Chapter Text
The auctions...a place rife with nefarious intention, curiosity, and rarities. It wasn’t unusual to see a varied collection of buyers here. The rare, curious mage. Those with experiments to carry. Sorcerers in need of stock. The live creatures procured for auction varied as much as the buyers. All manners of beasts and creatures, sold here regardless of how they were procured.
There was one sold here, that was a curious case. Brought in by Seth himself, a rare and sought-after specimen who clearly wasn’t even from this region of land, judging by vivid red hair and her foreign facial features. Allegedly she hadn’t been brought here by a captor or anyone else. She brought herself here. Willingly put herself on sale—a girl with an unfortunate life and nothing else to live for, convinced to sell herself to perhaps serve a purpose to someone else, instead.
That was Chise Hatori, a sleigh beggy. Seventeen years old. Estranged father and brother, deceased mother. Now legally deceased herself, from the moment she agreed to be brought here.
Maybe if this had been a more fortunate day, she would have been swiped up by a bidder with much better intention. Someone who would give her a clear future and a new purpose. Many aren’t that fortunate here at the auctions though. A proxy had been the highest bidder that night, and within mere hours she found herself led quietly to a discreet, black car and loaded in with the accompanying sounds of the shackles the auctioneers had placed on her neck and wrists.
She was given no information on who truly bought her, nor did she ask for it in the first place. Truly, she didn’t particularly care where her fate was headed now. For better or worse, this was what her life was, now. She wasn’t very good with pain...she just hoped that whatever she was being purchased for wouldn’t cause too much of it. She didn’t hold any high expectations or hopes for her buyer. Honestly, any kind of person going to buy living beings at some kind of shady underground auction didn’t strike her as morally fantastic or saintly.
Now, from the moment she was removed from the car to the moment she found herself led down below into what seemed to be...literal dungeons, Chise knew little about her new surroundings. The property itself was vast, surrounded and isolated by thick forests and a large, old fashioned mansion in the center of the cleared property itself. She had been handed to guards that stationed themselves just inside the entrance. Two cloaked, clearly inhuman beings that spoke with deep, reverberating voices. When asked where the Mistress of the house was, they informed the man who had brought Chise here that she was busy, and that they would simply escort the “prisoner” below.
She couldn’t say she was thrilled to have this be her first real step into a world she was vastly unfamiliar with. Seth had informed her that the family who bought her were sorcerers, but she didn’t really have a full understanding of what exactly that even means. Just that they practice magic in a way that was different from the world of the fae, the beings that he explained Chise could see everywhere back in her homeland. They were here too, in England, though they didn’t seem nearly as...immediately vicious as the ones she was used to.
She dreaded what being in a home that bothered to have a dungeon below meant for her; but, at the same time, she couldn’t bring herself to care much. Frankly, she was done trying, really. If she died here, so be it. If she was lucky, just this one single time, then maybe it would be a quick and mostly painless one.
The cell itself was unremarkable. It was the kind of thing she only saw in books. Just a dark, damp underground cell of stone walls and a wood door with a barred window opening. There wasn’t really anything in here, aside from the chains tethered to the wall, that were now attached to new shackles around her wrist. They had no idea what a “sleigh beggy” was capable of—frankly, neither did Chise. She barely understood what it meant, other than it being what she was, apparently. The reason she was cursed with the ability to see what so many others couldn’t. Even in here, she could see them. Restless spirits and creatures, unseen by the residents but here nonetheless, this home just as much theirs.
Maybe they died down here too.
The chain between her wrist shackles had more slack, at least. It allowed her a little more movement, though still not much—nor could she travel any further than half the way across the cell, from the wall. She was at least allowed a bath in a nearby, closed off room every other day or so, and there did seem to be some general idea of allowed basic care, at least in her case. They called her a prisoner, and yet her treatment wasn’t nearly as inhumane as some of the genuine prisoners rarely put in this place, from what she could see and hear. They were making sure she wasn’t ill and that she ate, they were keeping her alive. It was both a good and bad thing.
She wasn’t constantly monitored down here. Only when someone came down to give her food or bring her to another room was she in contact with someone, though it was usually just one of those strange, chimeric guards. The spirits here weren’t even keen to approach anything or anyone. As if even in death, they were still terrified of this place and its residents. Just what kind of people lived here?
It had to have been two weeks before she got to find out. She couldn’t really tell. Her only indication of time was the intervals when food was brought to her. She heard someone approaching from upstairs, but to her surprise, it wasn’t the unusual sounds of the movement of the house guards. Rather, it was three sets of footsteps. Once the door opened, Chise looked up, taking in the sight of three faces in front of her. A well-dressed, fit man—no doubt just another guard. Behind him was an elderly woman with an intimidating cane and a set of dark glasses hiding the woman’s real gaze behind them, and a much younger person next to her—a girl, maybe around Chise’s own age. Long, silver hair and a pair of purple eyes that stared into the cell with about as much energy and enthusiasm as Chise recognized in her own bathroom mirror back home. From the strange distance in the girl’s eyes, to the tired bags under her eyes, to even the fresh-looking bruise on her cheek—Chise would have assumed she was just a prisoner here too if not for the much cleaner appearance.
The man stepped forward first, walking over to Chise and getting her onto her feet with a pull upwards of her arm. There wasn’t too much force behind it—honestly Chise was so cooperative and accepting of her fate that after a few initial instances of rough handling, the guards who handled her realized they really didn’t need to waste that much energy forcing her to do anything at all. He led her forward to the point the chains kept her from moving forward more, and instructed her to remain still. So she did. She stayed quiet. She’s pretty sure she hasn’t said more than maybe two words since getting here. She almost looked up at the two in front of her, but she kept her eyes down instead, staring at the stone floor with blank exhaustion.
“I loathe wasting such resources on a blight like you, child. But if you are to at least remotely show progress towards the kind of intelligence your father displayed, then you will need the same resources and tools he used. Including this. For as often as you seem to fail me when it comes to your memorization of book material, perhaps you’ll show a bit more promise with more practical application.”
“Yes, grandmother.”
What an empty, practiced response. Grandmother and granddaughter. Yet the kind of atmosphere that came from either of them...they hardly sounded like they liked the arrangement. Was the grandmother the so-called mistress of the house then? She certainly carried the authority to be.
“Of course, he experienced a few...setbacks, with the subject that I had given him. From what I’ve gathered though, you should not experience the same kind of drawbacks with this one. I’ve already explained what I expect out of you with this development. This one is yours, and yours alone to do with what you need in your studies of your craft. This child is quite valuable, though. Anything that could kill her or render her in-cognizant is off limits. She will have her uses to me later, and she will need to be in decent shape by then. But, I suppose this is an opportunity to practice restraint when practicing on a live subject. Just know that the consequences of your usual screw-ups here will call for much greater punishment should you kill this child.”
“I understand.”
“The fact that I am doing this for you is an unusual and great generosity, Philomela. You had better not squander the opportunity. Understand?”
“Yes, grandmother.”
“Good.” The woman steps forward, her cane reaching forward and tapping just in front of where Chise stood. “If needed, you may ask to borrow the child unchained, but if she decides to turn on you it is your own fault. Otherwise, simply remember to stay beyond this point. Meet me in my office when you’re through down here.”
“Yes, grandmother.”
The old woman clicked her tongue, seemingly annoyed with the response. Without another word, she motioned for the guard to follow her as she walked past the girl and left the room, leaving Philomela inside with Chise. Silence fell. Chise’s gaze drifted down towards the floor, her expression as neutral and disinterested as it was when they had first walked in. Well...if this was the person who was going to hurt her from now on, she supposed she was relieved to at least deal with someone closer to her age. Strange way to think of it, but she hadn’t looked forward to possibly ending up suffering at the hands of worse looking people.
She glanced back at the girl, who looked...briefly, like she was going to speak. Her mouth opened, but it slowly shut instead and Philomela averted her uncomfortable gaze somewhere else. Just like that, the interaction was over. The girl turned around, quickly striding out of the dungeon room and quietly shutting the door behind her.
Maybe it was...three days? It was three, before she saw her down here again.
It was an exceptionally listless day. Chise couldn’t even remember much of the day before now. Like she was set on autopilot, she just waited through her days and moved automatically through some excuse of a daily routine. The only change today was that she once again lacked an appetite to eat. Breakfast had been collected untouched. Lunch as well. She spent most of today seated against the back wall, head resting against it and her senses intentionally tuned out of the stranger noises and voices of overly curious spirits and fae trying to poke and prod about their fascinating new person of interest.
When the door opened, she couldn’t even bring herself to look and see who it was this time, bringing a pointless dinner to try and get her to eat again. No voice spoke for a moment. Only quiet footsteps approaching. Closer than usual, really. Blinking slowly, chains clinked slightly as she shifted only a bit, head moving to look. It was that girl again. The bruise was gone, but that look of quiet dread still lingered all over her face, like she was constantly waiting for something to come down on her and send her world crashing further down than it already probably was.
Slowly, she knelt down and carefully placed the tray of food down, much closer and further into the room than Chise would expect her to be on her first visit here. Not that Chise had any interest in attacking her. She couldn’t really care less at this point. It just delayed the inevitable.
“You haven’t been eating.” It was the first time she’d heard this girl say anything beyond her practiced, robotic responses to her grandmother. “You need to.”
Chise stayed quiet, simply resting the side of her head against the wall again.
Philomela watched her quietly—maybe for the longest minute ever to exist. Trying to figure out how to handle this. Other people were like a foreign language to her. Outside of her own required relationships such as Veronica or Rian, anyone else existed in a completely different world than her own.
She had been told to get this girl to eat something, but that was easier said than done.
“...she won’t….tell me your name.” Not that she would ask to know it, but even if she did she knew that Lizbeth would never tell her. There was no need for that kind of information. It was a waste of time and breath.
Chise wished she wouldn’t do this. She had wasted so much time, countless times before already, humoring curious people who seemed kind and gentle. People who seemed like they would care. The moment that they realized just how broken and cursed Chise was, however, they were either scared or disgusted. They stared at her and whispered like she was some kind of circus side-show. This wasn’t going to be any different, and the realization alone was already exhausting.
“Should you know the name of someone you’re only supposed to be experimenting on?” Her voice was quiet and maybe a little bit hoarse. Unused.
“It probably won’t make much difference.” What an honest, strange answer. So much so that Chise decided to humor it.
“Chise...Hatori.”
Philomela merely nodded. She quieted down, though the look on her face subtly gave away that there were still things on her mind. “Did…did they tell you much about where you are?”
“Not really. I didn’t ask, either.”
“...you’re in the Sergeant household. The head of the family...is my grandmother. Lizbeth Sergeant. I’m Philomela Sergeant.”
“I see.” Chise wasn’t really sure what she was supposed to say here. Though she did think, Philomela was a nice name. But, Philomela was right—it didn’t make much of a difference to know the details of her situation. “...so what exactly is going to happen to me?”
That, Philomela didn’t answer. Whether it was because she didn’t want to, or because she didn’t know, she didn’t say either way. She only looked down, silent. Chise gave up the line of questioning and sighed quietly, glancing down at the tray of food. Reluctantly, she reached over and picked up the bread, biting off a small piece of it. Blinking, Philomela looked over at her, maybe a bit surprised.
“You can tell them that you convinced me to.” Chise shrugged. “They’d like hearing that, right?”
“...yeah, I suppose.” She really didn’t know how to deal with this, it seemed. Fine by Chise—she didn’t know either. Chise couldn’t really tell what this girl was supposed to even do with her. That woman—Lizbeth—had mentioned experimenting on her. Using her for practice. What that entailed was beyond her, but so far it amounted to a lot of nothing. Chise watched as the girl finally stood back up. She lingered for a moment, as if she was thinking of what to say, but settled on nothing at all before she turned and left, leaving Chise with her dinner.
“She’s finally left? It was hard enough to find a way in here—I didn’t think she would come in here so soon.”
Glancing back up from her food, Chise stared at the small airborne creature darting in front of the shut door. Fairy-like qualities, a light green in color, and a lack of arms, donning wings instead. It couldn’t be any bigger than her hand, too. “Finally, I get to see you up close! Our Robin~”
“Your...what?” The creatures here...they weren’t like back home. The mannerisms, the appearances...it was all so different.
“What an awful place to have you trapped in...ugh. Something as precious as you shouldn’t be in here. I could probably get you out of here, I bet! For you, I might be hiding a trick or two!” Her voice was tiny and high—she sounded like how she looked, really. Chise’s frown persisted, her gaze averting as she sighed and took another bite of bread.
“I’m not interested.”
“What? Aw, come on, this place is no good! You won’t survive, if you stay here.”
“Leave me alone. Please.”
“Hear me out!”
“I will not.”
The fairy stops, pouting in aggravation. Huffing, she darts in a circle once, stopping in front of Chise’s face with a small “hmph!”
“That’s such a waste. But look...you ever change your mind? We’re always around. We aren’t exactly welcome in this place—sorcerers don’t like us and this bunch…well, they’re bad news. But for you—we wanna see you more. Out there, not cooped up in this nasty place. You’re the first fascinating presence here in years!”
Quietly, Chise frowns and exhales, glancing to the side and neglecting to respond any further. At least the fairy seems to realize that further interaction wasn’t happening. Waving dismissively at that fact, she darted closer to the door, lingering near it as she turned to look at Chise. “You have a deadline to change your mind, Robin. That woman brought you here for a reason. So…don’t hesitate when you do.” With that, she disappeared out of the room through the bars, very careful to avoid touching the darkened metal bars themselves.
Sighing, Chise slid herself back away from the mostly emptied tray, settling herself back against the wall again and pulling her knees up to her chest. Her stomach hurt now—that’s what she got for skipping the other meals. A stomachache was the least of her concerns, at least. It didn’t matter much in the grand scheme of things. Just like why she was here, or when exactly this alleged “deadline” was. Did she even want to know why she was brought here? Maybe living the possible last stretch of her life in ignorance would be easier.
Well…at least she would be useful to somebody, for once.