Cascading Empire

Chapter 40

                 Saphire grunted as she turned after another dead-end. Eric watched helplessly as Saphire lead him to another place. Eric sighed, grabbed her hand, and began leading her to another place. "There's a trick to mazes. Just keep your hand on a wall constantly, and it'll eventually get you out somehow," Eric gently smiled at her while she pouted in disappointment. "Then.. let's go." 

                  Answers ran through May's head as the two back away silently, closing their mouths while gripping each other's arms in nervousness. "You.. Who did this?" May asked, turning to the both of them, asking for questions while May felt her heart pounding while a sickening feeling rose in her throat. They glanced at each other, before shaking their heads. "Probably so they can not tell anything about the organization they were previously in," Callex said and May turned to him, her eyes asking for truth. "Is.. is that true?" Ahn and Keith both nodded. "Which organization were you in?" 

                 Ahn and Keith moved closer together before forming a rose with their hands combined, glancing up at May and hoping she knew who it was. 

                 ... 

                 Of course she knew them. 

                 It was Tieraine. 

                 Tieraine is a secret organization, taking kids in and eventually making them into social and science experiments. Although they have been busted many times, there are still bases all around the world and underground. All mafia groups are warned about them, since most of them are from that background. Seeing the rose formed in their hands, a little flash of trauma flashed through her head, forcing May to relive through her trauma for a split second. Callex was watching silently on the side, examining May's expression while her face darkened for a moment. "Is something wrong May?" Callex asked and May stayed mum, lips tightly pursed while her mind racked. Ahn and Keith looked at each other worriedly, before Ahn placed her hand on May's shoulder. She shook her hand when May glanced at her gave a reassuring smile. 

                May lowered her head a bit before reassuring them also with a gentle grin. "I'll be alright, thank you," She turned to Callex and did the same before urging them to walk while she began to reveal pieces of her past. "Tieraine has many hidden underground connections and are considered the small part of the mafia to this day. They take children from age five to eight to train them, when their minds are not really able to yet digest what is happening around them. If there was a class walking around an outside public area, then they would kill the supervisors, take the children who seemed most afraid or seemed the least to struggle. Saphire and I was also taken, but it wasn't because we were crying the loudest, it was simply beause," May turned the corner with them following her, "The leader said, and I quote, "These two kids will grow up to be the most viscous killer." May said before sighing. 

               "He wanted us for being his future heirs, and as soon as he took us in, he drugged us gradually more and more throughout the first few days and refused to tell us where we were afterwards. The kids who puked out the poison and refused to have the medicine go anywhere near their body, were punished. The leader did not like crying kids, so after they refused once, they were beaten in a cell and tied up to the walls, while someone with a whip tortured them." 

              Callex asked, "Did you or Saphire ever get tortured?" May shrugged, "It doesn't hurt now, but back then, yeah. We got tortured everyday because we were the one he wanted to train most, and he almost sold Saphire off to the other boss of another bigger organization. I stopped the plan and killed the man who came to pick her up, and resulted in me getting confined for.. I forgot. Maybe it was.. five years by myself, and had to train by myself without human interaction. I was stuck with Saphire, so we became best friends that way." 

             "It didn't mean we didn't get tortured them though, Saphire and I had to hold a gun at each other once, and were forced to pull the trigger. When he called out the last number, be pulled the trigger at each other's shoulders at the age of twelve so we wouldn't have that much of guilt for pulling the trigger," May said and sighed once more as she continued walking down the now quiet, long hallway. "It's all in the past, I don't know if the organization is still alive, but even if it is, we escaped." May ended the story and Callex hummed, his eyes shadowed as he also seemed to be thinking of something. Ahn and Keith couldn't speak anyways, so May glanced at them before chatting with Callex, "Is there any similar experiences with you?" 

              Callex crossed his hands behind his head while chuckling a bit, before explaining, "Yeah. I got electric shocked every next day or so when I also got captured by an organization. It was because I kept sneaking out and talking to a girl," Callex turned to May, "She was the complete opposite of you. But she had a cheerful attitude even though she was the most treasured in the organization, unlike you," Callex said and grinned before looking straight ahead once again. May felt a little pain in her chest, but she immediately pushed it out her chest. "She snuck in with a couple friends, and then gave me some medicine. I didn't tell her I was getting shocked everyday and Eric was also horribly tortured, cut on the chest every so often and whipped on the back of his legs," He hissed at the memory, "It looked like it hurt, and I felt bad that I couldn't do anything, but then.. it's fine now I guess." 

              May turned to him, slowing her footsteps a bit as she maintained eye contact, ".. Do you know.. her name?"