Disclaimer: Umm… see the intro.
A/N: (gasps) Is that an Update?
Really? An Update?!
Why yes, yes it is!
I want to thank all those that reviewed, and I'm soooo sorry for such a long wait! Really I am! My muse up and disappeared on me and I had no idea what to do. So I left this story alone for the longest time. I tried not to long ago to type out what was in my head but it just wasn't working. Then the oddest thing happened to me…
I had a dream… okay not so odd, but the dream itself was odd and for the life of me I cant remember what that dream was about.
All I know is; I woke up went 'What the hell?!" Then that's when my muse decided come flying back and knock me over.
Oh yeah, I changed the location of the tattoo. Instead of on the shoulder, the tattoo is now on the left side of the temple. Got rid of the whole color scheme too, that got a little confusing… Had to go back and switch some dates around… did that like a million times I'm terrible when it comes to math So if you spot out a problem with the dates in this chapter feel free to scold me, throw something at me, push me over…
That is all…uh, I think.
Oh! On a side note, I had way too much fun typing this chapter up, don't ask why…
Chapter 1
Date: March 28, 1982
Location: Muggle populated Area.
John Cage was the type of man that was over looked and underestimated. That usually happened with thieves and con artists. He was the guy that did others dirty wok for them. If you gave him the right amount of money then he wouldn't ask questions, simple has that. So when a man by the name of General William Kroger gave him ten thousand Galleons to kidnap one of the Potter Brats he didn't ask questions.
With his sunken cheeks and yellowed teeth, Cage was not the typical person one would see in a park full of happy and bright children. He came here to do a job and with a couple of notice-me-not charms and he was practically invisible. It took a while to track down the Potters location but when he did it was just a matter of waiting. A week later he found the perfect opportunity to snatch the Potter brat with out breaking into the house and with out notifying anyone of his presence. The mother took her kids to a muggle park for the day. The chance was just too perfect to pass up.
A quick scan of the playground and he immediately spotted the Potter brats playing in the sandbox. He watched them both for a minute before he strode forward, intent on getting his job done. The Potter twins were the only ones in the sandbox has he glared down at them. Ten thousand galleons was enough for him not to ask questions to his employer but the one question that was screaming in his head was; Why not both of them?
Cage glanced up and saw that the mother was wrapped up in a conversation with some of the other mothers and not paying the least amount of attention. He looked around just to be sure that no one had seen him and then looked back down at the twins.
He gave a start when he looked down. They were watching him. Both of twins were sitting silent and just staring at him. Even in his line of work that was creepy. They shouldn't even be able to see him, yet they were watching him with such intensity that was not meant for children.
The man shook himself. He had a job to do, and he was going to get it done. For ten thousand galleons, he'd be damned if he didn't get it done.
Bending down he scooped up the boy, he had spent too much time here already. Taking one last glance around he apparated away with a deafening crack.
-o0o-
Date: August 2, 1982
Location: Unknown
"Report"
A tall man stood on one side of a wide pane of glass. One hand reached over, presumably pressing the small intercom button, allowing his gruff, blunt voice to scratch through the speakers on the other side.
Daunting, intimidating, threatening, all adjectives that would be used to describe this man. At the height of 6'4, body rippled with muscles, strong jaw and sharp blue eyes that sparked with an insane glint that had everyone around him cowering internally. He was a man that nobody would want to see angry.
His name was General William Kroger. Head and founder of the organisation; Gemini Technology.
"Sir" a silky voice started from the other side of the glass. "The tests have shown massive potential."
The room on the other side of the glass was bare at most. Stark white walls glared bright under the artificial lighting, a man with a matching white coat stood at the center of the small room, steel clipboard in hand. Beside him lay a glass crib, inside it lay a sleeping boy, no older then 2 years of age.
"Already, my calculations are telling me by the time he is 11 his magic will be off the charts." the man in the white coat stated, daring a glance at the General.
The General nodded his head, something akin to glee shinning out of his eyes.
"Put him through the program and be prepared, you got 2 more heading your way." he poised, still staring at the small boy.
"Yes sir!" the other nodded his head, snapping his fingers and waved in two more technicians.
Has the men took the small boy out of the room, then doctor looked up at the General, who was staring at the door. The door shut with a click that echoed through out the tiny room.
"If I may sir?" he cautioned, not wanting to seem so nosy and find himself on the receiving end of the General's anger. When Kroger gave a curt nod for him to continue he licked his lips and went on. "Why just the one? Why not the other twin? Surely if this one as shown such promising figures, then the other would also." he looked up at the General and tensed up. The man was smiling, smiling in a cruel way that the bony doctor would have preferred to run in the other direction.
"Simple" he said. "They are twins Jugson, together they share a bond, a bond that would be impossible to break unless separated. With them separated, it makes them more susceptible to outside influences. I chose the boy for the simple fact the he is the older of the two, besides, let the Potter family break at the loss of their precious son and the world cry for the missing Twin-That-Lived."
Jugson nodded his head numbly, eyes wide has he watched his superior leave with the same cruel smile on his face. He had to admit the plan was brilliant. He almost cackled at that, what would wizarding world say when they found out what happened to one of their savours?
-o0o-
Date: September 15, 1984
Location: Unknown
General Kroger stood overbearing at the head of a long white hallway. He looked down at the 12 children lined up along the walls.
6 on either side. 6 boys, 6 girls. They all stood, backs against the walls, shaved heads, matching hospital issued gowns and blank stares.
"Report" he stated, eyes still scanning over the kids.
"Sir, all passed the program healthy and intact. But, but D- 41 had slight problems." Jugson answered, cringing when Kroger looked at him sharply.
"Explain"
"Sir, he's had nightmares sir. Reports say its due to the connection with his twin." he paused and licked his lips nervously. "What I gather is; the other twin forged a mind connection with the Dark Lord when he fell and because of the magical bond 41 shares with his twin he shares that same connection."
"Start advanced occlumency and block that connection out." The General said after a moment of silence.
"Yes sir."
"And the rest?" he questioned looked at the other children.
"Their minds are wiped clean. Their yours for the molding." Jugson answered a smirk on his face has he snapped the folder in his bony hand closed.
The general strode forward still scowling. He walked down the center before stopping and turning to face one small boy. He leaned over the boy, and with one stocky finger, cupped the small child's chin and tilted the small head sideways. The small brand on the temple was still raw and a glaring angry red but that didn't matter. He then tilted the head upwards.
Blank green eyes looked back at him, face expressionless.
A slow smile appeared on the General's face has he gazed at the boy drinking in the delicate features. He let the boy go, and the child automatically resumed staring blankly at the adjacent wall. Kroger stood up straight and stared at his children, a rekindled gleam in his blue eyes.
"Perfect" he breathed, smile still in place. "Start training, I want reports on my desk at the end of every week."
-o0o-
Date: November 17, 1986.
Location: Unknown
D-041 stared at the stone ceiling above him. He was lying in his cot, thinking.
It was lights out, he was supposed to be asleep like the others. He wasn't supposed to be thinking, he wasn't allowed to think and yet he couldn't stop himself.
He slowly brought his right hand up in front of his face and gazed at the scar there. Why? That was always the question he wanted to ask. He knew normal wizards used wands to perform magic and he had this scar for as long has he could remember, it was the same with the eleven other boys and girls he bunked with.
Magic.
Anti magical wards were put up right after D-45 had an 'accident'. They were training when it happened.
45 blew up all the computers, not only just in the room but in the entire building.
To say the General was angry was an understatement. He dragged 45 away. The others didn't see him again till two weeks later. After that, all of the children were prohibited from doing magic unless it was in training.
Training.
They trained 12 hours a day, seven days a week. It had always been like that, no questions asked. But that didn't stop them from thinking them.
Occlumency was a big part of their training too. They had said it was to stop anyone from the outside gaining information, if they were ever stolen from their 'home'. 41 didn't know what any of this was for. The more he learned the more questions he wanted to ask. But he knew not to, to ask a question out loud, meant time with the doctors. No one wanted to spend time with the doctors, they did horrible things.
"Psst"
41 blinked, dropped his hand and looked over to the cot beside him. 46 was awake. Actually, everyone was awake, which wasn't really surprising, they didn't need to sleep, they were just supposed to.
He pulled himself up onto his elbows and looked questioningly at 46.
"Can I ask you something?" 46 questioned staring at him with brown eyes. Experiment D-046 was male, his shaved head only just starting to show the thick brown hair that would eventually grow.
This he was used to, all the others always came to him to ask a question, and he would try his hardest to answer even if he didn't have an answer to give. He was always asking himself the same things in his head. When he noticed that the others had started to stir and were all now looking at both himself and 46. He nodded his head for 46 to continue.
"Why don't we have names?" he whispered, sitting up and crossing his legs.
"We do have names." 41 responded, but he knew where this was going.
"We don't have names, we have numbers." D-039 explained, manoeuvring her way over and sat lithely on the bed with 41.
"But we are not supposed to have names." 45 said from his spot on the other side of 41.
41 thought about that; it was true they were not allowed to have names, their numbers and their tattoos were how they were distinguished, how they were classified. D-041, ears perked up and he sat up all the way, eyes sparkling with a new idea.
"Then we should give each other names, names that only we will know about and nobody else, not even them."
-o0o-
Date: December 25 1987
Location: Unknown
There was one major flaw in the grand design that was called 'Training'.
Occlumency. The mind arts. All of it. It gave the you a chance to block out unwanted presences from the mind. It also gave one the ability to hide their own thoughts from anybody and everybody.
But the thing about practicing occlumency quiet literally all your life, you get good at it. Really good at it.
It got to the point where every single one of the children could easily fool their occlumency trainer. Mathew Baller. He was a master of his craft. If he ever found out that he had been tricked by a bunch of seven year olds, well… that would be a good swift kick in the ego now wouldn't it?
None of the guards, trainers, hell even the General himself knew anything about the kids giving themselves names. About their midnight story telling. About the fact they were indeed their own persons. They each had their own unique traits, their own unique personality. Their own individual thoughts.
One year ago, that would have been different. The catalyst in all this was the night they gave each other names. It set in motion a number of things that would initially lead to the break out.
It was Christmas day. All the kids knew that but they didn't celebrate Christmas or any other holiday. They would each wish each other a Merry Christmas even though they didn't entirely understand what Christmas meant. They had each other and that was all they needed to get through the never ending cycle that was their life.
Right now though, right now was cause for concern.
They was all standing at attention at the foot of their beds, right before light out. That never happened. That was a break in the day to day routine they had all grown used to. It was the routine that held a sense of normalcy for all of them. What was about to happen, they didn't know.
D- 041, known to the other kids as Ray was scared. He didn't let it show, no one did. That would be bad if they showed any form of emotion. He wasn't supposed to feel, to know what emotions were or what they meant, but he did, all of them did.
The General came into the room, four heavy set guards in tow. The atmosphere in the room dropped in temperature and tensed a considerable amount. Ray, despite himself tensed up also, he couldn't help it, the General was a scary man.
He strode forward, bypassing all the other 'soldiers' paying them no mind.
He stopped right in front of Ray and looked down at him through the corner of his eye. Ray pushed all forthcoming emotions and thoughts to the back of his mind and stood like the man wasn't even in front of him. The seven year old didn't know how long the General stood there staring at him and he didn't really care, he would stand here all day if he had to.
Internally sighing with relief when he looked away, Ray chanced a glance around.
He caught the oval eyes of D- 042, known to him as Lea. He saw the spike of fear that escaped through her eyes and he knew that same emotion peaked out of his eyes as well but it was gone just as quick as it came.
The General stopped right in front of 045, secretly know as Dace. Kroger turned on his heel so he was facing the boy.
"D- 045!" he snapped.
Said boy took one step forward and stood rigid in front of the man. He didn't respond, he was expected to.
Ray suddenly had a bad feeling about this. A really bad feeling.
"Come with me 045." Kroger said without hesitation. He turned heel and walked away not looking back to see if the boy was following him.
Dace's eyes were wide, he hesitated for only a millisecond before he moved to follow the General. As he walked passed Ray, their eyes met for one brief second. The desperate fear that shown out of Dace's pale blue eyes was enough for Ray's own mask to crack. His lips parted and he sucked in a breath as he watched Dace walk past him and out the door.
Ray took a small glance at the others and noticed their reactions were close if not the same as his own. The steel door shut with a bang and the scrapes of the heavy locks could be heard from the other side.
All they could do was just stare at each other, silently looking for any type of confirmation.
But Ray knew it, deep down they all did.
Dace was gone and he was never coming back.
-o0o-
Date: January 12 1988
Location: Unknown
It happened again.
He came.
He came and he took Kat away.
Just like he took Bree away.
Just like he took Dace away.
There was nothing any of them could do. They were too scared to make a stand, too scared to speak up and do something. Ray couldn't blame them, he was scared himself but he was more scared by the fact that Kat, Bree and Dace were gone.
"Where is he taking them?" Lea, D- 042, asked still staring at the steel door.
"Why? Why did he take them away?" Nik, D- 046 asked automatically looking towards Ray.
Ray shook his head silently to signify that he didn't know. He gazed a the small empty bed frame that used to be occupied by Kat.
"I don't know" he whispered looking at the nine others in the room. "Whatever it is it cant be good."
"Where would he take them?"
"He's separating us." Ray said his eyes going wide with realization. "One by one. Don't you see? We are getting separated and shipped away"
"I don't want to be separated" Nik said shaking his head vigorously.
Several others nodded their heads in agreement. Nobody wanted to be alone, nobody wanted to know where the General was going to take them, what he was planning for them. All this non stop training was meant for something, that much they knew.
"So we go together" Ray said after a moment of silence.
"What?"
"We get out of here. Together. Before he comes and takes another one of us away, before we all get split up."
"You mean…" Nik paused and bit is lip. "You mean escape?"
All the others perked up and trained their eyes on Ray, some looked scared, hopeful, doubtful. Ray understood, he was frightened by the prospect of what was in the outside world.
"It's the only way. I don't want to separated. Its all or nothing." he replied as his heart swelled with confidence. He thrust his hand out so it was center of the huddled circle the were in. He looked at all the others dead in the eye letting his words hang in the air.
They stayed like that for a while, each looking at one another, silently debating what Ray was proposing.
"Together" It was Nik that broke the silence first. He smiled and clapped his own right hand on top of Ray's.
"Together" Lea agreed copying Nik and putting her hand on top of his.
After that everyone joined in. Nobody voiced any objections, they all agreed on one thing. They had to get out.
What followed was an two days of planning and sneaking around. Lea was able to snatch a set of keys off an unsuspecting guard. No one knew how far the anti- magic wards spread for so the decided to leave magic out completely and depend on their other skills to get away.
The night of their escape, Poe faked being sick to get the guards to open the steel door to their room.
The night of their escape, Ray would have never in a million years thought that they would have to split up once they got out of the building.
-o0o-
Date: January 15 1988
Location: Unknown.
Ray ran, pushing his small legs to the limit, through the woods.
He didn't know where any of the others had gotten too. They all had made it outside the Gemini building but once they had made it to the edge of the forest, lights lit up all over the building, wailing sirens pierced through the silent night and gunshots were heard. Bullets whipped past all of them, engines ignited with a vengance, their tires spitting rocks as the gunned out of their previously parked state.
After that, Ray didn't know what had happened. They all scattered and ran into the woods without a second glance.
So now he ran in the opposite direction. He whipped past and the trees ignored the cuts and scrapes he was getting from the branches. His feet were bleeding badly, he was not wearing any shoes to protect his poor feet from the viscious ground. It was autumn so no matter how silent he could be the dead leaves still crunched and fallen twigs still snapped under his feet. That wasn't good, they would here him from a mille away but he couldn't bring himself to care. The only thing going through his mind was 'get to safety'. He had to get past the wards, he needed his magic. His magic would be extremely helpful at the moment.
Then he seen it.
In the distance, about fifteen feet away was the perimeter fence. If anything he sped up even more.
So he ran full tilt all the way to the fence. Not even stopping, he jumped, latching onto the fence and climbed. He had to slow himself down when he got to the top. He carefully crawled past the circled barbwire at the top. Ray felt his legs and arms getting cut by the nasty wire but he couldn't worry about that now, he would worry about that later.
He made it to the other side and leaped down. When he landed, he froze and his heartbeat picked up the pace even more.
He could here the angry roar of a four wheeler coming down the trail along the fence line. Sure enough he could see the headlight of the vehicle.
He stared at the lights getting closer and closer for all but 10 seconds before his brain snapped into over drive. He backed up a couple steps and turned. He got about three steps away before he heard someone shout.
"Hey!"
Despite his training the shout still startled him and he stumbled yet he managed to stay upright.
Blam.
Ray's heart stopped for a millisecond when he heard the gunshot.
Hot searing pain ripped into his shoulder.
The next thing he knew was tumbling down a steep unforgiving hill.
He couldn't grab his footing, he couldn't get his head past the blind panic that had over taken his mind. He cried out knowing it wouldn't do any good. He stumbled and rolled down the rugged hill for what seemed like a lifetime before he came skidding to halt on a smooth surface.
A road?
Ray groaned and brought himself onto his hands and knees. He was dizzy and his whole body was aching and protesting the movement. It was only the training he had endured all his life that he was able to keep from blacking out. Then a blinding yellow light shined on him. Ray's head snapped to the left, his pupils dilating automatically to the bright light.
It was then that he realized he was in fact in the middle of a paved road and a car was rushing toward him. He sucked in a breathe, frozen on the spot.
He stared wide eyed as the vehicle came steadily closer to him.
There it was!
Despite himself, all thoughts of the forthcoming car got pushed from his mind when he felt that familiar spark of his magic. He didn't have any time to do anything about it though because that warm spark was replaced with a burning pain right on the side of head. Right where his tattoo was.
Ray cried out and gripped his head. It was burning! On the inside and the out. He slammed his occlumency shields up but it wasn't enough.
The edges of his vision blackened.
The last thing he heard was the screeching of brakes and the skidding of tires.
-o0o-
So was it worth the wait? Again I'm sorry for that.
Thanks to everyone that was kind enough to think up a character for me :)
Feedback is always welcome as well….
That's all for now.