#day27 escape from paradise
For@mysme-fictober2020
Day 27: Escape from Paradise
The blue liquid swirled around before being flushed down the toilet. More than two weeks. It had been more than two weeks. Two weeks since he’d started flushing the elixir down the drain. The first time he’d done it because he was angry with the Savior for yet again refusing to let him just kill Seven. That night he’d had terrible nightmares, his head pounding like someone had taken a jackhammer to it. He vowed to take the elixir the next day as soon as he possibly could to make it stop.
However, in the morning the head pounding had lessoned, and he realized that the nightmares had been memories. He began to remember his childhood. Though it was painful, it was also the most real thing he could remember experiencing in years. When it came time to take the elixir again, he once more flushed it down the toilet and more memories resurfaced. His mother. The beatings. The drunken diatribes where she blamed him for everything that had ever gone wrong in her life. And then…the memories of his brother. Saeyoung, before he had become Luciel and Seven. Saeyoung, who held him when he was weeping. Saeyoung, who brought him books he scavenged to teach him how to read. Saeyoung, who snuck him out while their mother was in a drunken stupor and showed him the clouds in the sky and introduced him to ice cream.
His heart had begun to ache. His head had begun to clear. There were still residual effects, his body was going through withdrawals and he had to spend most of his days locked away in his section, coming out only at nighttime when most of the disciples were in bed. It was getting better. There were no more shakes and the sweating had lessoned considerably. Enough that he felt comfortable leaving his area during the day.
Most of the disciples were afraid of him and gave him a wide berth anyway. It was getting harder and harder to maintain that illusion of strength. Thankfully he didn’t have to do much since that fear was pretty much ingrained in everyone he had ever come in contact with, and even the ones he hadn’t, as the stories about him abounded throughout the compound.
The savior had given him time to hack into the RFA, but Saeran had done nothing on that front since that first day of not taking the elixir. He knew he was living on borrowed time and he had to get away. The last two days he’d spent downloading everything that had to do with Mint Eye and the elixir. Rika kept most of her plans secure where only she had access to them, but anything that had been uploaded into a computer, Saeran had been able to obtain. Because she understood how easily something could be hacked given the right person, she opted to have much of her plans on paper and close at hand at all times. What he had was enough to make sure she would never be able to touch the RFA.
Walking down the hallway he marveled at how quickly things had changed for him. There were still mixed feelings about his brother, but intellectually he knew all the negative feelings had been induced through brainwashing. Unfortunately, just because he knew they weren’t real didn’t mean he could stop thinking them.
“Saeran.” Rika called from behind him. Saeran stopped and turned towards her slowly. “I didn’t expect to see you out and about. I was told you’ve been sequestered in your office 24/7.” She walked up to him, security escorting her. She never went anywhere without them. They were her elite, willing to take a bullet for her. He wondered how he never saw how paranoid she was. Even here, among those who adored her, worshiped her, she would never feel safe.
“I have been. But I need to go out and get some more equipment.” He said, hoping she would let him go.
“Don’t be ridiculous, you can have someone else do that for you. I need you here. Every second counts when your trying to outwit someone smarter than you.” She smiled at him.
Saeran’s jaw clenched. This is what she did, pushed him, needled him, jabbed at him the way his mother had, as the weaker of the twins. He clenched his fists and reacted the way she expected him to.
“He’s just lucky! Not smarter. And I can’t trust just anyone to get what I need. There are specifications that are important and need to be met. If just one thing is off then the components will be useless to me. The functionality of the…”
“OK enough. I have no idea what you’re talking about but fine. Take some of my security with you.”
“Why?” he dared to ask. She had sometimes made that request, but often he would be allowed to leave on his own. Most of the time he didn’t care, but extra people would make things more complicated.
“Because I must protect my best asset.” She grinned. Leaning over on tip toes she gave him a kiss on the cheek and patted it with her hand. “And because I care about you.” Her words were sweet but meaningless. The carrot after the stick. Perhaps if his mother had learned that particular technique, Saeyoung might not have run away.
“Fine, but I will leave them behind if they get in my way.”
“Of course, hurry back, I’ll miss you.” She nodded to two of her men who peeled off from the rest and stood next to Saeran. He turned on his heels and continued down the hallway. Great, now he had to deal with these two nitwits.
They were silent as they all got in the car, Saeran in the back, using them as chauffers. He gave them the address of where he wanted to go. In the back seat he took out his jammer and turned it on. The last thing he wanted was for them to be able to contact Rika, or anyone else at the compound.
“Are you sure this is the right address?” the driver asked.
“Positive, just park outside the garage.” The man put the car in park but was still dubious. The two men looked at each other, unsure what to do. Saeran opened the door and stepped out, before he closed it he threw a canister of sleeping gas into the back seat and walked around towards the front door. The two men started coughing, holding their hands over their mouths and noses attempting to stop breathing in the gas. They yanked on the door handles in desperation with their free hand but Saeran had overridden the electric locks. One man began to hit the window with his elbow to no avail. By the time the driver thought of taking out his gun and shooting the window it was too late.
Seven watched his security camera. An alarm had sounded as soon as the car had turned onto his long driveway. At first he had assumed it was Vanderwood, but he didn’t recognize the car. There appeared to be three people in it, two men in front, and someone in the back. He watched as the car parked and someone got out of the back seat and stood fascinated by what happened next. There was nothing he could do about the men in the car, he didn’t even know who they were, but the scene made it plain that the third person was not to be taken lightly. His cameras followed the man as he walked around to the front door. He looked up, as if he knew someone was watching.
Seven gasped and dropped the PhDPepper he had been holding. The man just stood there, not even attempting to knock on the door. Was this a joke? It wasn’t possible. It couldn’t be! This man had white hair with pink tips and green eyes. Hair could be dyed of course, and there was such a thing as colored contacts. He shook his head in disbelief. If it was him, how had he found Seven? He shouldn’t be here, he should be living a different life. He grabbed the gun holstered beneath his desk and held it at his side on his way to the front door. Once he was in front of it, he hesitated. What if this was a trick? But what if it wasn’t? he opened the door before her could change his mind.
The man met his gaze, something warry and strained in his eyes. They didn’t look like contacts.
“Hello brother.”
