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182 opened his eyes,
His vision refocusing on the dark surrounding him, moonlight streaked across the room through the bars of the door.
The shadowed body of someone gently breathing beside him was the only sound in the room. 182 watches their chest rise and fall as his eyes adjust to the dark, their sleeping body slowly becomes detailed to 182’s eyes again.
A breeze entered through the barred door, swaying their black hair. The sharp face and pointy nose of Dante was visible now. He was sleeping on his back, his face towards the ceiling. A blanket lay underneath them as the only cushioning between them and the floor. This room was the safest they could find today, it actually had a working lock from the inside on its door, but it didn’t have any beds. Dante had insisted that safety was more important than comfortably so 182 just nodded along, it was better than sleeping outside at least.
182 shuffled closer to Dante. He was laying on his armless side, curled protectively around Dante without touching him. He would probably get upset in the morning if 182 was touching him in any way while he wasn’t aware. 182 watched as Dante’s closed eyes shifted under his eyelids, he was dreaming about something, most likely about outside the prison.
Dante’s body didn’t do anything else besides breath while he watched. After a while 182 closed his eyes, his ear twitched as his heightened hearing honed in on the sound of Dante’s heart beating steadily.
..ba-bump…
..ba-bump…
..ba-bump…
..ba-bump…
..ba-buMP…
..BA-BUMP
-BA-BUMP!
182’s eyes snapped open. He shot up, his head whipping around trying to find any signs of a threat.
But there was nothing, no one else was in the room with no sounds of anyone getting closer to their location either.
He looked back at Dante, his relaxed expression had become twisted, sweat forming and falling down his face as his brows furrowed and lips distorted into a grimace. His body was tense as his hand clutched his orange uniform.
Seems like his peaceful dream had turned into a nightmare. 182 heaved a sigh, collapsing back down. Dante's heart was still beating quickly but with no physical threat 182 didn’t know what to do besides continue to watch him like he has since Dante fell asleep.
His heart continued to beat heavy and fast, filling 182’s ears with its sound; it would have been annoying if it wasn’t so soft sounding and rhythmic. Always beating at the same pace, even when it slowed or sped up it wouldn’t stutter or stop at any point. The constant sound was soothing to his ears. 182’s mind drifted to when he first heard Dante’s heart.
____________________________________________________
A guard shoved 182 forward, telling him to hurry up. The chains binding his single arm dragged across the floor as he moved. Him and some other inmates were being guided to meet a science teacher from outside the prison. The guards had told him that while giving him his new set of clothes, they felt nice and soft compared to his old ones. Good thing that old guy had told him about this.
Thick concrete walls surrounded 182 as he walked, muffling the outside noise. Only a few things were left still ringing in 182’s ears, like the other inmates' annoying hearts. Their hearts clattered against their chests, rattling their ribcages with their unstable voracity. They stopped and started with every desperate breath they took, the fog wasn’t as thick inside this concrete building causing their hearts to be nosier than normal. He thought that with there being less fog they would slow down or something, try to conserve their energy, just be even a little bit quieter. But their convulsive and separated beating proved him wrong.
This is how all of the people in fog land hearts sounded, like they would die of a heart attack any second, changing pattern and speed with every breath of fog as they lived. All of their other parts sounded similar, their hearts were just the loudest forcing 182 to hear them until he plugged his ears.
The group of inmates and guards continued deeper into the building. They passed by many doors and hallways, descending farther into this maze-like building that separated fog land from the outside world. 182 was starting to feel bored when something new reached his ears
...-mp...
...-ump...
...-bump...
It sounded like something hitting something else, a door swinging in the wind? no it sounded soft, maybe someone in limbo was walking into something over and over again? 182 stopped and strained his hearing to figure it out.
A guard shoved him forward. They yelled at him to stop dragging behind, warning 182 to not test their patience. 182 rolled his eyes under his bag, he already had his new clothes so he didn’t really care about what was happening anymore. He didn't want this sound to cause his new clothes to get bullet holes so he decided to figure it out later and follow the guards orders for now.
182 and the other prisoners were led through the building for who knows how much time now before they stopped in front of a door, it looked like all the other doors in the damn place, maybe it took so long to get here cause the guards had gotten lost. The guards opened the door and the prisoners were guided to sit in seats with small tables in front of them. Some weird rock was sitting in a glass cup on the table. 182 stepped onto his chair, crouching down and staring at the thing on the table.
182 was about to push it off when someone started talking, he looked up and froze. A nicely dressed man was introducing himself as a science teacher, his dark grey eyes swept across the prisoners, meeting 182's eyes for a split second before flicking back around. 182 stared as the teacher talked about the lesson, the thing sitting in the glass cup was lifted up and the teacher, Dante Kang, smiled while explaining that it was sweet potato. Small dimples in the teacher's cheeks formed when he smiled, his eyes had a gleam 182 rarely saw. The teacher told them that they were going to be growing these sweet potatoes.
182 broke his gaze to look down at the sweet potato sitting in front of him. He poked it, it felt hairier than he thought it would. The other prisoners started to talk to the teacher, asking stuff that he didn't care about. 182's hearing honed in on the teacher's voice instead of what he was saying, his lungs sounded airy, his smooth and deep voice had a clarity to it only the newer guards tended to have.
182 looked back up. Something must have happened while he was distracted because the teacher's voice was suddenly shaking, the other inmates were increasingly getting louder and more agitated until one of them suddenly tried to break the glass that was separating them from the teacher.
..-BUMP!
The guards poured in, bullets rained down on the inmates without mercy
-BA-BUMP!
It did nothing as the inmates slaughtered them, blood and bodies painted the room
-BA-BUMP!-BA-BUMP!-BA-BUMP!-BA-BUMP!-BA-BUMP!-BA-BUMP!-BA-BUMP!-BA-BUMP!-BA-BUMP!
The teacher had fallen backwards, his eyes wide and terrified as he stuttered. The sound kept speeding up until the teacher's body started to go slack, his eyes became blurry as they made eye contact again. The sound seemed to have reached its limit when the teacher suddenly slumped forward, passing out.
-BA-BUMP!-BA-BUMP!-BA-BUmp!-BA-Bump!-Ba-Bump..-Ba-Bump..
The sound was... a heartbeat, it was the teacher's heart this whole time...
____________________________________________________
Back then was the fastest 182 had ever heard Dante's heart, even now when he is being tormented by nightmares his heartbeat is no where like that time.
182 had figured out pretty quickly afterwards that the reason Dante's heart sounded so differently from everyone else's is that it had not even been an hour since Dante had entered fog land. He was completely unaffected by the fog. That changed though over the first few days he spent breathing it in, it was interesting hearing it change. Although...
182 brought his hand up, reaching out and lightly touching Dante's neck, right above a pulsing vein. It wasn't like everyone else's just yet but it would be sooner or later. 182 had asked Dante about it once and he explained that the heart is one the first organs to change based on differences in the air, blood from the heart would carry the altered air throughout the body changing it completely in ways that were only noticeable when compared to someone not changed. 182 pressed his thumb against the vein, one end grew thinner as the other bulged slightly. 182 wishes he could just stop the changes.
His other fingers caressed Dante's neck until they found the rest of its veins. He pressed down on them, feeling the blood inside them struggle to pump through. Dante's face started to turn slightly pale and the pulse underneath his fingers quickened.
182 wanted to reach into Dante's chest and protect his heart from the fog, to keep it sounding as close as to when he first got here. But... if he did have Dante's heart in his hand... he'd want to make it his. '182' carved into its red flesh. No one would be able to take it or change it then.
But it could get that deadly 'browning' disease like his sweet potato. And 182 didn't know if the cure for sweet potatoes would work for a human heart.
Dante's face twisted in discomfort as his body shifted away from 182’s hand, his breath heavy and his back was now turned to him. 182 pulled his hand back, already missing the feeling of blood rushing under them. He frowned, feeling disappointed in himself, he must have pressed too hard. He stared at Dante's back as his heart started to slow, the sudden physical uncomfortableness must have made his nightmare go away. It eventually went back to the relaxed pace it usually was when Dante slept.
182's eyes started to feel heavy as they drifted up to Dante's neck. Sunlight and water might hurt his heart but it hasn't hurt his neck before... maybe he could ask about it tomorrow.
182's eyes closed, the image of Dante smiling at him with '182' carved into his neck faded away as sleep washed over him.