Finch wasn’t sure how long he’d been out since they’d carried him shaking and crying back to his holding cell, but now that’d he’d finally woken up, surprisingly free of restraints, absolutely every inch of his skin itched. Something in the back of his head told him this was normal…but he wasn’t quite sure where that thought came from. He couldn’t ever remember experiencing this before, let alone be told about it and yet the sensation was oddly familiar to him almost comforting in a backwards sort of way. He struggled to rub his hand against his arm in an attempt to alleviate some of it, feeling odd bumpy scaly patches under his fingers, but he was too tired and painful to care. He lay there pressing his hot face against the cool tile underneath trying to will himself to shift off his aching shoulder when something touched him, making jump and scream in panic as memories came flooding back to the surface that he never remembered living….Of pain and violence of swinging fists and flashes of white and cracks of bone.
“Finch it’s alright,”
Finch…who was…Finch? Oh…that was him wasn’t it? “I’m sorry I scared you…and….oh my good gods Finch I am so sorry I didn’t find you sooner” he knew that voice…but from where? “But we’re going home now.” The voice paused, waiting for something, “Can you move? Do you want me to carry you?” All that came out when he tried to make a noise was a pathetic squeak. In his sleep he must have screamed his throat raw, “You look sick, when’s the last time you ate?” Finch struggled to turn to see who was speaking to him, gazing up tiredly at the man who hovered above him looking down at him worried from behind foggy glasses. Was he…crying? “Oh…oh Finch…” he felt foreign panic well up in his throat. Suddenly the urge to run became overpowering, but run from what? He couldn’t move…the only thing in the room was the one person he begged the universe would find him…what was he scared of?
“S…safe…safe” he reached a tired hand towards his uncle, the older vampire took it, rubbing the back of his palm with his thumb as he dabbed at Finch’s face with a cloth. Streaks of blood ran from the gash on his nose he didn’t remember getting, down towards his chin and had caked in his already matted hair. The light on the ceiling above was out, as it seemed all the electricity for the room as the frigid temperature had started to warm up.
“You’re safe now. You’re safe sush” the man tossed the cloth to the side, stained beyond repair as he gently worked his hands under Finch’s body as he moved to lift him, “Common…Let’s get you home. You’re going home”
“O..out…ha..have to..free” there it was again. He couldn’t tell…no, wasn’t thinking? His voice seemed to play out on its own, and it didn’t sound like the familiar reverb of his own speaking tone. It sounded so…foreign. He tensed in discomfort as his uncle lifted him up as gingerly as he could manage, resting Finch’s head on his wet collar. The man hadn’t just been crying. He’d been sobbing.
“It’s ok…it’s going to be ok” he repeated, walking as quickly as he could without jostling the boy making his way towards the exit as fast as possible. Stepping over broken bodies of guards and smashed rubble of doors and walls that had tried to stop him. How did he not wake up when he was breaking his way in here? If not for the screams then for the sudden copious amounts of food? His stomach didn’t even feel hungry any more, just twisted in tense knots that made him nauseous. His eyes locked on the sky as his uncle opened the door, starts in full view as they exited the bunker of an entrance.
“FREE!” Finch felt his entire body lunge at the first glimpse of open skies, thoughts becoming foggy as his uncle held him tight
“Finch! Finch no! You can’t stand right now you really think you can fly?!” the boy’s eyes glowed red, thrashing and hissing at the man holding him snapping at his fingers as he tried to deal with the sudden outburst
“Let GO!” the man flinched. There was that other voice again. “Let go let GO LET GO! Have to…FREE! Let me free! Let us FR—“ Finch’s body froze, looking down at his hands for the first time since he’d woken up, flexing them and turning them over. Grey skin and hard black scales greeted him. Where had the pale flesh of his skin gone? “Us…us…n…no”
“C…..couldn’t fight” the memory of right before he passed out started to trickle back
“Had to…get free” the sudden notice of an absence of the demon…no the sudden presence of Finch?
“C…cant…Can’t get…” the boy’s body tensed again, Finch’s uncle bracing for another thrashing before Finch’s hands gripped his own skull ripping hair and feathers out as his newly talloned fingers tightened and he let out a heartbreaking scream that pierced the silence of the night. Full of terrifying panic, regret…Rage, anger…Misery. All the fight he had left in him went with that scream, And in its place, memories had come crashing back. He had failed. They had failed. The spell…the spell had worked. Finch’s body tried desperately to catch its breath, hyperventilating as his uncle set him down, sitting behind him to support the exhausted boy as his scream turned into sobbing.
“It’s not fair”
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