Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Entry ~-~-~

An interesting development has occurred. Whilst I was attending to 1-S’s eye, the lab monitors picked up an anomaly in one of the –as of yet- unused rooms. Once 1-S was secure in his cell, I went to discover the source of the anomaly.

What I discovered was nothing short of amazing.

A human child had suddenly appeared in the room, unconscious. The oddest thing, though, was not the sudden appearance of this human, but rather that this child sported a pair of large black feathered wings. It is uncertain how, exactly, the human came about them. Current theories suggest that either the child was born with them or that the human somehow merged with a winged monster. Further tests are needed.

The child exudes a magical aura, possibly explaining how exactly it managed to appear in the room in the first place.

Well. This was an unexpected, but not unhappy development. I can continue my experiments on another subject, now. And this one, I needn’t be so gentle with. Humans are made of stronger stuff than monsters, after all.

. . .

When Orion opened his eyes, the first thing he knew for certain, was that he was no longer at the facility’s laboratory. He seemed to be in a large room, laying on a flat bench. There was no cushion on the bench, but that didn’t bother the young boy one bit. He raised his head up and looked around, relief flooding his features as the surroundings continued to be unfamiliar to him. There was an opening in the wall adjacent to him, with bars made out of what seemed to be a blue-green energy of some sort.

The next thing Orion became aware of was the low murmurings. Someone was talking, not too far from where he was. Orion stilled, focusing on the muttering, his enhanced hearing picking up what the person was saying immediately.

“…how you can believe in anything good down here. kindness, mercy… when have we ever seen any of that?”

Orion frowned. It seemed that even if he had escaped the facility’s clutches, he hadn’t landed himself anywhere better, by the sounds of it.

“DON’T BE SILLY, BROTHER!” Orion heard someone different than the first voice say. This voice was louder, more confident. “OF COURSE I’VE SEEN GOODNESS AND KINDNESS! I HAVE YOU!”

Orion immediately thought about the other “experiments”. When had he seen goodness and kindness in them? He hadn’t, really. Just weakness and hopelessness. None of the other experiments had lasted long in the tests.

“AND THAT’S ENOUGH PROOF FOR ME THAT THERE’S MORE TO THIS WORLD THAN JUST MEANNESS!” How naïve… Orion couldn’t help but think to himself as the voice continued on. “HE DIDN’T HAVE TO MAKE YOU TOO, RIGHT? BUT HE DID! HE DOESN’T HAVE TO LET US BE TOGETHER, BUT HE DOES! HE DIDN’T HAVE TO GIVE ME THIS, BUT HE DID! AND… YOU DIDN’T HAVE TO BE NICE TO ME, EITHER. YOU ALWAYS ARE… NO MATTER WHAT. SO… IF SOMEONE LIKE YOU, CAN EXIST IN A PLACE LIKE THIS… THEN, THERE’S SOMETHING GOOD IN HIM STILL, I KNOW IT. THERE’S HOPE FOR HIM. AND THERE’S HOPE FOR US! WE JUST HAVE TO KEEP TRYING! I’M NOT GOING TO GIVE UP.”

Orion’s frown deepened. It sounded like the two voices were pretty close –brothers, if he had heard correctly. Would that he had had something like that. But no, he was all alone.

“heh… well, who can argue with that?” the first voice said quietly.

Orion sat there for a while, wondering if they would continue with their conversation, but it didn’t seem like they had anything more to say. He wondered if he should say something; let them know that he was here. But his years of conditioning made him wary of shouting out so they could hear him.

Just as he was working up the courage to say something, the click-clack of heels on tile came to his attention, and Orion immediately shut his open mouth. He barely dared to breathe as a large figure came into view, wearing a long white lab coat. Orion’s eyes opened wide as he realized that the figure was a literal skeleton, walking towards him. He scrambled back as the figure approached his cell.

The skeleton was tall, at last two heads taller than he was, and stared at him with one eye, the other seemingly fused shut. It had glasses on, like the ones he recalled being on the head scientist of the facility. It was also holding a clipboard, with a pen in one hand. Orion noticed that there were strange holes in the skeleton’s hands. From the x-rays he had seen of hands, he knew that the holes weren’t normal human hands. Whatever the skeleton was, it was not human. But then, he himself wasn’t fully human, either. Had he escaped from one facility only to land in another?

The figure spoke then, sounding masculine and demanding. But whatever language the skeleton spoke, it was not a language that Orion was familiar with –and he knew several languages. Chinese, French, Spanish, and English were all passable languages that he knew, but whatever language the figure spoke, he did not know. Orion did notice that two blue apparitions of the skeleton’s hands signed while the skeleton spoke, but he did not know sign language. He just stared at the figure uncertainly for a moment.

“I… I don’t know what you’re saying…” he ventured after several moments of silence. “I don’t know sign language.”

This seemed to frustrate the skeleton, for it frowned and let out a huff of breath, rolling its one eye. It stood there for a moment, before bringing one hand up to its head, and then shaking its head. Then it turned and walked out of sight.

Orion let out a breath that he didn’t know he was holding. That was stressful… He still didn’t know the nature of the place that he now found himself in. But it didn’t seem like it was the same as the facility, at least. In the facility, he would have been punished for not being able to understand.

A noise drew his attention back to the front of the room. The figure had come back, followed by a smaller skeleton, this one wearing a green paper gown. Orion stared as the larger skeleton started talking, gesturing towards him.

“UM… HE WANTS TO KNOW HOW YOU GOT IN HERE.” the smaller skeleton said, and Orion recognized the voice as one of the ones he’d been listening to.

At least he now knew what the figure wanted. “I’m not sure,” he said. “I was escaping from the facility, and I used my teleportation ability… without a destination in mind. That’s the last thing I remember before waking here.”

The larger skeleton seemed to understand him, for a thoughtful look appeared on his face as Orion spoke.

“WHO ARE YOU, ANYWAY?” The smaller skeleton asked curiously, of his own accord.

“I’m… Orion,” Orion answered nervously, risking a glance at the larger skeleton, afraid of the guy being angry, but he was looking down at his clipboard, apparently not paying attention to them.

“I’M 2-P!” The smaller skeleton introduced himself cheerfully. “WHAT ARE YOU? YOU’RE OBVIOUSLY NOT A SKELETON LIKE US.”

The larger skeleton looked up from his clipboard at this, seemingly interested in the answer as well. Orion swallowed anxiously. “Well… I’m part human, part bird, part… other animals. I don’t know the other animals, though,” he added. “The scientists refused to say.”

“HUMAN? WHAT’S THAT?” 2-P directed his question at the larger skeleton.

The skeleton answered something, and 2-P frowned. “HE DOESN’T LOOK BAD TO ME! I’M SURE HE ONLY NEEDS KINDNESS TO DO GOOD THINGS!” He insisted.

Orion blinked. They thought he was bad? Great. Who knew what they would do to him?

The older skeleton shook his head and said something else. 2-P looked indignant. “THAT’S NOT TRUE! I REFUSE TO BELIEVE IT! YOU, YOU HAVEN’T HURT ANYONE, HAVE YOU?” He directed his final question at Orion.

Orion stared back at 2-P uncertainly. It was nice to have someone stand up for him for once –at least, it seemed like that’s what 2-P was doing- but he had hurt people before. The facility scientists, who deserved it, and other ‘experiments’ –at the will of the scientists. He looked away from 2-P. “I had no choice,” he muttered.

The larger skeleton said something triumphantly, and 2-P looked frustrated. “I’M SURE THERE WAS ANOTHER WAY. YOU JUST DIDN’T KNOW HOW TO DO IT. I CAN HELP!” he insisted.

The taller skeleton said something in a cutting tone of voice. Then, as 2-P opened his mouth to say something, but the other skeleton cut him off with a swipe of the hand, saying something else.

“HE WANTS TO KNOW MORE ABOUT YOUR TELEPORTATION ABILITY,” 2-P said sulkily.

“What does he want to know about it? There’s not much to say…” Orion replied.

What followed was an intensive question-and-answer session with 2-P providing translation for Orion about what the other skeleton was saying. Orion learned that the larger skeleton was a scientist too, a doctor. He also learned that 2-P was an experiment of the doctor’s, along with another skeleton, referred to as 1-S.

Orion didn’t feel that 1-S and 2-P were proper names, but he kept his opinion to himself, for fear of angering the doctor.

The doctor wanted to know about his abilities, and Orion’s extensive conditioning by the scientists of the facility required that he be completely honest, so he told the doctor the truth. He admitted to being able to hear and see very well, even in the dark. He told the doctor how the scientists had enhanced his hearing by mutating his DNA with that of a barn owl. He explained how his teleporting ability worked, by focusing on moving his body through space and time and managing to be in another place; but that it was unreliable when trying to teleport somewhere he couldn’t fully picture in his head –i.e. places he hadn’t been before. He also explained how the ability really exhausted him.

Finally, the doctor left, taking 2-P with him. Thanks to his enhanced hearing, Orion heard the doctor say something to 2-P before the low hum in the background grew softer for a moment, and the click-clack of bare bone on tile before the hum picked up again. The hum must be the energy field in front of the room, and 2-P and 1-S were in another room.

The doctor passed by in the hallway a few moments later. When the tapping of his boots on the floor faded, Orion returned his attention to the sounds coming from the other room.

“are you ok?” the first voice, presumably 1-S, asked.

“YES, I AM BROTHER! MORE THAN OK! THERE IS A HUMAN HERE WITH US NOW!” 2-P answered 1-S.

“a human? but they’re supposed to be on the outside, not here in the Underground.” 1-S sounded surprised.

“HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT, BROTHER?” 2-P asked. Orion wanted to know how 1-S knew what a human was and his brother didn’t, too.

“humans were mentioned in the history of the Underground we had to fill out for him, a while ago.” 1-S sounded bored. “it doesn’t really matter. what matters is that there is a human here. what did it look like?”

“KINDA LIKE US, BUT WITH PALE PINK STUFF OVER HIS BONES –BUT I COULD STILL SEE A LOT OF THE BONES UNDERNEATH THE PINK STUFF. HIS EYES KINDA GLOW ALL THE TIME, WITH WHITE AND AMBER AND BLACK! AND HE HAS THESE BIG BLACK FEATHERY WINGS!”

“wings? humans can’t have wings…” 1-S interrupted.

“OH, HE SAID HE WAS PART BIRD AND PART OTHER ANIMALS. HE WAS EXPERIMENTED ON LIKE US, BROTHER! THE SCIENTISTS THAT MADE HIM THE WAY HE WAS DID SOMETHING TO HIS… UH… ‘D-R-A’? SOMETHING LIKE THAT.”

“dna, you mean?”

“YEAH, THAT. WHAT IS ‘DNA’?”

“i don’t know a lot, but the paper we had said that it was the ‘building blocks of life,’ whatever that means.”

“HUH. I THOUGHT MAGIC AND SOUL MAKES LIFE…” 2-P wondered aloud.

“yeah, i dunno. anyway, this human… did he seem… bad?” 1-S asked.

Orion wondered at that. True, most of the humans he had come into contact with were bad people, but there were also the other experiments. They hadn’t been inherently bad, just… weaker than him. Maybe true humans were inherently bad, then… but he wasn’t fully human, either. Maybe that made him different. He didn’t feel bad.

“NOT AT ALL, BROTHER! HE REMINDED ME A LOT OF YOU, ACTUALLY!” It was clear by the tone of 2-P’s voice that he was proud of this fact.

“so, a complete failure at everything?” 1-S said dryly.

Orion snorted as 2-P tutted indignantly. “NO, BROTHER! HE WAS NICE, AND KINDA QUIET… HE SEEMED AFRAID OF HIM, THOUGH.”

“got good instincts, then.” 1-S replied. “he should be afraid of him.”

“I WISH WE DIDN’T HAVE TO BE,” 2-P said sadly.

“me too,” 1-S agreed quietly.

Orion waited for a few moments to see if they would say anything else before calling out. “Hey! Can you hear me?”

There was a sound of scraping, of bones on tile, and then 2-P was answering. “YES, HUMAN ORION! WE CAN HEAR YOU!” he shouted.

“Quiet!” Orion hissed, walking close to the energy field to talk closer. “I can hear you when you talk normally.”

“OH. ARE YOU OK, HUMAN ORION? YOU SEEMED SCARED, BEFORE,” 2-P asked anxiously.

“I’m fine,” Orion answered impatiently. “Listen, is there any way out of this place?”

“we know where the exit is, if that’s what you’re asking,” 1-S replied. “but there’s no way you can get past the energy field.”

Orion huffed. “That’s what you think.” Focusing, he turned his attention to the hallway beyond the energy field. He closed his eyes, and focused on willing his body to be anywhere but in the tiny room.

With a low *pop*, he disappeared and reappeared out in the hallway. He crossed the hallway to the other open room. He peered in through the energy beams at the two skeletons. 1-S was smaller than 2-P, and seemed to have a permanent grin on his face, though currently, with his eyes furrowed like that, it was an unhappy grin.

“how did you do that?!” 1-S demanded, coming close to the energy beams.

“I can teleport,” Orion explained hastily. “Now, how do I open the beams for you?”

“you’re gonna help us?” 1-S asked, surprised.

“Well, I’m not about to leave you to get tortured by Mr. Scientist-guy!” Orion said indignantly.

“WHEN HE OPENS IT, HE PLACES HIS HAND ON THE PAD, THERE.” 2-P joined the conversation, pointing to something by the wall.

“it didn’t work before, why would it work now?” 1-S muttered while Orion examined the electronic pad on the wall.

“It’s a hand-scanner…” Orion said after a moment. “It will only work with his hand. But, I can’t leave you guys here…” He dithered for a minute, unsure of what to do.

“that’s all well and good, but if you escape, then you can-” 1-S started to say, but cut off with a frightened expression, staring at something behind Orion. Orion whipped around, seeing the doctor right behind him, a dark expression on the tall skeleton’s face.

Orion yelped as he was suddenly pulled into the air. A tiny heart appeared outside of his chest. It was entirely engulfed in a deep blue magic. He struggled, flailing his limbs about, but even beating his wings was useless. The magic was stronger than he was physically.

“WELL, WELL, WELL. I WAS GOING TO WAIT UNTIL TOMORROW FOR THE PROCEDURE, BUT YOU’VE FORCED MY HAND. I’LL HAVE TO DO IT TODAY.” the doctor spoke conversationally.

“PLEASE DON’T HURT HIM, HE WAS ONLY-” 2-P started to say, but was cut off by a sharp word from the doctor.

The doctor was holding one hand up, and it was covered in a blue glow that matched the blue of the heart in front of Orion’s chest. He turned and started walking down the hallway, and Orion was pulled behind him in the air.

Whatever the doctor was doing with his magic, it hurt. It felt like an ice-cold, crushing grip at his core, and he couldn’t flinch away from it. The doctor dragged him down the hallway, and through a door into a large room.

There was a table with straps on it, and a chair next to it. A desk was laid diagonally across the corner, and it held a drill and a metal plate. Orion wasn’t totally sure what was going on, but he was sure it wasn’t good. The doctor directed his body onto the table, and despite Orion’s struggles, strapped him to the table.

Orion was unable to move his arms and legs, and even his neck was strapped down. His wings lay limp on either side of the table, and the ice-cold, crushing grip was still holding onto his core. Then he gasped as the grip relaxed when the doctor tightened the straps holding him down. He was unable to move though, and the strain on his wings was great. He wasn’t meant to be held down like this with his wings being crushed against his back.

The blue heart on his chest turned a deep purple with black flecks before sinking back into his chest and out of sight. He didn’t know what the heart meant, but he got the feeling he’d be finding out sooner than later.

Now that he was strapped down, the skeleton doctor turned away from him, grabbing something on the desk. Then he came back over to Orion, and Orion saw the metal plate in the doctor’s hand. Something clicked in Orion’s brain, and he paled.

“Y-you’re not going to… put that on me?! I’m not an object!” he yelped.

“OH, BUT YOU ARE AN OBJECT. AN EXPERIMENT. YOU’RE NOTHING. NOW, HOLD STILL,” the doctor said.

“I still don’t understand a word you’re saying… shit, shit, shit,” Orion muttered as the doctor came closer with the metal plate, turning on the drill.

Orion yelled and wriggled, trying to get away, but there was no getting away. Tears streamed down his face as the skeleton screwed the metal plate to his right hand. Blood was everywhere as the screws dug into his very bone. He screamed and yelled, begging for someone, anyone, to come help him. But nobody came.

When the doctor was finished, he brought gauze up to Orion’s hand, wrapping his hand in the gauze, soaking up the blood and staunching the bleeding. Then the ice-cold grip returned, before the doctor loosened the straps, and pulled Orion through the door. Orion gripped his hand to his chest, and fell limp in the doctor’s magical hold as the doctor took him back to the hallway where the two cells were.

2-P jumped up from the bench where he and 1-S were sitting, playing with a rubrics cube. “IS HE OK? WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM?”

“I GAVE HIM A PLATE LIKE YOURS. TELL HIM THAT HE IS NOT ALLOWED TO LEAVE HIS CELL, OR THERE WILL BE CONSEQUENCES. TELL HIM THAT RUNNING IS FUTILE, THAT I’LL FIND HIM WHEREVER HE GOES NOW, LIKE YOU TWO.” The doctor gestured towards Orion.

2-P looked frustrated, but translated: “HE SAID THAT YOU’RE NOT ALLOWED TO LEAVE YOUR CELL, OR HE’LL PUNISH YOU, AND THAT HE’LL BE ABLE TO FIND YOU WHERE-EVER YOU GO, NOW.”

Orion huffed. “Great. As if I hadn’t already felt like an animal enough…”

1-S gave a short laugh. “join the club, buddy,” he said, and Orion had to quirk a small smile at that. The doctor dragged him to the other cell and, after placing his hand on the scanner pad, levitated him into the cell. The skeleton left him in the cell after turning the energy beams back on, and promptly vacated the area.

Orion let out a small hiss as he looked down at his still-bandaged hand. He couldn’t believe the nerve of that guy! It was bad enough that he had been chipped in the arm by those scientists at the facility, but now he had a metal plate screwed into his hand! He looked down at his left arm, where a mass of scar tissue lay at the crook of his elbow, where he had dug into his own arm to remove the chip the facility scientists had put in him. He couldn’t do the same to the plate –it was literally screwed into his very bones!

“hey, you ok in there?” 1-S called softly.

“Yeah, I’m alright,” Orion replied, pain in his voice. “It’s nothing new, really.”

“n-nothing new?!” 1-S asked, incredulously. “The place you were before here must have been just as bad as here, then…”

Orion sighed, the breath of wind escaping him noisily. “Yeah. It was bad,” he admitted. He stared at the wall for a moment, before turning. “I’m going to try to sleep,” he said.

“alright. sleep well,” 1-S said.

“SLEEP WELL, ORION!” 2-P called, and Orion smiled a little, before laying on the bench, and closing his eyes.

He was still exhausted from his earlier jump through space-time, and the drilling of the metal plate to his hand had taken what little leftover energy he had. He fell asleep quickly.

Chapter Text

ENTRY NUMBER ~-~-~

Subject 3-O is different than what I expected. Perhaps because he has been experimented on in the past, he is extremely obedient and quick to fulfill any tasks I set before him. He is quick to learn sign language, which is most surprising. Previous knowledge of humans suggests that humans have a hard time picking up languages other than their initial language, but 3-O is picking up sign language at an accelerated rate.

Initial blood tests suggest that ten percent of his DNA is a blend of different birds. From the initial testing, I was able to find owl, seagull, and raven DNA. 3-O’s enhanced hearing is indicative of the owl’s DNA working in him. His wings shed water like a seagulls, and upon closer inspection, the black of his wings is an iridescent black, like that of a raven’s.

3-O’s knowledge-base is severely lacking. He knows next to nothing of basic arithmetic or sciences, despite his knowledge of DNA splicing and methods regarding the manipulation of said DNA. Further testing is required to learn the limit of his knowledge.

. . .

The next few weeks were a blur of experiments and, weirdly enough, learning. The doctor seemed determined for Orion to learn how to understand him, or at least his sign language. Every time he took Orion out of the cell to do an experiment, he had 2-P teach him a little bit of the sign language. Orion was glad for his quick learning, for he picked up the language easier than he had anticipated upon first setting out. He surprised the doctor with his quick learning –he knew by the surprised look on the doctor’s face the first few times he successfully translated a sign by himself.

The skeleton scientist didn’t seem to hold humans or human-like creatures in very high regard. He kept staring at Orion weirdly whenever Orion would do something quickly or even obediently, and from what Orion managed to pick up from his signs and from conversations with 2-P and 1-S after the lights were off, the doctor didn’t really know what to think of him.

The experiments were different than what Orion was used to from the facility’s scientists. The doctor had him solving puzzles and doing math equations, as well as routine blood testing. Orion wasn’t very good at the rubrics cube –he had yet to complete the cube at all, least of all within the time limits the doctor set.

At least the food was better and more frequent than in the facility. He was given actual food –little ration bars that actually didn’t taste too bad, compared to the infrequent bird seed and occasional dried fruit in the facility- and was fed twice a day, every day without fail. In a lot of ways, Orion felt that despite the weird experiments and disdain the doctor seemed to hold for him, this place was better than the facility he had escaped from. But it was still a prison, and it was a place of suffering –for 2-P and 1-S, especially.

He often overheard them talking about what the doctor had done to them, and it was getting worse for the two of them. Lasers in their eyes, and other weird tests were being done to them, and the doctor was menacing 2-P into telling him secrets that the two kept from the skeletal scientist.

Orion was concerned about 1-S, in particular. 2-P kept an optimistic view on life, but 1-S seemed to all but give up on life after a few sessions with the doctor. He rarely said anything, despite 2-P’s constant chattering, and Orion often heard soft sobs, after 2-P had gone to bed. Orion kept his observations to himself, though, not wanting to point out that he could hear 1-S’s emotional breakdowns.

One day, it all came to a head, as these things eventually had to do. After the doctor had finished with the two skeletons for the day, and the lights had all dimmed, Orion heard the tell-tale harsh, ragged breathing that went with incontrollable sobs. But this time, 2-P was awake.

“I’VE GOT YOU. I’VE GOT YOU. IT’S OK…” Orion could hear 2-P saying.

“hhhh… i’m dying. i’m dying. i’m dying…” 1-S was muttering hysterically under 2-P’s calming tones.

“YOU’RE NOT DYING. YOU’RE GOING TO BE OKAY. THIS HAPPENS EVERY TIME HE DOES ONE OF THESE, REMEMBER?” 2-P continued trying to calm 1-S. “AND YOU GOT THROUGH ALL THOSE OKAY. DON’T WORRY.”

“it’s not the same, it’s not…” 1-S sobbed. “i saw, i saw red and gold again, red and gold, red and gold over and over… and then, and then it all just stopped. there was just… nothing and it won’t… it won’t go away,” 1-S said in a horribly dead tone of voice.

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN?” 2-P asked.

“it won’t… go away, i can’t… i can’t see, i can’t see anything, i’m blind, i’m finally blind, he finally did it-”

“LISTEN. YOU’RE GOING TO BE OK. YOUR VISION’S ALWAYS COME BACK BEFORE. YOU JUST NEED TO CALM DOWN,” 2-P said calmingly. There was the sound of clacking bones, like a snap, and then 2-P continued. “I KNOW! I’LL TELL YOU WHAT I SEE, OKAY?”

1-S’s breathing was still coming in harsh and raggedly. “YOU TRUST ME, DON’T YOU?”

“hhh… hh… yeah… yeah, i trust you…” 1-S said softly.

“DO YOU KNOW WHAT I SEE? I SEE… A LOT OF WHITE, THERE’S A LOT OF WHITE EVERYWHERE… THAT MUST BE WHAT THE FLOOR OUTSIDE LOOKS LIKE.” 2-P started. “THERE’S A BIG HOUSE… I CAN SEE IT. IT’S ALL SORTS OF COLORS, JUST LIKE OUR EYES.”

“hhhhh,” 1-S seemed to be calming down.

“AND THERE ARE… PEOPLE, LOTS OF NICE PEOPLE WHO WANT TO BE FRIENDS,” 2-P continued. “BUT THE MOST IMPORTANT THING I SEE, IS YOU, BROTHER! YOU ARE WITH ME. WE ARE TOGETHER AND WE ARE SAFE. AND YOU LOOK HAPPY. THAT’S WHAT I SEE. YOU’RE GOING TO BE OK. I’VE GOT YOU. AS LONG AS WE’RE TOGETHER, WE’RE OK.”

Orion kept quiet, almost embarrassed to witness this private moment between the two brothers. He had a sharp ache in his chest and a tight feeling in his throat. When had anyone ever done anything like that for him? Never. He’d never had a brother, someone to confide in or to tell him things were going to be alright, even if they weren’t. He shook his head, his wings rustling restlessly. It was pointless to dwell on such things. Experiments like him didn’t get such nice things in life. That was just how it was.

Chapter Text

ENTRY NUMBER ~-~-~

Experimentation on Subject 3-O has gone well. It appears the previous scientists that worked on him accelerated his growth and healing much like I did with Subjects 1-S and 2-P. He has completely learned sign language. At least we will no longer have to use 2-P as a translator. It was growing tiresome having to correct him all the time.

Tests on 3-O’s soul show that he does have a partial animal soul. I’m curious what will happen if I merge his soul with that of a monster and then test him against the barrier. It’s never been done before. I can’t use 1-S or 2-P’s souls though… They were created artificially, rather than natural-born monsters.

Well. This just coincides with the lesson I want 2-P to learn.

. . .

Orion threaded his fingers through the feathers of his wings, feeling the soft secondaries and stiffer primaries. The tapping of boots caused him to look up, seeing the doctor come into view in front of his room. He held his clipboard like usual, and was looking at him sternly through his square spectacles.

He spoke in his strange language, the two glowing blue hands behind him signing in the air. “ GET UP, YOU’RE COMING WITH ME ,” he said, pressing his hand against the pad next to the door. The forcefield shimmered and disappeared.

Orion stood unwillingly and walked over to the doctor’s side. Yesterday had been horrific for 2-P, from what Orion had heard through the walls. The doctor had tried to make him kill something, and Orion had listened to 2-P’s sobs for hours before he had finally exhausted himself to sleep. Orion wasn’t sure he wanted to know whether 2-P had finally given in or not.

He followed the doctor down the hallways and into a room he’d not been in before. Large tubes stood in the middle of the room. A monitor stood by each tube, though currently the monitors were blank, black screens. A desk with a computer and other electronic items Orion didn’t  have names for stood crossways in front of the two tubes, straddling the space between them.

Orion didn’t like the look of the room; it gave him shivers looking at it. He unwillingly walked into the room at a sharp look from the doctor. A canister stood next to one of the tubes, and inside the glass was a little white heart, floating upside-down in the canister. Orion froze. He knew, now, what the heart signified -it was a Soul. Not just any Soul, either -the white meant it was a monster soul. Orion had learnt that only humans had color in their soul; monsters had white souls and animals had black souls. That was why his own soul had flecks of black in it -because he was part animal.

“GET IN THE RIGHT TUBE,” the doctor spoke, the blue hands floating in front of Orion’s eyes so he could read what the guy was saying. A button was pushed, and the glass surrounding the right tube rose up enough that Orion could step inside. Orion really, really didn’t want to go in. He started to tremble, backing away from the doctor, shaking his head.

“N-no w-way… y-you’re g-gonna d-do something t-t-to that s-s-s-so-oul…” Orion stumbled over the words, his trembling growing worse.

The doctor grew stern, looking at him sharply. “YOU WILL DO AS YOU ARE TOLD,  SUBJECT 3!” he snapped. “IT MATTERS NOT TO YOU WHAT I PLAN TO DO WITH THIS SOUL. YOU WILL DO AS YOU’RE TOLD.”

Orion trembled. He didn’t want anything to do with this. But he was trapped, in every sense of the word. Even if he thought he could do it, as scared as he was, teleporting only really worked for places he knew. That was how he ended up in this hellhole to begin with; teleporting without a destination in mind! Besides, the plate drilled into the back of his hand was another prison sentence; the doctor could find him anywhere he went.

He wasn’t given a choice to comply; he yelped as his soul was dragged out of his chest and set aglow with a blue magic. He rose into the air unwillingly, and forced into the tube. The glass walls of the tube settled down around him, and he was trapped in the tube, before his soul was released from the crushing grip of the doctor’s magic. Orion slumped to his knees, slapping a palm against the inside of the glass tubing.

“L-let me o-out!” he demanded, still trembling. The doctor paid him no heed as he sat at the desk in front of the tubes and began typing something into the computer there.

Suddenly, it was as if gravity had been shut off inside the tube, as Orion rose into the air without the aid of any visible magic, and the air suddenly felt… heavy and strange. It was then that he realized that the world was now tinted blue. There was some sort of substance in the tube with him; but he wasn’t sure what it was. It didn’t seem to be solid, liquid, or gas, but a combination of all of them.

Wires snaked down from the ceiling and attached little suction cups to different parts of his body, and a beeping began echoing around the tube. Orion flinched at the sudden sound, and the beeping sped up. It seemed to be his heartbeat!

It was then that his soul was drug from his body again, but it wasn’t held in the blue glow for once, and Orion was able to stare at the purple-and-black soul curiously for a moment.

Then he was screaming as it felt like something was tearing at his whole being. A white knife had appeared inside the tube and was cutting away at his soul! He screamed and lashed out with his hands at the knife, but his hands passed right through it, as though it weren’t even there.

He continued screaming, begging for the doctor to stop as pieces were torn from his soul, and left to float gently to the floor of the tube. As the pieces were cut away, they lost their color and just lay there like discarded shards of glass.

Then the white soul was dumped into the tube, and shoved toward Orion’s shattered soul. Orion screamed anew as the remaining pieces of his soul absorbed the white soul, taking it in and soaking it up like a sponge. It hurt , like his very core was dipped in lava and then frozen, all at the same time. It was then that Orion couldn’t take it anymore, and blacked out.

Chapter Text

ENTRY NUMBER ~-~-~

Subject 3’s soul has taken to the monster soul quite well. In the initial joining of the two souls, Subject 3’s soul absorbed the monster soul so quickly and intensely that Subject 3 passed out. He has yet to awaken, and I am loathe to remove him from the M-D Solution until I am sure that he isn’t going to melt from the pressure of two souls. I did what I could to cut away some human parts of his soul; God knows what would have happened to two whole souls joining.

ENTRY NUMBER ~-~-~

Subject 3 has undergone a distinct change. He has grown horns and claws, and I suspect fangs as well. His hair has also grown, covering much of his once-smooth skin. He is almost unrecognizable as a human, now. I’ve examined his soul, and it seems to be stabilizing. The monster soul seems completely absorbed, showing up as patches of white where I had cut away the purple human soul. Subject 3’s soul seems to now be a third human, third animal, and third monster.

Subject 3 has yet to open his eyes, but I am hopeful that he will wake soon. His soul is glowing strongly, and he appears to be in perfect health.

. . .

When Orion opened his eyes, his first thought was: OUCH! He felt like he had been ripped in half and then roughly sewn back together. His eyes strained to see anything but blue, but when they finally focused, he was able to see past the tubing to the room beyond.

The doctor was sitting at the desk in front of the tubes, looking at him with interest in his single good eye. He muttered something, his blue hands not appearing to translate, leaving Orion in the loop as to what the male was thinking.

Orion weakly slapped a hand against the glass tubing, only to freeze as he stared down the length of his arm at the impossibility he saw there. He was covered in dark black fur, from shoulder to fingers, and great claws jutted from the beds of his nails. Orion let out a whimper as he looked at the rest of himself, what he could see whilst hanging in suspension.

He was covered in the black fur, and claws jutted from his toes as well, though not nearly as long as the ones on his fingers. How had this happened?! As if he wasn’t already enough of a freak; the doctor had to do some mad science like the old scientists of the facility!

He reached up to his head, wishing, hoping that nothing had changed there. But it was not to be, for his fingers brushed against two giant, bone-like structures jutting from his forehead. He had horns! Horns, for goodness sakes! He slapped the other hand against the glass tubing angrily, trying to get the doctor’s attention.

The doctor barely looked up, disinterested in Orion’s little fit. Orion gritted his teeth, wanting out of the tube so that he could hurt the male that had hurt him . He wanted out so he could tear and shred into the doctor, for what little good it would do against the doctor’s hard bones.

Unbeknownst to him, his horns had begun to glow, forming a ball of energy between the two curled horns. The doctor looked up in response to the glowing, and stared in interest at the show before him. Orion growled, seeing the doctor’s interest now, and, still unknowing of the glow, beat his fists against the tubing again.

A moment later, a blast rocked the inside of the tubing as energy from his horns exploded, attacking the tubing keeping him trapped. But the tubing had been magically reinforced, and the energy did little but send the solution waving back and forth a little. Orion shook angrily as his body was rocked back and forth. Why did things always turn out bad for him? He just wanted out!

He closed his eyes, fury draining from him as depression welled up, taking fury’s place in his mind. Orion let himself go limp, giving up altogether. The doctor was going to do whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted to Orion, and there wasn’t a damn thing the kid could do to stop him.

The next few hours were a blur of tests and experiments done on the poor kid. He was taken out of the tube and put into a large room covered with charred marks and the remains of old bones. The doctor stayed behind a walled-off room, with a large glass window to see into the room.

Orion was forced to fight several small monsters. Somehow, he manifested several more blasts from the horns on his head, causing the monsters he was fighting to fall back, covered in fire. At the end of it all, he was covered in bruises and bites from the little buggers, and he was exhausted. The doctor brought him back to his cell, and he fell onto the bench, and fell asleep right away.

. . .

Over the next several weeks, Orion was forced to used his newfound magic against several different monsters, and when he tried to resist the doctor’s orders to kill, he was tortured by the doctor himself. He was left with several new scars on his body, and a newfound fear of the doctor. He now flinched every time the doctor raised his hand in Orion’s direction.

Sobs still came from the other cell at night, often keeping Orion up. When hearing the cries of 1-s, all Orion could do was feel depressed and deflated. There was nothing he could offer 1-s to make him feel better, especially when he himself felt so down. It was like there was to be no end to his suffering. He couldn’t escape the facility, and he couldn’t escape this place. He had no power. Even with all his abilities, his newfound magic, his teleportation… none of it meant anything, in the end.

He was still just as weak as the scientists had always told him. ...If he was strong, he’d be able to escape. He’d be able to take 1-s and 2-P away from here, far, far away, and keep them safe for all eternity. But he couldn’t. Instead, he just sat there, day after day, following the damn doctor’s orders and letting himself be pushed around. Because he was weak.

A sudden blue glowing stopped Orion’s thoughts in his tracks. It was the middle of the night, but there was a glow coming from the corridor. Orion frowned, walking to the edge of the forcefield and peering out through the bars. The glowing was coming from the other cell. “H-hey! You guys OK in there?” He called softly.

The glowing stopped abruptly, and there was the sound of shuffling before someone -1-s- answered. “yeah, we’re fine.”

Orion hesitated, before calling out again: “Y-you doing alright, though? Really.”

There was a pause before he was answered. “We’re fine. Just … just fine.”

Orion made a face, but he understood. How could they be anything more than just fine? They lived in this hellhole, after all.

He sighed, and returned to his bench, wishing he had something to do. Even the color cube that he was bad at, like what 1-s and 2-P had. But he had nothing but his thoughts to entertain himself. He curled up on the bench, closing his eyes, willing himself to sleep.

Chapter Text

ENTRY NUMBER ~~~~~

Since becoming part monster, Subject 3-O has become quite stubborn with me. He questions me at every turn. I have had to be very strict with him, and set up proper punishments for disobeying my orders. He now flinches at every move I make. It makes no difference in the long run. As long as he obeys me, what does it matter if he fears me?

I have been having him test his monster magic. He seems to have adapted well to it, and there is no sign of interference with the monster soul, which is an interesting development. All previous records suggested that the monster soul would have some measure of control within the body… but then, all previous records were that of a Boss Monster’s soul . A regular monster’s soul has never been absorbed by a human before. I have achieved that which was thought to be impossible. If only my research wasn’t to be kept secret… Well, maybe once I have broken the barrier and am hailed as Savior of Monsterkind, I can reveal what I have done.

The next few weeks were a blur of tests for Orion. But an incident with the skeleton brothers stood out to him. He remembered it because 2-P came back from the incident covered with bandages, and the two of them had nightmares for days after whatever had happened to them. Orion found more and more reasons to hate the doctor with each passing day.

The doctor kept wanting him to kill small monsters, and when Orion refused, he was punished, -quite painfully. And when Orion demanded to know why the doctor wanted him to kill monsters, he was punished even more. Orion personally thought the doctor didn’t even know why, and that was why he was being punished.

It was a normal day, when it happened. The doctor was taking 2-P for testing, and he needed the color cube for something. Thing was, 1-S had the color cube. Inside the cell. The doctor reached for the color cube through the energy beams, and next thing Orion knew, there was a brilliant flash of light and the doctor was on the floor.

Orion was inside his cell of course, but with his handy teleportation ability, that was quickly fixed, and he was suddenly kneeling next to the doctor. “This is our chance,” He hissed, looking triumphantly up at 1-S and 2-P. 1-S looked as triumphant as he, while 2-P looked hesitant.

“B-BUT… H-HE’S HURT…” 2-P said.

“So?” Orion said. “He’s hurt us in the past! Way worse, too!”

“B-BUT!”

“But nothing! I’m grabbing his hand and we’re leaving!” Orion said. Orion had seen how the skeletons could detach their limbs without seemingly feeling a thing, before. He felt around, dragging out the doctor’s arm, and grabbing the hand at the end of the arm, pulling on one end with one hand, and holding the hand with his other hand.

With a soft pop, it came loose, and Orion held the hand up to the handpad on the wall. It beeped, releasing the beams of light. 1-S raced forward, grabbing 2-P before he could lean down and do anything to the doctor. “no, brother!” he protested.

“What is wrong with you?” Orion asked in disbelief. “He’s hurt us so many times! How could you even think of healing him?”

2-P looked away. “I’M NOT LIKE HIM. I CAN’T JUST STAND THERE AND LET HIM DIE!”

“He’s not going to die, he’s too powerful to just die from something like that! In fact, he might wake up at any moment, so let’s get out of here!” Orion urged.

2-P still looked hesitant, but let his brother drag him away from the doctor’s body. Orion pocketed the doctor’s hand, in case they ran into another handpad exiting the building.

It was a good thing he did, for when he caught up to the brothers, and they found the exit, another handpad stood next to the door. Orion held the hand next to the handpad, and it beeped, opening the door. They piled into the small enclosure beyond the door, and Orion noticed the buttons next to the open door.

It was an elevator, Orion recognized. He pressed the up arrow, and the doors slid shut. For a moment, nothing happened. Then they were moving upward, and the lights were flickering. Then all movement stopped, and the doors slid open again.

The elevator doors opened to the inside of another lab. It was dark in the lab, and Orion was careful to check each corner before he turned, wary of anyone catching them escaping. Who knew what sort of terrible people worked for the doctor?

2-P and 1-s stole behind him quietly as he found a door that had the word: EXIT written above it in big, bold, red lettering. This door had no pad next to it, so Orion didn’t bother to hold up the doctor’s hand. The doors slid open into a blast of dry heat.

There was nothing but orange and red as far as the eye could see. Orange and red rocks lined the pale orange, dusty dirt road they now stood upon. A lone stick lay off the path, and Orion dropped the doctor’s hand to pick up the stick -it was a better weapon in case someone were to attack them.

They hurried across the orange landscape, keeping the lab to their back. They had to escape, no matter what. After a while of running, 1-s panted out, “we’ve gotta stop for a minute.”

Orion turned to see 2-P panting heavily and 1-s collapsed on the ground. Both of them looked completely exhausted. “we can’t keep this up” 1-s said, and his expression was pained.

Orion sighed. He knew they only had so long to get away from the lab before the doctor woke up and found them gone. They needed to get as far away as possible before that happened. But 1-s and 2-P were clearly not built for long, hard journeys. Or at least, not at the pace they’d been taking.

“Alright, let’s walk awhile,” Orion relented. “But we have to get far, far away.”

“I… know…” 1-s panted. “We… can’t let… him catch us…”

“WE SHOULDN’T HAVE LEFT HIM LIKE THAT!” 2-P worried. “HE’LL BE EXTRA MAD, NOW.”

“He was going to be mad no matter what,” Orion pointed out. “He had to know this was an eventual possibility. That’s why he put those tracking devices on our hands, after all.”

“WE STILL SHOULDN’T HAVE LEFT HIM,” 2-P said. “HE WAS HURT…”

“He’ll be fine,” Orion scoffed. “It’s us I’m worried about.” They still had no idea where to go, after all. They could be walking to a dead end, for all they knew.

They passed some houses, and Orion warned them to keep quiet. 1-s whispered, “what are those buildings for?”

“People live in them. They’re called houses,” Orion whispered back. “We might find some food in their garbages…”

“YUCK…” 2-P said, screwing his face up in distaste.

“It’s better than starving,” Orion pointed out defensively.

“yeah, come on, bro. we’ve got to keep up our strength,” 1-s urged. 2-P sighed unhappily, but said no more.

Orion peeked into a few trash cans as they passed. He dug up a half-filled bag of ‘chisps’ and a couple half-eaten hamburgers covered in glitter.

He brushed off as much glitter as he could, and passed them to 1-s and 2-P. “Here. These should tide us over for a while,” he said.

1-s chomped down on the sandwich immediately, somehow managing to eat past his fused mouth. Bites disappeared from the sandwich as he held it up to the permanent grinning teeth that made up his mouth.

2-P hesitated before taking a slow bit. Then his eyes sparkled, and he stuffed more in his mouth. “THIS IS GOOD!” he said around mouthfuls.

Orion stuffed a couple chisps in his mouth, satisfying his growling stomach with the salty flavoring. After they were done eating, Orion crumpled up the wrappings and threw them in the trash.

“OK, let’s get going,” he said.

They continued going, walking between the houses quickly. Orion didn’t want the doctor to catch up with them. They soon reached a platform high above the lava, with a bridge spanning a giant chasm. Below, the lava bubbled, sending waves of heat into the air.

“that doesn’t look safe,” 1-s said warningly.

“No shit, sherlock,” Orion griped, rolling his eyes.

“i was just saying!” 1-s complained. “no need to be rude.”

“Sorry, I’m just on edge. I’m hoping we got far enough away…” Orion apologized.

1-s sighed. “me too.”

2-P looked anxiously between them. “UH… SHOULD WE GO BEFORE THE DOCTOR CATCHES UP?” he asked.

“Right,” Orion grunted. He looked over the chasm and then beat his wings experimentally. He hadn’t used them in so long, but he remembered using them to carry huge loads before… “I’ll carry you guys across… I don’t trust that bridge.”

“what?! no way!” 1-s exclaimed.

“Does there look like a better option, 1-s?!” Orion shot back. “We have to get away, and as fast as possible! I’ve carried heavier loads than you two bag of bones before!” At least, they didn’t look very heavy…

“tch, fine…” 1-s grumbled. “but you better not drop him!” he said, gesturing towards 2-P. Orion rolled his eyes.

Shows where your priorities are, buddy . He thought. He scooped up 2-P into his arms, and was pleasantly surprised at how light the skeleton boy was. “Heh, buddy, you need some meat on your bones!” he said, poking 2-P in the ribs lightly, causing the boy to giggle. He then beat his wings and thrust them into the air, soaring over the chasm and landing lightly on the other side.

He set 2-P down, and went over to get 1-s, who was even lighter than 2-P. “Come on, Grumpy Gus, let’s go,” Orion joked, and they were off, with a glare from 1-s, only underscoring Orion’s point.

As soon as they landed, 1-s scrambled away from Orion with another glare, and grabbed 2-P’s hand. “c’mon bro…” he muttered.

“Geez,” Orion murmured himself. “Guess he doesn’t like jokes…” He thought as they continued on into a cooler, bluer portion of the Underground.