Material/Progress

“You bastard!” Daiya screamed at him, “It wasn’t enough to torture me, but Vex too!” she looked at me, "Do something! You just let this bastard kill him?!"

"I, uh-"

"Forget it," she said as she put her fingers together, "Open: -"

"He didn't kill him, Daiya. Dr. Vex was already dead when we walked in the room. It's true." 

She halted. The walls that enclosed us were solid metal all around, a dark grey was illuminated by a small light that hummed above us. The blood that soaked the floor began to evaporate into the air as the body of Dr. Vex began to vanish alongside with it. Franz stood there quietly, without making a single move or sound while the creaks of the room scurried along the baseboards. Daiya's voice was the only thing that cut through the silence. 

"No, no, no!" Daiya rushed over to the body, "Vex, wait!" She turned to Franz, "Do something! I've seen it before, you people can regenerate, right?!" 

She desperately tried to funnel the blood back into the gaping hole in his stomach, but it slid through her hands, dispersing back into the air. It hurt so much. I couldn't bear to watch her struggle over him like this. 

"If met with overwhelming power to the same area, you can kill off the cells. Stopping the regeneration. I assure you he didn't fee-"

"Shut up! Bring him back! No, no, no! And you," she looked at me, "You're worthless. You sat here and did nothing. He gave you that notebook, for who knows why, just do nothing! To let him fucking die!" Daiya screamed.

"A notebook?" Franz questioned. A slight look of horror crossed his face as he stared at me.

Her words did something to me. I wanted to hide and disassociate, but there was a pull deep within for me to face this. To stay and keep going. To not run away.

 I felt my body tear from the inside, muscle to muscle. The sound of blood sloshed throughout my hears with liquid coursing in my veins. My body started to separate from itself, and the room started to spin. There was two of everything and when I looked next to me, there she was.

My body double. 

She looked at me with a tiny smile and embraced me from the side. It was so warm. But what happened next, shocked me even more.

"Daiya. I don't know what this man did to you, but I sense he is no longer an enemy. I know who did kill Dr. Vex," my body double spoke, "Thank you for protecting Reia. It's my turn to do the same for you."

I think everyone was as equally shocked as I was. The room was quiet and the only thing we heard were my body double's footsteps clack the metal floor as she approached Dr. Vex and knelt down to his fading body. The blood on the ground dried and the only thing left were yellow spectacles of light. 

She put her hand over the light particles that rose up from his body. Her eyes were closed but she inhaled deeply, then exhaled just as long. Daiya stood to the side with tears rolling down the side of her face, while Franz stood with his arms crossed. Not taking his eyes off of my body double for a second. She spoke once again.

"Who's really controlling us?" she turned to Franz.

"You are as interesting as he said," Franz spoke and chuckled, "It's difficult to say. You said I'm no longer an enemy, but that doesn't make me an ally."

"I sense that you don't agree with this world. And that you are like this man, I can feel it." my body double responded while keeping her eyes steady on Dr. Vex. 

His body was almost gone.

"Very interesting," he looked at me before smiling, "Experience IIII. For what it is worth, I won't stand in your way anymore. It doesn't change the past, bu-"

"Am I supposed to be grateful?" Daiya interjected, "After all the years of torture and experiments. Don't think this can alleviate your guilt or I'll ever forgive you. I should kill you."

"Go on, I'll let you. I've accomplished enough in my 500 years of existence," Franz goaded her on with his hands wide open.

Daiya sported a look of disgust and walked towards the door. All she did was open it. "Just leave. It won't make me feel better. The next time I may feel different."

"The next time, huh," he muttered and as he walked towards the door, he threw me a pair of keys.

"Those are the keys for Experience III and the rest of the inmates on the other floors. A master lock is on that level. It'll open all of them. The boy is pretty uncontrollable. You'll have to kill the guards to free the workers. Do what you will, but they haven't left in decades. Who knows how they'll react. Someone will be outside waiting to take you above ground. You can only move get around Nolan above ground, through the train. Nolan-70 is where you'll find them. They know who controls you."

As he was about to leave, I only asked him one question. "Who are you truly and why do you remember? I asked Dr. Vex the same thing when I first met him."

"Luck or chance, maybe. Who am I..." he paused as he stood at the doorframe, "They say if you live long enough, you'll find out. It's been 500 years, and I have no answer," he turned to me one last time before he walked out the door.

"If I see you again Experience II, tell me what it means to know oneself. Dr. Vex gave his life to find that out, I'm sure it's what he put in that notebook of yours."

With that, the door closed behind us. I rushed to the door and opened it, but he was gone. All that was left were the keys that wrapped around my fingers. There was so much more I wanted to ask him. About me, about him. This strange world we live in.

"Uh, did either one of you remember all of that? And holy shit! Second Reia! You can talk! Why didn't you say so?!" Daiya exclaimed as she went to give her a hug. I wonder how she could tell the difference between us. 

"And I'm still not over that," Daiya looked at me, "Why didn't you tell me Dr. Vex gave you something? It could have a clue as to what we are, and you kept it from me. That hurt you know."

"I haven't opened it. He gave it to me on the train right as we got to Nolan-50. After that he went missing and..." I trailed off. 

The last remnants of his body scattered off in the air and there was a subtle glimmer of his essence that I felt as he dissipated for the last time. I think I understood what he was trying to tell me. Thank you, Dr. Vex.  

"Well, one. Let's get out of here. This room is creepy and where he died at..." Daiya whispered, "It's too much for me right now. We have to save Experience III and those people. That was messed up."

I felt my body getting weak. I stumbled a bit and caught myself on the ground before I completely fell over. This was too much to think about. Dr. Vex, Franz, Aylis, the man with the violet eyes. They all shared a connection. Knew something about me, about this world, that they were unwilling to share. Why? What could possibly be holding them back?

"I remembered everything the man said. He had good intention," my body double spoke. She turned to me, "You can call on me anytime now, and I'll save you. But for now, you must rest. You can't control this enough yet."

"But I don't want you to leave," I responded.

"I'm not going anywhere. I'm in and around you all the time. But if you want to know who you are, you have to stand on your own two feet. It's what you want, no? "

"It is," I got up and put my two fingers together, "See you soon."

"Wait, where's she going?" Daiya asked.

"Return," 

And just like that she was gone. 

I looked around the room and the silence of the steel walls held us closely in its embrace. A song of longing played in the background and its hums scraped the insides of my heart. The gleam of the wall bounced a reflection of myself right back at me and I could only stare back at it. 

There were many questions I had and with so few answers, there was truly only one path forward. 

"Let's go," I said, "...to Nolan-70."

As we exited the room and shut the door behind us, I heard the zany laugh of Dr. Vex once more.

***