Disclaimer: I don't own any of the properties this is based on.

Warning: Cannabilising happens in this chapter. It doesn't go very in-depth at least.

Her small stomach and her teeth ached. The bone she was gnawing on had already had the spongey stuff sucked out of it, but it helped deal with the pain in her teeth.

Her stomach growled. Dad hadn't appeared with her latest meal yet. How long would it take to test Mum? How long will it be before she's out and actually getting trained? Dad had said that her eyes were damaged, and she wouldn't, but Solaris said there may be potential if Mum passed her test.

She wondered what Mum was like. Was she really tall like Dad? What parts of her did she share with Mum? How strong was she? Solaris said she was 'unprecedented' and potentially what they have been hoping for or something.

She hadn't lost a single match and she always led her 'team' to victory too. That should have been impossible. No one had managed to last years without a single defeat. Dad was supposed to test how far that ability to win stretched. Something about finally getting a myth or legend and the number 494.

Her number was 443 at the moment, but after she gets trained, she'd be able to get to 444 and then 445 like Dad. 443 didn't really get the numbers but she's heard a lot of things. She didn't understand it all though.

Her stomach growled and she shivered. It was pretty cold in here and the things on her ankles really hurt from being even colder than the air. She couldn't bend enough to rub some warmth into the area. 443 decided she really didn't like the cold, or chains.

Dad didn't seem to like them either. He was always in a grumpy mood when he came back smelling of cold and snow.

Dad's footsteps caught her ears, she looked up to where the food usually dropped from. Things made noises and a small gust of warmer air circled in and out of her room. Food was thrown down and landed with a thunk. The opening closed and Dad walked away.

Did Mum's test not go well? He didn't seem very happy, usually, he stayed for longer than that.

She stood and waddled over to her food. She might have tripped a few times, but she'll blame the chains and not her own lack of balance and coordination. The food was still warm and smelled fresh. They smelled of volcanic ash, sweat and fresh blood, but that was only recent and at surface level.

The urge to eat tried to force her to take a bite already, but boredom and a faint warning in the back of her head tried to tell her to wait. Boredom won out. Besides, maybe she can smell past the most recent scent to its natural smell. If her other sense were strong enough to make up for her lack of sight, then maybe she wouldn't have to stay in here.

She stepped closer and tripped. Landing face first on a delicate dusty thing. She sneezed at the powder that came off it. It smelled dangerous but weak. She should be strong against it, resistant to it. But it was still dangerous.

443 did not like the smell. But she could smell under the place it was hunted and killed now. It smelled like home and safety. Dad's sand and warmth combined with blood and iron, fire and sweat, wind and brain, roses and sun, ozone and horse-hair, water and snow. They combined with the natural scent of night and bug to somehow make an almost perfect scent.

How snow factored into her apparent favourite smell bewildered 443. The scariest thing in existence was somehow comforting? At least while combined with the other array. But the missing pieces… what was missing from the scent of her food in front of her?

She almost didn't want to eat it. But she could feel the dizziness from hunger almost slamming into her with every breath. She was starving… her food was right there… why did she still not want to eat it?

She felt it; fragile papery skin peeling off with her touch. Her food was big, bigger than her. Maybe almost double? There were four dangling bits. Maybe she could just eat those first? Then the smell would linger if she ate more sparingly.

She usually didn't eat parts and leave stuff for later. The urge to eat it all now wasn't here. But it was food, and she was starving. She needed to eat.

443 didn't even rip the dangly bits off with her hands. Her mouth was stronger, and her teeth made ripping meat easier. If she chipped a tooth again by accident, it'll just grow back by the next day. Provided she remembered to pull out the damaged tooth.

Her teeth clenched down around the base of a dangly bit and ripped. Swallowing the meat whole. Blood flowed out; its scent spilled into the air. Combined with the iron of the chains, it kind of helped the feeling of her gut curdling.

She didn't want to eat anymore. The poison within the flesh spread inside of her. The flesh was dry and ashy from the volcano. Spitting up the poisonous meat wouldn't help her. She was already weak from hunger, bruised from her own clumsiness. Unconsciousness claimed her without haste.

When she woke, her teeth were gnawing on a new bone and the room stunk of dried blood and dead, rotting flesh. The scent of home and safety that had accompanied her last meal was buried and corrupted.

Her stomach lurched painfully, and her body felt weird, wrong. Everything hurt and she couldn't do anything to stop the tears that fell down her face. Why did something in her head whisper that she'll never smell night-bug again? Oh, that's right, she ate all of it. Couldn't smell something that was gone forever.

Why did her chest hurt so much from that thought?

The bone in her mouth splinted under the force of her jaw and three of her teeth chipped. Her skin felt like it was both freezing and burning, with insects crawling over her trailing fire and ice. Why did Dad feed her something that hurts so much?

Did he not want her anymore since Mum failed?

443 fell asleep with tears burning freezing trails down her face.

'Wake up!' a voice hissed. Her eyes shot open and the sound of feet coming towards 443 registered. 'Good. Now be prepared, you're only going to get one shot at this.'

There was no one with her in the room. No way for her to clearly hear a voice coming from outside. Where could this voice be coming from? And be prepared for what?

There was a feeling of people coming towards her. Their emotions were turbulent and intimidating. They were excited. Something happened to make them like this. What they wanted was her, and for no good reason.

'I'm talking to you in your head. They can't grab you, okay? They've got devices that'll take your free will away and power you up. It will not be pleasant. So, when they open the door, you need to rush them instead. Then run, I'll guide you to safety. They won't be able to take you from her.' The voice told her. 'They'll be there in seventy seconds. Be ready!'

Anticipation and adrenaline started pulsing in her veins. But there was one flaw in this plan. The chains attached to her ankles jangled as she adjusted her feet. The urge to transform burned under her skin. She never did it before but knew it was there. Unfortunately, the cuffs wouldn't let her transform without chopping her own feet off.

Good to know if she was ever starving and desperate that she had options, but it was a hindrance right now.

'You're a ground dragon. Metal will warp and break under your influence. Call on the earth around you. Break free and snap your own chains. You don't have much time. Don't hesitate!' She didn't. Her power was weak, but steel was vulnerable to her. The walls were torn through by the earth outside her room. Dirt spilled into the room, a new scent she's only smelled on her dad or food.

It moved under her will, her energy was being sapped away as she made the earth wrap around her ankle and rip the cuffs off. The metal screamed as she did this and the people walking towards her started to run instead.

Affection and pride filled her, but the emotions felt almost foreign. 'Good. As soon as that door opens, you need to fly. Your wings are small, not really wings at all actually, but they can get you up and out of there.'

The food door opened, and the people on the other side didn't hesitate before trying to come in. 443 didn't hesitate either before rushing past them, brushing past them, and dragging the smell of fresh blood into the air as their skin stuck to her instead of themselves. But they were all taller, their legs longer. They were catching up.

'Then transform already. Take the human form Mum gave us and use it. Your legs will be longer, and you can match their speed.' The voice didn't need to give her much reason before the tension burning in her muscles vanished as her body changed. Everything felt both right and wrong.

There were gasps of astonishment behind her. The voice was right, she was now matching their speed instead of being caught up on. But she wasn't creating distance.

'That's fine, just keep this pace.' There was a feeling of safety, warm arms wrapping around her, a back between her and danger, someone behind her, always supporting her. The blood-iron scent connected to a heart and lungs. 'They won't be able to touch you after you get there. Now turn right.'

She turned, jumping off a leg after it landed and almost managing a ninety-degree turn. She stumbled slightly, but the people after her had to slow down to turn. 443 had managed to gain some more ground.

There were several more turns before she entered an area with a cacophony of scents and sounds. Growls, chirps, hisses, clanks, whirrs, squarks, groans, whimpers, cries, sobs, screams, snarls, snaps, barks, trumpets, squeaks, screeches, thumps, trills, gasps, wheezes, gurgles, splashes, buzzes, hums… a cacophony filled with more sounds than words applicable to it.

She ran past them all. Some sections were clearly better than others. There were hundreds of them. Cells with up to seven beings inside. Some scents were familiar. The same as the food she'd eaten in the past. Some stunk of the places her food had been hunted in. One with less than seven even smelled a lot like one she'd eaten yesterday.

The voice directed her to the quietest area. No one was in the cells nearby, and eventually, she ran far enough that the cacophony of before was a whisper in the background. That whisper was easily drowned out though.

"I know it's weird to say this
But I've been thinking 'bout it lately
Reminiscing about us in Vegas
Drinking like we're famous
Man, those days were crazy
But your book ran out of pages
And now I wish I never waited
To tell you out of all the moments in my life
The ones I got to share with you
Were probably my favourite."

A foreign feeling of love, sadness and pain thrummed through her. If the voice could talk to her in her head, could it send its emotions too? Did it mean to do that? Why was it sad?

"I know you're looking down on us
I'm missing you bro
I hope you're proud of us
At least I know you made it home
And I know you're not alone."

The solo voice was joined by others. Four others harmonised with it and added to the song with experience and emotion. 443's breath was coming in pants as the voice silently poked her in their direction.

"'Cause now you're singing with a choir
Now you're dancing with a crew
You ain't doing this solo
We all ridin' with you
No one can put out your fire
Nobody filling your shoes
'Cause now you're singing with a choir
We all ridin' with you
Yeah, yeah."

She didn't want to interrupt, but that was impossible as she turned down the corridor and they spotted her. There were six people in there. They'd frozen completely at her appearance before five turned as one to look at the other one.

She stumbled and tripped, falling on the ground, and knocking a tooth out of her mouth. She managed to stifle the whimper, but it didn't seem to do any good. They'd noticed it anyway.

Her pursuers weren't that far away. She struggled to stand, but she had never run before in her life and now her legs didn't want to support her. Pushing and pulling herself across the ground with her arms worked for a little bit, but they were gaining too fast. They were coming! Her breathing broke and she couldn't draw in any air.

No, no, no! She was so close. Tears poured down her cheeks. A warm comforting feeling surrounded her. Reassuring her. But how was this safe, Voice?

There was a faint click, not long after a hand rested on her head. It smelled of blood-iron. A reassuring scent she had nearly forgotten. A large part of her involuntarily relaxed.

Her pursuers turned the corner into the corridor and froze. Urine immediately permeated the air as they lost control of their bowels from sheer terror. A few of them dropped lifelessly, like puppets with their strings cut. Others ran, screaming and flailing. Some became as still as statues. If they had actually turned to stone, she wouldn't be surprised.

Only one seemed brave enough to actually do something. "Y-y-y-y-you sh-sh-should-dn't b-be out o-of y-y-your c-cell, 44492."

She couldn't hear the steps, but the scent of blood-iron left her and went towards them. "W-wait! 44492- Victuuri, don't-!" They were cut off and they dropped heavily, not dead. The few that had stayed still ran.

There was a whistle back in the cell followed by slow claps. "Yeah, Mum! You show those grunts who's boss."

Fond amusement filled her and there was a snort that came from the silent walker. Blood-iron returned to her and something warm fell on her. It was wrapped around her, protecting the arms that cradled her as she was picked up. The blood-iron scent was all around her, comforting her, warming her. It felt like it was attaching itself to her, to become a part of her like it once had Night-bug.

The cell door clicked behind her, and she was set down, cuddled in Blood-iron's arms and lap. Fire-sweat brought heat with them as they ducked under Blood-iron's arm to wrap around her too. Rose-sun settled nearby, emitting something that relaxed her too tense muscles. Ozone-horse shifted around close by, a faint static-y hum replicating the stopped song coming from them. Water-snow drifted over but stepped back calmly as her instinctual terror of ice made her flinch.

Wind-brain wasn't there. But there was a new scent, a new piece to the perfect smell. Steel and bright. They came over too and rested a small hand on her knee. They were so small, smaller than her in her normal form. At the thought of that form, she was back in it. The thing that she was wrapped up in was now as tall as her. It swallowed her, but it was so warm and comforting…

443 needed to get one of these for herself. And when she gets it, she's never going to let it go.

There's movement above her head. Palms shifting against each other and then four fingers on each hand slapping down on wrists.

Fire-sweat nuzzled against her through the fabric. "Hi, Calamity. I'm Fieyre, He/Him." He pointed over at Rose-sun. "That's Tsarina, She/Her." Then at Ozone-horse. "That's Lucifer, they're genderfluid, so they switch between He/Him, She/Her, and They/Them. Just ask, they won't mind. They're they, right now." He pointed at Water-snow. "She's Phocidae, She/her. Don't worry, she won't ever hurt you." Then he patted the really small Steel-bright. "This is Kiefer, He/Him." Lastly, he directed her attention to Blood-iron. "This is Victuuri, She/Her. She's our Mum! Yours too, we know. None of the others can transform into human bodies."

Kiefer shifted out from under Fieyre's hand. Fieyre continued on unaffected. "What are your preferred pronouns?"

Preferred pronouns? 443 was bewildered, blinking her useless eyes at everything. What-? 'You're a She/Her. Your body matches your gender.' So, the voice hadn't abandoned her yet. 'I'm Xikick, He/Him. Of course, I wouldn't abandon you. You're my little sister.'

She repeated her pronouns to Fieyre. "But… I thought I was 443? Why did you call me Calamity?"

"Because that's your name," Kiefer told her. "443 is just a number. Mine is 303, Fieyre's is 392, Rina's is 407, Luce has 523, Pho's got 365 and Mum's is 44492. She's got a bigger number because it's talking about something else."

Lips pressed against her head and the skin stayed behind as Mum pulled away. The others gasped, and she pulled in on herself. Some were lightly flicked in the forehead and hands moved through the air.

"Rough Skin? Okay." Small hands grabbed both of her cheeks. "It may physically hurt us, but we're not going to stop loving you because of something that petty."

443- no, Calamity, couldn't stop her own tears. But these ones felt… good? She felt good anyway. And so warm as she was dragged into a group hug. So, this was Home-safety. Something was still missing though, and it wasn't just Night-bug or even Dad's Sand-warmth.

Although who was that Chemical-danger mixing in with Wind-brain's fading scent? It felt half right.

"HighveKing and Xikick died, and we're technically their replacements. Mum is only allowed to take care of a maximum of six of us at a time." Kiefer explained to her. "King died really young. Maybe over a decade ago if we're getting our times right. That would have been before you could transform or feel the ground like you can now, Calamity."

She silently nodded, listening as Tsarina sang half a song, the unknown lyrics never picked up by anyone. Over a decade ago and their eldest sister still sang as if she'd lost him yesterday. None of the others was like that, except maybe Fieyre with Xikick.

But he wasn't dead. He'd spoken to her, in her head. Why didn't he tell them he was alive? Just not physically here right now.

"Rina and King are twins. They shared some kind of special connection. But with King gone, Tsarina's sometimes half a person. Seeing him get almost sliced in half by 445 isn't a great memory either. No one took his death well."

They watched as Lucifer, He/Him and Lu at the moment, started a song, Fieyre ended up joining in.

"What was King?" Calamity asked. Everyone seemed to be something, she learnt. Like Fieyre being an ape, Phocidae being a walrus, and Lucifer being a zebra. Kiefer's something called a Futakuchi-onna.

"He's a poisonous moth. He and Rina shared being Poison, and they were actually related to Dad." Kiefer replied. "A moth is a nocturnal bug obsessed with light. Nocturnal meaning awake at night. So, he's a night bug. Tsarina was his light."

But her breathing had stopped. She'd been here for a bit now; she knew things. What her food had once been for instance. But… night-bug? A decade ago? Poisonous – dangerous to consume – and from before her power had fully kicked in?

She was vomiting, her stomach trying to shove its way up her throat and out of her like the 771's could.

Night-bug wasn't really a meal she'd ever forgotten. The food poisoning was enough to make her remember even if its scent hadn't. But she had largely repressed it, to a fact she couldn't forget in the back of her head.

The taste of her oldest remembered meal still existed in her memory. The taste felt like it was replicating itself on her tongue as bile and partially digested normal, not creatures like her, food came out.

A hand rested on her back, and the smell of roses and the sun and non-nauseating flowers and herbs, filtered into her nose. Learning to eat normal food had been a struggle after eating corpses for what they guessed was around twelve years. She was still learning, so they weren't surprised.

Calamity turned to Tsarina. She couldn't keep this from her.

"I ate HighveKing. Dad- father, threw him in and he was food, so I just- just-." She gasped for air. "I ate him, and he's poisonous so I got poisoned afterwards, so I remembered him. I remember how he tasted. I can still taste him. I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry."

She was pulled into Mum's trembling arms. But it wasn't trembling from shock or disgust. Just sheer, furious, murderous rage.

Calamity wasn't as gifted with making songs as Lucifer or Fieyre or Tsarina. But she could sing, and she could make a line or two. Repeating it to make a chorus was easy. And singing in her head meant the others couldn't hear the lyrics.

All the King's horses and all the King's men
Couldn't put me back together again
All the King's horses and all the King's men
Couldn't put me back together again.

Song of the Chapter: All the King's Horses - Karmina.

Other Song in the Chapter: Choir - Guy Sebastion.

This won't change anything, but what do you think about the songs?