Subjugation

in which love was the answer to the question she didn't want to hear

*.*.*.*

Blood slowly trickled from her wrists, echoing rhythmically on the floor in a way that almost, almost had a calming effect on her.

Drip, drop, drip, drop, drip, drop.

Shaking violently, she shut her eyes and tried to take deep, controlled breaths, desperate to take the edge off her anxiety. The harder she shook, the deeper the manacles cut into her, and it took what little will she had left to reduce her body movements to a slight tremble to ever so slightly abate the pain.

In another life, she would have considered herself lucky that her current situation was nothing compared to the agony she first endured when she was brought in and hung by those same shackles.

She was given a frock to wear one week into her captivity, but void of her body shell, she still felt naked. The day she was captured it had been approximately two months since the invasion, which meant it had been two months since she had worn anything else. Stripped of her weapons, stripped of her protection, and stripped of her dignity, she sat hunched, drained, and hopeless, the puddles on the floor growing wider and wider by the minute.

Drip, drop, drip, drop, drip, drop.

Thinking back, her squadron's loss was inevitable. Basic combat taught them to immediately shoot at anything without a shell since the enemy was otherwise indistinguishable from humans. What basic combat didn't teach them was that the Alphas were evolving quicker than expected, mass-producing shells of their own and already infiltrating human forces. It took four seconds for Private Takenouchi to register that Private Ichijouji was out of formation, two seconds to watch her fellow squadron-mates fall one-by-one, and one second to register there was someone behind her before she was knocked unconscious – easily the longest seven seconds of her life.

The sound of footsteps floated down into her cell and she stiffened at the noise. Black boots descended the stairs and once they turned the corner, she was able to make out the shape of an Alpha she assumed was either tasked to make sure she stayed alive for questioning or to escort her to her death. Before she was freed from the prison wall, various Alphas used to access her chamber, but this Alpha was the only one she ever saw now. All she could do was hope that they finally decided she was useless and it was here to kill her. Death was a sanctuary, at this point.

Her vision had been spotty ever since she was allowed mobility three days ago, but she finally had enough strength to take a better look at the attributes of her captor. It was blonde and blue-eyed, which was a unique combination compared to the darker features of the other Alphas she had seen in propaganda and in person. It had the audacity to wear what looked like a human soldier uniform, complete with a name badge and everything else she used to wear underneath her shell. Did they just steal them off of dead human bodies? She squinted to read the name on its uniform and laughed derisively. Alpha Ishida. Why did they even bother giving themselves names?

"Come here," it commanded suddenly.

Her initial response was to shrink back slowly. Was this actually the end for her? Was it finally going to take her away to dispose of her? She knew she preferred death to this living hell, but it took a different kind of courage that she didn't have to face it valiantly.

"You're bleeding," it said after a moment's pause.

She hesitated, taking a second to comprehend its words. It obviously wasn't going to kill her if it was here to assuage the bleeding, so the question was, why was she still being kept here? She had no information to warrant her torture, she wasn't strong enough to be placed under mind control for battle, and she didn't come from a background worthy of being held for ransom.

All she wanted was for this to end, was that too much to ask?

"Come here," it ordered again, devoid of any emotion.

Too tired to stand, she shuffled her feet to pull herself towards the bars separating her from the Alpha. She sat, her frock stained even more from all the blood she slid over, and looked up to await further instructions.

The Alpha bent down to get to eye level. It gestured for her to raise her arms, and she complied readily, not wanting it to stay down there any longer than it had to. Her auburn eyes locked with its azure ones and she faltered slightly. They looked so human that she almost could feel some sort of warmth behind them. A rage boiled up at the thought of Alphas being able to duplicate emotions as if they were living creatures.

It pulled out a key and loosened the handcuffs so that they were no longer cutting into her already torn skin. Salve in hand, it rubbed the ointment over the exposed wounds in such a gentle manner that it made her uneasy. Studying its face, a distant memory jolted her, triggering an image of being handed the frock she was wearing by this very same Alpha.

Curious.

"Why are you keeping me here?" she quivered, willing her tears not to spill over just yet.

Intense eyes bored into her own.

It took a full minute for the Alpha to respond.

"To keep you safe."

It broke eye-contact and returned to massaging the medicine as if it hadn't said anything so incredibly absurd. Warfare she understood, prisoners of war she also understood, but this was by far the most baffling encounter she had experienced since her capture. Who did this Alpha think it was fooling trying to pretend it was here to keep her safe? The Alphas had started this whole war in the first place; the safest place for her was as far away from them as possible.

"Let me out or kill me now."

There was no pause in its movements on her wrist.

"No."

She pulled her arms back roughly, wincing at the pain.

"What do you want with me?" she cried. "The Alphas have won and humans are basically going to be extinct because of you monsters. What could you possibly want from me? Let me die."

"I can't," it said simply.

Infuriated and on the verge of tears, she wrapped her arms around her knees and rocked back and forth trying to keep her impending panic attack at bay.

The Alpha hadn't moved an inch since her outburst. After a few minutes, it mechanically tilted its head to the side.

"We still have experimenting left to do. We scan humans for high compatibility levels of particular qualities and emotions for duplication purposes."

She continued to rock back and forth silently.

"You ranked highest out of all 98,397 humans in the surrounding 1,000 kilometer radius for a complex emotion we have yet to reproduce."

Experimenting. They were going to experiment on her. She was never going to escape.

"I will be the sole Alpha in charge of your testing. You will help me understand. You will help us understand."

Tears were now spilling endlessly as she realized her fate was being sealed by this thing in front of her. She wanted to die. She wanted to die. She wanted to die.

"What quality are you testing for?" she choked out, lifting her head to face the Alpha. She regretted it the moment they locked eyes, its now cold ones sending a shiver down her spine. It stood up to tower over her before making its exit.

"Love."

*.*.*.*