"No."
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8GCGWBWvKY
"Yes."
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj40aECtD3x
"No."
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl7L0AU3r0A
"Yes."
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmN8oi5FmXM
"You're lying!"
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8MfC69DAeS
"I'm not."
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJT0NwvyT2m
Yes he is! He must be!
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpPKFPpTIRa
"You are!"
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdQ6yzTsnDK
"Really, I'm not," he deadpanned, but it was easier said than believed.
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlzzwmccEJX
"Gemma?" I gawped.
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3ekebVzakj
"I believe I've specified that before."
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7bMZQurlFq
"You better not be lying to me, or I swear to God—"
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfySvb7u9LA
"202," he stepped towards me, "I'm not lying."
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJbIAI2trEM
I stared into the distance, bewildered. "Gemma?" I repeated. "Gemma Reynolds?"
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTHGvLPrmK1
"Yes."
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcckb6jhu2N
"You're not just winding me up, are you?"
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFVXa4mSh8j
"Should I even bother answering that?" he replied bluntly.
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWGt0GQeOZT
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?!"
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBmi8sFkxVw
"As of now, seven billion, increasing at a rate of one-point-zeo-nine percent."
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhPBvUIIynn
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.
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo7bTidihUi
"Reasonably speaking, her dad was the only person who knew about what the Front had been up to."
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpLzrZ15mdt
"That's why he set up a branch in London anyway."
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeZShTKMt4s
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.
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY8DFUTKC9M
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!"
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr1Td5wpM6S
"Needed," he corrected.
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0MowquNCVB
"Oh, come off it," I grumbled. "What do you even intend on doing there, anyway? Walk in, and demand they give you the drug?"
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaDndmbtQqQ
Silence dominated the forest.
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsLAZhXeNW3
"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."
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIcwQFc1TYF
"Fine. That's exactly what we're going to do."
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡodZvRCHWwQ
"The, I ask you questions, and you don't answer them phase?" I quizzed.
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmNXJB5V0JZ
"No."
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNLJqNWH5X6
"We're going to demand the drug from Gemma?"
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ57gHRFt3bn
"We will take a more tactful approach, than how you put it."
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡywBQ2EAyQE
"Define tactful."
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ97Lztx7imf
"Smarter," he said, flatly.
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnDE8OEJqKT
"Hey!" I swatted his arm. It was equivalent to hitting steel. "And then, what?"
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbSVoJ8BEFA
"We expose Director."
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2K23iVbC1R
Good plan. Except: "How are we going to do that?"
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡykiiha7FR5
"One thing at a time, 202."
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjZGBtMTQSG
***
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmq7Wl4X5Ji
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ99oQklVfL5
"So, you're telling me," I spoke, nibbling on an almond. "That this time next year, I'd be dead?"
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKONcnXI0H8
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.
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMebigAVekU
Everest gave a curt nod.
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQKyfptbgYg
Wow.
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7HpAmSXHNP
"Because the semi-cure only lasts twenty years, or so?"
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIvAZlFkNGa
We also agreed on calling 202 the 'semi-cure', since it only half worked.
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQOofiVU9XH
He nodded again.
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGfoiE563rS
Wow.
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9icATarvws
"And they were serious about the termination thing?"
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ57p0BMrWNE
Another nod.
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdFQLl9TSCI
Wow.
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfAXpqUXYn6
"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?"
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKEZMhKOg5O
"Not quite. I'm still better. It's how they made me."
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ476q3ws6nW
I scoffed. "And how exactly did they make you? I mean, Director did say that you have something that I don't. What?"
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdLSwFayNlg
This time, I didn't even get a nod – not that it was a question that could be answered with a simple nod, anyway.
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZwtSYRtjeT
"It's getting late, we have to move," he said, a while later, getting up.
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcvhQKH6TyH
"It's midday," I stated, cornering him. Physically.
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrXajuRR8tY
"It doesn't matter—"
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQWJW7BwwFl
"What do you have, that I don't?" I demanded.
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrFrphZXT29
"Brain cells."
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs9I2VSuN2D
I gasped. Humour was my thing!
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcXbfBJZOTI
"Dead brain cells!" I couldn't help but shoot back.
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLskcb4NAhq
"We both know that I'm smarter than you," he retaliated.
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDO9f5PbwoO
"Tell me!" I pushed.
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2wax3LbDnm
And we're back to square one.
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6VIQK0FHFn
"I don't owe you anything, 202," he replied.
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9mvrkdQWMd
No! Do something, quick! Make him answer!
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0miZG5oYCQ
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?"
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ37Nmdztz9B
His chiseled face remained as still as igneous rock. "You and I both know you are not dying. Now, drop it."
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDnBG7I1JvR
Unexpectedly, that made me feel a tad – just a tad – better. But the second part of his response initiated frustration.
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD7Nj2ocVJm
"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.
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj3IO9EkjV5
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.
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7TUITy4vlD
"It's not what I have. It's what I don't have."
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWmLKLfXgGm
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?
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbQN9JkuhEj
"Emotions," he stated.
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF2N43cKOTJ
Emotions?
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc8g6FGZaAq
"Yeah well, I knew that," I replied, uninterested in the obvious.
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq0s5ZIQwbl
"No. Neurologically speaking. I don't have emotions."
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTZwtjhqVY0
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!
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfhBOow6qEI
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."
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWNxoDmApNC
What the hell?
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTHJtU7erH0
I snatched the almonds from his hands. "They're doing something to you."
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcQya994vMi
"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."
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡii7vzWjFHl
"They already have," I muttered, unable to restrain the comment from slipping out.
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvqYLlM9zUG
He sent me a glare that could have cooled plasma.
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu5XGeyw5g9
I shuddered. "Kidding. Continue."
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjIgCyzO7f2
"They removed emotions that cause weakness."
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD8atLHEHEI
I cocked my head. "Weakness?"
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCvNYg4FPsf
"Grief, empathy, shame, remorse, fear, love," he recited at meteoric speed.
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3PtMmVQJo7
I glanced up, repeating them in my mind, at a much slower pace...
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdgEQrfvsDB
Oh.
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoqmecEsbGu
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.
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf4ATONxjfp
"When?"
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwz3CHLk2Q2
"When they decided they wanted you dead." He clearly didn't understand the concept of sugar coating certain details, I concluded.
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFxBayVhrcT
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.
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXAvIeZK5j1
I fiddled with the ring in my eyebrow. In a twisted way, Director played us both. But why him?
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSagyhTL4JQ
"So when they said you have something I don't have, they meant you haven't got something, I have?"
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbGCX34Dt4T
"Yes. You've got weakness, and I haven't," he stated.
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBQruFpt7Uy
"I was talking about emotions! And these emotions don't make you weak! They make you... a good person. They make you human!"
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqgdC8id6wr
"And that leads to weakness."
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzP2CtJoL34
"That's a lie. They fed you lies."
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ77uQNBGACY
"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?"
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo9RUpN1p5u
He was doing it again! He was turning my views against themselves.
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6TQLTscvzx
"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."
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡluN0vOPBnw
"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.
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY7c24fduyp
Wow, they really did remove those emotions.
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbbRGAD69DA
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."
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡML2YEDW4Ro
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."
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡehnHqxiXjo
I sighed, guilt flushing through my veins. "Everest, I didn't mean that."
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhIAwabU01n
"No," he said, emotionless. Right. No sorrow. Got it.
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkjR1VTOPlg
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?
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ02L50tLYSl
I peered back at everest; his eyes were still fixated on the acorn.
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOPKjcRdTDz
"How did they do it?"
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY4dMCD9eTV
"You can find out if you take a fourteen year neurology course at university."
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK86duNuIJI
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.
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEXk12fUg07
"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."
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzHAOzprstW
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...
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm8ZhdoA42A
"They meant to kill me since I was nine years! Not just recently!"
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8mHX3GDCwx
"Yes."
"Using you!"
"Yes."
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQMGvvmvtta
"That's why they took your emotions away."
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVJFe82qmRf
"Yes."
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSkj59jPUiH
"You were supposed to kill me."
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlj36Wiy20X
"Yes."
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1JZgmPc0mh
"You were supposed to kill me!"
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡffwJsCuZ64
"We've established that already."
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM6w7wKCpMP
"No. You were supposed to kill me. So why didn't you?"
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt4FM7tz4hG
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.
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfM6gGfyNw6
"I didn't want to slave for Director."
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnptvpsQMm8
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.
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOabgT0fF8Y
"And it took you up till the last minute to decide this, huh?"
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNOhT00dfua
"If you suppose."
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2cqUEjvjHn
"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?"
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv2mlUWFVJN
His face remained unmoved. "I don't have to explain myself to you, 202."
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV0IM49Q4bY
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.
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5VowDiuTdt
So, London it is.
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlrb8gOFee3
____________________________________________________________________________
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqhHMkV9Pr1
Author's note: To those bothered to read:
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH6esXtwYd6
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?
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS3mZxniZi5
What was your reaction when you found out Everest's secret?
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ85AJE86TG1
Thank you for reading, I really, really appreciate your amazing taste in books. Please, vote comment (no, seriously, go nuts), and share.
654Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7jcRjQePPb
-Ruth
ns3.20.232.154da2 
