A poor girl

'What are they talking about?'

Kletus was set in a basket with a piece of cloth covering him. His mother was groveling on the ground while his father is yelling at his mother. But, what's good about it was that Fiddlesticks is enjoying the mother's suffering and fear

'I wonder… hey, Fiddlesticks.'

'…'

'Fiddlesticks, can you talk?'

'What do you want?'

Kletus was surprised and taken aback at first. It was his mother's voice, it sounded distressed like it is now. And it's in English no less. Then, a random thought surface in his mind

'Hey Fiddlesticks, can you understand them?'

'Yes.'

'Wait, are you mimicking her voice?'

'Yes.'

Kletus showed a smile as his father look at him from above. His brown hair and shiny blue eyes stare at his red crimson eyes

He began talking in his language at his mother and pointing at him with his finger. He shout at his mother more and Fiddlesticks cried in his mother's voice

'Damn, he's creepy.'

Unknowingly, Kletus was having chills going down his spine at his mother voice being mimicked by another person so flawlessly. Then, his father toss his basket and him in the air towards his mother. She caught it and then, he said something that sounded English, closely resembling "get out" or "get lost"

She cried waterfalls and hurriedly left with him. Kletus was smiling as Fiddlesticks continue crying, but it wasn't really crying since Kletus knows that it was his way of laughing. She ran and ran until she didn't pay attention to where she was running and tripped. Kletus' basket was flying through the air

'What the hell?! I'm gonna die?!'

But, Fiddlesticks came to the rescue. He encased Kletus with the black thing and manage to not get him killed by having him contact with the dirt road and rocks. His mother was lifting her head up and belatedly realized her mistake. She ran to Kletus with a horrified face, thinking she had just killed her child

But, what she saw greatly shocked her, more than what she had thought. Her baby, her newborn baby that is nothing more than a few days old was perfectly fine on the road, he's even smiling. She sighed in relief and pick her child up from the dirty road and wrap the fallen cloth around him

'Safe?'

'…yeah.'

Even though it's not his mother's voice, it sounded so real that it could've been it to be honest. It had the concern and care at that time and it even has the pitch and tone right. It was honestly scary. Kletus and his mother walked for days on the road of the town they're in, eventually found a inn and with the scarce money she has, she couldn't waste it on living in an expensive inn (even though it's not really fancy or anything)

So, she opted for living in the streets. She has a bagful of coins that she has when the lord of the place she's living in, Kletus' father, kicked her and the supposedly "bastard child" along with her. But, he was charitable enough and gave a bag of copper coins to her

The weeks went by with them surviving off of scraps and leftovers from taverns and inns. Afraid to even use her copper full bag, she just stashed it away underneath Kletus' blanket, only using it for when they don't have food which was surprisingly rare

Kletus, was a strange boy in his mother's eyes. He didn't want anything, never wailed, never cause a scene. He just smiles everyday. For her, that made him look like a sunshine in her eyes. And his smile reminded her of the times with his father but his smile was so much more beautiful, almost saintly

So, she persevered, afraid that her baby wouldn't smile anymore if she would to die and left him. Now, after about a month of living on the streets. A very kind innkeeper let them stay at their inn with the promise of not causing a scene to the customers, clean dishes and helping the inn

The inn's name is Lullaby Night. An inn at the main streets and district so they have a lot of customers and some were regulars. Kletus spent his next month and the month after that seeing his mother being happy, everything was sunshine

'Shit, my growth is staggering.'

But inside, this wasn't what Kletus wanted and for the longest time, his smile broke. When his mother saw this, she immediately thought of the worse and begin to feel fear, to which Fiddlesticks, who was beginning to feel starving, was relishing in

This also makes the innkeeper and his wife worry, they has seen and heard what his mother told them about Kletus. So, seeing him break that everlasting smile was something akin to the apocalypse coming. Kletus resume that face for a few days, seeing as it's working

But, even though his smile as been broken, business was still resuming. And after a year has passed. Kletus begin to crawl. This opens opportunities even if it's small to him. He explored the inn without needing his mother to carry him and Fiddlesticks still collect energy

Fiddlesticks can only eat for some days, if he's lucky, he could eat for five days straight but even so, it was rarely. Now, Kletus can crawl, he crawled all around the inn at night and at day. At night, for some reason, Fiddlesticks could collect more energy

'I wonder.'

One day, Kletus could feel that Fiddlesticks is collecting a constant source of energy from a room. It was from one of the room that an adventurer is staying at. Kletus could hear some kind of squealing from outside and so, he press his ears to the door and hear a conversation between two people

One was a cocky and unbearable voice and the other is a weak and shaky voice. The first thing was a slave being punish by her master. He was right. Inside the room, a man with brown hair, a half decent half ugly look and a small girl being gagged and tied up, groveling on the floor beneath his feet

"Yeah, that's more like it."

"P-please… master, it h-hurts."

A very loud and audible slap was heard by Kletus

"Did I say you could speak, pipsqueak."

"N-no master."

"Good, good, (yawn) I think today's lesson is enough for you."

The man lift his feet up from the poor girl's head and went to sleep. The girl was now moving back and away from him. She was in a fetal position against a wall and was silently crying. Then, Kletus knock on the wall nearest to her

"H-Huh?"

She crawls silently toward it and it knocked on a different location. It continue until it reached the door, to which she opens in silent. Kletus was sitting down cutely and when the slave girl saw him, she was confused

"U-Umm, do you have anything t-to do here?"

"…sit."

He repeated a praise that Fiddlesticks told him. Before knocking, Kletus converse with Fiddlesticks about what to say and wanted Fiddlesticks to repeat that to him so that he can talk with the girl. When she heard that, she went out of the room and close the door behind her

She sat down next to Kletus and look at him confused. Kletus, who has a plan to extract as much fear from her as possible, enact his plan. He manifest a black smoke on his hand and it flew to the girl. She breathed it in and had a coughing fit when she inhaled it too much

Kletus put his tiny hands over her mouth to reduce noise and thankfully, no one woke up. When she manage through her coughing fit, she looked at Kletus

"What was that… for…?!"

In her vision, Kletus disappeared. Her master was now in front of her and she began to feel despair and fear. She shook as she back away from him

"What's wrong pipsqueak, ya afraid? Tch, such a weakling."

"M-master…!?"

Then, a very painful slap came from him. She covered her cheek that was red and a single drop of tear went down her eye. Then, the guy grab her and throw her down to the floor, making a very big and loud bang noise. Then, he stomp on the poor girl, her suffering was great

"Hehe, never gonna get tired of abusin' ya. Damn, you're so pretty."

The man lick his lips that made the girl think of a monster. She begin to try and pry his leg off and escape but her strength was just too little to lift it up

"Aww, so cute, you make me wanna eat you up!"

The guy close his face up on her and lick her cheek. He looked like the devil in her eyes. She then hyperventilate and so, died because of it

'What? Really? Only that much? Damnit, maybe I shouldn't have press it too much.'

In reality, she was knocked out on the floor. Kletus was controlling what she sees through the power of Manipulation and so, made the mistake of pressing her too much and ultimately killed her. He was saddened but thought, 'Whatever, I can gain more power some other time. I hope there's a funeral tomorrow.'

So, he left the scene and went back to his room downstairs. The corpse of the slave girl was found the next day early by a person living next to her room. Some stuff were made and she was buried in the town's cemetery, not by her master, no, the guy denied and just left her. The burial was made by the innkeeper and his wife

Kletus was there, not because he felt guilt or anything, he was there to feed Fiddlesticks but there was little, but something is better than nothing, Kletus thought