"I didn't think he was going to be mad at me…we haven't seen each other in three years so I thought…"
"Don't beat yourself over it. He's been in this place for far too long." Mathew said trying cheer up the boy. Feliciano sat with us when we went back to our little spot as he was having a hard time dealing with his sudden imprisonment and the lack of his brother's sympathy.
"He snaps like that at everyone but I'm sure he'll talk to you once he calms down." Mathew said with a small smile.
Feliciano sighed weakly and shook his head "I wish he would, we never really got along, I mean…we didn't fight or anything but in the end we're more strangers than brothers."
Mathew frowned and rested his head against the glass of the dome but didn't say anything else. Neither of us said anything else. We sat with our backs pressed to the dome and silently watched the other creatures. Most creatures sat in little packs of two or three while others chose to be alone. Either way no one moved out of their small bubble…everyone sat inside the invisible bars they had created inside the bigger prison.
"Do you think…" I said interrupting the silence "that if we all helped each other out, we could break past the keepers and out of here?"
"What'd you mean?" asked Feliciano.
"In here is no different that out there, it's every man for itself, but unless you haven't noticed for every keeper there are at least three or four creatures. We could escape if we wanted to."
"That's the problem Gilbert. More than half of these creatures are toys and toys have a better future than us freaks." Mathew said turning his head to look at me with his probably useless eyes. "Tell me something, if you had the choice of living in an expensive house with a warm bed and someone who will take care of you as long as you kept them happy and never have to fear that you will die of starvation or some other stupid thing, would you want to go back to hiding and running from the hounds on the streets?"
"I don't know…but I know that you would."
Mathew flinched but didn't say anything else. Feliciano and I both stared at him as he turned his head away with a frown. I didn't say anything else but we were both thinking the same thing. Mathew had had the chance to live like a prince as long as he was a good little boy but he ran away. He made that life sound like it was something anyone would jump at the chance to have…anyone but him.
"Mathew?" the small boy said softly making the other turn his head. "When am I going to get my earing?"
Mathew sighed, thankful for the change in conversation and explained everything to him while I sat back and ran a hand across the symbols that refused to leave my skin.
oooooOOOOOooooo
Once again the basement was quiet as the rest of the freaks slept. I stayed awake as I rubbed at my arms trying to get the paint off but only succeeding in leaving my skin a gruesome red. My arms and chest were burning from the harsh contact and probably from a late allergic reaction.
"Fucking fantastic" I murmured as I pressed my arm against the cold wall to try to stop the burning.
"I'm guessing the paint still won't come off…" Mathew said and I turned my head towards him. He sat up and rubbed his eye with the palm of his hand trying to get the sleep to go away for a few seconds "Shouldn't you be asleep?"
"I could ask you the same thing" I said back and he let out a puff of air. "Do you- uh- know how to get this off?"
Mathew crawled to my corner of the cage and sat with his legs crossed, stretching out his hand to grab my arm. He held my wrist with one hand and held the other to his chin as he nodded slightly "hmmm….mmhm….interesting…"
"So?"
"Well I know one thing for sure…." He said with a straight face, not looking up.
"And that is?" I asked getting a little impatient with the blonde.
"I definitely can't see in the dark."
"Ha, ha, smartass…" I said and he only laughed a meek and tired laugh in response.
"Okay, okay, sorry." He brought my arm up again but this time he slowly ran his slim fingers along my arm making me shiver at the touch. He did that four times before grabbing my wrist with both hands and simply passing his thumb across my skin. "It's the same paint I used on Lovino but I'm guessing they use some sort of chemical to remove it."
"So why didn't they?" I asked and Mathew shrugged.
"I guess they didn't want to have to draw them again for the next show" he said still sliding his thumb across my wrist. "Does it hurt?"
"Not really…it just burns a bit….a lot…it doesn't matter ill just deal with it."
"If it gets bad enough they take you to the care center and remove it."
"Or they'll use whatever rash I get as a sign that 'I was touched by the devil'!" I said mocking the extravagant artist from the show. Mathew snorted and held a hand to his mouth as he tried to stop that endearing noise from escaping again. I smiled at the reaction.
"I'll deal with it in the morning. Let's go to sleep."
"Right…okay" he said slowly letting go of my arm and crawling back to his corner before we both went to sleep.
oooooOOOOOooooo
I woke up to the sound of flesh against glass as the keeper woke us up. He opened the cage and wrapped our wrists in the chains; his obnoxious grin never leaving his face. We were dragged out of the basement along with the rest of the freaks as we made our way to the dome for another boring day. I looked around at the new faces I recognized from yesterday and saw that, out of all of them, only six had been marked as freaks.
"Guess Lovino's gonna have a shit ton of competition after all" I said to Mathew and the keeper tugged at the chains.
"I don't want to hear you talking, freak. Your voice is extremely irritating" he said and not bothering to turn around.
"Trust me, the feeling is mutual" I replied without thinking. Mathew snapped his head towards me with a concerned look before the keeper turned around and connected his fist with my face. I staggered backwards but the small chains kept me in place as I hung my head trying to get rid of the aching.
"Do that again and you'll get sent to the pit, got it?" he didn't wait for a response before turning back around and dragging us forward again. Around us I hear the other keepers laughing along with some creatures.
"Having trouble with your creature, Mathias?"
"What, like you?" he laughed and I turned to look at the tan keeper that was holding Lovino by the wrists. Lovino was struggling to free himself but the small chains that connected his ankles and wrists kept him from being able to move properly. His teary eyes looked sicker than usual as they rapidly looked from place to place avoiding the man in front of him who simply waited for him to stop.
We kept moving and soon the toy and his keeper were out of sight. I turned my head to look forwards again as we walked out and into the dome once again. The keeper unlatched the chains and walked out leaving us to do as we pleased as long as we behaved like good little boys. I sighed and walked to our normal spot by the table and sat down with a puff. Mathew sat down in front of me and stared at me with a frown.
"Yes?"
"Don't do that again" he said and I simply blinked at him. "He could have done something so much worse!"
"…sorry?" I tried and he frowned "I didn't do it on purpose…it just came out."
"Don't do it again."
"I won't" I said with a grin.
"Does it hurt?"
"If I say yes will you kiss it better?" i said receiving a small punch to the arm instead. "Hey it stills burns you know!"
Mathew didn't say anything but I could see a small smile forming on his lips as he crawled besides me and sat back down. We didn't wait long until the small brunet came bouncing in and toward us. I wasn't surprised when he sat down next to us and I saw the black spike adorning his hear.
"You seem happy today" said Mathew looking at the smiling boy.
"Grandpa always tried to stay happy" he said "it makes things a little easier."
"You should try that Gilbert" Mathew said with a smirk.
"Oh whatever Mister Mope!" I replied and lay down on the unnaturally green grass.
"So anyway, Feli" said Mathew changing the conversation "I know how much better you guys are treated than us but has your keeper been giving you trouble?"
Feliciano thought for a second before shaking his head "not really. It's still very scary being here and it still hurts under my eyes but I guess it's not as bad as it could have been."
"What do you think about the auctions?" I said joining in the conversation.
"I don't know. When I was on the streets I sometimes saw some people with the scar under their eyes, a-and they were with a pure but they weren't tied up or anything and they seemed…happy. I don't know but I guess not all of us get sold to bad people."
"I should've known you'd say something like this" an angry voice spat and we looked up to see a red eyed and tear stained faced Lovino. "Why have freedom when you can have fancy things to play with and a rich bastard to sleep with every night!"
"Lovi-"
"That's what you want, isn't it!? And since you have a cute face people are sure to spend every penny they have on you without hesitation, you fucking toy!"
"Lovino calm do-"
"No don't say that! I'm tired of you telling me what to do, Mathew! You are not the boss of me!"
"I'm not telling you what to do; I'm trying to keep you from getting thrown in the pit permanently!" Mathew said standing up and locking eyes with the brunet.
"Don't you think that maybe I don't care?!" he said shoving the taller blonde away. "I don't need you breathing down my neck every day!"
"Lovi please don't shout." Feliciano said standing up.
"I DO WHATEVER THE FUCK I WANT!" he said getting louder and attracting the attention of the keepers on the other side of the dome.
"If you don't shut up right now-"
"Oh no, they're gonna throw is in the pit! I DON'T GIVE A SHIT IF THEY DO! IM NOT SCARED OF ROTTING AWAY IN THAT PLACE LIKE YOU ARE!" he spat and Mathew flinched. The more Lovino shouted the smaller Mathew seemed. "I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHY I LET YOU BOSS ME AROUND! YOU'RE PATHETIC!"
I didn't let him get too far before my fist connected with his face bringing blood to the surface. Lovino whipped his nose before striking back. Being physically smaller he didn't cause as much damage as I did but neither of us got far before the keepers ran in and dragged the both of us and Mathew back inside.
oooooOOOOOooooo
Once again we were chained, but this time our hands were behind our back and the keepers were dragging us with a chain around our neck. The hallway we were walking though was the brightest I've seen so far. Not only that but it was fully decorated. A big window was placed every ten steps you took and each was adorned in a way only a pure would know how, the floor was wood instead of concrete, and small chandeliers hung from the ceiling in an extremely unnecessary way.
When we got to the door, one of the keepers knocked and waited before being called in. An "enter" could be heard from the other side before we walked though. We were greeted with a brunette pure sitting at a wooden desk in front of a complicated window. The room was decorated with flowers and paintings and an artist was sitting at a grand piano playing for her. The woman looked from the keepers to each of us with an annoying smile that didn't leave her face.
"Hello Mathew, I didn't expect to see you back here so soon." She said and Mathew made himself smaller "and the same could be said about you, Lovi. I thought you had learned your lesson."
"Mistress Elizabeta, these two were misbehaving and disturbing everyone around them, and later this one" he said pointing to me "joined in the fight."
"Interesting…" the pure said standing up and walking away from her desk. "a fight does mean they have to go to the pit for a week…isn't that right Mathew dear."
Mathew hung his head low refusing to meet her green eyes. When he didn't answer, she made the keeper kneel Mathew down and force his head up to look at her. "I do believe I asked you a question…"
"Hey you can't just-" I began but was silenced when the keeper tugged on the chain around my neck.
"I believe you need to learn some manners" she said not bothering to look at me. "Now Mathew, what are you supposed to say when I ask you a question?"
"...y-yes, ma'am…" he said meekly.
"Good boy" she said moving back to her desk "now I do believe the next show is in two days…you two are going to stay in the pit until then because yes, you will be going to the next show as the crowd is asking for you." She said writing something down.
"As for you, my little Lovi," she turned to Lovino who simply glared at her "you are going to stay there the full week. Now off you go!"
The keepers dragged us out of the room and back though the bright hallway. We made our way down past the dome and past the basement where the freaks stayed. The farther down we went the darker it became. We were dragged down a stone staircase until we reached an old wooden door at the end of the corridor. One of the keepers unlocked it and took out a flashlight before guiding us into the dark room. We didn't go too far in before we stepped into a platform that lowered us down into the darkness. Once at the bottom the keepers untied our hands and replaced the chains around our necks with a collar before going back up and taking our only light source with them. It felt like an eternity before the door slammed shut and we might as well have gone blind. Nothing could be seen.
"Guys..."
"They're not finished yet…" Mathew said before a small light blue light came from our collars barely illumination our faces. "Now we can't get out."
"This is all your fault!" Shouted Lovino looking at me.
"My fault? You're the one who walked in yelling at everyone!"
"If you hadn't hit me then we wouldn't have been in this mess!"
"I thought you said you didn't care if you ended up here or not!" I growled and Lovino flinched.
"I DON'T ! I JUST DON'T WANT TO BE STUCK HERE WITH YOU OF ALL PEOPLE! I WOULD HAVE BEEN FINE ALONE LIKE ALWAYS! YOU SHOULD JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!"
"Alright that's enough!" I lifted the boy up clasping a hand over his mouth. Lovino tried to kick me to get away but being bigger and stronger than him gave me the upper hand. After a minute or so of thrashing around, he stopped moving and hung his limbs in defeat.
"Ok…now let's try this again" I said setting the boy down and uncovering his mouth. He didn't move from that spot and he didn't turn around. "You can keep yelling and make Mathew feel like shit or you can talk whatever problem you have with him."
We were quiet for a while before his shoulders started shacking. I thought he was going to burst out again but he only said "I'm tired of this…"
"…Of what?"
"This!" he said turning around "everyone is always getting mad at me and I know it's my fault but I don't know what the fuck I'm doing! And then when I think that I finally found someone that cares about me they either abandon me because of their stupid job or my idiot brother comes along and he steals everyone away because they always like him better than me…" he got quiet as tears started rolling down his face again and his voice cracked when he spoke "…and now…every pure is going to choose him over me and I'm never going to leave this shithole."
The only thing that could be heard after that was the small crying of the brunet as Mathew slowly moved towards him wrapped his arms around him like he used to.
SUUUUUUUPPPPP PEOPLE DUCKLING HERE QUACK! so yea sorry this took so long I had been working on this big ass painting for a gallery and I only had a few hours after school to work on it and the weekends but ANYWAYS THAT'S ALL DONE so im gonna try to update more often, anyways I hope this chapter was worth the wait. So now we met the mistress OOOOOOHHHHH and there're some unresolved issues with the Italy twins noooooo what else OH YEA THINGS ARE FINALY GETTING MOVING WHOOOOOO anyways that's all for now ill see you ducklings next chapter! DUCKLING OUT QUACK!
