Ultramarine -- REWRITTEN

Nineteen. [h.s.] -- REWRITTEN

          "You have two choices, Charmaine," Aria spoke as we followed her down the hallway. "Cooperate, or watch a loved one suffer."

          "Excuse me?" Charmaine coughed, walking faster and testing my grip on her arm. I tugged her backward, feeling her pulse in her arm. Two Commissioners opened the double doors to the Analysis room, the place that Charmaine no doubt feared by now. She pulled me forward, the muscles in her arms tensing once she stepped inside, seeing a man who looked similar to her being held up magnetically--like she had been so many times before. I looked down at her wide eyes. "No. . ." she breathed, her muscles momentarily relaxing.

          Then, fury.

          Her body tensed and she tore her arm from my grasp, approaching Aria who stood next to the large monitor. I hastily stepped forward and grabbed both of her arms again. "What are you doing to him?" she screamed. The man narrowed his eyes, trying to see where we were, but the lights he was surrounded by was blinding his vision to see into the darkness that we stood in.

          "If that's Charmaine then y'all better run," he mumbled, trying to yank himself away from the magnetic hold.

          "We found the little rat trying to escape last night, but his masked beauty happened to run fast enough. We watched the tapes and found that he had visited you. How sweet," Aria hummed, typing something into the screen above. Charmaine let out a low growl, her gaze flickering from the man and Aria. "Now, you have twenty seconds to make your decision. Tell me something you know, and Leon will be set free. If not, he'll be punished. Time is ticking."

          "Don't tell them anything, Charmaine!" Leon exclaimed.

          Charmaine was silent, staring at Aria.

          "Ten seconds."

          Charmaine's hands curled into fists in my grasp, her veins and tendons pressing against my palms.

          "Never," she whispered.

          "Five, four, three--"

          Charmaine jerked her hands from my grasp and I automatically grabbed her waist before Aria's blood stained her hands. Charmaine shrieked as she thrashed her legs, using the last of her strength to reach forward and punch Aria's chin, knocking her from where she stood.

          "Let me go, Harry! That's my brother!" she shouted over Leon. I held onto her tightly, her back pressed against my chest. I could feel her heart pounding through her bones, craving to see her brother safe and away from the pain that she had experienced before. I knew better than her though, because her punching Aria alone would result in another punishment, let alone her trying to let her brother escape. In the long run, watching Leon suffer for a few minutes and her telling Aria something she knew was much better than what Charmaine would receive if she didn't cooperate.

          "You can't."

          "Watch me," she hissed, stomping her foot down onto mine. I released her, a shout of pain escaping my lips as I grabbed my foot. It throbbed in misery as Aria held her head in her hand on the ground. She glared at me as Charmaine attempted to turn off whatever was hurting her brother. Fear took over every piece of her face, her wide eyes praying that everything would stop. She groaned and pounded her fists on the table, error alerts beeping over Leon's screams.

          "There's no use, it doesn't recognize your fingerprint," Aria seethed, standing up off of the ground and brushing the shame off of her dress. She smoothed out her ponytail.