Stuart lasted nearly two minutes before the pain started to wash over him. I felt nothing except the smooth fabric of the couch under me and Stuart's cold hand in mine, his grip tightening.
Five minutes passed. Stuart was now completely curled up on the couch, crying out in pain as his bitten, short nails dug into my skin. More images of the dead, the tormented, and the lost children he was supposed to care for suffered. It was endless. Cancer, horrific mutation, screams, and endless testing.
Stuart lasted seven minutes before Thierry had to pull him away from me. He was curled up on the ground, covered in sweat and trembling as my eyes slowly fluttered. The constant pain in my head was gone and for a second, I just stared at Stuart until tears finally started to build up. I bit my lip as my head fell. The brainwashing the Oasis Project had done on me was still there but pushed down by the gruesome years of memories Stuart showed me. "Emma?" I breathed, looking up at Thierry. His face twisted in confusion and I bit down harder on my lip as I brought my hands up to cover my mouth as I sobbed, "She's dead, isn't she?"
"Oh Tina..." The tension from Thierry's shoulders released as he collapsed down into the couch and hugged me tightly. For the first time since I had arrived at his villa, I was myself again. Stuart's pained groans softened; the longer he wasn't touching me for, the less he felt until my touch was nothing but yet another painful memory.
From upstairs, the arguing started soft, then quickly grew louder and more panicked mixed with frustration. "Stuart!" It was Ira followed by a string of curses. "Let me go, you fuck!" she snapped before calling out for Stuart again.
Stuart was slow to get up and I watched as he struggled to. I wiped my eyes and sniffled as he managed to use the arm of the couch to get himself up, still looking beat from what I put him through. "I-I'm fine, Ira," he called back, weaker, still strained. He shot a glance to me but didn't speak as he held his side and stumbled for the stairs. The Russian recruit and Ira skipped steps at a time and barely caught Stuart when his legs gave out.
When I looked back to Thierry, I noticed his eyes were wet as well, but he was smiling. "They had your ring..." I whispered, looking at him scared. It was now my turn to fear that he could disappear any second now.
"Who?" He slowly shook his head.
"The Oasis Project. They brought it to me after showing me these awful pictures of you followed by guns and blood and-and I thought you were dead," I sniffled.
Thierry reached out and brushed my tears away, "I left both of our rings at your grandfather's grave," he informed me and my heart swelled. "I didn't feel right carrying them, not after everything." He admitted and hesitated before asking his next question. "So you remember? You aren't-"
"A robot for the Oasis Project?" I shook my head with a weak smile. "No," I paused before adding in, "Well, I mean, I remember what they did, but I also remember the truth." I corrected myself. It was impossible to wash away what was done to Ira and I without years of therapy, but what Stuart did, even if out of anger, was enough to pull back the curtain slightly. For the first time since Dell Island, I felt like my mind was my own again. Some parts of it were still cloudy, somethings even hurt to think about still, but it was a start.
Thierry nodded, relieved. "And you're okay?"
I was a good distance from okay. "Getting there." I would admit we were at least on the right path of getting there. "What about the others? Ira, Stuart, Ira's friend? Are they okay? Are you okay?" It was the last question I wanted to know the most. As I thought about everything I put him through just over the last few days, it made me shudder.
Thierry sighed, his smile fading and his glanced faltered, "Ira pulled a gun on me when she got off the plane. She thought I forced her to kill Jaysen... I don't even know who Jaysen is." My heart twisted as he continued. "Stuart then pulled a gun on her-"
"Stuart had a gun?" Things really had changed.
Thierry nodded solemnly. "After he tried to talk some sense into her, she turned it on herself and pulled the trigger." He let out a breath as I held mine. "It wasn't loaded, but I had never been so scared in my entire life. Why would she do that?" There was an endless amount of possibilities for why she did it. Maybe Emma's reprogramming didn't fail. "What did the Oasis Project do to you two?"