They're coming for me.

And before he knew it Juliette's arms were around him, squeezing him tight enough around the chest that he could not move. For a moment he could only sit and accept it without reciprocating, mind blank in a state of utter shock. He wasn't dreaming. This wasn't some sort of nausea-induced hallucination. She was real - He was actually feeling her embrace, and the tears that ran down her cheeks and onto Joseph's shoulder, and her nails lightly scraping his back, and her desperate repeating of his name, and the shaky sobs wracking her body. For the first time in over forty days, a pair of arms were pulling him in him purely for the purpose of expressing affection. For so long, he'd cowered away from human contact because it had only brought him harm and misery, whether it be for a beating, or an inhumane operation, or the injection of lethal viruses, or mental abuse.

It was jarring that now, at this moment, it was for everything but harm and misery.

And then a second later, the Winter's shock inevitably dissolved into a relentless outpouring of emotion, and his arms closed around his cousin's torso to return the hug. She was thinner than she'd been before, but she wasn't dead. She wasn't lost. She wasn't undergoing torture any longer. She was here, and though he knew she wasn't unharmed, she was here.  Joseph wasn't alone anymore, and in turn, Juliette wasn't alone anymore. They were weak. They were traumatised. They would never be the same again after all of the shit they'd been put through, but they were together now in this hell-house. He didn't fight the tears when they came, or the violent trembling of his nerves. Joseph buried his forehead in the crook of of his cousin's neck, raspy, convulsive sobs to match Juliette's own overtaking him, as well.

"I never thought I would see you again." Joseph's voice was barely above a shuddering whisper. His fingertips dug into the bony terrain of Juliette's upper back, as if afraid to let her go. Hell, he was afraid to let her go. It had been so long, and he couldn't bear to let anything or anyone tear them asunder again. "I never thought I would see anyone again. This place, these people, I-I.. I thought they took everything from me. I thought you were gone. I was so scared, Jules.. So scared.. Oh god, I thought you were gone.." His voice failed him as his feelings threatened to choke him. It was a wonder he'd managed to speak at all. Joseph grit his teeth, trying to quiet his throaty weeping, and pressed his head harder into Juliette's shoulder. "I thought you were gone.."

After weeks upon weeks of lying on cold metal, and feeling cold metal bite into his flesh, and just.. Feeling the chill of this iron prison seep into his soul, this was the warmest he'd been since the start - crouched here, clutching Juliette like she was the last person on earth. Forty days ago, before this had all happened, Joseph had never been an emotional person - at least outwardly. He'd kept everything inside him and suppressed it all with the numbing powers of drugs and alcohol. He'd felt hurt, and sadness, and anger, but never displayed it to anyone - Not to his mother, not to his father, not to his friends, or romantic partners, or other relatives. He'd never wanted anybody's sympathy or comfort, because he'd never felt worthy of it.

Now, the gate inside of him that he'd reinforced so tightly to keep all of his emotions locked up inside of him had met it's breaking point and burst. Joseph wasn't any more worthy of Juliette's sympathy or comfort now than he'd ever been before. He was still worthless, still weak.. But he couldn't do it by himself. He needed to lean on someone, and Juliette was more than willing too hold him and care for him despite what an utter waste of air he was. Right now, she needed somebody to lean on, as well, and Joseph was willing to to the best he could to support the weight of her anguish.

He caught something about a clone.. A clone of him that she'd killed. Normally the idea of a human clone would have been ludicrous to him, but presently, he didn't doubt the sick and twisted intellectual reaches of the surgeon's mind. Joseph has never seen Juliette in such a wreck, anyways.. Something serious had brought her to this sate.

'Strong'. She'd chosen to use the word 'strong' to describe him. Juliette didn't know what she was talking about. She hadn't heard him moaning for hours on end about his death wish.. Crying out in the dark for some god to strike him down, and end his life once and for all.. She wasn't aware of what a fragile person he was internally. Joseph didn't have the heart or the words to correct her, though. That was the last thing she needed to hear right now. He kept holding her tightly until her sobs weakened, turning into dry sniffles, and her crushing grip around his torso loosened. A large part of him wished that they could just sit here for an eternity, but eventually, reality crept back in..

.. Of course, Juliette hadn't just come here to cry into his shoulder. She had not fought off a slew of guards to simply say hello to her cousin.

She was here to escape.

Joseph could feel distant dread begin to well up inside of him as she spoke of getting out, and finding Kaleb, and protecting him from anyone who wanted to hurt him. Escape. Escape would bring on the sickness. The terror. The blinding headaches.

"I.." He slowly released her from his embrace and swallowed hard. He couldn't face the fiery challenge in her eyes, so he looked down at the tiles below his feet. She didn't know what they'd done to him.. The nausea drugs, the violent films, his mindless fits.. "They did something to me. They didn't want me to escape, and I.. Oh, god." His stomach was beginning to turn. He covered his mouth with one hand and gripped his cousin's shoulder with the other like a vice. "I-I can't.. "

He figured Juliette would be confused, but for a few moments, she didn't say anything. Joseph just continued to stare at the ground, his heart pounding erratically in his chest like a marching band drum. He couldn't do it. He couldn't. They'd fucked his mind beyond repair. The mere thought of stepping outside his door against the will of the surgeon and the guards was enough to bring on a wave of paranoia. He couldn't even begin to imagine what would happen if he actually did so, and frankly, he didn't want to know. If it was anything like the crippling, vomit-inducing illness and blinding anxiety that he'd suffered through while strapped to the chair, Joseph wanted to stay as far away from it as possible. He'd felt pathetic the entire time he'd been trapped in this place, but never so much as now - cowering away from the confidence in his cousin's eyes. The inner fire he did not possess. She was damaged too, and he had no doubt that she had faced horrors just as nightmare-inducing - if not worse - as Joseph had, but the difference was that she still has strength. She could still pull through for the people she loved, even if it meant harm for her.

The Winter couldn't do it. He couldn't escape. He was a coward.

As tremors began running along the nerves of Joseph's torso, Juliette squeezed his hand and placed the other on his chest, and immediately, something changed inside of him. Something about this - feeling the soft pads of her fingers laid out over his thumping heart, and hearing her soft words of encouragement - made him realise something amongst the hazy terror that was slowly building inside of his head. Thought it betrayed his psychological conditioning, Joseph knew, deep within him, that didn't want to be here. He hated this place. He hated these people. They'd broken him, and they'd caused pain for the people he held most dear to his heart. They'd made him their guinea pig. Joseph wanted to leave with Jules and Kaleb, and leave this all behind him.

Slowly, the prefect raised his head to gaze up at his cousin's now-standing form. He wasn't ready. He was terrified - mostly of sickening feelings bubbling up relentlessly inside of him, but also for Juliette. He believed that she would do whatever she could to get him out, and find her brother, and that scared Joseph. He didn't want to see her hurt herself for him, but he knew he wouldn't be able to stop her. . Besides, it wasn't like he'd be able to leave by himself. He already felt like he was going to keel over.

Joseph returned the hold that Juliette had on his hand and gradually pulled himself up onto his feet. His throat was tight with fear and emotion, and his hand was slick with nervous perspiration already. "I won't let go."

Joseph felt light-headed as Juliette tugged him out of his cell.

Guards weren't forcing him out. He wasn't getting shocked by a taser, or kicked, or thrown. He was exiting his place of confinement on his own volition.. Well, sort of. Juliette was dragging him behind her like a bewildered child in a super market, but his legs were moving. This escape was a conscious effort on Joseph's part. Every single fibre of his mind was screaming at the remainder of his body to stop Jules and scuttle back hurriedly to his cell - the safe zone, thee place where no blood was spilled, and it was quiet and still - like the good little lab rat the surgeon had trained Joseph to be.

Go back. Obey. Go back. Obey. Go back. Obey. Go back.

Despite the sickening fear and regret ringing in the back of his mind, Joseph kept trudging onward. He didn't know what exactly was keeping him going. Perhaps Juliette's determination was infectious, and had leaked into him somehow.. Although he certainly didn't feel that way. His vision was a blurry mess as they raced along - a smeared canvas of greys, whites, and the occasional smudge of scarlet. Bodies littered the ground every couple of steps, cold, pale hands clutching gaping holes in their torsos. Jules' work. Joseph couldn't even look at the fallen guardsmen, never mind add to the graveyard that Juliette had created. He kept his eyes peeled firmly to the back of his cousin's head as to keep them out of sight. What he could not avoid, however, was the smell, and the feel of the warm, dark liquid on the floor. The metallic musk of freshly-spilled blood filled his nostrils, and every time his feet met the ground to take another step, there was a disgusting squelching sound.

It was just warm water. It was just warm water.

Joseph's grip on Juliette's hand tightened even further. He couldn't be sick. He couldn't give up. He couldn't let go. They needed to find Kaleb. They needed to go home. He needed to see his mother, and father, and uncle Andrew, and Kyou again. He needed to feel the cool autumn wind on his face, and watch the grass in the meadow next to Rosebury sway, and ride the high of heroin, and feel the fire of alcohol in his throat. Joseph couldn't do this by himself, but he had Juliette now, so he didn't have to. All he needed to do was follow her lead and keep hold of her hand, and with every step, their dreams of seeing the world again became all the more realistic.

Joseph stared at Juliette for a moment, the reality of what was just about to come sinking in, and then he shut his eyes. He was immediately tugged forward. There was a couple of alarmed shouts, a furious battle cry out of Jules herself, a flurry of footsteps, and then Joseph was enveloped in a dizzying madness. Juliette pulled him abruptly this way and that - up, down, left and right - as she carried out her assault on the guards.

There was a scream, and then a wet gurgling sound. And then another. And another.

Joseph turned his head downward as the fighting commenced, squeezing his eyelids shut tight enough to see tiny stars. He had to think of something - or somewhere - pleasant if he was going to get through this. If he thought too much about the scene unfolding in front of him, or opened his eyes even the tiniest amount, he and Juled both knew he wouldn't be able to go on any further.. He wasn't being dragged around, wading in blood, while Juliette tore the throats of unsuspecting men out. He was in his place of solace, with all of the things he loved the most. He wasn't escaping a sick and twisted human experimentation laboratory, he was relaxing in the cool evening air, alone, and without a care in the world. Jules was not currently putting her safety at risk for him, she was safe, and happy, and somewhere else.. Not here, killing people, and helping him escape..

No.

Flowers tickling his legs. A pale blue, morning sky. The smell of the earth. A half-burnt cigarette between his index and middle fingers. A bottle of Jack Daniel's at his side. Concerned phone calls from his mother. Kyou's nervous banter. Good thoughts.. Fantasies, but good thoughts. If anyone, he had to keep it together for Juliette and Kaleb. He knew Juliette wouldn't leave without him, so the more of a hindrance he was, the slower she would go, and ultimately, get herself and Kaleb out.

And then, a moment later, everything went silent again, save for the ragged breathing of Juliette. Both of their hands were coated in sweat. Joseph kept perfectly still. It was over. She'd killed them all - Sliced their throats with a stolen knife. Just like that, all of Joseph's light-hearted thoughts melted away into a scarlet puddle. He hadn't even taken a good look around, but didn't need to see to know what the area around him looked like. He knew. Violence was heavy in the air. There was a circle of bodies around Joseph, bleeding from ugly lacerations in their necks.. Dead, glossy eyes stretched wide in horror at the prospect of meeting their maker.

Death. Violence. Escape. Defiance. Death. Death. Death. Death.

Joseph broke away from her and threw up.

Juliette's words had gone in one of Joseph's ears and straight out the other. Acidic liquid coated the inside of his mouth and throat, and a hundred, panicked sirens were going off incessantly in his head. He sunk to his knees as his legs went numb, the final, disgusted wretch having sapped every last smidgen of energy out of his limbs. He raised his hands so he was clutching his face, fingernails biting into the blood-spattered skin of his face.

There she was, statuesque and rigid, her dark, ruddy lipstick popping out against her white coat and light-bathed face. It was the same colour as the blood that was slowly creeping towards her, trickling out of the slashed throats of her subordinates. There was an emptiness in the Winter's stomach as he stared up at her, but he couldn't adequately pint-point what it was, exactly. Was he afraid of her? Was he horrified that she'd found them? Perhaps he was relieved to see her again, in some twisted sense. She'd broken him in - fixed him. He was her's.

Joseph didn't know what he was feeling. The gears weren't turning in his mind. All he could do was watch her expression blankly as sweat poured liberally down his neck, a shaky breath escaping him every so often, breaking the stale silence.

And then Jules lunged at her, planting her foot squarely into the surgeon's chest and knocking her backwards. Joseph's breathing quickened. A fresh, overwhelming wave of panic swept over him. One of his hands shot out. "Jules.. Jules, wait, stop it.. Please, I-I--" His words caught in his throat as his cousin held her blade to the surgeon's neck. Her eyes were blazing with a hungry fury, like a feral cat within a hair's breadth from catching its prey. Feelings were warring inside of Joseph as he watched her hiss into their captor's face. If he'd had anything left in his stomach to vomit back up, he would have.

It was like being drawn and quartered mentally. Juliette and the surgeon's lips were moving, but he couldn't distinguish what they were saying. It was all muddled garble - meaningless, shapeless, babbling.

They needed to get out. They needed to save Kaleb, and they needed to get out. Joseph knew that. He wanted this to end - For him, for Juliette, and for Kaleb. He had done nothing but suffer while he'd been here. Burning. Freezing. Bleeding. Screaming. That was all he'd known for so long, and yet, he still found part of himself wanting to dive back into his cell and obey. He was the surgeon's pet. She had trained him to listen to her, and only her. They'd beaten it into his head to the point where he could no longer pry it out of him - This was his place of being. He was condemned to this prison. They'd made him accept it. Nothing outside was real, there was only this.. The cold iron cell, the agony, the hours spent sitting in a corner waiting for a death that would never come. His heart wanted to go back to his cigarettes, his alcohol, his mother, his father, his friends, his real home - But his mind was telling him that this was home, now.

Unable to fight the unwanted thoughts away, Joseph could feel the urge to pull Juliette away from the surgeon rising. It was disgusting, and completely against everything he'd wanted for the months upon months he'd spent as a plaything, but there was no stopping it..

.. However, before he could move an inch, the surgeon pulled out a gun and ran a bullet through Juliette's skull.

A hundred tiny, fleshy pieces of his beloved cousin hit Joseph's face.

The surgeon's voice cut through the air like a blade. She'd trained him not to disobey her. Not to do anything foolish. He was her boy; a good boy. Good boy. Good boy. Good boy. Good boy. Good boy. Good boy. Good boy.

Silence.

Something stirred inside of Joseph at that moment. The longer he sat there, gaping up at the surgeon with the skin, brain matter, and blood of Juliette - his friend, his cousin, a woman he'd give his life for -  sticking to his cheeks and forehead, the clearer things suddenly started to become. The clouds in his subconscious parted just long enough for him to spit one, solitary word out. A defiant word.. A word he hadn't said and meant for a long time.

"No."

And suddenly, Joseph ignited with energy, a hoarse, pained scream rising out of his throat and reverberating around the metal hallways. One second, he was reaching for the knife lying next to Juliette's quivering body, and the next, he was throwing the surgeon to the ground and plunging it into her eye. He knew she was dead after the first stab, but he kept going. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. His hand kept rising and falling, each jab disfiguring the surgeon more and more. Joseph's vision was red. Not once did he stop screaming. He could take a hundred bullets to the head and feel no anger towards the one who did it. He wanted to die. He was worthless. He deserved any pain that came his way, but no one hurt Jules. No one. This woman would pay dearly for what she'd just done.

Finally, as his throat began to run raw, Joseph's movements slowed. He felt the abrupt rush of energy fade out of him, and then finally came to a stop. The woman below him wasn't the surgeon anymore. She was a faceless corpse, just like all of the guards surrounding her. Joseph had made sure to make everything distinguishable about her disappear. The image that had haunted his nightmares for so long was gone.

Joseph dropped the knife.

Joseph should have felt some sort of catharsis as he stared down at the mess he'd made of the woman who'd chained Jules and him up for several months, but he only got the same emptiness that he'd been feeling before killing her. The same emptiness he'd been feeling for a long time. He didn't even register the sound of Juliette's voice when she'd finally healed enough to move once more, or reciprocate her embrace. He wanted to be glad to hear her speak again, but the shock of what he'd just done had simply numbed out everything - even his crippling fear of violence and gore was just a distant buzz in the back of his head.

There was just nothing. No disgust. No terror. No triumph. The surgeon had been an evil, deplorable person who deserved to die more than anything, but still a person. He'd ended a life - stolen decades away from somebody as if he, of all people, had the right to do so. Joseph, who'd been chopped into pieces like like a fucking steak dinner and survived, had taken the life of an average, vulnerable human being who could have died from something as simple as an infected cut. He couldn't make out any of the details of her face - it was all just a bloody, fleshy mass of red. He'd not only killed her, but erased that which had made her most identifiable.

Something occurred to Joseph then, as Juliette left his side to sift through all of the documents stored in the desk standing behind him.

If they made it out today - if they managed to find Kaleb, and if three traumatized, malnourished young people could fight their way through a squadron of guards - how would they just jump back into a normal life? They'd been locked away in a torture facility for what felt like an eternity, by now, and after this.. What? They'd waltz into the academy and continue where they'd left off before being captured? Joseph would just go right back to attending classes, and and drinking with friends, and taking evening walks after seeing all the shit he'd seen? Coping with depression had already been hard enough. Wanting to die and being unable to had already been a load on his shoulders, but now, if he and his cousins all walked out of this place, he'd have to live with having committed murder..? And being gutted? And being isolated for days on end in a dark cell, suffering through a constant state of crippling paranoia?

How the fuck was he supposed to go on?

Before he could give it any more thought, Juliette was grabbing him again, and tugging him hurriedly out the door. Joseph swallowed his musings, instead choosing to focus as best as he could on not tripping over one of his own feet. Now was no time to dwell selfishly on himself. He had to go on for Juliette, and in extension, Kaleb. Seeing the desperation in Jules' eyes, and movements, and catching her occasional, somber smiles directed at him told him that she wasn't ready to give up yet. Even as Joseph served as no more than a cumbersome drag-along to her, she still went on, determined to free the people she loved despite how broken she was herself. That was, perhaps, the only thing keeping the prefect from letting go of her hand.

Just for you and Kaleb. Not for me. Only you.

By the time they came to a halt in front of a locked door, a fresh coat of blood and grit covered them head-to-toe. Vaguely, as he'd staggered behind Juliette in a trance-like state on their way up here, he'd heard her growl something about "the man in charge". He supposed that behind this door - which was very inconsistent with the rest of the facility - was the individual she'd spoken of. By the look on Juliette's face, he could tell that they would not walk out of this door without even more fresh blood on their hands. When Jules asked him if he was ready, he only managed to glance briefly up at her, looking back down almost immediately, and then gave a tiny nod. Every nerve in his body jolted when she shot the lock on the door.

Scathing words rolled off of Juliette's tongue as they stepped inside, but they were cut short. She and Joseph both froze immediately as they took in the sight of the man at the desk. Joseph knew that face. He knew those eyes..

.. Kaleb?

For a moment - one precious heartbeat - Joseph felt just like Juliette.

Though totally shell-shocked by the sudden appearance, relief flooded Joseph's systems like a cooling bout of spring water. There he was. There was Kaleb, Juliette's dearest brother, Joseph's beloved elder cousin, and the third victim of the cruel experimentation of the one who turned the wheels in this sick facility. Memories of their past filled Joseph's mind, and most of all, their escape was now only a few steps away. Just a little longer. Just a few more kills. Just another hallway or two. The trio was back together again, and as much as Joseph dreaded having to live a life with the trauma that he'd developed as a result of being trapped here, he felt an overwhelming, crushing sense of familial love that they were together once more..

.. But the second Kaleb's eyes locked with Joseph's, it all turned to grey again.

He wished he wasn't so perceptive. He wished that Kaleb had never opened his mouth. He wished that he'd never met his eyes. He wished that Juliette had never taken him up here, so they would have never seen each other face-to-face ever again. All at once, with a string of words and one, single glance, all of the relief and joy that had filled the pit in Joseph's stomach withered away like a flower in a drought, and then mutated into a toxic swamp of dread. It felt as if ice were flowing through his veins, freezing him perfectly in place as he watched Juliette fail to see what was really going on. It physically hurt to watch - to see her beg him to leave with them, and to allow her love for her brother blind her like this. Joseph felt like doubling over as the dread sunk into every facet of his being, but he remained in place, feeling very much as if he had turned to stone.

Every childhood memory he'd shared with Kaleb instantaneously shattered into a million pieces. Mourning the death of his parents alongside him, playing catch with him, going exploring with him, using him as a mathematics tutor, going driving with him - It was totally meaningless now. All of those hours spent together had been wasted.

All because of one look.

Even as the guards poured into the room, shouting and pointing guns, Joseph didn't take his eyes off of Kaleb. The threat of being shot in the head again didn't phase him in the slightest - it was as if the guards weren't even there. Joseph could hear a desperate denial in Juliette's voice that she herself hadn't even picked up on yet. The scene unfolding before him undoubtedly took the cake for being the saddest thing Joseph had witnessed in all eighteen years of his dismal life. Love truly was destructive.

It wasn't until the guards had exited the room that Juliette truly realized what was going on. Her knife, which she'd held with such fierce determination only a few minutes ago, dropped to the floor and clattered noisily on the tiles, and she dropped down onto her knees, unable to bear the weight of the revelation.

And then, though he remained perfectly still and expressionless, Joseph's stiff voice broke the silence of the room like a hammer to a glass pane.

"Why?"

Even Juliette's pained crooning couldn't tear Joseph's gaze away from Kaleb. There was nothing he could do for her now, anyways. Consoling her wouldn't help, and Joseph himself wasn't even quite sure that he was still in the real world. This was dream-like quantities of absurdity. The rest of his body felt separate from his brain - or like there was nothing below his head, like he'd crumbled away into dust. He visibly tensed as Kaleb finally began to speak. Hearing his voice now was akin to being sliced into with a scalpel all over again, but this time, the surgeon had Kaleb's face. It was worse.

Important to him? Important to him? Joseph didn't even register the rest of Kaleb's sentence after that. He didn't need to hear why. It didn't matter what his excuse was.. This was his sister. His cousin. His flesh and blood. The people he'd grown up with, and consoled while they were upset, and cared for when they were sick. Kaleb could have had a thousand fucking reasons for why he'd done this, but nothing would be good enough for Joseph. Family took priority over everything else, in his eyes, and locking your family up in a human experimentation facility was not exactly a very good way of showing them that they were important to you.

Before either man could open his mouth again, Juliette suddenly interjected, her voice shrill and laden with rising panic. It was safe to say that neither of them had ever heard her sound so distressed. Strong, confident, intelligent Juliette had been reduced to this.. This utterly sorry state. A shell of what she'd been two months ago. Still, though, while she scrabbled desperately at her own filthy skin, filling the air with piercing screams, Kaleb's face remained almost entirely neutral. As he took his sister's shuddering form between his hands and pulled her upwards, he looked virtually unaffected by the stench of blood and vomit emanating off of her, or by the dead expression splayed across her facial features.

It was sick.

It was inhuman.

Joseph's eyes followed Kaleb's hand as he approached him and settled it in his shoulder, like he'd done many times previously, while having discussions. He continued to avoid cousin's line of sight throughout his entire explanation. Yes, Joseph remembered the incident as clear as day. It'd been the very first time he'd ever broken a bone. Kaleb had been so gentle, so comforting. The perfect older cousin. It was funny how things had worked out, wasn't it?

"Right as rain," he echoed in a hollow tone. Joseph nodded in mock understanding. His voice was quiet, to start. "Is that it? A good night's sleep, and everything will be fine. I'll forgive you for making me uncomfortable, just like the time I broke my arm. Is that how you see it? Sorry, but I'm having a little bit of difficulty understanding how you can compare a broken arm to what you put us through. " Joseph's eyes finally met Kaleb's again. His voice rose as the words kept flying out of his mouth  "I should kill you. I really should, but I can't, for her sake and for my own. Even if I had the willpower to - even if I was heartless enough - I still couldn't do it. You broke me. You broke us. You fucking broke us, Kaleb! I can't hurt a fly without having a panic attack! Having my organs cut out, and being drowned in boiling hot water, and feeling my eyes get sawed out of my sockets, and starving, and being fucked in the head until I can't think freely anymore isn't the same thing as breaking my fucking arm!" He was shouting now, little flecks of spittle flying out of his mouth, and a rotten fury burning in the pit of his stomach. "I didn't just fall off of the playground this time. This wasn't some sort of accident. You put me here. You put Jules here - Your own sister! Joseph's face was only an inch away from Kaleb's at this point. His vision was blurring with rage. "You sick fuck. You sick. Fuck. How could you possibly try to justify doing this to people you sad you loved? Tell me that, Kaleb!"

Joseph recoiled when Kaleb plunged a syringe into his neck, one of his hands instantly shooting up to the strike zone and pressing against it. He could see the same had been done to Juliette, but she remained perfectly in place in a state of catatonia, as if nothing had just happened at all. It was amazing how fast the tables had turned with Joseph and Juliette. A half hour ago, Joseph had been unable to speak, or comprehend what was said to him, or go anywhere without assistance. Now, Juliette, who had been the one dragging him around and doing all of the hard work, had taken on Joseph's previous role entirely.

The Winter cursed and leered at Kaleb. Even if the syringe had been carrying had contained a sedative - like Joseph had initially thought - it wasn't like the outcome of this encounter would have been any different. He had a massive score of armed guards at his disposal, and the only one who had any chance of fighting them off had slipped into a shock-induced trance.. And even though Joseph was temporarily distracted from his mental conditioning, he suspected that he would dive head-first back into it as soon the firts gunshot rang out.

But of course, like everything Joseph had experienced in the past two months, it was much worse than he could have even imagined.

An enhancement serum.

He could feel himself beginning to shake again. His chestnut-coloured eyes stretched wide with horror, staring at the white walls on the other side of the room. Joseph would never have to feel pain again, and he'd heal even faster than before. No, no, no, no.. This was anything but good. It sounded selfish after all he'd been through, but he wanted his gift gone, not better. His stupid fucking healing gift, which would make him outlive all of the people he loved, and let him survive horrific injuries and drug overdoses that he did not deserve to live through, and served as an everlasting wellspring of self-hatred in his life, had been heightened. He didn't want to lose the ability to feel pain. The sting of heroin creeping into his system, the cold bite of sharp steel on his skin - it was the only thing he'd had left that made him feel real. It was a form of punishment for being who he was. In one fell swoop, Kaleb had taken that all away from him.

Though his head was spinning, Joseph managed to drag his gaze back to Kaleb. He was putting his arms around Juliette again, trying to get her to walk out the doorway with him. Her expression still hadn't changed. To an untrained eye, it would look so strikingly familiar to a caring older sibling helping his little sister out, but not from Joseph's perspective. The way he saw it, this was monster who'd stolen the face of the loving cousin he'd once had trying to lead trying to lead Juliette back into a cold dark cell.

Joseph punched him.

"Don't you fucking touch her," he spat, jabbing a finger in Juliette's direction. "Fucking look! Look at her! This is your fault!"

Joseph punched him again.

He could feel his anxiety rapidly creeping back into his system, but he wasn't about to curl up against the wall and mope, like he'd done too many times before. "Shut up. Shut the fuck up. I don't care." Rage-fueled tears gathering at the corners of his eyes. Both hands were curled into quivering fists at his sides, ready to strike again at any moment. "We're family. We're fucking family. You don't just do that. You don't. You don't."

As soon as Kaleb's mouth opened again, Joseph poised himself for another strike. It was sickening to hear his own name come out of Kaleb's mouth, as if he really gave a fuck. It sounded and looked like concern, by the look on his bloodied face and the tone of his voice, but it wasn't concern. It was just a way to get himself out of his current predicament by appealing to the admiration and respect Joseph had once had for him. Kaleb had destroyed that, though.

Before the Winter's fist could be brought back down onto his cousin's face a third time, however, the thundering of combat boots filled Joseph's ears. Before he knew it he was being grabbed and restrained by a swarm of Kaleb's armed inferiors, and Kaleb was picking himself up off of the floor and dusting his lab coat off. All Joseph could do for a moment was stare at him, hot, shaking breaths hissing out from between his clenched teeth.

So this was it, then. Two months of torture had amounted to this. Juliette had killed and maimed all of those guards for no reason. Joseph had murdered the surgeon for no reason. This whole escape had been pointless - only a painful roundabout right back into the iron cells they'd been trapped in, and another two months of complete hell. Nothing had been gained out of this. Juliette had lost her mind. She was reeling deeper and deeper into shock with every word Kaleb spoke. She would never be the same strong, peppy adrenaline junkie that she'd always been known as. Joseph now had to live with the memory of goring somebody to death. He had blood on his hands, and it didn't matter whose it was. In the end, he'd still killed somebody, and he would never stop reliving the scene of plunging a knife into a person's skull. He now also had the knowledge that somebody he'd loved - whom he'd trusted so strongly for eighteen years - was really nothing but a two-faced psychopath that was fully willing to put science before the mental and physical welfare of his family.

Joseph couldn't find any more words to say as Kaleb tidied himself up and proceeded to exit the room, leaving his younger cousin staring blankly at the spot in which he'd been standing a second ago. A moment later, the guards filed out behind their leader. Juliette didn't even have cuffs around her wrists, because she didn't need them. Her emotions had already locked her in a non-combative state. She just shuffled along a little ways in front of Joseph, head and arms hanging like a marionette with broken strings. Joseph could still feel the anger burning inside of him, but whatever fight he'd had left in him after killing the surgeon had been completely wasted on his attack back in the office.

For so long, Joseph had seen Kaleb and Juliette as siblings - his wise older brother, and his spunky younger sister. With no actual siblings to accompany him while growing up, he'd grown as close to the Jung kids as one could get. That little bond was totally broken now. Even between Juliette and Joseph, it would be difficult to talk to each other they way they had always talked. They were such damaged people now - so different from the way they'd acted several months ago. There was no way they'd just be able to lie on the grass and make stupid jokes anymore.. And that was to say nothing of his relationship with Kaleb.

Of course, Kaleb intended to have their minds wiped to help them forget about all of this, but as masochistic as it sounded, Joseph wasn't sure if he really wanted to forget. The thought of leading a normal life again, not knowing that one of the people he held dearest had forced him to undergo these horrific practices, disgusted him as much as the experiments themselves did.

He couldn't think straight about anything anymore.

After a short while of stumbling alongside the guards, absentmindedly watching Juliette's hair swing rhythmically from side-to-side, Joseph's pace slowed along with the rest of the troupe's. After a few seconds of what sounded like Kaleb swiping keycards, the guards and their prisoners followed him into whatever was lying beyond. It wasn't their cells - those were a ffew floors down - so where the hell was he taking them? As the darkness swallowed Joseph up, he began to struggle against his bonds, the panic and fury rising inside of him once again.

This was it - he was going to erase their memories. That wasn't how things worked in Joseph's world - a cheap, get out of jail free card that wiped the memories of his victims every time he had a need to use them for science experiments. He hated the thought of it. Without a recollection of all the shit that'd occurred recently, there would be no way for him to protect Jules and himself from it in the future.

The prefect continued to thrash about wildly until a pale blue light entered his field of vision.

He felt his body lock up, as if he'd been sedated. The blood drained from his face.

Some of them were frozen, and it wasn't quite clear if they were alive or not. Some of them were placed on smooth, metal benches, their occasional quivers being the only indicators of life. Some of them lay totally motionless and out of sight, stored away in metal bins.

It was the one who were watching - who were thinking, living, functioning beings - that truly drove a paralyzing shock through Joseph's body.

Tens of pairs of blood-red eyes fixated on him as soon as he entered the room. Rows upon rows of figures were lines up perfectly, encased in bubbling fluid and thick, transparent glass tubes. They had arms, and legs, and little round faces, like any child, but there was a sort of inhuman quality about them. Their skin was deathly pale, and looked almost fragile to-the-touch. Some of them had snow-white hair floating about their faces. Some had blue hair. Some were girls, and some were boys. Some were only tiny infants, some were toddlers. Every child, though, regardless of their gender or age, bore the same, eerie crimson eyes. All of them were watching Joseph and Juliette move through the room with identical, emotionless expressions.

Joseph wanted to think they weren't real - that he was just hallucinating, or this was some sort of complex set-up on Kaleb's part, but however void of feelings they seemed, it was clear that these children - these things, whatever they were - were conscious. They were not dolls, or elaborate figments of anybody's imagination.

Of everything he'd seen, and felt, and heard over the course of his captivity, nothing had quite struck Joseph like this. There wasn't single, coherent thought going through his head. The confusion, frustration, anger, panic, hurt, and fear had become so intense that he'd just blanked out again. Every time he had thought he'd seen it all, something newer and more terrifying than the last came up.

Kaleb, of course, seemed to breeze by this with little consideration. It was probably something he saw every day. Before Joseph could process anything, he was being ushered into another room, leaving the freakish test-tube monsters behind.

Now, he was faced with Kaleb again. There was something in his arms as Joseph was shuffled towards him, but he couldn't make out what it was. Then he placed it in Juliette's arms, and everything became clear as he started to speak.

These were clones - crafted out of the DNA of both Jospeh and Juliette. They hadn't been born into this world, like every other person - they'd been grown here, in this lab, like plants. Super humans, crafted out of the genes of two invincible people. Fodder for Kaleb's research. An army of freaks.. Unreal, alien, disgusting, everlasting freaks, at Kaleb's disposal. This was the ultimate reason he'd had his cousin and sister captured and maimed repeatedly.

Joseph smiled and sniffed.

There wasn't an ounce of mirth on his face, though.

Before anybody could breathe again, Joseph whipped around and snatched up the gun resting in the holder of the guard nearest to him. He'd thought Joseph too stunned to react at all, but he'd been dead wrong. His shock had turned into violent hysteria upon learning the truth. Joseph couldn't take this anymore. Kaleb had gone far enough.

A second later, the deafening ring of a gunshot filled everyone's ears, and blood and brain matter went soaring in every direction. For the second time that day, Joseph'd vision had gone totally red. The rest of the guards drew their guns immediately, trying and failing to aim for his head. A couple of bullets buried themselves in his chest, stomach, arms and legs, but the more pain that struck him, the more hysterical he became. He fired a series of bullets, not really caring where they went. He wasn't sure how many guards he killed, but certainly not all of them. One of them ducked under his firing range and leaped towards him, managing to bowl him over and pin him against one of the walls. Joseph lost hold of his gun. It skidded across the floor, in Juliette's direction.

One of the guard's hands closed around Joseph's throat, attempting to hold him still so he could put a bullet in his head, but Joseph's own hands were clamped down on on the guard's gun, just barely managing to force the tip out from his face. His arms began to shake. Being so malnourished was making this difficult enough, but to top it all off, his hands were still bound. The steel cuffs were biting into the skin of his wrists. He wouldn't be able to keep this up for long. Slowly, the gun began to turn back towards him.

He needed help.

Before he knew it, brain matter and blood exploded in Joseph's face, blinding him. He felt the weight of the guard's body fall onto his lap, warm, viscous liquid spurting onto his clothing and pooling on the floor surrounding him. He couldn't hear anything as he clawed at his eyes to clear them up, though, the gunshots having temporarily deafened him. Vaguely, he could hear distorted screams coming from all around him. People were dropping like flies.

Kaleb's people.

A second later, another body toppled over and collapsed onto Joseph, and suddenly, it felt as though two tonnes of steel had been dropped onto him. Whatever burst of rage and strength he'd had for a second had suddenly faded away with the addition of the extra deadweight. For a moment, through his anger and violence, he'd forgotten how weak he actually was. Eyes pinched shut, still not clear of blood, Joseph struggled to shove one of the bodies off of him with one arm. Once it was dislodged, he had use of both arms, and pushed the first man away more easily. By now, the muffled sounds he'd been hearing were becoming sharper, and blurry images began to come into focus.

Juliette had left the room, and in her wake, another pile of bodies torn up by bullets. The ground, which had been crafted out of pristine, white tiles, had been painted red with flesh and blood. It wasn't just the guards who were dead, though. The tiny, snow-white girl that had been placed in her arms not even a minute ago lay in the center of it all, perfectly still and silent. Her crimson eyes were glassy and devoid of any signs of life, and her tiny chest no longer rose and fell.

Joseph couldn't have described the way he felt, seeing that little girl sprawled out lifelessly before him, even if he'd been in a stable mental state. Some form of distress that one couldn't adequately into words. On one hand, it was a clone. It didn't have a name, and it wasn't a her, or a him, it was a clone - A disgusting, immoral, soulless creature, formed in a glass tube. Juliette had destroyed the result of the darkest face of science. On the other hand, though, it was a child. It had breathed, and thought, and felt pain, and Kaleb had driven Juliette to squeeze the life right out of it.

The next thirty seconds were a blur. One second, Joseph was reaching for a gun, and the next, it was against Kaleb's forehead.

"I should do it." His hand shook as much as his voice did. Fresh, hysterical tears burned in the corners of his eyes, and he spoke through gnashed teeth. "If you call anyone else into here, maybe I fucking will. I really should." He'd never pictured himself ever pointing a gun at anyone, much less one of the few people in the world that he had allowed himself to form an emotional bond with. Kaleb. Kaleb had been his role-model, his tutor, his makeshift elder brother, and his friend. Now, he was a psychopath who was trying to justify ruining the lives of his little cousin and sister in the name of science. Joseph felt as if he were outside of his own body, observing a simulated, worst-case scenario through a computer screen. This didn't seem real, but deep down, he knew it was. "Nothing makes what you did okay. Nothing is okay. You killed these people, not Juliette. You did this to yourself. You did this to us. You fucking liar. You fucking machine."

His finger was on the trigger, but he didn't press down on it. Joseph wasn't sure if he was even capable of it. The man beneath the face was a vile, cruel monster, but on the other hand, the face was still Kaleb's. There was still years' worth of sentiment attached to those features, even if they were an elaborate facade for who he really was. His hand just continued to shake violently in indecisive limbo, knuckles turning white with how tight his grip was. He didn't know what to do. Joseph didn't hear Juliette's response to Kaleb's pleas. It was like someone had frozen time.

And suddenly, there was a deafening explosion before Kaleb had even finished speaking. Joseph was knocked immediately backwards, the gun in his hand flying off and through the open doorway behind him. For probably the third time that day, he couldn't hear anything. For a moment, he could only lie there in complete disorientation, watching the ceiling spin like a hurricane. Rivulets of heat ran over the expanse of his exposed skin, as if he were sitting too close to a bonfire.

When he pulled himself upwards, he could see that he was siting too close to a bonfire.

First, it was only a muddled sea of red and orange, but as Joseph's focus returned, he could make out flames. They licked at the walls and distorted the metal, leaving dark scorch marks and super-heated ripples on the surface. It didn't smell like a normal fire, though. It was fueled by chemicals, which added a sharp, medicinal scent, and a light green hue to the leaping flames.. But there was something else to the smell - something the prefect wished he couldn't identify.

Burning flesh.

Juliette was standing amidst the fiery tongues like a flaming pillar, her legs and gown smoldering. She showed no signs of discomfort or struggle, of course. She couldn't feel pain any longer. Instead, she watched Kaleb's unmoving figure with a virtually unreadable expression, still as a statue. There was hurt there, but it was hard to pinpoint what kind of hurt it was. Pain? Rage? Heartbreak? All three at once would be the educated guess. Joseph knew it all too well himself. She mirrored his emotions, and that only made his gut twist all the more painfully.

They both still loved Kaleb - or, rather, what Kaleb had been to them, once - somewhere inside of their battered hearts. That would never change, and that was what hurt the most. They had memories of a kind, gentle, understanding man forever plastered to their brains, and that man was gone. It was like he'd died, even though he was lying right in front of them, unconscious. Had there not been more humane ways to sate his curiosities about healing gifts? Why had he treated them like prisoners? Why had he not ever asked for consent for such extreme experiments? Why had he never ordered for sedation during surgeries? Why had he staged a kidnapping, if this was such a "civil" act? Why had he destroyed what little family he had left for science? For knowledge?

Why?

Joseph had the option to wait until Kaleb woke up and force him to respond to all of his unanswered questions - he had that power now - but he wasn't even sure if he really wanted the answers. He doubted that anything Kaleb said would make up for the catastrophe he'd caused. He'd mortally wounded Juliette and Joseph on a mental scale - something that their regenerative capabilities couldn't ever hope to heal.

It was when Juliette spoke that another realization dawned on Joseph. There was nothing stopping them from leaving now. Kaleb, the head of the entire operation, was out of commission, and as far as anyone not in his immediate vicinity knew, he was dead. Either shot or burned. Everything was on fire. The creatures in the tubed were all gone. The surgeon had been stabbed to death. Broken bodies littered the stairwells and floors. The entire building had erupted into an uncontrollable madness, and probably the last thing on the staff's minds that moment was plopping Joseph and Juliette back into their cells and continuing on as scheduled.

Some twisted part of Joseph's mind still persisted in telling him that he shouldn't leave. He wretched, but nothing came out, because there was nothing left to vomit up. The curse - for lack of better terms - that the surgeon had placed on him was still there, eating away at his willpower to get up and go, but instead of collapsing next to Kaleb, he placed both hands on the floor and began pushing himself. The mental affliction, together with the fact that his body was practically running on nothing, made it a wonder how he was even moving at all. He attributed it it mostly to Juliette, though. If she could walk through the fire and out, then he would, too - and not just the physical fire roaring in front of him, but also the emotional damage that was making them want to give up and slump over. It was not only for Jules, but also for his mother, and his father, and his aunties and uncles, and his friends back home, and Kyou, the only person at Beata that he could properly call a friend. As much as he liked to doubt that anybody cared about him at all, he knew that his absence had hurt them.

For their sake, he would go on. Not for him, but for them.

Always for them.

Somehow, Joseph was on his feet again. Somehow, he managed to amble forward until he was standing at the edge of the fire. It was warm, yes, but the heat was more of a distant tingle than a pain. He stepped forward, and his limbs and medical gown caught fire. The fabric curled and crumbled, and his skin blackened and crackled like a slab of meat on a grill. This was it. The operations were done. The darkness was done. The screaming was done. The isolation was done. There was no semblance of catharsis in Joseph's mind, but it was over. For a heartbeat, he looked back at Kaleb's crumpled form, and then closed the door leading into the room he was in. Both Juliette and Joseph knew they couldn't kill him, but they would never see him again. They couldn't. They didn't want to. The man on the floor was a beast who wore a mask that looked like somebody they loved.

Joseph turned back to Juliette. It was time to go. "I'm tired, too."

Together, the pair strode through the burning laboratory, not halting again to glance at the closed door, or the creatures Juliette had wiped out, or all of the destruction that had occurred that day. By the time they were out of the lab, every inch of their skin had been twisted and charred to an unrecognizable degree. They didn't stop, though. They ran and ran and ran until everything sterile and dark and sharp was behind them, and there was grass beneath their feet, and there was fresh air entering their lungs for the first time in what seemed like a millennia spent in a cage.