NOTE: sorry about the long wait, this chapter did not want to be written. Long chapter is long. ;)
Chapter Twenty four
"You weren't the first Animula I had come across who showed what appeared to be genuine emotion, but you were the first one I'd ever heard verbally question your social status...or rather the lack there of."
Taylor knew that he was just talking to himself. Peter had passed out ten minutes ago and wasn't showing any signs of waking up any time soon. Taylor was taking the opportunity to clean the wounds after having cut away the ruined shirt. Despite the seeping the cuts looked better than a few days ago. So far the evidence pointed towards the fact that up until last night Peter's Master had done a good job caring for the injuries. Taylor still wasn't sure what to think of 'Nick', Peter hadn't instantly asked him for protection against him, but that didn't mean anything.
"You learned a long time ago that it is pointless to ask any human for help. I'm ashamed of how long it took me to understand that you weren't just an anomaly, but rather proof of the potential that lies in all Animula. I learned my lesson eventually, and the harder I looked the more 'cases' like yours I found. All with one major thing in common," Taylor turned Peter's arm over and inspected the codes inked into his flesh "...a list of owners almost as long as their arm."
Peter had traded hands nearly a dozen times since the last time he'd last seen him. If all his other owners were legitimate buyers from the Market it meant that until recently Peter hadn't physically attacked anyone until now. The Market didn't resell the rare violent Animula, it was a 'one strike and you're out' policy when it came to physical violence against a human. They went to great lengths to cover up such incidences to keep the public calm about uncollared Animula. For the most part it worked and collar use was slowly falling out of favor. However the damaged they'd done to the current Animula generation was irreversible.
"What did this one do to finally break you?" Taylor asked pointlessly. "If I find out he's the one who put these marks in your back I swear to you that I will beat him to death myself."
Taylor wished he could just ask Peter point blank how he was being treated, but he worried about not hearing the truth. Peter seemed to generally trust him, but Taylor knew that he still had every reason to associate him with the Market and his willingness to divulge too much information about his current Master would be limited. Over the past fifteen years Taylor had worked with several Animula who had nearly died at their owners hands who firmly denied the abuse despite all the evidence to the contrary in fear of a trap, retaliation or simply being shipped back to the Market.
Even years after being removed from situation they tended to refuse to talk about it with him. It was hard to help them heal when they couldn't even talk about what they'd been through. In his experience there was nothing harder to earn than an Animula's trust and Taylor doubted that one act of kindness twenty years ago had earned him Peter's at anything other than at a purely superficial level.
"You did remember me though, I can't tell you how much that meant to me."
Still talking to himself Taylor finished replacing the bandaging across Peter's shoulders. The secondary antibiotic that he'd added hadn't really had a chance to work yet, but the antipyretic to reduce his fever was much faster acting. With his fever down Peter slept a little more peaceful. Taylor hated to wake him but he couldn't wait for too long for Peter to wake up naturally. He needed some answers about the Master of the house before he recovered from his own drugging.
"Not that he's going anywhere." Taylor smiled.
Digging through his kit of supplies Taylor brought out a small vile that held a mixture of ammonium carbonate and eucalyptus oil. Opening the container carefully he held it close enough to Peter to allow him to breathe in some of the vapor. The compound frequently referred to as smelling salts had the desired effect and Peter almost instantly jerked awake. He looked up at Taylor and took a moment to recall what was happening, once again he checked around to make sure he wasn't back at the Market before he closed his eyes again.
"Peter? Are you awake?"
"Barely."
"Better than nothing. How's your pain?"
"Fine."
Taylor sighed at so quickly hearing a lie. It didn't take a trained eye to see the tension that had snapped across Peter shoulders when he woke, or to notice the quick shallow breathing or even the slight crease the appeared between his eyebrows as he concentrated on trying to do a better job at hiding his distress. Taylor picked up a small syringe that he'd already drawn with a small amount of morphine for when Peter woke. He had left some Dilaudid with Peter's caretaker, but he'd noticed that it was mostly unused.
"What is that?" Peter asked nervously.
"Just something for pain."
"I don't need it."
"Peter, I can see you're in pain."
"I can handle it." Peter insisted.
"Peter..."
"No drugs, please."
Taylor decided against pressing the issue and put the syringe down. The more argumentative he became with Peter the less likely he was to enter a purposeful conversation with him. Taylor just hoped that he wasn't refusing drugs out of a need to remain alert around his Master. Although if remaining alert was his goal he wasn't doing a very good job at it as he started to fall asleep again. Between fighting the infection and the side effects of the antibiotics he was going to need a lot of sleep, but he didn't even seem to be trying to stay awake for very long. Taylor carded his hand back into Peter's hair to try to get his attention. Peter pried one eye open and looked at Taylor expectantly.
"Peter, how long have you been with your current Master?"
"I don't know, three or four."
"Years?" Taylor asked in alarm.
"Days." Peter clarified with a yawn. "Won me in a poker game...it was far more humiliating than being sold outright."
"I bet." Taylor replied sympathetically. "Sorry, poor choice of words, no pun intended."
Closing his eyes Peter chuckled quietly.
"Was he drunk?"
"Very."
"Does he drink a lot?"
"Not that I've noticed...maybe he learned his lesson."
Taylor relaxed slightly, at least part of the story was true. He doubted that Peter had the wherewithal to lie about the details of how he ended up with a new owner at the moment. It didn't mean his Master could automatically be trusted, but at least it meant that he wasn't the one responsible for the damage to Peter's back. Peter was about to fall asleep again when what appeared to be a reaction to the sensation of falling caused him to jolt violently. Clenching his teeth together he growled for a moment against the flare of pain caused by the motion. More awake now he started to become restlessness, unable to get comfortable, but also too weak to get up and pace.
"Peter, are you sure you don't want the morphine?"
"I'm sure, Doctor Warren."
"It's 'Taylor' now, I had to leave name 'Warren' behind."
Peter narrowed his eyes slightly as his jaw tightened.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing."
"You know I don't believe that."
"Seems everyone around me these days has multiple names." Peter said bitterly.
"Meanwhile you don't even have single full one." Taylor noted sadly. "Who else have you met lately with alias?"
Looking like he'd been tricked into saying something he shouldn't Peter dropped eye contact and fell silent. Taylor hated upsetting him when he was in obvious distress, but he needed to make a decision on what to do with his Master. Peter was still in too fragile a condition to make it down the stairs, let alone across the city. It had been risky enough leaving him here the first time, but Taylor hadn't been prepared to deal with the situation at the time and he'd had little hope at the time that Peter was going to survive even if he'd stayed and personally cared for him. Now that he was at least starting to recover it was time to decide if this new human was an ally or an enemy.
"I'm sorry, Peter, that wasn't fair of me." Taylor apologized. "I'm already fairly certain your new owner isn't really named 'Nick Halden'. What is his name?"
Peter just shook his head slightly.
"Loyal already?" Taylor asked with a skeptically raised eyebrow.
"It's not loyalty, it's survival instinct."
"I understand. It's none of your business what he wants to call himself?"
"Something like that."
"You don't have to tell me his name, but I would like to know more about him."
Peter remained silent and even tried to push himself up to move a little further away. Taylor cursed himself for pushing for too much information too soon. Peter was clearly sensing a trap and even if it wasn't being set for him there would be consequences for him either way. From his experience having his Master arrested meant being sent back to the Market himself. Trying to get their interaction back to something positive Taylor reached out to touch him again. He had reacted well to contact so far, but now he was on high alert again and didn't trust Taylor's intentions. Seeing that he wasn't going to get the reaction he wanted Taylor pulled away putting his hands up in a show of peace.
Peter didn't relax, but he was forced to close his eyes for a moment as his racing heart made him dizzy. Taylor took the chance to pick up the needle of morphine and quickly injected it into the port that was located along the IV line to hide the administration from his patient. Peter may not have seen the betrayal, but he felt the effects quickly as the drugs started to steal both his pain and his anxiety.
Morphine effected each individual slightly differently, but Taylor knew from experience that it made Peter more willing to talk. He had given him some after the surgery to repair the damage done from his poorly removed kidney and hand ended up sitting with him for hours while the young Animula told him stories. Peter seemed to remember the previous encounter with the drug and ground his teeth to help keep quiet. Taylor felt guilty for giving him the drug against his will, but he was doing it to try and save him. Peter struggled against the soothing effects of the powerful opiod but eventually gave up and just stared vacantly at nothing.
"Peter, I'm sorry I had to do that."
"What do you want from me?" Peter sighed in defeat.
"I just want to know if you're safe here."
"I'm not safe anywhere."
"I know it must seem that way to you, but I'm here to help. In order to do that I need to know if your Master is a threat."
"To who?"
"You."
"I'm more of a threat to him."
"That mark across his throat...he told me you two had some sort of misunderstanding?"
"I tried to kill him." Peter admitted quietly. "I've never...I just lost control. I...I'm sorry..."
"It's okay, Peter." Taylor assured. "I don't blame you, and it would seem your new Master doesn't blame you either. He didn't retaliate did he?"
"No." Peter tried to shake his head but weld his eyes shut as the action made the room spin. "He had every right to punish me, but he didn't."
"You're sure about that? Punishment isn't always an action, sometimes it's a lack of action...I noticed that very little of the pain reliever that I left has been used. Has he been withholding it from you?"
"I've been refusing it."
"Because you're afraid of what you might say to him or to drop your guard around him?"
"No, because it almost turned me into a murderer."
"No, years of fear and mistreatment caused you to defend yourself with force." Taylor said firmly. "It is nothing short of a miracle that out of all the abusive Masters you've had that this one was the first one that you lashed out at. He must have done *something* to deserve it. He must have done something worse to you than the man who has been slashing these marks in your back. What did he do?"
"He...trusted me...and he almost lost his life because of it. I've wanted to kill Masters in the past..." Peter rambled drunkenly. "Neal just gave me gave me my first real opportunity by trusting that I wouldn't hurt him."
"Are you sure it was trust? Perhaps he just underestimated you?"
Peter managed to keep quiet despite the drugs as he knit his brow together. Suddenly looking fearful he stared at Taylor in horror. At first Taylor thought it was because he realized that he had slipped and used Neal's real name, but he looked far too concerned for it to be about something that simple.
"Peter, what's wrong?"
"Please, don't hurt him..."
"What makes you think I would?"
"You're looking for an excuse to justify it."
"I'm just trying to make sure you're safe with him. I know that it would be deeply ingrained in you not to say anything negative against a current owner...survival instinct, remember?"
"Where is he?" Peter asked suddenly realizing he was missing. "Doctor, where's Neal? What have done with him?"
"Nothing, I just..."
"Neal?!" Peter called out.
"He's fine, Peter, I promise."
"Leave him alone." Peter begged. "Please..."
"You care what happens to him?"
"I don't want to be responsible for ruining another innocent life."
"How 'innocent' can he be? He owns you, Peter."
"No...I mean, yes, but..."
"But what?" Taylor pressed.
Peter shut his eyes and shook his head, unwilling to continue what he felt was a dangerous conversation. Taylor backed off for a moment, giving Peter a chance to calm down. Peter wasn't interested in calming down and started to try to push himself up. Taylor pressed his hand against Peter's lower back to keep him down. Peter fought it at first, but quickly exhausted himself. Laying still he almost instantly passed out. Taylor lightly brushed against his cheek to bring him back to the surface again. Peter didn't open his eyes, but he proved he was at least partially awake by trying to pull away.
"Peter, how has Neal been treating you?"
"Like I'm human..."