Agent 38: I Never Forgot You

Chapter 40: Hiraeth

(Hiraeth: a homesickness for a person or place you can't return to or that never was. TW, śĥ)

     The walls felt colder now. Much colder.
     Alex couldn't seem to rub any sort of warmth (or for that matter, life) into his limbs. They sat askew, dead and gone, completely toppling any attempt to stand or even get the food that was tossed into his room. Not that he really wanted it, though. The day after... the incident, his eyes were glued to the walls, unable to focus or move. His mind seemed to process slower, and the only thing he could hear were the remnants of shrieks of pain ricocheting off the walls.
     Alex shuddered, his stomach opening to a wide pit. He'd sobbed for hours now, maybe even the whole day, and now his eyes were so dry that even blinking hurt. His chest ached with each labored breath, sore from crying, and his throat had been rubbed rawer than anything sandpaper could accomplish.
     The off-white walls, so weathered they were almost grey, looked too much like her eyes. The beautiful silvery-grey flecked with shades of all colours seemed to haunt him no matter what direction he looked, reminding him over and over again of what he'd lost. At some point, he gave up on trying to avoid it. He gave up on trying in general.
     Alex didn't know how long it'd been; it could've been just a few seconds, maybe it had been a month. All he knew was that his family was dead and he would die soon, too.
     He shifted, feeling as fragile as cracked glass, his eyes catching on dirty green and black. Bruises decorated his skin like some sort of weird spotted animal that had bits of green paint all over its fur. He could hardly even see his normal skin.
     Alex moved shaking hands towards a wound on his leg. A large scrape, close to a cut. He didn't know how he'd gotten it.
     He thought of his family, of how lucky he'd been to see Cuttlefish that fateful day and get roped into this. How it led to him meeting his best friends and partner. And his would-be killer. Defiance shivered through his veins.
     He won't ruin my last hours. If I go down, it's on my own accord. Not his.
     Alex set his fingers down on the cut and pulled it open.
     He gasped, instantly covering his mouth to avoid screaming. Pain bounced all over his body, sending feverish chills up and down his back as he writhed. Alex screwed his eyes shut, regret panging around his stomach, until suddenly the agony vanished.
     Through the haze of grief, a plan made its way to his mind. A horrid plan. But if it meant he wouldn't be forced to listen to his family's deaths, forced to stare into their eyes, forced to "live" in this stupid box... then maybe it wasn't such a bad idea after all.
     He reached his hands up to the cut on his face and, tentatively, stretched it open wide. His eyes watered as ink spilled down his cheek.
     Alex surveyed his body, straightening and extending every single sizeable injury he could find, which amounted to a total of three. At the end his head spun with dizziness, his skin cold and sweaty. Warm ink oozed out of his limbs, and he felt so light he swore he could've floated off right then and there.
     Alex found one last slice, barely mended, and tugged it open. Dark clouds quickly overtook his vision and he felt his head hit the ground.
     One last thought ran through his mind.
     Better to die free, right?

     Gabriel's plan was working. Oh, it was working so well.
     The idiot in the cell actually believed the lie! He couldn't believe how well the voice changers had worked. Gabriel thought the recording of his sister's voice had been too muffled– but, with the help of severe editing (and, obviously, voice changers) it had actually sounded realistic. It took a while to find a recording of Aaron's voice, but Gabriel had taken videos years ago of them together, and had just enough samples to assemble a convincing voice change.
     So, with nothing but confidence weighing on his shoulders, he'd strode into Alexander's room and executed his plan.
     And he'd believed it.
     Now, all he had to do was wait. He'd given his sister the deadline already. And he was sure she'd come, since she had Alexander's location. All he had to do was wait and ambush her and all her little twerp friends. Then, finally, finally, they would be reunited and all would be well with the world without certain Inklings in the way. They'd rule over the Splatlands as siblings and create the most successful empire ever known, better than the Octarian Army. The whole of Inkadia would be his.
     After all my labor, my troubles will finally come to an end.
     Can't you see, sister?
     I'm trying to help you.
     Still, something tugged at the corners of his mind.
     One last pawn to play, he remembered.