-Present-
***

Adam leaned against the dark wall for support as he felt his energy naturally draining away from his sadness and anger.

Everything, everything the witch had said, was true. And it drove through his heart like a knife.

Takashi.., Shiro, had always been better. From the highest grades while they were younger to world breaking records, he had made a name for himself while Adam was left behind.

And in the end, Adam was literally left behind when Shiro decided he had to break one more record and disappear into space.

Adam clenched his fist and closed his eyes, remembering the moment he watched his whole world, the love of his life, choose space over him.
Tears filled his closed eyelids and streamed down his face silently as he pounded the wall in frustration.

"I can help you... if you let me.", Haggar said putting a hand on his shoulder, "I can take away the pain."

Adam tensed from her touch, his eyes snapping open as he drew away from her in revulsion, "Don't touch me! And don't try to sympathize with me either!", he yelled staggering away from her as his whole body shook, "Stop acting like you know me! Stop acting like you care about me when you don't, especially when it's all for your own selfish ends!! I can't stand it!! Just... just stop!"

"But I do understand you Adam, more then you could know, even when you utilized the power of this room.", she replied back calmly, "I know you struggle against me because you don't want to give in to something that's unknown, which is understandable. I also know a part of you wants to say yes, because you're tired of being hurt by someone that could care less about you.
You've been fighting a losing battle since you became closer with Shiro and you've known it, as you were shunted to the side and were forgotten.
There's no harm in saying yes, doing something for yourself, taking instead of giving for once. There's also nothing wrong with freeing your mind from pain and sorrow with assisted help, whether it's alcohol or drugs."

Adam felt his stomach drop even further with guilt, "So you know about... about... that too."

"Yes, I do."

"I c-couldn't take it anymore...", he breathed falling to his knees as his strength abandoned him, "He actually, he really just left m-me. I had to kill my thoughts... somehow, anyhow.", he gripped his arms tightly and kept his head close to his chest for self comfort, "They became so loud and I wasn't strong enough. I could never be strong enough. Not like him.
I wanted to forget, I wanted to move on and not care... but my heart wouldn't let me. It, i-it wouldn't let me forget. I struggled for so long and then he had the nerve to come back only to disappear again, making me feel things I would've rather not felt.
I'm ashamed of what I've become, what I've tried and done. But it was... it was the only way..."

Adam couldn't tell what he was feeling anymore at this point, it was the emptiest and worst feeling he'd ever felt, and it only kept getting worse.

He had gotten drunk, taken drugs irresponsibly, smoked... things that he would've never done.

But he had gotten desperate.

Especially since he couldn't make himself... couldn't make his own finger, pull the trigger of his own gun to his head.

He had been to afraid to die that way. He hadn't been strong enough to fight his fear and end himself, so he turned to more abstract ways to speed his life by in pointless wasting.
It was shameful.
And pathetic.

But it was the only thing he could think of to try to forget and hopefully have a sudden and unexpected death, rather then him committing outright suicide.

And he had tried several times. Rooftops. Ropes. Knives. Air poisoning from the antique gasoline fueled cars in the garage. Injections. Guns.

But every single time he stopped before he even tried it.

It was all so god damn cowardly.

He looked at his hands, watching them shake before he clenched it tightly causing blood to blossom in his palm.

"I was never strong enough...", he said brokenly, "And I wanted to be so badly. Even now, it hurts... but I can't keep on living my life this way."

Haggar stared at him quietly before speaking, "Then what is it you choose Adam Wolf?"

Her question hung in the air, pressing itself around his shoulders as he looked at the floor.

What did he want? What would he choose? He knew the 'right' decision and he knew the 'wrong' one.

Everything hurt inside him as hatred, regret, shame and bitterness roiled inside him.
Could he really live like this any longer? Being a disappointment, not only to himself, but everyone else? Living in recurring depression and standing on the doorway to suicide only to be too afraid to just make himself disappear in the other side?

The answer was he couldn't and if the cursed alien in front of him could cure him, he was going to take the risk and worry about the consequences later.

"Make me stronger...", Adam finally said his voice strained, "And if I happen to die in the process, it'll be a win for me either way. Just do whatever you got to, I'm done living this way."

He watched as she nodded her head and a slight smile played upon her lips, "You've made an excellent choice, regret will not be what you feel any longer when I'm finished with you."

Adam would've definitely felt concern at her grin and his better judgement would've made him stop right then and there, but the dark room had brought out all his darkest memories and feelings again, rendering him empty and useless. His careful concern, strategy and planning was all gone. The only thing he had left was a deadness inside him.
He knew that he didn't care, and that didn't bother him like it used to.

Her smile only came off as slightly annoying to him now, and only because it seemed cocky to him.

"So how do we do this...", he asked, his voice flat as the mist churned around him, "I'm ready. Just do your worst."

Haggar's hands lit up with dark purple energy in answer as she blasted the floor with it, causing it to light up and spin faster and faster into a bright blur.

Adam squinted and brought up one hand over his eyes to shield them from the dizzying display.

Intense violet light shone beneath him as he watched the mist swirl against the walls of the room, affected by the witch's spell.

"Stand here.", Haggar commanded as an intricate circle appeared where she gestured, "Then we can begin."

He got up one knee and watched the pattern fold out in the circle before standing up and walking over to where she wanted. As he got closer to her, the energy felt stronger and more powerful then the wind forcing the mist around the room.

As soon as he stood in the center of it, alternating dark violet and light purple beams surrounded him, seeming to cage him inside.

Haggar then waved her arms upward in a circular motion and started chanting in an unintelligible language, her cloak buffeting around her.

Streaks of white hot lightning sprung from her fingers and hit every surface it could touch without warning, but whenever it tried to hit him, his cage protected him from it.

Adam watched as she did her spell and suddenly felt air swirl around him in the opposite direction of the room. The wind churning clockwise in his little circle as the fog outside rolled counter-clockwise.

His hair flew up as more smaller patterned circles surrounded him and glowed the same color as his glowing protective bars.

Suddenly hot white light shot through each and every intricate circle on the floor, a bright fierce beam ripping through Adam's body as Haggar continued to chant rhythmically.

His glasses shattered and glass flew into the barrier before being vaporized in the powerful force of light.

Adam screamed once as the magic overtook him, piercing through his heart and seeming to take a piece of it away. Maybe even more then just a couple of pieces...
Falling to his knees, no longer being able to stand, he felt the beam's power get stronger and stronger. It was pain as one he had never felt before; hard, agonizing, sharp jolts racked through his chest as he braced himself on the floor as he gritted his teeth.

He had been willing to go through this. He wasn't going to cry out more than he already had as he suffered.

He closed his eyes as the pain level went up another notch, almost making him black out from it.

Then everything suddenly stopped.
Everything.

The beam of light disappeared, the intricate circles on the hard floor, the swirling purple mist, the pain in his chest and the room looked as if nothing ever happened.
It all had abruptly ended, quite suddenly and quickly.

The only thing that indicated a spell had been done was the witch's fingers were still sparking slightly with her dark colored magic, along with him sweating on the floor with his missing glasses.

Otherwise Adam would've thought for a moment the spell had been a hallucination.

Haggar looked at him quietly as he lay bent over on his knees and elbows, catching his breath and senses from the overload to the intense quiet.

His head spun as he watched a drop roll down his forehead and down his nose onto the ground, seeming to break him out of the stunning trance he was in as he recollected himself.

"T-That was quicker then I thought it'd be...", he said hoarsely, his voice feeling a little strange to him.

"I assure you the spell was done correctly, there's no reason to worry. Besides, it took twenty minutes to cast the thing... to everyone but the caster the spell seems almost immediate usually.", she answered back in a clipped tone.

Adam gasped and took a rough breath in as he sat up, his whole body aching as his wavy hair stuck to his perspiring face.

He felt different.

He was sore, but he felt better...

Adam swept his hair to the side and stood up, looking at his hands to see if anything physically had changed.

"How do you feel..?", Haggar prompted after a long moment, her yellow eyes glinting as she studied him.

"I feel... I feel better, more in control then I've ever been...", he said in awe as he felt a powerful feeling surge through him, "I've never felt this good in my life!", he laughed.

Laughing. He was laughing... he couldn't remember the last time he did.

A big smile broke onto his face as he flexed his hands as strength and determination filled the hurting parts of his heart and soul.

He had tried so hard to move on and forget, to stop hurting from Takashi's stupid and selfish decisions, but he found that he didn't have to anymore. It no longer mattered in the best way possible, because he felt outright joy at the thought of having him gone. It became even better when he realized Takashi WAS gone, possibly forever.
A true genuine happiness from finally feeling free from his attachments to a man that could care less about what someone else wanted, despite him having the best interests at heart.
Why had he let it get to him for so long when it had been that easy to let go? He marveled at how the switch in him had been turned and held a hand over his heart, laughing like a small child on Christmas.

He looked up at Haggar and couldn't break the grin on his face, "I haven't felt this free in years... and I have to thank you for that.", he said trying to keep his voice businesslike, "You did truly offer me something no one else could give."

She looked at him and tilted her head to the side before nodding, "Of course... I'm glad you feel the difference."

"It's like this weight is gone...", he said in slight awe looking down at himself, "like whatever what was holding me back? It's disappeared."

"I only helped it along. No need to be so giddy about it all.", she waved her hand and the doorway reappeared in the dark walls, "Go on now."

Adam stared at the rectangle of light in surprise before looking back at her, "What..? Are you just letting me go?!"

Haggar looked at him annoyed, "Yes. So stop standing there and move already."

"I thought you were going to help me become stronger...", he said carefully glancing at the door, "I didn't think you'd let me just walk out of here and possibly leave you behind forever. Doesn't seem like something you would do, in fact, I know it's something you wouldn't do. I know you want something from me, me being elated right now hasn't made me stupid.", Adam said crossing his arms, "I also know you aren't the type to give something away freely."

He watched as her eyebrow went up slightly, clearly and pleasantly surprised by his behavior. "Well, good to see you kept your head and wits about you; it usually isn't that way. Most are in this happy little 'LaLa' land for a while before they finally evolve... but you, I was clearly right about you.", she grinned. Then moving on to the next subject, she walked past him and waved him on to follow her as she spoke, "But you're right of course, I don't do anything for free unless it impacts me as well. Most living beings don't, it's a simple and cruel fact we all live by in order to survive.
So as for you doing something for me or getting something out of you, I let you choose what you want to do with your life at this point. It's the best way to make you grow and I know if I press my wishes upon you they're most likely not going to happen.
You already know my mission, my desires and my nature; yet you still chose to let me use my magic on you. I know what you want as well, and you crave knowledge, much like myself. So I knew you'd ask me, or had a feeling you'd ask me about letting you go; which again I'm glad I was right about. You're a lot stronger then you think Adam Wolf... much stronger.
So cutting to the point, here it is. Yes, I plan on making you stronger for my own personal gain in the end, yet you'll still go along with it. But it's nicer to act like it's all your choice rather then me imposing it upon you. It is unwise to tell you all this?
Quite possibly. But I know you too well and you crave the truth too much to let that bother you once I treat you like equal in intelligence. It's also possible I'm being cruel telling you all this just to say that I know you have a certain set of morals that could be considered low to other human beings, but I see it as a strength and a weapon. Enough to take down anyone who opposes you.
So knowing that, and having the truth laid out before you... what will you choose?
You have every right to go on an leave, or you could stay despite knowing the tool you'll be for me sooner or later.", she said stepping out of the black room, "I'll be waiting for your decision in my lab and you're free to wander about as you wish, the arrangements have already been made with Emperor Sendak."

Then with a wave of her long gnarled fingers, Adam was teleported outside the secret place to the halls outside the lab.