So I wrote this for a writing competition and it's been sitting, gathering dust in my laptop hard drive ever since. I figured that I may as well do something useful with it, so I'm posting it here. At least then it actually stands a chance of being read by more people than just me. By the way, you're not meant to know any back-story or understand what's going on. That's the fun of it ;)

Fabian

He was running, feet hitting pavement at impossible speeds as he darted through crowds of tourists who screamed as he passed by. Glancing back, he caught a glimpse of his pursuers; they were tall, their muscles rippling beneath tailored suits as they sprinted after him. He rounds a corner and finds himself in a narrow alleyway, a seven-foot wall blocking the path ahead. The men are still following- he can hear their shoes pounding behind him- and all he can do is continue forwards. So he runs until there's no more than half a metre between him and the wall, then plants both feet on the floor and jumps. Tendons and ligaments stretch, muscles snap taught as his legs straighten and he pushes off stone and into the air.

His pursuers stop as he cuts upwards, easily soaring over the wall and dropping down into a crouch on the other side. Stilling, he turns round and laughs at the others now separated from him. The man stands as he laughs, then tucks his hands into a hoodie pocket and walks nonchalantly out of the alley. Fabian blends seamlessly into a flowing sea of people, letting the current take him where it wishes.

Looking back, he should have run from that city- should have ran until he crossed the border into another country. He hadn't, though, and they had found him. Not straight away- it had taken them a while to find his hideout- but eventually they did.

It had been the middle of the night and he was sitting on the floor, massaging aching leg muscles with tired hands. The door had burst open, splitting entirely from its hinges and crashing to the floor as three men stepped in. Fabian's abnormally fast reflexes had been sluggish and weighed down with fatigue, so instead of jumping from the third story window and running away, he had been tackled part-way there by two of the men.

They'd clawed at him until they had him pinned down on the floor, one holding his arms and the other steadfastly grasping his legs. Fabian struggled, trying to knock off the hands pushing him into the splintering wooden floor but to no avail. His legs had been clamped down by a man almost twice his size and both arms were stretched out painfully above his head by the other. He had no choice but to look up as the third figure walked towards him, gun held out and pointed unwaveringly at his head.

"Up," the man commanded, authority clear in his voice. Fabian was released momentarily as he got to his feet, but the hands were back when he moved towards the window.

"We've been tracking you for a while now, Fabian," the leader had grinned as he said Fabian's name, malice flashing in a sinister gaze, "But we have you now, and that's all that matters. Come," the man turned towards the doorway, Fabian being dragged along behind him. He'd been brought down the stairs and pushed into a van, doors locked before he could get out.

Two months had gone by, though they seemed more like decades. Fabian had been taken to a building, then chained up in a room and left to starve. He was still there now, in that room; still chained to the wall with metal cuffs cutting into his wrists and ankles. Occasionally they'd come into the room to feed him, or bring another bout of agony-inducing torture in the hopes of information about his abilities.

He would never give any.

And they would never give up.

A/N: I know there was an author's note at the top of this piece as well, but I wanted to say something different here, and figured that if you'd read the top A/N, you'd be more likely to read the bottom one as well.

In essence, I'm scrapping the two other stories that are on my account. I have lost interest in writing 'Scars don't Fade', but if someone wants to take up the reigns and continue writing it, just PM me and we'll figure something out. I will also delete 'Laboratory 0', however, I am thinking of rewriting it. It'll follow more-or-less the same storyline that the original story would have, except my writing will (hopefully) be better than before, and there will be a male protagonist (probably gay, but I'm not sure yet).

Any PM's or reviews about the rewrite- be it ideas or storylines- are much appreciated :)

(And reviews for this piece are lovely too)