AN: ATTENTION! READ THIS BEFORE THE CHAPTER ITSELF AND PREPARE YOURSELVES! THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS GORE, SELF HARM, AND TALKS AND ALLUSIONS TO CHILD/SEXUAL ABUSE! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!
Ch 6: A Nightmare Brings Healing
Melon finds himself in an empty void. 'Where am I?' The hybrid sees there's a mirror in front of him, revealing he's now shirtless. 'Spots. Wish I could get Holger to tattoo more melon leaves to cover them all up. I hate them. They look like bugs. Bugs that came from…her.'
A figure appears in the mirror beside the hybrid. "Hello my dear, sweet Melon."
Chills run up the hybrid's spine and his body tenses up. His voice comes out all quiet and timid. "Mama."
The female leopard has her familiar overly sweet smile that always put Melon on edge as a child. Her eyes are squinting almost to the point of appearing closed, something she did to hide the predatory look she always gave off (a tactic Melon realizes he'd copied from her back before his body changed and he could pass as an ordinary gazelle). All she's wearing is her bra and her panties.
The disgust and unwanted memories prompt Melon to verbally lash out. "You died! You shouldn't be here!"
"Sweetheart," the leopard says in a tone that's sugary to a sickening degree. "I'm part of you." She places herself right behind her hybrid son. "Mama's always here." Her clawed hands settle on his shoulders.
Melon flinches. 'She's touching me.'
"It's such a shame you couldn't keep your papa's beautiful frailty." The female leopard's hands glide down the hybrid's shoulder blades, go under his arms, and come to rest on his chest. She presses herself against his back. "At least there's more of you to hold now."
Melon trembles. 'No, Mama. Please. Stop it! BAD TOUCH!' He's feeling a mixture of fear, disgust, and shame. These become worse as his mother's hands are traveling downward. The hybrid plucks up enough courage to place his hands against the waistband of his pants. 'I'm never letting you go that far. Not again.'
The female leopard's hands pause at the hybrid's action. She removes her hands from his body.
Melon lets out a shaky breath he didn't even realize he was holding in. He then lets out a gasp at the rough grip on his horns.
A pleased growl fills the female leopard's voice. "I'm so happy that you kept your papa's gorgeous horns."
The hybrid whimpers. He always hated this action from his mother. It was when he most felt like prey. Melon gets turned around so he's facing his mother.
"You know, I really should thank you, Sweetheart."
"For what?" The hybrid hates how obvious the fear in his voice is.
The female steps back and spreads her arms wide. "For all these wonderful meals."
Melon looks around. Everywhere he looks, there's a mangled and torn body. Each body belongs to one of the hybrid's many victims. He starts to panic. "No. They weren't gifts. They weren't meant for you!"
The leopard puts a hand on her hybrid son's cheek. "My naive child. All your kills were to feed the part of me inside you."
The hybrid shuts down at these words. He doesn't have any will inside him to fight back when his mother puts a hand on his shoulder and brings him down with her into a crouch.
"Sweetheart? Since you're here now, why don't we have a nice mother-son meal? I'll go ahead and share your latest kill with you."
It takes a moment for the words to register in Melon's mind. 'My latest kill? What latest kill?' He watches his mama pick up a bloody limb…a leg with wool attached. The hybrid looks down, what he sees causing an icy pit to form inside his stomach. Staring back at him amongst a pool of blood and various body parts is the decapitated head of Sebun the Merino Sheep.
Meanwhile…
Sebun wakes up from a dreamless sleep. She finds herself still in the waiting room of the warden's office. The sheep sees Gouhin sitting in a chair. With the dark spots around his eyes, it is impossible for her to tell if the panda is awake or not. Sebun notices a new guard by the door, a young white stallion with a blonde mane. After receiving a slight nod from him, Sebun sits up from the couch and stretches her back.
"How'd you sleep?" asks Gouhin.
"So, you are awake. I slept well. No dreams."
The panda gets up. "I'll bring you breakfast. Legoshi and Haru will be here later to pick you up. You'll be staying with them for awhile." He heads out the door.
'Figures. I did try to commit suicide.'
"Excuse me, Miss Sebun?" the young stallion suddenly asks. "Word amongst the guards is that you like the prisoner Melon."
"If you're going to start mouthing off about how having feelings for a hybrid is wrong or disgusting, you can take your words and shove them up your own ass."
The stallion chuckles. "Saying things like that would make me a serious hypocrite since I am engaged to one myself."
"Really?"
"Her father's a wolf, her mother's a sheep kind of like you. Cassie can be emotional like her dad, but also fiercely stubborn like her mom." The stallion smiles. "Makes for a firecracker of a woman."
"What does your family think?"
"After having dinner with Cassie's folks, my mom's totally on board with the marriage." The stallion frowns. "My father told me, 'If you won't be with a mare like a normal stallion, you are not family to me'."
"I'm sorry."
The stallion shrugs. "My dad isn't the nicest guy anyway. To make a long story short, no I don't have a problem with you liking a hybrid. However, the hybrid being a known serial killer is another matter entirely."
Sebun grimaces, knowing she has no argument for that.
"I haven't been here long, but I've already dealt with a number of serial killer inmates. I have stories concerning those they'd claimed to like or even love. It's all stalking, abuse, torture, and death. One girlfriend was molded into a serial killer herself. The point I'm trying to make is that their version of love and affection is severely twisted. Consider yourself lucky Melon chose to spare you. If I were you, I'd cut off all contact with the guy. You already offered yourself as a meal to him once. Next time, he might not say no."
Sebun finds herself agreeing. 'He's right. I thought that it was a good idea to kill myself again.'
Gouhin comes back with breakfast for the sheep.
Sebun digs in. 'Legoshi stopped me the first time. This time…it was Melon. Melon kept me alive. Why? Why would someone who spent his life killing on a whim let me live?' The ewe mentally scoffs at herself. 'Who am I kidding. Melon told me the answer to that himself. I keep him from being bored in this prison. A psycho like that's version of affection is not feeling bored with someone. He'd probably eat or kill me the moment I couldn't entertain him anymore. That horse guy is right. I need to stop seeing Melon for the sake of my safety and my mental health.'
After the breakfast is eaten up, the door opens and Legoshi rushes in. "Sebun!" The wolf hugs the sheep.
"Hi, Legoshi." Once the hug ends, Sebun sees Haru standing nearby with arms crossed.
"Wanna tell us why you wanted to be hybrid food?" asks the rabbit.
"Not right now. Let's leave."
Gouhin joins the three on their journey out.
"Thank you again for watching over Sebun," Legoshi says to the panda.
"No need for gratitude. I need to get back to the hospital."
Haru smirks at Gouhin. "Not the same as working out of the Back Alley Market, is it?"
"No fucking kidding. Can't smoke in that damn place. By the way, who's watching your kid?"
"My grandpa," says Legoshi. "It's why it took so long for us to get here."
Haru glares at her wolf husband. "I don't care that Zaguan lives closer to us. No way am I ever letting him babysit Goshen alone."
"Zaguan's a nice guy and he loves Goshen."
"I know, but I don't want him teaching our five year old about nudism."
"Zaguan's a seal. They don't wear clothes underwater. Besides, he keeps that reserved to his apartment and when he visits friends and family back in the sea."
"I don't completely trust that. I can't risk Goshen ever getting the idea to go out in public naked."
"That'll never happen!"
Haru narrows her eyes at her husband. "I hope not. Zaguan influenced you after all."
Legoshi blushes. "I keep that to our apartment and only when Goshen isn't home! You'll always join me anyway!" He covers his mouth after that slips out.
The rabbit blushes too. "That's different. We're married and that's usually our foreplay."
Despite being embarrassed, the wolf's tail wags from the truth behind that statement.
The four approach the front door.
Sebun steps forward with renewed determination. 'This is it. Once I leave this place, I'm never coming back. Goodbye, Melon. This is for the best.'
"Wait!" shouts a familiar voice.
The four turn to see Yafya standing in a doorway, panting.
"You need to come with me," the older horse says in a desperate tone.
"I've got a job outside this place," Gouhin says with obvious irritation.
"This is an emergency!"
Hearing those words, Gouhin and Legoshi follow Yafya out of duty and concern (that last one mostly applies to the wolf).
Haru follows purely because of curiosity.
Sebun follows reluctantly due to not wanting to leave the prison alone. 'I was so close! I never would've been here again!'
Yafya brings the other four into the security room. "Play the recording!" he orders to the room at large.
One of the sitting guards presses a button and the largest screen shows Melon's cell.
The hybrid can be seen tossing and turning in a very agitated manner.
Yafya sighs. "It's a good thing I chose to spend the night here…and that I decided to visit Melon before I left. I had the foresight to tell the acting guard to call in backup before things got dark."
"What do you mean?" asks Legoshi.
The wolf's question is answered by Melon. The hybrid sits up in his bed and lets out the most horrible scream. He looks down at his claws (which aren't as developed or sharp as regular carnivores), stands up, and rips off his shirt and undershirt, all while he's still screaming. Melon then sticks his claws into his skin and starts tearing.
Legoshi and Haru stiffen and their eyes widen.
Gouhin, having seen things like this all the time in the Back Alley Market, isn't disturbed by this.
Sebun, on the other hand, covers her mouth and trembles.
Melon continues scratching up his body until guards rush in. He gets forced up against a wall and the guards restrain his hands. The hybrid thrashes around and screams more.
Yafya can be seen entering the cell with a tranquilizer. He injects it into the prisoner.
Due to being a hybrid, one isn't enough to knock Melon out. However, it does make him less violent. Although, he does start doing something possibly more disturbing. Melon lets out a series of loud sobs.
This catches those seeing the recording for the first time off guard. They didn't realize he was actually capable of feeling sadness, especially to the point of crying like he is.
Sebun in particular is distressed. 'What's making Melon act like this?! No! I can't allow myself to feel this way about someone like him! I have to go!' The sheep turns to leave.
On the recording, Melon keeps sobbing as a guard gives Yafya another tranquilizer to use on the hybrid. Then, he shouts something…something that changes everything. "SEBUN!"
The ewe stops in her tracks.
Gouhin smirks. 'A breakthrough.'
Legoshi and Haru's jaws drop. 'Melon cares about someone.'
The Yafya who's on the recording is frozen for a moment from hearing Melon call out for the sheep, but then he uses the second tranquilizer to knock the hybrid out.
The present Yafya turns to the others as the recording ends to gauge their reactions.
"That was unsettling," says Haru.
Legoshi looks back at the ewe. "Sebun?"
The sheep stares straight ahead, her back to everyone else. 'Melon was afraid. He was in despair and sad. He called my name, obviously needing help. How dare I try to turn away from him now?' She looks back at everyone in the room. "Take me to him."
Yafya lets a brief smile flicker across his face.
The nearest guard (Rick the Leopard, sent here as punishment for leaving his post) heads over to Sebun. "Listen, ma'am, that guy's nuts. You don't want to be around that freak."
The sheep balls a hand into a fist and punches Rick right in the groin.
The leopard crumbles to the floor.
"Don't call Melon a freak!" Sebun glares at the whole room. "Take me to him NOW!"
No other guard makes a move.
"You guys better do as the woman says," Gouhin informs the guards. "Melon is mentally distressed right now. To calm him down, he'll need to see Sebun alive and well."
Yafya looks over at Legoshi. "I'd like for you to go with them. Be in the room with both Sebun and Melon. The guard should wait outside."
As Legoshi and Sebun follow the guard, Rick mumbles to himself on the floor. "Bitch."
Being a rabbit, Haru was the only one who heard the leopard. She chooses to ignore him for now. She looks up at Gouhin and Yafya. "You guys going to stay and watch what happens in there through a security camera?"
"Yes," the horse and the panda say at the same time.
"Count me in." Haru takes the nearest chair.
Later…
Melon wakes up in the infirmary. He sees a familiar face by the door. "Legoshi?"
The wolf waves. "Hey, Melon. It's not just me here with you." He points off to the side of the hybrid.
Melon's senses finally kick back in as he turns to where Legoshi pointed and sees another familiar face. "Sebun."
The ewe grimaces. "Hi."
The hybrid stares. "You're alive."
'It was a nightmare after all.' "Yes, I am."
Melon feels his hands strapped to the bed. He doesn't have a muzzle though. The hybrid looks up at the ceiling. "You need to go."
"I just got here."
"Doesn't matter. We can't be trusted around each other."
"Look, I know I tried to feed myself to you. I won't do that again."
"Really? You can seriously promise you'll never ever do that again? Besides, the urge to eat you was there. It's still there now. You need to stay away from me so you won't become my next meal."
Sebun stares for a moment before smirking. "You're full of it."
Melon glares at the ewe. "Are you kidding me?! My carnivore half'll give in some day! You know what I'm capable of! I've slaughtered innocents! I'm a monster you need to get away from!"
Sebun's smirk gets bigger. "You 'were' a monster. Past tense."
"Whatever. You still need to stop visiting."
"I'm choosing not to listen."
Melon lets out the slightest of annoyed growls. "Fine, then I'll just stay right in my cell if you visit."
"I'll demand to go to you."
"Just stop! Don't be so reckless!"
"I thought you claimed to be a monster! Why are you warning me away?!"
"I don't want you to die! You mean too much to me!" Melon pants after all that yelling. Finally comprehending what he said, the hybrid looks away and brings his legs up a little as if to curl into a ball.
Legoshi's tail swishes a little. 'Sebun's important to Melon. There's hope for him.'
Sebun looks straight ahead at the same wall Melon is. "Have I ever told you what my job is?" The ewe patiently waits to see if the hybrid will respond.
"You work at Metal Mouse, that company that makes all that athletic footwear for young carnivores," Melon says with his eyes still on the wall. "I always thought it was weird you were working there."
"I admired the product despite not being able to wear them myself. My superiors thought the same exact thing as you, by the way. That's why they demoted me years back and made me a therapy animal. You know what that is?"
"I've heard that term before, but I never looked into it."
"Officially, I'm supposed to calm down my carnivore superiors during business meetings. In reality, I just sit there while they…pet me."
Melon instantly looks over in shock.
Legoshi stiffens over by the door, disgust coursing through him.
Sebun looks down. "Every day, I'm supposed to endure them running their huge, clawed hands through my wool while they do business. It's been that way for years now. The work trip just…broke me."
Melon shifts so that he's fully facing her.
Despite her boss having told her to keep quiet about the attempted devouring, Sebun just can't hold back anymore. "My boss and I were in a meeting with a CEO of some company to get promotional deals. With my boss being extra aggressive with the petting and the CEO's therapy animal in obvious distress, I was feeling low. But, I was able to find comfort in thinking about…you."
The leopard-gazelle hybrid is blindsided by someone saying the real him is a comfort.
"I must've looked too happy, because that CEO made an assumption about me. After the meeting, he got me alone in a supply closet and accused me of having a carnivore fetish. For the record, I wouldn't say that I do. So, that guy went on a rant about how those types of herbivores disgusted him by supposedly controlling carnivores with sex. He claimed he was the controlling one, that herbivores were meant to be meals for carnivores, then he tried to eat me." Sebun looks over at Melon. "I remembered your suggestion of going for the uvula and used that to escape. I ran into my boss and while he wasn't willing to hand me over to that guy, he was more than okay with sweeping the whole incident under the rug for the sake of keeping Metal Mouse afloat. So, I realized that if I had been eaten, the crime would've gotten covered up and there'd never be any justice for me."
Legoshi, who had been gradually getting more and more upset over what he was hearing, finally snaps. "You're wrong! If you hadn't come back to us, I would've done everything in my power to find out the truth and make that bastard who took your life pay!"
Sebun smiles. "Thank you, Legoshi." The ewe turns back to Melon. "That's why I tried to feed myself to you. I was thinking, 'If my fate is to be someone's meal, then I'd rather go out on my own terms and be eaten by somebody in my life I like'."
The hybrid feels his insides warm up at these words. 'She likes me?' He decides to sit up for a story of his own. "My first victim is not on record as being caused by me."
Legoshi and Sebun are confused and a little disturbed by Melon's sudden subject change.
"As a child, it was just me and my mama, the leopard half. Others in our area whispered about how they suspected Mama ate my papa. Things like that were why she would never leave our apartment. I had to walk to school alone and do all of the shopping while she just reveled in the happy land in her own head. Our place was even made up to look like a palace out of a dumb fairytale. For her, everything was and had to be sunshine and rainbows. Found that out the hard way when I tried to tell her about some bullies. Instead of being concerned that there were other kids picking on me, she got upset that I was, in her own words, 'making up upsetting stories'." A deep breath is taken by Melon. "She didn't want to deal with anything negative that messed with the perfect world of her imagination. Mama grabbed me by one of my horns and demanded that I 'stop telling a bunch of horrible lies'. First and last time I ever went to her about bullies."
All Legoshi and Sebun can do is stare at Melon, disturbed that he went through all this.
"One day, my class was assigned to look into the origins of our names. While Mama and I were ironing, I chose then to ask where my name came from." The hybrid's hands clench up to become fists. "She told me how a melon is neither a fruit or a vegetable, which made it a perfect name for me. Looking at me, she was always reminded of Papa…and the love she'd always had for his taste."
Legoshi and Sebun feel terror grip them.
"Mama then told me how every time she said my name, she would feel a growing urge to eat me." Melon grits his fangs. "I was so mad that everything my neighbors said was true and it was her fault I didn't have a papa. I was scared for my life realizing I was her next target. That's when I took the iron and smashed her head in!" The hybrid takes shuddering breaths. "She was dead. I killed my own mama. Kids aren't supposed to do that. What would the world do to me? So, I called the police, told them we had a break in, and Mama got killed by the intruders. I was able to get away with it."
Sebun takes a deep breath. "The police would've understood the truth. You were scared and she seemed threatening to you. You wouldn't have been punished for anything."
Melon looks the sheep in the eyes. "Could you really expect an elementary school kid to understand that?" Not getting an answer from Sebun, the hybrid lies back down and looks at the ceiling. "That's not the only reason I'm glad she's gone." Melon feels his throat almost trying to close up and constrict on him, but he's able to get the words out, his voice occasionally cracking in the process. "Mama used to have me…take baths with her. She…made me…take off her…clothes." The hybrid starts heaving and has a hard time breathing. "Mama…touched my…horns and…and…and everywhere else."
Sebun covers her mouth, feeling on the verge of being sick.
Legoshi looks down at the floor, afraid he'll burst into tears if he keeps looking at Melon.
The hybrid lurches forward. "I HATE THEM! I HATE MY SPOTS! I HATE THEM ALL! THEY LOOK LIKE HERS!" Melon takes deep, gasping breaths. "I needed the melon leaf tattoos. They covered them all up." He looks down at his body, still able to see some of the spots despite the bandages. "My body changed. There's so many now. They look like sick little bugs!" The hybrid shudders. He flinches when he feels a sudden touch. He looks over, his brain shutting down at the sight.
Sebun is hunched over one of Melon's hands. One of her hands is gripping onto his palm while the other is gently petting the back of his hand. "You know…bugs don't always have to be bad. Legoshi knows everything about bugs and he works shifts at his wife's flower shop. Some bugs can help plants and even whole gardens to grow." The ewe lets out a little laugh before she looks up at the hybrid's face, revealing tears are now running down her cheeks. "Huh. A melon garden. Doesn't that sound pretty?"
Melon stares into Sebun's eyes. Eventually, his hand grips hers.
The sheep is completely taken off guard by this gesture. 'He's holding my hand.'
The hybrid lies back down and watches Sebun continue to pet the back of his hand.
Legoshi finally allows his own tears to fall. 'They're healing…together.'
Meanwhile…
In the security room, three animals are thinking it was a good decision to make observing the infirmary's security feed a private thing between just them.
Haru is pissed. 'Damn that shit mother of his. As a mother myself, it just sickens me that anyone would abuse that place in a child's life. And poor Sebun. She didn't deserve any of what she dealt with at work.'
Gouhin, having dealt with many patients who went through abuse, can look at this with a clinical eye. 'Maybe why those two are drawn to each other is because both of them are victims of abuse.'
Yafya is absolutely seething. 'That CEO guy is going to get his ass handed to him. Let's see what he thinks of a tag team of a horse and a wolf beating the everliving shit out of him. The bitch who called herself Melon's mother should consider herself lucky she's already dead. I'd be hunting her down and making her suffer.' Thinking about one last individual, the horse's rage is now worse. 'He'd better hope I never run into him again. I'd end him in a heartbeat.'
AN: This chapter took a lot out of me to write, it was so intense. Those of you familiar with the manga will know some of the events concerning Melon's mother were lifted from the original story while others were things I added in myself that simply made sense in my mind. I think we can all agree though, she did things to him a parent shouldn't do to their child. In other news, I have finally finished writing up the final chapters and have come to a decision. The originally intended goal of eleven chapters has now been extended to twelve, so there's even more chapters for you guys. The story continues on Saturday.