Chapter Text
Its been almost a year, and i still couldn't believe what had happend.
Part of me still wished this was all fake, that it was just a dream, a prank perhaps, one sick of a prank.
But i knew very well that this was all real, the reality that i was now meant to live.
Meant to live and serva as a slave for the people that took kinoko.
And yet, i didnt want to, but had to, i had to survive, after all, maybe the day will come when were gonna be free, right?
I was one of the very last people who still held out hope for our freedom, that one day this nightmare will end and were gonna be free.
I was shook awake as cold water hit my face, quickly bringing me back to life out of my deep slumber, gasping because of the cold water and lack of air.
My eyes wide awake as i quickly snapped my head to the person who poured the water on me.
There he stood, one of the people that partook in the occupation of what used to be my home.
The man was a tall, curly dirty blonde hair, tan skin and almond shaped, hazel green eyes, eyes that hid many secrets and disguised of emotions.
His uniform was a deep forest green, consisted of a thick trench coat hanging just a bit over his knees, black pants under and black leather boots that went up to his calves and most importantly a black officers railway cap that sat atop his curls.
He was the guy who would always be the one to wake everyone up in the barracks, its as if it was his only job, but that was far from it.
Pretty sure i had heard some of the other guards call him a sergeant, so he was definitely of quite high rank, and he didnt seem new either, considering the three scars that were a lighter shade of color on his face.
One small scar went across his right brow, second scar that went across his lips on the right side and last one that was quite big and went across the bridge of his nose, kinda forming an X shape.
"get up, you got work to do, better not be late unless you want extra hours and no food." the man might have not looked very much intimidating, but his deep and stern voice always made shivers run down my spine.
I hesitently nodded, lowering my head not wanting to make any eye contact with the blonde infront of me as i slowly threw my bare legs over the edge of the bed, the man watched me for a few seconds before he turned back and walked away.
I sighed as i finally felt relief for the now missing presence of the blonde.
"here, you'll need it" a man with orange hair came up out of nowhere, handing me a dry button up shirt.
"thank you." i took the shirt from the man, thanking him with a slight smile, the guy nodding in return.
"whats your name?" i asked the mysterious man that had just given up a piece of his clothing for a complete stranger.
"fundy, or atleast thats what everyone calls me" the man- or fundy, said with a chuckle.
"is it because you have orange hair and give off fox energy?" i asked.
"ah, caught on pretty quick there have we" fundy chuckled once more, earning a small chuckle from me aswell.
"yea, i pretty much went along with it all, not like i mind, the nickname sounds quite nice actually" fundy said smiling.
"its a nice nickname indeed" i replied with a giggle.
We stayed quiet for a moment before fundy spoke again "enough chit chat, get ready, wouldn't want a new friend getting starved to death"
I chuckled and nodded in agreement as fundy looked away to let me dress up.
I quickly took my soaken wet shirt off, throwing on the dry one that fundy had given me and black pants that i had on the chair by the bunk bed.
"ready" i said as i stood up and fundy smiled.
We were about to part ways before fundy stopped me in my tracks.
"wait i didnt get your name" fundy said.
"george, george is my name" i replied and he nodded with a smile.
"well it was nice to meet you george, hope to see you later" fundy said before we bid our goodbyes and went our ways.
As i made my way to the potato fields with a basket, a man with brunette hair jumped out of nowhere, slightly bumping into me.
"HIII GEORGE!" the man said with a bright cheeky smile, he was always unnecessarily loud but his energy could make anybody laugh and giggle.
"hi karl" i said with a smile and a few giggles.
"your hair is wet, is it the guard again?" karl said, his eyebrow raised.
I nodded in reply "yea but dont worry, i wont get cold, some guy gave me a dry shirt so i shouldn't be cold" i assured karl, bc knowing him he would worry his ass off for sure, i mean, after all they were bestfriends now and before all hell broke lose.
"oooo, a potential crush?" karl smirked with giggles.
"no no, not like that!" i quickly replied, my face turning red out of embarrassment.
"alright alright" karl sighed with defeat before he spoke up once more, his bright smile back on his face.
"oh yea! also, i want you to meet me at the fields when the sun sets" karl said as we both finally made it to the potato fields, getting quickly to work as we picked potatos and put them in our baskets.
"what for?" i asked, a bit confused by karls request.
"i want you to meet somebody" karl smiled with more giggles.
"oh?" i still failed to grasp the situation before it hit me "YOU GOT A BOYFRIEND!?" i was shocked, not thinking straight as i blurted that out before karl quickly put his hand over my mouth, tho that didnt do much since everyone had already heard me, everyones heads turned to me, silence before the guards yelled out to get back to work.
"shhh, keep quiet, you know how they are with people who find relationships and comfort in here" karl spoke, starting to put potatos into his basket, me following to do the same.
"yea i know, i was just shocked, me personally i wouldn't really wanna fall inlove with someone during these hard times, after all, one of us could possibly die and you wouldn't even be able to mourn the death" i replied, with a sigh, it was a scary place that could only be described as hell on earth.
"im sure i can keep it a secret tho not really sure that i can anymore since u yelled it out" karl said with a laugh making me chuckle.
"yea yea, sorry" i sighed, putting on a smile after.
"its fine, dont worry, im sure i can still keep this a secret, after all, they are not completely sure that what you were saying was really the truth" karl said.
"well, technically your right, it would become a rumor tho which will spread around the barracks like wild fire, eventually making their way to the guards and then the headquarters" i replied.
karl sighed "c'mon, be positive" karl groaned and i chuckled.
the rest of the day went by quite fast when we had to make our way to the guards, scaling our baskets and getting money to buy food.
me and karl made our way to the food stands, buying some bread, butter and milk before we came back to the barracks.
even if this place was hell on earth we still got payed pretty fairly, the food not costing much back there in the village food stands since citizens ran them.
we also had multiple stations to cook our food at so it wasnt too crowded either.
"alright im gonna head out to fetch us a rabbit to eat" karl said, receiving a nod from me before i spoke.
"the bow and arrows are under my mattress, i made more arrows just incase by the way"
"alright, thanks" karl replied with a smile, tapping me on the shoulder before he went to get the bow and arrows for his hunt.
i sighed, sitting down by the stove, placing the food i and karl brought safely hidden just besides the stove as i casted a shadow over the food with my leg so nobody would see it and steal.
i kept an eye out, watching as people passed by and cooked their own meals at the other stations, whispering and chattering between themselves.
there were always a couple of guards standing around guarding the place, today strangely seeming to be no guards which was quite unusual but i didnt question it, deciding it would be best to wait for karl.
24 minutes passed by before karl came back with two rabbits.
"an extra one? karl we wont be able to eat the both of them" i said.
"actually if we burry one of them deep enough under ground the meat will still be fresh so we could wash it at the river and eat it the next day" karl said sheepishly smiling and giggling like a little kid that made a new discovery.
"whatever you say" i replied giggling as we started to peel the skin off of one of the rabbits.
"notice how theres no guards on duty today?" i asked karl and he raised an eyebrow before looking around.
"oh? did something happen while i was gone?" karl asked and i shook my head in response.
"no i thought you knew something was up" i replied.
"oh well, either way lets get done with this rabbit so we could have a nice meal" karl giggled.
"desperate for meat arent we" i scoffed with a chuckle.
"c'mon we havent had meat for what, three days or so? all because both of us were too lazy to go hunt" karl replied, smacking my hand lightly with more giggles.
we finished skinning the rabbit, washing it off down at the river before chopping it up into smaller pieces.
i turned on the stove before grabbing the butter i bought earlier and putting some in the pan, waiting for it to melt before putting the meat in the pan.
while i was cooking the meat karl was mixing leftover sour cream with dill, garlic and salt before setting up a pan on another stove and putting some butter in, waiting for it to melt and putting in bread to fry it up.
i finally finished cooking the meat, putting the meat on two plates for me and karl as karl finished up with the bread and walked over to me with the garlic spread and fried bread.
we set the food on a bench before sitting down and beginning to eat as we watched the sun go down.
"the day went by fast, wish this hell would go away with the same pace" karl cracked a joke, making me almost choke on the bread and garlic spread.
"agreed" i replied as we giggled along, continuing to talk and eat as we drifted off into our own world.
everyone eventually went back to the barracks, while on the way back me and karl stumbling across fundy, finally getting the chance to introduce them both parting our ways once more after a short conversation.
i sat down on my bed, getting under the covers and staring up at the bunk bed above as i waited for everyone to fall asleep so i could leave the barracks without anybody noticing.
'lets hope guards dont catch me' i took a deep breath, trying to think positively as i waited...