𝐙𝐄𝐑𝐎 - 𝟎𝟎𝟏 𝐅𝐀𝐍𝐅𝐈𝐂 ✔️

010

The woman comes to you in your dreams. They're always happy dreams at first. You see her bright smile as she pulls you up into her arms. You hear her laughter. You hear what you think might be giggles of your own.

Each time, the scene fades as quickly as it had come. If not swarmed by the night terrors you said you didn't have, it transcended into nothingness. It was a cycle that never ended, but that pretty much summed up life in the laboratory in general. An endless cycle of the same old, same old.

This often brought blockages. Knowing this, Papa tried to spice things up every once in a while. You appreciated it, but couldn't understand why or how he thought this was a good idea.

Two words: Laser Tag.

And for the first time, there were no tests, there were no rules, there were no lessons. There weren't even powers. It was just plain fun. At this point, that was something you couldn't even remember how to do.

"Get him, 011! Get him!" Papa cheers, clapping his hands enthusiastically.

The lights were dimmed, the furniture was cleared. The whole laboratory—at least, the part not blocked off from children—had been morphed into a giant laser tag arena. 011 hid behind the chess table, aiming a gun at 002. They'd been rivals since she'd arrived.

But 002 has a clique of children hiding in the corner. They'll gang up on her, you know it. In the haste of the moment, you sneak over to 011 and aim for them with her.

"Don't worry, we've got this," you whisper to her.

This, you think, was your first time ever speaking to her.

The young girl nods, and you see the slightest of a smile creep onto her face before she turns back towards 002.

"We've got this," she repeats, but you're not sure if it's to herself or to you.

You shoot without mercy towards the gang, 011 follows. Laser beams pour from your gun to their vests, hitting each of them clear in the "heart". Every one of the children was out, except 002. You were saving him for 011.

"Get him," you whisper.

She nods and aims her gun, releasing a shaky breath. "Okay..."

She shoots him in his scramble to run away. The boy wasn't so tough without his little friends. In fact, his aim wasn't very good at all. The most he could do was rid the game of toddlers. That wasn't exactly fair, the guns were almost bigger than the toddlers themselves.

011 was the only fairly small child that remained. The only others that were left, excluding you, were 004, 006, 010... and 001.

You hadn't seen him in a while.

011 was with you, that was obvious, and 010 was smart enough to find a good hiding place. He was probably waiting until there were only a few left before revealing himself. 004, a tall girl, and 006 a young boy had teamed up if you could remember correctly. They were probably together if they hadn't turned on each other yet.

And 001, was a mystery.

"Come on," you say, pulling 011 out of the rainbow room. She trails behind you like a mouse, small, quiet, and creeping in her thin nightgown.

She was rather cute, you could see why Papa had taken such a strong liking to her. You almost feel bad for taking such a strong disliking to her. Almost. Papa's favoritism still got on your nerves.

For now, she would work. She was quiet and had good aim. Two guns were better than just one.

The sound of footsteps catches your ears. You whip around but are only met by the dark. No figures could be made out in the dim light if there were any at all. You usher 011 against the wall and walk low to the ground. If there was someone behind you, their flashing vests would give them away.