Sylvia was prepared.

She was prepared for death.

Yes, she was prepared for death.

She was even prepared for that which came before death - namely a bullet to the skull.

Yet NOTHING could have possibly prepared her for the weeks worth of torment which she would experience in the matter of moments.

'What....'

Looking around, Sylvia found herself inside a chamber of liquid, tubes lining her body.

She was inside the body of the girl, who sat there inside the fluid without moving.

[Failure... failure... failure.... failure...]

This single word played over and over in the mind of the girl, who could think of nothing else.

[I am a failure. I am a failure. Failure. Failure. Failure.]

Over and over, she repeated this.

[I cannot succeed. I will not succeed. I shall not succeed. For any success is not my own. It is his, and nobody else's.]

'What are you saying?'

Sylvia wanted to shout out to the girl.

She wanted to slap her back to her senses.

She wanted to tell her the truth.

She wanted to tell her that there was no need to please such a man, that there was no need to think such things.

That she was worth something.

That she was capable of success.

And that her successes were her own, for nobody else to steal.

But most importantly, Sylvia wanted to tell this girl that her 'failures' were no such thing.

She wanted to tell the girl that such failures were completely one sided, and that she had no control over whether the cruel experiments which the man performed without restraint were successful or not.

To even call such a thing a failure - or to put that failure on the subject was something far removed from what could be considered sane.

How was it fair that this girl was made to feel guilt about these failures when she was taken against her will and held to such experimentation?

It made Sylvia furious.

Truly, furious.

Sylvia knew what failure was.

She had failed many times on her own, and therefore she knew.

'Failure... is when you try to do something.'

'When you put forth effort... and take actions to complete a goal.'

‘And even so… fail to achieve such a goal.’

'But what actions could you have possibly taken? What goal were you possibly trying to fulfill? To be successful with his experiments? For your body to just happen to be compatible? There is nothing you could possibly do to make such a thing possible. This isn't a matter of mental fortitude. It isn't a matter of effort. It isn't even a matter of luck. That man... was merely delusional. And he spread his delusions to you. He made you believe you had failed... when success was never even a possibility in the first place.'

[Hehe... is that so?]

The true voice of Number One - the wicked and distorted one from the present - spoke up with a giggle as Sylvia thought these things.

'Yes... that's correct. However what I’m saying is different from what that man said. It isn't that you were incapable of success. It's that he assumed you should have been successful at something which was impossible in the first place.'

[You know... I've always hated when you humans say that you'll overcome the impossible. Every time I hear that... I always remember this. I remember a situation where my weak body was expected to instantly regenerate after taking a single dose of a substance that was incapable of giving me such speedy regeneration.]

As if Sylvia had triggered something with her words, Number One began to speak in a way which was more understandable than anything Sylvia had experienced about her to this point.

[Imagine if I were to merely tell you to fly into the air. Of course, you wouldn't be able to do so. It's something which is physically impossible. Willpower, effort, none of that matters in the face of physical impossibilities. I was taught from the moment that I first had memory that I was a failure if I could not succeed in such things. And when I failed to do them, even without the proper means to do so, it was seen as my fault.]

It was then - for just a single moment - that Sylvia truly felt as if Number One had humanity in her voice.

[And that's why I hate it. I hate it when you humans fantasize about overcoming impossible odds. I hate it when you humans talk about heroes who can do anything because of the weight that they carry. And when I see such a thing... it makes me want to show you all.]

A pause.

Then a snicker.

[Heh.]

She could not see the expression of the voice who spoke, but at that moment Sylvia knew that Number One was thinning her eyes in a mocking manner.

[That if you overcome something impossible... that means it was never impossible in the first place. However when faced with something truly impossible... even the greatest HERO will die a thousand times before they can overcome it.]

[So show me, hero.]

[Show me that you can overcome the monster that I have become.]

[Ah wait. You can't.]

[Why?]

[Because it's impossible.]

----

Sylvia opened her eyes.

She was laying on the asphalt.

Congealed blood surrounded her, ruining her hair.

"Ah... it's always so exhausting... when I wake up."

Holding her head, the woman sat up groggily as she looked to the man beside her.

Letting out a sigh, the woman stood up as she looked around her.

The streets were empty.

Not a zombie nor a person was in sight.

'I guess those humans left.'

'Ah.'

The woman grabbed the man beside her, dragging him to the side as she hid the lifeless body within a back alleyway, far from the sight of people.

'I keep on using that word as if I'm not one.'

Sitting down with a wall to her back, the woman smiled bitterly.

Looking at her pale blue hand, the woman was reminded once again that her flesh was no longer the bright peachy color which it once was.

'Maybe I don't even want to be one anymore.'

Thinning her eyes, the woman looked to the sky with a smile as clouds overtook her vision.

'A human, that is.'

----

"Cough, cough! Ugh!!"

Marcus woke up to find himself on a cold concrete floor.

Stitches lined every part of his body like a maze, as if it had been shredded apart and rebuilt like a puzzle.

"Ugh! Pft!"

Spitting blood from his mouth, the body moved without the input of Marcus, and he soon realized that he was not in control.

For this was a memory.

And as the man sat up, he got a good look at the wretched state of the body he was in.

"I... am still alive?"

These trembling words were spoken by the owner of the body.

Number Seven.

"How.... did I live... through... that?"

The man brought a trembling hand to his face, feeling each and every stitch as they pricked him.

"No... I shouldn't question things."

The man desperately tried to calm his breathing, to little avail.

He had been shredded to pieces.

The pain of being grinded alive was fresh in his mind, and it was enough to make him psychotic.

"I... shouldn't... question... this... this must be the work of the master..."

Among the many things that Seven had been told over and over by that man, there was one thing which he clung to desperately in this moment.

And that was that he was not to question his master's actions.

He was to be obedient unto death. If he was ordered to die, then he should do so.

And if he did not, then he would die a hundred times more.

Seven now understood that those words rang true.

'He is... invincible.'

As he slowly came to the realization, terror flowed through the veins of seven as he understood his position.

'He... can do anything. To me... to my body... if he can imagine it... then he can do it. This... this must be the power that humanity holds.'

As he observed his stitched up body, Seven slowly felt himself calm down.

Yet even so, he was shaken.

Shaken to his very core.

'To think... that I would be the property of such a powerful being.'

'And yet... rather than joy... or pride... or even happiness... why is it that the only thing I feel is fear?'

This was a question which went against everything he had been told.

It went against everything he knew.

His emotions betrayed his knowledge.

What he felt was different from what he understood.

And this caused Number Seven to split.

'What do I even think? No, no! I shouldn't think! I shouldn't think! I should obey! He is likely aware of even these very thoughts I am having. Will he put me through something even worse because of them!? Agh!! I... I won't think of anything.'

Straightening his expression, Number Seven purged his mind of all thought.

Everything became silent for a few moments, however that silence was soon interrupted by footsteps.

"Ah.... excellent... it appears that my hypothesis was correct!! Hahaha!!! Success!! Even if the vital organs are torn apart, even if the brain itself ceases to function, even if the heart ceases to beat, my enhanced regenerative serum no longer is limited by such things!!! A single cell... a single cell is all that is needed for life to regenerate! The organs will regrow! The body will no longer need to be limited by such things! What a shame it is that the materials are so... limited."

Seven was met with the man who had performed such experiments on him - Victor Lichtenburg.

Like a child looking through the glass at a zoo, Victor gazed upon the ruined body of Seven with excitement, his golden eyes gleaming with happiness.

"Ah... but I have no intention to use this for MEDICAL reasons anyways. After all... there is far more profit in SCARCITY than in abundance."

Nodding to himself, the man grinned as he placed his hands into the pockets of his lab coat.

"After all... that Emperor wouldn't have any reason to keep me around if such things were to become common. Therefore... I will have to prove to him that I am indispensable."

With a grin, the man turned around with the flutter of his coat.

"I'll see you in the operation room, Seven. Now that the second stage is complete.... it's time to move onto the third stage. Now that you have the ability to regenerate from nothing... it's time to mold you into something that can withstand ANYTHING."

With a grin, the man trailed off into the distance as Seven listened to his words.

"And only then... will I finally be able to study it without limitation."

The man ran his hand through his hair, rustling it with eyes that were wide with madness as he spoke.

"Reawakening."

Fear.

This was the feeling that Seven felt with every word of the man known as Victor Lichtenburg.

Complete, and utter terror.

Terror at how someone could hold so much power over him.

Terror at how someone could have such grandeur in his very essence.

'Truly... humans are beyond my comprehension.'

He was terrified of existence itself.

----

"How wonderful it is that you all hold such regenerative abilities. I no longer have to worry about killing you by accident anymore. I can slice you apart, creating new samples without reserve to perform tests on."

Victor spoke these words as he hacked the arm of Seven off with a saw.

The man grit his teeth, holding in his cries as the blood flowed endlessly from the stub as the limb fell to the floor.

Picking up the arm, the man flopped the bloodied limb around as he brought it over to another station.

Seven felt every bit of pressure and pain in the limb as if it were still attached for a few moments before the feeling of pain died down.

The man strapped the limb to another table, at which it quickly began to regenerate as the flesh grew without limitation, soon taking the form of an entire new body.

"Regeneration powerful enough to the point where a single cell can regrow - and therefore from a single limb... I can easily obtain a new subject."

The contours of the body soon filled themselves in, and laying on the operation table was a clone.

An exact replica of the man who was sitting next to this new figure.

As the arm of Seven regrew and as the body of the new figure regenerated, Seven looked over to this new person with horror.

'That... is that me?'

'How... how can an entire new person... grow from my arm like that?'

"You... seem to be thinking unnecessary things. Seven."

It was as he said this that the man whipped out yet another syringe - this one filled with a green and yellow mix of fluid which spiraled about inside the tool.

"Do not question my actions. Your only purpose is to find out how to best serve me. And right now..."

Thrusting the tool into the newly formed body, the new man began to convulse horribly as the liquid corrupted his arm.

It broiled up, bubbling with intensity as his skin became a horrid purple which spread from the location of injection.

"The best way to serve me is to sit there and do nothing while I do my work. After all... just as children should let the adults do their work... you inferior specimens should also say nothing as the humans perform their work on you."

The man sitting next to Seven began to breathe heavily before the purple infection had spread across his body, completely overtaking him as his flesh seemed to destroy itself from within.

"How unfortunate. Another failure. I suppose it is time to test out the disposal tool. Seven, do you know what the sun is?"

Whipping out a remote, the scientist glared at Seven with a confident smile as his hand danced across the button.

'The... sun?', Seven wondered frightfully.

"The sun is a giant ball of flame in the sky... and inside that giant ball of flame is more energy than we could ever possibly produce within this world. Yet what if we were to harvest just a small fraction of that energy through... spatial distortion?"

The words which the man spoke went above the head of Seven, however it was in that instant that the man pressed the button.

A chamber suddenly popped out of the operating table as an apparatus trapped the man within a layer of glass.

And then with a click, the man was locked in.

And as this happened there was a flash of light so bright that seven's vision went completely white even as he closed his eyes.

'What.... what was that!?', he wondered.

"To put it simply... Human achievements are quite astounding. And especially those of our great Empire. We have sent a satellite to orbit that ball of flame... one which can send out a signal to the very center of that ball... effectively teleporting just a slight bit of the energy within that space back to our receiver here. Or to put it in terms you can understand... we can use that to destroy anything within this container."

It was in that moment, as the man spoke, that an overwhelming pain completely enveloped the entire body of seven.

He wriggled and writhed, choking up as the paralyzing pain completely overwhelmed him.

"AGH!!!!"

He screamed and he shouted, viciously shaking as he tried to rip his arms free from his restraints to the point where they became bloodied.

About to rip his very limbs off due to the immense fit of madness, Victor thinned his eyes with disappointment as he watched this scene.

"Does it really hurt that much, Seven? Enough to make you forget everything I've taught you?", he whispered.

However even the words of the master could not stop such convulsions.

Victor began to walk out of the room, quickly exiting the facility as the man shouted in madness.

"I suppose this is another result. I will return when you have calmed down."

Stepping out of the room, the airlock shut as Seven was left in torment.

For in that instant, as the second body of his had died, Seven's mind was filled with memories.

The memories which the other body had experienced.

The knowledge which it had gained.

And the sensations which it had endured.

Including every last bit of pain.

Overwhelmed as he experienced this mind wrecking pain all at once, Seven was unable to think any form of normal thought.

For there was nothing that could even compare to this burning that came over his body.

He felt the pain of being evaporated alive, and even when it had subsided, the man trembled in terror, his lips quivering as he looked to the ceiling with a dead expression.

'How... did this happen?', he thought.

He had been split into two.

While he was separated, the other body experienced everything on its own, completely independent of his original body.

Yet when they had been recombined, he experienced everything all at once - recombining into the same mind as if he were always one in the first place.

'How... can I feel the pain of another?', he thought.

However it was at that moment, as he calmed himself, that he realized.

'Ah.'

'Me and that man... who came from my very arm...'

'We were always the same to begin with.'

----

"Huff... huff... huff...."

Marcus shot up, frantically breathing as he looked around him with widened eyes.

"You certainly didn't seem to be having a pleasant dream."

Once again, Marcus was met with those same tired eyes of the woman who continued to stay by his side throughout everything.

"The... the sun..."

Holding his hand to his head, Marcus looked to Sylvia with fear.

"It... killed me. This time."

"You're not making any sense... you know...", the woman said as she looked to the ground with a sad smile.

"Ah.... ah... sorry. I... give me a moment."

Marcus stood up only to fall immediately back to the ground.

His limbs were trembling, too weak to even hold himself up.

For the pain which he had experienced, even if it was only for an instant, was greater than even being torn to shreds.

"I... have some information.", he whispered as he laid back on the wall behind him.

The alleyway which the two laid in was dark, and the light of the sun was blocked by the clouds which filled the sky.

Who knows what madness Marcus would have fallen into if that raging ball of flame had shown itself?

"Is that so? I... found out some stuff too.", the woman added.

"We... will have to do this again... won't we?", Marcus asked with resignation.

"Yes... we will.", Sylvia answered.

"Over. And over."

"Until we know everything we need to know."

"About us."

"And about them."

With these words, the two both closed their eyes as they leaned on each other's shoulders.

"Thank you. For being here.", Marcus stated while keeping his eyes closed as tears flowed downward. "If you were not... then I would have gone mad long ago."

"The same to you."

With this simple exchange, the two fell silent.

And they rested.

They rested, allowing their bodies and minds time to recuperate.

Soon, the two found themselves unable to remain awake.

For the things they had experienced in the past few moments were not so simple that they could just move about freely after going through such horrors.

They slept.

And as they slept, the clouds continued to darken the skies.

Until not a single shred of light was left upon them.

"Well... well... What do we have here? It looks like brother’s words were true. It looks like there were a couple of zombies... who act like humans. Now this... makes things interesting."

Standing before the two was a man.

A man whose blonde hair had been slicked straight back, giving him an elegant look.

He wore the suit of a businessman, yet on his fists were a pair of golden brass knuckles which would suggest otherwise.

"I suppose... I'll take these two with me. I don't usually like dealing with these kinds of people... but this is acceptable for now."

With these words, the man bent down as he grabbed each of the two bodies which lay dead asleep.

The two didn't move so much as a muscle even as they were picked up, for their mental and physical exhaustion was that great.

"I wonder just what use I could find for these people?", the man chuckled to himself as he walked off without so much as straining himself, despite carrying two people - one on each shoulder. "Well... I suppose after interrogating them... I'll just put them in with the rest."

With this, the man walked off into the darkness.

Thus, Marcus and Sylvia were kidnapped.

For the first time.