Chapter Two: Lions Den

Part one: Belly of the beast

It's ironic, really, the most meaningful and lasting things are the intangible moments we could never appreciate enough. At least until it's to late.

Year: Two

Time: Umbra

Month: Renova

Mavis and Jake rushed down the stairs, Dexter right behind them.

Making it to the kitchen first, Mavis dived to the floor, only seeing Shoto in a pool of blood.

"SHOTO!!! What Did You Bastards Do!?"

Dexter and Jake rushed in ready to attack. They dropped to their knees at the sight of it.

"He's not the one you should be worrying about." Finn said.

Mavis looked down. Her stomach churned at the sight.

She realized she's seen this before. This stuff in the blood.

But that couldn't be right, she didn't see any openings in Shoto's head.

She lifted his body a bit more.

She tossed his body, screaming and crawling to a corner. She vomited all over herself.

"Well, now that you're all here, you can help him clean."

Finn just walked out as if nothing had happened.

None of them could understand it, how could he act so casually after killing a child?

…

After cleaning Blake's body, they buried him.

Try as they may to give him a great funeral, they were just kids, even worse they were slaves who had no access to shovels.

They dug a shallow grave. Their numb fingers bled, but they didn't complain at all.

It was the least they could do for Blake, no matter how dark things seemed, he always shone a positive light that always brought comfort along with it.

He was an amazing boy, and without him, the kids had lost their hope.

What replaced that hope was mistrust, anger, and sadness.

"That bastard. If only we had gone down sooner, if we had just-"

"-Then we'd be burying one of your bodies-" Violet interjected.

Jake grit his teeth, if it weren't for that bastard, that son of a-

No, It was his fault, Shoto. If it weren't for him, Blake wouldn't have been so reckless, he would've been more patient, he still would've been… alive.

Shoto was to impulsive, too wreckless, and too selfish.

He was the reason Blake died, and now that bastard thinks he can get out of this by pretending to sleep!?

Jake marched his way upstairs

with Dexter and the others behind him.

"Jake, whatever you're thinking of doing, maybe you should calm down before doing it," Dexter tried to reason with him.

He practically ripped the door off it's hinges.

"Get up you bastard!!!"

He walked over to Shoto, grabbing him by his hair.

"Jake wait!" Dexter yelled, trying to pull him back

Mavis grabbed his arm and throat, forcing him down on the bed.

"Touch him like that again and you lose that arm." Mavis looked him in the eye as she said it.

"Why are you protecting him?" He yelled.

"He's the reason Blake's dead. What, does he just get away with it because he's "sleeping" ?" He jacked her by her shirt.

"Or is it because he's your best friend,"

Mavis couldn't answer, or rather she didn't want to. She thought his logic was beyond stupid, so simple that she didn't think it required any explanation at all. All it takes is one look to see who was the bad guy in this situation was, but the others just let it go this far.

The only question she thought left was, "Why."

"What," Jake asked, looking for her confession.

"Why the hell are you guys entertaining this idiot and his delusions?"

Jake, raised his fist, ready to put all his strength into a punch.

"Enough!" Dexter separated the two.

"She's right,"

Liz spoke out.

"What!"

"Just look at him. He's in just as much if not more anguish then we are,"

"We saw his corpse too! Just becau-"

"-He saw Blake die in front of him!" Dexter shouted.

"He probably felt responsible for it," He continued, "Like you feel right, but since you can't fight finn you're going after people you can lash out against,"

Jake stood in silence, trying find a way to prove them wrong, to justify himself.

But… He just couldn't, Dexter was right, whether he wanted to admit it or not.

He left the room to go think, and the others followed, unsure of what to do now.

Day after day passed, the house had a cloud looming over it, one filled with a chilled despair.

As it felt like they were bearing the worst of it, she came.

She only came once every two years, and every time she visited, she filled the kids with a dreadful fear.

Because she reminded them of their terrifying reality, that they were nothing more than slaves- no worse than that, they were mere stock picked for the culling.

Finn had called them all down to meet her.

Her face shielded by her white umbrella, her crimson hair stopping just above her waist, and a small mole on her chin.

She wore an all black dress with the same colored coat.

She had a snide grin, as if this were her favorite thing to do in her past time.

Behind her, also dressed in all black, was her servant, basically her personal slave.

It sickened Mavis, she couldn't help but clench her fist.

But the others, they couldn't dare to look at her, they knew that showing her any emotion would only give her incentive.

"Hellooo! Where's my favorite toy," she shouted with disgusting joy.

Finn walked up to her, bowing his head.

"Unfortunately, he was made an example of."

"An example for what?"

"You see, one of my men had sullied the merchandise, and two of the boys attacked him for it."

"So because of one of your men, I lost my favorite toy?"

"Yes, ma'am, I-" With a swift kick, she sent him to his knees, knocking his hat off.

Blood dripped from his right temple, and he stood up,, picking up his hat as if nothing had happened.

"So which one of your men was the one who took it upon himself to lessen the price of my merchandise,"

"I have already dished out an effective punishment, nessa-" he quickly quieted himself as he felt cold steel press against his throat.

"That's not up for you to decide," her assistant said, with an icy yet venomous tone.

"Nea, baby, that's not necessary, but I do appreciate it." she said, kissing her cheek.

She sheathed her blade.

"Fine, but in return, help me pick out a new toy," she said, her eyes devouring Jake and Dexter.

"That reminds me, we need someone to go out and hunt. There won't be enough food to last the week, much less the month," Finn said.

*Creak*

The stairs let out a groan, surprising everyone, he had been out for five days with no sign of awakening.

"I'll do it," he said, his voice deep and smooth, his eyes a dark blue, as if it had been swallowed by the sea.

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