My Child

Wounds

~Equius' POV~

It's midday and I've been sulking in me and Nepeta's room since I had a panic attack in front of the Grand Highblood. Nepeta had to be called to calm me down. She's been worried about me since. Apparently, my powers as the Heir of Void have fully transferred from my dreamself to me. I'm currently sitting on the window sill in my god tier uniform, indigo wings twitching every now and then. It will take a while to get used to them.

A knock pulls my attention to the door. "Come in," Nepeta calls.

"Equius?" Ameera inquires. I just look over to her. "You need to come with me."

My glance turns to a hard glare. "Why should I?" My eyes follow her path to the spot on the small sill in front of me.

She reaches towards me, but I flinch away. "I won't hurt you, Equius. I promise." She gently wipes away the tears that were flowing down my cheek. "The prison guards hurt Signless really badly. I thought you might want to go make sure he's okay."

With a nod, we're off. She leads me through corridors and down stairs. There were so many turns that I lost track. We soon reached a dark stairway. Beyond that, I smelt blood. Mutant blood. Signless' blood. My wings twitch for a moment before I take off, flying down the stairs. When I come to a metal door at the bottom, I teleport through it. I follow the scent of my guardian's blood through the dungeon, past more cells than I care to think of and a walled off room. The second I'm past that room, I see them. My family in a cage. I teleport the rest of the way.

"What happened?" I ask, so quietly I can barely hear myself, as I drop to my knees. Signless is unconscious in Psiioniic's arms. He's bleeding from whiplashes and cuts all over his body. There are bruises forming over his ribs and stomach. Dark hand prints have formed on his arm and shoulder. Dolorosa is on the other side of the cell, doing her best to keep Disciple calm. "Who did this?"

"His name is Dyrrin," Ameera informs from outside the bars. "He's a lieutenant in the Grand Highblood's Royal Guard. The bastard gets off on torturing prisoners. He's a drunk above all else. It's a good thing Signless didn't scream." She glances to the stairway, almost like she's waiting for someone. "I-it's worse when they scream." She looks genuinely upset.

"Captain Ameera," rings the cheerful voice of a small girl. A young girl, three sweeps at the most, comes running down the hall carrying a large bowl of water and a cloth. She comes to a stop in front of the cell. "Warm water and a clean cloth, just like you asked, m'lady," she says. I can see the yellow bruise on her arm, in the shape of a hand larger than Ameera's, and the brand on her thigh from here. This girl is a slave, but not Ameera's.

"Thank you, Sircee," she says, patting the girl gently on the head. "Now go back to my room before you're seen." The girl nods with a smile and runs off. Ameera expertly balances the large bowl on her arm as she unlocks the cell. She doesn't bother to relock it after entering and making her way over to us. Kneeling by me, she dips the rag into the water, rings it out, and sets to cleaning the blood from Signless' skin. When she turns over his hand, the word "Mutant" is carved into his arm. "This should never have happened," she says quietly. "Signless has done nothing wrong. They're going to kill him for no reason but the color of his blood. There is nothing we can do about it, and the Grand Highblood doesn't seem to care."

Another clean cloth materializes in my hand as she speaks. Copying her, I set to work cleaning some of the many cuts littering Signless' body, starting with the "Sufferer" carved into his other arm. "It's not that the Grand Highblood doesn't care," I say. "He told me that he doesn't like Signless. Him being a mutant is just an excuse to get rid of him." I move to a cut higher on his arm. "Ameera, can you keep a secret?"