Wren winced and shook her head as she stood up. She felt groggy, and her head hurt. Feeling the back of her head for any bumps or scrapes, she took a step forward- only to fall face first into a pile of hay. Wait. Was she in a barn? She got up from her knees, brushing her hands on her dress. Glancing down, she noticed a short chain connected to the wall behind her. What? Yellow straw, the kind fed to horses, was strewn in various heaps around her makeshift cell. She reached forward to grab hold of a steel, iron bar. Wait, she thought. Her heart dropped down her chest. She was in jail.
But no, not jail- she glanced around, poking her head out from between the bars (Being small had its advantages) to see rows of cells identical to hers opposite from her. She knew that if she looked beside her, she would see more of them too. None of them were empty. Most of them held people in patched, uncomfortable looking clothing. But occasionally there would be a few that held people in fine, clean clothing. Above each cell was a stone, either plain or white. Maybe white were for the more important ones, she guessed. Did it make a difference, though? Her hands tightened around the bars. They could be anyone. The baker from the pastry house. The food vendors selling grilled fish. The children playing tag on the street- oh gods, the children. They sat huddled together in random clumps, some having lost hope, others soundlessly banging on the iron bars. How could anyone be so cruel?
She stepped away from the bars, back pedaling until she slammed into something. Or someone. Her eyes wide, she slowly turned in a circle to face a slightly taller girl with long ebony hair. She wore matted bandages over one of her eyes, and she stared down at her with a challenge. "So you woke up, sleeping beauty?" The girl crossed her arms, frowning at her. Wren blinked. There was no blue flashing behind her eyelids, and she was drawing up blanks when she tried to think of who this person could possibly be. Maybe she was an NPC.
"Where am I?" Wren asked. She decided to ignore the girl's previous statement. She seems haughty, and slightly arrogant. Her gaze flickered down to the girl's clothes, which were a vibrant red and had dark shades of black. She must have come from a well off family, to have a dress so nicely sown. She shrunk back a bit. It wasn't a good idea to anger her then. The girl's eyes softened. "You're... We're..." She sighed. "In the slave auction." Ah. That was... not good.
She winced, but thanked the girl, both of them retreating to the dark corners of the cell. As she watched, the girl took a rock from the floor and slashed it roughly down the wall, beside three others. Wren furrowed her eyes. She... had been here for four days? Had she eaten at all? Upon closer inspection, the girl did look tired. There were dark bags under her eyes, and there was a piece of straw sticking out of her hair. Wren reached into the inside of her dress, pulling out the lumpy pack of rice buns. There were two left, but... a fleeting memory of ChengXiang with her hands extended towards her came to mind. What had she said, back then? "You need it more than she does." Clutching the buns towards her chest, she stood and inched towards the girl, who noticed her immediately.
"What..." The girl glanced at the package in her hands suspiciously. She seemed wary, but Wren couldn't blame her. After all, they barely knew each other, and she had probably been watching her sleep on the ground for who knows how long. Gathering up her courage, she thrust the buns towards her, who caught it with both hands. Wren stepped back as the girl slowly peeled away the brown paper. Her eyes widened at the food. "I got it from the street vendor... before I got here." She gave a small laugh. "I'm not that hungry." Lie. "So... you can have it!" She gave what she hoped was a reassuring smile. The girl stared at her, than took a bite of the bun. Wren watched as the girl sank back into the hay, smiling softly at the small amount of food. "Thank you..." She muttered. Wren grinned, than turned around.
"W-Wait-" She stopped and spun on her heel. "Um... Yes?" The girl was standing now, the brown paper neatly folded on the ground beside her. Wren silently appreciated the girl's ability to eat that fast. It had been barely a minute and she had finished two whole rice buns. She must have been starving. The girl hesitated. "...What's your name?" Wren blinked. It was a simple question, really, but somehow, it felt wrong to give away something so trivial. Especially because she wasn't really "Wren" at all. But... it was just a name, wasn't it? She opened her mouth to respond-
"Oi!" Both girls snapped their heads towards the cell door, where a lanky looking man stood holding a round piece of iron and a key. He unlocked the door, then her iron chain, looping it around his hand. He yanked her forward, and behind her she could hear the girl protesting as the man snapped the metal frame around her neck. She looked down. It was a simple, black collar with a keyhole in the middle. She fingered it with one hand, finding that the round, metal beads on the inside thrummed with electro energy. A shocking device. Without another word, the man led her out of the cell and down the hall, but not before she shot the girl a frantic look, who looked just as helpless as she did.
The man yanked on her chain sharply, signaling her to stop. She stood behind a luxurious red velvet curtain, and behind it she could see the faint outline of a boy trembling as the audience in front of him shouted prices towards the auctioneer, a beefy looking man in expensive robes. She grit her teeth.
A bell tolled, and the boy was led off the stage. She craned her neck towards him, trying to find out where he went- but a yank on her chain and she was pulled onto the stage. She gasped as the man pushed her in front of him. As she stood up from the ground, she was suddenly aware of the people in front of her. All of them were wearing simple, white masquerade masks, and they waited eagerly for the auctioneer to begin. They stared at her greedily, and she stumbled backwards, only to collide with yet another set of metal bars. She had been caged. Literally. She was stuck in a large, golden contraption fashioned like a large bird cage, and she was the main spectacle. She hated this.
"Oh how pretty she is..."
"She'll fetch a high price for sure!"
"Oh we'll really have to fight for this one, won't we?"
"..."
The lights, the people, all of it. It was all too similar. Wren squeezed her eyes shut, and suddenly she was back on the hard asphalt of the street, the headlights of the truck shining on to her, nameless people clambering over her- no. She was safe. She was living another life now. She was not... ah. She had forgotten her name. She gave a small laugh. She was Wren. And she was going to be okay. She closed her eyes, and the blue glare behind her eyelids got brighter. At the top, a caption "Wren" was written in simple letters. Wren allowed herself to read the excerpt, line by line. With every word she read, her smile got brighter. So... this was what she could do?
The high, nasal voice of the auctioneer faded to just an annoying voice in the back of her head. Wren lifted her hand towards the metal bars and concentrated. Her vision honed into the shine of the false gold paint, and then somewhere in the back of her mind, she pulled- a horrid creak of metal. And the bar flew into her outstretched hand. She didn't even lift a finger. It was curious, what her mind could do. The crowd had stopped talking. They just stared back at her, shocked into silence at the abilities she was showing. Beside her, the auctioneer banged on the cage, shouting at her to calm down. But she would not "calm down". A flash of pain came from the shocker from her neck, and she snarled at the man beside her. Behind his mask, the auctioneer gave her an arrogant grin. "Stand down," He said quietly. "Unless you want it to hurt again...?" From somewhere in the depths of her mind, her old boss resurfaced from the memories of her previous life- and with it came the same feeling of disgust, anger, and hate. That was the last straw. With all of her strength, she ripped the collar off her neck and drove the bar straight through the man's chest.
YOU ARE READING
Gonna live this life as the Heroine Villianess
Fanfiction*Y/N to OC to Y/N Y/N is so done. She lived a miserable life as the puppet of the people around her. Then she died. The end. Or not? Y/N finds herself stranded in the world of the popular game Genshin Impact, the reason behind her untimely death. Eq...
