Clouds of hot air puffed along as two longs legs sprinted full pelt towards the clinic. They wanted to move faster and faster as the agonizing ache in her chest began seeping down to her stomach, that vision... everything about it was wrong. It had to be wrong otherwise that meant...
*SLAM*
Colin stood there bewildered for a while, a foot indent on the oak door left him speechless. Kai stood in the doorway panting like she'd sprinted miles. With a wild and almost pained look on her face. Colin remembered she wanted to find the person who saved her, maybe she didn't get to give the thankyou she wanted.
Kai, "Are you f*cking kidding me!" A metal table was flung close to his head making this situation ten times more intense than expected, she wasn't just angry, she was furious.
Colin, "What are you talking about Kai!" He shouted back which was unwise but having medical utensils thrown off him, it was difficult to keep his usual composure.
Kai, "No more god damn bullsh*t!" His heart shuddered, what did she mean by that? Someone was responsible for setting off a chain reaction. Honestly, he was scared to respond not knowing fully what she meant.
Kai, "When I was little I got sick, you said it was meningitis. You're a liar, you also told me Sam moved away to another district. Why are you lying to me!"
Colin stared in a daze for a while before sitting down at his desk. So Sam had been the one to set this on, despite being told to never see her again. Broken rule led to broken hearts he's told him that. Looking up at Kai who impatiently waited for an answer, he began admiring her a little. That short white-blonde boy cut hair, Caribbean blue eyes. This was a girl he'd help raise, and she was also a girl that needed to know the truth.
Colin, "Sit down and listen to me. No temper or interruptions. I need you to just listen." Kai felt her body shake, swallowing rage was painful but if it meant knowing the truth she'd let a thousand nails pierce her skin. Shaking her leg anxiously Colin opened his drawer and pulled out a folder. Kai watched his trembling fingers move in slow motion as the front page flipped over. On the front was a picture of a fair-haired baby, and underneath in bold was written 'DETRACT'
Kai, "Who is that?" Deep down she already knew the answer to that, that white-blonde hair wasn't common around here. Kai was young but not stupid in the slightest. Detract, meant to take value from something, she wasn't a number so what did they mean.
Colin, "Your file...from the institute." Kai almost chuckled humorously, there was no way this was happening. First, the vision from Sam, the lack of family, everything made her feel like a stranger to herself. On file, she was only known as one word.
Kai, "You're not answering me, who am I?" Colin noticed her breath quick with adrenaline, she was impatiently deciding whether this would send her over the edge. Hoping this was just a misunderstanding. Sadly, life wasn't kind to those who needed it to be. Colin stroked nostalgically at the picture, she was so small back then, not able to hurt a fly.
Colin, "I lied when I said your parents died, they never existed in the first place, Kai. Your-"
Kai, "Artificial like the rest of them?" Colin looked up in surprise, she was always a smart kid that aught on quick. It pained him to see her face so darkened by betrayal and disdain if he'd had it his way Kai would have been told from the start who she was to save her from this very agony but...Bobby wouldn't have it that way.
Kai, "If I'm one of them what does that make you?" Colin was now under the knife, those accusing eyes watching every gesture. Why she wasn't questioning her identity worried him more than anything. Kai would never accept such a thing without solid evidence so why was she keeping so calm?
Colin, "I worked as a doctor for the Core holders in that facility where you were born, I was never a researcher and I had nothing to do with your creation, I swear that on my life." Kai scrunched her brows and looked down at the floor. Colin could lie if not then they wouldn't be having such a conversation but in this case, he was telling the truth. Then a sudden pain in her chest prompted a question that would change everything.
Kai, "And Bobby?" A soft breaking voice told Colin that this answer would determine what this poor girl would do next. In a way he wanted to tell a kind lie to save her from destroying all trust of others but...you couldn't lie to Kai.
Colin, "Before I tell you this I need you to know that everything Bobby did from the day he met was out of love." Kai nervously shook her leg, the fear of her idol being taken away was clear in those teary crystal blue eyes, her short blonde hair was dishevelled from running and her cheeks red from the cold. Colin couldn't stop himself from smiling seeing the little girl he'd helped raise sitting there like a hundred times before with cold cheeks from staying out too long or causing trouble.
Colin, "Bobby and I worked for the facility that created the core holders, and we were both responsible for the care of a very special case of core in an infant." Kai wasn't dumb she knew Colin meant her. A special case? Bobby was actually part of the people who destroyed the world. This was too much.
Kai, "Special how Colin?" Surprised she was holding her anger down strongly he decided to tell her as much as he could while her mind was focused. Getting angry right now would waste every effort he'd put into these last 16 years.
Colin, "Technically Core's are driven by the holder's emotion and mental power, they also feed off the energy of others which is why they are so high risk. But you Kai... you are not like the others out there. Your core is crystal clear, there's not a hint of evil in there, when you were born and they tested you, a huge break of opinions created chaos in the facility. Your core would intentionally drain the power of other core holders without reason, making the other children born around your time useless. Therefore the director was conflicted whether to kill you or use you as a safeguarding core in case a situation like this ever broke out." Kai clutched her chest, there was really a core in there? More than that, it was a deterrent to core holders, that made her important so why did they keep her hidden?
Kai, "I could stop this...why am I sitting here in this shitty little home haven when I could be helping people Colin, why the fuck am I here?" Colin frowned, he knew the day would come when his true selfish desires were revealed and frankly he was embarrassed to tell her this after all this time.
Colin, "When the director decided to use you as a safeguarding project, he began testing you as a child. Bobby was in charge of general care while I took care of your health and we were a good team. You were a cute kid and so strong but after a while whenever you'd come out of testing all your body could do was sleep trying to heal from constant usage of your core. You didn't have any quality of life and you were constantly in pain. Bobby's resilience and obedience to the company gradually wore down after seeing you deteriorate, we knew you couldn't keep it up for much longer. Then one day the reactor room was compromised by a core holder, we used that opportunity to save you from constant torture, we couldn't watch you like that anymore Kai. " Sudden loud thuds inside of her heart made a painful hiss escape her lips. Colin's majestic green eyes never averted or looked away in regret, everything that he was portraying hit Kai like a hammer. Emotions so strong she could feel them through those heavy-set eyes. From what he'd said it sounded like she was a disposable pawn and her preservation didn't mean everything to them.
Kai, "Why are you so attached to me? This was a clinical setting, right? I bet every other kid had their own carer and nurse so why did I, of all people, get wrapped up in a sugar blanket?" Colin tilted back his head clearly trying to conceal the tears he'd kept behind reinforced flood gates all of this time. Because people are selfish, that would have been the short answer.
Colin, "In truth, Bobby and I never once condoned the programme once they stopped using human hosts to carry the children. Previously fertile mothers were implanted with embryo's containing the unique gene of a core holder through artificial insemination. I believe that when the children were born from people rather than grown in tubes they had just that little bit of humanity inside of them. However, some of the mother's despite knowing they would only be needed to carry and birth the children became too attached and started causing issues for the facility through legal strain everything changed..." As Kai listened the disdain for this place grew more and more, it sounded like everything was a pawn as long as they got what they needed. It was sickening, not even allowing a mother to have contact with the child she had carried.
Kai, "How did the children change when they were grown rather than birthed? Was I one of those children?" Colin twitched recalling it, Kai wasn't numb to the clearly disturbed trauma on his face.
Colin, "You were different in that aspect. When I tell you this in no way do I mean you were like them, Kai? Children that were birthed seemed to have a smither of humanity inside of them, for example when they fell or injured themselves they looked for comfort from someone like a normal minded child but... those who were grown could break their arms and not even let out a cry. They'd simply put their bones in alignment and try to fix themselves...like robots. I watched kids beat each other so harshly some of the staff wouldn't dare interfere. Then...always watching in the corner isolated from the others...was you."
Kai, "Tell me how I was different...I don't want you to say I was different just because I was isolated. How do you know I wouldn't have also hurt those other kids and staff?" Kai was ripping into his psyche quite harshly but this was important to her, maybe she was considered to be normal based on the fact she was separated from the rest and never had the chance. Colin then surprised her with a proud smile, he must have been thinking back she thought.
Colin, " On a certain day Bobby and I had come to do your usual check-ups. Normally you would sit there exhaustedly not making a sound like a doll sitting pretty on a display shelf. We always spoke to you but even then it was like you couldn't hear anything or communicate. Even to move you we'd have to carry and position you as we needed. I was taking your temperature while Bobby was getting the needle ready to check your blood count. Right at the time a breach alarm,meaning one of the children was causing serious trouble, went off startling him so he tripped with the needle in his hand heading right for me. I could see it coming towards my eye almost in slow motion, there was no way I could avoid it so unconsciously I froze waiting for the agony. Then almost as if I was floating on air... you grabbed my coat and pulled me towards you. I even heard the whish of the needle by my ear as it drove past. Bewildered I lay face-first across the metal table you were sitting on and couldn't move in shock. Bobby was also sat on the floor in awe not even knowing what to do, it was the first time you'd touched something on your own. And then... you said clear as day, your first ever words. 'It's okay now'." Kai stared at him wide-eyed, for some reason a little glimmer of memory came gushing back but escaped just as quickly. Most of the time if she was out scouting and the kids would get into a scuffle or fall over she would always say 'It's okay now' like it was second nature. Colin studied her cloudy eyes, she was off somewhere else processing what she was hearing, he knew this must have been agonizing for her. Going from an orphan child rescued by a man she now considered her father to a test tube baby born purely for science and nothing else.
Kai, "It's because I can tell..." She said blankly. Concerned he tapped her cheek trying to get her to look at him properly.
Colin, "Kai? You can tell what?" Like pieces in a jigsaw a part of herself she never understood suddenly formed as one. It was so revolutionary to her she even began to cry, Colin's jaw dropped as her tears fell onto his wooden desk. Kai...never cried. But they didn't seem to be out of sadness.
Kai, "Ever since I can remember, I've always judged people before I could know them. Even when I tried to bypass that initial uneasiness thinking I was crazy I was always right in the end. Whenever you or Bobby look at me I feel myself relax but when someone like the armed forces looks at me I'm internally alarmed and feel the need to get rid of them before...they do anything. I think I finally get it... I think...I can read peoples souls and that's why I'm so guarded. Maybe I saved your eye that day because I could sense your soul was kind and maybe I almost killed that man because his soul was evil. I can feel it in people even when I pass them by, making constant subconscious notes not to trust that person no matter how kind they were to me." It was so difficult for Kia to word it as it was based on what she felt rather than something she could show Colin but strangely he nodded in agreement.
Colin, "That's part of who you are I just never realized how sensitive you were to it. Kai the reason we call them 'core' holders and are issued by how much emotional and telekinetic energy they have is because all of that is correspondent to the soul. The core IS the soul and core holders are just people that have better access to their souls which feeds their energy. On your file, it said 'DETRACT' remember?" Kai had calmed down considerably and leaned over in interest almost begging him to go on, her soul had been lost for a long time and this was helping her connect.
Colin, "The reason they called you that name is because out of the thousands of holder than had been successfully produced you were the only one that could take away other people's energy, something they had never planned for or created willfully. Originally your holder ability was to be able to heal others, that was your purpose and very few children successfully accepted the gene without having a low mortality rate. Most healer children died within 5 years of being born, because every time they healed someone else a part of their core would also be chipped away. Without a soul to support the energy used to control bodily functions like blood flow and brain activity the body withers like a flower placed away from sunlight. Basically, healers were disposable pawns to preserve the more powerful genes. However, you mutated. I think your ability to heal others morphed into an ability to detract the evil in people. Therefore it's healing just not in a physical sense. So that little tickle you feel when around others is your own core reacting to others souls and how corrupted they truly are Kai. That means you could even save everyday people, not just core holders if your sensitivity is that intense." Kai suddenly jolted up out of her chair realizing something Colin has said earlier, something that was practically unworldly sitting right under their noses.
Kai, "You said when I was born I was separated from the rest because I would steal their bad energy right! If that's true then it means those other kids...were born with bad souls!" Colin also stood up from his chair, he'd never seen it before but now...everything had changed.