And to Think...

Acacia's POV

Jade paces back and forth around the room trying to find a way out by hitting the wall every once in a while. She woke up around an hour ago and has been at this ever since.

Aaron is sitting across from me with his head and arms resting on his knees. The pounding is driving me crazy and finally I yell for her to stop. "For fuck's sake Jade, there's no way out!" She stops and looks at me with a blank face while Aaron chuckles without lifting his head from his knees.

"Just let her keep doing her thing Acacia. She'll burn out eventually." Jade turns her focus on Aaron, her eyes seeming to look past his physical appearance.

"Aaron..." She takes two big steps until she's at his side before kneeling down to his level. "You okay?"

"Yeah I'm fine." Aaron mumbles, still hiding his face.

"Kid," Jade says sternly, moving closer to him. "Look at me." He waits several seconds before raising his head hesitantly. Jade's jaw clenches and my eyes widen. Dark splotches are slowly spreading throughout Aaron's bright blue eyes. The veins near his eyes were darkening and popping up through his paling skin.

"It's-it's just really bright..." He says, squinting his eyes as if the sun was in this very room. "Really bright i-in here." He raises a finger and moves it around in a circular fashion, motioning to the entire room. "The white isn't helping." Jade rests a hand on the back of Aaron's neck and grasps some of his darkening hair between her fingers. Her actions cause Aaron to take a deep breath in, like he hadn't been breathing correctly before.

"You aren't wearing enough black..." She scolds gently, pressing her forehead against the top of his head. "What were you thinking." Aaron shivers and lets out a small laugh.

"I'll make sure to remember for next time mom." He says sarcastically, gazing up at her, their eyes barely three inches away from each other. They both close their eyes and breathe in sync, which is too calming for the situation we are stuck in.

"The titanium in these walls... Your powers shouldn't be working." I casually bring up the subject. When I was first brought into this room, I was told that it was mutant proof. At first I didn't know what that meant, until one of the 'orderlies' shot me and it didn't reflect. The bullet only grazed my arm, but normally it wouldn't have even done that much damage.

"There's a difference between powers and curses Acacia." Jade states blatantly, moving her fingers in circular patterns between Aaron's shoulder blades while he breathes steadily.

"Curses aren't a thing." I fire back, purposefully contrasting what she had said. Her green eyes narrow in on me, holding a look that tells me she knows something I don't.

"Wanna bet." Just then, the door opens and the ginger redneck walks in. Aaron says he looks like Russel Crowe, but if I see him like that then it'll ruin every movie he's in for me.

He grabs Aaron by the arm and pulls him through the doorway. "Hey wait, wait!" Jade puts a hand on his shoulder in order to stop him but he shrugs her off. Her strength doesn't work within these four walls. "Where are you taking him!" Aaron looks back at us, and I can tell that he's struggling to keep his calm composure.

"I'll be okay Jade, okay?" He extends his arms towards her in effort to calm her down. "It'll be okay!"

Before Jade can do anything, the man pulls the weakened Aaron out of the room and locks the door. Jade stands in front of the door with another blank expression on her face. I'm shocked as well.

"HEY!" Jade uses all of her human strength and pounds on the door. "BRING HIM BACK!" Her fists do absolutely no good, but I'm not about to tell her that. "YOU CAN'T HAVE HIM!" She swings her arms carelessly at the door, her hair flying in the same way. "DON'T HURT HIM!"

"Jade-"

"THEY CAN'T HAVE HIM!" She responds to me with the same volume, and the same scared expression. Jade doesn't get scared, at least not when it comes to her own well-being.

"Jade stop, Jade!" I've worked my way over to her side. "Jade... Your hands..." She pauses and looks down to observe them. Her knuckles have turned red from beating the door repeatedly.

"What about them." She speaks in a complete monotone. I slowly reach for her arms and try to get her away from the door. She starts to follow me, but then we hear him scream.

Aaron's screams fill the entire hallway, and probably further than that. Jade is immediately on the door again, banging her fists against it as hard as she can. "AARON! AARON!" She screams his name over and over again at the top of her lungs, but I don't think he can hear her.

He screams then stops, then screams again, which probably means the experimentation has started.

I don't think I screamed that much, but then again I kept passing out, so the pain must've been bad.

After awhile the screaming stops, both Aaron's and Jade's. She's leaning against the wall on the opposite side of the room, her eyes glued to the door. She has this crazed look in her eyes, like if he screams one more time she'll crack.

Its not that I'm not worried about Aaron, but Jade has some crazy loyalty thing when it comes to him. I wish I could be that loyal to someone, if only people would live long enough for that to happen.

There's a gentle knock on the door and the small window slides open. I can see a pair of deep blue eyes looking back at me. "Hi, you might need these." She pushes a few white towels through the window and I take them from her.

"What do you mean we might need them?" Jade says harshly, not moving from her spot. The girl's eyes get real sad.

"I'm sorry." The window closes and we're left alone again. Being alone with Jade isn't quite my favorite activity.

A door at the end of the hall opens and I can hear a pair of footsteps making their way towards our room. They are accompanied by the dragging sound of feet. Jade's eyes narrow in on the door and she takes a step away from the wall.

The door opens and Aaron is thrown to the floor, beaten and bloody. "Aaron!" Jade and I shout in unison. Jade falls to the ground and cradles his head in her lap while I turn to the door. Russel Crowe and Tweedle Dee are standing there with smug looks on their faces.

"Get out of here!" I yell at them as I take a step closer. "GO AWAY!" I try to push them away but I'm tossed aside as if I weighed nothing. I hit the floor and the door closes.

I turn towards Aaron and Jade and crawl towards them. "Oh my god..." Aaron's face is a mess. Blood is streaming from his nose and the corners of his mouth all the way down to the neckline of his T-shirt. He has several cuts along his jaw line and a gash in the upper side of his head.

"I'm going to kill them." Jade murmurs through clenched teeth. Her fingers trail from his arms to his torso where she lifts his shirt to find more cuts. It's as if Stryker cut him just enough to make him bleed but not deep enough to kill him.

Aaron's dirty blond hair is drenched in sweat and I use one of the towels to wipe the remaining sweat from his face. "We need water." I say as I dab at his face.

He opens his eyes and looks up at Jade, completely ignoring the fact that I'm there. "Hey kid." A small grin flashes across his lips but it quickly disappears and is replaced by a pained expression. Aaron groans and shifts a little in his place, probably trying to see how far the pain goes. "On a scale of one to ten, how bad?" She places her hands on the sides of his head so that he'll look up at her again.

"Twenty-one." He says with his eyes closed. Jade's face turns sad as she brushes his hair to the side.

"I'm sorry." Aaron opens his eyes and gazes up at Jade.

"And to think, right now I could've been at the beach with my gay brother and a bunch of hot blondes." I don't know what he means by this, I didn't even know he had a brother. Then again, there's probably a lot that I don't know about Aaron Shield.

Jade shakes her head and repeats herself, her fingers still in his hair. "I'm sorry." Aaron stares at her for a couple more minutes until he passes out, his head still in her lap.

"Jade... What did he mean?" She looks up at me.

"His brother likes boys."

"No not that..." I sigh. Jade does this purposefully. She only answers the questions people are smart enough not to ask. "Where would he be?"

"Oh. That." Jade takes the towel out of my hands and bunches it up before holding it over the gash in his head. "He almost moved in with his mom."

"Why?" Jade continues to hold the towel in place.

"We need water." She says, changing the subject. "If we don't wash out these cuts they could get infected."

"Doesn't he heal quickly though?" Jade's eyebrows crease as she move his shirt up to get a better look at the cuts.

"Faster than normal, yes, even by now he should've started to heal though..." She let's go of his shirt and settles into a more comfortable seating position. "Something's not right." There's a small knock on the door and Jade's eyes dart towards it. "Acacia... Hold his head." She waits for me to assume her position before approaching the door.

It's the same girl from before, and from this spot in the room I can finally see what she looks like. She's short, so only part of her face fits in the window, but she's tan and has long dark brown hair. She looks Italian, aside from the deep blue eyes. "Hi."

"Who are you?" Jade asks harshly, blocking her view of Aaron.

"My name is Lauren." She has a really mature voice, a strong motherly tone. "I'm here to attend to the boy."

"No." Jade says, placing her hands on the door as if she plans to hold it shut.

"Please." The girl beckons, wrapping her small hands around the bars inside of the window. "He'll bleed out." Jade's jaw clenches and she takes a hesitant step backwards.

"Well it's not like I can open the door." Lauren smiles with her eyes and unlocks the door.

"Thank you." She walks in straight towards Aaron, but Jade grabs her by the arm before she can get past her. "I don't work for Stryker, I just take care of the people he hurts." Lauren keeps her eyes on Aaron, like she's used to being questioned like this. She pulls her arm away from Jade and sits down on the left side of Aaron.

I see why Jade would be suspicious. Lauren is dressed in the typical blue scrubs, she's dressed like a nurse. Except she can't possibly be any older than Jade and I, maybe one year more. She's taller than me, but that's not that big of an accomplishment. I'm only 5"3.

Jade watches as Lauren cleans Aaron's cuts and checks his heart rate. Her nose is set in a permanent looking snarl, as if she's about to start punching the walls again.

After awhile, Lauren stands up and smiles at me. "That'll do for now. Thank you for letting me in." She's so polite, I just nod at her. She walks past Jade on her way out, who doesn't even turn he head to acknowledge her. "They'll shoot you if you try to leave." Lauren says as she steps out of the room, giving Jade the same look that is being given to her. "Just thought you should know that."

The door closes and we're left alone again. Jade stands by the door while I hold Aaron's head. Her arms are crossed, her head is facing the floor, but her fingers are tapping repeatedly against her arms.

I gently brush back Aaron's hair and repeat this motion, hoping that I'm somewhat calming him in his unconscious state. His hair is soft and fluffy, but blood is rubbing off of my hands and onto his scalp.

"How did they find you?" I look up to see Jade looking right at me. Having her green eyes on me makes me uneasy for some reason.

"Well I had just left you and Aaron... I was wandering around with Harry, my dog," Jade nods like she already knew this piece of information. "I thought they were dog nappers... They picked up Harry when he was chasing a squirrel and I chased the van all the way here." I cringe when I remember how stupid that was of me to do, but still, I couldn't let them take Harry.

I hear this sniffling and at first I think Jade is crying, but then I see that she's trying to hold back her laughter. This hurts me a bit, she probably thinks I'm some stupid girl.

"What? I wasn't about to let them take Harry!" Jade holds up one of her hands defensively but moves it to cover her mouth.

"No, no I know. I get it." She calms herself down and looks back at me. "I'm the same way about my wolf."

"Your... Wolf..." I raise my eyebrows and nod my head. "Of course you have a wolf." I start to laugh really hard, and Jade joins me. We both laugh pretty easily even though Aaron is passed out right in front of us. Oh well, he'd be glad that we're getting along.

The latch on the outside of the door moves and we both get quiet. The ginger walks through the door and Jade grabs him by the neck by pressing both of her forearms firmly on each side. She shouts in frustration as she throws him over her shoulder and onto the ground. Jade's strength may not be working, but luckily for us her anger isn't really part of her mutation.

As soon as this happens, the fat bald guy grabs her and points a gun at her head. "You're coming with us."

"Like hell I am." Jade retorts, averting her eyes to the side of the room.

"Boss' orders." The ginger says deeply as he stands to his feet.

"This may come as a shock to you fellas but I don't give a shit about what your boss wants."

"Boss thought you might say that." Baldy says as he points the gun elsewhere. "So it's either you or the boy." I swallow hard when I see that the pistol is pointed right at Aaron. Immediately, my arms to to cover his chest and I pull him closer to me.

"No!" I know that Aaron can't handle any more 'experimentation'. Jade's eyes widen and the light flickers across her enlarging pupils.

"Okay." Her entire body relaxes as she lets the men take her away.

Jade's POV

The first time I was brought down this hallway I was completely knocked out. Now, I can see everything. The rooms are like jail cells, the ones I'm used to. I guess that means Acacia and I were locked in isolation.

I pass several people, most of them around my age. One dark skinned girl with a dark green hijab that covers her hair, one blue skinned woman with fiery orange hair. They're both relaxing in their cages, until they see me.

They probably know what is about to happen to me.

I pass Lauren, who is sitting in her own cage. Her deep blue eyes give me a sad look as her fingers wrap around the bars. She feels bad for me, hell, I feel bad for me.

Two large, white doors slide open and I am lead into what looks like a training arena. There is a huge glass dome ceiling. It's raining outside.

The only thing in the room is a lab chair, dead and center. I keep moving but am jerked back by the bald dude. "Well hello, Miss Azalea." My stomach climbs all the way up to the back of my throat as a man steps out of the shadows in the corner of the room. "You look... Awake." He has a little smirk on his face that I want to rip off and shove up his ass.

"Wow. Now I know why you're a doctor." I shift comfortably with my arms restrained. I'm not going to let him get to me. "Couldn't figure it out before..."

Stryker tilts his head to the side and gives me a threatening smile. "You are so much like your brother." He takes a step closer and presses his thumb to my chin. I pull my head backwards to get away from him. "And we both know what happened to him." My teeth bite down on the inside of my cheek when he mentions Wade, especially what he did to him. But I still can't let him under my skin.

Stryker looks up past me and makes a motion with his hand, like he's telling someone to come forward. I hear feet shuffling and I turn my head to look behind me. "No..." I start to fight the guy holding me but he twists my arms in a painful position. "Aaron no..."

The ginger is pushing Aaron through the sliding doors, using almost all of his strength to make sure Aaron doesn't fall to the floor. His nose is bleeding again...

"I came so he wouldn't have to!" I struggle harder, I need to get to Aaron. The guy holding me starts to laugh and I swing my head backwards, heading him in the nose. He shrieks and let's go of my hands, giving me time to jump over my arms so that my cuffed hands are now in front of me. I rush to Stryker and grab him by the collar of his lab coat, attempting to lift him off his feet, but I'm not strong enough. I bring my face close to his, close enough to smell his putrid breath. "WHAT KIND OF GAME ARE YOU PLAYING!"

He starts to laugh and two guys grab my by the shoulders, pushing me to the ground. I watch as another man does the same to Aaron before handcuffing him to the pipe system in the wall, far enough away that I couldn't reach him. Stryker leans down so that our eyes are at the same level, a sick grin plastered on his lips.

"A fun one."

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HEY GUYS. WHAT DO YOU THINK?