Work Text:
"I hate you! Why can't you leave me alone, we haven't done anything wrong. No, don't hurt him," the scream was high pitched and floated through all the many rooms of the big mansion.
The slender teenager was being held by the scruff of his school uniform and his daemon was snarling loudly while trying to get out from under the grunting form of a hyena daemon.
The beast sunk her teeth into the exposed neck of the boy's cat daemon and it's angry hisses turned onto soft howls of pain. The boy had stopped struggling and tears were now streaming down his slim face.
"No, please. Don't-" he sobbed while the fight was leaving him quickly and the bulky security guard saw no harm in setting the boy back onto his feet.
The kid sobbed and tried to reach his daemon but to no avail.
"Mr. Jenkins, please escort Michael to his room. The daemon will get to stay in the box for the time being," the boy's mother spoke stiffly while she straightened her designer skirt.
"You can't! Don't make him go in there," the boy, Michael, pleaded panicky.
The mother only gazed at him and made a disapproving sound through her nose. "You won't learn otherwise, it seems. Your father and I have done our utmost, so you and your sister would only have the best of everything. And how do you thank us? You are humiliating our whole family," her voice was calm and icy. A lady should not raise her voice, not even now.
The boy hung his head and his bangs, slightly too long, fell into his eyes. He wouldn't look at her again.
"Right, like always you have to make things difficult. I wish you were more like your sister, she never gets into any trouble," the woman scolded.
"Me too," the boy whispered.
"Enough is enough. You will stay in your room, young man, until your father gets home for the party tonight. He will deal with you afterwards," the blonde woman turned around and strode towards the sitting room to oversee the preparations for the festivity, her poodle-daemon hot on her heels.
The security guard slightly shook the boy again and the hyena nudged the cat to start walking. "Sometimes I wonder how you can be such a hotshot super-brain and then you get yourself caught wearing makeup at school. Doesn't seem very smart to me," the man informed Michael gruffly while frogmarching him to his room.
The 15 year-old didn't answer but stared gloomily at the box that had been placed next to his bed. It was big enough for the cat to fit in but not comfortably. Also it prohibited the physical touch between human and daemon. Michael knew this was not as bad as being severed from his daemon but it hurt them both and they hated this form of punishment nevertheless.
He knew his mother had looked at brochures and other information about treatment for teenagers via the cut that would separate a human and their daemon to make them more obedient.
Michael had sworn to them to rather kill himself then ever to be parted from Sebastian.
He looked on helplessly how the guard's daemon herded his beautiful companion into the horrible little container and the man locked the flap with a big padlock.
There were a couple small slits in the lid, to guarantee the oxygen supply but they weren't even big enough for the boy's fingers to slide in.
"You wait in here for your daddy, you hear me boy? Don't you dare leave the room. I'll be downstairs securing the grounds for the party. I don't want to come hunting after you again. Come Sasha, we got work to do," he told them plainly and left with his slobbering daemon in tow.
When the door closed, Michael immediately dropped down next to the box and slung his thin arms around it while pressing his face tightly against the hard surface.
"Oh Bas, I'm so sorry," he sobbed out.
There was soft purring to be heard through the gaps. The big grey cat was doing his best do comfort his human. Usually he would jump right into his arms, purring and rubbing the teenager's cheek with his soft, lavish fur until they both felt better. But it wasn't possible now.
So he spoke to the boy. "Don't be sorry. Why can't you dress or look like a girl if you want to? Who are they to tell us what to feel. I am a male daemon after all. You and I, we have known for a long time now that there is no Michael here," the cats' voice floated out through the cracks, quiet but determined.
The kid sucked in a shaky breath and tried to stop his tears. His daemon was always so sure of himself and the boy wanted nothing more then to share his strength.
"Who are we then, Bas? Who am I?" Not-Michael questioned in a choked whisper.
And this wonderful, amazing soul gave the one answer he had been waiting for so long.
"You are Nomi!"
And they both felt like they had become a little more whole inside.
------------------------------
Daemons:
Sebastian, meaning: venerable, revered
Maine coon cat
Maine Coons are the largest domestic cats in the world. Despite their size, they are known as gentle giants because of their relaxed and easy-going personality.