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Jerrett was in a terrible mood.

It wasn't only that Jasmine had thwarted his clumsy attempt to escape The Garden - needless to say, trampling on his pride in the process - but the Guardians had agreed to remain silent about it, as if it'd never happened. Jerrett had expected to be punished, but if there was any punishment underway, the Guardians had made sure everyone knew except for the two-tailed fox.

That situation made him uneasy, but mostly humiliated. Maybe this was his punishment after all.

And now he had received that stupid note from Aiden. "Come down to the lab, there's something I need your help with", it said.

Jerrett hated Aiden. The eccentric sergal gave him the creeps. Whenever Jerrett had come to the lab to help Aiden with his work, he hadn't been able to shake the feeling that the sergal saw him as part of his experiments, as if he was just an oversized lab rat.

Today promised to be exactly the same.

"Okay, what is it?" Jerrett asked once he stood in the dimly lit room.

Aiden was sitting on his chair, grey-colored glasses over his eyes. He was staring at the fox in silence, one hand resting on his lap as the other flicked a pencil back and forth on his desk. The sergal was smirking, but that wasn't as annoying as the constant, rhythmic sound the nibbled end of the pencil made as it hit the scientist's deck constantly.

"What?" Jerrett asked, losing his patience.

Aiden chuckled.

"As reckless as usual. You've always been an interesting specimen, Jerrett."

There we go, the fox thought, resisting the urge to roll his eyes.

"Do you really need my help?" he asked.

Aiden's grin widened.

"I do. In a way. You'll find that it's in your best interest to help me very soon."

"And why's that?" Jerrett's gaze darted to the swaying pencil. He would ask the sergal to stop, but he didn't want to give him that satisfaction.

"Ah, Jerrett. Always asking the right questions, even if you know answers are scarce these days! Ten."

Jerrett frowned.

"What was that?"

"A number. One made by two digits, more specifically."

"I know that, dimwit." The fox clenched his fists. He hated feeling like he was being played around by a mad scientist, but there wasn't much he could do. "I was asking why you said it out loud like that. Will you keep me here indefinitely? Or are you going to tell me what you need my help with?"

"Nein. That's 'no' in German, and also another number made by a single digit, when you think about it," the sergal answered, grinning. The end of the pencil kept hitting the desk rhythmically.

"No to what?"

"Hmmm, who knows? Eight."

Jerrett stared at the sergal, making sure he could tell how much he hated him by the intensity of his gaze. Aiden, however, remained unfazed.

"Aren't you tired, Jerrett?" the scientist asked then, his head tilting ever-so-slightly to one side.

The question caught the fox off-guard.

"Huh...?"

"Tired of running around. Tired of trying to escape. Tired of resisting your fate as part of the Garden. It's so hard to keep fighting when you have no real chance of ever winning. Seven."

Jerrett frowned. He hadn't expected to hear those words coming from Aiden. He leaned on the wall behind him, relaxing a bit.

"What makes you say that?" he asked. His voice sounded a bit weaker than he intended.

"Your last attempt at escaping didn't go precisely well, right? Six."

There was a weird, cunning gleam in Aiden's eye, but Jerrett was too busy thinking about the fact that someone had finally acknowledged his escape attempt to notice it.

"Yeah, it didn't... work," the fox admitted. Aiden was right when he thought about it. It had been tiring. He could feel the exhaustion all over his body.

Rhythmic clicks filled the silence in the room.

"Mhm. You must be so tired of trying and trying when resisting never works. I can tell you about two things that will always result in success, though. Do you want me to? Five."

Jerrett felt weird.

He wasn't sure if it was the lights or that constant sound, but his head seemed disconnected from reality. He could barely see the sergal sitting in front of him, that knowing smile on his face. Everything looked... blurred and hazy.

The fox simply nodded.

"First thing that always works - a countdown. Do you wanna know why? Four."

Another nod.

"It's the anticipation. It gives you purpose. It makes you wait for the next number. For the next word. Three."

Jerrett felt as if his body was sinking, gently sliding to a different, unknown place. Aiden's words had never felt so true.

"A countdown keeps you in a state of constant receptiveness. And when you are in this state, it's easy to just do what you're told. You find yourself agreeable. You feel good. And that's what I call success. Don't you, Jerrett? Two. Nod for me."

The fox nodded. The movement felt automatic.

"Second thing that always works - submitting. You can't fail at resisting if you don't even try. It's pure logic. Don't you think so, Jerret? You think so. One."

Yes... Submitting. Aiden was right. It made so much more sense than resisting. Jerrett wanted to submit. Jerrett wanted to feel good. Jerrett wanted to...

His eyes moved to the pencil, which kept hitting the desk repeatedly. It seemed to move slower now. The sound came muffled to Jerrett's ears.

"That's why from now on you can stop trying to escape and simply... submit. Zero."

Jerrett felt his last train of thought slip away as Aiden stood up from his chair, pencil still in one of his hands. He used it to lift the fox's chin up, which had lowered down until it was resting on his chest. His mouth was open, eyes glassy.

The sergal chuckled.

"Now," he said, a mischievous gleam in his eye. "Now you can help me, Jerrett."