Dark Angel (A 001 prequel story)

18 - Awful Secrets

After they departed, Rose went back to her room and spent some time in the bathroom, trying to digest all the things she learned about Henry. But it was just too much.
She had believed that she was the problem, that if she was normal, things between them could be fixed.
She was wrong.

They were alike.

That's how he knew how to teach her to unveil and control her newly found skills.
That's how he understood and supported her in a way that nobody else ever did.
But he wasn't Peter.
His real name was Henry.
And he was a test subject.
He was 001.
That was why whenever they made out, when she called him Peter she had felt him cool down.
And his warnings about their being together and its dangers became heavier to bear.

Later she laid on her bed, giving her back to the camera.
It reminded her when in the controm room she had watched him doing the same thing, his shoulders shaking as he tried to hide his sobs.
Closing her eyes, she craved for the calmness of the dark void into her mind.

She felt like she was sleeping. But her mind recorded the conversation of two men next door.
They sounded stranger to her then. So Rose guessed it was something she heard when she just arrived in Hawkins and was sedated.
"If we managed to get her when she was still a child, she would have been into the Indigo Project" Brenner was saying "She would have been our Two. It would have been interesting to see her growing with One. The one born with incredible talents. And the one made".
Another male voice made a noise of disapproval "I think One would have destroyed her".
"Do you think he's less dangerous now that he's under control?".
"He's no more impulsive as a child would be. He would find a way to manipulate her, instead of just destroying her".
Rose held her breath, waiting for Brenner's reply.
"I don't fear any harm from him. One is no more, anyway".

Rose forced herself out of that memory and resurfaced gasping for air, like she had been underwater for too long.

Why her silly mind hadn't brought it up before? Why hadn't she known earlier about that? Why she felt like she was always late to remember the details that mattered?
She couldn't believe that Henry would manipulate her. Yet he had been hiding big things about himself. If she didn't happen to notice his tattoo and the device under his skin, would he have ever spontaneously tell her anything at all?

Being separated from him didn't do any good to her confused and tired mind.
Her hopes of brooding on those truths about him and being able to digest them vanished under the many questions she had for him.

When finally a new day came and she saw him, she felt better.
As soon as they were alone, she wrapped her arms around him, pulling him into a tight hug.

"I need to talk to you" she said with some urgency.
"There are things I need to say to you as well" he admitted "But you first".
He pulled her to a bench so they could sit down.
"You know how the sensor deprivation tank works. Well, I used to go to this dark void into my mind and sometimes I get to see things. Memories from my past that I wasn't aware were recorded in my mind".
He nodded "I understand. I know that place. If I wasn't restrained, we would even meet there".
She dropped her jaw. She never thought of that possibility "Can we meet in that darkness?".
He smiled playfully "Yes. It's a place in our minds. A place that we can even visit at our own will. Just like you can visit other minds, hearing targeted people speaking miles away from you. And then you could even create mindscapes".
She looked at their entwined hands and grinned "I would like to stay in that void only to meet you".
"Same" he sighed "So, what have you seen in that resurfaced memory?".
She swallowed hard "My parents knew Brenner".
He nodded, encouraging her to go on.
"And in another memory Brenner said that I should have been into the Indigo Project. That I should have been number Two".
Henry breathed deeply and pulled her into a tender embrace "I'm glad it didn't happen. You would have been just another prisoner".
"Brenner said that you would have destroyed me" she added carefully.
She felt him stiffen. But he didn't deny it.
"I couldn't control my anger then. I would have done anything to damage him, even if it meant involving you or anyone else. And now you should know that I'm incapable of hurting you. You are too precious".
So indeed he could have hurt her if he knew that she was special to Brenner. She couldn't blame him, yet the idea froze the blood in her veins.
"He spoke of the one born with talents and the one made" she continued.
Again she felt him freeze, then he admitted softly "That's what I wanted to talk about with you".
She frowned, freeing herself from his embrace and looking up at him.
"What does it mean?".
The sorrow in his eyes unsettled her. If he was so torn, she needed to brace herself to whatever he was going to say.