Work Text:
a blinding light greets you when you open your eyes. you squint, unable to immediately adjust to how bright the room is. your vision is blurry, your mind is dizzy, and your body has a heaviness to it that makes you slump against the chair you’re sitting on.
the only things keeping you up are the restraints that hold your wrists and ankles onto the arms and legs of the chair and the restraint that holds your neck against the back of it. your body feels like its sagging and the tranquilizer from earlier stops you from trying to do something about your situation.
a glint from the metal tools on a metal tray burns your eyes as they reflect the too glaring ceiling light. you close your eyes, hoping you could slip away into some dreamless sleep to get away from this experience, that maybe this time you could slip away from whatever they planned to do with you.
your mouth is yanked open, with fingers quickly and firmly entering your mouth, pressing against your tongue and making you gag. the fingers hold onto the side of your mouth while people inspect the teeth behind your lips. there’s a disapproving murmur that spreads throughout the room, they talk about something you can’t understand.
those fingers retreat, only for them to grip tightly onto your hands and fingers, twisting and moving them without any care as they inspect your claws while your wrists stay chained to the chair. you can hear that they’re disappointed once again.
there’s other sounds in the room now, metal tools clanging against the metal tray and the increased mumbles of plans between the people in the room. you can tell that they’re planning on using the tools on you, but it all blends into white noise that slowly fades as you find yourself falling asleep.
you’re forced awake as a hand slaps your cheek roughly. your mouth is forced opened once more and this time, they place something metallic in it that keeps it from closing. a hand pushes your head back, forcing it to lean against the chair, not caring when it makes your head bang against the chair or how the restraint on your neck presses against you tighter. the only thing that matters is that the people operating can get a better view of the inside of your mouth.
the sound of a drill makes your body tense and you wince once they start pressing it against a tooth, drilling against one of your canines.
the vibrations of the drill sound through your bones, making you hear the terrifying shriek of it. your body thrashes, feet trying to kick off of the ground to get away and hands gripping tightly at the arms of the chair to try to ground yourself from the pain. but the restraints keep you still.
it isn’t enough, the pain only increases the more they drill off. they keep drilling even when they expose the nerves of your tooth and they continue to drill at the canine until it’s level with the teeth beside it.
you let out a cry when they move onto the next canine tooth. holding onto the arms of the chair isn’t enough anymore, your fists clench onto themselves, your claws dig into the skin of your palm, drawing out blood.
you try to kick and move your legs again, hoping to at least move away slightly. you try to move your hands to hit the person, but nothing works against the restraints that hold you down. they keep drilling until all your teeth are leveled, which leaves you with tears and blood rolling down your chin.
you slump against the chair, exhausted from crying, screaming, and thrashing. pain pulses in your mouth from what they’ve done to you. you think it’s finally over, until they grab at your hands.
two of the men in the room, one for each of your hands, grab your closed fists. they force your hands to open until your claws are exposed. another one in the room is the one with the nail clippers. they start to cut at your nails, not caring if they cut some parts too short, not caring when you say it hurts, and not caring that they leave your nails looking rough and bloody.
you remember why they’re doing this. they want to sell you by marketing you as the perfect hybrid. a hybrid who does not attack because their teeth and claws are stripped away from them. a hybrid who will learn that disobedience comes with pain when they try to do something. they will be selling a hybrid that cannot and will not try to defend itself against anything.
you writhe and thrash against the chair once more, so desperate to get away. but the restraints and hands that hold you down only remind you that you can’t. you shut your eyes tightly, willing the pain to stop soon. and when you open your eyes again with a sharp gasp, the only light in the room is the small lamp on the side table against the dark room.
a nightmare. it was just a nightmare.
you breathe a sigh of relief. nightmares had become routine for you almost every night, though they came less frequently as time passed. you remember when you’d either force yourself to stay awake or fall asleep and wake up every night in fear and in a cold sweat after you relived your worst memories.
you felt something against you, so you looked down and noticed the way your hands gripped tightly at the arm around you, claws almost digging into skin.
that arm. there’s only one person you’d allow to touch you like this. sylus, your buyer and supposed new master, though he hadn’t allowed you to call him that.
you eventually loosened your grip and your body slowly relaxed against him when you knew you were safe. after taking a few deep breaths to calm down, you bring your hands closer to your face to inspect each claw. logically, you know that your nightmare didn’t happen while you were asleep. but you wanted to be sure, just in case.
you know that sylus wouldn't have tried to cut your nails while you were sleeping. in fact, he had let you grow them out, trusting you to take care of them yourself. you remember when they actually grew out, how the ends were jagged and would snag onto anything and everything when you ran your hands through your hair, fabric, clothes, and other things. when sylus had given you a manicure tool kit, filing down your nails felt horrible at first, but you finally had your claws back.
after checking each of your claws, you decide to check your teeth. you run your tongue through each tooth, pushing against the tips of your sharp canines to help you remember the crowns the dentist had placed. they were still there and not drilled away.
a sigh escapes your lips when you remember how frustrating it had been to not eat. ever since they drilled your teeth, it had been excruciatingly painful to eat or drink anything. if anything just lightly touched your sensitive teeth, it immediately felt like torture. you barely ate and barely drank water just to get away from the pain. the past handlers said it was good for them since it saved them money.
on your first night here, the food and water sylus had given you went almost untouched. at the sight of you not eating, he had asked about it and without any judgement in his voice. when you told him, he seemed frustrated on your behalf over what they had done.
the next day, he had brought you to a dentist in a sketchy looking office in the middle of the N109 zone. sylus stood by you as the dentist examined each of your teeth, he held your hand as the dentist explained what procedures were needed to fix the damage done to your teeth, and he did his best to calm you down when you started to panic and cry at the sight of the tools.
you remember leaving scratches and marks on him during your frenzy, but they disappeared soon after like smoke. after being held tightly, which oddly calmed you, you decided to trust sylus and the dentist.
you were sure sylus had other things to do that afternoon, but he made sure that he was by your side the whole procedure. he oversaw everything to make sure that everything went right.
sylus.
you snap out of your memories and remember the man present in the room with you, the man who casually has his arm wrapped around you. you turn around slowly until you’re facing the silver haired man. you lean up, before gently nipping at his bicep, and the half playful hiss he gives you tells you he was already somewhat awake.
“what? another nightmare?” he opens one eye and asks as if he doesn’t already know the answer, his voice rough and deep from sleep. based on his reaction, you assume he must have slightly woken up from when you were moving in your sleep again. you give a small huff before eventually nodding, admitting to having another nightmare.
“that’s alright. we all get them sometimes.” he continues, his voice is soft, not as teasing as he usually is. he doesn’t judge you for having nightmares and he doesn’t judge you for your past. you can’t help but feel guilty for waking him up and for the compassion he’s showing you.
he closes his one eye before eventually opening both of his eyes, watching you while you stare right back at him. you can’t help but remember how any close distance between the two of you would have you hissing at him in the past, but now, there isn’t anywhere else you’d rather be.
“let’s see, my kitten still has its claws…” he whispers, one of his hands moves to hold onto one of yours. his fingers check each of yours, bring each finger closer to his eyes, personally making sure that each claw was where it was supposed to be. he even kisses the base of your nails after each individual look.
“my kitten still has its fangs…” his hand moves to your lips. his fingers press against your lips, pushing it slightly to reveal the canines that hid underneath them. you instinctively feel a slight panic at the act, but you know sylus wouldn’t hurt you.
“is my kitten missing anything else?” he asks teasingly. the hand on your lips moves to your cheek, gently cupping at it before deciding to pinch it. that same hand then moves to one of your ears, gently caressing it at the base, watching as it twitches in his palm. and finally, that hand moves to your forehead, before gently flicking at it, which makes you laugh at his weird small actions.
“and my kitten seems alright.” he says lightly, before his hand moves to your nose to pinch at it. you laugh again, unable to stop it from coming out. sylus smiles softly at your giggles, happy to provide a distraction from the nightmare you just had.
sylus’s arm moves to wrap around you again, tightening just enough that you’re pressed against him comfortably. “there’s still some time for us to sleep before we need to get up,” sylus whispers, before leaving a quick kiss against your forehead.
you shift closer to sylus because you want to. you feel his warmth, hear his heartbeat, and breathe in his scent that has become so soothing to you. your tail coils around his leg, instinctively wanting him near.
you close your eyes. you’re safe in this place and in his arms. you aren’t back there anymore. you let yourself drift off to sleep, where hopefully dreams reach you this time.
you’re right where you’re meant to be.