Where Dreams Die Part 3

"Zero, four, one?"

A charming looking man wearing a lab coat, holding a clip bored in hand, sat at a desk. One meant for a teacher. He cross foot over foot on the top of it, dangling the pen above the attendance.

"Here!" I smile to that teacher, blissful as I could be, noting my presents as well as my anticipation of the lessons we would learn.

The teacher then continues down the list of numbers, calling out in random. "Zero, Three, Eight". "Two, Zero, Four". "Three, seven, two". "Zero, Two, Five". We were all labeled with those numbers on our right hand.

The room we were in, itself, was pure white, desktops being silver. The only thing that wasn't white or silver in the room were pencils in a cup and the unfamiliar pupils surrounding me from others. After the first few days, it became a sort of normalcy for me, however. Coming in class, waiting for our attendance to be mark and sent back to our rooms. We never used those pencils in a cup, nor can I recall spending much time in there, after.

It was strange though. You would think that the reason to be in a classroom was to learn something. But we never did. And still, I can't recall why I was there in the first place, memory blank as a slate. But it didn't matter. Soon, after what I can assume was a month, we were allowed to talk to the students in the class, instead of just heading back to the room for the day.

It was like the times we would just come in and the teacher would take attendance, was them engraving the numbers around us in our heads.

"Zero, four, one, right?" Turning from a pencil poking the back of my neck, I face a baby-faced kid, pink hair in a length that cover his right eye. "Do you remember how you got here?"

That was the first thing they ask me, pulling their hair, revealing a pair of dark violet eyes.

"I'm sorry... But are you a boy?" Was the first thing that came to my mind from the encounter, looking around their face as if I was observing a strange object.

"Hmp... Am I a boy, huh... " They laugh, putting they hand under their chin. "People do say that me and my sister looks identically strange." That vey person reaches for my hair, looping it in their fingers. "But yeah, I am a boy... Though, at a place like this, where we have not a single memory, how could we know?"

He was right... For some odd reason, I couldn't remember where I got those terms from. Boy and girl, sounded like strange voodoo coming from my mouth.

"Anyway, I go by Zero, Three, Three. Been here a month in a half." He declares, continuing to play in my hair.

"Oh, um, I think it's the same for me."

We didn't have much to talk about but what we did in our rooms or the numbers we were given. It was a boring conversation yet interest us all. We did the same thing, continue to talk and bound with one another, for another three weeks. I only knew this, because our teacher, who would leave out after attendance, told us that and his name.

"You all might not understand," He states, writing something on a green bored, with a strange white rock. "But, my name, is Doctor L. It stands for Lidwick, my last name."

Everyone in their seats, bustle and gossip about the same thing; Name. None of us knew what the doctor spoke of, including myself.

"I can see the dismay in all your eyes, rest assured, I will explain everything you children need to know about this project of ours."

That very same teacher, places both hands on the desktop, eyes glowing in strange blue. My head suddenly felt dizzy, sighting other's around me falling out their desk like myself.

"What I am showing you all at the moment, is what humans like to call, powers. Or scientific term; The mutated gene of a human's ability." He explains, continuing to inflict painful headaches to us all. "Numbers of humans develop these extraordinary abilities. Giving the gift to fly through the air, breath under water, or even dust a person in the snap of their fingers. My power, however, isn't physical strength, just like those here."

His eyes stop glowing, lifting the migraines from us all, under a second, walking to the front of his desk, leaning his back on it in a care freeway.

"You see, most of you are rocks." He refers, pointing a finger to the floor. "Dirt beneath the feet of other's, who come up was very traumatic. Hell, your parents didn't even think twice in selling you all to this program." Doctor Lidwick chuckles at his own words. Despite the cruel joke, his expression switches to a more serious tone. "People like that, you shouldn't even bother to remember those faces..."

Doctor Lidwick gets up from off the desk, facing the class in open arms. "However, now, it's the less of our worries. Here, rocks will be formed into diamonds, out matching those in society!" He states, bursting with excitement. "Here, you will all hone your skills, and once you do so- Once you're strong enough! You will be given a name, alongside your memories!"

Everyone seen Doctor Lidwick as inspiration, wanting to achieve the dream of becoming stronger. We all place our belief in our teacher's hands, following along his rules without a single question. I too hop on that cult like train, wanting to know more about myself, and the rest at that facility.

Yellowstone's Downtown Skyscraper:

"There, me, Hatarei and Nakuro grew up in that prison, somehow managing to escape, the day we all rebelled against that teacher..." Grabbing back on my shirt, Nako closes her eyes, this time not pretending to be sad. "Nakuro... Chi... I wonder what happen to him. Why would he join such a group despite gaining all those memories back."

So, they really were old classmates... In a facility that raise children to become stronger. I had a lot of questions about the building and that Doctor, but I'm sure this is all I can get out of her. I don't wish to continue pushing my luck.

"You know," The cold chills my breath, along with numbing my fingers as I put them on top of Nako's head to pry her from my chest. "It could be his memories that drove him to join the Sigma Flames, alongside his sister."

I spew what I thought about the matter, reminded of the fact that each member I met in that team of no-good misfits, held they own goal and passion. Some straying on the fact to capture me. Tau said it himself, if the Sigma Flames had a problem with him killing me, that he was going to kill them all himself.

"They all... Have a separate goal." I declare to Nako.

Nako, she then let go of clinging to my shirt, standing to walk to the edge of the tower, gazing down below, shifting back to that black hair girl, allowing the wind to play in her hair.

"You might be right... My memories drove me to join Nova, feeling I had nowhere else to go after it all. Maybe... Nakuro felt the same."

I go over to her side. "Could be." I easily let those two words fly out my mouth, creating a portal below. "Even so, we need to get going now. You did say whatever you done, will keep him busy for only a few hours, right?"

Nako slants her eyes at me, cursing her arm, "You don't want to know more about me? About the facility?"

I glance at her as well. "No, then you wouldn't have a personality at all." I joke, saying that the mysterious part of Nako was all that was going for her. -

Nako shoves me right off the cliff of the building, to the portal below, a never vividly hit by my comment. She then grabs hold to my shoulders falling alongside me. Both eating by the shadow, witnessing a small spec of joy from her.

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