His methods, while unorthodox, produced results. They were the reasons List took him under his wing as his protégé.

The only downfall the young doctor had was his heart.

List saw the young doctor twitch and wince subtly – not noticeable except to the trained eye – at the sight and sounds of Aerith Jude's agony.

It was in this sight that confirmed how big of a contrast David Wang and his father, Erik Müller, had. List had always known Erik as a brilliant scientist in his own right. However, for all his brilliance, he was not the greatest – or even a good – father. The mere fact that David had changed his name to his mother's maiden name once his father died was a testament to how much his relationship with his father was strained. Something that List could somewhat sympathize with.

Where Erik Müller was cold, guarded, and calculating, David was trusting, empathetic, and good. He always had been, even as a young boy.

Seeing him nervously drum his fingers on his arm and adjust his black square glasses, List could see that it hasn't changed much over the years. Perhaps that was the real reason List chose David as his protégé. The young man had so much potential to be great; him clinging onto this light would do him no favours. It would just hold him back. List chose him because he wanted David to reach his full potential. It was either that or List was a sentimental old fool.

He stopped his train of thought before he delved into the buried crevices of a past that should remain unvisited. It never did serve him well to reminisce.

Instead, he focused all his attention to the procedure in front of him.

List was surprised to find that something strange had happened.

The blue energy was still pulsing around Aerith Jude's body. Yet she wasn't screaming anymore. She wasn't whimpering or twitching in pain. She just remained silent; her body prone and still – like she was merely asleep.

"What is going on?" List demanded.

"Life signs still signal she's alive," a random scientist by the monitor explained, "blood pressure is normal; nothing out of the ordinary. It was just as if—"

"She's asleep."

List turned to see David looking at the scene with curious eyes. He spoke against the silence for the first time, finishing the words that would have been almost too soft if it weren't for the nervousness and befuddlement of the room.

"Any ideas as to why this is happening, Doctor Wang?" List asked, curious to what he could possibly say to explain this.

He watched David gulp nervously at the attention he was receiving around the room. (He always did hate it.)

"I'm not certain," he explained, "but it seems as if the radiation is acting as more of a calming agent for Miss Jude. We reconfigured the sceptre to produce pulses that act in the same frequency as gamma rays to induce the saturation of the… experiment fully." – his voice stuttered uncomfortably at the word — "The reasons why patients normally react to it more adversely rather than in Phase One. Phase One was skin-deep acclimation but Phase Two is a direct encapsulation from the sceptre – rather than a diluted one."

"We know this, Doctor Wang, but why is Miss Jude not feeling the same effects?" List countered.

"Well… that's the thing…" David said, "She did feel the same effects. We all saw that. Her body reacted the same way as any other patient,but...it's like her body got used to it."

"Are you saying she's becoming immune to it?" came a derisive question from another scientist in the room.

"I'm not saying she's becoming immune, Walker." David snapped irritatingly, the ferociousness List always knew within him appeared, "You can look at the vitals and the charts and see that the sceptre's rays are still affecting her like all the others. What I am trying to say is that it seems like her body automatically placed her into a comatose sleep to avoid her feeling more pain. Can you understand that, Junior Scientist Walker?"

"How come the other patients didn't have the same reaction as her?" Walker sneered.

"Wrong question," David retorted blatantly.

"How exactly was that a—"

"What is the right question, Doctor Wang?" List interrupted before a pointless squabble could occur.

David exhaled.

List watched as David's warm brown eyes were magnetised to the sleeping form of Aerith Jude.

"It's obvious, isn't it? The others were forced to go through it with full awareness. There is a heightened sensitivity in being exposed to the sceptre's rays. The real question is…" David trailed off before he continued softly, "what triggered her body to do it."

What, indeed.

A/N: Phew! Here is the the third chapter! I hope you all enjoyed it. I was supposed to post this one or two weeks ago (god my sense of time is just wrecked), but school is getting real hectic again and it's the last three weeks before school is done. Wish me luck on that regard because I'll be off to college ;-;

Anyway! Please tell me what you think so far. Constructive criticism really helps.!