AN: Yo yo yo- it's back! The hybrid universe has returned! IF you don't know what I'm talking about, this fic is a sequel to one of my earlier fics, For the Romping and the Roaring. Y'all, I am so excited to continue this, it was a ton of fun the first time around and it was so fun delving back into the world of this au and exploring the characters again- except, this time, 12 years older and a lot different!
Tbh, this was completely unplanned- but I saw a prompt for whumptober that immediately put a seed of an idea in my mind and I thought it would work really well for this universe. Originally, it was just planned to be a one-off one-shot that was kind of an AU of my AU (XD) but before I knew it I had ideas for a whole multichapter! (However, this does mean the future chapters as of now have very little structure or preparation, so chapters might be a bit slow on this one.)
The whumptober theme for this chapter is "It'll Be Fun, They Said." The chapter does get a bit squicky towards the end with some torture, so be warned.
Lloyd stepped gingerly into the house, easing the door shut as noiselessly as possible. There was a small click, and then silence. Lloyd breathed out slowly, grateful for all those times as a kid when he had snuck into the pantry for a midnight snack. He turned to go to his room-
And found himself face-to-face with Kai.
Lloyd jumped, a yelp escaping his lips, and heat flushed his face as he slapped a hand over his mouth.
Stupid puberty.
"It happened again, didn't it?" He swore he could feel Kai's gaze, pinning him against the wall and making it hard to breathe. He tried not to squirm.
"You're not even supposed to be home yet," Lloyd grumbled. "How do you always know everything that happens in my life?"
Kai rolled his eyes at Lloyd's dramatics. "The school called me."
"Snitches," Lloyd muttered.
"What was that?"
"Nothing."
Kai narrowed his eyes at Lloyd, just staring at him for long enough that it started to get uncomfortable.
Finally, Kai took a step back, sighing. "Are you okay?"
"'M fine."
Kai didn't look like he believed a word of that, his gaze immediately darting to the burn marks that stretched across Lloyd's hands- which he quickly stuffed into his pockets- but Kai didn't press.
He headed into the kitchen, and Lloyd followed, sitting down at the island as Kai slid him a couple pills- the ones he used to get rid of excess adrenaline after an accident- and Lloyd glared at them as fiercely as he could before he forced them down, coughing and spitting as he did so. Kai pressed his lips together, looking like he was going to say something, instead, just sighing slowly.
"Lloyd, this is the third time it's happened this month. Obviously, this isn't working." He gestured to the wide variety of bottles in their medicine cabinet. "Maybe it's time we take you in to the doctor's again and see if they can figure something else out."
"No way!" Lloyd stood abruptly, his wings flaring for emphasis. "I hate it there! They pinch and prod me like I'm some sort of- of animal, and everyone looks at me weird, and then they give me all these medications, and I swear, if I have to take another pill, I will puke-"
"What do you expect me to do, Lloyd?" Kai cried. "We've already got three parents wanting to press charges for you injuring their kids, one of whom was even hospitalized, and you're hurting yourself too, with those awful energy burns-" Kai took a shaky breath. "The doctors are doing the best they can. Very little is known about your… your species, and we just want to keep everyone safe."
"But can't you see? They're not doing anything! All these stupid medications are just making me throw up and faint all the time, and meanwhile my green powers are only growing stronger, and I'm no closer to being able to control them than I was before!"
Green sparks crackled in Lloyd's hands, and they both froze. Lloyd inhaled slowly, trying to relax. He hadn't hurt any of his family with his powers yet- and he wanted it to stay that way. An image of Kai, lying hurt on the ground, like one of the kids at school, flashed through his brain, making his hands spark again as he briefly panicked, but he forced the powers down. I am safe. No one is going to hurt me. I don't need powers right now.
Kai smiled slightly as the sparks faded. "See? You controlled it then. Why can't you do that at school?"
"Because," Lloyd growled, "I don't want to hurt you."
Kai eyed him warily. "And you want to hurt the kids at school?"
"...I mean, sometimes." At the look Kai gave him, he hastily added, "Not, like, majorly! Just enough to get them to leave me alone."
Kai rubbed his eyes. "Lloyd. I know it's tough for you, I really do. It hurts me to see you getting taunted for something you can't even control. But you can't hurt people. You can't. In their eyes, it only makes us more like monsters. Prove to them you're better than that, Lloyd. Prove to them you can take charge of it."
"But I can't! Sure, I did it this time, a little, but I can't control it, not really."
"But even just some control proves that it's possible. You need to keep working on it. You'll get better."
"Well, maybe I would be able to control my powers more if I even knew what they were!"
"Lloyd… please not this again."
"Why not? Why won't you tell me more about my past? What are these powers? Where do they come from? How is an Oni-dragon-human hybrid even possible? Does anyone else have my powers? What about my parents, who were they?"
"Lloyd, I've told you, we don't know! We adopted you when you were young and never met your parents. We don't know much about where you come from."
"You have to know something. You guys are inhuman, too! We have to be connected, in a way."
"I don't know," Kai sighed. "Maybe."
"It's more than just 'maybe!' You know more than you're telling me and it's not fair!"
"You're seventeen! You don't understand the whole situation!"
"Well, of course I don't understand it, because you won't tell me shit about anything!"
"Lloyd! Don't speak to me like that!"
"At least I do speak to you!"
Kai glared at him. "Go to your room. We'll talk more when the others get home."
"Great," Lloyd grumbled, trudging towards his bedroom. "Then I can have five people tell me I don't deserve to know anything. How exciting."
"Lloyd. I won't hear another word."
Fine, be that way. If they aren't going to tell me anything about my past, then I'm going to figure it out myself.
Lloyd Garmadon.
Lloyd typed the words into the Google search bar on his laptop. About thirty thousand results came up, most of the ones on the front few pages from various news articles and research relating to human-inhuman hybrid species, as well as some Wikipedia pages about Oni and dragons, some announcements from his school website, posts from his social media platforms, and even a couple about some random dude from halfway across the country who also happened to be named Lloyd Garmadon.
He scrolled past all the casual sites, honing in on the more research-based ones, but every time he thought he was getting somewhere, the article ended, went off to explain some scientific process Lloyd didn't understand, or talked the other hybrids and just brushed over him. Lloyd tried again, this time searching for "Oni-dragon-human hybrid."
Again, most were just encyclopedias and less-than-helpful research reports. Lloyd frowned at his screen. There had to be something more interesting than this.
Before he knew it, the minutes had slipped into hours, and Lloyd was shoulder-deep in research, although still not much more informed about what he actually wanted.
Lloyd was about to be done for the day, before he realized he had scrolled past one article. He clicked the link with low expectations. He doubted this would differ from all the repetitive, insignificant information on the others.
"The species possess qualities of both human and animal, which animal varying between species. Yet, we are unable to find a connection between the animal species, except that they are all naturally predatory animals… extensive research is being done into the biology components of this, but due to the very small hybrid population and respect for personal privacy, results have been limited and many have been turning to their creator for information."
Lloyd sat bolt upright in his seat. Creator? Does that mean our parents?
"But there has been little compliance, and after investigation at Julien Industries, minimal evidence was found."
Compliance? Compliance from whom? And what does Julien Industries have to do with anything?
But the article only went on to talk about characteristics of the hybrids, as all the others had done, so he went back to the search engine and tried "Julien Industries hybrids."
Most were just various postings and journal research from Julien Industries that barely mentioned the hybrids at all, and after messing around with the search settings, he finally ended up with a measly one hundred results.
After another hour of searching, the only thing he could find that could've maybe been of any use was a file of records for Julien Industries. The site was a whopping five thousand pages long, so he searched the page for "hybrid," narrowing his areas of interest down to less than a dozen.
"Files regarding information on the hybrid homosapien-animalia subspecies were partially transferred from the work of Issac Borg, although many were confiscated by the local law enforcement for further inspection."
Issac Borg? Who's that? For some reason, the name felt slightly familiar. But the records didn't give any elaboration on the contents of the files, or on Issac Borg.
Lloyd went back and typed in "Issac Borg," this time getting even less, with only 23 results. Every single website he clicked up came with an error message. He checked his connection, but it was functioning at full capacity.
They were deleted. All these articles and websites who posted about Issac Borg were deleted.
But why? Why was he completely erased from history? What did he do, and what does it have to do with hybrids?
There was one solution. There was this one site that could sometimes pull up deleted articles and closed down webpages- but it wasn't exactly trustworthy.
Lloyd sucked in his breath. If someone found out what he was doing… he could possibly get in legal trouble.
But it's my right! If the government's deleting all of this information, they're violating the rights of the press and my right to information.
Lloyd pulled up the site.
Even on here, most of the articles were missing, with only nine search results coming up for Issac Borg, but at least this time they worked when Lloyd opened them.
"Issac Borg, former executive of Borg Industries succeeding Cyrus Borg-" Lloyd started. Cyrus Borg. That was a name he knew. They had learned about him in school. He had been the most innovative mind of his time. Was Issac Borg his son? And what was 'Borg Industries?'
Scanning further, he found a little information. "Borg Industries, largest production of scientific research in Ninjago City until 3023, when it was shut down due to fraud, improper testing of human subjects, and manipulation and kidnapping of minors. It was later rebought and rebranded under new management as present day Julien Industries."
That was thirteen years ago, Lloyd noted. Had Julien Industries really used to be another company? And had they really done all those awful crimes? What did that have to do with hybrids?
Going back to search results for Issac Borg, he found a police report from Kryptarium, the biggest and most infamous, well guarded prison in the region.
Prisoner 45099872
Name: Borg, Issac
Age: 37
Sex: Male
Date Admitted: November 12, 3023
Occupation at Admission: Executive head of Borg Industries
Offences: Child Abuse, Kidnapping, Fraud, Assault, Attempted Murder
Sentence: To life until further decriminating evidence is presented
Next to the report was a mugshot of a middle-aged man. There was a dull look in his eyes and a slight scowl on his lips. Nothing in the picture seemed extraordinary.
Lower down, Lloyd saw the report was dated from 3024, so only a year after Borg had been imprisoned. He tried to look for a more recent version of the report, but there was none. There were some various notes tacked on at the bottom, but they seemed to peter out after a few months. One of the more recent ones read: "The prisoner is being tried for further charges of Unapproved Genetic Alterations on Human Subjects."
Lloyd blinked. What the heck did that mean? He couldn't find any more information on it, but something in his brain told him it was important.
Genetic alterations… Lloyd drummed his fingers on the desk. I know he was related to the hybrids in some way… he had the files on them. Maybe he was doing research? Maybe he tested different adaptations on the species?
On humans…
Could the hybrids be-
There was a sudden sharp knock on the door, and Lloyd nearly fell out of his chair, still scrambling with his laptop when Kai pushed his way in.
"Hey, bud, I'm sorry about the way things went down earlier, can we-" He paused as Lloyd glanced at his computer screen again. "What's going on? What are you looking at?"
"Nothing! Nothing."
Lloyd quickly closed the lid, but Kai was already striding forward, snatching it from his hands and opening it. His eyes darted across the screen. Lloyd had been able to close the prisoner report before Kai had gotten to it, but the other tabs were still open, and Kai's eyes widened with shock and rage as he scanned it.
"What is this? What do you think you're doing, young man?"
"I wasn't doing anything wrong!"
"You went behind my back! You specifically did what I told you not to, and you're meddling around with taboo subjects!"
"I have a right to know where I come from!"
"And you have a responsibility to follow the law!"
"Why are you so angry? It's just a harmless Google search!"
"You have no idea," Kai fumed. "You have no idea what you're getting into, and you need to stop before you get into serious trouble!"
"Stop ruining my life!" Lloyd screamed, jumping to his feet. "I hate you!"
Kai's face darkened. "You're grounded. Give me your phone, now. And your gaming console."
"Fine!" Lloyd threw his phone at him so hard he almost dropped Lloyd's laptop. "You're already oppressing me, what's every last bit of freedom I have, anyway?"
Lloyd slammed the door shut as Kai left, before flopping onto his bed and crying into the pillow.
No one ever took him seriously. It was pointless to keep trying to change their minds.
Lloyd stayed at home the next day, doing his schoolwork online. His family normally had him stay home the day after a powers incident, but he wouldn't have been surprised if his argument with Kai the previous night had added to it this time. He only left his room for food and trips to the bathroom, and avoided Kai and the others as much as humanly possible. Someone knocked on his door a few times, but every time, he hid under the covers and pretended to be sleeping.
He just wasn't in a state to talk to them right now.
By the next morning, Lloyd could at least show his face again, but conversations were short and tense. Kai wanted to keep him home from school another day, but Lloyd insisted on going. School may have been the place where he got taunted the most, but it was also the place with the person who probably understood him more than anyone else in the world.
Although, she didn't look very understanding today.
Raina slammed her locker door shut so hard that it made her long black hair flutter, and Lloyd raised an eyebrow at her. "Everything alright?"
"What? Oh, yeah, I'm fine. Just, uh, my locker gets kinda stuck, so you gotta give it some force sometimes, you know what I mean?"
"Raina, your locker's fine."
She glared at him. "You're not going to believe any excuse I give you, are you?"
"You've been my best friend since we were five, what do you think?"
"Fine," she huffed. "My parents are just being huge jerks, alright?"
"Tell me about it," Lloyd huffed. "I got yelled at after what happened earlier. For something that isn't even my fault!"
Raina looked at him, and he blushed. "Sorry, this is about you."
"No, that's the thing!" Raina threw up her hands. "It's not about me! It's about…" She glanced at Lloyd, before her gaze quickly flitted away. "It's about them! They're being stupid and ignorant!"
Lloyd put a hand on her back. "Hey, hey, it's okay. We'll figure things out. Do you want to talk about it?"
"Dude, I don't want to burden you down with my problems. You've got enough to worry about."
"Hey, you're not burdening me. You can tell me anything."
Raina shook her head. "I'm serious!"
"So am I! Why aren't you telling me? Don't you trust me?"
Raina stared at him. After a moment, her gaze dropped to her feet, and she twisted her hands anxiously. "I don't… I don't want to upset you… again."
Lloyd ignored the twinge of hurt in his chest. "Raina… I'm over that now."
Am I? You know very well you can't control it any better than you could a couple of days ago.
Am I scaring my one close friend?
"I know! I'm not saying- look, Lloyd, it's not your fault. I hate seeing you get in trouble for something you can't control. It's just… I don't want to start anything up again."
What is that supposed to mean?
"Are you sure you're okay? You said something about getting yelled at?"
He sighed. "My family, they're just… I dunno. Disappointed, I think? And they're still refusing to tell me anything about my life before they adopted me. I thought I would research it myself, and Kai got furious and grounded me. I just thought, maybe if I knew where I came from, I could-" he held out his hands, staring at them.
Raina put her delicate fingers over his. "Control it?"
Lloyd nodded.
"Look, Lloyd, I like you just the way you are. Your powers are awesome, and who cares if you have a little trouble from time to time? I don't want you to suppress a whole side of you just to make others happy."
"It's more than just a little trouble. Gene went to the hospital that one time."
"He was being a jerk, he was totally asking for it."
"Raina!"
"What?" She scowled. "Anyone who is that mean to you is an awful person."
Lloyd shook his head. "No. He's awful, but I can't go around hurting people like that. It's wrong."
"It's not your fault."
"Maybe not, but something's got to change. I just wish my family would actually listen to me."
Raina nodded. "Yeah. They think that just because you're a kid that you don't know anything and that they should be the ones bossing you around and controlling your life."
Lloyd glanced at her. "Okay, I poured my heart out to you. What's going on with you?"
"I told you, you don't need to know."
"That's not fair! I thought we trusted each other!"
"It has nothing to do with trusting you! I'm trying to protect you!"
They fell silent, staring at each other, slightly out of breath. After a few moments, the warning bell for the start of first period rang, and Lloyd turned to go. "Okay, whatever. See you later, I guess."
"Lloyd, wait-"
He kept walking, and suddenly, a hand was snatching his wrist. He glanced down to see Raina tugging on him.
"My parents- well, my dad- he told me he doesn't want me hanging out with you anymore."
Lloyd blinked at her. "What?"
Raina's eyes were blazing. "I couldn't believe what I was hearing! He heard about your power outbreak and told me you were a 'bad influence' and that I could 'do better.' He was being such a close-minded jerk, I just.. I wanted to hit him! We've been best friends since kindergarten! He knows you're a good kid! And my mom! I thought she, of all people, would be on your side, but no! She didn't outright agree with my dad, but she didn't say anything in your defense, either. Has she forgotten all the play dates we had? All the support you gave me when I was struggling with my depression, or all that bullying you went through? How close she was to your family, especially Kai? Does none of that mean anything to them just because a couple of kids got hurt?"
Raina stopped, panting, finally finished with her rant. She must've caught something in Lloyd's eyes, because her face fell. "Lloyd? Are you okay?"
"I'm-" his voice stuck in his throat, and he tried again. "I'm fine."
"This was why I didn't want to tell you." She reached for his hand, and he flinched away. Raina's eyes widened, and she looked at him. "Lloyd, you know it's just my parents being dumb, right? I don't agree with them! I'll fight for you! I'd run away from home if it came down to that!"
"You won't need to," he muttered, turning away.
She grabbed his hand again. "Wait. You wanna hang out after school?"
"Can't. I have plans."
Lloyd turned away and headed down the hall, the heartbroken look on Raina's face only causing the smallest twinge in his chest. He wasn't angry at her, but her words stung. He couldn't face her right now.
Looking back, he wished more than anything he had at least said goodbye.
At the end of the school day, Lloyd texted Kai, asking if he could hang out at Raina's house to study. A few minutes later, he responded, saying he could as long as he was back by dinner.
Lloyd set off, walking down the main road, deeper into the city.
Except, he had no intention of going to Raina's.
Lloyd was done with having other people tell him what he should and shouldn't do. He was going to get some answers.
Catching a bus downtown, Lloyd found himself at his destination about fifteen minutes later- right at the foot of Julien Industries.
He realized he hadn't exactly thought this through. Judging by all the blocked articles online, he couldn't exactly stroll in through the front doors and ask for information on hybrids and Issac Borg without getting immediately reported to the police or something. In fact, he thought, looking back wryly at his wings and tail, he probably should've concealed his inhuman features more. Lloyd had a habit of drawing attention everywhere he went, and that was something he was trying to avoid now.
The only thing he could think of was searching for discarded evidence in the dumpsters out back. It seemed like a slim chance, especially considering the event he was trying to find out more about had happened thirteen years ago, but that was what they usually did in the movies.
Great, now I'm relying on movie logic. How desperate am I?
Very, he decided, and he really didn't have any other ideas, so dumpster diving it was.
Slipping around the building, Lloyd climbed onto a dumpster and pushed up the lid. On the top was just your typical trash- mostly rotting food. Lloyd's nose wrinkled. This wasn't going to be as easy as he had thought. He was starting to wish he had at least brought some gloves.
"You're not going to find anything useful in there, I'm afraid."
Lloyd jumped, the hair on the back of his neck standing up, and he pumped himself into the air with two flaps of his wings, turning around.
A tall, gangly looking man with long, dark hair stood behind him. His grin was sharp and off-putting, his neck long and craned forward. Everything about him screamed 'run!'
The man held up his hands. "I'm not going to hurt you. You can come down from there. I promise I don't bite."
Reluctantly, Lloyd landed on the ground again, although he kept his wings poised, just in case.
"I've been wanting to meet you for a long time, Lloyd."
Lloyd bristled. "How do you know my name?"
The man laughed, making a large sweeping gesture from the velvety ears atop his head down to the scaly tail that rested against the ground. "Just a hunch."
"Who are you? What are you doing here?"
"Looking for you. I figured I would find you here, after all the suspicious online activity that was coming from your IP address the other day."
"Hey! That's private information! How were you monitoring me?"
"It's actually quite easy when you have friends in the right places. Next time you want to do something illegal, boy, I suggest you at least use a private browser."
Lloyd's tail thrashed. "I wasn't doing anything illegal! I just wanted to learn more about my past!"
The man raised an eyebrow. "Your past?"
"Yeah. Like where I came from. Who my parents are."
The man narrowed his eyes. "You don't know?"
Lloyd shook his head. "I was too young to remember anything before I was adopted."
"Yes, but…" the man paused, his brow furrowing. "Your… guardians, they didn't tell you?"
"They claim not to know anything."
"Really? That's interesting. Because I know very well that they know quite a bit about where you came from. In fact, so do I."
"Wait, what?" Lloyd's ears twitched anxiously. "How do you know that?"
"I was born a while before you or any of the other hybrids. I can remember it clearly. Oh yes, I think you would've been three? Four? Well, anyway, you and your friends were all over the news. It was quite the chaotic few weeks."
"What? Why? Why were we on the news, what happened?"
"Quiet, boy," the man hissed, glancing around. "You never know who may be listening."
Lloyd shrunk closer to the man, scanning his surroundings. Were there really people spying on him right now?
"I'll tell you what I know. But not here. We need to go somewhere more private. Somewhere we can't be so easily overheard."
"I thought you said it was all over the news. What changed? Why is it such a big secret now?"
"The government covered it up. Many people and companies were receiving backlash, and they concealed it to save their own sorry behinds. But anyone old enough during the event remembers it. You would've been too young to remember anything, as you said, but the other hybrids certainly weren't. I'm surprised they didn't tell you anything."
Lloyd felt a burn in his chest. He had been sure Kai and the others had known more than they were letting on, but if the man was to be believed, they knew almost everything! And they had kept it from him! They had seen him struggling with his powers and refused to help him with it, and for what? What was the point of all this? Why didn't they want him to know?
You weren't supposed to keep secrets from the people you loved.
Lloyd fought back the tears stinging his eyes, trying to channel it into anger by breathing a small plume of fire instead. "This doesn't make any sense."
"It's not fair, is it?" The man shook his head. "I guess they didn't care about you as much as you thought."
"No, they- I mean…" Lloyd stopped, grinding his teeth.
What if he's right?
What if they don't love me?
"I know you want answers. I can give you them."
Lloyd's head snapped towards him. "You will? You'll tell me? But… why?"
"Because you're special, Lloyd. You have capabilities unlike most others, and I think that deserves to be celebrated. Unlike your guardians, I don't want to hide or shelter you from who you truly are. I want to help you embrace it."
"Really?" Lloyd looked down at his hands. "I'm really that special?"
"You, my boy, are one in a million. You know how many people would want to possess the power you do?" The man's gaze darted to his hands, flashing hungrily.
"So… will you tell me?"
"Yes, but not here. As I said, this information is sensitive."
Lloyd hesitated. "Where are we going?"
"Just somewhere more safe. My house is just down the road a couple blocks."
"Wait…"
The man turned back to him. "Surely you're not having second thoughts?"
"No! No, I mean…" Lloyd glanced down at his watch. "My family's expecting me home soon."
The man scowled. "Aren't you a bit too old for a curfew?"
"No, it's not that, it's just- well, Kai gets really nosy when I'm not doing what I'm supposed to, and I don't want him to find out I'm here. Just- just hang on, I'm going to ask him for more time."
Lloyd: hey can i stay at raina's a little longer? I can eat with her family
It didn't take long at all for Kai to respond.
Kai: k, that's fine, just dont stay out too late. It's a school night
"Alright," Lloyd announced. "He doesn't suspect a thing. We can go now- uh, I just realized, I never caught your name."
The man grinned. "You can call me Pythor."
Pythor? Lloyd frowned. Older people sure had weird names sometimes.
"Oh, and I am terribly sorry for having to do this to you."
"Wait, what-" Lloyd whipped around, but before he could do anything. something heavy collided with his head, and the world went black.
The room was so dark that it took Lloyd a moment to realize he had actually opened his eyes. He waited for them to adjust to the lighting- normally he could see well in the dark- but his eyes seemed to be taking their sweet time.
He groaned softly, trying to raise his head, but it felt heavy and slow.
Where… where am I…
Lloyd blinked rapidly, trying to keep his eyes open. What was wrong with him?
"That would be the sedatives."
Lloyd jumped at the sound of the voice, slowly raising his gaze to see Pythor walking towards him. Lloyd jerked away, but was quickly stopped by the yank of the metal chains around his ankles and arms.
"What're you… what're going to do with me?"
"Don't you see? This is an opportunity of a lifetime! Sure, we could throw you in a cage and watch your behaviors, but that wouldn't give us any information we don't already have. Your body, however, has experienced a relatively normal human life. Wouldn't it be fascinating to discover those effects on your body?"
Lloyd glared at him. "You didn't answer my question. What're you going to do with me?"
"Oh, we just need some samples. Not a big deal. Although…" he leaned back, laughing. "Maybe not so easy for you."
He had something- a tray. Lloyd craned his head to look at it and immediately wished he hadn't. Small, sharp blades, lined up neatly next to the larger knives, the scissors, and long, pointed needles-
Lloyd scrambled backwards- as much as he could, anyway- as Pythor held up the glinting blade. "No, no, no, please, what do you want, I'll-"
"This is what I want," Pythor insisted. "Now hold still, or you'll only make it worse for yourself."
Lloyd squeezed his eyes shut. For a while, there was nothing, but Lloyd didn't dare to look. He didn't want to watch, there was nothing he could-
He only felt the coolness of the blade for a millisecond before it was slitting his wrist. Lloyd bit down on his tongue, drawing blood.
Another cut, this one deeper, slower- Pythor was drawing out the pain. He wanted something out of him, but what? Tears leapt to his eyes. What, what does he want?
Still, he refused to scream. Pythor was trying to coax some kind of reaction out of him, and Lloyd wasn't going to appease him.
The room lapsed into a deep quiet. Lloyd felt like he was drowning it in, fighting through the thick blackness to no prevail.
He wants you to feel hopeless. It's all in your head.
Pythor's hands were steady and precise as he worked, filling Lloyd with the horrible certainty that he had done this before.
He knew how it worked. He knew where to cut him where it hurt.
Lloyd clenched his teeth as the blade cut across his breastbone, mere inches away from the major artery in his neck. Lloyd had never paid much attention in health class, but he knew he would bleed out before he could even process it if the artery was cut.
At least it would be a quick way to go.
"I'm sure you've heard the old saying, death by a thousand cuts," Pythor said after a while. "Figurative, usually, but I've always wondered about the literal accuracy. How many moderate-sized cuts would it take to kill a person, do you think?"
Lloyd's breath hitched. For the first time, he opened his eyes. Pythor narrowed his eyes at him, and Lloyd- oh, there was blood everywhere, the shirt he had worn that day- a top by his favorite band Nya had gotten him for his birthday- was ruined.
Pythor laughed. "Don't worry. I'm not going to kill you. I have very good reasons to want you alive. But I'm not afraid to… test your boundaries."
Lloyd moaned- part from agony and part from fear- as he reached for a fresh blade.
"What are you doing?" he sobbed. "Please, please don't. You've gotten enough blood. Why do you keep going?"
"First of all, your blood is much more valuable than you know. I could get nearly a quarter million for a pint of it. I won't actually be selling it, of course- I don't want to give away your secrets. But when such large sums of money are involved, people get desperate. It's easy to manipulate them.
"And second-" Pythor annunciated his point with a sharp twist of the blade, and Lloyd choked. "That was a little white lie. I do want your blood, but more importantly, I want it out of you. I won't make the same mistakes Borg made." He glared at Lloyd, his dark eyes glinting. "I won't let you remain strong and prosperous like he did. Weak prisoners are the ones who don't get away."
"What do you mean? What- what did Borg do? You said you-" he grunted in pain, grinding his teeth together- "you'd tell me."
Pythor barked a laugh. "You genuinely don't know, do you? I had thought perhaps it was a ploy to play yourself off as more naive than you actually were, but you're actually so gullibly ignorant that you didn't know about the biggest revelation of the century, even when you were a key player!"
"I told you, they didn't tell me anything."
"Then they made a big mistake. Ignorance is not bliss, boy. Perhaps if you had known what happened, you would've known to not stick your nose into dangerous places."
Lloyd's heart was pounding. He felt like he should defend the others, but he didn't know what to say. What exactly were they trying to protect me from? What could've been worse than not knowing at all?
"He made you. You and your mutant friends were his lab experiment, his special little creation."
Lloyd took a breath, and when it failed, another, his head reeling, although the smell of blood probably didn't help.
No. No way. I'm not… I can't be…
Pythor must've seen the turmoil on his face, and he grinned cruelly. "Oh, that stings, doesn't it? What, you didn't think you had a loving mother and father nurturing you as a child, did you? Without Borg, you wouldn't have been born. You should've been grateful to him. Instead, your bratty friends revolted and ran away with you before turning Borg into the police. You were going to be so great, and that fool let you go. I told him he should've kept you in submission from the start, but he insisted on coddling you and earning your loyalty. He always was a stupidly sentimental man. I have no such weakness."
He glared at Lloyd. "Borg and I used to be partners until he took control of the biggest scientific empire in the city and left me in the dust. It was a mistake. Without me, he failed. I will not fail."
Lloyd trembled. What had he gotten himself into? He should've just listened to Kai. He should've just stayed home.
Now he didn't even know if he was going to ever go back home.
"I, personally, prefer to ingrain loyalty another way." He paused, lifting a needle. "Quite literally, actually."
"Don't. Please, please, there's got to be another way! Please, I can't, I'll do anything-" Lloyd broke down sobbing, but his begging fell on deaf ears. Pythor merely shook his head, raising the needle.
Lloyd squeezed his eyes shut, looking away, but Pythor grabbed his chin, turning his face back towards him. "No. You need to watch this." Lloyd whimpered, and Pythor tightened his grip. "Do it. Or you'll have something far worse coming your way."
Lloyd didn't doubt it for a second.
Forcing himself to look down at his wrist, he watched as Pythor disinfected it with a cold cloth, then cleaned the needle.
Then, he stuck it in his wrist.
Lloyd forgot his promise to himself not to scream. Fiery agony shot through him as Pythor carved lines into his wrist- over and over, watching flesh peel away.
Listening to his own screams was a kind of torture in itself. Lloyd had made plenty of inhuman noises in his life, but this was unlike anything before. They echoed through the room, loud shrieks for help and begging Pythor to stop, dispersed between the shrill, guttural cries rivaling even those of a fierce beast, the kind that would've sent most sensible people running and hiding.
Although he had quickly learned Pythor was no sensible person.
To anyone nearby, it would've been an eerie, desperate tale of agony and torture, but Lloyd had the sinking feeling that there was no one willing to help him for miles.
His voice was raw in his throat, and he just wanted it to stop, to be over-
After many long minutes, lost through the haze of pain, Pythor finally finished, and, pulling back, revealed the symbol of a pair of dragon wings scarred deeply into the skin on his wrist.
As soon as Pythor released his grip on him, Lloyd slumped backwards, his head spinning. The effects of extensive blood loss were truly setting in now, and Lloyd felt like he was going to throw up.
"This is who you are," Pythor snapped, snatching his arm before he could faint. His long fingers dug into Lloyd's forearm, and he pointed to the scarification. "Never forget who you belong to."
Lloyd stared at him, heart pounding wildly. Then, Pythor let go and Lloyd fell, the last thing he remembered a sharp explosion of pain in his head, before his world was plunged into complete blackness.