Part III: Athena Areia
The acidic scent of lemon lies so heavy in the air, Chaerin is certain she’ll smell it for weeks. Mixed with the metallic taste of blood in her mouth, she’s not certain she’ll ever get rid of the smell or the taste ever again. How long has it been? She could have sworn it’s been days since they first strapped her down to the shiny metallic chair and told her to “hang on tight” whatever that meant.
She of course found out they meant pay attention. They stimulated torture in the most vivid of ways. Their instructions were clear. Do not crack under pressure or she’ll be quite sorry. At the beginning of the session three others were with her, now Chaerin was the only one that remained. The others cracked some time ago and had indeed paid the price for their failure. Truthfully, it is stubbornness that keeps Chaerin from opening her mouth more than anything. She knows they want her to crack. She knows that the instigator of her torture loathes her and her constant foul mouth, he wanted nothing more than to see her break and she would not give him the satisfaction She would rather die..
An outcome that is quite likely should things continue as they are.
Hours ago they had gone for a frontal approach, beating her into submission, blindfolding her and attempting sexual assault--which ended up in Chaerin getting her legs tied down as well after she kicked a guard in the face. They even attempted waterboarding to no avail. Now their tactics were a little more subdued. All along her arm and legs, thin cuts into her skin are made and with each refusal or “wrong” answer, the cut was made deeper and deeper. Occasionally they’d pour a lemon mixture over the wound, just giggles, and around the chair as well to clean up the floor. For the first few hours it actually hurt, but eventually her body grew dull to the pain.
So they changed it up yet again. Salt seemed to be the prefered option but Chaerin is fairly certain she won’t be able to get the smell of lemons out of her nose for months. After this, they leave her alone for a while--an hour to be exact-- and the guard that comes in surprises her. She hasn’t seen him since she tried to choke him three weeks ago and a sudden sense of dread freezes up her spine.
“Ah little Chaerinnie, it’s been a while. How are you?” She resists the urge to spit on his face. He seems to read her desire in her expression and chuckles. “That good huh? Well, you know who's having a worse day than you?” She doesn’t grace him with an answer which only seems to amuse him even more. “Does the name Hyunsik ring any bells? Lee Hyunsik?”
It takes nearly a full minute to realize that yes she does know that name and he’s referring to her brother. Immediately she lurches forward in her seat, only for the shackles to hold her back just enough from tearing him apart. He laughs and pulls out a smart phone. Moving to stand behind her, he shows her the little screen where she sees her brother being dropped into what seems to be ice cold water over and over again. Each time he manages to swim up, an electric shock stuns his movements and he falls back into the water again. He seems to be saying something, but she can’t make out what it is. “You’ve been giving him too much hope you know with your silly songs. It’s hard to make a warrior when they aren’t broken. This, this right here is all your fault Chaerin. Your defiance will be his death.” He pauses and grabs a handful of her hair. “Unless of course you promise to tell us exactly what we want. Be a good girl now Rinnie.”
Chaerin in a fit of rage, thrashes about and manages to head butt him and actually make her chair fall over. Using this moment of surprise, she pulls violently at her restraints until she manages to break the chair with a strength she didn’t know she possessed. Jumping on the guard, she punched him square in the nose and looked at the phone’s screen again.
She recognized that place.
With a deep growl, Chaerin grabbed his set of keys and went to open the door. As soon as she managed to get it open, she was greeted with three guards running towards her with batons at the ready to taze her. In her blind rage, she doesn’t care. Instead she shoots past them, breaking through their group with relative ease. This doesn’t stop them from trying to grab her however, and two remain hot on her heels as she makes her way through the corridors. They call for backup, but it means very little to her with her newfound strength and resilience, she refuses to let anything stand in her way.
Her sides and legs burn as she continues running but she doesn’t come to a stop until one finally manages to intercept her and shoot her with a bolt of electricity. Chaerin crumbles to her knees, her body shaking as several guards pounce on her. Still, she tries her best to fight them off, screaming her brother’s name. Only the image of him being shot with electricity gives her a boost of adrenaline that assists her in getting away from the guards just before they inject her with a tranquilizer.
When she reaches the room in question, she bangs her fists somewhat helplessly against the steel door, her fists making small dents and the impact breaking the skin on her hands. Still screaming his name, she starts to slam her whole body against the door until finally it gives way and she falls forward. Groaning, she shakes her head, trying to rid herself of the intense pain racking her body with no avail. With some effort, she pulls herself up and finds the one guard in the room, staring at her in shock. The button in his hand makes her blood boil.
“What are you doing he--” Chaerin rushes forward and tackles him into the water. With a bit of struggle, she knocks him against the side, managing to make him pass out. Resurfacing, she takes a deep breath, looking around for her brother. Finding him nowhere, she takes another breath and dives under again. Swimming down to the bottom of the tank, she manages to pull him up with great effort and drags him on to dry land.
“Hyunsik? Hyunsik? Oh god, please don’t do this to me!” She coughs and tries to remember the little bit of CPR she was taught when they were younger. Not even sure if she’s performing it right, she doesn’t care but desperately tries her best. Quickly however it unravels into her merely slamming her palm against his chest, her vision blurring with salty tears. “Not my little brother, not my little brother!” Weakly, she lays on top of Hyunsik, desperately clinging to his shirt as she does so.
Vaguely she is aware of the sound of marching feet approaching her, but she doesn’t care. They could shoot her in the back and she wouldn’t care. With Hyunsik’s final breath, all her real attachment to this world vanished like smoke. Let them take her. Let them toy with her mind. What mattered anymore? Sobs continued to rack her body as she mumbled a butchered version of the lullaby she sang to him their first night in the facility. That seemed like a lifetime ago now.
Every time she blinked, visions of Hyunsik falling into that freezing water plague her. If she could have broken free just a minute sooner. If she wasn’t so anxious to fight her way through this place. If she was more complacent, perhaps they wouldn’t have targeted him. Perhaps if he had a better big sister, he would still be alive right then.Shivering, she curls herself around him and wheezes back her sobs. It didn’t matter now, her reckless behavior ended up getting the only person that mattered in her life killed.
Jaesoon was right, attachment is a dangerous venture.
Yelling is all around her. Combat boots stomp and break her illusion of solitude but she barely pays them any mind. Even as the voices yell at her to get up, to follow orders like the soldier she is supposed to be. Still, she continues to sing the song, crying and clinging to the body of her brother who is still somehow warm. If she could focus she would notice the strange thrum of energy in her body, enough to fight off every assailant that would dare to touch her. But her body is too tired and her spirit too broken to recognize the first stage of what would be her greatest transformation.
Really it didn’t matter, without Hyunsik she didn’t care about anything.
One brave soul finally tries to pull her from his body. He is throw into the water with ease and she falls back to her brother, still clinging desperately. “Don’t touch him! Don’t touch him! Leave him alone!” She howls, coughing and choking on her own emotions. They of course do not listen to her pleas. It takes three to finally pull her off and away from her brother, and another to inject her with a tranquilizer to stop her fighting.
She fights the serum for every second, her bleary eyes taking in his cold body, her mind preserving the way he was while under the water. Failure weighed so heavy on her she felt that she might be crushed under it’s weight. But no longer able to move against her foes, she lets them drag her away from her only family and deep into the facility.
Three stories up and in a part of the building she has never been to before, they take her to a small room. And in this small room is a a large jar like contraption, large enough to fit one person inside and have them spread out just a bit and perhaps sit up comfortably. It has only enough holes to breath and a slot to deliver food to, otherwise it is completely black. One person opens it up and a guard removes her shackles, only to replace it with new ones that connect to chains on the prison she hadn’t noticed. Throwing her inside, she doesn’t even bother to turn around and glare at them, still not even sure if she could move her body.
“Well Chaerin, if you want to rejoin your fellow Athena projects I suppose you’ll just have to find a way to get out of here. And no, an axe won’t help you out with this one.” He laughs as if he just told some sort of private joke she’s expected to get. Chaerin barely pays attention, only whimpering as her tears finally start to slow down. She could die in there for all she cared.
As they close the door of the jar with tears still streaking down her face three things are certain. She is braver than she thought, bolder than most and completely broken.