"Wake up, Erik! Please, Erik... wake up!" Liesel continued to shake and pull at the older boy laying curled up in his bed. She looked to the door and rushed to the window quickly. With struggling efforts she jumped up and down and saw the set of soldiers heading towards their direction. Running back she grasped a hold of his arm and tugged him with all the strength she could muster, which really wasn't all that much. Pouting and pulling the itchy cover off of him, she watched with a small amount of triumph as he shivered, which she felt guilty for, and turned over to face her. His brown hair stuck up at odd directions from tossing and turning in bed, and his blue eyes blinked slowly. He looked startled through bleary eyes before he seemed to remember where he was, and who she was. "Get up!" Liesel stomped a booted foot on the ground and looked at him pleadingly. 

It was either he got up on his own accord, or he was dragged out of bed. Either option was bad, waking up bought nothing to a bleak day, and the other hurt. Either way Liesel believed the first option was the best, though it seemed Erik needed some encouragement. Not that she blamed him. Unlike everyone else within this place, all Liesel ever did was stay in this cabin. She was being honest with Erik last night, the only time she got freedom, if it could be called that, was when she was called to the Doctor's office. This happened at least twice maybe three times a week. She couldn't say it was a pleasant experience.

Hearing the urgency in her voice, Erik wasted no time in flinging his legs over the bed and standing up. He straightened out his trousers and jacket and looked at her. Liesel had to tiptoe but she managed to make his hair look less ruffled than it did moments ago. "What's going on?" Erik asked still sounding more asleep than awake.

Liesel turned to the door just as the sounds of a lock clicked and rattled out of place. "We have a Doctor's appointment." Her bright green eyes flicked away from the door and to him. He visibly tensed from that simple sentence. Moving away from in front of him, she stood by her bed and looked worriedly at the door as it opened.

Everyone and everything here was so much bigger and stronger than herself. Though she seemed wise and privy to behave, when confronted with four dark grey uniformed men, she reverted to a scared child. From the moment they had first met, Erik surmised there was a small gap between their ages, perhaps two to three years, but as two of the soldiers rounded on her to act as escorts, she looked at least half her age and close to crying. The brave face and determination she had moments ago was gone. And truly all that remained was a frightened little girl.

Not putting up any resistance the two of them left the dreary light of the cabin and into the even drearier light of the day. Everything seemed so grey. The sky didn't wish to show any sun, only greying clouds, still carrying loads of rain no doubt. The ground was a mixture of grime, mud and debris. The clothing of the people they passed were dark and loose fitting on slimming frames. Walking into a reasonably well lit corridor, the two were led into a separate room. One which Erik didn't wish to return to anytime soon, and one which caused Liesel to sniffle quietly. Being side by side he easily managed to glance down at her as she tensed at the sounds of footsteps from behind.

With exaggerated movements, the Doctor gestured his arms to them with a smile on his face. He looked between them, the smile slipped from his face as he caught sight of Liesel's moment of distress. Stepping forwards, he waved the soldiers away which were lurking close to her. Leaning his hands against his knees, he looked up at her face. "Oh little Liesel, why so glum? I have what I promised, you can have it only if you do as I ask of you. It isn't so hard, is it?" Standing up straight Doctor Klaus Schmidt readjusted the black framed glasses on his face and set his gaze to the other child present. "Ah, Erik. It's good to see you again." As if they would never cross paths again when Erik had nowhere to go. 

Erik merely frowned as a response and this earned a chuckle to come from the Doctor in front of them. Something about this moment seemed mildly amusing as he clapped his hands before placing them in his white pressed long coat. With a content sigh he looked between them and shrugged. Turning on his heels, he walked steadily to the large desk in the room. His shoes made the slightest of noises against the tiled floor beneath him as he glanced over the books and papers scattered about the desk. Pretending to seem interest in one such article, he picked it up and turned it so it was the right way and he could read it. Though having many skills, reading upside down was one which hadn't yet presented itself to him. Humming gently he leaned back against the desk, still with blue eyes skimming over the writing before him. He was well aware that him avoiding saying anything was causing both children to shift uncomfortably. They were on tenterhooks just waiting for the inevitable really. 

He continued; "So," said after reading the same scrawled note several times became boring. Losing interest and flinging the paper over his shoulder, not caring if it flitted back down onto the desk or not. He smiled gently and looked between both Erik and Liesel. "Who's first? Any volunteers? No? Oh...that's a shame, I was hoping that today would go with some small amount of ease. Evidently I am still asking and expecting too much." With a shake of his head he looked to his polished shoes which gleamed in the harsh lighting of the room with a small sigh. Looking back up any mirth and faux happiness which he was exhibiting moments ago was gone. Instead he looked at them darkly with hard eyes and a frown. With a simple nod he signalled to split them up.

The sudden jerking motion of being pulled out of the room caused Liesel to scream. Yet the noise died down when she was hit over the head harshly, while dazed she managed to look up just as the door slid shut and Erik looked over his shoulder to see her go before the door shut completely and they were lost to each other.

----

"It is a rare thing indeed to have one mutation amongst several. Or in your case, Liesel, amongst four other individuals. But that's not the end of it, is it? Gretchen here, mere minutes older than you, is your twin and surprisingly normal." Listing off the already known information was just a way to kill time really. 

Schmidt did have to admit that some points of views which the Nazis projected had piqued his interest. The fact that one mutant out of the two here that he had crossed paths with was a twin was a curious thing. He was more than aware to the demented fascination some doctors had with twins, his didn't differ hugely...that much. He was more fascinated over the fact that one twin seemingly was a regular human, whereas the other was so much more. That and well, Gretchen was a good source of emotional blackmail to hold over Liesel. If her older sister was mentioned he had noted in the past that she would become defensive. The same thing happened with a certain boy and his mother...but whereas Erik could not achieve what was asked of him, Liesel did so with begrudging hesitance. Emotional blackmail was a sort of low point to use as a way of getting results, but it did work.

"See, didn't I tell you that I had what I promised?" Coming out of his thoughts he stopped circling the young girl. Stopping beside her, he crouched down to be on a semi-similar eye plane as her. She flicked her eyes over the figure standing in the doorway. He looked from the brown haired girl and then back to the auburn haired one beside him. "Now," he said lowly and flicked his hand. As simple as that the older twin got pulled away out of sight and into another room with the slamming of a door. "All you've got to do is fulfil what I ask of you."

"The battery?" Liesel asked while turning and looking at him. Schmidt had admittedly wired the young girl up to a dead battery to see if she could power it up. Once she had achieved that after some not so gentle persuasion he had upgraded to see if her electrical powers could be used in other ways. Lightbulbs was by far the easiest thing she could light up. Though she had a habit of making them explode from overpowering them. It would only take a matter of time really before the experiments would lead somewhere nefarious.

"A generator." He answered instead. She blinked with confusion yet didn't comment. "Come with me," standing up straight he led her towards the window. Placing a finger against the glass he pointed towards a large generator outside of a brick building.

Liesel stopped and placed her hands on the windowsill. She had to tiptoe slightly to see what he was referring to. Her growth really had been stunted because of the lack of decent food and nutrients. Schmidt hummed and clapped his hands together. "If you can power that, not only will you see Gretchen, but I'll also have a proper meal for you." He couldn't, after all, have her die of starvation. There was so much more to do.

"And Erik too?" Was seemingly her instant reply as she frowned at the generator. It was an awfully big contraption. She didn't know what it did, or what it was used for. But she could clearly see a control box which was covered in some sort of case.

"Oh no," he frowned, he even tutted and wagged a finger in disdain as she looked up confused. "Not for him."

"May I ask why?" Liesel risked some sort of beating for sure for questioning him. Yet when all she got was a sigh and a shake of the head, she was rather sure no hits would be sent her way.

"Because he failed to do as I asked. I wouldn't like to use the word disappointment, but that's close to what I felt. But you won't disappointment me, will you? Just think of your dear sister..." Liesel stiffened at that as he let his words hang in the air. Emotional blackmail often proved results. And he was more than sure it'd be the same thing again, she would succeed in anything he directed her way because she was so afraid of something happening to her sister.

Walking out of the building and towards the other he had earlier pointed to he moved towards the control box and opened the case. Pulling out a wire he turned and looked at her. The wire in his hand simply fed all the electricity into the building. The energy it gave off could be stored for something useful, but that merely crossed his mind as Liesel got pushed towards the controls. Seeing where the wire fitted in, she lifted a hand up and held onto the clasp the wire attached to. Shutting her eyes she concentrated deeply, tuning out of everything. Though when she heard screaming happen from the building she shot away from the controls.

"Well done, Liesel! You are far from disappointing today." Schmidt patted her on the head, even taking to fondly ruffling her scraggy hair, before he took to leading her away. She kept looking over her shoulder and looking for what the source of screams were. She paled though when they all but petered out and armed soldiers stalked into the building. Flinching at the sounds of a few gunshots she was for once thankful to suddenly be back inside and staring up into the face of her sister.

Gretchen threw her arms around her younger sister and held her tightly. Liesel shut her eyes, she hadn't been made to feel wanted for so long, she had forgotten what it felt like to have someone's loving arms around her. Her face scrunched up as she remembered her father, she hadn't seen him since coming here, she didn't know where he was, if he was alive...it was this and being with her sister again which caused her to cry. Gretchen silenced her the best she could, and through bleary tear filled eyes, Liesel firstly noted how unwell she looked. Cupping her face with her hands she inspected her before watching as Gretchen coughed heavily, the noise rattling in her chest. Hollow sounding breaths came from her as she regained her breathing, and then they were pulled apart. Liesel scrambled for her sister, while Gretchen merely got dragged away, having no fight in her.

When exactly she appeared back within the cabin she shared with Erik, she wasn't sure. Liesel stood and looked numbly at the ground before looking up. Blinking quickly she rushed over and sat down next to Erik who looked in bad shape. When she had been told he hadn't succeeded in doing what he was asked to do, she knew it wouldn't go down well. It had happened to her before, but somehow the treatment on him was worse. 

Placing her hands on his shoulder she shook him. He remained unmoving for a few moments before his eyes opened and looked at her. There was nothing there, managing to sit himself up, though he had to keep an arm around his middle, he looked to her with emotionless eyes. Liesel sniffled quietly, reaching out she awkwardly pulled him to her and held onto him. She needed someone to suddenly hold onto after seeing her sister, and he looked like he needed some sort of comfort. Liesel wasn't certain she was doing any good though, but after a few seconds he leaned his head heavily against hers. They sat in rather comfortable silence before looking towards the door when it was shortly opened and a solider placed something on her bed. Not once did he look at them, while they stared at him with unblinking eyes.

After he left Liesel removed her arms from over Erik's shoulders and moved to her bed. Unwrapping the item she looked at the food before her. Turning and watching as Erik struggled to move off of the bed, she picked up a bottle of what seemed to be water and walked over to him. Considering there were two present, Liesel unscrewed the top of one and took to slowly drinking the clear liquid. It was cold, and it hurt a little to drink, but the coolness soothed her aching throat as she held the other out to Erik.

Erik was slightly more hesitant with drinking the liquid. Yet considering nothing had happened to Liesel yet, he too took to drinking it. "Does this happen often?" He asked while looking to the basket of food. He spied sweets and chocolate, and winced. The savoury food didn't seem to grasp his attention either. In truth it made him feel queasy to even contemplate eating.

Liesel frowned and shook her head. "You do good, you get good things."

"What good did you do?" Erik narrowed his eyes and looked spitefully away from the food on the opposite bed and looked to her. His moment of anger dissipated as Liesel's eyes watered. She shook her head and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand.

"None!" Liesel exclaimed and shook from trying to keep her emotions in check. Haywire emotions usually led to accidents.

"What did he make you do?" Erik tried a different tactic. His voice lowered to a harsh whisper. He hardly knew this girl, but as yet she had done her best to look out for him, in sorts. The way he saw it, the kindness in a place that was so unkind couldn't go amiss.

Liesel looked at him with her tear streaked face still sniffling quietly now and again. "He used me to kill." She wasn't an idiot. She had seen quite enough from her struggles to look out of her window to know some of the fates of the people here. Never before had she been used. And it was destroying her from within.

Unwrapping his arm from his middle again, he reached out tentatively and placed it around her shoulders. He winced slightly as she huddled into him and wrapped her arms around him. She was by far too innocent for something so dark. Honestly, he could not imagine something like that having to be undertaken by her. Tensing he pondered over this. If Schmidt so easily managed to trick Liesel into doing such a thing, what was stopping the Doctor from doing the same to him? Erik had already been on the receiving end of his displeasure twice already. And each time ended in pain, and heartbreak. Could he continue on like this? No. Could Liesel? Definitely not. And it was this that caused him to gently push her away and look at her seriously. She looked confused over his sudden disposition change, yet looked at him expectedly.

"We will get out of here, Liesel." Erik said seriously while shooting a look to the food. Bribery to do good to get a decent meal sent to them was ridiculous. He presumed the interest in them both wouldn't allow them to die, least of all from the lack of food. But the bad treatment wouldn't stop if they didn't please the Doctor, both of them knew that for sure. Liesel blinked slowly and gave a measured nod. That alone seemed to signal that yes, she agreed, and that they should try and get out sooner rather than later, when other events would take their lives.

----

Edited: 7/June/2019.

Reedited: 13/August/2021