A/N: Hi lovely people! 
I finally got around to posting the second chapter. I'm having fun exploring Nile, he's awful and a handful!  

This is unedited (as always).

Chapter 2. 

Hart carried Nile to his room and sat beside him, until he fell asleep. 

When he woke up, his room was dark and deserted. Memories started crowding in on him, making bile rise in his throat. 

He needed some fresh air! 
He needed to run! 

Heart pounding, he lurched to his feet and stumbled to the door. He hissed in a shocked breath when he discovered it was locked. 

They had locked him in?! 

He patted his pockets for his phone, only to come up empty. A frantic search around his room revealed that it was gone. He couldn't contact anyone. Couldn't get out. Had Hart taken his phone? Had his dad? 

Outraged, he slammed his fists against the door, screaming for someone to let him out. His fists soon started stinging and his cries turned to threats, then curses. 

"Hi." A light knock on the door made him freeze. 

"Hart? Hart! Let me out!" Nile croaked, voice hoarse from shouting. 

"I can't do that, Nile. We'll talk in the morning, ok?" Hart said gently. 

For a moment, Nile was too stunned to speak. Then he hit the door hard, hissing at the resulting ache in his hand. "I want to go for a run! Let me out!" 

"Nile, do you hear yourself? It's the middle of the night and you're acting like a maniac. Do I have to come in there and calm you down?" Hart spoke slowly and clearly, as if to a small child. 

"I'm not a Fei you blasting topper!" Nile shouted, spittle flying from his mouth. 

The lock clicked and Hart barged inside. Nile narrowly missed cracking his head against the door and stumbled backwards. 

His brother walked right into his personal space and gripped his arms. Excruciating pain lanced through his shoulders and flared in his head. His knees gave out and Hart knelt with him on the floor. 

"Are you done?" Hart asked flatly, limpid blue eyes hard. 

"Y-yeah. Sorry." Nile whispered. Every part of his body hurt and all of his rage had burnt out. Shame washed over him in waves. Hart was right, he had been acting crazy. He didn't know what had come over him. 

Hart helped him to his bed and pulled the covers over him. "Try to get some sleep." 

Nile listened as Hart's steps faded and the lock in his door snicked back into place. 

He rolled over to stare at the ceiling, tears welling in his eyes. He was exhausted, but too ashamed to sleep. 

A part of him ached for Hart to return and stay with him again, but he shoved that childish need down. He was a Syre for blasts sake! He could handle one small hissy fit! 

He would call the clinic in the morning and have them re-do the tests - and make his father fire whoever had messed up his results. He clung to that small bit of comfort and hugged his arms tightly, scowling when tears trailed over his cheeks. 

In the morning his father opened his door, without knocking, which was unheard of; the man valued privacy. He was wearing a grey designer suit, but that was standard in his line of work. "Get dressed and come downstairs." 

"Why?" Nile sat up in alarm, but his dad had already turned away. 

The boy's pulse kicked up and he dressed quickly, hands shaking so badly, he could barely button his jeans. 

Downstairs there were two Syre standing beside his father, wearing white government uniforms. 

"These gentlemen will escort you to the Fei institute." His father informed him and gestured towards the doors. 

"What?" Nile's stomach dropped. "You can't blasting do that!" 

"Language." His father said mildly, glancing at the men beside him, as if to remind Nile they had respectable company. 

"But I'm not Fei!" Nile cried, looking from the men to his father with rising panic. 

"According to your bloodtest you are and no Syre would act like you." The man's lip curled in disgust and Nile winced. 

It was like a slap in the face. His father had always looked at him with pride. He wasn't home much, he was a busy man, but he made sure his sons were socialised, educated and healthy. If they ever got into trouble, well boys would be boys and they deserved to have their fun. Nothing Nile had done had swayed his father's affection. Until now. 

"That bloodtest was wrong! All males in our family are Syre." He protested, begging his father with his eyes. 

Please don't do this. Please don't send me away. 

"Clearly not." His father said bluntly, face immovable. 

"Dad, please-". One of the men gripped Nile's shoulder, hard, just above his arm. 

"Move." The Syre ordered. 

Nile's lips pulled back from his teeth in a snarl and he nearly bit that hand, before he caught himself. His own reaction shocked him and he ducked his head, flushing. 

He wasn't crazy. He wasn't. 

The men walked him out the door and he stumbled down the steps, digging in his heels. 

"Wait, let me at least get my coat! You can't treat me like this!" He shouted, shivering in the cold air. Neither of the men acknowledged him. 

Nile twisted around in a last desperate attempt to plead with his father, but his eyes connected with Hart's and the words lodged in his throat. His brother was standing on the landing, looking troubled. His pale hair was tousled and he'd clearly just gotten out of bed. 

"Har-" Nile's voice was cut off by a harsh jerk and he was shoved into a car. 

Shocked by the rough treatment, he scrambled back from the man settling in beside him and huddled against the window. The second Syre got in the driver's seat and started the car. 

Nile's neighborhood swept by fast and they soon entered a dark tunnel. His body was tight with tension and he started to fidget, leg shaking. A warm hand touched his back, making him jump and nearly yelp. 

"We're almost there." The Syre beside him said quietly. He was around Nile's father's age, in his mid to late forties, but larger and more compact. Picked for his size to intimidate unruly Fei, Nile figured.  

The boy grit his teeth and twisted his hands in his lap. The hand on his back started rubbing and it made his skin crawl. 

"I addressed you." The man said, a hint of steel entering his voice. 

"Yes, Syre." Nile choked out and he started shaking. Not with fear, but with fury. He wasn't some pathetic Fei falling to pieces and no one should be touching him without permission. 

The man sat back, thankfully lifting his hand. Nile pressed his spine hard against the backrest, trying to remove the memory of the touch. 

This couldn't be his life. It just couldn't. 

The institute was a towering grey stone building with gold accents, partially merged with a cliffside. 'Architecture meets nature' was how a tour guide had described it to Nile's class a few years ago. 'To reflect the symbiotic relationship between Fei and Syre.' 

Nile was escorted across the courtyard, past the spring surrounding a grand statue, featuring a Syre standing proudly with his hand on a Fei's shoulder. 

Black tinted glass doors swept open and Nile was placed in a line of Fei boys. Most looked around his own age, but a few were younger. The air was heavy with tension and several boys were twitching. There were no females. They were kept in fertility clinics. 

Fei males couldn't breed, but they were useful for menial jobs and they were convenient for a fuck. Nile's blood went cold at the thought and he glared at the sad figures shuffling around him.  

He didn't belong here. Any moron could see that. He would talk to the leaders and clear up this misunderstanding soon. 

It eventually became his turn at the desk. 

"Name?" A Fei male enquired with a bright smile. 

"Nile Thoran ledje." Nile muttered. 

"Please scan your wrist, Nile." 

"You'll address me with respect!" Nile spat. He was already at the end of his rope, he wasn't about to let a Fei act familiar! 

The male's head snapped up, smile fading. 

"Scan your wrist, Nile." The Fei repeated firmly, face unreadable. 

No Fei had ever talked back to him before and Nile felt his face go hot. He leaned forward, ready to tear into this nobody and make him remember his place. 

"Is there a problem?" A Syre guard approached, arctic eyes pinning Nile to the spot. 

The boy quickly straightened and scanned his wrist, glaring daggers at the Fei behind the desk. Nile would make sure he was fired. "No, Syre." 

A large hand gripped his shoulder and steered him away from the line. The pain erupting in his arm took him by surprise, boiling his blood and making his vision white out. 

He woke up nauseous and trembling. That pain had been nothing like what Hart had done to him. He knew Syre could manipulate their sense to a trickle or a blast, but this had been brutal. Was it even legal? 

He slowly became aware of a female voice speaking past the roar in his ears. It sounded strong and clear, projected through speakers. 

" - it's an honor to be chosen. You are vital for the core functions of society and without you we couldn't progress. You are valued and treasured -" 

Bla bla bla. 

All the usual shit leaders spouted to keep Fei happy and ignorant. Not that any Fei was smart enough to figure that out. 

"Come on. Wake up." A pat to his backside made his eyes snap open. He was in the guard's arms, being lowered to the floor in the back of a hall filled with Fei. A boy was beside them, watching curiously. 

Nile scrambled out of the man's arms and stood on shaky legs, blushing beet red. 

"Turn around and face the wall." The guard ordered, snapping his fingers. 

Nile huffed in outrage, but one look at the Syre's stony expression made him obey quickly. 

He stared at the grey wall, feeling more confused and angry than he remembered being since he was a child. His skin felt scorched and his fingertips were numb. 

This was so unfair! He hadn't even done anything! He wanted to scream! 

A hand ran over his hair and he nearly purred, leaning back into the touch, before he caught himself with a gasp. He jerked away and the guard chuckled. 

"I'll go easy on you, since you're new. Drop the attitude. You don't have to say a word to be topping out." The guard said calmly, voice a deep baritone. "Put your hands behind your head and don't move, until I tell you to." 

Nile obeyed, jaw clenched so hard he could hear his teeth grind. The man snorted and his steps faded away. 

"Psst." 

Nile startled and looked to his left. He had forgotten the boy who had witnessed all of this. It made Nile dislike him instantly. 

He was slouched by the wall, hands linked loosely behind his head, as if he'd just decided to stand like that, and his eyes were heavy-lidded, as if he was tired. 

"What you do?" The boy whispered with a lopsided grin. He had a thick Balqerian accent and Nile blinked in surprise. He recognised it from some of his father's colleagues. Apparently their Fei laws were even stricter than Tateks.  

"Nothing! I shouldn't even be here! I'm a Syre." Nile hissed and threw a disgusted look towards the many brown heads behind them, all facing a female Syre on a podium. 

"Ah." The boy's dark eyes studied him. "I see why." 

"What's that supposed to mean?" Nile demanded, hating himself when his lower lip trembled. 

The boy smirked. He had a lot of freckles. "You think you better than us, but you not. You in the shit now." 

Nile could only describe what happened next as a short-circuit of his brain - a result of accumulative stress that had simply become too much to handle. 

He didn't remember how they got on the floor or who threw the first punch, but he didn't hold back in the slightest. 
He snarled when the boy flipped him over and landed a teeth rattling blow to his jaw. 

Rough hands seperated them and Nile screamed as the pain hit. He woke up soaked in sweat, panting and lax in a guard's arms. The same guard that had punished him earlier. 

"This is a prime example - " The female was saying, "- of how Fei are unable to regulate their emotions. Without strict discipline and routine, you're a danger to yourselves and those around you. I'm sure you remember from your history books, that we once lived in a world without boundaries. There were no protection laws or -" 

The guard ran his fingers through Nile's hair and the boy closed his eyes, drowning out the female's voice. The gentle touch, after so much pain, felt amazing.