'We're going to become famous thanks to this little animal!'
'I can just imagine the money pouring in.'
'What else can we do to this creature? She's not dead yet.'
'Just calm down you damn cat. You should be used to the pain by now.'
I'm not just your experiment!
I'm a living, breathing soul!
You will never understand!
One day, you will regret everything you've ever done to me.
...........
I wake up in a cold sweat, heart pounding almost out of my chest due to fear, and vividness of the nightmare.
Crap, I thought. Again? I've been having this dream ever since I escaped.
I sit for a few minutes thinking about how I managed to get on an overcrowded boat sailing to a land that I don't even know the name of.
...Flashback...
I was running as fast as I possibly could away from that place. Adrenaline coursed through my veins as I pushed it to its physical limits. If I had more time I would have enjoyed the feeling of freedom, but I knew it wouldn't be long before they noticed my absence.
Faster, faster!
I tried my best to avoid tripping or running into trees in my mad rush. Eventually, I started to slow down, realizing that I had no idea where I was.
Where am I supposed to go?
The adrenaline started to wear off. It's not like I can go ba- wait, what are those smells, and why are they getting closer?
It's them. I'm done for.
Frantically, I looked around for a hiding place, finally deciding to dive into the bushes. It tore at my fur and gave me painful scratches, but I didn't notice; I was too focused on making sure that I wasn't found. I peeked through a small hole and saw a commotion.
Why are so many humans running? And what's with all of the shouting?
A large group of people came sprinting right past me, completely unaware of my presence. It was so intriguing that I decided to try and take a closer look, wondering why in the world would they be in such a rush. But then a girl in a torn white cloak came and knelt down right in front of where I was sitting, making it apparent that I had given away my location.
I tried to move further back into the bush, but my already torn clothes kept getting tangled and caught.
This is the end, and I was so close to freedom.
"Hey, I'm not going to hurt you." All the gears in my brain suddenly shifted to a halt. For the first time, I looked at who was speaking to me noticing the small, pointed ears protruding from her head as well as her warm, amber eyes. She looked young but had wise eyes, begging for my trust. She had long auburn hair that looked like it hadn't been brushed in ages. I can't explain why, but I suddenly felt relaxed and didn't I hesitate to take her hand when she extended it.
"Come with us, we'll take you to a safe place." The girl said in a soft and quiet voice. I could tell she feared that being any louder would cause me to bolt. As she pulled me out of the bush, her eyes held an emotion somewhere between anger and sympathy. I had a feeling she would have asked what happened if it were not for the fact that the shouting seemed to be getting louder. I could make our a few faint words and they made me shiver in fear.
"Here" the girl stated in a tone that left no room for argument. She started unfastening the clip on her hood. "Take my cloak and follow the group of Faunas that you saw going by earlier. Once you reach the water, you'll see a boat is waiting. Go on the boat, and that will take you to the safe place where you'll never have to worry about those bad men again. Okay?" I nodded without hesitation. The girl finished putting the white hood on me and now I could see her clothes were in a little better shape than mine. She had a tattoo of a paw print above her heart. "Now run. Don't look back. I'll be fine." The girl gave a meager smile before standing up and facing our foes.
I followed all of her directions to the letter, not looking back once even when I heard the sickening sound of gunshots and a scream of pain.
...End...
"We will be approaching Menagerie in a few hours. Please prepare your things," spoke the Captain, bringing me out of my thoughts. I, of course, didn't have anything except for the clothes on my back and the white hood. I had tried looking for the girl, but after three days of not seeing her on the small boat, I gave up.
I have to face the fact that that girl had risked her life to save mine. It's a pleasant thought that someone cared so much, but I never wanted to be the cause of someone's death. I cried the first nights, but no one bothered to check on the poor pitiful girl.
The first four days were the worst. Everyone was forced to stay in the lower level. I'm not really sure why. I heard some of the other people whispering something about "Faunas Catchers" but that didn't exactly clear things up. All I knew was that we were in danger again. Just when I thought we were finally safe.
...Flashback...
At this point, I'm thoroughly miserable with the smell brought on by heat and Faunas marinating in their own body odor. I know that I smelled just as bad as everyone else here, but that doesn't exactly make it any better.
My nose feels like death, I thought one night. It felt like I was starting to lose that sensitivity to all the body odor around me. Needless to say, I'm thankful.
I found some food that someone had dropped. I knew it probably wasn't the best option, but it was better than starving to death. It tasted odd. I had never had anything with that much flavor in my life. It was amazing. So amazing, in fact, that I forgot to pace myself so I could save some for later.
I had been standing by the gate, absent-mindedly counting the planks of wood at my feet, when I heard it was safe again. I took a breath of relief but regretted it because I had taken a gulp of the dirty air surrounding us.
I heard cheers and rushed footsteps out the gate. Everyone was so excited that I could help but smile too.
...End...
After I had gotten out of that smelly mess, I began to finally take note of the people surrounding me. All their faces were covered with smiles. But many of their heads had ears on them. I stare until I received some awful glances from a couple of girls with short brown ears. I nervously turn away, looking back out onto the water. Right as I take a breath of fresh air, I fall back, dizzy.
Ah, that's right. I haven't eaten in a while. It doesn't help that I haven't really tried to talk to someone.
I learned long ago that speaking usually ends with getting hurt, so I made it a habit to never speak at all. This is truly the first contact I've had with the outside world in my entire life as far as I know. I'm only ten (I think) and I'm certain that there are some people who would take my lack of knowledge of the world and use it to manipulate me.
I decide to lay down until we arrive to avoid falling and hurting myself, as well as the questions it would bring. But I refuse to sleep out of fear that I'll have that nightmare again. Yet, the next thing I know, I'm stumbling off the ship with all the others to who-knows-where in the middle of the afternoon.
The first thing I'm aware of is that we had landed on a very pretty beach with funny looking trees that I run over to investigate and find that they have diamond shapes on the trunk and giant leaves on top. The sand felt better than anything I could imagine, and with the wind in my hair, I finally felt free.
Is this what I waited so long for? It must have, or it wouldn't feel so nice.
And for the first time in my short life, I stop, kneel in the soft sand, and cry tears of joy.
.....
It's so warm, I don't want to ever get up
I think as I slowly start to get up, noticing the lack of noise.
Wait, shouldn't there be more noise if there was a giant group of Faunas getting off of a boat? Oh no, please don't tell me that they left without me! No I'll open my eyes and everyone will be there, this is just another nightmare, they wouldn't leave without me.
But as I open my eyes, I see that there is no one around. I even pinch myself to convince myself to wake up from this dream-turned-nightmare.
Okay, this isn't a dream, I have to think.
I begin to evaluate my options, looking around frantically for any sign of help.
I could stay here and hope that someone comes along and finds me, or I could try to follow the group's tracks and scent.
I decide the first one wouldn't lead me anywhere and could leave me stranded for ages. The second one seems like the more logical choice
With my mind made up I go over and start to sniff the air, it wasn't that hard to catch a scent considering the group's size (and odor). So I follow it up the beach and into a very dense forest, stumbling my way along until I get to a stream. I never learned how to swim, but luckily it was just shallow enough to wade through.
Where is it?
The panic from earlier settles in again.
Where is their scent? You can't just take away a large groups scent.
Seeing as I have nowhere else to go, I keep following the general direction that the scent was going, but that was made harder due to my growing hunger and the thorny vines now getting caught on my clothes. Yet everything is so fresh and green that I just have to keep going.
Am I stupid? I have no idea what I'm doing or where I'm going! But the trees are so green, everything is so much more vibrant- did something just move?
I shoot my head over to where I thought that I spotted movement and saw a creature that even my worst nightmares couldn't conjure up. The thing had a black body with white spikes protruding all over, and burning red eyes. I follow my instincts and get as far away as possible. Luckily it seems as though the monster doesn't have any interest in me.
I begin to think about the possibility of a hallucination, but after continuous pinching, I again had to come to the conclusion that this was reality.
What was that thing? Are there more? I don't think I can deal with having to see those soulless red eyes ever again, but I might have to because I am not going back.
I start feeling even fainter than earlier, realizing that everything that had happened was really taking a toll on my health. I know that I'm not going to last much longer, but it's not like I have a choice. It's getting dark very quickly and I don't want to be caught by those monsters.
But in the corner of my eye, I spot a looming shadow before everything goes dark.
***************************************************************
HELLOOOOOO HUMANS AND PRESUMED FAUNAS
I'm Lucy and this is Stefi
Stefi: Hiiii
We are just a couple of writers that love RWBY so we won't bite.
We will try our best to update regularly but we make no guarantees as we do go to school and have families, aka, a life. Just a quick note, if you find anything overly confusing, please don't hesitate to comment so we can clarify and/or fix the issue.
Stefi: Because we are two writers, it is sometimes hard for us to constantly fix the problems that the other conjures up under our noses *cough* Lucy *cough*
Please vote and comment, it's greatly appreciated!