The blinding white light burned through Lynn's eyelids as she felt her consciousness return to her. Sounds of heavy and brute voices sounded far away and grew closer and closer with each second that passed. She tried to move her arms or her legs or inch her back off of whatever she was laying on, but something tightened around her waist when she moved.

"I think she's waking up." Hands touched her face. Plastic rubbed against her cheeks, the squelch of rubber breaking the silence. Whoever was touching her was wearing rubber gloves that doctors wore.

"What? She can't be, we aren't even done with the procedure yet! I thought the sedatives would last longer…" A gentle voice reached her ears, motherly almost.

"We're only two-thirds of the way through, it's only going to be another fifteen minutes."

"And have the poor thing in a serious amount of pain for those fifteen minutes? Listen John, I know you and everyone else here don't give a damn about these kids, but I do! Now give me the fucking syringe over there on the counter."

Lynn's eyes finally pried apart to see an older women looking down on her. Her pin-straight hair framed her face, a tight-lipped smile upon her pale lips.

"Stay strong for me, okay sweetie? Everything's going to be fine."

A man's face appeared next to the woman's, a syringe gripped tightly between his forefinger and thumb.

"Don't get the kid's hopes up, Cindy. She's not going to last much longer after we're done."

There was a prick in her neck

Then darkness.

xxx

"Alright. This is patient Icelyn Newton, subject B5, member of Group B, correct?"

"Yes sir."

"Was the operation successful?"

"I believe so sir."

"Good, good, now I just need to ask a few more questions, then we can get her off your hands. Has her hair been trimmed?"

"Yes."

"Body and face washed?"

"Yes."

"Given a new set of clothes?"

"Of course."

"She was given the tablets to prevent menstruation for three months?"

"I gave them to her myself."

"And she is still fertile, despite have taken the tablets, am I correct?"

"Correct."

"Have her hair follicles been removed from her underarms and legs?"

"Yes sir, but there is a chance they might grow back."

"That's fine, we just need her to last about thirty days without having to worry about those kind of things."

"I understand."

"Now, last question. Is she healthy enough for the last few sets of tests?"

"That depends, Mr. Janson, what exactly are you planning on doing?"

"Oh, nothing for you to worry about Cindy. Just some simple mind games for her and her brother, it's not that serious."

"Then yes, she'll be fine. Just don't do anything too rash, it could trigger the-"

"I know Cindy. I just want to see how far she'll go just to protect what little family she has left."

"I'm sorry?"

"Good day, Cindy. Thank you for the information. We'll be taking her off your hands now."

xxx

The next time Lynn woke up, she found herself staring at a bright white light panel, the only sound in the room being the buzzing from the panel and her sharp intakes of breath.

There were no doctors, no voices, no syringes, nothing. Just the plain white ceiling Lynn was looking up at.

She gripped the edges of whatever she was laying on, feeling the cool metal underneath her fingertips. Squeezing her eyes tight, trying to make her breath slower, trying to make everything slower. She had collapsed just as she entered a huge frigging cargo plane from blood loss, woke up in an operating room, now she was in another place with no idea where the hell she is. If only it had happened slower and not all at once. Then, maybe, things would've been slightly more calming, since she would've known what was going on.

It took Lynn more than a minute or two to recollect herself, mustering up the strength to sit up and open her eyes again.

What in the hell was this place?

Her pupils darted around the room. The entire room was white, the white tiled floor, the white cushioned walls, the ceiling. The only three non-white objects in the entire room was the stainless-steel bed frame and door (which supposedly led to a bathroom), and an old wooden desk and chair tucked away in the corner. Even the door leading out of this hellhole was white.

Lynn jumped off the bed and ran over to the door, trying desperately to get open. Pushing and pulling on the handle, slamming her palms onto the weird gritty surface. She came to her senses after realizing no one would even bother to open it, if she was back in WICKED's hands again, no one passing by would care.

She clenched up her fists and slammed the door one more time, spinning herself away and grabbing the roots of her hair on instinct. Running her hands through her hair, but she only made it a several inches until the ends of her hair slipped from in between her fingers.

Lynn gasped when she didn't grab at her long hair, it was gone, missing. Looking down at herself, she saw a pure white dress fluttering around just above her knee. When was the last time she had even wore a thing like this? The arches of her feet prickled from the coolness of the tile, her feet were bare too. She took a lock her hair between her fingertips and saw that probably more than a foot had been chopped off, even her bangs were gone.

It was like they remodeled her into a new person. All clean and trimmed to look brand spanking new.

Bringing her out of her thoughts, the bathroom door swung open on its squeaky hinges.

Newt stood in the doorway, golden hair askew and dark circles under his eyes. He was worn out, white shirt and blue plants wrinkled, skin pale. He looked like death, smelled like it too. But that didn't matter, all that mattered is that she had the person who was her home, right here, right now.

"Lynn? Is that you?" His voice was gurgly, hazel eyes squinting at her.

"Who else would it be?"

Within seconds she found herself in her brother's arms, face smushed against his chest as he squeezed the death out of her. Placing a kiss on her hairline, Lynn could feel Newt's smile, the corners of her mouth turning upward as well.

"After they took you away on the Berg, I thought I would never see you again. And the thought of having my last memory of you was watching blood gush out of your forehead...it was too bloody much."

"Well, I'm here now. Everything's going to be fine, I promise you Newt. Everything's going to be fine."

xxx

Hey guys!

I'm going to try and post a chapter every weekend even if the chapters are as crappy as this one. I haven't really been writing that much (as you may have noticed) so I'm not as good as I used to be. But I'm working on it! Don't worry!

Anyway, I hope you guys like this chapter. Remember to review! Seeing them always helps inspire me to keep writing :)

-Broadwaykid1832