Subject to Study (Naga!Brothers x Reader)

Chapter 21

Three days I was kept in the hospital bed, with no contact from anyone at the zoo.

Three days that I was worried sick about the nagas that I had dragged from the safety of their home.

Three days without eating much, and without a constant sleep schedule.

As soon as I was given clearance to leave, a taxi was called to pick me up and I was driven to the San Diego Zoo. I was expecting people to be demonstrating outside the gates, calling for the release of the nagas after the raid had gone so horribly. When the taxi passed by the entrances, there wasn't much of a protest crowd besides the usual 'all animals deserve to be free' sign every now and then. My stomach turned over with the new fear of finding the naga enclosures empty, signs posted that they'd been moved to quarantine due to something.

I was let out by a small entrance located near the back of the private employee lot, watching the taxi drive off as I waited by the door for someone to let me in. Soon enough, one of the men from Calmine's office opened the door and escorted me in, a heavy hand guiding me by my shoulder through the office and taking me through the busy zoo walkways until we got to the reptile house. Pressing the down button on the elevator, he pushed me into the elevator car when it arrived, swiping his keycard to allow him onto the lower floors.

"What am I coming home to?" I didn't look at him when the question slipped past my lips. He didn't answer when the elevator stopped on the lowest floor, opening to the familiar back room.

I heard someone shout out from one of the enclosures, the placement marking it as Todo's room. Shoving off the man's hand, I rushed towards the open door and ducked into the enclosure.

The atmosphere I had walked into shifted from completely unpleasant to surprise as I saw Todo halt his approach towards a female wearing a zoo uniform. He turned towards me with hostility before the anger melted into shock.

"(Y/n)...?" He sounded uncertain, his dark hues taking in the details of my remaining bandages around my face, my right eye completely blocked from view by a thick eyepatch that kept light out. My cheeks were patched up with some light gauze, and the bruises that had spread around my neck were dark purple with the edges turning a little green.

"Todo--" I was cut off as he suddenly rushed me, his arms holding me close as we fell to the ground from his momentum, his tail almost wrapping around my lower half.

"(Y/n), we were so worried about you!" Todo pressed his face into the crook of my neck, a rapid light flicking on the skin indicating that he was taking in every new bit of information he could about where I had been, "It was so boring without you here, and this human they tried to get us to be friendly with was absolutely unbearable!"

"Hey, no! Don't kill her!" The female cried out, running over as I could hear the panic in her voice. As her fingers touched Todo's scales, he twisted his head towards her and let a loud hiss escape his lips, bearing his teeth while tightening his hug around me.

"Todo, stop..." I tried to motion for her to back away, "I'm back now, and I'm alive."

"You wouldn't be here if you were dead," Todo huffed as he pressed himself back into my neck, "...dummy..."

"I could be a zombie, you never know."

"No, you're warm and have a heartbeat," His response was quick, "Anything dead is cold and lifeless."

"You got me there...am I able to get up?" I looked down as much as I could towards Todo, seeing his dark hues flick up towards me, "Just let me do a few things before you get too comfortable, all right?"