Chương 4: Ares’ Troubled Past
Ares' room is filled with drunk laughter as he and Vamps drank nearly the entire bottle of Whisky. Vamps' cheek scales are a bright red, while Ares' shirt has its top buttons undone, both making each other laugh with random drunk stories.
Vamps takes a swallow of her glass, suddenly remembering something halfway through her drink. "Oh! I almosst fergot!" She leaned over on the couch, using her free hand to hold herself up as she swayed slightly; "The little Sheepy frum class…whut was her name?"
Ares looked at Vamps curiously. "You mean miss Abigail?" Ares can easily hold his own with alcohol, but can easily read a room and play up being more drunk than he is.
Vamps pointed her hand with her glass towards Ares, her wings opening slightly. "Yeaahh! I jussst rememumberd…how soft dus her wool look?" She let out a soft chuckle, her tail swaying off the arm of the couch; "I juss wanna snuggle up in that floof!~"
Ares chuckled, taking a sip of his glass. "I'm sure if you asked politely, miss Vamps, miss Abigail will let you do just that."
Hearing that, Vamps sat up resting her hand on her cheek, closing her eyes as she smiled. "Nuuuu! I can't do that!" She slowly opened her eyes, looking at the ground; "Besides, her and her friends probublee hate me." She looked towards Ares; "I'm shure even you hate me, eshpechally after the mean things I said." She leaned towards Ares again; "I said I was going to devour you! How could you not hate someone who says that?"
Ares looked over at Vamps, her face full of sorrow and regret. He knows it's probably just the alcohol making her feel that, but he couldn't help but feel genuine remorse coming from her words. "No need to worry Vamps. If I held a grudge against everyone who threatened to eat me, there would be quite a long list." He gave her a warm smile, offering her a handshake; "Let's put all that behind us."
Vamps smiled and lifted her hand to shake his, forgetting her free hand was keeping her balanced, letting out an 'eep!' as she tumbled onto the couch, making Ares jump in surprise as her head lands on his lap. They both looked at each other, Vamps suddenly bursting out in laughter, holding her belly as the combination of the sound she made and the alcohol made her laugh hysterically.
Ares chuckled along with her, holding his glass in the air. "Here's to a new friendship." Vamps smiled and clinked her glass with Ares', carefully leaning up to take a sip. Ares took a sip with her, finding it interesting how quickly someone as high and mighty as a dragon can be won over with a few glasses of alcohol.
Vamps set her glass onto the coffee table, keeping her head on Ares' lap as she looked up at him. "So since we're being friendly…" She reached up and flicked his shirt collar with her finger; "You wouldn't mind if I asked about your scars, would you?"
Ares looked at Vamps, then at his glass, taking a slow deep breath. "That, I'm afraid is a rather depressing story. But if you are interested, I suppose I can tell you." He looked up at the ceiling as he slowly remembered his upbringing.
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It was many years ago, in a dark and dismal building in the back woods in the middle of nowhere. The trees were so thick you could barely see any sunlight. Inside this building, was a monster, cold and ruthless. He was determined to create the perfect creature by mixing the dna of different animals. How he did this is why he was called a monster.
Every few days, he would head into town during the cover of night, and stalk the streets for any unguarded children. Carnivore or herbivore, he didn't care. That just gave him more to work with. He took dozens of children from the streets. And if he couldn't find them in the streets, he would sneak into homes and take them while asleep, usually drugging them so they wouldn't make noises.
During one of those nights, he found a little equine child taking out the trash. The child felt something bite his neck, almost like a mosquito. Then everything got fuzzy and dark. The last thing the child remembered was a feint chuckle before falling asleep.
When the child awoke, he was terrified to find himself strapped to a table in a strange room, surrounded by bright lights and little tables covered with surgical tools, all were rusted over with dried blood. The child tried to escape, but quickly found that he was locked in place by latches around his arms, legs and neck.
When the child tried to move, he kept feeling a sharp pain in his head, the pain so great he felt his vision blur, nearly passing out. As he started looking around the room, darting his eyes around, the child felt his heart drop as he saw the horror surrounding him.
Everywhere you looked were mangled bodies of various animals, some were scattered bits while others were strapped to a table like him, but they were cut open, their insides in clear view. And the worst part, the ones cut open we're still alive, their weak whimpers echoing through the room.
The sound of a door creaking open made the child's eyes dart towards the sound, a figure moving towards the child, letting out a sinister chuckle. "Well well well~ looks like you survived! Excellent!" The figure walked into the light, revealing a head of a Lion, his face smeared in blood. As the child saw more of him, he saw that his head was a lion, but his body was that of a goat, with something slithering behind him. A snake?
The child tried begging for the monster to free him, but the latch on his neck stopped him from speaking. Suddenly, the sharp pain in the child's head returned, nearly making him feint again. "Ah ah ah! Don't try moving too much! After all, you are the first test subject I've experimented this way with that survived!" The creature chuckled as he eyed the child, licking his lips, his fangs flashing in the light; "Combining two different animal parts Before combining their dna, hehehe! I thought for sure you would perish! But! Here we are!"
The creature grabbed the edge of the table, spinning it around. The child saw more of the grotesque room around him, his stomach churning as he felt his heart racing in fear, the table stopping as the child saw a giant mirror in front of him now, the creature moving to rest his head next to the child's. "Have a look see, my beautiful creation!"
The smell of the creature filled the child's nostrils, nearly making him gag. But as the child looked at the mirror, his eyes went wide in horror, tears now streaking down his face as he saw the reflection. The child saw the face of the monster, but what he saw on the table was himself, but his head now had spiral horns on it. No…inside it! The pain the child felt was the horns that were now apart of his skull! His head had deep gashes that were crudely stitched closed, his skin torn to fit around the horns.
The child wanted to scream in terror, in disbelief, but the latch around his neck made it impossible. The monster laughed Maniacally seeing the child's reaction. "I know, I know! It's truly amazing! For the first few months after the surgery I thought for sure you had died, in fact you did a few times! But thankfully so many wonderful specimens offered their blood to keep you alive!"
The child almost couldn't handle what he heard. 'A few months? Died? Kept me…alive?' These thoughts raced through the child's mind, the fear and panic growing.
"Oh, and no need to worry about your old family. I gave them a fake cadaver as compensation for their troubles. They think you're long dead! So now you're mine!" As he said that to the child, he let out an insane laugh, spinning the table forcefully to make it spin in place.
The monster suddenly stopped the table as he held both sides of it, staring down at the child, grinning a toothy grin. "And once I'm through with you, the whole world will bask in my glory!"
He then reached to the table of surgical tools and grabbed a syringe, stabbing it into the child's neck. "Now sleep, my beautiful creation~ when you wake up, your life will begin anew." As the child's vision faded, he felt the monster lick his cheek, letting out another sinister chuckle.
A loud commotion echoed in the child ears. The sounds of things crashing, and strange voices. Multiple muffled voices of people shouting. The drugs the creature gave him were slowly wearing off as the child heard loud banging noises, a crash, then popping sounds, and a thud. The voices were saying something, but the child was too drugged to understand.
The child then felt someone slapping his cheek gently as he slowly started waking up. He opened his eyes, seeing multiple blurry figures in the room. "…kay?…ou hear me?" A female voice echoed in the child's ears, making him let out a feint groan. Still under the drugs effect, the child slowly fell back asleep.
Around the child, there were half a dozen armed animals sweeping the room, checking for any more survivors. One of which, a male grizzly bear with a deep scar over his right eye, snarled in disgust at the sight around him. "Sick bastard…" The bear looked at the body of the monster, a bloodied heap on the floor, riddled with bullet holes; "The world can rest easier with that Thing dead."
A female leopard called out. "Sarge! We got one that's still alive!" As she carefully worked on the latches holding the child onto the table. The bear and the other 4 SWAT members moved over to see the sight of the equine child, now cradled in the leopard's arms, her eyes filled with sorrow as she covered the child with a cloth.
A male wolf, seeing this poor child, raised his hand to his ear. "All units, we have one survivor. We're gonna need a medical unit, stat, along with a Cleaning Unit…Maybe 2." He walked over to the child, seeing the stitching and scaring around the horns on his head were red and inflamed, sniffing them curiously. He wincing and stepped back, rubbing his nose with the back of his hand; "Damn…Smells infected, badly infected. Poor thing must have been through pure hell…"
The leopard growled at the wolf, looking towards the bear. "Are we sure there aren't anymore alive, Sarge? M-Maybe there's another room we didn't-"
"Lieutenant…" The bear raised his paw to stop her, then gently rested it on the cloth covering the equine; "Let's just be grateful we saved at least one…"
The leopard looked at the equine child, who whimpered in her arms. She let out a loud yet soft purr, rocking the child gently. "It's ok now little one." She whispered softly next to his ear, her tail swaying slowly; "You're safe now." As the medical team arrived and the clean up crew showed up shortly after, they rushed the child to a special hospital, the leopard staying close to the poor child.
When the child slowly opened his eyes, he was in a daze. He slowly looked around, finding himself in a hospital bed, IVs in his arms connected to bags of clear fluid. He looked around more and saw a strange feline resting her head on her arms at the side of the bed.
He let out a weak groan as he tried to talk, the feline's ears twitching at the sound. She quickly sat up and looked towards the child, her face first filled with shock, then joy as she smiled at the child, leaning forward. Now that she was closer, the child could see that the lady was a leopard in a police uniform.
"Hey there little one. How are you feeling?" Her voice was soft, yet the child could vaguely remember hearing it before. She gently reached her hand over and took the child's hand into hers; "We rescued you from a scary place, but you're safe now, in a hospital." Her eyes started tearing up, gently gripping the child's hand; "I'm so sorry you had to go through so much…"
The door to the room opened up as a male and 3 female reptilians dressed in blue clothing walked in, the leopard looking towards them. They all smiled as the male patted the leopard on her shoulder. He then smiled happily at the child. "Well look who's awake."
The male reptilian moved over to the other side of the bed, kneeling down next to the child, who slowly looked over towards him; "Hey there kiddo. You had us all pretty worried about you. My name is Doctor Derek." He looked over towards the leopard, then back to the child; "This nice lady, Lieutenant Serah, didn't leave your side for a second." He then pointed to the IV bags; "This stuff is to help clean out any nasty stuff that might be in your body. Once we get the scans back, we'll be able to make sure everything is ok on your insides. Ok champ?"
The child looked at the reptilian, then slowly at Lieutenant Serah, still in a daze from everything. He tried speaking, but his voice was so weak, he barely made out the words; "M…my head…"
The reptilian looked at the Lieutenant, then the nurses, taking a slow deep breath. He closed his eyes, then put on a soft smile, looking back to the child. "Don't worry, champ. Everything is going to be just fine."
He gently rested his hand on the child's chest; "You get some more rest, ok? You are completely safe here." He then took 2 of the nurses and left the room, the remaining one checked the IVs to make sure they were ok, the child slowly drifting back to sleep.
The sound of voices in the room slowly stirred the child from his sleep. He slowly opened his eyes, shocked to find himself in a hospital room. He looked around frantically, seeing the leopard lady, desperately trying to get away. "Wh-what? Where am I? What's going on??" As he struggled, the devices connected to him started going sporadic with their readings, setting off emergency alerts.
The Lieutenant raised her hands and stood up. "Hey hey hey eeeaassy. You're ok. You're safe." She pointed to her badge, letting the child see; "My name Lieutenant Serah. I'm a police officer, we saved you from the bad man that took you."
The Doctor and a few nurses rushed into the room, seeing the child's frantic expression. The Doctor stepped forward slightly, the child looking at him, then the lieutenant. "Hey kiddo, you're ok. Just relax. Do you remember me? I'm Doctor Derek. You're at the hospital, remember?"
The child looked around, seeing the IVs in his arm, flashes of the monsters face coming back as he started panicking, clawing at the tubes, the lieutenant quickly grabbing his hands and holding them towards her. "Don't do that, please!" She held his hands as he tried pulling them free, looking at her with a panicked look.
Suddenly she leaned forward, pulling the child into a hug. "He won't hurt you anymore!" Her words made him tense, freezing in place, his eyes wide in shock; "That monster is gone! And I promise you he'll never hurt you, or anyone else ever again." She could feel the child calming down, the readings on the machines slowly going back down. The child suddenly burst into tears, gripping the lieutenant tightly as she said the one thing he wanted to hear in a long time.
After a few hours, the child felt safe enough to talk to the lieutenant and the doctor. He told them his name was Ares, and the last thing he remembered before he was taken was taking out the trash for his mother so he could get an extra cookie for dessert.
The scans of Ares came back with disturbing results. Due to the monster's experiments, Ares' dna was spiced with various other animals, the main 2 strands being Equine and Ram. In medical terms, his dna was a medical impossibility.
Somehow the horns that were implanted onto his skull were completely attached. Not only that, but his body was producing the components to help them grow, despite him being equine.
His internals were all perfectly intact and showed no signs of internal damage. Despite being a complete anomaly in the medical field, Ares' body was showing no signs of rejection of the experiment.
As Ares was recovering, the hospital tried contacting his parents, but when his mother found the dead body the Monster laid out for them, she was overcome with grief and tragically took her own life. His father was no where to be found, and any contact with his other family members was just as difficult.
As the days ticked by, the hospital got a call about Ares. A man claiming to be his uncle told the hospital he would be swinging by to see how his child was. Understandably on edge, Lieutenant Serah stayed in the room, sitting next to Ares as he slept.
When the man walked into the hospital room, Lieutenant Serah knew her gut feeling was right. Her instincts kicked in as the figure made her hair stand on end. The figure standing in the room was a tall man with the body and head of a Lion, the wings of a dragon, and the tail of a scorpion. His face was covered in scars and his wings looked battered, the faded coloring of his fur showed this man was definitely old. He stood straight with his hands behind his back, his wings folded and his tail curled up.
"Can I help you sir?" Lieutenant asked the stranger, knowing full well this thing wasn't Ares' family member at all, much less his Uncle.
The figure raised a hand to his mouth as he cleared his throat, returning his hand behind his back. "Good evening my dear." His voice was deep and gruff, confirming her assumption about his age; "My name is Don Ticoré. I've come to claim my poor Nephew, and take him home."
The Lieutenant stood up, moving between Ares and Ticoré, glaring at him. "You expect me to believe that a Mythical is related to a species your kind looks Down on?"
Don raised his head slightly, meeting the Lieutenant's gaze, letting out a low growl. "Know your place, mongrel." He stepped forward, his wings spreading out, snarling at the Lieutenant; "You know nothing of our kind. Now are you going to move out of the way…" He moved his hands from behind his back, stretching his hands to bring out his claws; "Or am I going to have to get violent, like I did with the rest of the 'former' staff?"
The Lieutenant shrunk back slightly, gripping the bed frame tight. She looked back towards Ares, seeing him still sound asleep. She whispered 'I'm sorry Ares' before looking back at the manticore, snarling and baring her fangs before reaching for her gun, the Manticore charging at her in a flash.
"Wake up boy." A loud deep voice called out, shaking Ares awake. He looked around and found himself in a strange house, his fear returning as thoughts of the monster came rushing back.
"Over here." The voice came from behind him. Ares quickly turned to look, seeing a massive lion with wings sitting in a giant chair, leaning on one arm with his chin resting on his fist, his left leg crossed over his right.
"Wh-Who are you?? Where is miss Serah??" Ares was terrified, nearly to tears. He didn't know where he was or who this creature was. His whole body began to tremble as his mind raced back to what happened to him before.
The Lion raised his free hand slightly. "Calm yourself, boy." Despite his deep and gruff voice, he tried his best to speak softly; "I am Don Ticoré." He raised his hand slightly higher, his palm facing upwards; "And this is my home." He than slowly held his hand towards Ares; "And is now your home as well."
"Wh…what?" Ares slowly started calming down, hearing the strange Lion tell him these things; "This is…my home?"
Don slowly sat upright, nodding. "That's correct. You see, I work with those nice police officers that helped save you, and agreed to take you in for protection. I do hope you find the home to your liking." He stood up, stretching his wings as his scorpion tail swished around before curling back up, making loud growling noises as he stretched; "Forgive me, these old bones of mine won't let me sit for too long without causing me grief."
Ares stared up in awe of this giant Lion. His wings were one thing, but his tail? This man was nothing he's ever seen before in his young life! "Coool…"
Don raised an eyebrow, smirking as he saw Ares admiring his form, opening his wings and flicking his tail again. "What? You think this old man looks cool?"
Ares nodded, his tail flicking excitedly. "Yeah! I've never seen a Lion like you before, mister Tee…ticuhhh…m-mister Don!"
Don chuckled, scooping up Ares and holding him in one arm, Ares sitting with his legs dangling off the front of his arm. "Well you'll get to see a lot of cool animals around here, Ares my boy. But first, we need to teach you how to behave like a proper gentleman."
Don gently tapped Ares' horns, letting out a deep purring sound. "And with a bit of training, when you grow up, you'll be able to make lots of friends who will appreciate you for who you are, horns and all!"
Ares reached up and gently touched his horns, looking down as he saw flashes of that room he was trapped in. He then looked up at Don, his cheek fur a slight reddish color. "You…really think I'll make friends…even with these horns?"
Don let out a hearty laugh, lifting Ares up slightly. "I guarantee it, on my pride as a Manticore!" While still laughing, he walked towards the door of the room, leading Ares to his new life.
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Back to the present, Ares drank the last of his whisky in his glass, letting out a deep sigh. "After that, I began my training. He taught me how to fight, which is where I got the scars, and how to carry myself as a proper gentleman. After I left Don's house when I became of age, I did some research, and found out my mother committed suicide, and the officer who helped me died on duty shortly after leaving the hospital." He looked at his glass, rolling it in his hand slightly; "It's too bad really. I do wish I was able to thank her for saving my life…"
Ares placed the glass down on the table, leaning back on the couch. "Well miss Vamps, that's the long and short of it. I apologize if it was a bit dark or-"
The sound of snoring caught Ares by surprise, his ears flicking as he looked down at his lap, Vamps' eyes closed as she was sound asleep, her head resting in his lap.
"Wha-ha-bu-when di….she's asleep??" He couldn't believe it! When did she fall asleep? Did she hear any of his story??
He groaned in disbelief, leaning his head back as he slapped his forehead. "Good grief…" He let out a sigh and chuckled, gently raising her head so he could move, replacing his leg with a little pillow from the couch. He then fetched a blanket from the closet and placed it over Vamps, who curled up into the warm fabric.
Ares yawned as he turned off the lights, heading to the bedroom, looking back towards the couch, seeing Vamps' tail flicking slightly in her sleep. He smiled, closing the bedroom door as he went to bed, thinking to himself 'I guess you were right, uncle Don. I guess I could make friends after all.'
To be continued.
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