You were Subject 10, or rather as was imprinted on the back of your neck, S-010. Why? You were an experiment, of course. Someone with almost no freedom, forced to endure torture with only the faint notion that you might make it out alive. In fact, you had considered begging one of your fellow subjects to just kill you already and get it over with. Except...

There was Subject 12.

He was your best friend in this facility ever since you had met him. He went through the roughest experimentation (which you had been forced to watch him go through for a different experiment performed on you), and yet he encouraged you that one day, everything would be okay, despite either of you no longer remembering what a life without those doctors was.

You two had been forced to fight each other on multiple occasions, but thankfully never to the death. However, one day, all of your hopes were dashed.

"[In German] Doctor," Subject 6 said as one of them dashed to the door of our cage. "What's—" He wasn't able to get another word out before crimson spurted from his head, caused by a rifle.

"Our precious research..." the doctor said with both a shaking voice and a shaking gun. Upstairs, you could hear a lot of pounding, but you didn't hear much else as the doctor shot again, this time at you. You were dead... or so you thought.

<><><>

You shuffled forward, bumping into a vendor's stand, causing various types of produce to roll everywhere, and you grabbed as much as you could carry, using your unnatural speed to run far beyond where the vendor could catch you.

When you finally felt it was safe enough, you hungrily ate the food you had stolen.

"Poor thing," you heard a voice say, and you glared out of your hiding spot to see a woman with reddish-purple hair and round, thick glasses walking by you.

"What is it, Mey-rin?" a young voice asked worriedly.

"A girl," the woman called Mey-rin said, moving over so that the young man could peer at you. The boy had golden blond hair and five red bobby pins moving the hair out of his face. But what caught your eyes were his own turquoise orbs. Though much of it had fled since your time in the laboratory, you saw that exact darkness that Subject 12 had housed in his eyes. You froze; it couldn't be the same person, could it?

"I feel bad for her too... She's all skin and bones." You slowly stood up and walked towards the boy; there was one way to make sure: the tattoo on the back of his neck.

You walked around behind him and tried to peek under his hat, but he kept it firmly in place. "What are you trying to do?" the boy asked somewhat angrily. Again, you tried to move the hat, this time using your excessive speed.

"Subject Twelve..." you whispered raspily, gripping the hat you had taken from his head with your limited strength. "It is you..." The boy's eyes filled with surprise.

"You know me...?" the boy spoke softly as Mey-rin glanced between you two with a confused expression. You opened your mouth to answer when you were interrupted by an even younger voice.

"Finny, Mey-rin, what is taking you two so long? I'll leave you behind."

"So you're a servant now..." you mumbled, quickly putting the pieces together. "I'm glad that at least one of us got a better life." You started walking away when a hand clasped around your wrist.

"Your neck... You're Subject Ten, aren't you? But... I saw you die that day. How are you alive?"

"Finny!" the voice called again.

"Meet me sometime later, um, Phantomhive manor, see you!" Twelve finished in a rush, hurrying after his master. You softly smiled. Today had just become a good day.

<><><>

You did have to ask around as to where the Phantomhive manor was, not being familiar with England yet, but eventually, you made it to a large estate on the outskirts of London. You cautiously approached the door when you felt something was off.

At a speed incapable of normal humans, you ran away from the door and into the foliage surrounding the manor. The bad feeling returned, and, like a cat frightened of a dog, you darted up a nearby tree, panting. It was very hard to run in your condition, because as Twelve said, you were all skin and bones.

"Who are you and why are you here?" a voice from behind you spoke, putting a knife to your throat and a cloth over your mouth.

"Fuffec en. I wan oo fee fuffec welph."

"Subject 12? There is no one here by that name." The knife pressed harder into your neck, almost drawing blood. You thought for a second.

"Finny?" The person behind you paused, removing the cloth from your mouth but not the knife. "Who are you?"

"I believe I am the one who should be asking questions. You seem quite fast for a human." You snorted.

"Same to you. But I doubt you're a lab rat like me."

"Why?" You turned your head slightly to try and get a glance of the man behind you, but you didn't catch much else besides he was wearing a butler uniform.

"We don't know how to control our strength very well. You obviously do, or I would be dead. Not to mention there is your aura that reeks of something horrible." The man chuckled.

"Intriguing. I shall speak to our gardener in order to determine that what you say is true." An arm snaked around your midsection, making you squirm in extreme discomfort; it reminded you too much of the many times the doctors had carried you by your stomach, but the man ignored it as he jumped down from the tree, the knife not budging from the sudden impact on the ground. As the man marched you along, you soon caught sight of Twelve, or Finny, as you supposed he was now called, kneeling on the ground and appearing to be cheerfully clipping flowers.

"The young master loves these," Finny said to himself, almost singing as the man behind you sighed.

"I swear, he's exactly like Heidi from that children's tale," the man grumbled, and you saw that some of the flowers Finny cut had not yet bloomed.

"The German version was better," you mumbled even as Finny turned around to see you.

"Oh, Ten!" Finny said cheerfully before realizing you were being held under threat of death by the butler. "Please let her go, Sebastian," Finny said with a slight sob. "She's been captive long enough."

Even after Sebastian had finally removed the knife, you didn't dare move until you were sure he wouldn't point it at you again. Then, slowly, you reached for Finny, and he clasped your hand, then your arm, and finally you, hugging you tightly. "I thought you died that day..." he murmured. You weakly smiled, letting your spindly arms fall around him.

"So did I. Stuff happened." Against your will, your stomach roared. Finny broke away from you, surprised, and you looked away, slightly embarrassed.

"Oh my gosh, I'm sorry!" Finny apologized, taking you by the hand and starting to drag you along. "You must be starving after staying on the streets, trying to find this place and then being jailed by scary Sebastian! Come on, Ten!" You smiled a little more; this was the boy you remembered. Always caring for others.

<><><>

"So is this your girlfriend, Finny?" the blond-haired chef wearing goggles asked, making Finny (and yourself) blush intensely.

"N-N-No, um... She's my best friend..."

"Sure, sure, whatever you say, Finny," the chef said, walking away with a smirk.

"So what do you want to know... Finny?" you questioned after a couple seconds of silence.

"How are you still alive? I saw them shoot you..." You sighed.

"I don't remember what happened after I was shot so well, but..." you brushed up your H/C hair to show Finny the patch of flesh that would never be the same again. "When I woke up, I was in an old building instead of the laboratory, and the bullet wound had healed. I tried to go back and see you, but... the entire facility had been set aflame. There was nothing left... not even bones." Finny opened and then closed his mouth.

"I made it out after they shot you, and I was recruited by the young master to be a servant at the manor because I'm really strong."

"Twelve, no, Finny... How did you come by your new name?" you asked softly, toying with your fingers.

"Oh, that?" Finny asked, smiling as if recalling a good memory. "The young master gave it to me. He said Finnian was the name of a boy who ran faster than a hare and was stronger than a deer. He also said that 'Finn' was at one time the word for blond hair..." You smiled softly.

"Then the 'young master' chose your name well. I can't think of anyone who is more fitting of that description." Finny seemed to suddenly have an epiphany.

"Then why I don't I give you a name?" he asked excitedly.

"Alright," you agreed, just as excitedly. A name? You'd always been known simply as Ten, a test subject. A name was something special, something that held meaning.

"Ummmm..." Finny thought to himself. "Let's see... uhhh..." You chuckled; Finny had never been good with being put on the spot.

"You don't have to come up with it now, Finny. I've been without a name for 16 years; I can live another five minutes. Don't rush yourself," you suggested.

"F/N!" Finny suddenly exclaimed, grabbing you by the shoulders and spontaneously hugging you. "It's settled; I'll call you F/N from now on!" You grinned and kissed his cheek on impulse, squeezing Finny, though he probably barely felt it.

"F/N it is," you said with barely held-back enthusiasm, already embracing your new name just as you were embracing Finnian. "What's the meaning behind it?" Finny nervously chuckled.

"I don't know... It just popped into my head..." Nevertheless, you both laughed.