Escaping Cages

Maya woke up in a stark white room, her wrists and ankles restrained. The sterile walls and the faint hum of machinery triggered a rush of memories, and she felt a chill run down her spine. She knew this place.

This was the chamber where they used to lock her up as a child—when her mods had spiraled out of control. The realization hit her like a punch to the gut. She was back where it all began.

“Let me out!” she screamed, her voice echoing off the walls. She thrashed against her restraints, panic rising in her chest. “Jun! What is this?!”

Outside the glass door, Jun stood silently, his face a mask of regret.

“Jun!” Maya’s voice cracked as she banged her fists against the door. “What are you doing? Let me out!”

Jun’s eyes flickered with pain, but he didn’t move. “I can’t,” he said softly, his voice barely audible.

“You can’t?” Maya repeated, her tone incredulous. “You can’t? Jun, you don’t understand—Yuki—”

“I can’t watch you do this to him,” Jun interrupted, his voice sharper now. “I won’t let you hurt him.”

Maya’s face twisted with anger and disbelief. “You’re too attached!” she spat. “He’s nothing, Jun. He’s just a—”

“How could you say that about your own brother?!” Jun exploded, slamming his fist against the glass.

Maya flinched, recoiling as if she were a child again.

Jun stared at her, his chest heaving. For a moment, neither of them spoke. Finally, he sighed, his shoulders slumping. “I really wish there was another way, Maya,” he said quietly. “You were a good friend, but… I can’t let you hurt Yuki.”

Tears welled in Maya’s eyes as she glared at him, her voice breaking. “Don’t do this, Jun. Don’t leave me here. Please.”

Jun shook his head, his face a mask of determination. “I’ll see you later. When it’s all over.”

He turned and walked away, ignoring the sound of her fists pounding against the glass, ignoring her broken voice screaming after him.

“Don’t leave me here! Betrayer!”

Jun didn’t look back.

//

The walls of Yuki’s room felt suffocating, their pristine white mocking him as he slammed his fists against the heavy metal door. The sound reverberated through the house, his anger spilling out in guttural screams.

“Let me out!” Yuki roared, his voice hoarse from shouting. He yanked at the handle, though he knew it was useless. “You can’t keep me in here forever!”

From the other side of the door, he could hear his mother sobbing, her muffled cries interspersed with desperate pleas. “Yuki, please… please understand. We’re doing this to protect you!”

“Protect me?” Yuki shouted back, his throat tightening. “You’ve never protected me! You’ve used me my entire life!”

There was silence for a moment, save for the sound of his mother’s quiet weeping. Then his father’s voice cut through, cold and measured. “Enough, Yuki. This is for your own good.”

“For my own good?” Yuki barked out a laugh, bitter and sharp. “Locking me up like some kind of prisoner? You call that protecting me? You’re no better than them!”

The sobs outside grew louder. His mother’s voice cracked as she said, “You don’t understand, Yuki. They were going to kill you. They don’t care about you—they just want to use you, like… like we did.”

The admission hung heavy in the air, silencing Yuki for a brief moment. His father muttered something to his mother, and the sound of their retreating footsteps followed.

Yuki slumped against the door, sliding down until he was sitting on the floor, his head resting against the cold metal. His chest rose and fell with uneven breaths as the gravity of everything settled on his shoulders.

Left alone in the eerie quiet, Yuki’s thoughts turned chaotic. Anger, betrayal, confusion, and guilt swirled together, each emotion clawing at him with equal ferocity. He clenched his fists, memories flashing through his mind like jagged shards of glass.

He thought of Jun—Jun, who had always been there for him, who had stood by his side despite everything. And yet, Jun had betrayed him too. Yuki’s jaw tightened as he recalled the way Jun had grabbed him at the protest, dragging him away from the chaos.

Then there was Maya. Her sneering face and cold words haunted him, her voice dripping with resentment as she spat, “You’re just like them.” He wondered now if she had been right all along.

And his parents… He shook his head, unwilling to even think about their manipulative actions. They had shaped his entire life, molding him into a weapon they could wield. And now, after years of control, they wanted to play the role of protectors?

Needing a distraction, Yuki grabbed his holowatch from the nightstand and swiped it open. Notifications blinked at him, dozens of unread messages from Jun. His stomach twisted as he opened the first one.

“Yuki, I’m sorry. I didn’t want to do this, but I had no choice.”

The next message read: “I know you’re going to hate me, and I don’t blame you. But I couldn’t just stand by and watch them use you like this.”

And another: “I’ve been working with your parents to figure out a way to stop all of this. Please don’t think I’ve abandoned you.”

Yuki’s hands tightened around the holowatch. Jun had allied with his parents? The betrayal stung deeper than he thought possible. He scrolled through the messages, each one filled with apologies, explanations, and pleas for forgiveness.

“Stop trying to justify yourself,” Yuki muttered bitterly, tossing the holowatch onto the bed.

The rebellion’s ideologies flashed through his mind, the chants he had heard at the protest still ringing in his ears. Freedom from modification. Equality for all. On the surface, their motives seemed noble, but their methods—violence, manipulation, and the use of him as a tool—left him uneasy.

He clenched his fists, his thoughts racing. The rebellion wanted to use his invincibility mods to eradicate genetic modifications entirely. His parents’ research, combined with his unique DNA, held the key to dismantling everything. He could still hear Maya’s voice from the protest: “You don’t even understand what you are.”

What was he, really? A savior? A pawn? Or just a victim caught in the crossfire?

His mind drifted back to Maya. She had been so sure of her hatred for him, but why? He remembered the story his parents had told him about losing her in a failed experiment when she was just five. Yet, Maya herself had claimed that they tried to kill her with a gun. The memory of his mother’s gasp and her vehement denial of that rumor replayed in his mind.

“I knew she was going to be a failure,” his father had muttered.

That single sentence had shattered the fragile veneer of his family’s truths. The revelation that his father had tried to kill Maya at such a young age haunted him. And now, here he was, locked away by the same man who claimed to want to protect him.

Yuki’s gaze shifted to the holowatch on the bed, his jaw tightening. He couldn’t stay here. Not when so much was at stake. He couldn’t let the rebellion continue its path of destruction unchecked, but he also couldn’t trust his parents to have his best interests at heart.

He stood up, pacing the room as his thoughts solidified into resolve. The rebellion, his parents, Maya, Jun—none of them truly understood what needed to be done. They were all too blinded by their own agendas.

If no one else could stop this, he would have to.

“I won’t be a pawn,” he whispered to himself. “Not for them, and not for anyone else.”

Yuki’s mind raced as he stood by the door, his pulse quickening. He couldn’t stay here. Not while everything hung in the balance. His thoughts swirled with betrayal, guilt, and the need to take control. He had to escape—he had to stop the destruction that was looming, no matter the cost.

He moved to the door, pressing his ear against it, but there was no sound. His parents were likely waiting outside, hoping he would calm down. But Yuki had no intention of complying. He couldn’t stay locked in this room. As he scanned the room for a way out, his eyes landed on the small vent in the corner, a faint breeze brushing his skin. It was a slim chance, but it was his only shot.

Determined, he approached the vent, his heart pounding in his chest. With a quick motion, he started working at the cover, realizing that this was his one and only chance to escape the confines of the room and take charge of his fate.