A Grimm Life

Slavery

Mutasim: Come out, come out wherever you are. 

I say as I walk around the dark bedroom. Thanks to me being a Faunas, I can see in the dark. Out of the corner of my eye, I see a small shuffle, prompting me to turn my gaze to it. My ears twitch as I hear the sound of soft breathing and I approach the source which comes from behind a curtain. My hand reaches for the curtain and I pull it open, revealing Winter. 

Mutasim: Found you! 

Winter laughs as I tickle her. 

Winter: No fair! You have night vision! 

She exclaims, still laughing. I laugh with her and turn the lights back on before sitting down on the edge of her bed with her. 

Winter: Being a Faunas must be fun. You have such a warm and fluffy tail and you can hear and see really well. 

I rub the back of my head with a little chuckle. 

Mutasim: I wish... A lot of kids didn't like me back in the orphanage. Called me a freak for having wolf ears and a tail... 

Winter: Well... They're probably freaks for not liking you. 

Mutasim: Thanks Winter. But I think your dad would say otherwise. 

Winter: Father's always grumpy and mean. I wouldn't take it so personally.

I nod slowly. All of a sudden, my ears twitch as I hear footsteps approaching the door. Immediately, I get off the bed and pick up my cleaning equipment and begin "cleaning". We had to make a cover for my presence in Winter's room and this was the only thing we could come up with. Winter caught on and grabs the nearest book and pretends to read. 

The door swings open, revealing Jacques. He sees the two of us, but neither of us bat an eye to him, getting on with our own activities. After a moment, he turns to me. 

Jacques: Animal, get up. I need you to follow me. 

I nod and stand, walking out of the room with Jacques. He slams the door shut, grabs me by the back of my top and drags me down the hallway. I remain silent as we approach the front doors of the mansion. At the front, I see a group of soldiers in white armour. My heart begins to pound in my chest. Was I being sent to prison? For what crimes?! 

Jacques: These gentlemen will take you to your new home. 

He shoves me forward to them. My ears and tail fall in fear. The soldiers share a glance with each other before pushing me out of the mansion and into an airship. They force me to sit down as the ship takes off. All I can do is just watch as I depart from the Schnee mansion. Though just barely, I can see Winter looking at me from her room window with a sorrowful expression. My expression falls as I realise I might not see Winter again. While I hadn't known Winter as long as Cinder, the goodbye was just as painful. 

The trip lasted a couple hours before we arrived. As the doors open, I feel a deathly cold breeze blow past me. The soldiers shove me out of the ship into the snow. I only learnt this white stuff was snow because Winter was kind enough to educate me. She had also warned me that if exposed to snow and cold for too long, people can suffer from frostbite and lose parts of their body or even die. 

I'm picked up by one of the soldiers and shoved forward towards some kind of cave. My ears twitch as I hear voices inside of the cave. And not just a few, but there were a bunch! I take a deep breath and hug my arms as I enter the cave with the soldiers behind me pointing their guns at my back. My body begins to shiver as I proceed further into the cave. 

As I progress further, I can't help but admire the icy cavern and how it's structured. I continue walking until we reach the source of the voices and what I saw stunned me. Soldiers were positioned everywhere around the giant cavern while keeping an eye on Faunas mining away at glowing colourful crystals. One of the Faunas fall to their knees from what I thought was exhaustion. They weren't allowed rest as a soldier picked them up to their feet and aimed a gun at their head, demanding they continue mining. With no other choice, the Faunas did as the soldier demanded, trying their best to push through the exhaustion. 

Was this what I was here for? To join other Faunas in mining in these horrid conditions? 

I was shoved forward towards some extra pickaxes. I turn my head to see my escorts holding their guns at me. My breathing turned shaky and I felt my heart pounding in my chest. Not wanting to anger them, I pick up one of the many pickaxes and follow the guards to some of the glowing crystals. 

Soldier: Mine these and then drop them off in the carts. Nobody leaves until all these Dust crystals are out of this cave! 

I nod shakily and begin to swing the pickaxe at the crystals, trying my best to dig them out. But there was only so much I could do with an empty stomach and being left to freeze from the deathly chill. 

I mined and mined for hours. My arms ached in agony after working for a single hour, but the guards wouldn't let me rest. By the end of the session, I thought my arms would fall off at any moment. Thankfully, another Faunas came to my aid and helped me dig out the Dust crystals. 

Whether I liked it or not... 

This was my life