Life is full of surprises. It's full of turning points that makes you question every decision you made before.
Sometimes they're good, and they make you want to believe in miracles and chances.
But most of the time, it comes so surprisingly that you don't know how to handle it.
This is one of those moments where everything else slows down. Where my world comes crashing down. Where my sanity was on the thinnest thread and I am holding on to it tightly.
I could feel the pain flowing through my head. I could see the images that were being released out on the open one by one. I stared at her, my gun still aimed at her figure that is now standing still. Her face void of any expression nor recognition.
Her hair and eye color were nowhere near what it was like before. She looked so different, act so different, and feel so different. But, it was her. I know it is.
I want to drop the gun that I was aiming at her. I want to drop everything, run up to her and hug her. My eyes sting from the excruciating pain in my chest. Maia is alive, she's alive and breathing and she's right in front of me. My life is standing right in front of me. She is my Maia but something has changed.
"Maia"
"Ate"
I could hear Maki's soft grunts and the disbelief in his tone. I glanced to see him staring at Maia, his eyes a pool of tears. And I know that it's not from his injuries but from something else. I guess we both chose Maia as our keyword.
While the two of us were standing in front of her, she on the other hand only stared at us, glared at us. Eyes void of any recollection nor expression, like she wasn't even seeing a person in front of her. She showed no emotion and uttered no word. Something happened to her, THEY did something to her.
"Maia, it's us, don't you remember us?"
I gritted my teeth as I insisted however, instead of answering me, all she did was grab the gun I was holding and twist my arm.
I grunted when I felt my arm twist but instead of letting go, I grabbed her arm and circled behind her. I caged her in my arms. She's warm. I'm not dreaming nor am I dead. She struggled and tried to get free from me but I held her tighter. Her struggles were no light but we need to do this.
I nodded at Maki and he knew exactly what to do. He wiped his tears as he fumbled in the pockets of his backpack and swiftly took out a syringe.
We have one of these on hand for safety precautions. The syringe has sleep serum in it. If I do remember correctly, Iavan and Miisa were the ones who gave it to us before we got our memories locked up.
"Maki, hurry up"
However, before Maki can even inject the serum. Maia's struggle became more powerful, she used her elbow to hit my stomach and delivered a powerful blow to my nose using the back of her head.
I knew instantly that I was already bleeding and the pain was enough for me to let go of her.
It was by sheer luck that while she was facing me, Maki was able to inject the syringe into her neck. Immediately she fell to her knees, and Maki held her by her arms as he wept.
"It's alright Ate, we're going to get out of here and then we'll figure out what they did to you"
I coughed lightly before wiping the blood that was oozing out of my nose. I feel lightheaded but I don't care. Maia is in our hands and we need to know what had happened to her.
"You okay Kuya Damian?"
"Yeah"
We both watch Maia as she lay limp in Maki's arms. The serum worked instantly however, I have this feeling that the serum may wear off instantly.
"Let's get out of here Maki"
As soon as I said that, we felt the whole floor shake.
Shit.
We forgot about the bombs that we had laid. We originally only had a five-minute window before they blow up. My gaze landed on the cold body of Commander Zeph. I want to take his body with us to give him a proper burial but we can't carry both him and Maia. I grit my teeth and muttered my silent sorry before carrying the unconscious Maia on my shoulders.
"Run"
Maki understood what kind of predicament we were currently in. We wasted no time running up the stairs.
It was hard with all the bombs going off simultaneously but we manage to reach the rooftop.
Just when we thought we would get out of it safely, another problem occurred.
The serum wore off.
What happened next was something both Maki and I did not expect. Rather than attacking both of us like what she did earlier. Maia who pushed me so that she can get out of my hands just stood silently.
For seconds she just stood still while the whole building that she was standing in was on the verge of collapse. When we called her, she only grabbed both Maki and me by our arms and held us as we jumped off the collapsing front house.
I thought we were going to die however, Maia caught both Maki and me, so instead of the ground, we were carried by Maia. My eyes widened and I know Maki has the same expression on his face.
It was superhuman strength. The ground which she stood from jumping off crumbled. The stones cracked as if she weighted 10 times her original size.
That was when I knew that they did something to her. That she was now a mutant. She let both of us go, dropping both Maki and me on the ground.
She then turned her back on us and watched as the whole front house explode and crumble. We heard her light chuckle. A chuckle that turned to a sinister laugh. She was laughing maniacally that it scared the hell out of us. I stood up to grab Maia by her shoulders but froze when we heard a voice.
"Stand your ground"
The simultaneous click of the guns and footsteps made us turn around. The soldiers who were hurrying to the front house were now surrounding the three of us.
"Drop the weapons"
Shit.
"I SAID DROP IT!!"
Maki who was still on the ground looked at me and nodded. We still have teargas in our pockets, if only we could reach it, we could use it to escape. I'm sure some of our men had escaped already.
"Wait"
It was then that the soldiers upfront parted into two revealing a woman. The person walking in the middle was a middle-aged woman who was wearing what seems to be a lab coat. Her blonde hair tied back into a bun and her large glasses couldn't hide the gleam in her eyes.
"616, did you just jumped from the fronthouse to here?"
616? Maki and I confusedly stared at the woman but her gaze was not on us. She was staring at Maia who was also now facing her.
"Yes, creator"
Maia briefly answered which made the woman whom she called creator smile with glee. Creator? 616? I balled my fist. My anger rising up, she's talking to Maia as if she was a robot. A damned experiment.
"Fascinating, 616 you really are a wonder. Do you know just how far you jumped?"
What she was calling Maia just made me angrier but my curiosity got the best of me. I glanced at the front house and back to where we were now standing.
It was at least four meters. The distance between the two points was four meters. Maia jumped from a four-story building with a four-meter distance while carrying both Maki and me. I could deny it, I could not accept the fact that my Maia had done it.
Because if I did, then I would be accepting the fact that she was no more than an experiment now.
"She's not an experiment"
I heard Maki mutter, I looked at him and saw him clenching his fist. He stood up and aimed his gun at the woman wearing the lab coat. His eyes gleaming with so much anger that mine felt lukewarm. I had never seen Maki like this before.
"My sister is not an animal. Don't call her as if she's just one of your experiments!!"
"MAKI!!"
Maki shouted and I had to stop him before he could shoot. But before Maki could even pull the trigger, Maia swiftly blocked it and stood in front of the one she called creator.
I felt my jaw slacken. She's protecting that woman, shielding her with her own body. Offering her own life for her. Creator. She called her that.
"Oh my, looks like I found another kin of yours, 616"
The woman's chuckle reverberated and soon some of the soldiers began laughing and grinning too. We were as good as dead.
"616 I'll like to take them as prisoners so will you please?"
Without even a nod and a small reply, Maia swiftly kicks out the gun from Maki's hands. She punched Maki by the stomach and then proceeded on delivering a huge blow to his face making him unconscious.
It was too fast for me to even have the time to react. By the time I did, it was all too late.
Maia had me already in her tight grip. Her arms locked around my neck making me gasp for air. No matter how much I tap on her arm or try to throw her off my back, it was all but futile. Her strength was incomparable.
I felt myself being void of air as seconds pass by but it looked as if Maia have no intention of letting me go.
I stared at her. In those blood-shot eyes, there were no emotions. No recognition of who I am, of what I am to her.
She doesn't remember me. That was a fact.
As my closed eyes and my lungs ran out of air, all I could do was tear up. My Maia is alive. And yet she isn't.