Rules are rules, but . . .

by SoulsFire (former PulsingSoul)

Chapter 2

Rule Nr.2

Once you enter this Organization, we are everything and anything for you.

The second rule she had learned. She had no family, no friends, just this Organization. Of course, her sister was alive, but she was something like a nice decoration, something there, so her life would not seem totally empty.

Her loyalty was not directed towards her sister. They rarely saw each other, yet they were each others only hope, the only string which attached them to normality. But even that was taken from her. Forcefully.

At first it was the isolation, the way they made her become the brilliant scientist, the way, they closed the doors of her laboratory while she was still inside. But then, it had escalated. Usually she was allowed to see her sister once a week. Soon, once a month. Eventually it had become once in three months.

And then, she had died by their hand. They had killed her sister for her inability to work more, to take more of their psychological abuse. They were just like Hitler in their way of torture. Most know only about the horrid torture methods Hitler used in his concentration camps, but there was more, a lot more. You see, all of those who survived said only one thing as to why they were able to do it,,They could weaken our body, but never our spirit. ¨

The Organization however considered mutilation something ugly, beneath them, only there for the commoners. For them it was the mind and soul that counted.

They had cabins so far buried in the woods that no one could see them. They brought all their new acquisitions to one of those, and left them there. Left them there, locked inside that cabin, listening to all the sounds of the night, a poison affecting the eyes so they saw only night even when it was day, and they were left there to survive with nothing more than liquids, the liquid after which they would be named.

Sherry . . . oh yes she remembered, she remembered it very well. The sounds which carried through that hut as if no wooden walls would separate her from the forest, the burning feeling of her drink down her throat, easily making her insides protest at such abuse, and then the feeling of utter solitude.

Because that was it. That was what it came down to. You wanted to live, to get through all of that, you needed a hell of a reason. And that reason was her sisters life. She had made it, had never let her guard down, had learned that seclusion was not only a punishment, but also a gift, the gift of keeping those you cared for unharmed.

Afterwards the stages had begun. She had become an operative, had started working on the APTX and had seen her sister sometimes. The visits became more rare, shorter, and soon there were none.

She didn´t know what was going on, feared for her sisters safety, so what was she to do? She realized that there was only one thing to do- turn against those who now called themselves their family, somehow manage to get out of this circle of crime, and then see her. See the one for whom she was fighting the temptations of an easy death.

Needless to say, they had caught her and had immediately left her to die, a slow and painful hunger death. But she was smarter, before giving them the satisfaction of seeing her in pain she would take her life.

There it all went wrong. Very wrong, for the poison didn´t have the effect she desired, the poison gave her the chance she always wanted, and that without even needing to make great escape plans.

She got out and she looked for her, days and days, and only then did she hear.

Dead. Dead. Dead.

She had no one left. No one. Alone in this world, living just so she could perhaps see those bastards go down, get a glimpse of revenge.

,Could you please tell me what you find so amusing in staying in a black pitched room for all day?¨

The voice startled her, made her turn around, and first her eyes needed to adjust to the light, and then she could see the contours of a figure standing in the door to the lab.

Kudo. Yes, of course, she had mentioned there was no moment of tranquility while he was around. He attracted trouble like a magnet. Like a very powerful magnet.

,Why don´t you tell me what you find so amusing in becoming my stalker?¨ she answered him sweetly, the sweetness of her voice making the boy gulp, acknowledging she was in no good mood.

,I´m not your stalker, I´m just fucking worried you´ll mutate into Batgirl!¨ And with that outburst he pushed the door till it hit the wall, the sound startling her almost.

She looked up at him expecting his face to show anger or something close to it, but instead she saw only . . . concern?

,Come on out and eat something Haibara, take a walk or something. You don´t even have to do it with me, just please do it.¨

And then he left. . . Left her to think, the door an invitation, an invitation to take up his offer.

don´t have to do it with me...just please do it...

She could come here, and close that door, she could close the window, refuse natural sunlight, and perhaps even nourishments, but ...

outside there was someone, someone who seemed to care.

So...

Maybe, just maybe she was not alone.