For the first eight years of my life I thought I was completely normal. I looked at my pitiful little piece of the world as though it was exactly how the world should be- nothing had suggested otherwise, for the longest time, after all, and I was merely a child. When I read books I was fascinated, however, of this seemingly fictitious world that they spoke of. For the longest time I never realized just how deprived I'd truly been.
I came from a group of travelling "monster hunters". It was true, they did in fact slay the beasts that roamed the world when the right price called to them, but there was so much more to them than the average person could fathom.
We lived together- I was surrounded by aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents of all ages and even some from different families entirely- and throughout the year we would travel around the country of Galbadia to seven different (and very remote) 'camp-sites', as my father called them. It was a fun way of life to me and the other children, who got to see and play in so many places and be surrounded by so many people. It took a long time for me to understand why my brother and his friends, the few he had left, were always so full of anger when faced with my childish fascination of our lifestyle.
We were a very religious group- to be blunt, a cult- with so many laws and practices it became hard for me to keep track of and I lost interest. Fortunately, despite my ignorance to God, I was spared, because just as it takes seven days for the soul to find its way to a newborn's body it would take eight years for him to notice me so I went unpunished through early childhood.
In any case, a week after my eighth birthday was when I began to see exactly how horrifying the reality was.
"Sin~!" I heard the sing-song, baritone voice of my father calling me back to our cabin and quickly jumped off the fallen log I'd been playing on with my friends. He sounded to be in a good mood, but one thing my parents never tolerated was being late when they called for me.
"Yes Father?" I gave a quick bow to him and my mother, a habit I'd gotten used to since they were the heads of the family, and the bright sun glinted off my glasses.
"Today's a very special day, so we need you to come with us for a bit." They both offered almost sickeningly sweet smiles, but what child would assume the happy faces of his parents were simply an insidious guise?
"Okay!" I answered excitedly, my eyes lighting up as I pondered what kind of surprise they had prepared for me. A week prior they had given me a vampire bat's fangs, and my dad had said that it would make sense in a few days.
"Such a good little boy." My mother rarely spoke, so I was a bit surprised to hear her. I thought it must be very special, in that case, because the last time I'd heard her say anything was a few weeks before that when she and Ymir had an argument. They sent me off to go fetch my aforementioned gift, which I quickly retrieved from my room, and when I returned they took me out into the forest that surrounded the current camp. It started getting dark by the time they stopped at the mouth of a small cave, and I was starting to get scared.
"Now, we're going to play a game," Father told me, handing me a bag that I hadn't noticed he'd been carrying. "You need to go explore that cave; we'll come back to get you tomorrow." He offered no further explanation. By now the sun had vanished from the sky entirely, the dark shadows cast by the trees hiding whatever faint traces of light there had been.
"But what if there's a monster inside? A-and it's so dark now." He grinned again, as though he was in on some joke I'd missed.
"That's what these are for." He took one of the fangs from my hand. "You know how to use it, don't you Sin?"
I shook my head, evidently to the frustration of my mother. She snatched the tooth from her husband and, a bit more gently, grabbed my arm, holding it up in front of me. Unsure of what was happening I started squirming, but soon enough her weapon was embedded in my arm.
I had never seen so much blood- naturally I'd had my share of cuts and bruises, as any child would, but nothing to big- and distrustfully pulled away from her, throwing myself into my father's arms. He removed the now red-stained tooth from my skin and pulled out some gauze and bandages, wrapping the wound tightly.
I would never forget how to use a fang as a weapon after that, that was certain. Adrenaline pumped through my small body and I broke down crying, but silently both of my parents vanished into the trees. I tried to follow them, but the prospect of being lost seemed to be even more horrifying than being alone at that point.
/AN. Odd place to cut it off, I know ^^' This is a backstory for a roleplay character of mine, so if it seems completely out of the blue that's why. Anyway, there's not much I've got to say about this one besides that. This is more a personal experiment for me, and so I can figure out his character better for the RP. ~