One froze, his hands on the unopened vent, not sure what to do. He said that he felt uneasy. Not scared quite yet, but uncomfortable.

"Oi, Wat, 're ye doin'?" The bully repeated in a heavy Scottish accent, towering over poor One. One said he silently turned around and gasped upon seeing the kid's massive size. 

He had forgotten that children here were shipped in from all over the worlds. The bully had a number of 36 on his nametag. When I later asked One about him, he said that this particular child was most likely shipped in from a military base. He was just a few years younger than One, being around ten years old. One said that he was sent here to have muscle and mass-building serums tested on him to help further his strength for when he would be sent back to the military base he came from, hense his abnormally large size. It was sad, using children as guinea pigs like that, but One didn't have time to feel bad for him at the moment. He had to figure a way out.

"Me?" One questioned in response in a calm, cool and collected tone. "Oh, I'm just cleaning the vent. Ah ha ha... nothing to see here. You can just go back to what you were doing..."

The bully just laughed in response, eyeing his name tag. "A 91, eh?" The bully asked in a sinister tone. "Weaklin'. I could beat ye' with te blink of en eye."

"I don't doubt that," One admitted, still sounding incredibly calm. He held his index finger out in front of himself as if he was making a point. "But you don't have to. I mean no trouble. I'm just looking for my friend."

"Fren? There's ain't no frens 'ere," The bully laughed. He continued laughing for a moment, so One thought maybe he could just walk away unnoticed. Unfortunately, that didn't work. The second One moved, the bully clenched his fists and shouted "'EY!" Making One jump in the slightest and freeze.

One nervously began to shiver as he backed up to the wall, holding his hands out of him as the bully approached closer. One was fully aware that this guy could very easily snap his bones. It wouldn't take much strength to end him right then and there.

"Okay, let's just calm down. No need to do anything drastic" One whispered, seeming almost afraid, but not quite. He still managed to somehow keep a steady voice. I know that if I had been in his position, I would have already broken down into tears.

"Why shudn't I?" The bully asked in a cruel tone. "Why shudn't I snap yer neck?"

"Well, I promised him I'd protect him, and it's gonna be a lot harder to do that if I'm dead." One explained, looking up at the bully and holding eye contact.

That was when the bully paused, raising an eyebrow and taking a look at One's outstretched arm.

Or more specifically, his wrist.

"Well, wat do we 'ave 'ere?" The bully muttered, slowly smiling bigger. 

The 9 carved on One's wrist had already started to heal fade, obviously being fake. Then, the bully snatched One up by that wrist, causing the boy to yelp in pain as the bully held up for all the other children to see as if he were presenting a trophy.

"OI! I GOTS ME A ONE 'ERE!" The bully exclaimed, causing One to open his eyes and look out at all the kids staring at him.

The whole lab seemed to go silent, everyone turning their attention towards him. 

One desperately missed his paper bag. He had to work much harder to hide his fear without it.

"....RIP ITS INSIDES OUT!" A child shouted, leading to a bunch of kids yelling disturbing things which they wanted to be done to One.

"TEAR IT LIMB FROM LIMB!"

"DESTROY IT! DESTROY THAT MONSTER!"

"SNAP IT'S NECK!!"

One couldn't help but be offended. Not by the fact that they all wanted him dead. He was fine with that. Society molded them to be that way. What hurt him was the fact that they were referring to him as an 'it.' It was like he wan an object that needed to be destroyed instead of a person with a life.

"Guys... guys, let's be rational here-" One nervously started, when the Scottish bully suddenly slammed him into the wall and pinned him, causing the poor boy to yelp out in pain and shock, the blow being strikingly painful.

"KILL IT! KILL IT! KILL IT!" All the children chanted, stomping and clapping as if this was a sport and they were cheering on the home team. 

The bully smirked, then grabbed One's throat and threw him to the floor, grabbing the arm with the one engraved onto it and twisting it behind the poor boy's back as he winced and hissed in pain.

"Waddo ye think? Shuld I break each of it'z bonez, one by one?!" The bully asked the crowd, earning cheers and shouts indicating that they would very much enjoy seeing that.

One squeezed his brown eyes shut, trying to prevent tears from falling, when he had enough, kicking the big bully backward, which threw him off for a moment. But One didn't have a moment to waste, so he immediately stood up, holding his now injured arm to his chest and sprinting through the halls while the angry, insane, feral children started chasing after him.

"GET 'IM!" The Scottish bully shouted. "IT'S ESCAPIN'!"

One continued sprinting as fast as he could, which, though he was slower than me, was still faster than most of the kids. They all started jumping out from everywhere, trying to grab ahold of him and attack him, snarling and growling like a pack of wolves.

"TEAR ITS ARMS OFF!" They cried. "RIP ITS EYES OUT!"

It, it, it, that's all he could hear. When he described the whole situation to me, he was only upset because they kept calling him that.

He continued sprinting, until he slid into another hallway, turning around to see a line of children sprinting after him. So, he did the only thing he could think of, grabbed a locker and pulled, trying to knock it down and separate himself from the crazy children.

"Come on, COME ON!" He cried, tears in his eyes due to him using his injured arm to try to pull the locker down. However, just as the children were about to reach him, he did it, making the locker fall down and create a small wall between himself and the other kids, giving him an extra few seconds. 

Before the kids could climbed over and around the now fallen locker, he took off sprinting into what looked like a bathroom.

He slammed the door shut behind him and brought his hand to his chest, doing his best to catch his breath after all the running he just did. 

He took a moment to recatch his breath, feeling absolutely horrible, thinking of all those children. They were so... angry. So horrible. Had they even known what friendship and happiness felt like?

Whatever. He couldn't waste time trying to fix them just yet. He had to find me and save me. So, quickly changing back into his normal clothing and placing the paper bag on his head, he grabbed ahold of another vent cover and hopped inside, sneaking to another floor and hopping out in another hallway. He wasn't far from the lab's exit on the other side, and he had still yet to find me, so that was worrying, but he was determined. He made a promise to himself not to leave until he made sure I was safe and well.

He made his way down the hallway and into another dark room when he finally found me.

My journey to this point wasn't nearly as interesting. I remember the bullies tying me up by my foot and hanging me from a plank on the ceiling, threatening me and saying that they'd wack me around like a pinata, only instead of using a bat, they had an ax ready to be used. 

How pleasant. 

Before tying me up they scratched at me and threatened me. I called out for One, but he didn't come until just then. There were two bullies watching over me, saying that they were waiting for their friends to get off of lunch before 'taking care of me.' I remember being terrified, feeling all the blood rush to my head. It was painful.

But when One walked in, I felt instant relief. 

I had been half-convinced that he would never come back. Yet, he proved me wrong. Thank goodness.

"Six?" He asked, looking up at me, when the two bullies suddenly looked over at him, snarling and growling like animals.

"ONE!" I cried, reaching for him. "H-Help me!"

He tried reaching for me, when the bullies both suddenly tackled him, using their filthy fingernails to scratch at him. I couldn't quite see, but I definitely heard him cry out in pain. Thankfully, this didn't last long, as the ax the bullies were planning to use on me was just in his grasp. So, he desperately reached for the handle, grabbing ahold of it and using the wooden section to knock them back, careful not to actually hurt them with the blade. Wincing, they both scattered backward, giving him room to stand up.

"ONE!" I cried yet again. "HELP ME!"

Then, he did something I would never expect him to do. He rolled down his sleeve, showing them both the one engraved on his wrist, causing their eyes to go wide. Then, he raised the ax up above him, as if he was about to attack them, and he whispered, "run," in an eerie, deep tone which I didn't think he could even achieve.

He was trying to use his number to scare them off. Sometimes the best attack tactic was fear, getting your enemies to retreat so you wouldn't actually have to fight.

The two bullies, still valuing their own lives, scrambled backward, leaving us alone. Then, and only then, did One return to his original self, rolling his sleeve back down and taking the ax towards me, using it to cut the rope and causing me to fall to the ground, landing on my head.

"SIX!" He cried, quickly kneeling down and helping me up. "Are you okay?! They didn't hurt you, did they?! I'm so sorry, I promised I'd protect you, and I lost you! You're not hurt, are you?!" He frantically asked me, grasping my shoulders tightly, a worried look in his ordinary brown eyes.

I slowly nodded, which seemed to put him at ease, but he still seemed somewhat worried. This was when I noticed all the fresh scratches along his neck, red blood slowly dripping from them.

"One... are you okay?" I asked, looking at his left arm as well, which appeared weaker than his right arm was when it came to grasping my shoulders. He slowly let go of me and held said arm close to his chest.

He paused, then winced slightly and reached for my arm with his injured arm, offering a smile through his eyes. "You don't have to worry about me," He assured.

He then did something that no one had ever done to me before. He grabbed ahold of me and wrapped his arms around my body, pulling me into an embrace. It felt odd. I hadn't even known at the time what a hug was. I didn't know what he was doing, but it was comforting. I didn't wrap my arms around him in return, however. I didn't know what to do, so I just stood there as he hugged me, feeling him tremble slightly.

"I'm so sorry..." He whispered, pulling back. "I promise, it won't happen again."

He seemed like he thought I was mad at him. Only, I wasn't mad at him. I wasn't upset. I was just... grateful that he came back. That's all that mattered.

"I'm not upset, One. You don't have to be sorry," I breathed. "I just... I can't believe you came back for me."

This phrase seemed to shock him. In fact, it almost seemed to offend him. "Six, you don't have to ever worry about me not coming back," One said, sounding somewhat serious. "I promise, I'll always come back.  I'm not gonna leave you until I know you're safe."