Work Text:
Ever since young Kaju Katli had joined this school, he'd been relentlessly mocked and pushed around by the other students there. Each shove, each swirly, and with every other outrageous act that he was subjected to, all of it felt almost unescapable. Each time it would happen felt like a stab in the heart, especially if it involved a project that he worked hard on being demolished in the process. The worst part was that the teachers there either didn't care or were too oblivious to what was going on between Katli and the rest of his peers.
Katli yelped as he found himself shoved backwards by one particularly bad apple by the name of Kabir. The boy scrambled to adjust his glasses, the push having nearly knocked them off.
"What are you gonna do, cashew kid? bore me to death, tell me how many chemicals can be combined?" Kabir chuckled, while another boy in his group added fuel to the flames by throwing a handful of cashews in his face, laughing as Katli raised an arm to shield himself.
Kabir was the worst of the worst of those that would pick on him at school.
The anger that had been bubbling and toiling inside Katli each time this occurred started to boil up inside him, his hands clinched. Choosing to defend himself for once, he got up carefully.
"S..So what?! You don't know anything about me! No matter what you do to me, I'll still keep working on what I'm passionate for, b..Because I don't pick on someone, just because they know more about something else than y-!"
Unfortunately, his efforts were stomped out like a lit match.
"Spare me all the sap," Kabir interrupted, pushing Katli down once more. "All you science nerds are one in the same, and you’re just another in a long, long line of disappointments, cashew kid. Your efforts will amount to what every one of your kind has achieved: a big pile of nothing."
Before Katli could come up with a reply, Kabir and his companions left him lying there. That last sentence of the bully's lingered in the boy's mind.
-
Katli stormed down the hallway, heading into the school's science lab and quickly shutting the door behind him. He tried to calm his breathing and clear away the flurry of emotions now clouding his mind. An attempt to distract himself from Kabir's words ringing in his mind over and over again, stinging like a white-hot branding iron right where it really hurt.
"Your efforts will always amount to nothing."
His eyes flickered with tears, blurring his vision. He glanced over to a chemistry set, reaching over to grab some chemical-filled vials with quivering hands. His heart kept beating in his head and against his ribs as he attempted to mix things together; a physical aid in his efforts to block out the incessant remarks.
After mixing a few, he blindly reached over for another vial. A clink was heard as a vial was knocked over into another. The boy's eyes shot wide as he sobered up for a second, realizing just what elixirs had mixed.
The blast rang out before he even had a chance to react, filling the room with thick noxious smoke, destroying the desk it was on and sending any vials resting on it flying into the air. Most of them shattered on the ground and spilled all over Katli, soaking him.
Other students in the school halted their activities upon hearing the explosion, a group of braver than usual souls quickly assembled and hurried to investigate.
The laboratory was flooded with the noxious smoke, prompting the renegades to step back from the doorway due to the acrid smell. Inside, shards of glass were scattered across the floor and there were puddles of different chemicals around them, some of them began eating through the floor like acid, emitting wisps of smoke.
The destroyed lab was already an unnerving sight, but as the nasty smoke began to settle, gasps and worried murmurs ran through the group as they spotted Kaju Katli in the middle of the wreckage. He was on his knees, shaking, his face and school uniform stained with multi-colored, stinging chemicals, coughing due to the fumes. The left lens of his glasses had also cracked.
Given the circumstances, that was the least of his worries.
Aryan, one of the students, slowly began to approach the boy. Taking a deep breath before doing so, due to the noxious fumes. "K..Katli?" he muttered once he assumed he was close enough.
Katli's bloodshot eyes shifted, his stress having increased by tenfold at this point. He began to fear that everyone at the school, students and teachers, would know what he was secretly doing with those chemicals for the past couple of months. What would they do then? What would his parents thi-
His thoughts were cut short.
Aryan stepped back as Katli suddenly let out a yell of pain, the students watched on as the chemicals soaking him absorbed into his skin, leaving pear green patches. The green color began to spread across his skin and even his hair, which became a darker green. The boy's ears morphed into a pointed elf-like shape, his teeth shifted into razor sharp fangs, and his fingernails split apart and fell off, making way for sharp claws of keratin like a carnivorous animal.
The students' murmurs grew louder, now more worried and fearful than before after witnessing one of their fellow classmates getting mutated like this. Katli's gaze shifted towards the crowd, his own expression a stew of pain, fear, and confusion.
"The heck was that?...Wh- Cashew kid?!" A familiar voice cut through the chaotic chorus like a knife through butter. One that made the boy's blood begin to boil in his veins.
Katli's eyes locked onto Kabir and two other students arriving on the scene. His brows furrowed, and his pointed ears pinned back before he unleashed a scream; a roar of unadulterated, outright primal wrath.
Kabir screamed as Katli lunged straight for him, sending other students scrambling away in surprise and a newfound sense of terror. Even Kabir's goons showed their true colors by retreating in the heat of the moment. Kabir charged down the halls of the school, while the now enraged, newly mutated Kaju Katli was right on his tail. Not on two legs, but on all fours.
Despite a head start, Kabir felt Katli closing in fast, many thoughts overwhelmed the bully's mind, primarily the urge to escape from whatever Katli had become. Everything seemed to blur around him as adrenaline kicked in, offering one more push that was only delaying the inevitable. It wasn't long before Kabir tripped and fell with a yelp, quickly glancing up to be greeted with a dead end hallway. He no longer had anywhere to run or hide.
The sound of claws clicking against the tile floor signaled the mutated boy's slow approach in the darkened hallway, tapetum lucidum reflecting and making his pupils pierce through the shadows.
"Please.. Kid, K..Katli, I'm sorry!" Kabir whimpered, sweat dripping from his brow as he backed into the dead end. Katli's lips curled back into a snarl to reveal his sharpened teeth. Actions spoke louder than words ever would.
Another roar passed his lips.
The bully screamed as Katli charged and lunged at him, claws and teeth bared.
-
The students weren't the only ones terrified that day, word traveled fast to the teachers about the events that transpired. To say they were shook was an understatement, especially regarding Kabir's state. He hadn't been killed, but his injuries were quite brutal, as if he was attacked by a wild animal. He was rushed to the hospital after Aryan found him and dialed for help.
Once the 'excitement' began to die down, Aryan and one of the teachers, Professor Hassan, found themselves discussing the day's events. "Gods.. in all of my years teaching here, I've never encountered something like this," Hassan muttered.
"I'll say, it's just.. surreal." Aryan muttered in response. "I overheard some things. Not once did I step in. I should have. How he reacted when Kabir walked in... Someone should've done something about that jerk's behavior a while ago. But I didn't expect him to get ripped to shreds!"
Hassan sighed, his tone wracked with both horror and guilt. "Agreed... What's worse is that neither staff nor student did anything, the fact Kaju Katli turned out this way is a testament. That boy had been tormented, for months... and our school didn't do a damn thing."
Aryan nodded solemnly, feeling the weight of his teacher's words resonate within him. "He never mentioned anything about what he was going through. The poor guy must have been bottling it all up, until..." he didn't even finish, he couldn't begin to imagine the suffering bubbling beneath that cracking facade the boy put up every day.
A heavy silence fell over them, their thoughts weighing on them both before Hassan spoke again. "Speaking of which, has anyone seen where Katli went? No one has reported seeing him since what happened."
"I don't think so." Aryan replied.
"Dammit.. He could be anywhere. We have no idea what he might do, what kind of damage he could do to himself, or those that might cross him." Hassan said, his voice dropping to a hushed mutter as he got up, chair screeching against tile. "I'll alert the rest of the staff, you report any sightings immediately. We need to find him. ..Gods know if he's even still alright."
Meanwhile..
A shadow lingered at the edge of a forest trail near the school grounds. The figure glanced at the establishment from afar, his bloodshot eyes narrowed in contempt. His green-tinged skin was streaked with dirt, chemical burns and crimson smears, his entire body still ached from what had transpired.
He leaned against a sturdy oak tree, claws digging into the bark. His thoughts were scrambled, like panicked roaches crawling throughout his brain, a drop of venom suddenly seeped into the cacophony; the weight of his experiences and rage closing in on him.
To him, that school was a joke, everyone there was. No one had batted an eye to what he'd went through, for far too long.
It made him sick. They'd made it crystal clear he was never truly a fellow student to them. Only a fool, a know-it-all... a freak.
Well, If a freak is what they wanted... then he'd be their worst nightmare. His muscles tensing, the boy's claws sliced through the bark like it was paper. New instincts surged through him before he threw his head back and unleashed a guttural wolf-like howl; a chilling cry that sent birds scattering from the nearby trees. He pushed off the oak and started back towards the school, blinking away tears, eyes burning with a dangerous resolve.