Griffin
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The meaning of the title because I am tired and couldn't think of something on my own
Griffy's getting in on the torture yeah! Does this make me a bad person...? Ahhh.... hope you like it... :3
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Endless agony seemed to be all that I faced. I could no longer decide what was reality and what was fantasy. I was not even certain if I had ever woken up since the gas infiltrated my lungs. How long had it been? How long?
Time... what was it? Did it truly exist? I had lost grasp of it... hours ago. Days. Weeks. Years. I could not tell.
For a long, unbearable time, I remained unconscious, tormented by the nightmares of my past, more vivid and realistic than ever before. I could not awake no matter how much I wished to.
Throughout the blackness, the antagonizing abyss, images of everyone I had ever loved danced, taunting me. Beckoning to me. Pleading that I join them.
Oh, how I wished I could.
Madness was setting in. Maybe it already had. How could I be certain of my sanity when I could not confirm whether I was even alive or not?
“Come on, Griffin!” His voice... so familiar... so close... It cut off all other thoughts and focused my mind onto it with an unnatural intensity. “Don’t be afraid. Don’t be so weak.
This was not Cyrus. It might of been his voice, but such words would never leave his lips.
“You’re just upset you don’t understand. And you never will. You’re so simple, so weak.”
This was not real. It could not be. Cyrus was a kind soul. Analytical, always. Cold, never.
“Poor little Griffin, all alone. It’s too bad you won’t remember this. You were so close to finding the truth.”
All these thoughts were simply renditions of my inner hopes. I had assumed the truth about XL had been close at hand, even before they had interfered. All of that would be lost.
Maybe... Maybe we could uncover it again. Our relationships would be intact. All that would be erased was XL’s actions; that is what they claimed, at least.
Cyrus’s voice went silent, and, despite the cruel things he had whispered, I found that I missed the sound, longed for it to return.
Once more, darkness surrounded me, unwelcomed in my mind, and, no matter how hard I fought, I could not escape its hold.
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With a gasp, I awoke, eyes meeting an identical inky blackness to the one that had reigned in my mind.
Where am I? What is this place?
After struggling to rise and finding I was unable, a wave of unwelcomed fear washed over me. My wings were the only appendages unbound, stretched to the sides to brush the wall on my right and the curtain on my left.
What is going on?
My thoughts were hazy, sluggish, as were my attempts at escape. I have been drugged, have I not? How predictable.
From somewhere off to my right, a muffled spew of sounds reached my ears, indistinguishable yet familiar. I wished to respond, to question who spoke, but I found my lips to be sealed, bound by a thick band of material that refused to allow any words through.
A gag? Is this their idea of torture? Preventing me from voicing my anxiety?
I thrashed about, hoping to loosen the restraints around my wrists and ankles, but it was to no avail. Trapped. I did succeed in removing the gag: a simple piece of duct tap.
For an eternity, I waited in near silence, the occasional mumble and rustle of paper serving as the sole sounds to accompany my torment.
Then, a flash of light and a menacing laugh.
“Ah, you’re finally awake, Akira.” Akira!? No. No. I cannot bear this. “There’s a friend for you. I think you know him.”
Once more, I struggled, coaxing a groan from my lips as the metal dug into my flesh.
“Akira?” I did not mean to speak; my common sense could not compete with my heart’s desires. You fool. You have only made matters worse.
Terrified, desperate, and unlike her normal self, Akira’s voice resonated through the thin, white curtain that encased me. "Griffin? What are you doing here? I thought you were back the mansion, preparing to save us!"
I closed my eyes for a moment. I tried. I did. I promise you. I am so sorry.
"You ought to see her, Griffin. After all, it has been about about two weeks."
At that moment, I only hated one being more than this man, and he had subjected me to years of agony. May the Gods d*mn you to an eternity in Tartarus, you b*stard.
The curtain moved, pulled aside by a careless hand. Blinded by the sudden infiltration of light, I was forced to turn away. When I managed to regain my sight, I faced the revealed area.
No. Akira... What have they done?!
Despite my utter exhaustion, I could not take my gaze off of her. Her skin was plastered in her blood, drawn from the countless quills poking through her pores. Agonized and thin, she averted her eyes.
Do not be ashamed... You... You are just as beautiful as ever before. It is those monster’s fault you feel like this.
As he tested a hypodermic needle against his gloved hand, the man moved closer to Akira. "Hmm... That's an interesting development of your quills..." Without much thought, he pressed an obvious button on the wall, the table moving so she was in a standing position.
Eyes wide and breathing rapid, I thrashed uselessly against my bonds, hoping—praying—that I would weaken them. I cannot witness this. Do not hurt her. Torture me instead. I can endure it.
Grinning, the man turned to me for the briefest of moments. "Now Griffin... if you misbehave, your dear Akira will be punished in return... You wouldn't want that, now would you?"
No polite, English words surfaced.
“άντε γαμήσου, πουτάνας υιέ! πηγαίνετε στην κόλαση!” I infused as much hatred as I could into my words, but they still did not compensate for the odium that lived within.
No matter how irate I was, my words did nothing to deter the man from his actions.
He showed no empathy, not a hint of compassion or mercy, as he stabbed her with the needle, embedding it into her chest. The howl she released made every hair on my body stand on edge. How dare you, you worthless excuse for a human.
The man stepped away, making a few notes on his clipboard as he smirked. "And now you are the perfect weapon, excluding the fact the still some adjustments that are needed to be done to you... You can manipulate as many people as we want with your perfect features. You can get harmed and quickly heal."
Though we were nearly ten feet away from each other, her pain was evident in her eyes, and her hunger was making itself known via the horrible sounds her stomach began to make. Oh Akira. I wish I could do something to aid you. I feel as though I have only made matters worse by being here.
No longer interested in her, the man strode over to my side, reaching for my left wing. I gritted my teeth, refusing to expose my fear as he tugged at the scaled material.
"You will learn. You will hear this girl's screams time and time again if you don't comply..." Using his short nails, he ripped a section of my flesh away from my wing, drawing a hiss from my lips. The steady drip of blood filled the momentary silent void. "I will leave you two to talk before I come back in... Akira, be a dear and teach him the rules, will you?"
With an unkind laugh, the man exited the room, slamming the door in his wake. In a desperate attempt to hide my emotions, I plastered a scowl on my features, hoping it would conceal my fear and despair.
"How could you let him do that you?!" D*mn. Guess I cannot disguise the truth in my voice.
"Just... don't argue or resist against them, okay?" she pleaded, a few tears escaping her eyes. I... Oh, Gods, Akira. They’ve broken you.
"What's going on here, Akira?" Oh, yes. Welcome back, contractions. Can’t say I’ve missed you. I do hope you’ll leave soon. I rather enjoy my formal patterns of speech.
At first, as she could do was spit, an atrocious red and purple color tainting it.
"We're test subjects. That's all I can figure out. You lost track of days here. It hardly feels like two weeks have gone by... They try to... either perfect you or make you a monster... They're doing both to me... You don't see anybody else here. You're the first I've seen out of the whole club.” Such hopelessness in your eyes. Oh, Akira.
“Why haven’t you tried to get out? Resist them?”
She forced a laugh from her lips. “Because they’ll make the torture worse. You don’t get fed or anything if you kill or injure any of the scientists. I tried the first few days, I think, and all I got was my knee and my wrist being broken.” Why? Why must they torture you? This is wretched, unethical. Sanity shouldn’t be sacrificed for “scientific discovery.”
“You seem to have changed...” It was a terrible observation, but it was more than physical. Her attitude, perspective. All were different, tinged with despair.
“After awhile, you just lose something... but gain something in return... I don’t know, I just... changed.” Though she struggled to fight through it, her weariness was taking a toll on her health. How I longed to support her, to save her; my heart ached to do so.
You are just as helpless as you were with Cyrus.
At that moment, the man reentered, a few, nearly-identical men in tow. With a sharp nod, he led them to Akira; after a matter of seconds, a crude collar was attached around her neck, wrists and ankles still bound by heavy chains.
“Take her to have her strength tested. I have to... see what this dragon is capable of.” Eyes narrowed, the man stared at me with fire in his eyes. The least you could do is get my species right, you insensitive *sshole.
Akira struggled to walk, donning a limp as she was shoved toward the door. Your knee. They broke your knee. What purpose does that serve?
“Now it’s your turn, my reptilian friend,” he muttered, drawing a new, sterilized needle from the cart. “Welcome to Hell.”
The moment it pierced my skin and the plunger injected a mysterious concoction into my veins, a living fire spread through me, washing over every centimeter of my being.
Despite my self control, I could not hold my scream inside.
This pain... It was familiar. As I suffered, squirmed and thrashed, every agonizing memory of my years spent trapped in that laboratory in Greece swam through my mind like a crude horror film. I did not wish to remember. I never wanted to. But I had no choice.
However, unlike the last time I had been subjected to my past in Transylvania, there was a particular memory that surfaced this time, something I could not ignore.
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“If only your brother had come through,” the balding man murmured as he paced. “So much more potential.”
Tears in his eyes, the boy frowned, still struggling to remain in the air.
“I-I am doing the best I can!” he cried, wings trembling.
“No! You are a failure, the second best.” Crazed and drunk as usual, the man turned on him, his stare livid. “I would dispose of you if I could, but the rest of the society won’t allow it.”
“Please!” he begged, his tears overflowing. “I cannot fly anymore. I do not want to do—”
“Tell me, what else do you think you can do? Live in the outside world? Please. Society will never accept you. They never did before, and, now that I have trained you, they never will.”
The boy was desperate. “I can hide. You have all you need!”
To himself, the man smiled. “No, I need far more than these petty trials. You, Griffin, will prove to be very useful in the years to come. I still wish Cyrus had not been caught in that... tragic misfortune of a fire,” he smirked knowingly, “but that’s in the past. I have you now.
“You will never escape me. Even if you did, you would have no place to go. It seems as though you are trapped. What a pity.”
The man laughed once more, scribbling a few notes on his clipboard before extracting a syringe from the table nearby.
“One day, you will be perfect. I guarantee it.”
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Struggling to breathe, I was ejected from my memories, face wet with a combination of sweat and, regrettably, tears.
“Hmm, so the induced dreams are useful.” Settled upon the metal table that had held Akira, the same man from before scrutinized me, pen perched precariously in hand. “And I thought they were only good for entertainment, but they certainly work better than the narcotic gas. You’ve been out of it for a few hours now.”
Hours? It seemed like it was only minutes.
He pushed off, crossing the distance between us in a matter of seconds. “I don’t believe I’ve introduced myself. I am Hiraku.”
“I have no desire to know your name, unless you wish for me to place it at the top of my hit list,” I managed to growl, finding my body numb and cold. How did I miss this before?
“Ah, such vigor. Must love that in a subject. Don’t worry; you’ll be broken soon enough. No matter how strong you think you are, you are not invincible.”
“It seems as though you are unaware of my previous encounters with those of your calling.” Silent, he lifted a single eyebrow. “Three years of my adolescence were wasted in a place much worse than this. I endured far more than anyone ever should. If you subject anyone to the same sort of terror I was forced to face, I will show no hesitation in killing you.”
He laughed. Laughed as if I were nothing but a child making empty promises.
“Ignorant is all that you are. Not profound, not mature, not wise. Stupid.” Shaking his head he moved away. “Many of your fellow members have already experienced such ‘terror’ as you recall. But what do you expect to do about that? The way I see it, you can do nothing. You’re helpless.”
“I...” He is right. Crestfallen, I turned my face away, a glimmer of light catching my eye. What... what is that?
“Oh those? Just a new addition. It’ll be a slow process, covering your appendages with them, but it’ll be wonderful in the end.”
Blood red scales lined the backs of my hands, sharp-edged and smooth. No...
“Right, well...” Clearing his throat, he moved toward the door. “Bring her in!”
On cue, Akira was shoved through the door, hands and forearms rubbed raw.
Can you not show any mercy?
“Akira!” My voice was not as strong as it had been earlier, weakened by my screams. Her eyes, bloodshot and shadowed, drifted to me.
“You can’t escape it, Griffin.” Monotonous and cold, her voice no longer contained even a remnant of her old self. “Toys... toys eventually break.” Wh... what nonsense is that??
Hiraku laughed once more. Gods, he is a despicable man. “That’s right. Get that in your head, Griffin. It’ll be your fate soon enough. For now, you should reminisce for a little while longer. In a few days, someone will be here that I’m sure you’ll love to see. It’s been quite a few years, eight to be exact.” No... He cannot be serious... I... I rid myself of that man, left him behind. “Oh yes. Farewell for now, my little subjects.”
After strapping Akira down and injecting both of us with the same serum, he left once more.
“Do not give up yet, Akira,” I begged, struggling to hold onto the last sliver of hope that remained.
“It’s too late for that,” she hiccuped, eyelids fluttering. “Two weeks too late. You’ll learn, Griffin. You’ll learn. You can’t hold onto false hopes here. It doesn’t last. It only makes things worse. Just give into it. It makes it so much easier.”
Fists clenched, I bit the inside of my cheek, trusting that the pain would keep me conscious for a bit longer. “No, I refuse to give into such horrid creatures.”
“Then you’re lost.” Her words pierced me. “You’ll just make your stay worse. Don’t fight. Don’t argue. Be a good little patient. Behave and stay silent. Don’t complain. Don’t cry. Try not to scream. Wait. Wait, no. They like it when you scream.” A delirious laugh snaked its way through her lips as her eyes closed. “Do as they say, Griffin. They’ll break you, too. They always win. You’ll learn that.”
Then, she was silent. I could not force my tongue to form the words I wished to bark back. I was numb, immobilized from the inside out.
No matter how much I wanted to argue, to plead with her to continue fighting like she used to, it would have been useless to try. With a heavy heart, I had no other choice but to succumb to the plagues of my past, accepting their cold embrace without struggling.
There was no point. If they had broken Akira this badly in such a short amount of time... they could do anything. Nothing, not even the fire that ruined my life nor the scientist who cursed me, had ever terrified me more.
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Bringing up Cyrus? Now that's cold, Doc.
Hope you guys liked it! I kinda just gave up at the end (like usual...) so... sorry about that.....
<3
