[ one x one; adoraтιon and arabmorgan ]

[adoration]

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ＣＯ Ｌ Ｅ Ｔ Ｔ Ｅ Ｊ Ｓ Ｙ Ｌ Ｖ Ｅ Ｓ Ｔ Ｒ Ｅ
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cxcxＷｅ ａｒｅ ｍａｄｅ ｏｆ ｓｈａｔｔｅｒｅｄ ｐｉｅｃｅｓ.
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Colette was silent as she listened to the boy introduce himself; she was more focused on listening to his movements rather than his words. He managed to catch her attention though when he mentioned that he wasn't with the city, nor the exiles. She'd met many people with hatred towards both sides, but never once had she really met someone who had completely detached themselves from both sides.

She opened her mouth to answer his question, but her breath got hitched in her throat when she felt a hand rest on her shoulder. Her body instantly tensed up at the touch, as her frail muscles tightened, though she didn't say anything as she was turned just the slightest. Even so, she couldn't help but clench up the one hand she held the gun in, as if securing the fact that it was still there; that she hadn't dropped it out of angst.

Letting out an insufficient, shaky breath, she tried to focus her attention on answering his question as he picked at the knot of the blindfold. "My name..." Pausing for a split second, she couldn't help but wonder whether to mention her real name, or what people called her. 'Project AX,' a distasteful label for the city's 'perfect' experiment. It was used by anyone who saw her as nothing more but a weapon of war. She, on the other hand, couldn't help but always see it as a venomous name.
So, she finally finished her sentence after a moment of thought. "My name's Colette..."

As she was turned back around, she didn't even have the time to notice that the blindfold was taken off; he questioned about the current look of them before she even had time to open her mouth.

"My... eyes?" she whispered, the breath leaving her lungs. It wasn't much of a question; she was instead echoing what he had said, out of disbelief. For, the next thing that she did was nothing more than let her hands fly up to her face as she started to blink rapidly.

"What did you do?" Panic finally started to take it's toll on the brown haired girl. She couldn't see anything. Everything was fuzzy; it wouldn't have made much of a different if everything was already black by now.
Though she was facing the boy, she could only make out the dark silhouette of his face, and the tuft of his hair. The shock that came out of this caused her to stumble back, only after feeling his hand graze her arm.

The gun fell down onto the sand with a small thud, though she didn't pay any mind to it. She was too busy falling back down onto the ground herself after loosing her footing, as she attempted to put as much distance between herself and Alex as possible. "I can't-- I can't see anything," she said, her voice a mix of a whisper and a breath. The one hand she didn't have on the ground was up against her cheek, though she didn't dare to touch her eyes.

After fruitlessly trying to look at her hand several times, her wide eyes flew back to Alex. Her sight was fading away by the second; his dark silhouette stood out against a screen of blurred yellow-- a ghastly, atrocious sight, making her want to squeeze her eyes shut. Which, she did, before opening them up again to only see the same thing.

"You-- you must've done something to them!"

Thought after racing thought after racing thought though; there was no way he could've done such a thing to her eyesight in such a small amount of time. He had barely even laid a hand on her in that very time. Still, her sense was clouded with doubt and terror as she hopelessly willed her eyes to work. She couldn't become blind-- especially after having been blinded for so long. She had waited so long to see the vivid colors of the world around her once again.

But now, once again, all she could see was what was close to infinite darkness.

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Ｗｅ ａｒｅ ｂｒｏｋｅｎ ｆｒｏｍ ｔｈｅ ｓｔａｒｔ.cxcxcx

[arabmorgan]

ｈｅ ｉｓ ｊｕｓｔ ａｌｅｘ
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Colette. It was a pretty name, one that suited her immensely. Alex didn't have much time to think after that when her expression suddenly changed at his thoughtless question about her eyes. The quick fluttering of her eyelashes and the sudden movement of her hands told him he had shocked her; again, he berated himself for his complete insensitivity to her feelings. She was a girl, of course she would be conscious of her external appearance! He only hoped she wouldn't break down and start crying, because there was no way he could handle that.

He stared at her, slightly bewildered, as her expression morphed from confusion to outright panic. "What did you do?" Her voice was shakier than before, laced with sharp fear and confusion, as she looked up at him. Her gaze chilled him, making him feel as if she was looking right through him; it kept him silent and rooted him to the spot even when she dropped the gun from nerveless fingers and fell back hard on the sand. As she fell, a single string of words whispered out of her mouth, so quiet that he barely heard it, although by now he had a good enough idea to guess.

Shaking himself out of his stupor, he fell to his knees by her side and grabbed her raised hand, which she was holding in front of her eyes with the same ghastly stare. "What? What is it?" he demanded, his breathing quickening as a feeling of foreboding rose in him. "Calm down, okay? Calm down, I didn't do anything to you or you would have felt it!" He set her hand down on her knee, resisting the unhelpful urge to shake her and pushing down his indignation. He sat back and looked at her quietly for a moment, wondering what could have happened to her since she was clearly...blind. And yet she hadn't always been this way.

"Did they do anything to you? The exiles? Can you see anything at all?" He waved a hand in front of her face, leaning down to peer into her eyes and frowning when he found that the condition had worsened in the few minutes they had spent talking. "Come on, we can move and talk, right? Can you do that?" He stood up and extended his hand to help her up, not wanting to be seen this close to the exile camp. It took only a heartbeat for him to realise she couldn't see his hand, so he reached down and hoisted her up by her shoulders, taking a careful grip behind her elbow so she wouldn't fall.

He could feel the racing of her heart just by his gentle hold on her, and hear her ragged gasps as she tried to come to terms with her unexpected condition. He couldn't help wondering why he was still saving her if she wasn't going to be of any use to him, which begged the question, Do her powers still work? He eyed her thoughtfully, figuring that he might as well ask since he had her now anyway. "So, what sort of abilities did you have? I mean, do." He corrected himself belatedly, and he could have smacked himself for his silly mistake.

He sighed as he began to realise how thirsty he suddenly was, and the little riverside he had stayed at for the past week or so began to look very inviting in his mind. He'd been lucky to find a small cave of sorts carved out beneath a rock face not too far away, so in terms of shelter he was safe too. It wouldn't be long before he would have to raid a nearby settlement for some food and supplies though, given those scattered berry bushes weren't going to last forever.

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ｌｏｓｔ ｉｎ ｈｉｓ ｏｗｎ ｍｉｎｄ.

[adoration]

┏━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━┓
ＣＯ Ｌ Ｅ Ｔ Ｔ Ｅ Ｊ Ｓ Ｙ Ｌ Ｖ Ｅ Ｓ Ｔ Ｒ Ｅ
┗━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━┛

cxcxＷｅ ａｒｅ ｍａｄｅ ｏｆ ｓｈａｔｔｅｒｅｄ ｐｉｅｃｅｓ.
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Every wave of her hand was inane; no matter what she did, it wouldn't change. Her eyesight was depleting by the second, leaving the only string behind for her to grasp onto the opaque glow of the lights from the exile camp. For once, she actually started to wish the blindfold was back on.

When she felt Alex grab her raised hand, she didn't pull it away-- probably because she couldn't. Her hand was quivering too much, making every movement of hers twenty times harder and more torpid. It didn't make it any easier for her to focus on what he was saying, either.

As she tilted her head up to look at him, she was still overcome with dismay. Most of what he said just flew by her ear, unheard, and it was hard to push down her tentative doubts when she opened her mouth to speak. Especially when no words came out. Her throat was still torrid, but that wasn't the thing that was holding her back from speaking-- she still had no notion of whether to trust Alex, even after it was confirmed that he hadn't been the one who hurt her eyes.

"I can't-- I can't remember them doing anything directly to my eyes," she managed to choke out, before she was hauled to her feet by the boy only seconds later. Her legs felt numb, and wobbly nonetheless, but she somehow handled standing up, though the urge to reach up and wave a hand in front of her eyes was consistently pestering her.

It was true-- nothing much had happened to her at the exiles camp. They didn't have that much time really to do anything, in the first place. Her eyes had been examined a few times now and then, and sometimes she'd be prodded with needles for blood samples, but never once had they anything precisely to her eyes. And she couldn't remember anyone ever doing such a thing, despite for when the wealthy were developing her ability.

When she snapped out of her hopeless attempts to figure out what happened by memory, she held back an appalled look at his question. He was one of them-- he was one of the people that cared about her abilities, not her as a person. It wouldn't have mattered if he was with either side, with his intent. It wasn't much of a surprise though; everyone nowadays seemed to be the same way.
Either way you looked at it, in the end, this was just the consequence of her decision. This was something that had been expected long ago, when she had denied to give any second thought to signing up.

She was defiant to answer his question, till a thought crossed her mind; maybe he was just curious. It could've always been like that-- though, the chances were low. But, would this really matter any to her a few minutes later? It shouldn't have mattered to her in the first place; she was just unintentionally hoping that for once, she wouldn't be stuck with someone who had uses for her ability in mind. Greedy, awful uses.

"I can... envision and see somebody's memory on a whim upon eye contact," she said, her voice still wavering with shock. In a way though, she was grateful for the change of topic. A little bit, at least. Maybe this was only temporary? "Anyone's lies, decisions, plans... I can see them."

She would've said more, if it wasn't for the growing sound of voices coming from the exile camp; backup had been sent for the two guards. Turning her head to face that direction, the soft glow of lights that stood out in her fading vision was almost welcoming in a way. Though, just because she couldn't see didn't mean she didn't know where the lights came from. And she had no intent of returning to the exiles any time soon.

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Ｗｅ ａｒｅ ｂｒｏｋｅｎ ｆｒｏｍ ｔｈｅ ｓｔａｒｔ.cxcxcx

[arabmorgan]

ｈｅ ｉｓ ｊｕｓｔ ａｌｅｘ
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Alex raised an eyebrow at her reply, impressed in spite of himself. "That's pretty cool," he said rather lamely, "and kind of creepy too." He tacked on the last bit after realising he wouldn't really want to be on the receiving end of her abilities, whether he could feel it or not. Bending down so he was staring right into her eyes again, he shrugged. Guess it doesn't work anymore since she can't see anything. He couldn't help wondering if there was a cure though, if whatever had happened to her eyes wasn't irreversible.

Next thing I know, I'll be a serial kidnapper, starting with a doctor, he thought wryly to himself, rolling his eyes. He noticed that Colette seemed to have calmed slightly though, as if speaking was keeping her from dwelling on her blindness. Since he was already looking at her, it wasn't difficult to note the slight tilt of her head in the direction they had come and the sudden tension in her body, although her eyes held a curiously sentimental look. It was only a few moments later that the quick footsteps of a group of people reached his ears as well, and he increased the pressure of his hold on her insistently.

"Come on," he hissed, pulling her off to the left where he had come from hours before, although it seemed like a much longer time had passed. There was quite a steep slope upwards there that might prove troublesome for Colette, but a sparse cover of some scrubby trees lay atop the ridge, and it would be that much harder to see them from the ground. He halted his steps at the foot of the ridge, wondering how best to proceed; the rocky slope that he could have ascended in less than five minutes now seemed a daunting cliff with a sightless girl by his side.

He made his decision quickly, knowing their pursuers couldn't be far behind. "Use your hands to guide yourself up," he instructed swiftly, keeping his voice low and hoping it wouldn't carry in the silence of the night. "I'll be slightly behind you to your right, in case you need help." He gave her the first boost up, tentatively putting a hand on the small of her back and applying a gentle pressure as she scrambled around searching for a foothold. The slope wasn't very steep, but definitely troublesome because of the many loose rocks that could potentially tumble to the ground and thus reveal their position to anyone who was listening.

He sighed as he watched her progress, making the climb slowly and wincing whenever her foot slipped. He wasn't confident that he could find a cure for her eyes, and as such he didn't really know what to do with her anymore. He wasn't about to just leave her behind when he'd killed a man for her, though, so he figured he would agonize over his dilemma a little later, when they were out of danger. Once over the ridge, his cave was just a short walk away, although it would take longer because he habitually wiped his footprints from the sand as he moved. He was a risk-taker, but not completely stupid.

Something occurred to him as they journeyed in the lightening darkness, and he asked hesitantly, "You didn't see any of my memories just now, did you?" He hardly dared to look at her, not knowing what he wanted her answer to be. Did she only see memories that the person knew? Or even those that had been buried somewhere in the mind and forgotten? With a short laugh, he raised his head to look at the sky and muttered, "It's not important anyway. I wouldn't want you looking through my head."

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ｌｏｓｔ ｉｎ ｈｉｓ ｏｗｎ ｍｉｎｄ.

[adoration]

┏━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━┓
ＣＯ Ｌ Ｅ Ｔ Ｔ Ｅ Ｊ Ｓ Ｙ Ｌ Ｖ Ｅ Ｓ Ｔ Ｒ Ｅ
┗━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━┛

cxcxＷｅ ａｒｅ ｍａｄｅ ｏｆ ｓｈａｔｔｅｒｅｄ ｐｉｅｃｅｓ.
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Colette returned her dysfunctional gaze back over to Alex as he spoke; she'd have to get used to the fact that even if she turned her head to look at somebody, she wouldn't be able to see them. But if her abilities still worked, then they'd turn out to be her curve ball. Seeing the world through the evanescent memories of others would be unnatural, but it'd be her only way to see. She'd have to see through a different perspective.

Though, the thought crumbled down when the brown haired boy leaned forward to look at her. She couldn't help but shift back a bit-- a natural instinct out of slight discomfort --but she didn't look away. And by the breath on her face she could only guess that he was trying to see if her ability still worked. But there was nothing besides a few fleeting bursts of images that flew by in her head, and she couldn't make out any of them.

Or, she didn't have time to, rather, because she found herself being pulled along behind him as the voices from the exiles grew. Running was something she could've done without, but she had no choice. If her movements were even the slightest bit torpid, one of the exiles would be able to get their hands on her. So, despite her choppy and crude breath, which came in small, quick huffs, she tried her best to keep up with the boy and not trip over her own feet. She'd have to work on running sometime later.

The repudiation that filled her expression when he told her to climb-- of all things --was as inevitable as the blood flow in her veins. Alright, maybe she wasn't too used to being blind herself, and she doubted that he was used to leading a blind person, but she had only told him literally minutes ago. "Wait--!" As she was heaved up though, it seemed like she had no choice but to bite her lip to hold back a small squeak of dismay.

She was no rock climber, nor some expeditionist who would be ready to conquer some looming mountain at any moment. Not to mention, the rocky slop was absolutely horrifying without her eyesight. Even so, she knew well enough of the consequences that lied below if she didn't go up it, so she only took one small breath before she started her small trek up.

Maybe it wasn't all too hard, but finding footholds and places to grab onto took a lot longer than she had hoped. And whenever she slipped or a rock came loose, she found herself practically clinging to anything she could get a hold of. It was tolerable, to say the least, but not one ounce enjoyable.

Once at the top, she couldn't help but let out an allayed breath; she had held her breath most of the way up. She didn't have the time to catch her breath though; Alex had decided to move on once again, so she pulled herself to her feet and ambiguously followed after him.

Wherever they were going must've been hidden; Alex apparently took all the time to mess around with the sand. He was probably hiding his footsteps, but she couldn't completely tell. So she became content with following him in the new deafening silence that had resided in the air, though it started to make the fact that she was blind menacing all over again.

She had started to wave a hand in front of her eyes again when he finally spoke up, but she let it drop back down to her side as she looked over at him. Had she seen his memories? She wasn't completely sure-- she had seen a few brief images, but hadn't been able to contemplate them. Apparently he didn't want to know the answer though, cause he gave her no time to when she opened her mouth to speak as he cut her off.

So she instead tried to change the topic, when she hesitantly asked, "Where are we going?" The voices of the exiles had mostly echoed off, so it gave her a chance to pause and wonder. Though she continued on soon enough, for she kept one hand on one of his forearms so that she wouldn't accidentally go in the wrong direction. That would just make out to be a completely different-- and horrid --problem of it's own.

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Ｗｅ ａｒｅ ｂｒｏｋｅｎ ｆｒｏｍ ｔｈｅ ｓｔａｒｔ.cxcxcx

[arabmorgan]

ｈｅ ｉｓ ｊｕｓｔ ａｌｅｘ
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Alex was awfully thankful that Colette was much stronger than she looked, and didn't speak more than she had to. He'd half-expected her to make a few complaints on the journey, if not while running then certainly during the climb, but she had been cooperative to a fault. It made him feel a little bad that she wasn't voicing her feelings though, because he could definitely tell she wasn't in the best mood. It was hard to say if she was just shy or really desperate to escape from the exiles.

"Where are we going?" He glanced over at her as he swept half-heartedly at their footprints, taking a moment to think before answering. "Well, it's just a cave," he replied, an amused grin slowly growing on his face. "A pretty small one, with a river by it. The accommodation won't exactly be top-class, no air-conditioning or soft beds, and we kind of only provide berries for all your meals. Until I raid some random town, that is, but I haven't exactly had much experience stealing." He shrugged nonchalantly even though he was beside her, so she probably wouldn't see it.

Focusing on her eyes again - he just couldn't seem to stop doing that, as awkward as it was - he asked, "You're not fully blind, are you? You reacted when I leaned close just now. How much can you see?" He suddenly wondered if she was lying about being blind, for some reason or another, perhaps so his guard would be lowered and she could escape with ease. Maybe her eyes had always been that colour; he wouldn't be surprised if that crazy testing had its side effects, after all, and she was only the first 'successful' experiment. 'Successful' was always relative.

He matched his pace to hers as they walked along, and it wasn't long before the quiet gurgling of running water could be heard. Taking the hand that she had laid on his forearm for the journey in his own, he muttered, "Come on." He had to lead her around trees branches he would usually have ducked under, taking care to avoid the rocky outcroppings that he wouldn't have thought twice about before, before they finally reached the cave. The entrance was only waist-high, but it widened out subsequently into a suitably spacious area that was sandy and dry; the only downside was that it could get quite stuffy, and it didn't let in much light, which was why Alex usually only retreated there to sleep.

It probably wouldn't make much of a difference to Colette though, so he ushered her in with a warning to watch her head. The cave was quite empty, given he'd woken up in the middle of nowhere just a week or so ago, and he wasn't in the habit of keeping food lying around. "You can rest if you want," he suggested, crawling in after her and watching as she explored her surroundings. "Are you hungry? Thirsty? It gets quite cold at night, actually. I should probably go find some supplies now that you're around." He stared at the ground thoughtfully, not really sure how many settlements there were nearby. If worst came to worst, he could return to the exile camp they had come from; even if it wasn't abandoned by now, no one was going to care about him wandering around.

As he settled down on the floor of the cave, a sudden wave of exhaustion washed over him and he leaned his back against the craggy wall with a sigh. All the excitement and confrontations that had occurred during the night was finally taking its toll on him. He yawned, willing himself not to go to sleep just yet. It wouldn't do to wake up and find that Colette had run off somewhere, either intentionally or not.

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ｌｏｓｔ ｉｎ ｈｉｓ ｏｗｎ ｍｉｎｄ.

[adoration]

┏━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━┓
ＣＯ Ｌ Ｅ Ｔ Ｔ Ｅ Ｊ Ｓ Ｙ Ｌ Ｖ Ｅ Ｓ Ｔ Ｒ Ｅ
┗━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━┛

cxcxＷｅ ａｒｅ ｍａｄｅ ｏｆ ｓｈａｔｔｅｒｅｄ ｐｉｅｃｅｓ.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Hearing that they were going to a cave wasn't something that she was used to hearing; then again, the boy had said he wasn't with either the exiles or the city. Though, it made her wonder behind his motive; why had he saved her from the exiles? He knew she had abilities in the first place, so it was possible that he was only aiming to get them for himself-- a thought she didn't want to think. She never liked it when odious people thought of her as nothing but a mere weapon for the war they were all caught up in now.
And, he had asked her for her name in the first place-- not two letters glued together and adorned with the word 'Project.' But, it couldn't always only been to distract her of the pandemonium she had basically been dragged through.

"A cave," she breathed, though it was barely audible and not so much to the brown haired boy, "In the middle of no where?" Just who was this boy? First, he had imposed himself as a killer in her mind, then a guard himself, and now he just seemed like some person as lost as she was. And when two lost people were put together, they will only end up even more lost, on a basic guess. You can't put two astray people together and hope that they'll find some buried treasure deep in the ground.

As she walked a step behind Alex, she kept her other hand out just the slightest, to let it brush against any branches or scrubs. It helped her try to vision where she was-- or at least, it helped her calm down. She wasn't brushing her hand against some cold wall in an exile camp anymore.

When he posed another question though, she let her hand fall back down to her side. Turning her head to look up at his face-- or at least, she thought it was his face --she couldn't help the small frown that was pulling at the corners of her lips. She shook her head in reply to his question, before she tried to direct her gaze back to where they were going as she said, "My eyes are only reacting to light... or at least, that's what it seems like. I could only see silhouettes back there, because they were outlined by the light coming from the exile camp. Right now I can't see anything anymore. Everything's either too fuzzy, or too dark."

It surprised herself-- how calmly she was talking. Or, would it be better to say casually? Trepidation was still thick in her voice, making it waver and her hands tremble just the smallest amount. Yet, despite the shock, she managed to choke out every word needed, but she said no more or no less. She might've been able to answer his questions, but she had no intent to tell him anything more. Why? Because that's how she'd been for the past two years. Speak only when spoken to.
But it wasn't only that; any trust that she might've been willing to give to anybody else a while ago had been impaired. She wasn't shy, nor was she just obedient-- she was just cautious.

After finely stepping around obstacle after obstacle after obstacle, and approaching the cave, she rose a hand when he ushered a warning. Letting her fingertips glide across the coarse and disheveled surface, she used her other hand to feel the ground as she carefully made her way inside. Once she could finally stand back up, she let the hand she had kept on the ground go back to her side, though she kept her other hand on one wall of the cave. If not, she probably would've ran into something-- and that was an embarrassment she wanted to avoid. Though, it wouldn't be more embarrassing, but just more frightful for her. By ever step she took, the fact that she was blind got more nailed into the front of her thoughts.

She was hesitant to sit down, even after hearing the boy sit down himself. It must've been adrenaline-- or anxiety about the risk of exiles bursting in at any moment. She tried to calm herself down though, as she slid down the wall in the cave opposite to where the boy was. A few times she pricked her finger here and there, but she didn't do anything more than just let out a small huff of discontent each time.

After getting the most comfortable she could, she looked over at the boy when he spoke. She couldn't see his silhouette anymore; just a very dark and faint blue glow. From the moon, she was guessing. So, since there wasn't much for her to see, she averted her gaze off to the side as she answered his question.

"I'm not hungry... A little thirsty, I guess," her voice was soft, still from raw paralyzation from the event that only took place minutes before. She kept a hand on the wall of the cave, while her other hand kept building up sand in it's palm, before letting it fall back down onto the ground.

After speaking, she fell silent for a few moments. The discomfort of being around someone she didn't know was settling in again, and her new blindness didn't help at all. Yet, there was still one question that kept pulling at her mouth, and before she knew it, she had brought it up, devoid of regret.

"Why're you helping me?"

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Ｗｅ ａｒｅ ｂｒｏｋｅｎ ｆｒｏｍ ｔｈｅ ｓｔａｒｔ.cxcxcx

[arabmorgan]

ｈｅ ｉｓ ｊｕｓｔ ａｌｅｘ
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He just watched as she carefully felt her way around the enclosed space before sitting down, the movement of every action cautious and measured. The pale glow of the moon didn't quite reach the cave, and despite the small distance between them, he could make out nothing of her expression or eyes. It was odd to be sitting here with another person after such a long while alone, or so it seemed to him. His gaze slid to the side as his mind wandered, focusing on the small patch of light streaming onto the floor of the cave.

He didn't remember much of them, but he hoped the rest of his family wasn't alone as he had been. He hoped he would recognise them if they ever crossed paths some day.

He glanced over to Colette at the sound of her voice, almost forgetting that he had asked her a question just a moment ago. "I'll show you to the river later since we've just sat down," he murmured hoarsely, his tone low with fatigue. "You can't just drink from anywhere; showering downstream and drinking upstream, got it?" His words were obnoxiously loud in the small area, and the silence that descended after he stopped speaking seemed unnaturally oppressive. Alex couldn't really bring himself to care so much though, and he just took the opportunity to zone out in the darkness, his mind blank but senses alert.

It wasn't long before Colette spoke again though, asking the most crucial question of all, he supposed. He didn't move a muscle upon hearing those four words, just stared blankly out into the blackness as he too contemplated his actions. The loaded silence stretched on as he sank deep into thought, unsure how to answer, afraid of both her sadness and anger. Should he lie? But it would be difficult to lie given that he didn't fully understand his own actions.

Finally, he spoke haltingly, taking the time to collect his thoughts and present the truth in as nice a manner as possible. "To me, the exiles and the wealthy alike are trash. They don't care about anyone but themselves, they don't care who they hurt or maim or kill as long as it benefits them. I want to destroy them, in any way possible." His words came out harsher than he had intended, but he felt the simmering anger coursing through him as he spoke. "They separated me from my family some time ago, and I want to find them again. When I heard about you, that they had kidnapped a city experiment with some sort of...power, I knew I couldn't let them have those abilities at their disposal. That's just more war, more killing."

He shifted slightly in the darkness, still not quite ready to reveal his memory loss, his weakness. "I didn't rescue you so you could help me, not really," he admitted. "I just didn't want them to have you, perhaps to create more people like you. I don't know if you've heard the stories about how it used to be, the ruling government and the peace and equality, but that sounds good, don't you think? If the exiles win, they'll throw down the wealthy; if not, the exiles continue to be treated like an inferior species. I don't have a plan or anything, I jumped in to get you without any great vision, but I just figured someone's got to start something. The world doesn't change by itself."

Alex let out a breath, rather impressed despite himself. His little tale had come out much grander and greater than it had sounded in his mind. It was slightly embellished, and perhaps he had painted himself as a less selfish person than he really was, but in essence he had told her everything. "So I don't really know what we're going to do now," he said with a small, humorless laugh, "now that I'm practically homeless and you can't see." And your powers don't work, hung unsaid between them, poisonous and cutting.

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ｌｏｓｔ ｉｎ ｈｉｓ ｏｗｎ ｍｉｎｄ.

[adoration]

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ＣＯ Ｌ Ｅ Ｔ Ｔ Ｅ Ｊ Ｓ Ｙ Ｌ Ｖ Ｅ Ｓ Ｔ Ｒ Ｅ
┗━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━┛

cxcxＷｅ ａｒｅ ｍａｄｅ ｏｆ ｓｈａｔｔｅｒｅｄ ｐｉｅｃｅｓ.
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The brunette's fruitless gaze drifted back over to Alex as silence descended upon the small cave, after he spoke about the nearby river. She didn't mind the silence, but it was almost ominous to her. Of all things, she didn't want to be deaf and blind, and silence now had the ability to put her at unease.

Glimpses of what she could see were the most daunting, though. Her gaze had almost become completely black; whenever she saw light now, it started to drown in the petrifying darkness. It was like putting a drop of white ink in a container of black; it would swirl around in a way, making her feel confused and lost until she tore her eyes away from the sight. It gave her the freedom to wonder if this was only temporary-- if her eyesight was only malfunctioning; though she still couldn't help but feel like a bird in a cage with a black blanket thrown over it.

When the boy finally spoke, she listened without uttering a word. What he said hung in the air as frigid and bitter as the cold air rushing into the cave; what he held back on saying rung clearly in her ears. And after listening to his humorless laugh, she couldn't help but wonder if frost was making it's way into the cracks and crevices of the cave. Probably not. It only felt that way; more because of what the boy said, instead of the residing nighttime.

She'd heard it before; it wasn't much of a surprise to hear it once again. She had known a few people back in the city who thought both the wealthy and the exiles were monstrous people, and she'd listened to them dream about what else could become of the world they were in now if they both were brought down. She, on the other hand, didn't know how she felt about either side. She was in the middle; a knocked over chess piece halfway painted white, and halfway painted black.

If she really thought about it, the exiles to her were more atrocious than the wealthy at a first thought, with her recent capture. But, who was she to say that when she had almost been one of them, along with her father? She could understand how they felt, after being forcefully dejected from society after cruel treatment.

The wealthy weren't any better, either. She had worked for them for fifteen long years; her father even more. They had been the reason for her father's spinal injury, but they had also been the ones to save him from death himself. They had made her this way, but hadn't it just been her fault all along? She chose to sign up for the testing; she chose to undergo it for her father.
She was just too indecisive.

"I've heard a lot of the stories of the old government," she said, her voice etched in a quiet yet soft tone. She could remember it vividly; when she had been young, her father would always tell her stories. Most of them had been fairytales, but every now and then he'd bring one up about how everything used to be. Those had been her favorite, she had enjoyed them the most until she realized how futile it would be to try and change everything back. "My father would tell me them when I was young..." Letting out a small breath, she almost shook her head to herself, as if trying to get thoughts of him out of her head. "I used to love them... Until I started working."

Holding back a sigh, she leant back against the rough wall of the cave. He was just like everybody else; he tore her out from the exile's hands because of her abilities. It must've been a disappointment for him to think that the precious experiment he had been told about lost her abilities. Maybe it'd be a relief to her though; once she had been normal, now she almost longed to be normal once again. Even so, it wasn't like she was going to go off about her own life to him; she could only guess he wouldn't care. Nobody cared about the experiment's past, they just cared about her now-- they cared about the weapon created by the wealthy.

Though, she wasn't sure as to if she had lost her abilities just yet.

"I saw your memories earlier," she cut through the silence, closing her eyes, "Well... not really. Just a brief glimpse. Everything was scattered, and too quick-- I couldn't make out any of it." Seeing as this could probably be taken as a lie to avoid being abandoned, she added, "But, you have brown hair... right? And dark eyes; not blue, but not completely brown."

She hadn't exactly directly seen him; she could only faintly make out the basic description of two parents. So, she was tearing off pieces of their looks, like crumbs off of bread. It would probably only end up as a sloppy outlook on the boy, but it was all she could get at the moment. And, she didn't want to talk any more about whatever his plans were after hearing some about them. At least, not till later.

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Ｗｅ ａｒｅ ｂｒｏｋｅｎ ｆｒｏｍ ｔｈｅ ｓｔａｒｔ.cxcxcx

[arabmorgan]

ｈｅ ｉｓ ｊｕｓｔ ａｌｅｘ
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His pleased demeanor vanished in a split second at her next words, to be replaced by trepidation and eagerness in equal measure. "You saw me? My memories? How? When I looked at you?" He couldn't help the hitch in his breathing and his hurried questions, as if the words were jostling to tumble swiftly out into the open. He stared hard at her figure, a pool of blackness in the darkened cave, trying to make out her silhouette through the gloom as if it held the answers to his questions.

He had so much to ask her, that he wanted to know, the questions rising unbidden to the surface of his mind. Who did she see? What did she see? Who was he? He was frightened of her answer, a dreadful feeling of foreboding pressing on him, but he didn't know why. To Alex's surprise, he found that he was leaning forward, his back stiff and hands bracing the floor. Forcing himself to relax his muscles, he slumped back with a loud exhalation and closed his eyes, trying unsuccessfully to calm his racing mind.

"Come on, you can tell me more as I show you the river," he said suddenly, his voice taut. He wasn't usually given to strong emotions, at least from what he knew of himself, but the thought that someone else had access to what he had lost was incredibly frustrating, to say the least. Pushing himself upright, ducking his head a little so as not to bash it on the top of the cave, he dusted his sandy hands off on his tattered pants and walked the two strides over to Colette. Reaching down, he took hold of her upper arm and gave it a light tug, with the warning to "watch your head".

It was all but silent outside the cave, just the occasional rustle of bushes as a snake or some such creature passed through. Alex glanced up at the moon, noting its sharp sickle shape with some worry; it would be twice as hard to move around at night in the few nights that the moon would disappear. Rounding the corner of the cave, with Colette's hand once again on his arm, the stream came into view, gleaming molten silver under the moonlight. He led her over to a flat-topped boulder, putting her hand on it for her to feel it.

"I usually bathe here," he told her in a matter-of-fact manner, although a small grin was tugging at his lips. "Clothes on this rock so they don't get too dirty. Drinking is upstream so we don't drink dirty water that we used to bathe, get it?" He led her to the right with a shrug; anywhere upstream was fine. "It's not too deep, so don't panic if you fall in," he advised, looking around and wondering if there was anything else to tell her about. "That's it, actually. I haven't lived here that long either." He gave a wry smile, going back to the boulder and sitting down on it after a few gulps of the fresh water, waiting as she drank.

The sky would probably lighten in the next few hours and the sun would peek shyly over the horizon; just thinking about it made him feel sleepy. Blinking rapidly, he sighed, "Let's go get some rest and we can talk more tomorrow. Can you find your way back to the cave alone?" He stood and watched her, as he seemed to be doing a lot that night, feeling a bone-deep exhaustion caused not by physical exertion but by grief, hope and confusion. The floor of the cave was a welcome reprieve to the eventful day, and he curled up with his back to the cave entrance, finally letting his guard down as he fell asleep within minutes.

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ｌｏｓｔ ｉｎ ｈｉｓ ｏｗｎ ｍｉｎｄ.