"No."
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPBKPSigc7B
"Yes."
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ69OSLcTCVf
"No."
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBH0aZ2zzHE
"Yes."
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdyOZdUiiMK
"You're lying!"
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdPcFaTiY6z
"I'm not."
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyFSKqgs3El
Yes he is! He must be!
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAimANQocnE
"You are!"
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo8rGeMksu9
"Really, I'm not," he deadpanned, but it was easier said than believed.
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy1CsIF7tyY
"Gemma?" I gawped.
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBAm9kGfxNs
"I believe I've specified that before."
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtqRTR2WRwd
"You better not be lying to me, or I swear to God—"
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgajvsfDLeI
"202," he stepped towards me, "I'm not lying."
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpgju530KIU
I stared into the distance, bewildered. "Gemma?" I repeated. "Gemma Reynolds?"
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7JDAgldMzT
"Yes."
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnDAQvVP5BB
"You're not just winding me up, are you?"
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7LmhXHOhAO
"Should I even bother answering that?" he replied bluntly.
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡduc8aNQP5a
I pinched the bridge of my nose. "Of all the people in the world..." I looked at Everest. "Do you know how many people are in the world?!"
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzXAwI7AT7k
"As of now, seven billion, increasing at a rate of one-point-zeo-nine percent."
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYsoBiKr5FJ
I smiled, bitterly. "Seven billion people, increasing at a rate of one-point-zero-nine percent?" My smile morphed into a scowl. "Seven billion goddamn people, and it had to be Gemma! Gemma bloody Reynolds!" I spat.
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIkiPmdWfkJ
"Reasonably speaking, her dad was the only person who knew about what the Front had been up to."
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuoy6Si0cgD
"That's why he set up a branch in London anyway."
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzf2Sty2b03
In actual fact, Robert Reynolds was American, as was Gemma – that was why everyone made a huge deal out of it when she appeared at the launch evening. The base of their company was located in San Francisco, but just after the discovery of the cure, Robert established another commercial building in London, – hmm, I wonder why – making it geographically closer to the Front's Headquarters. The two rivals were practically neighbours.
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsocSV4f21m
Suddenly, I gasped, realising something. "That's why you wanted to go to London!" My stare attempted to penetrate through his rigid exterior. "To find Gemma!"
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjBOqCkmRav
"Needed," he corrected.
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBAnHifR7p4
"Oh, come off it," I grumbled. "What do you even intend on doing there, anyway? Walk in, and demand they give you the drug?"
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIcwByfSZoH
Silence dominated the forest.
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVv5gBReR49
"Oh for the love of God, just tell me! I think we're past the whole I-ask-you-questions-and-you-don't-answer-them phase."
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7aey6B68wj
"Fine. That's exactly what we're going to do."
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf8pQo1uCXv
"The, I ask you questions, and you don't answer them phase?" I quizzed.
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLLXIKlfqUx
"No."
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEgUM8iK6Fp
"We're going to demand the drug from Gemma?"
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2HjHz4pi5o
"We will take a more tactful approach, than how you put it."
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbbyfWzPMyC
"Define tactful."
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7aLN51ZD2y
"Smarter," he said, flatly.
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUnZ8FGqmXd
"Hey!" I swatted his arm. It was equivalent to hitting steel. "And then, what?"
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRuLiKqO5cs
"We expose Director."
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4CBGQlsB9d
Good plan. Except: "How are we going to do that?"
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFJurMvcLxx
"One thing at a time, 202."
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbt4mGDXSQB
***
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvY3ZEK3XHV
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0Yn2qfbNJN
"So, you're telling me," I spoke, nibbling on an almond. "That this time next year, I'd be dead?"
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRwksFQPc0B
Even with the bizarre ability to maintain hunger for an abnormally long period of time, it didn't take much brainpower to understand that two days without food or water was over-doing it. Hence, the next morning, we busied ourselves with the job of finding edible food; it proved to be a success.
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWAu7wODXl8
Everest gave a curt nod.
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡShLeZjkCJF
Wow.
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkKDAOLGfi9
"Because the semi-cure only lasts twenty years, or so?"
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVbDCeGed7x
We also agreed on calling 202 the 'semi-cure', since it only half worked.
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiOiabMe1gE
He nodded again.
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5JQtq9Ckhu
Wow.
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzqmDv4vT4V
"And they were serious about the termination thing?"
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGYFoeL54Al
Another nod.
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvFKdMp3KWl
Wow.
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp4l1jJXAdt
"So, the real reason for the termination wasn't because you're better than me; it was because they're going to release 202 anyway, but didn't want the world to know that it doesn't do what everyone what everyone actually think it does?"
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwbGYiLE991
"Not quite. I'm still better. It's how they made me."
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY9DIcQg0qJ
I scoffed. "And how exactly did they make you? I mean, Director did say that you have something that I don't. What?"
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvQVfcyiAR4
This time, I didn't even get a nod – not that it was a question that could be answered with a simple nod, anyway.
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo9vtXKgckW
"It's getting late, we have to move," he said, a while later, getting up.
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeAiXMZW5Pn
"It's midday," I stated, cornering him. Physically.
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMI8sVwIZeN
"It doesn't matter—"
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyubAPMPz3W
"What do you have, that I don't?" I demanded.
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrgIOwyS9uK
"Brain cells."
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGctojVdhFS
I gasped. Humour was my thing!
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBoLDMGbZGg
"Dead brain cells!" I couldn't help but shoot back.
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3ZiYJOqMr9
"We both know that I'm smarter than you," he retaliated.
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0J3TeJyt93
"Tell me!" I pushed.
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLt5bJVwobR
And we're back to square one.
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvDIxeW75Eq
"I don't owe you anything, 202," he replied.
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ34LA0l6rqC
No! Do something, quick! Make him answer!
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYL6s170xka
A sad smile plastered itself across my face. "That's true, you don't. But I'm going to die soon," Ha! Of course I wasn't planning on dying! "So whatever you say, I'll take to my grave." I sighed for effect. "Isn't that enough insurance for you?"
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9JPtCriupP
His chiseled face remained as still as igneous rock. "You and I both know you are not dying. Now, drop it."
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡETmXCZRu2h
Unexpectedly, that made me feel a tad – just a tad – better. But the second part of his response initiated frustration.
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIhrctKENmt
"Bloody hell, just tell me!" I rid myself of my vulnerable pretense. "You know everything about me! Hell, you know more about me than I do! So, you do, in fact, owe me this!" Plus, the curiosity was eating me inside out.
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK0TKVb94n5
At first, I received no response. Then, just as I was about to cuss him for being his obstinate self, he spoke; his voice low.
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj92yBIpvgj
"It's not what I have. It's what I don't have."
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHk1zBulzDa
Don't have? My mind flickered through the various things which he might've lacked in order to make him stronger. Fatigue? Flesh? Nerve-endings?
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIjd2bt8otW
"Emotions," he stated.
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoBqwZXOlEE
Emotions?
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlxCgpKP41O
"Yeah well, I knew that," I replied, uninterested in the obvious.
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeJDuuZ5lMr
"No. Neurologically speaking. I don't have emotions."
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo8UYP4IxfF
I made a face. "What do you mean? You do have emotions." I could name a few: anger, distrust (in me, particularly), pride, annoyance (at me also), narcissism... it went on!
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkLCAG78Nu9
He gave me the same cold look that I'd already received a hundred too many times from him. "Of course I have emotions. I said, Director took away emotions, not emotion."
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs2WISHNU84
What the hell?
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoOMYX7MIJO
I snatched the almonds from his hands. "They're doing something to you."
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH2LaZmBUuT
"They're not," he said, taking them back. "When I said emotions, I meant they took away specific emotions, not all of my emotion. If that were the case, they would have created a robot."
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ6PgaZGCaY
"They already have," I muttered, unable to restrain the comment from slipping out.
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOw93rOVyko
He sent me a glare that could have cooled plasma.
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlzitOR68wT
I shuddered. "Kidding. Continue."
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx7cSBfODzc
"They removed emotions that cause weakness."
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGKbP7p02fa
I cocked my head. "Weakness?"
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡednBuUpklt
"Grief, empathy, shame, remorse, fear, love," he recited at meteoric speed.
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBFuP4aL40H
I glanced up, repeating them in my mind, at a much slower pace...
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5QUTxf9Byw
Oh.
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5fldSTKkQC
True, such an act seemed impossible. But for a multibillionaire company that possessed laboratories which stretched as far as football pitches, it would have been as easy as baking a cake. Scratch that; I tried baking a cake once, and that night, I went to bed with a blocked ear, thanks to the relentless screeching of those damned fire alarms.
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFIMlLjASUJ
"When?"
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQmq7pYSQId
"When they decided they wanted you dead." He clearly didn't understand the concept of sugar coating certain details, I concluded.
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJbWlfAoo6b
Gazing at his handsome yet stony face, I uselessly pondered at the thought of what it must feel like to have your emotions torn out of you – or rather, what it wouldn't feel like. Eventually, I gave up on the thought, realising how it paralleled a paradox: He wouldn't have felt loss, because they seized the very thing that stimulates the feeling of loss. So he wouldn't have actually felt like he lost something, despite simultaneously acknowledging the fact that he had.
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDk5fiapRdY
I fiddled with the ring in my eyebrow. In a twisted way, Director played us both. But why him?
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ66QIf9Foq
"So when they said you have something I don't have, they meant you haven't got something, I have?"
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3gcLtZs5Gb
"Yes. You've got weakness, and I haven't," he stated.
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3qLM1T0bs1
"I was talking about emotions! And these emotions don't make you weak! They make you... a good person. They make you human!"
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlv9IqHKVqR
"And that leads to weakness."
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqqvHwv4gML
"That's a lie. They fed you lies."
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkCVGI4XSYT
"Is it? If that's the case, am I right in saying that loss wouldn't bring about grief? And, that in turn, wouldn't drag you down?"
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3pOxYJ5It3
He was doing it again! He was turning my views against themselves.
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb8WtV9MP0U
"That depends on how you handle it," I said, sternly. "Emotions are a work of nature; you can't control it. It might drag some people into a dark corner, but other people fight it. That's what being strong is."
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8TdqtxqSN7
"What if you can't bring yourself out of a dark corner?" For the first time since I met him, the question wasn't asked in rebuttal, but rather as a genuine question. He was actually asking me, to answer something for him.
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7XiyB7wUV6
Wow, they really did remove those emotions.
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMuhR6y9Smv
But if the question were asked to contradict what I said, then he had a point. "Then... that's it." Suddenly the feeling of defeat spread through me, one which I despised. "But getting these natural emotions removed just so you don't have to experience them isn't strength. It's cowardice."
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI11CMdHxHV
Something flashed in his eyes, in that moment, but was concealed just as fast. A poor acorn stood, frozen under his glare. "I didn't ask for this."
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbK30RsPLxM
I sighed, guilt flushing through my veins. "Everest, I didn't mean that."
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ3KTViahHO
"No," he said, emotionless. Right. No sorrow. Got it.
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEsVwU7zsws
This discovery made me contemplate one thing, in particular: Was the front constructed of a bunch of Hitlers? Because, damn, was there anything else left on that evil things to do list of theirs?
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR7kYvrrUgB
I peered back at everest; his eyes were still fixated on the acorn.
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZciH2mhKQu
"How did they do it?"
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFX7DDC6s6y
"You can find out if you take a fourteen year neurology course at university."
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyHXBrFo697
Translation: I don't know.
Then he added, "But they also..." he hesitated, "... they used aversion therapy on me." For a moment he looked like he regretted saying it as though he had said too much.
But it didn't really make sense to me. "Aversion therapy?" I inquired. "Like the ones they give to alcoholics to make them quit?"
He nodded.
"So, what? They used aversion therapy to discourage emotions?"
His visage was cold again, as he shortly replied, "That's exactly what they did."
When did they do it?"
When I first asked it, it felt like an ordinary question, prompted by sheer curiosity. It was when his jaw clenched, that I reconsidered its significance.
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEKfC2wpwph
"They started it when you were nine, a few years after they made you, you know, 202," he clarified. "It was after they found out where they went wrong with the cure."
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMh3ExJqNQD
I was about to ask why, when it hit me. They noticed that they had messed up. They rid Everest of removed grief, empathy, shame, remorse, fear, love, so that he wouldn't feel the traditional guilt that is usually felt when someone murders another person in cold blood – cold blood indeed, if he had to fuse both of our bloods to finish the job. But the point was, they were preparing him for it! But, that also meant...
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOxsNOFo4jB
"They meant to kill me since I was nine years! Not just recently!"
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3hX2GEJGfY
"Yes."
"Using you!"
"Yes."
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkmbr9FnChX
"That's why they took your emotions away."
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbkCEKL4XIj
"Yes."
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFS25UrNOfp
"You were supposed to kill me."
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjjkSwqGsRT
"Yes."
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZONPEGUojF
"You were supposed to kill me!"
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUvL3NJKKe2
"We've established that already."
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb915yxbSQZ
"No. You were supposed to kill me. So why didn't you?"
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1kJBfx1Mzk
I wasn't really expecting him to declare his undying love for me, or anything, especially regarding the whole removal of emotions thing, but his reply was drier than I had expected.
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV0ExBsxELl
"I didn't want to slave for Director."
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUpqhANcLJx
I raised an eyebrow. I knew he wasn't being honest with me as soon as he said it – not that I particularly expected him to be honest either.
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxobQ2AX6yq
"And it took you up till the last minute to decide this, huh?"
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOxvXqNETMV
"If you suppose."
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGTL8G6spyf
"Be honest!" I demanded. "You wouldn't have ended up in this position, in the middle of a forest scavenging for food. Why didn't you follow Director's orders?"
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHtnlwh6bDc
His face remained unmoved. "I don't have to explain myself to you, 202."
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQMUNbi2HrD
No, he didn't. I could have tortured the answer out of him, but it wasn't important, anyway. He had already told me everything I needed to know, including the whole Gemma Reynolds thing.
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwu12TnyW07
So, London it is.
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPMtDe2sVdP
____________________________________________________________________________
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ6jm0ps9Q7
Author's note: To those bothered to read:
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIeeBt2tSa4
And there you have it, folks, your (and Emerald's) burning questions have finally been answered. Now, that wasn't so hard was it, Everest?
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAT9saZ7T8w
What was your reaction when you found out Everest's secret?
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3DT7B0Eqv5
Thank you for reading, I really, really appreciate your amazing taste in books. Please, vote comment (no, seriously, go nuts), and share.
696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡINJBPI0J5W
-Ruth
ns216.73.216.127da2 
