Artificial Willpower

Corner Piece

Art by _sleepy.moth_  on Instagram! Thank you so much for the support!  

Also that glow is so pretty ;-;. I feel like a moth to the flame. No pun intended. 

' I want you to consider taking down the facility. '

It had been a full day since Illinois said it, but the sentence still ricocheted around his head at full force.

That would mean he had to go back. He would risk getting caught. He would have to fight. Despite how many people's blood stained his hands, he had never been good at fighting.

In the gang, they tried to teach him how to fight. Yancy was always more muscular, so the others thought he would be a good fighter. Yancy could remember how disappointed they were when they realized he wasn't really a quick thinker. He wasn't a great dodger, he wasn't agile. He was strong, but had a hard time properly aiming punches. He was durable but easily discombobulated. He wasn't as good as they had initially thought.

Ben had been an accident due to the strength he still didn't fully understand. He tried not to think about what he did to his parents, but he didn't even fight there. It was really more of an ambush.

There's no way he could effectively ambush the whole facility. Nor did he want to. He didn't want to fight. He didn't want to risk getting caught.

It didn't help that he was still skeptical of Illinois' intents. One moment, Yancy was sure he truly meant well. That Illinois really wanted to stop the suffering, and it was all true.

The next, he wondered if hardly any of it was.

'I know life hasn't been too nice to you. But there's good people out there. And I try to be one of them. I know about the suffering in that facility, and just want to help who I can.'

Maybe it was a truly innocent half-truth. Possibly a lie somewhere in there was to preserve Yancys mental state, and not to mislead and manipulate him. Like those white lies adults told to kids purely for the kids' sake.

What if Illinois wanted to use Yancy though? What if he wanted the resources on Yancy, or to use him to get more resources from in the facility? Yancy was altered as a weapon. Could someone be able to wield him like one with the right approach? Was that what Illinois was trying to do?

"You look upset, Yance. What's up?"

Yancy was snapped out of his thoughts, and remembered where he was.

They were sitting in the living room, with the TV playing cartoons softly in front of them. Crickets could be heard through the cracked window, which also allowed a gentle breeze into the room that smelt of the forest outside. The smells of the casserole Illinois made after he got home from work still lingered in the air as well.

Yancy glanced at him for a moment, trying to fully ground himself.

Illinois still had an oil smudge on his cheek that he had missed while quickly washing up after getting home.

The convict wasn't even sure what to say. What he even wanted to say.

Illinois smiled at him softly," you don't have to tell me" he got up, "Let's do something else though" He said, heading to a closet. He got out a thousand-piece puzzle, and set the box on the coffee table.

"Cartoons are fun, but I think something more engaging and interactive would help you more," Illinois said lightly.

They had a few puzzles back in prison, but they hardly used them. Plus, too many of the pieces were missing for it to be enjoyable.