"Why, there is no perfect place, yes I know this is true.
I'm just learning how to smile,
That's not easy to do.
I know there will come a day,
When we can leave and just go runnin' away.
Yes, I know there ain't no finish line, I know this never ends,
But I'm just learning how to fall, climb back up again.
I know there's nothing perfect, I know there's nothing new,
We're just learning how to live together, me and you.
You know I live for the day,
When you say 'baby lets just run away.'"
- Learning how to Smile; Everclear.
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It was a fairly consistent pattern.
All his life, he had been let out, then let back in, then back out, then back in. It was part of his 'conditioning'. It was needed to inflict pain on 4t. That was the only way to make the gaps larger, turn him further into a monster. But keeping him there for mindless torture could only do so much. Even the weakest would harden themselves to the methods after time. So these respites to the outside world were a way of.. giving him hope. Letting him make connections that could be severed to damage him. Each excursion was new experience, and could be used to pain him more then bullets and knives could manage.
But it also gave him chances to steady himself. On his first visit to the world, he found religion. The sort of person he was.. could find the work of a god in the smallest things. Right away his belief was firm. But .. he had been dead before. One like him, manufactured rather then born.. There was no place in heaven for that. Even so, he contented himself with enjoying the work of god in the realm of the living.
The man who created him, a man known solely as the General, a huge bear of a man with a non-existent soul, was always watching. Waiting for an opportunity to strike. He had designed 4t to retain his innocence, retain hope. It made it so much easier to hurt him. He was the pinnacle of the General's career, his work of art. And the General was determined to make sure his creation reached completion. He needed help though. It was easy to track 4t down, when he was released from the facility, but getting him back was more of a problem. The boy would flee from soldiers, or those he recognized as on the General's payroll.
This was where Iden came in. It was odd that 4t would find his closest friend in this frightening looking fellow. Iden was a bounty hunter, with a side-job as the General's personal delivery boy, though not entirely by his choice. However, the gruff fellow was kind to 4t, offering a short peace to the boy before leaving him in the General's cruel hands. Kindred spirits, of a sort. Both trapped.
In his travels, he met a boy named Xendio, who offered him food, shelter, and friendship. He was nothing but kind to 4t. And in that same town, he also came in contact with a man named Reu, who used 4t to satisfy his urges, though the boy had thought it to be something more. Iden confronted Reu on 4t's behalf, forcing the man to admit what he had done. And when everything finally seemed calm, 4t would be pulled back to the place of his suffering, and Xendio along with him.
No one knows what will happen in the future. Perhaps he'll escape the General's grasp, or perhaps the man will finally get his wish, and attain the unimaginable horror he dreams that 4t will one day become.
Physical
