Jae Jun Chambers's Story

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Jae Jun Chambers

The nightmares were getting worse. They'd started a year ago, when he first arrived at this place, and they often wavered in intensity, but the last few nights had found him wide eyed, drenched in sweat for endless hours, unwilling to let the night take over again. It was always the worst when they conducted physical tests. Yesterday had been blood testing, and his arms were scarred up from the several times they'd had to needle him to find the vein, since he kept disappearing the moment the needle came close. Today would be another blood day, since they hadn't gotten enough to run everything they wanted to. They kept coming up with new ideas, new chemicals to mix to see what qualities of his organic make-up caused him to go invisible as he did. To see if they could take his cloaking abilities and use them for other things. J was afraid of what would happen once they figured out how to take his ability from him. Would they farm him for the organic material that made him so special, or would they produce it synthetically and kill him? When they weren't running physical tests they were trying to scare the living daylight out of him to see how he reacted. And then they wondered why he was so jumpy all the time. J squinted into the darkness, trying to see the time. It was three in the morning. He scrubbed his eyes and sighed. His heart was pounding like a rabbit's, there was no way he was going back to sleep. It wasn't worth his time to try.

His fingers found the groove left on his cheek from the metal circlet on his wrist, and he tried to rub the mark away. He slept curled on his side, hands under his head, but his wafer pillow wasn't enough to protect his delicate skin. Once upon a time he'd looked soft and healthy, but now his face was lean and gaunt, deep circles under his eyes. He tried to smile as much as possible, look like he was okay, like he had been taught to, but as the days past it became harder and harder. Even when he wasn't in testing situations sometimes he broke down. It was embarrassing, but he couldn't help it. He just had to laugh it off and take a few deep breaths to make his heart rate drop again. At this rate he was going to have a heart attack at twenty and die. Ha ha.

The dark haired boy felt his ways across his small, dark room, unwilling to turn a light on. He managed to procure some jeans and a t-shirt and hastily pull them on. Wearing day clothes made him a feel a little better, separated him from the breathless fear of his night terrors. He couldn't tell how he looked, because his body, still tense, refused to become visible again, so he just assumed he was fine and poked his head out the door. Because he was a good kid, never argued or struggled or tried to escape, some of the guards were willing to let him get by with wandering the halls at night. After all, how likely was it that the small, easily frightened boy would try something funny?

J squinted through the light outside, and glanced at the guard, who's eyes were trained on his cuff. "You be back soon, kid." The guard told the cuff, reaching out and managing catch the arm that belonged to the cuff in a tight grip. the boy managed to fizzle back into full visibility at the contact, and dipped his head. "Yessir." He mumbled, staring at the floor until he was released. It was a common ritual. Only once had the guard needed to come down and find him, and J took the scolding silently.

Silently he stole down the halls, managing to stay visible for the majority of the time. Usually at this hour he wandered into the music room to service the instruments. Whoever was supposed to take care of the room did an exceedingly poor job tuning everything, and Jae was thankful for it. He could lose himself for hours plucking strings and twisting knobs, tightening and loosening, cleaning pipes and adjusting slides, wiping away oil and shining smooth surfaces. He was at home in this room. It made him feel useful, contributing to something beautiful like this.

Somehow, exhaustion eventually overtook him, and he ended up drifting off, he always slept invisible, just in case, in the corner of the room by the extra sheet music. Several hours later he awoke to sound, a thrill of fear shivering down his spine and resting heavily in his. If he hadn't already been invisible, he certainly would have disappeared then. He bolted upright, pressing the back of a fist against his lips to prevent a sound of startlement from leaking from his teeth. His eyes took a moment to adjust, and they settled on a figure seated at the piano. Oh. It was just Roman. J sighed internally, his body relaxing. Now, if he could only get away without her noticing him. Or just as quickly as possible. He rose quietly, debating as to whether he should become visible again or not. If he didn't and got caught it would be worse than appearing, saying something polite and hurrying out, he decided, and let his cloaking fall from him.

Anxiety still burbled low in his belly, so he took his time straightening the stacks of paper and adjusting an askew violin on it's stand. She was a good player, the music rolled of her fingers. It must be a practiced song, he couldn't see any music sitting in front of her. And she seemed so absorbed in what she was doing. If only he could just slip away, unnoticed.

But he had to say something. He had to be polite. He affixed a smile to his face, and moved around her quietly, trying to fix his sleep mussed hair at the same time. "I...uh...You play well. I didn't know you played classical." He said, forcing himself to look her in the eye. His cuffed hand aimlessly scratched at one of the needle scars on the soft part of his other forearm. He stood halfway between the piano and the door. He never came in if someone else was in the music room, and suddenly he was feeling just as uncomfortable in here as he did elsewhere in their prison. His gaunt face was flushed, but he had to stay a little longer. He didn't want to be rude. And her playing was beautiful. His oil slick eyes flicked from her to the door, and he swallowed.

"Do you mind if I listen for a little?" He managed to gt out. She was so nice to him, he had to be polite to her. While part of him wished she'd say no, he did want to listen to her play. She added soul to Debussy he'd never heard before. He favored playing the violin and it's family to the piano, but her talent on the keys was obvious.

Jae Jun Chambers

Roman told him quietly that she didn't mind, and J relaxed slightly. She was good. Probably the closest thing to a friend he had, and he needed to be grateful for that. He knew she tried to look out for him, which helped, but there really wasn't much one test subject could do for another test subject in a complex run by people whose only purpose in life seemed to be causing pain to them. They all suffered here. He coped with it by letting it wash over him without resisting, but that didn't fix the jumpiness or the anxiety. He would never be strong, only more broken as time passed. But he could deal with that, couldn't he. As long as there were still some good things to hang on to.

Roman shifted into another piece, one that he didn't recognize, but rang with a sincere sadness. He couldn't tell if it came from her or the music. He listened silently to rise and fall of the notes, trying to attach it to a source. He couldn't pick up a composer that it might have come from. If he ever summed up the courage, maybe he'd ask her to teach him. But he couldn't do that now. He wished he had the bravery to play when the others were around, but he couldn't. The only audience he'd ever had was his Nanny and music instructor who didn't really understand that a child's fingers have limits in stretching capabilities.

As the piece faded into an ending, Roman shifted. He turned his head from staring into nowhere just before she began to speak, watching her inquisitively. She asked him a question. He couldn't help but flush a little as he thought of a response. His fingers toyed the metal circlet around his wrist again. Twisting it left a slight burning sensation on his wrist. A somewhat smile curved across his face. "Do you know any of Chopin's Nocturnes?" He asked in a soft voice. He'd learned them for the cello when he was younger, but they were primarily piano pieces, and the little melodies sounded infinitely better on the keys. The melodic melancholy intensified twofold. Regardless of instrument, the pieces reminded him of a better time. He slid his hands into his pockets, turning slightly to face the piano.

And then he jumped, spooked, vanishing for a second, as Veronica entered the room. He wasn't sure what he'd thought to have entered, but it sent his heart racing in his throat. He turned to see the girl flop onto the couch, guitar in hand. He winced slightly, but the guitar made it out of falling onto the couch alive and still tuned, and she began strumming along, singing in a voice that sounded like a perpetual yawn. J let his shoulders relax, and then he realized that he was still vanished. He rubbed his neck with his bracelet-ed hand, which to them would look like the metal band floating in the air, and reluctantly reappeared from the feet up. He looked a little on the pale side, but it wasn't hard to make all the blood drain from his face anyway.

He sent a pleading glance towards Roman, as if asking for permission to leave, twisting his hands together. He didn't have anything against Veronica, she was nice and they were in the same situation, it was hard to hate someone who was going through something so terrible alongside him. But she was so loud. And he wasn't really. The constant movement and noise and action set him on edge, wired like a jackrabbit ready to run. But some sense of obligation towards Roman, most likely from the music, prevented him from just fleeing. He needed some kind of excuse to escape, and none were coming readily to mind. His hands clasped together, locking into a knot of anxiety and fingers. Through that he managed to smile at Veronica, he still had to be nice, still had to be friendly. It didn't matter if it felt like his heart was about ready to beat out of his mouth from the fright her entrance had given him. He hadn't always been so jumpy, but the tests had blurred the line between the testing environment and reality, and fright was always his instinct. Especially when it came in at that volume, unexpected.

As he walked, Kayden absentmindedly rubbed the raw spot under his jaw on the left side. The muzzle was made of a special heat-resistant ceramic, it had to be to deal with Kayden's extreme pyroclastic discharges, although it's purpose was to prevent such things, not withstand them. Either way, the muzzle had to be made from an exceptionally strong material, or else Kayden would have simply ripped it off, or melted it off of his face. Regardless, when they'd made the damn thing, they'd forgotten to thoroughly sand the edges, resulting in rough irregularities that chafed Kayden's normally smooth skin. Kayden winced as a twinge of pain coursed through his jaw and made his brain go temporarily numb. What was that Doctor up to?

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As Kayden had asked his question, the good Doc Griffin, had closed his eyes. Judging from the measured breaths he was taking, and the slow, steady beat of his heart, Kayden could tell that the Doc was really thinking about his response. At least, that's what Kayden's ears were telling him. The longer the silence became, the more Kayden became... impatient. Finally, after what seemed to be hours, Kayden could take it no longer. "Well!? Are you gonna let me go or not!" Kayden shouted. Taking your time to think was all well and good, but in a situation like this, with Kayden's freedom on the line, the boy's patience was already stretched far too thin. At that, and seemingly in response, the Doc's head slumped to the side, and a huge fake snore rumbled in the small freezer. Kayden sighed, a calming hand rising slowly to knit his furiously twitching brow. Kayden knew better than to expect seriousness, in any situation in which the Doc was involved.


Incredulously, Kayden's eyes stretched wide, and his gaze came up to rest upon the smiling doctor. "You're seriously letting me go?" Kayden stammered. The Doc raised a hand, showing three fingers-- clauses --Kayden's raised hopes fell slightly. "Before you leave, however, I'll have you sign a contract that states the following," The Doc said matter-of-factually, as he produced a folded sheet of paper, with his other hand, from one of his lab-coat's many pockets. Slowly, the Doc walked over to the table at Kayden's bedside. As he did so, the Doc unfolded the paper and spoke. "1) You will submit, willingly and earnestly, to our testing and give real effort during the tests that require your participation. In short, try your best. If you do well, I'll have an easier time getting the guards here to leave you alone, so we won't, for example, need to have someone following you around when you go to take a piss. It's really in your best interests to try hard here. The better you do, the more personal freedom I can promise you. 2) You will promise not to harm any more employees, staff, or other residents of the RIST. Should any danger come to these individuals, you will even be held to the standard of protecting these individuals from harm, albeit to the best of your abilities. Obviously, we don't want you dying on us, but we don't want you standing idly by while the place burns to the ground. Mostly, just use your common sense. 3) You are to remain on the grounds of the RIST. Once again, obviously, we can't have you running away on us. Despite your best intentions, you are, Kayden, a dangerous individual. Ten of you would, probably, be enough to single-handedly burn any city on this earth to the ground, overnight. As much as I would like for you to be able to live off-site, that is no longer an option, not with your most recent incident on the record." As he finished speaking, and having made his way over to the small table, placed the paper, and a pen, there, as if it were no big deal.

Kayden sighed, as expected, his hopes were stymied. Escape, without blatantly breaking his promise, was impossible. However, a niggling thought played at the back of his mind. Even with those conditions, Roman was still here, same as him. Meeting her, who was probably the sole reason that Kayden had managed to stay sane, was slowing becoming more and more realistic. Even if kayden couldn't leave, she'd be here too. "That's all well 'n' good, but what's to stop me from smilin' real nice right now and killin' each and every one of ya when yer backs are turned?" Kayden asked snidely, a smirk on his face. The Doc, however, seemed to have already thought of this, and snapped back just as quickly. "The national government has been notified of your existence, and has access to all of our files on you. Any breaking of the stipulations of this contract will, most likely, result in your permanent imprisonment, if not an outright death sentence. If you thought it was hell in here, just you try it. Them government types are even meaner than us." The Doc said, challenging Kayden with an equally confident smirk.

Kayden only scowled, growling under his breath. Nervous, and just the littlest bit nauseous, Kayden began to pace, his eyes burning holes in the floor and his mind furiously running in circles. Obviously, with his record they couldn't just let him go, and yet, here they were; finally willing to let him out of the freezer. Thinking about it was agony. Live a life of false smiles and unjust imprisonment, or kill them all and be put to death. As if to make it even worse for Kayden, the Doc chimed in, "Provided you behave, I can even provide you with just about anything you could ask for. Food, clothes, or even entertainment, to a reasonable extent, of course. We aren't made of money here." Kayden hated that man. He was so infuriating. Just when kayden thought he had them all beat, there he was. That eternally smiling doctor, whose sole purpose, it seemed, was to make Kayden's life hell. Yet, even now, he smiled, as if... as if he actually cared about Kayden. The thought made Kayden stop in his tracks and slowly, his gaze lifted up to rest on the Doc, who was still smiling. Scowling, Kayden walked over to the table, picked up the pen, and deftly signed his life away. kayden stormed off towards the still open exit, but just as he was turning his back to leave, a small jingling noise caught Kayden's attention. Whipping back around to face the doc, Kayden's breath caught in his chest. In his left hand, the doc held a small silver key. Even just looking at it, Kayden could tell.

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True to his word, the Doc had let him go. He even got to take off the muzzle they'd put on him. "Feh... as if I were some kind of beast." Kayden griped softly to himself. "I'll show you beastly..." Kayden trailed off halfway through his statement, stopping dead in his tracks. He'd already forgotten. Sure he was free, but, if anything, Kayden was, arguably, more chained up now than he had ever been before. This was made all the more vexing due to the nature of his bindings. As strong as he was, even Kayden couldn't break chains placed on him by responsibility and obligation. "That's right..." Kayden said to himself, he trailed off as he neared the end of his statement, his mind racing. Kayden absentmindedly padded in the direction that Griffin had sent him. Apparently he'd been given a room of his own, Kayden figured it would be a good idea to wash up before meeting Roman in person, after all, it wasn't everyday you met the girl of your dreams. Kayden chuckled to himself. "That joke sucked..."

As he reached his room, Kayden sighed. It was threadbare. Sure there was an attached bathroom, but the bedroom itself was depressingly empty. Just a bed, a dresser, a nightstand table with a lamp on it, and a single chair. They'd even given Kayden a room with a window. "Bastards..." Kayden growled under his breath. Sure being out of the freezer for a change was nice, but having a window, one without bars on it, which he could easily smash to leave this damn place, was just too much. Sighing, Kayden checked his dresser. Sure enough, extra clothes had been put into the drawers. Everything from underwear, to sweaters, to pressed and folded collared shirts was there. Kayden sighed. This was normal life, eh? Too bad his job sucked. Kayden chuckled again. "Much better."

Slowly, as he was somewhat out of practice, Kayden showered in the bathroom attached to his new room. The hot water, some 90, almost 100, degrees felt good on his skin. It was a welcome change from the constant embrace of the frigid air within his old -10 degree home. Kayden stood stock still for a short moment, dropping the bottle of soap in his hands.


Kayden scowled as he picked up the soap. As much as he hated to admit it, he didn't have any other place to go. For now, this place was his home.

When he'd finished cleaning up, Kayden dried himself off and checked the cabinet in his bathroom. Sure enough, it had been supplied with deodorant, a toothbrush, mild medications for pain, allergies, and cold symptoms, like coughing or runny nose. There was even mouthwash and floss. Kayden brushed his teeth. He was sure, with his previously muzzled situation, that his mouth was in need of some serious hygiene assistance. When he was finally finished with his teeth, Kayden applied his deodorant and got dressed. It was weird wearing regular clothes. For the longest time, Kayden had worn nothing but, what was essentially, a hospital gown provided by the institute. As a dangerous Abnormal, he didn't need clothes. He basically spent most of his days poisoned and anesthetized anyway. Kayden chose faded, light blue jeans, black PF Flyers, ankle socks, and a plain white t-shirt with a black hoodie. Obviously he needed to chat with someone about the kind of clothes he liked to wear. However, that could wait. When Kayden had walked up to his room, he'd caught a whiff of a familiar scent. It was a flowery and warm scent. Kayden recognized it from his dreams. It was Roman's shampoo.

Following his nose, Kayden wound his way through the halls of the RIST. As his nose led the way, Kayden's ears couldn't help but pick up the sound of music. Someone was playing a piano, and rather well at that. Kayden couldn't tell what the song was, he'd never heard music like that before, but he could tell it was something beautiful. Kayden stopped for a moment, his heart twinging painfully. His right hand reached up to his chest, grasping the material of his sweater, as if to calm the wild beating of his heart. "Roman..." Kayden said softly. Kayden tripled his pace, nearly flying down the hallways, until he came upon a closed door with a guard posted outside. Upon seeing Kayden, and somewhat unfortunately, the man did as he was trained. With no small amount of fear, the guard's hand whipped up to his belt, and, holding the device to his mouth, shouted into the walkie-talkie he usually carried on his hip for situation such as these. "I have a code double red! Repeat, double red! Subject #04 has escaped from his containment, repeat, Subject #04 has escaped from containment!" Sighing, Kayden put his hands in the air. "Bet ya one hundred dollars that you stop shoutin' and just leave me be." There was no response from the device. Still, Kayden took a step back and kept his hands raised high. The guard only smirked, beads of sweat forming on his face.

The guard's mind was racing. He was new on the job, started up just a few weeks ago actually, but even he knew enough about Subject #04 to know that he was in some seriously deep shit. Subject #04 was, essentially, a dragon. A fierce predator of a creature that would kill a man as soon as look at him. Usually Subject #04 was placed in a freezer down in the depths of the Institute. Half a mile of concrete and steel kept that beast locked away, yet here he was, plain as day. There was still no response from the walkie. This was strange. The guard seemed to think, cocking his head to the side. Subject #04 was acting... compliant. There had to be something wrong. Was... was Subject #04 afraid of him? Perhaps... perhaps he could apprehend him! The man could get that raise he'd been after! Taking Kayden's unusual lack of resistance as a sign of cooperation, he advanced on Kayden, and reached for the ceramic cuffs on his belt that all the guards had on hand specifically for occasions like these. As the guard closed the distance between them, Kayden took a step back and shot the man a warning glance. "Yer dreamin'." Kayden said simply, snarling at the man. Kayden's hands came down, he stood fully, proudly, and poured all of his hatred out at that guardsman with nothing but his eyes. A smarter man would have balked, knowing he was in the presence of a mighty predator. This foolish man, however, didn't. "Jus' 'cause I can't kill ya, don't mean I gotta play too nice either..." Kayden said coldly. Resolutely not listening to Kayden, the guardsman strode forward confidently and placed his hand on Kayden's shoulder, in a misguided attempt to shove Kayden into the wall, as if to detain him. Within the time span of, roughly, 1.53 seconds, Kayden reversed their positions and was holding the guardsman's wrist behind his back, with the poor man pressed against the wall. Kayden dusted off his shoulder where the man had touched him. "I told ya, didn't I?" Kayden said coldly.

As if he were throwing a ball, Kayden's hand swiped to the left, throwing the full-grown man into a nearby chair. "Sit." kayden commanded. Weakly, the guardsman got up, dusted himself off, and sat down. With that, Kayden smirked, and turned towards the room where he smelled Roman. As Kayden began to walk towards his destination, he heard a rustling, and turned back around. The fool had stood back up, "Wa-Wait..." he said weakly, as if to tell Kayden that he had to do as he was told. Kayden's ire to skyrocketed. He'd only been out for two seconds, and here this man was, trying to put him back in his cage. "Yeh can't possibly be serious? Can ya?" Kayden asked furiously, nearly growling with anger. In that instant, all his anger at that man poured out of him, roiling off his body like waves of heat. The man's face blanched as Kayden approached him. He tried to speak, but all that came out was a jumbling, mumbled, stuttering nonsense. Kayden was just about to smash his face in, when-


"That's that then." Kayden said, stepping back from the guardsman and lowering his fist, which was steaming, just like the rest of him. Kayden's body temperature had risen significantly, due to his anger, and all the leftover moisture on his body from the shower had evaporated. Kayden smirked. That damn doc had actually meant it. To Kayden's chagrin, the walkie continued. "Be warned, Subject #04 has a wicked temper, and is prone to fits of anger." Here Kayden couldn't help but scowl. It was their fault after all, who do they think made him like this? "Do not, under any circumstances, make him angry. He could kill you as easily as you might squash an ant." Kayden actually chuckled. That was just about right on. Still the walkie continued. "In such an instance you won't receive back up, as our first priority will be to evacuate the RIST before the military moves in."

Whatever mirth Kayden had vanished. "He wasn't kidding... Damn..." By this time, the guardsman appeared to be lost for words, and in all other ways incapacitated. His eyes had rolled back into his head, and there was froth at the corners of his mouth. "Tch... Fainted on me." The staticky voice on the other end of the walki-talkie spoke up again, drawing Kayden's attention to it. "Operative TK421, what's your status? Operative TK421? TK421?" Kayden couldn't have them raising the alarm, not when he'd just gotten out. Kayden sighed, his fingers coming up to knit his brow. Suddenly, an idea struck him. Calmly, and with a smirk on his face, Kayden walked over to the unconscious guardsman and reached down, picking up the walkie-talkie. Pressing the button labeled, "speak," Kayden did as it instructed. "Everything's just fine over here. Just a minor weapons malfunction." "Affirmative, don't let it happen again TK421." Kayden smirked again. "Yessir." Turning his attention back to the guardsman, Kayden slipped his hand inside the man's pocket, finding his wallet. He pulled out some money and slipped it into his pocket. Having taken the agreed upon amount, Kayden returned the man's wallet. "We're square." Kayden smirked.

With that, Kayden finally strode into the music room, which, to his surprise, had more people in it than just Roman. He stopped in the doorway. Not saying anything, Kayden's eyes trailed across the room. There was another girl, her hair was blue. Kayden's senses devoured her existence. It had been so long since he'd seen anyone, in the flesh. Her smell, her appearance, Kayden relished each of them. His eyes found hers, locking for a moment. As interesting as she was, she wasn't the one he'd come here to see. As Kayden turned, looking for Roman, he stopped. There was another presence in the room. Kayden could smell it, even hear the way... its clothes rustled. Kayden's eyes swept over the room, trying to locate the source of the smell, when what should he find but a little, metal bracelet. It was floating. "Ahh... yer invisible..." Kayden said, directing his words at the shiny band. "Nifty. Either of you seen..." Kayden trailed off. His eyes found what he'd been searching for. Her hair, her face, her clothes, even her smell, all of it was just how she'd been in his dreams. Kayden's eyes locked with hers for what seemed to be an eternity.