The scientist appeared in the experiment room, standing alone, wearing gloves, and the tools were tidy; the only thing left were the sleeping children in the other room.
"Well, well, let's see if experiment number one thousand and nine was useful for the hard work; it would be a shame if all that effort yielded nothing more than another predictable disappointment."
The scientist adjusted his gloves with unhurried precision, not bothering to check the subject's vitals.
Meanwhile, Zeka was still awake, still trembling, still cold. The room was quiet, filled with the soft breathing the kids do while sleeping.
He looked at the wall he just came from in silence, staring longer than a beat; even blinking felt heavy. And Liora finally woke up; she sat up and started to force her eyes to open. She looked next to her and found Zeka staring at the blank wall.
"What are you doing, Zeka? Have you slept well?"
She murmured as she tidied up her messy hair with one smooth gesture and looked at him with curiosity.
Zeka's ears caught the words before his brain as he turned around to see who was asking.
"Oh uh... I slept well... yeah, it was a good... sleep..."
Zeka exhaled when he realized it was Liora; the lie was obvious in his reddish, unrested eyes, but he didn't want to make a big deal about it. But Liora immediately caught the lie as she leaned closer.
"Uh huh? And how good was sleep then?"
She said in a sarcastic voice as she leaned in closer, looking closely at his trembling body from the cold. She wanted to help him avoid the cold, but she didn't know how. She looked at her own clothes, an oversized black coat she had on even though it was too big for her and hard to walk in, but she liked wearing oversized clothes, especially coats. And she offered her favorite coat to him, leaving her with the oversized shirt and the long, baggy black jeans.
"Here, you can have this coat. Only if you start calling me Liona~."
Liora whispered as she watched his hesitation climb up; she just offered a warm, and a little dirty coat, but she was also trying to make him call her with her special name. He looked at her and then back at the offered coat. He stared at her a beat longer before finally saying it out loud.
"I'll take the coat... L-Lio... na... Liona..."
Zeka sighed as he finally took the coat from her fast enough before it got more complicated for him. It was the first time he called someone by her name.
And for the first time in Zeka's life, he finally wore something to hide his always exposed chest. It felt weird for the first time: the sleeve covering his arm, and yet the coat was bigger than he thought. The warmth of the chest felt weird and amazing at the same time; a shiver ran across his body as he looked at Liora with a confused smile. And again, another miracle happened to the helpless boy who thought he didn't deserve to live.
The scientist was watching all of this standing right in front of the door, which was weird because the door should've made a sound before he entered, but it didn't. He wasn't disgusted nor disappointed; he just watched in silence between the two. One was getting more hope than he should've, and the other was enjoying the dynamic. But the scientist spoke one word.
"Genseki."
He called one of the sleeping children, and the kid immediately woke up as if it was a warning. He walked past Zeka and Liora and stood right in front of the scientist, waiting for whatever was next. His move looked robotic, but he still had the scent of a normal human, still a child. Maybe he was just built like that?
"Experiment room, you will activate your power first."
The scientist commanded as Zeka watched the situation in silence, Experiment room he said in his thoughts, having a gut feeling that something would happen, something... big.
Genseki went to the main hallway, looking at the experiment room before reaching the next door leading him there, and the scientist followed. Genseki stood there, the one with the wide shoulders, a build that looked like it was built for a tank, not too fat, just wider than the rest of the kids, not too big to scare people either, though. The scientist pushed him to the chair that was positioned right in the middle of the room, and Genseki understood the assignment.
The scientist walked slowly, taking his time to stand beside Genseki; he leaned in. And he asked Genseki in a calm tone.
"Could you please touch your chest?"
The scientist pointed right at his chest, where the heart is. And Genseki did it. He touched his chest with his palm over his shirt, a normal shirt with sleeves, not a fancy coat or buffed shirt, just a shirt.
But nothing happened... No activation yet.
And the scientist slowly pointed at his right hand. And Genseki touched his right hand with the other, but still nothing happened.
Genseki started sweating, wondering if it was a failure and if the scientist would be disappointed and throw him away.
But the scientist then pointed at his head, where the brain hid. And Genseki took a deep breath before he touched his head with both of his hands, hoping that the activation would finally work.
And suddenly a sharp headache filled his head, and he started to lose vision; the pain was sharp, and the scientist smirked.
"Well done, Genseki, you can now go back to the room."
Genseki immediately stood up and went to the room with a very wobbly body, barely holding himself.
Zeka and Liora were standing outside the experiment room, watching everything, and their hands were on the window from the sudden reaction of Genseki holding his head in pain, even though he looked perfectly fine.
The scientist was again watching how engaged Zeka and Liora were in the situation, and Zeka didn't even realize that the scientist had already left the experiment room; the door didn't make any sound for the scientist, even though it did seconds ago with Genseki. And after Zeka noticed him, he took a step back, hitting Liora but not hard enough to knock her back.
Zeka looked at the scientist with confusion, trying to know what he exactly was.
The scientist walked past them slowly as both Liora and Zeka looked above them, watching the scientist take his time to reach the room where the rest of the kids were sleeping.
He called the second one, and the kid came out with the same wobbly and blurred vision just like Genseki, and the same with the third kid, it was the girl this time and she also had the same situation, now the fourth one, instead of coming out wobbly and shaking, this time he was only holding his hands with a very firm hold trying to make the pain disappear.
Zeka's reaction was still confused; why did this kid come out holding his hand instead of his head? Is he different than the rest?
And the scientist came out; he saw Zeka looking at the fourth kid walking past them, and the scientist spoke.
"Experiment number one thousand and nine, next."
The tone was cold as he turned around to enter the experiment room again, waiting for his 'main' subject to enter the room.
Zeka felt a shiver running across his chest this time; it was sharp, it was fear... The number one thousand and nine made him remember where he was before coming here, before the warmth, before Liora; there was torture...
Liora tapped his shoulder, asking if he was okay, and he jumped from the sudden interaction and immediately said, "Five hundred and fifty-nine!" As if a swing landed on his shoulder and he counted out of fear.
Liora looked at him and laughed at his sudden jump and at saying random numbers.
"Don't be silly, the scientist called you! You should've followed him, not standing here like a statue."
Zeka turned around and found Liora's hand on his shoulder. He looked at her for a moment, trying to convince himself this wasn't torture anymore. It ended when he left that cage.
Or did it?