Wake Me Up When It's All Over

chapter 3

Roman spent as long as he could in his 'house' for the next few days. He would come out when food was placed near his house, but he would wait until they weren't watching and then he'd drag it back to his house as quickly as possible.

He had figured it out, they were the new dominant race after humans had died. He wasn't sure if they knew that humans once held that title. He watched them out of a window warily, they seemed to be conversing, and he wished that he could understand, be able to know exactly why he was there.

He had a few guesses; maybe they just found him super adorable and decided to keep him. And then was the most likely option, he really was the last human and they were keeping him as a way of wildlife conservation, which also meant that at least one of them would be watching him 24/7. He shuddered.

He wasn't as nervous around them as he was to begin with, but he was still scared. Who wouldn't be? These things were just about ten times his height and they may have been protecting him then, but who knew if they would change their mind? He carried on looking out at them until the yellow one looked over at him. He ducked down behind the wall, and steadied his breathing. He knew that he didn't have to do that but some primal instinct in his brain was screaming to hide, that he needed to hide, to survive.

He didn't know why he was listening, he knew it probably didn't do as much good as it should've, considering other humans had this instinct and they didn't survive. He could hear Yellow getting closer and he froze, before he heard the hiss that he had come to associate with food. He peeked through the window hesitantly. There was a small portion of cooked meat and some sort of vegetable that he didn't recognise (it had probably started growing after he had fallen asleep). He looked up at the nagas. They were at the other side of the clearing, not looking in his direction. He smiled, dragging his food back inside and starting to eat. He knew that they had figured out that he would only come out for his food if they weren't watching, and he knew that they only weren't watching him because of it, but he was glad they weren't watching him either way.

It wasn't the best food he had ever had, but at least he wasn't starving to death. He carried on watching them, this time not ducking down when they saw him. He knew they probably wouldn't do anything, especially if his suspicions of why they were taking care of him were correct. He looked out to where the water was, a few hours later.

He didn't feel comfortable enough to walk out to the large stone bowl whilst they were staring at him, still, but he stared at the water nonetheless. He looked up at the naga, and they looked down at him before very obviously covering their eyes and turning away. He was embarrassed at that, they were treating him like a child. He was fifteen for the gods' sakes! He was kinda glad for it deep down, though, they were respecting his fears and boundaries'.

He walked over to the bowl of water, it was half the size of his body and he was reminded of just how small he seemed next to these creatures. He cupped his hands and got himself a small handful of the water, which was surprisingly clean. Magic, he reminded himself, drinking from his hands. He looked up at the naga and found them still looking away. He nodded to himself, before walking back into the house.

It was less a house, more of a room with open gaps as windows and no door. It was a pretty big room though, he had made a bed with some soft grass in a corner, and he always ate his food in the same spot, and then there was his watching corner, next to the window. It was where he spent most of his time, observing his captors. They probably wanted to observe him as well, if he really was the last human, but he wasn't really giving them a chance to.

He started wondering how long ago humans died, were his parents alive to see the beginning of the end? His friends? He sat on his 'bed' and curled up, trying to blink back the tears. What was he doing? He was the only one left, and here he was, acting as if nothing was wrong. He'd never see his friends again, never see his family. Yellow slithered closer to the circle that held his house, but Roman didn't look up, even when he heard a hissing noise, not exactly the call for him to get his food, but something similar.

He could hear them, he could imagine that they were probably praising him for being brave and going to get his water. He could hear that it was a different tone than when Yellow spoke to their friend, more upbeat, in a way. He shook his head, he wasn't in the mood for the snakes then. He waited, waited for them to slither back to Blue like they always did, but instead they curled around the circle and rested their torso on their arms whilst they looked at him.

This time, he went back to hiding.

--

Janus found a small, little routine in looking after the human. He and Logan would take turns to go hunting, whilst the other would observe and take care of it. He would catch it watching them on occasion, and he always laughed, though it would hide if it even saw him looking anywhere close to its den. He noted that it wouldn't hide as often as it did a few days prior and he would catch it watching more and more

He wondered what it thought about all of this, he could guess that it was probably confused, and maybe disorientated. Everything must've changed so much since the curse. Logan had gotten back from hunting and roasted some meat for the human, before handing it and a plant to him to take over there. He placed it down, and called for the human to come out before slithering over to Logan and pointedly looking away from the human's den. He was still watching out of the corner of his eye, but he let the human have its privacy.

He needed to build its trust if he wanted to effectively help it. It dragged its food inside and started eating. Janus smiled

"It's nice that the human is starting to trust us more. The other day, it would've stayed in its den for almost an hour without us watching it before it'd take its food" He watched it through the hole in the wall happily for a while, before noticing it stare at the water. Poor thing was probably thirsty, he hadn't seen it take a single sip in the entire time it was here. It looked up at him and he covered his eyes and turned to the opposite direction, making it obvious that it was allowed to come out for a drink.

He could hear it drinking and he didn't move until the sounds had stopped and footsteps were heard.

He and Logan talked for a while, discussing what they would do when they started their shed in a few weeks' time, both agreeing to get their friends to help with the human-care whilst they couldn't. Janus hated shedding, it made him feel too vulnerable, not to mention how uncomfortable it was.

Logan went to get Patton, both of them agreeing that it was best to introduce him to the human first, and Janus went towards the human den

"You're very good, lil' guy! You're so brave, and you're gonna meet some more people soon! Are you excited?" He curled around the circle protectively, before looking inside the den. The human was curled up, seemingly having a little nap. He cooed at it gently, and rested on his arms to watch it more