Reader (The Guild)

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Thanks @that_lazy_emo for the request!
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I never thought I had a future. At only fourteen I was living in the streets, stealing essentials and becoming a lowlife quickly. A day wouldn't go by that I wished that something was different, that my circumstances were just a bit better. Perhaps if my family wasn't gone, or if someone took me in to try to help me, I could've been a lot better off.

For now I was stuck here, fighting for my life at every corner and scurrying through alleyways like a rat. I couldn't even imagine the last time I had a warm meal or when I took a shower. Stuff like that was only found in my dreams, never meant to become part of my sad reality. I needed an escape soon. I couldn't live like this much longer before I ended up dying by some disease or street thug that just wanted me dead.

It was these thoughts of survival running through my head that led me to accept a rich stranger's offer of housing and food. At any other point in my life, I would've been skeptical of his intentions with a fourteen year old boy but I was so blinded by the pain in my stomach and the itch along my skin that I accepted his offer in a heartbeat without any hesitation. Perhaps I'd regret it later on but at this moment, I found myself crying tears of joy as the stranger guided me to my future.

~~~

A year passed me by in a flash, everything moving too fast and yet not fast enough as my health became better over time. My savior, a man called Fitzgerald, hadn't lied about providing me housing and food. What he hadn't mentioned at the time was what it would truly mean to be part of the Guild. It wouldn't have changed my mind a year back but it would've been nice to know before I signed the contract.

Here, I was expected to use my ability however Fitzgerald saw fit. It reminded me of a dog and its master which would make me squirm in discomfort whenever I thought of it like that. There wasn't much I could do to free myself otherwise so I ended up going through with whatever he commanded of me.

I was still young thankfully, a factor that I was lucky to have considering the older Guild members had more serious jobs. I was usually nothing more than a messenger boy because I was the least suspicious of the group. I didn't mind my tasks, it kept me far away from the violence hidden under the surface.

Fitzgerald was clearly trying to keep me far away from figuring out just how ruthless and dangerous the Guild really was but I've seen enough gangs to know what to look for in a sketchy person. The Guild was full of them and I made sure to steer clear of anyone who wasn't Fitzgerald. There were even times where I didn't want to be around him either.

~~~

I was sixteen when Fitzgerald gave me my first violent task. When I returned that night covered in blood, I threw up for hours, even spasming long after my stomach was empty. Everything hurt from my chest to my head where the horrible images wouldn't stop flashing. I didn't want to become like this but my ability wouldn't stop as if controlled by Fitzgerald himself, desperate to please him in any way it could.

That night I had found my first friend though. After passing out in the bathroom, alone and sick, I came back around again to find a stranger kneeling beside me nervously. He seemed to be trying to clean me up but was nervous as his hands shook to help me. When he noticed I was awake, he let out a yelp of surprise. I couldn't help but be shocked myself as a raccoon suddenly pawed at my lap, large, fluffy and completely surprising to randomly find after passing out.

"I'm so sorry! Karl and I were just trying to help you out!" the stranger cried out, clearly panicked as his hands shot up into the air as if caught. After the night I'd experienced, I couldn't help but laugh at the man and his raccoon. The stranger instantly seemed to calm as he tilted his head in curiosity, his raccoon I was assuming was Karl fully climbing onto my lap as I leaned against the bathroom wall.

"I'm y/n. I like your raccoon," I mumbled in exhaustion, panting slightly at the force laughing had taken out of me. The man's shoulder relaxed as he sat by my side, his hand reaching out to pet the raccoon in my lap as a small frown pulled at his lips. He still seemed concerned about me as I felt his hidden stare flicker to me.

"I know who you are. I'm Poe...and I like my raccoon as well," he whispered sadly. He must've known what I was forced to do by the way he said he knew me and the thought made me tense, my body moving as Karl jumped off my lap. I knelt back over the toilet bowl as another round of spasms moved through my body, bitterness swelling up my throat as I coughed. A gentle hand rubbed my back, firm and friendly as I cried.

~~~

The true horrors of the Guild followed me for a few more years. I was twenty with four whole years of death and violence trialing me. Fitzgerald showed no mercy with my ability as I was dragged along with no way to fight back. My emotions would go numb during the murders and then I'd rush back home to throw up the disgust I held for myself.

At least now I had my best friends there to soothe me, Poe and Karl always being there for me to calm me down at my worst times. I didn't make many other friends considering I still wanted to avoid most Guild members but there were still allies I had that understood my pain. It didn't make the horrible things I had to do any easier but it did make me feel protected in a way that Fitzgerald could never do for me anymore.

So on the day the Guild fell, I didn't shed a tear of remorse. It was still painful of course considering it had been my home for six years, taking me in when no one else would but I knew it was better this way. The contract I had with Fitzgerald was void now, my ability no longer a forced weapon but a part of myself again that I swore to never hurt anybody with again.

"I know somewhere we can go." Poe had told me that the moment the Guild fell. I had nowhere else to be and no one to go to so I followed Poe and Karl without hesitation. I trusted Poe with my life. Even if Fitzgerald was the first person to take me in, Poe was the first adult to make me feel safe. He had protected me as a child when all anyone else saw was a tool. I'd follow him anywhere, knowing that I'd be safe now. Saying goodbye to the Guild, I turned my back on the organization for good, carrying all the horrible memories along with all the good.

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