As soon as Blue slid off of his lap, Lex bounded to his feet, palm flat on the desk to balance himself while he scrambled around it. He reached his hand back for her, but her footsteps were only getting further away. His head snapped around to look back at her, the force of the motion sending his hair flying up to scribble little black arcs into the air. His eyes locked on the back of her head, and his lips began to yell for her to<span style="font-style: italic">come on</span>, but everything stopped just short of following through.<br/><br/>The scene was picturesque, in a macabre sort of way. Blue was a silhouette against the bright blue sky. She was taking pictures of the scene before them, but for a fleeting moment, he wished he could just take a picture of her taking pictures. Each one was likely darker than the last as the ship descended on them, slowly beginning to obscure the natural light that poured in from outside. The ship slowed to a halt and it seemed<span style="font-style: italic">so close</span>, though he knew that it had to be hundreds and hundreds of kilometers off still.<br/><br/>Lex was glad that his sight was such that he couldn’t make out details. He was sure that he would freeze, waste time trying to make out the meticulous details of the guns that fired on them, like he was doing now. They were pulse beams, a scorching combination of bright purples and dark reds. Yes, he was glad he couldn’t make out the details. He was sure that they would haunt him.<br/><br/>He yelled for her, but he wasn’t sure if she ever heard it before the first beam struck the building, hitting one of the floors somewhere below them. The building’s foundation groaned loudly in response, then shook violently when the second shot went for the ground floor. It felt like even the air around them trembled under the ferocity of this goliath, undoubtedly the proverbial ‘they’ that his mother had warned them about. Dicen stopped screaming. Marcus started. All Lex could do was look at Blue until his consciousness betrayed him.<br/>____________________________________________<br/><br/>It was quiet. He couldn’t remember the last time it was this peaceful. Or if it had ever been this peaceful at all. Lex could just barely make out the low drone of people speaking around him. About him, maybe? He didn’t know, and he found himself not caring. He didn’t even care enough to open his eyes, it was just so<span style="font-style: italic">serene.</span>At least, until ice cold drops of water hit his eyelids, and then he suddenly cared a lot.<br/><br/>Lex startled awake, his eyes snapping open and his breathing suddenly panicked and ragged. The moment his eyes opened, he was greeted with a flurry of bright lights, vivid details, brilliant colors. It<span style="font-style: italic">hurt</span>, and he closed his eyes again to block out the sudden assault on his senses. His breath shook, and he tried again to open his eyes - slower this time. It was around this time that he noticed that the voices around him had stopped their chatter. There were no footsteps, no whispers. You could hear a pin drop. With a renewed sense of panic, he finally looked upon the room.<br/><br/>“Hello, Alex.”<br/><br/>Lex’s eyes trailed to the source of the greeting: a young man in a fine black suit and a crisp black tie, standing still in stark contrast to the other occupants of the room who buzzed around in blindingly white coats. The man made him uneasy, almost inexplicably so, and Lex found himself trying to pull his hands up from their prone position on the armrests of a padded chair. When he was met with resistance, his head lowered just slightly and his eyes wandered to his bound wrists. He soaked in every single detail of the belts that bound him - the silver buckles, the plain dark leather, the notches that looked ominously worn down. His eyes wandered back up to the speaker.<br/><br/>The young man, to whatever credit it could be attributed, smiled politely at him. Apologetically, almost, and indeed the next words that followed were, “I’m sorry about that.” For as much of an apology that was written on his face, his words were callous and decidedly not sorry in the slightest. “You haven’t given me much of a choice, though, Alex. You’ve been causing all sorts of trouble, haven’t you?”<br/><br/>Trouble? For a man he’d never met? It was worth an inquiry, but Lex wasn’t about to bite. “Where’s my brother? And the woman that I was with, what happened to her?”<br/><br/>A condescending click of the tongue. A<span style="font-style: italic">tsk tsk</span>and a shake of the head. “I don’t know that you’re in a position to be asking questions, doctor.” In spite of his words, the young man gave an exasperated sigh, adjusted his already impeccable tie, and stood just the slightest bit taller. “Marcus will be fine. Bluebell will be fine. But<span style="font-style: italic">you</span>, Alex?” There was that smile again, and another shake of the head. “I’m impressed with your ability to react to situations under pressure. Freezing in duress is such an incredibly<span style="font-style: italic">human</span>trait.”<br/><br/>The way that he emphasized the word human sent a chill running down to the base of Lex’s spine. “Where’s Dicen.” It wasn’t a question. It was a demand. A demand that fell on seemingly deaf ears, as the young suit just turned his head away, instead murmuring to one of the white-coats. The white-coat nodded stiffly, and then the buzzing about the room continued as if it had never stopped to begin with. Lex jerked violently against his restraints, enough to make a noise, and the young man’s head rolled along his shoulders to look back at him, like Lex’s struggles were<span style="font-style: italic">boring</span>him.<br/><br/>The soft tapping of hard-soled shoes on the cold tile floor came closer and closer, until eventually Lex was looking up at what seemed to be the physical manifestation of his impending doom. The man knelt down in front of him, placing his hands on Lex’s knees to steady himself. The feeling was weird, foreign. He smelled so<span style="font-style: italic">clean</span>, and his hands were cold through the fabric of Lex’s pants. When he spoke, it was in a low tone, though his voice still sounded borderline melodious. “You’re being very ungrateful, Alex. You’ve caused me immense trouble, you’ve bombarded me with questions, and not once have you thanked me for your eyesight.”<br/><br/>Blood went cold as the realization suddenly settled in. From the moment he opened his eyes, the reality was not lost on Lex that he could see in vivid detail. The way that he could before his father ever struck him down, perhaps even better than before. If it had been anyone else - some run-of-the-mill field surgeon, or even one of these incessant white-coats that were moving about their daily lives around him - Lex might have been grateful. But no, he resented it. He resented being able to make out the details of this man who knelt down before him, looking up at him as if<span style="font-style: italic">Lex</span>was the one in control here. He hated being able to see that fine, white-blonde hair that lay smartened back except for a few rogue hairs that tried to hang in front of translucent blue eyes, or the pale, unmarred skin of a man who had not seen the type of survival situation that the majority of Eden was having to live through.<br/><br/>Lex could not even justify why he hated this man so much, because honestly he still had no idea who he was. Was<span style="font-style: italic">he</span>the proverbial ‘they’ that his mother had tried to warn him about? He wasn’t about to ask. Instead, the hatred that would have come out in a question came out in spite instead, and Lex spit on his captor’s face.<br/><br/>What should’ve provoked getting hit or thrown around provoked a laugh instead. Thin, pale, spindly fingers reached into the breast pocket of the crisp suit jacket and the young man merely just wiped it away and let his chuckles die down. Lex watched, slightly mesmerized, as the man rose to his feet and spun on a heel to walk away. He moved past his white-coats without a word, just the remnants of his humor lingering in the air. When he fell upon a door as white as everything else in the room, he let his hand rest on the doorknob and called back over his shoulder. “We’ll talk again, doctor. But for now, I think I need to check on the others. I’ll tell Ms. Taylor that you said hello.”<br/><br/>And with that, the man slipped out the door, leaving Lex with only the feeling of impending doom. He suddenly worried for Blue.