Aris' POV

My hands were shaking, an anxious feeling coming over me as I sat down at a table, waiting for the guards to bring her in. Taking another glance at her file, I sighed. It had been a while since I talked to Lillie, so I was certain she wasn't going to be happy to see me.

She never was happy to see me anymore. But I couldn't blame her. I let WICKED use her as a lab rat. She was forced to do the tests and I watched her, observed her brain activity, trying to find a breakthrough. I hoped that she'd understand that this was not all for nothing.

The doors opened as the guards brought in Lillie and sat her down across from me. The bags under her eyes said it all, she exhaustly placed her head down slightly. Her hands were cuffed together as she huffed a sigh.

"Hi, Lillie," I greeted her awkwardly.

She looked up at me, her expression remaining the same. As I suspected, she didn't say a word.

"You know, we're working on a new serum," I told her. "We're all positive about this one." This made Lillie roll her eyes. "You may not realize this, but you're helping a lot of people. This new serum could save lives and you're one of the few to contribute." I paused, waiting for a reaction from her. "This will all be worth it in the end, Lillie. I hope you know that."

Then, slowly, Lillie opened her mouth, shaking her head. "None of this is worth it."

I raised my eyebrows. "Why do you say that?"

She took a deep breath. "Because you will never find a cure for this sticking disease."

I shot her a firm look, taking a deep breath. "We will."

"Can you actually promise me that?"

That was when I stayed silent, staring at her for a brief moment, then motioned the guards to come back and take her. She gave me one last glare before being dragged away. I thought more about her question, her voice lingering in my mind.

Can you actually promise me that?

If only I could.

*******

Later that night, as I was standing by the window, watching the sun go down, Teresa came in. "Want to go for a walk?"

I turned around to face her, shrugging in response. "Sure. Where to?"

"Just anywhere at this moment. Come on." She left my room, followed by me, and we headed out.

The walk outside was quiet as Teresa's face was full of sadness and disappointment. Once we were hit by the fresh air, we blended in with the crowds full of masks.

"Something bothering you?" I asked her.

She exhaled, moving her hair behind her ear. "Remember that little girl I was telling you about? Shai Lun?"

"Yeah," I replied.

"She completely turned into a Crank today."

I gave her a sad expression. "Teresa, I'm sorry."

"I thought we were progressing," she admitted. "I looked at all of the data, Minho's blood work, his brain activity..."

"It wasn't your fault," I stated, trying to comfort her. "There's still more research and analyzing we have to do."

She nodded her head in agreement. "You're right." Her head was lifted higher, trying to hide the sadness she let me see. "We will find a cure, right, Aris?"

I continued to look forward, feeling a knot in my stomach. "I hope so."

We kept on going, the lights from the buildings and streets coming together, causing me to lose my focus for brief moments. The shouting from the distance made me walk faster and Teresa to grip her purse even tighter. We waited to cross the street when a couple of faces caught our eyes.

"Is that..." Teresa began to say, her mouth open in shock. "Thomas?"

"Piper?" I whispered as I took a long look at her face. Like Thomas, she was wearing a hood, her eyes filled with a combination of hurt and anger, with a bit of tiredness in her face.

Thomas pulled her arm and took her with him after she kept her eyes on me for a short second.

"Let's go," Teresa told me as we were signald to cross.

We hurried along to catch up with the two, trying to weave around people and keep our eyes on our friends. Through the dodging and pacing, we managed to tread faster with every step. The sound of our breathing and hearts pounding drowned out the noise of everything else around us.

"Thomas?" Teresa called out, despite the risk.

My mouth opened to call out for Piper, but the words couldn't come out. I wanted to shout her name, with it right at the tip of my tongue. Yet, something was holding me back. Fear, possibly? I didn't know. Either way, I had to talk to her. It had been too long.

Once we finally trailed them down to an empty station, abandoned more like it, the four of us took a good look at each other. "Thomas," Teresa breathed out.

"Hey, Teresa," he greeted back.

"You shouldn't be here," she told him. "If Janson finds out you two are here in the city..."

"We're not staying," he assured her, walking closer towards us.

"We had to see you," Piper spoke up, taking her hood off so I could see her face more clearly.

"We also have to ask you two something," Thomas said to us. "Do you regret it? What you did to us? Betraying us to WICKED?"

"I didn't do that," I stepped in.

"But you're working for them now, aren't you?" Piper asked, coming forward. "That makes you a traitor."

I felt a hit to the chest when she said those words. "Piper..."

"We did what we thought was right," Teresa intervened. "Yes, sometimes, I do regret it, but you know what? I'd do it again, and with the help that Aris has done for them, I'm sure he'd agree with me."

Thomas and Piper stared at us for a brief moment, then nodded. "Good," Thomas stated.

All of a sudden, there was the feeling of a pull on my arms and the faces of Thomas and Piper were no longer in my sight as I was met with darkness.

A/N: Wow, short chapter. My bad.

Anyway, we're getting back to the action soon!

So there's one more part that'll be in Aris' POV (though, I won't tell you which one that is).

Song above is An Old Friend by John Paesano.

Comment, vote, I'm possibly just about halfway done with this story!

-A