After the induction of the new recruits Maria stated that the pit fights would start in an hour, right after everyone had lunch, then had the guards behind each kid take the one standing in front of them to their rooms. The woman strolled out like she owned the world, which I now realize is all too possible. The instructors went to whatever business they had to sort out before the fights. Many of the Phantoms were talking amongst themselves about anything from which kids they thought would make good Phantoms to how they very vividly imagined some of them would die. I sighed and left the room, I could feel several sets of eyes staring me down from behind as I left but didn't turn around to see who was so intently watching me.

"Aidan," a recognizable gruff voice said suddenly from my left as I walked down the hall to my room, "can I talk with you for a sec?"

I turned and saw Colonel Joseph standing in the doorway to his quarters. The ex-marine was one of the only people at this place I trusted, he was a good person and had taken great care in helping me make it through my trials, tests, and everything else I went through when I 'joined' the Phantom Program. After a while he became something like a father to me, especially after I lost Callam and Niki.

"Sure, what do you need me for?"

He stepped to the side and gestured for me to come in, which I did, and we walked to his dining area and sat at the small table. We were both quiet for a bit, just sitting there at the table in a comfortable silence. Soon he cleared his throat, breaking the silence.

"I heard about your conversation with Maria. The one you had after getting back from Pluto."

"Ok... and that's important... why exactly?"

"I'm worried about you, Aidan," he states as he looks at me with his hands grasped together on the table, "you keep pushing and pushing... Maria is slowly getting more and more fed up with you. My concern is that she is trying to find someone to replace you, someone more... in line with her and less of a loose cannon."

"You and I both know that finding someone to replace me is far beyond difficult, and Maria knows it too."

"Aidan... do you enjoy being here? Do you enjoy doing all the horrible things that Maria and the rest of Chronos make you do?"

"Of course not. I hate everything about Chronos and Maria... I hate that I was stolen from my home after watching my parents get ruthlessly murdered in front of me, and I hate that I became the exact same kind of person that killed them," Once I started I couldn't stop myself, all my frustrations and anger and hatred came boiling over, "I wish that I had died right at the start of all of this, I wish I hadn't tried to run when they came to take me, Callam, and Niki away... I should have died in that house with my parents... but I didn't and now I've become the exact thing I hate."

I took a breath and got ready to continue my rant when my father figure put his hands on my shoulder and looked into my eyes. He squeezed my shoulders gently and I could feel tears brimming my eyes as I looked at the sadness in his face.

"No, Aidan, you shouldn't have died that day. Nothing that happened should have happened, and you shouldn't be here right now hating yourself for it. At the time there was nothing that you could do about it... but everything happens for a reason, and I think I know the reason that you're sitting here right now. You're supposed to help end this, that's why you've been trained to the extent you have been, that's why all the horrible things that have happened to you have happened, so that you can realize that Maria... this facility, the entire Phantom Program... Chronos as a whole... needs to end."

I stared in shock as his words registered in my mind. I had never heard anyone speak this way about all of this, I had thought some of it at times but never put it into words. Now I was listening to David Joseph, a person I thought was a loyal member of Chronos, telling me that it was time for it all to end.

"Aidan... what if I told you there were people ready to fight. People ready to tear Chronos and everything it stands for down piece by piece. All they needed was someone who knows the ins and outs of things, someone who has had experience working for Chronos and has the abilities to fight against it," he started to say as he looked me straight in my eyes, "and what if I told you that you, Aidan, you were that person. That one missing piece to bring the whole thing together and defeat Chronos."

My eyes widened and I pushed myself away from the table. He was talking about me leading... what... a revolution?

"David... what are you talking about, even I'm not good enough to lead a... a revolution against Chronos. Nobody is good enough for that. No amount of support from inside or outside of the organization has the power to tear this all down. I-I can't do that... as much as I want to... I can't."

I got up and headed towards the door to leave.

"Aidan... you can, there are many people out there who are ready to stand up for what's right. You would not be doing this alone."

"No! David, I already told you that I can't... I won't... as horrible as Chronos is, and as much as I want the universe to be free of it... it's just too powerful, and I won't do that because it would mean I'd have to fight people I've grown to care about, people who have been through a lot of the same things that I have while being here, I will not do that. Even if there was a chance to win."

"Do it for Callam... for Niki... your parents, Aidan. You know it's the right thing to do."

"Stop... please, I can't."

And with that I swung the door open and left. I heard David walk out into the hall but I wouldn't look back at him. I sighed and wiped my face to clear away the tears that had been falling from my eyes while I argued with my father figure. I composed myself and went to the gym to clear my head before the pit fights. The gym was empty and dark when I arrived so I turned on the lights and went to the locker room to change. When I came back out I saw Xander and two guards in the room, Xander was punching at one of the rubber mats on the wall while the guards stood on either side of the door, the only exit, and stared at the teen with cold uncaring eyes.

"Go on, get out of here, I'll make sure he doesn't try anything and I'll take him to the pits."

Xander and the guards were all surprised by my voice as I approached from the locker room.

"We're under strict orders to keep our eyes on him."

"I don't give a damn about your orders. Believe me, he won't try anything while I'm with him, he knows I could kill him instantly if he did."

The guards glanced at each other then shrugged and left the room, leaving me and Xander alone. He stared at me in surprise for a second then looked away and went back to fighting the wall.

"Thanks for that... they weren't leaving me alone... one of them even followed me into the bathroom earlier."

"I know what being under house arrest is like here, you never get any peace, not in the cells and not anywhere else in the building."

"Yeah, definitely not fun."

He stopped punching the wall and instead put his back against it and slid down until he was sitting on the floor with his knees tucked to his chest.

"Maria says that if I kill one of those kids in the pits... I'd be free to return to my room and I won't be executed. When she told me that, I... I took the deal... it wasn't until now that I realized just how awful that is... how awful I am for being willing to kill a completely innocent kid just to save myself."

I didn't reply to that, instead I wrapped my hands in gauze and put boxing gloves on then went to a punching bag and started hitting it. I could feel Xander's eyes on me but chose to ignore it and keep at my workout.

"Aidan... if I left do you think Maria would send people after me?"

His sudden question surprised me, causing me to swing and miss as I looked over at him.

"Probably... and then you'd be in an even worse position than you already are."

"I'm not so sure about that... it's pretty hard to be in a worse spot than I am right now. A day away from my execution unless I murder a defensless child for Maria's enertainment."

"Believe me, as bad as Maria seems to you now, she can be so much worse."

An awkward silence took over as he glanced between me and the door, then sighed deeply and put his head against his knees. I went over and sat next to him.

"How... how have you done this for so long? I mean... you're still so... human even though you've been dealing with all of this for a decade," he said as he glanced over at me desperately, "how have you stayed so good while still surviving and doing all of Maria's bidding... all the killing... the torturing... it seems like it would break you... turn you into something so much less than human. But you still saved Ryker on Pluto, and from what I heard you tried to keep Maria from deciding to execute him. You're still a good person... how is that?"

I suddenly found an extreme interest in my shoes as I looked away from him without answering. The truth was, I didn't feel like a good person, not at all, I haven't for a long time.

"Xander... I am anything but a good person... believe me."

He didn't respond, just sat there looking at me. I cleared my throat and got up then put my boxing glove covered hand out for him.

"Come one, I need more of a challenge than a punching bag."

He chuckled and grabbed my boxing glove and started to stand up. I pointed over to the rack of gloves and he went and grabbed a pair then wrapped his hands and put the gloves on.

"I can't promise I'll be much more challenging for you than that bag, but I'll do my best."

We boxed for a while to get our minds off of everything we had been thinking about. The door opened and the guards came back in the gym.

"Maria says it's time."

Xander's face dropped and I nodded in response. We took our gloves off and unwrapped the gauze. Neither of us spoke as we got ourselves ready to head to the pits. When we were ready the guards opened the door and the four of us walked in an uncomfortable silence. Soon we reached the fighting pits, I could see the seats around the main pit were quite full, everyone I had seen in the auditorium earlier was there but there were even more Phantoms and soldiers now. The group of kids was standing in the middle of the pit staring up at everyone in the stands.

"Finally, you two are here," Maria stated as she appeared on my left, "it's time to begin."

She gestured to two empty seats in a group of all the Phantoms who had been chosen to fight in the pits today. We went and sat while Maria went to the microphone in the center of the stands.

"Now that everyone is here, we can start," the woman began, her voice ringing through the entire room from all the speakers, "not all of you will make it through the night... some of you who do, may wish you hadn't... but nonetheless it's time for us to get things going. Fight."

The kids just stood in the middle of the pit glancing between each other and Maria and all of us in the stands. Xander frowned and cringed next to me, obviously still conflicted about the decision he would have to make very soon. A gunshot ripped through the air making all of the kids below us jump.

"I said... fight," Maria said threateningly as she lowered her handgun, "fight now, or the next bullet will hit one of you."

With that threat put into the air the kids in the pit began looking at each other fearfully, waiting for someone to throw the first punch. I saw a young asian girl pull an even younger asian boy off to the side while a couple of the others started half-heartedly throwing punches at each other. The boy who had given the soldier a bloody nose in an escape attempt retreated from the center along with the two asian kids. Some others began to move towards the edge of the pit as well, and none of them seemed to truly be trying to hurt each other. Maria sighed deeply and I knew what was about to happen. I looked away from the pit as I heard the gunshot. When I looked back up I saw all the kids backing away from the body of a young girl that now lay unmoving in the center, blood leaking from a hole in her forehead. A guard walked over and picked the corpse up then walked away.

"Do you all understand now?"

The kids all looked at Maria then back at each other.

"You're fighting to survive the night, if you can't prove to be worth allowing to live, then your time here is up and I will dispose of you."

Several of the kids below started to fight for real now. After it had been made brutally clear that they were fighting for their lives they lost any interest in not hurting each other. Soon there were fights spread all throughout the pit, but some kids were still refusing to join in. Others made a much better act of actually fighting than before, while still not truly trying to hurt each other. I felt a hand on my shoulder and looked up to see Colonel Joseph frowning down at me. He squeezed my shoulder tightly then left the room, several glances were thrown his way as he left but many people didn't notice he was gone.The look he had given me had clearly been saying 'you could have stopped this... you still can, don't disappoint me.'

"What was that all about?"

"Nothing, Soph, dont worry about it."

I didn't even look at her as I responded, instead I went back to looking at the kids in the pit.

"Well, that was definitely a lot better than before. You can stop."

When Maria's voice echoed through the room again the kids stopped fighting instantly. They all looked up at her in fear and suspense, waiting to hear whatever she would say next. Before saying anything she pointed at several of the kids, as soon as she pointed at one a guard went and stood by them.

"If I pointed at you it means you've proven some kind of worth. I was hoping there would be more of you, but no matter. Guards, take them to their rooms... their training starts tomorrow."

The guards who had gone to the selected kids led the way out of the pit, taking seven kids away with them.

"Now, the rest of you will have another opportunity to prove yourself to me. You will be fighting a current Phantom. A true life or death situation. If you put up a decent fight, you make it through the night as well. If you get killed, well, that's less of you that I have to worry about dealing with myself. Xander, get out there... pick your opponent, and do what you have to do."

I heard the boy next to me curse under his breath as he shakily stood up. I glanced at him and saw that he was still fighting with his own head about what he was going to do.

"Just do it quick... it'll be better for you, and whichever one you choose will be... better off."

He looked at me sadly as I finished my sentence. I grimaced at the realization that I just told him to kill a child, mentally beating myself up over how cold I had truly become.

"Thanks for your input," he said as he glanced between the floor and my solemn face with a grim but resolved look on his face, "but I've already made my decision."

Before I knew what was happening he drew his knife and threw it directly at Maria's chest. People around us gasped in shock as the blade flew at the woman. In the blink of an eye I saw Maria visibly scowl as she caught the knife before it could hit her.

"Disappointing," she muttered as she tossed the knife down into the pit, "help me get him to his cell."

Two guards rushed forward and grabbed Xander by the arms, dragging him roughly out into the hall while Maria followed them out.

"This is a temporary reprieve. When I get back we will finish these pit fights and get on with the training."

With that she swept out of the room, following the guards who were taking Xander away. The kids down in the pit continued to awkwardly stand around waiting for whatever happened next to happen. Many of the people in the stands began talking quietly amongst themselves. After a while Maria came back in the room... clearly fresh from beating Xander, quite possibly to death. When she walked back to the mic, silence filled the previously talkative groups in the stands.

"Now. Let's see if any of the rest of you are worth keeping around."

She then began assigning each kid to a Phantom. Once they were all assigned she ordered the first Phantom down into the pit. These fights would be fast, and either end with Maria deciding that the kid had impressed her enough to go on or that they hadn't impressed her, and the Phantom would be ordered to take the kill.

The first fight was between Sophia and a young hispanic girl named Evelyn. The girl put up as much of a fight as she could, but Sophia had her unconscious in less than a minute. Before doing anything else Sophia looked up towards Maria who looked to be deliberating. She made her decision and gave a quick nod of her head, Sophia and a guard carried the unconscious girl out of the pit to the infirmary. She had passed.

"Aidan, get down there. You'll be fighting that one," Maria said as she turned to face me while pointing at the boy who had given his guard a bloody nose.

This fight is even less fair than the last one. She knows that, so what's the point if she'll get less than a few seconds to decide this kid's fate.

I sighed and jumped down into the pit. The kids all shied away from me as I walked by, the kid I was walking towards backed up fearfully.

"Come on kid, show me what you've got."

He didn't move.

"Hey, do you want her to just shoot you?"

His skin paled at the thought and he lunged at me with his fist aimed at my stomach. I easily blocked the strike and made him lose his balance as his weight carried him forward.

"You won't make any progress that way."

He glared at me and tried to kick my knee out from under me, I dodged his kick easily and sighed.

"If you're going to impress her at all, you can't think just one move at a time. Don't strike and miss and stop."

He seemed to realize that I wasn't actively trying to hurt him, the realization seeming to give him a little more confidence. He stood up shakily and threw several punches, all of which I dodged, but at least he was doing more than one thing at a time.

"Why are you helping me?"

I'm not really... if he impresses Maria then he's just going to be forced to become what I have become. That's almost a fate worse than death. It would be easier for him to die now... he wouldn't have to become a monster.

"Aidan, you're disappointing me."

I looked up at Maria as I dodged another punch. The kid was getting tired and hadn't succeeded in touching me once.

"Maria, if I fought back he'd lose in a second, you know there's no way he could make it out of this if I tried... no way any of them could. You sent me down here to kill him, but I'm not going to do that," the kid threw another distracted punch but I grabbed his fist with one hand and stared daggers at the woman in charge, "let me train him. He'll be my responsibility like I was Colonel Joseph's responsibility when I got here. Give me a week, then you can test him again."

The woman stared at me with her arms crossed over her chest. She seemed to be contemplating what I had said. I held her gaze the entire time, knowing all too well that I had a look of complete defiance on my face.

Maybe everyone is right, one of these times she's going to get sick of my rebellious and defiant attitude towards her and Chronos.

"Fine. You have a week. Then he's going to be fighting you again, only it'll be real next time... a fight to the death with nothing held back. One of you leaves the pit alive and the other leaves in a body bag."

I frowned slightly at her response. If I don't figure something out... some way to change her mind, this kid is still going to die. But I bought him a week, that also gives me that much time to figure something out.

"I'm done with this. We'll pick back up tomorrow," Maria said as she sighed and glanced around the kids still in the pit, "but first, those two have a decision to make."

She was pointing at the two young Asian kids.

"In fact, it's a similar decision to one you had to make at one time, Aidan, this should be fun."

She jumped down into the pit and walked towards the two kids. They looked terrified.

"I told you all that you're not family anymore, you're enemies... yet you are still protecting him like the good big sister you were."

She was looking directly at the girl now.

The kids looked up at her as she tossed her pistol down in front of them.

"One of you will make it out of here and to your room," she said quietly, "and the other will be tossed away in a bag."

She then walked a short distance away and crossed her arms. The kids glanced down at the weapon in front of them then at the woman that had dropped it. She stared back at them and gestured at the gun.

"Go on. One of you pick that up and kill the other. I don't care which one," she said as she stared angrily at them.

Neither kid moved.

Maria sighed and pulled a knife from her pocket, then tossed it in the air and caught it. Suddenly she threw the knife and it sailed straight into the young boy's stomach. The girl screamed and dropped down to her knees next to the boy as he toppled over, crying in pain as the knife stuck out of his midsection.

Maria picked the gun up and walked over to them, aimed at the dying boy's head and pulled the trigger, stopping his crying instantly. The girl fell back and scooted against the wall with her hands on the sides of her head, she was screaming and crying. Her brother's blood had splattered on her face when Maria had shot him in the head with her right next to him.

It took everything in me not to try and kill Maria right then and there. I heard a gasp next to me and glanced over to see the boy who I had taken on as my student staring in complete shock and fear. Maria just turned and walked away, ordering guards to take the remaining kids to their rooms.

"Aidan, he'll be staying with you," she stated as she glanced at me over her shoulder and pointed at the kid next to me.

I just turned and nodded while trying to keep my anger hidden from her. I saw that Sophia had come back and had been watching everything while leaning against the back wall of the pit. She had a frown on her face as she stared at the dead boy and the broken girl against the wall.

I wish I could say I was surprised by what had happened, but as Maria had said I had been in a similar situation during my first week here. I clenched my fist as the memory came back to me. I quickly shoved it back down, deep into my mind, so I could focus on what was going on.

I slowly walked over to the screaming girl and her dead brother. I pulled the knife from his stomach and looked at his eyes, both were wide open, but the life was gone from them. I knelt down and closed those lifeless eyes. The kid behind me went over to the dead boy's sister and tried his best to calm her down, he used his shirt to wipe the blood from her face and spoke to her quietly. Soon she stopped screaming and just sobbed into his shirt while he wrapped his arms around her gently.

Sophia came over and knelt down on the other side of the corpse and stared at me. She seemed to be trying to gauge just how much this was affecting me.

"S-s-seven... h-he was o-only-y seven," the girl sobbed out as she came over to us and touched her brother's face, tears streaming down her face and falling onto his blood-soaked shirt.

I clenched my jaw and touched the scar under my right eye. Another memory flooded to the surface before I could keep it down like the previous one.

"Very few of you will make it through this week," Maria stated as she paced in front of the small line of kids in front of her.

I was the last one in the line of thirteen kids, Callam and Niki were standing next to me, all of us shaking in pure terror, but could you blame us, this woman had kidnapped us... killed our parents... beaten us the entire night after we had been brought here.

I was the oldest kid here, and I was only seven years old, the youngest was maybe four years old. These people were ending our lives before they even began.

Someone came up onto the stage pushing a large machine in front of him. Maria walked over to the kid at the opposite end of the line from me and shoved his hands into the machine. Suddenly he began screaming and crying, begging her to stop it, but she held his hands in that machine for several minutes before finally removing them and allowing him to drop his hands to his sides. Callam and Niki both tried to scoot away, tried to get behind me but guards held them in their places in line. There was a guard holding me too, I tried to fight my way out of his grip but he just squeezed my arms tighter. Maria and the person pushing the machine made it to Callam. That's when I decided to kick back behind me, I caught the guard holding me right between the legs. He let go of me and I jumped at Maria, but she was ready and moved out of the way before I could get her. I hit the floor and two guards grabbed hold of me this time, dragging me back in line.

"Aidan Colt, you're a fighter... we need fighters, but we need fighters we can control, not loose cannons," Maria said as she stepped in front of me.

I glared at her, trying to keep my fear from showing. She drew a knife from her belt and put it on my face, just below my right eye. She left it there for a short time before slowly drawing the knife across my cheek. The pain was unimaginable, a horrible burning feeling burst through my entire face as the knife was drawn all the way to my jawline. I didn't flinch though, I refused to give her the satisfaction.

"Aidan? You still here?"

I snapped out of my thoughts and dropped my hand down from my face. Sophia was looking at me with her eyebrows raised. A guard came towards us and pushed me and Sophia away from the body then picked it up. The young girl tried to keep him from taking her brother but he ignored her and started to walk away. I stood up and stared at him as he approached the door leading out of the pit.

"N-no! Please-se!" The girl shouted, still sobbing.

"Hey!"

I surprised myself and everyone near me when I shouted after the guard. He stopped and turned around then glared at me.

"What?"

"Put him down. Now."

"I can't do that, I've got my orders already, Colt."

"I don't care about your orders. Put him down," I said as I looked down at the knife I had removed from the boy's stomach, "unless you want me to make you."

I flipped the knife around in my hands and stared at the guard. A glimmer of fear went across his face before he grimaced and slowly set the boy's body down on the ground. He then turned back towards the door. As he walked out I threw the knife, it barely nicked his ear and slammed into the doorframe. He reached up and touched his ear where blood was coming from the small cut and turned back to me.

"Take that back to Maria."

He stared at me in both anger and fear as he removed the knife from the doorframe and left. I went over to the abandoned corpse and picked it up. I looked back at Sophia, the Asian girl and the boy I had taken responsibility for, then nodded towards the exit.

"Come on, I'll take you somewhere where you can... say goodbye then bury him."

The girl nodded and slowly made her way over to me. After a moment Sophia and the other boy followed. I led the way towards the fence I had climbed back in earlier that day. We walked in silence, the only sounds being the quiet sobs of the young girl. Anyone who we passed stared for a moment but immediately moved away when they saw the look I gave them. Soon we reached the fence and I got ready to climb over. I let the limp body I was carrying fall against my chest while I held it securely with my arms and slowly climbed up the fence. I reached the top and carefully jumped down on the other side. Sophia helped both of the kids climb up and over then did so herself.

"Are you taking us to your secret hideout? Wherever you go whenever you sneak off?"

I just glanced over at Sophia and nodded silently as I led the way. We arrived soon after and I set the boy down under a tree.

"What was his name?"

The girl looked up at me and wiped her eyes before responding.

"A-Akira."

I nodded and pulled one of my knives from its hidden sheath in my coat. I carefully carved his name into the bark of the tree. Nobody said anything as I worked, they just stood there either watching me carve or looking down at the small body. Once I had the name carved I turned towards the hidden hatch.

"Take however long you need. I'm gonna go get a shovel."

I walked away before anyone could respond. When I reached the hatch I opened it and climbed down into the bunker. I heard someone follow me but didn't care to look at who it was. I searched through the bunker until I found a shovel. When I turned around I saw both Sophia and the boy staring at the wall of etched names in the dim light. I sighed and grabbed the lantern and turned it on.

"That's everyone I've killed or been responsible for the death of since I became a Phantom."

"H-how many?" The boy asked as he put his hand on the wall and brushed it over several names.

"If I told you, you wouldn't believe me. Just know that it's ten years worth of names."

"Aidan... how many is it?" Sophia asked as she too stared in awe at the names.

I sighed and leaned the shovel up against a wall then began lighting the rest of the lanterns.

"Eight hundred and forty-seven," I respond as both of them look at me expectantly, "and I'll be adding another one in a few minutes."

Before either one of them could say anything else I turned away and brought the shovel up the ladder and over to where the girl was sitting next to her brother.

"Are you ready?"

She nodded silently and I started to dig a hole big enough to put Akira's body into.

"Thank you, Aidan."

"You don't have to thank me," I responded as I glanced up at her, "what's your name?"

"Sakura."

"I'm sorry this happened to you and your brother, Sakura."

"None of it was your fault," she muttered sadly, "you're not the one that kidnapped us, and you're not the one that... that killed him."

I chose not to respond to that since I had already been starting to blame myself for the poor boy's death. If I had listened to Colonel Joseph I could have stopped this before it happened. I could have killed Maria and freed all these kids before any of them died. I don't know how long I spent digging, but I stopped when Sophia approached us from the bunker entrance.

"I think that's deep enough," Sophia said as she stopped next to me and looked at the hole.

I nod in agreement and set the shovel down. I gently picked Akira's body up and carefully set him down in the hole I had dug. I was about to start covering him when Sakura reached out for the shovel.

"C-can I?"

She was starting to cry again but I could see the look of insistence on her face. She wasn't going to take no for an answer. I hand the shovel over and she begins moving the dirt I had dug up over her brother's body.

"Let's let her do this alone."

I nodded in agreement to Sophia's statement and the two of us walked back over to the bunker entrance. I climbed down first and saw the other boy still staring at all the names.

"How do you carve them into the concrete so nicely?" He asked as I went to stand next to him.

"With this," I stated as I grabbed the laser pen from its place on the counter, "it's a laser pen. The same kinda thing used to etch stuff into jewelry only portable instead of the etching machines that professional jewelers use."

"And there's really eight hundred and forty-seven?"

"Yeah."

"How many of them did you actually... you know... kill?"

He was awkwardly looking at me now. Clearly not quite comfortable with the fact that he was standing with someone who had been responsible for so much death.

"Most of them."

He visibly gulped and took a step back from me. I turned away and found a clear spot on the wall to carve the new name. Soon enough I had finished and the eight hundred and forty-eighth name was officially part of the wall.

Akira.

I stared at the name as I set the laser pen back on the counter.

"Are... are those the names of... of your family?"

I winced as I glanced over and saw the boy staring up at the first four names.

"Yes."

"What... what happened to them? Why are they part of your... memorial?"

I didn't want to answer that so I cleared my throat.

"What's your name, kid?"

He looked at me for a moment before stuffing his hands in his pocket and responding.

"Orlan."

I nodded in response and sighed as I walked over to stand next to him. I looked up at the names as we stood in awkward silence. The silence was broken when Sophia cleared her throat.

"We should probably head back... if we're gone too long they'll start looking for us."

"Yeah... let's check on Sakura," I reply, happy to have a reason to stop standing here hoping Orlan wouldn't ask about my family again.

As we headed towards the ladder we put the lanterns out. Sophia climbed up first, then Orlan, then me. When we got above ground we saw Sakura standing at the foot of the grave. The shovel was on the ground beside her. I went over to her and picked the shovel up, getting her attention.

"Sakura, are you ready to head back?"

"Yeah... yeah I am."

I nodded in response. I walked back over to the hatch and tossed the shovel down into the darkness before closing the bunker door and heading back to the facility. The others followed me, none of us spoke as we walked.

Once we reached the fence Sophia climbed over while I helped the kids up and over then followed behind them. Sophia put her hand on Sakura's shoulder and said that she could come stay with her tonight so that we wouldn't have to find her an empty room or deal with any of the guards, or worse, Maria. The girl agreed and they both said bye before heading to Sophia's room. Orlan and I both already knew he was supposed to stay with me so I led the way to my room and he followed.

"This is... nice," he muttered after I unlocked and opened my door and he walked in, "it seems so... normal."

"Well what were you expecting? Bloodstained walls and floors with skeletons and stuff hanging on the walls?"

"Definitely something more like that than like this... it reminds me of my old room... we'll sort of. I didn't have a kitchen in mine."

I rolled my eyes at his response and pointed to a door to our left, "that's the bathroom if you need it. Bedroom is that door over there," I finished as I pointed towards a different door leading out of the main room.

"There's a cot in the closet in the bedroom, you can use that, unless you wanna sleep on the couch."

"Um... I'll sleep on the couch. Sounds comfier."

I nod in response and go to grab a spare blanket and pillow for him to use. When I come back I find him rummaging through my fridge.

"Sorry there's not much in there. I don't spend a lot of time here since I'm on missions so often."

He shrugs and settles for a couple fruit cups that could last a million years and still taste the exact same as when they were packaged. I grab him a spoon from the silverware drawer and we walk over to the couch. He opens the first fruit cup and starts eating. I just sit there tapping away at my C-Watch display trying to act like I was doing something important so he wouldn't try to ask me about anything I didn't want to talk about.

"Hey... Aidan... um... thanks," I suddenly hear him say, I look up and see he's finished the first fruit cup and stopped in the middle of opening the second one.

"What for?"

He really doesn't have anything to be thanking me for. Those fruit cups probably cut ten years off his life.

"Not... well... not killing me in the pit. I know you could have and probably should have... so thanks," he says as he finishes opening the fruit cup, "also for convincing Maria to let you teach me instead of her just... well... doing what she did to Akira, to me."

"Honestly, I'm not sure how much good I did you. Maria wasn't messing around when she said we'd have to fight to the death in a week. I'm gonna do my best to keep that from happening, but... I don't know if I'll be able to stop it."

"So, if we do end up having to fight again... are you... are you going to kill me?"

He turns pale and sets the fruit cup down, not seeming to have the appetite to finish it now.

"No. No I'm not," I say as a thought occurs to me, "stay here, I need to go talk to someone."

Before he can say anything I'm jumping off the couch and running out the door, barely taking the time to lock it behind me. I bolt down hallway after hallway until I come to the door I was running towards. I knock on it several times then stand and wait. Colonel Joseph soon opens the door.

"Aidan?"

"Tell me what your plan is. I'm ready to be a part of it."