"We must, however, acknowledge, as it seems to me, that man with all his noble qualities... still bears in his bodily frame the indelible stamp of his lowly origin." -Charles Darwin

Ather is gone.

My eyes don't quite comprehend his absence until I notice a less familiar figure push himself off the wall.

Jeff. I don't think I've ever detested the sight of a man so much until this moment. It's barely his fault, even with his lack of compassion or hospitality. It's the remnants of what feels like the last words I'll ever speak to Ather that makes me feel so on edge. He left me. Left as in, not dying like my mother, or disappearing like my father, or being beaten like my brother. Left as in a conscious decision of the mind to get up and abandon me. There's no words to describe how it feels to not only be left alone, but to be conscientious of the fact that something about you, something you can't control, is the reasoning behind the abandonment.

Contentment is the inseparable companion of ignorance, and Ophelia Darwin is doomed to live in torment over the things she cannot have.

I'm living and breathing in a world consumed with disease, and while this should feel like my saving grace, I can't help but feel as though it's a punishment. I watch as people die in front of me. I watch their blood turn to ink as I helplessly watch. It's not a symptom of PTSD. It's my body's way of reminding me that no matter where I am, or who I've found, I'll always face the fate of having to lock arms with the grim reaper.

I'm just surprised Jeff hasn't disappeared before my eyes. Someone must really hate me.

"You're back." Even as I stare directly at his eyes, Jeff still manages to look through me. I feel an almost sick sense of power for having the ability to make him nervous.

"Doctor's orders," he manages to grunt before steering me in the direction of my holding room.

And we walk, not acknowledging each other, in complete silence. For some reason, I no longer feel overwhelmed by the whiteness surrounding me.

***

The only thing keeping me from verbally assaulting thin air is the blurry image of Jeff writhing in front of me. As soon as my reticent bodyguard and I stepped into the hospital room, we were commed for an emergency Graft. Little did we know, the system's wires were burned to the point that the Graft itself was just a shrieking alarm.

"Shit," I spit out as another wave of screeches barrel through my eardrum, fizzling into nondescript words in front of me. The Graft drops in and out of reality, giving me a glimpse of Jeff, suffering through an equal torment. I almost feel excited from the thought of having something to talk about with my timid companion. Yelling in agony might just be our first step to friendship.

"System... malfunction." I somehow manage to hear Jeff struggle to send a message to someone. We both shout in harmony as another wave of the alarm takes over our senses. Tears sting my eyes as my body's defense against the Graft's override weakens.

"Nes," I gasp for air, feeling blindly for something to grip onto. "Pick up your goddamn comm link and help us!"

I've fallen out of control one too many times due to my disorder, but I've never felt so much physical pain. Yes, seeing images of my loved ones dying mentally incapacitates me to the point of madness, but I've never felt an actual wound. Going through a faulty Graft is its own Hell. Having no control over any of my senses, let alone my thoughts, is something that I wouldn't even want Jeff to experience. There's no break to the static swallowing us up as we helplessly wait for someone to come help us.

All at once, the Graft sizzles out to an eerie silence with me and Jeff wobbling on our legs. Seeing as I'm close companions with disorientation, it doesn't take long for me to see a figure standing in front of me, holding what looks like a large piece of scrap metal.

"System malfunction, sorry about that. Everyone in the mech department was either out off grounds or unable to crack the firewall. Had to call in the gifted novice." I blink back tears as I stare up at a familiar face framed with unruly hair.

"Maddox," I croak, right before my knees give out and I make impact with the tiled floor.

"Stars, Freshie." He carefully places the hulk of metal on the floor before helping me up. "You good? Don't want you falling for me a second time."

I roll my eyes as he gives me a dramatic wink. "What the hell happened over here? One second, I was walking in the hall, and the next, I could feel my ear drums being shattered."

"You wanted a diversion, Peach. As you well know, I'm an expert at that." Noting my wide eyed look and nervous glance toward the still-disoriented guard, Dox adds, "He can't hear us. I made sure to up the concentration where he was standing. Didn't mean to hurt you in the process."

"I think I have permanent ear damage, but I'll survive," I grumble. "Were you really the one who set up that Graft? How the hell does that work?"

I watch as Dox lifts up the metal piece, grinning at it as if it's his newborn child. "This baby is my newest invention. Concentrated Grafts. The ones that you're accustomed to are normally district-wide. Don't have much reign over who they go to since they're on an expansive grid. I was originally supposed to create a Graft for the grid on this facility, but you can assume how that went. Now all I have is this faulty metal piece that I have no use for. Well, at least until now."

"You're sadistic, but I can't say I don't appreciate the effort." Once my balance comes back to me, I let myself loose from Dox's light grip on my arm.

"Don't mean to cut our conversation short, but Jeff should be coming to pretty soon. I made sure to put the security cameras on a loop so that we go undetected. Only thing we need to do is make sure your unwanted posse member doesn't make any calls to the higher-ups."

Even as Dox administered a higher Graft intensifier at Jeff, I can still see that he's somewhat lucid. His wobbling is substantially slowing to a bouts of spasming. There's a chance that Jeff can still see us, and knowing that I'm leaving with my earlier established lover won't give the best message to the officer. Just how we'd get away with leaving is beyond me.

"Get out of the room, Lia," Dox murmurs, pressing a hand urgently to my back. He follows behind me as we shuffle out of the room. Before I can say anything, Dox closes the glass door of my "cell" and slams his hand on a protruding lever from his invention.

"Sorry about this, Sir." He mockingly salutes the officer and we both watch as Jeff once again crumples to the floor.

***

"How long will he be in pain?" I blurt out as my friend leads the way down the brightly-lit hallway.

"I didn't want to increase the voltage too much, since his probably probably won't be able to sustain against the desensitization for much longer."

Dox doesn't answer my question. I eye him expectantly as we twist our way further toward the paneled elevator.

Finally, Dox sighs, saying, "I've never experimented this type of thing with actual people. Except for this one time that I accidentally focused the Sense Beam at myself. I wasn't really keeping track of time, but I can assure you that at least a few hours passed by until I finally came to. That was with the full voltage on, though. I used a third this time, so I'm assuming it'll give us no longer than one hour, give or take thirty minutes."

I wince. That's a lot of time to be spending with no control over your body. Then again, without Dox's "Sense Beam," I wouldn't be able to get anywhere near to seeing my brother again.

I'm just glad Ather isn't here to go through something like that.

"Still thinking about Lover Boy? I'm wounded. After all I've done for you." I don't realize that I spoke my thoughts out loud until Dox replies to me. My face feels as though its on fire.

"Sorry," I manage to say without worsening the blush that's surely tinting my cheeks.

"Don't sweat it, Freshie. You two are cute, making eyes at each other and acting like you're enemies." I look up to see Dox giving me a genuine, whole-hearted smile. I'm so frazzled by his response that I barely acknowledge the panels of the elevator shifting to let us in.

I'm not normally intuitive enough to take notice of someone being affectionate toward me, but Maddox has always seemed awfully... Intimate. At least, that's what I assumed from him kissing me in the hospital room to helping me with an elaborate escape plan.

"Look, now you're eying me," He grins, bobbing his head as each of the panels close around us. "I have to say, you're a lot better at making faces at Mr. Asshat. You look like you're about to pounce me, and not in a good way."

The few seconds of hearing the almost inaudible downfall of the elevator almost drives me mad. Against my better judgment, I respond, "I'm just... confused. If you're so adamant about me being with Ather, then why did you kiss me in the hospital room? Why are you here helping me?"

There's no mistaking the whine in my voice. God, do I sound petty to him? I sure as hell hope not. I've never really been in a relationship before, and I'm not planning on scavenging the bachelor pool within this facility while I have much bigger things to worry about. Still, I'm curious to know what Maddox's intentions are. In all honesty, I wouldn't hate him for not helping me. I mean, I did just meet him a few days ago.

"Why did I kiss you? I'm good at diversions." Dox frowns as the elevator finally comes to a halt. Before I can walk out, he hops in front of me, arms placed over his chest. To my grief, he's actually smiling. Laughing, even. At me. "Lia? Oh, dear. You're blushing like mad."

"Okay, sorry I said anything. That was stupid. Let's just please g-"

Dox holds up a hand to interrupt me. "We have plenty of time. Don't worry. What I'd really like to know is did you think I had a... thing for you?"

Oh, what I would give to have a trauma attack right now. I'm almost afraid that this moment will be my new source of PTSD.

"Shit. I didn't mean to sound like such an ass." Dox's facial expression drops significantly at the sight of my distressed face. "Let me clear the air here. You're a wonderful girl, Lia. Truly. I think you'd be a perfect match for that green-eyed brute."

Oh, God. I want to die. I want to die right here, right on the transparent panels of this elevator shaft.

"I think any guy would find you... charming. Unfortunately, I don't think I'm capable of that."

I stare at my hands. I will them to burn away into ash and drift away from this god-awful conversation I'm having with Maddox.

"I guess I'm good at acting," he says, it seems, to himself.

"Excuse me?" I squeak.

"Connect the dots, Lia." He narrows his eyes at me, as if in a challenge. My ego deflates like a balloon. And then it dawns on me.

He doesn't think he's capable of liking me in an intimate way. Either I'm just a terrible companion, or he's...

"But you said you were a 'lady's man extraordinaire,'" I blurt out, thinking back to our introduction in the mess hall. "And why would you help me, then?"

"First of all, I was being sarcastic. A little too sarcastic, I suppose. Sorry about that. Second of all, while I don't and will never like you in that sense, I do find you to be a good friend. Don't sell yourself short, Freshie. You are capable of making friends, you know. I'm helping you because I want to. Not for some sort of twisted way to gain your affection. Also, Liv and Kat may or may not have threatened to twist my arm off if I didn't check up on you. They don't call me MJ for nothing."

"Huh?"

"MJ. Maddox Jaffrey, the mechanical janitor. Using my powers for good." He gestures animatedly to the metal device still in his hands. With that, I lose all sense of control and burst into a fit of laughter.

Somehow, the nearly palpable tension hanging above our heads manages to dissipate as I let out a long breath, steadying my chuckles.

"Right," we both say in unison. I can't help but break out into a grin as Dox smirks at me. We both step out of the elevator and find a new topic of conversation-Chase.

***

Chase's holding cell definitely lacks the same luxury of transparency that mine does- or should I say, has the luxury of privacy that mine doesn't. If I had been told to look for Chase while aimlessly roaming the halls, I would've never picked the door that's identical to all the one's surrounding it. From what I've seen, it looks as though Project Luna was never meant to have a legitimate prison quarter. The entire floor is identically white and blank as all of the ones I've seen, save for the doors lining it. Rather than have any windows, all of these doors are shut in an airtight lock. I almost panic at the thought of trying to pry one open, but seeing as to how Dox still walks with a swagger toward room 216, I'm not too concerned about breaking in.

Thankfully, I'm right. Within a few seconds of tinkering with another device that he pulls out of his pocket, Dox releases the lock.

"Thank you," I whisper to him as we both manually pull the door open.

"Don't mention it," he replies after a sizable crack is made for me to squeeze through. "I have the gridded map for the entire corridor, so I'll know if someone is approaching us. Chase should be in this room, if the genetic chip is right. You have an hour."

After giving him a curt nod of appreciation, I squeeze myself through the door.

"Chase?" I call out into the room. The lights are dimmer, I notice as I blink away the black dots from my vision. After a few moments, I finally manage to spot a figure slumped in the corner of the room, seated on a wooden chair.

Chase.

As I near his form, I notice several bruises littering the skin peaking out of his white jumpsuit.

"Chase," I murmur brokenly as I place a hand on his shoulder. He finally turns to me, his eyes staring blankly into mine. There are a few bandages on his face, but thankfully he seems to be somewhat intact.

"Lia."

My heart skips.

"You're not supposed to be here."

***

A/N: EARLY UPDATE, FOLKS. TELL ME YOU LOVE ME. I was too excited to not finish this chapter as soon as I had an idea how it would go. SO MANY THINGS HAPPENED I'M NOT SURE WHERE TO START.

Ather left. How rude.

LET'S START WITH MADDOX. WHAT DO YOU GUYS THINK? ANYONE SURPRISED? ANYONE STILL CONFUSED? CONFER, PLEASE.

FOR ALL MY CHASE FANS OUT THERE, HERE YOU GO. You've been waiting for a little bit of brotherly love, and I was totally going to leave you hanging, but I left in a little snippet. Next chapter I will confirm that there will be no snippets of Chase. I will give you the real deal. And some more backstory on what the hell is going on and where everybody is.

I have an AP Gov test that I didn't study for. Hm.

Shoutout to my good friend @CandaceMJ for the wonderful edit used in this chapter. She's talented. What is Stellar, you may ask? You should just ask her.

Another shoutout to @Meow_Its_Andrea, who is so kind to me and is in the works of writing her own story. I'm very excited.

And to @pennyandpaper whom I admire for her amazing writing. She has a really cool library, as seen on her Twitter.

Also, thank you to everyone who comments and rates and does all these nice things that make me smile every time I open up the Wattpad app. You're all fabulous and I promise to mention you one day when I'm writing a cohesive author's note that doesn't include me panicking about Maddox in all caps.

Thank you, thank you for reading.

Rate/comment/all that good stuff.

Stay lunar,

Liliana