Elizabeth’s head was ringing like a bell while she had to fight the urge to vomit. After a few seconds of struggling, she jolted up as if she had been struck by electricity as her kidneys worked overtime to pump her full of adrenaline. She was in a room she had never been to before but knew well enough. An interrogation room. Across the table she had been resting her head on up until now was a middle aged bald man. The rest of the room was plain, not even a one way mirror. The lights above emitted very clearly artificial light which was unpleasant to her eyes.

“Good morning miss…?”

“Elizabeth. Family name’s unimportant, but you know that.” She put on a fake smile. She was hoping that giving this man a chance to boast about how much he knew would allow her to piece together where she had been taken and who this person worked for. It hadn’t been the first time someone had abducted her, but the previous ones were just some thugs she got away from easily. This time, her captor was wearing a lab coat. Never a good sign.

“Yes, quite unfortunate what happened to your mother. I’d say condolences for your father as well, but that’s unnecessary, isn’t it?”

“Quite. So, why was I drugged and taken here? I’m assuming you used something like a tranquilizer and didn’t just hit my head really hard.”

“Ah, you would know a thing or two about drugs, wouldn’t you?” The man in the lab coat picked up a backpack from below the table and placed it in front of Elizabeth. “You know, you could go to jail for this much. For a very very long time.”

“I’m not old enough to be sent to jail.”

“Right, and who would vouch for your age? Most people in the orphanage don’t even know your name, let alone when you were born. Do you know how easy it is to modify electronic records?”

“It’s not. Unless of course you’re suggesting you have some big all-encompassing shadow organisation that controls everything.” She tried to speak in a grandiose voice, but not even being 14 yet caused this to instead be an adorable voice. “What do you want?”

“To recruit you into the all-encompassing shadow organisation.” He said with a smirk.

“No.”

“Yeah, wasn’t asking. You piqued our interest, you know. Even after you knew what was going on, that you were being used as test subjects, you did not try to help anyone but yourself. You did everything in a surprisingly methodical way… for a child at least. You’re here because I wanted to have a talk. To see what you were made of. It’s a shame your talent is paired with such nasty stubbornness. But, worry not. We have ways to fix it.”

“You must feel so very proud of yourself that you one-upped a child. Oh how I wish I could smear that smug face of yours on a wall.” She glared at him with the only emotion she had at that very moment: hate.

“Ah, right on time.” As he said that, the door opened to reveal two tall men, both of whom could have easily been heavyweight boxers.

“You’re coming with us. Do you wish to walk or be dragged?”

She tried to think rationally. The more time she had conscious, the better her chances. “I’ll walk.” She stood up from the chair and turned to the henchmen looking people, only to feel something pierce her neck.

“Night night.” The man in the lab coat had injected her with something and she was already feeling it. The world was spinning as she blacked out.

 

--

 

“Good morning.” A childish voice woke her up along with a gentle nudge. Before being thankful that it had all been a dream and she was back at the orphanage, she sat up in bed and looked around to see no one she recognized in a room not her own. “Are you alright?”

“Where am I?” She decided to ask the question she wanted answered most.

“Dorm number 501. Geographically… we don’t know.” The boy was no older than Elizabeth and was flanked by three more children. Two more boys and a girl.

“What’s your name?” The girl asked.

“What does it matter? Why am I here?”

“They’ll take your name. You’ll forget it. That’s why we’ll remember it for you so you won’t lose it forever.” The girl answered with a sweet tone.

“If they want it, they can have it. I won’t care what my name is when I kill them all.” Elizabeth answered with a glare that made the other kids take a step back.

“Have they already given her the treatment?”

“No. Imagine how scary she’ll be after it.” The kids glanced at each other and snickered.

“It’s alright, we’ll help you.” The boy who woke her up said with a smile. “Just try your best to stay sane.”

 

-- 3 years later

 

“Uhh, our instructor is such a pain.”

“You mean literally or…?”

“Well, she’s damn strong so yeah, it’s a physical pain, but don’t you think she could ease up a little?”

“She’s got gamma level injections. Poor lass probably isn’t even home anymore and just listens to orders.”

“That must suuuck. I mean, you get all these kickass things you couldn’t do before only to become a puppet?”

“Let’s just stay in line so they don’t see it necessary to turn us into puppets as well.”

“Agreed.”

Two people chatted as they walked through the hallway, not realizing that the subject of their conversation was right there, in dorm 501.

“Ellie, listen here. It’ll be fine.”

“Don’t use the trigger so often, Lisa. Seriously, I feel like the other… like I can stay as myself for less and less time.” Elizabeth complained to her roommate.

“Don’t worry. It will be fine.” Lisa tried to be reassuring.

“Gamma 3147 is needed at medical.” The speaker system declared.

Elizabeth’s face quickly shifted to an expressionless one as she stood up and made her way there.

 

-- 2 months later

 

“Come on, it should be this way.” Lisa led the small group through the winding natural cave system that was connected to the research facility.

The caves being so vast was both a boon and a bane. Boon, because this way, they were less likely to be found. And bane, because they were less likely to find their way out. They made their last turn and could see sunlight, only for there to be dozens of armed guards standing in the way. Them and a very smug bald researcher.

They all took a few steps back, with the exception of Elizabeth. Her face was expressionless as she walked calmly towards the exit.

“It’s a shame, really. Did you seriously believe that you could keep some alter ego alive in there and the other one wouldn’t notice lapses in memory? But really, copying what we used to rewrite what you know to fight it, brilliant idea. Except it was never going to work.”

“Ellie!” Lisa yelled, but Elizabeth did not budge.

“Oh, right. I suppose we should mention that we removed that little trigger. It was really easy to guess too. You should’ve seen her face when she realized she showed her true colors to us. It was priceless.” His face contorted in a sadistic smile.

“█████████”

“̶W̶h̵a̸t̵?̷”

E̵̢̢̽͝l̷̰̏̔͘i̵̜̽z̸̡̰͒̏a̷̛̼͎b̵͕̽͂ė̸̤̌͒t̷̛̲̚h̵̖̃ ̴̭̳̾͠͝s̶͍̲̣͂͘͝t̵̺̘̗͝o̵̡̨̩̐̐p̷̝̲̋p̸̝͌͝e̷̗͒͌͊ḑ̵͒̀ ̷̬̺͎̆̀̀a̵̢̳̯̍s̵̰̎ ̷͓͂͘͜ś̸͎͙̉͝h̴̰͚̔ḙ̶̅̓͜ ̶̖̰̃ṱ̶̛̤̋̕ȯ̷̯̲̙́̀o̴̖̳̝͂̈k̷̛̞͛ ̸̰̤̗̾̂̊ą̸̲͠ ̴̻̦͋̂̉d̴̻͎̏̔͝ě̵̻̳̩̓̎e̷̞͚͚̒ṕ̵̗̥̚ ̷̙͔̍b̴̥̜̞͑̍r̵̻̔è̵̗̩͛͜ȧ̴̹̖ṫ̷̗̙͉̈͘h̶̗̔̈.̶̟̰̔̏ ̸͖̼̱̈́̀̉S̶̜̈ḫ̷͒̿̇ę̶̙͔͌͒͠ ̵̤́t̸̥̩͎̍̒̏ḧ̵̬͇́̈́̽e̸̬͈̪͆n̵̦̯͊̃͠ ̵̺͗b̴̪͇̏͠ḛ̵̢͚͠ĝ̶͖̲̅͘a̸̮͉̅͛͂n̸̰͎̒̃͜ ̷͚͑̓̈́r̴̹̗̥̀̀ũ̵͓̰̗n̴͉̹̬͛̀ǹ̶̝̽i̴̡̛̺̰n̶̺̝͔̈͗̕g̸̖̓̅,̶̤̓͌ ̷͙̝̟̾ȉ̸̝g̶̦͔͚͒ñ̴̻͉ó̴͖̙́r̸̙̽̾i̴̪͉̊n̷̳̓͋͘g̶̜̳̓ ̶͕̟̪̀̓ţ̷̟̅̈́̆ẖ̴͍̦͌e̴̮̱̰͆ ̴̨̑b̶̝̑͝u̴̧̟̿̈́͝l̸̡̞̒̍l̸̢͓͋ë̶̛̺́ͅţ̷̥̭́s̷̨̨̞̏͗ ̶̬͌̂͐ạ̸̞̈́͝n̶̢̙̓d̸̨͓͆…̵̖̀̃̈́

 

--

 

“Yuuki. Are you awake?” Alice was worried.

“I had a dream.”

“That’s new. Was it good?”

“No. But it was useful.”

“Uhhh… right. Wanna talk about it?” Alice sounded a bit confused, but still worried.

“My life before… I think I may be able to find a trigger that was placed before I became immune to hypnosis.”

“Is it still there then?”

“If past hypnosis effects lost their hold retroactively, I wouldn’t need this one. This one was put there with the same method to temporarily overpower the ‘brainwashed side’. I didn’t see the end of the memory, but I doubt they had any evidence left of what it was, meaning they couldn’t remove it themselves hopefully.”

“Oh, so how are you going to find it? Will you open a portal to the past and listen in, or search through your-”

“Ad astra.¹To the stars” Yuuki said out loud. Her pupils went wide as she took a deep breath in.

“Are you alright?”

“Oh, I’m better than that.” A confident smile was on the vixen’s face. “This has been the best I’ve felt in a while.Now I just need to do some research, use this as a basis on how to accelerate getting rid of the other hypnosis effect and be done with it. Oh, and I used trial and error.”

“…”