Hours passed one by one, and Sooha was kept in containment.

They claimed it was because he was affiliated with another faction. He had once been a citizen here, but those days were long gone.

As far as he knew, neither his family nor Yuna had been alerted.

He didn’t mind.

Strangely, the solitude gave him time to think, mostly about the quiet days he had spent with Luke over the years.

After what felt like eternity, the door creaked open.

“How are you?” asked Damien, first time showing any kind of empathy.

“Does my mother know that I’m here?” Sooha asked, ignoring the pointless question.

“No, this is strictly business of the defense committee, and others are not permitted to know about the people we hold until they are permitted to rejoin Elysium as citizens.”

“HA, and I thought I would’ve been allowed free entry into the state I was born in.” Sooha chuckled sarcastically, Damien’s lack of empathy annoying him.

“I wish to see my mother, or Yuna, if they are all still alive, that is,” Sooha demanded.

Damien cut him off with a simple no.

“Your powers… were Syntrian researchers successful in finding what they were looking for?”

“Are you really asking me that?” He wanted to scream at him, but held back and just scoffed.

Damien wasn’t just an old friend anymore. He had some semblance of power now, and they were no longer children.

“All they have succeeded in is making me lose those powers, Damien. Your father thought I would be an amazing lab rat at eleven.” Sooha’s words were sour, but he gave up the hostility as it was not getting him out of the cell sooner, but the gnawing hatred for the man still hung deep inside him.

“But you used them yesterday? right?” Damien questioned Sooha.

“Yeah, I did, to try and protect someone I love… This collar you put on me is for suppressing them, right?” Sooha nudged the electronic device around his neck.

“Your ability is rated as an S tier in our archives, so it was just a precaution,” Damien explained, averting his gaze from him.

“If you had not known who I am, would you have taken me back here from that road?” he asked with fake curiosity, “Or would you have killed me too and left us there to rot?”

“I didn’t kill anyone. And Site 76 is hostile toward us. Elimination would have been justified.”

Sooha knew, for a fact, that Elysium doesn’t even accept babies born to citizens who were not allowed to have children; population control was set in stone, and those who were not well off, smart, or important enough had no chance. Only the best were allowed to procreate.

Still, Elysium was one of the most prosperous countries in this region, housing a little over six million people within its walls that, since they were built in 2053, have never faltered, and everyone knew that kind of safety came at a price so they would turn a blind eye towards its cruelties for the sake of their safety.

“How long do you intend to keep me locked up like this?” Sooha said, sadness lacing his words.

“I was waiting for you to be ready for the integration exam, as it includes retelling what happened during the period of you being out of Elysium, and with a lie detector, that is, so I wanted to give you time to come to your senses.”

Sooha blinked in confusion.

“I see, but I suppose you weren’t meant to tell me that, were you?” He wanted to know the reason for Damien’s behavior.

“There is no one above me who can punish me, other than my father, that is… So I can help an old friend in need.”

Bitterness and resentment crept into Damien’s voice; it was the first time he had shown any real emotion since they met again.

“So you are some big shot now? All that training and bloody ankles paid off, huh?” he raised an eyebrow.

Damien didn’t reply, though a sour expression crept up on his face, as if recalling a bittersweet memory.

“You are correct,” was all he said before retreating out of the room.

“Be ready in thirty minutes for interrogation.”

Sooha was left in confusion. Why would Damien stoop so low as to do the process of integration if he were that high on the ladder? There should be clerks tasked with that.

He was indeed punctual; exactly 30 minutes later, the door opened, and there he was.

“Let’s go,” said Damien with no expression on his face.

“You are not cuffing me? You think I am nothing to be wary of now?” Sooha poked.

And just like that, in one swift moment, he was pinned against the wall, a blade pointed at him from a safe distance.

Sooha felt as if he blinked and missed the man’s movement.

“You’re a Councilor’s child and an old acquaintance, Sooha.” This was the first time Damien said his name. At first, Sooha thought he had forgotten it.

“I am not my father, but don’t think even for a moment that I am not cautious,” Damien added.

“Just an acquaintance? I thought of you as a friend before I was taken away… But then again, friends do not kill each other’s lovers, do they?” Sooha said with mild anger on his face, in a narrative tone.

Damien noticed their proximity. Too close.

“Stop saying that as if I sold you myself, just follow me to the interrogation chamber,” Damien said, a sour feeling writhing within. He let go of Sooha and stepped away.

Damien paused for a split second, just enough for an awkward glance to flicker in Sooha’s direction, before he turned and walked out.

Sooha found himself giving him the attitude once more; he was salty, but Damien was right; he just stopped Sooha from healing an enemy, not that Sooha will ever forgive him for that.

The halls were sterile and silent, the only sound being the repetitive clang of Damien’s heavy army boots. Sooha figured the location he was in had to be the Public Security Bureau, the nerve center for everything controlled by the Defense Councilor, and his second in command, the Marshal Prime. Damien himself held that position.

He knew for a fact that papers and deals for him being sold as a medical asset to Syntrum had passed through this building.

Quite frankly, Yuna’s and Damien’s fathers.

Two men he should’ve been able to trust.