Monster

3 | A Sliver Of Hope

"Tenko.." Someone whispered, before they shook me. "Tenko.."

I quickly sat up, hugging the small child in my arms. "What's wrong, Zu?" I whispered, reaching a hand up to place on top of his head.

"I-It hurts.." he confessed. He brought a hand away from my shirt, taking the hand from his head and gripping that instead.

"What hurts?" I asked, softly.

Zu was acting like this again. This child-like mindset. It was like whenever he was in pain, he would just act like his child-self again. It was like a comfort method for him, and it kind of worried me.

He gripped my hand tighter. "Everything!" He started to cry. "Everything's hot and it hurts! It hurts!"

I started to rub the side of his arm in an up and down motion, hoping to ease his mood. "It will be alright, Zu. We'll both be alright."

He rested his head against my chest, tears leaking onto my frayed shirt. "W-Will we ever g-get out of h-here, br-brother?"

I nodded. "I promise we will. The heroes are looking for us, I'm sure. And once they find us, they'll help us get back home. We'll never have to go through this again."

He snuggled closer into my chest, murmuring a small, "mhm" before falling back asleep. I let my head fall against the wall, my eyes staring into the dark unknown.

I wanted Zu to get out of here. I wanted him to be somewhere safe, rather than this hellhole Overhaul keeps us in. The whole time we've been here, all we've known is pain. I didn't even know how long it had been. I knew it had been years though.

It wasn't fair that we had to go through this. I knew that despite the amount of times Overhaul told us we deserved everything we got. Zu believed it unfortunately. It was bound to happen with how young he is and how often the man had taken him for experimentation recently.

That worried me, actually. Kai had been taking Zu for experimentation way more often than before. I wondered what he had been doing to him, apart from giving him new quirks and other new features. Was he forcing Zu to use those new quirks against his will? Was he just taking him to degrade him? Was he hurting Zu worse than he had told me about?

I had so many questions.

And yet, I didn't want to ask them.

It had been a few days. I think. Time was tricky here.

Overhaul had left us alone for most of that time, getting his underlings to deliver food and check up on us. It was suspicious, considering how obsessed he had been with us before. But nevertheless, I was grateful for the break.

Zu had been much more clingy the last few days, always clinging to my side and hiding behind me when the door opened. It made me grow more curious of what Overhaul had done to him in his last session, or what had happened in that nightmare he had. It seemed pretty rough, considering how badly he was shaking.

Zu had been sleeping more too. It was normal for the recovery process, as the injections took a toll on our bodies. Zu didn't seem to want to sleep though. He seemed scared, worried of what he'd see. It just worried me more.

I had resorted to staying awake longer, too afraid of Overhaul separating us in the middle of the night. That, or Zu would be in pain and I'd be too deep in sleep to wake up and help him. It was a possibility I could never let happen.

Zu curled into my side, his small hands gripping my ragged shirt. He seemed to do that for reassurance, always needing to know that I'm there, even in his sleep. It seemed to comfort him, his body always relaxing once he held onto some part of me.

I caressed his hair, noticing how long the length had gotten. It seemed to reach his waist, though I couldn't see properly in the dark. I knew my own was long. I could feel the tangled curls bouncing around my waistline.

The fact that Overhaul had left us alone helped our recovery process greatly. For once, I didn't have to expect my wounds to hurt as the bandages rubbed and my hair touched the exposed areas. It was a blessing around here to actually have that time to heal.

Fortunately, Zu didn't have that many wounds on him. Overhaul mainly practiced his injected quirks or gave him more, but he didn't let him get too hurt. Often I wondered why. However, I was grateful. Zu was young. I didn't know how young, losing memory of our ages after our fourth year of being here. But he was young. It didn't help that he had that child-like mindset that he reverted back to.

I wondered how old I was. I knew I was in my double digits when I was taken here, but that was it. Overhaul wouldn't tell us if we asked either, so we were left in the dark. I hoped we'd be told if we ever were saved.

I hoped we would be saved. I don't think Zu can take this anymore. He's been breaking down more often, always crying in my arms, begging to know if we have an escape yet. I can't bear to see him like that any longer. I want the heroes to just know we were here and plan some sort of rescue mission. We need a way out. An escape.

A blaring sound started up, the sound ringing in our ears. Zu jolted awake, shaking. He immediately clung to me, sniffling.

"Ten-Tenko," he whispered, "wh-what's that l-loud sound?"

I brought him up onto my lap, hugging him. He buried his head into my neck, tears threatening to fall from his eyes. "I don't know, Zu." I started to rub circles onto his back. "Take deep breaths. It'll be alright. I'm here. I won't let them take you." I assured.

He gripped onto me even tighter. "I-It's so loud! I h-hate it! M-Make it st-stop, T-Tenko.."

I just continued making circle-shapes on his back. "It'll be alright. I know it's loud. Do you want me to cover your ears, Zu?"

He nodded into my neck, sniffling still. I took my hands away from his back, placing them over his ears instead in a gentle manner. The action seemed to calm him down, everything hopefully being quieter in his head.

"Are you okay now, Zu?" I asked, hesitant.

He nodded again, tears now flowing. I could feel them on my skin, the liquid warm. "I-It's not as l-loud now.. th-thank you, br-brother." he whispered.

I smiled softly. "Just try and relax, alright? It'll be over soon, then we can sleep again."

He sniffled. "Mhm."

Somewhere deep inside me, I hoped that the alarm meant we were being saved. That somehow the heroes had found Overhaul's base and planned a rescue operation. That somehow they had managed to take down his underlings and find us.

I hoped we'd finally be free after so many years.

Maybe we could finally find home.