CONTENT WARNING!!! -- Disturbing stuff in certain folder y'all should already know about smh

***

"Oscuro... Zero... Three..."

"Who's there!?" Val shouted.

Around him was nothing but that unnatural darkness. One he could not see in. Val's heart beat like it wanted to give out. Vic was nowhere to be seen.

"Project... Subject... Weapon..."

Val gulped hard and crouched, feeling the ground in front of him with his hands before moving a few steps and feeling again.

"Cranium... Facility compromised..."

"What the fuck are you talking about!?" Val bellowed, before something knocked him onto his back. He tried standing but he was brought to the floor again. And again. And again.

Then, he was standing in front of a door. He backed away and looked around frantically, not being able to piece out how he got there. He reached for his sword but it wasn't there. He looked for Vic, but he wasn't there either. He could feel his heart slowly climbing up his throat.

A knock.

Val's attention snapped back to the door and he reached for the doorknob.

"Don't open the door," Something whispered. He heard the echo bounce around the room. The hair on the back of his neck stood on end. He froze.

"Don't open the door."

Val's skin was starting to sprinkle with cold sweat.

"Wh- Who said that!?"

Val's eyes were darting all over his field of view, but he dared not turn his head. He squeezed his eyes shut. When he opened them again, he was in his bedroom. A shadow was waving its arms frantically, then running towards a filing cabinet. Val reached out to touch the shadow. It vanished mid-air, and before he knew it, his room was engulfed in flames. He scrambled towards the door but the floor gave way and he fell down onto a thousand charred hands.

***

A scream in the dark. Val sat up and he felt arms wrap around him. He flinched at first but then his muscles relaxed when he saw Vic's concerned gaze focused on him. He appeared to have leapt from a chair just in front of the couch Val slept on.

"It's ok, whatever happened in there is just that: a nightmare. It can't hurt you."

Val nodded slowly and exhaled. He sunk in Vic's arms but he still refused to cry. He wanted to stay in Vic's arms forever. Vic hadn't ever made him feel like a disappointment, or like a monster. He was the only good aspect of his life. Vic was the only person he hadn't hesitated to lower his guard around.

"It's that dream again," Val said weakly.

"Mind talking about it?"

Val gulped and gently pried away from Vic's hug. "There was whispering."

Vic sat beside Val and nodded for him to go on.

"The voices said something about... a project? Something about a weapon."

"Was there people in it?"

"...No."

Vic lowered his gaze. "Anything else you think holds meaning?"

"Yeah... There was a fire," Val said, looking up at Vic. "And then I was falling."

"I guess the dream ends there, right?"

"How did you-"

"Eh, whenever I fall in my own dreams, I just wake up."

Val raised his eyebrows and Vic let out a short laugh.

"Ok, let me teach you a thing or two while you're still spooked," Vic finally said, offering Val a hand. Val took it and Vic helped him up. "Alright, forget everything about the steady breathing and posture and whatever you see in the movies. Val, I'm going to ask you something that might be too much so if I go too far, please stop me."

"I can take it. Whatever it is."

"Alright. Do you remember the hotel? I want you to remember every single feeling you had throughout. Hold on to those you don't like."

"What?"

"I'll explain later."

Val looked down at the floor and forced himself to see that corpse again. The pool of vomit, the chase, his heartbeat steady in his ear as they were being tracked down. The helplessness, the despair, and that maddening desire to stay alive. The feeling of the cold and the dark, though familiar, didn't do much to make him feel better. He felt a shiver climb his back. The stench, the fear... It all was renewed.

"It's based on a conscious decision and survival instinct, grab as many painful memories as you can."

The police. The exec. The sprint. The Handler scolding him over the earpiece. The drug. The slaughter. His bloody reflection in a mirror. Val's breath started getting sharper.

"You can blink at will, right?"

Vic's voice didn't sound like his anymore. Val wasn't thinking. All he could hear was the Handler.

"It's a lot like blinking, but with stress levels to the max."

Val gulped hard. He was starting to sweat.

"Blink."

Val obeyed.

"You're doing good. Now try thinking of blinking, but try to seek for a set of eyelids that just isn't there."

Val opened his mouth to argue but Vic interrupted him. "You'll know what you're looking for once you're near."

So Val thought about blinking. The sensation was something he experienced so often he hadn't stopped to think about it. He kept thinking of every involuntary decision he did make.

He felt no difference. Val exhaled sharply and closed his eyes. He tried again, nothing.

"Keep trying," Vic said, nudging him encouragingly.

Val tried again, feeling the gloom slowly get replaced by frustration. After a few more tries, he gave up.

"Alright, that's enough. Might not be working right now, but you at least know how to do it," Vic said.

Val was about to open his mouth to talk when the god damn earpiece started going off again. He picked it up, annoyed, then glanced at Vic and indicated silence. Vic nodded and sat on the couch, crossing his legs.

"What do you want?" Val growled.

"For you to deliver the folder," The Handler said, much to Val's displeasure.

"Where to?"

"Edwin & Karl 47, LV15."

"If your order doesn't arrive by whenever the fuck I please you can try and ask for a refund."

"Be professional. You've already done enough damage, I don't need another stain on my record. Don't ever forget that you cannot hide from me you insolent shitling."

"What is this folder about?"

"Irrelevant."

The Handler hung up on him. Val was still oddly afraid of disappointing the Handler. He was tired of thinking he couldn't do anything right. Val's arm dropped and he turned to Vic.

"Handler being a little bitch again," He sighed.

"Mind if I tag along?"

"I'm assuming you're like me," Val's gaze drifted aside. "And no one did tell me not to snoop around." Val was lying, but he didn't care a lot for obeying anymore.

He grabbed the documents and sat on the couch. He looked at Vic, and he nudged him with his head. Val opened the folder.

"Kevin Johnson – Project Oscuro III – Batch 04

Subject code: 04B7

Subject name: [------] [---------]

Height: 1.78m

Weight: 67 kg

Description: [------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------]

IMPORTANT: UNSTABLE SUBJECT, EXTREMELY DANGEROUS. HANDLE WITH CAUTION.

Personal notes: Subject presents an... attitude whenever issued orders. Poor dominion of Sunset implant mechanisms, though this does little to stop it from achieving nearly perfect marks in exercises.

Val looked at Vic, they both shrugged and kept reading.

Subject code: 04B3

Subject name: [------] [---------]

Height: 1.68m

Weight: 62kg

Description: [------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------]

Personal notes: Subject lacks initiative, is hesitant, and unreliable. To be terminated by 22:49 hrs.

Vic cringed as he read the last line. Val looked at him, sympathizing. He wondered if Vic had known him, or if he was a blank slate just as he was. Stripped of his memories.

Subject code: 03Z7

Height: 1.73m

Weight: 64 kg

Description: [------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------]

IMPORTANT: TRANSFER FROM SECTOR 014. UNSTABLE SUBJECT, EXTREMELY DANGEROUS. TO BE WATCHED AT ALL TIMES.

Personal notes: Subject exhibits high levels of aggression and violent tendencies. Completely undisturbed by blood or violence, shows no hesitation or regret before and after killing. Responsible for the deaths of a small number of subjects. To be deployed ASAP.

Subject code: 04B12

Height: 1.78m

Weight: 72kg

Personal notes: Sunset implant mechanisms come naturally to subject. Shows high promise. One of the few subjects to survive an attack by 03Z7 along with 04B7.

Val passed the page immediately. He kept replaying the last line in his head. It was driving him mad. He only hoped he hadn't read a report about himself. The more they read of the document, the worse it got. Page after page of people dehumanized and turned into monsters. It was a different kind of brutality he wished he hadn't ever stumbled upon.

"That was... something," Vic said, getting up from the couch and offering Val a hand. Val took it and pulled himself up.

"You think we were on that batch?" Val asked.

"Don't know, and I don't want to think about it."

"Fair."

***

The alley was empty, as their hands. They had delivered the documents and they both wished they'd never read them in the first place. The light danced from above as the gliders and zeppelins flew overhead, producing an ominous hum. The noise was different in Jericho; while in the other district it would have been loud with ads and engines, it was quite the opposite in Jericho. It was that constant hum made by gliders, people and rain. The greenish lighting didn't make it feel any short of a fever dream.

"Got any plans for later?" Val asked. He looked in a bin like he was instructed and found a bag of cash. He picked it up and gave it to Vic.

"If a certain someone doesn't call, I'm free," Vic replied as they walked.

"You got one of those too huh?" Val didn't like the thought of Vic being forced through the same stuff as he was. He could bear the beatings both verbal and physical, but the thought of Vic going through something similar horrified him. "So, how is your handler a little shit?" Val asked, holding an invisible microphone to Vic's face.

"Well I wake up to the calls mostly, bitch can't wait until I'm done waking up," Vic said, pretending to grab a microphone of his own.

"No brushing teeth before parting?"

"Not at all. Oh and the voice! Good god sounds like." Vic started quacking. Val laughed.

"Yeah! Especially when they want to sound so big and all that you know?"

"The threats?"

"...Yeah, and the-"

"I don't get a lot of those actually."

Val was definitely talking of all the scolding and insulting. Knowing Vic, he was trying to stop Val from worrying too much, which made him worry even more. He leaned against Vic and they stopped. "I don't ever want you disregarding yourself for my sake, you got that?"

"You don't need to know, really." Vic placed a hand on Val's shoulder and pushed him away gently.

"Please tell me whenever it's too much." Val took Vic's hand off his shoulder and pulled him closer. "I want you safe, happy, with me."

Vic gave Val a brief, sad smile. "I did say I love you, didn't I?"

"Uhh..." Val tried to remember.

"Never too late, is it then? I love you Val," Vic said, moving closer.

Val froze up, then realizing he was smiling as he'd just won the lottery. He didn't know how to reply. "I cannot think of an appropriate response," He said.

Vic laughed and Val dipped his head, trying to hide his embarrassment. He hadn't been thinking at all. He wanted to apologize, but he was too ashamed to. Was his brain fried? Was Vic going to be mad at him?

These concerns vaporized when he felt Vic's touch below his chin, and then he was staring at those dark eyes. Val had only just noticed that Vic seemed just as broken as he did. He hadn't noticed before how that beautiful stare didn't shine; and it was fixed on him. Val leaned in on his own accord and they both melted together in a kiss that made Val forget all his pain, and he hoped he was doing the same for Vic. He felt his arms move with a mind of their own, coiling around Vic and pulling them even closer together. Vic's reply was just the same. His heart swelled along with his lungs, taking in every scent and sensation, like breath on his skin that wasn't his own. When they fell apart Val felt it'd been too soon.

"Let's get something to eat, I want to spend more time with you," Vic muttered, still just inches away from Val.

"Alright, where to?"

"I know a place," Vic said, hooking Val's arm with his own and resuming the walk.