Chapter Text
Running. He was always running. Running from a life that hurt so many, not just him. Running from what was said to be his destiny. If this is his destiny, he doesn't want it.
He remembers the first time he saw them drag a hybrid away. He had been so small, but so was the hybrid. She was a bee hybrid. He remembers the screams from her family and herself and the sparkle of her wings. She hadn't done anything wrong; they thought she was a savage, a beast of some sort, because of what she was. Now all he can think about is the barbaric things he's done to save himself. There is no salvation waiting for him, and he knows that. He wouldn't deserve it, even if it were given to him. Now all he does is try to do what little he can. Heal their wounds, give them food and water, and tell them lies about how everything will be alright. He hates lying, but that's the only hope the hybrids in those horrible iron cages will ever have.
Mumbo hated the job so much but he also knew the little bit of good he could do with the position was completely worth it. And if a hybrid were to escape under his watch he’d say that they threatened to kill him. All the hunters thought he was weak but it was completely worth it plus he hated the hunters and what they stood for anyway.
The day that would change his life for the better was also one of the worst. Avian hybrids were insanely rare nowaday and too have 2 of them was near unheard of but there he stood gawking at the Avians they were set to transport. One a beautiful array of colors a parrot the others a screech hawk so defiant. The screech hawk kept yelling at everyone she was going to get herself hurt because of it. It absolutely didn’t stop her though.
Mumbo was tasked with watching the two while they finished packing to transport them to the auction. Mumbo knew the route to the auction house like the back of his hand, and they were not going there if the amount that was being packed was any evidence. He sighed and blissfully tried to close his eyes and forget about where he was, what he was doing, and all the harm he'd ever done. The young girl in the cage had other plans.
She just kept yelling and wouldn’t stop. The parrot hybrid beside her seemed to be getting annoyed now as well. And then he just snapped. Honestly, Mumbo wasn’t surprised by how stressed he’d looked.
“Would you just shut up? No one’s even listening to you; that is of no importance.” The parrot said his wings fluffed up behind him to fully show off his irritation to the screech hawk.
She huffed and turned her wings, fluffing up a bit, before saying, “At least I’m doing something.”
"Yeah, making some random dude here to watch us pissed and making me irritated beyond belief.” He said, gesturing to Mumbo than himself, to really emphasize and get across his point.
It was almost time to go. The wagons were packed, and everything was ready to be transported to wherever they were going. Mumbo was sent to stay in a wagon with the other healers so they could travel easier. He hated leaving the hybrids with people who would treat them cruelly, but he also wasn’t about to get into a fight he would lose. Especially not to be labled a hybrid sympathizer. That was much too dangerous, and then he couldn’t help anyone at all.
There was nothing he could do for now, but he did truly hope an accident would happen so those hybrids could be free from this. One day he hoped he’d be worthy of freedom from this life as well, but he needed to pay a debt for the pain he was the cause of.
He watched the sun slowly fall behind the mountains in the north. He tried to stay awake, but his body had other plans, and the lull in conversation led to him drifting into a deep sleep that wasn’t at all resting. His dreams haunted him with pictures of his past and of pain. Mumbo can’t quite remember the last time sleep was actually restful.