The Labs

Rule-breaking

"Is she okay?" She's still unconscious?" Came a murmur from some place above me.

"She got hit hard..." Came another voice.

I opened my eyes with a groan. Around me were lots of people, nearly the entirety of Lab 3, I saw Flora immediately, her worried face staring down at me with wide eyes.

I started to get up, though my body protested and refused to stand properly. Flora then picked me up and the room around me became a blur of numbers and people. I saw every single number... except for 4.

"F-f-fours?" I asked. Flora got what I meant.

"Fauna's still out cold, but the person in 14's gone. Disappeared. Never came back from experiments, though I guess it's the age thing. As I may have said, they only experiment on children. No idea why." 

She carried me into room 4, where Fauna's face was obscured by his dark hair and he was making odd jerking movements.

"He must have gone into the Body room. Honestly, it's the only one he can't do. I did as well, it's probably the only one I know I can. The trick's to believe in yourself and use your powers." Flora sighed. She had barred the entrance to everyone else, making us the only three in there.

"I had a sister, when I was younger." Said Flora. "I accidentally gave her an extra soul, and both died in the pressure. The souls, I mean." She sighed, curling up into a ball as I watched, wide eyed. I'd expected Flora to have no weakness.

"It was how they caught me." Said Flora, shaking her head as if in a mix of wonder and sadness. "I've never got over it, and now all I want is a little sister. You can serve as that, until I go?" She asked, her eyes piercing into me. "You can?"

"I'll try as hard as I can." I said. And honestly, I did.

The time we spent in room 4 felt like hours, but immediately the announcement said for Lab 1 to go through to lab 4.

"I slept through all of our time? And lab 2's?" I asked.

"Yeah, it was hours, honestly" Said Flora. "I had to wait so long for you lot, I was tempted to break into lab 1 for something to do!"

I felt bad for Flora, but she obviously didn't care much anymore.

"Can I see your power? Please?" She asked. I nodded and showed her the reforming wisp of purple energy that was my power.

"That's a good one." She said. "You'll never guess the one I wanted, though, and I'll never tell anyone." She winked and changed the subject.

There was a time, however, when words were no longer sufficient to avoid the gloom with, and we slowly sank into a miserable silence. This was why it felt so long in there, the amount of time we spent doing nothing was horrendous. People came and went, though they never entered, going wild in the large room outside that was the closest we had to a home in the Labs. Their shrieks of laughter were muffled through the door into room 4 and it was turned into odd wails by my ears. I didn't think I had ever felt that gloomy. Flora's emotions had seeped into my own, making someone I had barely ever talked to in my life my best friend.

After all this had happened, there was a low grunt and a shuffle. Both me and Flora jumped out of our skins simultaneously and looked up at the bed above us.

Fauna was back, sat up on the bed, brushing his hair away from his face. He gave a low moan.

"How long did I get?" He groaned, rubbing his head.

"Eleven forty-one." Said Flora. "Body place, am I correct?"

"Eleven forty-one?!" Fauna was surprised at this. "Really? Normally I can't stand even ten in there! What about you? Sceia?"