Chapter 108 - Leuve

<WARNING: This chapter is just as fucked up the story can sometimes get, but will also include intense descriptions of abuse and slavery. If reader uncomfortable reading such things, then please skip this chapter. The readers have been warned.>

The earliest memory the Hagraven had was not of her parents.

It was not even when she was taken away from the supposed parents, or they sold her, or whatever caused her to end up in the slavers' hands.

The furthest back she could remember is shivering as a child, wearing nothing but a small gown and curled up in the corner of a dark room.

Then, a hand, much bigger than hers, reaching out to her.

The boy's face looked to be about as many years old as her, but he had a hair from the sides of his face going down under his chin. He was also very big, but when she finally took his warm hand, she was surprised at how gently he treated her.

He would comfort her often when she was punished or "trained." When he could, at least. He would always become hostile to the grown-ups right away when they did, earning him Time-Out Time in the Alone Hole.

This scared her, and soon she began listening so she wouldn't get him in trouble. She never listened before; always fighting back and earning punishments, like time with Master Jeeno, who threw her and beat her like the action figures she vaguely remembered boys playing with. There was also Master Aisel, who would strike her hands, knees, and bottom 100 times, and if she cried out, she would start over at one. One time, she was even given to Master Binzu, who locked her in the closet alone for four days. She was convinced she would die , forgotten, before the doors were thrown open and she was dragged back out.

Whether they wanted to punish or train her, they would always snap on a metal collar with a chain on it and yank her around. It always left her feeling very scared.

Though she was never good at following instructions, as time dragged on, she became well-educated in her own abilities, scholastics, and other etiquettes and duties, like how to sit at the table or how to till a field — of course, from inside four sturdy, cement walls.

She was never given a name. None of them were — that decision was up to the owners that bought them. She and her close friend, as they had only grown closer, were now thrown into small cages once a month, left there for two nights as men and women would peer at them as if they were attractions. A few men had considered buying her as she began experiencing certain growth spurts, but no matter where they put him, the werebeast would scare away those men.

She dreamed of a kind woman finding them, buying both her and the boy, and living happily with someone who wouldn't punish them, and fed them things other than stale bread and soup.

Someone who didn't see her as merchandise, or an object.

She was lucky he came when he did, or else she may never have gotten that chance.

It was another man trying to buy her, and since the one who had placed them into the cages was new — about their age, with a disgusting look in his eye as he appraised her in her simple rags — had mistakenly placed the werelion next to her.

The rich-looking man quickly stopped talking shit and turned tail when the boy began bending the thick metal bars he was behind, his arms growing thick with fur, muscle, and claw.

The boy from before dashed out, a small ball of orange flame bouncing in his palm as he slams it on the Hybrid boy's arm. The pure squeal of pain is uncharacteristic and brutal, ripping into her ears, which aren't even hearing properly anymore. With pure rage in her heart, and what feels like a small lump between her lungs, she shifts into bird form and flies forward so fast both boys can't even see the movement until the Mafo kid is slammed against the bars.

Then again. Then again.

The werebeast stares in shock at the young girl as she continues until his head is nothing more than a barely held together mess of brain matter, bone, and flesh. An eye pops out and rolls on the plain floor, and is only stopped by a metal-plated finger and thumb picking it off the ground.

"Ha. I'll take her," a deep voice resonates from inside a heavy helmet obscuring any details of the man's head. He's speaking to the eyeball, but tosses it away nonchalantly, extending a hand to the girl. Her orange eyes lock onto the smiling look in the glowing black eyes peeking out behind heavy slits.

'Someone who doesn't think of me as an object," she thinks, shifting back to her humanoid form and decisively taking his hand.

From there, it becomes more of a blur.

* * *

"I think you've outgrown your new names, Pantholeo, Yauln," a shriveled man says with a laugh. He sits idly in his chair, moving strings playfully through the thin fingers of his right hand as he sits in a cheap lawn chair. His skin hangs off of him, loose like a king-size bedsheet on a full-size bed, but he looks to be no older than 30. Veins trace haphazardly along his forearms and lower legs, burning a dark blue across the heavy flaps. His black eyes bore holes through anything he looks at. Yet, they always seem full of amusement. His fingers and upper part of his face are the only parts of his skin that don't sit as if it isn't his — he has a sharp, oval top to his bald head, which often reminds Yauln of a bird's egg. His fingers are long and thin like bending branches, but they move nimbly, as if all the strength and grace in his body is centered there.

His chair faces two figures: A 6'7 man, his body filled to the brim with muscle and covered in hair. He looks human, but his mane of hair circling his face has grown longer, and so has the hair coating his tree trunk arms, where his hands are more shaped like elongated paws than human hands. Two severed heads are held in each hand.

The other is a woman standing with high poise, only her knees slightly bent. Her arms are still extended out, feathers lining the back of them and sitting perpendicular to her skin. Her feet are still in the shape of sharp talons, standing easily on a pile of bodies and Strings.

"Yauln. You struggle to take instruction, yet you lead beautifully. You are precise, quick, and efficient. You spend not a single wasted movement when you move, and your body always remains in full tandem with each part. You will be the Agile Bird."

The woman nods gracefully. Her name didn't matter. She would always be thankful to the patient man in front of her, who helped grow her strength. For this honor, stepping on a few other Puppets was nothing.

"Pantholeo. You find no need to think things over too much, and thus, your Instincts are incredibly high. You are stalwart, sturdy, and powerful. The force of your strength can be felt all the way from here, boy! You shall be… the Aggressive Werebeast."

He clicks his tongue, turning his head away dismissively. "Didn't do it for you, old fart."

The man laughs. "Good, good! Complete my missions. That is my only requirement. Protect each other, and live your life together.

She bows low, shifting back to a fully humanoid form. "Thank you, Master."

He smiles wide; an odd look, as it looks like he doesn't have teeth because of the thick skin. "Of course. You two are like my own children, and you're the only ones who have seen my true form. Now, your first assignment…"

* * *

"It's been 10 years since he took us in, and you really think he would kill you over something like this?! He told us to live our life together. This is a part of that!"

Yauln glares at Panth. She loved him dearly, but he was so stupid sometimes. "We've worked for him for 7 years, and you still haven't realized? He sees us just like the slavers, just more manipulative! If I tell him, I become a liability. I die."

She wasn't sure where it happened, but at some point the realization dawned on her. They were only toys to him, and while he was tricky enough that if you didn't think too hard, you could ignore it, the woman found it harder and harder to forget. Her husband had come to appreciate the man during that time, causing this argument.

But she knew, if she told him, he would quickly dispose of her.

If he knew what she now held in her stomach, she wasn't the only one who would die.

* * *

The baby coos softly in her mother's arms, which are covered in sweat. Panth seems horrified at what has just transpired, but the woman marvels at her new child. She has a head of blonde hair already, two downy feathers poking off the ends of both ears. Her pink skin glistens in the poor light of the small, unassuming room — a place where she could be born in secret.

Slowly, with the upmost care, Panth is allowed to hold the new child, who grabs onto his scruffy beard immediately. He gasps softly, then smiles at her. "She's beautiful. Just like her mother."

Hearing his deep voice, the baby's eyes flutter, small orange eyes matching underneath. In his hands, he can feel frail wings shifting slightly before settling once more. "I really think we should tell him."

"Go ahead. If you want to never see me or her again," she replies coldly. Pantholeo wasn't fully convinced in his own argument in the first place, but her response completely shuts it down. 'It doesn't matter what I think. I will follow this woman to the end.'

However, the Hybrid's own thoughts are much more full of doubt. As she stares lovingly at the baby, she thinks to herself, 'Will we really be able to raise her right?'

"… Leuve."

"Luvv-ay what?"

"Leuve. Lew-uh-vay. L-E-U-V-E. Her name," Pantholeo says, looking up to see her reaction. Yauln stares dumbfounded for a second, before the icy woman gives a meltingly warm smile.

"Hi, Leuve. We will take care to let you live the life you want. Always."

* * *

(Opponent's Skill has been activated.)

"Hahaha! You know, from what you've told me, that's quite an odd Skill to have."

As she laughs at the now upside down boy, he groans, flipping back over and pulling a clean black poncho out of his face. "It's not like I can help it, y'know. It just happens automatically."

"So you lose all your coordination every four days? We'll have to plan around that."

"I don't always lose it all! Sometimes it gets doubled."

She raises an eyebrow. "Riiight. And why has it never doubled it? Would have been useful for Three, wouldn't it?"

He sighs. "Yeah…"

She giggles. "It's alright. You were in need of a break anyway." She didn't want to tell him this, but she was astounded by his level of growth and the speed at which he learned. Just a month ago, he had struggled to take out One, physically and mentally, even though he was the weakest, and knew nothing of Hidden Stats like Stealth, Luck, Charisma, and Intelligence.

Yet, he was quickly becoming a force to be reckoned with, and was on track to overpowering Ten.

Remembering the three months they shared made the woman smile, even though she was no longer in control.

'Maybe I could have been…'