Equinox had been asleep when they came.

The doors to his isolation unit slid open and the sound of footsteps followed as a group of guards approached his bed. One of them gave a jarring kick to its frame, effectively waking the boy. "Get up," they said, voice gruff. Equinox did just that. He had learned early on in his confinement that it fared him better if he simply listened to the guards' orders and not make a scene. He wasn't Sol. He didn't have much fight left in him.

Raising a hand to check if his eye-patch was still in place, Equinox asked the men one question. "Where are you taking me?"

"Away," the guard to his left huffed. "Now get up."

Walking down the corridor, two men flanked him on each side- another at his rear and front- while a magnetic cuff bound his wrists in place. Equinox struggled to suppress his growing panic. Since his isolation had began, he had been hearing rumors from the other prisoners about a radical new idea that the Council conceived to save the Ark's twenty-four hundred citizens. It had something to do with the planet in which his namesake originated, and with sacrificing about a hundred or so "expendable" lives. 

It seemed that he was one of them.

Equinox barely registered the shuttle dock he was entering or the seat he was shoved into later on. It wasn't until he was being firmly strapped in that the boy began to struggle. It was to no avail. This- this was [i]real, and they might not make it and God I feel horrible but I wish Sol was here too.[/i]

----

[i]"Let me go, asshole!"[/i]

Solstice had been tracing patterns on his ceiling when four guards barged into the room. They had demanded that he get up and follow them, however Sol wouldn't give until they answered his questions. They ignored him, naturally, and proceeded to manhandle him out the door. 

Sol knew where he was heading though. During the few times that he and Equinox managed to talk, the dark-haired boy spoke urgently about rumours he had heard. A hundred lives sacrificed for the good of everyone else. 

What a load of [i]bull.[/i]

Solstice struggled against the guards' grip. He needed to buy some time. Maybe...maybe he could- "Let me talk to my dad!" 

The guard behind him laughed as the pair at his side doubled their efforts. He was practically being carried down the hall. 

"Councilman Evans doesn't have time to listen to your whining, boy. Your fate was sealed long ago."

"What-" 

They all stopped. In front of the group were doors directly connected to a shuttle via a catwalk. Suddenly, said doors opened and Sol found himself being roughly shoved through the entryway. [i]No![/i] he thought. He refused for things to end like this.

In a flurry of movement Sol broke free, kneeing one guard in the crotch while elbowing the other in the face. Without pause, the boy bolted down the hall. He barely made it two steps before someone grabbed hold of his jumpsuit and pulled back hard. The teen had a second to look behind him before the tip of a stun-rod touched his neck and the world went black.

...Solstice came to not long after. 

The first thing he realized was that he was strapped in tightly to a seat. The guards must have enjoyed that because he could barely breathe (and his head hurt like a bitch).

Secondly, he noticed his best friend sitting in a similar manner beside him, face twisted with both relief and guilt. "Uh, hi?"