Chapter Twenty-Eight
—-
—-
Author's Note: Man, I really am so sorry this took so long. I would murder writer's block if I could.
—
Was this really all Anya's fault?
She wrung her uniform and couldn't look away from her parents who'd been immobilized. Her esophagus was clogged and she couldn't swallow. Something tried to crush her chest but when she clutched at it, nothing was there. Her eyes stung with the suffocating ache that ran from her heart up her throat and nothing was more horrible than the thought that Kai might actually win.
Her parents were trapped and Kai had used to her to cause it. He would kill them and she would never see them again. They'd be dead and it was too terrible to think about.
If she hadn't—she didn't know that he'd left the intercom on. She didn't mean to draw them in, she didn't mean to, she didn't mean to.
If she'd said who Kai really was from the start, would this still have happened? Would it have made any difference? If she'd told them about her life, that she was in danger from the beginning, they could have stopped him, she knew they could've. She'd protected her secrets above everything else and they'd still found out. What was the point of that then?! It would've been better to just tell them! Why couldn't she just have told them?! She didn't want them to die! She didn't want them to die!
Kai pressed the button again on his small device.
"Gnngh!" Loid growled and grit his teeth at the raised voltage and Yor hissed at the pain.
"Stop it!" Anya cried and knew it meant nothing to him as she gained a side-glance in return. "STOP IT!" She screeched. "Stop it! Stop i~~t." And sobbed as a foot beat softly at the floor in distress.
It had gone on too long already. How many times had he done this? How many times would he remind her? She knew already! She knew already! It was her fault! He could stop now!
"This is what happens, I told you. If you can't deal with the consequences, you shouldn't have involved them." Kai replied, unswayed by his daughter's theatrics, and it drove the knife-like guilt deeper.
"Stop iiit." Anya covered her face and crouched on the ground. "Leave them alo~~ne." She bawled.
She wished her parents hadn't come. This was worse than being left here. Now she'd be left here and her parents would be dead and it'd be her fault. She thought they'd be okay, she thought they'd win like they always did and she didn't think it could possibly go this wrong. If only she hadn't lied at the orphanage. She wouldn't have been adopted, her papa would probably have finished his mission, and he wouldn't be here right now, her mama wouldn't be here right now. They'd be safe. They'd never have ended up on Kai's radar at all.
He pressed a button and her parents huffed with relief as the voltage lowered.
"You're the one who brought them here, Anya." Kai spoke with confusing gentleness and exasperation. "This is for your own good. People you involve in your life will always get hurt one way or another."
"No! I'd keep them safe! No one else would get hurt!" Anya yelled desperately and she wasn't sure she completely believed it. If this could happen to her parents of all people, whose to say it wouldn't to anyone else?
"Yes." He said calmly and raised the voltage again. "They would. And your own refusal to learn would make it worse." He insisted with utter surety that he couldn't be wrong, and Anya felt compelled to believe him.
"Stop it!" Anya cried and she didn't want to admit it. The rising fear, the horrible sensation that he was right. "Stop it! Stop hurting them!" She wavered.
"You're the one putting them through this. Do you think this would be necessary if you'd listened to me in the first place?" He said and the reproach stabbed viciously at her heart as if the guilt she had wasn't enough. "You should have stayed home. You can't expect other people to be able to handle you. You're too valuable. Too unique. They'll only hurt themselves trying to keep up with you and though it's not entirely your fault, it is your responsibility." Kai threw back at her as if it was an attack on her defences and they were all coming down. She had no retort, no response and she held her face again wishing she could hide from this. From him. From what he said. She huffed unsteadily through wet sobs and she couldn't stand that it was true. The begrudging recognition that she had hurt Becky just by being friends with her. And Damian who'd gotten caught up in this just by knowing her. Even her not so close relationships caused problems. "I'm s—orry! It w—on't happen ag—gain!" She hiccupped as his words dug deeper and deeper.
"You've said that before." He answered and looked pointedly down at her. "It was a lie."
"It's no—ot this time, it's n—ot!" Anya insisted and it wasn't. People were getting hurt because of her, because she didn't listen. She'd left the lab and everything he'd said would happen had happened. She'd caused pain and problems just by existing outside of Kai's instructions, and she didn't know what hurt more. That he was right. Or that the life she wanted, the world she'd lived in, had only been a short dream that she'd never have again.
If Kai had his way, she'd be here for the rest of her life and she didn't want it. She didn't want to believe it was the best thing for her and her energy was draining, her mental resistance, and she cried harder.
Kai lowered the voltage. "And why is that?" He asked, deceivingly casual, knowing this was going where he wanted.
Anya sniffled and she couldn't steady her breath or words. What he said was true, it had already happened multiple times and she couldn't escape the crushing realizations that drilled deep into her mind. The awful things she'd always rejected, her stout disbeliefs of what he claimed, were melting away and she couldn't deny it anymore as devastating acceptance took the place of her stubborn rebelliousness.
It was the last thing she wanted to believe. It was everything she hated, everything awful in her life that'd she'd tried and tried to forget. The lab was the last place she wanted to be, the kind of life she didn't want, and the fact that it seemed to truly be her only option, learning she had been wrong all this time cracked and tore her open. Her soul was dying in a vat of inky, viscous blackness that dragged it down where it would never rise again and she was left with the truth the director was pressing on her.
"Be—" She tried and it was difficult to speak over the sobs. "Because—" She hated it. "Because I ca—n't have o—ther people." She hiccupped and every word made it more real.
"Why?" The director asked gently.
"They—" She whispered hoarsely and to say it, ached, to admit it out loud. "They ge—t hurt." Anya said and the last word barely came out.
"And?" Kai nudged her on, not allowing her to falter.
"It's—" She struggled and her hands fisted. This was too hard.
"Yes?"
"It's. . . too much f—or them." Anya said and it aligned with how every other family she'd stayed with hadn't kept her. She'd been to weird. To creepy. Too much.
They couldn't deal with her. Her classmates called her eccentric and wild. Her teachers wondered if she was a problem child.
The director sighed as if his daughter had made a painful but important breakthrough and was proud of her. "That's right. I'm glad you're starting to see reason." He said, relieved, hinted with expectations. That this was how it should be.
It wasn't enough and he went further. "And who are these people to you?" Kai spoke of her parents evenly, calmly, though Anya knew he felt anything but.
He wanted her to forget about them. Adamantly and fiercely. Wiped from her affections and memories and Anya didn't want to look up at them. She knew what would happen to them, it was too easy to imagine and if she saw their faces it would just make it all the harder. She didn't want to look, she didn't want to.
But she did and regretted pulling the comfort of her hands away from her eyes.
The sight of them broke her apart. They were paralyzed in place but they shook anyway. They breathed heavily and their faces were drawn and murderous. They were tiring and even their superhuman bodies could only take so much.
They were everything to her, she didn't want to leave them behind. Even if what Kai said was true, she still didn't want to be without them. She loved them, she wanted them to continue being her parents wether it was selfish or not. She knew it wasn't going to happen and a knife stabbed, twisted, and dug into her heart.
The hesitation lasted too long and Kai shocked them again.
"No! Stop it!"
"Who are they to you!?" Kai yelled back at her.
"No one! They're no one! Leave them alone!" She cried desperately and she crept with aimless stress and frustration that she couldn't stop it. That it rested solely on Kai. "They're no one, they're. . . no one. . ." She sobbed into her knees and she didn't know how else to help them.
She hoped they couldn't hear her.
"Hmm. . ." The director rumbled distrustfully and pressed the button unconvinced. His unflinching stare bore into her and she wanted to hide away. "Are you sure?" He challenged staunchly and even if she said yes, she felt like it still wouldn't be enough.
Anya nodded anyway.
"Then why are you crying for them?" Kai was predictably ungiving and he held himself coldly, from his carefully neutral expression and firm stance, to his accusatory gaze that peered down at her with icy displeasure.
Anya didn't know how to stop it. She wanted to, but her mind had been overruled by emotions and inconvenient bodily responses.
She had no answer, and she couldn't pull herself together to assuage him.
He pressed the button again.
Through her parents, Anya felt the electricity surge and tensed as she tried to block it out. She didn't know how else to convince the director she didn't care and her parents couldn't keep going on like this. They were nearing the end of their tolerance and Kai would keep going until he was satisfied with Anya.
"These people are not your family, Anya. Who are they?" Kai said.
This was too hard, it was too hard. She didn't want to say goodbye. She didn't want to forget them and it hurt. He wanted her to be indifferent to them and she struggled to even fake it. She knew she shouldn't have gotten so close to them, let them become such a big part of her life, and she was paying for it. They were paying for it. What was she supposed to do? She didn't want to let them go, she didn't want to. She didn't want them to die and be forgotten.
But they would die and she couldn't handle it. She balked at the thought, her future without them and she didn't want that either. She didn't think she could survive her memories of them playing over and over when they were gone, when she'd be left without them, and it ground her heart into the dirt.
No one.
Kai wanted her to forget, her love for them left behind and she hated that it really might be better. To let the memories fade where they couldn't hurt her, where they couldn't remind her every day of what she'd lost, of what she'd held dear, of what she would never get back.
That's right.
They never should have been her parents in the first place. She shouldn't have dragged them down into her mess of a life. They didn't deserve this. She shouldn't be growing attached to people. They should have been strangers from the start. She should never have met them.
They should have been safe.
"No one." Her voice trembled and something in her was dimming like a sun setting for the last time with no moon to replace it. She didn't know what to do other than to accept the truth and her spirit was withering. There was no getting out of this, there was no way Kai would accept less than what he demanded, there was no hope, and bleak, crushing grief strangled her as it shackled her to the floor.
There was nothing she could do, no argument she could give, and nothing she could say that could convince Kai to let the Forgers go. They would die, they would be erased from her life, her memories, just like Kai wanted and Anya would be here forever.
"Who?" He said again.
"No one." She said softly and she didn't want to feel anymore. It just made it harder. There was no room for them in a place like this, for a person like her. She wanted to hide from them where they couldn't reach her. She couldn't deal with this otherwise.
"Again."
"No one." Her voice rasped quietly as she descended further into a pit of resignation and depression and tried not to think about what she was saying. She just wanted this to stop, she wanted it to stop.
"Again."
"No one." She repeated and a salve of numbness began to cloud over her thoughts and feelings. It was heavy and suppressing, but it was better than before.
"Again."
"No one." Anya said hollowly and she didn't hear herself speak it. She was cold to her surroundings and her words were dead. They had no meaning anymore and neither did anything else. She buried her affections and feelings for her parents deep underground like an unmarked grave and as long as it was lost, she couldn't visit it and grieve. She wouldn't have to remember and their memory wouldn't haunt her like a ghost looming over her shoulder.
It was what Kai wanted and he could tell she was where he wanted her. "And who am I?" He said.
Who Kai was. An answer he'd been trying to drill into her for a long time. A fact Anya had denied and denied vehemently, a fact she'd wanted to change. "My father." She said despondently and there was nothing left. She had run, she had rebelled, she had rejected everything about the lab, about him, with body and soul, and she was right back where she started. She had never truly escaped, she was always pulled back in. There was no escape and she was tired. So tired. She was exhausted and there was nothing left.
She had lost and there was nothing left.
Kai would never allow her to leave the life he'd planned out for her and he decided everything that would be a part of it. The lab would remain her prison until the day she died.
Kai sighed through his nose as if the experience had pained him and disciplining his daughter was hard for him too.
He turned the electricity off entirely and the water splashed as Loid and Yor fell to their knees. The after affects sizzled and coursed through their bodies and kept them on the ground.
Kai took a knee beside Anya and put a hand on her head. She didn't have the senses or presence of mind to cringe when he stroked her hair lovingly. Caringly. "I know this was difficult, but it was important." The director said soothingly. "Other people can't understand, they can't handle all this. Only I can, and I always will." His tone was soft and gentle, like she was the most precious thing in the world. "Because I love you. You understand that, right?" He prodded and Anya must've nodded because Kai responded as if she had.
"Good." He stood and turned to Fisher who lingered in the back. "Watch her for a moment." He said and left the room.
This was what Anya dreaded. He wouldn't leave them alive. He would kill them and he wanted to do it personally. He hated that Loid and taken his place as Anya's father and he wanted her to see them die. To witness the life leave their bodies.
Anya was beyond thinking she could do anything and she was too dead inside to cry anymore. She rested at the bottom of the pit in pitch blackness. Where the light couldn't reach and the smooth, steep walls, had no edges to climb on. She had no more strength to claw her way out and there was no point in trying. Nothing she did made a difference. There was no point in hoping, in going against her father who always got what he wanted, there was no point in anything.
Creaking joints squeaked and the director entered the room on the other side of the glass. The water sounded through the intercom, garbled, as his feet swept through unbothered by it.
Anya couldn't watch and she fell from her crouch to sit on the ground.
Twilight couldn't feel his fingers, his body still reeled, he was dizzy and shaking, and his gun had tumbled out of his hands. He had little control and he couldn't reach it fast enough.
Anya's shoulders curled and she leaned low over her legs, holding her face.
Twilight's fingers found the grip of his pistol. The paralyzation wasn't absolute anymore, but it wasn't enough. He was too slow as Kai stepped closer and crouched in front of him.
The director savoured the moment as he slowly reached for Twilight's mask and pulled it off. He would kill Anya's so-called father, not some person he pretended to be.
He held his gaze for a moment, smirking smugly without a hint of subtlety, and it said more than if he had spoken.
He stood again and Twilight strained to raise his pistol while Kai drew out his own. He pointed it at his target's head and was unbothered that Loid had managed to lift his gun some ways. He was still too slow.
Click.
It resounded.
A small noise amplified by anticipation and silence and it was a nail in the coffin. The safety of Kai's pistol was off and it was a proclamation of death.
Twilight clenched his jaw and he was furious with himself. He was supposed to get Anya back. She was supposed to be safe by now and he struggled to raise the stupid gun. He was too slow, he was too slow, he wouldn't make it and he had never been so not ready to die. Anya couldn't be left here! He couldn't leave her alone and frustrated anguish throbbed in his chest.
He was failing Anya again.
Whack!
Kai's head suddenly reeled back.
Like a bullet whizzing over Twilight's head, a knife had split through the air, and he almost heard it streaming off the blade. It was a blink, a blur of movement, and he'd felt it coming before he saw the blunt end of a needle-like weapon smack into the middle of the director's forehead and flip upwards several times off of it.
So fast was it, It was as if it materialized from thin air and Kai fell unconscious the second it made impact. His arms lowered, his pistol dropped, his body listed backwards, and there was an indent over his eyebrows.
Kai Forester was out cold before his body even hit the ground in a splash of cold sprays and chaotic ripples.
The knife landed with a plopping sploosh.
Bang!
Twilight ducked his head.
Thwack! A cloud of dust and chips exploded from the wall behind him.
"Tch!" Movement was increasing and Twilight's gun was finally high enough, his fingers feeling enough, to operate the trigger.
Bang! His arm shook from the effort, but a bullet furthered the fractures that spiderwebbed the glass.
Thwack!
And it was over.
The agent who'd stood in the back, had painted the white concrete red when her head smashed into the wall. It was spattered thoroughly with blood and the liquid smeared down the surface as the corpse crumpled to the ground. A bead of blood leaked from her forehead and her once clear eyes glazed over.
Twilight recognized her as the agent from the political event and the zoo. He didn't want her dead quite as much as the director, but not so little that he didn't.
He was tired. His muscles ached and trembled, his bones tingled, and in the sudden moment of respite, Twilight braced a hand on the floor. She was dead, the director was down, and he and Yor breathed heavily. It was all he could do to keep upright and he hoped this didn't last much longer.
The affects weren't quite gone and Twilight's leg still shook when he brought a knee up and rested on the other. He couldn't really feel them and it was the only thing stopping him from rushing over to Anya who sat hunched over.
The room was quiet but for their huffing, and the rippling water gradually smoothed to near stillness as Loid and Yor gathered themselves and took stock of the situation.
It was finally still, a paused moment, and a semblance of calm—
Wham! "Director!" The door slammed open and a harried agent balked at the scene in front of him.
"NO!" Yor yelled irritatedly and the man didn't have a chance to scream before he was killed with a knife to the chest.
The door closed slowly behind him as the water leaked red from his wound.
Yor sighed and rested for another moment before calling up her energy to stand. She ignored the wavering in her legs and made her way to the window. Her body had never felt so compromised before, the way it wanted to collapse and not move for days disturbed her. She didn't like it. This was never going to happen again.
Anya remained still, her face bowed, and Yor called for her. Worse than her body, it disturbed her more that her daughter wasn't reacting to anything. She didn't even seem to notice the dead body behind her.
Loid lifted himself up a second later, and dragged his feet forward. "Is she okay?" He asked her as he reached her side.
"She's not responding. Anya!" With a palm, Yor lightly banged the glass twice and moved further down, as far away from her daughter as she could get. Her hand reached back, and as she shot it forward, it fisted and smashed through the glass. Shards burst and skittered over the floor and the thorn princess used her shoe to clear remaining pieces that hugged the frame.
"Anya." She jumped through and Loid followed. Anya was here, they were here, she was safe, they'd be out of here soon and this would never, ever, ever, ever happen, ever again. Yor reached out and touched Anya's shoulder and she flinched. She'd never flinched at her touch before.
"Anya?" Yor said worriedly as she picked her up and her daughter didn't grab hold of her, she didn't take comfort in her as she usually seemed to. She kept her fists over her eyes and refused to look up.
Yor whipped an anxious glance at Loid as he stepped closer and Anya reacted the same when touched her head.
"Ugh. . ." The director groaned from the other room and Yor was torn between him and Anya. She had let Kai live for a reason. For a time.
"Here." Yor regretfully handed Anya over to Loid. "Go find the Desmond boy and get her out of here. I'll meet you at the hangar." She said and turned back to the large hole she'd made. "I'll deal with him." She said and her vague declaration wasn't so vague.
If Loid was displeased with this turn-out, that he wouldn't be killing Kai himself, he didn't show it. "Don't take too long." He said.
Twilight stepped towards the door holding Anya tightly. She didn't grasp for him either like last time and it distressed him. She obviously wasn't in a right state of mind and she didn't seek comfort from her parents.
Twilight paused with a hand on the doorknob, itching to take out his anger on the director. "Make sure he doesn't scream." He told Yor. "You'll be interrupted if he's heard."
—
Damian wrung his hands as he paced and he couldn't stop crying. His pulse was fast and his hands were shaky and clammy. He was scared out of his mind and he could do nothing when that lady had dragged Forger away.
Was he next? What was happening to her? Was she okay? What the heck was he supposed to do?
She'd gone screaming and kicking, clawing and crying, fighting to be let go, cursing at Agent Fisher. She'd been so scared and that scared Damian even more.
He was freaking out, he was so terrified. What was happening? When would they get out of here, would. . . would Forger still be alive to get out of here?! Would he?!
He was breathing faster now and he was choking on his throat.
Would they ever get out of here?! What if the people who were tracking the device were too late?! What if they never came? Where was Forger?! What was happening?! Why did they take her?!
Clank!
Damian flinched violently from his pacing when the metal door unlocked and his heart shot up like a rocket.
They were coming back, they were coming back. Someone was coming for him and—and—what happened at a lab?! Were they going to—
He couldn't finish it.
He couldn't wonder what happened to Forger here, whatever is was, that it might happen to him.
Damian backed away from the door that was opening and he didn't want it to.
He wanted out before, and now he wanted the room sealed. He wanted it closed. Closed, closed, closed. What did he do, what did he do?! He couldn't breathe, he couldn't—
"Damian?" An unexpected voice quietly slipped inside, a tone he'd heard once or twice. It wasn't the director or Agent Fisher and he had to be imagining this man in an agent's uniform.
"Mr. Forger?" It was the barest of whispers, catching on his tongue and shaking in his throat. This made no sense to him, but Damian inhaled like he might never get another and sobbed.
Mr. Forger was here and he had his daughter with him. She was here, she was okay.
"What's going on?" He asked hoarsely.
"C'mon, we have to go." Mr. Forger gestured as if his presence should've been anticipated and glanced down the hall.
"Right now. C'mon!" He urged and Damian ran to him. He didn't want to spend another moment here and Mr. Forger was the closest thing to a trustworthy adult here. Damian was so confused, but he'd rather get out now and question it later.
Mr. Forger took his hand and, though Damian was brought into screeching hallways, comfort wrapped around him like Mr. Forger's hand. It was if he was taking Damian's fears, his anxieties off his shoulders and making them his own instead. An adult was here to protect them, take responsibility. An adult was here to fix this, someone Damian could rely on and suddenly things didn't feel so dire.
Mr. Forger pulled him along and he was fast. Damian was half-dragged and he couldn't hold on tight enough. It didn't matter though, because Mr. Forger had a firm grip and kept him going.
Traversing the lab was easier than Damian thought. Since Mr. Forger was disguised, he only had to slow when agents came across them. If any of them questioned why Mr. Forger was escorting the children in such a familiar manner, they didn't say anything.
Bwaaaaaa! Bwaaaaaa! Bwaaaaaa! Bwaaaaaa!
Red lights pulsed as an alarm went off and Mr. Forger continued as if it didn't matter.
Damian panicked that they had been found out, but the rare agent they saw didn't spare them a second glance other than to tell Mr. Forger to return the children to confinement.
They ran for a couple more minutes, finding their way through the lab, and eventually Mr. Forger slowed to a stop at a corner and rounded it casually.
At a door, two agents stood guard and Mr. Forger walked right up to them.
Damian's heart pounded harder the closer they got and he was sure this was a bad idea.
"What are you doing here?" One of them asked. "These subjects shouldn't even be out of their c—"
Whack! Thud!
In less than a second, Mr. Forger incapacitated the agents with a strike of his foot, and Damian would have jumped back if he didn't have a firm grasp of his hand.
What the heck?! WASN'T HE SUPPOSED TO BE A PSYCHIATRIST?!
Mr. Forger's foot nudged a body out of the way of the door and stood close to it, listening intently and lowering his head as if it helped him hear better. Damian heard voices and noises, but couldn't discern the number of people, or what they were doing.
"Loid!" A woman's voice called from down the hall and Damian knew this one as well. He heard it and surely he was mistaken. Mr. Forger was here for some reason, so maybe it shouldn't have surprised him, but he looked to the source and he paled at the sight of Mrs. Forger approaching them.
Blood.
Blood, blood, blood, blood, dripping, streaking, and spattered across her face. It soaked her top, her pants, stained her hands, and despite her dark clothing, it was so thick it showed clearly. The strands of hair streaming down her face were stuck together from half-way down, and tainted a new colour. The front of her body was covered in red and she looked like she'd just emerged from a massacre.
Damian was gonna hurl.
What was she doing here? Whose blood was that? It definitely wasn't her's. What did she do? What happened? Did someone die?! DID SHE KILL SOMEONE?! HOW MANY?!
Damian was very scared.
Suddenly the Forgers were nothing like the commoner family he thought they were and he was now positive they were all crazy.
"Anya." Mrs. Forger immediately went to her while Damian gaped at the woman who very nearly smeared blood in Forger's hair before catching herself.
"Yor." Mr. Forger said, completely unruffled by her appearance. "I've determined at least seven people inside the hangar. You've left a trail of blood behind behind you, so we should go quickly before someone follows and alerts others to our location."
That's it?! Damian thought. You have nothing else to say about this?!
"Oh." Mrs. Forger glanced behind her as if it'd completely slipped her mind. "Right. Well, it might not matter. I think most everyone is de— Oh!" She finally noticed Damian and he flinched at her sudden attention. "Right. . . hello, Damian. . ." She said rather awkwardly, like she'd forgotten he was supposed to be here, and it troubled her. But she smiled all the same and he doubted she was aware how disturbing it looked with her face speckled with blood.
"H. . .hi. . . ." He breathed and it was all he could manage. He gripped Mr. Forger's hand tighter, though he wasn't all sure he shouldn't be afraid of him too. Should he be wary of them? There was obviously a lot more going on that he didn't know of, but they'd still come to rescue him.
That's more than his own father had done.
Is what he automatically went to, but he'd been here less than a day. The Forger's were only here so quickly because they'd followed a tracker.
Donovan Desmond would not not search for a missing son, if only for appearance's sake.
"Ready?" Mr. Forger let go of Damian's hand to grasp the door's handle, and with it, some of Damian's security.
"Of course." His wife pulled knives out of nowhere and spun them like she'd done it a thousand times. "Let's go."
There was no pretence, no attempt to make the agents think the Forger's were one of them, no effort to even try to hide the presence of the children. The door was opened and they were seen. A blood soaked Mrs. Forger, Subject 007 in Mr. Forger's arms, and the hostage close behind.
The Forgers attacked.
"Stay there!" Mrs. Forger commanded Damian as she hid him behind a car and flew off.
It was loud.
Damian didn't move, huddling by a wheel, and he couldn't think straight or bring himself to peek out at the action. He flinched when gunfire went off, and his breath caught each time someone screamed before it was swiftly cut short. There were a few cracks that sounded like bones breaking, and a body rammed into a car.
Damian didn't know what to think, he didn't know how to feel. He was terrified and beyond relieved that they had come for them. He warily poked his head out when quiet fell, and Mrs. Forger was pulling a knife from someone's eye.
Damian slapped a hand over his mouth. He was gonna puke.
Corpses littered the ground, but it wasn't too bloody. A couple limbs lay at unnatural angles and most of them weren't breathing.
Damian realized he was still still shaking, but for a new reason as he surveyed the quick work the Forgers had made of these people. It was barely a moment and it was enough for them to easily deal with the agents.
'Who are these people?' He thought and he was scared. Scared of the Forgers, of what they could do, he wasn't sure.
'Who are they, who are they?' He couldn't pull his gaze from the bodies sprawled on the ground and he had never seen so many dead people. He'd never seen one dead person before.
His trust for the Forgers became very shaky and he couldn't reconcile it with the simultaneous ease that they were on his side. That they had come for him and Forger, protected them, but he couldn't help the unsettling apprehension that crept over him like needles over his arms and shoulders. He was caught between fear of the situation and the Forgers, and fear of what might've happened had they not come.
"Damian, don't look." Desmond flinched at the man who strode over and crouched in front on him, blocking his line of sight. "Everything's okay. You're okay." He sounded so confident and comforting. He spoke as if he hadn't just killed people and Damian's gaze was pulled to the disturbing sight. "These were bad people and it was a life or death situation. What's important is that you're safe." He told him and Damian still didn't know what to think. "C'mon." Mr. Forger was in a hurry and stood as he took a dazed Damian's hand, making him turn away from the carnage and to a vehicle. The young Desmond was barely aware of being lifted up and buckled in, and the sound of the door closing, was dulled.
—-
Kai was dead.
He was dead, he was dead, he was dead.
Through the darkness and numbing emptiness, Anya heard it ring clearly in Yor's mind. It was loud and cutting, cracking into Anya's consciousness that was buried in heavy weights.
It was as if the fact was shoved in her face and the moment she'd dreamed of, a possibility that had felt like it would never happen, was falling short of her expectations. She heard it and it didn't feel real. His voice was still in her head, his words still played over and over, dampening the relief she should be feeling, the lifting of some great weight that had crushed her her entire life.
But still, that tiny spark that bubbled in her chest.
He was dead.
It began to play over her father's words, and in Loid's lap, in the dark tunnel, in the car that was on it's way out, she cried into Twilight's shirt. She wasn't particularly happy, she wasn't entirely sad.
He was dead and she just cried.
Loid noticed, though it was quiet, and his ever consoling hand pet her hand.
She wanted to forget everything that had happened, disbelieve what Kai had said, but there was part of her that shrank at Twilight's touch.
The drive through the tunnel was only a couple minutes, but it dragged on as if trying to keep Anya there longer and as they neared the end, the car slowed. The Forgers had found the controls for the doors earlier and drove unimpeded up the ramp and into the night air.
They were out. They were leaving. Anya was sure not long ago that it would never happen and some of the dark emptiness lifted. Like a small piece had returned to herself.
The ride was bumpy and slow, and the wet dirt squelched beneath the tires. Residual raindrops sprinkled the roof, and the odd leaf plastered to the windows.
The forest was spookily quiet and broken only by hooting owls and boughs rattled by the wind.
They drove for a couple minutes, avoiding thick mud that would catch the tires, low branches that reached to scrape along the car, and followed the vague path that led to the road.
Anya wanted to stay hidden behind the numbness, the veil that protected her from quite feeling and thinking the entire drive, but it was slipping and it was harder to remain deadened when a consciousness appeared on the edges of her mind.
It was strong and not too, too far away. The presence was like a distant campfire in a reaching void cresting the edges of her range, and it lit up the surrounding area like a beacon. It was impossible to ignore and she was drawn to it.
She startled at first when she couldn't sense their thoughts, but it wasn't an agent with a device. This was different. It was strange. Their intentions were indiscernible and there was nothing but the incredible mental strength.
They were getting closer fast.
Anya shivered and something about it unsettled knew this mind. She had to. It was familiar, and not. She should be able to place it.
The presence was coming closer. The small fire in the distance had become a blaze overshadowing everyone else's.
The rumble of a car became apparent and it was nearing quickly, driving inadvisably fast in these woods.
Her papa heard it too and, in the middle of the forest with not much of an alternate route and no time to hide the car, he slowed and was preparing to jump out if necessary. "Yor." He warned.
"Mm." She nodded.
It was here. The car came through haphazardly, disregarding caution and bouldering over roots and rocks, plowing through at unrecommended speeds. It broke through, racing around a bend, and Yor was already grabbing Damian from the backseat.
Loid jumped out with Anya as it came too fast, it's tires spinning with mud, and the vehicle swerved and pressed hard on the brakes. The driver must've had little control then, because it veered left and swiped a tree, ripping off a side mirror. In a further attempt to not die, the driver swung the car sideways, the wheels slid, and the right side of the car smashed into a tree.
The branches shook and rained needles down on it.
Anya didn't hear any internal screaming, panic, or fear. No exclamations of surprise or terror. Nothing. It was sealed away and she gleaned frustratingly little. It was tightly kept from her and they weren't even trying to do so, she could feel it. This was natural for them, the casual fortitude of their mind, the simple impenetrableness, and it struck her.
Like a smack over the head that said it should've been obvious, her hands slipped before she realized what she was doing, and looked up amazed at the figure opening their door.
It had been so long. She'd met him once and he felt different, but this was definitely him. She should have realized, she should have known.
A foot stepped out on the ground and his hand gripped the door's handle for support. He was unsteady and staggered a little as he stood. His eyes went straight to Damian.
Anya couldn't believe what she was seeing. She never thought she'd meet him again. She never thought she'd have the chance to speak with him again. It was a rare thing to interact with someone like her.
Subject 004.
What was he doing here? What was going on?
From the other side of the Forger's vehicle, a soft whisper breathed, so quiet, so confused, it nearly escaped her.
"Demetrius?"
—
Author's Note:
Aaaaaqggghghgh! Finally! This is the end of part one! Thanks for all the supportive comments and for reading this. This has been an amazing experience and I can't wait for part two. Unfortunately, I have another project I plan to work on not on this site, and it might be a while. But really, I can't wait! For those of you disappointed by the lack of the violent and disturbing death scene of Kai, there will be more on that in a later chapter. Anyway, thanks a lot!