The room beyond the mirror is dim, still. A table sits untouched, food slowly cooling. Caelan hasn't moved in hours.
Lucien stands behind the one-way glass. Alone.
His gloves are off. His hands tremble.
He thought Caelan would rage.
Scream.
Throw the plate. But no.
He just sits there.
Eyes closed. Breathing shallow. Like he's already decided it's over.
Lucien swallows hard, his throat raw.
"Why won't you eat...?" he mutters to no one.
For a moment—just a flicker—Lucien remembers a different time.
Years ago.
A shattered window. A ruined temple.
Caelan, barely twelve, clutching a half-stolen apple and shoving it into Lucien's hands.
"You haven't eaten in two days. Take it. I'm not hungry."
Back then, Lucien believed him.
Now?
He knows better..
PRESENT TIME,,
Lucien slams his hand against the wall. The guards outside flinch.
"No one touches him until I say. No more hits. No more threats."
He storms off—but not before casting one last look at the mirror.
And what he sees haunts him:
Caelan curling in on himself like a dying animal. Quiet.
Too quiet.
,,,
That night, Caelan wakes to silence—and opportunity.
A loosened cuff.
A misaligned bolt near the floor vent.
A single chance.
He takes it.
Crawling. Limping. Blood smeared on the floor. Barely breathing.
But determined.
"i'm getting out," he whispers.
Not because he wants to live.
Because he wants to be free of Lucien's eyes—those terrible, haunted eyes that feel like home and hell.
He makes it as far as the garden wall before alarms scream.
"""
Lucien reaches him first.
He doesn't shout.
He just… walks.
Caelan, on the ground, grabs a shard of glass—holds it out.
"Don't come near me. I don't care who the hell you are."
Lucien freezes. Did cealen even remember him? Ohh, how would he? Everything about Lucien's appearance change.
A beat of silence.
Then, voice like ash—
"You were mine once."
Caelan's grip falters.
"I never asked to be."
Lucien stares at him like he's choking on his own past.
"I tried to forget you, Caelan. I tried to become the monster you wanted to kill. And I did. I let them beat you. I let you starve. I told myself you deserved it." Lucien said.
A pause.
"But when I saw you not eat—I remembered. You did the same thing back then. You gave me your last piece of food."
Lucien takes a step forward.
Caelan lowers the shard—just slightly. Eyes wet. But not soft.
"Don't you dare make this about the past. We're not those kids anymore."
Lucien nods, jaw tight.
"No. We're worse." Lucien smirked.