Help...
I need you...
"Protect me," Pomeli said to Lior indirectly. After years of sorrow, sadness, anguish, terror, fear, disappointment, humiliation, and dehumanization, she felt a new hope in the boy with black hair and blue eyes. The young man looked just as broken, but her selfishness made her want to be saved despite being in the same conditions as him.
"Please, love me."
Please love her.
She had already resigned herself to never trusting people again. Everyone had betrayed her, humiliated her, and abandoned her, as if she were trash. Alone, she wandered from place to place, put up for sale as if she were an object. The world is cruel—she knew that very well.
But that young man was not like that. That young man was different, and she saw it with her own eyes. Maybe he did not go through the same things she did, maybe he did, but what she saw in those eyes was the same desperation that gnawed at her every single day. The desperation of losing someone you love deeply.
From a very early age, she had been treated like an object. Since she was a child, she was always treated as bargaining currency. But—
"Mom... Dad..."
She would never forget them.
Her parents were cat demi-humans who lived in a small village near the great capital. The three of them lived happily in their home. Despite being very poor and not having much, they always tried to give their daughter the best they could. They cherished her like a treasure.
They were a couple who faced constant discrimination and mistreatment from the people around them simply because they were demi-humans living in an almost entirely human village. It was hard for them to find work, and they often went hungry just to give the little they had left to their little daughter. They raised her lovingly so that one day she could move forward and live a happy life.
Then, one ordinary night, a group of people broke into their home. Armed with knives and daggers, they entered to rob the property. Finding nothing valuable enough—and because they were demi-humans—the thieves took the lives of her poor parents, who had done nothing wrong. Her parents paid the price of... what? They were killed for nothing, simply because they had nothing and were demi-humans. Those filthy scum killed her parents for being poor and for being demi-humans. They had done nothing to deserve such a cruel ending.
It was then… on that horrible night, that… they found her. They kidnapped her and then sold her as a slave, selling her as if she were a toy. To them, she was just another piece of trash among many. A possible tool that could serve as a maid or as labor.
From that moment on, she had been trapped in the cycle of being used and sold. Discarded and then reused. Recycled, recycled, and recycled. Again and again she went through different owners. Some were more peaceful, but others were hell. In every one of those situations, she tried to escape, but she was always found, punished, and then put up for sale once more. It was a constant cycle of suffering and horror from which she would never be saved.
That was how she ended up in this place, this prison, this jail where she was held together with other demi-humans. Prepared to be sold yet again, she had already accepted her fate. But…
She found him.
A fragile and delicate cat demi-human boy. At first, he seemed quite pathetic to her, but then she saw his feelings. She saw his emotions and saw herself reflected in the fear and desperation shown by that boy. That was when she decided to approach him to check on him more closely. Calmly and gently, she sat beside him and delicately stroked him.
"Love me," she tried to tell him.
She wanted him to love her and support her. She wanted him to help her and hold her together. She wanted to be close to him and for him to be close to her. She wanted him to listen to her, to hear her pleas and laments. She wanted him to hear her desperation and her fears. Her greatest desire was to be heard… to pour out everything bad she felt and be able to rest, at least for a moment. She wanted to feel peace, calm, and happiness for at least one moment in her life. In the end… she wanted to be happy.
And… it seems… that he did understand her.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Sleep… Sleep…
Wake up… Wake up…
Pomeli was in a deep sleep, as if in another reality. She remembered her worst moment, the moment that marked her for the rest of her life. Dream… dream…
She wanted to wake up, because she no longer wanted to be in the hell of that fateful night. Mind and soul were shattered in that place, and that was why she wanted to wake up.
Remember… Remember…
She remembered that a young cat boy had been with her, and that she had cried in front of him. Her waking state did not let her feel the emotion her soul wanted to express; her soul was moved, her soul was happy. At last, someone had listened to her—he truly listened to her, he truly embraced her.
With feelings of peace… with feelings of happiness, she was now ready to wake up.
Tail, ears, and eyes moved slightly. She began to feel her blood flowing through her veins. Her mind cleared, her mind went blank so she could focus all her attention on the act of waking up. She slowly, little by little, opened her large emerald-green eyes, without fear and without dread for the first time in a long while. Within a brief span of time, she felt the heaviness of opening her eyes.
Until…
She woke up completely.
At that moment, something crossed her gaze, and along with it, something also reached her eardrums.
[Lior: H-hhello…]
A young man with black hair, cat ears, and diamond-blue eyes was looking at her from in front of her. He wore a warm, softly nervous smile on his face.
[Lior: How… did you wake up? n-nya…]
The question came in a nervous tone. The boy looked at her with a faint blush on his cheeks, and unconsciously his long cat tail was swaying from side to side. His voice sounded a bit unsteady; the boy was quite shy when speaking. All of this brought a light reddish hue to Pomeli's cheeks.
[Pomeli: Um… I slept… w-well… Thank you nya…]
She began to sway her tail unconsciously, in the same way as the boy in front of her.
Both semihumans had their ears fully tense, their tails swaying from side to side, and a faint blush that grew stronger with every passing second. They were tightly holding onto each other, snugly cuddled together while lying on the ground.
[Lior: Umm… it doesn't bother you… being like this… right?]
[Pomeli: n-nyo]
They looked like a pair of lovebirds. Nothing could be further from the truth, since they had only met the night before, under horrific circumstances.
[Lior: If you want… I can move away a litt—]
[Pomeli: No! Don't]
[Lior: Wh—]
[Pomeli: Don't separate from me nya… please]
The girl hugged Lior more tightly so he wouldn't move away. Lior was quite lost, as he didn't understand the true meaning behind those words. He didn't know why the girl was clinging to him so desperately. Perhaps she saw the reflection of someone else in him.
[Lior: W-wha… I won't move away from you, if you don't want me to]
"What kind of horrors have you really been through?" he thought as he replied. The suffering she must have endured to reach this point had to be immense for her to cling to him like that. Did she have anyone else who loved her? Perhaps not—her way of expressing herself seemed to say so.
The two young ones were tightly holding onto each other, Pomeli's head resting against Lior's delicate chest. They seemed to be about the same size. It truly looked like a yuri scene, nothing like reality. It was a scene born of almost mutual need, since Lior didn't truly understand the reason behind his own reaction, yet Pomeli was desperately clinging to him.
Even though they were no longer exchanging words, the tension in the air was overwhelming. None of the semihumans wanted to know whether they would be the next ones to be sold. Because of that, each of them clung to those they loved most, unwilling to let them go. They were all painfully aware that this might be the last time they would ever see their loved ones. That was why mothers and children, fathers and children, mothers and fathers, friends and friends, brothers and sisters—all clung to those they cherished most, refusing to let go, refusing to have them taken away. It was a tension of sorrow and anguish that permeated the entire place without exception. Lior and Pomeli were no different.
There were people who were completely alone. There were people whom nobody loved. There were people whom nobody even knew, yet in order to survive, they clung to strangers who shared the same fears. It was terrible to go through that suffering alone; it was terrible to feel alone in such a desperate moment. If at least someone were with them, they could feel loved and hold on to that faint, almost nonexistent hope.
It was then… at that moment… in the most peaceful moment people could have in that sea of suffering…
That…
"### #### ## ### ####"
"..."
...
Human voices were heard in the distance.
"No…" "Nyo…"
Those words came out in unison, unconsciously.
The time had come. The moment had arrived. The time and the moment that nobody wanted to arrive had finally come.
All the semihumans turned to look toward the door—that massive metal door that weighed an absurd amount. The same door where the last horrible event had stripped everyone of hope.
Horror… horror. Horror appeared on absolutely every captive face. They panicked upon realizing that humans were on the other side of the door. Horror and terror engulfed absolutely everything in the place. Who would be next? Please don't let it be me… I don't want it to be me. No—no! NO!
[Pomeli: Lyor… Lyor! Lyor! LYOR! DON'T LET GO OF ME!]
[Lior: Ahh… aaa… aeh…]
Pomeli clung even tighter to Lior's waist and pressed her head against his chest so as not to let him go. She was terrified—panic, fear, desperation, terror, and overwhelming anguish flooding her. She didn't want to be taken away again. No, no, please.
Lior was left in a state of shock by the reaction of everyone present and by having a rough idea of what was about to come again. There were semihumans sunk into absolute despair. There were semihumans clinging tightly to others, others crying, others reopening their wounds, others alone in a corner, and others, others, others, others, others, and others.
Fear, anxiety, paranoia, tension, uncertainty, desperation, anguish, nervousness, restlessness, resignation, rage, helplessness, vulnerability, distrust, stress, alertness, panic, sadness, desolation, hopelessness, shock, dread, oppression, nausea, terror, insecurity, isolation, abandonment, violation, injustice, pain, fear of the future, fear of the present, longing to escape, survivor's guilt, feelings, feelings, feelings, feelings, feelings. Feelings were displayed in everyone present.
[Pomeli: Nyo… nyo don't leave me… NO—]
CRANK!
"..."
...
"..."
The lock on the door sounded.
"..."
Slowly, the massive door began to open. It opened little by little, clearly requiring a great amount of strength to move. Lior would never be able to open a door of that caliber with such a delicate and androgynous body.
A light stronger than the one inside the dungeon emanated from outside once again.
The door opened in the same way as last time. All the semihumans had desperation and panic in their minds; all of them were filled with fear and terror. Even though everyone was sunk into such fragile states, they all remained fixedly attentive to what was happening, all of them expectant and silent before the situation.
The door continued to open slowly, until…
[???: #### ### ######]
[???: ###### #### ## # ###]
[???: #### #####… ¿####?]
[???: ¿#### ##### ### # ####?]
[???: ### ### ###### ## #####]
A conversation could be heard.
The door finished opening, and with that event, three people appeared through the opening.
The first man was the same man who had entered the captivity area last time and who had kicked a poor semihuman before. He held his iconic torch in hand. This caused all the semihumans present to shudder and become even more alert than they already were.
Following the previously known man, another one appeared. This man wore different clothing: a black leather jacket with metal protections on the shoulders, and a cream-colored shirt, most likely stained with dust. His skin was slightly tanned by the sun, and his arms were marked with scars, since his sleeves were rolled up to his elbows.
He had emerald-green eyes and a serious gaze that clearly seemed temporary. He had no beard, and his black hair was quite messy and long. Basically, he carried a strong aura of an adventurer who travels everywhere in search of adrenaline and treasure.
But…
Behind the man with the adventurer-like appearance, there was another man with an extremely different presence. His gaze was serious, cold, and calculating. He had golden eyes, like gold ingots. His skin was pure white, beautiful like an angel's, and his hair was long, blond, and very well cared for.
He wore elegant white clothing, worthy of a noble from a wealthy family. A perfectly pressed and tailored white shirt fit him flawlessly. Over it, he wore a long coat made of thick fabric, white as snow itself. It had golden clasps that shone despite being inside a damp dungeon with no lighting at all, along with pure white gloves.
He also wore refined fabric trousers, completely white like snow, perfectly pressed and perfectly fitted. Along with polished black formal shoes, shiny and immaculate.
"…"
All the semihumans stared with their eyes wide open, patiently waiting for the actions to unfold. Everyone was filled with terror and fear, but no one spoke, because those same emotions forced them into silence—worse still, they were petrified by fear.
Then, once they were already in the middle of the room, the men with opposing attire looked over all the semihumans present. They looked, evaluated, and looked again. Searching among all the options for the most convenient one. They discarded, observed, and discarded again. They were semihumans of common but valuable races; it was not worth choosing poorly, since valuable objects had to be put to good use. Just like apples—there was no point in buying just any one, especially in a shop considered one of the finest fruit stores in the country.
It was at that moment that the man with emerald eyes locked gazes with a young and delicate semihuman who shared the same eye color.
"…"
They stared at each other, both with their eyes wide open.
[???: ###… ###… #### ## #####]
The man spoke with a confused tone in his voice and pointed forward with his index finger, more specifically, at a certain cat semihuman.
[???: #### #### ###… ## ## ##### ¿###?]
[???: ### #### ### ######]
[???: ### #### ######]
The man most likely asked the price of the semihuman to the other man, who was very surely the seller. The seller told him a number using his fingers, and then he most likely asked if he wanted her. The man confirmed with a nod and verbally. It was then that the seller, the man with emerald eyes, and the man in elegant clothes all stared at a particular cat girl.
"…"
It was an evaluative and cold gaze that she received from the other two, but the man with emerald eyes looked at her with a different emotion.
[Pomeli: Aaaa… aaahhh…]
Pomeli froze.
"…"
She didn't know what to do. She had nowhere to go. She didn't know how to react. She felt her tail and ears tense, how her body stopped responding, and how she unconsciously stopped breathing. In a total state of shock, she exchanged gazes specifically with the man with emerald eyes.
"No…"
Please don't do anything to her. She wasn't doing anything wrong, she was just holding onto Lior. They had no reason to take her again. She didn't want to. She didn't want to. She didn't want to.
It was then that the man who was guiding the other two approached her with firm and determined steps.
[Pomeli: Nyo]
Why are they looking at her like that? Why is he approaching?
[Pomeli: Don't come closer]
Why… why her?
[Pomeli: NO!]
She didn't do anything! SHE DIDN'T DO ANYTHING!
[Pomeli: NO!]
NO, PLEASE! PLEASE DON'T TAKE HER AWAY!
[Pomeli: NO! DON'T TAKE ME, PLEASE!]
The cat girl clung to Lior's body as if it were a lifeline. She didn't want to go, she didn't want to go. No, Lior, please don't let her go. Protect her, take care of her, love her, listen to her—but don't let her go with more cruel people, please. She doesn't deserve this. They have no reason to do this to her. They already took everything from her. Her family, her humanity, her will and reasons to live—everything was destroyed by those damned, cruel, wretched beings.
[Pomeli: Lyor… save me…]
Tears, tears and more tears fell down Pomeli's face. Fear, terror, and desperation tore apart her poor, delicate soul. She doesn't want to, she doesn't want to, she doesn't want to again. If she goes… she will die… if she goes… she will die… Save her, Lior, please. She begs you. Please—SAVE HER, LIOR, SAVE HER!
Lior, watching the entire scene with horror and terror in his eyes, remained motionless. He couldn't move. He was frozen in that position.
[???: #### ###### ###]
[Pomeli: NO! DON'T TOUCH ME, DON'T GRAB ME!]
The man grabbed Pomeli by the torso. She was clinging tightly to Lior's body, even digging her nails into him.
[Pomeli: LET ME GO! LET ME GO!]
She doesn't want to go, she can't go! SHE WON'T ENDURE ANYTHING MORE!
[Pomeli: LET ME GO! PLEASE LET ME GO! LYOR, HELP ME!]
Pomeli was desperate, trying to break free from the man's arms. Her face was haggard, she was crying from sheer desperation. Lior was watching her in despair, but that very emotion made him freeze in place.
"Why her?"
What the hell did she ever do to you? Why her? It makes no sense. She doesn't deserve this. She doesn't deserve to be treated like an object.
[Lior: Why her?]
Let her go… Let her go. LET HER GO!
[Lior: Why her?!]
LET HER GO! LET HER GO! LET HER GO! LET HER GO! LET HER GO! LET HER GO!
[Lior: Why her!]
LET HER GO! LET HER GO! LET HER GO! LET HER GO! LET HER GO! LET HER GO! LET HER GO! LET HER GO! LET HER GO! LET HER GO! LET HER GO! LET HER GO!
[Lior: WHY HER?!]
With a sudden, violent movement, Lior drew out his claws and slashed directly at the man's arm. The cut tore through the unprotected area of the man's arm, brutally ripping through the skin.
[???: AGH!]
[Lior: WHAT THE FUCK DID SHE EVER DO TO YOU?!]
In a swift act that was both predatory and protective, he threw himself back against a wall and wrapped Pomeli in his left arm as tightly as he could, clinging to her as if his life depended on it. His tail and ears tensed. With his right arm, he moved it forward, claws drawn, threatening his opponent so he wouldn't come any closer. He bared his teeth in a menacing way, staring at his enemy with eyes full of rage.
[Lior: DON'T COME ANY CLOSER, YOU FUCKING BASTARD! I WON'T LET YOU TOUCH HER! I WON'T LET YOU, YOU SON OF A BITCH!]
Staring straight into his opponent's eyes, he spat out words filled with fury. He was not going to let him get close to Pomeli. They had no right to treat her like an object. She doesn't deserve that treatment. She doesn't deserve it. SHE DOESN'T DESERVE IT!
[Lior: COME ANY CLOSER AND DIE! TRASH!]
[???: #### ### ##### ####!]
[Lior: SHUT UP, YOU DAMNED MOTHERF—]
She doesn't deserve that treatment! Pomeli doesn't deserve that trea—
Trea…
Tre…
Tr…
T…
T…
"What…?"
[Lior: What?]
What? What is that?
[Lior: AGH!]
He couldn't understand what was happening—until he felt a stabbing pain in his abdomen. A pain that wiped his mind completely blank. A pain that stole his breath and erased his thoughts. There was nothing but that piercing agony, crushing him entirely.
[Lior: What?]
It hurts…
[Pomeli: LYOR!]
It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts.
[Lior: What?]
He didn't know what was happening. How had that pain reached his abdomen? Why was it unbearable? Why couldn't he think properly anymore? Why could he feel everything so clearly? What was happening to him? How had they hurt him this badly? Was he going to die? Was he really going to die? Was it only temporary? Was it permanent? Why did it hurt so much?
Questions and questions and questions.
[???: ###### ##### #### ## ##]
[Lior: W-what…?]
His consciousness was slipping away. Little by little. The pain was unbearable, unbearable, unbearable. Black, white, black, white, black, white—was all he could see.
Flashes… flashes…
Amid all those black-and-white flashes, he managed to make out something within the darkness. A man in elegant attire stood before him.
[???: ### ### ###### ### #]
[Lior: It was… you…]
It seemed he was the one who had struck the blow that left him on the verge of death. He had been far away, and yet, in a single blink, he had reached him.
[Pomeli: LYOR! LYOR, TALK TO ME PLEASE! DON'T GO!]
[???: ##### #### #####]
[Pomeli: Don't go, Lyor! Look at me! Look at me!]
He couldn't pass out yet. He had to keep fighting, even though he hadn't even landed a proper blow. He had to protect her… he had to protect her…
"Lyor! Please! Open your eyes!"
Distant screams—far away, far away, far away—could be heard. Noises… sounds… noises… sounds…
"I… have to… protect you…"
"Lyor! Please, Lyor!"
He knew he had failed that voice calling him from afar. He couldn't quite make out who it was, but he knew—it was her, the one tied to his despair.
"I'm sorry… s-sor… ry…"
He began to lose consciousness. His awareness started to fade. Into a black void. Into a dark void. His consciousness fell into emptiness, fell into a complete black hole.
"Po… me… li…"
His consciousness fell into a black, dark abyss. It swallowed him whole. He couldn't escape. His consciousness… his consciousness…
"Ah…"
Abyss… void… abyss… void…
"…"
Darkness.