It‘s tomorrow night and he hasn‘t shown. All day. Pisses me off.
It‘s the day after tomorrow. He still hasn’t shown. What a jerk. He could at least call. I have things to do, you know? I left my schedule open for him cuz he said he would be here. It’s seriously rude.
It’s day three and he still hasn’t shown. Forest comes home though. He’s been gone since I said I wanted time alone, probably staying with some girl. He breaks hearts.
I tell him about how Azzen hasn‘t come back when he said he would.
Forest says, “Azzen? Who’s Azzen?”
My heart jumps into my throat. I start freaking out. Was it all just a dream? Am I making up fantasies again? Has my imagination become so vivid that I’m hallucinating?
“You don’t remember him?!” I nearly cry, in serious distress.
Forest sees the look on my face and says, “Just kidding. Jesus, Amber. Take a joke. Calm down. I’m sure he’ll be back. He seemed pretty persistent to just disappear completely.”
Not funny.
Day four rolls around after a restless night. The first time I wake up screaming, Forest rushes into my room to see what’s wrong. But it’s nothing. Just nightmares. Every time I close my eyes, I see visions of Azzen flailing in chains and being tortured by demonic creatures. I don’t know what’s wrong, but something is. There’s nothing I can do and I end up just weeping in fear.
I’ve hardly ever cry. Hell, the last time I shed a tear was when my mom died. And I’ve never been scared in my life, but this is different, it‘s not me I‘m scared for. I can’t do anything to help. I feel useless. I know I shouldn’t be so worried about a boy I barely know, but these dreams aren’t just nightmares. I’m beginning to realize that our hearts are truly tied together. I know he’s hurting, and I’m hurting with him.
Forest plays big brother and stays by my side until the sun rises. I’m not getting any sleep, so I submit to starting my day with no rest.
I eat some cereal without tasting it, and then he finally appears.
The black mist erupts violently this time, filling the whole dining room in utter darkness. When it clears, I see Azzen’s form crouched down and clutching at himself. He’s covered in blood and collapses backwards, laying spread eagle and staring blankly up at the ceiling. I rush over to him immediately with a worried shout.
There are huge gashes all over his body, some are deep enough that I can see white bone. His clothes are torn and every part of him is soaked in sticky red blood. It leaks out onto the floor and he closes his eyes with a groan and a smirking smile.
“I made it…” he mutters.
“Azzen!” I shout. “Azzen! What happened?! What’s wrong?” I ask. He needs medical attention.
“Get up!” I demand. “Come on. I’m taking you to the hospital.”
“Noh,” he groans and sits up.
He looks around in bewilderment, as though he’s not sure where he is. Then, he seems to snap to his senses.
“Oh,” he says. “I’m here. Good.”
Suddenly the blood stops pouring out of him. The puddles of it slow and then stop spreading; more than that, they actually recede back quickly, sucking back into his body. I watch as the red liquid pulls back into his open wounds. It squeeges out of his damp clothes and runs up his skin, leaving him clean and dry. After the blood pulls back in, the flaps of his hanging flesh flip up and mend together. His cuts zip together and smooth over like putty and his scrapes bubble up into new skin.
Azzen looks himself over when it’s all done. But he’s still not the same. The hair on his arms is thicker and his fingernails are arched into demonic claws. Two little horns protrude from his forehead like that of a satyr.
“What happened to you?!” I demand.
Now that I see he’s okay, I’m quite upset. “Where have you been? Do you know what you put me through? I was worried sick! I’ve been going through Hell!”
Azzen grins sheepishly.
“Hell…” he mutters. “I’ve been going through Hell too.”
“Where were you?” I ask again.
“I just told you,” he says, standing up. “Hell.”
“What are you talking about?” I ask, following him over to the seat he takes at the table.
He collapses into it like he‘s been traveling for days and revels in the simple joy of having a seat.
“I went to Hell,” he says.
I watch as the hair on his arms thins and becomes normal. He looks at his fingernails in disgust and then appears to concentrate. I watch as the pointed claws suck into his fingers and meld back into regular nails.
“That’s better,” he says. “Back to normal.”
“Not quite,” I say blandly.
“Hmm?”
I bring my hands to my forehead and point two fingers up, miming horns.
“Oh,” he says with a start.
Azzen puts a finger on the tip of one horn and pushes it in, grunting as the thing sinks into his skull, then repeats the process on the other.
“Are some kind of demon, or something?” I ask skeptically.
Azzen laughs, “almost became one. How long was I gone?”
“Four days,” I inform him icily.
“Four days… Damn, I thought that portal was closer.”
“Where were you?!” I demand to know.
“I told you! Hell! And it aint no picnic, so get off my back!”
“What the hell were you doing in Hell?! And what do you mean Hell?!”
“I mean like fire and brimstone and darkness for eternity. Purgatory and Damnation. Hell, Hell.”
“Like chilling with Satan?!”
“Yah, pretty much.”
“Why?”
“Because the gods get power from our belief in them. And the people in this world believe in a pretty screwed up Hell. Trust me.”
“No. I mean, why were you there?”
“Oh,” he says. “I was getting you this.”
Azzen reaches in his pocked and pulls out the largest ruby I’ve ever seen. He tosses it to me. “Hold on to, that, will ya?”
I catch it and stare. It’s beautiful. But it hardly excuses him for being gone so long without calling.
“This is what you ditched me for?” I ask. “A rock? From Hell? Why would you think I would even want this?”
“Hmmm, that’s interesting,” he says, eying me with interest. He seems lost in a thought for a moment, but quickly comes back to Earth. “Sorry,” he says. “In Hell, it’s eternity. I was there forever. Literally. I’m still there, technically. It’s hard to explain. I got out through a portal that I thought was leading to the day after I left, but I guess I miscalculated a bit.”
“No excuses,” I say, finally easing up. I give him a smile to let him know I’m joking.
“Hey Little Lady, I just went to Hell and back for you! You wanna cry about it, find somebody who cares!” he says, grinning back at me.
~I didn’t realize how ironic that statement was at the time, lol~
“You went to Hell for this rock,” I say. “Not for me.”
“All girls like rocks,” Azzen replies.
“I like you better.”
“Good.”
“So you’re an idiot.”
“Yah yah, I know.”
“So what’s it for?”
“I’ll explain later,” he says. “Just keep it safe for now.”
“Okay…” I say. “Follow me.”
I head upstairs to my room and show Azzen that I’m putting the big red rock in my jewelry box. The thing is so big that it only barely fits when I clear room and place it inside at an angle. I lock it with my little key that I hide inside a shoe.
“That works,” he says.
“So what was Hell like?” I ask curiously.
“That’s a long story, and I’m not even done telling you the first one.”
“Oh yeah! I had a question about that. I was gonna ask you the last time you were telling the story, but it slipped my mind.”
“Yah? What’s up?”
“Well…” I start. It seems kind of random at this point, but I’ve already mentioned it, so I might as well ask now. “You keep saying I was pretty and stuff… What did I look like?”
Azzen stares at me blankly.
“What?!” I exclaim. “It’s a legitimate question. You’ve never said.”
Azzen smacks himself in the forehead with his palm and mutters, “we just went from ‘how was your trip to Hell?’ to ‘do you really think I’m pretty?’…”
I stifle a laugh. “DEAL WITH IT. PUNK!”
Azzen chuckles and drops his hand to look me in the eyes. The way he gazes at me gives me butterflies. I try to turn away, but he reaches out and gently cups my cheek in his palm, holding my eyes to his as he answers me quietly and honestly.
“You looked exactly like you do now, besides that you’re a Human,” he says. “And you’re just as beautiful, kitty ears or not.”
He makes me smile shyly, but I’m still skeptical. “There wasn’t a single thing different?”
“Well I mean, you had cat ears and a tail. Isn’t that different enough?” he chuckles lightly as he moves his face closer to mine. I watch his eyes search the lines of my face, from the strands of my hair to the nape of my neck. He leans in and I can sense him inhaling deeply. I close my eyes as he sighs his breath out, it feels cool against my neck.
“You even smell the same,” he whispers in my ear.
“Do I really?” I ask breathlessly. He’s so close to me, I wonder if he’ll try to kiss me. I wonder what I’ll do if he does. Part of me says I barely know him, but by the way my body is tingling, I don’t know if I could say no. I feel lightheaded.
Azzen pulls back though, and I’m suddenly aware of how ready I was. Or wasn’t. I don’t know. But he ignores my question and doesn’t seem to notice my blush.
“You had cat eyes too,” he says. “I just remembered that. They were the same color, but they shined in the night. And you were a couple years younger. We both were. Your hair was cut shorter.”
“Oh yeah?” I say, snapping back into the conversation with interest. “How did it look? I’ve been thinking about cutting it.” ~My hair is always a relevant topic. I wonder if Azzen knew that~
“You should. I liked it better that way.”
I blush again, but instantly decide to grow my hair out. “Yeah, maybe I will,” I lie.
“Can we eat?” Azzen asks. Further drowning out my besotted mood.
“I don’t have anything made,” I reply casually. “Want some cereal?”
“Noh,” Azzen says. “I want Pineapple.”
He grabs my hand, surprising me, and we swirl away.
We appear on a warm beach under the shade of palm trees. The sand is soft and extremely fine. It warms the toes of my bare feet. The beach stretches wide and white. The lapping waves of the shimmering ocean are turquoise blue and beautiful. The humid air smells tropic and salty.
There are plenty of tourists around and Azzen flags over a girl wearing a lei and a mumu. He asks her to bring over a fresh pineapple, some Mochi and some coconut rum. She smiles and obliges, saying she’ll be back in just a moment.
“How come nobody notices that we just appeared out of nowhere?” I ask mildly, while taking in the scenic view.
“I replace their memories,” Azzen responds casually, drawing out a beach seat from thin air. His finger traces lines in the air and sparkles appear where he points. He’s not an artist, but the sparkles branch out on their own, shaping into the form of the relaxing chair. When it’s complete, the sparkles form more definite features and the chair shimmers into existence. Then, Azzen raises his hand and makes a motion like he’s backhanding the air and a shadow chair swishes out of the first one, settling a couple feet next to it, forming into a separate chair for me.
“And they don’t notice that either,” I say. “Because you replace their memories.”
“Yup,” Azzen says, sitting down and laying back in the sun. “Ahhh,” he moans. “You don’t know how good this feels after an eternity of darkness and fire.”
“That doesn’t even make sense,” I mutter. “And isn’t replacing people’s memories bad for them?”
“All I did was make them think that we’ve always been sitting here. I didn’t change anything personal.”
“But you could,” I say.
“Sure,” he responds.
“So how do I know if the story you’re telling me is really true or not?”
Azzen rolls his head to look at me. “Would that matter?”
“Yes!” I reply indignantly. I had expected him to assure me that he hadn’t.
“Why?” he asked.
“Because it would be a lie. It wouldn’t be true.”
“What is truth?”
“Truth is what really happened.”
“But knowing I can change anything, can you ever be certain of what has really happened?”
“No. And that’s the point!” I say.
Azzen rests with his hands behind his head and closes his eyes. “So how do you know your whole life up until now was true? Couldn’t I have just made that up?”
“Yeah,” I say snappishly. “And that’s a scary thought!”
“Why?”
“Because it is!”
“Aren’t you happy?”
“Yes. But not if I don’t know what’s real. I don’t want to be your toy. I’m not a doll that you can just play with.”
Azzen chuckled. “Most certainly not.”
“Yeah, but now, how can I ever be certain that‘s the truth?” I bemoan.
“You’ll have to trust me. I give you my word that I would never do that to you.”
“What is the word of a magician worth?” I grumble.
Azzen smiles at me. “A lot when it‘s to someone he loves,” he says.
I feel that familiar flutter in my heart. But can I even trust it?
Azzen adds on, “this isn’t so much a question of magic as it is of philosophy. There could be a god creature that changes your perception of life a million times in every moment, from one moment to the next. And you would never know about it. And you can never be certain it isn’t happening right now, or that it hasn’t just happened. So does that mean you can’t be happy?”
I pause, trying to figure it out. I can’t. So I settle for being sassy.
“So now you’re trying to say you’re god,” I retort.
Azzen laughs. “Yeh, I’ll take that,” he concurs.
The lei girl returns with his drink, a chopped pineapple and several chunks of what looks like powdery opaque jello. Azzen draws a small table out of thin air between our chairs and asks her to leave the platter on it. The poor girl doesn’t even notice as he does it in front of her.
I glare at him in disbelief. He pops some pineapple in his mouth and sips on the rum, then says, “look. If it’s bothering you that much, then at least think about this. You’re mad at me right now, right? If I really wanted to, I could take your memory of this conversation and replace it with one of us having the most incredible sex you’ve ever experienced in your life. So revel in your anger, because it means I love you enough to let you have it.”
I think about it, and it does make sense, crude analogy aside. But I still feel the need to make him pay.
“Well now you’ve really messed up. I bet you’ll wish you could take that one back,” I say slyly.
“Hmm, what?” he asks.
“What you just said. About the sex.”
“Why?” he asks casually, sipping some more of his drink.
“Because now, if we ever DO have that incredible sex, I’m just gonna assume that you’ve done something bad and I‘m that supposed to be pissed off at you.”
Azzen snorts a laugh into his coconut rum.
“Maybe that’s what will make it so good,” he shoots back.
I laugh too.
“Gimme some of that rum,” I say.
Azzen hands it over. “Sure. And try the Mochi too.”
“What is it?”
“It’s good.”
I trust him this time. And he’s right again. The guy knows how to eat.
“Where are we, anyways?” I ask.
“Oahu,” he informs me.
“Oh, the capital of Hawaii?”
“The island of Hawaii that the capital is on, but I’ll take it. You pass Geography today,” he says with a wink.
“Good,” I say, enjoying some of the freshest pineapple I’ve ever tasted. “Does that mean I get more story?”
“I suppose. By the way, do you want your own drink before I start? I like the rum here because it’s locally made, but you can get whatever you want.”
“No,” I reply. “You can have the rest, I just wanted a taste. I actually only try to drink on special occasions,” I say.
“Virgin margarita it is,” Azzen infers and begins his story.
“
After lunch that day, Fel pulled Azzen to the side of the manor once again, while all the other Rats sparred amongst each other.
This time she didn’t grab any sticks. She said they would practice hand to hand combat. Azzen took his fighting stance and Fel squared off against him.
“Are you ready?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“Okay,” Fel said.
They just stood facing each other for a moment. Then, without a warning, Fel snapped her fist forward and struck Azzen in the nose.
“Ow!” he shouted, clutching his nose. It began bleeding profusely.
Fel just laughed. “I thought you said you were ready.”
“I did too,” Azzen mumbled, holding his nose up. He doubted it would stop bleeding any time soon.
“Just leave it,” Fel said. “That’s why Rats wear rags.”
Azzen did what she said and let the blood drip.
“Okay,” Fel said. “You ready for real this time?”
Azzen put up his guard again and said, “Yes.”
This time Fel punched him immediately, as soon as the words had left his lips. And speaking of lips, his lower one was now busted.
And the girl busted out laughing.
“You are WAY too slow,” she said.
Azzen mumblingly agreed.
“This isn’t working,” the catgirl said with frown. “How about this. I won’t hit you. You just try to hit me. For you, it’ll help you learn to track a target, and for me, it’ll probably just be a waste of time,” she chortled.
“Fine,” Azzen agreed, not in the greatest of moods.
They squared off again. Azzen asked if Fel was ready and when she said yes, he waited a moment and then struck.
Fel tilted her head to one side and Azzen’s fist touched air. Then she snapped a fist out and struck the boy in the ribs.
“Ow! Hey, I thought you said you weren’t going to hit me!” Azzen complained.
“Sorry,” Fel apologized. “Reflex.”
Azzen grudgingly squared off again.
“You can punch more than once,” Fel said. “Keep going until you get a hit.”
“Okay,” Azzen said. He was certain he would hit her this time.
He punched high, and Fel leaned back. He punched low, and Fel took one step to the side. Azzen punched high again, and Fel slapped the hit away with her palm.
“How do you do that?” Azzen asked. He was punching as fast as he could, but couldn’t even graze her.
“You’re too obvious,” Fel said. “First of all, I know all you can do is punch, so I already know what’s coming. And secondly, your body language gives everything away. Try to focus on not shifting your weight until you’re actually attacking. If you have to move into position before you attack, I already know where your attack’s going to come from.”
“Okay,” Azzen said. “So that’s why you told us to only take little steps, back when we were group training.”
“Yes,” Fel replied. “Mix it up though. Stutter your steps. Keep me guessing. If you start to make a pattern, break it.”
Azzen tried out what she was saying and punched. Fel still dodged, left and right and parried his punches away with quick taps of her hands.
“I still can’t hit you,” Azzen complained.
“I’m not that easy to hit,” said Fel. “But you’re doing better. You learn pretty fast,” she complimented.
Azzen tried to remember if it was the first nice thing she’d ever said to him. “Thanks,” he said, and then tried to catch her off guard.
Fel leaned back out of range and punished him for it with a kick to the side, buckling the boy down to a knee.
“How do you always know when it’s coming?!” Azzen complained.
“I can see it in your eyes,” Fel said. “Here. Watch my eyes closely.”
Azzen stood with his guard up and watched the girl’s cat eyes intently.
Without so much as a subtle twitch, Fel cracked Azzen in the jaw so hard that the boy felt his bones grind.
“Ow! Hey! I didn’t see anything! What was I looking for?!”
“Exactly,” Fel said smugly. “I don’t telegraph. I keep my eyes dead. You should learn to too.”
Azzen rubbed his jaw and told the catgirl she was a punk. Fel told Azzen get serious and try to hit her some more.
The harder Azzen tried, the easier it seemed to be for Fel. She ducked, weaved, turned, dipped, and slipped out of every attack he threw at her. After a while, she got bored and caught one of Azzen’s punches, swiftly twisting his limb around into an arm lock.
“This is too easy,” she said.
“Sorry,” Azzen apologized. He realized Fel would probably prefer more serious sparring.
“Don’t be,” said the catgirl. “I’m ready to beat you up now.”
“Oh goody.”
“Put your guard up,” she ordered.
Azzen obeyed.
“Now drop it,” Fel said.
“What?”
“Drop your guard.”
“Okay…”
Azzen obeyed again.
“Now forget everything you learned today in group training,” Fel said.
“Huh? Why?”
“That stuff isn’t real fighting. All that proper technique and form, it goes right out the window when you’re in a real scrap. If that’s what you’re focusing on, your mind isn’t free to adapt to the flow of battle.”
“Okay…” Azzen said.
Fel bounced on her feet.
“Loosen up,” she said. “Feel the energy of your body. Let it run through you. Let your body react how it wants to. Everything will change from moment to moment.”
Azzen bounced up and down too, mimicking her.
“Don’t just do what I do. Do what you do,” Fel said.
“I don’t know what that means,” Azzen replied.
“A fight is like a dance. You react to my motions, but at the same time, you redirect them. We both try to take the lead.”
“Okay…”
“Just go with the flow. Fight for your life. Do whatever it takes and don’t hesitate. That‘s all there is to it.”
“If this is all there is to fighting…” Azzen said skeptically, “then why do you teach that other stuff at group training?”
“They make me teach that stuff,” Fel said. “I’m class leader, but that technique is a compilation of everything every Rat knows. We teach each other. I’m just the best at it. They don’t get my style of fighting. They laugh and call me dumb. They say you need to have proper forms and styles and techniques. But you can learn, because you have no form yet. You can be formless, like water.”
“But what Morty was telling me seemed to help out a lot. My punch is a lot stronger and faster than it ever was before today. And you punch me the same way.”
“They have it halfway right,” said Fel. “Each move you learn is important when you want to become a master. Every kick and every punch or uppercut that you perfect becomes another weapon in your arsenal that you can pull out at any time. But they only focus on the form of fighting, not the theory.”
“Okay. That makes sense,” Azzen agreed.
“I bet I can make you a better fighter by knowing good theory with no form, rather than having perfect form with no theory,” Fel said.
“Oh yeah?” Azzen asked.
“Yes,” Fel said, smacking him on the head. “That’s why I asked the Master if I could have you.”
“Oh,” Azzen said, not quite knowing how he felt about that.
“Enough talk,” said Fel. “Prepare yourself. Try to survive.”
And with that, the girl launched into a vicious assault, pummeling Azzen several times before he could scramble away.
The boy put up his guard, but Fel ducked low and tried to sweep out his feet. Azzen was able to see this coming and hopped back, avoiding her kick. It was the first time he had been able to dodge an attack.
“Good!” Fel called out.
Azzen was about to reply, but a second kick by Fel caught him in the stomach and sent him to the ground. She chased after him and went for a stomp, but Azzen grabbed her other leg and yanked, dropping the girl to the ground. She laughed.
“Aha! Now that’s more like it. We got us a scrap!”
Azzen and Fel both scrambled up and the boy launched into her. Fel let him get too close and twirled around, catching him in a headlock. Azzen didn’t know how to get out, so he tried to punch at the girl, but her position was good and he couldn’t do any real damage.
Azzen struggled with everything he could, aside from biting and pulling her hair, but he couldn’t get out. He couldn’t breath, but it wasn’t that that was making the world fuzzy, it was the lack of blood flow to his brain. He dropped to a knee. The world was going out…
And Fel released him.
“No use knocking you out too early,” she said.
Azzen coughed and tried to say, “thanks,” but ended up just wheezing for a while.
“Next time, bite me,” Fel said.
Azzen was still having trouble responding, but managed to say, “is that allowed?”
Fel called him stupid and said, “it’s a fight. The only thing that isn’t allowed is losing.”
After Azzen recovered himself, Fel asked if he was ready for more and then tore into him once again.
By the end of the day, Azzen was covered in lumps and bulging bruises. He was bleeding from scrapes and cuts on his face. But his “theory” was improving greatly.
Hit her and try your hardest not to get hit back. It was as simple as that.
But hitting the quick girl was nearly impossible and dodging her lightening fast strikes was barely an option. Finally, as the sun was setting, Azzen surprised her by accepting a shot square to the chest in exchange for hitting her hard in face. His attack knocked the girl clean onto her butt. It was the first real, non-grazing hit that he’d gotten on her.
Fel sat on the ground for a moment, stunned.
“Nobody’s hit me like that before,” she said. “Except the Master.”
Azzen grinned, or at least tried to, with his bluish swollen face. “Iym a fwast leawrneh,” he attempted to say.
Fel stood up and rubbed her cheek. “You aint shit,” she grumbled.
Azzen beamed.
“Come on,” the girl said. “You gonna need extra dinner tonight.”
Azzen wanted to agree, but it hurt to talk, so he just followed the girl back inside.
“
“This is boring,” I say.
“Oh, sorry,” Azzen replies. “We can do something else.”
I stretch out on my chair and roll over to look at him , leaning on my arm. “No, it’s not that. It’s just all this talk of fighting technique and theory… And it’s so relaxing here… I’m sorry. It’s just putting me to sleep.”
Azzen chuckled. “You were pretty interested in it back then.”
“Yeah, yeah. Maybe it was just cuz I had to get away from that Master.”
“Maybe,” Azzen said, finishing off his drink and waving the lei girl over again.
“Are you sure I wasn’t more interested in dresses? Didn’t you say I had a nice skirt and blouse? How come I had that instead of rags, like the rest of the Rats?”
“Come to think of it, you did always like nice things.”
“Of course I did. I’m a girl. That’s one thing I do remember about that… ‘Life.’ I always wanted nice things. And I remember there were times that I would dress up like a princess.”
“I have seen you in some exquisite get-ups,” Azzen chimed, giving me a wink. “That’s not ‘til later in the story though. For a long time, we were pretty poor.”
“Oh, that sucks. But where did I get my skirt? There was something about it. I remember.”
“You’re starting to remember. That’s good,” Azzen says. The Lei girl takes our tray and he pays.
“Let’s get out of here,“ he says. “Go somewhere fun.”
“Okay…” I say. I can tell he’s avoiding the question for some reason.
Azzen holds out his hand and I take it. The next moment, we’re in a store. I look around and see all sorts of sea-gear. Snorkels, surf boards, flippers, floaties, and anything else I can imagine. Azzen walks to the counter and talks to an attendant. I wander around and look through a bin of seashells.
He comes back not long later, carrying a couple black bundles and a big sack of gear and a smaller store bag.
“They’re not dresses,” he says. “But yours should fit.”
I reach out to peak in the small bag, but he takes my hand and we vanish again. This time, we appear in a dressing room. Azzen drops the small bag, steals a quick kiss on my cheek and tells me to come out when I’m dressed. I tense up at the stolen kiss, but he leaves before I can decide if I’m angry or want more. My heart is pounding at just the thought of it and I realize I’m way too worked up over a stupid boy. A stupid, handsome, boy with penetrating eyes, soft lips and gentle, yet powerful hands. And a charming laugh and an enchanting smile… Ugh. I need to get out of my head.
Pushing those thoughts aside, I pick up the bag and pull out what’s inside.
It’s a tight bikini, black with red swirls, with a skirt-frilled bottom. The cut fits me perfectly, pulling my boobs together in a provocative way. It’s snug and comfy, letting me move around without worrying about anything popping out. The swirly design is spicy and vaguely reminds me of the way the boy teleports. It’s perfect. A little too perfect. It makes me wonder how much Azzen really knows about my anatomy.
Also in the bag is a knit white sundress, some big black and white checkered shades, matching sandals, a few accessorizing bracelets, and a big white oversized beach hat. I love it. I don the outfit and check myself out in the mirror, making sure everything looks perfect. My reflection looks like a celebrity. I’m going to make jaws drop.
Smiling brightly, I exit the stall and find Azzen waiting for me.
His outfit consists of black, blue, and white board shorts, some Oakly’s… and that’s all. It’s all he needs. I try not to let my own jaw drop.
If he was handsome before, he’s officially gorgeous. I’m not going to go into detail, but I‘m glad I‘ve got my sunglasses on, so I can admire his gratuitous features. He also ran some water through his hair, letting it drip onto his masculine body, rolling across his shoulders and sliding down his chest. I can’t help but to want to press up against it and feel if he’s as solid as he looks, but I hold my composure.
He offers me his arm, I link my hand in, and he leads me outside to the beach. Stepping outside into the warm air and knowing we both look amazing, I feel like I’m queen of the world.
It turns out we’re at a different beach. There’re a lot less people here, and I’m almost disappointed that there aren’t more to see me. Azzen leads me to a couple towels he’s laid out next to the big bag of gear. After our short arrival onto the scene, I look around while he pulls out scuba gear.
“I’ve never been scuba diving before!” I say excitedly as he reveals the tanks and masks.
He flashes me one of those bright smiles and I feel my pulse begin to race. Azzen takes off his sunglasses and looks up from preparing the gear. He gives me a sly wink. When he’s got it all unloaded, he stretches wide, flexing his muscles and showing off his form. I flush red. I wonder if he can hear my heart beating. Knowing him, probably. He probably knows exactly what he’s doing. What a jerk.
I begin to calm down.
I’m actually glad that Azzen knows what he’s doing, because like I said, I’ve never been scuba diving before. He helps me suit up and then takes my hand. We teleport, gear and all, miles out into the ocean.
After dropping in with a splash, we start swimming down and down, towards the living coral reef. The fish swarm around me in huge schools of bright colors. They’ve got stripes and spots. They’re big and small. I’ve never seen anything like this, not even in an aquarium.
A large lavender fish with yellow spots drifts by, and several smaller fish flit around, following it. Two ancient sea turtles pass by and eye us with wise indifference.
We reach the reef and begin to cruise along it, taking in sights of large starfish, sea anenomies, spiny sea urchins, and darting fishies. Azzen points out a long orange and yellow sea cucumber and shows me that you can pet it. I touch it. Ew! It’s slimy!
I can’t laugh and talk with my mask on, but I look at Azzen and he can see the smile in my eyes. Something occurs to me and I try to mime with my hands that Azzen can speak to me in my head. I give him that yappy hand gesture and then tap on my head.
Instead of responding, Azzen just gives me a dismissive wave and beckons me to follow him, diving over a coral reef cliff edge and deeper into the depths of the ocean. I don’t know why he won’t talk to me.
I see eels poking their heads out of holes and clown fish cleaning up around anenomie tentacles. I want to meander around, but Azzen is swimming determinedly away. I wonder what’s on his mind. I wonder why he won’t talk. And for some reason, I keep thinking about why I would have had nice clothes in his story. There was some reason I didn’t like them, even though I did…
As I‘m trying to remember, the reef dips off again into an undersea valley and what Azzen is heading towards comes into view. I gasp at the view.
Deep in the valley, halfway sunk into the sand and covered in rising seaweed is what looks like an ancient pirate ship! Azzen looks back at me with an eye grin and I make excited little claps with my hands. How he knows about this place, I have no idea, but we head straight towards derelict ship.
We swim around the large mast of the ship, spiraling down towards the deck. We actually step onto the hull of the historical rig. We look around and find a doorway to the inside, but when I try to open it, it doesn’t budge. Azzen doesn’t bother trying, though I know he could rip the old wood right out. I’m sure he doesn’t want to do any damage.
We swim around to the side of the ship and find a hole that looks like it was blown out by a cannon. Azzen slips through and I follow him into total darkness. A light appears, shining in my eyes and something touches my face, I jump at first until I realize it’s Azzen. He clicks a button on my face mask and a little headlamp turns on. I thank him with a pat on his arm and we start exploring the innards of the boat.
It’s all very interesting, but something is nagging on my mind. That skirt and blouse. What was it? The other kids, Rats, would make fun of me for it. I forget why. What was it that they used to say? I remember they told Azzen something about it that upset him and I think he got into a fight or something. What did they say about me?
I almost bump into Azzen as I’m lost in my thoughts. He stops in a doorway and backs up, shaking his head and waving me away. What was in there?
I go to peak in, but he grabs my arm and guides me with him. I yank my arm away and he lets it go, shaking his head with a gestural sigh. What’s in there? I want to know. So I take a peak.
My breath catches in my throat. There are bones. No bodies. Just bones, scattered around the room. Skeletons lay around, for the most part in tact, and they’re inside barred cells. This must have been the brig. Some of the bone hands are still clutching at the bars and their skulls are open in silent watery wails. They weren’t let out when the ship went down. They were never released, still locked up down here, condemned to their prison for eternity.
I turn away. I’m not frightened. More saddened. I’m glad I looked, even if Azzen didn’t want me to see. Now they could be remembered. Now nothing was forgotten. Somebody had seen. Somebody knew how they were.
For some reason I think back to that damn skirt. It seems trivial right now and I push it out of my mind. Azzen waves his hand in front of my face and taps the face of a watch that he must have put on with his gear. I get the message. We’re running out of time.
We exit the ship and swim around for a bit more. I try to take my mind off the haunting memories of those men. What had happened? Their stories would never be finished, their lives would never unfold. Was their importance to be diminished? Lost cries in the cold. Who would ever know them? Who’d would care for their souls? Why did their foes condemn? What crime did they impose? Questions bear reverence to the mark of their silent tomb. Remembrance wears on my conscience in the dark and lonely gloom.
Azzen catches my hand as we’re swimming and looks me in the eyes. I feel his warmth in the cold ocean and he wraps me in his arms, embracing me in a comforting weightless hold. It makes it hard for me to worry about those men. He does exactly what I need, as though he knows what I feel. And he probably does. Damn jerk.
I close my eyes and nuzzle my face into his chest, as best I can with the mask on. The next thing I know, I feel the water drop around us and my body suddenly has weight again.
Heavy weight with all this gear on. I look around and see that we’re back on the beach. I shrug my pack off and Azzen does the same.
I feel like I came back into existence after experiencing such an ethereal adventure. Azzen grins at me as he takes his mask off.
“Have fun?” he asks.
“Yeah!” I say, suddenly filled with energy, now that I’m back in the sun. “Lots of fun. That was amazing! Thank you.”
I give him a bright smile. Azzen pulls me close. He lightly holds my chin and leans in. I don’t shy away as he kisses me on the lips. It happens quick and casual, as if it’s a normal every day thing. Which it probably is, for him. But to me, it’s our first kiss. And I nearly melt. My heart does that thing where it jumps into hyper speed and my palms begin to tingle and the hairs prickle on the back of my neck.
But Azzen doesn’t seem to notice. I want him to hug me tight and hold me and maybe take me somewhere more personal where we can just be together for a while, but the idiot turns around and stretches wide in the sunshine.
I keep my cool and don’t let anything show. I walk up beside him and give myself a stretch too. I grab my sunglasses and slip on the knitted sundress. Azzen watches the waves of the ocean while I start to wring and shake out my hair. Salt water’s no good for me. I’m gonna need a shower.
Later that night, after my shower, Azzen agrees to my childish pleas that he tuck me in.
“And tell me some more of my story, before you go,” I say from under my covers.
“It’s getting late,” he responds.
“Oh come on. You got somewhere to be?”
“I thought you said it was boring.”
“It’s not, I was just sleepy and couldn’t pay attention.”
“Well aren’t you sleepy now?” he asks, eyeing me under my bed sheets.
“Nope!” I say, popping up into a crosslegged squat.
Azzen grins.
I grin back. I’ve been really good about not bothering him for more information throughout the day. In Hawaii, we spent all afternoon, and into the night, strolling through outdoor markets and seeing waterfalls. We had dinner at a fancy restaurant that was wrapped around a huge shark filled aquarium. I don’t know where Azzen gets his money from, but he seems to have a lot of it.
But I don’t want his money. I want his story. So now, before he leaves, I just need to get at least a quick fix.
“Well what do you want to hear about? Since theory of fighting is a bit dry.”
“I want to know why I had nice clothes and nobody else did,” I state directly.
Azzen hesitates.
“Why is that so important to you?” he asks.
“Because I know something happened,” I say.
“It’s really not that important. Can’t I just leave that out?”
“What?! No! No way! You can’t leave anything out!” I shout. “Have you left out anything else?!”
“No,” Azzen says, “And I didn’t really leave it out. I don’t know why you had nice clothes. I never asked you. You never told me.”
“But you know something,” I say. “Tell me. Maybe it will help me remember.”
“That’s what I’m worried about…” Azzen mutters. He furrows his brow and stares off for a while, then finally shakes his head, giving in to some unknown thought. “Alright,” he says. “Full disclosure. I won’t hide anything from you. You want the full story and you deserve it, down to the smallest detail.”
“That’s right,” I say. “It’s not just your story, it’s mine too.”
“But I’m not telling you tonight. Not yet.” Azzen amends.
“What? Why not?”
“We’re not to that part yet,” he says. “It won’t make sense unless you know how I felt about you.”
“I know how you feel,” I say. “I can feel it in the way you look at me and touch me, or in the way you talk to me, or about me. It’s pretty obvious,” I say with a yawn.
“But that’s now. This was then. I didn’t know you as well.”
“I barely know you now,” I mumble, laying down and getting comfy.
“That’s what you think,” Azzen says and then begins telling me about us.
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Ch5: Bury The Tooth Of The Hydra And The Skeleton Army Will Arise
“
That night Azzen couldn’t sleep. It was too hot and his aching body just couldn’t relax. After tossing and turning for an hour, he decided to go outside and get some fresh air. He stepped outside and enjoyed a cool breeze. Thinking of nothing else to do, he wandered into the forest, wondering if Fel would be out, like she was the night before.
He didn’t see any lights, but wandered around anyways. He didn’t find any fires, but continued deeper and deeper into the forest. In the silence of the night, he could hear crickets chirp and the light clacking of sticks knocking against each other.
Wait. What was that?
Azzen moved towards the strange sound.
Clack. Clack. Clackclack. Clack. Clack.
Azzen continued towards the sound until it got louder and louder. As he neared, he could hear more distinct sounds. Two voices. One he picked out as Fel. She was shouting and yelping ferociously. It sounded like she was in distress, so Azzen began to run. The other voice he heard was laughing, and it sounded like the Master.
It was dark tonight, and the forest obscured most of what he could see from view, but Azzen finally saw them. Fel was holding a stick and clashing against the Master. He was easily blocking her blows, as well as any escape she tried to make. In the few seconds Azzen caught, it looked like the Master was simply toying with her, the way that Fel was able to toy with him.
Then the boy noticed something he didn’t think was right, and his view on the situation suddenly changed.
Fel’s blouse was torn open and there was a desperate look in her eyes.
“HEY!” Azzen shouted.
Both Fel and the Master turned their heads for a split second. The Master squinted to see who it was, but Fel’s eye’s gleamed in the night and she recognized instantly that it was Azzen. The catgirl darted off while the Master was distracted, passing by Azzen, back in the direction of the manor. The Master took off behind her, and out of pure reflex, Azzen jumped into his path. The two men collided and rolled onto the ground.
By the time either of them looked up, Fel was gone. It surprised Azzen how fast she could go.
The Master shouted in rage, “Damnit!”
He whirled on Azzen.
“You damn punk,” he spat.
Azzen backed up, but the Master advanced on him. “You trying to run, Boy? That girl was trying to run. But she wasn‘t getting away. Not until you came.”
Azzen didn’t know what to say.
“Oh she’ll be here tomorrow,” the Master said. “She tries to sneak out quietly because she knows that once I’m on her tail, she won’t get away. And I’m always on her tail. Right up on her. Stupid girl just doesn’t get it.”
“Get what?” Azzen asked, still backing up. “That you’re completely insane?”
This was the first time he’s even spoken to the Master since the first day he’d gotten to the “school.”
“Yes. Now you get it,” the Master said with a crazy gleam in his eyes. “She doesn’t run every night,” he said. “And you just blew it for me. She knows the rules. If she gets back to the manor, she gets out of her beating. And beating that little Merca is like a special treat for me.”
“You’re sick,” Azzen said angrily. How often had this man beaten Fel?
“I don’t gotta take lip from a scrawny rat like you. You should know that I’m going to beat you twice as hard for letting that little girl slip away.”
The Master’s words enflamed Azzen’s rage. Azzen put up his fists. “I hope you do,“ he growled. “but remember that some day I’m going to be good enough to pay you back double.“ His face was already swollen from the beating that Fel had given him and his body was already bruised. What was one more whooping?
“I’m going to break every bone in your body,” the Master menaced.
Azzen stopped backing up and held his ground… Until the Master knocking him off of it…
The next morning, Azzen woke up in the forest. He couldn’t even remember what had happened. He knew he fought the Master, but the entire fight was a blur. Azzen didn’t think he’d landed a single punch. He remembered getting hit so fast it felt like he was being struck in three places at once. He remembered flying across the forest and smashing into trees.
He tried to lift his hand but his arm didn’t seem to work. He vaguely recalled the Master stomping on his fingers. But at that point, the boy had been beyond feeling. The world had blurred and his body had gone numb.
Even in his sorry state, the first thing he thought of when he awoke was to worry about Fel. He hoped that she had made it back okay.
The boy tried to sit up and made it about an inch before gasping in pain and dropping his head. He tried to lift his head, but it immediately throbbed and his vision blurred.
No need to rush things, Azzen thought. Might as well just lay here for awhile.
The boy closed his eyes, and even that sleight movement hurt. He left them shut and drifted out of his world of pain, into blissful unconsciousness.
He awoke again around lunch, his stomach was growling. This time, before trying to sit up, he tried to wiggle. His chest stabbed when he tried to bend. His abs screamed when he tried to twist. His back burned. His legs both felt broken. His arms had no feeling below the shoulders. He tried to look to the side to see if they’d been ripped off, but his head throbbed at just the thought. Azzen gave up and closed his eyes to pass out again.
The next time he woke, it was dark outside. He still couldn’t turn his head, but his ears picked something up other than the typical night sounds.
A fire was crackling. After straining his eyes, he could see the light dancing off some tree trunks.
Azzen tried to open his jaw, but it felt stiff and swollen. He finally just budged his lips, which cracked and bled. He moaned through his teeth.
“Who…”
“Don’t talk,” a voice said. It was familiar to Azzen, but it felt like his memory had been bruised. Recalling the face was just too much to think about.
Fel poked her head into Azzen’s vision. She looked at him with disgust and told him he was an idiot. Azzen saw her ear twitch.
“Now I’m stuck out here fixing you,” she said.
“Thanks…”
“Don’t thank me. I’m only doing it because you belong to me. I can’t let my only slave die,” she muttered.
Azzen hadn’t known he was a slave. For some reason the thought was funny to him and he giggled. Giggling hurt a lot, so he stopped quickly.
“Don’t laugh!” Fel yapped. “I’m serious! The Master gave you to me. And especially after this, you owe me your life. I don’t have to be out here, you know. The Master left you to die.”
Azzen wondered if that was true. Probably.
“Now open your mouth,” Fel said.
Azzen tried and barely managed to crack his jaw about half a centimeter.
“Useless,” Fel muttered.
The girl grabbed Azzen’s jaw unkindly and yanked it wide open with a pop. Azzen would have screamed in agony if he’d had the energy. Instead he just exhaled sharply.
“No whining,” Fel scolded.
She spooned some warm mush into his mouth and told him to swallow. Azzen obeyed with great effort.
“You know, you wouldn’t be in this mess if you had just minded your own business,” Fel jabbered, while she unceremoniously dumped the mush into his mouth. “I don’t know what you were doing out there, but only a complete and utter moron would put himself in the way of the Master.”
Azzen wondered what that made Fel, since she was the one who was out there in the first place.
“Do yourself a favor and stop making decisions on your own. Just keep your head down and blend in like everybody else,” she said, bringing her face into view as she slopped some more goo into the boy’s mouth.
“You’re not special,” she said, and her ear twitched. “And forget everything you seen or thought you saw.”
Azzen’s only response was to close his eyes. Not to ignore the girl, but because the effort of swallowing caused excruciating pain to shoot through his body, and he was beginning to black out.
The next time he opened his eyes, it was light out, and he was alone again. Azzen tried to move, but couldn’t, so he went back to sleep.
He woke several more times throughout the day and tried to move, but couldn’t. Fel was never around.
~That night was the first time I thought I might like Azzen. I didn’t feel it like that when I was feeding him, but the next day, he was all I could think about. And that’s what made me realize I might be having feelings for him.~
Finally night came and he was shaken awake.
“I don’t feel like waiting for you to wake up on your own,” Fel said.
She held the spoon over Azzen’s face and said, “open.“
Azzen was able to do so on his own this time and Fel began shoveling more mush into Azzen’s mouth without another word.
She fed him in silence this time, and after finishing the whole bowl, the girl got up and left, her only condolence was to say, “die if you’re going to. Otherwise hurry up and get better.”
~Lol, I remember saying that. It came out harsher than I meant it to. The whole time I was feeding him, I trying to figure out a way to say “Thank you,” without it sounding like I cared. The next couple days, I thought about it a lot and after a while, I finally figured out what it was I really meant to say. I carefully crafted my words, until I knew they were perfect.~
Another day passed and when night came, Fel returned to feed Azzen in silence, once more. The only words she spoke to him were simple commands. “Open.” “Swallow.” “Sleep.”
On the fourth day, she repeated the procedure. But this time, she made one comment.
“No one else would have stopped the Master,” she said. “Anyone else would have let him catch me.”
And that was all she said. It wasn’t a thank you or an explanation of why she was helping the boy recover. It was just a simple statement, and Azzen took it at face value.
A week went by before Azzen was able to move. He experimentally rolled over and was able to see more than straight up for the first time in days. He saw his arms. They were still attached. Somebody, Azzen could
only assume Fel, had made splints of wood and bandaged them up. His legs were bound the same way and most of his stomach and chest were wrapped up as well. The boy decided it was best not to move and remained motionless while waiting for Fel.
She showed up that night and Azzen lifted his head to see her.
“About time,” she muttered.
The catgirl made a fire and then checked on some of Azzen’s bandages.
“Thanks for doing this,” Azzen mumbled. It still hurt to talk, but he was able to get the words out, and they were long overdue.
“Jah,” Fel muttered back while she re-wrapped a wound.
“I don’t know what I’d do without you,” the boy said.
“Die,” the girl responded flatly.
Azzen smiled but it came out as more of a grimace.
“Lay down,” Fel commanded and Azzen obeyed.
The girl spooned some more mush into his mouth and Azzen ate it blandly. He could feel some strength returning to him, but it would still take a long time before he was healed.
That night, Fel stayed with him after she was finished feeding him. She sat by the fire and Azzen rolled over to watch her. He said nothing while she poked at the fire with a small stick. He watched her light the stick on fire, then bring it out and cover the small flame with her hand, extinguishing it.
The catgirl did this a few times before tossing the stick into the fire and then she reached out her hand and placed it into the flames. The girl winced once when her hand entered and then she set her brow and held her hand steady.
The flames danced around her palm and in between her fingers. After several moments, she removed her hand and it stayed aflame. She rubbed her other hand over it and put out the fire. Azzen saw that her hand was pink and tender, but the catgirl didn’t hesitate to repeat the procedure with her other hand. She winced again as her hand entered the fire.
“Why do you do that?” he asked.
“I need to,” she replied. “It gives me power.”
“Doesn’t it hurt?”
“No,” she said with a twitch of the ear. “I don’t burn.”
“Why? What do you mean it gives you power?”
“I’m a Pria,” she told him. “We are naturally Red. Holding fire is something that will help me leave here.”
“How?” Azzen asked.
The catgirl looked over at him. “Lie down,” she said. “Rest.”
Azzen obliged her commands.
“It gives me power,” she said quietly. “I hold it inside me, but I haven’t figured out how to control it.”
“Control it?”
“I absorb it, but I can‘t use it.”
“How is that possible?” Azzen asked.
“It just is,” said Fel. “No more talking now. Rest.”
Azzen closed his eyes for a moment and then opened them again, but when he did, Fel was gone.
Over the next week, Azzen began to feel better, though he still couldn’t move. Fel continued to nurse him back to health, one night at a time. As the weeks passed, she fed and washed him. Every night she was there. Every night, she would feed him mush and talk to him about whatever was on her mind. It was Azzen’s whole life for several weeks, and every night, he was more thankful that Fel didn’t abandon him than the last. But on the night just before the full moon, she wasn’t there.
Azzen waited up that night, but the catgirl never showed. When he finally went to sleep, he dreamed a strange dream.
A man that looked like himself walked up to where Azzen was laying. The man looked like him, but older and scarred. He was different than Azzen viewed himself, but still the same. He was more rugged. More confident. His stride was purposeful and his swagger was proud. When he spoke, his voice verged on cocky, but with a hint of compassion.
“Can’t stand yourself up, Boy?” he asked.
Even in his dream, Azzen was only able to raise his head and nod.
The man grasped his shoulder with one rough palm and lifted him straight up onto his feet. He set Azzen down gently, and the boy stood, looking up at the man with a familiar face.
“That’s better,” the man said. “Looks like all you need is a little lift.”
The man seemed to think this was funny and laughed heartily.
Azzen struggled to smile, but for some reason, he worried about Fel.
“You should be worried,” the man spoke, knowing Azzen’s thoughts. “She’s in a lot of pain right now.”
Azzen nodded, somehow knowing this was true.
“I’d let you do this on your own, but I can’t stand to see her suffer like this,” the man said. “And you can’t stand at all…”
Azzen silently agreed and thanked him.
“Save her from this place. Can’t you see how much she hates it here?”
Azzen wordlessly told the man that he could.
“Then why is she taking care of you when you should be taking care of her?”
Azzen opened his mouth to make an excuse, but his mind betrayed him before the words came out, complaining that he was too weak.
“Well that’s what your little lift is for,” the man said.
Azzen couldn’t respond.
The man reached into a pocket and pulled out a tiny black gem. To Azzen, it looked ordinary, but it was the way the gem felt that shook him. It was filled with darkness. Filled with hate and rage. It was a gem of disaster. Pure evil. Void and nothingness. The man flicked it at Azzen and it struck the boy in the head.
The gem stuck on the boys skin and then sank into his mind. It was painful. More painful than the savage beating he had received from the Master. It struck his heart, slashed his soul and ripped his world apart. Nothing could be seen or perceived except for blackness and misery.
The man snapped his fingers and the pain was swept away.
“Do not lose her,” the strange man said. “Do not lose her or that is all you will have left.”
“What was that?” Azzen asked. His only spoken words.
“Nothing,” the man replied. “Without her, you will have nothing.”
And then the dream faded away.
Azzen woke up and his eyes shot open.
He tried to understand the symbology of the dream.
He knew that he needed to protect Fel. He knew that she was the only thing that mattered to him in this world. And he knew that without her… something bad… something would happen… but he couldn’t figure it out. The dream was already slipping away.
He knew that he needed to be stronger. Both in mind and body. The boy groaned as he sat up. Then he grunted and gasped and he lifted his arms and removed his bandages. He rolled onto he knees and gave a mighty moan as he slowly staggered to his feet.
It had been four weeks since he’d stood. And in his mind, he wondered why he was able to. If the Master had really broken his bones, it should be months before he was able to stand. The boy decided he must not have been as injured as he thought. With sheer determination, he took a painful step forward.
Agony shot through his body with each movement, but he was determined that now that he was up, he would not fall again. The boy stumbled forward, away from the small campsite Fel had made around him and into the forest.
~Azzen never told me that dream! I only found it out when he came back at told me the story. In retrospect, now that I’m back to myself, it explains so damn much. I can’t believe he never mentioned it to me. What an idiot. Oimah! Fcking Prnsharro.~
When Azzen blundered out of the forest into view of the manor, he saw several Rats practicing outside. When they saw him, they shouted in surprised and rushed up to help him inside. They sat him at a table and served him mush. Azzen was able to feed himself.
When they asked where he had been, he told them he had tried to run away. The Rats all laughed and clapped him on the back.
“First beating huh?”
“How was it?”
“Did he break any bones?”
“Now you’re Really one of us!”
Azzen was able to smile and laugh a little with them. When they asked how he’d survived for four weeks on his own, he told them he wasn’t sure, and wisely didn’t mention anything about Fel.
The Master was stirred from whatever it was that he did all day and brought to see that Azzen had returned.
The gruff man snorted a laugh and simply said, “maybe you’ll be worth something after all,” before leaving. But the dangerous eye he gave the boy said, “I hope you learned your lesson.”
Azzen didn’t see Fel around and wondered where she was, but didn’t ask. One thing he had learned about the girl was that she liked to keep her personal business personal. He’d wait until night to see if she returned to the forest.
Over the course of the day, it seemed like all the pain Azzen had felt was draining out of him. With each step he took, he felt renewed vitality. It seemed like the more he moved around and worked his body, the faster it healed. By night time, he was sparring with the boy named Morty, taking it easy, but still keeping up.
As the sun fell and the Rats went to sleep, Azzen stepped outside and wandered into the forest, towards his old resting spot.
When he got there, it was deserted. All traces of the little campsite had been brushed away and he was barely able to recognize where he had once lain.
“I thought you’d have learned better than to come here at night,” a familiar voice said, floating up from behind him.
Azzen turned around to see Fel.
“I wanted to see you,” he said.
“Go ahead and look,” she muttered blandly.
Azzen didn’t really have anything to say.
“Like what you see?” the girl spat. She seemed irritated for some reason.
“Uh…”
“Want me to take my clothes off?” she asked with a sarcastic sneer.
“What?” Azzen asked shocked.
“You aren’t special,” the catgirl said. “You’re just an idiot.”
Azzen had no idea what was making her act this way.
“Fel… I just wanted to thank you-”
“Shut up!” she shouted for no apparent reason. “You can take your thanks and shove it.”
“What’s wrong with-”
“You wasted my time,” she shouted over the boy. “I should’ve been training! I shouldn’t have cared about taking care of you! It was such a waste of time.”
“Sorry!” Azzen shouted back. “You didn’t have to.”
“I know! Just shut up. You’re so worthless.”
Azzen was completely baffled. Was this normal here? For someone to take care of you for weeks and then suddenly hate you for it?
“Look,” Azzen said. “I don’t know what’s going on with you. Maybe it’s your time of month-”
Without warning, Fel punched Azzen in the face so hard that his face burned and he flew back and rolled on the floor. When he looked up, he saw that the catgirl’s fist was alight with flame.
“Yah,” she spat. “It’s my time of the month. That’s what’s the matter with me.”
The girl turned and stalked away, leaving Azzen to wonder why he was apparently such an idiot.
“
“Oooh, bad move,” I say.
Azzen laughs. “Yah, right?”
“Never bring up the menstrual cycle when a girl’s pissed off. That’s just asking to get hit. You deserved it.”
“I agree,” Azzen agrees. “Totally deserved it. But I was confused and you were yelling for no reason. What else was I supposed to think?”
“You don’t think,” I inform him. “You just say ‘yes Dear’ and keep your mouth shut.”
“Yes Dear.”
“Don’t start with me. I’m already pissed off at you from the story.”
“What?! That was like ages ago!” Azzen complains.
“Yeah, but I’m just now remembering it,” I reply. “And you were being a total asshole.”
“Oh come on. You can’t get mad at me for telling you what happened,” he reasons.
“Don’t tell me what I can’t do,” I say.
“Then no more story,” he replies.
“Oh quit being a little bitch,” I tell him.
Azzen just laughs. I smile.
I can tell that nothing really gets to the guy. Even when we argue, it’s always just light and playful. He really seems like he’s just happy to be with me. I like that about him.
“Well I’m only gonna tell you more because I don’t want to send you to bed on that note. It gets a little better after that. Not really. But not as bad.”
“Well get on with it then,” I say.
“I would if you’d quit interrupting me,” he says back.
“Whatever.”
~The day that the Master found out I had saved Azzen, he was extra cruel… I know Azzen didn’t say anything, but the fact that he was alive said it all. I’ve still never told him.~
“
After a confusing night, Azzen woke up to business as usual. He ate breakfast and went to group training with the other Rats. Fel didn’t look at him the whole time and ignored his group while she was walking around and giving pointers. Azzen tried not to let it bother him.
“You’re doing a lot better,” Morty compliment. “What, were you out there practicing for four weeks?”
“Huh?” Azzen asked, not really paying attention. “Oh. No, not really.”
“Hmmm,” Morty said. “You seem faster.”
Azzen didn’t think anything of it.
After group training, the Rats broke off to go spar and Azzen kept an eye on Fel. She tried to slip off to the side and into the forest on her own, but Azzen followed her.
“Don’t follow me,” she shouted over her shoulder as the two left the group behind.
“Why?” Azzen called back.
“Because I don’t like you.”
“Then why did you save me? I would’ve died out there!”
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t know?”
Fel turned around. “Go away. You’re wasting my time. I need to train seriously.”
“Then train seriously with me,” Azzen said.
“All you do is hold me back.”
“Then don’t hold back.
Fel snorted. “You’ll get hurt.”
“I’m a big boy,” Azzen replied.
“You’re an idiot,” Fel said, turning away and walking again.
“Are you crazy?” Azzen asked.
The catgirl froze and got stiff.
“You save my life and immediately afterwards, you want nothing to do with me.”
Fel turned around and marched up to Azzen. “You better take that back!” she said.
“What? Take what back?”
Fel launched her fist at Azzen’s face, but Azzen had half expected it and turned this time, barely avoiding the blow.
Fel stood in shock for a moment at the fact that Azzen had actually dodged one of her attacks, then she swung a hard kick at the boy and sent him rolling.
“That’s more like it,” Azzen growled and sprung up, charging at the catgirl.
He swung at her and she easily dodged it, ducking low and grabbing his legs. She lifted up and tossed him behind her, but Azzen had the sense of mind to grab her hair and carried her down with him.
“YOU IDIOT!” Fel shouted as she scrambled up to kick him in the gut.
Azzen caught her leg and yanked. Fel punched him twice in the ear while she fell. Azzen hopped on top of her and tried to pin her. Fel rolled him over and put him in a headlock. Azzen somersaulted and landed on top of the girl. Fel kicked him off of her and hopped to her feet.
“Quit being stupid!” she scolded.
“Come on,” Azzen said with a grin. “Whip my ass like you used to.”
Fel scowled. “You asked for it,” she said, grabbing a stick off the ground.
The catgirl launched at Azzen, using her full speed and beat him repeatedly from every angle. Azzen tried his best to defend himself, but was easily overwhelmed. Over the course of the next three hours, the boy became covered in scrapes and welts. The two battled back and forth, Azzen never quitting and Fel never relenting. By the end of it, Fel seemed to be in a lighter mood and Azzen felt like he had performed better than usual.
“Come on,” she said, offering Azzen a hand up from his last fall.
Azzen gladly took her hand, happy that she was offering him anything at all.
“Let’s go get dinner,” she said. And the boy followed her back to the manor.
When the two kids entered the manor, several other Rats were already dining. They cast their eyes on the couple coming in and sniggered with whispers. Azzen wondered what was so funny, and decided it must be that he was so beat up.
He took the laughter in silence but Fel was aggravated and still felt like fighting.
“SHUT UP, RATS!” she shouted. “Nay one-a ya wanna say somethin’, I dareya tah say somethin’!”
“I wouldn’t let the Master hear you talking like that,” said a boy wearing white clothes. One of the Wolf Pack.
“Oh she gets to do what she wants,” said another boy in white. “You realize what day it is, right? Don’t you know who that is? She’s the Merca.”
All the boys in white laughed and the Rats chimed in. This was the first time Azzen had ever seen a member of the Wolf Pack talk to a Rat. They had always seemed to hold themselves to snobbish higher esteem. It was also the first time he’d heard someone call Fel a “Merca” to her face. The word was usually reserved for whispers behind her back. Azzen didn’t quite understand it.
“Ayshotcho trap, Doofa!” Fel shouted. “Bruntaros!”
Everybody in the room gasped and suddenly fell silent. Azzen had no idea what Fel said, but he was sure it wasn’t good.
The two boys from the Wolf Pack shot up, knocking their seats down.
“You want some?!” one boy shouted.
“You got it!” the other followed.
They both rushed at Fel and the girl raised her fists. Azzen stood by her side and took a stance as well.
When the first boy got to her, Fel grabbed a nearby chair and whipped it around, smashing it against the boy’s side. The other boy swung at her, but Azzen dove on him, tackling him to the ground. He grappled on the ground with him while Fel began punching at the first boy.
The boy Azzen wrestled with seemed to be in his element on the ground and quickly put Azzen into an arm lock. Azzen struggled against it for a minute before grabbing a leg of the smashed chair and beating the boy over the head with it. He scrambled to his feet to see what Fel was doing.
Somehow the catgirl had gotten onto the table and was aiming kicks at the boy’s head. She struck him once, but the boy came back, swiping at her legs. Fel hopped off the table, jumping right over him. She turned and swung a hard kick into the boy, sending him rolling to the ground near Azzen’s feet.
Azzen wasted no time in letting his knee drop onto the boy’s chest. He began pummeling him in the face, not noticing that his first opponent had gotten up and was coming up behind him. Fel saw the danger and ran over to help. The boy lifted a block of wood to strike Azzen, but Fel darted in and kicked him in the side of the knee, thrusting all her weight into it. There was a loud pop as the boy’s joint dislocated.
He went down and Fel took the block from his hand and beat him bloody in the face with it until he was knocked out. Then she moved to Azzen, who was struggling on top of the other boy. Azzen had the top advantage, but the boy’s guard was very good and Azzen ended up getting hit more often than not.
Fel grabbed Azzen’s shoulder’s and pulled him off. Azzen got up, thinking she was calling an end to the fight, but instead, Fel took his place and dropped a heavy elbow down into the boy’s face. The boy’s skull knocked against the hard ground and he lost consciousness.
Fel stood up with Azzen at her side.
“WHO ELSE?!” she demanded, glaring around the room.
Most of the Rats were eating and trying very hard not to be noticed and the rest of the Wolf Pack was glaring, but didn’t say anything.
A boy in fancy green clothing walked into the room out of a hallway.
“Are you starting fights again, Rat?” he drawled.
“What’s it to you, Dragon?” Fel spat back.
“Nothing in particular,” the Dragon responded with a cutting tongue. “You’re antics are simply amusing. Nothing more.”
“You say so,” Fel replied icily.
The Dragon smirked and walked back out, “Don’t let the Master catch you again,” he chuckled down the hallway.
Fel’s ears flattened against her head.
“He’s scared to pick a fight with me,” she muttered to Azzen. “Knows I’ll make him look bad.”
“Why not do it then?” Azzen asked quietly.
Fel was silent for a moment, then shook her head and said, “he’s an asshole,“ as if that explained anything. The girl went to get dinner and Azzen awkwardly followed.
The boy asked if they would get in trouble for fighting. The other Members of the Wolf Pack were gathering up their comrades and glaring at Fel and Azzen. The rest of the Rats were dead silent, not wanting to cause trouble.
“Usually yes,” Fel replied. “But not this time, no.”
“Why not?” Azzen asked.
Fel ignored him and ate her mush. Azzen decided to drop the topic.
From that day on, Fel and Azzen stuck together. He still did his group training with Morty, but after that, he spent every waking moment by the side of the catgirl.
He ate with her, he walked with her, he sparred with her. He practically followed her into the latrines, sometimes finding himself waiting outside. During moments such as those, he felt silly and wondered if he should make more friends. But then Fel would come back around, and he would forget all about those thoughts. She was all he cared about. All he wanted to be around. His one and only desire. Even if she called him stupid and beat him constantly and never smiled.
Actually, it might have been those things that Azzen liked about her…
Azzen’s favorite times were the nights. He and Fel would sneak off into the forest, just to relax and watch stars. She didn’t talk much. She hardly laughed, unless Azzen particularly earned it; usually by getting hit particularly hard. She didn’t crack a smile at his stupid jokes and puns, the way girls from his home had. She didn’t fake anything.
When she spoke, it was to answer Azzen’s questions, if she deemed it to be a question worth answering, or to make demands of the boy.
He didn’t mind. Fel was pretty. And she was a mystery. Azzen knew she was simply unhappy. And that was something he meant to change. He was sure he would find out what she was really like if they could escape this place.
So his questions, which were asked mostly at night, were usually focused on how they could free themselves from the prison school. While they talked about such things, Fel would light a fire, always letting her skin touch it. Each night she would push the burning further, allowing it her hands and arms, or feet and legs to linger longer.
“What about a jailbreak?” Azzen asked one night.
“What’s that?” Fel asked.
“Well, what if every Rat ran at the same time. There’s no way he could catch all of us, right? Some would get away.”
“Won’t work,” Fel said, frying her hand above the flames of a log.
“Why not? I mean, there’s a chance it will.”
“No. Not for me,” Fel said glumly.
Azzen instantly understood what she meant. Fel was the Master’s prize. He would catch her before anybody else. Even if every other Rat managed to get away, Fel would be caught. And Fel would be kept.
“What if we could distract him? What if we all attacked him at the same time? Maybe you could escape.”
“Good luck getting the others to go for it,” Fel replied, pulling her hand out of the flames. She leaned back and placed her feet on the burning log. The catgirl did this every night, but as far as Azzen could tell, she still couldn’t put it to any use.
“Even if that could work,” she said. “They wouldn’t do it for me.”
Azzen nodded his head in agreement. The other kids were definitely not fond of Fel, with her abrasive attitude and seemingly preferential treatment from the Master. Azzen had finally found out that Fel did indeed have her own room to sleep in, and she was also allowed to roam the manor freely and read books in her leisure time. A privilege none of the other Rats had. But she rarely did. Mostly she just trained with Azzen.
The girl’s feet got too hot and she pulled them off the log, stamping them out on the ground.
“I don’t know why you do that,” Azzen said. “I think you’re crazy.”
“WHAT DID YOU CALL-” the catgirl began to shout and her shoulders erupted in flame. Surprised she stopped in mid-sentence, astounded at how her outburst had flared up around her.
The flames died back down quickly, but the girl smiled and then laughed.
“I get it now!” she exclaimed.
Azzen was already on his feet, several yards away, with his fists raised, wary of an attack.
“You get it?” he asked cautiously.
Fel beamed at him. It was a pleasant sight. Azzen had never seen her smile so wide before.
“Yah!” she said. “Now it makes sense.”
“The fire thing?” Azzen asked.
“Yes.”
“Does it work when you’re mad?”
“Kind of,” the girl said mischievously. “More than that though.”
“Well what is it?”
The girl eyed him smugly. “You figure it out. I figured it out. You do it on your own.”
“No way,” Azzen said. “That would involve me putting my hands in the fire. I’ll pass.”
Fel chuckled and stood up.
“I’m tired, Azzo. Let’s go in.”
The boy agreed and the two made their way back to the manor.
“
I yawn, sleepily. I’ve been drifting in and out and Azzen’s story is slipping into my dreams.
“I’m about to pass out,” I mumble, closing my eyes.
“Okay, Fel,” Azzen replies.
“Will you stay here until I do?” I ask, sleepily.
“Yah,” Azzen responds. “I’ll stay.”
I thank him and thank him again for the story.
“Sure thing, kitty cat,” Azzen says and I drift off into a sweet slumber.
That night Azzen couldn’t sleep. It was too hot and his aching body just couldn’t relax. After tossing and turning for an hour, he decided to go outside and get some fresh air. He stepped outside and enjoyed a cool breeze. Thinking of nothing else to do, he wandered into the forest, wondering if Fel would be out, like she was the night before.
He didn’t see any lights, but wandered around anyways. He didn’t find any fires, but continued deeper and deeper into the forest. In the silence of the night, he could hear crickets chirp and the light clacking of sticks knocking against each other.
Wait. What was that?
Azzen moved towards the strange sound.
Clack. Clack. Clackclack. Clack. Clack.
Azzen continued towards the sound until it got louder and louder. As he neared, he could hear more distinct sounds. Two voices. One he picked out as Fel. She was shouting and yelping ferociously. It sounded like she was in distress, so Azzen began to run. The other voice he heard was laughing, and it sounded like the Master.
It was dark tonight, and the forest obscured most of what he could see from view, but Azzen finally saw them. Fel was holding a stick and clashing against the Master. He was easily blocking her blows, as well as any escape she tried to make. In the few seconds Azzen caught, it looked like the Master was simply toying with her, the way that Fel was able to toy with him.
Then the boy noticed something he didn’t think was right, and his view on the situation suddenly changed.
Fel’s blouse was torn open and there was a desperate look in her eyes.
“HEY!” Azzen shouted.
Both Fel and the Master turned their heads for a split second. The Master squinted to see who it was, but Fel’s eye’s gleamed in the night and she recognized instantly that it was Azzen. The catgirl darted off while the Master was distracted, passing by Azzen, back in the direction of the manor. The Master took off behind her, and out of pure reflex, Azzen jumped into his path. The two men collided and rolled onto the ground.
By the time either of them looked up, Fel was gone. It surprised Azzen how fast she could go.
The Master shouted in rage, “Damnit!”
He whirled on Azzen.
“You damn punk,” he spat.
Azzen backed up, but the Master advanced on him. “You trying to run, Boy? That girl was trying to run. But she wasn‘t getting away. Not until you came.”
Azzen didn’t know what to say.
“Oh she’ll be here tomorrow,” the Master said. “She tries to sneak out quietly because she knows that once I’m on her tail, she won’t get away. And I’m always on her tail. Right up on her. Stupid girl just doesn’t get it.”
“Get what?” Azzen asked, still backing up. “That you’re completely insane?”
This was the first time he’s even spoken to the Master since the first day he’d gotten to the “school.”
“Yes. Now you get it,” the Master said with a crazy gleam in his eyes. “She doesn’t run every night,” he said. “And you just blew it for me. She knows the rules. If she gets back to the manor, she gets out of her beating. And beating that little Merca is like a special treat for me.”
“You’re sick,” Azzen said angrily. How often had this man beaten Fel?
“I don’t gotta take lip from a scrawny rat like you. You should know that I’m going to beat you twice as hard for letting that little girl slip away.”
The Master’s words enflamed Azzen’s rage. Azzen put up his fists. “I hope you do,“ he growled. “but remember that some day I’m going to be good enough to pay you back double.“ His face was already swollen from the beating that Fel had given him and his body was already bruised. What was one more whooping?
“I’m going to break every bone in your body,” the Master menaced.
Azzen stopped backing up and held his ground… Until the Master knocking him off of it…
The next morning, Azzen woke up in the forest. He couldn’t even remember what had happened. He knew he fought the Master, but the entire fight was a blur. Azzen didn’t think he’d landed a single punch. He remembered getting hit so fast it felt like he was being struck in three places at once. He remembered flying across the forest and smashing into trees.
He tried to lift his hand but his arm didn’t seem to work. He vaguely recalled the Master stomping on his fingers. But at that point, the boy had been beyond feeling. The world had blurred and his body had gone numb.
Even in his sorry state, the first thing he thought of when he awoke was to worry about Fel. He hoped that she had made it back okay.
The boy tried to sit up and made it about an inch before gasping in pain and dropping his head. He tried to lift his head, but it immediately throbbed and his vision blurred.
No need to rush things, Azzen thought. Might as well just lay here for awhile.
The boy closed his eyes, and even that sleight movement hurt. He left them shut and drifted out of his world of pain, into blissful unconsciousness.
He awoke again around lunch, his stomach was growling. This time, before trying to sit up, he tried to wiggle. His chest stabbed when he tried to bend. His abs screamed when he tried to twist. His back burned. His legs both felt broken. His arms had no feeling below the shoulders. He tried to look to the side to see if they’d been ripped off, but his head throbbed at just the thought. Azzen gave up and closed his eyes to pass out again.
The next time he woke, it was dark outside. He still couldn’t turn his head, but his ears picked something up other than the typical night sounds.
A fire was crackling. After straining his eyes, he could see the light dancing off some tree trunks.
Azzen tried to open his jaw, but it felt stiff and swollen. He finally just budged his lips, which cracked and bled. He moaned through his teeth.
“Who…”
“Don’t talk,” a voice said. It was familiar to Azzen, but it felt like his memory had been bruised. Recalling the face was just too much to think about.
Fel poked her head into Azzen’s vision. She looked at him with disgust and told him he was an idiot. Azzen saw her ear twitch.
“Now I’m stuck out here fixing you,” she said.
“Thanks…”
“Don’t thank me. I’m only doing it because you belong to me. I can’t let my only slave die,” she muttered.
Azzen hadn’t known he was a slave. For some reason the thought was funny to him and he giggled. Giggling hurt a lot, so he stopped quickly.
“Don’t laugh!” Fel yapped. “I’m serious! The Master gave you to me. And especially after this, you owe me your life. I don’t have to be out here, you know. The Master left you to die.”
Azzen wondered if that was true. Probably.
“Now open your mouth,” Fel said.
Azzen tried and barely managed to crack his jaw about half a centimeter.
“Useless,” Fel muttered.
The girl grabbed Azzen’s jaw unkindly and yanked it wide open with a pop. Azzen would have screamed in agony if he’d had the energy. Instead he just exhaled sharply.
“No whining,” Fel scolded.
She spooned some warm mush into his mouth and told him to swallow. Azzen obeyed with great effort.
“You know, you wouldn’t be in this mess if you had just minded your own business,” Fel jabbered, while she unceremoniously dumped the mush into his mouth. “I don’t know what you were doing out there, but only a complete and utter moron would put himself in the way of the Master.”
Azzen wondered what that made Fel, since she was the one who was out there in the first place.
“Do yourself a favor and stop making decisions on your own. Just keep your head down and blend in like everybody else,” she said, bringing her face into view as she slopped some more goo into the boy’s mouth.
“You’re not special,” she said, and her ear twitched. “And forget everything you seen or thought you saw.”
Azzen’s only response was to close his eyes. Not to ignore the girl, but because the effort of swallowing caused excruciating pain to shoot through his body, and he was beginning to black out.
The next time he opened his eyes, it was light out, and he was alone again. Azzen tried to move, but couldn’t, so he went back to sleep.
He woke several more times throughout the day and tried to move, but couldn’t. Fel was never around.
~That night was the first time I thought I might like Azzen. I didn’t feel it like that when I was feeding him, but the next day, he was all I could think about. And that’s what made me realize I might be having feelings for him.~
Finally night came and he was shaken awake.
“I don’t feel like waiting for you to wake up on your own,” Fel said.
She held the spoon over Azzen’s face and said, “open.“
Azzen was able to do so on his own this time and Fel began shoveling more mush into Azzen’s mouth without another word.
She fed him in silence this time, and after finishing the whole bowl, the girl got up and left, her only condolence was to say, “die if you’re going to. Otherwise hurry up and get better.”
~Lol, I remember saying that. It came out harsher than I meant it to. The whole time I was feeding him, I trying to figure out a way to say “Thank you,” without it sounding like I cared. The next couple days, I thought about it a lot and after a while, I finally figured out what it was I really meant to say. I carefully crafted my words, until I knew they were perfect.~
Another day passed and when night came, Fel returned to feed Azzen in silence, once more. The only words she spoke to him were simple commands. “Open.” “Swallow.” “Sleep.”
On the fourth day, she repeated the procedure. But this time, she made one comment.
“No one else would have stopped the Master,” she said. “Anyone else would have let him catch me.”
And that was all she said. It wasn’t a thank you or an explanation of why she was helping the boy recover. It was just a simple statement, and Azzen took it at face value.
A week went by before Azzen was able to move. He experimentally rolled over and was able to see more than straight up for the first time in days. He saw his arms. They were still attached. Somebody, Azzen could
only assume Fel, had made splints of wood and bandaged them up. His legs were bound the same way and most of his stomach and chest were wrapped up as well. The boy decided it was best not to move and remained motionless while waiting for Fel.
She showed up that night and Azzen lifted his head to see her.
“About time,” she muttered.
The catgirl made a fire and then checked on some of Azzen’s bandages.
“Thanks for doing this,” Azzen mumbled. It still hurt to talk, but he was able to get the words out, and they were long overdue.
“Jah,” Fel muttered back while she re-wrapped a wound.
“I don’t know what I’d do without you,” the boy said.
“Die,” the girl responded flatly.
Azzen smiled but it came out as more of a grimace.
“Lay down,” Fel commanded and Azzen obeyed.
The girl spooned some more mush into his mouth and Azzen ate it blandly. He could feel some strength returning to him, but it would still take a long time before he was healed.
That night, Fel stayed with him after she was finished feeding him. She sat by the fire and Azzen rolled over to watch her. He said nothing while she poked at the fire with a small stick. He watched her light the stick on fire, then bring it out and cover the small flame with her hand, extinguishing it.
The catgirl did this a few times before tossing the stick into the fire and then she reached out her hand and placed it into the flames. The girl winced once when her hand entered and then she set her brow and held her hand steady.
The flames danced around her palm and in between her fingers. After several moments, she removed her hand and it stayed aflame. She rubbed her other hand over it and put out the fire. Azzen saw that her hand was pink and tender, but the catgirl didn’t hesitate to repeat the procedure with her other hand. She winced again as her hand entered the fire.
“Why do you do that?” he asked.
“I need to,” she replied. “It gives me power.”
“Doesn’t it hurt?”
“No,” she said with a twitch of the ear. “I don’t burn.”
“Why? What do you mean it gives you power?”
“I’m a Pria,” she told him. “We are naturally Red. Holding fire is something that will help me leave here.”
“How?” Azzen asked.
The catgirl looked over at him. “Lie down,” she said. “Rest.”
Azzen obliged her commands.
“It gives me power,” she said quietly. “I hold it inside me, but I haven’t figured out how to control it.”
“Control it?”
“I absorb it, but I can‘t use it.”
“How is that possible?” Azzen asked.
“It just is,” said Fel. “No more talking now. Rest.”
Azzen closed his eyes for a moment and then opened them again, but when he did, Fel was gone.
Over the next week, Azzen began to feel better, though he still couldn’t move. Fel continued to nurse him back to health, one night at a time. As the weeks passed, she fed and washed him. Every night she was there. Every night, she would feed him mush and talk to him about whatever was on her mind. It was Azzen’s whole life for several weeks, and every night, he was more thankful that Fel didn’t abandon him than the last. But on the night just before the full moon, she wasn’t there.
Azzen waited up that night, but the catgirl never showed. When he finally went to sleep, he dreamed a strange dream.
A man that looked like himself walked up to where Azzen was laying. The man looked like him, but older and scarred. He was different than Azzen viewed himself, but still the same. He was more rugged. More confident. His stride was purposeful and his swagger was proud. When he spoke, his voice verged on cocky, but with a hint of compassion.
“Can’t stand yourself up, Boy?” he asked.
Even in his dream, Azzen was only able to raise his head and nod.
The man grasped his shoulder with one rough palm and lifted him straight up onto his feet. He set Azzen down gently, and the boy stood, looking up at the man with a familiar face.
“That’s better,” the man said. “Looks like all you need is a little lift.”
The man seemed to think this was funny and laughed heartily.
Azzen struggled to smile, but for some reason, he worried about Fel.
“You should be worried,” the man spoke, knowing Azzen’s thoughts. “She’s in a lot of pain right now.”
Azzen nodded, somehow knowing this was true.
“I’d let you do this on your own, but I can’t stand to see her suffer like this,” the man said. “And you can’t stand at all…”
Azzen silently agreed and thanked him.
“Save her from this place. Can’t you see how much she hates it here?”
Azzen wordlessly told the man that he could.
“Then why is she taking care of you when you should be taking care of her?”
Azzen opened his mouth to make an excuse, but his mind betrayed him before the words came out, complaining that he was too weak.
“Well that’s what your little lift is for,” the man said.
Azzen couldn’t respond.
The man reached into a pocket and pulled out a tiny black gem. To Azzen, it looked ordinary, but it was the way the gem felt that shook him. It was filled with darkness. Filled with hate and rage. It was a gem of disaster. Pure evil. Void and nothingness. The man flicked it at Azzen and it struck the boy in the head.
The gem stuck on the boys skin and then sank into his mind. It was painful. More painful than the savage beating he had received from the Master. It struck his heart, slashed his soul and ripped his world apart. Nothing could be seen or perceived except for blackness and misery.
The man snapped his fingers and the pain was swept away.
“Do not lose her,” the strange man said. “Do not lose her or that is all you will have left.”
“What was that?” Azzen asked. His only spoken words.
“Nothing,” the man replied. “Without her, you will have nothing.”
And then the dream faded away.
Azzen woke up and his eyes shot open.
He tried to understand the symbology of the dream.
He knew that he needed to protect Fel. He knew that she was the only thing that mattered to him in this world. And he knew that without her… something bad… something would happen… but he couldn’t figure it out. The dream was already slipping away.
He knew that he needed to be stronger. Both in mind and body. The boy groaned as he sat up. Then he grunted and gasped and he lifted his arms and removed his bandages. He rolled onto he knees and gave a mighty moan as he slowly staggered to his feet.
It had been four weeks since he’d stood. And in his mind, he wondered why he was able to. If the Master had really broken his bones, it should be months before he was able to stand. The boy decided he must not have been as injured as he thought. With sheer determination, he took a painful step forward.
Agony shot through his body with each movement, but he was determined that now that he was up, he would not fall again. The boy stumbled forward, away from the small campsite Fel had made around him and into the forest.
~Azzen never told me that dream! I only found it out when he came back at told me the story. In retrospect, now that I’m back to myself, it explains so damn much. I can’t believe he never mentioned it to me. What an idiot. Oimah! Fcking Prnsharro.~
When Azzen blundered out of the forest into view of the manor, he saw several Rats practicing outside. When they saw him, they shouted in surprised and rushed up to help him inside. They sat him at a table and served him mush. Azzen was able to feed himself.
When they asked where he had been, he told them he had tried to run away. The Rats all laughed and clapped him on the back.
“First beating huh?”
“How was it?”
“Did he break any bones?”
“Now you’re Really one of us!”
Azzen was able to smile and laugh a little with them. When they asked how he’d survived for four weeks on his own, he told them he wasn’t sure, and wisely didn’t mention anything about Fel.
The Master was stirred from whatever it was that he did all day and brought to see that Azzen had returned.
The gruff man snorted a laugh and simply said, “maybe you’ll be worth something after all,” before leaving. But the dangerous eye he gave the boy said, “I hope you learned your lesson.”
Azzen didn’t see Fel around and wondered where she was, but didn’t ask. One thing he had learned about the girl was that she liked to keep her personal business personal. He’d wait until night to see if she returned to the forest.
Over the course of the day, it seemed like all the pain Azzen had felt was draining out of him. With each step he took, he felt renewed vitality. It seemed like the more he moved around and worked his body, the faster it healed. By night time, he was sparring with the boy named Morty, taking it easy, but still keeping up.
As the sun fell and the Rats went to sleep, Azzen stepped outside and wandered into the forest, towards his old resting spot.
When he got there, it was deserted. All traces of the little campsite had been brushed away and he was barely able to recognize where he had once lain.
“I thought you’d have learned better than to come here at night,” a familiar voice said, floating up from behind him.
Azzen turned around to see Fel.
“I wanted to see you,” he said.
“Go ahead and look,” she muttered blandly.
Azzen didn’t really have anything to say.
“Like what you see?” the girl spat. She seemed irritated for some reason.
“Uh…”
“Want me to take my clothes off?” she asked with a sarcastic sneer.
“What?” Azzen asked shocked.
“You aren’t special,” the catgirl said. “You’re just an idiot.”
Azzen had no idea what was making her act this way.
“Fel… I just wanted to thank you-”
“Shut up!” she shouted for no apparent reason. “You can take your thanks and shove it.”
“What’s wrong with-”
“You wasted my time,” she shouted over the boy. “I should’ve been training! I shouldn’t have cared about taking care of you! It was such a waste of time.”
“Sorry!” Azzen shouted back. “You didn’t have to.”
“I know! Just shut up. You’re so worthless.”
Azzen was completely baffled. Was this normal here? For someone to take care of you for weeks and then suddenly hate you for it?
“Look,” Azzen said. “I don’t know what’s going on with you. Maybe it’s your time of month-”
Without warning, Fel punched Azzen in the face so hard that his face burned and he flew back and rolled on the floor. When he looked up, he saw that the catgirl’s fist was alight with flame.
“Yah,” she spat. “It’s my time of the month. That’s what’s the matter with me.”
The girl turned and stalked away, leaving Azzen to wonder why he was apparently such an idiot.
“
“Oooh, bad move,” I say.
Azzen laughs. “Yah, right?”
“Never bring up the menstrual cycle when a girl’s pissed off. That’s just asking to get hit. You deserved it.”
“I agree,” Azzen agrees. “Totally deserved it. But I was confused and you were yelling for no reason. What else was I supposed to think?”
“You don’t think,” I inform him. “You just say ‘yes Dear’ and keep your mouth shut.”
“Yes Dear.”
“Don’t start with me. I’m already pissed off at you from the story.”
“What?! That was like ages ago!” Azzen complains.
“Yeah, but I’m just now remembering it,” I reply. “And you were being a total asshole.”
“Oh come on. You can’t get mad at me for telling you what happened,” he reasons.
“Don’t tell me what I can’t do,” I say.
“Then no more story,” he replies.
“Oh quit being a little bitch,” I tell him.
Azzen just laughs. I smile.
I can tell that nothing really gets to the guy. Even when we argue, it’s always just light and playful. He really seems like he’s just happy to be with me. I like that about him.
“Well I’m only gonna tell you more because I don’t want to send you to bed on that note. It gets a little better after that. Not really. But not as bad.”
“Well get on with it then,” I say.
“I would if you’d quit interrupting me,” he says back.
“Whatever.”
~The day that the Master found out I had saved Azzen, he was extra cruel… I know Azzen didn’t say anything, but the fact that he was alive said it all. I’ve still never told him.~
“
After a confusing night, Azzen woke up to business as usual. He ate breakfast and went to group training with the other Rats. Fel didn’t look at him the whole time and ignored his group while she was walking around and giving pointers. Azzen tried not to let it bother him.
“You’re doing a lot better,” Morty compliment. “What, were you out there practicing for four weeks?”
“Huh?” Azzen asked, not really paying attention. “Oh. No, not really.”
“Hmmm,” Morty said. “You seem faster.”
Azzen didn’t think anything of it.
After group training, the Rats broke off to go spar and Azzen kept an eye on Fel. She tried to slip off to the side and into the forest on her own, but Azzen followed her.
“Don’t follow me,” she shouted over her shoulder as the two left the group behind.
“Why?” Azzen called back.
“Because I don’t like you.”
“Then why did you save me? I would’ve died out there!”
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t know?”
Fel turned around. “Go away. You’re wasting my time. I need to train seriously.”
“Then train seriously with me,” Azzen said.
“All you do is hold me back.”
“Then don’t hold back.
Fel snorted. “You’ll get hurt.”
“I’m a big boy,” Azzen replied.
“You’re an idiot,” Fel said, turning away and walking again.
“Are you crazy?” Azzen asked.
The catgirl froze and got stiff.
“You save my life and immediately afterwards, you want nothing to do with me.”
Fel turned around and marched up to Azzen. “You better take that back!” she said.
“What? Take what back?”
Fel launched her fist at Azzen’s face, but Azzen had half expected it and turned this time, barely avoiding the blow.
Fel stood in shock for a moment at the fact that Azzen had actually dodged one of her attacks, then she swung a hard kick at the boy and sent him rolling.
“That’s more like it,” Azzen growled and sprung up, charging at the catgirl.
He swung at her and she easily dodged it, ducking low and grabbing his legs. She lifted up and tossed him behind her, but Azzen had the sense of mind to grab her hair and carried her down with him.
“YOU IDIOT!” Fel shouted as she scrambled up to kick him in the gut.
Azzen caught her leg and yanked. Fel punched him twice in the ear while she fell. Azzen hopped on top of her and tried to pin her. Fel rolled him over and put him in a headlock. Azzen somersaulted and landed on top of the girl. Fel kicked him off of her and hopped to her feet.
“Quit being stupid!” she scolded.
“Come on,” Azzen said with a grin. “Whip my ass like you used to.”
Fel scowled. “You asked for it,” she said, grabbing a stick off the ground.
The catgirl launched at Azzen, using her full speed and beat him repeatedly from every angle. Azzen tried his best to defend himself, but was easily overwhelmed. Over the course of the next three hours, the boy became covered in scrapes and welts. The two battled back and forth, Azzen never quitting and Fel never relenting. By the end of it, Fel seemed to be in a lighter mood and Azzen felt like he had performed better than usual.
“Come on,” she said, offering Azzen a hand up from his last fall.
Azzen gladly took her hand, happy that she was offering him anything at all.
“Let’s go get dinner,” she said. And the boy followed her back to the manor.
When the two kids entered the manor, several other Rats were already dining. They cast their eyes on the couple coming in and sniggered with whispers. Azzen wondered what was so funny, and decided it must be that he was so beat up.
He took the laughter in silence but Fel was aggravated and still felt like fighting.
“SHUT UP, RATS!” she shouted. “Nay one-a ya wanna say somethin’, I dareya tah say somethin’!”
“I wouldn’t let the Master hear you talking like that,” said a boy wearing white clothes. One of the Wolf Pack.
“Oh she gets to do what she wants,” said another boy in white. “You realize what day it is, right? Don’t you know who that is? She’s the Merca.”
All the boys in white laughed and the Rats chimed in. This was the first time Azzen had ever seen a member of the Wolf Pack talk to a Rat. They had always seemed to hold themselves to snobbish higher esteem. It was also the first time he’d heard someone call Fel a “Merca” to her face. The word was usually reserved for whispers behind her back. Azzen didn’t quite understand it.
“Ayshotcho trap, Doofa!” Fel shouted. “Bruntaros!”
Everybody in the room gasped and suddenly fell silent. Azzen had no idea what Fel said, but he was sure it wasn’t good.
The two boys from the Wolf Pack shot up, knocking their seats down.
“You want some?!” one boy shouted.
“You got it!” the other followed.
They both rushed at Fel and the girl raised her fists. Azzen stood by her side and took a stance as well.
When the first boy got to her, Fel grabbed a nearby chair and whipped it around, smashing it against the boy’s side. The other boy swung at her, but Azzen dove on him, tackling him to the ground. He grappled on the ground with him while Fel began punching at the first boy.
The boy Azzen wrestled with seemed to be in his element on the ground and quickly put Azzen into an arm lock. Azzen struggled against it for a minute before grabbing a leg of the smashed chair and beating the boy over the head with it. He scrambled to his feet to see what Fel was doing.
Somehow the catgirl had gotten onto the table and was aiming kicks at the boy’s head. She struck him once, but the boy came back, swiping at her legs. Fel hopped off the table, jumping right over him. She turned and swung a hard kick into the boy, sending him rolling to the ground near Azzen’s feet.
Azzen wasted no time in letting his knee drop onto the boy’s chest. He began pummeling him in the face, not noticing that his first opponent had gotten up and was coming up behind him. Fel saw the danger and ran over to help. The boy lifted a block of wood to strike Azzen, but Fel darted in and kicked him in the side of the knee, thrusting all her weight into it. There was a loud pop as the boy’s joint dislocated.
He went down and Fel took the block from his hand and beat him bloody in the face with it until he was knocked out. Then she moved to Azzen, who was struggling on top of the other boy. Azzen had the top advantage, but the boy’s guard was very good and Azzen ended up getting hit more often than not.
Fel grabbed Azzen’s shoulder’s and pulled him off. Azzen got up, thinking she was calling an end to the fight, but instead, Fel took his place and dropped a heavy elbow down into the boy’s face. The boy’s skull knocked against the hard ground and he lost consciousness.
Fel stood up with Azzen at her side.
“WHO ELSE?!” she demanded, glaring around the room.
Most of the Rats were eating and trying very hard not to be noticed and the rest of the Wolf Pack was glaring, but didn’t say anything.
A boy in fancy green clothing walked into the room out of a hallway.
“Are you starting fights again, Rat?” he drawled.
“What’s it to you, Dragon?” Fel spat back.
“Nothing in particular,” the Dragon responded with a cutting tongue. “You’re antics are simply amusing. Nothing more.”
“You say so,” Fel replied icily.
The Dragon smirked and walked back out, “Don’t let the Master catch you again,” he chuckled down the hallway.
Fel’s ears flattened against her head.
“He’s scared to pick a fight with me,” she muttered to Azzen. “Knows I’ll make him look bad.”
“Why not do it then?” Azzen asked quietly.
Fel was silent for a moment, then shook her head and said, “he’s an asshole,“ as if that explained anything. The girl went to get dinner and Azzen awkwardly followed.
The boy asked if they would get in trouble for fighting. The other Members of the Wolf Pack were gathering up their comrades and glaring at Fel and Azzen. The rest of the Rats were dead silent, not wanting to cause trouble.
“Usually yes,” Fel replied. “But not this time, no.”
“Why not?” Azzen asked.
Fel ignored him and ate her mush. Azzen decided to drop the topic.
From that day on, Fel and Azzen stuck together. He still did his group training with Morty, but after that, he spent every waking moment by the side of the catgirl.
He ate with her, he walked with her, he sparred with her. He practically followed her into the latrines, sometimes finding himself waiting outside. During moments such as those, he felt silly and wondered if he should make more friends. But then Fel would come back around, and he would forget all about those thoughts. She was all he cared about. All he wanted to be around. His one and only desire. Even if she called him stupid and beat him constantly and never smiled.
Actually, it might have been those things that Azzen liked about her…
Azzen’s favorite times were the nights. He and Fel would sneak off into the forest, just to relax and watch stars. She didn’t talk much. She hardly laughed, unless Azzen particularly earned it; usually by getting hit particularly hard. She didn’t crack a smile at his stupid jokes and puns, the way girls from his home had. She didn’t fake anything.
When she spoke, it was to answer Azzen’s questions, if she deemed it to be a question worth answering, or to make demands of the boy.
He didn’t mind. Fel was pretty. And she was a mystery. Azzen knew she was simply unhappy. And that was something he meant to change. He was sure he would find out what she was really like if they could escape this place.
So his questions, which were asked mostly at night, were usually focused on how they could free themselves from the prison school. While they talked about such things, Fel would light a fire, always letting her skin touch it. Each night she would push the burning further, allowing it her hands and arms, or feet and legs to linger longer.
“What about a jailbreak?” Azzen asked one night.
“What’s that?” Fel asked.
“Well, what if every Rat ran at the same time. There’s no way he could catch all of us, right? Some would get away.”
“Won’t work,” Fel said, frying her hand above the flames of a log.
“Why not? I mean, there’s a chance it will.”
“No. Not for me,” Fel said glumly.
Azzen instantly understood what she meant. Fel was the Master’s prize. He would catch her before anybody else. Even if every other Rat managed to get away, Fel would be caught. And Fel would be kept.
“What if we could distract him? What if we all attacked him at the same time? Maybe you could escape.”
“Good luck getting the others to go for it,” Fel replied, pulling her hand out of the flames. She leaned back and placed her feet on the burning log. The catgirl did this every night, but as far as Azzen could tell, she still couldn’t put it to any use.
“Even if that could work,” she said. “They wouldn’t do it for me.”
Azzen nodded his head in agreement. The other kids were definitely not fond of Fel, with her abrasive attitude and seemingly preferential treatment from the Master. Azzen had finally found out that Fel did indeed have her own room to sleep in, and she was also allowed to roam the manor freely and read books in her leisure time. A privilege none of the other Rats had. But she rarely did. Mostly she just trained with Azzen.
The girl’s feet got too hot and she pulled them off the log, stamping them out on the ground.
“I don’t know why you do that,” Azzen said. “I think you’re crazy.”
“WHAT DID YOU CALL-” the catgirl began to shout and her shoulders erupted in flame. Surprised she stopped in mid-sentence, astounded at how her outburst had flared up around her.
The flames died back down quickly, but the girl smiled and then laughed.
“I get it now!” she exclaimed.
Azzen was already on his feet, several yards away, with his fists raised, wary of an attack.
“You get it?” he asked cautiously.
Fel beamed at him. It was a pleasant sight. Azzen had never seen her smile so wide before.
“Yah!” she said. “Now it makes sense.”
“The fire thing?” Azzen asked.
“Yes.”
“Does it work when you’re mad?”
“Kind of,” the girl said mischievously. “More than that though.”
“Well what is it?”
The girl eyed him smugly. “You figure it out. I figured it out. You do it on your own.”
“No way,” Azzen said. “That would involve me putting my hands in the fire. I’ll pass.”
Fel chuckled and stood up.
“I’m tired, Azzo. Let’s go in.”
The boy agreed and the two made their way back to the manor.
“
I yawn, sleepily. I’ve been drifting in and out and Azzen’s story is slipping into my dreams.
“I’m about to pass out,” I mumble, closing my eyes.
“Okay, Fel,” Azzen replies.
“Will you stay here until I do?” I ask, sleepily.
“Yah,” Azzen responds. “I’ll stay.”
I thank him and thank him again for the story.
“Sure thing, kitty cat,” Azzen says and I drift off into a sweet slumber.
Ch6: Plastic Surgery Hall Of Fame
In the morning, I wake up alone. I wonder where Azzen went as I make my way downstairs for breakfast. I don’t have to ponder the thought for long, as I see him asleep on my couch. I let him sleep and begin to make a breakfast.
As the pancakes are browning, Azzen rises and joins me in the kitchen.
“Morning, Sunshine,” he greets me.
I smile. “Good Morning.”
“Smells good,” he says.
“I thought we could stay in today,” I say brightly. Azzen being around always puts me in a good mood. “Nothing exotic.”
“Works for me,” he says. “I’m glad you smile more these days. Thinking about how you used to be so depressed all the time is kind of… depressing.”
I flip the hotcakes onto a plate and walk it over to the dining table.
“Yeah. It kind of makes me wonder…” I trail off as I serve him up a plate.
“Wonder what?” he asks.
“About my clothes,” I say. “You never mentioned it last night, and it’s still bugging me.”
“Oh,” he replies, taking a bite. “Mmmm… Blueberry?”
“Yeah,” I say. “And no more avoiding the topic.”
Azzen sighs. “Do we have to do this first thing in the morning?”
“Yes,” I insist. “No more stalling. I want to know.”
“Alright,” he says. “It’s your life…”
He eats a few more bites before he begins. I wait in silence. When he speaks, I can tell by his cautious tone that this isn’t something he likes talking about.
“
All I know about what you ask was one conversation at breakfast, about a month after the day I recovered from when the Master beat me.
That morning, Azzen didn’t see Fel again. It was weird, because she was usually around for breakfast, and Azzen liked sitting with her. Instead, he sat with Morty and his friends.
“Your girlfriend aint around today?” Morty asked.
“I guess,” Azzen replied, craning his neck around, still looking for her. He didn’t mind that the other kids referred to Fel as his girlfriend, but if the catgirl ever caught any of them saying it, they’d end up bleeding.
Morty’s friends nodded to Azzen. He had gained the respect of the Rats by how he did during group training. His form on many attacks was flawless and he could do over 600 push-ups in a row. An incredible amount, he knew; it seemed like the meals he ate were giving him unordinary strength. When it was his day to chop wood, he found that he was now able to pull the massive logs and chop them up into bits with just a few swings. Even as the newest “recruit,” he was already outperforming anybody else. A fact that the Master took subtle interest in.
And the more Fel beat him up, the faster he seemed to recover, each time becoming tougher for their next fight. These days, Azzen could go back and forth with the catgirl, tagging her occasionally, but only about once for every ten hits she landed. Although she hit him more, he seemed to take the hit’s a lot better, leveling out the playing field a bit. But Fel still insisted that she could whoop his ass at any moment, and Azzen had the good sense not to disagree.
“
“You’re stalling,” I say.
“Am not. I’m just setting the scene. I’m skipping a lot, but it was mostly just training and stuff. Nothing of consequence. I mean, we became better friends. If you could say you had any friends at that place. You were always pretty defensive there. You never really loosened up until we got out.”
“Well there’s a spoiler,” I grumble.
“Oh come on. Did you really think we were gonna be captives forever?”
“No, but…”
“Hush. Let me tell the story.”
“
“So how do you feel about that, anyways, Azzen?” one of Morty’s friend’s asked.
“Feel about what?” Azzen replied, eating his mush.
“About how your girlfriend does that once a month?”
“Does what?” Azzen asked, aggravated. He knew how the other kids talked about Fel and didn’t usually like it when she was the topic of conversation.
“He doesn’t know?!” a girl exclaimed. Azzen didn’t know her name, he’d never cared to catch it.
“You don’t know nothing neither, Sal,” said Morty dangerously. He would stick up for Fel when Azzen as around because the two boys were friends.
“I know plenty,” the girl said, but left it at that.
Azzen didn’t want to know, but was curious.
“What are you talking about?” he grumbled.
“Why do you think she has such nice clothes?” a boy asked.
“Yes,” said the Sal girl. “How come she’s the only girl that gets to wear a skirt? And she’s still a Rat.”
“Because nobody wants to see anything you’ve got!” spat Morty.
Sal wasn’t phased. “My point exactly,” she said smugly.
Azzen just ate his food, ignoring the girl.
So she pressed on without him asking. “The Master likes having her look pretty,” she said. “And whenever the Merca tries to run away, she gets caught, but you don’t ever see any bruises on her,” she said. “And every full moon, she disappears at night and doesn’t come back until sunset.”
The girl stared at Azzen wickedly. “What do you think goes on?” she asked with a shrill laugh.
Azzen just ate his mush, while all the other kids chuckled maliciously.
“She’s class leader too,” said one of the boys. “Gets special privileges. Gets those nice clothes. Gets to read in the manor. Nobody else gets to. She’s a dirty little-”
“She’s class leader because she’s the best,” Azzen cut him off angrily.
“Oh. Is that so?” said one of the boys. “Says who?”
“Says me,” Azzen stated.
“And how did she convince you of that?” the boy challenged with a laugh. “What’s she do when she takes you around to the side of the manor every day?”
“We spar.”
“I bet you do!” said another boy.
“I bet you spar real hard,” said another.
“I bet she likes it rough,” Sal chimed in.
“Shut up. You guys are idiots,” Azzen said, standing up to leave, even though he wasn’t finished.
“You think so? Then prove it,” one of the boys said.
“Come watch,” Azzen replied. “We’ve got nothing to hide.”
“But you do,” said a boy.
“Nobody wants to see that,” said another.
“You do great at group training, but we’ve never seen you fight,” said Sal. “Prove it. Fight one of us. If she’s really been training you, then you should be pretty good, right?”
“After all, he’s learning from ‘the best,’” a boy chimed in.
“Fine!” Azzen said, heated. “I will. Who wants some?!”
The other Rats were suddenly quiet. They all looked at Morty.
Morty shrugged. “This is between you guys,” he said.
More silence.
“That’s what I thought,” Azzen said. “In that case, since you’re all cowards, I’ll call a challenge.”
The other kids gasped. Nobody had called a challenge since Azzen got here. Morty chuckled. “Guess I’m involved after all.”
Azzen eyed him. “I may not beat all of you, but if it’ll shut you up, I’m willing to crack a few skulls,” he said threateningly.
Sal laughed. “Look what he’s willing to do for her. She’s got him wrapped around her little Merca finger. It’s so obvious what the truth is.”
Azzen stormed off and the rest of the Rats laughed.
The Rats were unusually energetic as they marched out to the field for group training. Word had spread about Azzen’s challenge and everybody was ready to get in on the action. They all lined up at attention before Fel even arrived. The catgirl could smell the suspense in the air before she even asked.
“Azzen called a challenge,” Morty informed her.
The catgirl glared at Azzen for a moment, saying nothing. Then her ear twitched and she blandly spoke one word. “Why?”
Azzen looked her dead in the eyes as he replied, “Because I wanted to.”
“You’re an idiot,” she said.
Azzen didn’t reply.
“Okay!” Fel shouted to the group of Rats. “You know the drill. Everyone grab sticks. Azzen, you don’t get one. You’ll have to take one.”
“Fine with me,” the boy said.
“
“They really said that stuff about me?” I say in disgust.
“I’m paraphrasing a bit,” Azzen replies. “It was probably a little worse.”
“What assholes,” I exclaim.
“Yah,” Azzen agrees. “So do you remember now? Was it true or not?”
I stare at him icily. And let moments pass for him to think about what he just asked me. Azzen just stares me right back, not budging. I get a funny feeling for a moment.
“What do you think?” I reply.
“Doesn’t matter,” he says quickly.
“Good answer,” I say. “Get on with the story.”
“
The first kids to come at Azzen were the ones that had been at the table. Several boys charged forward with their sticks, ready to beat him senseless. Azzen was just as anxious to beat them back.
The first kid swung his stick down on Azzen like an ax. Azzen reached up and caught it, at the same time, he raised a leg to plant a heavy front kick into the kid’s chest, knocking him back. Azzen yanked the stick from him as the boy fell and immediately whipped it around to smash on the head of another boy coming from the side.
The weapon shattered and Azzen dropped it while he ducked under the swing of a third boy. He came up and pounded two punches into the stomach of his attacker and then grabbed his arm at the elbow and armpit. Azzen yanked and flipped the boy over himself, hurling him at a couple of nearby Rats.
He dove for the stick the boy had dropped and rolled out of the way of two kids trying to hammer him. He raised the stick with two hands, blocking second shots from both of them, then twisted and shoved the end of the stick into one boy’s gut and swung the wood around to crack the skull of the other boy.
A couple of young Rats dove in and grabbed at Azzen’s legs. The boy hesitated, not really wanting to hurt the little kids, but Sal and a couple of others took advantage of the opening. Sal jutted her stick at Azzen’s face, but he leaned to the side and avoided it.
The two young Rats pulled on the boy’s legs, causing him to fall over. Azzen held his stick up to block the swinging blows of two boys, but Sal jabbed her stick at his ribs and scored the first hit. She pulled back her stick and struck again, hitting Azzen in the chest. The other boys, seeing that the jabbing technique was being more effective, began mimicking the girl’s performance.
Azzen valiantly tried to block and roll away, but the two kids on his feet prevented him from getting up. Finally, the boy got fed up and realized it was them or him. He yanked one of the little kids off his leg with all his might and held him up as a shield against the older kids. While defending himself, he smashed the other ankle biter in the face with his free foot, until the kid went limp and let go. Azzen tossed the other kid aside and rolled away, scrambling to his feet.
The Rats held off for a second. Eying the work they had done. Azzen was covered in bruises and scrapes.
“Had enough yet?” Sal goaded. “You know, you can quit whenever you want.”
Azzen spat, and there wasn’t even blood in his mouth, so he laughed. “Are you kidding me?!” he shouted. “I’ve taken worse beatings from just Fel!”
This time it was Azzen that charged forward. Fel had taught him well. He hadn’t really understood how much better he was than all the other Rats. They were all stiff and conscious of their efforts. Azzen flowed through them like a raging flood, crashing and clashing and then moving on to the next obstacle while they crumbled under him.
He dipped under a swing and yanked up the boy’s leg, flipping him to the floor. He swerved around a kick and caught the leg in the air, then spun his body around and whipped the kid around into others. He hopped over a couple smaller Rats that were diving at his feet, kicking Sal in the chest while he was airborn.
“Make a hole!” a voice shouted. Azzen recognized it as Morty.
The crowd split and Morty blew through, swinging punches.
One caught Azzen across the face and another pounded into his gut. The boy rolled back but immediately popped up and blocked a hard punt that Morty was swinging at him. Azzen hopped back, then lunged forward, catching Morty by surprise with a knock to the chin.
Morty retaliated with a front kick, but Azzen twisted to the side to slip around it and shoved an elbow into Morty’s nose. Morty stumbled back and two kids filled in the slot, whipping sticks from opposite sides. Azzen ducked and the boys overswung, hitting each other on accident.
Azzen was crouched down and dove between them, still aiming for Morty. He tackled the large boy to the ground and began to pound on his face. Morty wrapped his leg around Azzen and rolled over, pinning Azzen underneath him and served him the same treatment back. Azzen swung up at Morty, but couldn’t do any damage.
The remaining kids began jabbing and whacking at Azzen with their sticks while he was pinned down. Azzen was able to snatch one of the sticks from a Rat and immediately jutted the end into Morty’s chin and then smacked him in the nose with it.
Morty let up a little and Azzen was able to slip out. The boy lashed out at the first person in range. His punch was wild and the person he was attacking easily caught it and fluidly twisted around him, bringing his arm up and quickly placing him in a headlock. To his surprise, he realized it was Fel.
“Why are you doing this?” she whispered in his ear.
Fel’s hold was tight, but Azzen had been able to tuck his chin down, so it wasn’t entirely punishing. But her arm was slowly slipping under his chin, against his will.
“Why today?” she asked.
She wasn’t going to trick him into talking, that would weaken his guard. Several kids pounded on his chest and abs and legs while the catgirl held him.
“Just give up,” Fel muttered. “It’s not worth it.”
Azzen reached up and grabbed Fel’s hair. He yanked her left and right and then leaned back and lurched forward, flipping the catgirl over his shoulders and on top of several of the kids that had been attacking him.
“From… now on…” he said, panting. “You don’t get to decide that…”
The kids swarmed around Azzen. One punched at his face and he bobbed aside, striking back with devastation.
“I.”
Azzen blocked a stick with his forearm and then grabbed it, yanking back, then shoving it forward into the attacker’s face.
“Decide.”
The boy swept a Rat’s legs out flipping him in the air.
“What’s.”
He smashed the same stick against Morty’s head, breaking the wood in half and sending the big boy to the ground.
“Worth.”
Sal tried to jab her stick at Azzen’s face, but he twisted and lunged forward, catching her by the neck and tossing her across the field.
“It.”
The only two still standing were Azzen and Fel. All the other Rats were unconscious or staying on the ground, nursing their wounds.
“That’s not fair,” said Fel.
“Shut up,” Azzen snapped at her. He had never spoken to the catgirl in this tone before.
“Life’s not fair,” he said. “But I’m going to fight to make it better.”
Fel considered him for a moment. She reached down and picked up a stick. “I can fight for myself,” she said.
The catgirl pointed the stick at Azzen. “What makes you think I need you?”
“Maybe you don’t need it,” Azzen replied. “But I want it.”
“You want to fight for me?” Fel said flatly, staring at him with hard eyes. Her ear twitched
“Yes.”
“I have a lot of problems.”
“I’ll work with it.”
“I get in a lot of fights.
“I’ll always back you up.”
“Why do you care?” Fel asked.
“Because you’re strong and you make me want to be stronger,” Azzen replied without missing a beat.
Fel muttered softly, “you really are an idiot, aren’t you…”
“You got something to say, Punk?!” Azzen shouted at her with a bleeding smile.
His grin was infectious and a smile crept up to Fel’s lips as well. Azzen cherished it; the catgirl smiled so little here.
“I said, if you’re gonna fight for me, you better be strong!”
“I am!”
“Prove it!”
Fel tossed Azzen the stick and snatched up another one of her own, then she launched herself at the boy. Azzen sturdied himself and didn’t raise a finger to block the blow. He let it smash across his face and the wood shattered in slow motion. He stepped forward and caught Fel’s cheeks in his hands, leading her forward and he bent pressing his lips up against hers.
The boy’s moves surprised the girl so much that she couldn’t think of anything to do. She usually didn’t think when she fought. She usually let her body decide what to do for her. But right now her body was deciding to…
The catgirl snapped to her senses and recoiled back. She slapped Azzen hard across the face.
“YOU IDIOT!” she yelled.
Every conscious Rat was either ooohing or laughing hysterically.
The boy just grinned. Fel slapped him again. And again. And again. She was determined to wipe that stupid grin off his face. Azzen just stood there and took it.
Fel shouted curses and obscenities at him, some of which the boy didn’t understand.
“YOU’RE SUCH A DOONKAH DOOFA! YOU STUPID ASS FOOLBOY! DON’T YOU EVER TOUCH ME AGAIN! DON’T LOOK AT ME LIKE THAT! STOP IT! YOU IDIOT! YOU LOSE! YOU AUTOMATICALLY LOSE! CHALLENGE IS OVER! AZZO NO ADVANCE! THE END! THE END FOREVER! GET IT?! NO NO YOU STOP SMILING! STOP IT!”
But Azzen couldn’t stop. He thought her little tantrum was hilarious and cute. Eventually, Fel just turned around and stormed away. She disappeared for the rest of the day. Azzen looked around at the other Rats, but didn’t see anything that interested him, so he went inside and ate some lunch.
“
~I don’t think I ever told Azzen what set me off so much. Like he said, he just thought it was cute anyways. But at the time, I was genuinely upset. I remember being so confused. Here was a guy, that I kinda liked. And he was way sweet, but a lot of guys are sweet, just to get what they want. And then he makes those promises, and I wonder if maybe he really is different. Could he be somebody special? But then right afterwards, he goes and pulls that kissing bullshit, and it’s like he’s just after the same thing as every other guy. What an idiot. I was mostly mad because I was confused. And I felt stupid for letting myself hope he could be different. At that point, I had no idea if he could be special or if he was just saying those things to get what he wanted. It scared me that I even cared.~
I laugh out loud. “You really did that?! What a moron!”
“What??” Azzen exclaims. “I thought it was romantic!”
“Oh my god,” I gasp out between spastic laughter. “What a completely inappropriate time for our first kiss. You’re bullshitting me. Did that really happen?”
“It really did,” he says. “And I don’t care if you think it was stupid. I’m still glad I did it.”
I calm down, because I’m snorting milk out of my nose.
“You’re glad that our first kiss caused me to totally freak out and scream at you,” I say flatly.
“Whatever,” Azzen replies. “That’s how you always were back then.”
“Uh huh. I’m beginning to wonder if we’re really in love. It doesn’t seem like I liked you very much,” I tease.
“You still don’t like me very much,” Azzen shoots back.
“Well that’s true,” I say.
He sticks his tongue out at me, covered in pancakes.
I roll my eyes. “You’re so dumb.”
“Iy gnow rieyt?” he says with a full mouth, then washes it down with some milk. “I have no idea why you’re so desperately in love with me.”
“Never claimed to be,” I reply tartly.
Azzen grins wide at me. There’s a blueberry caught in his teeth. “Oh come on,” he says. “Can you really refuse a smile like this?”
“I’m gonna go throw up,” I say, heading to the bathroom to pee.
“Now That’s sexy,” he calls after me.
I sit to pee and make hacking noises while I’m in the bathroom. When I come out, Azzen’s cleaning the dishes.
“Have a nice puke?” he asks politely.
“Twas lovely, thank you,” I reply.
“Good. You ready for more story? We’re almost to the good part.”
“Oh goody. The good part.”
“Mhmm.”
“What’s so good about it?”
Azzen grins at me. “This is how we got away.”
“
The next couple of nights, Fel didn’t let Azzen go out to the forest with her. He asked if she was really that mad at him, but she said no. She said she was going to practice a new technique and wanted to perfect it before she tested it out on him. Azzen grumblingly agreed to give the girl her space.
A couple days turned into a couple weeks, and Azzen patiently waited for the time when he could enjoy his nights with Fel again. Her attitudes seemed to change randomly day by day. Azzen supposed it depended on how she was progressing on her “secret technique.” Some days, she was bright and happy, teasing Azzen playfully and toying with him in their training, and other days, she was brooding and snappish, screaming at Azzen and wildly whipping him when they sparred.
Azzen didn’t mind her dynamic mood swings. In fact, it made his experience in captivity interestingly random. Three weeks into her nightly seclusions, Azzen woke up and wondered what kind of Fel he would encounter today.
The catgirl met him at breakfast and waved him over. She wasn’t smiling, but she wasn’t scowling either, so Azzen didn’t know what to expect. He sat down beside her and she leaned over to whisper in his ear. Azzen could barely hear it in the loud dining hall.
“Six days,” she muttered.
“Huh?”
“We leave in six days,” she said, keeping her voice low.
“Oh, why?” Azzen asked.
The catgirl’s ear twitched, but she pretended not to hear him, eating her food.
Azzen pondered her message all day, throughout training, but didn’t mention it again. He was preoccupied, but still managed to outperform every other Rat. Fel seemed completely normal, yelling at kids for poor form and subtly congratulating others who were getting it right. Azzen tried to follow her lead of discretion.
When it was time for personal sparring, Azzen and Fel left the group like they always did.
“So you gonna tell me what that was about?” Azzen asked, being purposefully vague.
“No. And don’t not mention it,” Fel said. “Never know where there are ears. Just know.”
And Azzen didn’t press it any further. The two sparred casually. Fel had picked out particularly long sticks for them to practice with, but she didn’t seem as into it as usual. Azzen knew she could still whoop him if she tried. She’d proven it on several of her more moody days. But today, the boy was holding his own, blocking most of her shots and delivering blows back that sometimes landed.
One time, he delivered a particularly hard kick to the girl’s midsection and she rolled backwards. Azzen was sure she could have dodged it and wondered why she had allowed herself to get hit. To further his confusion, the catgirl scrambled back several yards. Azzen held his position, unsure of what she was up to.
The catgirl fell back and then darted forward towards Azzen. At a distance, she planted her stick into the ground and vaulted high into the air, spinning her staff flamboyantly and whirling it around to strike down on Azzen. He didn’t know why she would use such an obvious move. It would be easily blocked.
But instead of swinging down, she whipped in the air just before she was within reach and launched the pole down at Azzen. The boy swiped it away easily, but in that split second, he lost track of where the catgirl had landed. It seemed as though she had disappeared.
She was under him. Under his vision, ducked down right at his groin. He noticed her too late, just as the catgirl was shoving up off the ground. She swung her leg up, fast and hard, planting a terrifyingly brutal kick in between Azzen’s legs and up into his crotch.
Azzen’s world exploded into a fireworks of pain. The boy was up lifted off the ground by his groin and when he came down, his legs gave out with no resistance, collapsing like twigs under boulders. He dropped to his knees and then fell onto his face, tears welling in his eyes. Not even the Master had been so cruel.
Azzen was sure he would never have children.
“Why…” he gasped out. “Wh… Why…?”
His mind was so blurred and cluttered that he couldn’t even figure out any more of the sentence he was trying to say.
Fel laughed hysterically, doubling over and rolling on the floor, along with Azzen.
“It… it’s not… funny,” Azzen wept.
Fel laughed harder and couldn’t catch her breath to respond.
“You… are… such a…” Azzen clutched at his man-jewels and hoped to find that they were still intact. He prayed to every god he knew. “I hate you… I seriously hate you…”
Fel gasped in some air through her laughter. Her eyes were watery with mirth. “Oh come on!” she spouted. “Quit being such a baby!”
“No… You don’t even know… I thought we were friends…”
“Oh shut up,” Fel retorted, climbing to her feet. “Get up. Quit whining.”
“I can’t…” Azzen bemoaned.
“GET UP!” Fel shouted. She ran up and kicked Azzen hard, rolling him over.
“You can’t… hurt me… any more… than you already did…”
“Then cover your balls next time, Stupid,” Fel said. “Honestly, they’re the most vulnerable point on a guy’s body. You’d think you’d know how to protect them better.”
“I didn’t expect… People don’t do that,” Azzen stated, still groping at himself, searching desperately with little success.
He had found one testicle. ONE!
“Oh no…” he groaned.
“What?” Fel asked flatly, bored with his complaining.
“I only… There’s only…” Azzen searched higher and more frantically. Then he touched something that made his stomach ache. He’d found it! It was lodged up into his pelvis, but he had found it. The boy touched it gingerly, wincing at the intense discomfort of doing so. Delicately he squished above it, prodding it down and slowly maneuvering it back into his scrotum. Relieved, he gasped a final whimper and wiped the tears from his eyes.
“Get up already,” Fel sighed.
Azzen rolled onto his knees and heaved himself up with great effort. He staggered back and forth, find it hard to catch his balance.
“Both still there?” Fel asked cattily.
“Don’t talk to me,” Azzen groaned, stumbling away, back towards the manor.
“Where you going?!” Fel called.
Azzen gave her a dismissive wave and continued hobbling back towards the manor.
“It’s not even dark yet!” she shouted.
Azzen ignored her. He desperately needed to eat some mush and fall asleep.
“I was gonna let you stay out with me tonight,” Fel tempted.
Azzen paused for a moment, but then continued walking. She’d be there tomorrow.
“Oh come on!” Fel whined. “It can’t hurt that bad.”
“Fel!” Azzen shouted back. “Once I can stand up stright, I’m going to strangle you!”
The catgirl laughed. “That wasn’t even full power. You should be thankful. I gave you about… fifty percent.”
“Yes!” Azzen yelled. “I am SO THANKFUL you kicked my nuts halfway into my throat! Next time, while you’re doing me favors, go ahead at chop my head halfway off, burn me half to death, and only poke out one of my eyes.”
“Oh quit being such a baby.”
“Do you ever wonder why you don’t have any friends??”
Fel snorted and didn’t respond. Azzen kept walking. He only turned to look back once, and when he did, Fel was gone.
“
“That was rude,” I say.
“You kicked my balls out of my sack!” Azzen exclaims.
“Only one of them. Quit being so dramatic.”
Azzen sighs. “You haven’t changed at all.”
“Good to hear!” I pipe in a girly tone. “More story!”
“
The next day when Azzen woke up, he discovered that the pain did not linger. He felt better physically, but now felt worse about what he had said to Fel. He got himself out of his bed and headed to breakfast.
He saw the catgirl sitting alone at a table in the corner, like she always did, and shuffled over to her after picking up some food. She eyed him with suspicious contempt as he sat down.
Azzen just ate his mush.
“Are you over your tantrum?” Fel asked.
“Yes. Are you gonna kick me in the balls again?” Azzen asked back defensively.
“If you deserve it.”
“I didn’t deserve it that time,” he said.
“Oh well,” the catgirl said. She ate some mush.
Azzen waited for her to say more, but she didn’t.
“You could at least say you’re sorry,” he said.
“I’m not good at apologies,” she replied.
“Well give it a try,” Azzen insisted.
“I just did,” Fel informed him. “That’s all you get. Take it or leave it.”
Azzen sighed and ate some more mush, deciding he would have to take it. After a moment, he decided to say, “I’m sorry for what I said.”
Fel replied with, “Why? You were just telling the truth.”
The catgirl stood up and left with her plate.
Throughout the day, the girl seemed more recluse, even if her mannerisms were still the same. There was just a cool air to her demeanor, Azzen thought. Or maybe he was just imagining it. The boy watched her during training and she really wasn‘t doing anything out of the ordinary. As he watched her act normal, something occurred to the boy.
She was an Actor. Or an Actress. None of the other Rats noticed anything wrong with her. But Azzen did. Or he thought he did. As he tried to figure out what it was that was making him think she was upset, he wondered how much else she hid.
Training passed and Azzen sat with Fel at lunch.
“I’m sorry again,” he said as they sat down.
“Quit apologizing. Grow some balls,” Fel replied, then a moment later, snorted a laugh at her own unintentional pun.
“That’s not funny,” Azzen said with a little chuckle of his own. He was glad Fel was smiling again. She seemed happy, but now he was never sure. Was it just another part of the act?
“You’re so sensitive,” Fel said, laughing again.
“Haha, that‘s so funny,” Azzen responded.
“No need to ‘bawl’ about it,” Fel chided.
“You’re very clever,” Azzen said flatly
“Some would say I’m on the ball.”
“Hilarious.”
“As in ‘berry’ funny?”
“You’re getting on my nerves,” the boy grunted, looking over at her.
“Am I driving you nuts?” the catgirl asked sweetly with a flutter of her eyes.
Azzen covered his face. That one had actually made him smile. Fel was grinning at him and he decided to let her have her way. He bantered back with her.
“I’m going to punch you in the ovaries today,” he swore.
“Pff. You think you could catch me? You’ve lost your marbles.”
Azzen burst out laughing and Fel lost it too. The other Rats in the room looked over to see the two chums chuckling. Most of them had never heard Fel laugh.
As the pancakes are browning, Azzen rises and joins me in the kitchen.
“Morning, Sunshine,” he greets me.
I smile. “Good Morning.”
“Smells good,” he says.
“I thought we could stay in today,” I say brightly. Azzen being around always puts me in a good mood. “Nothing exotic.”
“Works for me,” he says. “I’m glad you smile more these days. Thinking about how you used to be so depressed all the time is kind of… depressing.”
I flip the hotcakes onto a plate and walk it over to the dining table.
“Yeah. It kind of makes me wonder…” I trail off as I serve him up a plate.
“Wonder what?” he asks.
“About my clothes,” I say. “You never mentioned it last night, and it’s still bugging me.”
“Oh,” he replies, taking a bite. “Mmmm… Blueberry?”
“Yeah,” I say. “And no more avoiding the topic.”
Azzen sighs. “Do we have to do this first thing in the morning?”
“Yes,” I insist. “No more stalling. I want to know.”
“Alright,” he says. “It’s your life…”
He eats a few more bites before he begins. I wait in silence. When he speaks, I can tell by his cautious tone that this isn’t something he likes talking about.
“
All I know about what you ask was one conversation at breakfast, about a month after the day I recovered from when the Master beat me.
That morning, Azzen didn’t see Fel again. It was weird, because she was usually around for breakfast, and Azzen liked sitting with her. Instead, he sat with Morty and his friends.
“Your girlfriend aint around today?” Morty asked.
“I guess,” Azzen replied, craning his neck around, still looking for her. He didn’t mind that the other kids referred to Fel as his girlfriend, but if the catgirl ever caught any of them saying it, they’d end up bleeding.
Morty’s friends nodded to Azzen. He had gained the respect of the Rats by how he did during group training. His form on many attacks was flawless and he could do over 600 push-ups in a row. An incredible amount, he knew; it seemed like the meals he ate were giving him unordinary strength. When it was his day to chop wood, he found that he was now able to pull the massive logs and chop them up into bits with just a few swings. Even as the newest “recruit,” he was already outperforming anybody else. A fact that the Master took subtle interest in.
And the more Fel beat him up, the faster he seemed to recover, each time becoming tougher for their next fight. These days, Azzen could go back and forth with the catgirl, tagging her occasionally, but only about once for every ten hits she landed. Although she hit him more, he seemed to take the hit’s a lot better, leveling out the playing field a bit. But Fel still insisted that she could whoop his ass at any moment, and Azzen had the good sense not to disagree.
“
“You’re stalling,” I say.
“Am not. I’m just setting the scene. I’m skipping a lot, but it was mostly just training and stuff. Nothing of consequence. I mean, we became better friends. If you could say you had any friends at that place. You were always pretty defensive there. You never really loosened up until we got out.”
“Well there’s a spoiler,” I grumble.
“Oh come on. Did you really think we were gonna be captives forever?”
“No, but…”
“Hush. Let me tell the story.”
“
“So how do you feel about that, anyways, Azzen?” one of Morty’s friend’s asked.
“Feel about what?” Azzen replied, eating his mush.
“About how your girlfriend does that once a month?”
“Does what?” Azzen asked, aggravated. He knew how the other kids talked about Fel and didn’t usually like it when she was the topic of conversation.
“He doesn’t know?!” a girl exclaimed. Azzen didn’t know her name, he’d never cared to catch it.
“You don’t know nothing neither, Sal,” said Morty dangerously. He would stick up for Fel when Azzen as around because the two boys were friends.
“I know plenty,” the girl said, but left it at that.
Azzen didn’t want to know, but was curious.
“What are you talking about?” he grumbled.
“Why do you think she has such nice clothes?” a boy asked.
“Yes,” said the Sal girl. “How come she’s the only girl that gets to wear a skirt? And she’s still a Rat.”
“Because nobody wants to see anything you’ve got!” spat Morty.
Sal wasn’t phased. “My point exactly,” she said smugly.
Azzen just ate his food, ignoring the girl.
So she pressed on without him asking. “The Master likes having her look pretty,” she said. “And whenever the Merca tries to run away, she gets caught, but you don’t ever see any bruises on her,” she said. “And every full moon, she disappears at night and doesn’t come back until sunset.”
The girl stared at Azzen wickedly. “What do you think goes on?” she asked with a shrill laugh.
Azzen just ate his mush, while all the other kids chuckled maliciously.
“She’s class leader too,” said one of the boys. “Gets special privileges. Gets those nice clothes. Gets to read in the manor. Nobody else gets to. She’s a dirty little-”
“She’s class leader because she’s the best,” Azzen cut him off angrily.
“Oh. Is that so?” said one of the boys. “Says who?”
“Says me,” Azzen stated.
“And how did she convince you of that?” the boy challenged with a laugh. “What’s she do when she takes you around to the side of the manor every day?”
“We spar.”
“I bet you do!” said another boy.
“I bet you spar real hard,” said another.
“I bet she likes it rough,” Sal chimed in.
“Shut up. You guys are idiots,” Azzen said, standing up to leave, even though he wasn’t finished.
“You think so? Then prove it,” one of the boys said.
“Come watch,” Azzen replied. “We’ve got nothing to hide.”
“But you do,” said a boy.
“Nobody wants to see that,” said another.
“You do great at group training, but we’ve never seen you fight,” said Sal. “Prove it. Fight one of us. If she’s really been training you, then you should be pretty good, right?”
“After all, he’s learning from ‘the best,’” a boy chimed in.
“Fine!” Azzen said, heated. “I will. Who wants some?!”
The other Rats were suddenly quiet. They all looked at Morty.
Morty shrugged. “This is between you guys,” he said.
More silence.
“That’s what I thought,” Azzen said. “In that case, since you’re all cowards, I’ll call a challenge.”
The other kids gasped. Nobody had called a challenge since Azzen got here. Morty chuckled. “Guess I’m involved after all.”
Azzen eyed him. “I may not beat all of you, but if it’ll shut you up, I’m willing to crack a few skulls,” he said threateningly.
Sal laughed. “Look what he’s willing to do for her. She’s got him wrapped around her little Merca finger. It’s so obvious what the truth is.”
Azzen stormed off and the rest of the Rats laughed.
The Rats were unusually energetic as they marched out to the field for group training. Word had spread about Azzen’s challenge and everybody was ready to get in on the action. They all lined up at attention before Fel even arrived. The catgirl could smell the suspense in the air before she even asked.
“Azzen called a challenge,” Morty informed her.
The catgirl glared at Azzen for a moment, saying nothing. Then her ear twitched and she blandly spoke one word. “Why?”
Azzen looked her dead in the eyes as he replied, “Because I wanted to.”
“You’re an idiot,” she said.
Azzen didn’t reply.
“Okay!” Fel shouted to the group of Rats. “You know the drill. Everyone grab sticks. Azzen, you don’t get one. You’ll have to take one.”
“Fine with me,” the boy said.
“
“They really said that stuff about me?” I say in disgust.
“I’m paraphrasing a bit,” Azzen replies. “It was probably a little worse.”
“What assholes,” I exclaim.
“Yah,” Azzen agrees. “So do you remember now? Was it true or not?”
I stare at him icily. And let moments pass for him to think about what he just asked me. Azzen just stares me right back, not budging. I get a funny feeling for a moment.
“What do you think?” I reply.
“Doesn’t matter,” he says quickly.
“Good answer,” I say. “Get on with the story.”
“
The first kids to come at Azzen were the ones that had been at the table. Several boys charged forward with their sticks, ready to beat him senseless. Azzen was just as anxious to beat them back.
The first kid swung his stick down on Azzen like an ax. Azzen reached up and caught it, at the same time, he raised a leg to plant a heavy front kick into the kid’s chest, knocking him back. Azzen yanked the stick from him as the boy fell and immediately whipped it around to smash on the head of another boy coming from the side.
The weapon shattered and Azzen dropped it while he ducked under the swing of a third boy. He came up and pounded two punches into the stomach of his attacker and then grabbed his arm at the elbow and armpit. Azzen yanked and flipped the boy over himself, hurling him at a couple of nearby Rats.
He dove for the stick the boy had dropped and rolled out of the way of two kids trying to hammer him. He raised the stick with two hands, blocking second shots from both of them, then twisted and shoved the end of the stick into one boy’s gut and swung the wood around to crack the skull of the other boy.
A couple of young Rats dove in and grabbed at Azzen’s legs. The boy hesitated, not really wanting to hurt the little kids, but Sal and a couple of others took advantage of the opening. Sal jutted her stick at Azzen’s face, but he leaned to the side and avoided it.
The two young Rats pulled on the boy’s legs, causing him to fall over. Azzen held his stick up to block the swinging blows of two boys, but Sal jabbed her stick at his ribs and scored the first hit. She pulled back her stick and struck again, hitting Azzen in the chest. The other boys, seeing that the jabbing technique was being more effective, began mimicking the girl’s performance.
Azzen valiantly tried to block and roll away, but the two kids on his feet prevented him from getting up. Finally, the boy got fed up and realized it was them or him. He yanked one of the little kids off his leg with all his might and held him up as a shield against the older kids. While defending himself, he smashed the other ankle biter in the face with his free foot, until the kid went limp and let go. Azzen tossed the other kid aside and rolled away, scrambling to his feet.
The Rats held off for a second. Eying the work they had done. Azzen was covered in bruises and scrapes.
“Had enough yet?” Sal goaded. “You know, you can quit whenever you want.”
Azzen spat, and there wasn’t even blood in his mouth, so he laughed. “Are you kidding me?!” he shouted. “I’ve taken worse beatings from just Fel!”
This time it was Azzen that charged forward. Fel had taught him well. He hadn’t really understood how much better he was than all the other Rats. They were all stiff and conscious of their efforts. Azzen flowed through them like a raging flood, crashing and clashing and then moving on to the next obstacle while they crumbled under him.
He dipped under a swing and yanked up the boy’s leg, flipping him to the floor. He swerved around a kick and caught the leg in the air, then spun his body around and whipped the kid around into others. He hopped over a couple smaller Rats that were diving at his feet, kicking Sal in the chest while he was airborn.
“Make a hole!” a voice shouted. Azzen recognized it as Morty.
The crowd split and Morty blew through, swinging punches.
One caught Azzen across the face and another pounded into his gut. The boy rolled back but immediately popped up and blocked a hard punt that Morty was swinging at him. Azzen hopped back, then lunged forward, catching Morty by surprise with a knock to the chin.
Morty retaliated with a front kick, but Azzen twisted to the side to slip around it and shoved an elbow into Morty’s nose. Morty stumbled back and two kids filled in the slot, whipping sticks from opposite sides. Azzen ducked and the boys overswung, hitting each other on accident.
Azzen was crouched down and dove between them, still aiming for Morty. He tackled the large boy to the ground and began to pound on his face. Morty wrapped his leg around Azzen and rolled over, pinning Azzen underneath him and served him the same treatment back. Azzen swung up at Morty, but couldn’t do any damage.
The remaining kids began jabbing and whacking at Azzen with their sticks while he was pinned down. Azzen was able to snatch one of the sticks from a Rat and immediately jutted the end into Morty’s chin and then smacked him in the nose with it.
Morty let up a little and Azzen was able to slip out. The boy lashed out at the first person in range. His punch was wild and the person he was attacking easily caught it and fluidly twisted around him, bringing his arm up and quickly placing him in a headlock. To his surprise, he realized it was Fel.
“Why are you doing this?” she whispered in his ear.
Fel’s hold was tight, but Azzen had been able to tuck his chin down, so it wasn’t entirely punishing. But her arm was slowly slipping under his chin, against his will.
“Why today?” she asked.
She wasn’t going to trick him into talking, that would weaken his guard. Several kids pounded on his chest and abs and legs while the catgirl held him.
“Just give up,” Fel muttered. “It’s not worth it.”
Azzen reached up and grabbed Fel’s hair. He yanked her left and right and then leaned back and lurched forward, flipping the catgirl over his shoulders and on top of several of the kids that had been attacking him.
“From… now on…” he said, panting. “You don’t get to decide that…”
The kids swarmed around Azzen. One punched at his face and he bobbed aside, striking back with devastation.
“I.”
Azzen blocked a stick with his forearm and then grabbed it, yanking back, then shoving it forward into the attacker’s face.
“Decide.”
The boy swept a Rat’s legs out flipping him in the air.
“What’s.”
He smashed the same stick against Morty’s head, breaking the wood in half and sending the big boy to the ground.
“Worth.”
Sal tried to jab her stick at Azzen’s face, but he twisted and lunged forward, catching her by the neck and tossing her across the field.
“It.”
The only two still standing were Azzen and Fel. All the other Rats were unconscious or staying on the ground, nursing their wounds.
“That’s not fair,” said Fel.
“Shut up,” Azzen snapped at her. He had never spoken to the catgirl in this tone before.
“Life’s not fair,” he said. “But I’m going to fight to make it better.”
Fel considered him for a moment. She reached down and picked up a stick. “I can fight for myself,” she said.
The catgirl pointed the stick at Azzen. “What makes you think I need you?”
“Maybe you don’t need it,” Azzen replied. “But I want it.”
“You want to fight for me?” Fel said flatly, staring at him with hard eyes. Her ear twitched
“Yes.”
“I have a lot of problems.”
“I’ll work with it.”
“I get in a lot of fights.
“I’ll always back you up.”
“Why do you care?” Fel asked.
“Because you’re strong and you make me want to be stronger,” Azzen replied without missing a beat.
Fel muttered softly, “you really are an idiot, aren’t you…”
“You got something to say, Punk?!” Azzen shouted at her with a bleeding smile.
His grin was infectious and a smile crept up to Fel’s lips as well. Azzen cherished it; the catgirl smiled so little here.
“I said, if you’re gonna fight for me, you better be strong!”
“I am!”
“Prove it!”
Fel tossed Azzen the stick and snatched up another one of her own, then she launched herself at the boy. Azzen sturdied himself and didn’t raise a finger to block the blow. He let it smash across his face and the wood shattered in slow motion. He stepped forward and caught Fel’s cheeks in his hands, leading her forward and he bent pressing his lips up against hers.
The boy’s moves surprised the girl so much that she couldn’t think of anything to do. She usually didn’t think when she fought. She usually let her body decide what to do for her. But right now her body was deciding to…
The catgirl snapped to her senses and recoiled back. She slapped Azzen hard across the face.
“YOU IDIOT!” she yelled.
Every conscious Rat was either ooohing or laughing hysterically.
The boy just grinned. Fel slapped him again. And again. And again. She was determined to wipe that stupid grin off his face. Azzen just stood there and took it.
Fel shouted curses and obscenities at him, some of which the boy didn’t understand.
“YOU’RE SUCH A DOONKAH DOOFA! YOU STUPID ASS FOOLBOY! DON’T YOU EVER TOUCH ME AGAIN! DON’T LOOK AT ME LIKE THAT! STOP IT! YOU IDIOT! YOU LOSE! YOU AUTOMATICALLY LOSE! CHALLENGE IS OVER! AZZO NO ADVANCE! THE END! THE END FOREVER! GET IT?! NO NO YOU STOP SMILING! STOP IT!”
But Azzen couldn’t stop. He thought her little tantrum was hilarious and cute. Eventually, Fel just turned around and stormed away. She disappeared for the rest of the day. Azzen looked around at the other Rats, but didn’t see anything that interested him, so he went inside and ate some lunch.
“
~I don’t think I ever told Azzen what set me off so much. Like he said, he just thought it was cute anyways. But at the time, I was genuinely upset. I remember being so confused. Here was a guy, that I kinda liked. And he was way sweet, but a lot of guys are sweet, just to get what they want. And then he makes those promises, and I wonder if maybe he really is different. Could he be somebody special? But then right afterwards, he goes and pulls that kissing bullshit, and it’s like he’s just after the same thing as every other guy. What an idiot. I was mostly mad because I was confused. And I felt stupid for letting myself hope he could be different. At that point, I had no idea if he could be special or if he was just saying those things to get what he wanted. It scared me that I even cared.~
I laugh out loud. “You really did that?! What a moron!”
“What??” Azzen exclaims. “I thought it was romantic!”
“Oh my god,” I gasp out between spastic laughter. “What a completely inappropriate time for our first kiss. You’re bullshitting me. Did that really happen?”
“It really did,” he says. “And I don’t care if you think it was stupid. I’m still glad I did it.”
I calm down, because I’m snorting milk out of my nose.
“You’re glad that our first kiss caused me to totally freak out and scream at you,” I say flatly.
“Whatever,” Azzen replies. “That’s how you always were back then.”
“Uh huh. I’m beginning to wonder if we’re really in love. It doesn’t seem like I liked you very much,” I tease.
“You still don’t like me very much,” Azzen shoots back.
“Well that’s true,” I say.
He sticks his tongue out at me, covered in pancakes.
I roll my eyes. “You’re so dumb.”
“Iy gnow rieyt?” he says with a full mouth, then washes it down with some milk. “I have no idea why you’re so desperately in love with me.”
“Never claimed to be,” I reply tartly.
Azzen grins wide at me. There’s a blueberry caught in his teeth. “Oh come on,” he says. “Can you really refuse a smile like this?”
“I’m gonna go throw up,” I say, heading to the bathroom to pee.
“Now That’s sexy,” he calls after me.
I sit to pee and make hacking noises while I’m in the bathroom. When I come out, Azzen’s cleaning the dishes.
“Have a nice puke?” he asks politely.
“Twas lovely, thank you,” I reply.
“Good. You ready for more story? We’re almost to the good part.”
“Oh goody. The good part.”
“Mhmm.”
“What’s so good about it?”
Azzen grins at me. “This is how we got away.”
“
The next couple of nights, Fel didn’t let Azzen go out to the forest with her. He asked if she was really that mad at him, but she said no. She said she was going to practice a new technique and wanted to perfect it before she tested it out on him. Azzen grumblingly agreed to give the girl her space.
A couple days turned into a couple weeks, and Azzen patiently waited for the time when he could enjoy his nights with Fel again. Her attitudes seemed to change randomly day by day. Azzen supposed it depended on how she was progressing on her “secret technique.” Some days, she was bright and happy, teasing Azzen playfully and toying with him in their training, and other days, she was brooding and snappish, screaming at Azzen and wildly whipping him when they sparred.
Azzen didn’t mind her dynamic mood swings. In fact, it made his experience in captivity interestingly random. Three weeks into her nightly seclusions, Azzen woke up and wondered what kind of Fel he would encounter today.
The catgirl met him at breakfast and waved him over. She wasn’t smiling, but she wasn’t scowling either, so Azzen didn’t know what to expect. He sat down beside her and she leaned over to whisper in his ear. Azzen could barely hear it in the loud dining hall.
“Six days,” she muttered.
“Huh?”
“We leave in six days,” she said, keeping her voice low.
“Oh, why?” Azzen asked.
The catgirl’s ear twitched, but she pretended not to hear him, eating her food.
Azzen pondered her message all day, throughout training, but didn’t mention it again. He was preoccupied, but still managed to outperform every other Rat. Fel seemed completely normal, yelling at kids for poor form and subtly congratulating others who were getting it right. Azzen tried to follow her lead of discretion.
When it was time for personal sparring, Azzen and Fel left the group like they always did.
“So you gonna tell me what that was about?” Azzen asked, being purposefully vague.
“No. And don’t not mention it,” Fel said. “Never know where there are ears. Just know.”
And Azzen didn’t press it any further. The two sparred casually. Fel had picked out particularly long sticks for them to practice with, but she didn’t seem as into it as usual. Azzen knew she could still whoop him if she tried. She’d proven it on several of her more moody days. But today, the boy was holding his own, blocking most of her shots and delivering blows back that sometimes landed.
One time, he delivered a particularly hard kick to the girl’s midsection and she rolled backwards. Azzen was sure she could have dodged it and wondered why she had allowed herself to get hit. To further his confusion, the catgirl scrambled back several yards. Azzen held his position, unsure of what she was up to.
The catgirl fell back and then darted forward towards Azzen. At a distance, she planted her stick into the ground and vaulted high into the air, spinning her staff flamboyantly and whirling it around to strike down on Azzen. He didn’t know why she would use such an obvious move. It would be easily blocked.
But instead of swinging down, she whipped in the air just before she was within reach and launched the pole down at Azzen. The boy swiped it away easily, but in that split second, he lost track of where the catgirl had landed. It seemed as though she had disappeared.
She was under him. Under his vision, ducked down right at his groin. He noticed her too late, just as the catgirl was shoving up off the ground. She swung her leg up, fast and hard, planting a terrifyingly brutal kick in between Azzen’s legs and up into his crotch.
Azzen’s world exploded into a fireworks of pain. The boy was up lifted off the ground by his groin and when he came down, his legs gave out with no resistance, collapsing like twigs under boulders. He dropped to his knees and then fell onto his face, tears welling in his eyes. Not even the Master had been so cruel.
Azzen was sure he would never have children.
“Why…” he gasped out. “Wh… Why…?”
His mind was so blurred and cluttered that he couldn’t even figure out any more of the sentence he was trying to say.
Fel laughed hysterically, doubling over and rolling on the floor, along with Azzen.
“It… it’s not… funny,” Azzen wept.
Fel laughed harder and couldn’t catch her breath to respond.
“You… are… such a…” Azzen clutched at his man-jewels and hoped to find that they were still intact. He prayed to every god he knew. “I hate you… I seriously hate you…”
Fel gasped in some air through her laughter. Her eyes were watery with mirth. “Oh come on!” she spouted. “Quit being such a baby!”
“No… You don’t even know… I thought we were friends…”
“Oh shut up,” Fel retorted, climbing to her feet. “Get up. Quit whining.”
“I can’t…” Azzen bemoaned.
“GET UP!” Fel shouted. She ran up and kicked Azzen hard, rolling him over.
“You can’t… hurt me… any more… than you already did…”
“Then cover your balls next time, Stupid,” Fel said. “Honestly, they’re the most vulnerable point on a guy’s body. You’d think you’d know how to protect them better.”
“I didn’t expect… People don’t do that,” Azzen stated, still groping at himself, searching desperately with little success.
He had found one testicle. ONE!
“Oh no…” he groaned.
“What?” Fel asked flatly, bored with his complaining.
“I only… There’s only…” Azzen searched higher and more frantically. Then he touched something that made his stomach ache. He’d found it! It was lodged up into his pelvis, but he had found it. The boy touched it gingerly, wincing at the intense discomfort of doing so. Delicately he squished above it, prodding it down and slowly maneuvering it back into his scrotum. Relieved, he gasped a final whimper and wiped the tears from his eyes.
“Get up already,” Fel sighed.
Azzen rolled onto his knees and heaved himself up with great effort. He staggered back and forth, find it hard to catch his balance.
“Both still there?” Fel asked cattily.
“Don’t talk to me,” Azzen groaned, stumbling away, back towards the manor.
“Where you going?!” Fel called.
Azzen gave her a dismissive wave and continued hobbling back towards the manor.
“It’s not even dark yet!” she shouted.
Azzen ignored her. He desperately needed to eat some mush and fall asleep.
“I was gonna let you stay out with me tonight,” Fel tempted.
Azzen paused for a moment, but then continued walking. She’d be there tomorrow.
“Oh come on!” Fel whined. “It can’t hurt that bad.”
“Fel!” Azzen shouted back. “Once I can stand up stright, I’m going to strangle you!”
The catgirl laughed. “That wasn’t even full power. You should be thankful. I gave you about… fifty percent.”
“Yes!” Azzen yelled. “I am SO THANKFUL you kicked my nuts halfway into my throat! Next time, while you’re doing me favors, go ahead at chop my head halfway off, burn me half to death, and only poke out one of my eyes.”
“Oh quit being such a baby.”
“Do you ever wonder why you don’t have any friends??”
Fel snorted and didn’t respond. Azzen kept walking. He only turned to look back once, and when he did, Fel was gone.
“
“That was rude,” I say.
“You kicked my balls out of my sack!” Azzen exclaims.
“Only one of them. Quit being so dramatic.”
Azzen sighs. “You haven’t changed at all.”
“Good to hear!” I pipe in a girly tone. “More story!”
“
The next day when Azzen woke up, he discovered that the pain did not linger. He felt better physically, but now felt worse about what he had said to Fel. He got himself out of his bed and headed to breakfast.
He saw the catgirl sitting alone at a table in the corner, like she always did, and shuffled over to her after picking up some food. She eyed him with suspicious contempt as he sat down.
Azzen just ate his mush.
“Are you over your tantrum?” Fel asked.
“Yes. Are you gonna kick me in the balls again?” Azzen asked back defensively.
“If you deserve it.”
“I didn’t deserve it that time,” he said.
“Oh well,” the catgirl said. She ate some mush.
Azzen waited for her to say more, but she didn’t.
“You could at least say you’re sorry,” he said.
“I’m not good at apologies,” she replied.
“Well give it a try,” Azzen insisted.
“I just did,” Fel informed him. “That’s all you get. Take it or leave it.”
Azzen sighed and ate some more mush, deciding he would have to take it. After a moment, he decided to say, “I’m sorry for what I said.”
Fel replied with, “Why? You were just telling the truth.”
The catgirl stood up and left with her plate.
Throughout the day, the girl seemed more recluse, even if her mannerisms were still the same. There was just a cool air to her demeanor, Azzen thought. Or maybe he was just imagining it. The boy watched her during training and she really wasn‘t doing anything out of the ordinary. As he watched her act normal, something occurred to the boy.
She was an Actor. Or an Actress. None of the other Rats noticed anything wrong with her. But Azzen did. Or he thought he did. As he tried to figure out what it was that was making him think she was upset, he wondered how much else she hid.
Training passed and Azzen sat with Fel at lunch.
“I’m sorry again,” he said as they sat down.
“Quit apologizing. Grow some balls,” Fel replied, then a moment later, snorted a laugh at her own unintentional pun.
“That’s not funny,” Azzen said with a little chuckle of his own. He was glad Fel was smiling again. She seemed happy, but now he was never sure. Was it just another part of the act?
“You’re so sensitive,” Fel said, laughing again.
“Haha, that‘s so funny,” Azzen responded.
“No need to ‘bawl’ about it,” Fel chided.
“You’re very clever,” Azzen said flatly
“Some would say I’m on the ball.”
“Hilarious.”
“As in ‘berry’ funny?”
“You’re getting on my nerves,” the boy grunted, looking over at her.
“Am I driving you nuts?” the catgirl asked sweetly with a flutter of her eyes.
Azzen covered his face. That one had actually made him smile. Fel was grinning at him and he decided to let her have her way. He bantered back with her.
“I’m going to punch you in the ovaries today,” he swore.
“Pff. You think you could catch me? You’ve lost your marbles.”
Azzen burst out laughing and Fel lost it too. The other Rats in the room looked over to see the two chums chuckling. Most of them had never heard Fel laugh.
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