Oh my god.
It cannot be stopped. A new story has commenced. I'm already getting ideas for two more oh Gumi help me.
I'm going to be excited for the first two or three chapters, then I'm going to run dry and write a new story. GAH. Save me.
But anyway, yeah. Hope you'll enjoy this one!
"Be quiet, beast." The guard grunted, pulling on her chains as he dragged her forward, refusing to stop for her to rest. "Just keep walking and do as you're told." He yanked the chain again and plodded along, though the dark canyons and on the hot, dusty road. He was going to take her with him, no matter what. Whatever she did couldn't tell him otherwise. The 'beast' reluctantly crawled after him, baring her teeth at anyone that dared to look at her. Few did, as most rumbled by in their carts, looking away, fathers and mothers shielding their child's innocent eyes from the beast walking alongside them.
Eventually the two reached their destination. She looked up at the large, dark building. It was all bricks and no windows, but from inside she could hear the howls, the lonely sniffs, the thumps of guard's boots as they patrolled the area. The large door swung open, and her ears twitched as the metal unlocked. She wasn't used to hearing metal scrape against each other.
"With me." The guard said gruffly and pulled her forward. No other guards bothered to look. They stood straight and held their staff and said nothing. They were used to it. Through dark corridors they went, past hundreds of doors, being banged and scratched on, where she could hear the desperate wails and angry growls from behind. Lower and deeper they went, down spiraling staircases, past small doors and big doors, wood and metal, until they reached an average-sized door.
"What is this?" She asked cautiously, looking up at the guard. She couldn't see any eyes, and therefore no emotion, behind his heavy black helmet.
"Shut up. Filthy beast." He kicked her side, and she whimpered. "Get in there while I let you live." He unbolted the door and pulled off her chain, and pushed her in. "That ought to keep you comfy, eh?" He laughed heavily and slammed the door shut, locking it tight. She sat in the dark room, waiting, listening to the footsteps padding away. Once it had quietened, she leapt at the door and hissed and screeched, scratching at the wooden frame. "It won't work," said a voice coolly from behind her. "Believe me, I've tried."
She turned and frowned, squinting into the inky darkness until she could make out two blue eyes. She stood up and sniffed the air. She knew this smell. She... "You are one of the Kin." She said slowly.
The eyes widened, and a boy pulled himself out of the darkness. He looked pale and thin, but she could smell his air, the ears and tail, they were the same. He peered at her. "I thought the rest of the Kin were all gone."
She leaned closer to sniff him. "So did I."
He turned and seated himself on the cold floor. She looked down and lifted her hand. She hadn't realized how cold it was in the cell. "They mocked me for being the only one." He said softly. The tip of his tail curled, and he looked away, ears drooped. "Laughed. Ridiculed. They were idiots." He shook his head, trying to rid of the bad memory.
She frowned, and looked up. There was a wooden ledge held up by metal bars onto the wall, which she reckoned served purpose as a bed of some sort. She jumped up onto it and felt a blanket, curling up underneath it. "Then I have no talk or quarrel with you." She closed her eyes. "So do shut up and leave me be."
He stood up, glaring at her balled up figure. "That's it? You're not happy that you're not the only one of the Kin left in existence? And here I am..." He threw up his arms. "You're just going to lay there?"
"Like I said, I have no talk or quarrel with you. I don't find it pleasing to talk to one. Perhaps you've been cushy, residing here, but you're not in the mood I am. So do me a favor and sit down."
He growled. "Then you are indeed the beast the guard claimed you to be."
She said up immediately, her long teal hair spilling around her waist and down onto the floor. She glared back, blue eyes glowing. His blue eyes were full of arrogance, she could tell. "Excuse me?" She retorted. "Beast? Me? Why don't you try looking at your reflection?"
"At least I'm grateful, witch." He sneered.
"Grateful? Grateful? What can you be grateful for here?" She threw off the blanket and it landed next to him. She crouched, growling at him, teeth bared. "Sure, get taken in the middle of the night trying to survive and be treated like shit, why don't ya? Well you've obviously never seen your mother ripped into two. You've never seen the blood of your loved ones spill across your hands. You've never seen the metal disappear into one's body, the warmth disappearing, you've obviously never been grateful for anything in your goddamn life. I can tell. Your eyes tell me everything."
For a moment, he looked taken aback. He took a step backwards, looking up at the girl in front of him, staring down at him, eyes peering back so deep into his, he almost felt like she was digging out secrets just by looking at him."Oh..." He gasped, then frowned. "Well. Fine." He spat. "I don't believe you've ever smiled, have you? Ever laughed? Ever had fun? Ever just tried to be... Free?"
"FREE!?" She screeched. "How could I? Especially when there's someone like you around!?"
He prowled back onto the ledge he had been lying on earlier. "We'll see what you have to say when the guards come for you. I'd like to see you hiss in pain at your trial."
"Shut up, male." She huffed, covering her ears, watching as he curled himself up. Why couldn't everyone just shut up, just for once?
...
"Wake up." Another prod. "Wake up, beast, you've got to be tried." This time, the metal wrung around her wrists forced her awake. "Get off your damned arse and come with me. Your trial starts soon." She groaned and pulled herself off the ledge, and was forced out of her cell. Looking back, she saw a sly grin as she was taken away.
She ended up in an empty court, empty except for a bed. It was a large bed, filled up with straw. It looked a bit scratchy, but were they going to let her lay down? She'd have liked to lay down. She was still tired from the hike they had made her do the day before. "Get on the bed." The guard ordered. She did as she was told. He strapped her onto the bed, and looked up. "She's ready." She turned slightly to watch several monks stream themselves into the room. The guard walked back to the door and watched, while the monks stood in circle around her. "Now don't you try anything funny."
The monks raised their arms and chanted, first from a few words that she could decipher, and then into a completely different language. Her eyelids grew heavy and tired, and voices were telling her to go to sleep. It didn't seem likely that they would kill her just then, so she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.
...
"I tire of your presence."
She shot up. What? She was lying in an empty room. Or what seemed like a room. It was white everywhere. Something felt wrong. She touched her ears, but they were... Gone. No! She clasped her head, felt her ears, but they had shrunk, gone down to human size. No! No! Her tail was gone, her teeth were no longer sharp. She wasn't human. She couldn't have been. "Why do they send you here?"
She looked up. A large creature was seated in front of her. Although she couldn't see it very well, she could feel an enormous flow of power coming from it, looking down at her. It had grey eyes, but they glowed in the white room. There was a large yellow ring around it's body, and it looked down at her like she was just a speck of dust, but it's voice wobbled and trembled, as if it was afraid. "Who are you?" She whispered. "Where am I? What have you done to me?"
"I tire of your presence, young kin. You shouldn't be here."
"But... Where am I? How do I go back? Who are you?" She tried to walk towards him, but her legs couldn't hold her, and her knees buckled as she sank to the ground. "What have you done to me?"
"I have done nothing. This realm shows you yourself. There is nothing I can do. Begone." He waved her off, simply dismissed her.
"How do I... Go back?"
The creature was silent for a long time. "I can't get to you." He said, softly at first. But then his eyes widened, and his voice rose. "I... I can't get to you. Why can I not get to you? WHY? WHY!?" She felt the room shake around her as she assumed he stood up, reaching towards her.
"Stay away!" She screeched, jumping backwards. Again she fell to the ground. "Go away..."
"I tire of your presence, young kin." She heard, as the room turned dark around her. "Find away to reach into yourself. Then perhaps I shall find your presence much more interes-"
"ENOUGH."
Her vision had already faded, but she had seen the dark matter attacking the creature as everything faded away.
...
"You're special." A voice purred, touching her ears. She opened her eyes, to see a tall, think lady looking down at her. Her eyes were slits and her skin was pale, but she seemed healthy, and very much alive. "Amazing. It's a wonder Grioten couldn't get to you. And to think that the last remaining Kin would be worth so much. Aren't you happy?"
"Stay away from me." She hissed, slapping the woman's hand away.
"Oh, but of course, we mustn't treat our lovely Kin with such insolence. She deserves to be treated like the rest." Her eyes darkened. "Take her to a job. Anything will do. Don't be picky."
"What? Wait... Hey!" Two guards grabbed her arm as she writhed and kicked, screaming at the woman.
...
'Zecorus, Sector 4, Marsh.' A sign read as she was pushed forward. She gazed at the swampy marshland before her. Was this still part of the dark castle? Another guard pushed her forward, and her feet sank into the muddy water. "Go help the Lumiere out, eh?" He suggested as he laughed, walking away, disappearing into the greens behind her. She looked around, and only then noticed the shapes bobbing in and out of the water.
"Hello?" She called out, taking a step forward, into the silt, dirt pooling around her. A figure swam up to her under the water, as a pink-haired torso surfaced, peering at her.
"Ah..." She swam closer and examined her. "You are one of the Kin, are you not? I thought they were extinct." She smiled gently and pulled herself forward, a sparkling tail flicking out of the water. It seemed so out of place in the dirty marsh. "We have another Kin here. He works in the other sector, of course. A boy your age."
She looked away. "I've met him." She growled softly.
The pink-haired lady nodded. "Good, good. We do need a new breed of Kin around her." She winked. "If you know what I mean." The girl looked startled, and she laughed. "Oh, I'm just kidding! Newly captured, are you? Yes, it's a tough experience for everyone, especially when they're tried. Oh, I remember when I had to fight Grioten. Was he a pain!"
"You... Fought him?" She asked.
Her tail flicked through the water as she turned, sending a rain of droplets. "Well, yes, of course. Didn't they try you?"
"Well... They did. But we didn't fight. He said he couldn't get to me."
"Oh... Oh my god." She swam backwards slightly. "That's what he s- Well, that's alright. I'm afraid this is the job you're going to be doing from now on forth, though. Welcome to Sector 4."
"I... What?"
"You'll get used to it. I'm Luka."
She sighed. "I'm... Miku..."
"That's nice. 'Future', right? That's good. Here, I'll teach you the basics. And I'll explain while you're at it. You've gotta know more about this place. And you'll find out sooner or later, whether you like it or not."
...
"It's basically a prison here. What's that? Why I'm so light-hearted? Well, I wouldn't really call it light-hearted. But, you know, spending four years in this marsh makes it go by. Yes, I came here around your age. You'll get used to it in the end. And some have been here longer, anyway. The people that run this place, they call themselves The Glory of The Ones. Or just The Ones, for short. But glorious? Bah! Nothing glorious about them. Anyway, they mostly capture anything that isn't human. We're the devil's spawns to them apparently. It's sad. They've rounded up hundreds of us and trapped us in this prison. Hand me that over there, would you?
"Mostly they make us work here for the rest of our lives, or at least until we agree to worship their Goddess, which is painful. Literally. And this Goddess of theirs probably doesn't exist, and those in her 'light' have to follow all their customs, which is as annoying as hell. So we reside here. Although I wouldn't really call it residing, but there's no where for us left to go. They make us do the work that feeds, houses, and clothes their citizens.
"But what do we get?" She stopped and sighed. "Nothing. Nothing at all, of course. We're just forced to work, all day and night. We're actually lucky, I've heard. The prisons in other regions send their prisoners to the knife if they do a little wrong. Here a lot of people have spoken out, but... Not quite enough. And what are we to The Ones? Nothing, of course. We are filth to them."
Miku pulled off a vine and handed it to Luka. "So then, why hasn't anyone fought back? Started a revolution? There must be thousands of you. Surely you'd be able to overpower them, especially with your magic."
"Oh, dear, if we could, this place would be in ruins by now." Luka shook her head. "But we're more outnumbered than you think. And overpowered. This castle, it's been charmed with a magic dampening spell. No matter what we try, we can't use our magic. Why do you think the water here's so dirty? If I could use magic I'd definitely clean it all up. And besides, we're so weak, dear. We hardly eat. Hardly sleep. And a lot of our trials leave us in shambles... Oh...
"But that boy..." Her eyes brightened slightly, almost filling with hope, but it died away. "The other Kin... He's been here a lot longer than the rest of us. Since an infant, I've heard. Believed he was the only Kin left. Sad. My sisters and I, we tried to comfort him, but he wouldn't hear of us. The other creatures had gone too far with him. He was bullied for being the only Kin and believing that he could fight his way out, and now... Now..."
"I see..." Miku looked down. She felt a twinge of guilt, but swallowed it. And it was definitely not going down with her pride. "Taking us until there's none left in the wild, huh? No one to be... Free."
"Free." Luka winced. "The dream of everyone here. It pains me to know that that's the only thing we can never have. Freedom."
The two fell silent as they continued their work, although Miku had no idea what they were doing. She watched the other Lumiere weave through the branches and weeds, swimming through the murky waters. She watched the nature, still in the lifeless area. She watched until she could watch no longer, until the guard yelled at them, and everyone was being pulled away.
"Where are we going?" Miku asked Luka as she was hustled through a wet corridor full of guards, Lumiere, and other fishy creatures.
"Lunch." Luka said simply. "One thing we can look forward to, at least." She gave Miku a weak smile. "At least there we can talk to people. There are a few others I'd like to introduce. It'd do good for a newly captured one to have more than one friend."
Miku smiled back. "Of course. Thanks, Luka."
They made their way into a huge hall, where there were tables filled with all sorts of beings, large and small, in all sorts of colors. "We can choose where to sit. It's nice. We're very lucky, really. Come with me." Miku followed Luka, who seemed to have no problem gliding through the hall without feet. She arrived at a table where there were already a few people seated. "Hey girls. We got a new Kin. This one's Miku."
The two blonde ones looked up immediately. "Really?" The one with the shorter hair gasped. Her hair was tousled and covered with leaves and vines, and her face was muddy and scratched. The other blonde next to her, long hair tied up into a ponytail, looked curiously at Miku.
"Yes... Are you... Are you twins?"
"We're sisters." The short-haired one said. "We're Eartheins. I'm Rin, that's Lenka. I thought Kins were extinct. It's so cool that there's another one. Ohoho, I bet Mikuo's gonna be excited."
"Mikuo." Miku repeated. "That's his name?"
The blue haired girl sitting next to Lenka looked up. "The other Kin. It's a boy. He's the only other one here. You've already met him?"
"I... Yes." She said, noticing the shiny scales on her arms and face. "I can't say we get along too well."
"Oh! That's a pity!" Luka laughed, but quietened as five trays were slid towards them, piled with some sort of pink slop and green custard. And the chef's special curiously-shaped biscuits, apparently. As soon as the waiter was gone, Luka smiled widely again. "Why are you looking at Kaiko like that? Yeah, Kappa are rare, but she's cute, ain't she? We've got plenty."
Kaiko sighed and turned down to her tray, sticking her fork into the slop. "You don't like Mikuo?" Lenka asked, finally opening her mouth. "I thought he'd like to see another Kin."
"Well, you're wrong." Miku said huffily, cautiously taking a bite of the green custard. "Just because we share cells doesn't mean we have to get alo-"
"Ohhh you share cells!?" Rin burst out. "Oh my god! Luka did you hear that? Ah, I know what's going on!"
Miku glared at Rin. "What exactly is it you Earthiens do? Throw flowers at each other? Swing on vines? No wonder you're so muddy. A lot of guards must get mad at you."
Rin smiled, shrugging. "Well, they do."
"And look who's here now." Luka said, turning around. She stuck her tail out, and suddenly there was a loud thud as something hit the floor. A tray full of slop flew up into the air, and Miku caught it before it landed on her. "Ah, a true Kin always has good reflexes. Isn't that right, Mikuo?"
The teal-haired boy looked up and glared at Luka. "Shut u-" He noticed Miku. "Oh. It's you." He stood up and kicked Luka's tail away, ignoring the other creatures that were trying not to laugh next to him. "And I think that's my lunch, thank you very much."
"Well you're welcome." She stuck her tongue out at him, and dumped the tray on his face.
"YOU BLOODY-" Mikuo jumped up, wiping the pink slop off his face and glared at Miku, breathing heavily. "I'm going to fu-"
"Okay. Okay. Guys." A small boy popped up between them. "Please. Don't. Food fights are way too cliche nowadays."
"Hi Len!" Rin called. Lenka waved shyly.
"Hi Rin. And guys... Just... Don't. Okay?" He held his hands up as he backed off, looking at each of them, and then running away.
"Fine." Mikuo hissed, turning and walking away. "Maybe today, girl. But you won't be so lucky next time."
"I don't need luck. You're probably going to run away and trip again."
"GAH." He stomped away furiously, and Miku turned, crossing her arms. The four girls watched both of them.
"Oh my god." Luka gasped, clasping her hands over her mouth. The sisters and Kaiko turned to look at her. "I ship them. So. Hard."
Oh god. Ohhh Luka.
This is a bad idea.
Well, um, I hope you liked it? Also I have an idea for a new story. Stop me before it's too late.