Sam's Puzzle

"Since we last saw each other?"

Ember winced, but managed a slight nod. She knew the answer she both desired and feared would be unpleasant, but at some point both of them would have to release it. The more she had to keep hiding the past and keeping it as her own burden the more it seemed to weigh her down and guide her actions. She could only assume Damion's past was tearing him apart as much as herself.

From his words it was evident her assumption had been correct. His whole countenance had shrivelled up, recoiling from the effort of having to dwell on the past. Ember flinched at his earnest, almost begging tone as he tried to assure and persuade her that he had done everything he could for her. The way he had not assumed she understood hurt; she had never doubted his efforts. He did not need to seek her approval, then her own words came back at her.

"You can't promise that."

Shame made her cheeks burnt. In their current state, words were far more lethal than before, and she had been careless with her own. The colour didn't remain for long, the mention of the testing and poison was enough to make her blanche. It seemed both of them were lost, each with a mixture of vivid horror stories of the past and then fictional constructs of what the other had had to go through.

It took a few moments for Ember to force herself out of her dark reverie to realise Damion had got up, his face darkened with a shame she understood all too well. Now she well and truly wished she hadn't asked.

"To keep you safe I had to do things. Things I'd rather not talk about."

A lump rose to her throat at the confirmation that her question had been too much too soon. She was going to apologise and attempt to change the subject to anything….anything at all, when a thump caused her to jump slightly. Damion's similar spout of anger to her own had resulted in a mess of scattered photos and documents. Unknowing of its contents, instinctively Ember rose to begin picking them up. As her hand moved to pick up one of the photos its contents immediately became known and she recoiled in horror.

Two sightless eyes stared up at her, masked in a pain so real Ember felt her old scars ache. Averting her eyes from one only bought another tortured soul into sight. Damion had backed away from the permanent stamps of his history, and Ember struggled to keep how shaken she was hidden for his sake. Nevertheless her heart pounded and her hands curled into fists to steady her shaking hands.

"It's not our fault." She said far more sure and steady than she felt. She turned to Damion, her eyes blazing with a determination to convince both herself and him. "We know it's not."

Her face became masked with anger and all the words she had constantly chanted to herself came rushing out.

"They don't understand!" She pointed a shaking finger out the door. "Anyone would do the same thing in our position. The truth is all these people would be dead and tortured whether we did it or not. If we refused, Sam would simply torture and kill us both, and then finish the work we declined. We didn't kill these people- Sam did. We simply saved each other that's it."

Her voice was starting to break, the original confidence starting to waver.

"I'm right….it's true." Her eyes were no longer fiery, but now wide and worried, desperate to be convinced. "Isn't it?"

She forced herself to look back at the spread of pictures spewing from Damion's book. Without her conscious control her eyes moved up to land on her own book. Without thinking her hand followed suit, her fingers brushing the spine.

She already could see its contents. The early pictures would simply be unmarked, fearful corpses and then the far worse bloody scenes of her later victims. Innately she was only capable of leaving unmarred death in her wake, but slowly Sam had taught her to follow in his own footsteps until a knife handle fit naturally into the curve of her palm.

"Our pasts are not so different Damion." she said softly. "Despite my ability seeming less damaging, Sam found other ways to ensure I would become just as harmful."

With some effort she pulled her fingers away from her book, and began to scoop up hurriedly the documents from Damion's. She would summon the courage later to face her past, for now she needed to stay focused.

"I will finish my task to protect you as we have both done." She said firmly, trying hard to distract Damion "We'll do what we've always done. Keep fighting."

Delirium was still extremely weak from today's events, but at least now she could get up without vomiting onto the floor (Which was always a plus). However, a strange feeling in her mind was directing her attention away from Stephen. Delirium furrowed her brow. It was almost as if someone was tapping gently on her mind as if to get her attention, and then whispering a bunch of incoherent babble. She slowly got up and walked to the door. Maybe Rezia was trying to communicate with her. She'd never been able to send illusions to people without looking at them, but maybe because this was somewhat different, she'd be able to. She closed her eyes and tried to focus on the pressure on her mind.

Yes, she could definitely sense Rezia trying to communicate, but what was he saying? It was almost like a baby was trying to talk to her, saying a bunch of nonsense and then one word seems to jump out that makes sense like "food" or "blankie." Rezia's connection to her mind was still something very new and she didn't quite know the extent to it yet. She could pick up the general gist of the message. Rezia is going to shock himself now and will need our help. Something about Damion? Yes, Rezia's task. Food? Damion can't eat food. Illusions for damion... tying him up... everything was very incoherent but with a lot of concentration she strung together the important parts of the message. Should she tell Stephen about her task and Rezia's? It would certainly be better if he could help, but after what he just went through maybe it would best not to drag Stephen into her problems at the moment. Instead of trying really hard to send back a message without looking at him with her still aching head, she simply opened the door a bit and continued their silent conversation.

I think I understand most of what you said. Go ahead and shock yourself and I'll wait out here so I can pull you into the room if you pass out. I don't know how bad of a shock it will be. I can try and subtly putting an illusion on Damion, but it will only work when I'm around him. If he takes food into his room I won't be able to stop him from eating it. I think the best action would just be to take all the food and stockpile it in one of our rooms. If either ask where the food went, we just play dumb and assume Sam took it away. I don't know how long this task lasts. But for now, let's deal with this and get it over with. Again, I'm really sorry about this. Also, the task was for me to shock you. I don't want there to be any question if I technically completed my task or not. I can see Sam pulling something if you just shock yourself. Would you be ok with me at least pretending to force you to touch the door?

Damion was still stuck in a state of cruel, horrible, awe at the books and all the terrible damning facts they contained. Through the corner of his eye however he spied Ember reaching to pick up the mass of photos littering the floor. Oblivious at the moment to the nightmare inducing images they contained. He immediately snapped out of it, fear swirling in his eyes. She would see. She would see everything. He dove down, joining Ember on the ground. Frantically taking as many as he could in a vain attempt to keep her from looking."Ember don't look! I can take care of this, it's nothing really!" His voice cracked from the sheer desperation of it all.

He was too late. She saw them. She saw them, and she was afraid. He closed eyes his waiting for what was sure to come. Waiting for her to snap at him, tell him how horrible he was. He waited for what seemed like forever wondering how long it would take her to spout hateful, completely deserved words. But when she spoke there was no hatred, no screaming, or fear.
”it’s not our fault. We know it’s not.” She spoke with both anger, and confidence in such a manner it shocked him. His eyes shot open, and he looked at her with genuine surprise. As she spoke Damion could only nod along. Rationally the things she was saying made sense. They were the same things he would tell himself at night, just after he was forced to end another’s life. A lump formed in his throat. He always justified it in some way or risk crumbling completely.

Soon her confidence began to fade, wavering like she didn’t believe the words coming out of her own mouth. He watched as she went towards her own book. Undoubtedly filled her history, secrets, and even pictures of her own victims. Her own torturous stories were all held within that book. It made him sick, and filled with anger. Years ago he had given up the notion that he would punish Sam for his misdeeds. In this moment however he vowed silently to himself that he would end Sam just as he had been forced to end so many others.

Next she spoke softly, assuring him that despite her ability being far less agonizing Sam had done all he could to turn her into a dangerous weapon capable of causing just as much pain as Damion himself. She turned away from her book, now taking the time to pick up the photos still littering the floor. "I will finish my task to protect you as we have both done. We'll do what we've always done. Keep fighting."

Damion nodded again though this time with much less fear than before. She was right, in every way she was right. He began taking the photos and putting them back in the book. When the floor was clear of his bloody past he placed the book back on the shelf in its rightful place. He looked at Ember, a small amount of light returning to his eyes. He offered her a hand, a smile clear on his face. He couldn’t worry her, he couldn’t just give up. ”Right! That’s all we can do now. Keep fighting, keep protecting each other. Despite everything today’s been a good day. We’ve finally found each other again and I’d rather we not waste it feeling sorry for ourselves.” Despite everything though he hated every minute of what he’d done he could never regret it. This moment was proof enough for him, proof that it was the only way to keep her safe, to finally see her again.

---

Whispers returned Katherine's affection with his own, gripping her fingers tightly within his while he tried hard to accept her comfort. Normally he would be ecstatic to receive her love, the love that he enjoyed more than he should have and he was happy...but only in the loosest definition of the word. Her soft touches brought him back to Earth long enough for her words to drift into his head.

He watched as she kissed each knuckle with care, making sure not to hit the bruises or soft parts of the skin where he'd previously been hurt. They were tender, soft, and deliberate, as if she knew the code to each lock keeping him in stasis. Small things like murmurs about the need to keep fighting, a lack of control, they all resonated with him and reminded him of where he was and what he needed to do. They also, unfortunately, reminded him of his past failures. The two only needed one time out of a million to go their way, but they simply hadn't found it yet. They just needed to stay strong and find it.

"Why can't we be weak for a while? Let someone else make the decisions. Just lie down and sleep. I haven't gotten a good night's sleep since the day I was born. Let's stop pretending everything is ok and that we will make it out of here. Maybe we will. But for now let's be weak."

"But we're not pretending, we're..." Whispers's voice trailed off as his body became awash with something else all too familiar, one of Katherine's illusions.

Even in this mode he still called her by her first name because the illusion she'd showed him wasn't of his sister for once. No, it was of him and Katherine plotting their little schemes to try and escape. She showed him their first meeting when he heard her through the vents that had to exist and inevitably led to their friendship. Each escape attempt fueled him with more serenity, but also more passion to learn about what they'd done wrong and how to rectify their mistakes. There were the times when he'd let Katherine use her power on him so that he could see his sister again, but she must have known now that it wasn't enough for him to see an illusion of Sarah. He needed something more real, more meaningful and Katherine knew that she was the closest thing to real that this limited world of his had to offer...as well as something else.

Whispers supposed that he made it obvious in the way that he interacted with her in the past (or maybe she was sharper than he pegged her for) since the shift was recent.

"Katherine why are you here? What are you doing?" he muttered, his mind's eye unable to discern what was real and what was willful interpretation on his part.

What started from distant memories began approaching the moments before she'd cast her illusions on him where for the first time he felt contented to let his muscles relax and his body go limp.

She managed to suppress a sigh of relief as Damion bent to assist her in removing the obscene display of images on the floor. She was surprised to see him place the book back on the shelf and felt a little uneasy leaving both their histories where the others could get at them. There was a lot of ammunition that could be used against them in those pages. However for now she would have to leave lest she risk sending Damion back into a dark mood.

And so she allowed herself to be pulled away from the horrors on the shelves and accepted his hand. She returned his smile with one of her own, her eyes lighting up at the reminder of all they had gained in the last 24 hours. In order to make sure it stayed that way she needed to complete her task.

"Once I deal with Lydia we can retreat from Sam's madhouse." she murmured quietly leading him gently back over to the piano stool. Reluctantly she let go of his hand to get a grip on the knife handle. Absentmindedly she looked wistfully over the piano keys and then towards the food. The thought of a full stomach made her head dizzy and only reminded her of how long it had been since her last meal.

Finish the job first. she told herself firmly.

A tortured shout made Ember jump in fright, only to realise it had something to do with the rebels. While a spike of fear went through her at the reminder of the precarious situation she gravely reminded herself that it would be better if the rebels and Rezia were tangled up in their own tasks. It meant Rezia was also too busy to do whatever his task asked of him against Damion.

She continued out of the room to find Lydia waiting for her, however all her expectations were ruined with on low humming drone. Ember let out a hiss of frustration. Of course Sam would now decide that the superficial night sequence would begin. She was sure the long droning meant exactly the same as it had in the facility; that the lights would be turned off and all Anomalies would have an enforced silence.

"I will sort my task out tomorrow." She said scathingly to Lydia, before taking a hold of Damion's hand again.

"Of all times." she muttered with exasperation to him as she marched them both to their quarters.

Despite her initial anger at her plans once again being foiled, the sight of the beds came as a sort of relief. Though she dare not admit it within the main area, Ember was exhausted. The lack of food and the extreme stress since the move from the facility had taken a harsh toll on her. Besides it had been a few years since she'd had more than a hard floor and blankets to sleep on.

She found herself sinking into the mattress with relish. By normal standards she assumed the mattress would barely suffice, given it was more like a glorified thin piece of foam, but here it was luxury. It was another few minutes before the warning drone ended and the room went black. In the darkness she could here Damion breathing, and she allowed herself an unseen grin to come over her that would have been suppressed in the light. Unbidden a rush of tears leapt to her eyes. He was alive, and in his rightful place next to her. She was tempted to call out to him, to ensure her senses did not deceive her, but she dared not while the curfew was in place.

Beside her wits were starting to leave her as her eyelids began to feel like lead. No longer able to resist, Ember let the folds of darkness drag her away for the night.

Lydia shrank into herself, shutting her eyes, as Rezia cried out in pain. She understood that he didn't want her to see him this way, but she had her own promises to fulfill. Nonetheless, she willed herself to not look at him, to try not to listen to the sharp visceral sounds of her brother being shocked.

Then she heard someone approach, so she opened her eyes to see Ember and Damion. She began to get shakily to her feet, brushing the wetness from her cheeks, but then a deep humming sound rose from the air around them. Immediately Lydia felt heavy, tired. 18 years of conditioning had certainly left their mark on her. Ember seemed to feel it too, or at the very least knew what it meant, because she left with a dismissive snap.

Now she could sleep on what was to come. How delightful. Her body ached with the continual fear of this horrible, horrible day, and perhaps sleep would not be long in coming. Maybe it would be mercifully empty. The blonde turned her eyes to her brother. He was no longer unconscious, his body still twisted in a faux paroxysm of pain. Hopefully his unconsciousness was non-lethal.

With a wary glance at Delirium, Lydia slunk forward to retrieve her brother, looking more like a wary, feral cat than a human at this point, hunched into herself. She didn't want to search Delirium's eyes to see the anger at what she'd done, so she whipped her gaze back to her brother, trying to keep as much distance from Delirium as she could. She was very much afraid. The drone of the warning was still blaring in her head, certainly there was no time for Delirium to take revenge on her before the lights went out and the quiet hours began, but she took no chances with lingering over Rezia's limp form, she just hooked her arms under his, her hands clasped over the front of his chest so his head would loll against her shoulder, and dragged him backwards towards their room, her wary eyes on Delirium again as she labored with the body.

Before she could make it to the door, the drone ended and the lights shut off. Lydia held her squeal of fear back by biting her tongue. As much as she disliked the dark, she didn't want to risk getting in trouble. So she fumbled in the darkness for the door, one hand still vainly trying to hold her brother up, and dragged him into the safety of their room.

Then there was more fumbling to find a bed to put him in. After she finally did manage to haul him up, which took the last of her very little strength, she knelt beside his form for a little while, wiping away drool and brushing his hair from his eyes, her fingers careful on his familiar features. He was still breathing, he was still alive. He had to be. She didn't know what she'd do without him. When the lights came back on she promised herself that she'd take better care of him, but until then, she needed to recharge herself.

While sleep alone wouldn't bring back her powers in full, a few REM cycles would do a bit of good in recovering her strength. She crawled until she found the other bed, not trusting her weak knees, and pulled herself in. The bed itself was different, but the feeling of it was familiar, and she was asleep in minutes.

Shocking Rezia was not an enjoyable event. It was too real. Delirium was so used to making people feel pain or experience things that weren’t actually there that physically hurting Rezia made her feel sick. On the final shock, Rezia completely collapsed, and Delirium quickly grabbed him to keep him from hitting his head on the floor. She slowly sank with him down to the ground and placed her head to his chest. She could still hear his heart beating, which was all she needed.

Suddenly, a humming drone sounded, signaling night. Delirium’s immediate reaction was to question if it was really was night or if Sam was just trying to mess with them. Either way, it likely meant the lights would go off soon, so she would have to hurry up and get Rezia somewhere safe. As she was about to pick up the unconscious figure, Lydia came in and looked at her warily before dragging Rezia into their room. Lydia seemed both angry at her for hurting Rezia but scared of her for what Lydia had done to her.

Either way, Delirium made no move towards the frail girl, except to cast the brief message in the form of an illusion: “I’m sorry.” The lights went out, and everything was pitch black with the exception of a few blinking red lights from cameras in the corner of rooms, but they did not illuminate anything. Delirium wondered if she would get in trouble for being out of her room. She decided talking was likely out of the question since it was usually not allowed at night in the facility. Not wanting to take any chances she quickly entered her room. She felt her way over to a bed, but found it was occupied by the sleeping form of Stephen. She was glad he was able to sleep after the day they had. She gently brushed his hair out of his face, battled the urge to curl up next to him, and then finally made it over to her own bed.

At least her task was over. At least the task against her was over. However, a selfish thought flashed through her mind- what if Stephen didn’t complete his task? What would happen to her? She would gladly help him, but for now, she needed to sleep. However, a weird feeling creeped into her, she felt strange, slow, tingly. All of a sudden a bright light appeared in her room, and it was Ember, holding a candle and a knife.

Delirium shuffled back quickly and stifled a scream. How did she even get in here? Where did she get a candle? Ember smiled to show a row of razor sharp teeth. Damion stepped out from behind her and morphed into a large wolf like half man half animal thing. Delirium couldn’t help but whimper. She was going to die. The image went fuzzy for a second though and Delirium realized with horror that the serum she had been injected with hadn’t completely left her body, and Rezia had only subdued it for a while. Delirium curled up in a ball and cried silently as all her happy memories were torn to shreds and her nightmares came to life.

She didn’t sleep at all.

Seeing her smile was a wondrous thing, he was glad when she accepted his hand. Once she was up he was following behind her towards the piano, he gave a brisk nod at the notion of cutting up Lydia. Dirty business of course, but necessary to stay with her.. He took a quick glance back at the shelf and the book with which held so much of their history. It was a blatant risk leaving them there, but Sam was undoubtedly watching, and monitoring everything. The chance of angering Sam by destroying or removing the books from the room was one Damion was not willing to take. Perhaps he could hide them somewhere? He would have to visit this room again, and find a decent place to put them. One where they would not be found, hopefully before the others could find them.

It was regrettable when Ember let go of his hand, but he allowed her the chance to steady herself for what was to come. While she was steadying herself he looked over at the tempting food the table. His stomach was growling, he had been hungry for some time now. However he knew that Lydia had to be dealt with first. Hopefully there would be other chances to satisfy his hunger. Though knowing Sam, Damion wasn't as confident as he'd like to be.

As he stood there he was aware of some kind of commotion happening outside the room. He wasn't really sure what was going on out there, though he couldn't really be bothered to care. With any luck maybe they all killed each other, forever to be out of his hair.

When they let the room behind Damion was more than a little surprised to find Lydia sitting there waiting for them. Seems she was as eager to get this done as Ember, and Damion himself. It was a good thing to, this would be over quickly he thought to himself. He walked closer to Lydia, ready to assist Ember in her task. Before they could get started however a familiar humming sound made itself apparent. He gave a small sigh, how he hated that sound.

Ember spoke some venomous words towards Lydia, and then took his hand in her's once more, leading them towards their room. She muttered in exhaustion at the timing, Damion gave an agreement. He supposed that this shouldn't be too surprising, it was just like Sam to do inconvenience them like this.

Despite everything however he went towards the bed with relief. The day was tiresome, and he was of course starving, some sleep would be an immense relief. However once the lights finally went out he found himself unable to slip into slumber just as he did so many times back in the facility. In the darkness he looked in Ember's direction. It was good to be with her again. He had tried so hard to find his way back to her, and now that they have finally been reunited he would never let them be torn apart.

In the absence of sleep Damion moved his hand towards the wound he had sustained earlier. He gave a small almost silent sigh. He was careless. Far to emotional. Then again how couldn't he be? Despite all his efforts toward building his emotional wall Ember's presence and of course Reiza who so enraged him, had managed to easily bring that wall crashing down in less than a day. He made to many emotional mistakes, something which he would make sure to avoid in the morning. After seemingly an eternity of tossing and turning Damion somehow managed to slip into a light sleep.

Ember felt herself roughly dragged from her bed. Startled she started to cry out for Damion, when she realised in the dim light his bed was empty. Without warning the figure thrust her into the ground. Her hands flew out to protect her head from colliding with the floor. From the corner of her eye she could see the feet of three other people lining the wall before a firm grip on her shoulder spun her around. From the flat of her back she recognised her attacker. Whispers.

"What are you doing!?" her panicked cry came out weak and desperate.

"Time to make you pay for your actions."

Instantaneously she tried to slide away from him only to find herself hauled to her feet by a blank faced Rezia. She attempted to struggle however his grip only tightened and his frame never faltered as though he was made of iron.

"It wasn't my fault." she pleaded. "Rezia!"

His expression didn't change, leaving him staring unblinking ahead. Looking around in desperation she found Lydia and Delirium similarly expressionless at the side.

"Times up Ember." Whispers hissed, a large handled knife now in his grip. His face had a ghostly quality to it as light from an unknown source lit it from below.

Frantic Ember twisted her head around to face Rezia, opening up her mouth to grasp at the tendrils of his life. Her breath hitched as there was nothing to latch on to and instead the side of her face exploded with pain as Whispers struck her. Almost immediately the tip of the knife was pressed to her throat. Instinctively Ember froze her white rimmed eyes inexplicably drawn to Whispers which appeared to be black pits.

The iron fisted Rezia harshly forced her to her knees causing her to cry out in panic.

"Please! I'm begging you-"

"No one's listening Ember." Whispers growled. "You didn't hear our screams, and we certainly won't hear yours."

Her head was tilted the side, black hair yanked out of the way to reveal her bear neck. Without hesitation Whispers raised the knife and Ember let out a terrified scream.

"Enough!"

Instantly the horrifying figures dissolved and she collapsed onto the floor shaking violently from the ordeal. When she finally had the strength to look up, she saw Sam striding towards her. Frightened she recoiled but he only knelt in front of her a worried expression crossing his face.

"It's okay." He crooned. "Everything can go back to the way it was. We'll go back to the start and I'll protect you as I did before."

Completely broken she found herself back in his arms as she had the first day in the facility. And from her view of his shoulder she never saw him raise the knife until it was plunged deep into her back-

She woke with a startled gasp, sitting bolt upright in the bed. Gulping gratefully at the air she promised herself repetitively that is was just a dream. Shaking still from the adrenaline of the vision, she forced her feet over the side of the bed and brushed away the sweat that had gathered on her brow. Taking in a last panicked breath she forced herself to calm down, before looking over at Damion's bed. It was with a sigh of relief that she saw him still sleeping on the other side of the room.

All at once stabbing pains of hunger wracked her body. Fighting back a groan Ember quickly decided she needed to act. As quietly as she could she left the room, padding silently in the empty chamber towards the strange novelty filled room. There was instant relief when she saw the food still there untouched. Without hesitation she began tearing at some of the brown bread closest to her, collapsing in a nearby chair. She didn't dare eat too much of the richer food despite its tantalising smell. After so long, she doubted she'd be able to keep it down.

Gradually as her hunger began to abate she started to slow down, thankful for the solitude that for now seemed to be because everyone else was sleeping.

---

Sleep claimed Stephen that night, but so did the nightmares.

Unlike those lucky enough to shroud themselves in darkness he tossed and turned in his bed, wondering if Sam was secretly punishing him for having such a comfortable sleeping space.

"Sarah why are you here?"

"Don't you remember?" the young girl tilted her head, "you still have a job to do don't you?"

She hopped off of her ledge and approached a standing Stephen, dressed in what appeared to be outsider clothing. She pulled a knife from seemingly nowhere before shoving it (handle side) into Stephen's hands.

"Job what job are you talking about? I know I'm still not done with things but I'm working on it. Just let me-"

Not letting go, Sarah pulled the knife into her chest.

"Let you what? Kill me again? You've always been good at doing that haven't you?"

Stephen jerked back, causing his sister to fall to the floor, blood pooling around her.

"Sarah NO!"

Except something changed.

When he ran to catch her she morphed. What should have been his sister started fizzling until he met Katherine's pained face.

"Whispers..."

He held her hand, shaking his head as he cried into her shoulder.

The words rang out, almost haunting him as he felt one dream fade into the next.

"Why can't we be weak for a while?

He couldn't say that the rest of the night was any better but at least he didn't have any other iterations of that death (instead, the others were replaced with his own death) until his hunger finally forced him out of bed. His room no longer felt safe and he didn't want to wake anyone else with his stupid noises so he exited to the main hall where he saw the bread intact sans for his enemy feasting. Well, he wasn't sure that enemy was the right word anymore, but they certainly weren't on neutral terms.

Because of that he grabbed a small portion of the loaf and walked back to his door frame, preferring to keep his distance while (though it was begrudging) giving her some respect. No one wanted to be here, less so with each other and yesterday they'd shown each other that if push came to shove either wouldn't hesitate to kill the other...or show some decency. He almost forgot the part where they'd allowed him to destroy the accursed device (although he was sure that Sam had seven hundred more). He felt for the scab on his neck, pressing his lips together at the precision of the cut.

As his eyes panned over to the elevator he sighed. If he wanted to complete his task this would be an opportune time, but a certain feeling clawed at the back of his throat. Anger? Certainly not? Fear? Another no. He didn't fear death as much as potential loss. Inspiration? He hesitated to use that word since the area itself was hardly inspiring. It sucked the life away as much as any other area in the facility, yet an idea arose. It compelled him to, for once, be vulnerable.

"By now you know my task involves you and you know I'm shit at negotiations," he wanted to say suddenly, turning his head toward Ember, "but I'm asking you because I want to escape and I care about Katherine. I need you in the elevator, alive."

"...because Sam wants to see you."

Even in his head he would have left out the last part because he knew how cruel the man could be and how no one would truly agree to such a task. Instead he swallowed what little food he had left before speaking neutrally.

"Don't expect yesterday to be an indication of what's to come. Even if we complete one of his tasks, Sam's just going to keep sending more for his amusement."

Lydia slept without dreams. She rarely ever dreamed to begin with, after growing up in a place like this, perhaps her brain had enough sense to not torment her sleeping hours with scenes from her waking ones. Or maybe she was just empty, empty, empty. Either way, it was no matter. She didn't know what she was missing. Of course, with her first waking moment, curled up in the bed in the fetal position, her forehead pressed against her knees and the arm underneath her numb, she felt dread. However used to pain she'd grown over the years, the idea of Ember cutting her open filled her with anxiety.

She sat up, straightening her crumpled dress, and rubbed her eyes. They had lightened a bit from the night before, rejuvenated by her rest, and they were now a middling blue colour, and as long as she didn't use her powers they would continue to lighten. She combed her fingers through her hair, pulling through the knots that had amassed during her sleep. After a few stretches and a good shaking out of her still sleeping arm, she pushed herself to her feet. Her body ached from being so tense over the last day, and her gait was a little stilted because of the slight hobble she'd affected.

Rezia was still asleep. Well, unconscious, really. Maybe he'd slipped from being knocked out to simply being asleep. Hopefully the shocks hadn't permanently harmed him. Could her powers work on brain damage? She lumbered over to his bed and knelt down beside it, running her cool hands over his face, so similar to her own. He didn't deserve any of this. She wanted to cry at the unfairness of all this, what had they done to deserve this? They were just two healers pitted against killers, defenseless in the lion's den. Someone was liable to break at some point. Lydia shut her eyes for a moment. She didn't know what she'd do if he was permanently hurt. How could she live without him? She'd only made it this far because of him.

She could feel the walls of her stomach shifting restlessly in her gut, reminding her that she was still hungry. She hadn't eaten at all yesterday. Maybe once Rezia woke up they could get food, or she could bring him something if he wasn't feeling strong enough to move.

What if Damion was already out there, eating? What if Rezia failed his task? Lydia sank down on her haunches, her eyes fixed high on the wall. She didn't fear death. A definitive end, instead of all this skirting around, cutting her open to make her knit herself back together. Would the finality be calming? She'd worry most about Rezia, of course, she didn't want to leave him alone to deal with everything by himself. But if she had nothing else to lose?

God, why was she thinking about this? She dropped her face into her hands and shut her eyes. She needed to pull herself together, these weren't thoughts she should be having.

Delirium awoke with a groan, her aching body curled on the hard floor. At some point in the night, she must have fallen asleep, or the serum had at least worn off enough for her brain to shut down properly. She felt considerably better though, despite her lack of sleep. Her headache was gone, and despite a few aches here and there from sleeping on the ground, nothing else was ailing her. She just crossed her fingers and hoped she was done with those dreadful hallucinations.

She rose up from the ground slowly, and contemplated flopping down on the bed for a bit more sleep, but a gnawing hunger drew her towards the door. Before making her way outside, she went into the bathroom and splashed some water on her face to wake herself up.

She opened the door a crack to find Stephen and Ember in the room with all the food, not the best pairing, but at least not as volatile as herself and Ember. However, she was much to tired for an argument, and certainly didn't care enough to continue one if Ember picked a fight. Instead, she merely shuffled into the room, avoiding eye contact with Ember, and picked up some food and began to eat, slowly at first so as not to make herself sick. She inched further into the room and eyed the wall of books.

There were so many books. Curious, she started taking some out at random that looked interesting. Her eyes skimmed along the shelves before they landed on a rather odd looking book that stood out from the others. Naturally, she pulled it out slowly, only to find the name Ember written on it. Shock registered on her face briefly before she tucked it into her stack between two other books. Sure it could be coincidence, but a book about Ember? She'd want to read that. She peeked around her shoulder to find Stephen talking to Ember, which was perfect timing.

A though occurred to her though, what if there was a book about herself? Her eyes flitted along the bookcase before falling on another obviously different book. SHe pulled it out only to find that it was Stephen's. She tucked that into her stack and kept looking. She pulled out another strange book and filled with relief as she spotted her own name on it. She added couple more books plus her own to the pile, and then quickly made her way towards the exit, calmly and quietly skirting around ember. Now would be a terrible time for Ember to get too curious about the amount of books she was taking back to her room.

Just before he fell asleep that night he was certain the nightmares would come back. They usually did. So many nights they would wait for them, wait for Damion to close his eyes and drift right into their arms. No matter how many times he tried to resist the call of sleep eventually he would have to face his nightmares again.

Tonight however was different. Peaceful, and pleasant. So peaceful Damion was for but a moment in awe at the fact that he was having a pleasant dream for once. There he was in a forest more beautiful than anything he had seen in a long time. Then of course he heard someone excitedly call out his name. It was Ember, she smiling, a radiant smile. Effortlessly she eclipsed the surrounding area with her beauty. She ran up to him, pulling Damion into a long embrace. There was something different. He could feel it. He felt, clean, pure. Devoid of all the uncleanliness in his blood.

Damion gave her a soft relieved look. He offered Ember his bare hand, which she took with a smile. They wandered through the forest together talking, laughing, enjoying the scenery. Finally they came across a clearing, and took up a position underneath a particularly peaceful looking shady tree. He looked over towards Ember, intent to say something.

She was gone. One moment she was there, the next she was gone. Damion quickly stood up, frantically calling out her name. He walked through the forest hoping to find her. Finally he did. She was lifeless, her body was without breath. He walked towards her unsure that what he was seeing was real. Then he noticed them, all of them. It was Sam. Sam and all the rest of them. Whispers, and Delirium stood there, with grins on their faces. The siblings stood there hatred filling up their eyes. For a moment Damion hoped they would turn on him. Hoped beyond hope they would kill him here, and now. Instead they simply walked away, leaving Damion alone with his misery.

Thankfully Damion awoke before the dream could go any further, a stabbing pain coming from his stomach. Though the images still played over and over again in his mind, he shoved them into the deepest corners of his mind trying to forget about them, just as he did whenever the nightmares struck. He looked around the room, and was surprised to see that Ember had already woken up. He made his way out of the room, and shuffled towards the room that had opened the last night. Strangely Ember was talking to Whispers. Damion was surprised somewhat, he hadn’t expected Whispers to willingly speak with Ember. Thankfully there was no sign of Lydia, or her aggravating brother, evidently still asleep. Next he spotted Delirium near the books.
He noticed that there was still food, present in the room. Glad that Sam did not feel the need to starve his new playthings, Damion made his way towards the stockpile of food, intent to join Ember’s side once he received some well needed nourishment.

When Rezia bolted upwards suddenly, Lydia started, looking quickly up at her brother. He was sitting stark straight, clutching his chest. Was he having chest pains? Had the shocks given him arrhythmia or something? Lydia chewed her lip and rose back up on her knees to see if there was anything she could do to help, but then he grabbed his head and sank back down. Had it just been a nightmare, then? Rezia opened his eyes after a beat and looked at her, which made her sigh with relief. He was at least somewhat okay.

"Rezia," She tried to keep her voice soft so it wouldn't hurt his head even more, but she couldn't help the relief that coloured it. She edged closer to the side of his bed again, peering down at his face, covered by his arm. "You're fine, Rezia, I understand." She was very tempted to reach out and heal what she could, some of his current troubles had to be from the shocks, but last night he'd been so vehement, and she didn't want to do something without his permission. After all, she still had Ember to look forward to, and she didn't know how much healing she'd need for that.

"I'm fine, everything is okay." She said her voice still soft. "The lights went out for quiet hours like usual, so it must be morning now. Everyone else retreated to their rooms too, so I pulled you back here." She knotted her fingers together. "But since we're awake now, the others probably are too... and Damion..." Her voice hung in her throat for a second. She didn't mean for it to sound so selfish. " I mean, we should probably see if the food is still out there, We didn't eat at all yesterday and we need to keep our strength up." She backpedaled a bit, but it was still true, her stomach was growling now just at the thought of eating, and she had to press her hand against her abdomen to quiet it.

She hovered around as Rezia got up, ready to help him at any moment, remembering the state he'd been in last night, chewing on her lip anxiously. As they exited the room, she noticed that everyone was already out. Well, almost everyone, as Delirium seemed to be scurrying back to her room with a stack of books in her arms. Thankfully. Lydia didn't know how well she could handle being near the red-head after what she'd done to her. Revulsion at her own actions rose in her gut for a moment but it was quickly quelled at the thought of food.

Though...if she was wise, she'd wait until after Ember finished her task to eat, so she didn't risk vomiting or anything if the pain became too bad. She didn't need that on top of everything else. Then, her eyes located Damion, who was in the room that had just opened last night, presumably heading to eat. She turned to her brother, her mouth a small o, but there were no words in her mouth to speak.

[justify]Rezia smiled for his sister though he didn't really feel like smiling. The nightmare wasn't truly over after all. The two of them were stuck here with four other individuals that would easily overwhelm them. The cards were stacked against them and always had been. He was in such a state that moment that he... he just wanted to give up. He wanted to curl up on the bed and forget the world, Sam, this whole hell hole, and everyone in it. But then there was Lydia. He couldn't give up. He needed to keep her safe. If it weren't for her, he wouldn't have cared about anything. He would have been a lifeless doll for Sam who couldn't even spare his own emotions. There was work to be done however.

"No. Don't heal me. You have enough to worry about. And food... yeah we need food," he mused softly. He was drained and they both needed some type of nourishment. And of course there was Damion to worry about. He couldn't let Damion eat no mater what happened. Even if Delirium didn't help him, Rezia would do whatever it took. His sympathy and empathy for Damion couldn't get in the way of protecting his sister from Sam and the atrocities he would do to her should he fail his task. Rezia slowly got to his feet than so his head wouldn't make him topple over and followed his sister out of the room.

Rezia noticed Delirium first and watched as she hurried back to her room with the books. He hadn't realized how much she liked reading apparently. He turned his gaze and noted that Ember was talking to Whispers but that wasn't what caught his attention. Damion was there. Damion was reaching for the glorious feast that lay before him. Rezia felt like his heart was about to stop. He was going to fail. He was going to fail and Delirium and Whispers were both there. They could have stopped him and they hadn't. So much for teamwork. Without thinking, Rezia rushed forward, his own pain far from his mind. Before Damion could lift the food he had picked up to his lips, Rezia had tackled him to the ground and the food had fallen to the ground.

"No! Don't!" he cried, his eyes wide in panic. "Damion! You can't eat! Please! That is my task and if you eat, Lydia suffers! She won't be able to heal you or Ember and so you will also loose an ally!" he begged, hoping to reason with the man. Rezia had never realized how physical he could be. It had never come up before and though Damion was much stronger and experienced in fighting, Rezia still had attacked. Maybe he was more violent than he gave himself credit for. "Please don't eat." Yup. More violent but obviously still pretty pathetic.

Ember's peace did not last very long. And naturally it had to be broken by the man from the group she least wanted here. As soon as he entered she stiffened in a mixture of wariness and fear. The fear was a lot stronger as the residue of her nightmare hadn't entirely worn off. She could still see him preparing to slit her throat open. Despite her concerns, he simply picked up a portion of the meal for himself and headed back to the doorway.

Her posture did not relax, and she eyed him warily trying to figure out his game. He seemed to be giving her space, but she didn't trust it and the way he leaned against the doorway was causing her to panic a little. How was she supposed to leave? Fearing he had trapped her in here for some sadistic purpose she decided to remain unmoving and pray that Damion would awake soon.

"Don't expect yesterday to be an indication of what's to come. Even if we complete one of his tasks, Sam's just going to keep sending more for his amusement."

Ember raised her eyebrows slightly in surprise. There was no malice behind the words, and she could not read the meaning behind them.

"I'm quite aware of that." She replied curtly. Did he believe her to be stupid? Or was he playing at something here. She still had her task to do, but it was against Lydia not him. Why would he care about her task?

Delirium also appeared at the door and went behind her. This only escalated Ember's discomfort. She glanced briefly at the girl, but seeing she was not interested in herself Ember returned to fix her gaze on her main concern; Whispers.

"What do you want with me?" she said stiffly.

There was no reason she could see for him remaining unless he had some sort of plan for her. As far as she was concerned the tasks were almost complete. Damion had beaten Whispers, Whispers had done something to Rezia last night that had made the boy scream, though she wasn't sure what Rezia had to do. Hopefully he was too injured to be a threat to Dameon. Then Lydia had stabbed Delirium with the needle, Delirium had forced herself into a terrifying illusion and all she had to do was carve Lydia up. Inwardly she frowned, how was she supposed to do her task with Lydia if Whispers was blocking her path? She cursed herself for leaving her weapon in the bedroom.

She didn't have much time to fret however as Damion walked in. The relief was plain to see on her face as he reached for the food. That was as much relief as Ember was going to see. In a few seconds the siblings had appeared and without warning Rezia had tackled Dameon to the ground. She rose up with a wordless cry as Rezia shouted out a desperate explanation. Ember was in no mood to think through his words, and only considered that Damion had been attacked. She flew forward gripping the back of Rezia's collar and yanking it backwards as hard as she could.

"Don't you dare!" she shrieked. "Get off him now!"

The bread was coming closer and closer to his lips. Soon he would finally beat away the hunger that rested in the pit of his stomach. Or at least that was what Damion thought, until he was unexpectedly, and unceremoniously sent hurtling towards the ground.The food he so looked forward to unfairly flying away from him. It took him a moment to realize that it was actually Reiza who tackled him to the ground. He gave the meddlesome boy a scowl, though couldn't help but feel a small amount of sadness or regret as Rezia despretly begged him not to eat for fear of his sister. feelings which he immediately tried to bury, and forget. He had hoped Rezia wouldn't have been able to feel his regret over his own panicking, though he somewhat doubted it.

Here it was. The moment that cemented his hatred for this boy. He hated him for tackling him to the ground. He hated him for being able to feel his emotions. He hated him for reminding Damion of the one thing he loathed more than Sam, that being Damion himself. But above all he hated Reiza for actually making him care about the boy and his sister. Making Damion even for the breifest of moments contemplating not eating to help the siblings. He couldn't be doing this, feeling these emotions. He couldn't be weak. He had to be strong for the only person that still mattered. He tried to bury the hate, and everything else he truly did. But the emotions were so strong. If they didn't come out in waves that Reiza would certainly be privy too they would manifest as a most conflicted scowl setting upon his face.

Though that scowl soon turned into a smile at Ember's show of concern, as she forcibly pulled Reiza off of him. He couldn't let Reiza complete his task now that he knew what it was. Despite the fact that a small part of him wanted to, he simply couldn't. He would have to prove a point. He immediately wiped his face of all emotions. It took him a moment to concentrate, but he was able to adopt a veneer of calmness, his face was even, with no trace of rage, or regret. Damion removed a single glove, and walked over to Reiza. He slowly moved his hand closer to the boy, stopping only mere inches from Reiza's face. He made absolutely sure not to touch him, at least not yet.

"What good did you think that would do you? Did you think you would try to appeal to my conscience? My humanity? Or my kindness? Well here's something you may not have realized. I don't have any of that. It's all gone. Has been for years." His voice was even, devoid of all semblance of emotions. Though a he spoke small pangs of regret ripped through him. He buried them best he could, hoping Rezia didn't know. He kept telling himself that Sam wouldn't kill Lydia, or really anyone should a task be failed. Why would he break one of his toys this early he thought. They had only been here for less than two days after all.

It was at this point acid began to seep from Damion's skin, at the moment it simply dripped harmlessly to the floor. He took great care not to get any on Rezia."Get this through your head. I'm a bloodthirsty killer. I'm cold, and I don't care. About anything. Not about you. Not about your sister. Only about Ember, and myself. If I don't keep my strength up I won't be able to survive in this place. I won't be able to protect Ember. Now perhaps you should give me a good reason not to kill you. Because I'm drawing a blank." Damion believed he put on a convincing, and quite terrifying performance. He didn't want to kill Rezia if he didn't have to. But Rezia didn't need to know that. What Rezia needed to know was that staying strong, and keeping Ember safe were the only important things right now. He needed to know that nothing would jeopardize that.

Delirium was halfway to her room when suddenly everyone and anyone came pouring out of their rooms. Shit, shit, shit, shit. Delirium thought, turning around to se Damion making his way towards the room filled with food. She debating dropping the precious books and stopping him or continuing to her room to see what secrets were hidden in the books and letting someone else handle it. Rezia and Lydia saw the present danger so surely someone would be able to handle it. But Derlium stopped. Surely Rezia could not possibly-

Her thought was cut short as the man literally pounced at Damion, flattening him to the ground and very comically stopped Damion from taking a bite of food. The whole action very much startled Delirium, and to her dismay the tower of books toppled to the ground, pictures flying everywhere.

Delrium gasped with horror at the pictures she saw. Some were of herself, her eyes red in the middle of creating an illusion. Some were of Stephen victims before him covering their ears. The worst, however, were Ember’s pictures. People holding their throats as if they could breathe no air, bleeding from various locations on their body. So many people she had killed. So many people she had tortured.

One picture stuck out amongst the rest. It was of herself, on the day Ember gave her the many scars that now riddled Delirium’s body. Delirium’s face became stone, and she grabbed a handful of Ember’s pictures before whirling around to face the conflict. Damion was trying to show Rezia that he didn’t care if Rezia failed his task, that he didn’t care if it would hurt Lydia. Damion showed that he did not even care about killing Rezia himself. Yet Delirium understood.

With a set jaw and a determined scowl, she sauntered up to Damion, not even sparing a glance in Embers direction. She did not flinch as she became so close to Damion that if he so decided, he could kill her.

”Is this what you want?” Delirium asked, holding the pictures to his face, the terrible ones of dying victims and herself. She pushed them into his chest and let go. ”To kill the rest of us so you and Ember can have romantic fun time for yourselves? Will that solve any problems? You may think so, but that is just what Sam wants. He put us in here so he could see how long it took to tear each other apart. What good would killing him do, Damion? Do you think that will protect Ember? I may not agree with how you handled yourselves in the facilities, but I’m not going to try and kill you over that. No one wants to kill anyone here, we just want to save our own butts and the people we love. Hell, maybe you just have to go five more minutes without eating and Lydia will not have to be tortured by a psychopath!”

”I know we all hate each other, but if you do this, that’s like letting Sam win. We finally have a shot here, if we just work together, and you are willing to throw that away just so Rezia knows how big and scary you are? Making enemies will only make things worse for you and Ember. I’ve made my peace with the shit we went through in that place. We aren’t in the facilities anymore. Are we still going to do exactly what Sam wants?”

Delirum pushed Rezia aside and stood in his place. She raised her arms in the air in surrender and looked Damion dead in the eye.

”Go ahead Damion. Kill me. Kill me and see how that helps you at all.”

---

"What do you want with me?"

Ah what did he want from Ember? The obvious answer was for her to fulfill his task but on a deeper level, a level of mutual understanding. Would she understand enough to walk into that elevator and see Sam? Stephen knew enough about her (and facility members in general) to know that none of them ever wanted to see Sam for any occasion and he would have to either trick her or force her. That would certainly be how it went for him. Hell, he'd already lost his advantage by giving his knife up and destroying the muzzle. Even if it was only meant for him he could have forced onto Damion or something.

You were always such a short-term thinker, Sarah seemed to whisper in his head.

Incidentally, Reiza didn't have the same line of thought seeing as he tackled Damion to the ground. He begged and pleaded for the black-haired boy not to eat any bread which wouldn't have bothered him save for the fact that Katherine intervened. She couldn't stand to let Reiza die which was enough to make Whispers follow after. She stood in his place, face to face with Damion and Ember while Reiza was pushed to the side. Honestly, he didn't know if she was an angel or a demon for tempting him to become mediator but he followed nonetheless. She had a talent for diving headfirst into situations and while she could handle herself he didn't want to freeze up while she put herself in harm's way. It would have made all her efforts useless.

"All of you stop!" he yelled, "Kathrine's right. I hate all of you, but it's useless trying to kill each other when we're still stuck here. This is what he wants. He wants us arguing and provoking each other. You already know this Ember so why the fuck are you playing along?"

The look in his eyes was pained, pleading almost for Ember to say something as much as it was for everyone to give up their arms and figure something out. Reiza, harmless as he was, had already figured out that much about the supposed Dark One and had it been Stephen, it would only give him more reason to kill the mental healer but it wasn't him. It was Damion and Stephen had no clue how the black-haired male would react when there were so many people against him.

He was never as smart or as eloquent as Sarah or even Reiza but once he had their attention he needed to keep speaking.

"I don't have my mask anymore, but in case you forgot you don't have my muzzle either. I can scream until we're all too weak to hurt each other or we can just stop."

Rezia was gone before she could even register it, tackling Damion, and then Ember was on him, pulling him away. Lydia felt her throat constrict. She had to do something, she had to save her brother somehow, tell them that it had been a misunderstanding, that it was fine if he ate, everything would be fine, anything to save Rezia, even at the cost of her own life. Damion was talking, and Rezia was talking back, but she couldn't hear anything but the sound of her blood rushing in her ears. She forced herself to move forward, she wanted to push in between Rezia and Damion, shield him with her body, but she didn't want to make things worse, and her limbs felt like lead. Was this a panic attack? A sob boiled at the back of her throat, threatening to tear out.

God, what if he hurt Rezia, and then she was taken away from him? She wouldn't be able to heal him like last time, everything was going wrong, this wasn't what she'd wanted to happen. Her fingers went to her scalp, raking through her hair anxiously, pulling out long golden strands in their furtive combing. She was almost to the entrance to the room, but she wasn't any closer to thinking of the magical solution that would fix everything and save her brother. Her body was shaking, her thin limbs quivering violently, like paper in front of a vent. She looked like a little paper doll, with her white dress smudged with the brownish blood that Rezia had coughed up the day before.

And then Delirium flew back into the room like an avenging angel, pushing between Rezia and Damion, her voice sharp and clear. Lydia could have fainted from relief. Delirium, oh, sweet Delirium, god she could really cry now at the terrible thing she'd done to the girl. Lydia's mouth opened and she emitted a small shriek as she darted across the room in a sudden fit of speed, into her brother's chest, wrapping her arms around his neck and hiding her face in his chest for a moment. It served a dual purpose. It calmed her down, her body was still shaking, but she also had her back to Damion, which mean that she'd joined Delirium in shielding her brother from the black haired male.

"Rezia, Rezia, it's fine, let him have the food, I'm not worth you getting hurt," she pulled back to stare him in the eye for a moment, her thin hands still clutching his shoulders. "Sam won't get more than an hour or two out of me anyway, I won't suffer." Her voice cracked, she was lying, lying, he could keep her alive for weeks if he wanted to, slowly cutting away at her. She had to turn her eyes away, so her body twisted as she looked towards Damion. "He'll take what he wants anyway, and if he hurts you I wo- I won't be there to heal you." She was still talking to Rezia, her fingers tightening over his shoulders as her eyes wandered. The expression in her eyes was that of a wild animal, vacantly frightened, but therein simmered hatred, the fearful rage of a cornered animal. If only she had the power to protect her brother. But she was the compliant one. Compliant, complicit in everything, down to her own death.

If souls truly did exist, was there anything left in hers?

If she'd been able to, would she have killed Damion for threatening her brother? For threatening her? She hadn't known what the serum would do to Delirium when she stabbed it into her neck, it could have killed her, and while she felt bad for doing such a terrible thing, wouldn't she just do it again the same way if she was given the choice? Anything for Rezia, anything for Rezia. Was she insane? Was she a monster too? For wanting to hurt Delirium to keep her brother safe. No it wasn't even that it was Delirium, would she have done that to anyone to keep her brother safe? Others were just faceless pawns, stairs to step on as she struggled to keep her grasp on the one thing in her whole life that had ever been there for her, the one person she could always trust. And these weren't scientists anymore, these were just kids. They couldn't take Rezia away from her to force her compliance.

Tears pricked the corners of her eyes, and she quickly turned her head back to Rezia, her face near his ear and horror in her voice. "I'm a monster too." She whispered in revelation on shaky, half-formed breaths. "I want to kill him so badly right now that it hurts."

A single choked sob. Or was it a chuckle? Hard to tell.

She could feel it now, it was so easy that it momentarily stole her breath away. If she ran, right now, and hid in her room, Ember wouldn't be able to finish her task, and she could take Damion down with her. And then Ember would be all alone against Whispers and Delirium, and since they seemed to have accepted Rezia into their little pack, he'd be safe. And the smile, oh the smile that curled up on the pale little girl's face as she stared vacantly over Rezia's shoulder as her body curled, ready to run, ready to fight with the only tool left to her.

She was a healer. But she could kill, oh, she could kill too. She had the power to stop death, but what if she chose not to? What if she just sat back and watched him die? Watched them all die? Kill them all. Then it would just be Rezia, and Rezia would be safe and it would all be good, he'd be safe, that was all that was important.

She really was a monster, wasn't she?

One instant Damion was on the floor with Rezia with the upper hand, and the next she had yanked Rezia away and now he had to face Damion's gloveless pale hand. The hatred pouring out of Damion's mouth frightened her. This was the Damion Sam had created, she knew, and he terrified her. Without her will her eyes lightened, though she forced her expression to remain unreadable.

Rezia was instantly attacking Damion back verbally. At the truth of his words Ember's mouth went dry, however she tried rather pointlessly to convince herself it wasn't true. She and Damion were different from the others. They didn't know the half of what she and Damion had been through despite what Rezia said.

"Damion…" she found herself half whimpering his name as she felt all the others in the room grow hostile.

Delirium pushed Rezia aside and now stood between herself and him. That's when Ember noticed the pictures. She looked down in horror at her past. For a moment Delirium was busy confronting Damion, and all Ember could do was stare in expressionless shock at all the images. Some were not her own, but hers were by far the worst. The sudden confrontation of a history she had always shoved into the back of her mind awoke a deep anger tainted by her fear and pain.

"You made peace with you past!"she suddenly spoke up shrilly staring at Delirium. "How dare you dig up mine."

Her voice immediately lowered dangerously. To her right Lydia had curled herself around Rezia, but he was no longer Ember's concern. Whispers stopped her before her emotional tirade continued.

"All of you stop!...This is what he wants. He wants us arguing and provoking each other.You already know this Ember so why the fuck are you playing along?"

Feeling threatened and memories of the past threatening to engulf her, Ember was in no mood to respond kindly to Whispers pleading. She could tell he was trying to engage what was left of her humanity, but if he wanted her to listen he should have stopped Deliriums hateful theft.

"Playing along!" Her voice was scream of anger and frustration. "You think I'm stupid? I'm not you and Delirium! I don't rebel- not anymore. You are the one that should know. I do what Sam wants- understand? Because I'm never facing his anger again."

Her anger was starting to melt into despair and her whole frame was shaking.

"You make peace, and go against the grain if you want. But I will not. I'm not strong enough to face him."

Unbidden hot angry tears started to gather and fall. Furiously she brushed them way, her small hands fists.

"I don't have my mask anymore, but in case you forgot you don't have my muzzle either. I can scream until we're all too weak to hurt each other or we can just stop."

Fearfully she glanced over to Damion. He knew. He had to. He had no choice but to back down. But if he did what would the others do to them? Now they had even lost Lydia. Ember couldn't help remembering the nights terror of her fate being in the hands of Whispers and with all of the others now in power they could do what they liked with both herself and Damion. Her fingers curled and uncurled wishing she had the knife. If she had she was certain Whispers would have the hilt protruding from his chest.

As Rezia first spoke Damion could do nothing but give him a wide-eyed stare. Of all the things that could have resulted from Damion foolishly, and recklessly threatening the boy, fighting back was the last thing he expected. When rezia was done, Damions's surprise expression, and mood made a swift transition from surprise, to pure rage. His fist shook in anger at the truth of the boy's words. Anger he was at this point unable to hide, how dare Rezia say anything like that to him. Like a wounded animal he shot back."Shut up! You don't understand anything! You don't know anything about me or why I do what I do!" But he did know, Rezia knew everything. Every secret Damion had, every feeling he could hide was revealed in Rezia presence. Damion kept speaking, trying to convince himself of his cold-hearted, bloodthirsty nature as much as he was Rezia.

Despite Damion's convincing threat to kill the boy, Rezia kept talking. Maybe he really was as stupid as Damion thought, made he was calling Damion's bluff, or maybe he was just trying to piss off Damion fro the hell of it. For whatever reason Rezia continued to fight back. The words pierced Damion straight to the core. Every word out of Rezia's mouth was true, even with the boy's powers Damion was surprised with exactly how much the boy was able to learn about himself. By this point Damion had lost much of his composure. He could barely steady himself, and eventually he was forced to grab the arm currently threatening Rezia, and hold it in place just to keep it from shaking. Rational thought seemed to quickly be leaving him, forcing him to speak with the irrationality of the heart, even though continuing to speak in the face of defeat was clearly a bad idea."No she hasn't completed her task yet. But I don't care. I did what i had to do to keep Ember safe, an that's all that matters. So no I guess we aren't that different. And that's why I hate you. That's why I can't stand to so much as look at you! It makes me sick! You're so damn kind, and stupidly naive. You're idiotically idealistic, and I can't stand it!" The words he spoke were honest and true, much in the way one would talk when they were speaking backed by nothing more than their emotions.

Damion was fully aware of Ember meekly whimpering his name. It was clear why. Even in his current unbalanced state he could see that the others would soon be turning against them. Both Ember and himself walked down here with very little approval from the others. Damion's foolhardy threats, and ill timed rage certainly wouldn't earn them any favors.

Damion was already regretting his actions. Shame was beginning to emerge in his mind. How could he be so stupid? The others would surely be upon them like a pack of wild dogs. In his current state he was in no position to seriously fight back. What an idiot he was. He put Ember in danger, and all for what? Just to further frighten a boy simply trying to protect the one person that has always been by his side.

Things didn't get any better as Delirium jumped into the conflict. It was a lecture, and though it was delivered by one of the Rebels, one of the last people Damion would ever agree with he knew it was well deserved. Indeed Delirium put her life on the line for Rezia. Taking the boys place in Damion's line of fire.

Damion looked at all the chaos he had wrought, with dim eyes. Whispers had threatened to make all this stop with a well placed scream, a possibility Damion would not look forward too. He had no intention of being under the agonizing effect of that man's voice again, anytime soon. He would have to stand down. Simply accept any punishment or harsh words they would throw his way.

Then of course there was Lydia. He saw her distraught, clinging on to her brother. She was clearly worried for the safety of her brother. Rightly so, any one would react in the same way if their loved one was stuck face to face with an unstable man, able to produce a highly dangerous substance from the tips of his fingers.

He felt horrible for his part in this. He looked a Reiza, his face more pained than it had ever been since Damion had arrived in this place. He gave a sigh, slowly putting his still shaky hand back into his glove. He opened his mouth to speak, his voice as shaky and strained as the rest of him."I'll keep from eating. I'll let you complete your task with no complaints." He paused to look at the others. As he did so, his stomach became wracked with the pain of hunger, but he pushed past it."I-I was never going to hurt him. Not really. I just. I just wanted to make him understand." It was a sight to see Damion in such a state. Rarely has he ever been caught as the thoroughly broken man he actually was. He was stammering, and his voice was weak, reflecting the sorry state these turn of events have left him. If one were paying close attention they would even hear the man mutter a faint apology under his breath.