The world was a searing stab of pain. Too bright, too big, too frightening. Nothing but white light surrounded her. A ringing note echoed in her ears and through her head. The world was pain itself.
"Her name will be Emily," a voice cooed from behind the blinding light. Soft, sweet and only faintly masculine.
"She will remember someday," another voice, hissing from the heavens. The sound of its shrill, serpentine accent made her cringe.
"Shh... my love. Hush, Emily. All is well now," The angel's voice spoke again. A brief, warm touch to her brow relaxed the tension in her muscles. "Sleep, my precious Emily. You will have much to do when you wake."
A sigh escaped her lips. It felt odd for a reason she couldn't place. The breath lingering too long in her mouth before it left. Yet she didn't feel it necessary to dwell on that thought for long. The white light faded and died, replaced with peaceful sleep.
* * *
Emily awoke three days later. The world was not so painful anymore. The white light had gone, or her eyes had adjusted. Either way, she could see her surroundings now.
Her room was very plain. A simple white sheeted bed, a bedside table in white wash, and a dresser with an oval mirror near the center. The walls were white, the floor was white. Everything was white, except for her.
Emily sucked in a surprised breath when she turned to face the mirror. She couldn't remember what she had expected to see, but it wasn't this. The long blue snout, elegantly drooping ears, and fluffy white wings were not hers. The gaping wound on her lengthy throat that displayed a garish red against her pale blue was hers though. As was the fleshless left arm and the stitches along her flank.
Her skin was a lot tougher then she remembered it being. A gentle push from one of her pointed, purple claws yielded a slight resistance and no mark. Deep blue veins running beneath the surface were clearly visible though. They rose up her legs like inverted tree roots and disappeared beneath the darker areas of her new skin. Thick, curling black hair fell down from a point just above her butt to make the longest, most luxurious tail she had ever seen. She swished her hindquarters experimentally and noticed that it gleamed violet under the light. The same as the mass of locks surrounding her draconic head.
A door opened in the plain, white wall. She hadn't noticed it before, but now she could spot the panelling all around and the steel knob that guarded it. Out from the hallway stepped a small, slender man with no hair on his pale head and no brows to speak of. Thick, black goggles obscured his eyes and gave him a bug-like appearance. His colourless lips were turned up in a smug smile, which was the only hint of emotion visible in his posture. The rest of his ramrod straight body was hidden beneath a meticulously kept lab coat. The cotton fabric was stiff with starch and perfectly straight, only disturbed by a few odd vials sticking out of his top pocket. Emily cringed away instinctively from this alien man.
"Good morning, Emily," there came the angel's voice again, only it emanated from the odd man's throat. Emily blinked in surprise, her muteness bringing a chuckle to the bald scientist. "Haven't found your voice yet, hmm? That's alright. It will come in time." He held out an arm in front of his chest, bent at the elbow to provide a perch. "For now, let me show you around."
"Wh- wh- who... arrrre you?" the blue dragoness struggled with her vocal cords. She could feel them protest each vibration and her tongue stuck heavily in her mouth. The new shape of her mouth made it difficult to pronounce words she knew, but at least her voice was the same. Still light and quiet with the timidness of a newly hatched bird.
"My name is Faust," the bald man inclined his head, creating a curious angle to his smile.
Emily took her time looking the man over. Part of her still resisted his kindness with a screaming ferocity. Something just didn't feel right about this. Then again, nothing felt right anymore. She was in the wrong body and the wrong world. Life, though she had lived it already, was new and unfamiliar. And Faust was the only person willing to show her how to cope.
Emily stood uneasily on her new legs and gripped the bed's end board for support. With a few tentative steps, she learned that she could balance just fine if she walked on her tip-toes. Her feet seemed built for that, and her claws made it easier to dig into the floor this way. Arms outspread like an eager toddler, she stumbled her way over to Faust and attempted to save face by elegantly placing her arm on top of his. Now that she stood next to him, she could tell that not only was he short, but so was she. Even with her high stance she only measured a foot taller then him. A fall of violet-onyx locks obscured her vision as she attempted to study the bald man.
"Come now, Emily" the angel purred, a warm hand closed over her own skeletal one. She found it strange that she could feel with nothing but bleached bone. Then again, that she could move her hand at all was fascinating. That she was alive was fascinating. The gaping hole in her throat should have left her dead on the floor.
Yet she breathed.
And did not bleed.
Emily dipped her long nose in a nod to the pale scientist and brought a fleshy finger up to swipe her hair behind one elongate ear. Metal piercings clicked against her pointed claws.
He began leading her into the hall without another word. She stumbled clumsily along beside him, weak and awe-struck as a new born. She felt torn between trusting him and believing the unexplainable terror filling her beating heart. It made no sense, yet she could not quell it.
"This section contains the living quarters," Faust was saying, his voice floating on air as if coming to her in a dream. She forced herself to focus on it. "You'll find bathrooms, living rooms, and libraries all located near by for your relaxation pleasure. There's a kitchen and dining hall just down that hallway," he paused to point to another white hall where a sign on the wall indicated what lay at its termination. "Meals occur at regular times every day. There will be a PA announcement when you are to report to the dining hall for service. Miss it and you go hungry," he reported cheerily, a smile alighting to his thin lips. "This is the main hall. My personal office is to the right, and the laboratories are to the left."
Emily felt her heart skip a beat at that word. Laboratories. It rang a discordant note in her very soul.
"Wh- wh- wh-" she tried again, quickly growing frustrated with her own incapacitation. Faust's jovial chortle only added to her ire.
"All in good time, my pet. Right now, it's time for your check up. This way please." His grip, though warm and gentle, became a trap she could not escape. As he turned to face the laboratories, she had no choice but to follow. Her digigrade feet awkwardly shuffled across the floor, the ‘tak'ing sound of her claws echoing off the sparse walls. She had wanted to run the other way. She had tried to remove her hand. Yet he held to her like a spider trapping its living meal in silk.
"Don't fret, my pet," he purred to her, patting her skeletal hand. "It's only a check up."
Emily turned her head to look longingly back at the living quarters as she was lead down the new hallway. For the briefest of instance, she could have sworn she saw something moving there. It was just a shadow; gone when she looked again. Emily resigned herself to an undesirable series of events to come.
* * *
He stood staring at the wall and asked himself why.
Why did this not feel right?
Why was he so horribly scarred?
Why could he remember nothing before yesterday?
Why was the room so clearly defined when he had no eyes?
The last question was the most ponderous of the lot. No matter how long he thought on it, he could not figure it out. He could see that the sockets where his eyes should be were nothing but charred, blackened holes, but he didn't know how. Colours, textures, light, dark; they were all there. Just as he could feel the difference in the softness of a fleecy blanket as opposed to the harsh granite of a table, even though his fingers were layered with scars. He didn't understand it, and not understanding was the most vexing thing in the world. With his mind, he should be able to figure out anything.
Why?
Why did he know he was so smart when he'd never proven to himself? The tests maybe. Whatever Faust was doing to him in those labs must have produced some results. He knew he would never see the charts that listed his IQ, endurance, or chemical imbalances. All that he had understood so far, he gleaned from his own interpretation of the experiments and what he could see with his... eyes.
He was a tall, bipedal creature of the draconic genus. His hide was black, though one could scarcely see it through all the scars. He had a long muzzle and a mouthful of razor-sharp teeth. Carnivorous; though he enjoyed the occasional fruit or vegetable.
He was naked.
In this form, he didn't need clothes. Two large, tattered wings wrapped around his body like a cloak, covering his androgynous body parts. A long tail poked out from the base of his spinal cord and wrapped around his digigrade feet like a sleeping snake. In his clawed hands he held a mask.
The dragonoid sighed and lifted the mask to cover his face. He felt the change more than saw it, for all he could see now was the white interior of the mask and the white wall through the eye holes. When his face was no longer too long to wear the object, he slide a white string over his head and tightened it at the back. The mask with its smiling mouth and squinty eyes fit snugly into place.
He looked down at himself and considered how much meeker he seemed now. Being human seemed to have that affect, for their pale skin showed everything.
While the hide had incorporated the scars into its design, the pinkish skin wore them like a hideous shawl. Every little line and cross-section stood out; a glaring reminder that he was ugly as sin. Gone were the wings and tail, and the claws tipping his long digits. Gone were the talons and sharp teeth and anything else that made him look formidable. Now he just looked pathetic.
"V," a sweet voice called from the doorway. It belonged to a man who looked like he was trying too hard to be a woman.
V turned around, unabashed by his nakedness. "Yes?"
"You're wanted in lab room number five," Wager put on a big smile and squinted his eyes shut. Now he was trying to look like one of those disgustingly cute cartoons his people were known for making.
"Fine. I'm coming," V answered in a deadpan. He turned around and faced his bed. Next to the foot of it stood the remnants of a smashed mirror. He broke at least one a week.
"Oh pooh," Wagner sulked. "You broke another one. I'll have someone replace that right away!" His comment ended with a girlish giggle that made V's skin shiver. He hated Faust's lackeys almost as much as he hated Faust, but he would never say that out loud.
V took the cover off the bed and wrapped it around his body. Although it was white, it would have to do for now. He didn't have the incentive to go into his closet right now, and Faust would only wait so long for one of his experiments to show up before he sent someone to retrieve it.
The blanket fell lightly around his shoulders and whispered against his sensitive flesh. It was made of an airy silk that weighed next to nothing. A special gift from his "maker". Faust had an unhealthy interest in the scarred individual, and V used every session they had together to try figuring out why. So far, there had been five sessions and no clues.
"This way!" Wagner chirped as he bounced out of the room, his bob cut hair flipping up and down with each step. V followed sedately after with his silken bed wear closed around his body.
As they walked down the white washed hallways, past numerous doors marked with the names of their occupants, V happened to look head to the laboratory corridors. She was looking back at this hall, her eyes wide with uncertain fright. Then a pale hand tugged her arm, and she disappeared around the corner.
"Who was that?" V inquired, his eyes remaining fixated on the corridor they were quickly approaching.
"Hmm? Oh, just the new girl!" Wagner answered, waving his hand in the air to dismiss V's question. The blue haired lackey turned right, taking them directly opposite the hall She had gone down. V followed.
"I think I know her," he whispered to himself. For the first time that he could remember, something felt right.
"What was that?"
"Nothing."
Wagner opened the door to one of the labs and bowed him inside.
* * *
It was just another day of the same boring experiments, producing the same predictable results. Nothing had changed in a week's worth of study, no matter how many different ways he changed the variables. The invariable remained exactly the same, which was starting to annoy Faust to no ends.
The bald man frowned, his brow crinkling all the way up his hairless dome. Deep lines creased the skin around his mouth and nose, giving him an ugly, prune-ish appearance. This was the sort of face he would never show to his beloved Shy. He hated the way frowning marred his smooth, porcelain-like features. Yet in this situation, frowning was called for.
"The bio-electric pulse generator is working at optimal capacity." Boborcawicz reported in his nasal-y monotone. The fungus-ridden Ahntiglasa poked away at various buttons with long, steely coloured claws. His brown wings rested against his back, some of the feathers sticking to his hide from the green goo that sweated out of his pores. Four eyes blinked out of rhythm, the washed-out yellow pupils focused intently on the task at hand. Beyond a thick glass pane, the machine he was controlling sent another shockwave through a crumpled body. The victim cried out in pain. Bob measured out another successful energy wave.
"I can see that." Faust muttered to himself, tapping a slender finger against his chin. "Wolfgang, vitals?"
"Fading." The blue haired assistant reported readily. "Heart beat is erratic, pulse is shallow, and ruptures in the lungs have created breathing difficulties."
"Has there been any change in cell reproduction?"
"Negative." Wolfgang cringed instinctively, bringing his notepad up to shield his face. Faust was not in an aggressive mood though. He had better things to do than take out his frustrations on incompetent assistants. The prideful scientist waved a hand languidly through the air and turned towards the door. "Fine. Finish him off."
"Acknowledged." Boborcawicz reported, cranking the energy out put up to its highest setting. The buzzing of electrical currents coursing through his machine drowned out the final anguished screams of the experiment's victim.
"And see if you can't do something about his teeth during the autopsy this time." Faust called back to his small team. He didn't need to wait for their confirmation of the orders. Faust rarely needed to wait for anything. He shut the door behind himself and pulled a scented handkerchief out of his pocket. The smell of smoldering flesh made his stomach churn.
* * *
Emily was frightened by all the noise. There were creatures everywhere, not a single one that looked alike. Mutated beasts and hulking monsters, sneaky critters and scarred outcasts, all gathered together in one big room. They sat at long white tables on long white benches, and ignored the imposing white walls all around them. At the far end of the hall, the wall had been torn open to reveal a stainless steel kitchen hard at work. Trays of food passed out over the counter, into the waiting hands of one oddity or another. Plates clinked, cutlery clattered, and voices of all ranges and pitches rose and fell in the cacophony of conversation. There were wonderful, tantalizing smells wafting from the open kitchen across the hall. This was the dining hall.
Tentatively, the blue-skinned dragoness slipped into the open hall and slunk towards the kitchen window. Her stomach rumbled on every other step, as if anticipating the food that would soon be filling it. Though she was ungodly hungry, this was the last place she wanted to be. Emily had discovered, via her two whole days of life, that she was extremely anti-social. It wasn't that she didn't like people. She adored learning about different pasts, quirks, and personalities. However, she felt the sentiment was not shared and that her interest would be seen as "prying". Plus large groups made her uncomfortable.
So upon reaching the serving counter, Emily meekly took one of the plates heaped with steaming hot food, then quickly retreated to the closest, emptiest bench. Her relief from the hustle and bustle of the dining hall was only momentary. She had taken three bites of her food and was spooning the forth towards her mouth when the most massive, brown monstrosity she had ever seen sat down on the bench across from her. The clean, white bench creaked under his weight.
Emily tried not to stare, but her new companion didn't seem to be taking any interest in her, so she let it linger a bit longer. That huge snout, those big teeth, and the gigantic tail sweeping back and forth behind the bench like a slowed pendulum. She had never seen a girth like his. Even his talons were overly thick. Long, unwieldy things that tore into the meat on his plate like a vulture on carrion. He began to eat with a gusto that impressed and disgusted her. Food disappeared down his gullet in seconds, seemingly inhaled out of thin air.
The violet-haired dragonoid was too busy gawking at her uninvited guest to notice the arrival of another intruder.
V had had it in the back of his mind to look for her before he had even entered the dining hall. After his brief glimpse of the angel from yesterday, he hadn't stopped thinking about her. There was something unsettling and familiar about her, although he was sure he had never seen her before.
It had taken him only a minute to spot her amidst the sea of oddities filling the dining hall. She had secreted herself away in a far corner to dine alone, but had been joined by an oversized lizard with half a cow on his plate. Even from across the hall he could see the bewilderment in her violet eyes, and the slight tremble of her iridescent wings. She was still so new to this lifestyle, if it could be called that. And if that was so, then he knew that he had never seen her before. Yesterday was very likely her first day of "life" here.
V slipped through the throngs and stole a plate off the stainless steel counter. His eyes remained locked on the back of her head every moment until he had sat down beside her. For him, stealth and speed were natural things. They came as easily to him as breathing. He often forgot that people couldn't hear him as he slithered easily from one place to another, the flutter of his cloak being the only mark of his passing. It always startled him a little when people reacted with surprise to his sudden emergence, just as Emily did now.
The dark-haired vixen hadn't heard a thing. Her attention had been focused entirely on the giant creature across from her, overwhelmed by the rate at which he tore through his meal. There had been only one warning before the shadowy figure was beside her, and that was a brush of air stirring the flight feathers of her wings. She turned her head automatically, expecting to see a fly or a passing creature, but instead came snout to nose with immobile smile of a plaster mask.
Emily let out a brief scream of surprise, quickly snapping both hands up to cover her mouth. Her eyes doubled in size, taking in the full appearance of this new comer. He was not so intimidating as her first companion. A small, lithe body wrapped in black clothe; an evenly cut crown of black hair around his hidden face; and a top hat. The mask was the most startling part, for its eyes had no pits and the smug, knowing smile stretching from ear to ear never faltered. Had he made a little noise on his approach, she likely would have been fine with his proximity. However, he had appeared out of nowhere and now faced her with an unaccountable expression.
"Hello, my dear." The masked man said in a hallow tone. His words were warped by the plaster disguise. "I apologize if I startled you. I assure you that was not my intent."
"Oh..." Emily breathed, taking her hands away from her mouth. "Oh... oh, it's okay. I... uh... I was just a little surprise." She forced a smile to turn up the corners of her mouth, hoping it would come off as sincere. "My name's Emily."
"V." he replied simply, a black gloved hand slipping out from under his cloak to take her fleshy one and bring it to his cold lips. "A pleasure to meet you, Miss Emily."
"And you." Emily offered tentatively in turn. She tilted her head to the side and regarded his odd gesture with interest. She had never had her hand kissed before, let alone by a mask.
"My name's Rex!" the booming, yet somehow chipper, introduction came from the creature across the table. He smiled at them, his misshapen teeth visible to the world. A forgotten strand of limp lettuce hung off the end of one tooth.
"Uh... it's nice to meet you too." Emily said out of politeness' sake. She had no desire to have her hand kissed by his large muzzle, so she kept both clasped in her lap. Thankfully, Rex didn't seem interested in acting like a gentleman.
"A pleasure, sir." V dipped his head in a small nod towards the large lizard. He would have liked to talk to Emily alone, but their new companion didn't seem like a bad fellow. There was nothing terribly secretive to be said anyway.
V turned to examine the blue dragonness as she had done to him earlier. She was acting very self-consciously, always brushing her hair back or fiddling with her wings. The very tip of her tail twitched constantly against the bench leg.
"Miss Emily, pardon my forthrightness, but have we met before?" the masked man asked with curiosity. He had all but forgotten the food that was slowly chilling on his plate. He had only gotten it because it was on route to her anyway.
"No... no I don't think so." Emily responded after a moment's consideration. "I don't really know anyone here. I just woke up yesterday."
"Me too!" Rex piped in happily. He had managed to swallow all his food this time, thankfully enough.
V leaned back on the bench and lifted a hand to stroke his pointed, fake chin with a dramatic gesture. "Hmm... two new comers. Clearly I am losing my mind. Or both of you have lost yours and I am the only one still in possession of mine." V paused, gauging their responses. Neither one moved or spoke, but both bore identical expressions. It was the look of confusion which often followed anything he had to say. He'd gotten very good at reading such looks.
V waved a gloved hand in the air, as if to clear it of his rambling comment. "Nevermind, nevermind," he insisted. "Minds lost or found are of little importance. What is important, though, is the fact that both of you require an introduction to this place, and I am the man to give it."
"Oh... I don't know." Emily hadn't realized that she had been listening quite intently to what V had to say until that moment. She drew her head back, making her neck fold into an S-shape, and placed a delicate hand over her heart. "Faust might not approve of that. He's been showing me around."
V turned his empty eye sockets on the blue woman, regarding her with deep scrutiny behind the safety of his mask. She would never know what thoughts went on in his mind, because to her, he was always smiling. V rested an elbow on the table and canted his head towards her. "Miss Emily, I will warn you right now that Faust is not what he seems. Be wary of him at all times."
"I don't like Mister Faust. He's mean to me." Rex had finished his meal and was now happily involving himself in the conversation. He hadn't made friends yet and these two seemed nice enough. Plus the black man agreed with him about Faust. There was just something unsettling about the bald scientist.
Emily looked between the two and considered their comments. So far, Faust had gone out of his way to be kind to her. He was always smiling and patient, leading her around by the hand like a lost child. The tests he ran scared her, but so far they hadn't hurt her. Still, she couldn't deny her own feeling of unease in the presence of the Barokian man. It was as if some subconscious part of her mind was screaming that he couldn't be trusted.
Emily dipped her head in a hesitant nod and affixed a smile to her face. "Okay... V... I'd like a tour of this place. I honestly haven't seen much of it."
V retracted his intent lean and nodded, his black fringe of hair bouncing around his cheeks with the sudden movement. His voice had taken on a warmer note when he spoke again. "Good. But for now, I suggest you eat your meal, else it will all disappear into the gullet of that flit."
"What?" the blue dragonness inquired, looking down at her plate. True to V's words, there was a small, green creature steadily working its way through her mashed potatoes. It had a long, sectioned body and four pairs of legs. There were even two stubby, useless wings sprouting from its torso section.
"Hey!" Emily laughed, reaching down the scoop the creature up in her hands. "Aww... it's so cute. Um... do you think it's dangerous?" She locked eyes with the minute critter while posing her question to her two new friends. The green thing blinked large, yellow eyes and let out a tiny burp.
"No, Miss Emily." V responded. "I think it is just another poor, tortured soul. Just like the rest of us."
"Are ya gonna keep him?" Rex inquired, his large snout hovering over the table as he tried to get a better look at the caterpillar-like creature.
"I think so. If Faust will let me." Emily didn't notice the two faint grimaces of her companions. She had no logical reason to fear Faust yet. "I'll call him... Wormy."
The green bug, now satiated by a large meal of mashed potatoes and cuddled in the dragonness' partially cold hands, gave a cheery chirp in response to her words. His segmented tail thumped from side to side against her bony fingers just as a dog would wag its own tail.
"I suggest you keep him a secret from Faust for now," V advised. "Just in case."
Emily, already enthralled by her new pet, simply nodded her head. Being around V made her feel safer. She couldn't explain it, considering she had only just met him, but there was much she couldn't explain in this place. Only a few days old and already she was learning to trust her intuition on most things.
There was something going on here that would require time and patience to work out. Until then, she could count on her friends.
* * *
The next day, V and Emily met in the doorway of the dining room. The previous day had been almost entirely devoted to getting to know one another and their other friend, Rex. They had toured a little of the facility they were to call home, but the white walls and stainless steel equipment became unanimous and boring after a while. V, on the other hand, had sparked an interest in Emily's eyes. She could not account for her attraction, given that he was humanoid and covered from head to toe, but she couldn't deny it either. Emily was drawn to V, and he to her.
"Hey!" Emily greeted her friend chipperly as she pushed through the double doors. Wormy sat on her shoulder, his stubby tail twitching against the back of her neck.
"Good morning, Miss Emily." The black clad man bent down in a sweeping bow and straightened again without disturbing his hat. His extravagant gestures always brought a smile to her face, which in turn made him happy. He'd finally found a little slice of heaven in this hell hole.
"So what do you have planned for today? More sight seeing?" Emily crossed the hall slowly, keeping in step with her smaller companion. Today's breakfast was already making her stomach rumble with it's sea of tantalizing smells. Bacon, eggs, toast, and the hint of coffee coming from various tables that they passed.
"Truthfully, my dear, there isn't much to see around here. Unless you wish to sneak into the labs."
"Um... no. That's okay." Emily shook her head, making her violet locks dance around her long ears. "I don't like those places."
"No one does, dear Emily," a note of weariness entered V's voice for a moment, gone in the next. "Speaking of that, have you seen our oversized accomplice yet?"
"Mm." Emily murmured, shaking her head again. "Not since last night."
The trio had been wandering back towards their dormitories the other night when Wolfgang had approached them in the hall. He said nothing to either Emily or V, but rather went directly to Rex and placed a hand on his arm. The large lizard had trembled visibly at the touch and held his head perfectly still while the little man whispered in his ear.
After Wolfgang had passed on his message, he let go of the lizard and moved a few feet away. Rex had made an excuse about having to leave then, and sadly followed after the blue-haired lackey. Emily and V hadn't seen him since.
"Ah, well, it seems that he's quite alright. There he is," V pointed out with a flick of his gloved hand. At the same bench they had occupied yesterday sat their large friend, gorging himself on a large plate of fatty breakfast foods.
Emily and V made their way towards that table. They were quick enough to grab two plates off the serving counter before the throng of hungry creatures behind them could reach a claw or paw or fin forward. Finding seats opposite Rex was easy for once again the large creature found himself alone.
"Hello!" Emily greeted him happily as Wormy crawled down her shoulder. His big, yellow eyes had already locked on the steaming plate of food she placed on the table. A bit of drool dribbled out his scaly mouth as he quibbled in glee.
"Hi!" Rex answered after swallowing a mouthful of bacon. "My name's Rex."
Emily and V exchanged a confused look. Their thoughts were not exactly identical, but ran along the same lines. This must have been the big lug's idea of a joke.
"Silly, we already know your name!" Emily giggled, a smile teasing the edges of her muzzle. She stole a piece of bacon off her plate as Wormy gobbled up another.
"You do?" The brown dinosaur-esque beast asked with a gasp of awe. He leaned across the table eagerly and lowered his voice to a loud whisper. "Are you guys mind readers?!"
"No... We met yesterday. We're your friends, Emily and V. Remember?" Now the blue dragoness was thoroughly confused. This was clearly no joke on Rex's behalf. He honestly didn't remember. Emily looked to her masked friend for advise.
"I can't remember yesterday. Just today!" Rex went on with a delighted air of obliviousness. Picking up a fork in one massive fist, he dug into his eggs with gusto. The unusual conversation was already moving to the back of his mind.
"It seems our large friend has lost his memory," V concluded at last. "I wonder if this is the result of last night."
"Whut happened last night?" Rex demanded around a mouthful of runny eggs.
"You were taken away somewhere. We don't know where." Emily turned her gaze back on the mutant dino, a hint of pity entering her voice. She would hate to lose what precious few memories she had.
"Oh. I don't remember that," Rex admitted, scraping off the last bits of food from his plate. Emily expected him to start licking it soon.
"As we know." V had been putting some thought into this situation. He knew this place had its secrets. Though because of Faust's paranoia, they were nearly impossible to uncover. Now, with an unwitting subject, he might find some answers. "Perhaps we should look into this further. Although it will be difficult given the fact that he has no memory and we have no idea where to look."
"Hmm. Well, if it happens again, maybe we can follow him." Emily, the only one of the three who still had a minute amount of trust for Faust, was unknowingly helping V with his plot. He hoped one day she would forgive him.
"A wise choice, Miss Emily. Rex, my friend, tonight we are going to follow you everywhere."
"Cool! Where're we gonna go?" The dino let out a monstrous burp, followed by a sheepish apology.
"We don't know yet, silly." Emily giggled. She found his naivety endearing in a way one would normally see a child. In a way, he was the youngest one among them. "But... um... for now I guess we could show you around."
* * *
The second day passed in much the same way as the first. Emily found herself answering some of Rex's questions in place of V, proud of her ability to remember most of what had been said the other day. V, though eternally unfathomable in expression, was impressed.
Near the same time as yesterday, the trio were once again approached by Faust's lackies. However, Wolfgang was not alone this time.
"Rex." The blue-haired man greeted their large friend with a cordial bow and smile. He had his hands tucked into the wide sleeves of his lab coat. A habit he and Wagner had picked up from Shy.
Rex shivered in response, a helpless fear entering his eyes. He looked down at his companions as if they might hold some answer as to how he could escape this situation. He didn't know why, but he was terrified of these two and their master. They were the first faces he had seen upon awakening. None of them had been friendly.
V was about to put a reassuring hand on Rex's arm when he was interrupted by the second lackey. His hand paused in mid-air and his unchanging face turned towards Wagner.
"V." The little man cooed. "Faust will see you now."
"But... but..." Emily stuttered, a lump of fear rising into her throat. This was all wrong! They were supposed to be in control of the situation, not Faust's men! "But... we wanted to go with Rex."
"I'm sorry, my dear." Wolfgang purred. The nickname, which had become oddly common place for her, brought a shiver to her spine. "You're going to have to go back to your room. Your two friends are busy now."
"No." Emily shook her head, denying what she could not change.
"It's alright, Emily," V's soothing tone broke her momentary trance. He was staring up at her now, his sightless mask giving no hint of his emotions. Only his voice could convey a sense of calm to the blue dragoness. And the rose coloured lips smiled their frozen smile. Strangely, she was compelled by the sight to settle her nerves. "I'll see you tomorrow morning."
"This way!" Wolfgang called cheerily, jarring the trio out of their last few moments together. He looped his arm with Rex's and placed a manicured hand over the large creature's bulging forearm. Wagner followed suit, but was disappointed to find that V easily evaded his sneaky arm grab.
Emily stood rooted to the spot as her friends were lead away, watching through what felt like the wrong side of the looking glass.
The four figures disappeared around a corner. Soon, even their echoing footsteps were gone. Emily felt abandoned, confused, and angry. She couldn't shake a sense of paranoia that told her Faust knew. Somehow, he had overheard their plans and that was why V had been taken away too.
"V..." she whimpered to herself, turning around to do as he had told her. She would go back to her room, but likely she wouldn't sleep tonight. She was near to choking on concern for her friends. V especially.
How she had grown so attached to the black-clad man she couldn't say. Maybe it was the mystery of who he really was. She had never seen so much as an inch of flesh exposed. Even his hair was fake. Or so he had told her. He seemed to have just as much to hide as Faust, and yet she didn't fear him. He made her laugh and made her think.
Emily slept uneasily that night, haunted by dreams of pale masks with sightless eyes.
* * *
"Was this really necessary?" V felt a level of irritation creep into his voice. Beneath the mask, he was gritting his teeth and wrinkling his brow, aggravated by his inability to turn around and run back to Emily.
Emily.
The name filled his nights and days, singing through his blood like a lethal narcotic. He could scarcely focus on his study of Faust since meeting her. For a reason he couldn't understand or explain away, he was obsessed with her. And now that she was alone in this vile complex, he wanted to grab the nearest blunt object and wield it against anyone who threatened her.
V, however, was very skilled at keeping his emotions in check. Not so much as a twitch broke his physical display. Unfortunately, the twin twats were also very good at reading his voice.
"Ooooh... Are we upset?" Wolfgang purred while Wagner let out a shrill giggle. "Does the black knight wish to rescue his fair princess?"
"Too late." Wagner's sing song voice drooped on the last note. A sad sigh for a plot that had gone wrong.
"What do you mean too late?" V turned his plaster mask to face the little man. Rex looked on mutely, only barely understanding what was transpiring.
"Hiss!" Wolfgang drew back his lips and sent his compatriot a withering glare. The manicured nails that had been stroking Rex's orange hide suddenly dug in, indenting the thick muscle of his arm. In response, Wagner ducked his head like a chastised dog.
V looked from one to the other, calculating their odd reactions and trying to piece the puzzle together. They knew something, which was odd. Faust rarely if ever let them in on his experiments other than running the menial studies. He would certainly not privy them to important information that could possibly leak out to his "pets". So, then, how was it that they knew? And WHAT did they know? The questions began to eat away at V's patience.
"Here we are." Wolfgang announced, pulling Rex to a stop in front of an open door. The sweet, cajoling melody had abandoned his voice. He sounded incredibly whiney without it.
V canted his head back to look into the room as Wagner urged him onwards. A large window separated the room immediately to the left of the doorway. A door on the far side of the wall must have left to a backroom, but V couldn't seen past the window. A large, metal chair lounged in the center of the room, it's thick base bolted into the ground. Wires of every shape and size snaked in and around the uncushioned piece of furniture. The neck of the chair seemed choked with them.
Rex was led inside, a look of terrible resignation on his face. For a moment he looked confused as well, as if he expected to remember something that had never happened. As the door shut behind him, V read the number. One hundred and three, it said in large, black letters. V tucked the number away in the back of his memory and moved onwards. Someday soon, he would save both of his friends from this terrible place.
* * *
Rex stood beside the fearsome chair, wringing his hands and swishing his long tail from side to side. He eyed the uninviting seat, picking out dried blood spatters from the last occupant. Some of the wires were rusted over from so much use and bloody damage. The sight of a very thick, plastic tube encrusted unidentifiable chunks brought bile to his mouth.
"I don't wanna," he said in a small, frightened voice.
"Rex," Wolfgang's voice simpered from over his shoulder. "You know you don't want to make daddy mad. He's going to be here soon. Now be a good boy and sit down so I can strap you in, nice and safe."
A shudder shook the large dinosaur from head to tail. As daunting as the chair was, Faust was worse. "Daddy", as he was forced to call him, had a tendency to get physically violent when he was not pleased. Which was often with Rex.
Squeezing his eyes shut, he climbed into the contraption of death and swallowed the nervous lump clogging his throat. He nearly jumped out again when Wolfgang's cold fingers brushed over his bare skin. Wires clicked beneath the scientist's touch, sliding over Rex's arms and around his chest. He shivered when the needles began to sink in. One at a time, up and down his arms, then his legs, and another close to his throat. Cold metal stickers were attached to his chest and temples. Finally, the plastic tube was painstakingly slid down his throat. He nearly gagged on it three times due to the taste of age old vomit. By the time Wolfgang was done, tears were sliding freely down the dino's cheeks.
"There, there." Wolfgang cooed, stroking a slender finger along Rex's face. "It'll all be over soon. Ah, daddy's here."
Rex heard the door open and close. Rubber soles clicked over the tiled floor, moving at a languid pace towards his immobilized form. Soon, Faust's bald head with its thin, smiling lips was looming in his vision.
"Well, well, it looks like my favourite little boy is all ready for his check up," the mad scientist chirped in Rex's face. He could just see Faust's features beyond the wide hump of his orange muzzle, distorted and blurred by his straining eyesight. He couldn't turn his head either. Wolfgang had raised some metal plates on either side of the head rest to secure him in place. "Safe" as he had said.
Rex whimpered in response, squirming within the confines of his chair. His tail curled up around his ankles as far as it could, giving him the appearance of a simpering dog. The sight must have amused Faust because he chuckled and touched two, cold fingers to the dinosaur's snout.
"Hush, little one," he sang in a mock-motherly tone. "It'll all be over soon." But hopefully not as soon as the day before, he mused to himself.
Faust and Wolfgang left Rex alone in the room then. They shut themselves behind the steel door in the far wall and took up positions in front of the one-way window. With a nod from Faust, the fungal-infected Ahntiglasa at the controls began pushing buttons. The experimentation room lit up with electricity. The unholy howl of a beast in pain reverberated through the reinforced glass barrier and the concrete walls. It filled the corridors and lent fuel to fearsome nightmares. It wasn't until several hours later that the screaming was finally silenced.
* * *
Several weeks passed in this manner. Emily grew more and more knowledgeable about their prison-home. Sometimes she would bring new information to the table. Things that Faust had told her in "private meetings". Though the other two seemed horrified by the thought of leaving her alone with Faust, so far the scientist had done nothing to hurt her. He asked questions, spoke of the weather, and otherwise made of himself a congenial host. Yet for Rex and V, he was a monster.
Some days V would come limping into the mess hall several minutes after everyone else. He never spoke of what caused him these strange injuries, but Emily could hazard a guess it had something to do with Faust. And Rex, despite their best efforts, never remembered a thing from the day before. By now, Emily had concluded that Faust must be wiping his memory when he took him away every night. However, there was only one way to be sure.
"Are you ready?" She whispered eagerly to V as the black-clad man sat stiffly across from her. Rex was oblivious to everything as usual. He had already accepted Emily's explanation that she and V were friends of his. His naïve trust made re-educating him every day so much easier.
V nodded, the action nearly imperceptible to those around them. His face was concealed by the smiling, pale-skinned mask, but it couldn't hide the heavy edge to his breathing.
"He hurt you again, didn't he?" Emily asked in concern. It turned her stomach to see him in such a state. If it were not for the way her friends were treated, Emily would have likely trusted Faust by this point. He had already done everything in his power to gain her friendship, and for the most part she played along. However, no matter how friendly he became, a shadow of fear always hung in the back of her mind. Someday, she didn't know when, it may be her limping into the mess hall. Or perhaps not returning at all.
"Nothing more than usual." V replied, his voice straining to retain its usual carefree edge. He could hear the hiss of his own breath through the slit in the mask and prayed that the others did not. Already the bandages he had applied to his tortured body were soaking through with thick, dark blood stains. One black gloved hand crept up to apply pressure to his bruised ribs. That eased his breathing a bit.
"Alright, then tonight's the night," Emily replied with a tremor in her voice. Tonight had to be the night, even if they weren't ready. She couldn't bear to see V in this state any longer.
"What're we doing tonight?" Rex inquired around a mouthful of scrambled eggs. Bits of yellow and white crumbly bits dangled from between his jagged teeth. When he opened his maw to speak, some of the food came tumbling out to land on his plate again. He scooped them up with his fork once more and repeated the process over again. Rex didn't seem to notice his poor eating habits, and his friends hardly wanted to upset him by pointing them out. In many senses, Rex was still a child. His naïve mindset and willingness to trust anyone made him a target for cruelty. It also made his friends infinitely patient when it came time to explain something to him and doubly protective.
"We're going to find out what Faust is doing to you when he takes you away." Emily stretched out a purple-veined hand and patted the brown dinosaur's shoulder reassuringly. Despite her attempt at comfort, for a moment the large creature looked terrified.
"Do... do I have to?" His voice trembled as he asked, orange eyes doubling in size.
"I am afraid so, my friend," V interjected. "He will come for you as he always does, but this time we will not be far away. Fear not, dear Rex, your friends will not abandon you."
"Oh... okay." Although he bowed his head in agreement, his tail tucking under the wooden bench, Rex looked anything but reassured. Faust scared him for a reason that he couldn't explain. The mere thought of the scientist made his heart drop into his stomach and his blood run cold. There was just something evil about that man, and Rex did not like evil things.
"Don't worry," Emily put on a big smile to go with her comforting reply. "We're going to send Wormy in with you. He's going to tell us the moment you need help, okay?"
"How's he gonna do that?" The large dino man asked as he warily eyed the little green worm coiled around Emily's skeletal wrist.
"Well he's... um... special," Emily struggled for words to explain their plan to Rex with the most simplistic of descriptions. In truth, she didn't quite know how or when it had started, but Wormy seemed to be picking up on her thoughts lately. V told her it was a latent skill left over from his firelizard background. Although the only one who really knew where Wormy had come from or what he was, was Faust. The hawkish, bald man had yet to take notice of Emily's newly acquired pet. She lifted a slender, clawed finger to gently stroke the green worm's long body as she continued with her explanation. "He can talk to my mind, you see."
A mind reader?!" the exuberant mutant dino asked with awe riding heavily on his tone. His gigantic muzzle swiveled towards Emily, nostrils flaring and small, beady eyes becoming round saucers to express his child-like interest.
"Well... kind of... I guess," Emily returned with a barely suppressed smile. Rex was like an adorable little brother to her. A very absent minded, gigantic, kinda scary little brother.
"That's so cool!" exclaimed the dino man, his jagged teeth making the big grin spread across his snout more than a little unnerving.
"So have no fears tonight, my friend," V concluded confidently. "Tonight, we will not let him harm you."
Unfortunately, that confidence would be short lived. As V and his friends were soon to find out, plans to thwart Faust's will rarely worked in anyone's favour but the scientist's own.
* * *
That night, as they had planned, Wormy was secreted away on Rex's person before the hour when Wolfgang or Wagner usually came to collect the boys. It was difficult keeping him hidden at first, since Rex would often giggle and complain that he was being tickled. Eventually though, V stumbled upon the ingenious idea of tucking the little creature under the loose arm of Rex's shirt. This would allow him to slip out and move around freely once the dinosaur had been lead into his "check up" room.
The solution came not a moment too soon. Just as Emily and V had determined that Wormy was satisfactorily hidden away, the two most detested men in the entire complex rounded the corner. Together they beamed and waved cheerily to the trio. Together they moved forward with synchronized steps and arm swings. V stepped in front of his companions, gently pushing Emily behind his back as together they stopped in front of them.
"Oh how sweet!" cooed the mohawk sporting Wolfgang. He clasped his hands together mockingly in front of his chest as his beady eyes roved shamelessly over the three friends.
"He tries to protect her! From us, no less!" giggled Wagner, mimicking his partner's actions.
"We are deeply wounded by your mistrust," sulked the first. When the only movement made was Rex's attempt to hide behind Emily, the mocking looks fell away as both men dissolved in laughter.
"If you are finished with your childish jabs then I would greatly appreciate it if we could get to the point," V's voice held the hint of a growl, but for the most part it retained the clipped, educated tone that he was known for. He made no move to draw his weapons or look threatening in any way, but behind the smiling mask, he was seething. It would please him to no ends to be able to wipe those smirks right off their faces.
"So impatient."
"So sad," they simpered in turn.
"Tonight we only require the one," Wolfgang said as he extended a hand towards Rex. The large dinosaur man whimpered and tucked his tail between his legs. V could feel his hot, quickened breath stirring the straight strands of hair sitting against his neck.
"It's okay, Rex," Emily whispered reassuringly to her large friend. One dead, purple-veined hand touched his muscular shoulder. Her delicate claws brushed against his tough hide, tickling the rough surface. Though her nervousness was almost tangible, she made a good effort to hide it. She had faith in their plan. V had promised that it would work.
Tentatively Rex nodded and stepped out from behind the futile cover offered by his friends. Bravely he lifted his head, but not his tail, and stalked towards the two awaiting lackeys. He glanced back over his shoulder only once as he was led away. Emily and V still stood exactly where they had left him, both staring unwaveringly at his retreating figure. Wormy squirmed within the confines of his sleeve as if to say that he was still there, even if they couldn't be.
"Now we go," V said after the trio had disappeared around the corner. He started forward, then stopped in sudden startlement as he felt a bony hand slip into his gloved one. The masked face turned, tilted to the side and regarded the tall, blue creature standing beside him with curiosity. Emily offered a timid smile in return. Hand in hand, they began to move again.
Emily could feel her heart rabbiting away in her throat. The rapid beat of the living organ set her dead flesh to quivering, filling her with an odd sensation of warm and cold duality. Her long, glossy tail swished over the ground behind her taloned feet. She noted then that V made no sound as he walked, but to her long ears, she sounded like a freight train bearing down on her targets. The click of talons, the beating of her heart, the brush of hair against her legs and feet, and the subtle rustling of her wings as she shuffled them in her restless state. All of these things made her feel as if she were the noisiest creature on the planet, whereas in truth her footsteps were only loud in her own ears. The lackeys and Rex had long ago passed out of hearing range.
Despite the fact that she had V to lead the way, and despite the fact that she had been assured repeatedly that this plan would work, Emily couldn't help but feel a certain sense of dread. Already she was picking up on Wormy's fuzzy thoughts. Mostly the little flit saw orange, the inside of Rex's shirt, or brown, the dino man himself. He was happily projecting a feeling of glee experienced due to the gentle sway of the cottony material, rocking him back and forth as if he sat within the confines of a giant swing. Although he could pick up on sounds, most of the words uttered were muffled or incomprehensible to his primitive mind. What Emily did know from listening was that they hadn't entered the room yet. She had no doubts that she would hear the door open and close, given the thick steel Faust seemed fond of in regards to his experimentation rooms.
Emily tilted her head and turned her dark crimson eyes on her black-clad leader. What was it about him that quelled some of her unease? She had seen the daggers that lined his outfit underneath that all consuming cloak, but so far as she knew, he'd never used them. She didn't even know if he could use them. Yet that unexplained closeness they shared kept her calm. It made her trust him even though she had no reason to. Faust had even tried to talk her out of her friendship with him, but she hadn't accepted his reasoning. Why? Faust was the only one she truly knew in this place. The questions darting around her mind were frustrating and bothersome; especially since they always went unanswered.
V stopped suddenly, gently tugging on Emily's hand to pull her around the corner of another hallway. He pressed himself against the wall, smiling mask turned towards the corridor they had just darted past. Emily stood behind him, her wings quivering against her bare back as the build up of adrenaline set her nerves to jittering anxiously. She opened her slender muzzle and let the quick, quiet breaths pass over her tongue instead of through her nostrils. In her mind as well as with her ears she could hear the slow, ominous creak of an opening door, and its subsequent booming closure.
"They have gone within," V announced in a harsh whisper. He couldn't see what she was seeing at that moment. Not only had they entered, but Wormy had turned around so that he could give her a limited view of the room. The blue-skinned dragonoid let out a small, despairing gasp at the images that passed over her mind's eye.
"What is it?" She could hear the concern in V's voice and could see his face turn sharply to look up at her. However, her physical senses had taken a backseat to the thoughts Wormy was rapidly sending her way.
Emily felt the air rushing up her throat and heard it expelled as a low moan. Her hands pressed against the cold, hard wall behind her, guiding her body as she sank to the ground. Her legs felt like jelly, too weak to support her slender frame. Her arms were no better, but with the brace of the wall she managed not to crumple into a muscle-less heap. There she remained, her eyes fixated on the far wall although they did not see it.
Everything in the real world seemed to be happening on another plane of existence. V touched her shoulder, but she did not feel it. He called her name, but she did not respond. All she could see, all she could feel was the terror going on inside the room.
Wormy had long since abandoned Rex's sleeve to find a safer place hidden amongst the wires and equipment. He chittered nervously and crouched his body as low as he could keep it, so as to avoid the keen, sweeping eyes of the men behind the glass wall. Electricity arched over his head and danced along the cables. The large, friendly beast he'd been riding with uttered sounds that were unholy in nature. He sounded like neither animal or humanoid, but rather what the little flitter and his owner would attribute to the pure sound of a soul in torment.
And through it all, Emily could only think of one thing: They had failed. Rex was going to die tonight, and there was nothing they could do to stop it. They had already failed to protect him as they said they would. That would likely be his last thought.
As Emily sat pondering this horrendous event, she began to cry. Tears leaked slowly out of the corners of her eyes, leaving trails as they slide over her fine muzzle and collected under her jaw. Her mouth opened to emit quiet, erratic sobs. She was heedless of the noise she made. All her focus had turned inwards, watching the ghastly scenes play out in her mind.
V had no idea what was going on behind closed doors. He couldn't hear the screams or see the electricity. Faust was very meticulous about proofing his lab rooms. He could, however, see the distress it was causing Emily. She had fallen into a trance-like state and become unresponsive to anything he tried. It was enough to drive him to desperation.
The plan was failing. Rex was in pain. He could see it from the look on her face. Emily was in shock from what she was witnessing through Wormy's eyes, and V was feeling an overwhelming sense of helplessness creeping over his mind. It was a feeling that he loathed above all other things. Even Faust could be tolerated a degree more than helplessness. V, a man whose only control was the ability to think in any situation, was rapidly losing what little control he had to begin with.
V calmed his mind with rationality. The situation was not lost. They could still rescue Rex. Or at least he could, if he worked fast.
It was difficult to abandon Emily in her current state. He wanted to remain crouched by her side, futilely trying to coax her out of her self-induced trance. V was nothing if not logical though. She would be safe there, hidden away from prying eyes unless the scientists needed to get something out of the storage rooms. Even if she was discovered, she would likely receive no more than a slap on the wrist from their manic captor. He, on the other hand...
V would not submit himself to be "punished" by Faust when he had yet to do anything wrong. He determined it was high time to earn whatever punishment he would receive. At the same time, he was going to rescue Rex.
The black-clad man stood up with nary a whisper from his long cloak. The mask and hat he removed, gently placing them beside Emily's frozen figure. She didn't notice a thing, which was a blessing he was grateful for. He didn't want her to see what was coming next.
Eyeless sockets turned towards the door around the corner. It was just as cold, pristine and white as it had always been. The same black numbers he had seen before were still emblazoned on the door; one-hundred and three, they read. It looked so utterly sterile. So blank and unremarkable that it seemed impossible to consider that a nightmare was happening just beyond. Yet it had to be a nightmare, V reasoned. Emily was terrified.
With a flick of his hand, he shed himself of his cloak. Bare feet marched across the hall, having since parted from his boots. At first the skin was pale, scarred and pathetically human. With each passing step, his feet began to look as if they had leeched the black out of his clothes. Tough hide thickened his skin and bones began to shift with sickening cracks and pops. Toenails elongated, curved and became grayish talons capable of rending flesh with a single stroke. By the time he reached the door he was naked, and he was changed. Wings, tail, horns and all had replaced the fragile human body. All that remained of his other form were the knives. He would not be able to wield them nearly as well with claws instead of fingers, but they would be useful nonetheless.
V was not going to attempt to be stealthy. He would not come up with some cunning strategy that would both insult his most hated enemy and accomplish his goal with a dashing flourish that would be the talk of the complex for weeks to come. He was going to go in there and do as much damage as he could as quickly as he could. And somewhere in there, somehow, he would save his friends.
V lifted one powerful, black leg and curled it up close to his stomach. The muscles pulled taut under the ragged black hide. The talons splayed as wide as they could, ready to hit the surface with as much force as possible. He kicked forward and sent the door flying.
Emily heard her own heart beating in her throat. She felt each pulse as it slammed through her temples, coursing blood quick and sure to her panic-locked limbs. Her nerves were on fire. Although she knew nothing of the world around her, she felt Wormy's. His reality was more tangible than her own. His terror was her terror. And at that moment in time, the mind-linked oddities shared a terror that defied anything they had ever felt before.
Blue light arched around the room, dancing and stabbing like some maddened fencer furious with his own shadow. Wires had been cut so that their electrically charged ends jumped up in the air and skittered across the floor. Wormy hid amongst some studier cables. Their thick, snake-like ends clamped into the back of the chair. The chair where Rex lay immobile. He had stopped twitching, trying to escape, or even screaming. Although neither altered flit or undead draconoid could see his face, they knew he was dead.
And then the black beast loomed into sight again. He moved with a grace that was wholly unnatural, his strikes so quick that they could not be seen with the naked eye. He was a blur of black and spikes and demonic, tattered wings. From his hands flashed the daggers that had cut the cords connected to Rex's chair. Even after the dinosaur had stopped moving, he continued to slash at his bindings.
And then the scientists came out. They raised sleek, steely weapons and fired bolts of searing light into the corporeal void. He staggered, but pressed onwards and cut into the blue haired men who stood in his way. Again the red fire lit up the room for the briefest of seconds, and this time he fell.
Emily and Wormy shared a feeling of relief when the monster collapsed on the ground. He had been terrifying in his own right; even without the blue streaks of lightning and the lifeless body on the chair. The scientists still scared them, but they had felled the beast.
Emily and Wormy cringed in unison one more time as the head of the black monster landed near to his hiding spot. Emily muffled a scream and Wormy chittered in fright, for the face they beheld had no eyes.
After the fire had died; after the body had been removed; after Wormy had crawled shakily back into his owner's arms, Faust came for Emily. He found her hiding around the corner from his lab room, clutching a mask and hat close to her breast. She stared with sightless eyes at the far wall as if still trapped in some nightmarish world beyond her imagining. He put her to sleep, took away her trinkets, and had her brought back to her room. Her pet she could keep for now. There was no doubt in his mind that she would not attempt to use him as a spy again.
Not after this lesson.
* * *
They were all dead.
Emily lay on her bed, lanky body sprawled across the twisted covers in imitation of a cold corpse caught in the final throes of a violent death. Her gaping, pulsing neck wound pressed against the pristine sheets without leaving a mark. Her delicate, nearly equine face rested on the edge of a tear stained pillow, listless features pointed blankly at the far wall. Her mind mimicked the agonized state of her body, twisted into a shape that she could not recognize as her own. It bled continuously where her body could not, seeping out the same woe-filled chant.
They were dead, and she was alone.
Wormy had been trying unsuccessfully ever since the night of their failed attack to restore Emily's optimistic nature. What he had witnessed that night had scared the life out of him, but losing his loving food-giver was even more of a nightmare.
At first the little worm had difficulty coming up with any plan other than making his desperate need for food known. He creeled, whined, complained and carried on, all to no effect. Of course, his cries were pointless since Emily still acted on a nearly automaton daily routine. She fed both of them, went were she was told, then spent most of her nights staring at nothing instead of sleeping. The little green experiment could feel the dull, disassociated nature of her mind. It was as if she had willingly wrapped herself in a fog. No amount of prodding or calling on his behalf could penetrate it.
Finally, filled with a desperation borne out of despair, the winged worm left his undead companion. He struck out on his own into the frightening, gigantic depths of the underground lab complex. Crawling along the floor, sticking mostly to the walls, he made himself nearly invisible to the eye. Those that weren't looking for him passed him by without a second thought, and the only ones who would think to look for him were either dead or comatose.
Wormy didn't know what he was searching for, only that he had to find something that would wake Emily from her stupor. Day and night he crawled up and down the halls until he had thoroughly lost himself. Even if he had wanted to give up the hunt and return to his mistress, he didn't know how. It was then that Wormy realized how much trouble he'd gotten himself into.
Out here, there was no one to feed him. His stomach grumbled at him constantly now, pinched with a demand for sustenance of any kind. A few times he found moldy bits of refuse or dried particles that he really didn't want to think about. He ate them, pushed to a limit he wished he'd never seen. Though he cried out to Emily to find him and feed him, he received no response. The blue dragoness' mind was still dead to the world.
The little worm pushed himself. He pushed and pushed, crawling round and round the plain, white hallways until he could push no more. Finally, after three days of searching with a single-minded fixation for a solution he couldn't imagine, he collapsed. And Emily, lost in her cocoon of despair, would not even notice his absence until it was too late.
"Ooooh! A wormy!" came a jubilant voice out of the blue. The exhausted, starving, defeated little experiment opened his eyes weakly and looked up at the titanic shadow that stood over him. His heart fluttered with a feeble expression of joy and he croaked out a short creel.
Two large, orange hands scooped up the winged worm and cradled him close to the front of an orange shirt. Though the claws that now curved over his head like the closing mouth of a fanged beast were huge, Wormy didn't fear them. He curled up on the cushioning of one beefy, wrinkled paw and cooed a song of relief and affection to his saviour.
"Awww... you're so cute," the oversized dinosaur man bubbled happily. "What's your name?" No sooner had he asked then his mind was filled with memories of a forgotten past. Emily, V and himself sitting around a table, forming the first bonds of their long standing friendship.
Rex could not recall any of the memories the little flit was sending him with rapid fire urgency. He caught only half of the images and a fraction of the conversations. However, there were things from today's memories that fit those scenarios. Feelings and emotions that he couldn't explain. And a familiarity that he could.
"Hey! I know that guy!" Rex exclaimed in surprised delight as another flash of V danced behind his eyes.
The images stopped abruptly and circled back to the one, stand-still shot of V. Wormy chirped out a short, rising note. As if to say "oh really?". He tilted his small, green head up and peered through Rex's closed fingers with beady little eyes, all the while maintaining that hopeful tremor in his mental projections that maybe this would help his master.
"Yeah!" Rex exclaimed out loud. He didn't seem to comprehend the fact that the little flit was speaking directly into his mind. "His room's back there. He's always asleep though." Rex balled one meaty hand into a fist, stuck out his thumb, and jerked it back at the hallway behind him. A disappointed expression crossed his face. That guy had always looked so interesting, but he'd never been awake to talk to. Rex would've liked to get to know such an interesting looking man... thing.
Wormy began to chirp and chitter excitedly, squirming his little body around in Rex's palm. He flapped his tiny wings and butted his round nose again the dinosaur's fingers. His high-pitched thoughts continuously sent out a single message, devoid of imagery or words, yet understandable even to Rex's mind. The flit was saying "Go! Go! Go!".
So Rex went. He had nothing better to do anyway.
Perching the excited green creature on his shoulder, the orange dinosaur lumbered his way back down the hall to the room wherein the masked man slept. Unlike most of the private rooms, his had a round window on the door. Rex had always assumed that it was there so that the poor man wouldn't always be bored with staring at a wall. He was strapped in pretty tight to that slanted table, which couldn't have been a comfortable position. Thinking too long on that cold steel and the firm restraints sent a shiver down Rex's spine for inexplicable reasons.
"Here we are!" the dino announced once they'd reached the appropriate room. There were a few other doors around here that had similar windows (though not many), so he had to be careful about reading the numbers over the door to make sure he had the right one. He liked the numbers over this door best. Five-five-five was a nice, simple number to remember.
Rex pressed his big snout against the glass window with a faint ‘thunk'. His nostrils flared, steaming up the unmarked surface with each exhaled breath. The orange beast chortled and blew harder. Soon he was lost in a little game of his own design wherein he had to try to make bigger mist circles around his nostrils with each breath. Anyone looking on would think he was trying to blow his nose on a pane of glass.
Wormy, on the other hand, didn't have a care for what Rex was doing anymore. He looked through the window and saw V on the other side. The black-suited man was strapped down to a table with various cords and wires poking out from under his stiff outfit. If he peered carefully enough through the steaming glass, he could make out the scarred, red skin that covered V from head to toe by looking where the IVs connected to his body. Wormy began to chitter excitedly and poke at his master's comatose mind.
Emily did not respond.
Wormy changed his tone to a shrill, frustrated hiss and poked harder. He sent the images as boldly and loudly as he could into her mind. If he had taken physical photos and shoved them under her nose, it still wouldn't have matched the insistence he put behind his mental threads now. Normally Wormy was a very sedate, sparkly green. Fired up and desperate as he was, his thoughts took on a blazing red undertone that was nearly painful to receive. This was his last chance. Emily had to listen now!
There was a twitch, and then a faint, glimmering thread that brushed against his mind. Elated, Wormy latched onto the thread and yanked it hard, as if he'd just hooked the biggest fish of his life. Emily's curiosity followed.
Is it really him? she seemed to ask without words. The impression was there, but it was still faint. A dark, blue tinge coloured every aspect of her mind, as if she were struggling not to drown.
Yes! Yes! Wormy sent back. His mental threads thrummed with glee, whirling through a spectrum of brilliant colours fast enough to dizzy even the strongest mind. Emily was still weak and wary, which caused her to draw back in fright from the exuberant thoughts. Wormy creeled apologetically before toning down his projections and quietly coaxing her forward. It seemed to take forever and a day, but finally Emily gave the impression of movement. Her mental colours changed and the threads began to thrum with activity, bouncing along with the rhythm of each tentative step. Halfway across the building, Wormy cooed along with the beat.
"Hmm hmm hmm..." Rex hummed to the flit's rhythm. It was a catchy tune and fairly easy to follow. He started to tap his feet in time to the humming and found that he could march in place, as if the little green flit were counting out footsteps. Soon, the breath game was all but forgotten as his incredibly short attention span switched to this new form of entertainment.
That was how Emily found them a few minutes later; Wormy cooing encouragingly and Rex happily marching alone to the tune. Before the attack, she would have laughed at the sight. Now she simply padded up quietly behind them and gave the dinosaur a light tap on the shoulder. She held her breath as she waited for him to turn around, still clinging to some vestigial belief that Rex was dead. Yet the sight of that big, dumb muzzle towering over her petite frame was undeniably familiar.
"Rex," she barely dared to breath. Her voice no longer sounded like her own. Tentatively, the blue-skinned woman stretched out a wavering hand to touch his flared nostrils and rub her long, slender fingers over his soft nose.
"Hi!" he said in the same, cheery tone he had always used. "You know my name! Are you a mind reader?"
Emily felt a sob stick in her throat as she found herself caught somewhere between delirious happiness and overwhelming disbelief. A crooked smile quirked up one edge of her long muzzle, her eyes filled with tears, and the shaking fingers on his nose quickly darted down to wrap around his neck. Before she knew it, she was hugging him and crying into his shoulder.
"Rex, you're alive. Oh gods, you're alive! I thought... we saw you die," she babbled in-between body-wracking sobs. All the despondency and guilt that had been consuming her over the last few weeks suddenly burst forth like a torrential flood breaking through a dam. She clung to her oversized friend desperately, as if letting go would mean losing him forever. He, in turn, patted her awkwardly on the back.
"Gee... that sounds awful. You'd think I'd remember if I'd died. Did it hurt a lot?" He didn't really want to know, but he only realized this after the question had left his mouth. Morbid curiosity kept him from reclaiming it.
"It doesn't matter," Emily wept, much to Rex's relief. "It's over now, and you're here and..." She paused, lifting her tear-stained muzzle off his shoulder. Watery violet eyes looked up into the dino's vacant, beady stare, searching for an answer that was to be found just beyond his gigantic head.
"And?" Rex pressed with the insatiable inquisitiveness of a young school boy.
"And... V..." she whispered. Wormy began to chitter and coo, nudging his owner's skeletal hand with his small, round nose. Emily looked to the little flit, and then beyond him. The door that he had been projecting seemed to mock her with its clean, unmarked perfection. She must have passed this door a dozen times before and never bothered to look within. The thought turned her stomach.
Now though, Emily would not ignore it. She gently detached herself from Rex and maneuvered around him. Her long snout made it difficult to peer inside, but by turning her head just enough, she could manage.
Instantly the blue dragoness let out a sharp breath she hadn't known she'd been holding. Her hands fumbled blindly for the door knob as she pressed bodily against the cold, steel surface, but the way would not open to her. A sob of frustration caught in her throat as she tried again, jamming down on the handle and throwing herself against the solid door. Her bones made cricks of protest, but the obstacle would not budge.
V! her mind howled in anguish. He was so close, and yet she could not reach him no matter how hard she tried.
"Is he your friend?" Rex, whom Emily had all but forgotten upon seeing V, asked in his ponderously deep voice. The orange creature hovered over her shoulder, his oversized muzzle drooping next to her long ear. Hot gusts of breath stirred her violet hair into wispy tangles.
"Yes..." she breathed, stepping back from the door. The gears in her head began to work overtime. "Yes, and he's your friend too. Listen Rex, I don't have time to explain everything, but you have to trust me. There are bad people here that want to hurt all of us. We need to get out. Can you help me?"
It was a long shot. She knew Rex was naïve, but he couldn't be that oblivious. The seconds that ticked away between her rushed request and his response stretched on into eternity. The dinosaur's blank stare gave away nothing that was going on behind those small eyes, but thankfully Emily had nothing to worry about.
"Okay!" he chirped delightedly.
Emily smiled up at her friend and stepped back from the door. She didn't have a plan. She didn't even have an inkling of a plan, but she knew this was their only chance. If V was still alive in there, she would consider it a miracle. Faust had no love for the masked man and would likely tire of his research soon. Then... V really would be dead.
The thought of the bald, smiling scientist sent a chill down Emily's spine. Once upon a time, she had trusted him, though warily. Now she felt sick every time she heard him approaching. He had taken something precious from her, but in doing so, he had freed her. She was determined to escape his grasp now, just as V had always been.
Rex slammed into the door with all his might. The hard impact sent a clanging echo reverberating down the corridor that would surely draw attention. Emily looked nervously left and right as he stepped back, then charged the door again. This time the hinges squealed under the assault and gave way with several loud snaps. The steel bent inwards as if it had taken a blow to the gut and clattered to the floor inside the room. The commotion was enough to wake the room's occupant from his drug induced slumber.
"V!" Emily cried as she flew into the room after Rex. The orange dino was still shaking his head clear after using it as a battering ram. He smiled dumbly at the restrained man and waved one of his tiny forearms by way of jubilant greeting. His blue-skinned companion was far more expressive in her relief to see her masked friend. All thoughts of the fright he'd instilled in her weeks ago were pushed to the back of her mind as she flung herself at his chair, embracing him and clawing at his restraints at once.
"Emily?" It took V a moment to work through the web-like fog obscuring his mind. It draped over his thoughts like sticky strands, pried away from one part only to fall on another. His voice was raspy, barely able to raise above a whisper. He cleared his throat and tried again. "You mustn't be here. He'll be coming back soon."
The urgency of the situation was beginning to outweigh the effects of the drug. He couldn't remember how many days he'd been out, or what exactly had happened to him over that time, but he knew it was bad. Every part of his body felt the sluggish, cumbersome ache of overexertion, yet he couldn't so much as twitch a finger. Faust had pumped him full of sedatives to keep him from using the lethal talents he'd displayed at the last incident.
Emily was heedless of his warning. She darted furtive glances at the doorway as she scrambled to untie his limbs. The leather buckles were heavy and stiff, barely worn in. It made unlatching them that much more difficult. Yet with a strength borne out of panic, she managed to pry off every last one of them. And not a moment too soon.
"I think somebody's coming," Rex drawled, turning an alert eye on the bashed in doorway. His senses were the most mundane out of the three of them, but the sound of hurried footsteps charging down the hallway was hard to miss. Wormy began to trill an alarm from the orange beast's shoulder.
"Hurry," Emily urged V in a hushed tone, as if keeping quiet now would somehow prevent them from being found. She kept her eyes on the hall as she pulled out the various IVs and tubes connected to V and slung his slack arm over her shoulder. She was so much weaker than he, but she was not about to leave him behind. That determination to be loyal might spell the end for them soon enough.
"Rex?" Emily called in a steely voice. She had to be firm to be heard over V's pain-filled groan as she dragged him off the table. His dead weight hung off her shoulder, threatening to buckle her legs under her. "Rex, you remember those bad people I told you about? Well that's them. If they get us, they're going to hurt all of us. Maybe even kill you again."
At any other time, that notion would have been laughable. Kill him again? Was once not enough?
Emily didn't have time to laugh though. Run, her instincts urged her. Run now and don't stop running. She didn't need any more encouragement than that. With Rex standing as a large, angry wall in front of them, she only had to focus on putting one foot in front of the other. With V on her shoulder, she didn't know how long she'd even be able to keep that up.
V was convinced that he was still dreaming. It was the only explanation for suddenly being freed from that hellish torture by a blue-skinned angel. There was a gigantic, orange guardian looking over them as well. At her command, he flew into a rage and bashed his way through several flimsy looking creatures. They were humanoid to an extent, but the flawless perfection of their round faces and the glassy, black expanse of their eyes made them frighteningly alien. Everything here was alien. Nothing was natural or real, not even himself. Once upon a time, he had known what normal was. Now it evaded his grasp like a blissful dream ripped away too soon.
Here, he was a demon. A black, twisted beast made for one purpose alone. But he'd denied his purpose and his master. Faust had overlooked one terrible flaw when he'd chosen a victim of V's cunning and intellect. He was a man not easily restrained. He'd even managed to embed his rebelliousness into his friends. They were fighting for him, running for him, abandoning the purpose Faust had made for them.
Another limp body flew past V's line of vision and crashed into the wall with a wet smack. It slumped to the floor like a rag doll trailing a line of glistening red fluid. Rex was killing for him. Suddenly, this entire nightmare became far too real.
Rex had never been overly worried with deep, philosophical thoughts or wordy problems. One of the first things he had ever learned was that he was not particularly smart, and he was fine with this. Life was very, very simple for the oversized creature. Simple and enjoyable, given how easily he could be entertained. He never bothered himself with trying to remember details of his past or who he really was. When an initial pondering of the matter revealed nothing but a blank space, he'd given up the search and set his mind on more enjoyable endeavours. However, one thing Rex did know with a certainty that was rooted deep in his very soul was that he did not want to die.
Just the thought of death brought back terrifying feelings and screaming, visionless dreams. Just as the sight of V strapped to the chair unsettled him for reasons he couldn't explain. He might never be able to understand these feelings, but it was in his nature to avoid anything that felt bad. The blue-skinned woman was nice to him and said she was his friend. She'd warned him about the bad people whom he was now bashing his way through. She gave him a good feeling. So Rex, in his simple way, went with what felt best. The bad people would hurt them if they touched them, so he had to make certain they couldn't move enough to do so. So long as they were the bad guys, he would never have to feel remorse over disposing of them.
The hallways were long and twisted. Twice Emily thought they had gotten lost and the fight was over. Yet V, ever the brains of their operation, would point out the way at just the right moment and they would forge onwards.
By now, the alarm had been tripped and the building resounded with its siren shriek. Faust's minions came out of every conceivable corner to stop them, but Rex would throw them back. He was their muscle. What that left for Emily, she didn't know and didn't really care. Getting out alive with her friends was the most important concern of the moment.
Then, at last, they were at the end. The spiraling staircase that lead up to the main level looked like the stairway to heaven in their eyes. Rex thundered up the steps without a single break in his stride and threw himself against the circular door in the ceiling that stood as their last obstacle.
He hit with a resounding smack and bounced backwards. Emily had to lunge to the side to avoid his heavy bulk as he toppled back down the stairs.
"End of the line," a shrill grating voice cackled over the wail of the alarm.
"Poor little dears," joined a second voice, just as annoying as the last. The assortment of guard creatures had abandoned the chase, however in their stead they had left something much more dangerous.
Wolfgang and Wagner gave the trio matching smiles. They stood side by side, identical in every aspect except for their hair. They steepled their bony fingers in front of their pristine, white labcoats and took up an unmoving stance that proclaimed them to be a barrier strong enough to deter even the thick-skilled Rex. If their twisted ways were not already known to all three, the posturing would have been passed off as a bluff.
"You would think as much," V retorted ambiguously. He leaned in close to Emily's ear, which wasn't difficult since he was still draped against her side like a bulky cloak. "Emily, my dear, I need you to let me go now. Be ready to move on my signal." He kept his voice low, ever wary of the unreadable expressions of the two lackeys. Though Emily darted him an uncertain look, the slackening tension in her muscles told him that she would comply.
V carefully tested out each muscle in his legs before setting weight on them. He wiggled his toes, rolled his ankles, and bent his knees to assure himself that the drugs were wearing off and he could move on his own. Standing on his own power made him weak, but he could do it. He only needed a few seconds.
"I suppose you plan to break your way through that door as well?" Wolfgang chortled. Wagner let loose one of his hair-raising, shrill cackles of glee.
"Too bad! Too bad!" Wagner crowed. "That door is impenetrable!"
"Unless one has the access code," V said. The cackle stopped short just in time for both of the twisted men to watch in disbelief as V bounded up the steps and punched in the seven digit code on the key panel just a few inches beneath the round doorway. He slumped bonelessly on the upper steps as a crescent space appeared over his head and began to widen.
"You fool!" Wolfgang shrieked at his companion. "I told you to memorize it under your breath!"
"It wasn't MY fault!" retorted the other lackey in a shrill voice. "You shouldn't have said it aloud!"
The two scientists descended into an increasingly high-pitched squabble over who's fault it was that V had gained access to those codes. They would never know the truth, for when they looked back at the trio a second later, all three were making their way through the open door. Rex had had the forethought to sling V bodily over his shoulder before lunging through the hole in the ceiling. They screamed in unison for beasts to give chase, but by then it was too late. V and his companions were gone. And Faust, who had been attending to a private conversation with his favourite mad geneticist at the time, would have both of their heads for this mistake.
* * *
At long last, they were free. The air had never tasted so sweet and the sky had never been so blue. This was the outside world; the one they had always heard of but never seen. Each one had spent time imagining what an endless sky might look like, but none could have conceived of the majesty they now beheld. For a few moments, the trio was struck silent with awe. They rested upon the grassy field at the edge of the forest that had shielded Faust's lab from view and took some time to regain their strength. There would be no chase given out here. They, being illegal creations, would only cause Faust more trouble if they made a commotion out in the open. He would have to dispose of them silently. Despite the morbidity of that notion, for the moment it was a relief.
However, they were not safe yet. Emily looked towards her companions, the unvoiced question in her eyes. They were out, but where to go from here? Rex was too busy gaping at the sky to notice, but V caught her look. He gave a small, nearly imperceptible nod and looked towards the massive cavern looming high over the treetops. In a few more minutes, he would have enough control over his muscles to be able to stand and walk on his own. The dull, pulsing ache still filled every part of his body, but it had a sweetness to it now. That hell was in the past.
"Now.... we go to see the Red Mage," V announced.
* * * The trio stood before the Red Mage in her imposing den. The only light came from fat, white candles situated around her desk and the glowing blue orbs of light suspended from the ceiling. The fire was dormant this time of year, even though the den was nicely cool. She stared at each of them in turn and they stared back, unblinking, unmoving, and unsure of how to proceed. "Tell me why I should help you," she invited at last, her voice resonating around the cavernous room. Of those present, only V could match her for vocal power. "I believe you know why already," retorted the man in black. He canted his head to the side, extending one hand outwards with a smooth gesture to indicate that there was more to the telling. "However, I also believe you wish to hear it from us." "My qualms with Faust are widely known," said the mage in acknowledgement. "I hold no love for him or what he does in the labs he thinks are hidden from me. Since you were born of his technology, I would be thoroughly justified in killing all three of you right now as abominations." "But we're not!" Emily, silent since the escape, suddenly burst out with a torrent of emotions flooding her voice. The tsunami died just as quickly as she ducked her head, clasping her hands meekly in front of her. "I mean... we can't be. There has to be more... right?" "Of course there is," V said with confidence. "We had lives before him. We were people once. Very likely your people, Your Grace. We do not ask you to accept us as subjects again without knowing the truth, but we do ask that you hide us until it is known." "And what will I gain by hiding you?" Mystic tilted her head to the side, exactly opposite the direction V had chosen. Her golden eyes flickered under the candle light with an unnatural brilliance of their own. "Faust will chase you. I will have to contain him. It will cause me nothing but unnecessary vexation." "It will help you reclaim what he has stolen and soiled. Maybe, in time, we can even be useful to you." V's offer struck the Red Mage as considerably bold. He was assuming a lot by stating that she needed help of any kind. Faust was only alive because she said he should live. She only kept him alive because he could potentially take so many with him if he died. That proverbial sword swinging over her head enraged her beyond reasoning. Every time she thought her defenses to be secure and impenetrable, someone always snuck in. Now Faust was here, leeching off her land like some insidious, infectious parasite, and she could not bring herself to cut him out. And while V may have been very bold in making his offer, he had struck upon one thing that may very well be his salvation. Mystic desperately loved to thwart Faust at every conceivable opportunity. "Fine," she said after a long pause. "I will send the three of you to the Abstract Destiny. If you should happen to bond while there, so be it. Although you will have to swear fealty to me upon return. No other princelet will allow a dragon on their soil unless they are bound to the Warren. Meanwhile, I will do what I can to uncover the truth of your origins here. If I do find out you are creations..." She left the sentence hanging and V caught it up with a flourish and a bow, "we will be most happily and honourably indebted to you for your kindness, Your Grace." Mystic nodded, showing her approval of their agreement. She waved a hand to dismiss them, thereby sending them off down the tunnel that lead outside. On the way, Rex turned to his companions with a giddy grin on his misshaped face. "Are we gonna go see real dragons now?" He asked in delight. Emily and V exchanged a look. Neither could bring themselves to tell him that he was friends with two "real" dragons. If the size and physical appearance wasn't enough, they didn't know what could convince him of their bonafide dragonhood. So instead they humoured him. "Yes, Rex," Emily murmured while patting her friend's large hand, "we're going to go see real dragons now." The trio left the Warren proper and struck out onto the humid flight fields. Soon they were met by a rider who had been given orders to take them to the Destiny. He had also arrived with a list of rules they were to follow off world. All, of course, to keep them safe. Despite the rules, the lack of trust, the blatant dislike for what they were, and all other manner of stereotypes they had encountered since escaping Faust's lab, there was a certain lightness in the air about them as they left. A sense of relief that stemmed from the fact that now they stood a chance at life. A second chance, really, if they fully understood what Faust had been doing to them all along. Rex would be happy no matter what happened to him now. Faust was no longer around to scare him or take away his memories at night. Emily and V, though still wary of each other, were succumbing to that unusual sense of closeness once more. That, above everything else, was why V wanted to understand their pasts. Perhaps there lay the answer to why he knew Emily. And for her, it was much the same. Until she knew what this feeling meant, she would always be mistrustful of it. Maybe, if they were lucky, it would come to them of its own volition in time. Now that they were to be fugitives at the Destiny, time was all they had.
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