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A baby screamed, a husband cried, a woman died. That was how Yovel came into the world, funny, he was born as he lived. In strife, in misery, in death, and yet, there was still hope in it.
Izak held his new born son close, he could already guess what would happen to him if his project failed.
He wouldn't let that happen.
His son stirred and nuzzled into his father.
"What to name you, what to name you," Izak muttered to himself. Being a single father was hard, being a single father and knowing you'd be the cause of your son's death was even harder, but it's better than being a proxy. Izak had barely escaped that fate as a boy, he wouldn't let his son do the same. He thought of names, he could barely remember the book Mr. Baram had gotten him and Soshanna, full of baby names. It was old, a lot of the names were out dated, but one stood out to Soshanna. A girl's name.
Jubilee.
In Hebrew, Jubilee was יובל, four letters. In Yiddish, it was 'Yovel' Izak and Soshanna had planned to raise their child in the Jewish faith, why not give their son a holy name? While religion wasn't too common with the new network, Judaism was no longer a religion for them. It was a culture, Israel was blocked off to them, to everyone, but they had their history. Their hope. Their Jubilee
"Yovel, my little baby Yovel," Izak whispered. Izak was a name his father had chosen for him, laughter. It was a joke between them, that Izak was born laughing instead of crying.
Who knew he'd spend his last days crying.
Izak panicked, the Guardians were coming. All his research, Yovel wasn't old enough for the injection. He was terrified, if Yovel died.... He could never forgive himself, but could he forgive himself for injecting his son with this new data? A data that will kill him when the day comes. He heard loud, thundering footsteps.
No time left.
He injected Yovel with the syringe, his son cried out, Izak felt tears brimming his eyes.
"I know, baby, I know, it hurts," a tear ran down his cheek, "But just you wait, when you get older this'll feel like a paper cut," Yovel bled from the puncture and continued to cry. Izak watched as the letters appeared, faintly, into Yovel's skin. יובל he barely had anytime to hide Yovel before the Guardians rushed in. Yovel reached out for him, Izak willed himself not to give in, not to hold his son and let them both die. Izak took a deep breath before the uncanny buzz of the EMD sticks was heard and he fell to the floor.
Yovel was picked up by a Guardian, the Guardian was relatively gentle with him, he was just a baby after all. He whined and writhed, until he was handed off to another man. A blonde, green eyed man.
"Aw, look at you,c he cooed, Yovel still whimpered, "We don't have a lot of dark skinned boys in Mountain City," he held the baby close, as if he were his own, "My Knox needs a proxy, too," that was the first time Yovel had heard the word. 'Proxy' it was foreign, not like the Yiddish he was used to hearing in nursery rhymes and prayers. The blonde haired, green eyed man stared at him longer, "A Tale of Two Cities, Sydney Carton"