The Sun and Small friends- ON HIATUS

Thomas the son of a glitch

(A/N) Okay, trigger warning. Not depressive stuff, but I-want-to-end-this-sick-son-of-a-glitch sort of thing. AN ANGER WARNING

Pulling open the pocket, I give her a confused, gentle look. She’s curled into a ball, tears streaming down her cheeks as she shakes. My eye sockets go completely black, and I scoop her carefully up in my hand, inspecting her.

“H-hope, sweetie?”

Whimpering, she opens her eyes again and stares at me though it’s like she can’t see. Shaking violently at my touch, Hope doesn’t answer me. Raising her to eye level, I check her over for injuries, and when I don’t find anything, summon her soul from her chest.

What I see nearly makes my soul shatter. Her soul should be a vibrant turquoise, but instead is muted, faded, almost white. And it’s covered in cracks. Gaping for a moment, I immediately bring her to my chest and lay a trembling finger on her back, rubbing soothing circles as I glare at Thomas. Gently setting her back in her capsule, I set it on a table to deal with him.

“DID YOU DO SOMETHING TO HOPE?!” I roar furiously. My voice echoes about the room, and nearly everyone stops what they’re doing to watch.

He grins at me, then purposefully bangs the dolly of cages against a table, sending one of the cages tumbling. My glare turns to a look of horror and I dive, catching the cage before it implodes on the floor. Sounds of terror are heard from within, and I pant heavily, looking up at him.

He lets out a hoarse bark of a laugh.

“How fitting to see the monster scum on the ground where he belongs, and with his equals no less,” he sneers. “Oh. Wait…. Those borrowers are actually better than you, freak. They know their place.”

Mr. Smith steps up, a stoic look on his wrinkled, aged face. He rests a hand on Thomas’s shoulder and leads him away, in the direction of his office. He glances back once to look at us, and sighs, seeing the work to be done.

“Sans. Tracy. Get the borrowers taken care of.”

We both nod, and I slowly get up, cradling the cage. Setting it on the table, I peer inside at the occupants. There are twelve, three neko and the others normal.

“Hey. You okay?”

Nobody but one of the normals answers. They're a boy, wearing dark blue pants and a long sleeve white shirt. His red eyes gleam as he tucks a strand of his dirty blond hair behind pointed ears.

“Yeah. I owe you one, monster. Thanks.”

I nod, and gently pick the other two cages up, setting them on the table. They also contain an assortment. The first of the two is filled with normals. The second, however, has a single girl neko and nine male normals. They've surrounded her and are laughing, kicking her while she stays curled up, tail poofed and ears back. Letting out a noise of surprise, I open the cage and scoop her out.

“What are you doing?! Why would you hurt her?!”

Tracy rushes over and takes a look, clucking her tongue. She gives a dirty look to the teens, and takes her.

“Poor thing…. Shh…. I'm not gonna hurt’cha kitten.”

Sighing, I lift the cage up to eye level.

“Why?”

The boys inside say nothing, and I lower the cage to the tabletop again. One speaks up.

“Because then we'd be put down for fighting and escape this hell hole you call a pet store. Even if it meant dying, we'd be free.”

The boy from earlier slams against the bars of his cage.

“NICOLO! NO, I'VE TOLD YOU! WE'LL FIND A WAY, YOU'LL SEE! D-DEATH ISN'T THE ANSWER!!!”

Nicolo sneers.

“Shut it, Shad. We'll never be free and you know it. Not all of us were born docile in breeding factories. Some of us were wild. Some of us were free.”