5 years ago:
"Adrien" a soft voice woke him up. He rubbed his eyes, looking at the blue-green eyes, almost similar to his.
"Who-"
"Shh, get up," the dark brown-haired boy said, helping Adrien stand. His knees wobbled for a few seconds before he got used to his own weight. Adrien held on to his brother for a few seconds to make sure his legs were strong enough.
The boy unwrapped the rope that was tied to his left leg and led him outside the room. It had been weeks since Adrien had been out of the room. The bright light made him squint.
The quaint living room was silent, an indication that their mother wasn't home. Though, Adrien knew she would be back soon. He could almost imagine her, drinking till she passed out. But if it was a bad day, she made sure to visit Adrien. Made sure to make him miserable.
Instinctively, his hands rubbed his eyes, acclimatizing to the sudden brightness. It wasn't night yet. Being in the darkroom, Adrien had lost the sense of time. He had also lost weight.
Sometimes, he slept for hours, having nothing to do. He dreamt of living with his brother. It was always them against the world. It didn't bother Adrien. No matter the struggle he knew he could overcome anything with his brother on his side. His brother was his rock- the only human being who made his miserable life better.
He walked slowly, trying not to disrupt anything in the living room. His legs protested against walking but he forced himself to.
He might not get to go outside for weeks after this and he wanted to savor the outside world for as long as he could.
The outside world felt like another dimension to Adrien. And the sky...he could stare at it for hours and he wouldn't feel bored. In his mind, he imagined how the sky would be-endless clouds that made different shapes, colliding and separating.
"Where are you taking me?" Adrien asked his brother, his gaze all over the place in fear that their mother would separate them once more. As if catching on to his trepidation, his brother stopped to look at him.
"Mother is not here. I heard she won't be back for at least 2 hours" his brother assured Adrien. Adrien was still jumpy but tried to relax for his brother's sake.
It had taken years for his brother to know what their mother was doing to Adrien. Adrien knew his brother felt guilty though he would never blame his brother for something their mother did. Since then, Adrien's brother sneaked Adrien out whenever their mother wasn't there or when she is passed out after vigorous rounds of drinking.
The two brothers walked out slowly, closing the door behind them. During the afternoon, the neighborhood was mostly deserted which gave the brothers the time to explore freely without any fear of being seen.
"Is the world so big?" Adrien blurted out.
"It is, Adrien. Come on, there's a new cake shop here and I have a few bucks"
Adrien followed after his brother, basking in the outside world. The last time he had been out, two strangers were following him and his mother. It was then, his mother decided to not let him out and tied him to the bed.
The first night it had been so dark that he wanted to call out for his mother but he knew she might lock him in the closet if he interrupted her sleep.
He had cried himself to sleep that night. Darkness had become his friend no matter how much it scared him. When his brother visited him in the morning, he didn't look as troubled. That was when both realized Adrien was the only one who was punished.
His brother had looked cheery and cracked jokes like it was any other day.
"Adrien?" his brother's voice brought him back to reality.
"You do want cake, right?" his brother asked nervously. Adrien smiled and nodded. Cake? Would it taste good? he mused in curiosity.
"Yes"
Present-day:
Adrien groaned, his hands clutching his hair. He had been having trouble sleeping since he had come back. Her silky black hair, the feminine scent that clung to her- he hated it. He hated her with a passion.
"Stop" his nails dug into his palms almost drawing blood. He resisted the urge to return back to her room like he did moments before sleeping.
He sat up groggily, pushing away the hair on his forehead. He really needed a haircut but that can wait. He still had a lot of things to do. Getting her in was the easiest part of the plan. There were a lot of things that could go wrong. Adrien needed to be vigilant and quick on his feet.
His words echoed inside his head. The fear in her eyes had satisfied him. It made him feel stronger but why did he feel guilty about it?
The way her eyes softened when Adrien used Kai's voice as bait was...almost powerful but Adrien knew the reason. She cared about the coward. To her, Adrien and Kai were two different people and why would she feel pity for someone who abused her?
Why did he feel guilt? That emotion wasn't right. He might as well be punished for feeling this way. These were weak emotions.
"Stop being weak" he whispered the words. The same words his mom and his Goddess taught him. He had struggled long enough. It was his turn to avenge what he had lost.
Adrien looked at the new batch of the immortal drink. He received it early in the morning and hadn't tested it out yet. A part of him hesitated. He clenched his fist and cursed Kai. That stupid asshole.
Adrien wouldn't let a weakling like Kai affect his plan. This was his salvation from all the bad thoughts. He had promised the Goddess that he wouldn't let Kai ruin things.
He opened up the new batch and gulped down the contents in the bottle. A bout of numbness spread over him. Good. His emotions were neutralized. He could work in peace. He still had to hack into the tight security around the damn app.
When he opened up the tab, the cameras of the apartment were the first thing he saw. The girl had changed clothes and was on her phone. What was she doing?
He opened up another tab and typed in a couple of codes. After learning and practicing for months, it was easy. The trick was Adrien had memorized his enemy's way of hacking. Adrien analyzed his enemy's algorithm and used it to counteract.
The chatroom seemed normal and the girl didn't share much about her life. Good. The lesser they knew, the better. Though, Adrien knew the organization's hacker would have already found things.
Adrien had meddled with the records, just a little bit to make it seem she had been homeless the past week. Changing her entire identity was risky so he just bought receipts to point toward homelessness.
He blinked in surprise when the girl smiled. He clicked off the tab to look at what she was smiling at. She was smiling over meeting them? Meeting Jin?
His hands clenched into a fist while he controlled his anger. She wouldn't be going anywhere near them. She was his toy. She belonged to him. He felt the need to mark her as his property. Soon, he vowed to himself.
His hand reached for another bottle and he drank the potion, effectively numbing his emotions. Kai wasn't there to stop Adrien. The weakling might never come back.
Kai had been silent since coming back and Adrien pondered if Kai was really gone. A strange sense of loneliness spread over him before it was replaced by a burst of hysterical laughter. He snorted and took another swing amidst his uncontrollable laughter.
"You're gone too, coward. Nobody ever stayed then why would you?"