Set me on Fire – Part 2 -

Louis climbed out of the water and smiled back at him. The white shirt he wore stuck against his pale body and made him look even sicker than he was already. Jean frowned. It didn't escape him how tired and exhausted his lover was, only from swimming the short distance from the infirmary to this room. The young man had ended his reset too early. However, now he was here, and in spite of all reason Jean was glad to see him.

“Louis!” Jean opened his arms when the new arrival slowly came closer. He wished he could meet him halfway, but his tentacle was still confiscated by the little creatures.
With an understanding smile, Victoria observed the dozing babies when Jean could finally embrace his lover and kiss him with a passion he only reluctantly restrained.

“You look tired,” Jean worried once he let him go. His fingers ran through the white hair. Water dripped from the long, soft curls. The temperature of their water was mild, but outside, it quickly cooled off. “Maybe you should rest some more, love.”

The young man shoved his hand away and rolled his eyes.
“I know best if I need more sleep or not, thank you. I'm fine and I wanted to see you. Oh my god, they hatched?”
Victoria stifled a giggle and stepped aside, making room for the youth. Thirty-five years or not, the younger tenta didn't only look like an older teen - his mood could swing from heavily annoyed with his overprotective older lover to utter delight within seconds. He had already forgotten about Jean and leaned over the edge of the glass box with a happy smile. In his excitement, his cheeks downright glowed with pink in contrast to his otherwise pallid face.

“They are so cute!” He was completely enraptured by the sight of the curled up, sleeping babies. At his voice, they opened their eyes and blinked at him, two of them yawned, revealing their miniature fangs.

“Louis, darling, calm down, you scare them...” Jean tried to warn the young man, but Louis still ignored him. Instead, he reached out his hand and carefully tickled the blue one's stomach with the tip of his claw-like fingernail.
Jean expected at least one of the little ones to bite the perky albino any second, he would have bet his head on this.

Fortunately for him, betting wasn't one of his habits - to his surprise, nothing happened. Maybe Jean had already soothed them or they didn't feel any threat from Louis, he didn't know.
The blue one gave a playful growl and his little hands already clung to Louis' finger. The others observed them without any fear and several, colorful tentacles curiously reached forward and carefully wrapped themselves loosely around the white, delicate wrist.

The red one, who Jean thought to be the most aggressive of the bunch, boldly crawled closer and climbed into Louis' now open hand.

His red eyes shining with delight, the youth gently shook the tiny tentacles off and picked the red baby up. Carefully, his fingertip ran through the short, soft hair. The baby snarled when its neck was tickled, but it didn't bite. Instead, it's thin tentacles poked in protest against the finger until Louis continued to pet its head.

Jean watched the little scene. The happy smile on his lover's face and the sparkling eyes made it so easy to forget about Louis' condition. Instead, he felt again why he fell in love with the young man. Despite his weak body, Louis could have a fiery temper, and his youth only added to it. Beside that, however, he had this soft, warm side and when he loved, it was honest and unconditionally.

Well, most of the time.

Only reluctantly, Louis turned away from the new born and gazed at Jean, his eyes wide open and yearning. Jean knew what would come next, and he already began to feel sick.

“Louis, please don't...”

“Jean, I want children, too!”

The older man didn't answer. He had feared this would happen again from the moment they learned that Joli, the babies' mother, was expecting. Louis kept staring at him with a stubborn frown.

It was Victoria who finally interrupted the silence.

“Louis,” she began to explain slowly, not for the first time, “with all due respect to your wish... no, please listen!” Sadly, she shook her head when the young man looked at her full of hope.
“I have to tell you again that your body is too weak for breeding.”

“But... I don't feel bad. I got new medication, and I'm sure the attacks will...” Desperately, he looked from Jean to Victoria and back to his lover.

“Louis, I'm sorry, but it would kill you, “ Victoria cut him off. Jean knew that she hated to be cruel to the young man who she had raised with her own hands, but he nodded. She spoke the truth and she was right to do so – it wouldn't help anyone, especially not Louis, if she supported him by cherishing false hopes. Meanwhile, he could only hope that Louis wouldn't ask one of the other scientists – he wasn't too confident that their concern about Louis' life outmatched their interest in breeding. Fortunately, the youth usually respected the woman's opinion. Which didn't mean that he would give up easily.

“But Jean could...”

“NON! Once and for all, forget it!” He regretted his outburst at once.

Louis began to tremble and the usually hardly visible markings on his white skin and tentacles already turned dark. He was too upset and under stress.

“Louis, please, calm down. You know it's not good for you when you get overexcited.” Now sick with worry, Jean tried to comfort him, but the younger man only got angrier and pushed him away.

“Why do you refuse it so consequently? You haven't even really thought about it! You said you love me!” There it was, the fiery side of him that made it so hard to reason with him. Jean knew that his lover didn't mean half of what he said when he was angry, but it still hurt.

“Chéri, more than anything, you know that. But...”

“But, but, always 'but'! There is no 'but'! Why wouldn't you do that for me? Why do you deny me this one wish when you know how important it is for me?”

Irritated, Jean's hand ran through his own hair and he tried to keep calm. Yes, Louis could be demanding, in his temper and wishes. Yet, Jean had always shown endless patience with him. When Louis wasn't angry, his wilder side turned him into the ardent lover Jean cared for as deeply as for the dreamy, easily delighted one. Having to deal with a more blusterous Louis once in a while was something he accepted as the part of the deal. Sometimes, however, it was very difficult, especially whenever it came to this specific question.

“Louis.”
After inhaling deeply, Jean found it easier to speak calmly and with understanding. “They told you how often they had to try until Francis and Umba finally got pregnant. You also know how many of the babies were stillborn or died soon after birth. Even if I wanted too, I'm one of the first. I wasn't born like this, unlike you and your siblings. The risk that the babies are born dead is too high. And what about me? My body wasn't born to bear children. It would be a lot harder than it was for Joli.”

Gently, he took the red baby from Louis' hand. The little one bit him in protest, but he hardly noticed it. He put it back to its siblings and watched how it scurried over to its purple brother and huddled against him and Jean's tentacle. The green one had curled up against his dark blue skin and really fallen asleep while the others tumbled through the box and snarled and hissed at each other whenever one fell over the other.

Joli, or Subject 7, as all the scientists except Victoria called her, had been perfect - almost as perfect as a pure tenta would have been. The humans had already had a lot more experience than they had when Louis and his siblings were born, and Joli's body was in a good condition and she had willingly agreed to the experiment.

All precautions hadn't been enough. Everything had gone smoothly and they had been optimistic that, this time, there wouldn't be any real problems. For some reason they still didn't know why things changed dramatically shortly before she gave birth. None of the scientists could tell if the process itself had weakened her or if the unhatched babies had required a higher nutrient supply than she could provide.

In the end, they had to remove the eggs from her body. Since that day, she had been under medical supervision. She was too weak to eat or even breathe without help. The wound from the Caesarean operation didn't heal at first and when the pain of the infection threatened to kill her she had been put into an artificial coma. At least, she had survived, but it would still take a while until she would completely recover, if at all.

Even the scientists would rather breed with one of the born tentas than with Jean. The past results had shown that even if the deliverer died, the chances of survivable babies would be higher. To ensure the survival of everyone involved, they needed even more experience, namely – more trial and error. If they really understood what killed – or almost killed – the parent they could find ways to prevent it.
So maybe there would be, one day, the possibility that Jean or Louis would survive, but only in a far away future.

Using Joli for a second time was too risky - she would probably die before the eggs would be ready to be incubated. Louis and the other albinos were simply too weak to begin with and those born after them wouldn't be fertile anytime soon. It would take years until the procedure of breeding tentas would cease to be risky and complicated.

A double-edged sword, in the eyes of the scientists. They wanted and needed results. Especially those who feared they would have to retire before they could collect any satisfying data were impatient. On the other hand most of them shrugged the failure off as causalities. It was the same as it had been when Jean was made. They had expected to fail. It was unfortunate when a parent or the babies died, but calculated. There was always something new to learn, even from the cadavers.

Jean shivered when he thought of that one room they weren't allowed to enter. He was glad he had escaped seeing it form inside as a corpse when he had survived his own surgery, and he would certainly go mad if the door closed behind Louis.

The youth, however, didn't want to share Jean's worries, even when he knew his older lover was right. Those were facts he didn't want to know.

“I..it... it's not fair!” Louis began to stutter and defiantly, his hands clenched to fists. The speed of his breathing increased alarmingly.

“Louis, please!” Jean felt helpless. He was not sure what he should do. Yes, he had told him the truth. Maybe he should have been less bluntly about it, but in the end, it wouldn't have changed the facts.

“Sweetie, please, you have to calm down! You know this is not good for your heart!” Victoria was as worried as Jean. She put her wrinkled hand on Louis' shoulder, but neither the comforting gesture nor her soothing voice calmed him down and he pushed her hand away immediately.

“No! I won't accept this! There has to be... you made us, so why can't you... it cannot be impossible!” The newborns shrieked out and huddled together when Louis almost shouted the last words. He blinked in their direction and collapsed.

“Louis!”
The dark markings had disappeared and the ashen face was covered with cold sweat. Jean and Victoria bent over him at once, but the unconscious, heavily panting youth did not hear them.

*

White hair floated in the water and framed the silent face like a cloud. Louis had been fast asleep since his breakdown a few hours ago without regaining conscious once. A respiratory mask made sure he wouldn't drown in the pool whenever his head sank under the surface, but their kinds' inability to breathe under water wasn't the only reason.
The last attack was one of the worst he'd had lately and, with the one prior this day, he had been weakened. The risk of breathing interruptions was too high.

“Fool...” Gently, Jean's fingers  played with the long hair while he watched the worryingly calm face of his lover. He had climbed into the water once the respirator and the machines to monitor Louis' vital signs had been adjusted. Fortunately, nobody objected when he insisted to stay close to the young man, a circumstance that worried him more than Jean wanted to admit.
He floated next to him, spoke lowly random words and brought him back to the surface whenever the water covered Louis' head completely.

Since the day Louis had been born, Jean had wanted to protect him and his siblings. A wish that had become stronger when the boy grew older and into a young man. With all he was and all he had, Jean wanted to keep all harm away from his lover, but from the very first day of Louis' life he had been forced to realize that he was powerless. There was nothing he could do against the weakness of the heart. All he could do was hope that he would wake up soon, forced to accept the fact that with each severe attack he recovered from, Louis would be a bit weaker than before. He loathed how the feeling of being helpless overwhelmed him whenever he was restricted to waiting.

Not for the first time during the last hours, Jean thought about Louis' wish while he watched the young man's delicate features. How could Louis not be aware of the consequences of his selfish demand? Louis' own mother was dead. Joli was still in a coma, and nobody knew when she would wake up.  

He would do anything for Louis. As long as it was in his powers, he would fulfill him any wish. If it really wasn't in his powers, he would find a way.
Yes, he would even die for him, but...

Not like this.
Not for something this temperamental, stubborn and still sometimes childish youth refused to think through.
Or would he really so willingly risks his, Jean's, life? Wasn't he aware that Jean would most certainly die? Or was this certain wish so important to him that he didn't care, that the loss of his lover wouldn't matter?

“Idiot...” When Jean's words of comfort hadn't reached him, he had begun to curse and gently scold him. He simply had no idea what else he could do.

“You... you hate me now, don't you?”

Louis' weak voice, muffled by the mask, interrupted his  racing thoughts. Relieved to finally see him awake, but also appalled by the words, Jean stared at him.

“Chéri! Why would you think of something like this! Of course not!” Carefully, he moved under the fragile body. Swimming on his back, he held Louis' upper body over water, as if he was saving a drowning man.
“I could never hate you.”

Louis shoved the mask from his face. With the back of his head leaning against Jean's shoulder, he inhaled deeply.

Jean genuinely hoped that they were done with the topic for now. He wished Louis would simply let it rest and never speak of it again. Even better, Louis should stop thinking about it at all. It was unreasonable; and discussing it over and over again wouldn't gain them anything. The only result would always be to upset the young albino, and cause him more pain, emotionally and physically.

However, he knew Louis only too well. Forgetting about it would have been too easy; weak as the youth's body might have been, his will was strong - to the point of sheer stubbornness. If he had made up his mind about something, he would try everything to make it true. Like persistently charming a certain tenta who, at first, hesitated to accept his own and the younger ones feelings because he thought it wouldn't be appropriate for someone twice as old. Jean loved him fervently for this. Sometimes, however, like today, this beloved aspect of the young man's character could be very demanding.

“But I...”

“Louis, please...” Jean sighed. So it really wasn't over yet.

“I hate... this body...I hate myself!”

With another sad sigh, Jean let his arms tighten around the youth's waist and he pressed him closer to his body.
This wasn't the first time this had happened and as usual, the desperate, self-despising tone of Louis' voice made him wince.
The older Louis became, the more he had to struggle with depressions. While he had still been a child, in years and mentality, he had started to realize that there was no place for dreams in his life, not outside the laboratories. What he had heard and read about the outside world would always remain a story to him. Even if the scientists had allowed his adventurous soul to go away – his body would have been too weak. The more his sickness restrained him, the more Louis hated himself.

“You are beautiful, mon chèr. Not only your face and your body.” Lovingly, he caressed the young man's cheek, still holding him close with his other arm. His tentacles felt for Louis', and tenderly, he let them entangle. “Your temper, your smile... who you are... all this is beauty. How can you say something so harsh about yourself?”

Frustrated, Louis' tentacles broke free from Jean's gentle grip.

“How? Do you really have to ask? Can't you see it? I'm weak! So damn weak! My life depends on these damned machines, and on the mercy and care of others! I'm not allowed to do anything! Whatever I wish for is denied!” His hands clenched to the arm covering his stomach so fiercely that his sharp, claw-like fingernails almost broke through the sturdy skin. He laughed bitterly.

“Why are they doing it anyway? I'm waste. I'd be more useful to them when dead. Why all these efforts to keep me alive?”

Every word stung.
This wasn't just an outburst of a youth who would say anything in his disappointment for not having his will. Jean sensed that Louis meant and felt what he said. Even worse, there had been moments when he had asked himself the same question. He was, of course, more than happy that the scientists did all they could for Louis' health. However, he would be less scared every time his lover suffered from another attack if he understood the motives. Being oblivious of their plans, he had to fear that they might change their mind at anytime. He didn't know what he would do if that happened, but this was a 'what if?' he didn't want to think about.

No matter how much he understood Louis' pain, this was not all that hurt him when the young man talked liked like this

“Louis, my love. I... and what we have, doesn't that mean anything? Doesn't it count anymore?”

With a sulky growl, Louis, still on top of Jean, turned around and faced his older lover. The cables and sensors that had been attached to his wrist and chest snapped away at the sudden, violent movement. He didn't say it, but Jean saw he was sorry, but also still frustrated.

“Of course it counts, it's all that counts. Of course I didn't mean it like that! But still... it's just... Jean, all this... why?” He held his hand up in front of Jean's eyes; the impressions of the sensors and small bruises of injections were clearly visible on the white skin. “What's the meaning of all this, my life? Isn't it pointless?”

The forceful movements of his upset lover had almost sent him underwater. Jean changed his position to keep them both over the surface. Again, he wrapped his arms around Louis and pulled him into a close embrace.

“Don't say something like this, never again. I beg you, mon coeur.” It was one of the rare moments when he didn't hide his own desperation and sorrow from the young man.

“I'm nothing without you. You are the only happiness in this dull, monotonous life. I need you. When you... when you talk like this I'm scared – scared to lose you! How should I live without you...” Sharing his deepest fear left his voice hoarse, forcing him to whisper into his lover's ear. As they did before with his arm, Louis' fingers now clawed into Jean's shirt.

The warmth they shared through their bodies and love was all they had, Louis knew that as well as Jean.

Only free to move between tiled walls and to swim in narrow pools, their life was cold. They only seemed to exist to humor the curiosity of others, and they were cold to them, too. Life, breeding, death. Tests, failures, more tests. Success – more tests. It was dull and never ended.
Victoria, the only human who felt and showed heartfelt kindness would soon be gone. With Louis' birth, the young man had become the only purpose in Jean's life. First like a father, then a friend and finally – a lover. Despite the number of his years, Louis was still young, but he wasn't blind to the importance of their bond. Even if only vaguely, he was aware that he was as important to Jean as the older man to him. What else did they have anyway?

“Jean,” he finally whispered, “I'm scared. Something is different.”

Jean remained silent and pressed him even tighter against his body. Louis was right. This wasn't just another crazy or paranoid idea of a depressed youth. The way they were treated by the humans had become worse than usual lately; many of them didn't even try anymore to maintain a polite manner with Jean and the others. Sometimes, the atmosphere was close to hostile instead of simply disrespectful. Now that he thought about it, today gave him another reason to wonder. Usually, when the babies had hatched, everyone used to be in a good, delighted mood that could be sensed through the whole building. Even after Victoria had informed him, he neither saw nor felt any sign of the usual triumph.

'Then again, who knows how sick Joli really is. Knowing them, another failure in their precious data irks them more than the birth of the babies makes them happy,' Jean mused grimly, but he kept the thought to himself.

Louis had always been sensitive to the rough behavior of the scientists. He had never completely overcome the day he had been told by an especially cruel young doctor that he was nothing but a test subject and that the only meaning of his existence was to shut up until asked and to provide data.
In hindsight, Jean was glad that Victoria had interfered in time and stopped him when he was about to tear the human to pieces. He wouldn't have been of any help if they had found a way to get rid of him if they decided he was too dangerous. Still, even many years later, he was far from forgiving this careless remark, especially when Louis was clinging to him like he did today.

So whatever it was that caused the weird behavior of the humans - for now, comforting his lover was more important. He would talk about the rest with Victoria later. If something was really amiss, she would have told him by now anyway.

Still, he couldn't shrug off this weird feeling, and Louis talking about his fear made it uncomfortably real. It was nothing he could describe, only a sense of foreboding he didn't like at all.

“I want to leave, Jean. You know the outside world, show it to me.”

This wish wasn't new - it was older than Louis' desire to have children. Since he had been a child himself and learned that there was more than the laboratories in this world, he yearned to see more.
They weren't confined to the basement; if they wanted they could get the permission to swim outside. However, Louis' request had always been denied because of his bad health – not only the physical strain would have been dangerous for him, also the excitement.

“Louis, love, you know that is not possible. Your condition...”

“My condition, my condition! That's all what you are talking about lately. Today is one bad day! I have good days, too! What can go wrong when you are coming with me?”

For a moment, Jean feared Louis would become upset again, but despite the reproachful tone of his voice, the young man remained calm. While this was good as it wouldn't give Louis' heart more trouble, it was painful for Jean.

“My dear, you know you need medical care. And what if another bad day happens?”

“I know, it's just a silly dream, that's what you want to tell me, right?” This time, Louis' laughed less bitterly. The sadness, however, remained.
“I'm sorry, I make things difficult for you with my childish wishes. Sometimes I wonder why you love a childish, broken thing like me...”

“Fool,” Jean chided softly. He broke away from the embrace and carefully, he took Louis' hands, that still held tightly to his shirt, in his. “I love you because you are how you are, with all your tempers, cockiness and small and big wishes. And I think you know that very well, mon chèr!” he added with a chuckle when a faint smile appeared on Louis' face. Jean was relieved - this crisis was as good as over. Before he could stop himself, he spoke on.

“I'll talk to Victoria. Maybe, when you feel better, she will allow me to take you outside for an hour or two. But only if you promise to tell me at once when you need to rest or return!”

The faint smile widened, and the sad expression of Louis' face brightened.
“Are you serious? Jean, do you mean it?”

“Of course I mean it, my love. Have I ever not kept my promises?”

The lecture Jean had to expect from Victoria would last longer than one or two hours; he could imagine what the elderly woman would think of his request.
Worse, he knew that she would be right to try and convince them to forget about the idea, but Jean simply didn't have the heart to talk Louis out of it. One little, short adventure; it would make the young man so happy, how could he not try to fulfill this wish? That was something the lecture would be about as well, again.
Jean almost snorted when he thought of past arguments with Victoria. So, what if he spoiled Louis? He loved him, it was his right to do everything for him to make him smile like he did now. As long as it didn't kill them. The grateful hug he received was more than worth a bit of trouble.

Suddenly, Louis turned around in his arms, and both stared with wide eyes to the door.

A gunshot and a high-pitched scream tore up the silence.

More shots and screams followed when the first one died away. People were talking loudly, upset and excited. Familiar voices cried for help and fell silent.

“What...?!” Louis abruptly turned his head around and looked at Jean, his eyes wide with fear.

The door flew open.
Jean seized Louis by the shoulder and pushed the youth behind him. Protectively, he stood in front of him, stretching to his full size, to shield his lover with his own body.

Threateningly, he bared his teeth.

He didn't relax when he saw it was Victoria, who hastened inside and slammed the door shut.

Sweat ran from her forehead, and the already tightly groomed hair stuck even more to her head. Her wide eyes looked too big for her small, ashen face. To see her was the lesser evil, but even without her saying anything, Jean knew that her news couldn't bear anything good for them.

“Renouard! Obstruct the door! HURRY!” she shouted, her voice alarmingly hoarse and shrill, but he had no time to worry about her condition.

Quickly, he moved out of the water and shoved one of the cabinets in front of the door.

“What's going on? What's happening outside?” He tried to keep the panic he felt out of his voice while he hurried to assist her with the table she was trying to move on her own.
More roughly than intended in his anxiety, he shoved her aside.

She began to cry.

He paused a second and looked at her, realizing that she had to have been crying before.
And he saw her work coat was covered with blood.  

“Victoria...” Distraught, he grabbed her by her shoulders and shook her. “What is going on?” he asked again, with more intense than before. He had seen her moved and sad, even mourning, in the past, but never like this. Remembering the bad feeling he had, he froze when she finally spoke.

“You have to flee! Hurry! Through the sewer, out of the base, as far away as possible, as fast as you can! I know, it's crazy, but... but...” Again, she burst into tears; her words were impossible to understand between her sobs.

“Far away... out of the base... Victoria!”

“They've canceled the project!” she yelled. “Not enough results, costs too high! They are killing them! Jean! 'Destroy all subjects immediately without exception.'! That's the order! That's happening now! Get out of here, at once!”

“No...” Jean let go of the hysterical woman. So it was finally happening. His ever present fear about his existence, now it was becoming reality. Not only for him, the obsolete relict, but for all of them. Every single one of them.

Horrified, he turned to Louis. The youth had listened in silent terror, covering his mouth with one hand like this was all that could keep him from screaming.

“Please, you have to leave! I beg you, my friend, just go! Before they burn...” Despite she was shaking from crying so hard, she began to push Jean towards the water channel.

“But...” He kept looking at Louis. “How..  no, we can't! You know we can't just...”

She shook her head and inhaled deeply. For a moment, the tears stopped flowing.
“You have no choice but try. Yes, maybe it's suicide. But if you stay, you will be killed for sure. It's your only chance,” she spoke with a sudden calmness and Jean knew she was serious. He nodded.

“The children... what's with the babies?” Louis asked. He had left the water and hurried over to them, as fast as his tentacles allowed him to move on solid ground.

“They were... the first ones... I could do nothing. Nothing! Dead! They are all dead! They simply broke their necks!” Her knees gave in and she fell to the floor. “I didn't know... I swear to you, I didn't know anything! They didn't tell me! Why didn't I see it coming? Igor knew, Greg knew! Even the new guys knew! WHY DIDN'T ANYBODY TELL ME?” She screamed the last words and began to cry again. Jean bent down and tried to his arms around her, but she pushed him away.

“GO! I beg you! GO NOW! Don't let them kill you, too!”

They had arrived.

From outside, they heard the voices of other scientists and strangers. Forcefully, they banged against the door. The cabinet moved a few inches with every impact. Soon, the door would be open enough to squeeze through, or the furniture would fall over.

Desperately, Jean looked at Louis. The pattern on his skin was glowing a bright purple; his expression was unreadable. Jean lowered his gaze to the woman kneeling in front of him. She was rocking to and fro, like a weeping child, gibbering. It broke his heart that this would be the last impression he would have of his dear, old friend.

But this didn't matter now.

Louis mattered, and when his markings looked like this, he was in danger.

“Come!”

“But...!”

“COME! NOW!” he shouted at the albino, grabbing his arm and dragging him to the channel.

“But we can't...”

Ignoring the the young man's protests, Jean pushed him into the water. Instinctively, they filled their lungs with air and dived under. As fast as they could, they swam towards the exit.

Only seconds later, the room was stormed by half a dozen men armed with guns. What happened then, they did not know.

*

Soon, they were close to the exit of the building that lead into a wide river.

The water became colder, and even that far away from the rooms where the slaughter had happened, the water tasted of blood.

Jean had to drag Louis along – the younger tenta was paralyzed. Swimming like this was difficult and he had to return to the surface more often. He also had to take care of Louis who would simply have drowned if Jean hadn't pulled him up to inhale as well.

They were slow.

“Louis, please! Move already!” he pleaded and shook him the next time they emerged. Hating himself for it, but not knowing what else to do, Jean slapped him. Finally, Louis eyes began to lose their empty gaze. The pain he saw in them was almost impossible to bear.

“It's insane...” Louis whispered, but this time, he dove under and swam on his own.

Soon, they left the artificial water channel.

The water in the river was cold and both felt chilly.
Jean wondered where they should go. Louis had never been outside before and Jean almost got sick with ache when he thought of their prior conversation.
He himself hadn't left the building for quite a while now, and when he had been outside, he had never spent much thought on possible shelters for them. He already felt horribly lost and he could only imagine how much worse it was for Louis. This wasn't the first time Jean had lost his life and found himself confronted with a whole new environment. It was hard, but he knew he could manage.

But would Louis? The laboratories had been his home and the home of his family. He had never known anything else, and even if the youth had cursed it sometimes, it had been were he had belonged and felt safe.

Now they would never again be able to return. They had no idea where to go or what to do; their chances to survive their escape unharmed weren't good at all. They had no friends in this world, no relation, nobody they could ask for help. The moment they would show themselves to a human being there would be only one word for them.

Monsters.

So they continued swimming downstream and only paused to breathe air. They were lucky that the river was just deep enough for them to move unhindered, but they were close to the surface. It was a beautiful, sunny day, but they weren't used to the sun.

The skin on their upper bodies and tentacles felt the heat and soon the first signs of a sunburn. By the way Louis' hand clung to his Jean knew how uncomfortable the young man felt, but right now, this was their smallest problem.
The route of the river was straight and not far away from a road. If their pursuers were still after them, they wouldn't have a hard time finding them. However, soon Louis' grip became weaker and Jean decided they would have to rest soon if he wanted to prevent the worst from happening.

'Please hang in there. Only a bit more.'

He chose the left way when the river split and was relieved when his memory didn't mislead him.

Surrounded by a forest, they finally stopped.

The lake was large, even a bit larger than their basin. The water was a bit stale, but warm from the sun. The only noises came from the trees when the wind moved the rustling branches. It was a mild summer day and the warm air would soon begin to dry their hair. The treetops shielded the two men from too much of the burning sunlight; those rays coming through reflected by lush, dark green leaves and grass.
Small fishes swam in the lake and curiously circled around the new visitors who so frantically had intruded their peaceful home.

For almost four hours they had been swimming. Maybe it still wasn't enough, but Jean was exhausted, and Louis...

Jean shuddered when he looked at his lover and refused to think about the wonder that he had made it so far, after already collapsing twice this day. This wasn't the look of being sick on his face anymore.

Slowly, Louis reached the pond bank and leaned over it. The markings on his back faded from dark purple to a soft rose color; the otherwise white skin looked gray in the shadow cast by the trees.

Panting heavily, his claws dug into the soft, moist earth.

“Are you all right?” The question sounded ridiculous in his own ears, but Jean couldn't think of anything else to say. Alarmed, he rushed to his lover's side.

Louis didn't answer.

The feeling of being helpless overwhelmed Jean while he could only watch how the man he loved coughed and fought for air.
Everything had happened so fast. The gunshots, the screams. Victoria's tears, her pleas to hurry and escape.

Too suddenly. All this was happening too suddenly, it was surreal, even for him.

“Dear God... I can't even imagine how you feel...” Carefully, he put his hand on Louis' back. All he wanted to do was pressing the young man to his body, as tightly as he could, but that was not possible, not when Louis was in such a state that he didn't even hear when Jean talked to him.

“Jean... I can't...  anymore...” he faintly whimpered and his breathing became quicker and shallow.

“It's all right, love, we are safe here. We can stay and you'll rest as long as you need. We have all the time we want to find a new home after that, don't worry. I'll protect you,” he assured him and gently, he caressed the waxen face.  

“No, Jean, it's not that... God, no...” Louis hand clenched to his shirt right above his heart. His face was distorted in pain and panic rose in Jean.

“No! Please, no! Not now!” He seized the young man and pulled him back into the water. Like hours before in their pool, he kept Louis over water, hoping that this position would help him to breathe more easily.

“Calm down, Louis. It's fine. We are safe. Breathe slowly, very slowly and stop thinking about what happened. Just calm down and you will be fine.” He couldn't fight the tears coming to his eyes. There was nothing he could do to help Louis when this was really another heart attack.

“Everything will be fine, trust me. We have come this far, you hear me? We will be fine, I promise you! Haven't I always kept my promises?” He rambled on and on, and finally, his voice broke off. He held the youth close and one hand restlessly ran through the white hair. The tears began to run down his face while the weak young man in his arms didn't stop trembling.

“Louis, my love, I beg you...”

Breathing became more and more difficult. Groaning under the effort, Louis turned around as much as he could and looked at Jean; his gaze beginning to lose focus. His face, too, was covered with tears from the pain and suddenly, his body was writhing.

“Jean... it hurts so much,” he cried out of breath.

The world around them disappeared when Jean couldn't deny what was happening anymore. While he had tried to fight his tears to not upset the youth even more, he simply let them flow until his vision became blurry. There was nothing he could do, yet he refused to believe it.

“No, please no, Louis! Don't do that, you can't do that to me! You have to stay with me, you hear? Don't leave me! Don't leave me alone!”

“Jean...” Louis gasped and convulsed violently in Jean's arms and fought desperately for air. Helplessly, his tentacles tried to wrap around Jean's.

For the next long twenty minutes, all Jean could do was watching how Louis fought. Then, all of a sudden, the youth's eyes widened. Almost painfully, the tentacles clung to Jean.

A last, hoarse, rattling gasp escaped Louis' throat.

Then, it was over.

The body went limp and the head fell onto Jean's chest. The empty gaze faced the sky above them. He had stopped breathing, the fight was over.

Louis was dead.

“Non! Ce n'est pas vrai! Ce ne passe pas! Louis! Reponds-moi! Louis!” Jean turned him around, shook him, and finally, pressed the lifeless, still warm body against his chest.

“LOUIS!”

*


A few months later, he returned to the laboratories.

Alone.

Maybe it was deserted. Maybe they still waited for him.

Maybe they would kill him.

He would wait... for something, whatever might happen one day. Alone in the darkness of the basement that welcomed him home with the smell of burnt flesh.

Every memory from his and Louis' pasts had been erased from the desolated rooms, pools and channels that had been their home. Nothing had been left, except for a few, wooden splinters, shards of metal, and a few old photographs he had kept in a slim, watertight briefcase in the pocket of his jacket.


End.