Chapter 30
He had been so focused on the absence of rings, the braces, and the pain that he had forgotten about his voice. Maybe it was because he would see his rings all the time but was so used to not having a voice in the first place that his mind still shut out the option to speak.
But what to say? This would be the first time Sam and Tucker would hear his voice. It wasn't a pleasant voice at all, but they had wanted him to talk for a long time and he never could. He didn't want to disappoint them now. And he wanted to use words they understood but he didn't know many coherent English sentences, and they didn't know any Esperanto.
"Daniel?" Tucker said.
Oh! Their names!
He looked at Sam and Tucker respectively and said, "Sam. Tucker."
It wasn't much but the two seemed very excited about it and Sam gave him another hug, just as crushing as before but he loved it anyway. They were so busy talking at the same time and they were so fast with their English jargon that he couldn't pick out a single word they said, but they were happy right now and to him, that was all that mattered.
He managed to receive a total of three hugs from Sam after they began to calm down enough. He had seen them both excited before but rarely because of him. And he had never seen them this excited before. The fact that he had made them so happy and full of positive energy was special, although he couldn't quite determine how. It must've been rubbing off on him because he found himself able to ignore the pain, which by now had faded into a slow and dull ache. Completely tolerable even without distractions. The man and woman were slightly confusing as to why they helped him and even though they claimed it was just because he was human, he still wasn't sure whether or not that was their only motive.
Then again, Sam and Tucker never had clear motives either and yet here he was, willing to risk his life without hesitation to protect them. Maybe—big maybe—he would come to feel the same way about the new English-speakers.
The man helped him back into the special English-speaker chair once he came in beside the red-haired girl.
Well, "helped" wasn't the right word. More like the man scooped him up and put him in the chair. He got the sense that he would be spending a lot of time in this thing…
"Daniel," the man said seriously, taking his attention away from Tucker, Sam, and the special chair. "Ĉu vi pretas respondi niajn demandojn?"
He looked at his hands and feet again, trying to reassure himself that answering any non-Sam-or-Tucker questions would be beneficial for him in the long run.
He ended up nodding his head but was still unsure about the whole situation he was being put in. He had absolutely no problem telling Sam and Tucker everything and anything. But he didn't know the man and woman very well. He didn't know why they helped him, he only knew that they did. Perhaps this was another way to return that favor, assuming the braces and chair weren't already enough.
"He says he'll answer our questions," the woman told Sam and Tucker. "You two found him, let him stay with you, and took care of him. I think you should ask first. I'll translate."
Tucker spoke first before Sam could even get a word in.
"Okay, so what was that weird stuff on you when I gave you your first shower?" Tucker asked.
The woman looked from Tucker to him and said, "Tucker volas scii kio estis sur via haŭto kiam li donis al vi vian unuan duŝon."
"Mi ne scias. Ĝi estis ŝlima sed poste ĝi sekiĝis," he answered.
"He doesn't know, but he says it started out slimy and then it dried."
Tucker made a slight face of disgust.
"My turn!" Sam exclaimed. "Why did you have burn marks when I found you?"
"Sam volas scii kial vi havis brulsignojn kiam ŝi trovis vin," the woman said.
"Mi estis kaptita en eksplodo."
At first the woman didn't translate for him, as if she was hesitant for some reason. She just stood there, staring at him like she couldn't grasp what he'd said, or perhaps didn't believe it.
"What, what did he say?" Sam asked the woman. "You said you would translate for us."
"He, um…he said he was caught in an explosion," she replied.
"Explosion…?" Sam repeated.
"What in the world happened to you?" Tucker mumbled.
"Daniel, ĉu vi povas klarigi kio okazis?" the woman asked.
He furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.
"Kion vi celas?" he asked.
"Kio kaŭzis la eksplodon?" she clarified.
Sam opened her mouth to speak but the woman held one finger up and knelt down, now eye level with him.
"Bonvolu diri al mi. Kio okazis," she added.
"Bone," he conceded. "Mi ne scias kio kaŭzis la eksplodon. Miaj trejnistoj metis min en tankon da akvo kaj ĉenis miajn ringojn al la fundo de ĝi. Ĝi pleniĝis per ektoplasmo kaj io purpura. Mi suferis kaj fermis miajn okulojn. Mi sentis varman eksplodon kaj la ĉenoj rompiĝis. Mi estis elĵetita el la tanko. Kiam mi rigardis malantaŭ mi, la konstruaĵo estis detruita."
He felt it irrelevant to include the parts that didn't directly involve the explosion, like how he was treated before he was put inside the tank of special water. But at least he answered the woman's question in full, albeit without much detail.
He was actually hating this conversation. His voice was just throat vibrations and his throat felt like it was constricting. It was becoming scratchy and dry and worse, it was hurting again. Either he just wasn't used to talking, or everyone else who was had learned to ignore this weirdness.
"What did he say?" Tucker asked.
Once more the woman hesitated, but spoke up before either Sam or Tucker could protest her silence.
"He said he doesn't know what caused the explosion," she said.
"And…? He said way more than just that."
"He also said that he had his eyes closed when it happened. He said he felt a warm blast and when he looked back, he saw the building he was in burning and destroyed. I assume the explosion catapulted him out."
"So he came to me?" Sam asked.
"Daniel, kiel vi trovis Sam?"
"Mi ne havis alian kien iri. Mi vidis grandan konstruaĵon kaj dormis en ĝi. Sam vekis min kiam ŝi ĵetis kusenon al mi. Ŝi tre timis min. Mi ne scias kial."
"He says he had nowhere to go and found your house. He just needed a place to sleep and you woke him up when you threw a pillow at him an—Sam, did you really throw a pillow at him?"
Sam rubbed her arm and blushed. "Well…yeah, I guess I might've done that…"
The woman chuckled and continued, "He says you were scared but he doesn't know why."
"I was scared because there was a stranger in my room!"
Sam suddenly sounded defensive and it made him question whether or not it was a good idea to keep answering these kinds of questions.
"Daniel, ĉu vi iam iris ekster la konstruaĵon?"
"No," he replied.
The woman turned back to Sam and said, "He'd never been outside before so he probably didn't know anyone else lived in your house. I'm sure he didn't mean to intrude."
"Well, yeah, I know that now," Sam mumbled. "Does Daniel know about Project Level Up?"
"Daniel, ĉu vi scias pri Projekto Nivelo Up?"
"Jes," he answered.
He conveniently left out the role he played—or was supposed to play—in it. He didn't know every single thing about Project Level Up but he knew it would change his physiology in ways he would never anticipate. He didn't know why and had never bothered to even wonder why. That kind of horror wasn't something he was curious about. He had only wanted to escape it. Even as the woman spoke of it, he had no interest in learning about it.
He knew his part.
He knew his trainers' part.
He knew the English-speakers' part.
"He knows," the woman said.
"Did anybody…ever do anything else to him?" Sam nervously asked. "Beyond the rings and his throat? Did…did they hurt him?"
Sam pushed her hair behind her ears and looked down, as if she was bracing herself for the answer.
"I don't know if we should…" The woman's voice trailed off and she sighed before turning back to him. "Ĉu iu vundis vin en tiu konstruaĵo?"
He took a deep breath and nodded. Sam bit her lip, obviously uncomfortable.
"What did they do to you?" Tucker asked him directly, rather than asking the woman as Sam had.
"Maybe we shouldn't ask that kind of thing yet, Maddie," the man said.
"I promised them I would translate their questions," the woman sighed. "Kion ili faris al vi?"
This was something he would much rather reveal only to Sam or Tucker. Even telling the red-haired girl seemed more comfortable. But the man and woman were the only way he could tell anyone, be if Sam, Tucker, or the girl. It certainly wasn't an idea he was fond of but…
"Miaj trejnistoj disciplinis min se mi ne obeis iliajn ordonojn."
Hopefully that would be enough but he noticed a slight change in the woman's expression. It seemed more stern than before.
"Kiel?"
Of course it wasn't enough. No matter how different they were, every last one of them was still an English-speaker. They always wanted details, always chased after an answer. Even Sam and Tucker would do that.
"Ili tirus miajn ringojn por movi min aŭ hoki ilin al ĉenoj por teni min malsupren. Se mi ne farus tion kion ili volis, ili pikus min per bastono kiuj fine brulis. Ili ne ŝatis kiam mi stumblis aŭ ne povis sekvi ilin. Mi estis punita pro tio. Mi ne rajtis komuniki kun iu ajn. Ili ne vundus min se mi farus tion kion ili ordonis, do mi faris ĉion kion ili volis ke mi faru."
He would've continued but the woman abruptly stood, face twisted into one of pure disdain for him, and stormed out of the large area, moving somewhere upstairs. Had he known he would make her so angry, he would've taken his chances keeping quiet.
"Honey, wait!" the man shouted, chasing after the woman.
He was left alone with Sam and Tucker but somehow the atmosphere was different. It was thick and unpleasant. He could take this opportunity to rest his throat. Maybe Sam would take him back now that the rings were gone. Wasn't that why she'd brought him here?
He wasn't up for much conversation anymore and neither of them seemed to be either. He knew they couldn't understand Esperanto but for some reason he kept feeling like their distress was his fault. And if the man and woman turned out to be anything like his trainers or the English-speakers in the past, he would put the rings back in by himself if it meant he could come back with Sam.
After that whole incident, though, he wasn't sure if even Sam would do anything about this. Life with English-speakers didn't need to be this difficult. Seemed to him like they were just making it difficult for themselves.
Or in the case of the new English-speakers, difficult for him. And confusing. What if they actually hadn't wanted to take his rings out or fix his voice? What if Sam and Tucker had ordered them to and therefore they had no choice? It seemed far more reasonable than just "he was human." Or maybe they simply had other motives he hadn't figured out. For now he would believe that it was all the master plan of Sam and Tucker. The two who he knew cared enough to want this for him.
Seeing as he had really ticked off these new English-speakers, however, and made Sam and Tucker uncomfortable, it was probably better if he kept his head down around the man and woman, at least until they seemed less tense.
Sam and Tucker decided to sit beside him on the long seat.
"Maybe we can just relax for a little bit," Tucker said, his voice being the only thing interrupting an uncomfortable silence.
They turned on the monitor and the screen changed several times.
English-speakers tended to be quieter when they stared at this screen, so he took the time to sneakily examine the bandages on his hands. The top was barely showing the slightest shade of pink under all the white, but the bottom looked very similar to the blood he had in his dream. It shouldn't have bothered him since it was just a dream but…he shouldn't have known he would bleed green from the new wounds—specifically, the wounds from the rings' disappearance. He wasn't sure if that had anything to do with this new development, but even the blood that would well up around the rings in the past, like when he climbed the tree to get into Sam's room, had been solid red. No green. So why now?
He could ask this question but he didn't want to risk more drama, or be blamed for the sickening green fluid coming from his hands. He highly doubted Sam or Tucker would care, but neither of them knew Esperanto. He would have to tell the man and woman so they could translate, and that simply wasn't a risk he was willing to take. It was true that they had helped him, but they knew how to fix his voice and take the rings out, which meant they knew how to reverse everything too. All they needed to do was change their mind about him and he could end up right back where he started.
A/N
It's not long but hopefully it's still good, yeah? Daniel can't realistically talk too much or too long yet. Having said nothing for so many years would've made talking much harder on his throat. Now, if you'll excuse me, I've had a very long couple of weeks and shall proceed to go to bed. See you in two weeks! (Again, for those who missed it, updates are biweekly because I'm busy and don't want to burn out right after taking this story off hiatus.)
