"the demons of the past are strong enough to kill the angels of the present"

★・・・★・・・★

I rolled up my sleeve slightly to examine the marks on my forearm. My fingers grazed the bumps burnt into my skin. The symbols embellished on my arm would remain chiseled into my memories forever.

"A1." I waited nervously within the crowd of children, shaking slightly every time another one was called upon. "A2." The sound of screams and sizzling filled the atmosphere, and I began to panic. Subject after subject was called, and it was almost my turn. "A7." My heart plummeted. I froze and felt the eyes of my peers on me. "Subject A7!" Slowly, I began to walk towards the chair at the front of the room. The other children stepped back creating an aisle for me to walk through. I thought about turning around. I wanted to just run away, but I knew that wasn't an option. I'd be dead as soon as I stopped walking.

Finally, I made it to the front of the red room. There was a man dressed in an all black suit with white gloves. His face was stern and cold. He gestured towards a black, leathery chair. I sat down and braced myself for the amount of heat that was about to be forced into my arm.

At first, I felt nothing, but then the smell of burning flesh filled my nose and the pain became unbearable. I let out an ear piercing scream. The man pressed the iron into my skin harder. The pain was so intense that I thought I was going to pass out.

The man pulled the metal out of my forearm and walked away. A tear rolled down my face as I looked down at the marks. My skin was glossed over with a ruby red burn, and a skull with 'A7' etched into me.

"Exactly what don't you understand?" I shook away the flashbacks of my childhood. Quickly, I rolled down my sleeve and looked up to see Five and Vanya bickering across the room about the future, again.

Vanya stated the obvious, "Why didn't you just time travel back?" I rolled my eyes at the dull question. Haven't we already gone over this?

Five scoffed. "Gee, wish I thought of that!" His sarcasm made me chuckle.

"Time travel is a crapshoot. I went into the ice and never acorn-ed." Five paused, and his tone became softer. "You think I didn't try everything to get back to my family?"

The apartment grew quiet for a few moments until Vanya asked another question.

"If you grew old there, you know, in the apocalypse, how come you still look like a kid?" I internally face-palmed. This is going to be a long night.

Five scoffed and started to become irritated with the conversation. "I told you already." I watched as he walked past Vanya and poured himself another drink. "I must've got the equations wrong," he spoke as he clenched the glass.

"I mean, Dad always used to say that time travel could mess up your mind. Well, maybe that's what's happening?" Vanya shrugged and tried to understand.

"This was a mistake. You're too young.. too naive to understand." Five grabbed something off the wooden table in the kitchen area of the room, and walked to the front door. I got up from the brown chair I had been sitting on, and started walking towards the door too.

"No Five... Five wait."

Five turned around to face Vanya as she reasoned with him. "I haven't seen you in a long time, and I don't want to lose you again. That's all."

I glanced at Five. Vanya continued, "And you know what, it's getting late, and I have lessons early, and I need to sleep, and I'm sure you do too." She shuffled over to the brown couch that was in the middle of the room. Vanya started to readjust the pillows and grab blankets.

"Here.. your friend can stay too," she said as she looked up at me and smiled softly.

She set up a place for me to sleep on the chair. "We'll talk in the morning again. Okay? I promise."

Vanya walked to the back of her apartment, "Night."

Five replied, "Night."

I strolled over to the chair once again and plopped down on it. Five was sitting on the couch, when I noticed him pull something out of his pocket.

Not wanting to disturb Vanya, I whispered, "What's that?"

He lifted his hand up revealing a brown prosthetic eye. "It's where we're going."

Instead of finally getting some sleep, which I had hoped we would, Five and I slipped out of Vanya's tiny apartment, and back into the shadowy streets. Both of us ready to go on another adventure.