I did not mean to do that.

Yes you did. You're a monster after all.

No. No. The human is annoying, yes, but I would never give him pain. Nobody but them deserve pain.

Why not? You got pain. Oh but you deserved it, didn't you?

N-no.

Yes?

No. No, I did not.

Yes. Yes you did.

I didn't! I don't deserve this pain! It's too much. No. I don't deserve it. I...I don't.

Yes you did and yes you do. You know why? Because you are weak and the weak, the weak only get pain. It's all they deserve.

I am not weak!

You are weak, little Kuzma. You and everyone of your people, and that is why you all deserve this pain. That is why the gods abandoned you. That is why the sirins burned under the wrath of the gods. That is why you are all fallen.

So feel the pain, weak one, for that is all your existence can give you and it is all you can give anyone.

#

"I'm sorry," Kuzma apologized after a moment of silence, sitting beside the human with his legs drawn up to his chest and his eyes on his toes.

The voices battling out in his mind only made him feel worse so he talked to shut them up, but since they all seemed to have his voice, it wasn't like he could have truly shut them up.

"Forget it. Wasn't your fault," the human said through deep breaths.

Kuzma looked down at the man's hands to see them clenched tight then up at the man's face, his eyes closed and breathing deeply. His expression would've given off the idea of a relaxed person while his body betrayed his facade. He was going through that pain because Kuzma couldn't keep himself in control.

"I could've killed you and you tell me to forget it? That it's not my fault? Why do you not seek revenge?" Kuzma asked, sounding subdued even to himself.

Kuzma was beginning to think that the human was unhinged, simply from the way the man had tried to comfort Kuzma through his own pain, and then the human tells him that it wasn't his fault? That Kuzma should forget it?

And then he let out that short, breathy laugh of his when Kuzma told him that the sirin could have killed him.

It was a fact in his mind. The human was mad.

"You've been threatening my life since you woke up and now--" the human said, wincing when he shifted upwards, "--now it'd be bad if you did kill me? You're a really confusing guy, Kuzma, and that's not including the feathers."

Kuzma glared at the human, his irritation quickly returning to chase away the guilt bit by bit.

"I can still kill you now for being so fucking annoying," Kuzma growled and his irritation turned to sharp anger when the usually blank man let out another small laugh.

"Nah. I think I'm growing on you. Maybe? No? Ah well," the human babbled on, his hands unclenching slowly.

The movement brought Kuzma back down from his rage, his eyes falling on the slightly muscled abdomen, littered with small black hair leading to inside the man's pants, and the dark bruise forming around it, practically covering his whole torso.

If he had hit just little higher, where the human's ribs were, with just a bit of his real strength, he would have shattered every bone in the human's body and successfully killed the only person in the world he actually had.

He did not want to admit it, not through the days he had been staying in the small home. He did not want to admit that although he still didn't trust the human and although he still found the man annoying, the human was the only person Kuzma had in the entirety of the world.

There were probably other sirins out there. Maybe one or two hiding away in darkness from the gods that were hunting them down like prey, maybe, and that was a stretch, but what did that matter? Sirins protected their own, their clans, everyone and everything else be damned, and Kuzma was the very last of his clan.

He remembered how his captors taunted him about it night and day too. The last Korona, they said. The only raven sirin left in this known world, and the most pitiful to ever exist.

So pitiful, that he felt guilt at almost extinguishing the life of a weak human, all because Kuzma feared being left alone again. What raven felt guilt at something like that?

One that's only known pain and wouldn't wish it on anyone.

"Hey Kuzma?"

Kuzma blinked his eyes rapidly, looking up to see the human already staring at him with his unreadable gaze.

Whenever the human had that look, the sirin couldn't help but wonder what the man was thinking. Sure, all he needed to do was sing a few notes and the human's mind was Kuzma's little puppet strings, the man the puppet, but he didn't. Mostly because he would've preferred the company of an actual being with a brain over a mindless minion.

"How are you?" the human asked, voice soft and like many times before, the man threw the sirin off.

"What does that matter?" Kuzma asked, more confused than anything.

He is the one in pain, isn't he?

"It does matter, dude. You went into a bad place in your head again and I'm just wondering if you're okay. Do you need anything? Soup? Fruit? Fruit juice? Chocolate? I could run you a quick bath, though I'd need to quickly shower cause of work and all, an--"

Kuzma had stopped listening by then, blinking owlishly as this man went on and on about getting Kuzma comfortable.

He had practically thrown the human around like some old pillow, caused him harm and could have possibly caused him future harm and possible death, yet the man was only thinking about Kuzma's needs.

It's fake, his mind immediately told him and Kuzma nodded at that.

It's fake. Nobody is kind. Nobody is that kind. He's just trying to get me off guard. He's just a really good actor.

It's fake.

Kuzma jumped slightly when a hand was placed on top of his head. Closing his eyes, expecting pain, Kuzma blinked them wide open with surprise when the hand just remained on his head, gentle and warm.

"It's okay, Kuzma. Don't think too much, alright? Shit happens, let's just be glad I'm alive."

He looked up at the human, and the man, the one Kuzma had scarred, called stupid, insulted, destroyed the home of, invaded his space and then thrown across the room...

That human just smiled at him like it was all, truly, okay. Like he understood, like Kuzma did absolutely nothing wrong.

It's fake. It's a lie. It's fake. It's a lie.

But...what if it isn't? What if it's real? Then what?