Remington stayed in the infirmary all night. He didn't feel adequate enough to leave to his room while he was alone since he wasn't sure where Vezaias was or anyone else besides Zexich, nor when Vezaias would return. He couldn't sleep very well even with a dose of pain medication to help sooth him. He woke from a shallow sleep in the morning wondering if anyone was nearby. He sat up and listened for movement and just faintly he could hear someone breathing.

  “Hello?” Remington said meekly. There was shuffling then boot clicks against the linoleum floor approaching him. He knew by the sound that it had to be Vezaias but hopefully not Solaris.

  “Zay?” Remington said urgently hoping he was correct. He could hear the boot clicks stop near him but too far to reach for. It was quiet and Remington was soaking in anxiety. “Please say something!” Remington demanded. He heard a deep breath and a long pause.

  “Dem knows his shit. You are suffering because of me.” Vezaias sounded sullen.

  “That wasn't your fault! That was Solaris's fault!” Remington pressed. It was quiet. Remington was nearly crushed by his anxiety now. “Zay!” He urged.

  “I think….” Vezaias began. “….maybe I should take you to your sister and let you live a more normal life…”

  “NO!!! I won't go! You can’t make me leave! I don't want to leave! Please don't do that!!!” Remington said in a panic now scooting off the bed towards Vezaias’s voice. There were boot clicks as he avoided Remington's search for him.

  “Rem…..you deserve to be safe. You don't have to be here suffering through this!” Vezaias pressed. Remington followed his voice and made chase, then with a quick jump he snatched Vezaias's arm and then pulled himself into him sobbing and wrapping his arms around him.

  “No Zay! No! Don't make me leave! Don't do this to me!!!” He sobbed against his chest. Vezaias stopped and clamped his eyes shut.

  “Rem…..this isn't going to get any easier, in fact it will get much worse. If you stay, it is going to be a horrible situation for you to endure.” Vezaias said softly as tears slipped out.

  “I don't care! I don't care what will happen! As long as I can stay here with you! Don't make me leave! Please Vezaias!!!” Remington sobbed harder. It was quiet besides Remington's panicked crying.

  “Are you sure?” Vezaias asked softly.

  “I'm sure! Please let me stay!” Remington nearly demanded.

  “Fine. Don't say I didn't warn you. Come with me.” He took Remington's hand and pulled him through a portal. He guided him in a direction then helped him sit down. “Stay here.” Vezaias instructed. “Zex, here he is. Let me know when it's time. I'll be in the office.” Then there was a whooshing sound and he was gone. Remington was still full of anxiety. He could hear the sound of computer typing not far away.

  “Zex??” He shouted urgently.

  “I am just over here Remington. Sigil is also here.” Zexich answered quickly.

  “What is going on??” Remington asked nervously.

  “I have been instructed not to give you much detail, however I can tell you Vezaias has it planned that I will be fixing your eyesight today.” Zexich said mildly. Remington was struck at this and tried to calm down.

  “What, but how?” Remington asked.

  “Those are the details I mustn't explain yet. You will find out soon enough.” Zexich said seriously as he worked. Remington tried to relax and be patient. It was nearly an hour later when Zexich was helping him toward a conversation pod.

  “Now stay here and be very still while I take a body scan. I will use this 3D model to help fix your eyesight. It will not hurt, it is similar to taking an X-ray.” Zexich assured him. Remington nodded then held as still as possible as he could hear and feel the pod power up and a short while later the scan was finished. Zexich helped him out of the pod then over to a chair where he could wait. It was another long while again before Zexich gave him any indication of what would happen next.

  “I will be running the printer now and in another hour we will be ready to finish.” Zexich informed him. Sure enough an hour later Zexich was ready. “Please go and let our leader know that the process is ready to be completed.” Zexich spoke from not far away. There was a whooshing sound and Sigil must have left the laboratory. It was silent. Remington was full of anxiety and eagerly hoping he would be able to see again soon. It wasn't long when there was another whooshing sound, then booth clicks coming towards him. They stopped not far away.

  “Remington.” Vezaias spoke softly. Remington perked up and gave him his full attention. “This is your last chance to take up the offer I proposed to you just after you woke up.” Vezaias said solemnly. Remington frowned.

  “No. I don't want to leave. I'm staying here.” Remington said firmly.

  “Fine. I have a short explanation for you. I have had Zexich prepare to fix your eyes, but this is only part of the task to recreate you completely.” Vezaias said seriously. Remington was struck by this.

  “Recreate me? But I'm not dead!” Remington said urgently. It was silent. Remington was suddenly frightened as he connected the dots in his head.

  “You do not have a crystal that I can pluck from your body. Zexich will need you in a certain state of unawareness while he extracts your mind from your physical body. Solaris feels it would be terrible to let this much nutrition go to waste, when your body is going to perish in order to complete this procedure.” Remington stood up as his flight response was suddenly active as he realized what was about to happen. Remington turned to run but only two steps later he was on the ground and hot daggers of pain ripped through his skin. Solaris was sure to start consuming flesh that would quickly kill his prey. Then just before the shredded remains and blood loss were too great there was a complete decapitation and the important part of the body was removed then handed off to Zexich who could barely stomach holding the severed head to use to drill and extract what was needed to bring the new synthetic body to life. Solaris did not waste what remained of the rest of the body as it was still soaked with soul nutrition and he finished all that he could of the flesh until there was nothing significant left to consume. Solaris got to his feet from his spot perched over the bloody skeleton then wiped his face of blood.

  “How long until he wakes?” Solaris asked.

  “It shouldn't be very long. I have just started the conversion. So approximately less than an hour.” Zexich said solemnly.

  “Hmph, Vezaias will return shortly then.” Solaris said before leaving through a portal. Zexich turned to Sigil and buried his face into his chest and cried for a long moment while he waited for the download of Remington's mind to finish. It wasn't very often when blood and gore would bother him, at least not since he had been recovered from his personal experience with being kidnapped, but being near Solaris as he fed, then severing Remington's head from his body was horrific, especially when having to take the head and quickly keep it alive which he only had approximately two minutes to accomplish it before the brain would become damaged and unusable. He was successful though and now that Solaris was gone he could pour out all the horror he had held in during the moment of death that happened only a couple meters away. Sigil held him and soaked in his own emotions. He was more of a normal person now when it came to emotions since Vezaias had put a tight restriction on his talent. Now he had to feel his own emotions as normal and he could not feel anyone else's nor manipulate in any way, and it would be his job to clean up the blood soaked floor and dispose of what remained of Remington's corpse while the process was finishing. Zexich fell silent now as the convergence neared the end of the process. It wasn't long after Vezaias arrived back now clean and freshly showered of all the blood but looking rather sickened by the situation he had to endure from deep inside of himself. He was quiet and very worried as he sat down near the bed where Remington's new body lay now that Sigil had brought him out of the convergence pod to wait for him to wake up.

  “It will take approximately 15 minutes for him to wake. Please let me speak with him first. I need to make sure he is medically sound before we do anything else.” Zexich said with as much respect as possible.

  “Sure.” Vezaias said softly. He was now crying in silence as he watched Remington carefully. Soon Remington began to wake but it wasn't slow and calmly, instead he jerked in place with a gasp then a scream and his body came to life by urgently kicking and struggling to escape as his last moment of awareness was of the life threatening body shredding attack. Before Vezaias could have a chance to calm him Remington fell from the bed as if still trying to escape his death. Vezaias shot over the bed to intercept him, grabbing and keeping him from going any further.

  “Remington, you are safe now! It's me, Vezaias!” Vezaias shouted at him. Remington still struggled and flailed trying to escape while keeping his eyes clamped shut and screaming in fear.

  “Remington, open your eyes! You can see!” Vezaias shouted over his screaming. Remington retracted and paused but while still breathing frantically. He blinked open his eyes and Vezaias quickly came into focus. He was stunned for a long moment.

  “Zay?” He choked out.

  “Yes Rem. Can you see me?” Vezaias said softly, still holding him down. Remington's eyes filled with tears and he thrust his arms forward and wrapped them around Vezaias hugging him as tightly as he could. Vezaias staggered into his grip.

  “Ouch Rem! You are hurting me!” Vezaias grunted.

  “I'm sorry!” Remington immediately let go of him. “I didn't mean to hurt you!”

  “It's okay! You just….. well, you're a lot stronger now than you were before. Just chill okay?” Vezaias said mildly. Remington began to cry more now and dug his face into Vezaias's chest and hugged him much more carefully than before. Vezaias held him and rubbed his back as Zexich approached and stood over.

  “I understand the circumstances were dire, but now that Remington is settled more I would just like to check and make sure he is medically sound.” Zexich said politely.

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  “Rem, are you feeling alright? Any pain?” Vezaias asked softly.

  “I feel amazing.” Remington said, shifting to look at Vezaias. He smiled at Remington, which made his heart skip away like a kid with a jump rope.

  “Thank goodness. I am glad you are feeling so well. I will leave you be.” Zexich said mildly before turning to walk away.

  “Wait!” Remington shouted. Zexich paused to look at Remington.

  “How did you fix my eyes?” Remington asked. Zexich glanced at Vezaias for a moment, who shook his head in denial.

  “I will leave the explanation to our leader.” Zexich said.

  “Oh…thank you for fixing it.” Remington said softly.

  “I was only following orders. I hope you understand.” Zexich said politely then he walked away and left with Sigil. Remington relaxed into Vezaias's chest again. They were both quiet just enjoying the moment of peace and thankful to be in each other's arms.

  “Can I see the pictures?” Remington asked meekly. He looked up to see Vezaias looking mildly amused then reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone and pulled up the pictures he took to show them to Remington. There Vezaias was looking relaxed, with pouty lips and his amused look of satisfaction with Remington laying against his shoulder awkwardly smiling, but unnervingly with two very large gaping scars where his eyes should have been. Remington cringed at his mangled face. Vezaias swiped to the next picture where they were kissing very passionately. It was better but Remington still frowned at it.

  “What Rem? Not interested in this? You wanted to see what…”

  “What you looked like! Not me…I look so horrible!” Remington pouted and looked away. Vezaias was now pulling Remington to look at him.

  “I love these pictures. I looked at them at least 100 times since we took them. I know your eyes are scarred but now they are fixed and it is poof in these pictures or how strong and resilient you are, and how I will love you no matter what your face looks like. You're beautiful even without eyes.” Vezaias said soothingly while cupping Remington's face with his free hand. Remington blushed deep red.

  “How about this, we take two more pictures. So you can have the same pictures only with your lovely new eyes.” Vezaias said with a reassuring smile. Remington tried to smile at this offer but was filled with bashfulness and coy. Vezaias held the camera at them.

  “Smile Rem.” Vezaias said softly. The camera clicked. Vezaias then pulled Remington into his lips, kissing him lovingly. There was another camera click. The kiss quickly filled Remington with heat and a ferocious ache that he couldn't ignore. He pulled Vezaias into kissing him harshly and parting their lips and licking deep. Feeling the tongue dive in made Remington gasp and he was now more aroused than he had ever felt before. Without consideration he began pulling his clothing off and trying to undress Vezaias.

  “Whoa, Rem, hey! Right here in the lab? Not gonna happen!” Vezaias halted him. Remington only struggled to continue.

  “Haahh oh please, haahh I'm so fucking hard right now.” Remington was clutching Vezaias tightly and rubbing into him and still trying to kiss him.

  “Sure but let's at least go someplace private!” Vezaias insisted. Remington was on his feet instantly and jumping into Vezaias's arms and wrapping his legs around his pelvis as Vezaias carried him while kissing him as they went through a portal and dropped down onto a bed where they were free to abandon all reservations. It was hours later when they both lay on the floor, Remington plastered against Vezaias's chest like a wet towel and breathing heavily while covered in sweat and several sessions worth of their sticky love.

  “Hah, Rem, I don't even want to move, but I need a towel.” Vezaias panted.

  “I don't think……I can…..stand up yet.” Remington said softly between breaths.

  “I think I broke a record or something.” Vezaias said amusingly. Remington laughed softly at this. “Mm, I love hearing you laugh.” Vezaias said smoothly. Remington looked up at him and smiled with reddened cheeks. Vezaias pulled him into another kiss again. “Haa, Rem…” They kissed more. “Already?” Remington was licking deeper and breathing hard.

  “I cant help it.” Remington panted. “Everytime you kiss me…” He huffed. “It just instantly gets me hard, then I want more of you.” Remington diverted to kissing down Vezaias's neck.

  “I had the same problem when I first woke up. I still do. I constantly feel like I just want to fuck. I knew you couldn't keep up so I had to work harder at ignoring it.” Vezaias said. “We can't just fuck all day and night, I'm not even tired, it will go on forever.”

  “That's fine with me.” Remington panted now, grinding him and groaning loudly.

  “Ah, Rem, Ahh, we have other priorities…” Vezaias protested.

  “Unn, but it's too late….I'm already hard again….” Remington pouted into his chest.

  “Ahh fuck Remington. haahhh, okay one more Ahhh, fuck, unn, because your so damn cute, but then you gotta reel that shit in.” Vezaias huffed. Remington was eager to go again, but it was surprising how much stamina he had and how after the sixth time he still wasn't tired, and he felt as if he could keep going at it all day and night. Once they were both finished again, he retracted as obediently as possible and they both went to shower and wash away all the evidence of their passion but only ended up going for number seven as they washed up. Eventually they made it to the locker room to get dressed. Vezaias sat and waited patiently while Remington stood in front of the mirror and examined his new body. He pinched all the usual spots of his body to measure thickness. His muscles were now like firm rubber bands and seemed to feel more solid than before. All of his previous scars from cutting were faintly visible along with a few of the bite scars though now they appeared as a more natural fluctuation of his skin. Then he spent a long moment examining his new eyes. After a very thorough inspection he grimaced and turned to look at Vezaias.

  “You are making that grumpy face that you make when you are angry. What is it?” Vezaias said seriously.

  “How did Zexich fix my eyes?” Remington asked. It was more of a rhetorical statement.

  “I have a feeling you already know how he fixed them.” Vezaias said flatly.

  “I could never forget my brother's eyes!” Remington cringed, shouting angrily.

  “It was the best way to fix them. You and Rocks are nearly an exact match.” Vezaias said seriously. “It wasn't even my idea. Zexich told me it would be the best way to go about it.” Vezaias said calmly now and Remington sank to the floor and cried.

  “How can I just wake up and look at his eyes in the mirror everyday!?” Remington shouted. “What if Ava was dead and you had to wake up with his eyes everyday?!” Remington was shaking now and the floor around him was rumbling with an intense vibration.

  “Remington….you were so unhappy without your eyesight.” Vezaias pressed.

  “And this was the only fucking solution he could think of?!” Remington shouted, sending a rippling of energy that shook the whole base. Vezaias was unfazed by this and only watched Remington carefully. It seemed like he was charging up with energy and it was nearing a breaking point.

  “What the fuck did you want me to do? Buy you a fucking seeing eye dog, Remington?! Do you know how fucking difficult it was to decide how to handle this shit?!” Vezaias snapped at him. He put just the right amount of dissatisfaction into his tone which made Remington jolt in painful guilt then the energy seemed to become unstable then with a loud CRACK, the explosive energy blew Vezaias forcefully into the lockers behind him. He crumbled towards the floor. Remington jolted in shock and jumped forward to catch him.

  “Zay!!! Oh my gosh I'm so sorry!!” Remington panicked and clutched him tightly then realizing he was unconscious and the back of his head was bloody. He quickly fumbled with his keycard to open a portal to the infirmary then he scooped Vezaias up in his invisible grip and took him quickly through and laid him on the hospital bed while cupping the back of his head as it gushed with blood.

  “Zex please come quickly!!!” Remington yelled in a panic. It wasn’t long before Zexich appeared and quickly came to handle the situation.

  “How did this happen?” He asked as he helped turn Vezaias to his side to examine the head injury.

  “I got upset and I couldn't control the energy and I accidentally smashed him into the lockers! I didn't mean too!” Remington was panicking. Sigil was now helping Zexich by bringing him the things he needed.

  “Sigil love, please redirect Remington, his panic is not helping.” Zexich pressed as he worked diligently to stop the bleeding. Sigil pulled Remington away from the bed.

  “I need you to calm yourself. You are panicking and it is best to remain calm during this emergency.” Sigil jerked his attention away from the medical situation to shake him out of his overwhelming mood. Remington cringed and covered his face and began to sob. Sigil led him to a seat not far from the bed.

  “Sit here and calm yourself. Vezaias will be alright.” Sigil pressed. Remington nodded softly and desperately tried to retract himself. It was a while before Zexich was finished and he pulled off his bloody medical gloves and tossed them in the garbage and approached Remington.

  “He is alright. He has a concussion, and of course there needed to be stitches placed but it is not life threatening. I'm sure he will have a headache and need some time to heal but there is no need to worry, everything will be okay.” Zexich said mildly. Remington was quiet and staring at the floor very unhappily.

  “Why did you use his eyes to fix me?” Remington asked solemnly. There was a long pause.

  “Vezaias wanted you recreated, not only to fix your eyes but for other reasons I am sure, and of course it was the best resource that I had. Rocks's proportions are a near perfect fit as he is your physical twin. If I were to have to come up with another way to do it, it would have taken much longer and Vezaias wouldn't be patient enough for that, nor would it have worked as efficiently as utilizing the model I already had on hand. It also holds some unsatisfying feelings for me as well because I cared for Rocks as a member of my family. Now when I look at you I also see his eyes, even if you both look nearly identical. You are now carrying a part of him as if you are wearing a mask. Nevertheless, I was only following orders you understand, just as you have apologized to me offering the same excuse.” Zexich said seriously. Remington cringed at the explanation.

  “I understand. I will try to let it go and be grateful for it.” Remington said softly while trying not to cry.

  “I wish you luck with that then. I will return shortly to check on Vezaias.” Zexich said mildly then he walked away. Remington pushed his chair closer to the bed and sat looking at Vezaias very worriedly. He took his hand and intertwined their fingers and soaked in guilt over causing this situation. It was a long while later and he was nearly asleep when there was a sudden whooshing sound that woke him and he looked up to see Ephraim and Lux enter the infirmary. They both noticed him quickly and came over eagerly to see him. Lux wasted no time in throwing his arms around Remington barely giving him enough time to stand up and receive the affection.

  “Remington! Your eyes are fixed!” Ephraim exclaimed, looking thrilled. As soon as Lux let go of him Ephraim quickly took his place also squeezing him joyfully. Lux eyed him suspiciously now looking at his eyes very closely, so close in fact that it became awkward.

  “Remington, did you steal someone else’s eyes?” Lux said seriously. Remington swallowed his uneasiness over this comment as it was actually very accurate.

  “Uh! Well kind of. It was more like a donation.” Remington tried to curb the accusation. Lux considered this for a moment.

  “Well I am glad you can see again, even if you robbed some sort of facial charity.” Lux said seriously. Remington laughed nervously at this and then looked away awkwardly.

  “What happened to Vezaias??” Ephraim could tell he was uncomfortable with the topic and quickly changed the subject to help lift the focus onto something else.

  “Oh, um…well I sort of had a very emotional outbursts and it caused an explosion knocking Vezaias into the lockers. It was totally an accident. I feel horrible about it.” Remington said very unhappily. He was filled with tears now.

  “Why didn't Vezaias stop it? He can do that, you know.” Ephraim said perplexedly. Remington hadn't thought of this and looked puzzled now too.

  “Well I'm not sure.” Remington said in consideration.

  “Obviously it was because he wanted you to lose your shit.” Lux said very seriously.

  “Oh, but why would he want this to happen?” Remington frowned.

  “Lux, you really know your shit.” Vezaias suddenly mumbled from the bed. They all jolted and gave him their absolute attention.

  “Zay! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to hurt you!” Remington pleaded then nearly threw himself onto Vezaias’s chest to hug him.

  “Ugh, it's alright Rem. I'm not mad about it.” Vezaias groaned in pain. He put one arm around Remington then the other he cupped his throbbing head.

  “Oh! You are in pain, do you want me to get Zex to give you pain medication??” Remington sat up quickly. Vezaias only nodded softly.

  “I'll go get him!” Ephraim quickly turned to go to the office.