Chapter 2: New name
Elsa stumbled and did her best to hold up the crying flier. It was getting harder to do so, because as time went on, A117 only got more heavy. "Hey, dont go to sleep. Stay awake, I need your help."
A117 nodded, sniffling, her left wing dragging low on the ground behind her. "I'm.. I'm trying Elsa. It hurts, it hurts so bad!" The blondes legs finally gave out and they fell forward, and they both tumbled down a hill. A117 cried out with each hit to her body, and Elsa did her best to tuck her self in. Several crashes later and one dull thud, they both hit even ground.
Elsa lifted her head confused as to why her final landing was soft. She found herself splayed across the broken flier. "Sorry! Sorry are you alright?" A117 vaguely heard her words and she let out laugh.
"Yeah yeah. I didn't just break a wing, and totally didn't fall down a hill. Was I a good enough cushion?" Elsa's once concerned gaze turned dark. A117 thought it was an ugly look on her face.
"Well fine! Be that way. I can leave you here!" She shakily stood up and hobbled away from A117.
"You promised!" A117 yelled, from her position on the ground. "You said you would help me. I'm sorry that I sound rude, but if we all forgot, my WING is BROKEN." Throughout her small tirade the girl struggled and stood. Her arms waving at her limp wing for emphasis.
Elsa stopped walking and she turned, "Well grumpy I can see my house lights. So come on." Her smile was small and strained, she seemed tense. A117 noticed it and wondered if Elsa didn't like her home. A117 did a mini limp run to catch up, groaning when it jostled her wing.
Soon she was standing outside the large building and she stared up at it. Her eyes were like an owls and despite the whole situation it made Elsa giggle. The glare she received sobered her, and she made the Flier sit.
"I'm going to get Hubert. He will drive us. So just sit here." Elsa ran inside without a second glance. Elsa reached blindly for her jacket and a second in case the Flier got cold.
Not that she could wear it with her broken wing. But she's my responsibility right now.
Elsa wandered down a hall to her left and she knocked on a door marked H. "Hubert. Hubert wake up. I need you to drive me." Through the door she heard a muffled grunt and suddenly the door opened. "Where to Miss Roe?" Hubert wore a long jacket, probably to cover his sleep clothes. The driver also seemed to ignore the fact his charge was covered in mud, and had sticks and leaves in her usually perfect hair. He decided to ask about it later, he could hear the desperation in her voice.
"I need to go to KG vets. Please hurry and bring the car. And not a word to Mother." Her voice grew shaky near the end, the thought of her mother waking and finding her covered in mud and taking a flier to the vet. It made her want to run and hide.
But you promised to help her Elsa. What did Mother say about helping others? Do it only if you benefit from it.
But what Elsa got from this so far was a sore body and a flier that was probably run away. This is beyond illegal. Elsa sighed and waited for Hubert to nod and they both went in different directions.
Elsa found the flier in the same position she left her. "Alright. Hubert will bring the car up. I'm getting you fixed up. I've decided to call you Anna. I can't go around calling you A117. Someone might recognize you." Elsa's voice held no room for arguement.
A117 now Anna seemed to think about her new name. "Fine. But did you have to pick Anna? What sort of name is that?"
Elsa flicked Anna on the forehead, and the latter held her wounded forehead. "I already decided. If you're going to live with me, you will listen to me. You are the flier. I am the human. You listen to me."
Anna shook her head at the backward sense of thinking. She had been listening to people all her life. She thought she was free. Was it like this everywhere? Or was she stuck in crazyland? "Why do I have to listen to you. I'm a 'flier', shouldn't you lis-"
Elsa covered her mouth, leaning in and hissing to her. "That's not how it works here. Don't let anyone hear you say that! There are laws, and people will kill you. Not everyone are kind to fliers. So just be quiet and listen. Can you do that?" Anna nodded making a mmhmm against the hand on her mouth. "Perfect. Oh there is Hubert."
Anna tense up at the four wheeled metal box. What was that? Why was it growling? She growled back at it, and Elsa rolled her eyes. She helped the flier stand and she waited by the car door until Hubert opened it for her. Anna kept up her growling and Elsa shook her lightly. "Stop that, its not going to bite you. It's just a car."
Hubert opened opened the limos door for her like usual. "Miss Roe, you don't mean to ride with the flier in the same seat. Do you?" Hubert raised a brow, looking confused.
Elsa pulled her best stern face and replied, "He belongs to me. So I suggest you keep quiet about your opinions of me and my flier." Anna debated on opening her mouth to correct Elsa about her gender, but then again, Elsa said to be quiet. After waiting for Elsa to enter she waited for Elsa to call her in. "Come on then. Get in."
Part way down the road Anna decided to ask a question. "I was just wondering, what are the rules here? And I like being called a girl. It's what I am."
Elsa lifted a perfectly arched brow. "Rules? You mean like laws, or my rules? I can't call you a girl." Anna gave her such a pitiful look she gave in. "Fine. I will call you a girl."
Anna's smile was short lived and her brow furrowed in thought. "Both. I guess. I mean its just that… I don't understand. She said I was free." Elsa didn't know what to make of Anna being 'free'.
"I don't know what you mean by she said you were free, but you are a pet. About there being no girls.. here I'll tell you everything I can remember from my last history lesson. Around forty years ago, Weselton Genetic Science made the first ever flier. Fliers were amazing, they could help us do things we couldn't. Flying messages, picking up heavy items. At first it was a government only thing. But Weselton Genetics came out with a weaker flier someone could buy as a pet.
"The only fliers that were ever made were male. Some people were fine with it at first, but soon they complained. They wanted a female flier so their pet fliers could have a 'girlfriend'. After five years, Weselton Genetics went quiet. They ship out male fliers all the time. My guess is they couldn't make female fliers. You certainly have a girl body, except your hair. Its too short. Why is it cut like a boys?"
Anna ducked her head, flushing with embarrassment. "Doctor Stone had all of his experiments hair like this. He wanted better hygiene and I think it was less work to keep me clean."
Elsa pretended to not notice the fliers embarrassment. "All right, well we can grow it out. You can't look like some strange boy girl. You're mine now, and I don't want you looking grungy."
The strawberry blonde smiled her face full of gratitude. "Thank you! I always wanted to have hair like the girl scientists. They always had such nice hair, and I always had this short cut hair." She tugged gently at red locke, her pain forgotten in her excitement. "But that doesn't explain why I have to listen."
Elsa gave her a frustrated look wondering if her flier would ever listen. Probably not. "Alright, its a law. The state, no.. The whole world considers you guys a pet. Get it? You don't have your own houses. You're a pet that someone owns and uses how they please. There are some crazies out there who call you guys Angles. And they think you deserve rights. But you are a flier, a creature made by humans. I read about it in the paper. You have no human DNA in you. Therefor you do not have rights like a human."
Anna didn't know what half of that meant, but she did feel downright insulted. Especially by the condescending tone she was given. "So you are saying I'm a nobody. I am just an object that someone owns. I'm not free then. Im just as trapped here as I am back inside the lab." Elsa nodded like it was something everyone knew.
Well they probably do all know..
Anna was hurt, because this wasn't what she was told by Lovdahl. Lovdahl said that the world was beautiful, full of kind people. Full of, well, more than what was inside the bloody lab building! "We can talk more about this later. Be qui-"
"Be quiet and listen. I got it.." Anna got out of the car that had stopped in front of a small store. It had a large neon KG sign on it. As well as the word Vet right after. The windows were covered by blinds but Elsa strutted up like she owned the place. She knocked quickly and Anna felt the pain in her wing coming back since she was moving around again.
A portly man opened the door and he yawned loudly. Once he saw Elsa he stood straighter. "Miss Roe, what brings you to my clinic?"
Elsa waved her hand back at Anna, "It seems my flier has broken her wing. I am here to get her fixed. So wake up and fix her." Elsa stood tall, and had her 'adult' voice on. But inside she was shaking, she didn't like being rude. Not to anyone, not even fliers. She just didn't want Anna getting hurt, or killed.
Even though you almost got her killed… way to go Elsa.
"Yes Miss Roe. Right this way. Would you like a towel to clean up?" Elsa remembered her muddy state and mentally cursed.
"Yes please, I would also like an inking paid for my flier." The big man stopped in his tracks. He could let the fact the flier was a girl slide, but getting ink for the first time? Real suspicious.
"Your flier was not inked before she was shipped? How very curious Miss Roe." His beady eyes narrowed, and Elsa cursed again.
"Well.. I bought her! Yes. I bought her from another man, and I don't like her name. So I want her new name in the system, Kai." The big man known as Kai didn't look convinced but still he dragged Anna down a hall, telling Elsa to use the towel beneath the counter to clean up.
"Ow! Ow!" Anna whimpered, her hurt wing brushing against the wall, since the hall itself was really narrow.
Kai jerked Anna forward into a small room, "Hush you big baby." He pushed Anna on to an elevated metal counter. "Ah, a simple break."
He pulled out the items to wrap up the break. "This will take maybe a month to heal." He was speaking in a much kinder voice now. But his attention was on Elsa who entered the room looking a little cleaner than before.
Anna scowled and glared at Elsa who looked like she was trying to hold back her laughter. Anna was in a ridiculous pose, laying on her belly, and her good wing was curled in against her body. The other lay limp and hanging down to the floor. So big it curled a little on end since the room wasn't big enough for it to stretch out completely.
Her unmarked left arm was out and bottom up. The A117 mark tattooed in bold black ink vertically up her right arm.
"So you want her inked with something else?" Kai questioned as he began to move Anna's broken wing into the same natural position as her other. She cried out and jerked away,
"Ow! Stop that!" The flier jerked her body away, not wanting to be touched by his rough hands any more. She didn't feel like he was doing any good for her wing.
"Calm down, I have to put it in the right position." Anna felt the old memories of the scientists. Their constant groping hands, and their rough touches. The smell of this room reminded her of the labs and the constant tests."No! Stop!"
She tried to sit up, but Kai grabbed her by the back of her neck. Forcing her down, "Stupid creature!"
Elsa darted forward, "Stop it Kai! Be more gentle with my flier." Kai glared at Elsa for interrupting his work, but he stepped out of the room.
"Calm her down then, I'll tell Gerda to get the ink ready. I'll be back." His loud steps faded into the next hall, and Elsa placed her cool hands on Anna's face.
"Whats wrong with you, he has to move your wing to fix it." Anna sniffled and looked up at Elsa,
"I'm sorry, I just.. I remembered something and it scared me. Plus that hurts! I don't want him touching my wings anymore." Teal eyes stared up into ice blue.
Elsa shook her head. "No. You want to be able to fly again? You let him fix it. I'll tell him to be more careful. But its still going to hurt. Relax will you?" Anna took a shaky breath, she didn't want to do this anymore. But she truly wanted to fly again.
"Ok.. I won't freak out again." She mumbled, looking away from Elsa.
Elsa smiled and patted her on the head, "Good girl." Anna beamed at being told she was good. She didn't hear that very often, not from anyone. She was even more determined now.
After an hour of crying and trying to hold still, Kai had her wing properly wrapped up. Anna was shaking and Elsa wanted to hug her despite all the rules and etiquette put into her. Gerda a thin elder woman waddled into the room.
Gerda smiled at the three in the room. "Miss Roe! You got yourself a flier! Heard you needed to re-ink him?" She sat on a stool near Anna and grabbed her arm, wiping it with a disinfectant.
"What's his name?" Gerda asked, placing gloves off, mumbling about her memory and started to disinfect the tired fliers right arm.
Elsa sighed, and wondered how many times until Anna's hair grew out she would have to correct people "Anna. Her name is Anna."
Gerda stared, but then shrugged. She knew who Elsa was and figured she was just eccentric. That was why she excused the odd name for the flier. "If that is what you wish her name to be Miss Roe. What of this old name?"
Elsa stared at the old tattoo, she too wondered about the old name. Did it have meaning? "Put her new one on the other arm. Just desensitize her old one, and put a new set up on the other. Can you do that?"
Gerda gave her a wide smile, "Of course, it will be extra. That alright?"
Elsa smiled in return, "Quite alright Gerda. I want it all done tonight." Anna sat between them wondering when she would get a say.
Elsa won't give you a say.
Anna held her arm out and winced from the stinging pain of the needle. Another hour of being in the vet house. The constant constant buzzing and the nasty smell of ink nearly driving her mad, Anna finally had her new name and barcode redone on her other arm.
Gerda had also gone and re-inked some of her old barcode, making it unreadable to any scanner. "There, if she gets scanned, then it shows up as female flier known as Anna owned by Elsa Roe. Is that all correct?"
While Anna fidgeted and blew on her arm, Elsa nodded. "Sounds perfect to me. Thank you for acknowledging my fliers gender, and thank you Kai for fixing her wing. Do I need to bring her in for anything?"
Kai handed Elsa a paper bag that rattled from pill bottles. "Give her two of these each day, and keep her wing dry for the first two weeks of healing. Also make sure the break doesn't move too much. Check for swelling and pus as well. You shouldn't have to come back."
Elsa gently grabbed Anna's wrist, and led her out the door. "Put the bill on my tab Kai. Have a nice night."
Hubert was waiting in the car and after letting Elsa in he started the car. Anna played with her fingers, clenching her hands and unclenching them. Elsa seemed okay so far, a little controlling at times but that was probably an act.
Or is it? What have you gotten yourself into A117? No its Anna now. This is my new life and I can't mess it up. I won't be a failure. I will live like Lovdahl told me to.
Anna took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Then she stepped into the car, wondering if she made the right choice.
AN: Elsa seems a little weird and controlling maybe rude.. (sorry), but its the world she grew up in. Things will change though. I promise. Im doing my best. There is a reason for all of this. But I need you to see how different the world is. Any reviews are welcome, but I don't appreciate flames.
EDIT (8-4-14) I went and redid some of the paragraphs, cutting them to make the paragraphs less big. Adding in something or taking something out completely. Nothing too big. Hopefully this makes the chapter easier to read.