The Believers had been none too gentle, Saeran scowling the entire time as we’d been taken to the Mint Eye building. That scowl had slowly become a wild grin as what was apparently his end game had come into view. Unfortunately for him…and for us, too, Rika wanted to cleanse us all. Seven was resting his head in my lap, his skin pale and a little dewy from sweat. I bit at my lip, tension keeping my gut tight as I gently stroked his wild red hair back from his forehead, running my fingers back and forth over his forehead in a gentle caress.
Seven stirred, his eyes opening slowly, the vibrant yellow nowhere to be seen. Instead, his eyes seemed dull and a little lifeless. Was he going to die? The thought came unbidden, and tears started to blur my vision as his eyes closed slowly again. Vanderwood had his hip against the wall, arms crossed and head down, seemingly not paying any attention to the world around him, but as he spoke up, it became clear that he was aware of everything, hyper aware. “Save your tears.” He lifted his head somewhat, catching my eyes with his own chestnut brown. “The kid will live. He has to. I’m not going to see him die.”
For all of the animosity between them, all his willingness to kill Seven based on the agency’s order…it was clear that Vanderwood cared a great deal about my boyfriend. His own life was of high importance to him, that was what Seven had told me. Vanderwood liked to say he was completely useless and worthless without his job, that job exactly why his life was valuable to him. His life’s duty was to be alive and serve penance to someone he had wronged in his past. Seven wouldn’t share any more than that. “I may be nosy,~ but that’s mine and his secret.” Really, I doubted the agent had ever actually told Seven. It was more likely my boyfriend had hacked the information somewhere.
“You hear that, Zero Seven?” Vanderwood called out to him, and Seven stirred in my lap, his eyes opening slowly again. “You live. Don’t leave your girlfriend behind grieving and in danger.” My boyfriend stirred even more, attempting to sit up, only to have me press his shoulders down roughly. “Don’t you dare. You’re resting.” His yellow eyes met mine, a little more vibrant than they had been. “I don’t need to rest anymore right now, MC…I’m working on a plan.” With Seven awake, Vanderwood closed his eyes and leaned his head back, seemingly not paying any attention to things again.
I went back to stroking Seven’s forehead, but now he was looking up at me with a goofy grin. “I’ll be fine, MC. You don’t need to look so worried.” Was he slipping back into his silly side to deal with his problems? Just wanting to cheer me up a little? “Seven, please…” His eyebrows furrowed, and now he really did sit up, at least using his uninjured hand to support him. “Just ’cause I’m trying to make you feel better doesn’t mean I’m Seven again, MC.”
My own brows furrowed now. “What?” He seemed a little upset, maybe even confused. Seven pulled his knees up as he sat, looking at me with a definite frown. “My name is Saeyoung.” It took a moment for it to sink in as he continued. “I mean, yeah, I’m more serious and real as Saeyoung, but that doesn’t mean I need to be all down and out twenty-four seven. No pun intended.” He said the last part almost sarcastically, so it was way beyond obvious that now he was really upset. Oh. Wait. I’d called him Seven instead of Saeyoung.
“I’m sorry Sev-Saeyoung.” I reached out to poke his nose gently with a soft smile. “That wasn’t on purpose. I just forgot. For almost as long as I’ve known you, you’ve been my Seven. I’ve gotten to know the real you, but that doesn’t make it easier for me to remember to always use your real name yet. Give me a little time.” The explanation seemed to relax him some, although Vanderwood grunted softly. “Was I supposed to be calling you that, too? You change your name every five seconds, kid.”
Saeyoung had been leaning into my hand, but now he seemed to pull away a little, to frown at the imposing figure of the brunet, who always looked so calm and yet at the same time exuded an aura of dangerous strength. “That’s my real name. It’s who I am now. Everything, Luciel, 707, I’m leaving that all behind, because I want to be me.” Vanderwood raised his hands before crossing them again. “Alright, alright, Saeyoung. At the end of the day, a name is a name. You’re the real you by acting like the real you, even if the rest of us fuck it up a few times at first.”
That seemed to make the point to him even better than I had. Wow, the brunet was surprisingly good at giving lectures. Well, that and cleaning, because…wiped down the entire cell with a ton of wet wipes upon being put in here. Where they’d even come from, I had no idea, but Saeyoung had told me that Vanderwood was a box of weapons and hid all sorts of things on his person. There were probably things that would be able to get us out of here, including the thing that the agent had tied to Saeyoung’s arm under the bandages that no one was going to check, because Mint Eye wasn’t about to treat him. It frustrated me, that the only medical care he could get was from this fellow agent whom I’d formerly thought was a maid, but there wasn’t anything to do about it.
I scooted closer to my boyfriend, holding my arms out and letting him rest against my chest. He’d rested like that after his nightmare just a few days before, before we went to get Saeran, when he was shot and injured in the arm. It was before we’d spent the night at a safe house and then been caught by the Believers, even. All of that, even though it hadn’t been that long, it just felt so far away. I guess an exciting and stressful life could do that to a person. As I was nuzzling into his hair, he let out a soft sigh, one that would be long gone before long as I could hear steps approaching. Was it Saeran coming to jeer? Something plopped down between us quietly, but Saeyoung just cuddled up to me more, and it wasn’t long before a Believer entered the room.
***
Little did I know, Seven had sent out our little robot cat to get tomatoes for us to eat, but it wouldn’t be long before it would return. Before that even, V appeared, giving us a chance for escape that we took solely because we had no other option. V…as it was apparent now, had had so many good intentions, but there was nothing that could keep my heart from turning sour. For months, maybe even well over a year, he had known the suffering that was going on here, keeping from telling anyone in some vain hope that he could change Rika to be good again.
It was a mess and a half, that was for sure…I just hoped the message we managed to send over the messenger would get through in time, because it wasn’t long before Rika came to jeer at us, too, the cat having brought us the much needed tomatoes to eat. We would be going through initiation of some sort…cleansing of some sort. Our only hope right now was the rest of the RFA.
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