Chapter One

The only sound in the hallway was a soft hum as the overhead lights brightened as he walked underneath and then faded back into darkness as he passed, like a train of light speeding along the tracks to its destination.  The hallway was perfectly straight, with no intersections and no doorways on either side.  For nearly thirty meters the hallway stretched on, darkness ahead and darkness behind.  The man walking this hallway, however, had his eyes glued to a pad of paper in his hand.  With a pen in his other hand, he was busy noting minor adjustments; a number change there, a word correction here.  He never looked up as he neared the end of the hallway.  In fact, had he not walked this hall thrice daily for five years, he probably would have walked into the only door.  Now, faced with the only means of leaving the hallway in this direction, the man looked up.

He was a handsome man, once.  Now his face was lined, not with age, but with experience.  He looked twice his thirty years, with grey streaked hair and eyes that seemed to permanently droop.  His job had done that to him, he knew.  Specifically, what lay behind the door that stood before him did it.  As he raised his hand to knock, he realized something was wrong.  He looked to his left.  No one.  He looked to his right.  No one.  Turning back, facing the lift that had brought him down thirteen floors into the deepest bowels of the company he worked for, he saw nothing.  For the first time in five years, the other man wasn't next to the door.  Trembling, wondering what it could possibly mean, he turned back to the door.  With sweat beading above his brow, he placed his hand on the handle and turned it slowly, hoping the door would open silently as always.

As the door slowly cracked open, he pushed his head inside ever so slightly and looked around nervously.  A soft blue glow was being emitted from several monitors, joined by a rhythmic beeping from a monitor that showed a green line making a patterned mountain range.  A series of wires and tubes connected the monitors and other machines to a form laying quite still on a bed in the center of the far wall of the room.  His breath caught in his chest, as it always did, when he looked at the man lying comatose on the bed.  Pushing the door open a little farther, he stepped fully into the room and looked around again.  The desk to the right was exactly as he left it and to the left...

A little girl, no more than nine, sat upon a bed, staring at him.  Her bright, azure eyes seemed to flare brightly as she regarded him.  Long, black hair hung down to her waist, tied into two loose braids in the back of her head.  Her hands, small and delicate, fiddled with a sapphire pendant hanging around her neck, as though she was bored and needed something, anything, to do.

"I have been expecting you, Dr. Williams," she said softly.  Williams swallowed hard and took a small step backwards.

"I didn't expect... I mean, I didn't see Leo.  So I thought..."

"You hoped," she cut in, "that I was not here.  But you knew I would be.  As for Leo, he has gone to procure my supper.  The man who usually brings it was... He upset me."  Williams shuddered.  He had seen what happened to men who had upset her.  Or, at the very least, he had seen the piles of dust she left behind.  The girl sat up, reaching back to her many pillows and grabbing a large, brown stuffed bear that was nestled among them.  Swinging her legs over the side, she placed her bare feet on the black marble floor and stood.  She was much smaller than Williams, just over one hundred thirty centimeters, and the legs of her stuffed bear dragged on the floor as she walked towards the man lying on the bed.  Her dull white satin pajamas made a slight swishing sound as she walked.  "I am always here," she said softly.  She reached up to stroke the man's face, tenderly brushing a lock of snow white hair back over his right ear.

"Libra," Williams said slowly, "is it all right if I do what I need to do?"  Contractually, Williams had no need to ask Libra for permission to do anything.  He had created her, after all.  However, Libra was uncontrollable, they all were for the most part, and was extraordinarily covetous of the man whose room she shared.  For several minutes, Libra said nothing, but continued to stroke the comatose man's hair.  When she finally did speak, it was barely a whisper.

"Are you going to wake him, Doctor?"  Williams took a few steps forward to stand beside the girl, looking down at his patient.

"No," he said.  "Subject Thirteen is still too unstable at the moment."  He reeled backwards as the air around him suddenly burned like a desert.

"He has a name," Libra said angrily.  "I gave him a name!"  Williams gritted his teeth, trying not to scream.  Screaming would only make it worse.

"Serpentarius," he stammered.  "Serpentarius is too unstable."  As quickly as it had come, the heat and pain went away, leaving Williams with the sensation of a particularly sinister sun burn.  He breathed hard for a few moments, trying to calm himself.

"For five years," Libra continued, as though nothing had happened, "you have been telling me that he is too unstable."  She looked up at him, flashing an adorable smile that almost made him think she was just a normal girl and forget the truth for a moment.  "But you do not understand," she said, her smile fading into sadness.  "You do not know what it is like to need someone."  She ran her tongue over her teeth, her hand slowly running down her chest.  "I want to see him awaken.  Then we can be together."  Without another word, she lowered her head and kissed the unconscious Serpentarius.

Williams did his best to ignore Libra as she continued to coo and swoon over Serpentarius.  He checked several monitors, made several notes, and took three blood samples.  He really needed five, but Libra simply wouldn't allow it.

"That's it for today, Libra," he said when he had filled the last vial.  "I'll be back again in the morning."  He gave her a slight smile, never entirely sure how to say good-bye to someone who could incinerate him with a thought and was nearly always willing to do so.

"Just a moment, Doctor," Libra said just as Williams put his hand on the handle.  His body tensed instantly, sweating breaking out across him.  He turned around to look at her.  When he eyes fell on her, she blushed and bit her lip.  Williams was alarmed.  He had seen many things from Libra: rage, hatred, anger, violence.  But embarrassment?  That was something to make note of when he could access her file.  "Do you think..."  She looked at him curiously.  "I want to be like Sage."  Williams stared at her blankly.

"Libra," he began delicately.  "You know that isn't possible.  Despite my, our, best efforts, we cannot increase the rate at which your body ages."  He braced himself for the pain, but it didn't come.

"I understand that, Doctor.  I do not mean that I want to be..."  She paused, then turned around and resumed stroking Serpentarius' hair.  "He will not love me unless he can see that I am a woman.  A beautiful woman like Sage.  That is why I want... I want you to give them to me."  Williams furrowed his eyebrows.

"Give... them?"  He blinked twice in rapid succession.  What could she possibly want?  And what could he provide that would make her happy?

"You will not be aging me," she said, still not looking at him.  "Just a simple little growth concentration."  Williams thought he was going to fall over.

"How... erm... large do you want them?"

"As large as Sage."

"Your body is too small," Williams countered.  "Each dosage will bring you one step closer.  Being equal to Sage's size would require five doses, perhaps six.  I won't give you more than three."  Libra looked at him, her eyes blazing with fury, and he felt the room get hot.

"I want the same as Sage."

"Libra, stop."  To his surprise, the heat went away.  "I'm not unwilling, I am simply saying that your body is not designed to be able to handle... them.  I don't even know if the injections will work at all, but if they do, I'm not going to give you something that will leave you disabled."  Libra's eyes still burned angrily, but she bit her lip as she thought.

"He will not love me if I am disabled, will he?  He is going to love me if he can see me as a woman. He will want me, adore me..."  Her voice trailed off as she climbed onto the bed with Serpentarius, laying next to him and resting her head on his chest. Williams said nothing, but stared at her for just a moment longer before checking a monitor one last time and leaving the room.

A low growl greeted Williams as he closed the door behind him. Looking up, he found himself staring into black eyes. The man before him was easily eight feet tall, his head nearly touching the ceiling. Thick, powerful arms ended in hands that could crush William's head like an egg, but only help a small silver tray with a matching cover.

"Good evening, Leo," Williams said. Leo growled again. Considered a failed creation, Leo's mind was more animalistic and simple, and he had devoted his existence to serving Libra in whatever capacity she desired. For the last five years, since his creation, Leo had stood outside the door to Subject Thirteen's room as a guard of sorts, though there wasn't really a need for one, especially not this deep within the research facility. With a third growl, Leo pushed passed Williams and opened the door, entering the room and closing it behind him. Williams sighed.