𝐙𝐄𝐑𝐎 - 𝟎𝟎𝟏 𝐅𝐀𝐍𝐅𝐈𝐂 ✔️

020

[Maybe it's just me, but I find my chapters sound best whisper-read]
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Here they were, poking you again. Shining directly into your eyes was a bright light. A light so bright, you could see it in the back of your mind, even when you looked away.

Your arm was sore. The skin had been pricked countless times. Who knows what they were injecting you with now?

"Where's Papa?" you asked, trying to keep from trembling, but the nurses in the room couldn't hear you. You weren't sure if the words had left your mouth at all.

The light fades away and the nurses follow after. The room fades into darkness. You can feel it threatening to swallow you whole.

But it already had.

It's 001 who wakes you from your sleep. He nudges your shoulder until your eyes lazily open. He calls your name gently, your real name. You hadn't heard it from his voice in a while.

"001?" you mumble back, rubbing the sleep from your eyes.

You roll over to see the boy dressed in white. This was unusual attire for Papa's children. His collared tee was tucked into white pants, a leather belt looped through. His blonde hair was brushed back unusually neat. Actually, he looked a lot like an orderly.

"001?" you repeat, raising yourself up.

He sits at the side of your bed, running his fingers through his hair. Your eyes catch the strange stitches on the side of his neck. You lift a hand to feel your own. The contact emits a wince from your throat. You had stitches there too.

"I figured I should wake you before Papa does," he says, softly. His expression was calm, but you could see the waters stirring in those ocean eyes of his.

Your stomach clenched, you could already infer what had happened. That didn't mean you believed it. That didn't mean you wanted to.

001 points to the stitches on his neck. The skin around it was red and inflamed as if fighting an infection—or something that wasn't supposed to be there. "He calls it Soteria."

Soteria.

Alex's words run through your mind. I've heard Papa's really been into Greek mythology lately... I want to warn you of something... There's a reason... just watch out for 001, okay? He needs you.

You hadn't heeded her warning, but what choice had you had? At the time, her words were unclear. Of course it was all too late when it finally made sense.

"Goddess of safety," you whisper, remembering the words you'd read once in the library.

001 glances down at his tattoo. "He doesn't see us as people." He pulls up his sleeve to hide it, muttering, "To him, we'll always be a threat."

There's something still in you that strives to be optimistic. "But we can take him down," you say, "You saw us earlier, we're getting stronger."

001 knew something you didn't. He rests his head in his palms, a smile of disbelief on his face. "No," he shakes his head, clenching his jaw before he croaks, "They're gone."

"What's gone?"

"Our powers."

...

"...what..?"