Ash knocked on the door three times, rang the doorbell about twice now, and threatened to knock down the door once. Hayden and I are both, surprisingly, quiet. My reason? This whole thing with Dad and him getting sent down here is making me feel weird. It's a weird feeling, seeing Dad-

I sat on one of the rows of seats with Anthony, we were overlooking Dad and Mom, as they both sat down in front of the machine in the middle. Dad looked like he'd been crying, with his face all puffed up and his eyes bloodshot. Mom just looked like she had better places to be than here, even though this is the longest we've been with her in the same room. I saw her look this way a few times, but all she did was stare at us as if she didn't know us, it was just a cold blank stare as her lips shut tight.

The council all sat in front of them, in the dark, as if they were villains in a superhero movie. Ashton and I watched as Mom and Dad placed their hands on the table. The machine lights up on its own, as the screen above their head displays a woman's lips in a frown.

INCOMPATIBLE. That was the first word of the machine as the room was suddenly lit red. Searching for a match.

The widescreen above Mom and Dad split into two, one side was Mom/Dad, and the other, a complete stranger's face appears on them. At first, both of theirs were showing people of the opposite sex but I swear I saw a man's face appear on Dad's once or twice.

As the change from face-to-face grew slower, I felt like a fist was clutching my heart as a man displayed over Dad's screen. Along with the face was other information about him, including his district location.

A Homosexual pairing. One of the councilmen stated

With an underground dweller no less. Another added. The other onlookers, the newscasters, and even among the council themselves, they were all whispering and talking all over each other.

Silence! A cool voice stated as the head of the council stepped out into the light. His cold features emerge from the shadows, a dead stare with lips thin and pulled back as if he's disappointed 24/7. It's Hayden's father, the head of the council.

Mr. Jonathan Aniston Davis, in light of this...He took a while taking a dramatic pause to look up at the screen. Homosexual pairing to an Underground man, you shall be relocated from the 1st district to the 3rd district. But before this, I assume you know what has to be done first?

Unlike the first district, the underground barely has anything to separate the houses, not even a firewall. The door we were standing in front of had cute little plastic plants by the foot of it, a black welcome mat, and a little bell on the door itself. Ashton had pressed the damned thing about three times at this point. Finally, after a few more minutes of waiting the door opened to reveal a tall and thin man, maybe just a tad bit taller than Ash but definitely shorter than me. A brunette, with bright forest green eyes, pink thin lips spread into a thin line, a small face with a sharp jaw, and his age lines gracefully framing his face.

"Hello? Can I help you?" The guy's voice was silent, it was barely above a whisper, if it wasn't so quiet in this alley we wouldn't have been able to catch it. He looked confused at first, gaze flitting over each of us warily. However, at his initial sight of Hayden, his eyes narrowed ever so slightly, Lips turning slightly downwards into a frown.

"Hi sir, I'm Hayden Pierce, I presume you know that I'm an Optic?" Hayden said stepping in from behind Ashton. The man's eyes narrowed even further, his soft features turning almost sharp at the sound of Hayden's voice.

"I know who you are." Came the man's short reply.

"Great..." was Hayden's awkward reply, he looked as though he wanted to say something improper, but kept his mouth shut about it. "I came here with Ashton and Anthony Davis, they wanted to see their father?" Hayden left it as a question and as if a switch has flipped, a smile immediately brightens up the guy's face, pushing the door completely open. The man wrapped Ashton and me in a tight hug, drowning us in his sweet but pungent smell that the underground seems to emanate. Ashton hugged the other back a bit reluctantly, who let us both go after squeezing us one final time.

"OH! It's so good to finally meet the two of you! Johnathan told me a lot of things!" The man said, surprisingly animated, totally unlike my first impression of him. "Oh! Where are my manners, I'm Zander it's a pleasure to meet the two of you." He finished welcoming the three of us into their humble home.

Hayden took no time to sit his pretty little butt on one of the couches, obviously scrutinizing the mismatch of the colors of the couch to the pillows to the walls—like the little prick he is.

As the three of us came into the living room, right behind the couch facing the door is a table with three chairs, with a kitchen counter just a few spaced behind it and a door to the right—I assume that's the bathroom. How can you even live in a place like this, I have no idea. Suddenly I began to really appreciate all the space in the 1st district. Estates upon estates of land just for the snobby little families that live on them with lands to fill 3 of these townhouses.

"Uhm...Zander, Zander right?" Ashton started, shuffling awkwardly beside me.

"Oh please, call me Zee," The man said squeezing between the sofa and the table to get to the kitchen.

"Zee, How is he? Dad, I mean." Ashton said, taking a seat on the armchair, leaving me to sit right next to Hayden.

"Well..." Zander's face seemed to have dropped a bit, his hand that was taking out plastic cups moved slower."I've been taking care of him, so he's been telling lots of stories...He-" Zander got a faraway look on his face, a bittersweet smile playing on his lips, eyes glazing over. "He misses you guys." Zander places the plastic cups filled with water in front of us, how kind of the council [government] to actually provide filtration devices to the underworld, at least they got 1 out of a million things wrong with this place fixed.

"I've never really had a family before, I was an orphan, you see," Zander told us a bittersweet smile on his face. "So I'm not saying what happened to your father was nice..." He paused. "But I've felt...happy since he came into my life." A long and sort of awkward pause came after. "I'll go and check if he's awake so I can take you guys on up to him."

Zander leaves the three of us to ourselves, my eyes naturally drifting towards Hayden, who was looking at everything as if it would come alive and attack him.

"This place sure is...something," Hayden comments out, seeming to not be able to take the silence Ashton and I defaulted to. He takes a pillow in between his legs, feeling the stitches between each different fabric that made up the pillow.

"It's what they're left with down here," I responded, not being able to help myself. "It's all the council's fault anyways, isn't it?" I saw Ashton, from the corner of my eye, widen his eyes.

"Anthony, we don't want to go there-"

"How the hell is this the council's fault?" Hayden shot back. "This separation is what kept humanity alive for hundreds of years after the "Great Extinction" This machine has kept us alive, kept our species from going extinct., kept us going."

"The machine?! I- Can you believe this?!" I turned to my brother sitting to the side of Hayden and me, "CAN. YOU.BELIEVE.THIS?!"

Ashton put his hands up. "Anthony, I really don't think we should go there." Really? Of all times he chooses to stay neutral, now he does when it concerns the council.

"I admit., alright," Pausing a bit to gauge Ashton's reaction. "I enjoy the life of a first district dweller, but you gotta admit that this machine, this whole matching thing is getting out of hand!"

"Look," Hayden stated with a roll of his eyes, firmly crossing his arms. "The council also has it tough you know, managing A cluster as big as Humaling is no joke. Resources are scarce and we're doing everything we can to-"

"Pfftt... please were 1/8th the size of Northyard," Northyard being one of the biggest clusters in the world. "and what do you mean scarce, I've been to one of your council banquets, the pompous masquerade balls, the food to these events are practically overflowing. It can feed EVERYONE underground twice over. The-"

"Good news! He's up-" Zander pauses, and I can only stare at him apologetically, conscious of the amount of noise our little banter must've made. "...shall I take you guys to him... then?"

Zander, looking as though his mood's spoiled, forced a smile that kinda pulled on my heartstrings as though I was the sole reason the mood has gone sour.

"Thanks, Zee," Ash stood up abruptly casting one hell of a glare my way. "Please, do lead the way."

Ascending the narrow staircase, felt like forever, as the narrow landing of the next floor greeted us with warm welcomes and fresh bugs. The floorboards creaked with every step with parts here and there covered with a metal plate — probably to cover some hole of sorts. There were only two doors on the second floor and not much leg room, three people already making it a tight fit. Zander stands in front of the other door, signaling for us to enter the other door to our right where our father awaits us on the other end.

"Fair warning, he's..." Zander takes a break, breathing in with a small hiccup. "He's not in the best of shape."

Entering the room, we found out just how horrible of a state our dad is in. If there was any description I'd have to give for how he looks like it'd have to be that of a deep-fried chicken that people forgot to put breading on. Directly opposite the door is the pathway to the balcony, a few clothes were hung to dry — the mechanical heater buzzing a bright red above it. Dad lay there motionless and unable to speak, a cable ran from his forearm to a monitor and tubes from his nose to an oxygen tank. With every silent beep of his heart monitor, was a small stab in my heart. Ash also looked frozen in place, his eye brimming with unshed tears all I could do for him was rub his back as I forced us to approach Dad's bedside. It was a tight fit but we made it work.

He almost looked like he was just sleeping — if it weren't for all the visible burn marks peeking through his bandages. Said bandages were wrapped around every inch of his body, from his head all the way down to the tips of his toes but were done as if they were saving on the material.

"My...boys," He said, eyes closed and mouth quivering.

"Hey, Dad," Ash responded. First, there was a twitch — Slowly, he opened his eyes. Breathing a sigh of relief, It almost felt nice to see that his eyes were unharmed. They were still the same old heartwarming green of the man who raised us. He smiled and I remembered all the fun times the three of us would have. He took us to camping sites, where in he'd tell stories and even give us history lessons about what the earth once was. All fond memories with the same old man, now in a much dire state.

"Da-" I felt something clog my throat as I stared at the man on the bed smiling at us both like he used to, like there was nothing wrong in life. As if we were his little boys again, playing with him in our front yard as the androids stand by for any emergency.

"Hey...You two..." He lifted his hand dropping it right afterward, his face scrunching up in pain.

Zee was by his side in an instant, applying even more numbing spray to Dad's visible wounds. "Damn it, John, The doctor said no strenuous movement for a month." He said softly placing his hand on top of Dad's. Dad smiled the faintest of smiles, causing some of the bandages on his face to shift, exposing even more burnt skin. Gone was the face of the man we once knew, now replaced by exposed flesh and muscle.

"God...Just..."I felt the tears drip before I could even stop them, trying my best to wipe them off. "Why..." When the tears became too much, I forced myself to look away from Dad, not wanting him to see me in such a state.

"He's gay," Ash said — which I already knew, I may be dumb but I'm not naive. " If he was only gay and was matched to a first district man, the worse they'd both get was to probably be relocated to the second district. But, no offense, Zee's a guy from the third district, they had to make him fit his new environment." Ash finished, gently placing his hand on top of Dad's bandaged ones, when he didn't flinch, he kept it there. "Plus our grandparents forged their matching results, just so we can keep being in the first district. It's one hell of a sin in the council's eyes."

Through my tears, I was able to spot Hayden in the doorway standing there shell shocked. "What?!" It's unfair of me to release my anger out on him — I know that — but really right now, he's the closest to the council as we're ever gonna get.

"I-uh...I just..." Hayden stammered foolishly, standing just by the exit and gripping the door tightly.

"What?" I sent him the meanest glare that I could muster though — with all the crying I've been doing — I'm not even sure how good I did.

"It's for the greater good...for the greater good..." He whispered, more to himself than to anyone else in the room, before dashing out.

"I-" Dad muttered out, returning my attention to him. Giving up on wiping the tears away, I can feel the snot drip down from my nose as the tears continue to just free fall. "I'm...glad....you....both came...to see me," He released a shaky breath and that's when I just lost it, I sobbed into his sheets, I don't even know if I can touch him, I just cried beside him and bunched his sheets in my hand.

"DAAAAAD NOOOO DON'T DIEEE ON USSSSSS!" I screamed, feeling a smack on the back of my head right afterward.

"He's not dead you dingus!" Ash's tone was as firm as always but he can't hide the shakiness in his voice.

A soft chuckle came from behind us, and I looked at Zee, who had the same kind of expression he greeted us with.

"There're others like us here, some much younger, much less fortunate," Zander was beside the bed now, gently rubbing Dad's head that was wrapped in bandages. We can't answer, rather, what can you really say in this situation? My throat felt clogged as all I can able to utter out were sobs and hiccups. Ash was in a similar condition but he looked like he was biting the insides of his cheeks, Dad went back to sleep, and I tried, I tried my best to stifle my cries into muffled sniffles. His breathing evened out and I stood up to leave, running into Hayden himself — who was simply staring blankly into the room, right at my father's body on the bed.

"For the greater good... huh?" I said bitterly, which seemed to have snapped Hayden out of whatever trance he was in. He redirected his gaze towards me with a pathetic excuse of a poker face on his features.

"For the greater good."