Chapter Text
Coldness hugged him all around as Cor never in a thousand years ever thought he’d be infiltrating a Magitek facility again. Their spy had been constantly leaking information and their last note was alarming. The main goal was to rescue them if they were still alive, if not, move onto plan B which was gather the hidden intel. Cor didn’t recall the factory being this difficult, as he cuts through another daemon, there were no bodies in sight and his brain offered him the worst memory of a map possible.
Finally, he reached the production room. Its doors are closed but Cor was lucky enough to find a keypass to override with.
The doors open and like all those years ago the hall is still filled with rows of tanks. They're the height of an adult but inside its contents were anything but. The tanks are murky a familiar sight to the night monsters plagued of Starscourge. On the ground are reports that decorated the cold metal. He picks a few up, outdated and disorganized, a certain one in Gralean with a familiar red stamp he's seen one too many times back in Insomnia.
Terminated.
There's a button on the control panel. He knows what will happen. He remembers that night twenty plus some years ago, a single survivor amongst an indirect massacre. Hardened but not stunted, Cor pales as glances around at the other murky tanks as a single tank stands out in the middle of the hall. It screams come and look, as he slowly approaches praying to Astrals it's not what he thinks it is. He tears down the tarp that covered it and unlike the other inhabitants, it's a b- kid.
A kid.
The dim tube light illuminating against his silhouette like an angel with torn wings. The kid looked like he couldn’t be any older than Talcott when he was first taken in. There’s a slight glow of red in his eyes that Cor can’t make out the true color of his eyes but he has a feeling he knows by heart. His wrist, they still branded children here as if they were cattle.
Cor pales as heartstrings tug at his chest. Was it a trap? If the subjects were dead, wouldn’t there be an alarm if he freed this one?
And yet he takes his chances once more as he slams his fist down on the release button. Astrals be damned. Around Cor the dark substance drains away revealing a lighter substance which revealed their inhabitants.
It's a sick deja vu.
____________
They aren’t like the kids its age when Cor finds it. An infinite science project, a blank slate like clay ready to be molded. The outside world’s sound is muted. The first color it learns is indistinguishably muddy. The first words it learned equally as unknown.
All it knows is there’s a siren going off and suddenly it’s not suspended like oil floating in water. And theres a strange touch attaching itself to its skin. “Shit.” There’s an unknown man, he’s not dressed like the overly strong smelling white clothed people. He looks like he’s talking to thin air before he moves his attention back and pulls it along with. It complies.
Outside. He knows the word, he knows what it is, a concept. They said once he had been out too long that he began to malfunction but he doesn't recall any of that anymore. It didn't feel much different from the inside with its dull colors going on and on forever.
“Kid. Can you understand me?” Cor finally asks in their downtime, they were in a small place the man called a 'hut'. It's got different decorations compared to its usual facility. This must be a test to see if they can repurpose him. The small kid of unknown age stares blankly back at him. It’s a while before he nods that Cor almost thinks he’s like a broken doll. There’s a fire going in a contained area filling the place but none of that warmth seems to reflect onto the boy.
“It’s not the best five star course but you need to eat.” He reaches his arm out with the circular dip that held the food he had warmed up half an hour ago. The boy just sits there. Staring. Cor sighs as he scoops a spoonful of food and tries to feed it to the kid. “Please.”
That seems to work as the food vanishes into thin air.
“Chew and don’t forget to swallow.” Cor picks up another spoon for himself to show the other. The kid mimics him and Cor can relieve himself of whatever worries he had ever so briefly.
The food tasted like a million things at once. It could already feel itself short circuiting as it stared at the empty spoon the left its mouth.
”A bit too much?” There’s concern in the other human’s voice, it reminds him of the nice scientist whenever they ran tests on him.
The blue-red eyes stare back at the strange muck and look back at Cor watching to repeat his motions. The man does so and he also has an expectant look on his face mirroring itself’s.
”Good.” Is all he says this time and it sounds like an invitation to keep eating.
So it does.
___________
Cor watches the boy eat before him as he finishes his soup. He had half expected him to gulp down the liquid but he takes his time that Cor knows he’s a smart one.
His chair creeks when he goes to remove the empty bowl. “Did you want seconds?”
There’s an innocent glance between the bowl and the now noticed bigger bowl over on the fire. Cor can see the restraint within the boy before he’s given a shake of the head as his response. “Alright. No rush. We can save it for later.”
Cor goes to stoke the fire to keep it running a bit longer as he goes to look for some blankets. Whoever used to live here seemed to make do for the winter.
Cor pauses as he rummages through the cabinets. He looks at the still figure, he didn’t have clothes suitable for this weather. He didn’t complain when he carried him wrapped in his jacket but now pajamas were a different story.
He reaches into his armiger hoping for something he left from another time to be in there. He only pulled out a knit hat with a frown. Better than nothing but for now he’ll have to be in his clothes he sighs pulling out his ten times too big shirt and some boxers.
He beckons the kid over and wonders what exactly is running through his head. “So… I don’t exactly have pajamas so you’ll have to make do with some of my bigger clothing.” He scratches his beard. “We need to wash you too…”
He did see a bathroom down the hall and he hoped if those pipes didn’t burst they still carried warm water as well. He leaves to turn on the faucet and is relieved when there’s warm water. Returning to offer his hand to the kid, he walks him down to change as the water runs, the bathroom now a bit warmer.
The kid obeys when he turns around to change him out of whatever article he was wearing. Cor stops when he sees the injuries on his back. He averts his case when he takes the hand with the barcode. He desperately wants to hug the kid and apologize. Eyes gaze back with little understanding unlike those innocent once that smiled back as its chubby- He was not him.
Cor stands up and promptly leaves the room. He crashes onto the couch and runs a hand through his buzz cut hair.“Six, I think I’m losing it.” Cor admitting things was never a good sign.
He hears the water stop and the cracking of the fire is his only source of sound. He stares at the wooden ceiling wondering if the kid is really washing himself or just standing there. Maybe a shower would’ve been better?
After sometime he finally hears the door open and he sits up from the couch. The kids hair is flatter than before but at least it’s cleaner with its light yellow coming through. Cor’s also glad he decided to change into the provided shirt and boxers.
“Welcome back.” Cor smiles a bit. “Let me go wash up and we can get ready to sleep, ‘kay?”
A small nod and Cor can see the wonders some cleaning has done for the boy’s skin as well. “Just rest up here and I won’t be too long. There are some blankets I found as well.” He motions to the table where they ate earlier.
The shower does wonders for Cor too but his shower thoughts were mostly around the past mission. Too much was eerily similar and this time felt more for show than last time, as if someone other than their spy anticipated him. He hopes he’s not looking into it too much but this whole ordeal reeks of a ploy.
He hurries out to save their precious water and returned back out to the couch. “Sorry to keep you wait-,“ the previously occupied couch was empty. Cor looks around, the blankets were gone and in this snow the kid couldn’t have gone far but he assessing before doing. The soup was still in the pot and the fire was still low. He glances back down the hall and notices the bedroom door was crooked open. Approaching quietly he peers in and the missing kids in there on the edge of the bed.
“Here you were.” He makes his tone light, knowingly. The boy doesn’t flinch and looks over. “Wanted to see where you’d sleep?”
A small nod.
“I won’t punish you if you’re worried. Not like I could in this place.” A curious head movement. “…It’s nothing. Let’s get some sleep. We’ve a long road ahead of us.”
Cor settles in next to the boy and he waits for him to fall asleep before he does. It’s a while and, boy, did the kid sleep stiffly like a plank. Cor doesn’t want to sleep with his last thought of the day being how do MTs sleep so he reaches his hand out to the smaller body.
There’s no reaction as expected but he leaves it there. Like a lighthouse lighting the way, he’ll be there if the kid needs someone. Glancing one more time at the “sleeping” child Cor feels that tug in his heart again.
He doesn’t want a repeat after all.