Childhood
Chapter 1: Saturday
Cooro hummed merrily as he carted a basket of apples into the kitchen of Research Facility 8. He'd gone out of his way to pick all these apples to make sure he got apple cobbler instead of a birthday cake. He'd never been one for cake, and anyway, he wanted to know how to make it for later on in life. He set the basket down next to the island counter and wiped his forehead. It was hot today, but no matter. He didn't mind the heat if he was getting cobbler. He pulled out the little stool from under the prep sink, and hopped on top of it. After flicking on the water, he gathered up a few apples and began to scrub.
"Oh, Cooro!"
Cooro looked up at the sound of his name, smiling brightly at the chef who'd just entered with groceries from the market.
"Hi Sanchez!" he chime, giving the adult a small wave before returning to his work.
"What are you doing there, kiddo?" the plump man asked, looking over Cooro's shoulder as he walked by.
"Cleaning apples!" Cooro smiled happily. "I was hoping you could make a cobbler."
"Well, of course I will!" Sanchez laughed, setting his armful of bags down on the adjacent counter, by the normal sink. "Just prep all the apples and clean up the mess when you're done."
"Kay!"
There was a brief silence between the two, the only noises being the rustling of bags and the running water
"Lord Greena-Aight asked me to notify you of his absence tonight."
Cooro's smile faltered.
"Fly's not gunna be here for dinner and cobbler?" he asked, pausing in his work. Sanchez shook his head.
"He has an important meeting with his cousin tonight. He says he's terribly sorry, and that he'll make it up to you later."
"Oh. Ok, then!"
Cooro smiled contently, setting a sleek, wet apple aside to dry before grabbing another one. Normally, he'd be a little annoyed with Fly for missing his birthday, but if it was because he had a meeting with his family, then it was ok. Some things are just more important.
--
That evening was rather fun. As like every birthday, Cooro received his gifts from the other workers his age. They didn't have a lot of money, since they were children and all, but Cooro had always treasured their homemade gifts more than bought ones.
"Coowo!"
The tiny voice to his right caught Cooro's attention. He smiled merrily at the small girl, a four year old names Sierra, and keened over in his chair to get closer.
"Yes, Sierra?" he asked, wrapping his arms around her body to pull her up onto the chair next to him.
"This is fow you!" she chimed, holding out a folded piece of paper once situated in her chair. Cooro laughed gently and took the homemade card, which was decorated with a crude drawing of him and Sierra in a field of flowers. His eyes twinkled, touched by the little sloppy picture. "Do you like it?"
"I love it! Thank you!" Cooro giggled, scooping the girl into a cuddly hug. "I'll treasure it forever!"
Cooro never understood, or even knew why Sierra had come to the research facility at such a young age; it seemed to him all she was good for research wise was getting in the way. But he never questioned her presence while she was around; she was a great little kid and could cheer anyone up at the drop of a dime.
The other boys and girls delivered their gifts after cobbler. (Which was delicious, if Cooro had any say in the matter.) Falkia, the oldest kid there at a whopping 15 years old, had used half his paycheck to buy Cooro a pair of flight goggles and used some scrap leather to put together a kind of hat to wear them on.
"You always complain about the rain getting in your eyes when you fly," he'd said. "Plus, it fits your personality."
The other four kids, Charlette (13), YamYam (8), Nancy (9) and Sonny (13) had all pitched together their tiny allowances and bought pieces of fur, leather, and binding. Charlotte and Nancy had taken the time to dye the fur, and YamYam cut the leather into a pattern. Sonny, who was hilariously good with a needle, had pieced it all together into a lovely belt pouch. It wasn't big, but it was big enough to carry a few necessities.
--
After cobbler, but before bed, the seven youngsters played Sardines in the room hallway. Outside the hall was off-limits, but the bedrooms were fair game. Cooro was allowed to hide first, of course, but it didn't take long before everyone had found him. He wasn't the greatest at hiding, but his constant giggling probably didn't help at all.
They had gotten through their 14th round when Fly returned. He interrupted their game and ordered them all to bed. As the children moaned and groaned in protest, he pulled Cooro aside and told him to stop by his quarters once he was ready for bed. Something seemed off about him, but the kids ignored it. They were more interested in the gift Fly was surely going to give their companion.
Cooro hastily changed his clothes, a smile gracing his lips as he left the room. He took his time down the hallway, tapping once on each of his friend's doors on the way to Fly's. This was routine for birthdays; if Fly didn't give the birthday kid a present in front of the rest, they followed and eve's dropped to satisfy their curiosity. Fly always gave the coolest gifts. He had money, after all.
Falkia emerged from his bedroom when he heard Cooro knock on Fly's door. He waited for the younger boy to disappear inside, then crossed the hall and began tapping on doors. The first to exit were Charlette and Sierra. (Sierra roomed with Charlette due to her young age.) By the time the others were out of their rooms, Falkia had had traipsed down the hall to Fly's door. He listened gently at the crack in the door; where Cooro had left it open. After a few moments, he waved a hand to usher everyone over. All eyes that could fit peered into the dark room. The candles inside were out, but the light from the hall poured a strip of light over the foot of Fly's bed.
"-Couldn't get you a present, Cooro," Fly spoke, his speech a little off. Falkia noticed a faraway look in his eyes and frowned, but remained silent.
"Oh, that's ok Mr. Fly," Cooro accepted immediately, smiling in an understanding manner. "You don't have to buy me stuff on my birthday. Knowing you're my friend is good enough for me!"
The way Fly was looking at the young crow unnerved Falkia. Something wasn't right.
"Come sit, Cooro."
Sonny groaned gently and pulled his head away from the door. "C'mon guys; he's not going to get anything cool," he mumbled, turning and starting back down the hall. The other kids nodded and followed, glancing back as they went. Falkia hesitated a moment, a little uneasy about leaving, but soon backed away and trotted after the others. Something just didn't feel right about leaving Cooro with Fly.
"Let's not go to bed yet," he said suddenly in a hushed voice, putting a hand on Sonny's shoulder. "Let's stay in the hallway and play cards or something while we wait for Cooro."
The kids blinked a bit, noticing the slight urgency in the teenager's voice. Nevertheless, Nancy fetched her deck of playing cards, and the group took a seat in the otherwise deserted hallway to play games.
--
"Friends keep their promises, correct Cooro?" Fly asked, glancing back at the preteen out of the corner of his eye. He flexed his fingers a bit, almost idly.
"They should," Cooro responded, not seeming to notice. "Otherwise they'd be a bad friend."
Fly sighed. "Well, I have a bad friend. He didn't keep his promise, even though I kept mine."
"I'm sorry, sir," Cooro frowned sympathetically.
"Yes, me too." Fly looked at Cooro's light-outlined body, his eyes flashing. "But you keep your promises, right? You're not a bad friend."
The crow looked over at Fly's dark face, nodding enthusiastically. "Of course I would keep my promises! I don't want to let someone down.."
Fly hid a greedy grin.
"Will you promise me something, Cooro?"
"Okay."
The researcher took the 10 year old's chin in his fingers. "I think I have a birthday present for you, but you have to swear that you'll accept it. Promise you'll accept my gift?"
Cooro blinked, then smiled gently. "Of course!"
--
"Charlette! Stop cheating!"
"I'm not cheating; you just suck!"
"Oh? SO how do you explain having five Ace's?"
"I didn't have five! Stop lying, Sonny!"
"You stop lying!"
Falkia growled darkly and confiscated the cards in the twin's hands. "You BOTH should shut up before you wake someone up!" he snarled gently, whapping both Sonny and Charlette with his hand.
Sierra blinked, sitting up straight. She took a moment to listen intently, but only found herself hearing the bickering of her older friends. Shrugging it off, she smiled and returned to picking through her picture book. Once she turned the page to look at the galloping ponies, she paused.
There it was again.
The little girl glanced back at her half-whispering friends, then set her book down. She pushed herself to her slippered feet, and trotted down the hall towards Fly's room. After stopping at the door, she looked back down the hallway. The older kids still hadn't noticed her absence, so she pressed her ear on the sleek oak. It squeaked open a little farther, causing her to pull back in alarm. When nothing happened, she leaned back in.
"-op it! Please!"
"Shhh…."
"Stop… please, stop! Don't!"
The voice was quiet and pleading, and Sierra was having trouble hearing. She blinked a bit, then carefully looked into the room through the gap between the door and the jam. Her eyes widened, but she had no idea the severity of what she was now witnessing.
"You promised me…"
"N-no!"
The beam of light from the hall picked up the torsos of two bodies, one of which was considerably more petite than the other. She instantly recognized it as Cooro. He was on his back on the sheets, his shirt missing and his hands trying desperately to push the figure leaning over him away. Fly, on the other hand, was fully clothed and easily overpowering Cooro's weak attempts to get him off.
"Cooro," Fly said commandingly, using one of his large hands to keep the crow's flailing feet in the air. His other hand slipped down to the exposed waistband that kept the boy's pajama pants on. "You promised me you'd accept this."
"Please stop it, please sir!" Cooro's voice was shaky and crackling with tears; it was a sound Sierra had never heard him make before. She tilted her head a bit, blinking as the other boy was quickly stripped of his sweats.
Cooro turned over and began to scramble, as Fly had temporarily abandoned his form to discard the piece of clothing. He didn't get far before he was seized by the waist and pulled back, his clenched fingers pulling at the bedclothes.
"N-no, please…" Cooro choked, turning on his side to curl into a kind of fetal position.
"You're being a bad friend, Cooro," Fly hissed, leaning over the boy once more. Sierra's confusion and curiosity made her lean forward, farther into the door. She wished she could hear Fly's next words, but he was simply speaking too quietly. Cooro's surprised squeak drove her backwards in alarm, her feeties catching on the carpet and sending her rear-first into the floor. After quickly catching her composure, Sierra stared through the gap again. The distance gave her a smaller field of view inside, but she could still see Cooro's face, cheeks now shimmering with tears, and the dark figure of the researcher's looming body. One of his hands was pressed against Cooro's mouth; most likely to silence the squeak.
Falkia blinked, a foreign noise reaching his ears over the hushed card game. He shushed the younger kids, tilting his head in the direction of his boss's room.
"Sierra!" he hissed warningly, narrowing his eyes. Said girl looked back at the teen with wide, curious eyes, but didn't verbally respond. "What are you doing?! Get over here!"
She immediately obeyed, getting to her feet and plodding over.
"But Coowo and Fly awe playing a game!" she said quietly upon reaching them.
Falkia exchanged glances with Sonny and Charlette. "'A game'?" he questioned, quirking a brow. Sierra nodded quickly.
"Uh-huh!" she said, pointing back at the door. "But I don' think Coowo is having much fun."
"What makes you say that?"
Sierra frowned. "I nevah seen him cwy befow."
Sonny and Charlette exchanged confused looks. Cooro crying was something new to thme; they had never seen or heard about him even being upset. He was the strongest, happiest kid they knew. Something wasn't even close to being right.
The thirteen year old twins scrambled to their feet and shot down the hall, Falkia and the other kids in tow. Sierra waddled after, grabbing a hold of Falkia's hand as she caught up. Soon, 6 pairs of eyes were trying to peer into the darkness of Fly's quarters.
--
Cooro bit down on Fly's fingers desperately, successfully getting the man to let go of his face. Fly hissed and shook his hand, giving the crow just enough time to scramble off the side of the bed. He plowed his way across the floor, stumbling a bit in the space between the door and the foot of the bed. His fingers had just barely grazed the shiny door handle when a pair of strong arms seized him around the waist and hefted him clean off the floor.
"No-!" he began to yell, but soon found it impossible to do so through Fly's hand. He was carted haphazardly back over to the bed, Fly trying his best to keep his grip on the struggling boy as they went.
"If you yell," Fly breathed against Cooro's face, a strong, nauseating smell wafting from his lips. "There will be hell to pay."
Cooro immediately found himself utterly silent, faltering as he was dropped on his side. He turned a bit, his frightened expression staring down Fly's heated one.
"Sir, no more…" he pleaded, weakly pushing at the man's arms as he was turned onto his back.
"Wanna know a secret?" Fly giggled, resting his forehead on the messy sheets next to Cooro's head. That same putrid scent stung Cooro's nose, causing him to turn his face away in visible disgust. "I've always thought bird +Anima's were like angels, no matter the color of their wings."
The hair on the back of Cooro's neck rose as he felt a gentle touch trail down his abs towards his hips. "Wait, stop-"
"But angels," Fly interrupted, slipping his fingers under the waist of the boy's undergarments. "Keep their promises."
Cooro whimpered helplessly, squirming uncomfortably at the contact. He choked back a new onslaught of tears, the beating of his fists on Fly's arm going ignored. "Stop it! Stop it; I don't like it!"
"Cooro doesn't keep his promises," The man tsk'd, lifting his head to peer hazily at his captive's distressed face. He shook his head disappointedly. "No he does not."
"Y-yes I do!" the crow squeaked in protest, sniffing loudly to keep his nose from running. He quickly moved his arm to wipe away the spilling tears, but instead gave Fly a sense of danger and wound up with his wrists pinned painfully above his head. He sobbed miserably, squirming a bit under the weight of the body on top of him.
"Then why, dear boy," Fly mumbled, delivering an unwelcome lick to Cooro's ear. "Are you protesting?"
It was then that Cooro realized that, no matter what he did, Fly wasn't going to let up.
--
Falkia couldn't believe what he was seeing. He didn't bother to listen to the exchange of words anymore, his mind was racing too fast to pay attention. Why would Cooro allow something like that to happen to him? Most of all, why would Fly even do that to him?!
"Falkia?" YamYam chimed quietly, gently tugging on the teen's sleeve. "Falkia, what's Fly doing?"
Said teen glanced at the young boy, then immediately turned to Charlette without answering the question. "Charlette, get Sierra to bed. YamYam, Nancy, you go to bed too. Don't tell anyone what you've seen. Sonny, meet me in my room; You too Charlette."
"But why is Coowo sad?" Sierra asked innocently, puffing out her cheeks. "I don' want Coowo to be sad!"
"He'll be okay, sweetie. Come on, let's get you to bed," Charlette cooed, taking the small girl by the hand to lead her away. Te other kids made no move to leave until Falkia started shoving them away. He didn't want them to know what was happening.
Once everyone was headed for bed, he sunk down on the wall and put his forehead in his hands.
No wonder Cooro was taking so long to leave Fly's. No wonder his intuition had told him to stay here.
After a few moments, which included Charlette crossing the hall to Falkia's room, he glanced at the slightly open door. He silently got to his feet and grabbed onto the handle. He was about to shut the door when something caught his eyes. He turned his gaze back to the inside of the room, and found himself staring into a face he hardly recognized as the boy he'd been playing with just an hour or so earlier. Cooro had his chin lightly resting on the mattress, both hands keeping it slightly elevated. His palms were pressed over his ears, his fingers tangled in and gripping his hair in an almost painful fashion. Shadow covered the rest of his body, as the man assaulting him loomed over it with his hands pressed into the sheets by Cooro's ribcage. He was staring upwards, straight at Falkia. Somehow, he didn't look the same; but it wasn't the steady waterfall of tears streaming down his cheeks, or the utterly defeated, distressed, and pained expression on his visage that unnerved him the most. Cooro's eyes were so devoid of life, he may as well been dead. Any kind of glitter or shine was absent from his irises, and the unique blend of light and dark brown had melted into one, boring color. Falkia thought he couldn't even see him, until his face distorted into an impossibly more miserable look. His already nauseated insides quickly flip-flopped; Cooro was asking him for help, help Falkia couldn't give.
He wished with all his heart his friend, this beautiful, happy boy, wasn't in this situation; especially since he had never, ever done anything to deserve it. He was the sweetest, most cheerful person you'd ever meet, and he was never 'mean' unless he was protecting someone or something in need. It broke the teenager's heart to see him like this, but he was scared himself. How he wanted to burst in there and help, but he was too frightened of what Fly might do in retaliation. It was selfish, he knew, but… Falkia had never been very courageous. All he could do was sigh.
He passed Cooro a look of sorrow that read 'I'm sorry', and pulled the door shut the rest of the way.
--
AN: Yea, I'm a terrible person. I know. But I'm not about to sugar-coat something like rape, so, deal. Sorry if I made you depressed. I promise this story is less about the content of this chapter and more about the aftermath.