‏𖦹⚔️── . ★⸝⸝ ༝༚𖦹✶𓏲ּ꩜ .ᐟ

The hallway reeks of smoke and sterilization fluid, a strange, sickening mix of war and science. The ceiling lights flicker above you as you dart down a narrow corridor that looks untouched compared to the chaos in the rest of the lab. Behind you, gunfire echoes faintly, but here—it’s eerily quiet.

Aris is just a few steps behind you, breathing hard, his shoulder slightly bloodied from earlier. “There’s gotta be something down here,” he mutters. “Data servers, old patient records—something WCKD didn’t want found.” He shouldn't even be here. He should still be resting. Yet, here he is.

You reach a heavy steel door with a glowing control panel. Aris fiddles with it, muttering curses under his breath. Finally—beep—it clicks open. Inside, you're hit with a blast of cold air. The room is small, but lined wall-to-wall with glowing blue screens and digital terminals. This is WCKD’s central archive. The place where they stored everything. Aris immediately heads toward one of the consoles. “I’ll try to pull anything on the trial subjects. Names. Coordinates. Maybe a way to track where they took any other kids.”

You nod and move to another screen, your fingers gliding over the controls. One terminal flickers and loads a file—labeled: Subject ID: B-01 / Status: IMMUNE – HIGH PRIORITY.

You pause. It’s a video log. You click it before you can think twice.

A younger Aris appears on screen, maybe seven or eight. He’s sitting in a cold room, wearing white, loose clothes. He’s staring directly at the camera, or the person behind it, eyes rimmed with red.

“—Stop asking me that. I told you— That’s not my name. I'm not Aris-"

The voice of a female WCKD scientist cuts in. Calm, clinical. “But it’s the name in your file. If you continue resisting treatment, we will escalate—”

The video glitches, then resumes. Aris is screaming. Not in pain—rage. Hurt. Terror. His voice cracking, words barely audible through the sobs. “Why did you put me there? Why did you make me lie to everyone? I didn’t ask to be—”

The screen goes black. You freeze. Your heart hammers in your chest.

Then you feel it—his presence behind you.

Aris stands just a few feet away, staring at the terminal. His expression is blank at first… then his face crumbles. “You weren’t supposed to see that,” He whispers.

He doesn’t move. Doesn’t run. Doesn’t even blink. Just stares at the screen like it’s a ghost that finally caught up with him.

“That’s not who I am anymore.”

His voice is hoarse. Quiet. And underneath it—fear. Raw, naked fear. Outside, explosions rumble through the building, debris shakes from the ceiling, but in here… it’s just you, him, and the truth.