The Academy of S.I.D.E.

No. 48: What You Believe

Over the course of the first week, Janus outlined and scrapped seven different escape plans. All of them ended in frustrated scribbles, because he had no idea how the place worked, or where he even was. He could've been in Antarctica, for all he knew.

After he'd thrown several different meals that all contained meat at the wall instead of eating them, the kitchen staff finally got the hint that he was vegetarian. The issue was that nobody apparently knew any good vegetarian dishes, so during the second week, Janus got mostly salad and breakfast food. They were delicious, but he was not about to give them the satisfaction of knowing that he enjoyed what they were giving him.

By the time week three rolled around, Janus had decided to go on a hunger strike. Well, not a full-on hunger strike---he'd eat a bite of everything he got offered, then toss the rest. Enough to make them know that he wasn't going to break, and enough to keep him alive.

"I seriously don't understand how you're still breathing," Augustus commented. "You're a fucking skeleton already. Just eat the goddamned thing."

Janus threw the syrup-covered pancake at his face, missing him entirely.

"Okay, fine. Be that way. Starve to death. See if I care."

He tucked his knees to his chest and stared at the wall in front of him.

Augustus let out a sigh. "Do you just sit there all the time?"

"If you got here earlier, you would've been able to catch my rendition of Cell Block Tango," Janus responded, not looking at him. "I do it every day at ten---or is it two?" He smiled humorlessly. "Being held captive in a cell with no windows has rather limited my perception of time, I'm afraid. It would help if one of you added a clock, so I could properly keep track of how many days I've wasted away here as your captive."

"Jannie, do me and yourself a favor and shut up."

Janus whipped his head towards him, a sadistic grin on his face. "Or what? You'll burn me? Just like you do every time I apparently need to watch my mouth?"

Augustus rolled his eyes behind his sunglasses. "Are you seriously still hung up on that?"

"Oh, fuck yeah, I'm hung up on it," Janus snapped, unsteadily getting to his feet. "Do you have any idea the impact that had on me, or are you too much of a sociopath to understand?"

"I didn't mean anything by it, okay?" Augustus said, holding his hands up. "I don't have a problem with you, Jannie. Mouth and lack of respect for authority aside, you're a cool guy, and you're pretty cute. Not my type, but I definitely see why Remus is so gung-ho crazy about you. And the two of you are disgustingly adorable together."

"If you don't have a problem with me, then why'd you do it?" Janus hissed.

"You know why. Mom told me to push you harder."

"You could've done anything other than burning me to make me listen to you! And leaders are supposed to take constructive criticism from their crewmates, anyway!"

Augustus let out a growl. "Look, you want an apology? Fine. I'm sorry if I went a little overboard in getting you to actually do the shit I tell you to do, and I'm sorry if you can't handle a little fire. But you know what? That's the way my family does things, and I'm not gonna apologize for that."

"You should," Janus muttered.

"Hey, if it makes you feel better, I was against this whole thing," Augustus told him, folding his arms. "We have access to the mind-wiping tech now, so we could've just approached you, asked you, and then wiped your mind if you refused. But Mom was adamant that we make sure that you're incapable of backing out." He shrugged. "I dunno why she hasn't used her powers on you yet. Guess she still wants you to have some semblance of free will."