Me, Myself, and I [Kid x Fem!Reader x Killer]

Chapter 2: Different Cage, Same Chains

Yui stared blankly at the large shackles weighing down her wrists and ankles. Circles of red marked her skin underneath. After weeks of wearing them, she couldn't avoid the chaffing.

Her soul ached, the torn edges painfully sensitive after being exposed for so long. It was quite frightening to be so alone. Truly alone.

But there was nothing she could do about it.

Yui smoothed out the wrinkles in her day dress and leaned back against the cool stone, wincing as the bulky collar rubbed over the raw patch it had created around her neck. If she closed her eyes and strained her ears, she could just make out the muffled popping of bubbles. The sound was oddly soothing.

Yui let out a sigh, cursing her terrible luck. She should have known better than to set out all on her own. The most common visitors to her island were slavers, after-all...

"NO! HACCHIN! HELP!"

She flinched as the loud scream echoed through the rows of cages. It seemed someone new was being brought in to sell.

"If you don't want to get hurt then stay still!"

"Oh? Is this the mermaid that just came in?"

With some effort, she tuned out the commotion.

The people who were brought to the Human Auction House fell into two categories: those who were still fighting, and those who had already given up on ever regaining their freedom.

Yui was securely in the first group, but that didn't mean she was going to waste her energy with pointless struggling.

Not when she wasn't even whole.

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"Number 7!"

Yui stepped out onto the stage with her head held high and her shoulders set. It was easy enough to pretend she was just walking out of her room to start another night of work. The fake smile, calm and passive, adorned her lips as she faced the audience.

It was frustratingly mind-numbing... being sold from one form of slavery into another. And right when she'd thought she'd been freed...

A blood red sneer flashed through her mind. Somewhere way deep down inside her a shiver of rage and refusal flickered briefly to life. Yui blinked in surprise, but the strange sensation vanished as quickly as it had come.

The auction house was constructed like an amphitheatre, with the stage at the base and the stands rising up around it. Bright lights shone down on her, plunging most of her surroundings into vague shadows.

Yui peered into the stands. Indifferent and possessive faces peered back. She felt as if she were staring up out of her grave... the sky was so far away. Her eyes found the crack of daylight slipping in from the large doors at the top of the staircase spread before her.

It was so far away...

But she could still see it.

Her fingers twitched as she stifled the urge to ball them into fists.

"And here we have the 'Queen' of Karsh Island," the announcer spoke enthusiastically, "A rare beauty who specializes in... let's just say, pleasure."

A ripple of suggestive laughter passed through the crowd.

"She's sure to satisfy even the hungriest of masters, male or female!" the auctioneer continued gleefully, "Let's start the bidding at 500 000 belis... Do I hear 500 000? ... Yes! 525 000? ... The gentleman in the yellow hat! ...How about 550 000?"