Alex and Adam Reed's Story

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The tiles in Dr. Barns' bathroom were brilliant white, and the light was almost harsh in the small room. The floors were white and cold beneath the man's bare feet, and the tiled walls shined spotlessly. In the mirror, his face held no expression. It rarely did; his intricate thoughts hidden beneath his steely glaze. The only sound other than his breathing was the rushing of the water in the sink as he washed his hands. Today, he was expecting the arrival of another set of twins. Two boys, by the reports. In the mirror, Dr. Barns' upper lip curled in disgust. Two little teenage boys. They were always the worst. Boys were disobedient, chaotic, loud creatures that ignored rules. But he needed them, just as he needed the others. Dr. Barns rose a hand and ran it through his thinning black hair, making it stand up on end. A small, emotionless smile twitched at the corners of his mouth as he regarded himself in the immaculate mirror, amusing himself with the appearance of his hair on end. He looked younger like this, much younger, and carefree. It was an image so unlike his actual personality it made him appear as an almost entirely different man.

Bored quickly with his appearance, Dr. Barns dropped a few strands of dislodged hair in the bin, and then washed his hands again before drying them on the soft, warm towel by the door. He could feel the day starting, and estimated the time to be around six thirty, and just as he thought it, the ringing of the morning alarm resonated through the still air. Six-thirty exactly. Crossing over to his wardrobe, Dr. Barns selected one of his many crisp white shirts, and walked to the window as he shrugged it on, and then carefully buttoned it up. Outside, the day was dawning darkly. Beyond the fencing of the camp, the forest loomed wickedly on the horizon that was blanketed with a fresh fall of snow. Dr. Barns hated the stuff, and turned his gaze upon a manual laborer who was busy sweeping paths into the knee high drifts. Lights appeared in the Blocks of the children as they were awoken by the staff and the bell, and at this point, Dr. Barns turned aside. He had no desire whatsoever to witness the waking of the children. However, just as he turned away, a light in the distance caught his eye. It flashed orange three times as the gates of the camp slid open, admitting a heavy black car. Dr. Barns nodded to himself. Everything was running to schedule, and the car heralded the arrival of their new camp member.

Having buttoned up his shirt, Dr. Barns selected a moody blue tie from the rack, which he tied tightly around his throat. He added a suit jacket to his ensemble, and then went back into his bathroom where he studied his appearance once more in the mirror. He looked smart, and professional, and after he pulled a comb through his hair so that not a strand was out of place, he looked immaculate, as he did every day. He put the comb back in it's place in the cupboard, and then washed his hands again. He had big plans for today. Overnight, he'd left an experiment ticking over, and he was eager to return to it. He had taken a set of twins, a boy and a girl, and separated them. Each had slept in a different room, and while one was made comfortable and warm, the other was put in a room no bigger than a closet with only a few rats to keep her company. Periodically during the night, she had been taken out by one of his scientists, and an irritant was applied to the back of her right hand. Dr. Barns was looking forward to seeing the state of the two children this morning, and seeing if the male had felt the discomfort of his sister.

A genuine smile formed on his lips as he turned and gathered up his briefcase. First, he would attend Roll Call, to check on the new arrival, and then he would make his way to Block Seventeen as usual. Dr. Barns turned from his room then, and left his Block. He had one to himself, and it was the more comfortable of all the Blocks in the camp. It was placed nearby the large courtyard where all the children congregated each morning in front of a raised platform where one of the senior staff members would call their name.

Outside, he made his way quickly over to that stage. It wasn't a long walk, but the morning was chilly and slightly uncomfortable. Dr. Barns scowled a little, not paying attention to the staff that he passed as they abruptly straightened up and saluted or bowed. It was a sign of respect that he paid no attention to, and yet he demanded it at the same time. As he approached the platform, one of the senior nannies as he liked to call them, was stood waiting for the children to arrive. The harsh looking woman had a long, hooked nose, and eyes of a cruel and icy blue. Her steel grey hair was put up in a bun out of the way, and the style was flawless. She was a woman that Dr. Barns knew well, as she was the one in charge of managing the Twins Accommodation Blocks. As Dr. Barns approached, she turned to look at him and nodded slowly in a gesture that was almost a bow of respect. She knew better than to speak to him though, and Dr. Barns simply nodded in reply before moving to stand at the back in his usual spot to watch his subjects straggle into their places.

Alex and Adam sat in the car as it drove into the camp. Alex put pressure on the scar on his right hand, trying to remember where he got it, while Adam just seemed to get irritated. The driver had been silent the whole trip, not that they could see him anyways. Or her. Maybe it was a her.

"Adam, you think they might actually tell us what is going on here? Or maybe who are parents are?"

"Do you really believe we would get that information now?"

"No. But I can be hopeful, cant I?"

"I guess, so long as you realize its not happening"

Alex looked out the window. "I think we both know it will eventually..."

Adam elbowed his brother in the rib, and seemed to get a cramp at the same time. It was a quick one though. "Serves you right..."

As the car pulled up, they could see a roll call was going on. They wondered why they had to be driven in the middle of the night, and most of the way by an armed escort. So maybe they had tried a previous escape attempt? They were curious. Almost annoyingly curious, about everything. A note was made about it in their files about how curious they seemed to be. There was also a note they seemed to share "a special bond", and recommended Eagle Eye.

They really couldn't see anyone else yet, except for a Doctor. "You thinking what I am thinking?"

"That the doctor over there is in charge, and he is kind of scary looking?"

"Exactly what I was thinking"

Eventually the car stopped, and they were made to get out. The driver went around and got their luggage from the trunk, though there was not much to start with. Just some clothes. Because they had been taken in the middle of the night, they were not even given time to change, and were dressed only in their T-shirts, pajama pants, and sneakers. As a result, they spent about half the trip asleep, the other half trying to figure out what was going on.

"So, maybe you can try not to get us in trouble? Please?"

"No promises"

Leta and Kimmi

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"Hey, Kimmi, you gotta wake up."

The insistent sound of her sister seemed as if it came from a distance, and Kimmi rolled over in bed as if she should physically escape from it. She buried her head into her pillow and groaned into it, pushing her eyes closed in an attempt to fall back asleep. Kimmi really was not a morning person. She never had been, and she was sure that she never would be. If she had her way, then she would sleep through until around midday - a luxury only allowed to her when she was sick. She had never understood why the staff at the camp insisted that everyone should be awake before the sun, and then stood around in the cold before they could eat. To her, it was a moronic and archaic tradition that was nigh on torture.

"Kimmi! Seriously, we need to leave before we're late. For Gods' sake! Why do you do this every morning?" Leta's tone had become harsh and irritated. They had the same ritual every morning. How difficult was it just to do as she was told? Every morning they had this argument, and Leta supposed it was like trying to get a child to go out. It was struggle after struggle, before they would undoubtedly have a heated argument, which would be resolved by Kimmi's lower lip trembling, and Leta going off to sulk. Well...it wasn't always like that. Leta felt bad for thinking so poorly of her sister, but she couldn't help it. She really needed to get her act together.

Leta turned and went to her sisters' dresser, where she pulled out some clothes. Leta was already dressed in some baggy pants and a jacket, with her hat concealing her short hair. That was the one major difference between the two twins - that one had ridiculously long hair, and the others' was a lot shorter. Leta knew her appearance was kind of boyish, but she didn't care. At least she was comfortable in her clothes. The jeans and shirt she threw at her sister landed on her head, and the only reply was a low groan of irritation.

"Come on!"

"Okay! Fine! I'm getting up!"

Kimmi sat up and scowled at her sister, before sighing and untangling her legs from the blanket. The other girls that they shared their Block with were already up and dressed, with some of them on their way out for Roll Call. Kimmi rolled her eyes and stood up, watching as Leta grinned at her teasingly.

"Nice bed head"

"Is it really that bad?"

Kimmi tugged off her pajamas as she went to examine the state of her hair in the mirror, and groaned with resignation. It seemed today would be a bad hair day. Her dark brown locks stuck out at all angles, and her natural curls were unruly and rebellious. She glanced at the clock on the wall as she began to change her clothes, and grimaced as she saw how little time she had left.

"Can you pass me my brush?" Kimmi asked her sister as she pulled on her socks, dressing so hurriedly that she really did look as if she had just gotten out of bed. Leta threw the hair brush over to Kimmi, who caught it without looking. It was something that she did naturally, without even thinking. The two just managed to live happily and easily side by side, even during the times that they fought. Standing, she tugged the brush through her hair in an attempt to tame the mess that sleep had created. There were dark shadows beneath her eyes, as usual, but they would lighten as the day went on. Turning to her sister who was waiting for her impatiently as she gave up with her hair, and just tied it back out of the way, she was met with a raised brow and the question.

"Are you ready yet?" The sarcasm in her tone and the irritation in her voice was just a front, and they both knew it. Really, Leta looked at her sister with something like a pang of jealousy. Even when she didn't look her best, she still looked pretty good. Leta wondered what it would be like to look as feminine or as attractive as her twin did, and sighed inwardly. She'd never be that person, and she wasn't so good at pretending to be either.

"Yep. Come on," Kimmi slipped her feet into a pair of boots and then zipped them up, before moving forwards and taking her sisters hand, "We'll be late". Kimmi pulled Leta along with her, leaving their Block to join the people who were already heading towards the courtyard where they all stood each morning. Ahead, they could see the congregation of boys from one of their Blocks as they wandered over to take their places. In the crowd, a pair of red heads stood out, and Leta and Kimmi exchanged grins at the sight of red in the wash of blondes and browns. It wasn't that they thought that it was weird or anything, it was just that they could both appreciate how the colors made them stand out. Ahead, on the platform were two individuals that had frightened the twins since they arrived. Neither had ever had a proper conversation with them, but the reputation of Dr. Barns was not kind. Leta squeezed Kimmi's hand as they took their place, waiting impatiently for everyone to arrive so that they could return to the warmth of the inside. On the other side of the courtyard, a car had just drawn up, from which emerged a pair of twins who looked bewildered and confused. Leta felt Kimmi's curiosity, but they kept silent, as was the unwritten rule of the courtyard.

Kinéra and Relvue

Ayame was awoken suddenly by a harsh jumping on her bed. A very typical wakeup call by her sister, Nagisa. This happened pretty much every morning. Ayame didn't really like it, but she knew that if she told Nagisa not to do it, it would upset her and she hated seeing Nagisa upset. The bubbly girl named, Nagisa bounced on top of her sister, one knee on either side of her sister, not touching her.
♪♫"Come on Meme-chaaaan! It's time to get up! Get up! It's time to gooooo! La la laaa!"♪♫
Nagisa sang to her now wide awake twin. This was not a rare event. Nagisa LOVED to sing. Every other day at least, she would wake Ayame up with one of her world-famous "Good Morning" songs. Well...not world famous...but it was Camp famous...Sometimes the other campers would even find themselves humming one of her tunes during the day.

"Good morning Nagi-neechan. You're happy today." Ayame says groggily. Nagisa giggles as she stops bouncing.
"You're surprised?!" She tilts her head, surprised. Nagisa was always the happiest person to be around. It's why she earned the nickname "Bubbles." Could Ayame really be surprised?!
"Not in the slightest." Ayame said with a laugh. Her sister lept off of her and stood back on the ground.
"We really do need to get going though, sis. We can't be late for Roll Call!"
"All right, all right. I'm up Nagi, I'm up." Ayame sits up as she says this and puts her feet on the floor. She quickly gets dressed. Nagisa, however, was already fully dressed in one of her favorite pink dresses. After Nagisa was fully dressed in her usual jeans and a t-shirt garb, the two left their room.

Shortly after, Nagisa and Ayame made it to the courtyard, awaiting their morning roll call. Nagisa seemed to bounce as she made her way over to the Bernstein twins. She smiled brightly when she approached and gave them both hugs, as she usually did, giving a longer one to Travis.
"Good morning, Mark!" she says as sweet as candy, "good morning, Travis... When she greeted Travis, however, she had a slightly shy tone in her voice and looked away, as one does when they talk to a boy they favor. Ayame rolls her eyes and follows quickly, getting to the brothers shortly after her sister's greeting.
"Morning, gents. Ready for another riveting rendition of Roll Call."
"Alliteration!" Nagisa chirped, quoting a lesson from class. Ayame laughs.

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Nagisa's smile quickly faded as she saw Dr. Barnes and she placed a hand on Travis's sleeve, gently squeezing it. The sight of him always made her a little uneasy. It wasn't necessarily that she didn't like him, she was just scared of him; almost terrified even. Just the sound of his voice made her tremble and sweat with fright. She watched him quietly as he scanned the crowd and their eyes met for a moment as he scanned the croud. Quickly, she dropped her hand from Travis's arm and look down and to the right blushing nervously. She never liked yelling, but when she heard him yell it was almost as if it caused an earthquake. She had only gotten in trouble with him once, which she was very upset at herself for doing, and it was enough to never make her look at him again. Anger always frightened her, but there was something about Dr. Barnes's anger that was...different.

Ayame felt her heart-rate quicken. She put a hand to her chest and was a bit confused at the time, until she noticed her sister looking away from Dr. Barnes. Good 'ole Dr. Barnes. He scared the pants off of most of the kids here. There was a rumor that, if you looked directly into his eyes for more than five seconds, he would steal your soul. Whether that was true or not was up in the air, though Ayame wouldn't be surprised if it were. There was something about him that was...off. She knew how much Nagisa was afraid of him, especially after the one time he yelled at her. From what Ayame could recall her sister was holding a boy's hand, probably Travis's, and he just blew up like a volcanic eruption. He never did like seeing romantic affections among the kids. But what could he expect from them? They all grew up together so there was bound to be some hanky-panky going on. Even though they were in a camp didn't mean the kids didn't have needs. Especially the boys...

As the roll call commenced, the voices of the other twins sounded melancholy and unenthusiastic. This was a normal thing. Not only was it early in the morning, but the roll call took quite a long time and was ungodly boring. The woman who took roll always spoke in a monotone voice and said all the names slowly. She had a cold stare, almost as cold as Dr. Barnes himself, and if you didn't answer right away, she would give you this glare that would nearly freeze your blood. And there it came:
"Ayame Ichigawa."
"Here..." Ayame replies with a sigh in her voice. The woman gives her a slight glare and Ayame clears her voice slightly, looking away.
"Nagisa Ichigawa."
"Present!" Nagisa pipes up, making sure she can be heard. Once she has stated her presence, she goes back to staring at the ground. She moves her hands up and down her arms in an attempt to warm herself. As she breathes out, a white mist swirls from her mouth and Nagisa begins to shiver. Ayame, knowing the feelings of her sister, walks to Nagisa and puts her arms around her, moving them rapidly up and down, creating friction needed to warm Nagisa's cold arms.
"Regretting not bringing a jacket like I told you to?" Ayame asks in a whisper. Nagisa nods, teeth chattering. Ayame chuckles slightly.
"This is why you should listen to me more often."

Roll call stops briefly as Dr. Rufus appears to speak with Dr. Barnes. Ayame smiles suddenly at his presence. There was something about him that intrigued her. Nagisa always told her it was gross and that he was weird, but Ayame found it easy to ignore her. He was a dark individual and very flirtatious with the women around. Ayame figured that, even though she disliked the thought of love and romance, it was a little teenage crush. She did wonder what would happen once she was 18, though she figured once she and Nagisa was a legal adult, they would finally leave the camp and become functioning human beings in the elusive and seemingly fantasy-ridden outside world.

It was cold outside. Very cold. There was snow on the ground, and they were not dressed for snow. Though, to be fair, they were never told where they were going and they were taken in the middle of the night. Both of them appeared to be getting extremely cold and groggy. Maybe just plain irritated. But notably, their irritations seemed identical. Same shiver, same warming techniques, same everything. Alex and Adam seemed identical in every way.

They thought they heard something about block 17, about going there. At least they think they did. They tended to have really good hearing sometimes. It seemed weird, random even. That is when they both yelped in pain. From what it looked like, something shocked them both.

"You shocked me!"

"No, you shocked me!"

"Nu uh! You shocked me!"

One of the guards interrupted them, and motioned to take their place in line. It couldn't be helped but to be noticed they even seemed to walk the same. It was like they were totally in sync with each other. Which was supported by the fact they often completed each other's sentences. Don't let their sibling bickering fool you, they are about as close as twins can get, and then some.

As they took their places among the other twins, Alex and Adam started thinking about why they were moved to this new camp. They hoped that maybe here, someone might answer their questions. In their files, it would probably be pointed out that they tended to be "overly curious, observant, and suspicious of all the staff". They glanced back over at that doctor.

"Definently creepy"

(Oops, accidentally tagged a few too many lol)

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Mark noticed that Travis smiled a bit when one of the female twins, Nagisa, stepped away from him and went on to hug his brother. Was that affection? Her voice when she greeted him, too... Mark narrowed his eyes and pushed Travis back a bit when the girl dropped her hands. They had done this before, shown affection towards each other. Were they crazy? It was obvious that Dr. Barns wasn't very fond of seeing such actions, displaying them in front of him was like asking for a punishment.
"Hey Ayame, hi Nagisa." Mark said, casting a glance at Nagisa as he spoke her name. She was going to get his brother in to trouble, he knew it.
It was better to try and keep them separate.
To keep them at safe distances.
"Hello, ladies!" Was Travis's greeting, he sounding much more welcoming towards the two girls than Mark did. "I was thinking that when roll call was done, we could-"
"Present!" Mark called out when his name was said, interrupting his brother, "And don't even think about it, Travis."
Travis frowned at him, "I was going to say 'sit together for breakfast', but if you say so. Nevermind, ladies." he muttered, turning his attention back to where Dr. Barns stood when his name was called, "Present!"
He turned back to Mark, "Stop being such a grump."
"Stop acting like such an idiot, then."
Travis scowled "Excuse me?" he snapped, raising an eyebrow. It was always unexpected when Travis and Mark, the two inseparable brothers, actually fought about something. He looked over at Ayame and Nagisa, feeling a bit embarrassed about the argument, and decided to put their disagreement aside until another time, "Actually nevermind. Does it really matter, Mark?" the words came out as sounding sharp, as if they were trying to deflate whatever thing that Mark was trying to do.
His shoulders fell, "No, I guess not."
It worked.

Travis, ignoring the nagging sense of drop in attitude from Mark, noticed Nagisa's shivering and tugged off his jacket, "If I were you, I'd listen to Ayame more often." he said cheerfully as he offered over the piece of clothing. The sudden cold bothered him a little bit, but he was sure that he had a spare coat back in his Block. Besides, it wasn't as if he was going to anguish without it.
On the stage, the roll call went silent without a warning. Dr. Rufus and Dr. Barns then began speaking, but Travis was too far away to hear what they were saying.
"Hey, Mark, do you know what's going on?" He asked, nudging his brothers arm.
Mark shook his head, "Not a clue."

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"Yeah, I am Alex Reed"

"And I am Adam Reed".

They even sounded nearly the same. Alex and Adam both also looked somewhat groggy, or annoyed. "You know where we are? Or why they decided to move us in the middle of the night? Damnit I am tired".

"You probably got us in trouble, again"

"Nu uh, you did!

Adam gave Alex a look. "We both know it's you who get us into trouble"

Alex had a slight smile, then turned to the others around. "So, who are you?"

(Meh, minor writers block. >.>)