Chapter Text
Didn’t do it
Bit him!
Bitten!
Feral!
Beast!
Wrong wrong wrong
Didn’t do it
Didn’t do it
Can’t prove it
Can’t prove it
Bite him!
Tear him!
Bite him!
Drink the blood!
Blood!
Blood!
Blood!
Give us!
Give in!
Blood!
Techno pressed his forehead further into the corner, curling up tighter as he heard the door to the holding cell open.
It was already bad enough he’d been left here, cold and soaked from the rain, his wrist aching with a dull throb as the handcuffs dug into what he could swear was a broken bone. It was already bad enough his neck still stung from where the catch-pole had dug into his skin. It was already bad enough that he’d been yelled at, conflicting orders, by officers demanding answers, demanding cooperation, demanding, demanding, demanding, demanding….
He didn’t do it.
He’d been asleep, he tried to say.
He had to have been.
He tried to explain his condition. Tried to explain he’d felt a spell coming on. Tried to explain that his last memory before waking up was just the pattering of the rain on the window of the backseat, the news from the radio playing quietly as the driver muttered something about the weather. Tried to explain that he had told the driver to wake him if he hadn’t moved in ten seconds, that he was seeing spots, that he was going numb…
Nothing came out.
No words could form in his mouth as the officers continued to shout at him.
He tried, tried to speak, tried to form some semblance of a sound.
It was as if his voice had been locked away.
Locked up
Locked up
Locked up like the rest
Gonna be locked up like the rest
Stupid
Idiot!
Trusted the human
Trusted them not to trick you
Liars
Liars
Liars
Liars
Liars
He gasped as he felt weight on his shoulders, briefly glancing away from where he had almost buried his face into the corner of the cell to catch a glimpse of whoever had touched him-
“Hey mate, it’s okay.”
A human, hands raised to show he held nothing in them, had knelt beside him.
Blond, unkempt hair had been tied into a sloppy, short braid down his shoulders. Blue eyes glittered from under the brim of an admittedly goofy looking striped bucket hat. A simple jacket and a t-shirt with some obscure band logo, patchy jeans and worn running shoes, still damp from the rain outside.
Techno eyed the strange man before him, keeping himself small and pressed tight against the cell wall.
Don’t trust
Don’t trust
Don’t trust
Not again
Not again
Prove them right!
Bite him!
Bite him!
BITE HIM!
BLOOD!
BLOOD!
BLOOD!
He bit back a whine as the voices grew louder, shoving his face further into the corner and pressing his forehead HARD against the concrete wall-
“...shut up…shut up…shut up…shut up…”
His heart stammered as he licked his dried lips, cracked from dehydration, and felt a jolt of adrenaline at the sudden taste of iron on his tongue.
BLOOD!
BLOOD!
BLOOD!
He was suddenly, horrifically aware of the scent of metal that burned through his nose, of the sticky, slowly drying fluid that coated his mouth and lips and chin, having dripped down his throat and stained his shirt collar-
The scent of something sweet broke through the awful burning of the iron.
“Curse is bein’ a bit loud ey mate?”
His ears twitched at the sound of a candy wrapper being crinkled beside him, and he carefully hazarded a glance.
The human was holding out a chocolate bar.
Dark chocolate.
“It’s not the prescription stuff,” the human explained. “But I’ve been told it works just about the same, if not better. Tastes way better too apparently.”
“Wouldn’t know, haven’t actually taste tested the prescription bars,” the man continued to ramble. As if he was offering candy to a-
Techno snatched up the bar with clawed hands. Trust be damned, at least if he was being poisoned it would taste good. And tore into the bar, biting off a chunk and nearly swallowing it whole before choking and attempting to bite it once more.
“Hey hey easy there kid!” he felt the man’s hand on his back. “You gotta at least chew it first!”
He didn’t care.
Sure, he could at least hold the Curse at bay, keep it from latching it’s claws into his brain and turning it to mush. He was one of the lucky few that wouldn’t go feral…he hoped……..he thought……….
But all the same, even with his ability to ignore that…horrible…desire to rip and tear and bite and consume , the voices of the damned still rattled in his skull. Still screamed at him, still demanded vengeance.
At least now, with the primal need to sink his fangs into something and consume the sharp tang of iron, the Curse’s voices would be quiet.
No sooner had the bitter sweet flavour of dark, rich, coco, flooded his senses, the voices began to grow muffled. Until finally, at long last, his mind was filled with nothing but silence. Sweet, blessed silence!
He sighed in relief, almost slumping against the wall, before remembering where he was. Why he was here.
The loud crunch of the car hitting the tree, the screams of the driver as he clawed his way from the front seat clutching at a bleeding arm, the radio blaring out something about a retired baseball player, the sirens that followed shortly after the man had called in what had…happened…
Techno was immediately on guard once more, though now with a clearer understanding of what was at stake here.
He bit into the chocolate bar again, silencing any remaining voices of the Curse before eyeing the man before him, cautiously.
His wrist still hurt…
“I’m Philza.” the blond human spoke once more. His voice was pleasant, calm and neutral, tuned for the situation.
Techno’s ears twitched.
“I didn’t do it.” he spoke.
His voice felt wrong in his throat.
He took another bite of chocolate.
“I’ve never bitten anyone.” he insisted, watching as Philza’s eyes searched him.
Trained for noticing lies, he guessed.
Maybe.
“I believe you.” the blond nodded. “That’s why I’m here.”
Techno blinked, taken aback.
“...you…believe me?” he asked, confused.
“Yes.” The man insisted. Then shifted, removing his jacket and shrugging off a backpack.
“I was supposed to be called in immediately,” he began to rummage through the backpack, his eyes glaring briefly at the figures outside the cell. “Since it’s law that anyone suspected to be under the age of eighteen and unregistered, be given an attorney and a social worker to mediate for them.”
“But, I wasn’t notified until just a half hour ago about the situation,” he pulled out a clipboard and a series of papers, clicking a pen with his thumb. “So, I apologise for being late.”
Techno eyed the clipboard, scanning the papers across it.
The letters refused to make sense in his mind.
Perhaps two years ago, he could make sense of what they said.
“So,” Philza handed him the clipboard. “I can fill you in on what my job here is and you can-”
“I can’t read.” Techno admitted, returning the clipboard.
He then pulled aside a matted patch of pink hair, revealing the spackled scar across his skull that had taken away that ability. Had taken away his memories, save for brief glimpses of the past. Had taken away his identity.
Whatever the human was trying to accomplish, whatever he was trying to help with, he doubted he could-
To his surprise, Philza retrieved the clipboard with little more than a knowing nod.
“No worries there mate, I can fill it out for you.” the man grinned, clicking the pen again.
“So, introductions first.” Philza began to write something. “I’m Philza Craft, feel free to call me Phil though if you want, I’m not fussed. I’m your assigned case worker, and now your assigned reader-writer.”
He continued to smile.
“My job is to help you. I’m going to be the guy who explains your rights and the law to you. I’ll be giving you access to resources and I will be the go-between for you, your lawyer, the cops, and your opposition.”
Techno’s ears twitched at the word.
“Opposition?”
“The guy who claimed you bit him” Phil explained.
Oh.
“...You’re…going to talk to him too?” he felt his heart sink. Whatever bit of hope he had felt beginning to form had now dropped straight through the floor and buried itself in the centre of the earth.
Phil seemed to notice.
“Legally I have to gather information from everyone involved,” he explained. “That doesn’t mean they’re all telling the truth though. I’m going to be looking for holes in their statements and try to piece together what actually happened-”
“I didn’t do it!” Techno gripped the man’s arm as panic surged through him once more.
Oh god he really had bitten that man, hadn’t he?!
He’d bitten him and he was unregistered.
He’d bitten him and he had no alibi.
He’d bitten him and he couldn’t remember doing so.
He’d bitten him and he was labelled as feral now.
Unsafe.
Volatile.
He’d have to be put down-
He felt a hand on his own.
“I know.” Phil’s voice was oddly calming, despite the thoughts that swam through his head. “And I’m going to prove that you didn’t. I promise.”
“You don’t have proof.” Techno released his grip.
“I’ll find proof.” Philza countered.
“I promise.” he insisted once more.
I promise.
Techno took a breath in.
Held it.
Felt his heart slow a bit.
Released it.
“Okay.” he finally said.
“Okay,” he took another bite of the chocolate. “What do I need to do?”