7
"This isn't okay," Jay snarls, monkey tail flicking furiously. His lip is curled back showing all of his teeth, a sign of aggression for sure. "This isn't okay; us, I can understand, we could be dangerous, but him?!" He nods over at the tiny sleeping hybrid boy. "He's a kid! What could he possibly do?!" He blinks hard, and Kai spots the beginning of tears in his eyes.
Cole is holding his head in his hands, looking more emotional Kai's ever seen him. "He needs his parents," he whispers. "He's a four-year-old; he can't be here with us. He needs his family..."
"What are we going to do about it?" Nya asks, her eyes burning furiously. "We need to get him out of here; they can't do tests on a child!"
Kai can feel the swirling emotions in his stomach; he knows there is disgust and anger and worry, but there's no way to escape that he knows of, and... He shudders, remembering the sharp pain from earlier. He doesn't want anyone to feel that ever again. "I don't think there's anything we can do," he murmurs. "Except try and keep him safe." Nya turns incredulously toward him.
"Have you lost your mind?! If they're willing to shock him unconscious twice in close proximity, there's no way we can keep him safe!" She sounds almost hysterical, and he knows why.
"There isn't anything else we can do," he repeats, running a hand through his hair. "Not unless you know some way out of here, and a way to disarm that... that thing."
Nya quiets down, maybe hearing the shiver in his voice. Her ears and tail droop tiredly and she lets out a long sigh. "I just want to get us all out of here," she whispers to the floor before laying down in her bed. "I don't want to know what else they're going to do to us... or to him." Kai doesn't need to ask who she means.
"We should get some sleep," Cole murmurs, getting to his feet. "We'll think better after rest." He sits down next to the boy with a protective expression on his face. "I'll keep an eye on him in case he wakes up."
Kai nods and they each climb into their lofts. He can still hear Jay making angry chittering sounds and Nya's teeth grinding together, but they quickly fade away as his exhausted brain slips into sleep.
He awakes again to an odd noise coming from somewhere near the floor. He blinks, making sure the two golden spots in his vision aren't an illusion and pulls himself reluctantly out of bed. He hears a sharp intake of breath as he walks forward and suddenly two big glowing green eyes are blinking at him. He jumps backward in surprise as they wink out and the strange noise vibrates through the air again.
"Um... kid?" he whispers, trying to remember if they'd discovered the child's name. "You okay?" The golden lights burn brighter, revealing the boy curled up on himself, wings and tail curled tightly around his body, horns pulsing with light. Tears are streaming down his face which is scattered with green and golden scales like large freckles. Kai bites his lip nervously; he's never been great with feelings or making people feel better, typically having only one person to comfort in his life. So, he does the only thing that occurs to him: open his arms and wait for the child to hug him.
It only takes the hybrid a couple seconds to realize what Kai's doing, and with a sob, he launches his tiny body into Kai's, holding on tightly as though he's afraid Kai will disappear into thin air. It winds Kai slightly, but a strange warm feeling begins melting away the twisted knots in his stomach as he gently rubs the child's fluffy blond hair, careful to avoid the glowing horns.
"What's wrong, buddy?" he whispers softly.
A high version of the sound that woke Kai up throbs in his ears and he realizes it's a sound of crying that vibrates in the child's throat as tears soak into his T-shirt. "It's okay, buddy, just let it all out," Kai murmurs, moving his hand down to rub circles his back. "It's okay, I'm here..." He begins making little snuffles and clicks, something he inherits from his fox side and used to comfort Nya with when she was little. The shaking in the boy's limbs begins to slow and he begins starts making other sounds. It takes Kai a minute to realize he's copying whatever noise Kai's making, as though making them will bring some form of calm.
"Yeah, there you go," Kai whispers, not stopping the motion with his hand. "Now, can you tell me why you're upset?" Nothing but small chirruping sounds. "Do you have a name?" There's quiet, and then the little voice that Kai remembers from yesterday breathes out a word.
"Lloyd."
"Lloyd?" Kai repeats. The boy nods, floppy green ears bumping gently against Kai's face and back. "Okay, Lloyd. Do you want to talk about what made you cry?"
Lloyd shivers, making more chirping noises in his throat as though distressed. "Don't... have words," he whispers finally. "Lotta things..."
Of course, Kai thinks, wishing he could smack himself. It took Nya ages to learn how to speak human, so they mostly communicated in fox signs and sounds. The child – Lloyd – must have been trying to speak to him in whatever his hybrid language was. "Lloyd, what animal are you?" he asks quietly, hoping the boy understands the question.
Sniffling for a few seconds, then... "Imma dregon."
"A... a dragon?"
Lloyd shakes his head again, more firmly this time. "No. Dreeeegon. They much better than dragons." Kai has to muffle a laugh, but he knows Lloyd can feel it thrumming in his body. The small boy huffs quietly. "They is!" he protests.
"I bet they are, buddy," Kai agrees. "I'd much rather be a dregon than a dragon." Lloyd nods, making yet another strange sound that probably qualifies as a yawn. "You should get some rest, kid," Kai murmurs, but as he starts to pull away, Lloyd grabs on tightly, turning his face toward him. Desperation glows in those vibrant eyes, and Kai realizes that they aren't just green. There's scarlet in them too, but it fades when it meets the green about halfway down, making it extremely obvious that this boy is not normal.
"Don' leave me!" Lloyd's plea melts Kai's heart slightly and he nods, gently laying down with the boy in his bed, stifling his laughter when they find Cole asleep on the floor, and feeling his breathing slow to something calming and soft. And if the others find them like that in the morning, they don't show it at breakfast, except maybe in the soft curve in Nya's smile when she watches Kai carry Lloyd piggy-back around the room, the dregon hybrid making his odd chirring laugh in his throat, tiny wings beating at his side as though trying to take Kai into the air.
Things are a little more difficult when he tries to introduce Lloyd to the others though.
"Lloyd, this is Cole," Kai says, pushing the tiny boy forward toward the wolf hybrid. Lloyd's eyes widen and he presses against Kai, a look of fear on his scale-speckled face. Cole lets out a whooshing breath with a sad expression on his face as his ears droop.
"It's okay, Kai," he murmurs. "I'm not exactly friendly-looking."
"Maybe you should try smiling," Nya suggests, a warm look in her brown eyes. Lloyd had taken to her immediately, maybe even more than he had to him, Kai realizes with a flicker of something like jealousy.
Cole tries, and wow, his entire face changes as the milky points of his front teeth appear and his fluffy eyebrows relax into something light and inviting. Lloyd tilts his head so that his ears flop to the side, one clear over his face and a huff of laughter – LAUGHTER – escapes the wolf boy. Lloyd's eyes brighten and he hops forward, laying his hand on top of Cole's worn significantly larger one, trilling eagerly.
"My turn!" Jay whispers, getting down on one knee and holding out something bright red, dotted liberally with seeds. Lloyd turns toward him, a skeptical look on his face. Jay licks his lips before making a strange thrumming sound in his throat. Lloyd's ears stand up straight, shock in his green eyes. Jay whistles between his teeth and Lloyd darts forward, chittering eagerly as he climbs onto Jay's shoulders.
"Whoa, what did you do, Jay?" Cole asks, amusement in his voice.
"I bet he thinks Jay's another dragon," Nya says, her own teeth sparkling as she grins. "Probably because he can imitate the dragon sounds Lloyd makes."
"Dregon," Kai corrects automatically. Nya shoots him a surprised look and he feels his face grow hot. "He calls them dregons." She shakes her head fondly at him before turning back to the two shortest of the team.
Jay is listening to Lloyd babble on, his eyebrows slightly narrowed. "I think I can get the gist of it," he tells them. "But this language is seriously complex! I'm surprised he uses it."
"How many other languages do you speak?" Nya asks curiously.
Jay coughs, cheeks going red. "Well, I can mimic basically any of them," he mutters. Everyone's eyebrows fly upward in disbelief. "What, don't believe me?" Jay says, slightly defensively. "I'll show you!" He turns his head toward Kai and clears his throat before making a high yapping noise, twitching his ears.
Signals vibrate through Kai's brain as his ears decipher the message. _ Feathered/fluffy _ meat food _ much/lots _ yuck yuck/gross _
"Hey, chicken tastes great!" Nya protests, ears flattening slightly. She yaps something back at him and Jay flushes even darker.
_Clever/smart_ you _ do/make _ well/good _ fox_
Kai turns his glare to Nya, who shrugs shamelessly.
Cole chuckles unexpectedly. "Well, don't leave me out of the fun," he says, eyes twinkling, and Kai has the feeling he understands their fox language too.
Sure enough, Jay turns, confused. "You should have been able to understand us. Wolf isn't that different; it just uses some more archaic words that aren't used in fox anymore."
"Don't worry, mimic master, I understood," Cole grins, and wow, they're smiling a lot today, aren't they.
Lloyd whistles irritably, evidently feeling forgotten. Jay turns to him, making an odd chirping noise. Lloyd blinks, looking confused, and warbles something back. Jay laughs, and his laughter is bright and infectious. Without knowing why, Kai feels a smile pull at his lips too. "This little fellow's trying to give me grammar lessons!" Jay says, ruffling Lloyd's fluffy hair.
"It'll probably be best if we teach him some of the human language though," Nya says, picking Lloyd up and cradling him close to her. "We can't constantly use Jay as an amateur interpreter."
"How dare you!" Jay says with mock anger. "I are a master of language!" That sends everyone into gales of laughter, and as Kai realizes his mouth is beginning to hurt from so much grinning, he realizes that Lloyd has changed them, even in the few hours he's been here. They're closer now, unified by the tiny blond chirping in Nya's arms, a gleeful expression on his small face as his wings flap excitedly. Kai can feel new determination burning in his heart, even though the quiet voice in his head reminds him that this decision is going to make him more vulnerable, easier to break. He decides to ignore it as he sits down next to Cole and slides one arm around his shoulders. Cole blinks for a few seconds before imitating the move, eyes softening gently as they watch Jay and Nya argue over who gets to carry Lloyd while he hops between their shoulders, squeaking cheerfully, and Kai's fire burns brighter and hotter, but it isn't fueled by anger anymore.
We're united now. No going back.
AUTHOR'S NOTES
Guys, I love this family so much!
I'm gonna do a quick run down of hybrid language. Basically, each language is slightly unique, but animal families have some understanding of each other's languages (dogs, cats, lizards, birds, etc.) A word with multiple meanings will be interpreted with both (ex: Feathered/fluffy could be interpreted either way). The reason Jay can speak the languages is because monkeys are particularly good at mimicking sounds. However, in order to speak it, he will have had to heard someone speak in it briefly. Hope that makes sense!
Back on remote learning now, so I'll probably have several more chapters out today. I actually have several, but I'm publishing them slowly so I have some time to get more written. ^w^
Have a great day, all and stay safe!