Present Day: ⚜Train Cabin⚜
I still remember Abel’s reaction to me becoming staff at the Academy. Behind his usually bright eyes I could see a mixture of worry, apprehension, maybe even a little bit of betrayal. That was another way he reminded me of you. He was painfully stubborn.
. . . . . ╰──╮ꕥ╭──╯ . . . . .
2 Years Ago: ⚜Vespertine Academy⚜
“WHAT!”
I was sat on the ground at the foot of Abel’s bed. It hadn’t been that long since we moved into the Academy dorms as “long term project participants.” It was a long winded way of saying we were slightly more valuable guinea pigs. It had been a little shy of 6 months since we met in that god awful temple, but Abel and I had grown quite close.
Perhaps it was out of necessity, being the only people that the other could count on among these power hungry vultures. Regardless, we spent our days idling in each other’s dorms until the white coats decided they had need for us. Week after week, at no set hours, we would be pulled into various studies.
Some were as dull as expected and others…well it wasn’t uncommon for things to get bloody extremely fast. At some point Nirvana had come looking for me. I expected that it would be a routine “Get up and get going,” as these calls usually were, but to my surprise, instead of being fitted with whatever gadget the project requires, or cameras and audio recording devices, Nirvana presented me with a white lab coat.
“Welcome to the team,” he had said.
Though I don’t think either of us really expected this development. I was to pack my things and wait for further instruction. Apparently I would be moving out of the “student” dormitories and into the lodgings for staff. The first thing I did was of course go straight to Abel to tell him the news.
“What the hell does that mean? We’re not staying together?” He fumed from his spot on his bed. His hand moved to the spot where what was left of his arm was. Awkwardly massaging the healing flesh of the nub, he sighed.
Neither of us had much to our names. All the academy was willing to do was patch us up if we received a particularly nasty injury, whether we lived or died was entirely up to us. The better our performance was during studies, the more likely it was for whoever was the project administrator to give us “rewards.”
A book, a meal we were craving, a pat on the back here and there, but never much more than that. That meant that while Abel had been treated for my less than professional amputation of his arm, they weren’t exactly going to waste money finding a prosthetic for him.
“This is ridiculous!” huffed Abel. He caught my eyes as I was cutting an apple for us to eat. Seeming to regret his words, his gaze softened. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy that your survival is more…well…assured now. It’s just that…”
I pushed the plate of apples towards him. “Yeah, I get it. I don’t know how I managed to make it to a member of faculty so quickly but I don’t think asking questions is gonna do me any favours. I wouldn’t want to shuck off whatever good will has possessed them.”
Abel rolled his eyes. “I’d hardly call this good will. They’re probably just gonna find some other way to use you.”
“Maybe. But think of it this way, If I can stay lucky, then maybe I can even pull some strings and get you a prosthetic! Or I can request you as my Vesper for the safer projects!”
Abel’s lips finally pulled themselves into a smile. “Hmm… having someone on the inside doesn’t sound like the worse thing…”
. . . . . ╰──╮ꕥ╭──╯ . . . . .
Just like that, years passed and we fell into a solid routine. I would request Abel as my Vesper when relatively “safer” projects were assigned to me, or I would go out of my way to give him information on whatever he was going to be facing when he wasn’t assigned to my projects. When I was finally able to save up enough to fund the creation of a custom prosthetic arm for Abel, I was thrilled.
The black metal was sleek and rich in appearance and it was as close to a real arm as we were going to get. Abel’s birthday was just around the corner and I wanted to surprise him with it, but I would have to wait for him to get out of the current project he was participating in.
So to pass the time, I sat at my desk, filling out paper work and going through the latest approval requests for my upcoming projects.
Project Sylvatica is the project that had just been assigned to me. It was a fairly boring study with no real risks involved so I had requested Abel as one of the Vespers for it. I’m sure other professors and maybe even a couple higher ups knew what we were doing. It’s not like we were trying particularly hard to hide it, but as long as the studies got done, it’s not like they cared much about the integrity of participant selection.
I flipped open the file, expecting to see the hideously green approval stamp on the other page, but it wasn’t.
“ℕ𝕆𝕋 𝔸ℙℙℝ𝕆𝕍𝔼𝔻" sprawled across the page in obnoxiously big red letters. Bellow them was a notice of transference.
Vesper-1124, Abel Goodrich is hereby promoted to first class security officer of field personnel. Vesper-1124 will no longer be available for participant selection as of XX-XX-XXXX.
Wait, but the day of his transfer is today! He would have told me if that was the case! I stood abruptly, papers scattering across my desk as I rushed to his dorm. Other professors and guards saw me sprinting to the dorms, but none of them were particularly bothered by the sight.
It wasn’t uncommon for project subjects to go berserk and require the administrator to do an obscene amount of damage control, whether it was to save their own skin, or burry whatever the higher-ups thought would be damaging to the Academy’s reputation. Everyone that saw me booking it like my life depended on it, probably thought I was the unlucky project administrator for the day.
I made it just in time to see Abel coming out with his bags.
“Abel! H-Hey there! What are you up to?”
Abel looked at me apologetically and then at the guards who would soon be his colleagues. “You must have heard the news by now. I’ve been promoted to a field officer. I start today.”
“You’re leaving now! I still haven’t given you your birthday present!”
Abel laughed. “Just have the other guards deliver it to me.”
“Wait but-“
He shot me a look that told me there were no more words left to exchange. A field officer of all things…this is exactly what we had been avoiding all these years. It was as much of a death sentence as it was participating in studies. At least in here there are regulations in place, things we can do to keep people safe. Abel didn’t spare me another glance as he let the guards escort him to where he was posted.
“W-Write to me! Let me know if my present needs any tweaks!” I called out as I watched his retreating form.
He simply raised his hand, not bothering to turn around. “You fool. Don’t let me catch you wandering outside trying to find me!” He called back.
It sounded lighthearted, but there was a hidden uneasiness to his tone. A silent plea.
“Don’t force my hand,” is what it said.
Field officers weren’t just out dealing with the procurement of potential subjects. They were often called upon when a woefully optimistic Vesper or a fed up staff member thought they stood a chance at escaping. I had seen many colleagues over the years suddenly disappear, or actually escape, just for the field officers, likely Abel, to hunt them down and dispose of them.
I watched an officer take pity on a Vesper once. They let them go and had to pay an even steeper price for their treachery. It used to be hard for me to imagine a fate worse than death but after seeing the things that went on in here, it was hardly that out of the realm of possibility for the kind of torture the Academy liked to employ to be worth the tradeoff.
. . . . . ╰──╮ꕥ╭──╯ . . . . .
Present Day: ⚜Kayne's Apartment⚜
“From one prison to another, that’s what we were used to.
The first place I went after getting off the train was straight to the orphanage. Thankfully they didn’t recognize me. I was able to spin a lie of needing to deliver something to you as per Vespertine’s instruction but I had lost my luggage containing my papers and needed help locating your address.
As suspicious as they were, when I told them I was already delayed because of my lost luggage and Vespertine was getting impatient, they were quick to hand over the information I requested without calling to confirm my claims. I suppose I’m glad to see that their fear of Vespertine hasn’t changed in all these years.
I will arrive soon, I probably won’t be able to speak to you, but I want you to know that I have never forgotten you, Everything I’ve done, I’ve done in the hopes of one day getting out and being able to get back to you. I hope you don’t think of me any differently after reading the kinds of things I’ve had to be a part of in here.
Your friend,
Victor Solomon”
I flipped the page of the journal once more, only to be met with blank pieces of paper. Vic didn’t fill the rest of it…not that he could. That little letter was the last thing he left me. The sun had been up for quite a while now. I was sure that in the time it took me to finish reading Victor’s journal, all traces of him would have been wiped from the Academy records or buried within their ever growing archives. These pieces of paper were now no more than letters from a ghost.
A knock at the door roused me from my thoughts and as I stood to open in, I couldn’t help but wonder how Victor had met his end.
. . . . . ╰──╮ꕥ╭──╯ . . . . .
Several Hours Earlier
Laboured breaths resounded in the crisp morning air. It hadn’t been long since I got off the bus, I sprinted through the streets, praying that I would reach Kayne in time. My chest heaved like each breath was my last. Exhausted and very much sleep deprived, I could only manage to stumble onto the steps of Kayne’s residence and drop the book in front of the door.
Satisfied, I meandered back down the way I came. The sun was just beginning to rise, with nowhere else to go, I climbed the hill just across from the apartments that Kayne lived in. I hoped dearly that he was able to see many more sunrises like this. I smiled, remembering the stubborn little kid who would beg and plead for me to accompany him in his explorations, of his deep desire to see the world, of our promise to see it together.
I suppose in a way, we were able to see it, just in painfully different ways. A click broke my reminiscence and I knew what was to come.
“You’re a fool,” whispered the person behind me.
Gazing out at the sunrise, I smiled. “Yeah…maybe. Hey…when you’re sentence is up…say hello to your brother for me.”
I closed my eyes, listening to the shuffling of a prosthetic arm against metal.
*BANG*
. . . . . ╰──╮ꕥ╭──╯ . . . . .
Present Day: ⚜Kayne's Apartment⚜
The door creaked open for the second time today. Instead of a raggedy old journal, I found a man on the porch. Dressed in all black to match the metal arm at his side, I noticed the Vespertine Academy logo that was carefully embroidered onto his vest. As my gaze locked onto his face, I could tell why Victor was obsessed with him. It was like looking into a mirror, save for his reddened eyes and haggard expression.
A brief moment of surprise flashed across his face when he saw me, likely as shocked by our resemblance as I was. As quickly as the expression came, it was gone, once again thinly veiled by a mask of a dutiful guard.
“I’m sorry to bother you sir…” His voice came out quiet as a whisper. It shook like someone barely managing to hold back their tears. “I’m here on the orders of Chairman Vespertine. We received word that a professor defected late yesterday evening and paid you a visit. Of his personal effects, a leather journal he was known to carry around is missing. We’ve reason to believe he attempted to deliver it to you. As per academy protocol, we have been sent to-“
“To retrieve it, yes I’m aware of my father’s fussiness,” I said, cutting him off. “Give me a moment, let me go get what I received.”
I made my way back to where I was sitting and not so subtly ripped out the page containing Victor’s final words for me. Tossing the journal aside, I went over and held my hand out with the piece of paper. Abel hesitantly took hold of it, unsure of what to say next. Surely he was thinking of all the ways he would be tortured if it was found out that he had not carried out the task assigned to him, but what was he to do if Chairman’s own son didn’t comply with orders.
“This should be enough to assuage my father’s ire yes? Simply report that the journal was destroyed and this is all that you were able to recover from me.”
He nodded carefully and tucked the paper away. “Understood,” he said, finally regaining his composure.
53Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcUIQaolC55
