It could be said that a child has an easier life than an adult on this island, but the basis of that idea is already so far in the dirt neither young or old could consider it a valid claim. The work load was definitely different, but only because a child can do so much before collapsing from exhaustion. The living conditions for all of the varying ages were far less than desirable, the food was poor and clean water was scarce. This place could be considered something as terrifying and brutal as Hell on Earth and nobody who was forced to stay on it would disagree. It wasn't a mystery as to why the nobles didn't come out of their estates to look over the progress their tools were making on the landscape and not many slaves who were reassigned to different jobs claimed to miss the manual labor of toiling away in the scorching rays of the sun. Outdoor work was mainly reserved for hardened criminals and those who displeased their masters in the slightest, making it so no one would ever consider going against their owners. But even on this rotting island filled with the lowest of higher ups some pleasure was found in different work environments. For instance, working in a noble man's mansion had its perks since the roof overhead protected a person from the weather, but pleasure was only subjective in the eyes of different slaves and the blonde haired boy from before was currently missing the back breaking work of manual labor.
"306! Come over here!" A female voice called out from another room. The slave boy tensed, despising his designated number as much as the noble brat who was calling out to him. But his right to an opinion had been forsaken long before he could even have a say about it so he was forced to comply. She was the daughter of his master and was preparing for her upcoming sixteenth birthday so right now was just about the worst time to disobey any sort of order, no matter how degrading. The boy grudgingly obliged, wondering just how satisfying it would be to smash open the head of every money-hungry pack rat on this corrupted spit of land.
He entered the other room, immediately spotting the girl as she was surrounded by several seamstresses who were putting the finishing touches on an extravagant ball gown. In his opinion she looked like a bloated whale decorated with enough frills and lace in order to compensate for her disgusting features and lack of a decent feminine figure, but of course he'd never get away with saying that aloud.
The whale-girl messed with her hair as if trying to fluff it up and sent him the creepiest of glances. "Tell me what you think, boy." She demanded. The kid managed to suppress a growl and death glare, making sure to plaster an uninterested look on his face as he searched his mind for some bullshit answer to give.
"Breathtaking, m'lady." He replied, balling his fists until he could feel his nails digging into his palms but also taking care not to draw any blood which could 'sully the floors'. The girl smiled and barked a few orders to the women surrounding her to take off the added fabric and finish the dress later. After all, the poor little nobility was tired.
The blonde felt like going on a blood rage at the thought.
Suddenly, something hard and forceful connected harshly with the back of his knees, sending the boy to the floor as his legs throbbed from the blow. With years of experience he had managed to suppress a cry of pain and after spending the past few months with the ugly whale he knew exactly who had come up behind him.
"Jane, what on Earth is this thing doing here? It's covered in diseases and filth! Nothing fit for a gorgeous woman as you." The young man purred in a husky voice as he slammed a foot into the kid's back and smashed him into the carpet, causing the boy to wince. He heard a giggle come from the young woman as the seamstresses continued to remove all of the fabric they had so methodically put on.
"Don't be so hard with him, Remus. He's my little project and I don't want him ruined until I know the results of my work." The two chuckled heartily with the boy still seething beneath the male teen's shoe. Jane Grey was the girl's name and the young man standing over the kid was her fiancé-to-be. She would be engaged to him the day of her party and married a few months after turning sixteen. The two seemed to be made for one another since they both had a deep enjoyment for physically abusing their workers and looking down at anyone who didn't have enough money to spend on useless things.
Then again, that seemed to fit the character of any noble on this island.
The shoe let up and the boy was allowed to stand again. He got up without a word and made sure not to lay his eyes on anything but the floor when he heard the tromping of the whale as she descended from the raised floor she had been standing on after the excess material was removed from her 'simple' day dress.
"I have a marvelous idea to pass the time today!" The young woman suddenly exclaimed, clasping her hands together in excitement. The kid could imagine the disgusting happiness on the girl's face and he had the undying urge to beat it off of her. Jane called out to her maids and ordered them to bring her one of her old dresses from when she was a few sizes smaller than a small mountain. The kid mentally wondered what good that could do just as the teenage girl addressed him once more.
"306, get over here."
The boy obeyed quickly but was still jammed in the back with the cane Remus had used to hit him before. He approached the young woman and made sure not to lift his gaze any higher than her shoes.
"Stand here." She ordered, pointing to the small platform she had just been occupying moments before when the seamstresses were tailoring her dress. The boy had a sickening feeling but complied nonetheless. He stood on the raised ground, hoping his insight was wrong in every way when his jaw was suddenly seized in the grasp of the whale. The kid was forced to look into the repulsive gaze of Jane Grey as she elaborated on her idea.
"I don't know why Father thinks slaves are nothing but an eyesore and why he refuses to have any of them come near him, saying he would rather pay for servants." She said, staring into the eyes of the boy in front of her as she spoke. "To me, all of you human merchandise are the most wonderful things to watch." Jane giggled happily. The boy just stood there, wondering if she had happened to hit her head on something earlier and why the blow hadn't killed her.
"To me it's the most beautiful thing to look at all of these little worker bees and to see any sort of light gone from their eyes." She squeezed her grip on the slave boy's jaw but only managed to scrunch up his face with her meager strength. He betrayed his thoughts by having an unemotional mask on his expression when on the inside the kid was ready to punch the girl in her throat.
"It fills me with joy to watch as you tiny little insects work until you bleed with no hope and no purpose, just doing as you're told since you have no means for thinking up anything for yourselves." The young woman said, letting go of her slave just as the maids reentered the room with the gown she had sent them to go fetch. A devious smile crept over her face.
"But one day, as I was looking out of a window at the men working their fingers to the bone in the scorching sun, I saw something that wasn't meant to be. I saw one little boy with fire in his eyes like he had something to look foreword to in life. So I thought of this; how wonderful would it be to watch that fire sputter out? To be the very reason someone no longer has a reason to live?" Both Jane Grey and Remus burst out into laughter at her great plan before the girl snapped her fingers and motioned for her maids to approach her. A sadistic smile carved into her face just as the young woman gave them her orders.
"Put it on him." She stated bluntly. Without any hesitation, the women approached the kid. The slave boy just stared at the clothing, eyes wide in disbelief and anger. He raised his hands as if preparing to take the dress and rip it to shreds when he heard Jane speak up.
"Tsk tsk, you don't want to be left in the dungeon and sentenced to work outside again, do you?" The young woman had a conniving look in her eyes and a grin that could terrify just about anyone as she said those words so casually. The women holding the dress even bristled from fear before looking up at the kid and mentally pleading for him to just obey the girl. The boy paused momentarily, remembering the marks scattered across his body from the last time he had been left in the island's dungeon along with a few dozen other guys. It had been a long two weeks of sleepless nights and fighting against men ten times his size just to survive only to be forced into manual labor for another two weeks as soon as he was out. And he remembered all of that punishment was for forgetting to add a "m'lady" at the end of one of his sentences.
The boy swallowed, visibly shaking from rage as he weighed his safety against his pride.
He now realized the maids were standing on either side of him, removing the clothing he was made to wear in the presence of nobility. After all, he would be killed before anyone allowed him to wear the rags most slaves were forced to live in all of their lives in front of such pristine people. His ill-fitting suit jacket was pealed off, revealing a white shirt too tight for his arms and neck. If it was being removed for just about any other reason the kid would happily have it stripped from his body, but right now was different.
"Stop." The boy said somewhat meekly. It wasn't that he had been reduced to pleading and crying, but that he was having a hard time getting words to form with his rage nearly pouring out of his ears. Jane Grey just chuckled low and devilishly as the women on either side of the kid now pulled off his tie and dress shirt, revealing the gashes and abused skin on his arms and back. By Jane's orders, the men in charge of beating the kid had taken care to not leave anything too serious on his chest and abdomen. But the discolored patches and slash marks up and down his body spoke volumes of his pain tolerance and unwavering personality.
"Not until your spirit is broken and you're completely at my disposal." The young woman stated menacingly, her expression no less evil than before. Just as one of the maids began reaching for his belt buckle the kid snapped. In one swift movement, the two women were sent flying to opposite sides of the room. Shrieks erupted from Jane and the remaining maids but the boy was totally gone, lost in his rage as he picked up the gown and tore the fabric straight down the middle. He threw the pieces to the side and began advancing to the teenagers in front of him.
"S-stay back you beast!"
"Don't you dare lay a hand on me!"
The slave boy sprinted foreword and lunged at Jane, catapulting himself into the air and aiming a fatal blow to her face. But just as he was about to make contact with the young woman's left temple, his hand was seized by another's and twisted behind his back. Before the kid could do anything else, he was slammed into the floor and held down with his wrists in the stranger's grasp, a knee pressing into his back and his head driven into the carpet below him.
"Oh, you horrible boy! How dare you threaten me and ruin one of my dresses!"
"Your actions are unforgivable! You shall be executed as soon as possible!"
"Both of you, shut the hell up!"
The teenagers quieted down as the authoritative voice broke through their squabbling. Although the person sounded commanding and powerful he had the voice of someone considerably younger than the other two and the kid was somewhat confused by it as he slowly came down from his adrenaline rush. The voice was somewhat familiar to the kid, but he wasn't sure from where he'd heard it before.
"Brother Romulus! What are you doing here?" Remus asked in disbelief. Romulus snorted in dissatisfaction.
"Saving your ass, obviously. Or would you rather have this brat send a fist through yours and your fiancée's heads?" The third nobility stated, glaring down at the slave boy in his grasp. Suddenly, the sound of heavy boots came bursting into the room as the surrounding men reacted to Jane's scream.
"Good, the guards are here." Remus stated. "Arrest this slave and have him killed for threatening mine and my fiancée's life!" The teen said, pointing at the boy still trapped underneath Romulus. All of the color drained from the kid's face as he could only imagine the magnitude of trouble he had managed to get himself into. He knew he wasn't going to be let off so easily and was about to endure the most horrific torture before finally being allowed to die for his crimes. The kid struggled against the guy on top of him, hoping to run away from his fate and hide somewhere far off, but he couldn't budge. The trotting of boots began moving closer to him and he panicked even more only to have his head pressed harder into the floor by Romulus. The pressure caused him to stop his actions temporarily just as the one above him spoke up.
"Don't bother, I'll take care of this one myself." Romulus stated before standing and hauling the kid to his feet. The nobility still had a tight grip on the blonde's wrists and the back of his neck so the kid couldn't go anywhere.
"But young master Romulus, this slave…"
"This slave dared to raise a hand against my older brother. It's only right for me to be the one to deal out his punishment." The young man stated matter-of-factly. The kid just blinked, what could this guy possibly hope to do worse than the professional torturers in the dungeon?
"R-right, sir. We shall accompany…"
"No need." Romulus cut the guard off once more and began departing the room. "This punk is going to pay by my hands and if any of you interrupt me I'll do the same to you." The nobility called over his shoulder while pushing the kid out the door and slamming it behind them.
~0~
The two had been walking for quite a while, neither making a single noise other than the earth underneath them from each step they took. Romulus hadn't taken his hands away from the slave boy's wrists and the back of his neck, pushing him along sandy terrain, then earthen, then through some greenery before finally shoving the kid into a clearing completely surrounded by trees, bushes and vines. He landed on his hands and knees, skidding to a halt just in front of a shallow-looking pond. The boy stayed where he was, contemplating the easiest way to escape as he listened to the nobility approach.
"You going to get up or will I have to help you like the baby you are?"
That grabbed the kid's attention and he was up before even having time to think over the consequences. He managed to finally get a look at Romulus for the first time and was somewhat surprised at how young he actually was. He looked like he was maybe five years older than the blonde kid and just a few inches taller. He had long, shoulder-length black hair that was slicked back and a bandage across the bridge of his nose as if he got into fights often.
"Well, brat? What are you going to do next?" The elder boy teased, smirking sinisterly and goading the blonde to come and attack him. The younger snarled and tore after the nobility, delivering fast and accurate punches to the other's smug face but missing every time. After a moment, Romulus switched from defense to offence and struck the boy in his gut, chest, and jaw. The slave boy was knocked over and sent tumbling across the ground before he landed in the pond, breathing heavily and glaring fiercely at the other. The elder boy just pulled off his suit jacket and assumed a mock fighting stance before waving his hand, motioning for the kid to finish what was started. The blonde scoffed and hopped to his feet, running back and resuming his attacks. The boys fought at full strength, each landing violent attacks on the other until they collapsed from fatigue after almost twenty minutes of endless brawling. They lay on the ground, heavy breaths escaping their mouths as the both of them calmed down from the long fight. The slave boy stared up at the canopy above him, wondering what was going to come next when Romulus suddenly spoke up.
"You got a name?" The nobility asked as his breathing returned to normal. The blonde cocked an eyebrow in confusion before replying.
"No." He had never known anything beyond 306 and the various curse words he'd been called throughout his life, but the kid knew that some people came into slavery already having a name only to have it stripped away. The elder boy laughed at the other's complete lack of manners in his reply but didn't call him out on it.
"I hate my name, it makes me feel like I'm destined for too much." The nobility said before sitting up and turning towards the slave. "Just call me Crocodile."