Rory felt cold.

The large mansion before her was enough to send shivers down her spine. She never expected the general who was taking care of her to live in such a massive home.

She was transported from a medical shuttle to the mansion with at least 10 other heavily armed men surrounding her.

It was as if Decha was afraid she'd run away. Although her body was still sore, she felt strong enough to carry herself. Some of the generals lead her inside. Decha wasn't too far behind.

The moment they entered the home, a line of butlers and maids bowed their heads to Decha, but they kept their harsh gaze on Rory as if she were one of them.

A short woman with black hair pushed open double doors that lead to a grand staircase. Rory noticed that she looked similar to Decha, and reasoned it must have been his mother. His mother stopped in front of Decha with a smile, and Decha remained stiff with no change of expression.

He was purposely being stoic because he was still on the clock.

The woman then walked over to Rory and looked her body up and down. "You... don't look sick." She raised a brow suspiciously.

"I made sure she was in stable condition before I brought her here," Decha replied monotonously, before turning to the generals behind him. "You all can leave now. The bodyguards outside will handle the rest." Decha dismissed them. The 10 generals nodded and heeded the command respectfully.

Jessica grabbed Rory's arm, and she flinched. "Don't resist," Jessica warned her. "Your pulse is normal. But we need to examine your organs closely. As well as your blood samples."

"I don't need an examination." Rory quipped. "I'm fine." She didn't want to be scanned. Her medical records needed to be updated. The ones Decha got a copy of were the ones before she received the letter about her health getting worse.

Rory knew if this woman took blood samples from her, she'd get an indication that something was wrong. For now, she decided to keep it a secret and die out in peace.

Rory snatched her hand away, growing anxious that the woman could sense her health issue just by touching her.

"Did you eat?" Jessica asked her.

"Y-yes?"

"What's her diet like N96? What's the hospital been feeding her?" Jessica used her son's formal title, not wanting to offend him while he was at work

"Poultry, fish, veggies, and fruit. Very small amounts of carbs." Decha recited as if it was a daily routine for him. "No red meat."

"You're controlling what I eat now, too?" Rory grumbled. This man was starting to act like her father. Overreactive and controlling.

"You know what you're supposed to eat and what you can't have. I don't see why it's a problem." Decha spat.

"I'll have the chefs prepare her meals accordingly."

"I told you, I'm fine!" Rory raised her voice. "I don't need to be babied. I can take care of myself—"

"When you've finished helping her settle, I'll bring her to our infirmary," Jessica spoke over Rory as if she were nothing but dust. Rory then remembered that she was in an Astellian home.

No one was going to listen to her.

Jessica tapped Decha's shoulder with a soft smile and left the two alone. "I don't want her to scan me." Rory looked at him with pleading eyes. "Please don't let her scan me."

"I won't. But she's going to have to take a blood sample. She has her reasons."

"What is she? A nurse?"

"She's a retired surgeon." Decha pressed his lips together. Those words made Rory's heart stop for a bit.

"You're not letting her plan on... you know, with me?"

"She's helping to find a cure for your condition. I don't know all of the details. I'll take you to the room you'll be staying in."

Decha changed the subject abruptly and stepped forward.

Rory followed him down a long hallway to the left. They passed the dining room and kitchen and several bathrooms. He finally stopped at a door and opened it.

Rory was shocked to see that the bedroom was bigger and less cramped than her apartment back in Sector B. There was so much light peering through the window. The decorations were elegant, and probably worth as much as their entire apartment building.

"Wow." Rory gasped.

"The bathroom is around the corner from here. There's a closet on the side, but don't worry about clothes. I've already made sure to get you some extra things to wear while you stay here."

Decha walked inside the room and toward the double-door closet before entering a code on the keypad. He motioned Rory to come closer.

She was hesitant, but she did waddle over to him slowly. Decha grabbed her hand, and the warmth of his masking her cold fingers overwhelmed her.

"What are you doing!?" Rory screeched and pulled back, but Decha firmed his grasp on her.

He placed his fingers to his lips. "You're too loud. I'm inputting your fingerprint into our system so you have full access to this room. He brought her hand and pressed her thumb onto the pad. A line of light scanned the finger slowly.

Rory's heart began to race. Decha was standing extremely close to her, and it was making her nervous. With his hands bringing her warmth, she felt butterflies in her stomach. It was painful.

Her legs started shaking because of it.

"When you're into the system, you'll be able to grab clothes from here, or ring the staff for help." Decha's dark tone sent a chill down her neck.

He released her hand when the scanning finished. "If you need anything else, let me know." He sighed and was about to walk away, but Rory stopped him by grabbing onto his arm.

"Wait!" Rory bit her lip nervously. "Um... uh... about Grandell?"

"Grandell University stopped doing classes after the border collapsed. They'll resume their classes in a month."

"Even online classes?"

"There's too much fear happening in both of the Sectors. Dean Risor is giving everyone time off to refresh. Do you think you're in the right mind to study after what you saw?"

Rory looked down. "... I don't know."

"Sector A will be strictly watched from now on," Decha mumbled. "There will be hundreds of generals lined up in public squares all across town. So it will make it harder for a Bracketer like you to go back to Grandell anyway."

The immense guilt she felt after hearing that sentence made her eyes water. She tried wiping them away quickly so Decha wouldn't see her crying again, but it was no use.

"I'm sorry," She faked a smile in her tears. "I'm sorry..." She repeated, not exactly knowing what she was apologizing for. Was it because she felt weak in front of him, or was it because of the entire bombing situation?

Everyone thought the Bracketers caused all the bombings. She was from Sector B, so she felt she had to apologize for all the screwed-up mess they were causing. "I'm sorry..." Rory sniffled, trying not to break down in front of him.

Her father was gone, and the University stopped working all because of a vendetta that Bracketers had for Astellians. And now she was forced into the care of a General who probably loathed her.

She came to hear stories about N96 through some of the hospital staff before she arrived here. This man was a killing machine, stationed on the Outside and known for handing out death penalties as if it were candy.

Decha on his end didn't know why she was crying again. He wondered if he said something wrong. Rory was apologizing but he didn't know why.

A memory burned in his mind. A woman with dark hair was crying. The woman was Chai, and she was apologizing to one of the Supremes, one of the leaders of another country on the Outside. In the memory, she was bowing her head repeatedly, and apologizing.

Decha reached out to her and placed his hand on Chai's head. The memory faded, and Chai's body was replaced with Rory's. He hadn't realized that he reached out to comfort her.

A warm and tender shiver emerged from Decha. "Stop apologizing." He commanded her.

Rory remained stiff as Decha patted her hair gently. She was thankful she couldn't see his face clearly in all the tears, otherwise, her face would turn red.

The affection he displayed quickly changed when he pinched her cheeks and wiggled them around. Rory frowned and pulled away from him. "Ow! That hurts!" She wiped her tears away.

Decha smirked at her. "Does that make you angry?"

"Annoyed," Rory growled but stopped when her vision cleared. The General who was intimidating her just a few seconds earlier was now smiling at her. The smile was faint, but it was still there.

Decha just wanted her to stop crying. She did. When her tears cleared up, he dismissed himself. "Get some rest, Rory." He turned away and walked out of the room.

Rory was too stunned. What in the world was that side of him that she witnessed? Her heart fluttered.

She shook her head, concluding that it may have just been in her head. Perhaps she was thinking too much.

Rory looked in the nearby mirror and examined herself.

30 days. She only had 30 days to create a new project since POYO was gone. She wanted to prove to Astellians that not all Bracketers were as bad as they thought they were. She wanted to be the one exception.

If she created a device that would be used to help Astellians, maybe they'd look at Bracketers in a different light.

Her death was near. She wanted to go out with a bang. But what could she do? She needed a new idea.

~~~

Rory was playing with the keypad in her room. The bedroom was full of installed Astellian technology. With the flick of a switch, she was able to warm her bed, organize the closet by color, or pull up a holographic television screen that displayed the weather and TV channels.

All of the technology caused creativity to swell in her. She wanted to modify it all. Rory thought of creating a system within the bed that monitors the bodily functions and which part to be more aware of medically.

Rory even started tampering with the system. But although it was an idea, she felt it wasn't good enough to bring back to Grandell. She needed something bigger, something bolder, something...

"Ah!" Rory squeaked when she saw a little boy standing outside her room. She had never seen him before. Where did he come from? Was it possible for him to have wandered into the mansion?

The little boy was calm and stood there watching Rory intently. She walked over to the door, but the boy's eyes remained straight ahead, not watching her walk over to him.

Rory looked over her shoulder to see what he was staring at, but there was nothing. Then she waved her hand in front of him, but he continued to stare into space. "Hi? Are you lost?"

The boy giggled softly and shook his head. "No." His soft voice chirped in response.

"Oh. You're not lost? Where did you come from? How did you get here?"

"Mommy brought me."

"Uhh... your mom?" Maybe a friend of theirs was visiting and left their child to roam. "Do you want to go back and find her?"

"Do you wanna play with me?" The boy smiled at her and extended his hand. But the boy wasn't looking at her directly.

"Um, okay." Rory grabbed onto his small hand and waited for the boy to lead the way, but he stood there awkwardly. "Where to?"

"My room."

Rory didn't know where to go or what to do next. It didn't take her long to realize that the boy was blind. The blank staring, the patience, and the calm demeanor this child had were more than enough for her to figure out.

"What's your name?"

"... Avon."

"It's nice to meet you, Avon, my name is Rory..."

"Ro...ree..." Avon repeated and the mispronunciation of her name made Rory laugh. The moment Rory took her first step out of the room, she was stopped by a Butler. Instead of looking at Rory, he looked at the boy.

"Young Master Avon, you must not wander on your own like so." The Butler scolded him softly.

"It's okay, he—" Rory started, but the butler held his hand up to cease her talking.

"You, Bracketer are not to encourage this behavior. He is under the Chen Family's care and is the youngest son of the family. You are not to converse with him. Remember your place."

He's the youngest son? What did that mean? The General that brought her here, was this his family? Rory had so many questions

The Butler went to grab the boy, but Avon clutched onto Rory's leg possessively.

"Young Master, please follow me."

"My friend." The boy refused. "I wanna play with my friend."

"Young Master, you do not know her. She is nothing but a stranger."

"Roree is my Friend." Avon grabbed Rory's hand and dragged her out of the room and passed the Butler. Rory was quite amazed that he was able to navigate his way out so easily. He rubbed his fingers across the wall of the hallway and took steps forward with his small feet.

The Butler followed close behind, hoping that Avon would change his mind.

Avon brought Rory into the living room where a bunch of toys was scattered across. There was a square board with 9 square pockets on the coffee table. "Play with me." Avon dragged Rory's arm to sit down.

"What is this game?"

Avon didn't answer. He felt around the couch and grabbed onto a sleep mask. He skipped back over to Rory and forcefully tried placing the mask over her head. "Woah! Hey!" Rory squeaked. She took the mask from him and placed it over her head.

Avon laughed and clapped his hands before feeling around the coffee table. There were round pieces and x pieces. About 5 of them each.

Rory recognized the game immediately. This was a classic game of tic-tac-toe. He was giving her the mask because it was supposed to be fair game. He was blind and couldn't see.

Rory smiled at him. She was good at tic-tac-toe. She played it many times when in the hospital. Rory covered her eyes and began sorting for the x pieces.

"You're gonna lose," Rory muttered softly.

Avon placed a piece, and Rory followed. The two continued feeling the board with their sense of touch and placing the wooden pieces in the pockets until Avon exclaimed that he was finished.

"What?" Rory gasped when she lifted her eye covering. Avon had won. 3 of his round pieces lined the top perfectly. "Okay, that was luck. I was going easy on you." She scoffed.

They continued several games but Avon won every single one. "Wow..." Rory bit her lip. "You're good."

Avon clapped his hands and giggled at her. "I play with Decha."

"Decha?" Rory chortled. "Who's that?"

"My brother." He cheered.

"Your brother? Who is your brother?"

"He's a General. He's so cool! I want to be like him when I grow up so I eat mommy's veggies." Avon began playing around with the other toys around them.

Was Avon talking about N96? He was the one who had her brought here. It made sense.

"Why do you want to be like your brother?"

"So I can protect people."

That was the most heartwarming answer she's heard out of anyone on the Astellian side.

"Decha is a superhero. He fights bad guys and always brings me back toys from his... missions? Missions!" Avon picked up his stuffed bear and showed it to Rory. "He protects Mommy, Daddy, and me."

Rory felt a little envious of the boy. But she pitied him at the same time. He was from a rich household, had so many toys, and had such a good close relationship with his family. "Do you want to be a General when you grow up?"

"Yeah! So I can protect everyone!"

"But..." He couldn't see. He was blind. Rory didn't want to say it. He had resources to get him there, but the only limitation was his disability.

"Wait..." Rory's breath hitched in her throat. She remembered that's what all her physicians and doctors told her as a child. They told her she wouldn't be able to get far with her condition.

The fact that she learned to engineer by herself while locked away in a hospital room was more than enough to prove those people wrong. She didn't want to be the one to say it to Avon.

Although blind, his other senses were enhanced. He could hear, taste, touch, and smell. He was able to navigate around the mansion most likely from muscle memory.

Rory got a new idea for her next project. Although there probably was no cure for his eyesight, she could make a device to help him navigate a little better. A device that works in the place of the eyes.

A device that can detect fumes to help with enhanced smelling. A device that can measure the vibrations of all the movement for touch. A device that can gather sound and alert the person wearing it.

She needed a lab or a notebook. She needed to write this down. "Avon, I have to go for a bit. I enjoyed playing with you."

"I had fun too Roree." Avon smiled at her and allowed her to leave. Rory raced back to her bedroom but halted when she realized she couldn't run or else her condition would flare up.

She needed a stylus. She needed a marker and a dry-erase board. Fortunately, Rory remembered that her bedroom had a holographic tv screen. She pressed her finger against the keypad at her door and the screen popped up.

She scrolled around to an empty window and began writing.