Chapter 1: Prologue
Chapter Text
For a long time now, I’d been wandering around in a vast, murky darkness. The air was thick, poisoning my every breath, yet it felt so soothing, seeping through my nostrils and claiming my lungs the way it did. An eerie mist had curled around my naked body, fully embracing my torso and limbs as I moved forward, my feet stepping on something that felt like mud.
I sensed that I was there for a reason—but I didn’t know where I was headed for. I only knew that I was looking for a person or two. In a place like this, I was bound to find them.
Still, it felt strange being able to cross such a distance on my own two feet. I faintly recalled that, before finding this place, I hadn’t walked for a very long time. Quite frankly I’d never missed it. It felt so odd receiving this gift in a place like this.
My steps slowed down. I thought to myself that I’d gladly give up my ability to walk in exchange for someone else’s presence next to me. Why would I need to walk anyway? That blessing alone came with a long list of rules and responsibilities. I had to choose my pace; my endurance; my destination. I had to meet strangers on the way. Face dangers. What I wouldn’t give for somebody else to take care of all that for me.
I dropped to the soggy ground, the mist enveloping my body softening my fall. I lowered my palms to the black surface my calves and knees were touching, feeling the warm, soft texture below. Lowering my face to the ground and sniffing a couple of times, I realized that this surface resembled wet soil. Earth. But not quite.
All of a sudden, I felt someone else’s presence in front of me. Heart beating wildly inside my chest, I cautiously raised my head, wondering if that ‘someone’ was a person I wanted to see.
My eyes widened as I witnessed the most beautiful face I’d ever laid my eyes on. That clear, soft-looking skin. Those perfect proportions. That cold, savage look belittling me from those bright emerald eyes.
That face was pierced—much like the nude, perfect body below it. I saw pieces of silver on the man’s eyebrow, his bottom lip, his ears. And even lower: his perky, pink nipples, his navel, his delicious-looking privates.
That was a body of a god: a god who knew just how godly he was. Lean, smooth, and toned, he quietly studied me who looked the exact opposite.
“That’s a good start,” he purred, eyes watching me with a calculating glint. “but you’re not quite in the right position.”
I was still so shocked—so enraptured by his presence—that I’d forgotten how to speak. The man didn’t seem to mind that.
“Here,” he said in his smooth, velvety voice, “let me help you.”
Then, all at once, my body was moving on its own: My knees had closed together, my arms raised high above my head, and my torso was bending down slowly, hands pointed right at him. Then my weak, barely existing muscles pulled my spine upwards again, only for them to relax slightly and move me straight down after that.
I was worshiping him.
Chapter 2: Chapter 1
Chapter Text
Dark Perspective
The sun had risen an hour ago in Vanitas, but it seemed that the sky would remain dark all day. It was a bleak day. The World War had just ended, leaving Queen Victoria the sole monarch on an international scale.
Only a few hundreds of years after its establishment, her territory was no longer a kingdom, but an empire—a global empire. Her country was now comprised of a few different nations with people who differed a lot from each other. And the people of Vanitas were the oddest of them all.
Their enemies could hardly believe it. How could a small, newly-established kingdom crush them to such a devastating degree? How had they gotten their hands on so many new weapons? How had they come up with such intricate viruses designed for the people of an entire planet, except for the ones who developed them? And why the hell did all their soldiers look like models?!
The citizens of Vanitas—or Vanities, as they were often called—were cut off from the rest of the world. They were not allowed to see what the other countries looked like, something that also prevented them from sharing information about their own kingdom. Many of them often wondered what Queen Victoria and her ancestors had to hide. But the authorities always made sure to silence these voices.
The Empress and her Diamond Palace knew that there were two main reasons why Vanitas had grown to become so different from the rest of the world: one practical and one ideological, both merged into a single radical Constitution:
One of its most popular laws was that no Vanity was allowed to live past their 30th year. All citizens would eventually present themselves to the Purification Order and wait for their bodies to be recycled. If someone tried to break this particular law and didn’t present themselves on time, the sentence was already decided: execution after violent torture. The Purification Order would soon locate and punish any perpetrators to restore the balance inside the empire.
A lesser, if not equivalent, punishment was in store for anyone who neglected their appearance, their physical condition, or even their smell. The ugly, the disabled, and the stinking could be sent to Purification Camps if their condition was taken too far. Getting out of the house without taking a shower or brushing one’s teeth was very risky; and getting acne, putting on weight, or suffering a big accident was out of the question. No one should have to suffer from living alongside such impurity and degradation. And if a single human being was ever allowed to let loose, then more would surely follow. The authorities had to take great care not to let such a thing happen.
If women walked outside with a short skirt and poorly shaven legs, they were bound to get a visit from the law enforcers and be given some ‘friendly warning’. The same law applied to men developing thinning hair. They would have to be treated for their condition, otherwise the Purification Order would wipe them out before they became too much of an eyesore for the rest of the Vanities.
Of course, living in Vanitas came with several more tangible perks: The romantic partners would never have to worry about their lover not taking care of themselves. In a world where every human was required by law to be beautiful, it would be too much of a risk to stand out.
Even more importantly, no Vanity would ever have to worry about being unwanted or alone. Everyone, no matter how foolish or toxic, was bound to find someone. Few would say no to an athletic body and a pretty face. And when this package was accompanied by qualities such as charm, quick wit, and strong will, the person would be irresistible. Vanitas was truly the perfect place for humans to fall—and stay—in love.
For all these ideological reasons and more, thousands of Vanities were eliminated every day—willingly or not. The nation in its entirety needed to stay young, confident, and strong, and the Diamond Palace surely wasn’t planning on wasting funds on nursing old people who were useful to no one. There was no need to try and preserve a life when it so desperately wanted to perish. An old man’s failing body was enough proof of that.
As for the decision-makers, they only had to keep a simple rule-of-thumb in mind: If the population always stayed in the prime of its life, the royal Army would be invincible compared to the enemy soldiers of their neighboring countries, aged from 18 to 50 or even 60 years old. And because the Diamond Palace didn’t waste money on nursing the useless, they could instead invest it on exclusive martial training, firearms, and other types of weapons.
Vanitas was being managed this carefully since its very beginning. Its founder was well aware that the laws he was about to establish were going against the freedom of human nature, thus rendering his kingdom ever-fragile and prone to revolutions. This alone made the need for discipline and close monitoring of its people all the more necessary.
All this strict supervision, the painstaking micromanagement of the economy, as well as the isolation of the kingdom from the outside world to prevent the spreading of information, contributed to the victory of Vanitas in the World War—the first global-scale war on the planet.
The kingdom of beauty and youth had just passed the test of progress set by its neighbors and shown that it was possible for a new, small nation to defeat every other country in the world. The only threat remaining was a latent yet ever-existing issue that now threatened to shake the kingdom to its core: a potential uprising.
The Diamond Palace understood that their laws may occasionally stir displeasure in the hearts of the Vanities and was in a constant struggle to keep the roots of revolution under wraps. At times, mothers were reluctant to surrender their disabled newborns to the authorities. Others considered it unfair to be killed after developing a serious disease later on in their lives. And a few people were simply fed up with the entire Constitution and were trying to overthrow the government. Each person had their own moral system and, more often than the imperials would like, this system would clash with the interests of the Diamond Palace.
Stability had always seemed fragile and yet, surprisingly, it had never caused any regime-threatening issues to this day. Nonetheless, things seemed to be different now that the Queen had become an Empress over a single night. She now had to keep the entire world under her iron rule. And unlike her own law-abiding and well-trained citizens, the new people she was expected to assimilate might show some… discomfort upon hearing about the new laws which they were expected to obey.
After all, today was the day when the famous Purification Expeditions would be launched. Over the next few weeks, millions of people, either too ugly or over 30 years old, would be hunted down and executed. Families would be torn apart. And no matter how tired the survivors would be after the war and the carnage that would follow, Vanitas would have to keep fighting to stay standing.
Empress Victoria had prayed long and hard on the night of her victory. There was no particular deity that she and her people believed in, but if there was someone out there watching over them, she would desperately need their help.
To her surprise, as well as that of her closest advisors, the answer to her prayers came a few hours later. In the dull and moist early morning that had followed her fitful sleep, there was a black-hooded stranger making their way to the Diamond Palace. Unbothered by the chilly weather, the light drizzle, and carelessly stomping over the corpses of the few desperate foreigners who had somehow made it to the capital, the mysterious figure kept advancing with hollow yet unwavering intent. They were certain that the contents of their basket would open any door. And even the imposing, diamond gates of the Palace wouldn’t stand in the way of the weapon they brought.
The black-clad figure stopped in front of the tall, imperial gates. The guards didn’t even exchange a glance before rushing forward to open them wide for the stranger to pass. They asked no questions, made no threats. They didn’t know why, but the sight of that… person… had triggered some raw, unconscious feeling inside them.
Fear. Powerlessness. The sense that they’d lose their way if they were to refuse this stranger’s wishes.
Soon enough, the mysterious individual found their way into the throne room. Empress Victoria was already there and had been warned that someone important sought an audience with her.
The woman’s dark blue eyes fell on the hooded figure and, immediately, a cold shiver crawled down her spine. She wasn’t sure why. She had seen much abnormality in her life, and this one should be no different. All she could see was black robes, loosely draped over a form of skeletal frame, so thin it practically begged for a punishment under her kingdom’s—no, her empire’s—laws. Her Imperial Majesty was about to point that out when a small voice inside her begged her not to.
Was that oddity the answer to her last night’s prayers, or perhaps something else she should fear?
Chapter 3: Chapter 2
Chapter Text
Dark Perspective
The stranger waited patiently—or so one might assume, judging by their motionless stance.
Empress Victoria couldn’t but turn her attention to the big, round basket they held.
“What have you brought me, stranger?” she asked, standing up from her throne and taking a tentative step closer.
The imperial guards and advisors lingering in the room were holding their breath. Somehow, they could all sense that the events of this day would signal the end of an era. Even the Empress had to feel that. There was something eerie about the appearance of the black-clad figure, and yet no one—not even the monarch herself—had the courage to say something about it.
The Empress inhaled a sharp breath as soon as she took a better look at the contents of that basket. There were two babies in there, huddled close together, looking vastly different. One of them was clinging to the other in a way that almost seemed unfit for a baby. It was a boy with violet hair and unfeeling green eyes without pupils. In a way, these eyes felt even more intimidating and dangerous than an adult’s. But more importantly, this little boy was the most beautiful person she’d ever seen. The sight of him almost made her weep.
There was definitely something special about him.
The woman’s gaze then moved to the other baby—that thing that the boy was clinging to. Her Imperial Majesty nearly forgot how to breathe as she scrutinized its face: That was the ugly face of a monster, half-hidden by the boy’s arms. That gut-wrenching thing seemed to be a baby girl, judging by the pink overalls covering her strangely wrinkled body. She was curled up in a ball next to the beautiful boy. Did the female foolishly think that the other baby would protect her from the eyes of the world?
Empress Victoria looked at the black-clad figure again, her eyes narrowing. She stared at their black hood, hanging so low she couldn’t see their face at all. She wasn’t even sure she wanted to see what was hiding under that fabric; and yet at this point, she would stop at nothing to get the answers she was owed.
Perhaps the stranger was letting her take one of the babies—in which case she would of course choose the boy. They couldn’t possibly expect her to take both. After all, that female monster symbolized everything her empire strove against.
Having grown quite tired of waiting around, the woman finally made up her mind and reached inside the basket. However, no sooner had she done this than the boy turned away from the other baby and shoved his hand into her palm, trying to push her away. His tiny fingers dug into her skin with a strength that seemed far too unnatural for such a small creature—and almost drilled holes in her palm.
The Empress immediately snapped her hand back and stared at the boy in shock. This baby was no human, she was sure of it now.
“Is he a…?” she asked the mysterious figure, failing to complete her sentence.
The stranger nodded slowly.
“And this monster is his…”
The stranger nodded again.
Empress Victoria had heard stories about creatures like this boy; undocumented stories, mostly treated as fiction. There had been so few cases across history, that people nowadays considered them to be myths. And yet here he was, glorious even from his birth, clinging to something that looked even more alien than him.
“What exactly is it that you want from me, stranger?” asked the woman, trying to keep her voice firm. “Because if you want me to involve myself and my Empire in this… odd case… I’m afraid that I’ll have to refuse.”
Eerily motionless and calm, the mysterious person responded with a vision:
The Empress’s eyes glossed over as she began to lose her sight. Her sense of hearing faded too, just as the panicked voices of her advisors and guards reached her ears. But by that point, she was far too lost; far too distanced from the real world. It was almost as if she’d suddenly been teleported into another dimension.
All her senses were reborn on the inside, focusing on giving life to a vision dictated by some external source… by that black-clad stranger controlling her body in the throne room.
In her mind, her Imperial Majesty saw that boy again, his pupil-less eyes glowing brighter than she could ever imagine. His face had begun to assume an expression of blood-chilling glee when that image faded away too. In its place, images of barren, war-torn lands filled her sight. The Empress was watching burned ground and bombarded villages filled with people. Some of them were dead, their rotting corpses littering the earth, while others were still alive and standing, watching their dead friends and relatives in horror.
Old people… Ugly people… Disgusting. There were so many of them. So many humans with crooked noses, balding heads, sweaty armpits. All these scum were called Vanities now.
All she wanted was to spit on them, then have them tortured and executed. Watch them turn into fertilizer next to these people they’d lost in the war. Her beautiful country had no room for humans like them.
Empress Victoria was starting to lose herself in this hatred, when all her prayers were magically answered. All these monstrosities that were making her eyes hurt—all this ugliness and filth… they were starting to panic. Their eyes flicked to each other, each of them wondering if what was happening to them was affecting the others too.
There was no question about it: It was happening to everyone; to each and every human who made her Imperial Majesty want to puke. A mysterious disease was beginning to spread from person to person like a plague, inflicting only those who were unworthy to live in the new Empire.
The monstrosities started to sweat; their faces turning white as sheets; their eyes beginning to bleed. Then, out of nowhere, glowing green tendrils emerged from within their bodies. They became more and more prominent, until they were bulging on their skin like ugly veins, threatening to burst. They grew and grew; they spread like ivy, slowly overtaking their horrified, unsightly bodies. Then, as soon as the original color of their skin was swallowed completely by vines… they started to explode. One by one. Vein after vein. Human after human. Their organs and flesh, together with the tendrils that bound them, burst into a million pieces; spitting blood and broken bones over everything that was standing close, dying the earth crimson and green.
The human abominations were dying… each and every one of them.
The Empress could hardly believe it. It was a miracle…! And it was happening so fast! Finishing her own work in mere seconds. That green plague was destroying a whole village in the blink of an eye.
Green… Green… It was all the work of that boy, wasn’t it? That boy with the pupil-less eyes was the angel who had come to answer her prayers.
As soon as she’d realized that, the vision disappeared. All of her senses returned in an instant, and the Empress went back to staring at this mysterious figure standing before her in the throne room.
Finally, she understood. This stranger was no ordinary supernatural, but a Deus ex Machina who’d come to save her from managing her new, borderless realm. Because they hadn’t only showed her a vision; They’d shown her the future of those unworthy Vanities should she accept their offer.
With that boy’s power, Empress Victoria was sure that she could bend the whole planet under the laws of Vanitas. Her army wouldn’t have to lift a finger. That boy would kill everyone in their stead and threaten all who dared to voice an objection. All she had to do was take him away from that female.
The woman reached into the basket and did just that. She tore him from that monstrosity he was clinging to, doing her best to ignore the stinging pain caused by his fingers digging into her flesh, now starting to draw blood. She winced at the feeling, but steeled herself and said nothing. This beautiful rabid dog was going to save her Empire from crumbling before her eyes.
“This boy is all I need,” she said finally, trying to hold the raging baby more comfortably in her arms. “Please take the other one out of my sight and have it killed.”
The stranger didn’t react to her words. Surely, they couldn’t be thinking that the monarch of Vanitas would allow this abomination of a human to live, right?
She raised her voice and repeated her order: “Take this thing away from me and kill it before I do.”
That seemed to do it. The mysterious person turned their back to the throne and slowly walked away. The girl in their basket had already begun to shiver. She made no sound, but it was clear how terrified she was now that the boy had been taken away. She could do nothing but let herself be carried away, out of the Palace gates and back into those unwelcoming streets.
It was colder now, and even the rain had picked up when the mysterious figure stepped out again. The green-eyed boy may no longer be there to cover her with his own body, but the girl had at least the roof of that basket to shield her from the icy droplets that fell from the sky.
She waited for a long time, shivering, before the hooded figure stopped walking again. This time, it was in front of a small, run-down house at the edge of the capital. No doorbell was rung and no door was knocked. Nonetheless, after a few seconds, a strange person with a male physique opened the door. He wore a scary black mask, and the rest of his body was covered by a black, hooded robe, similar to his visitor’s.
“What can I do for you, dear stranger?” he asked in a voice that was muffled by some sort of device. The only thing that became apparent was the fact that this person was indeed male.
The mysterious figure gave him no answer, so the man tilted his head slightly to look at the shivering girl in the basket. Then he reached inside, a pair of white, latex gloves showing under the sleeves of his robe. He raised the baby from her temporary bed and held her in his arms.
“I guarantee that your offering will not go to waste,” he said.
The mysterious figure nodded at the man standing on the doorstep and walked away.
Chapter 4: Chapter 3
Chapter Text
Dark Perspective
Eighteen years had passed since the little toy had been taken away from him. For eighteen years, the creature had obediently stayed in the Diamond Palace and fulfilled requests, waiting like a time bomb; growing stronger and stalling.
Thud, thud, thud.
The dull sound of knocking echoed in his empty, white cell, and the boy raised his head. He spotted yet another uniformed person standing outside the door. He could hear keys jingling. His heartbeat picked up. It seemed that his captors had brought him another offering.
Using his elbows and knees, the creature slithered closer to the door. He kept going until the chains that bound his hands and feet to the wall could extend no further. He was more or less sane right now, so he felt no need to keep struggling like a dog.
The officer unlocked the heavy, diamond door. Then in a flash, the door opened and closed with a loud bang—but not before a shackled human was tossed inside like garbage.
The creature’s green eyes began to shine even brighter as he took in the shivering body of his victim. His hands were bound together too, but much unlike the creature, the human looked pathetic in his handcuffs.
“Y-You… You’re just a kid,” stammered the old man.
The boy was in no hurry to answer. For a few moments, he just stayed still, relishing the quick succession of expressions on the human’s face.
Shock. Sadness. Fear. Awe. And even a hint of admiration.
It was always amusing to be looked like that by the humans who were brought there to die. These dumb flesh bags, they had to know what was waiting for them. The officers should have already told them. But even if they hadn’t, one look at the creature’s face should be enough for them to know that they wouldn’t leave this room alive.
The boy made no attempt to hide the lust for murder twisting his youthful features. No matter what he did, his prey would always end up stealing those awestruck glances at him, well aware of how stupid that made them. Every single one of them took a moment to admire his long, violet hair that looked silkier and softer than the finest garment. Each filthy flesh bag had stared at his barely covered body with jealousy, adoration, and sometimes even lust. For a moment, it would seem like they’d forgotten that this beautiful angel was going to rip them to pieces. And in that single moment, they’d remind him of her.
The creature’s eyes glossed over.
Only she wasn’t dumb for a moment. She was brain-dead for a lifetime.
The old man’s voice interrupted his reverie. “A-Are you going to kill me?”
Oh well. His little victim was in the mood to talk, it seemed. The creature thought he might as well indulge him.
“No,” he purred in response. “I will protect you from the bad men who brought you here.”
He burst out laughing. Then he crawled a tiny bit closer. The poor human now seemed like he wanted to back away, but he was frozen in place.
“W-Why are they keeping you here?” asked the man in a trembling voice. “Why aren’t you with the other officers in the Order? I’ve seen a couple of kids among them. They must be around the same age as you.”
The old man was stalling. His victims often did, foolishly thinking that they could buy time or convince him to spare them.
“Well…” The creature pretended to be thinking. “It must be because I gutted a few of my superiors before my first mission.” He paused, his face blushing as he remembered that day. “Mmm. I can still feel the warmth of their blood on my skin.”
“…Why?”
“Oh, I had no real reason. Everyone was perfectly nice to me.”
“So why—?”
The boy began to lose his patience. “‘Why!?’ ‘Why!?’,” he mocked. “Because I get a kick out of it! All I've been thinking about for the past minute is how much I’d love to sink my fingers into your chest, shatter your rib cage, and tear out your organs!”
Terrified, the old man finally snapped out of his brief paralysis. He slid further back to a corner, somewhere that the bloodthirsty creature couldn’t reach him.
The young boy smirked and relaxed back in his chains. “Aww. Are you feeling safe now, human?”
The other one didn’t respond. He started to realize that talking was futile when it came to a creature without empathy.
“Come over here.”
The creature’s melodic voice sounded irresistible as he sang those three words. The old man felt the rush to crawl back to him, when a strong gut feeling forced him to stay put.
“I promise to be gentle, little one,” continued the boy. “I’m not going to hurt you… much.”
Knitting his brows, the human averted his eyes. He didn’t want to look at that face. Much like his voice, it was trying to force him into submission.
The creature kept talking: “You really don’t want to stay there.”
That got the old man’s attention. Why? What would happen to him if he stayed away?
“Good~,” praised the creature, seeing his expression change. “Now get closer to me.”
“Why? What can you do without touching me?”
The other one grinned. “Oh, come now, little human. You don’t really think that those officers would bring you to a cell where I can’t harm you.” He turned around and looked at his restraints before continuing: “Do you think that my chains are that short to let humans like you escape me?”
“What is the reason then?”
The creature kept smiling. He kept staring at the man with unfeeling eyes while focusing his new power on his victim. Slowly. Very slowly.
He watched the human’s features starting to twist in bewilderment, then horror. He saw those tiny green tendrils starting to protrude from his skin like worms, eating him from the inside. The creature felt his own eyes starting to bleed. Then the old man screamed.
“STOOOOOOP!!! PLEASEEE!”
The boy stopped. Not because he was moved by the man’s pleading. Not because his pain was more agonizing than the human’s. But because he wanted… needed… to tear into some skin himself.
He looked at the old man expectantly and, dejectedly, the latter slid closer. The creature moved further back, allowing the human to come even closer to the back wall of his cell.
He was finally obedient like the boy wanted. He was going to enjoy this.
“Lie down for me,” he purred. “Face up.”
Shivering, the human did as requested. Whatever was going to happen to him, it couldn’t be worse than what he’d already experienced. No living creature should be allowed to have this much power to cause pain. He was coming to understand why this particular boy was locked in a cell and bound in shackles.
The chains rustled as the creature climbed on top of him. At first, the old man wondered why he’d need to do this. But as he felt the nearly bone-crushing strength with which he was pressing down on him, he understood. The boy needed to make sure that he wouldn’t go anywhere.
There was nothing human about him, was there?
The creature gazed down at him with a giant, loving smile.
“That’s perfect!” He beamed. “Oh, we’re going to have a wonderful time together!”
The old man’s heart started to thump so fast, it seemed like it would stop. He begged it to stop. He didn’t want to be alive for what would come next. He was trembling like crazy.
Finally, the boy lowered his face to the base of his neck. He wouldn’t go for the throat right away. He wanted to relish the beautiful screams of agony.
Time seemed to come to a stop. For a moment that felt like blissful eternity, he stayed completely still, staring at that last patch of skin that wasn’t covered by clothes. He smelled and watched the sweat trickling down from the human’s neck and dampening the hem of his shirt.
He couldn’t wait any longer. He dipped straight down to the sensitive skin, opened his mouth wide, and sank his sharp, pointed teeth into his victim’s flesh. He couldn’t help it—he also broke the collarbone. Deep, nearly inhuman screams escaped from the man below him as the creature closed his jaws and tore out a mangled piece of bloody flesh and bone. He kept it in his mouth for a moment, feeling the warm blood trickling down his throat, before spitting it out and moving on even further, to his shoulder.
He cracked and split bones as effortlessly as he tore into flesh. After all, his teeth were not made of the same substance as a human’s. So he used them to open up more and more holes into his victim’s body. Drunk in his own ecstasy, the creature kept eating into the human without stop.
All the pleading and the screams died down at some point. The boy didn’t know if he’d finally managed to kill the man, or if he was so lost in his frenzy that he couldn’t hear sounds anymore. His own body was splitting in half now too, desperate to tear, to ruin, to kill.
It didn’t matter that he’d lost his grip on ‘reality’. Nothing mattered other than ripping that human into shreds.
…
A few minutes passed. And eventually, the creature realized that there was nothing left to bite and sever. There was no body lying below him, hardly anything left from its mangled pieces. His knees were touching the cold, hard floor—which was now dyed red from that man’s blood.
The sudden quietness and emptiness of the cell felt like slap on the face. His boundless exhilaration and thrill were quickly receding, leaving him empty and cold. It was a sort of coldness that no human would ever experience. The creature suddenly felt as if his soul was being ripped apart. Behind him, his bound hands felt tense, itching to destroy. But there was nothing left, other than those small, bloody, lifeless pieces scattered across the floor.
Another set of knocking echoed in the cell. This one was softer, less confident than the previous one. The boy already knew who that was.
Chapter 5: Chapter 4
Chapter Text
Dark Perspective
The door was unlocked and a young woman entered. That was Annya, a naïve little nineteen-year-old who had replaced his last caretaker after the creature had killed her.
Annya fearlessly stepped through the mess that he’d made, pushing a small cart along. It was loaded with towels, cleansers, and even a bit of food. She’d also brought along a mop, an empty bucket, and a trash bin.
“That was fast~” purred the creature, green eyes fixed on the human as she wore a set of gloves and got started on cleaning. “Were you anxious to see me?”
Annya blushed and avoided looking at him. “…Maybe. I also didn’t want you to stay in this mess.”
“You know I don’t mind the mess.”
“Maybe so, but it’s best to get your room ready for your next… um, treat.”
The boy grinned. “Look at you, so considerate of me. What did I ever do to deserve you?”
Her head twisted around to look at him, her spotless white face blushing like crazy.
“D-Do you really mean that?”
“Well, I’ve kept you around for a long time, haven’t I? You must know that you mean more to me than everyone else combined.”
The creature’s eyelids lowered ever so slightly as he watched the girl’s face.
There it is, he thought to himself. This expression of helplessness and adoration. She may look nothing like the other female, but she’s always reminded me of her.
While his caretaker wordlessly went back to cleaning, the boy watched her long, blond hair and slight figure. The humans seemed to admire her appearance, but she never let it go to her head. She thought that she was more than just her looks.
The creature felt a dull ache in his chest as he repeated that last thought in his head:
She thinks she’s so much more than that.
“Annya.”
Now almost done cleaning the floor, the young woman turned to him, her expression expectant.
“Come here,” purred the boy.
“B-But the floor’s almost—”
His emerald eyes turned a little harsher. “It’s not the floor I’m interested in.”
The girl kept staring at him, speechless.
“I-I… Yes. Of course.”
Then she meekly walked up to him and knelt down, facing him.
“So shy for me,” praised the creature, watching her clench her hands into fists. “You make me want to touch you, you know.”
“We… We can’t.”
“Oh, but I’m sure you’re dying to feel my hands on you. You think about this before you go to sleep and imagine the things I’d do to you afterwards. Don’t you want to find out?”
“I-I do, but—”
The creature moved his face to the side of hers, his lips an inch from touching her ear.
“Free me, Annya.”
Feeling the creature’s hot breath on her skin, the girl shivered. She wanted him. But he was younger than her, and very often he acted with the maturity of a teenage boy. Besides, who knew what would happen to them if her superiors caught her trying to help him escape?
As if he knew what she was thinking about, the boy added: “Free me, and leave this place with me. I swear, if anyone dares to stand in our way, I’ll rip them apart myself.”
One more shiver. Annya pulled slightly back and looked into his green, pupil-less eyes. Could she really trust him? Would he really protect her from her superiors? Would he keep her safe from the Order and the new Emperor? She barely even knew the boy a whole year, and as far as she was aware, he'd never used his vines on someone beautiful. That power he’d been born with wasn’t meant to be used on just anyone.
“I can’t let you do this,” she finally said, reaching up to her cart and taking a wet handkerchief so that she could wipe the dried blood that had dripped from his eyes. “Overusing your power is clearly taking a toll on you. Do you even know what would happen if you tried to use it on the people you were born to serve?”
The creature grinned. “Oh, do you think I’m going to have my vines kill them, my sweet? That’s cute.”
“Then what…?”
Once again, the boy got close to her and whispered in her ear, “Don’t play coy with me now~. The fact that I’m not showing you personally what I’m capable of doesn’t mean that I’m safe for you humans. Just take a moment and remember the condition of the corpses you’ve found in this cell. How many of them were killed by vines?”
Annya swallowed with some difficulty. “Right. I remember. You’re deadly. And you cannot die.”
“Mmm, that’s correct. Now wouldn’t you feel safe to be around someone like me forever? Do you really think that I’d let anyone hurt you?”
The girl lowered her head. “…No.”
The creature moved his face right in front of hers, until their lips were almost touching. He looked at her under lowered eyelids and repeated, whispering:
“…Free… Me.”
The young woman’s brows rose helplessly, and she felt her resolve starting to sway. Of course, she’d read a report on the boy she was expected to take care of. She hadn’t found a single mention of mind-controlling abilities. But at certain moments—moments like this—she felt that this unique supernatural had hidden talents that prevented her from acting like herself.
Foolish. Careless.
For the past year, she’d been heading further and further down this road. And the creature had known. He’d been reading her like an open book, guiding her every step. Perhaps even without him truly realizing.
Annya stood up and stepped around him to find his bound hands and feet. His chains were laced with magic—making the diamond unbreakable, even for someone like him. She stood still for a moment, gazing down at his limbs quietly. She rarely had the chance to do it, and it was a shame because they were so, so pretty! Slender and well-formed, white and delicate. His hands and feet didn’t have a drop of blood on them, yet they looked just as deadly as the rest of him.
The creature was patient. He didn’t rush her at all while she stared. After all, he knew that by letting her watch him bound like this, she’d only get more convinced to free him.
And he was right. The human decided that such pretty things did not deserve to be restrained. His limbs deserved to do whatever made them happy. And if that was killing other people, then so be it.
She crouched down, reached for a key she’d lately been hiding deep in a pocket of her dress, and turned to his cuffs: first the ones around his ankles, then the ones around his wrists. She nearly couldn’t believe it herself when she saw the diamond part before her eyes and reveal the spotless white skin beneath.
Annya heaved a happy sigh as she watched the boy—now free—shifting into a more comfortable position. She rushed around him again and knelt back in front of him, overjoyed. The gratitude and adoration she could see on his face made it all worth it.
“Oh!” she exclaimed then, suddenly remembering that there was one last thing she had to do in order to fully set him free.
She reached into the same pocket where she’d hid the key for his cuffs and took out a syringe and a small vial. She filled the syringe with the antidote to the poison that was keeping his supernatural powers in check and gently took his arm in her hand so that she could inject him with it.
Slowly. Very slowly. Not wanting to hurt him. As if she wanted him to remember this moment: the moment when she would set him free. After all, she’d secretly anticipated this for a long time.
Then it was done. Annya had emptied all of the antidote right into his vein, and she could swear that he already looked healthier. Smiling sweetly, the creature raised his hands to her face and cupped her cheeks, ready to finally show her what his touch felt like. The girl shivered in response and blushed under his soft, smooth palms.
However, before she realized what was happening, the boy had slapped one hand to her mouth and turned her around while yanking her back against his chest. She would almost consider it romantic if his hand wasn’t pressing so hard down her jaw. She started to feel uncomfortable—really uncomfortable.
The creature leaned down to whisper in her ear: “Shhh~. Stay quiet for me now, yes? I’m gonna kill you nice and quick.”
As soon as she’d heard that, the girl broke into cold sweat. All the things she’d secretly been fearing; all the things her gut had warned her about… had suddenly become reality. And even though she was sort of a masochist, she never wanted to get herself killed.
She started to fight. She tried shaking her head, elbowing him, pulling away. But nothing worked. The boy was much, much stronger than her, and his grip over her mouth and jaw would only get stronger.
“Mmm, finally,” he purred, almost to himself, as he raised his free hand to her throat and… began pressing his fingers in.
His hard nails and fingers slid inside, oh-so-smoothly; effortless and slow, as if they were gliding into jelly. It was exhilarating. And the fact that the girl was trying so desperately to scream against his hand made him tingle with ecstasy.
Then his fingertips found that little pipe that helped humans feed and breathe. It was almost funny how this wet, sticky thing was keeping the flesh bags alive. Letting out a dark chuckle, the creature curled this fingers around it, squeezed hard, then started to pull it out. And he kept pulling and pulling until the whole throat was torn off.
“My, my,” he whispered in the dying girl’s ear as he crushed the soft, bloody thing in his fist. “Annya. Look how wet I’ve got you~”
Then he started to laugh. Maniacally. Louder than ever, for he was finally free. He just couldn’t bring himself to care about staying silent. His cackles could go ahead and alert the guards. He would tear them apart the same way he’d done to any other human he’d happened to meet.
Finally, the creature let the soon-to-be corpse slide off him. The human’s dying, convulsing body dropped to the floor like a rag doll, the pitiful sight of it only raising the boy’s spirits.
For a moment, he just stood there; gazing at the fresh blood gurgling, gushing out in waves from the girl’s neck. And the poor thing could do nothing but stare back at him with those frozen, sad eyes.
The boy felt butterflies in his stomach. He didn’t know what he loved more: the act of killing alone, or the fact that he’d lied to her and betrayed her trust? Both thoughts tasted incredibly sweet.
Cheeks rosy and face intoxicated from that delightful, metallic scent in the air, the creature reached his bloody hand to the cleaning cart and grabbed the bulkier set of keys that the woman had brought with her. He unlocked the heavy, diamond door of his cell and walked out.
He was so lost in his own mania, that he didn’t realize the weight of that first step he’d taken, back to the outside world. It was as if he hadn’t spent most of his life in Vanitas locked between those four walls; As if he hadn’t plotted and lied to find a way out; As if there wasn’t a purpose out there that he kept fixating on. At that very moment, the blood that he’d spilled was the only thing that mattered.
It was the only thing that had stayed with him anyway.
Chapter 6: Chapter 5
Chapter Text
‘Listen to me… Human? I have a small warning for you…’
…
‘You need to put up a fight. I know that this isn’t you, and that my advice might sound reckless at first—but you haven’t seen what I’ve seen. And you’ve made the same mistake far too many times already. This time… I beg of you… try to follow the light.’
…
……
There was a sharp jolt of energy suddenly surging through my brain. And after that, silence.
Hairs standing up straight from the chilly air, I blinked slowly, my eyes languidly perceiving the new world. I found myself in a dull, white room smelling of disinfectant. A lab? Whatever it was, that place had a lifeless vibe to it and felt nothing but cold—both in a literal and a figurative sense.
If I lowered my eyes a bit, I could see my bare nipples standing up, just like my thick, black body hair. I was floating in an elevated pool, filled with a viscous liquid, almost entirely paralyzed. I was mildly scared.
—Yes, mildly. Because whoever had brought me in this condition was unlikely to end me so quickly. I had just opened my eyes, already grown-up and without a clue about how I’d ended up here. There must be a reason why I was in this state, and I was very curious to find out.
I let my eyes wander around the room again—more carefully, this time. There was medical equipment lying around on countertops and down on the floor; a working desk and an uncomfortable-looking chair stuck close together due to the lack of space; and lastly, three doors, each of them closed. The owner of this room must be a little messy, but it was unlikely that they were careless.
There was also an old-looking computer on top of the desk. Its screen—which had been dark until now—flickered open.
The words ‘Purification Order’ filled the screen in bright, white letters before being followed by footage of what seemed like everyday life moments. Despite the ordinary situations being depicted, however, I noticed a recurring theme: Not only were the people in the scenes incredibly beautiful, they all seemed to be smiling way too much. They made shopping for groceries, taking the car to work, and even washing the dishes seem like vacation. I couldn’t help but mentally compare it all to an Orwellian Propaganda.
The same two words eventually showed up again, but with a catchy slogan this time:
‘Shaping the world of your dreams.’
After that, the screen turned black again, leaving me lost in my thoughts for a while. Although it wasn’t exactly thoughts I had at that moment but feelings.
Curiosity. Excitement. Fear.
I found myself wondering where these emotions had sprung from. In a way, I felt like I had just been born, but I didn’t feel as clueless and lost as a newborn probably would. I could sense that my character was more or less shaped, but I didn’t know anything about the specific experiences which had led me to think and feel this way.
Was I some sort of programmed android, or had I already opened my eyes before? Did I have amnesia? If so, why was I lying naked, submerged in what looked like an open cloning tank? I could even consider the case that I’d been reborn, but then again I had no recollections; no memories of a past life to think back to and compare.
In any case, either God had made me or a human. And I was fairly certain that it couldn’t be the latter.
I looked down at my round, hairy belly, three times the size of my breasts.
No. It can’t be a human who made me. Why would a human spend resources and create someone so unattractive from nothing when they could make something beautiful?
All of a sudden, one of the doors in the room opened and someone walked in. I heard steps coming closer to my birth tank—and the next thing I saw was a face of ethereal beauty, framed by a cascade of pure white hair. Spotless and pale, the mysterious man’s features were adorned with small, dainty piercings, beautifully contrasting the lifeless and austere air he carried.
And then there are his eyes: two pale pink orbs with no pupils.
…Are my eyes playing tricks on me? This man doesn’t look human. No… He’s so much prettier than us.
My gaze trailed over his clothes. He was wearing a dark blue shirt and a white doctor’s robe over it. Perhaps he was the one who’d made me open my eyes in this tank and filled my mind with questions. With a little luck, he’d be willing to shed some light on my situation.
Having allowed me a full moment to take him in, his lips curled in a faint smile, causing me to shiver under his gaze.
“You are finally awake,” he said while I kept gawking at him, mesmerized. “Do not be alarmed, but you can’t talk quite well yet. If you want to communicate something to me in other ways, please feel free to do so. I will be on the lookout for it.”
I raised my eyebrows a little, casting him a grateful gaze. He gave me another smile, although it didn’t really reach his eyes.
I didn’t want to jump to conclusions just yet, but there seemed to be something off about this man. It made me feel on edge, but at the same time I couldn’t help but think that this suspicious aura made him even hotter somehow.
My eyes followed him curiously as he pulled the chair from his desk and set it beside my tub. He took a seat and immediately started jotting down words in a notebook.
“My name is Nikklaus—or simply Klaus,” he continued, without looking at me. “I work as a doctor and researcher for the interests of Vanitas. Do you know anything about Vanitas?”
His eyes met mine again. He didn’t look like he expected an answer—especially after having explicitly told me that I didn’t have to talk. So maybe he wanted to give me some time to consider his question?
I gave him an inquisitive look as I thought about it: Could Vanitas be related to that weird ad I’d seen on his computer? Was that ‘Purification Order’ related to it, and if so, how exactly?
Perhaps the word ‘Vanitas’ is a pretty good clue by itself…
Sensing that my thoughts had settled somewhere, Dr. Klaus turned his attention to his notes once again.
“Vanitas was initially a pharmaceutical company,” he explained, “focusing on research concerning genetic alterations in the human DNA. Nowadays, it is the only ruling power on the planet.”
The only… what?
So few words to explain a development this huge. Since when was there a single power governing the planet?
…Not that I could remember. I just know that the situation of one power prevailing over all the others on a global scale is practically impossible.
Still, was he implying that I had something to do with his research? Given the place and the condition I had woken up in, this was the only conclusion I could come to. Was he the man who’d given me life? The person who’d shaped my body? That… I found that a bit too hard to believe.
Dr. Klaus set his pen down and held a mirror in front of my face—a shockingly hideous face, flabby and disfigured by boils and shallow wrinkles. There was not a single attractive feature about it. There had to be a reason for such deliberate ugliness.
“You look concerned,” said the doctor, taking the mirror away. “I’ve crafted a body that I believe reflects your personality. Do you desire beauty instead? Or maybe you’d also like to look older?”
He… crafted… my body? So he really is my maker…?
His face looked impassive. He didn’t seem to care either way about the things he was suggesting, and was actually letting me decide.
“Blink once if you want to look prettier. Twice if you want your skin to age. Three times if you think you look alright just as you are now.”
I… want to look a bit older. But I don’t want to die early.
Uncertain, I avoided his eyes for a moment.
“What troubles you?” he asked softly. “You don’t want to be beautiful, do you?”
I shook my head a bit, slowly coming to a realization about myself: I didn’t want people to like me for my appearance—and being unattractive was the only way to ensure their feelings were genuine.
“Would you prefer to look old then?” asked the man patiently.
Very slowly, I gave him a nod.
“Are you worried that, because of this, you’ll be shunned by society?”
I gave him a tiny shrug. I didn’t really care about that at the moment.
“Are you scared of dying early?”
Upon hearing the exact words that were tormenting my mind, my eyes widened a bit and I found myself nodding hurriedly—as much as I possibly could in my paralyzed state.
The doctor remained still and studied me in silence for a moment.
“You should be grateful that you’re here,” he said then. “If you were anywhere outside this house, you would not have the privilege to live past the age of thirty.”
Before I could process these words, Dr. Klaus had stood up from his chair and brought his delicate, gloved hand to my face.
“But do not fret,” he continued, pressing my face down, under the surface of the liquid I was floating in. “This will not be the issue with you.”
Chapter 7: Decay Origins I
Chapter Text
Dark Perspective
…
‘Yes…’
‘…Let me in…’
‘My embrace is made solely for you…’
‘…Let my warmth seep in…’
‘Let me fill your mind…’
‘I am right here… and I’m ready to be a part of you…’
The Void spoke with one voice. Laughed in the same tone. Promised the same lies. Experienced the same hunger.
The purrs and whispers began all at once on Day 6 when a vibrant light began to tear through the darkness. A light so strong—stronger than the sun itself—descended from above, broken in countless little specks.
If a human was to gaze upon it, they would be left stunned by its shimmering beauty. They would see that this veil that looked like stardust was comprised of many small, hollow balls of light, having few differences from each other except for the fact that some shone more brightly than others. And if the human was curious enough, they might even realize that the ones which stayed longer in the darkness eventually started to lose their light.
But judging from the bigger picture, this hardly seemed like an important matter. The veil’s glow remained strong and blinding because new specks kept replacing the old ones, taking the place of those which had lingered so long they had melted into the darkness.
…All of that was in part correct. And the carnage had really happened. But the bloody day would only stretch on until a broken someone noticed.
After that came the midnight of Day 6. And everything that had ever existed entered yet another phase:
The phase of Decay.
Chapter 8: Chapter 6 🌶️
Chapter Text
When I opened my eyes again, I was wrapped in a bundle of clean, fresh-scented bed sheets. White again, I thought to myself as I lazily took in the new room I’d woken up in. White everywhere. There was no doubt that this bedroom looked smaller and more cramped compared to the lab I remembered. But space—or rather, the lack of it—wasn’t the thing that had me on edge; it was that cold, blinding color all around me.
At least, this time, I was lying on an actual bed—or rather, the top of a bunk bed.
Then again, I can’t really say that I’m a fan of heights. I don’t like this.
“What’s wrong?”
I was taken aback by the sound of a female voice coming from somewhere nearby. Realizing that I was now free to move, I raised myself on my elbows and saw a petite woman with straight black hair, quietly sitting by my legs. She had really been there the whole time.
“Did you just realize I’m here?” She gave me a good-natured grin. “I’ve never met such a spacey subject before.”
She continued before I could respond: “I’m Lin.” She pointed to the top of a second bunk bed on the other side of the room. “I sleep there. Looks like we’re going to be neighbors.”
I gave her a polite smile as I wondered where in the world I was.
…And not only that. Ever since I’d woken up in this bed, a buzz of persistent thoughts had started creeping into my head. It was as if my subconscious refused to hold onto the information I’d already been given.
Where exactly was I? Who exactly was I? I could swear that this wasn’t my first time… living… but then again I had no memory of dying or being resurrected. Was this planet even called ‘Earth’? And what was that nonsense that strange doctor had mentioned?
‘You should be grateful that you’re here. If you were anywhere outside this house, you would not have the privilege to live past the age of 30.’
Aw man. I’d dreamed the whole thing, hadn’t I? Even that guy, he was way too handsome to be real.
Eventually, I realized that this girl—Lin—had been patiently waiting for me to process everything—and was quietly staring like before.
“It’s almost time I served the Master his coffee,” she said the moment I turned my attention to her. “Do you want to come with me? It will be a good chance for you to ask questions.”
“I-I’m sorry. The Master is…?”
“Dr. Klaus, of course. Our creator. The head of this house.”
I narrowed my eyes, confused. “Do you mean that white-haired man with the piercings and the strange pink eyes? He’s supposed to be our… Master?”
So he wasn’t part of my dream?
She nodded. “You, me, Alexa, and Eris are all his subjects. He keeps us protected from the outside world, so we literally owe him our lives.”
“Cringeee,” some other voice interrupted, suddenly. “Are you two sissies coming or not? The doctor is expecting us.”
There was a girl with bleached pigtails and suggestive makeup waiting for us by the door. She hadn’t exactly shouted, but her voice sounded so loud that I instinctively cowered.
“All of us?” asked Lin, taken aback.
“Aww, boohoo,” mocked the other one. “Are you sad that I’ll be there too? Don’t worry Linny, the feeling’s mutual.”
The brunette cast me a slightly annoyed glance before jumping down from the bed gracefully.
“Eris,” she grumbled under her breath.
I quietly followed with wobbly steps down the ladder. Since Dr. Klaus was expecting us, it wasn’t right to keep him waiting. Whoever he was, he seemed important, so I needed to make a good second impression—for more reasons than one.
The girls asked me to follow them into the living room, but before that, we made a small detour to get the Master’s coffee from the kitchen. It almost didn’t surprise me when I found out that this last room was just as unwelcoming, cold, and cramped like the others. I started to think that there was a pattern there: It seemed that working as a researcher for the world’s greatest power didn’t pay as well as one might expect.
…It was either that, or the owner of the house simply didn’t care about decoration and big spaces. It all made me very curious as to why Dr. Klaus would decide to take care of four other people in such a tiny place.
A couple of minutes later, the girls and I walked into the doctor’s living room—which looked a bit more inviting compared to the rest of the house. One wall had an old fireplace built into it, as well as two small windows. There were also two old-looking couches, a coffee table, and a small rug under it. I felt like it was more than enough.
Especially because he’s here.
The good doctor was sitting in the middle of a couch—and he was not alone. A balding, sickly-looking girl I hadn’t yet met—Alexa, most likely—was kneeling on the floor in front of him. She was leaning over his crotch and was fumbling with the zip of his trousers. Dr. Klaus had placed a relaxed pale hand on the top of her head, probably okay with what she was about to do.
Lin, holding the Master’s cup with nearly trembling hands, rushed to serve him his coffee while Eris strode up to his other side on the couch. As for me, I’d frozen up for a moment, my eyes glued on that huge penis that was being freed before my eyes. It was veiny, pierced, and unnaturally big—and it wasn’t even hard yet.
“Gertrude,” finally said the man, forcing my gaze to return to his pupil-less pink eyes.
His lips pulled in a faint smile at my reaction. “I see you already know your name even though I never mentioned it to you.”
“I… Uhh—”
I was a slobbering mess at that point. I knew that the ‘Master’ had just spoken to me, but I just couldn’t take my eyes off the exquisite sight before my eyes. That massive dick was slowly growing under that girl’s tongue, and his owner was just sitting there, shameless and unruffled in front of all of us. That, perhaps, was the most attractive part.
“You can help her, if you want,” Dr. Klaus said to me then, in a way as if he’d suggested that I join him for a walk.
And I probably would have taken him up on it if it wasn’t for the girl between his legs making a whole fuss about it.
“N-No, puh-ease!” she moaned as she tried to stuff the whole thing into her throat.
I ended up giving him a little smile and went to take a seat on the other couch. Lin and Eris were already glued to his sides, and Alexa had taken up all the space on the floor in front of him. I couldn’t help but feel a little jealous, being the only one to stay so far away from him. After all, there was something seriously sick about this situation… and I wanted in on this.
“So,” the doctor started again, taking a sip of his coffee, “You might already be suspecting why I’ve called you all here.”
Silence ensued. Were us girls not supposed to be talking while in his presence, or was everyone just hanging on his every word like I did?
The man continued, “I’d like us all to welcome Gertrude to our little home.”
The young women—Lin included—acted like they couldn’t care less about what he’d just said. The sickly girl didn’t even stop sucking him off to acknowledge me.
Dr. Klaus went on as if there was nothing wrong with this. “I want you all to tell her what you know about Vanitas and become her friends.”
Lin finally gave a defeated sigh. “If that’s what you’d like, Master, I’ll do it.”
Eris snorted a laugh. “Please. You don’t have to act like you’ll be the only one doing it. We’ll all help the uggo whether we like it or not.”
I tilted my head, mildly offended. Why would they not like to help me? I wanted to tell them that they didn’t have to do anything if they didn’t want to, but then again… I needed all the help I could get.
Curious about Alexa’s opinion on this, I turned to look at her. However, instead of voicing her thoughts on this, the girl started to moan around the doctor’s cock. Feeling my mouth starting to water, I ended up averting my eyes again and stared at the floor.
Snubbed, mocked, and ignored. Seems like I’ve become the reject already.
My mood started to turn sour. I didn’t know what Dr. Klaus had in mind when he called us here, but this wasn’t exactly the warmest welcome.
“Gertrude,” called out the Master just then, mildly disoriented now—probably because of the woman obsessing over his crotch. “Since my sweet girls aren’t feeling up to the task right now, is there anything you would like me to answer?”
“N-No!” exclaimed Lin all of a sudden. “You don’t have to do anything, Master. I said I’ll help!”
“Very well, my little doll. I’ll leave my new subject in your hands then.”
“Mmm!”
Perhaps sensing that the doctor might soon leave us, Alexa began to suck even more deeply and loudly than before. As my eyes unconsciously returned to the Master, the obscene sounds reached my ears like a slap on the face and just… didn’t… stop. I felt my face getting hot; the spot between my legs moistening even more. Luckily, Alexa hadn’t managed to take him all in, so I was free to watch the glistening base of his cock swell and throb at her ministrations.
The doctor closed his eyes for a moment and let out a moan that sounded a lot more rugged and rough than I’d expected from someone like him. Then I noticed his manhood starting to throb even harder inside Alexa’s mouth. Soon, ropes and ropes of cum started to fill the girl’s mouth until some of it spilled over her lips and trickled down his still-hard cock that was glistening with saliva.
Alexa, looking exhausted all of a sudden, moved away from the couch with a silly yet satisfied look on her face. She didn’t look like she had the mind to lick the Master’s dick clean or wipe the cum dribbling down her youthful face.
Noticing my eyes on his crotch again, Dr. Klaus cast me a steady look as if to say that his offer was still on the table. But before I could snap out of it and seriously consider walking up to him and tasting what Alexa had so desperately drawn out of him, Eris lowered her head over his cock and did the very thing I was now picturing.
Fuck! Is everyone in this house as desperate as me?! I’ll never get my chance this way.
I watched Eris lick off all the cum meticulously, and with a kind of grace that the sickly girl was lacking. She looked as if she was trying to turn the doctor on again, but as soon as he was clean, the Master started to zip his trousers back up. He reached to the table to take his cup of coffee before standing up from the couch and turning to us with the same impassive expression he’d been wearing the entire time.
“Now then,” he said, “I will be in my lab if any of you needs me.”
Leaving already, huh…
“D-Dr. Klaus!” I exclaimed before I could stop myself.
His pink, otherworldly eyes found mine, making my cheeks grow hot.
“Yes?”
“I-I’m glad to be here… Master. I’m glad I’ve opened my eyes in this house.”
“It is a pleasure to have you here, Gertrude.”
His eyes stayed on my face for a split second, as though to confirm some inner thought of his. Then his lips formed a faint smile.
“Now, if you’ll excuse me.”
Chapter 9: Chapter 7
Chapter Text
He turned around and left—and right away, a dull pain settled in my stomach. Coldness seeped into my skin as if I’d just lost my only source of heat in the middle of a blizzard.
“You don’t have to look so petrified,” Lin told me as soon as the doctor had disappeared from the hallway. “We don’t bite, you know.”
The girl with the bleached pigtails scoffed before biting her lip. “Speak for yourself.”
The brunette rolled her eyes at this.
“So, Gertrude,” she said then, “come over here!”
She stood up from the couch and motioned me to come to the small window wedged between the front door and the fireplace.
Already curious about what she wanted to tell me, I rose from the couch as well and came to stand next to her. By the time I’d got there however, a cold draft had somehow slipped in through the closed window, making the hairs on my arms rise.
Lin noticed right away. “Oh, are you cold? You’ll get used to that rather quickly, don’t worry.”
My eyes landed on her arms, noting that they were just as bare as mine—and that was when I realized that she was wearing the same nightie as I was. I turned around to see the other girls. Eris was dressed in the same way, and Alexa—who was now splayed on the floor like a starfish—was too.
How odd. Are there no other clothes in this house for us? Is this too part of our roles, being the Master’s subjects?
“You’re spacing out again, huh?” Lin told me. “Don’t worry, I’m about to explain everything I know.”
I nodded gratefully. “Thanks, I appreciate it.”
“Okay, so, what do you see out there?”
My eyes followed hers outside the window. It had to be some time before sunset, because the light coming in was not too strong. There was a narrow street, wide sidewalks, and towering, industrial-looking buildings. Everything was white or light grey, and squeaky clean. The drabness of this neighborhood reminded me of the Master’s house.
A few people were strolling along the street, looking as gorgeous as the girls in this house. A young woman with long, blond hair and the prettiest smile was walking next to a man who looked and carried himself like a model. They were as happy as the young parents on the opposite sidewalk, pushing their baby’s stroller while chatting in a relaxed and carefree manner.
A mild sense of nausea had begun to stir in my stomach, when the mother turned and looked at me through the window.
Letting out a gasp, I instinctively jumped back.
Lin giggled next to me. “She can’t see us. But perhaps she sensed she was being watched.”
“Does she have magic powers or something?” I asked. “That seemed weirdly deliberate.”
The girl shrugged. “Who knows. Anyway, the fact is that these windows only allow us to see through them. Pretty neat, huh? It’s nice that we can look outside without others watching us.”
I started to relax. “Yeah, I guess. So, um, what kind of world is this ‘outside’?”
“Well, as the Master probably told you already, we live in a country called ‘Vanitas’. It’s an empire now, but its territory hasn’t always been this big. Its presence has been pretty ambitious across history, actually. You should read about it when you have the time.”
“Gods!” Pigtails interrupted all of a sudden, leaping up from her couch. “Are you going to teach her history now? You make everything sound so boring, Snake.”
Eris then pulled me from the wrist and kicked me a little above the heel, causing me to lose my balance and fall to the floor with a yelp.
I stared up at her with an incredulous expression. Was she crazy? No, no. More importantly: How had she managed to throw someone like me down with so little effort? She was tiny!
Eris smirked at my shock. “Well, Uggo,” she said, towering above me and placing her hands on her hips. “You wanna see what the outside world looks like?”
Alexa, who had slowly crawled closer to us from the other side of the room, placed her hand around Eris’s ankle.
“Don’t kill her,” she said. “She’s my friend.”
The other woman pulled her leg free from her grasp. “She might as well be your grandma, you little retarded child. But anyway, don’t worry; no one’s killing anyone in this house.”
The sickly girl gave her a nod and went back to pretending to be a starfish.
I followed her with my eyes and a little smile. She was so random, I found it amusing.
Then, all of a sudden, Eris stepped on my throat—well, almost. Her bare foot pressed down on my neck, just as much as she needed to make a point.
I felt the world spin for a second before breaking into a hollow coughing fit.
“If you were outside, Uggo, you’d die in an instant!” said the woman. “You’re old. Ugly. Weak. You’re everything Vanitas fights against. And I’m sure that the doctor had a very specific reason for making you this way.”
Feeling uncomfortable about having her foot pressing down my throat, I reached for her leg and tried to move it away. But it simply wouldn’t budge. Eris was way stronger than I was.
“C-Can you… ugh… p-please let go? Can’t… c-concentrate.”
She rolled her eyes and raised her foot only to give me one last kick on my side.
“You were born to die, you old hag,” she hissed. “If I were you, I wouldn’t have high hopes for this life.”
I knitted my brows together. Weird and rude as it all might have sounded, her blabbering kind of made sense.
So, is that what the Master was talking about before? Is this why I’m lucky to be born in this house? Because I’m too ugly and old for this world?
I can’t begin to wrap my head around this but… my gut is telling me that she’s right.
“Is this what Vanitas is all about?” I murmured. “A whole planet is living under these laws?”
“That’s right: ‘beauty and youth’. These are its two main principles. And of course, you represent neither.” Eris finally moved away from me and returned to her seat on the couch. “The only question is why.”
Slowly raising myself back up on my elbows, I watched Alexa crawl over to me.
“Perhaps the Master was bored of us pretty people,” she told Eris. “His cock might want to taste something different.”
Lin’s face was twisted up in disgust. “Ew! Do you have to put everything this way? The Master’s motives are far more noble than that!”
“Oh?” I asked, unable to keep myself from smiling at this topic. “What is the doctor like?”
Pigtails snorted at my sudden burst of enthusiasm. “Look who’s more interested in a single person rather than the entire world. What’s wrong, Uggo? Are you suddenly no longer curious about Vanitas?”
Well, for one thing, Vanitas hates me. What reason do I have to focus my attention on that?
“I’m far more interested in the Master,” I replied, smiling bashfully.
“Great. Another genius is coming to join us.”
“Oh, stop it, Eris,” Lin chastised. “You don’t have to pretend when the doctor’s not here. The only thing that we all have in common is the fact that Dr. Klaus is our number one priority. And since we’re still on the subject, Gertrude, I’ll tell you what the doctor’s like.”
She gave a sigh and let her eyes wander to the direction in which he’d left.
“…He’s devoted to medicine,” she continued then. “He’s saved the Diamond Palace time and time again. And if you ask me, I don’t think that Vanitas would be in the position it is now if it weren’t for his discoveries.”
“The ‘Diamond Palace’?”
“Oh, that’s where all the governors have lived since the establishment of this country. It’s like a normal palace—but an ultra-high-security one which also represents the beauty and purity of our nation.”
“And the Master’s helped them a lot huh…”
I wonder what his motives are. Because something’s telling me it can’t be the money.
“What’s wrong, Uggo?” Eris spoke up from the couch. “Do you fear that the doctor shares the bad Emperor’s views? Are you afraid that he’s as disgusted by you as his Imperial Majesty would be, if he knew you existed?”
I let out a sigh. “Yes, actually.”
Then again, he didn’t seem like he cared about how I looked when he asked me how he should change my appearance.
“Well, what do you think? Even if he wasn’t disgusted, he sure couldn’t see you as he sees Lin, me, or even Alexa.”
“Why not?” murmured the sickly girl before I could say anything. “He always looks the same to me.”
“Now, I think that Eris is right, sweetie,” Lin cut in. “Dr. Klaus might be an esteemed scientist, but he’s also a man. Men are attracted to beauty.”
No. No, I don’t want to believe this.
I spoke up: “All humans are attracted to beauty.”
That made the brunette giggle. “You say that like there’s anything else besides humans.”
“Isn’t there?”
The young woman narrowed her eyes at me. “Gertrude, sweetie, how did these ideas end up in your head? Did the Master plant them there?”
“Who else?” Alexa wondered out loud. “The Master’s sculpted us using his magic potions.” She paused and giggled to herself. “I wonder how he makes them. Maybe he uses his cum?”
I burst out laughing at the weird suggestion while Eris and Lin both cringed. They looked at Alexa as if she had some kind of problem. And now they were glaring at me too, because I’d laughed with what I’d heard.
I cleared my throat. “So, um, Lin, you said that the doctor is an esteemed scientist and someone who is attracted to beauty.” I turned to the other two girls. “Do you have another opinion?”
Eris just rolled her eyes and ignored my question.
“I do,” said the sickly girl and I turned to look at her with interest.
She giggled again. “He’s messy. Lin always tidies his house and cooks for him. She’s like his housekeeper.”
I smiled at the description. Well, I couldn’t disagree with that.
My eyes shifted over to Lin, seeking confirmation.
“It’s true,” replied the brunette. “But that’s only because he’s so focused on his work. He doesn’t have time to waste on trivial things such as housework.”
“Have you seen those abs and pecs though?” Alexa asked, all but drooling on the floor. “I bet he wastes some time on the gym when he goes out. Or do you think that the Master is naturally beautiful like this?”
“What he does when he goes out is not my business,” Lin replied sharply.
Eris gave a mocking laugh. “Yeah, right. Let’s all ignore that, okay?”
“What do you—” Lin was about to ask when Eris cut her off.
“Anyway, Uggo, since you asked for my opinion, you should know what the good doctor is really like.”
“Oh?”
“He’s not like he seems. He may tell you that he wants one thing, but he secretly likes another. In your case, he might give you the impression that he doesn’t care about beauty, but I’ve seen how he looks at me when I look after my hair or put on some of the perfume he makes for his clients.”
“Right?” agreed Lin before flashing me a proud grin. “He’s always complimenting my body when we’re alone.”
Alexa shook her head. “He’s never complimented me about that before.”
Pigtails smirked. “Well, that’s because—”
The Master’s voice suddenly interrupted, catching me off guard: “That’s because I see different things in each of you.”
Chapter 10: Chapter 8
Chapter Text
My head snapped up and turned to look at the doctor who had just walked into the living room. He was smiling faintly and was gazing at all of us with an eerie kind of calmness.
I didn’t even hear him coming from the hallway!
“Master Klaus!” exclaimed Alexa, crawling to him on trembling hands and knees, just to cling to his leg.
The Master gave her a warm look before addressing us all again: “I see you have been busy gossiping again. What seems to be the matter? Is Vanitas not an interesting topic?”
The brunette extended an arm and pointed at me. “That’s exactly what Eris said, Master! But Gertrude thought it more interesting to ask secrets about you.”
I furrowed my brows. Secrets? No, I hadn’t asked about secrets. Although it would be a lie to claim that I’d never do such a thing.
The doctor turned to gaze at me. “Is this true, Gertrude? Have you been asking about me?”
It took me a second to break my focus on his perfect face and those otherworldly, unfeeling eyes. The Master had asked me a question.
“I-I… yes. I have.”
“Today, you have opened your eyes for the first time. Am I really the most interesting topic you can think of?”
Is this a scolding? It feels like a scolding.
While I fumbled with my answer, Eris snorted a laugh. “How humiliating.”
The Master softly turned his head her way. “I have questions for you too, Eris. Perhaps your new friend had a reason for not wanting to hear about Vanitas any longer.”
The young woman groaned. “Sure, go ahead and interrogate me. Is that why you came back here?”
“I came to see if you were doing the thing I asked of you.” His eyes carefully regarded Alexa, Lin, and Eris. “I believe all three of you remember how passionate you were to learn about the outside world when you were born. Is it not fair to give Gertrude the same chance?”
“But she doesn’t want to learn,” Lin pointed out.
Before the doctor could reply, the sickly girl asked, “Is it really that urgent, Master? We have all the time in the world to explain these things to her.”
Looking like he’d changed his mind about what he was going to say, the Master smiled at his subject. “You are absolutely right, my sweet little slave. Your friend here may need to process the matters of this world at her own pace, and we have to respect that.”
Alexa smiled proudly and hugged his leg even closer.
“Now then,” the man continued, “I will let you girls go back to your gossiping.”
“Wait!” Lin exclaimed. “We’re kind of done here. Can’t I come and keep you company while you work?”
“I’m afraid that this would wear you out rather quickly, my doll. Regrettably, I do not have enough time to entertain you.”
“Oh… Okay then. I understand. Can I at least come and sleep with you tonight?”
Dr. Klaus let his eyes wander to the rest of us. “Aren’t your roommates good enough of a company?”
“W-Well, yes, but… It’s not the same, Master.”
Finally, the man nodded to her with an indulgent smile. “Very well, then. You may come to my bedroom once I finish this experiment I am working on.”
The doctor looked down at Alexa as if to silently ask her to let go of his leg. Reluctantly, the girl obeyed. But just as the doctor was about to leave, Eris raised her voice:
“Hold on.”
The man turned to look at her. “What is it, Eris?”
“Can I come too?”
“You want to sleep with me and Lin?”
“Yeah.”
One more indulgent smile. “Very well. But only the two of you for tonight. Someone will have to keep company to your new friend here.”
The Master’s pink eyes landed on me, and I gazed back at him with a disheartened look. I didn’t know it was that easy for him to share a bed with his own subjects; and now that I knew it was a possibility, I couldn’t get the image off my head. However, as much as I’d like to join him in there, something was telling me that he'd prefer to sleep alone tonight. And the last thing I wanted was for him to be doing me any favors—especially regarding this matter.
“Have a pleasant conversation, my sweet girls,” the doctor said at last and turned to leave once more.
There he goes again.
I quietly watched him walking down the hallway, his steps soft and deliberate as before. Soon enough, he’d disappeared behind the corner outside our bedroom and opened a door.
As soon as we heard that door close, Lin walked over to Eris wearing a conspiratorial grin.
“Come,” she said.
“What do you want?” Pigtails asked her.
“Didn’t you hear the Master? We’re free to leave. And we have to get ready for tonight.”
That last sentence made the blonde smirk. “I guess we do.”
She stood up from her seat and followed her friend out of the living room. “Let’s see who gets to feed his eyes the most tonight.”
I cringed at her words.
How competitive. I can’t imagine talking to my friends this way. And speaking of friends…
I peered at Alexa who was now drooling and sniffing at the spot where the Master had stood a few moments ago.
Okay, maybe there is something wrong with her. But then again, that’s what makes her so interesting. Besides, I can easily see myself acting the same way she does.
…Perhaps all I need is a little push.
“You must really love the doctor, huh,” I told her.
The sickly girl turned to me with a friendly smile. “Oh, yesss! He has the biggest cock I’ve seen in my life!”
“Have you seen many, uhm, cocks?”
“I see them in my head all the time. White cocks, black cocks; some tiny, some as big as a beast’s. And Master’s got the best one!”
“I-I see.”
I remember. Alexa was hiding some part of him while she was blowing him on the couch, but I think I understand exactly what she’s talking about.
“It’s almost as if,” I murmured, “it’s not even human.”
“Of course it’s human!” the girl snapped. “Dr. Klaus just excels at his science and is using his own findings to perfect himself.”
“What do you mean? That he’s performing surgeries on himself to look hot?”
“Surgeries, potions… basically everything.”
“Have you seen him do it?”
“No, but it’s obvious. He does the exact same thing for his clients. It would only be good sense to apply the same techniques to himself.”
“I see,” I replied, smiling politely. “So those eyes…”
The sickly girl kept looking at me, her expression unchanged. Did she not understand my implied question?
“Those eyes of his,” I said again, “are they also, um, fake?”
Her eyebrows knitted together in confusion before an expression of clarity emerged on her face.
“Oh, the eyes!” she exclaimed. “I never focus on them. But yeah, those too are fake.”
I let out a sigh. “I see.”
Alexa giggled at me. “You’re starting to sound like a broken record. Are you sad that the doctor’s not naturally as hot as he is now?”
I peered at her face carefully. She looked genuinely interested in my opinion. She wasn’t dismissive like the other two.
“That’s not it,” I replied then. “It’s just that… I guess I was hoping that the Master wasn’t—”
I stopped. Alexa had started to lick the floor, looking like she’d forgotten that we were talking just now.
One more sigh. Slowly, I pushed myself off the floor and went to stand in front of the window I’d been looking through before. It was almost completely dark now, the few lampposts out on the street being the main source of light. The people had thinned out too, with only one or two of them walking along the street from time to time. It was a much cozier sight.
Nonetheless, by the time that final thought took shape in my mind, I saw a crowd of seven people marching towards an apartment building on the opposite side of the street. Seven ravishing people, all dressed in pure white uniforms, their faces emptier than the walls of this house. One of them pressed a doorbell, and almost immediately, someone buzzed them in.
“I bet it was one of the neighbors,” murmured Alexa suddenly from behind my shoulder. “When the Order’s standing outside the door, all the residents are notified.”
“The ‘Order’…?” I asked, my eyes still glued on the spectacle.
The young woman didn’t answer; and I wasn’t even sure I’d hear her if she did. I just kept staring at the uniformed people, standing eerily still. Four of them had already stepped into the building while one of those who remained outside started talking to someone on his phone.
And then, I saw a van—a stark, white van with huge windows, its interior ominously empty. It drove by and parked close to the entrance of the building. It seemed to be just in time. Because at the next moment, those four officers who had disappeared inside were coming out, forcefully dragging one more person among them: a woman of about thirty who looked strangely out of place. She was trying to resist, but those in uniform kept hauling her forward.
“I-Is she a criminal?” I asked, voice shaky.
“Yes,” replied the girl. “And by the looks of it, she’s committed the most serious crime: She’s tried to live past thirty.”
That’s… That’s what I keep hearing: that people aren’t allowed to grow old. What kind of hellhole is this ‘Vanitas’?
I returned my focus to the scene outside. The woman was now being shoved to the back of the van, treated like cattle, screaming and pleading for mercy—yet it didn’t seem to affect the officers in the slightest. They just let the van drive off with so little interest as if it was carrying potatoes. Then they continued their march down the street; their expressions just as empty as before.
As soon as they were out of my sight, I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding.
“Does this sort of thing happen often?” I asked.
“I’ve seen it once or twice,” replied the sickly girl. “But Lin and Eris must have seen it more times than me.”
I gave a sigh and turned to give her a grateful smile. Out of all the people in this house, I hadn’t expected her to be the most willing to give me answers.
Alexa, now looking at me from up close, reached out to my face and ran a finger across my cheek.
“You’re exceptionally ugly, you know,” she said, looking captivated, “and yet the Master looks at you the same way he looks at me. He’s never treated a subject differently—not once.”
“Does he really have no preference? Does he like us all equally?”
“That’s what he keeps saying. And his cock proves it. It never grows more quickly for any of us in particular.”
I grinned. “How would you know about the others?”
The sickly girl shrugged. “Because sometimes I’m there. Very often, he fucks two, or even all three of us together.”
Of course. Of course he wouldn’t just ‘sleep’ with Eris and Lin tonight. They’re going to have sex.
Chapter 11: Chapter 9
Chapter Text
“How often does this happen?” I asked.
“More often than I’d like,” she replied, looking dejected. “If it were up to me, I’d have that divine body of his all to myself—every single day of the week. But Master wants us all to be satisfied, hence the group fucks.” She sighed. “Between me and you, I hope he doesn’t make any other subjects. I don’t want to get in line to suck his cock.”
I laughed at the mental image. “I totally get what you mean. I’m guessing none of you were too happy to learn that I’d join you.”
“No, don’t think like that!” said the girl, touching a hand to my shoulder. “Despite how it may look sometimes, we all care about each other. We spend a lot of time together, so it would be difficult not to.”
I nodded happily. “Thank you for explaining all that to me.”
Alexa took my hand and led me to the couch where the doctor had been sitting.
“I want to learn about you now,” she said.
“Oh, sure. What would you like to know?”
“What are your favorite positions in sex?”
I let out a laugh. Perhaps I should have expected that.
Resting my chin on my fingers, I tried to collect my thoughts and find an answer to that question; find out what kind of person I was.
“Hmm. I think I’m a very stubborn bottom,” I said finally. “I like all positions where I don’t have to take control.”
“Haha, I knew it!” Alexa grabbed my wrist and held my palm up so that she could high-five it. I couldn’t help but smile at her energy.
“Me too!” she added before making a motion with her head towards the hallway. “Eris is a top, and I think that Lin is a switch. Basically, she does whatever the doctor asks of her at a particular moment. Personally, I have no clue about what she likes more.”
“Hehe I see. That’s interesting.”
“Isn’t it!?” The young woman turned away from me to rest her back and head against the couch. “Ahhh. It’s so refreshing to have someone like you around. Finally, someone who gets me!”
I smiled. “I’m sure that Dr. Klaus gets you too.”
Her pale cheeks started to blush. “He does, doesn’t he? He’s never let me take control when we have sex.”
“That must be nice—for someone to know exactly what you like without having to say anything.”
“Yeah. Yeah.”
“It’s rare too. Men usually don’t like that. Most guys like women who take control… Although… How exactly do I know that? …Have I seen what men are like before?”
The girl raised a dismissive hand at me. “The Master’s implanted some knowledge about the world on you. And depending on the personality he’s given you, you react to it differently.”
All these questions, answered within a few seconds…
“Huh. Is that really it? Has the Master told you all that?”
“Yeah. All of us were created in this lab. We owe everything that we are to him.”
Her explanation sort of made sense. Perhaps the Master really did need someone like me for his experiments. But what if he was lying? What if all of us had a past outside this lab, or even outside this world? The laws of Vanitas felt too foreign for me to accept as normal.
“Alexa,” I murmured, still pensive. “What is your first memory of this place? When did you open your eyes?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. Perhaps a few months ago?”
I raised my eyebrows. “And before that…?”
“I was sleeping peacefully inside my pod.” She shot a confused look at me. “What’s with all these questions?”
Right. Why am I even asking her? She wouldn’t even know. She was born here without memories, just like I was. I have no way of finding out the truth if the Master is its only source.
And maybe… just maybe… I’m okay with that. Perhaps I don’t need to know about the outside world. Perhaps all I need is to make my Master happy.
My Master… Yeah, I like the sound of that.
While I was busy thinking to myself, Alexa had spread out her legs and started to play with herself.
“M-Master…” she started to mewl, her eyes stuck on the ceiling. “Master…!”
Smiling to myself, I averted my eyes. I raised my nightie a bit and looked at myself. It seemed that none of us wore any panties. So we might as well spread our legs and do just as the sickly girl was doing now. It looked so simple—almost deliberate—that we could just reach down and lose ourselves in this… fantasy.
I kept looking at myself. I had to peek from a certain angle if I wanted to see my privates. My belly was so big and flabby, it pretty much hid the entire area. And then there was hair—oh, so much body hair! Black and thick and a little curly, it spread over everything I could see: my arms, my legs, my belly, and of course the part that is normally hidden by underwear.
I was well aware of how unattractive all these features were—and I was trying not to focus on my numerous repulsive skin conditions. It was clear that the doctor had intended me to be a mess, most likely to find treatments to Vanitas’s main threat: ugliness.
My face twisted up in revulsion. I wanted to ask Alexa just how aligned he was with the imperial goals, but she looked far too lost in her own world for me to interrupt.
I let out a sigh. Dr. Klaus may act like he had no preference when it came to looks, but if he really was human, there had to be a limit somewhere. And I didn’t like to live with the fear of seeing him turn away from me with disgust one day.
Ah… I have just met the man. Why am I so fixated on whether the Master is human or not? Why would he plant these sorts of thoughts in me?
Perhaps I understood human nature all too well. Perhaps I knew that every human was inherently attracted to beauty, and by acting like beauty didn’t matter to him at all, the Master was either a liar or not human.
Yes. That’s the truth, isn’t it? Dr. Klaus is either a liar or not human. I can’t go wrong with this. Finally, some valuable information!
A rush of heat coursed through me, making my limbs tingle. I wanted to jump up from my seat and tell everyone about my conclusion. If only I could tell the Master all that! If only I could study his face… his reaction to these words!
I wonder… I wonder what he’d say to me. If he said that some humans didn’t care about beauty at all, that would make him a liar. But if he tried to avoid my question…
I smiled from ear to ear. If the Master was going to offer me the same privilege he offered to the rest of his subjects, I’d soon find out just how good of an actor he could be. If he was even slightly repulsed by me, I would know. But if he wasn’t…
…Oh, the things I would do for him.
Heart beating fast as I made these thoughts, I shakily got up from the couch. There was so much excitement, so much anticipation, that I wanted to rush into his lab and get my answers right there and then.
Of course, that was the last thing I should do, and I knew it. The Master had to work, that much was clear. So I wasn’t going to interrupt him with my insignificant needs and requests. Not now.
I turned and looked at Alexa who’d reached her orgasm and was now gazing at me like a lost puppy.
“I think I’ll go sleep for a while,” I told her. “It was nice talking to you.”
She stuck out a sticky finger and pointed towards our shared bedroom at the end of the hall.
“Eris and Lin are probably getting ready in there,” she said.
“Do you think they’ll go somewhere else if I tell them I’d like to sleep?”
She shrugged. “Maybe.”
I gave her a nod and a smile. “I’ll give it a try then.”
I stepped out of the living room and walked down the hallway. The door to our bedroom was closed, and I could hear voices inside:
‘And what did he say when you stole the perfume?’
That was Eris.
‘Oh, you know. One of his usual gentle scoldings. He knew I was doing it for his sake. I want to smell nice for him.’
Ha! I wouldn’t do this even if I reeked. My smell doesn’t define me—not really.
I opened the door. The girls turned and looked at me with mild disappointment.
“Do you want something, Gertrude?” Lin asked me.
“I-I’d like to sleep. I’m a little tired.”
Pigtails—who’d fixed her hair in a tight ponytail now—looked like she was about to object. But the other girl rushed to speak before her:
“Of course, you can sleep here! We've just finished our showers and came to grab these anyway.”
She collected a small bag of cosmetics from one of the beds and motioned to Eris to follow her out.
“Will you be wearing the same clothes?”
“Oh come on, Uggo,” Eris snapped at me, “Don’t act like you don’t know that we can’t change out of these!”
“I was just making sure,” I said defensively. “It’s weird to see cosmetics when we don’t even have different clothes.”
“You can’t imagine how much we begged the Master for the lipstick and the mascara!” Lin told me before lovingly glancing at the small bag. “But in the end, I’m sure he thought they were worth it.” She winked at me.
Well, I’m sure that the girls will look even more beautiful with makeup on. But does this even matter?
Giving them a polite nod, I climbed up to my bed.
Eris let out a laugh. “It’s like watching a gorilla climb a tree.”
What the… How can a person be so blatantly insensitive?
I furrowed my brow but didn’t say anything. I was going to share a room with that woman—and I didn’t want to fear for surprises in my sleep. After all, she was much stronger than I.
Finally, those two left me alone in the room. But as soon as they closed the door, I overheard Lin telling the other:
‘Do not even say it! If we didn’t leave, she might change her mind and try to join us tonight! Just let her sleep and hope that she wakes up in the morning!’
That must have been a convincing argument, because I didn’t hear Eris speak back. Or perhaps they’d just walked away from the room and I didn’t have a chance to hear the answer.
In any case, the joke was on them. I didn’t want to join them and that was exactly why I wanted to sleep. Hopefully, the night would pass quickly, and I’d wake up in the morning as they wanted me to. After all, that was probably when I’d see the Master again anyway. And knowing everything that I knew, I couldn’t bear to be awake and not try to get an answer from him.
Trying to calm my nerves, I got under my sheets and closed my eyes. Sleep would eventually come—it simply had to!
Chapter 12: Decay Origins II
Chapter Text
Dark Perspective
Human bodies could be so pretty. The creature often daydreamed about them, usually at the moments when his host’s brain was too quiet.
He'd love to see them twisted and mangled in all kinds of shapes and colors: Crimson, the color of blood and innards. Black, the color of bruises and decay. Green, the color of anomalies and diseases. The creature already knew a lot about the human body’s potential. But alas, these fantasies of his had never taken shape. He was trapped in a single host, forced to experience everything in life through her senses.
All of a sudden, his host’s mind broke him out of his reverie:
‘S-Scared…’
The girl had just woken up, it seemed, and the creature was forced to focus his attention on the human—‘Gertrude’ her parents had recently named her. She was a baby now and was currently supposed to be sleeping peacefully in her crib. It was the middle of the night.
“Aw, are you scared, my little Piñata?” the creature purred playfully. “Who poisoned your little head?”
The girl couldn’t pick up on the derision in his words because she simply couldn’t hear him. Her eyes remained glued to her sleeping parents, and the creature followed her gaze.
‘I’m so small, and they’re so big,’ she thought. ‘Am I going to get that big one day too?’
“Why, of course you are,” the male replied. “You’ll grow bigger and bigger, and when you can’t grow anymore, you’ll start to shrink back down again. Do you know what comes after that, little one?”
The creature didn’t expect a direct answer from her. He was aware that his voice couldn’t reach her, but that didn’t stop him from controlling every other crucial part of her body. He had complete control over the way that each cell would kill itself and give birth to a new one. He could hear her every thought, foresee every illness. And this very last one, in particular, was tantalizing.
‘I remember what grandpa looked like,’ the girl continued yapping, trapped in her own wakeful nightmare. ‘He didn’t notice me looking. There was something scary about him. Felt like fear. Grandma too. She was scary. Mum called her ‘mum’. Just like I call her.’
“That’s right, Piñata. You’re in the right path. There’s something terrifying about grandpa and grandma, isn’t there?”
‘So scary…’ little Gertrude repeated. ‘Am I going to get that scary too when I grow up? Will my step turn weak and uncertain? Will I be saving my smiles only for the times when others are looking my way?’
For a moment, the creature remained silent, relishing the desperation clouding her mind. He always loved to see his host in that pitiful state: making these sick thoughts; poisoning her own mind. It suited her… so perfectly.
“There is endless pain waiting for you, my sweet,” he finally murmured. “And the older you get, the more unbearable it will become.”
The girl shivered in fear. She began to cry. Like the needy, useless thing that she was, she began to ask for her mommy—even though she knew that this human she was so desperately calling would not always be there to answer her cries.
Chapter 13: Chapter 10 🌶️
Chapter Text
Dark Perspective
Lin and Eris closed their eyes, remembering it all, oh-so-clearly…
…So, so clearly.
…
“Come in,” Nikklaus had called out, and the two subjects he’d promised a night to walked in.
The doctor was sitting on an old-looking chair, jotting down some last-minute findings on the notebook he’d set on his table. He looked like he’d already forgotten that he wasn’t alone.
Lin strode confidently to him and embraced him from behind.
“Even now, you're working,” she murmured, smelling the addicting scent of his hair. “You’re so dedicated, Master~”
With a faint smile, Klaus finally closed his notebook and rose from his chair. He turned around to face the brunette who was smiling sweetly to him.
“My doll, you look beautiful,” he said, softly cupping her face.
Eris didn’t lose time. She walked up between them and pressed her big breasts against him. As always, that tiny nightie of hers did very little to hide them. The girl kept rubbing them left and right against his chest until she was sure that the doctor could feel her hardening nipples.
The doctor grinned and headed back to his bed. “Come over here, both of you.”
The two women hurriedly followed. Lin immediately sat down on his knee, and without question, Klaus reached down between her legs with his fingers. He started to tease her slightly moist lips, drawing out a needy sigh from his subject.
Then he turned to Eris. “What would you like me to do?”
“I want you to suck those nipples.”
“Very well. Take off your dress for me.”
The blonde let out a short laugh. “Not just yet. I want you to undress first.”
He smiled. “As you wish.”
Nikklaus buried his face in Lin’s neck and softly nudged her to stand up. When she did, he started to take off his clothes as per the other woman’s request.
He removed his white doctor’s robe, his dark blue shirt and tight, black trousers. Then he reached down and slid off his even tighter boxer briefs as well. The doctor looked as beautiful as always. He wasn’t hard yet, but that huge penis of his was making the girls drool.
That part of him always managed to divert their attention from that vertical scar stretching down in the middle his torso which had yet to heal. Lin and Eris were forbidden to ask about it—and that was one of the most serious rules the Master had set in the house.
Eris gazed at him with a pleased smile and moved on to remove her nightie. She wasn’t as fit as the doctor was, but her bare body was still lean and tight.
“There,” she said, “Now I’m as naked as you are.”
Then she pushed him back against the bed and climbed on top of him until her breasts hung right above his face. Klaus slid one of her nipples inside his mouth and sucked hard.
“Mmmm.” He let the nipple out of his mouth with a ‘pop’. “So perky and full. Your breasts are gorgeous as always, Eris. I am lucky to have such a gifted subject.”
The woman let out a moan as he went back to sucking her. She didn’t know what she loved more: the feel of his lips and tongue on her, or his words that made her feel like a sex goddess.
Nikklaus felt the other girl climb on top of him, her lips softly brushing over his cock. He knew that she’d take her time with him. The brunette always loved to slowly and tortuously lead him to release.
Klaus started to fondle Eris’s breasts while he sucked them, now feeling Lin run her tongue slowly along his length. He started to twitch.
“Haah. I love to see you getting excited, Master!” said the brunette.
“I have two beautiful women taking care of me,” replied the Master. “How can I not be excited?”
Then he reached up with his hand and took hold of the blonde’s ponytail.
“Let your hair down, Eris. It suits you even more this way.”
Mind still hazy from the tingles shooting from her nipples, the woman gave an unusually soft response:
“I hold it up because you like to touch it,” she said. “I always feel your hand linger there after you tell me to let go.”
“It is only because I long to see you free, my sweet girl. I know how much you want to let your hair down. So I implore you to do this for me.”
Eris smirked at the doctor and lowered herself until her breasts were pressed against his face. Then she reached to his own hair and slid off the rubber band that was holding it up in a ponytail. His long silky hair now fanned out loosely across the bed.
Nikklaus had lowered his eyelids in the meantime, the feel of Lin’s tongue rubbing against him making him grow harder and harder. He was already out of it… even more than the two girls would like.
He languidly flicked his tongue over one of the blonde’s nipples.
“Do you like me more this way, Eris?” he murmured.
The girl moaned softly. “Yeah, you’re beautiful.”
“Then perhaps I should keep my hair down while we have sex.”
“Why don’t you do that already?” She jiggled her breasts, smacking him lightly on the face. “Since you know how much I like it.”
Klaus grinned, raising both of his hands to squeeze his subject. He alternated between sucking one of her breasts, and then the other. That always made Eris go crazy with ecstasy.
“Because,” he purred, “you always love to grab my hair and free it yourself. Don’t you, my sweet Eris?”
“Fuck!” cursed the woman.
He knew exactly what he was doing to her, and it was making her pussy tingle. He hadn’t even touched that part, and yet there she was, dripping with arousal.
“Do you need to ride me?” Nikklaus offered. “I can feel you getting close, my Eris.”
“No!” she growled and reached down to grab his neck. “Just keep sucking me! I’m not coming before you do!”
“As you wish.”
The doctor kept sucking and licking at the girl’s breasts and nipples, watching them turn redder and redder from the heat.
His hand traveled down along his body until he found Lin who was now slowly taking him in her mouth. He knit his fingers in her hair and forcefully pushed her down.
“Mmfff!”
“Are you alright, my little doll?”
Lin let out his now enormous cock with a ‘pop’.
“Yes. Yes! Keep pushing me down, I want to taste all of you.”
“With pleasure,” he purred while tightening his grip on her hair. “You suck so well, my sweet.”
Then, looking out for any sort of resistance, he pushed her head down again with even more force. His cock twitched as the woman moaned around him. She wasn’t even sucking half of him, and he yet the feel of her tongue against his hardness was making him twitch with pleasure.
His cock was being sucked. His cock was being sucked. His cock was being sucked… That was all that mattered now.
“I beg you to ride me, my Eris,” he told his other subject. “I would love to leave my seed on your warm, tight pussy.”
The girl smirked at him. “You’re just looking forward to tasting Lin. You’re always telling us how sweet she tastes.”
These words made Lin’s pussy tingle, so she tried to blow even harder. To her amazement, that cock was getting even bigger. Surely, the sight of him was half the reason why there was so much of her drool running down his impossible length.
“You are not wrong, my sweet,” Klaus told Eris. “But I want to taste her juices as much as I want to spill mine in you.”
Eris stared at her nearly bruised chest, biting her lip. She wanted to feel him too, but she didn’t want to make it too easy for him.
“Please,” the doctor insisted. “I beg of you.”
Finally, the blonde made up her mind and lowered her head to kiss him passionately on the lips. Klaus let his tongue glide languidly along hers while gazing into her eyes.
The way he speaks is even hotter than his body, the young woman thought to herself. He’s so hot, I want to fuck him right now.
Eris pulled slightly away from his mouth.
“Lin. Are you finished down there?”
“Mmmm.”—pop—“Yes.” Lin used both her hands to give the doctor’s length a few rubs. “But please, take good care of him. Look how nice and hard I’ve got him!”
“You’ve done such a good job,” the Master praised, “now I'd love nothing more than to repay you.”
Letting Eris take her turn on his cock, the brunette crawled up to his head and spread her legs above him. Her pussy was already dripping over his face.
“Please make me feel good, Master!” she said. “I’ve been such a good girl to you.”
The man smiled as he let his hands travel up and behind her to squeeze her tight butt cheeks.
“Let me see what I can do for my good girl.”
Just as he said those words, he felt Eris slowly lower herself down his dick. He let out a groan and pressed Lin’s pelvis even lower until his mouth was up against her moist lips. She was already glistening with heat when he stuck out his tongue and ran it slowly from her hole up to her clit. Then, hearing his subject starting to mewl in ecstasy, he sucked that clit inside his mouth while using his hand to slide one finger inside her asshole.
“Oh, Master, yes! Keep going!”
The doctor sucked only a little harder, while making sure not to fuck her too fast with his finger. He took his time, his slowly increasing pace making her tight little cunt drip more and more on his chin.
Then, when he felt that Lin was starting to lose herself in ecstasy, he removed his other hand groping her ass and lowered it on the hip of his other subject. The blonde was very slowly trying to fit more and more of him inside. And the more she tried, the wetter he felt her around his dick.
Squeezing her hip softly, Nikklaus helped her a bit by guiding her sharp movements.
“You’re getting impatient, aren’t you, doctor?” the girl teased.
The man responded by squeezing at her hip a little harder.
“…Fine.”
Eris dug her long fingernails into the mattress and pushed her pelvis down with all her strength. She let out a moan of pain mixed with ecstasy and felt the doctor swelling even more inside of her.
Then she started to move, up and down, with small yet deliberate movements. And the more she rode him this way, the more she felt him throbbing against her walls.
“Now your cock is at my mercy, doctor,” she hissed, letting her hands wander to his toned abs.
His hand caressed her ass as she moved up and down, relentlessly. He was no longer trying to guide her—now he’d left all the control to her. And judging by the obscene sounds her cunt made, she was enjoying this a little too much.
He sensed she was close, and so was Lin, who was now moaning louder and louder above him. The girl was touching her small yet firm breasts greedily, desperate to find release.
The doctor helped her a bit. He inserted one more finger into her asshole, and let his tongue glide down to her pussy lips before returning to her swollen clit.
“Master… Master, I’m so close!”
Eris let out a heated groan as well. “Yeah, I’m close too.”
She rode the doctor faster and faster, squeezing almost the entire length of his throbbing erection, urging him to hurry up and shoot his seed inside her, as promised.
Klaus did nothing to stop that, trusting that the girl knew exactly when to make him come. Instead he focused his attention to the girl above his head who was on the verge of orgasm:
Licking her up and down, the doctor plunged his tongue into her pussy hole, before moving up to give her clit a deep suck. He only had to repeat that a few times before the girl fell apart on his mouth. Her swollen pussy started to squirt uncontrollably, and the doctor, still toying with it using his tongue, moved his mouth right below it so that he could taste her juices.
A couple of seconds later, the other girl followed suit. Eris began to orgasm all over his cock, moaning out curses, while still riding him with abandon. She was clenching his dick so hard, that she forced the doctor to spill with her. The man’s hands squeezed at his subjects’ asses, his cock shooting ropes and ropes of cum into the blonde’s cunt who kept sliding up and down his length greedily, riding out her orgasm.
A few drawn-out seconds later, both girls collapsed on top of their Master’s body, feeling spent yet completely satisfied. Complete silence spread across the room. The only sounds that remained were three sets of short breaths, slowly returning back to normal.
The Master turned to look at them both, smiling warmly. “Thank you for the wonderful night, my sweet girls.”
Something about his words made Lin panic. “You’re not leaving, are you!?”
The doctor stretched himself up between her legs and found her face. He gave her a soft kiss.
“Of course not,” he murmured before softly disentangling himself from his subjects and standing up. “I am only taking a quick bath—and I’ll be back to you in a few minutes.”
Lin and Eris watched the doctor make his way out of the room before sharing a look. They could never explain it, but they always had this dark, foreboding feeling in their chests right after they had sex with him.
Even when he didn’t leave to take a bath. Even when he left and returned right after. He was never cold per se, but he sure found it easy to go back to how he was before the sex: slightly emotionless and distant.
And even during sex… He was technically right there with them but… was he really?
The women had learned that a lot of men acted this way when being close to someone. So perhaps that ominous feeling was normal. It couldn’t be too bad, whatever it was that made him this way.
No, they remembered how he’d looked and acted a couple of minutes ago, while he’d taken care of them and trusted himself in their hands completely. He was… perfect. And he seemed to love them so much.
No, whatever it was that he had in mind could never be too bad.
Chapter 14: Chapter 11
Chapter Text
I woke up feeling like a heavy weight had lodged itself in my chest. Today I planned to find out what Dr. Klaus really thought of me… but that wasn’t the only thing that was making my heart race.
I remembered experiencing a strange dream in my sleep. A dream completely unrelated to the here and now, but nonetheless feeling crucial and urgent.
What kind of dream could this be for a person without a past? What could possibly unsettle me if not the Master or Vanitas?
Alas, no matter how much I racked my brain trying to remember, nothing came to me. It filled me with a strange sense of melancholy. I felt the urge to go back to sleep and not wake up until they made me… but that wouldn’t help things, would it? I had to walk out there and get the answers by myself.
Who knows? Perhaps finding out more about the Master will also give me more leads about the thing that’s troubling me and that I can’t pinpoint. Perhaps the doctor will even tell me himself.
Making up my mind, I climbed back down from my bed only to realize that I was alone in the room. Lin and Eris still hadn’t returned, but neither had Alexa. Our bedroom was as dim and cold as it had been last night, and the beds still made as I remembered. Was it even morning now, or had I woken up even later? I had no way of knowing unless I walked out of this room and peeked through the small windows in the living room.
I opened the door, met only by complete silence. All the other doors in the hall were closed, including what I presumed to be the doctor’s lab and bedroom door.
Quietly, I made my way down the unwelcoming hallway and reached the living room where I’d left Alexa yesterday. Only this time, the sickly girl wasn’t there. And the room looked the exact same way I remembered: the couch still had that stain from Alexa’s last orgasm, and the fireplace was unlit, with the same two half-burned logs I recalled from yesterday.
For a moment, I felt as if I had somehow been trapped in time. There was something eerie about this house, and it was only becoming more evident now that I wasn’t distracted by the presence of others.
At the very least though, my eyes had found what I’d come here for: the sunlight, shining through the window from a sun that was probably still high in the sky. I couldn’t tell for sure, since there were plenty of clouds as well, dimming the daylight.
I smiled to myself. It would be a lie to claim that I didn’t like bad weather. Little by little, my spirits started to lift again thanks to that moody sunlight.
My eyes wandered around the room, looking for something I could do to pass the time. I’d probably find the others eventually anyway. I shouldn’t stress out too much about being alone in a still unfamiliar house.
Let’s see. There’s a TV, and there’s probably breakfast in the kitchen. I’m sort of reluctant to touch anything though. Perhaps I should go find the Master and ask him about what I can do. Hopefully he'll be awake by now.
Turning around swiftly, I started to walk back the way I’d come. I took a right turn after the shared bedroom and stared at the doors stretching out in front of me. I decided to softly knock on the first door on the right.
I waited a few seconds, but no answer came. I tried the door opposite to it.
“Yes?”
Bingo. It’s Dr. Klaus!
I rushed in. “M-Master!”
The doctor raised his head from the microscope and gave me a faint smile. It seemed that I’d ended up in same the room where I’d had my first memory.
“Good morning, Gertrude. Is there something I can do for you?”
Yes. Oh yes. So many things, actually!
My eyes took in the sight of his lab, greedily. Then I hurried up and said, “I-I was wondering what I could do. Um, can I have something to eat? Can I watch TV? Is there perhaps a book I could read?”
His pink, pupil-less eyes studied me carefully. “Do you feel hungry? You should not be feeling this kind of pain in your stomach.”
The fact that he’d chosen to focus only on food and my stomach immediately made me draw back in suspicion.
My brows knitted together. “W-What do you mean by that?”
“I am keeping you sustained through other methods, like the rest of my subjects,” he replied.
“Because I need to lose weight…?”
The Master’s gave me a warm smile that somehow didn’t reach his eyes at all.
“Rest assured, my sweet Gertrude; I do not intend to have you lose one pound.”
I relaxed. But before I could apologize for taking up his time, the man continued:
“I simply wish to give you some more nutrients, superior to what regular food can give you,” he explained. “Of course, if you still feel the craving to eat something, my kitchen is yours.”
“I-I see. Thank you so much for the explanation, Dr. Klaus. And I’m sorry for interrupting you for something like this.”
He eyed me carefully. “You seem relieved. Would you mind telling me what exactly troubles you, my sweet girl?”
Oh wow. I didn’t expect him to ask me about that himself.
My face flushed. I knew that what he said and did felt sort of misleading, but so far, I hadn’t picked up on a single thing I disliked in his response.
Besides, it’s so nice being called ‘his sweet girl’.
“T-Thank you for your interest, Dr. Klaus! You’re right, there has been something on my mind since yesterday.”
Narrowing his eyes a bit, the man softly tilted his head to the side. He kept silent, waiting for me to continue.
Oh man. How exactly am I going to phrase this now? Because something like, ‘Hey doctor, I was wondering if you’re really a disgusting, shallow human!’ isn’t going to cut it.
“I-It’s just that… You’re the only person I know who hasn’t cringed or implied something bad about my appearance,” I stammered. “And I know that humans are all about beauty, deep down. Even the ugly ones. Even those who don’t admit it, or claim that they’re not aware of it. S-So I was wondering if you—”
“If I’m really human?” he cut me off, completing the sentence that I had so much trouble completing myself.
The Master took a step forward, now standing dangerously close to me. He looked down at my heated face with a look of complete calmness and said, “What else could I be, if not human?”
His soft voice had a strange ring to it. His eyes, otherworldly and emotionless as always, now looked even more distant… more foggy.
Or perhaps it is my eyes that have turned foggy; my sight that has gone blurry.
“Of course,” I said to him, finally. “You’re human. What else could you be?”
The doctor gave me a satisfied smile. “Your assumption is correct, my Gertrude. I am just like you.”
Despite myself, I felt my eyes losing their light at the sound of these words. Suddenly, I felt very empty… and alone.
Dr. Klaus’s expression turned a little colder now.
“I need you to come by my lab again after the sun sets,” he said.
“Why…?”
“Allow me to keep this part a surprise. Yes?”
“O-Of course.”
My heart still heavy, I looked up at his human face which had yet to show any signs of revulsion. Yet it was for naught to try and guess what he was thinking, judging only from his expressions. Because there were no real emotions on his face. There wasn’t any disgust there… because there was nothing at all.
Dr. Klaus walked back to his countertop, as though to hint to me that he wanted to resume his work now.
“To answer your original question,” he said, “you can do whatever you like: Make something to eat in the kitchen, watch TV, or even borrow one of my books to pass the time.”
“Oh. C-Can I really? Borrow one of your books?”
He smiled at me. “Of course, my Gertrude.”
I looked at the small bookcase wedged between his desk and yet another counter, filled with notes, beakers, and other medical equipment. Even from where I was standing, I could see that most of the books there were related to medicine. I doubted that I’d understand much.
“Take your time,” said the doctor. “Only before you leave, I want you to close the door for me. Yes?”
I gave him a hurried nod before stepping up to the bookcase. I felt bad about overstaying my welcome here, but this was my chance to learn something valuable about this world. There was no need to pass up on the opportunity and leave before finding something to read.
In the meantime, Dr. Klaus had returned to his sample, no longer paying attention to me. I kept looking at him for a moment, wondering how it was possible for a human like him to look so… handsome. There were no imperfections there, only unnatural beauty.
But I got rid of these thoughts immediately.
Stop gawking, Gertrude! He wants you out of the room because he has to work!
Heaving a soft sigh, I started looking at the titles of the books in front of me: There were essays on human anatomy, DNA modification, natural aging, chemical substances, and so on. They all looked sort of interesting, but somehow I doubted that their authors would write them with a clueless reader like me in mind.
I tried looking for simpler-looking books, of a smaller size and more vivid colors. Most of them were still about medicine, so I had to crouch down and also scan the bottom shelf in the bookcase. Perhaps there I could find the books that the Master didn’t usually flip through—books unrelated to medicine.
Thankfully, that was when I stumbled on a book about Vanitas:
‘Practices of the Purification Order: The role of medicine and executions’
That… That sure looks interesting. I wonder what made the Master get this book in the first place.
Chapter 15: Chapter 12
Chapter Text
In any case, I had found what I was looking for, and now it was time for me to leave. I stood back up and stepped away from the bookcase when the doctor’s eyes landed on me—and more specifically on the book that I’d chosen.
He made no comment about my choice and returned to his work, his face impassive.
But when I opened the door, ready to leave, he said, “Be here after sundown. I will be expecting you.”
Even though the things that I’d learned had dampened my mood, something about what he said made my gut twist in anticipation.
“Of course, Dr. Klaus,” I replied, then softly closed the door and stayed there.
Absentmindedly, I clutched the book about the Purification Order to my chest like a much-needed comfort bear.
The Master is human. What could he possibly show me this evening that would negate that…?
It was at that moment when the girls came out of the room next to the lab—a room which I presumed to be the Master’s bedroom. Lin and Eris made their way over to me, eyes wandering to the book clutched between my arms. They both raised their eyebrows in recognition after they’d taken a good look at its cover.
Pigtails smirked. “What’s wrong, Uggo? Did I scare you that much yesterday?”
“Don’t speak like that, Eris!” Lin chastised. “It’s not right to make fun of her.”
The other girl narrowed his eyes at her with suspicion. Then her gaze slid over to the door behind me.
She smirked again. “Aah. I see your game, Snake. Quit trying to be a doctor’s pet, and let’s go to the living room, yeah?”
“Um, do you know where Alexa is?” I asked then.
The brunette cast an exasperated look back to where she’d come from.
“Smelling the Master’s underwear. Perhaps you’d like to join her?”
I couldn’t help but grin at the weird girl’s antics.
“Yes, actually,” I replied. “If we’re allowed to do that.”
Lin rolled her eyes at me before walking away with Eris.
“Master Klaus is giving us waaay too much freedom,” I heard her say from the hallway.
I chuckled to myself before making my way to the new, unfamiliar bedroom. But before I stepped in, I stood by the door and peered inside curiously.
The room was perhaps the biggest one in the house. But that wasn’t because its owner wanted things grand and imposing—no, there were all kinds of things crammed in there. Apart from a double bed and an old-looking dresser in front of which I found Alexa, I could see another bookcase, a small desk and a chair, as well as many other things which probably didn’t belong on the floor.
There were boxes—both empty and closed, piles of books, an old computer, stationery, and even more medical equipment. The only thing that I didn’t find casually strewn all over the floor was surprisingly… clothes.
Other than that, I had to admit that the bedroom felt as cold as the rest of the house. Walls empty and white; no colors, carpets, or other decorations that existed just for the sake of looking nice.
This is all so very interesting. I have the impression that a lot of men can be messy, but then again, why am I getting the feeling that this type of ‘messy’ is different…?
“Hey, don’t just stand there,” Alexa suddenly called out from inside. “Come over here!”
I smiled and walked in. The young woman was still leaned over the Master’s dresser, so I joined her.
“What are we doing here?” I asked, putting my hands on the top drawer just like she had.
The sickly girl grinned from ear to ear. “Look inside.”
Following her eyes down to the contents of the drawer, my gaze landed on about a dozen black briefs and just as many pairs of socks.
“Does he keep all his socks and underwear here?”
They’re all pitch black. Either the doctor has some emo tendencies, or he simply doesn’t care about color.
The girl plunged her face inside and took a big whiff.
“Yeah! I’m surprised they always smell so damn good with all the chaos that prevails all over the house.”
I smiled to myself. “They do smell just like him,” I said. “Something like, um—”
“Smoke and incense?”
“Yeah. But, in a sharp, peppery sort of way.”
The girl nodded emphatically. “I don’t know how the man does it. His skin and clothes always smell the same way, and I’ve never seen him spray on perfume or anything. It’s like he’s injecting the damn perfume right into his blood!”
I giggled at her astonishment. “Given everything else you’ve told me about him, it doesn’t seem unlikely.”
“Yeah, but it’s hard, you know?” she grumbled. “I always smell like cum and sweat, and it becomes unbearable if I don’t shower every other day.”
“Maybe he showers even more often? Perhaps that scent is coming from his body wash or something.”
She shook her head. “No, he showers as often as I do—but even then, I don’t feel like he needs to. Besides, I’ve smelled his shampoo and body wash. It just smells… clean. Like bare soap. That’s why it’s all so weird to me!”
I grinned. “Have you tried asking him about the mystery of his scent?”
“Now that I think about it… no. I should remember to do it. I always forget to ask him questions.”
Then she lowered her head to the drawer again.
“Between you and me,” she added, “I’d prefer it if he just let his dirty underwear on the floor for a couple of days. I want to smell the dick on them, you know?”
I gave her a nod, my own face heating up. “Yeah. Um. Are you sure we are allowed to play around with his underwear?”
“Yeah, don’t worry about it! The doctor is very understanding.”
The moment these words were coming out of her mouth, my hand was already reaching down and grabbing one of his black briefs.
I raised it up to my face, anticipation washing over me, and pressed it up against my nose. I took a deep whiff. The smell was just like I’d imagined: faint yet sharp, overtaking my senses and dulling my mind.
I imagined the doctor shoving his erection to my face, wrapped in this very same piece of underwear. He’d demand that I suck him off like the good pet that I was, with that cool, emotionless tone of his. Then I’d start to lick the fabric hungrily before pressing my face to it, needing to feel his warm, hard cock throb against my cheek. I’d beg him to lower his underwear so that I could taste him, and the doctor would eventually indulge me. He would lower his briefs, staring at me from above with a soft, kind expression that nonetheless hid contempt. Then he’d fuck my face without a trace of empathy; without an ounce of love. Only to make himself feel good, and see the mess I could turn into.
Sensing that I was about to drool on the underwear, I immediately broke out of my reverie. Casting a look to my side, I found the sickly girl stuck in the same kind of wet daydream as I was. I smiled as a warm sense of familiarity washed over me.
And Dr. Klaus still treasures her. Even though she’s messed up like this.
Leaving the doctor’s underwear back to its original place, I grabbed the book I’d left on the dresser and walked over to the bed—the bed where my Master and his subjects had sex only a few hours ago.
Come to think of it, had Alexa eventually joined them after I’d gone to bed? Was I the only one who’d slept in the shared bedroom? I didn’t regret staying there, but I couldn’t help but feel a little jealous being the only one to stay away on my first day here.
Haaah. Anyway, perhaps some reading will make me feel better. This day has been so strange already.
I took a seat and turned the book around in my hands, curious about the summary. It read like this:
‘Medicine and human nature: a constant struggle for perfection. A wish for the moment when the former finally prevails over the latter, making humanity transcend into a truly different species. That is the dream of all Vanities, the purpose for which they’ve selflessly sacrificed themselves through the years. And it is the role of the Purification Order to preserve that wish, as well as to protect the deaths of millions. Our authorities cannot and will not allow any alterations to our original course because otherwise all this blood that has been shed—all this progress—will have been for naught.’
That… My mind can’t comprehend that.
The Master had played a big role in this, hadn’t he? He’d helped alter our identities. And for what…? For something so fleeting, so shallow. For something that I wouldn’t recognize even if I looked in the mirror.
I closed my eyes.
How much of ‘me’ is my appearance really…? Would I be a different person if I were to be stuck in another shell? Would I feel any different inside, or would my reactions be the only thing that changed?
I realized then that I'd never looked at myself in the mirror—and I still didn’t feel the need to. Not because I was afraid of what I would see there, but because it would change nothing. I would still be the same Gertrude, only relieved, or neutral, or downcast. The reactions of the people around me were the only thing I needed to know.
Tracing a fat, hairy finger over the book on my lap, I gingerly opened it to its first page. Quickly, I found the table of contents and noticed that the work was divided into two main sections: Medicine and Executions.
Under Medicine, I could see the following subsections:
‘2.1. Introduction
2.2. The Era of Treatments
2.3. Temporary Solutions
2.3. Beauty Breakthrough
2.4. Permanent Solutions
2.5. DNA Modification
2.6. Anti-Aging Progress
2.7. Future Goals’
This section seemed to be written in a linear fashion, probably analyzing how Medicine had reached its current point and how the author estimated its future development. I was very curious about certain points, but first I wanted to see what was listed in the second section. Because, from a first glance, I could see a lot more parts filling the page:
‘3.1. Introduction
3.2. Death by Electrocution
3.3. Death by Poisoning
3.4. Death by Suffocation
3.5. Death by Drowning
3.6. Death by Injury
3.7. Death by Freezing
3.8. Death by Incineration
3.9. Death by Falling
3.10. Death by Crushing
3.11. Death by Mutilation
3.12. Death by Melting
3.13. Death by Shredding
3.14. Death by Skinning
3.15. Death Combinations
3.16. Endless Torture’
Holy… fuck.
Chapter 16: Chapter 13
Chapter Text
Right away, I skipped to the introduction of the section about executions. My eyes pored over the words, taking them all in:
‘Medicine may have managed to eliminate the ugliest, most monstrous cases of Vanities, but this doesn’t mean that the Purification Order no longer has a purpose. There are always the cases of those who try to grow old or neglect their appearance and smell. And in addition to this, after the end of the World War, there have also been many impure foreigners in hiding. All these cases of hideousness deserve to be handled accordingly.
The following chapters are dedicated to the majority of methods used by the Order in order to eliminate these outliers. They offer detailed descriptions on how to maximize the intensity and duration of pain, always using Medicine as a guide. The reader should carefully consider which type of punishment needs to be chosen depending on the case: The uglier the criminal, the more painful the death.
The common denominator, whatever type of punishment ends up being chosen, is that the executioner must not hold back. They must not show an ounce of remorse for they would not be killing a human being; they would be killing a monster—a revolting creature which clings to the old ways and does not respect progress. Such creatures are no longer categorized as humans, but are more similar to leeches, infecting society and trying to hold back its healthy development.
Fellow writers, medical researchers, and officers of the Purification Order; Let us be united under the mission assigned to us by the Diamond Palace: to purge ugliness from the world and help create a thriving, healthier planet. Let us think of ways to deliver more gruesome deaths to the monsters and deter the rest of our people from being tainted by their twisted ideologies.’
My eyes left the book and stared off into space. I couldn’t very well wrap my head around the words I’d just read.
So I'm supposed to be a monster now? Not a human?
I didn’t really take offense at that hideous title; It was just that I didn’t really believe the author writing this book. After some point, he’d started to sound like a fanatic writing a cheap proclamation for the uncultured. Normal people couldn’t actually believe all this nonsense, right?
My gaze wandered around the room as I thought back on the things that the girls had told me yesterday, as well as that scene I’d seen outside the window with my own eyes.
…No. The hate is true. The things that I’m told are all true.
I hadn’t really believed anything up to now. Perhaps a part of me thought that the people in this house were all crazy, telling me scary stories about the world out there to keep me inside the house.
Not that I'd mind if Dr. Klaus was doing something like that. Regardless of the kind of world we lived in, he was still the only person who didn’t see ugliness when he looked at me. Even if he was lying to me, even if he had ulterior motives… I would always be grateful for his emotionless face.
I turned to the beginning of the book and looked for the introduction to the section about Medicine. It read like this:
‘Vanitas may owe its sanctity to the Purification Order, but its progress is all due to Medicine. Because over the past few eons, Medicine has obtained a higher purpose: It is no longer dedicated to curing illnesses and keeping diseases from spreading—these are all secondary goals. With its Beauty Breakthrough, Medicine has helped alter the very nature of human beings, rendering them more flexible to change and introducing permanent treatments.
Facial cleansing, waxing, hair loss therapies, and plastic surgeries are all practices of the past. They simply responded to a problem instead of fixing it at its core. The solution lay at the human’s genetic material: If scientists were to find the root of corruption, then all the problems surfacing to the skin would be eliminated. This is exactly what the Beauty Breakthrough was about: the permanent change in the nature of our DNA so that neither the human themselves nor their descendants would be troubled by conditions such as acne, vitiligo, or various body deformities.
The very definition of being human has changed, and the only threat remaining is aging: the same condition threatening every creature on this planet since the beginning of time. Only when this type of cure is invented will Vanities be able to live past 30. Only when our medical researchers come up with a way to make our cells regenerate and multiply without loss will we truly reach divinity. It is a tall order, that much is certain, but according to recent reports, the medical community is closer to a second breakthrough than ever before.’
…What? So Dr. Klaus could actually be close to making humans immortal? Because if a body doesn’t age and grow old, then it could technically live forever. Surprisingly, this made more sense compared to everything else I’d heard so far.
A rush of excitement coursed through me. Perhaps if the Master liked me—and if I was lucky enough to be born close to a new breakthrough… then I could become immortal!
My head snapped up, looking for confirmation for what I’d just read. However, it seemed that the sickly girl was no longer there. I'd been left alone in the doctor’s bedroom, and suddenly, I felt very uncomfortable about staying here.
I closed the book and left it on the nightstand. Then I hurriedly crawled off the bed to straighten the bed covers and fluff the pillows. Rushing over to the Master’s dresser, I slid the top drawer closed and walked out of the room, only taking a short glace back to make sure that everything was in order—or at least, the same way I’d found it.
A wave of relief washed over me the moment I stepped out on the hallway, but it didn’t last long.
“What were you doing in there?” asked me Lin, now heading my way. “You look all guilty.”
“It’s nothing, I j-just—”
“Well, never mind that,” she said, reaching out and grabbing my hand. “Come. Eris and I want to talk to you.”
She pulled me along, past our little room in the corner and towards the living room.
Great. Now I’m stressing out again. I hope Alexa will be there too.
“Lin. Can I ask you a question?”
The girl glanced back at me, looking like she was waiting to hear what I had to say… but that was when we reached the others.
“Uggo,” Pigtails called out to me from the couch. “Come over here.”
Alexa was on the other side of the couch, humping the armrest.
Lin nudged me to go ahead and take a seat between them. And, smilingly faintly to myself, I did just that.
“What are you smiling about?” asked me Lin as she moved on to take a seat on the other couch.
My eyes flickered to the sickly girl right next to me, and my smile widened even more.
So much potential. Was this girl always like this, or could the Master have done this to her…?
“It’s nothing,” I said finally, trying to tone down my overjoyed grin into an affable smile.
Probably sensing that this was about her, the sickly girl turned to look at me and tilted her head. Even then, she didn’t seem to be completely there. She seemed a bit too lost in her own world.
“Don’t hold yourself back,” Eris told me, looking like she’d realized what was going on in my head. “You can laugh if you want. She’s been like that lately.”
“Lately?”
“Yeah,” replied the brunette. “The Master’s been treating her for her condition, but I don’t think that there’s anything that can be done.”
I was about to ask ‘What’s wrong with her?’, but I stopped myself. There was nothing wrong with Alexa. She was a happy young woman, passionate about life and treasured by the man she loved most. If anything, I was a little jealous.
Eris mistook my expression for bewilderment. She smirked at me.
“Don’t worry,” she said. “Not all people in this house are as crazy as she is.”
Oh?
Not even the Master? Not even… me?
Once again, I kept quiet. I tried to think of something else to say—to fill this silence—and thankfully, the topic came to me right away.
“I-I’m sorry. Can I ask you girls something?”
“Yeah,” replied the blonde. “Make it quick though, because there’s something we want to ask you too.”
“Sure, um, it’s about that book I was reading.”
“What, are you wondering what kind of punishment they’ll chose if they ever find you?” Pigtails readily asked. “I’ve read the book and I can tell just by looking at you.”
“N-No, it’s not that. I was actually wondering about the other section. About Medicine.”
This time, Eris kept silent and let me continue:
“So is Medicine close to discovering a solution to aging? Could the Master be researching how to make humans immortal?”
As soon as she’d heard my question, the blonde relaxed back on the couch with a smirk.
“Oh, so that’s what this is about,” she said. “Boy, you really hate your body, don’t you? All that fixation about non-humans and immortals is finally making sense.”
“The Master may find a cure to aging someday,” said Lin, “but I don’t think he’ll do anything to fix the way you look now.”
I narrowed my eyes in confusion. I wanted to tell them that I didn’t care about those things, but the expression on their faces ultimately stopped me.
They both pitied me. Truly. In their eyes, I could see what they really thought of me: contempt, derision, revulsion. They were sure that even I considered myself to be inferior to them. They thought I was jealous of their lean, smooth bodies, and silky hair. And the cause of all this was supposed to be my humanity. I was ugly and old because I was human. So I wished that I wasn’t human anymore.
Hah! Laughable. What an uninspired little theory. I won’t even bother addressing it.
“So, how close to this breakthrough is the Master, really?” I asked. “One year? Ten years? Has he told you how much?”
Lin and Eris shared a look. They probably considered me stupid for still fixating on that.
“No, he hasn’t told us,” Lin replied finally. “And I don’t think it’s our business to know.”
Pigtails snorted a laugh. “Yeeeah. It’s not our business unless we get caught. Right, Linny?”
“What are you talking about, Eris?” the other one immediately snapped. “If I wanted to find out, I would have done it a long time ago. It feels important enough, no?”
The blonde narrowed her eyes at her, looking like she was trying to gauge her expression.
“So you either couldn’t find anything, or you’re keeping the information to yourself. After all, that’s what snakes do.”
Lin looked ready to reply to that when Alexa suddenly exclaimed:
“The violet guy…! Who’s the violet guy?”
Huh?
That got everyone’s attention. Eris and Lin immediately sobered up.
“…Who’s the violet guy?” I repeated the question, my voice small.
Chapter 17: Chapter 14
Chapter Text
“Just ignore that for now,” Eris told me. “Instead, why don’t you tell us how old you really are?”
I knitted my eyebrows. “How should I know? I was born yesterday.”
“The Master must have said something to you,” Lin insisted. “We want to know for how long he’s kept you in that tank before getting you out.”
“Why would this matter? Dr. Klaus can’t revert aging, can he?”
“No, that’s not quite—” Lin paused and inhaled. “That’s not quite what we’re looking for.”
She looked pretty agitated. Eris too. They didn’t deserve to get their answer after how they’d treated me; but something inside me wanted to give them an answer anyway. If I shared what I knew, then they would at least share something useful as well. It was too bad that I knew even less than they did on the subject.
I shook my head. “I really don’t know how old I’m supposed to be,” I said. “I don’t know if I’m younger or older than I look. And I’m not even sure if my own body is aware of it.”
“Tsk.” Eris rolled her eyes. “Could you be any more useless?”
I sighed and turned to Lin. I didn’t know if she was a snake or not; She was at least more likely to answer a question.
“Why does this matter?” I asked her. “Why does my real age matter? Does it have to do with the violet man?”
The brunette grinned at me. “He’s not actually violet. Only his hair is.”
“And that’s pretty much all we know about his appearance,” said Eris.
“And he’s really pale,” added the sickly girl. “Pale like the moonlight. Pale like the Master.”
I stayed quiet for a moment, trying to imagine him.
Long violet hair, and a lean porcelain body, pale like the moonlight.
…Wait. The girls never told me that much, did they? I’ve just gone ahead and pictured what I'd like to picture.
“You look like you know something.” Eris’s voice brought me back from my reverie. “What is it?”
“Why is this so important?” I asked her back. “Who is he?”
Eris and Lin shared another look. They seemed to be debating whether to tell me more about him or not, when Alexa opened her mouth and beat them to it:
“We saw him on TV yesterday, a little while before we met. Apparently, a bunch of pretty officers are trying to find him because he’s killed dozens of people in a few hours.”
Hm. That’s interesting I guess, but I’m not sure I can draw any conclusions with so little information.
Eris twisted around and faced the sickly girl.
“You fucking sicko,” she hissed, her eyes burning with fury. “Why don’t you shut your stinky little mouth and go back to humping the couch like the retard that you are?”
Alexa just gazed back at her, expressionless. Surprisingly, it was Lin who rushed to her defense.
“Eris! That’s taking it too far! It’s not her fault that she’s like this. She was born this way!”
“Aren’t you mad, Lin?” the blonde asked her, more calmly now, before throwing me a furtive glance. “Do you really trust the new subject? Do you want her to know everything I told you about?”
I lowered my eyes and looked away. Was I really that suspicious? Why would they want to keep me in the dark? Perhaps… they weren’t completely in the wrong. Alexa was the only one who’d helpfully shared what she knew with me, and I wasn’t even nice enough to repay her. Perhaps I should have defended her just now—just as Lin did—but I just… couldn’t.
I can’t afford to make enemies. Not when I know so little about this world.
Suddenly, I felt a hand—so dirty it was rough to the touch—coming to rest on top of mine.
I turned to my side and saw the sickly girl watching me quietly with that same empty expression as before. I was a little disgusted by her hand, but I didn’t allow myself to show it. Alexa was a good friend.
“Awww, what a moving scene!” Eris mocked. “Can we get back on track now?”
“What else is there left to ask her?” told her the brunette. “She clearly doesn’t know anything.”
Eris threw a short glance her way before asking me: “What kind of guys are you into, Gertrude? And before you say ‘why’, I promise to share a bit of what I know if you tell me the truth.”
‘Gertrude’? My, she really is serious about this.
I gave her a small, grateful smile. “Well,”—I closed my eyes for a second, trying to imagine my perfect man—“I like… someone evil.”
The blonde visibly gulped before sharing yet another look with Lin. She sat up on her seat next to me.
“Okay,” she said then. “Here’s the thing.”
Pulse picking up, I readied myself for what she was about to share. Something was telling me that this was going to be interesting.
A cold-blooded killer with unusual hair and pale skin… The kind of guy I’m normally into…
My hopelessly romantic mind was dying to connect the dots—but it was scared. Scared that it would wake up again and face reality. Scared that I was going to learn something completely different to what I was expecting.
No, the truth has to come from somebody else.
Eris was taking too long to speak, so I let myself focus on her face again, gaze questioning.
But her eyes were no longer fixed on me, and neither were they on anyone—or anything—else in this room. On the contrary, they were rather unfocused, staring in the general direction of the hall.
And I soon found out why.
Dr. Klaus stepped into the living room, once again silent as a cat. He was gazing at me curiously, and for a moment, I panicked.
I turned around and looked through the window. I sighed in relief. The sky had darkened a lot, but it wasn’t past sunset.
Before I knew it, the doctor’s eyes had left me. He was now gazing at his other subjects, his mesmerizing pink eyes moving slowly from one to another.
“Eris. Lin. Alexa,” he said. “Would you come into my lab for a moment?”
Even though I recognized that he was being specific about his request on purpose, I couldn’t help calling out to him and saying:
“C-Can I come too, Master?”
“Do not worry, my Gertrude,” he replied, eyes still focused on the others, “I will have plenty of time for you once I finish talking to your friends here.”
I see.
Without another word, Dr. Klaus disappeared into the hallway, with the girls following him silently, one by one.
I knitted my brows as I studied them all. At a first glance, there didn’t seem to be anything wrong with them. Their faces were calm enough—even excited about spending some more time with the Master—but that was pretty much it. There were no snarky comments from Eris, no rush in Lin’s step as she followed the doctor, no shameless lust in Alexa’s usually hungry eyes. They all acted like following the Master into that room was the only thing in their heads at the moment.
So jealous… At least, the Master promised to pay me some attention next.
Sighing to myself, I crawled closer to the other side of the couch so that I could directly stare into the hallway. Then I sank back into the couch, hugging my knees close to my face. I was getting impatient. Seeing the doctor again had made me restless, and the fact that the house was getting darker and darker as time passed was making me feel on edge.
After sunset. What’s going to happen after sunset? What’s happening in his lab right now?
There was something ominous about this situation which nonetheless sent delightful tingles all over me. I was not daft. I knew that there was something very wrong with this house. What kind of scientist kept human subjects inside his home, dressed them in skimpy nighties, and had sex with all of them at the same time?
I dropped my gaze to the floor, face heating up.
…The same scientist who treats me as their equal. A man who’s breathtakingly beautiful, who’s probably wealthier than the average person, and who somehow thinks that we are worth his time. I'm not sure if this man truly cares about us; I just know that I love everything about this.
Just then, I noticed movement on the edge of my sight. My head shot up only to see the three girls silently making their way to our bedroom. Their faces were completely blank this time, and I instinctively knew that the doctor had done something to them.
The only question is, how exactly did he manage that? Was it some sort of tranquilizer, or something else entirely?
I stood up, shrugging off my anxious shivers. I needed to see the Master now. He hadn’t called for me, so I wasn’t sure if I’d intrude if I were to barge into his lab uninvited—but I was sick and tired of waiting! I wanted to find out what he thought of me and I would find out now.
‘What else could I be, if not human?’
His words circled around in my head as I walked down the hallway. That single sentence had convinced me that the Master was human. But something… something still didn’t sit right with me.
Walking up to his lab door, I was about to knock when I heard a strange, distorted voice from inside. My body went numb and I suddenly couldn’t find the strength to make my presence known. I had to listen in—and I didn’t want to think about the consequences.
‘Do you consider it a wise choice, your Imperial Majesty? You may have escaped the Vanities’ criticism, but by doing this, you have broken the contract signed by our predecessors.’
…Who is this? Is this the Master? And besides that, is he talking directly to the ruler of Vanitas?
There was a short pause, then the voice continued: ‘There was a reason why Empress Victoria had it confined. A reason which I’m afraid you fail to see.’
‘…I could do that. But alas, I still haven’t finished my research. And this would not get rid of the creature that is currently causing you so much trouble.’
‘…Persist. Capture it. Then shut down its brain. I’m sure that your special forces are capable enough. Do that, and I might be willing to end my experiment a little early.’
‘It’? What is ‘it’? And what kind of experiment is the ruler of Vanitas trying to interrupt?
Chapter 18: Chapter 15
Chapter Text
I sighed to myself. These things were far beyond my understanding. Right now, the best thing I could do was stick to my original plan and tell the doctor everything that was going through my mind. I was already feeling uncomfortable about standing outside his lab and eavesdropping like a stalker.
I steeled myself and prepared to knock—when suddenly, the door opened from the other side. In an instant, I found myself face to face with the Master, his strange pink eyes staring down at me icily.
He didn’t speak. He was waiting for me to clear the air.
I let out a breath I didn’t realize I’d been holding. I wouldn’t even try to defend myself. He’d see right through my excuses, and besides, lying to people I was interested in just wasn’t my style.
I lowered my eyes a bit. “I was eavesdropping,” I murmured.
To my surprise, the corners of his lips stretched into a small, unsettling grin. He took a step back, and before I knew it, I was following him blindly into his lab.
“You did no such thing,” he purred, reaching behind me and closing the door.
I thought I heard the rusty sound of a key turning inside a lock, but I didn’t care about that at the moment. His eyes—his breathtaking, otherworldly eyes—were focused on me. Me alone. And with a kind of intensity I wasn’t used to so far.
I gazed up at the doctor, feeling a little lost. “I… I didn’t?”
He kept smiling at me, the warmth in his gaze putting me at ease. “No. You were a perfectly obedient subject who just came to see me. You heard no secret conversations. And you don’t even remember about the violet-haired man your friends mentioned. Isn’t that right, my sweet girl?”
Violet… haired… man? What kind of nonsense is this? Was I dreaming again? People are not supposed to have violet hair.
A shiver coursed through me, chilling me to the bone.
“I-I just wanted to see you, Master.”
Cold. I was feeling cold until I came to stand near him. I don’t care about anything other than him.
“Did you now?” the man murmured sweetly. “Did you keep thinking about meeting me here after sunset? Is that why you rushed to find me as soon as your friends went to sleep?”
There was no doubt about that. “Yes.”
His warm gaze faltered for a second. His perfect, pupil-less eyes turned cold, but before I knew it, they had relaxed back into the same mesmerizing warmth I was used to.
“Given the circumstances, I’m afraid that I will have to postpone the thing I had originally called you here for.”
Something twisted in my gut, and a very unpleasant feeling washed over me.
“What circumstances, Master? You… You’re not going to send me away again, right?”
The man kept staring at me silently. He seemed to be debating something. Crossing his arms, he rested his chin on his fingers, his gaze scrutinizing every nook and cranny of my face.
“Before you came here, I was talking to your roommates,” he said. “They seemed a little tired, so I’ve sent them to sleep early. Is there anything about this that you find curious?”
I averted my eyes for a moment, trying to remember how they’d looked when I’d spotted them leaving the lab and stepping into our bedroom. I knitted my eyebrows. For some reason, it was very hard to think about anything other than the doctor right now.
“I… yes. I think so.”
“Oh? And what is it exactly that you find curious, if I may ask?”
I bit my lip anxiously as I realized how inappropriate these thoughts had been. But I couldn’t stop here. I had to bare my soul to him and tell him everything.
“I remember thinking that you did something to them. I remember thinking… hoping… that you’d brainwashed them; that you’d used methods that are inaccessible to humans.”
The corners of his lips turned upwards in an amused smile that somehow made me feel like an idiot.
What kind of nonsense am I spewing again? There’s… There’s something wrong with my head, isn’t there?
The Master’s human. I know that better than I know my feelings for him.
Dr. Klaus reached to my face and softly placed his fingers under my chin. He tilted my head up so that I was looking straight into his beautiful eyes.
“My sweet girl,” he murmured. “Will you let me tinker with your body a little bit? I need to check if your brain functions properly so that I can begin experimenting on you.”
Should I trust him? No.
Can I do something about it? No.
Do I want to please him? Yes.
“Of course!” I replied. “B-But what about the reason you’ve called me here?”
“That is why I’ve called you here.”
So I… I’ve convinced him not to send me away? I wonder… What made him not want to proceed with this, and what was it exactly that has changed his mind?
In any case, I’m happy that I get to spend more time with him.
Noticing that I’d made up my mind, Dr. Klaus gestured toward a stainless steel table positioned near the far wall.
“Lie down,” he instructed, before moving to one of his countertops to prepare something. “And please remove your dress as you do.”
Before I could rush off and do exactly as he’d said, an inexplicable sense of dread washed over me, my mind slowly catching up with what was about to happen. The process already felt too clinical, too raw. It was as if the temperature had suddenly dropped inside the room, only to remind me of my true value here.
I also realized that not only would I have to shed my last piece of clothing for the doctor; my body would be at his complete mercy as well—a man who I still didn’t trust and deep down feared.
Shivers crawled under my skin. And yet at the same time, I wanted to be a good subject for him. Dr. Klaus was the one who’d created me, so I had nothing to be ashamed of, right? Besides, he wouldn’t do anything too dangerous on my second day here, would he?
No, I can’t back out anymore. And even if I could, it’s not like I can do something about it. I’m dreading to even think about refusing him. I’m practically a guinea pig here.
With my head lowered in apprehension, I walked up to the operating table and slid off my cheap, white nightie. Then I climbed up to the cold, steel surface, glancing towards the doctor as if he was the last ray of sunlight in an otherwise dark, frigid world. This time, it took a great deal of effort to replace my rational fears with the rose-tinted glasses that I normally used to see the world.
Before long, Dr. Klaus was next to me, holding a syringe filled with some sort of yellow liquid. His gloved hand gently took hold of my wrist and stretched my arm. I knew I had already agreed to this, but at that moment, it seemed a little weird to me that he hadn’t asked for confirmation again.
Perhaps the doctor is more selfish than he likes to appear. Or perhaps, I’m overthinking as always.
Keeping my eyes glued to the needle, I gritted my teeth as it pierced through my skin.
“Um, Dr. Klaus,” I spoke up, trying to distract myself. “What did you want to check on my body today? What kind of experiment are you going to carry out?”
I raised my eyes only to see him mildly mesmerized by what he was doing.
He briefly averted his gaze from his work and gave me a soft smile. “Unsightliness is strictly forbidden under the laws of Vanitas, and our abhorrence of it is deeply rooted in our DNA. For the sake of research, I want to find the limits of the very thing we were born to hate.”
‘We’, huh? It is ‘our’ abhorrence. ‘Our’ DNA. ‘Our’ hate.
I avoided his eyes, feeling dejected all of a sudden.
So you too feel repulsed when you see me, Master. You have no real interest in me. I thought that, since you created me yourself, my ugly features didn’t matter to you. But it turns out that my existence was never supposed to mean anything to you at all.
Chapter 19: Chapter 16 🌶️🌶️🌶️
Chapter Text
Absentmindedly, my eyes returned to the doctor.
Having injected me with his shot, the man took a chair from his desk and sat down next to me. I didn’t know why I was only seeing it now, but the way he looked at me made me feel like a dead piece of meat which he was about to dissect.
“The injection I just gave you,” he started explaining, “has infected you with a noncontagious disease which cannot be cured. The symptoms will be stronger at first, but will slowly subside. What I wish to learn first is the extent of impairment it will cause to your body.”
…Eh?
My mind was still stuck on the ‘incurable disease’ part.
“T-That disease—” I stammered, nearly forgetting my words mid-sentence.
“It shouldn’t kill you,” he answered, patiently. “I will, however, increase the dosage as it doesn’t have the effect I anticipated.”
“B-But what kind of virus is this? What is it supposed to do?”
“Its main symptom will be weeping blisters, painful when you touch them. Tonight I also expect high fever, vomit, and violent convulsions.”
“W-What…?”
I gazed at the doctor’s impassive face, and it suddenly felt like I was seeing the real him: a man who enjoyed experimenting on human beings and who wouldn’t think twice about causing pain. Finally, I was truly looking past his smiles and warm eyes. Finally, I had found the monster within.
In the meantime, he had prepared another injection, identical to the previous one. He looked down at my face with a soft gaze, his gloved fingers brushing over my lips.
“Your face is heating up. That’s good.” He seemed genuinely relieved.
Without expecting a response, he stuck his fingers into my mouth and pulled out my tongue. His other hand, holding the syringe, prepared to sink the needle in. My eyes teared up and I let out a yelp as he jabbed it in, a little more insensitively than before. It was like the more I complied to him, the more he took advantage of it.
Oh, he’s a psychopath. He really is a psychopath. That’s so… so hot. I can’t believe how much this is turning me on. I know I’m scared to my bones already, and yet…
All of a sudden, a sharp, throbbing pain coming from my head snapped me out of my delirious thoughts—and from that point on, time seemed to slow down.
I began to get feverish. My eyes were starting to sting, and my head was already feeling as heavy as stone.
Having used up half of the dosage he’d prepared, Dr. Klaus walked to the end of the table I was lying on—to the side where my legs were splayed.
“Spread your legs,” he instructed.
Mind sluggish now, I tried to keep up; but my head and body simply wouldn’t cooperate. My limbs had begun to tremble, and it was as if my brain was incapable of giving an order to another part of my system.
Calm and indulgent, the Master did it for me: He brought my thighs in such a position so that my calves were hanging from the two opposite sides of the table—and immediately, I felt my bare entrance dripping on its metal surface. At that point, I became aware of just how uncomfortable it was to lie on top of it. Only a short while ago, the operating table had felt hard yet pleasantly cool against my back. Now it was sizzling hot. I felt myself burning up, its surface starting to feel almost like a grill.
Is this really it, or is it the fever and blisters?
Much like what the doctor had predicted, I started to feel like every part of my body was inflamed and itching. I could sense my skin being stretched ever so slowly by painful boils—and the ones that were in contact with the table were sending sharp pangs of pain shooting across my body.
Sight already hazy, I watched the doctor carefully examine the wet slit between my legs. Then, without warning, came another piercing sensation.
I screamed. I felt that sharp needle piercing into my clit, then my inner lips, then further inside. It was then when I really started to spasm. My body began to jolt up and down on its own, as if it wasn’t mine anymore; and every time my skin touched the metal surface underneath, sharp pangs drilled through my back, spreading across my entire body. I was going to lose my mind on this table.
My gut clenched, that taste in my mouth getting disgustingly foul now. The blisters on my tongue had swelled so much they started oozing a viscous liquid that tasted metallic and salty at the same time. Bile began to form in my throat and, before I knew it, I was retching and vomiting things I didn’t know I had eaten. The Master turned my head a little to the side so that I wouldn’t drown in my own vomit. But even then, I couldn’t stop. My body was trembling and burning, and my insides were turning upside down. At some point, I even started farting, until I felt my anus leaking too.
…I’m dying, aren’t I? This man lied to me. He’s just standing there, watching me calmly as I suffer from something he infected me with.
So why… Why is this so attractive about him…? How do I have the mind to think about how erotic this is? He’s so smooth and cold, even while I’m suffering. There’s something about this madness that feels… intoxicating.
I’m really sick, in more ways than one.
In a brief moment when my nausea subsided a bit, my weary eyes searched for that serene face, trying to communicate words which I couldn’t speak.
After staring back at me for a few seconds with an expression I couldn’t place, the doctor, who was still standing by the end of the table, dragged my naked, convulsing body to him. I winced, feeling the open blisters on my back side grind against the surface. Then, to my shock, I saw him undoing his belt calmly, sliding down his zipper, and taking out that same massive, yet still soft, penis I’d seen yesterday.
It brushed over my leaking entrance—and for a second, I began second-guessing what I’d implicitly asked him. My entire body was covered in blisters—and even worse, the Master had directly injected the virus into my vagina. There was probably far more pus coating my labia than arousal.
The doctor didn’t seem to overthink this as much as I did. Wordlessly, he shoved his huge member up against my slit, causing me to yelp from the pain. My insides began to stir again, and soon I was back to retching and throwing up so bad, I could taste my own blood in my throat.
The painful sensation between my legs disappeared for a moment. From the corner of my eye, I noticed Dr. Klaus watching me with an expression which, for once, I was able to decipher.
‘Do you want me to go on?’
YES! HELL YES!
I wanted to at least stretch out my arms in his direction, but I couldn’t even do that much. On the contrary, my twisted excitement ultimately worked against me: Body shivering uncontrollably as much as before, that last knot deep inside my stomach and my bowels came undone, and to my horror, I sensed myself leaking from every hole.
The Master kept staring at my face silently for a few moments while jerking himself off. His light pink eyes narrowed a little. His face became unreadable again, but at least he… he didn’t seem opposed to this at all.
Head fuzzy, I watched his thick member grow bigger and bigger under his gloved fingers, to the point that I didn’t think he’d fit inside me at all. Then, having got himself hard enough, he just held my shaking pelvis still with his hands and forced his length inside me in one go.
“AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!!”
I cried and squealed like a pig getting slaughtered. The doctor never gave me a moment to get used to his inhuman size. He just started fucking me relentlessly, slamming his hips against me as if he was stabbing my cunt with a knife. Again. And again. And again. Ignoring my ugly tears and screams, he impaled me on his cock, over and over, forcefully tearing apart all the blisters that had formed inside after his injection. His monstrous member kept fucking all my bodily excretions back into me, stretching me to the point I was sure I was coated in my own blood.
It didn’t take much for me to reach my limit. Before I knew it, my core was convulsing against him, a much-needed orgasm hitting me in deep, sharp waves. Agony and arousal mixed in my screams, my walls squeezing greedily around that thing which had caused them so much pain. My insides clung to it—desperate for an ounce of that proof that I wasn’t completely unlovable.
…I got it.
My entire body shivered as though it was possessed—relief in the mix now too. I was finally full. I could feel it shooting inside me: Sticky, hot semen spurting from that cock, soaking every wound and blister that had been torn apart. I felt as if I would burst—I was overflowing; stuffed and used like I was always meant to. In that moment, my mind wasn’t even registering the pain anymore. In that moment, there was just… bliss.
…
I’d reached my highest peak. It was a pity that only a downward slope could come after.
The bliss started to fade, and not too long after that, everything slowly returned: the feverish dizziness, the burning pain, the disgust of swallowing my own pus. I started to barf again, and the sensation of fullness deep inside my heat disappeared. My hazy eyes searched for the man who’d brought me to this condition, but it was for naught. Soon after he’d given me that sliver of love and validation I craved so much, he’d disappeared. The Master might have realized the madness he’d just been led to and felt repulsed with himself—repulsed that he’d just fucked an abomination like me.
So he left the abomination leaking and convulsing alone on that burning table, until her useless body passed out.
Chapter 20: Decay Origins III
Chapter Text
Dark Perspective
Piñata was a little slut. She had a crush on a boy from her morning classes and, at the same time, another one from her evening class. She wrote about them in her diary, claiming that she didn’t know who to pick. She was thinking about them right before she went to sleep and as soon as she woke up in the morning. They were the reason why she was so happy getting ready for school and didn’t want to stay at home even when she was sick.
The creature was disgusted by her constant, lovesick urges. He wanted to get her so ill, she wouldn’t go to the damn school—but his poison just didn’t work that way. The human body, especially while it was still young, was quite resilient. So the creature usually had to wait until winter to get his host sick, or even worse: to wait until she was older—when her real suffering would begin.
And as if that wasn’t enough, the annoying thing was usually so very careful. Not only was she a damn wuss by nature, her family had also made it worse. The creature would rarely see her involved in accidents or developing habits that would only hurt her later on. She didn’t need to smoke like some kids in junior high, and she was always staying close to the teacher during school excursions.
Perhaps if she wasn’t an only child, her family wouldn’t be so attentive. Then he would have more chances to see her in pain. He would take advantage of her bad habits, get her sick, and make her pay for her crushes.
“John. Daniel. John. Daniel. That’s all you can think about! What a filthy whore you are, Piñata…”
The creature kept cursing at her, and the fact that she didn’t react to him at all made him even madder. No, she was too preoccupied right now. She was in the middle of a class. However, instead of listening to her teacher, she was busy stealing glances at pretty-boy John, hoping that he’d return her look.
It was at moments like this that the creature wished for a body. He longed to get out of her head, grab her from the neck, and start beating her… kicking her… slamming her to a wall! Then she’d surely look at him. She’d look at him with fear, like she ought to.
“Filthy slut…” he repeated, burning with fury.
The others may think of her as a hopeless romantic, but the creature knew what a shameless euphemism that was. The truth was that his little Piñata was a selfish, needy bitch. Even if she didn’t fully know it yet, she wanted to be loved in a very specific way, and by multiple guys at once. She’d recently discovered porn at home, and it was only a matter of time until she was looking up gangbangs and orgies.
…What was that thing with humans and sex anyway? Did their genitals dictate who to fall in love with instead of their minds? The creature found the whole concept absurd. Not only didn’t he have a body to know what a guy felt like when he was having sex; the notion of love was also foreign to him.
When it came to love and lust, his only basis was Piñata. And he knew that his feelings couldn’t be more different from hers: Piñata wanted someone to whisper sweet words in her ear. She needed a guy to sweep her off her feet and make her feel special. She wanted her crush to grab her, then hold her down and have his way with her.
The creature knew exactly how all that felt inside her body: Her heart was racing, and her stomach was tied in knots whenever she pictured her crush looking back at her. And when she was alone, she allowed her skin to heat up, her pussy to drip, drenching her underwear. The creature felt it all… and yet it was still so foreign to him.
When he pictured himself whispering in her ear, he didn’t feel like she did at all. He would be lying to her, and the fact that his lies would have an effect on her would be amusing in a different sort of way.
When he fantasized about grabbing her and fucking her in a corner, he didn’t share her helpless, pathetic feelings. He’d be shoving his cock inside her only to see her make a bigger fool of herself, hear her squeal like the pig that she was.
He'd be feeling numb, but at the same time, the fact that he could do anything he wanted to her would also be causing him ecstasy. The creature couldn’t describe it better to himself.
…No. Piñata has definitely never felt anything like this before.
Chapter 21: Chapter 17
Chapter Text
I didn’t know when exactly it happened, but from the moment my mind came back to working, it was already trapped in an unsettling state between wakefulness and sleep. Disoriented and physically exhausted, it remained numb while something out there was trying to feed it memories.
Hazy. Unwanted. Familiar memories…
Thoughts and images of decay prevailed in the mind of my former self. They were always there; but as I was getting closer to the end, they seemed to be demanding more and more of my attention.
Birth, growth, maturity, degradation, more degradation, even more degradation… Death.
I’d always been looking too far into the future… So why was I stuck in the past now?
Death, death, death. It was all I could think about. Even at the age of 5—perhaps even younger than that—I had been suffering from these very thoughts. What would happen to me when I grew old and died? How would I ever survive knowing that the end of my journey was closer than ever before?
It’s okay, I used to tell myself. I wasn’t even at elementary school yet. There would be a long time until I’d have to worry about such things. And I really didn’t want to think about stuff like that. Because no matter how hard I pressed my tiny head, I couldn’t come up with a solution.
My fears had only gone downhill from that point on. They’d affected every choice of my life, and ended up being my only company after everybody else had left me.
Even now; Now that I was past this phase and was trying to find my bearings in this new world, I couldn’t help but imagine what my corpse had looked like. Was it still rotting under the earth, or had I been turned into ashes? And more importantly, what would my new corpse look like? Would I die soon here in Vanitas, or would I have to suffer through the torment of old age first?
Oh God, this is terrifying.
Just at that moment, I felt something—no, someone—touching my arm; and that slight form of contact immediately snapped me out of my head. I realized that I'd been lying under the covers of a big, comfortable bed.
A comfortable bed… Where am I and how did I end up here?
“Gertrude,” a familiar voice murmured next to me.
I flinched. Snapping my eyes open, I found the Master gazing right back at me. His hand, now gloveless, was still resting softly on my bare arm. This time, none of us was really naked: The doctor was wearing a light tank top and, looking down at myself, I was dressed in the same plain white dress I remembered. We were sleeping together.
Master. You’re still here…?
Dr. Klaus brought his delicate hand up to touch my forehead. His apathetic expression gave me no clue as to what he might be thinking.
“How are you feeling?” he asked.
Did he mean physically? After everything that had happened in his lab? My mind drew a blank. Had all of this even been real?
I took a second look at my half-naked body underneath the covers.
Oh it was real—so, so real.
All the blisters were still there, although they were not as irritated anymore. I wasn’t really hurting at that moment either.
I gazed back into his otherworldly eyes again, which were still studying me closely.
“Are you feeling lost?” he asked patiently.
I shouldn’t mistake this with sympathy. He doesn’t look particularly moved or remorseful about what he did.
Slowly, his fingers came down from my forehead and traced a finger down my cheek. I knew I had blisters even on my face, and yet he seemed to think nothing of it as he touched me.
I know he’s probably not attracted to me, but this… this means the world to me. I wonder if he knows how strongly I feel about these things.
I wanted to open my mouth and start bombarding him with questions: Why was I inside his bedroom? Why had he done those things to me? Was it really for science, or was he simply a psychopath who got off on the pain of others?
My curious side wanted to know everything… but I opted for something else instead: Curling up in a ball gingerly, I tried to calm my still-racing heart just by being close to him.
I wasn’t alone right now. For whatever reason, there was this perfect man lying next to me; a man who’d seen me at my worst and hadn’t turned away. At that moment, I didn’t care if he wanted to dissect me, or torture me, or kill me. Master was right here, now, showing an ounce of interest in me. I felt so lucky.
To my surprise, Dr. Klaus wrapped one arm around my waist and pulled me even closer, until my face was pressed up against his muscular chest. Then he brought his hand up to my head and began stroking my hair. A wave of warmth washed over me.
“Are you feeling lost?” he repeated, quietly.
“I-I’m scared,” I finally admitted.
“Of?”
“Dying. Growing old. Ceasing to exist.” My thoughts were a jumbled mess at this point, so I said whatever came to mind first.
“What about the way I experimented on you?”
“I-I don’t know. Part of me thinks it was a nightmare. It hurt—so much. Still, I know that another part of me needed this more than anything in the world.”
The doctor slid his fingers under my chin and raised my face so that he could study my expression.
“How curious,” he murmured, almost to himself. “Your face is telling me the same things that your mouth just did. Are you always this honest?”
“I, um, no? It’s just that you… you—”
A teasing glint flashed in his pink eyes. “Do you love me already?”
I averted my eyes, feeling too self-conscious all of a sudden. “I-I think so. You’re really… really… cool.”
Yeah, I know that love is a big word; but then again, romance is a big deal to me.
You’re sick like me, Master. You have to be. And our main difference is that you want to torment others while I want to be the one being tormented. We could make a great pair.
Soft, plump lips pressed onto mine. Before I realized what was going on, a breath that smelled faintly like smoke and pepper was mixed with mine. The doctor trapped my lip between his for a moment that seemed to last longer than intended, then slid his tongue inside my mouth.
Instinctively, I flinched at the sensation; scared of what he might think of me. The blisters were still there, after all—swelling on my tongue and tasting disgusting. I was very much aware of it, and surely, he would be too. But once again, to my surprise, he didn’t seem to mind in the slightest. He explored my mouth, slowly, almost making me feel like he was enjoying the bumps that he’d placed there.
Master’s chest shook lightly, and I felt his lips pull into an ever-so-slight smile. Taken aback, I pulled away a little and looked at him with curious eyes.
“What?”
“Do you not realize what you’re doing?”
“I, um—”
He pulled me tighter against him. Then he whispered, “Glistening eyes; short, shallow breaths; even a little shaking. Why are you so anxious, my little Gert?”
I could feel my face heat up from the embarrassment. I knew that it was a big deal to be around him, but was I really so obvious?
“I… I’m little?” I’d looked down at myself. I wasn’t just tall and overweight; I was a big, fat grown woman.
He gave me a charming grin. “Your fears speak louder than your looks ever will. You are a frightened little thing who is in need of protection.”
Right at that moment, Lin’s words popped into my mind—the little information she’d shared with me shortly after I’d met her:
‘You, me, Alexa, and Eris are all his subjects. He keeps us protected from the outside world, so we literally owe him our lives.’
I wasn’t the only one he wanted to protect, was I? Come to think of it, how likely was it that a most influential researcher who worked for Vanitas might feel something more for me? There was a reason why he’d created me, and it probably had to do with the reason he’d already admitted: To find the limits of the thing that humans hated the most. To fully define ugliness so that he could come up with an efficient cure.
So he doesn’t really want to protect me, does he? Who does favors to unsightly strangers, after all? Nobody. Nothing substantial is given out for free.
I focused on Dr. Klaus again, trying to get more clues about his intentions. But not only didn’t he give me anything, the mirthful smile that had graced his face disappeared as well. Perhaps my long silence had seemed suspicious to him.
As anticipated, the next words that came out of his mouth were in the form of a question:
“Answer me something, Gertrude. Do you believe that you have memories of a past life?”
Chapter 22: Chapter 18
Chapter Text
I knitted my brows. Where had that come from? Was that a trick question? Because he sure seemed to be hiding a lot behind that. In any case, I would never dream of lying to him.
I nodded, shyly. “I think s—”
All of a sudden, I watched the Master’s eyes widen slightly, his pupil-less irises glowing bright pink in the dark. And right at that moment, a thundering pain surged from inside my head, so strong that it rattled my skull.
My hands snapped to the sides of my head, and before I knew it, I was screaming in agony. It was like a bomb had just been set off inside my skull, tearing and burning everything inside.
The sudden, almost paralyzing feeling had only just started to subside when I felt something hot streaming from my eyes and running down my cheeks.
Tears?
I brushed off the liquid with my fingers, then looked down at my hand.
No. This is blood.
“How are you feeling?” the doctor asked me then.
Slowly, I raised my head and looked at him, eyes a little unfocused. He was right there, the whole time; looking unperturbed as I stared at the blood on my fingers.
“Did… Did you just…”
He patiently waited for me to finish my sentence. So I tried my best to gather my thoughts and give him an answer. I didn’t want to waste his time.
“Did you just, um… trigger… some kind of pain in me?”
I glanced down at my hand again, stunned. I almost didn’t believe that I was seeing blood.
“Why would you think that?” asked the doctor calmly.
...Why would I think that indeed? I… I can barely even remember what had unsettled me in the first place.
I knitted my brows and gazed at him helplessly.
“Did… Did I just accuse you of something? I-I’m sorry, Master. You did nothing wrong.”
“Shhhh.” Dr. Klaus embraced me again and began to rub my back gently. “Are you still shaken from the experiment? Do not worry. Your body will adjust to the pain in time.”
In time…? How many experiments will there be, I wonder?
I was vaguely sad about something; puzzled; and a little lost. I didn’t know what was wrong with me, but thankfully, the Master was there to comfort me.
“You can let go from now on,” he whispered. “You can act as impulsively as you like, and I’ll take care of the rest. Okay?”
That sounded wonderful. “Can I, really?”
“Of course, my Gertrude.”
I grimaced. I didn’t really like being called by that name.
“I don’t like my name,” I admitted, shyly.
“You don’t? Why do you have it then?”
“I… I forgot. I’m sorry, I’m still new here and there’s just so much to remember. Have I disappointed you, Master?”
He smiled at me, looking overly pleased for some reason. Was he glad I had apologized for my mistake?
“You could never disappoint me, my sweet. So let me choose a pet name for you. Would you like that?”
I nodded happily, snuggling up to him.
Perhaps he hadn’t expected my reaction, because he stopped and studied me for a moment. Still, his arm relaxed around me and hugged me even closer.
“Hmm. Do you like being called a ‘princess’?”
I wasn’t sure I’d like the dynamic this nickname would create between us.
“What would you like to call me?” I asked him. “Perhaps something that you like more than the other girls’ pet names?”
I remembered that he’d called Alexa his ‘slave’. So he sure could come up with something interesting.
“Why are you looking for something that will set you apart from the others?”
“I-I guess I’m curious about the kind of pet name you’d prefer. And yes,”—embarrassed, I pressed my eyes closed even though I couldn’t see him unless I stretched my neck—“I’d like to be special to you.”
“But that wouldn’t be fair to the other girls, now would it? If you are worried about me caring for you less, I assure you, you will always be precious to me.”
Wow. These are some big words, huh. I’m not sure I like the idea of having to share his affection with my roommates, but then again I need his attention so badly. How bad could it be to ‘always be precious to him’?
“Whatever you’re thinking about,” Dr. Klaus said then, “please don’t worry your little head over it. Here, let me pick something else for you… How about I call you ‘little girl’?”
I smiled, raising up my head so that I could look into his mesmerizing eyes. “That’s better. But is this what you really want? Is this what I am to you, Master?”
He gazed back at me with a soft yet apathetic look. “You sound like you already have something in mind.”
He was right. But I hated having to suggest this myself.
My face heated up. “T-Then, um, how about ‘pet’—or ‘toy’?!”
Oh I would love to be his toy!
His gentle fingers traveled over to my face and smoothed my short, unruly hair back. I couldn’t help but smile like an idiot at his undivided attention.
“Are you sure you’d like that?” he asked me. “Toys are disposable, while I plan to protect you for as long as I can.”
“I m-mean, I’d love to be by your side forever. B-But sometimes I like thinking that…” My voice faded as I realized how bad my next words would sound.
“You need not be ashamed now,” he encouraged. “I would like you to speak your mind freely whenever you are with me.”
I gave him a grateful look. “I-I like thinking that… I’m utterly worthless to you.”
He closed his eyes for a moment and inhaled a short breath.
“Alright, my toy. I’m sure that it took a lot of courage for you to say that.”
I nodded bashfully, my body tingling with ecstasy after hearing my new pet name.
“You are pretty masochistic, aren’t you.” he said, looking pensive. He wasn’t asking for a confirmation; this was a conclusion he’d just come to.
But didn’t he know that already? He was the one who'd given me my personality, after all. I thought the reason he’d infected me with that virus was because he knew I didn’t mind some mistreatment. But now I wondered: Would he do the same thing if I’d resisted? For some reason, I thought that if I asked him, he would say no. But would that be his honest opinion?
The Master remained silent for a while, but eventually said, “You seem calmer. Do you feel like going back to sleep now?”
“Um, can I ask one more question, Dr. Klaus?”
He grinned. “Of course.”
“Why are we alone on your bed? Last thing I remember, I’d passed out on the table in your lab.”
“Your friends are still asleep in your shared bedroom. I didn’t want to wake them up by taking you there.”
“S-So instead I’m here. I-In your bedroom. With you.”
I felt his hand sliding behind my back and starting to rub me, softly.
“I couldn’t leave you on my operating table after you were being so sweet and compliant to me. Your reactions were more positive than I expected.”
My eyes widened a bit. “S-So back there, you were checking to see how I would react? Was what you did some form of a test?”
“Not entirely—my research and the need of your body are still relevant. Although I did put more pressure on you than I normally would.” He smiled at me. “You need not worry about that anymore. Your system will eliminate the virus in a few days. And that is all you should know for now. Please leave all the confusing things to me moving forward.”
But… thinking stuff is one of the things that make me special. If I don’t ever think anymore, what’s left to differentiate me from those other women? What’s going to make him like me more than them?
I opened my mouth to express my concerns, but quickly changed my mind. He had already made himself clear on that topic: Lin, Eris, Alexa, and I were all equally important to him. We were all ‘precious’.
I sighed, smiling up to him shyly. “…Okay.”
Perhaps I should really just relax and let this tide take me where it shall. It’s not like I can do much about another person’s needs anyway.
Chapter 23: Chapter 19
Chapter Text
The next day… I actually didn’t know when that day was. I remembered the Master’s first experiment on me on his sterile lab, but after that, my memories had blended into a series of disconnected senses. Everything that made me human had been taken apart, and I’d found myself incapable of forming a single coherent thought in my head.
I remembered the doctor’s face right next to a glowing white light bulb, its light relentless and cold. I remembered my eyes burning, stinging, leaking… although I couldn’t tell if that was due to the light bulb or not. There were also extended periods of time when I was completely alone; strapped to that freezing operating table. I would stay there for so long, that I’d end up peeing myself—although that could have also been due to my failing bladder. I couldn’t remember. Most of the parts of my body didn’t function normally, and most of the time, I couldn’t even feel them there.
Did I have my arms? Did I have my legs? How about my torso? Was it still intact? I could sense the doctor standing over me at times, piercing, pulling, cutting. He never stopped; until the time when he would vanish completely, for many hours—perhaps even days in a row.
There were also screams and moans from the next room; and in the meantime, my mouth would get bitter and my body would sweat. And in fact, during those hours that I’d spent on the operating table alone, I would become faintly aware of many strange things that I didn’t think the human body capable of:
Sizzling and gurgling sounds coming from inside my body, and along my skin; Foul, pungent odors escaping from the cavities of my body, including my mouth; The taste of blood, pus, and other revolting, bitter flavors that had developed in my mouth while the doctor was absent.
My body was throwing up regularly. It was perhaps due to this that my head was permanently strapped to the side. My neck had started to feel sore very quickly, when at some point, I stopped feeling it entirely.
Very soon, I began to lose my grasp on reality. My ears would start to ring, drowning out every other sound in the house. Then my eyes started to break down too: The side of the room I was forced to stare at was slowly turning from white to grey—and after a while, there was nothing but black.
I had reached a point when, except for raw, disjointed sensations, I could also feel a deeply-rooted and very intense fear. I couldn’t feel the doctor’s presence anymore. There was only a growing paralysis, spreading everywhere. There was darkness and ringing. Vomiting and fever. Discomfort and pain.
But most of all, fear. Even after each part of my body had turned numb. Even after an eternity of waiting. My insides were constantly clenched, waiting for… something. They knew that something ominous was bound to happen, and they braced themselves for the impact.
~~~
The next time I opened my eyes, the situation was much different: I was warm. Comfortable. Conscious of every part of my body as I lay on the Master’s bed, covered by his pure white bed sheets. And for some reason, the doctor was right there with me again, sleeping next to me like that first time. He wasn’t touching me though, and I couldn’t help but feel my stomach clench at the realization.
Yes, I wasn’t really mad for the experiments. I was still alive, after all. I even hoped that the doctor had found what he’d been looking for. And if anything, a big weight had been lifted off my chest:
There was no hiding the fact that Dr. Klaus was a little crazy. I would be delusional to claim the opposite, and that was actually the reason I liked him so much. But aside from my foolish infatuation—and perhaps even love—I was also aware of the fear: that deep, visceral fear that I felt every time I looked or even thought of him.
He is going to kill you, my mind kept warning me. But I never wanted to let that voice take over and replace what I felt for him.
He doesn’t have a trace of empathy for you, my mind insisted. Not even the biggest masochist would want what he feels for you.
I ignored it all. As strangely as it may have started, I loved my life, and I did want to live more. And yet there was something about the doctor that made me want to cast all my logic and caution aside and be who I truly wanted to be—and then see if he’d ride the same train. I’d let him treat me like a useless pushover and find out if he’d find something he liked about me along the way. Or better yet, everything. I wanted him to like everything about me. And so far, I hadn’t really found any proof of the opposite.
So, yes. I was relieved. If I were to die, I would have died already. And if he were to cast me off, I wouldn’t be lying next to him now. Surely, the worst must have already passed. Right?
I just needed a little more confirmation to truly relax. I wished that the Master had draped his arm over me in his sleep; to prove that he really needed me there.
Just relax, Gertrude. The fact that he’s not touching you doesn’t prove anything.
I tried going back to sleep, telling myself to stop being so paranoid, when I heard a knock on the door.
My eyes remained closed. If I kept them that way, then perhaps my peaceful time with the doctor would last longer.
But alas, whoever was standing outside didn’t like to be ignored.
The door opened. And a female voice called out to Dr. Klaus. Luckily, it wasn’t too loud.
“Master? Are you alright?”
“Good morning, Lin,” replied the man next to me, his sweet voice barely above a whisper. “It is rare for you to come see me so early.”
“I was just worried when you didn’t come out at the usual hour.”
“…Since you were standing outside my lab last night, you must know how long it took me to make your friend functional again. It must have been only a few hours ago when I turned in for the night.”
There was a short pause.
“I guess you’re right, Master. Please forgive me. Well then… um… I guess I’ll be—”
“My sweet doll,” the man interrupted, “since you are here now, you are welcome to join us if you want.”
What…? She’s going to steal my alone time with him now?
He had barely finished his sentence when she answered, “Oh, thank you, thank you!”
Then she came running. There were hurried, barefoot strides on the floor and, soon enough, I could feel the far side of the bed dip. The Master’s sweet breath warming my forehead suddenly disappeared, and in the next moment, I was hearing kissing noises.
“What happened to you this morning?” the man breathed, obviously not addressing me. “You usually have no trouble containing yourself.”
“If you don’t like this, you can always fix me. You know I’d let you do anything to me, Master.”
“This isn’t about my preferences, but rather about your well-being. If I allowed my subjects to be jealous of one another, all of you would end up suffering.”
“You’ve always been so considerate. That’s why I love you so much!”
Ha! I’ve been wondering what sets me apart from Lin. And well, I think I’ve just found one more thing.
The Master must have kissed her again because she let out a wanton moan.
“Do you girls have anything planned for tonight?” he asked then.
“Sure do! I was thinking of organizing a movie night. Will you join us?”
“I will try to make time for it, but I cannot promise anything. I trust that Gertrude is invited too?”
“Sure, okay. It’s only fair given each of us was welcomed here.”
“I am glad to hear it,” the Master replied, still in a hushed voice. “Do you think you could be close friends, or is it still too early to tell?”
“She’s okay, I think. So yeah, why not? Although she did steal a whole lot of your time these days.”
“I hope I didn’t make you feel neglected, my sweet.”
Lin giggled. “Only a little bit. Last night I missed you so much, I couldn’t sleep a wink! So… can I sleep here tonight so that you can make it up to me?”
Master chuckled softly. “Of course. I will however ask the others if you really had trouble sleeping.”
The girl kept giggling. “And what if I didn’t? Wouldn’t you indulge me then?”
Another kiss.
“You mean the world to me, Lin. I will always indulge you, no matter what you do.”
“Dr. Klaus…”
“I wish I could stay here longer, but I’m afraid I need to work on my findings now, my doll. Thank you for coming to wake me up.”
“Just one more thing before you go, please!”
The man was already getting out of the bed. “Hm?”
“How long will she really be staying with us? She’s not a test subject in the way we are. Is she?”
“What exactly are you referring to, doll?”
“I saw her in your lab a few times. She’d been in a birth pod ever since I can remember. I’ve been fearing the moment you’d finally get her out, Master. Because, you have to understand: I worry about you, a lot. Your superiors should never find out that you’ve allowed for such a creature to exist. You can’t keep her for long.”
The doctor’s voice turned icy. “You must be mistaken. I created Gertrude a few weeks after Eris.”
“B-But I know what I saw! She was right there, inside that elevated tank you always kept hidden from—Oh.” She stopped talking mid-sentence.
A few long seconds passed. Then, growing anxious with the prolonged silence that had followed her words, she mumbled, her voice trembling in fear: “Am I going to die, Master?”
Chapter 24: Chapter 20
Chapter Text
My body jerked awake as the door in the Master’s bedroom was slammed open.
Still drowsy, my eyes watched a very disoriented-looking Alexa rush into the bedroom and, without even stopping to acknowledge me, head straight for the Master’s dresser. She knelt down to open a drawer, took out a shiny black shoe—and stuffed it right between her legs.
What is happening? Am I seeing what I think I’m seeing?
I stared at the empty spot next to me.
Huh. Seems like I’d fallen back to sleep, after all. And the doctor’s already left.
My gaze returned to the sickly girl. Judging by the look on her young, freckled face, her arousal was making her lose touch with reality again.
“Um. Alexa?”
Her eyes made an effort to reach me. And although she looked genuinely surprised to see me, she showed no signs of stopping what she’d started. She kept fucking herself with the Master’s shoe.
“Oh, hi, Gertrude,” she said. “Didn’t see you there.”
“Are you, um, feeling alright?”
“Don’t worry, the Master knows. He encourages me to do what I like.”
Yeah, that’s pretty much the same thing he said to me. That’s… weirdly admirable.
“Do you need some privacy?” I asked the girl. “Sorry, I just woke up.”
At that point, she’d begun huffing and moaning a little. Her cheeks were flushing red. “Nah… Don’t worry about it. So how was this last week for you?”
So I was stuck on that table for a week, huh. I guess that’s about right—perhaps even less time than I thought.
“It was… interesting. Actually, I’m still trying to sort through my feelings.” And more importantly, his.
“Well, I sure hope you had fun—especially on your second day here. On the second day after I was born, the doctor called some fellow scholars and acquaintances of his and held a big party. I spent all night in a weird box that only left out my mouth, my cunt, and my asshole, and got fucked by a bunch of nerds. Man do I miss that night!”
Probably triggered by that memory, the girl soon turned into a moaning mess. She got lost in her own fantasies as more and more of her juices trickled down the black shoe.
I watched in awe, catching myself feeling jealous of… something. She looked so free. Alexa seemed like she’d been exposed to so many great things, which I could only dare to imagine. We would surely be given more special nights like those first ones, right? I wanted to enjoy more twisted things like that.
Already lost in thought, I realized that the room had suddenly grown too silent. My eyes refocused on the sickly girl’s blue ones, now staring back at me with a spent yet fully satisfied look in them.
“So are you coming to see the movie tonight?” she asked me then.
I perked up. “We’re watching a movie?”
Alexa brought the shoe up to her mouth and started licking it clean. “Oh, for sure. The doctor has allowed us to use the TV in the living room for the whole night.”
Trying not to stare too much at what she was doing, I focused on the conversation instead.
“That sounds great,” I said. “Do you often organize nights like this?”
“Yeah. Lin picked tonight’s film. She seemed thrilled about her choice, so it’s strange to see her so out of sorts now.”
I was about to ask her to elaborate on this when I saw her eyes stare at my head in wonderment.
“Did you always have grey hair?!” she blurted out, her voice unusually loud.
I scrunched up my eyebrows, giving a little laugh. “I don’t know. Did I?”
“You don’t know?”
My lips pulled in an amused grin. It was funny to see how humans reacted when it came to such trivial matters.
“No, I don’t think I’ve ever looked at myself in the mirror.”
Her surprise only heightened at my response.
“You haven’t!?” She quickly rose to her feet and came to grab me by the hand. “But you simply need to see this!”
I tried not to show my discomfort as her dirty, cum-stained palm was wrapped around my wrist. There was not much time to think anyway because soon enough, we were standing before the doctor’s old-fashioned cheval mirror, stuck in a corner of the room.
My stomach dropped as soon as my eyes landed on its unforgiving glass surface.
Is that… me?
Alexa’s pretty, youthful face grinned widely behind the scary-looking woman in the mirror.
“Pretty exceptional, huh?” I heard her say from behind my shoulder.
Meanwhile, I watched that ugly stranger staring back at me. Her hair was almost completely grey, with a few patches of brown here and there. There were wrinkles—not very deep ones, but still evident—and many, many blotches. Her back was slightly hunched and her face disfigured. Big nose, big ears… and one side of her jaw seemed larger than the other one. And then there was her impossible fat: She was so huge, that only half of her could fit in the mirror. And as if that wasn’t enough, her saggy breasts looked tiny in comparison.
All in all, there wasn’t a single nice thing about her. I began to understand everyone’s bewilderment as they laid eyes on her. I was a despicable, shallow human too, after all.
What is this woman doing in Vanitas? This particular woman… It’s almost as if she’s here on purpose.
“Please don’t hate the Master,” Alexa’s voice suddenly snapped me out of my head. “He really needs you like this for his research. To save other unlucky people from getting killed.”
…Of course. Of course, I’m here on purpose. It’s obviously due to this research. I keep forgetting this part.
“What do you mean?” I asked the girl, absentmindedly.
“If a single Vanity developed one of the conditions that you have, they’d be executed on the same day. That’s why the Master’s trying to eliminate these sources of ugliness, one by one. He wants to stop people from getting killed. He’s always been kind like that.”
“The doctor is… kind,” I repeated, my last word soaked in disbelief.
Then I burst out laughing.
Alexa just stared at me, eyes slightly wide. At first, I thought that she was just surprised to see me hinting at the opposite; but soon enough, her continued silence started to make me uncomfortable. I began to doubt my certainty.
What makes me so sure that Dr. Klaus is a bad, crazy man? Could I just be projecting my own wishes onto him, hoping that there’s someone out there even more rotten than I am?
My chest started to constrain, fearing that I’d made a mistake in my judgment. The doctor had never mistreated me. He knew that by getting intimate with me at my worst condition, he would silence my fears of him being shallow once and for all. And besides, everything he’d done to me, he’d done it because he knew I was a masochist and I wouldn’t mind some discomfort and pain if that meant I could please him.
I now realized though that what pleased him might as well be the results of his research alone: that is, saving lives, and not the research itself. He could be a researcher because he wanted to find cures for the problems of others, and not because he enjoyed experimenting on them.
…No. No, no, no.
He didn’t even want to call me his ‘toy’. To him I was precious, just like every other subject, every other human out there.
I started to feel sick.
“Is he really… kind?”
My words seemed to reach no one but myself. And even though that was how I’d intended them initially, there was something strange about the silence that followed.
Turning away from the woman who reminded me of nothing about myself, I looked at my sickly friend who was still standing behind me. Her eyes had lost focus again, but unlike the last time they’d glazed over this way, there was no hint of arousal on her face. Her expression was… eerily empty.
“Yes,” she finally murmured in a steady voice. “The Master’s really kind. He’s kinder than all of us.”
After that, she didn’t speak another word. Not even when I called her name. Not even when I apologized for laughing at what she’d said.
An ominous feeling settled in my gut, and I thought best to leave her be for now. I saw no point in lingering in the Master’s bedroom any longer, so I started to make my way out after tidying up a bit. The moment I walked out of the door, however, Lin was already there, waiting for me.
Huh…? There’s something off about her as well. She’s not exactly scary, but she sure seems more guarded than I remember her.
Chapter 25: Chapter 21
Chapter Text
Dark Perspective
Alexa had only just started recovering from her stupor when someone knocked on the door. Whoever it was, they didn’t wait for an answer. They walked in.
The atmosphere changed as soon as Nikklaus came into the room. The girl was quite surprised to see him back in his bedroom so early—even though she couldn’t exactly show it. Her brain had been fried again and again, and she was hardly able to think straight anymore. She only trembled a little; and whether this was from fear or anticipation, she didn’t know.
Cold, pink eyes soon landed on the cum-stained black shoe.
“It warms my heart to see you so lively, this early in the day,” said the Master, smiling faintly. “Your mood has truly improved over the past few weeks, hasn’t it?”
The young woman wanted to agree with him but couldn’t find the right words so quickly.
Concerned, the doctor closed the door and walked over to the disoriented balding girl. “Are you feeling unwell?” he asked.
“N-No.”
The man’s smile grew a little more. “Aren’t you sweet, little slave. There is no need to lie for my sake. I’ve promised to always make you feel better, haven’t I?”
She nodded slowly, preferring to let the Master do the talking for now.
The man gently wrapped a hand around her thin arm and led her out of the room. “I’ve been watching you, you know. You have been making astounding progress lately.”
“What… do you m-mean, Master?” the girl asked slowly.
The doctor waited until they both slipped into his lab; then closed the door behind him and locked it.
“Your eyes shine when you look at me,” he purred, cupping her cheek softly. “You get aroused when I’m nearby, and you are growing obsessed over me.”
“Lin and Eris are more obsessed in some ways.”
Chuckling softly, he shook his head. “You are also loyal, honest, and respectful. The other girls have a long way to go before reaching this level of perfection.”
“What about Gertrude?”
The Master didn’t answer right away. “…I briefly considered visiting her instead of you today. But she has not proven her loyalty for as long as you have.”
“Master… what is this about? Why did you visit me during your work hours?”
Alexa normally didn’t ask that many questions. Dr. Klaus had always been kind to her, but today he felt… different. She didn’t know why, but she’d started to grow wary. He kept praising her, and now she was locked in the lab with him.
“My darling girl,” he cooed, “I wanted to give you a present, to prove how much I cherish you.”
He took her hand and led her to a door in his lab which she’d never been through before. There was something ominous about that door; Alexa didn’t want to be near it at all.
She tried to break free from his grasp.
“Don’t resist now,” murmured the man sweetly as he tightened his grip around her wrist, forcing her to stay by his side.
But the girl was in too much distress to let his calming words get to her. That door—even though it looked identical to all the others—frightened her. It was as if some raw, human instinct was trying to warn her. As if there was some memory, buried deep within the recesses of her mind, that pleaded with her to run away. She couldn’t tell why; she couldn’t remember. But she knew that she had to keep her distance.
Nikklaus unlocked the door with his free hand and pulled the girl inside. Then, right at the moment when they stepped in, a nauseating stench violated the woman’s nostrils. She began to cough, her already sensitive stomach turning. She couldn’t believe that such a revolting odor, isolated only by a cheap-looking door, was coming from a room right next to the doctor’s lab.
To make matters worse, just as Alexa had started to overcome the initial shock, the sight before her eyes stunned her into silence all over again. The space was barely lit, but there was no mistaking what stood frozen in the distance: All around her… there were corpses; headless corpses. Young women mostly, dressed in short white dresses; standing tall, skewered on giant metallic poles that reached as high as the ceiling.
Dr. Klaus, who’d been gazing at his living subject with a soft smile on his face, finally spoke up:
“My sweet slave,” he said, locking this door as well, “since you have become the most splendid version of yourself, I’ve brought you here to make you mine forever.”
For a split second, Alexa considered attacking him and taking the keys that had trapped her in this unholy place. But then she thought it over: Would she really succeed at standing up to the man who had isolated and killed that many people? Who was she kidding? Her brain was dull and her defenses nonexistent. Over the past few weeks, he had turned her into an animal ready for slaughter.
And so, the Master found no resistance when he made her stand against an empty spot on the wall, between all the corpses. He had, after all, prepared thoroughly for this moment. Behind her tense wrists and ankles, she could feel metal cuffs, nailed on the cold, rough concrete. There were also leather bounds, worn with use, and sharp weapons not far from where the doctor was standing.
Perhaps it was the fact that there was no room for mistakes that had made the Master look so calm now. His eyes, more genuine than she’d ever seen them, were gazing down at her adoringly. Did he honestly believe that this was the present she deserved for all her devotion?
“Please,” she stammered, “d-don’t.”
To her surprise, the doctor paused to listen to what she had to say for a second. Something was wrong, however. Not only did she find it hard to speak, her mind also chose to draw a blank at that moment. Everything she was about to say would be a lie:
The fact that she wanted to spend the rest of her life with him, alive; that now that he’d shown her his true colors, she’d grow to love him even more; and even that she had a lot to live for.
No. There was nothing left to live for. The kind Master used to be her whole life… and now he was gone.
Sensing that Alexa had finally surrendered, the man breathed out a sigh of relief.
“You have nothing to worry about, my sweet. In a world where humans die in the most horrifying ways, becoming forever united with the person who loves you the most is a true blessing.”
His empty words of sympathy didn’t even reach her anymore. She just wanted to get this over with. Of course, the doctor continued to act as if he hadn’t noticed how resentful she was. He lovingly took her limbs, spread them out slightly, and cuffed them onto the wall. Alexa had been exposed to him many times before, and yet this was the first time she felt uncomfortable. The spot between her legs felt rigid and dry and her disgust only grew the more she looked at him.
Reaching out to take a collar and a leash from a wall hanger nearby, the Master sighed softly. “Is this really how you want to part with me?”
What’s the point of putting this on my neck right before skewering me with one of these metal poles?, thought Alexa, eyeing the black, leather collar. Is this some sick fetish of his?
Seeing that he wouldn’t get an answer, Nikklaus returned his attention to the unnecessary—but definitely enjoyable—part of restraining his victim.
Relishing the girl’s fear as he gazed lovingly into her eyes, he took a step closer. He reached behind her neck with his gloved fingers and put the collar on her. Then, holding onto her leash, he cupped her cheek tenderly and let his eyes take in the sight of her living face one more time.
“Do you really have nothing to say to me?” he asked softly. “No questions? No wishes or regrets?”
“Actually, I do want to ask you something.”
The man waited patiently for her to continue.
Her eyes darted to their morbid audience. “Have you ever loved anyone here?”
The Master smiled indulgently. “I love all of you.”
“Yeah, whatever. Erotically, I mean. We’ve fucked a lot of times, but you’ve never gotten hard unless I paid special attention to your cock.”
“The kind of love you speak of, my sweet girl, is fleeting and mundane. No, I have never loved in this sense, and I am never going to. The feelings I harbor for my subjects are far greater than this.”
“So all this time, you’ve been doing something you’re not comfortable with?”
He shook his head. “To me, sex is like driving a car. I neither hate nor love it. I simply encouraged it because I believed it was important to you.”
The woman started to feel conflicted. How much of what he was saying was true? Had he really been considerate the whole time, but in his own way?
Dr. Klaus brought his gloved fingers to his dark blue shirt and started undoing the buttons.
“Well then,” he murmured, gazing at his subject with kind eyes. “If you have nothing else to say, it is time to be united, my sweet.”
Alexa felt a sudden urge to keep talking to him when the sight before her eyes made the words die in her throat.
She let out a scream as the man tugged on the leash attached to her collar.
And, a couple of seconds later, it was all over.
Chapter 26: Chapter 22
Chapter Text
I started walking down the hall, expecting Lin to catch up to me. And soon enough, she did.
“Gert! Good afternoon! I hope you slept well.”
I smiled politely. “I did, thanks. It’s afternoon already, huh?”
“Indeed, it is. I don’t know if Alexa told you, but we’re watching a movie tonight. You should come too.”
“Yes, she’s already mentioned it. It’s nice that you organize stuff like that. Thanks for inviting me.”
Assuming that the conversation was over for now, I made to leave—only for Lin to come stand in front of me again.
“So what are you going to do now?” she asked, smiling.
“I was thinking of visiting Dr. Klaus. It’s been so long since I last talked to him.”
“Oh, but the doctor has asked us to avoid interrupting him while he’s working. He may come watch the movie with us later though.”
“…Ah. Okay then, I guess.”
I really wanted to see him, but I guess it’s not right to keep interrupting him while he’s working. I’ve done it once already, and I remember him wanting to be left alone.
The brunette took my hand and pulled me along. “Let’s go prepare the living room for tonight! Everything has to be perfect so that the Master will have no choice but to join us!”
I grinned, spurred on by her determination. After everything that I’d seen and heard, I could only wish that her good mood was genuine. Alexa had mentioned that something was off with Lin, after all.
The young woman and I made our way down the hall and into the living room. Eris was already there, sitting on the biggest couch and painting her toenails. We took a seat on the couch next to it.
The brunette already looked exasperated at the other one. “Out of all places, must you dye your nails there?”
Pigtails didn’t even raise her head to acknowledge us. “At least I’m doing something to look different from you lot.”
That was rude, but I couldn’t exactly say she was wrong. She was wearing the same white dress as everyone else.
“The doctor didn’t want to buy us that nail polish in the first place.” Lin shrugged. “Wearing makeup is more than enough.”
Eris let out a mocking laugh. “How pitiful. That’s what he’d like you to think.”
That conversation seemed interesting enough, so I decided to speak up: “I think I remember the Master saying that he finds us all unique in our own ways. So does appearance itself really matter in the end?”
Eris smirked to herself. “Of course, you would think like that. What’s wrong, Gert? Didn’t make the doctor hard enough to fuck you a second time?”
What the—? Is she actually speaking these words to me?
“Watch your mouth, Eris,” Lin snapped all of a sudden, “or I’m telling the Master right now!”
“Please,” said the other one, “I’m only saying the things that everyone here thinks but won’t dare speak. Unlike some people here, I’m not a backstabbing snake.”
It seemed that Eris had really struck a nerve with this because Lin didn’t utter a word after that. With the whole room plunged into silence, the brunette focused all her energy into tidying up the place and, not feeling like arguing with anyone, I tried helping her without talking too much. We draped new, fresh smelling cloths over the couches, lit candles, and even vacuumed a little. By the time we were done, Eris was finishing up her makeup. She looked even more stunning now: pretty, but not in an obvious way. If the Master was into beautiful women even a little, he’d surely appreciate it.
But let’s hope he doesn’t.
All of a sudden, the piercing ring of a doorbell resounded in the house. Before I could react to it, Eris had already stood up from the couch grabbed my and Lin’s hand, and hurriedly forced us out of the lounge.
What the hell? What is this about?
“Hey, take it easy with me!” protested Lin, but otherwise offered no resistance as the other woman pulled us out into the hallway and led us straight into our shared bedroom. “I can lock myself in the room just fine without you!”
“W-What is going on?” I mumbled in bewilderment.
“Doctor’s protocol,” finally answered Eris in a serious tone as she closed the door. “We’ve been instructed to steer clear of visitors and lock ourselves in here whenever we hear the doorbell or someone enters unexpectedly. Dr. Klaus should be the only one talking to them.”
“Why…? Are there people out there looking for—”
“Where’s Alexa?” Lin interrupted, not focusing too much on the conversation.
Eris let out a mocking laugh. “Are you suddenly worried about someone else other than the Master, Linny?”
Probably pitying the clueless look on my face, Pigtails added for my benefit: “She knows I’m kidding, Uggo. She just wants to hurry up and lock the door so that she doesn’t break any rules.”
I looked at Lin questioningly. The way she avoided my eyes let me know that Eris was right.
Right at that moment, I heard the Master getting out of his lab and walking down the hall, probably to greet the guest waiting at the entrance. He knocked on our door on his way, but instead of his sweet, melodic voice, I heard something entirely different: a deep, muffled growl that didn’t remind me of the doctor at all.
“Do not wait for Alexa. Just lock the door now.”
I was about to ask the girls about it when they both placed a finger on their lips, asking me to stay silent.
Furrowing my brow, I complied.
What’s with all the secrecy? Why would the Master use a muffler, and why would he go to such lengths to keep us away from the outside world? Were we in that much danger, or did he want to fully control the things we were exposed to?
Having locked the door, Eris headed to her bed. Lin and I stuck our ears against the door.
I heard the Master opening the door, then closing it almost immediately.
“He wants to talk outside,” explained the brunette at a low voice, smiling at my nosiness.
“Oh, good,” murmured Eris from across the room. “Now we have two snakes. You know I’m telling Dr. Klaus that you were trying to listen in on his conversation.”
I shrugged. “I wasn’t going to hide anything.”
“Yeah, right. I know a snake when I see one.”
The brunette narrowed her eyes at the other girl. “What’s going on with you, anyway? Aren’t you curious?”
“What’s going on with you?” Eris spat back. “You looked like you’d seen a ghost a couple of hours ago.”
Lin’s face went blank. “I did?”
“Why is this so surprising? It’s not the first time it’s happened.”
“You space out more often than I do!”
Pigtails smirked. “Yeah. Keep telling yourself that.”
Brief silence settled in the room, only to be interrupted by Lin’s sigh a few moments later.
“Eris,” called out the girl.
“What?”
“You really aren’t curious…? I remember you more rebellious the days after I was born.”
“That was you, sicko. You were even nosier back then, trying to meddle in the doctor’s business.”
Lin grimaced at the other girl’s description. “As always, you’re exaggerating.”
Uhh, I don’t think I can trust much of what’s being said here. Do these two even know what they’re arguing about? I wonder if they’ll give me a straight answer about someone other than themselves.
“What about Alexa?” I asked. “What was she like before I arrived?”
Both of my roommates stopped to consider my question.
“Alexa’s always been obedient,” Eris said finally. “She’s been here longer than I have, though, so I don’t really know how she would behave at first.”
Lin seemed to more or less agree with that opinion. “That girl seems like she has no views of her own. She usually just goes along with whatever Dr. Klaus tells her.”
Pigtails barked out a laugh. “Afraid of the competition, Linny? Because, last time I checked, you were fussing over a door left unlocked.”
“I have my own personality though,” the other one said proudly. “Alexa, on the other hand, is too much of an airhead for her own good. All she wants to do is get into the Master’s pants. I bet she doesn’t really care what goes on in that perfect white head of his.”
Eris’s face scrunched up in disgust. “Wipe your drool off the floor, snake.”
“Don’t you two like sex much?” I asked.
“Of course we do,” replied the blonde. “Just not like crazy people.”
The other one nodded her head. “She’s told me some of her fantasies. They’re pretty sick.”
“Oh, oh.” Before I knew it, I was making little jumps on the spot. “Please tell me some!”
“Shhh! Be more quiet, Gert,” said Lin.
I gave her an apologetic smile. “Sorry,” I mumbled.
“Are you serious, though?” asked me the woman from across the room. “Why would you want to know what’s inside a sick person’s mind?”
I shrugged. “It’s interesting.”
Lin finally indulged me: “Alexa told me that she wants the Master to pee on her.”
My face heated up. That’s actually… really hot. How utterly humiliating this would be…!
“What else?”
“She wants him to cum all over her face and hair, lock her in a box and fuck her from a hole for an entire month, and suck him off twenty-four seven.”
“Stop it, Lin,” Eris complained then. “Can’t you see she’s just as sick?”
The brunette grinned and smiled at me. “Sorry. I guess I was waiting for you to freak out.”
Freak out? My fantasies are way worse than this.
Chapter 27: Chapter 23
Chapter Text
“But you two must have, um, shared the Master a few times, right? That’s not very vanilla either.”
“We’ve had orgies, yeah.” Eris conceded.
Lin agreed too, although she seemed more displeased with this than the other one. “We love the Master, so of course we’ll take any opportunity we’re given to have sex with him. It’s not like we see him a lot. We may live in the same house but, believe it or not, he spends most of his day holed up in his lab. And when he doesn’t, he usually goes outside for business instead of spending time with us.”
“Do you know if he has any woman out there that he—”
All of a sudden, I heard the entrance door open. Lin—apparently having heard it too—rushed up to her bed above Eris. Dr. Klaus closed and locked the door immediately before his footsteps echoed in the hallway. A few moments later, he was outside our room, knocking on the door.
The girls hurriedly urged me to unlock the door, so I did. I opened the door for the Master, smiling up at his doll-like face.
“That was fast,” he said to me, his eyes narrowing. “Have you perhaps been standing here the entire time?”
I nodded shyly.
“Were you not informed that I want you to stay as far from my visitors as possible?”
I nodded again.
“Well then, I must say that you’ve disappointed me, my toy. I was under the impression that you were a nice and loyal girl, capable of adhering to my rules.”
I felt my cheeks flush. Have I really betrayed his trust? Technically, he wasn’t even the one who told me about this practice.
Averting my eyes from the Master, dejectedly, I turned around to look at the faces of my roommates.
The bitches are smirking. But no, I won’t even tell Dr. Klaus that Lin was here with me. I want him to like me more for myself—and not because the others are worse options.
I tried to smile again. “Aren’t you happy I told you though, Master?”
His otherworldly, pink eyes drilled holes into mine. “I would be happier if you hadn’t tried to listen in on my conversation.”
I dropped my gaze, defeated. “I-I’m sorry. I was just so curious. I guess I just wanted to learn more about you. You must know by now how much I—”
“That is enough,” the doctor cut me off. “I forgive you, my sweet, and I apologize for putting you on the spot like this. However, it would bring me great joy to see my little toy tucked snugly in her bed the next time something like this happens.”
“Okay, Master. If this would make you happy, I’ll do my best.”
The man smiled kindly at me, but our sweet moment didn’t last long. On the other side of the room, Pigtails started making vomiting noises like a madwoman.
Dr. Klaus’s eyes snapped to her. “Be nice to your friend now, Eri.”
“She’s being cringe on purpose though—like, it’s so obvious,” she defended. “Don’t you feel insulted, having to indulge a kiss-ass?”
“I’d never deceive the Master!” I cried. “I proved it just now when I admitted I was prying.”
“Or,” replied the girl with a smirk, “you admitted to a small mistake on purpose, so that you can get away with bigger things in the future.”
“No!”
The doctor placed a hand on top of my head as if to calm me down. “That is enough, Eris,” he said, his tone unusually authoritative. “Even if she was trying to deceive me, I believe she is entitled to some degree of leniency. No subject of mine has ever been perfect.”
“B-But Master!” I insisted. “I’d never betray you like that!”
I must be perfect to you! If I’m not, then everything’s over.
His gaze was filled with warmth as he looked down at me. His hand began to caress my hair, gently.
“You wouldn’t, would you, my sweet…?” he murmured, as if he was talking to himself.
“You look sad, Dr. Klaus,” Lin spoke up as soon as she saw his pensive expression. “Did your visitor upset you?”
The doctor grinned a little when he turned to look at my other roommate. “If you are so curious, why didn’t you join your little friend here at the door?”
Her cheeks blushed crimson.
“I-I’d never do that! I’ve been here on my bed the whole time.”
A brief moment of silence followed. I looked down because I didn’t really want to say anything about it. I also wanted to know if Eris was going to say something, or if the Master would press either one of us for answers.
He didn’t. And in fact, no one said anything. Was that because the answer was obvious, or did everyone have better things to consider?
Is the Master really troubled by something? I can’t really tell.
“Will you come watch the movie with us?” I asked him then, trying not to look too hopeful so as not to pressure him in case he wasn’t in the mood for it.
He gave me an indulgent smile. “Do you want to watch it now?”
I looked to the girls, waiting for their input.
“Just give us a few minutes to get everything ready,” said Lin, finally.
“Alright,” replied Dr. Klaus. “I will be in my lab, finishing up my work. When you are ready, knock on my door.”
I breathed out a sigh of relief. I didn’t know about the others, but some downtime seemed perfect right now.
The doctor was about to walk back to his lab when Eris called out to him:
“Where’s Alexa?”
This is a good question, actually. Where is Alexa? Only a short while ago we were talking in the Master’s bedroom.
Almost reluctantly, the man turned around and faced us with a serious face.
“I’m afraid you won’t like the answer, my sweet girls.”
The bleached blonde didn’t miss a beat. “I’m sure we can handle it.”
“She… cut her own veins,” he breathed, his tone low but steady. “I found her in my bedroom, in a pool of blood.”
My jaw dropped. “What?!”
Alexa’s dead?! How did this happen?
It seemed that my other roommates were equally stunned. They didn’t make a sound.
Dr. Klaus addressed me then: “You must have been the last one to talk to her. Isn’t that right, my toy?”
“I-I… yes.”
He tilted his head a little. “Did you say something upsetting to her? Make her feel uncomfortable?”
What…? No. He can’t possibly mean that what we discussed earlier this afternoon was what caused her to commit suicide.
“I-I, um, I did laugh at something she said,” I mumbled, trying to recall every detail of our conversation. “She, ah… She kind of had an empty look on her face when I left her.”
Lin took in a sharp breath. “It was you!” she accused, pointing her finger at me. “You killed her!”
Furrowing my brows, I turned to look at the Master.
Did I really kill her? Was my laugh—my prideful certainty—so insensitive that she ended up killing herself?
Closing his eyes for a second, the man let out a quiet sigh. “You couldn’t have known,” he said softly, as if he was trying to be understanding. “Alexa is… was… a sensitive young woman, and lately her mind had grown more tumultuous than it normally was.”
“That’s the same kind of thing that happened to your old bestie, right, Lin?” Eris asked. “Ornelia?”
I gave them a questioning look. Thankfully, Lin was kind enough to explain it to me:
“Ornelia was a subject like us. She died before Eris was born and, just like Alexa, she was suffering from some mental illness. I remember her being unresponsive to most things—except for sex. One day, she sneaked into the Master’s lab and drank whatever liquid she found there. Died in a few minutes.”
Dr. Klaus’s hand had frozen on top of my head. Did he not realize that it was still there?
“Come now, my girls,” he chided finally. “It is not fair to your old friends to speak as if they had nothing in particular that made them special.”
I gazed up at the doctor’s beautiful face. “What did you find special about Alexa and Ornelia, Master?” I asked.
He gave me a warm smile. “Alexa was a simple girl,” he murmured, his eyes slipping away from mine in a nostalgic look. “She was honest about her desires, and didn’t need much to be happy.”
Heat rushed to my cheeks. It was obvious, just by his brief description of her, how much he cared about her.
…It was doing things to me.
“Ornelia was a quiet one,” he continued with a faraway look. “She was always scared—wanted to feel safe. If only I could protect her from her own self.”
His faint smile had turned bittersweet.
I was almost sure of it now: he really loved his subjects; he loved all of them.
Chapter 28: Chapter 24
Chapter Text
Shortly after he answered my question, Dr. Klaus excused himself and returned to his lab. Then—finally allowed to return to the living room—the girls and I split up. Eris took it upon herself to get the movie and set it up on the TV, whereas Lin insisted on cooking a proper meal for the doctor instead of just popcorn.
As for me, I couldn’t take the Master—and everything that he’d said—off my head. I wanted to do something for him, just like my roommates. However, the living room was perfectly cozy already, and cooking dinner was Lin’s idea. I wouldn’t want to swoop in and claim that I’d helped her make it.
So I forced myself to wait for a few minutes before going to see the doctor again. I’d wait until the food was almost ready, then visit him on the pretext that we were about ready to watch the movie. Hopefully, none of the other girls would beat me to it.
I sighed. Seems like I’ll have to be patient, for now. It’s not like I have nothing to think about.
Plopping down on the empty couch far from Eris, my mind started to wander.
How do I feel about everything?
Alexa’s passing was… unexpected. And for some reason, I can’t quite wrap my head around it just yet.
Out of all the girls in the house, she was the only one I would call a friend. She was odd; a pervert; and friendly, like me. I thought that I’d have someone around with whom I could speak my mind freely; but reality had slapped me on the face instead.
I was left numb, not quite realizing that someone so close to me had died. It was just a little while ago that we were talking, fussing over the Master again. And now she was suddenly… not here anymore?
What had happened was tragic; scary even. And yet my eyes remained dry, frozen like the rest of my body. Perhaps I was still in disbelief, confusion, shock. Perhaps I didn’t know her long enough to be moved. Or perhaps I was colder and more insensitive than I thought.
Right now, I was more concerned about the Master. His fond words for the deceased girls had stirred mixed feelings in me. And even though I couldn’t be completely sure as I hadn’t known him for too long either, he looked like he was missing them terribly. He thought of them—of us—as different, special in our own way. There was no doubt that Dr. Klaus cared deeply for all of us, and really wanted to protect us. Most of the time, he was patient, indulgent, and he even encouraged us to be ourselves. We only had to trust him to take care of things in our stead. That was my current impression of him, at least.
Too good to be true, probably. I’m not sure why, but I keep returning to my initial gut feeling about him.
This man had to have a different side to him—at least a lesser, suppressed one: He kept us all locked in his house, after all, isolated from the outside world. He had us wear identical white dresses without personality, making us feel poor and unremarkable—perhaps even expendable.
And then, of course, there was that night, followed by a series of inhumane, albeit less painful, experiments. That time I’d spent in his lab felt too dark, too unrealistic considering the way the doctor would normally act around us. There was nearly nothing kind and gentle about the way he kept treating me while I lay helpless on that operating table. He’d shown me an insensitive, sadistic face—one that I could never forget, even if he wanted me to.
As I was trying to piece together the Master’s image in my mind, I found that I had a very hard time doing it. All these unusual facts and events—all these contradictions—never let me picture him as nothing but a mystery. If I tried to think of him as warm, kind, and considerate, his smile would turn twisted and his strange eyes would snap wide open, staring at me like a psycho. On the other hand, whenever I attempted to imagine a cold, ruthless expression on his face, his sadistic grin would soften, his gaze filling with warmth.
I knew that every person was supposed to be different and defined by contradictions, but the Master’s blend of ‘different’ kind of felt… abnormal. If I had to turn to my instinct, it would tell me that I was being deceived; that this man who claimed he wanted to protect us had in fact a hidden agenda which was far too foreign and far too cruel for any ordinary human to grasp.
I couldn’t help it: A part of me was scared of the doctor. However, an even bigger part of me wanted him to chain my limbs to a wall, so that I’d never be free again.
Mind set and heart racing, I stood up from the couch. Perhaps it was still too early for me to knock on the Master’s door, but I didn’t care. I had to see him, right now.
I heard Eris calling my name in question, but I was already walking down the hall, far too caught up in my own mind.
Knock, knock, knock.
I waited for two… three… four… five seconds, but no answer came. Turning my head to the side, I looked over my shoulder. Neither Eris nor Lin had followed me. And I couldn’t even hear a single sound coming from the living room and kitchen.
I’d almost thought they’d catch up to me, wanting to be the ones to invite the doctor to our movie night in the living room. Perhaps they never even cared that much in the first place. Perhaps there was something holding them back.
Would Dr. Klaus really be bothered if I insisted on seeing him without getting his explicit permission to open the door? Would it be a big mistake to barge into his lab without a clear invitation?
My fingers, cold and sweaty at the same time, wrapped around the door handle. I pushed it down and slowly opened the door.
Trying to shake off my initial hesitation, I took a quivering step inside and looked around. A chill ran up my spine as my eyes wandered around that cold, unwelcoming room. There was no sight of Dr. Klaus here.
I paused for a moment as I considered my options: I could either step back outside and return to the lounge like the nice, obedient girl that the doctor and I both thought I could be; or I could just stay here and wait while looking around a bit.
My curiosity got the better of me. Leaving the door open behind me, I took one more tentative step inside. My eyes found the two white doors on the far side of the room. One of them was built into the right wall, so it had to lead to his bedroom. As for the other one, I had no clue what might be hiding behind it—and more importantly, I wasn’t going to find out. Yes, I was a nosy person, but I wasn’t ballsy enough to further violate the privacy of a person who may or may not be dangerous. My life might already be at risk because of stepping into this lab, uninvited.
Fully expecting the doctor to come in through one of these doors at any moment, I took a few more steps around the far-too-bright and slightly messy room. Clenching my palms into fists, I tried to sate my curiosity just by looking around and not touching anything. However, the more I stayed in this place, the more my blood started to run cold.
What the hell am I doing? I should be outside, earning the Master’s trust by being loyal and patient with him. Why did I have to step inside and seek out answers on my own? I’m half-assing it anyway, since I’m too terrified to do anything drastic!
Just then, my eyes caught the very thing I didn’t know I was searching.
Blood.
Droplets of blood—around ten or twenty of them—had recently been splattered across the floor, forming a trail between the mysterious door and the other one on the right, leading into the main bedroom. Had the man carried Alexa into that other room after she’d committed suicide, or was it something else entirely?
Did Alexa even commit suicide?
A shiver coursed through my body. I could no longer leave this lab and act as if nothing had happened. I would wait right here for the Master to find me.
Whatever he does to me, I will deserve it. I shouldn’t have pried into his secrets. This is not who I am; I’m a coward—not some brazen-ass piece of shit.
I finally took a seat on his chair by the desk; and now I’d wait for as long as I had to in order to be punished for my transgression.
Fortunately, I didn’t have to wait long. Soon enough, the rightmost door opened, and Dr. Klaus came in. He wasn’t fully dressed, and his hair was down, slightly damp, as if he’d finished his shower.
So… breathtakingly… pretty.
It was only for a moment, but he didn’t notice me right away. His white head was bent down slightly, looking at the droplets of blood beneath him. He’d just started buttoning up his white shirt, seemingly unaware of my presence.
My eyes landed on his naked torso. I marveled at how perfectly sculpted his body looked. I almost drooled at the way his long hair was hugging his toned pecs, reaching just below his tight abs. But even before all that, I noticed the scar—and inhaled sharply.
An almost unnatural, painful-looking scar was running down the middle of his torso. A wound so long and deep, I couldn’t help but wonder how he’d got it—and survived—in the first place. The line started right in the middle of his clavicle and reached all the way to his pants—which were already zipped, so I couldn’t exactly tell where it ended.
As expected, the sound of my sudden breath managed to get his attention. His pupil-less eyes snapped to my face, looking emotionless and empty.
“My toy,” he purred, his melodious voice sounding colder than usual.
My breath stopped at the sight of that scary little grin that was starting to grace his lips. I wouldn’t even try to make excuses though. It was about time I owned up to my mistake.
Chapter 29: Chapter 25
Chapter Text
“I-I’m so sorry!” I exclaimed, standing up from my chair and bowing my head.
Without saying another word, the man walked over to my side of the room and closed the door leading to the hall. Then he waited right there, his hand not moving an inch away from the door handle… and perhaps also the lock.
He's… waiting to hear what I have to say? Well, I must tell him everything he wishes to hear, consequences be damned.
I took a deep breath.
“Alright,” I said, trying to keep my voice down. “I came in here looking for you, but also looking for answers. Then I saw the blood—I saw that it leads to this other room, b-but I swear: I would never blame you for anything! It doesn’t matter to me how this blood ended up on your floor. You may be innocent, and this would be just my mind making up theories about Alexa’s death. You may have even killed her, b-but I don’t care! You are important to me, and I would never dream of hurting you. Ever.”
At first, I thought that my eyes were playing tricks on me, but then I realized that his gaze had really softened a bit after hearing what I had to say.
Stepping over the droplets of blood, and not bothering to button the rest of his shirt, Dr. Klaus came to stand before me.
He cupped my cheek with his bare hand. It was rare for him not to wear gloves, and boy was I grateful for it! His skin was so soft, and his touch gentle.
“Look at you,” he murmured, his eyes piercing right through me. “You’re trembling.”
I am?
I looked down at myself. True enough, to him I must look like I was on the verge of peeing myself.
“S-Sorry,” I said again, looking down and away from his mesmerizing eyes.
“There is no need for you to be afraid,” he cooed. “I was only taking Alexa’s body to a decent place for burial. You want your friend to get a proper burial, yes?”
I gazed up at him again. So was he implying that he really hadn’t killed her after all? He did look like he had nothing to hide.
“So… that room—”
“It is a small, private cemetery,” the man explained in an unhurried voice. “There is no denying that a few of my subjects have died in one way or another. And as I do not like the idea of handing them over to the authorities for incineration, I had this room built here for me.”
His words had triggered a dozen more questions in my head, but I had to settle for one or two, for now.
“B-But why would your subjects die? Am I going to die too, Dr. Klaus…?”
The man gave me a warm smile. “You are not. You only have to listen to my instructions and all will be well.”
Ah… I really hope that you mean it, Master.
I wanted to know more about that secret room, but at that moment, I was far more curious about that deep scar across his torso. I wished to ask him about it, but I wasn’t sure if that would be proper.
The doctor watched my face with mild amusement.
“Go ahead,” he murmured, and I was unsure of whether he was allowing me to ask questions or touch him.
I kind of want to do both.
Still a bit hesitant, I reached out and softly placed my fingers in the middle of his chiseled chest—right where his scar was. It was soft to the touch and as wide as my thumb.
“How did you get that?”
I raised my head to look at him only to see his usually deathly pale cheeks flush slightly.
What…? Is this embarrassment?
“I had a very severe accident,” he breathed, his voice almost sensual for some reason.
His light pink eyes watched my fingers as I lightly brushed them over his scar. He was really quiet—even as he was breathing.
I feel like something’s wrong.
“Am I hurting you?” I asked.
“No.”
He went silent again, his cheeks still rosy.
I lowered my hand a little, down to his hard abs.
There’s no way I’m not blushing as well. This man is perfect as a statue of a Greek god. Plus the scar which, somehow, makes him even hotter.
Probably having noticed my almost hypnotized stare, Dr. Klaus spoke up:
“Do you like it that much?”
I nodded my head, smiling faintly.
“How about you? Am I making you—”
“Uncomfortable?” he cut me off, smirking. “I can see why you would think that, but no. Nothing can make me uncomfortable, little toy.”
I wonder why you’re so flustered then, Master.
Right at that moment, someone rapped on the door. It was the same door that the doctor had closed not too long ago.
“Dr. Klaus? Gertrude?” called Lin from the other side. “We’re ready to watch the movie now.”
She didn’t sound too happy. I looked up at the Master’s face, still a bit dazed from our previous interaction.
“We will be there in a minute,” replied the doctor before whispering in my ear:
“I hope I can trust you to not say anything about my little cemetery, yes? Your friends are a little more… sensitive than you.”
He'd trust me and me alone? Oh, my god, yes! Finally, some recognition!
I nodded my head furiously.
“Of course, Master!” I tried to whisper back. “I can keep as many secrets as you want!”
The man looked at me from beneath lowered eyelids as he went back to buttoning his shirt.
“Is this an indirect way of telling me that you will remain as nosy as you have been today?”
My jaw dropped at his words. Not only was he absolutely right; he had actually called me out on it.
Before I could say anything, Dr. Klaus spoke up again, more harshly this time: “I hope that your answer is no, because this is the last time I am tolerating something like this. I may be lenient with you since you are still new in this house, but it is hardly fair to the other girls to keep forgiving you.”
His unfeeling eyes stayed on me, as if to make sure that I understood.
‘The last time’, huh. What would he do to me if I were to repeat this mistake, I wonder?
“…Okay,” I said finally.
I felt my face heating up again—this time in shame. Was I really about to forget about the fear I’d been feeling ever since I’d stepped into this lab? The doctor was being kind to me because he’d forgiven me—not because he didn’t mind. I needed to be very careful from now on. Not so much because I feared for my own life; but because the idea of disappointing him already felt like a nightmare.
Dr. Klaus put on his long white smock and walked up to the hallway door. But just as he was about to open it and step outside, I called out to him:
“Master.”
He turned his head and looked at me questioningly.
“You know why I came here in the first place, right? It wasn’t because I was suspicious of you.”
I don’t trust you, Master, but that really wasn’t the reason behind my intrusion.
The doctor studied my face in silence for a moment. Then he took one step closer to me, placed a hand behind my neck, and kissed me.
Surprised, I let out a little yelp.
The kiss only lasted for a few seconds, but it was still enough to set my body on fire. My heart started racing, and my stomach turned upside down.
I moaned his name.
His lips felt soft as they were pressed against mine, and his touch was gentle. I was dying to taste his mouth too, but before I could do anything about it, he pulled away.
“Do you think I would be as understanding as I have been if I didn’t know?” he breathed, giving me a faint smile. “You are just needy. And it is really hard for me to admonish you for that.”
I took half a step closer to him, feeling the urge to hug him.
“Thank you for being so understanding, Master! I-I’ll try not to let you down again!”
Dr. Klaus eyed my awkward posture with a smile. “The girls are waiting for us. Let’s not make them impatient, yes?”
Then he opened the door and motioned for me to walk out before him. And at that point, I wasn’t sure if it was because he wanted to be gallant, or because he didn’t trust me after prying into his secrets.
Be that as it may, I didn’t want to keep him waiting. So I stepped out, still smiling. I made my way back to the living room, excited for the movie. It was strange. I’d never watched one before and yet I knew it would be a fun experience.
Eris had already taken up a whole couch and was fixing her pigtails. As for Lin, she waited for the doctor to take a seat before bringing him a tray full of delicious-looking food. There was rice shaped in cute little domes of different sizes, slices of grilled pork, a small cup filled with barbecue sauce, and a bowl of freshly cut lettuce and cherry tomatoes.
There was no doubt that my dark-haired roommate was a great cook.
Lin: 1, Gertrude: 0
Just as I was taking a seat on the couch next to Dr. Klaus, Lin brought two large bowls of popcorn for herself and Eris. The smell of all this food made my mouth water.
I must have been making some sort of jealous expression because Lin suddenly looked at me in shock and said: “Oh, you wanted something too? I’m sorry! I came in here to ask you and Eris but you weren’t here, so I assumed you didn’t want anything.”
Wow. That didn’t sound fake at all.
A brief silence followed. Pigtails seemed to be holding in a laugh, Lin was still looking at me with an innocent expression, and the Master had a disappointed look on his face—which, for once, was not directed at me.
Chapter 30: Chapter 26
Chapter Text
It wasn’t right to have the doctor defend me all the time, so I spoke up before he did.
“I-It’s okay,” I told the brunette. “It’s not like you’re obligated to cook for everyone. You guys go ahead and start. I’ll make some popcorn and join you in a bit.”
I swiftly made my way to the kitchen, but a few seconds later, Lin joined me. She grabbed a clean pot from one of the cabinets before I started searching for one, put it on the stove, and added oil and corn.
She worked so fast, it was more than impressive.
As we waited for the pot to heat up, Lin gave a big sigh and looked at me straight in the eye.
“Yes,” she said, as if it was obvious that we were both thinking of the same thing. “I got jealous.”
She looked pretty apologetic and didn’t seem to be finished, so I let her talk.
“I really, really like the Master,” she continued. “As much as everyone else here, I’m sure. So when I realized you’d gone to visit him alone, I ah… I kind of wanted to be petty and hurt you. I’m sorry.”
She laughed nervously, and I eyed her curiously.
Does she need my forgiveness or the Master’s, I wonder?
Still. Regardless of what her reasons might be, it was wisest to respond with kindness. I didn’t like the idea of living in the same house with an enemy.
“I get where you’re coming from,” I said, smiling a little. “Next time, you should come with me. We can visit Dr. Klaus together when he’s not busy.”
Lin seemed a little surprised at my words.
“O-Oh. Okay.”
“Does he really want no visitors while he’s working?”
She smiled guiltily. My popcorn was about ready, so she grabbed a big bowl to put it in.
“Not exactly,” she said then. “I don’t think he would mind us visiting once in a while when he’s in the lab too. The only thing he’s said is that the lab is dangerous and that we shouldn’t go when he’s not there.”
Huh. That’s… interesting.
“Are labs really that scary?”
“Of course!” she replied with absolute conviction. “There’s a lot of vials, and tools, and strange devices… Don’t you remember what happened to Ornelia?”
Yeah, but Ornelia went in there, already intent on killing herself.
I dismissed these thoughts from my mind, as well as the theories they were about to give birth to. If the doctor didn’t want us to be alone in the lab, who was I to doubt him?
Lin handed me my bowl of hot popcorn with a big smile on her face. “Shall we?”
I smiled back, thanked her, and we both walked back to the living room.
Letting out a small sigh, I kept smiling to myself. The tension had lifted for now, and I was sure that my roommate was as grateful for it as I was.
Lin and I sat down on the couch on either side of the Master, leaving the second couch to Eris.
Dr. Klaus tilted his head at the brunette. “What were you girls discussing for so long?”
The young woman flushed. “Ah, nothing major. I was just apologizing for my earlier behavior.”
Dr. Klaus nodded, satisfied, and gave her a kiss on the forehead. “That was very mature of you, little doll.”
Then he pressed play to start the movie. But a few seconds in, while we were still watching the opening titles, he leaned his head towards me so that he could whisper in my ear:
“What were you talking about in the kitchen?”
My face heated up. Hadn’t he believed Lin?
I whispered back, “What she said. Also your lab. Whether we can visit or not.”
He pulled away from me, an indecipherable expression on his face. His eyes had a dark look in them, so I decided against asking him about his thoughts. He didn’t seem to be in the mood for chit-chat.
Trying to forget about that for now, I stuffed my mouth with some popcorn and turned my eyes to the screen. After all, this would be my first movie ever!
This one was called ‘Beauty and the Beast’.
Huh. Is it me or does this title ring a bell? Well, whatever this is, I have a good feeling about it.
The story took place in a glass kingdom. Quite literally. Almost everything was made of some very fragile, yet very pretty material, so people needed to always be careful not to break anything.
That said, the overall setting was beautiful. The architecture was imposing and fit for a fairytale, the streets squeaky clean, and there was just enough color so that everything would look bright and jolly. The people who’d created this place had no doubt done a wonderful job convincing people that this was a proper dream land to live in.
Another interesting fact was that, in that universe, the role of parents was practically nonexistent. After the babies were born, they were handed over to official caretakers who never seemed to stay for too long. When the children were about ten years old, new caretakers would take over and would stay with them until they reached adulthood. The now grown-up children could always request additional caretakers in their homes, but would be charged heavily from that point on.
As for the main plot of the movie, it revolved around two young women: Alice and Vera. Alice was what one would call a ‘Mary Sue’: She was kind, beautiful, delicate, and talented at many things, such as dancing, socializing, and even teaching science. Her all-too-perfect background made me want to vomit, so I rooted for her sister instead—Vera.
This girl had almost the exact opposite qualities. And her greatest flaw, according to the few people who knew her, was her appearance: Short and stooped, fat and ugly-faced, she had practically forced her caretakers to keep her hidden in her room her whole life. Even after the girls had grown up and Alice hired new caretakers using her own money, Vera had remained a prisoner.
Over time, the ugly duckling started to feel more and more inferior compared to her sister. Alice was strong, driven, smart. And whereas Vera herself wasn’t exactly stupid, she was definitely naïve at times—perhaps due to her lack of exposure to the outside world.
She was great at being her own therapist, however, quickly determining what bothered her and why. And she took pride in this, since it was one of her few positive features anyway. She also tried to be polite to her caretakers, but they almost always saw through her façade. They all knew that, deep inside, she was a bitter, ungrateful being that despised their guts.
Vera also happened to have one thing that her sister didn’t: youth. And, to my surprise, this proved to be a key point in the story. While Vera was 25 years old, Alice was about to celebrate her 30th birthday. Her caretakers and friends were so delighted that this day would come, they had started preparing a big banquet for the occasion months ago.
The big sister, however, couldn’t exactly come to terms with this. According to the traditions of their kingdom, a person’s 30th birthday was also the last day of their life—same as in Vanitas. Every individual who lived up to that day would afterwards present themselves to the military who were then responsible of ending their life. Alice was very concerned about that. However, it wasn’t herself she was worried about. Being the kind-hearted sweetheart that she was, all she thought about was the fact that she’d leave her boyfriend, Elliot, all alone.
Interestingly enough, Elliot had been born in the same year as Vera, so her caretakers came up with a strange idea: Since lovely Alice would soon have to leave them, they proposed to her sister and Elliot to spend the last years of their lives together to keep each other company. Vera was ecstatic about getting to spend time with a handsome guy—based on Alice’s descriptions, at least. However, the young man was outraged. Learning to live with something so ugly felt like betraying the only woman who had captured his heart.
And so, on the evening of Alice’s last day, Elliot slipped into his girlfriend’s bedroom. The birthday girl happened to also be there: She was fixing her hair, while her caretakers entertained their guests in the living room. The two lovers exchanged sweet words of farewell, had sex, and then stabbed themselves with the same knife.
The movie ended at the point where the rest of the household had discovered what Alice and Elliot had done, and the royal military officers were on their way to their house. There was no mention of what happened to the younger sister afterwards, so I assumed that she was only there to make Alice look even better.
I blinked, once… twice, staring at the fading scene.
This… thing I’d just watched had left me with a bitter aftertaste in my mouth. Was I supposed to be moved by the fact that the two most irritating people in the movie had shared a tragic death like freaking… uh… a very famous couple written by a very famous author…? Good fucking riddance.
Chapter 31: Chapter 27
Chapter Text
I turned my head to the side. Dr. Klaus had received a phone call some time ago and had left in the middle of the movie. He hadn’t returned, so I imagined that he had gone to bed straight afterwards.
“Jealous of Vera yet?” I heard Eris say, all of a sudden.
I turned to look at her, a bit puzzled, and saw her staring into space. I assumed that she was talking to me though, because Lin had already fallen asleep on the other side of the couch.
“What do you mean?” I asked her.
The girl spread out her fingers in front of her face so that she could inspect her perfect, long nails.
“That’s who you related to, right?” she asked.
“Yeah, I guess. But why would I be jealous?”
“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe because no one was interested in her? She was left alone to grow up and do whatever the hell she wanted in that tiny room of hers. That’s plenty for someone like her. If she was a real person, the Purification Order would have already burned her ugly face to a crisp.”
I let out a breath, tired of hearing her veiled accusations.
“Why do you hate me so much, Eris? Did I do something to you?”
Finally, she turned to look at me.
“Don’t act like you don’t already know, Uggo,” she said. “A person who looks like you is rarely good company. Ugly people are often filled with contempt, and they try to cheat their way to success. Do you think I haven’t noticed how competitive you get about the doctor? I can still hear your giant feet from a couple of hours ago, stumbling across this floor, trying to get to the lab first, before the rest of us could have the chance.”
Unconsciously, I imagined myself the way Eris had pictured me–and cringed. I must have looked ridiculous.
“S-So what if I’m a little competitive?” I said. “We all seek out the Master’s attention. And it’s not like I went out of my way just to get ahead of you. I really wanted to see him.”
To my surprise, Pigtails had no snarky retort this time. She just watched me silently with a slight grin on her face.
“You should see yourself the way the rest of the world does,” she suggested finally. “An ugly old woman, chasing behind a handsome man in a white lab coat. Do you actually not see it?”
I knitted my eyebrows. “See what…?”
Closing her eyes for a moment, the girl gave a deep sigh. “Gertrude,” she said. “None of us has spent a full week strapped on that operating table—our first week even. The doctor had a very specific reason for giving you life, and now he’s probably done with what he wanted to find. I don’t think he’ll keep you around for very long.”
No. That can’t be. He was so nice to me earlier. Made me think that I’d get a lot more chances to prove myself to him.
“Why… Why do you think so?” I asked the young woman. “Did he say something to you?”
“Well, I know that he’s closely monitored by his superiors—including the Emperor of Vanitas. Whatever Nikklaus does, it has to be in accordance with the imperial policies regarding Medicine. And somehow, I doubt that the people who pull the strings here would be happy to know that you’re alive.”
“B-But perhaps Dr. Klaus is researching how to undo all that—perhaps even revert my aging!”
Eris made a face as though she was trying to hold back a laugh. “Well, you sure look younger now.”
I lowered my eyes to the floor. I didn’t have to know her style to recognize the sarcasm. Alexa… Alexa had also said that my hair was more grey now.
So all that time that I’d spent in that cold, dreary lab… What was that for?
I didn’t know if the doctor had been researching how to revert aging or not, but he sure had no plans to make me younger. And although I didn’t really mind my own looks and even loved the way he gazed at my old face… I just didn’t want to die yet.
Because I’m really older now, aren’t I?
This thought really scares me.
“Hey, Eris,” I mumbled then. “Do you think the Master will mind if I interrupt his sleep to ask a few questions?”
The moment I finished the sentence, I cringed at myself. The answer was so painfully obvious.
The young woman smirked at me, now silent and waiting to see what I’d do.
I stood up from the couch and said goodnight. The doctor might have already gone to bed, but I really needed to talk to him to alleviate my fears.
Already half regretting my decision, I made my way to his room quickly, before I lost my resolve. At the very least, I could just knock on his door and leave if he didn’t answer. However, as soon as I reached that door, I overheard him talking to someone. His voice was distorted again, sounding the same way it had a few hours ago when he’d gone to greet his visitor.
“Perhaps we could reach another agreement,” he said to the other person and paused for a second. “Surely you could make an exception for the sake of research.”
Shit. I really shouldn't be listening in. I must prove that he can trust me after what I did today.
But… Can I trust him?
No. For all I knew, he was just going to let me rot after his experiments were over; then bury me in that little cemetery of his, next to his other subjects. But still, this shouldn’t matter now. Dr. Klaus was important to me, and I should at least show some goodwill for the time being.
I still wanted to talk to him, though, so I couldn’t just walk away—especially after finding out that he was still awake. So I ultimately decided to knock on his door to let him know I was there.
However, just as I’d made up my mind, the bedroom door opened from the other side.
I flinched, unprepared for what I saw next: Instead of the Master’s face, a scary mask was staring me down. It was all black—except for a giant mouth, showing its dagger-sharp teeth. There were no gaps for the eyes, nothing that would allow the wearer to see; and yet the wearer was looking straight down at my face.
Master…? Why would you put this on?
Dr. Klaus raised a gloved, index finger in front of his toothy smile, as if to warn me to stay silent. Then he motioned me to come into his room while still holding the phone by his ear.
“I will bring her for appraisal tomorrow morning,” he said in his muffled voice before closing the door behind us.
I shot him a questioning look.
‘Her’? Who’s ‘her’?
But the Master didn’t seem to be paying attention to me. He was fully focused on the person on the other line.
“Of course,” he said after a short pause, “I have already finished the next batch. I will bring them to the palace as was arranged.”
“I appreciate your trust,” he added, a few seconds later. “I will be there by dawn.”
Then finally, the doctor hung up. He took off his mask and, for a few moments after he’d done so, his eyes looked utterly empty. It was if the entire world meant nothing to him.
Soon enough, though, a faint smile emerged on his face as he turned to look at me.
“Have you been spying on me again?” he asked.
He seemed patient enough, but then again, something was telling me that I shouldn’t take advantage of his kindness. So I tried to be as honest and brief as I could:
“I-I came to talk to you, actually,” I explained. “I was outside of your room when I overheard you talking to someone. I was about to knock when you opened the door.”
His smile grew a little at my answer. He seemed convinced enough.
“I suppose you have even more questions now,” he said while taking off his plastic gloves and throwing him in the trashcan. “I want to hear the least important of them.”
“B-But Master—”
He started unbuttoning his shirt, walking back to his bed. “You were about to interrupt my sleep, yes? I believe I am doing you a kindness by even allowing you to be here.”
His tone was unusually sharp. Perhaps that phone call had got on his nerves; perhaps I’d overstepped my boundaries, after all.
Well, if I wasn’t allowed to ask him how much longer I had, I didn’t want to ask him anything. Nothing mattered when compared to my short lifespan, and the last thing I wanted was to waste his time for naught.
I walked back to the door. “Forgive me,” I murmured, “I really shouldn’t have come here.”
“You are welcome to spend the night if you feel like you would have trouble sleeping.”
I turned and looked at him. He had already changed into his night clothes. I wasn’t sure if he really wanted me there, or if he’d said that to make up for his harsher-than-usual scolding. He seemed to have no preference either way.
So I guess it’s a good thing that he’s not mad at me.
Just as I was about to accept his invitation, he added: “I also have something to discuss with you.”
“Okay,” I said, making my way to the other side of his bed, gingerly.
The Master gazed at me with his shrewd, otherworldly eyes for a second.
“I will take you to the Diamond Palace tomorrow,” he announced.
Chapter 32: Chapter 28
Chapter Text
Huh…? So he was talking about me just now.
My eyebrows furrowed, but I bit my lip to stay silent.
No. I shouldn’t bombard him with any more questions. The only thing I want to know is how much longer I am supposed to live.
Dr. Klaus looked like he understood that something very specific was troubling me, and yet he made no attempt of pointing it out.
“Emperor Ramas—that is, the monarch of Vanitas—has asked to see you,” he continued.
“O-Okay,” I repeated.
So that’s the name of the man who’s teaching an entire nation to hate people like me.
Even though I kept telling myself that I shouldn’t try the doctor’s patience any more than I already had, I couldn’t help asking: “Will you leave me there?”
…to die?
He neither smiled nor frowned at my question. “Would you like me to?”
“No. The world’s scary without you.”
I shuddered as I imagined how cruel the outside world would be to me.
Still seated on his bed, Dr. Klaus turned to face me fully. He placed a soft hand on top of my head. “You should leave the scary things to me then.”
Lightly nudging his hand with my head, I crawled a bit closer to him. My eyes kept staring down at that stripe of white blanket that separated us. I wanted to feel safe with him, and yet I couldn’t.
The Master’s hand began to caress my hair.
“Alright,” he murmured after a while. “You can ask me whatever you like.”
Immediately, I raised my head and looked at him.
Gosh. His face looks so pretty from this close. No woman could ever resist him.
“Can I, really?”
“Yes.”
I blurted out my question, fixing him with an anxious stare. “How much longer do I have, Master?”
The doctor didn’t seem surprised by my words. “Is this the reason of you coming here?”
I nodded.
He retracted his hand. “You are sixty years old,” he said, matter-of-factly. “If I were to ignore the regulations of this empire, I would assume that you have ten to twenty years left.”
So I’m so close to dying, huh… He didn’t even falter as he told me about my lifespan.
“As you may well expect, I am unable to reverse time,” continued the man, his tone surprisingly soft. “And I must admit that I have accelerated your aging on purpose. I wanted to conduct tests on an unsightly body, after all.”
“B-But why, Mas—”
“Let me continue, my toy.”
I snapped my mouth shut and looked away from him. Dr. Klaus brought his delicate fingers to my chin and made me look at him. Was he trying to comfort me?
“What I can do now is slow down your development,” he said.
“B-But I’ll still die someday, Master. Please, I’m scared! I—” My breath hitched, panic slowly bubbling up inside me.
“You will listen to everything I say,” he instructed, his tone steady but soft. “And in return, I promise to try and freeze time for you. How does this sound?”
“…Could you really ‘freeze’ it? Completely?”
“Not yet, but I am really close. If you listen to me, you will be alive until then.”
The corners of my lips twitched in a little smile.
“Really?”
Dr. Klaus only grinned at me before leaning closer to kiss me. He lightly brushed his lips over mine before pressing them more firmly. His warmth and scent made me dizzy. If I wasn’t careful, my body would collapse against his—which reminded me that I needed to be careful. I shouldn’t take more than he was willing to give me.
Just then, I felt the doctor open his mouth a bit, his slightly pointed tongue running over my bottom lip, slow and shameless. Already drooling in anticipation, I stuck out my own tongue and met his. The feel of it sent tingles down my spine, and I couldn’t help but moan.
The Master’s hand came up and curled around my neck.
“My sweet, sweet toy,” he purred before tightening his grip around my throat and pressing his lips over mine again. “What are you willing to give me in exchange for preserving your existence?”
Preserving my existence… Is he really going to do it then? He sounds so confident.
“What… do you… need?” I asked, huffing for air, hypnotized by his kiss.
“I will be honest with you, my sweet—since you are proving to be more fearless than I had anticipated.”
Dr. Klaus pressed his body against mine and softly pushed me back onto the pillows of his bed. He leaned over me, bracing himself on his elbows.
“I want to carve out your eyes, remove your vocal cords, and cut off the muscles that allow you to move your arms and legs. You have been a nice, pliant subject so far, and I would like you to stay that way.”
His words left my mouth gaping, and I couldn’t help but stare at him in confusion. Had I heard correctly? He’d just admitted that he wanted to turn me into an invalid—and all that while looking at me with the warmest, most loving gaze. His face betrayed no sign of hatred or malice and yet that didn’t make his words any less terrifying.
Why is my stomach a love-struck mess then…?
“Am I dreaming?” I mumbled, at a loss.
How has our talk taken this turn, and why haven’t I rejected the idea already?
“Would you let me do all that to you?” the man pressed on, ignoring my question.
Master really wanted an answer, huh. My skin prickled as I slowly became aware of how urgent and real this was. Having his full attention forced me to gather my thoughts and respond.
“B-But if you did that, how would I see your face? Your body and that pretty scar I can’t take my mind off?”
Master gave me an indulgent smile. “Alright. Suppose I leave your eyes intact. What about your voice, arms, and legs? You don’t really need them, do you?”
This conversation… just how hypothetical is it? Dr. Klaus is finally showing his true colors, isn’t he?
“But Master… I would be useless without them. I would become a burden to you. I couldn’t hug you, or call out to you, or eat, or even go to the bathroom.”
The man tore his eyes away from me for a second.
“What if,”—he gazed back at me—“you didn’t need all that either? I would keep feeding you, as I already do, and position you over the toilet. I would take care of all your needs before you even felt the urge to express them. You would enjoy living as a human doll. At the end of the day, it was you who wanted me to treat you as a toy, yes?”
I can’t believe what I’m hearing. Is this real? What could have possibly triggered this conversation? Is this about tomorrow’s appointment? Is there a reason he’s being so honest with me now?
“W-Why would you do all that for me? You have your own life, and I am nothing but a subject. I’m scared but… I feel so stupid for getting excited over what you’re proposing. I’ve only known you for a few days. I… I’ve only existed for that long. M-My head is not making sense, Master. I think there might be something wrong with me.”
I kept stumbling over my words. I knew that things were not as simple as the doctor wanted to portray them. But there was something about his suggestion that made me feel warm inside.
The devotion… The absolute devotion one must feel to cast away their own life and take care of someone else’s instead.
Dr. Klaus cupped my cheek affectionately.
“You are indeed my subject, and this is precisely why I would do all that for you. I would do these things for all my sweet girls. If only they could live long enough for me to prove it to them.”
That’s right. Two subjects of his have died already—and probably quite a few more I know nothing about. So… why would I be the exception? Why would I end up frozen at the age of sixty and the ones who came before me die? Something doesn’t quite match up here.
“Why have they been dying?” I asked the man, still feeling a bit lost.
The Master got off me and lay down next to me, on his side of the bed. He wrapped his arm around my waist and brought me closer to him, until our chests were touching again. A delightful tingle coursed through me.
“I’m afraid that this house has been far too small a world for them,” he explained, patiently. “The isolation eventually got to their heads; turned them mad.”
“Is this going to happen to me too? B-Because I do feel a bit strange—almost ever since I was born. I can tell I’m being stupid and naïve, even more than would feel normal to me.”
Dr. Klaus smiled at me. “What if you are both of these things? What if you are the most useless creature in the world? You are still my subject, and I love you for that.”
My heart started racing at his words again.
He… loves me? And he’s not judging me? He’s as human as I am. Why doesn’t he like things to be perfect?
I could feel myself trembling—I didn’t know why. I curled up in a ball next to him, seeking comfort.
The doctor pulled the bed covers over us both before his arm offered me its warmth again. Suddenly, I felt very sleepy.
“Goodnight, little toy,” murmured the Master as he rubbed me soothingly on the back.
He must be thinking that this will calm me down, but it is only making me tremble even more.
No, this can’t be real. It’s much too perfect to be.
Chapter 33: Chapter 29
Chapter Text
My eyelids fluttered open and I found myself in a dark, misty room that seemed to have fallen in disrepair.
The walls—which I faintly remembered as white—had a grayish yellow hue to them as if they’d seen years and years of neglect. A few parts had even cracked and decayed, and the same went for the floor tiles which were also covered in a layer of dust. I had no clue why this place suddenly felt like a dungeon straight out of a horror movie; Perhaps this effect was due to that dark mist covering everything, making things look dirty and old.
I inhaled with caution. Is it even safe to breathe in here?
I groggily looked down at myself. I didn’t feel sick or particularly tired. As my eyes wandered to the beautiful man sleeping next to me, I was struck by a strange train of thought:
Wait a minute; This is the Master sleeping next to me. We fell asleep in his bedroom. Why would I forget something like that? It’s not my first time waking up in this room.
All of a sudden, I heard the sound of a doorknob turning. It came from the door that connected this bedroom to the lab.
Has one of the girls been wandering inside the doctor’s lab at this hour? I can tell I haven’t slept much, so it must be sometime past midnight.
My breath caught in my lungs as soon as a female figure finally opened the door. I gawked at the unexpected visitor.
This… this creature isn’t human.
Instead of a normal head, she had one straight from an anatomy textbook: flesh bright red and completely devoid of skin. Viscous drops of blood oozed from all over the skull, trickling down like sticky sweat. They drenched and stained the creature’s plain white dress which otherwise looked the same as my own. The skin on the rest of her body was pale and spotless, and her bare, thin legs were turned towards each other a bit, as though she was feeling embarrassed.
She held out a delicate, albeit somewhat dirty-looking hand in my direction.
“Friend,” she opened her mouth and said, still standing by the door.
Huh? ‘Friend’…?
I focused on her bitten fingernails and the yellowish crust that had formed on her fingers. I remembered this hand. It belonged to…
“Alexa?”
The creature nodded her head at me but didn’t retract her hand. She remembered me then. She had to remember that I had already touched that hand.
What is she waiting for then? Am I supposed to follow her?
I turned to look at Dr. Klaus again only to see that he was still sleeping as soundly as before.
“I’m already your friend,” I replied finally, keeping my voice down as my eyes returned to the creepy-looking woman.
Boy, I cannot get used to this. Is this really the same Alexa I remember?
…How?
“You are,” she confirmed. “That’s why I want to show you something; to save you.”
“Save me? From what?”
Alexa said nothing, but her eyeballs turned to stare at our Master. Her hand wavered, then fell to her side.
“Dr. Klaus?”
She remained eerily silent. Of course she meant him. My instinct was screaming it too.
“Do you want to do something behind the Master’s back?” I asked again. “I’m not sure I like this.”
“Take a look around you,” replied the young woman. “Does this look like the bedroom you’re used to?”
Eh?
I surveyed my surroundings again: the dingy walls and that dark mist that covered everything. This wasn’t real, was it?
“Is this a dream? This place is too surreal. Even you.” That’s right. Alexa had killed herself. She shouldn’t be here.
“This may look surreal to you,” replied Alexa, “but it’s how the Master’s house really looks like.”
“What? This doesn’t seem right. Dr. Klaus might be a little messy, but he wouldn’t live in a house like this.”
The creature’s mouth stretched in what seemed like a soft smile.
She held out her hand again. “Come. You need to see some stuff. This man won’t wake up while you’re in this dream, so you might as well learn something. Then hopefully, you’ll be a little more guarded towards him once you wake up.”
Damn. This really is tempting. It’s not like something bad is going to happen to me for being nosy, right? This isn’t reality. And I’m very curious.
Smiling down at my sleeping Master, I leaned over his face and kissed him on the cheek. His perfect face looked too cute so I had to take advantage of this dream and act more brazenly.
The man’s hand twitched a little, his delicate fingers stretching a bit in my direction. But before I could think too hard about it, Alexa called out again:
“You coming?”
“Y-Yes.”
I climbed off the bed and timidly made my way to the open door, leading to the lab. The girl gave me a satisfied nod and stepped back into the lab before me. Then I closed the door, leaving the bedroom and my sleeping Master behind.
My eyes stayed on that door for a moment.
I’m not betraying your trust; right, Master?
But I quickly shook off my hesitation. Nothing bad would happen if I were to just learn things. Problems would only arise the moment I decided to act on these things that I found out.
I finally returned my attention to the lab, only to freeze in bewilderment.
This place might be even worse than the bedroom.
The black mist seemed to continue here too, and the walls were in the same state of abandonment. However, that wasn’t all: Across the countertops and the floor there were blood marks—and near the operating table I could see some thick, white substance that looked like dried sperm. The medical equipment looked old and rusty, and the door to the cemetery was slightly cracked. The only exception to this mess was the operating table which somehow looked relatively new and clean.
“This isn’t real,” I murmured to myself, mentally comparing this room to the slightly messy yet relatively clean lab I remembered.
“It’s real,” insisted Alexa, her tone patient and calm. “I was always aware of this, even when I was alive.”
Her words raised many questions, but my mind settled for the last one that popped up in my head.
“O-Oh. Actually, I’ve been wanting to ask you about that: Why did you die, Alexa?”
Her fleshy head seemed to be watching me straight in the eyes. “Your heart already knows the answer to this, Gertrude.”
She didn’t say anything more on the matter. Was she implying that the Master had killed her? Why? I never expected him to be completely sane but… why not just choose somebody else? Out of all my strange roommates, the sickly-looking one was the only one I could call my friend.
I moved on to another question. “Why did you say that you were always aware of how this place looks?”
“I could see past the veil that Dr. Klaus put over our eyes,” she explained. “Guess it’s something only I can do. I’m not sure if every subject has supernatural gifts like mine, but I know that the Master was experimenting on me because of this.”
“Okay, let’s say I believe you for now, and his whole house looks like this. Why wouldn’t he bother clean up a little? And why hide this from us?”
Alexa shrugged. “Never cared enough to ask. Maybe because we’d be more suspicious of him if we knew that he doesn’t mind living in a shithole?”
“Can’t disagree with that,” I said, furrowing my brows.
I wonder why you went to such lengths to keep this a secret, Master—if it’s even true, that is. This dream might as well be an allegory of sorts.
The woman then made her way to that other door that always stayed closed.
She gave me a quick glance as she placed her hand on the knob. “Now I want to show you the true nature of the man we blindly fell in love with.”
My eyebrows furrowed even further at this but, before Alexa could open that door, its surface turned fully black.
A chilling female voice echoed in the room, as if from far away: “This is as far as you go. Knowledge is power, but a dream should never reveal more than what one’s subconscious already knows.”
“No!” yelped the girl in panic. “Please, just let her have a quick look! I don’t want my friend to run down the same road as I!”
What…? What is she talking about? And whose voice did we hear just now? I feel like I’ve heard it somewhere before.
Just as I was about to open my mouth and ask about it, Alexa’s form started disintegrating before my eyes. Instinctively, I reached out and tried grasping her hand; but before I could fully wrap my fingers around it, it had all turned to dust.
I stared at the empty space where the woman had been a moment ago. Bewilderment and fear started to creep in.
“Aww, don’t be scared, sweetie,” reassured that same voice which had spoken earlier. “Alexa cannot die twice. Nor three… five… ten times. I only summoned her image in your dream today to give a small spark to your sleeping subconscious.”
So… The Alexa I was talking to just now wasn’t even the real Alexa? No, there must be some sort of mistake. Who’s even capable of conjuring ‘images’ of humans in other people’s dreams?
Unless… Unless this is just the back of my mind making up things.
“Let me give you a small gift,” continued the stranger, probably realizing that I was too stunned to speak. “I will restore a part of your mind that was recently closed off. With a bit of luck, this faint trickle of memories will swell into a torrent later on.”
Chapter 34: Decay Origins IV 🌶️
Chapter Text
Dark Perspective
“Are you going to do everything I ask, my sweet? Everything?”
‘I-I’ll do everything you want, Master!’
“Then get inside that cage and shut your mouth. I’m sick of hearing your disgusting voice.”
Piñata pictured everything he wanted in her head and obeyed right away. She’d made a whole bedroom out of nothing, and it looked just the way he liked: crimson walls, dyed by the blood of his victims, a dark gray carpet in the color of the houses he’d burned down, and human skeletons lined up and hanging from the walls. There was even an empty space for her, because that’s where she’d end up when she left that tiny cage in the corner. There was also a big, comfortable bed and a closet full of clothes for him—but the creature didn’t care about any of that. Comfort and ‘nice’ clothes meant nothing to him.
He just let himself look the way she liked as he walked around the room, thinking about what he was going to do to her next. Piñata couldn’t picture him as well as the rest of the room, but over the years, the creature had learned what kind of bodies she liked in guys. And he was going to be the most beautiful man she could imagine: Straight long hair, deep violet in color; a cute, spotless face; and inhuman green eyes without pupils. His body was shaped like a god’s, but he wouldn’t let her see it just yet. She didn’t deserve it.
He even had a name now: Ivy. Surely, Piñata would come to adore it if she ever thought about it consciously. After all, it represented everything that he was. Graceful and lively, poisonous and constantly multiplying with a single intent: to drown her with his leaves; to kill her with his poison.
…Yes. The masochistic freak would surely love this name.
Ivy turned to the woman in the cage and saw her gaze up at him with reverence. Perhaps she expected him to smile in response, but he wasn’t quite done with his requests for her.
“I want you to sit like a dog and piss yourself.”
Her bushy eyebrows shot up. ‘Y-You want me to—’
“Open your fat little legs, and piss yourself,” the man repeated, voice eerily steady. “I want to see the bottom of your pajamas all wet.”
It seemed like he wouldn’t need to repeat himself a second time. The creature watched the human position herself on all fours and lower her pelvis, looking embarrassed and pathetic as always. His eyes took in her face as she tried to relax and let go.
She finally did. Her brows raised helplessly, and Ivy moved his gaze down to her crotch. And there it was: the wetness spreading further and further down her slightly trembling thighs, her own pee staining her clothes.
Then she started to moan quietly. She was staring at his face, looking down on her, watching her make a fool of herself. She was having an orgasm—and for real, this time. The creature felt it inside her body: her privates were already convulsing around the fingers which she’d stuck inside of her.
…No. Not just yet!
Everything around him—everything in this fantasy she’d crafted in her own head—started to collapse. The skeletons were falling off the walls, the whole bedroom was caving in, with him inside.
And Piñata was gone. Gone from the cage, gone from this fleeting world.
Feeling his own bitterness poisoning him to the core, Ivy reluctantly let his ethereal body collapse along with the dream. He snapped back to reality and watched Piñata dragging her feet to the bathroom so that she could wash her fingers. He felt the cold water she used to rinse off her heat and couldn’t help burning with even more fury than before.
“You fucking wretch…” he hissed. “Your body will never be enough for me. I’m gonna rip your soul into a million pieces!”
Chapter 35: Chapter 30
Chapter Text
I woke up to the feeling of someone pulling my nightie up and over my head, leaving me completely naked underneath.
“Master…?” I mumbled groggily. I was so sleepy. We hadn’t got enough rest, had we?
I think I just had a strange dream about someone important, but this is about as much as I remember.
…Did I dream about the Master?
Dr. Klaus was currently sitting by my side on the bed. He was holding a razor in his hand.
“Please,” he murmured, gazing at me with warm eyes. “Try to go back to sleep. I am only getting you ready.”
I didn’t know if it was the sight of the razor or last night’s conversation, but the moment he’d spoken these words, a pang of fear gripped me.
Getting me ready for what?
Probably guessing my thoughts, the Master gave me an indulgent smile as he said, “Worry not. I would not incapacitate you after one talk. Especially given that we are about to see the Emperor.”
Ah. So that’s what this is about.
…Wait, no. I’m still confused.
His smile widened a bit as he watched my expression change from fear to puzzlement.
“I am only shaving you,” he explained patiently, starting the work from my toes. “It is forbidden to have body hair, especially for female citizens.”
“So are you only doing this because we’re going to the palace?” I asked. “Don’t you think I’d look better without body hair?”
Please say no.
“When hair is limited to a woman’s scalp, eyebrows, and eyelashes, it makes her more beautiful indeed,” he replied.
My stomach dropped, but before I could say anything about it, he added:
“You are in luck, though, my sweet girl. My affection for you is not of an erotic nature. I see you as my little helpless subject who needs my protection.”
Right. I guess that he’s said something along these lines before. I’m still not sure how I feel about it.
“But if you’re not attracted to me, why would you have sex with me or even kiss me?”
“I do not dislike doing these things with you. I am simply using the tools I was given as a male to make your stay here more… tolerable.”
I blushed at his wording.
“I-It’s not just tolerable, Master! I couldn’t be happier, living in this apartment with you.” And let’s just forget about the other girls, for now.
“I am glad to see you this grateful, my sweet.”
After that, we both stayed silent. The sound and feel of the razor, softly grazing my legs, started lulling me back to sleep.
“Why is it important for you to be ugly?” asked the man then, his tone inquiring.
I opened my eyes again and gazed at his pretty face.
“Because my looks are not me,” I answered readily. “I may as well wake up in another human shell tomorrow—I would still be the same person.”
“That would justify indifference,” he pointed out. “You are not indifferent, my toy.”
“I’m really not. I just want to see everyone’s true face when they look at me. That’s why I prefer to be ugly and old if given a choice. My bad looks don’t mean much to me, but thanks to them, I gain valuable information about the people around me.”
“You want to know the worst-case scenario,” he said, expression unreadable.
I nodded. “I guess I do. I feel safer this way.”
His eyes slightly darkened at my words. “I’m afraid that this safety is not as well-founded as you’d hope. This type of mindset is really dangerous in the world beyond this house.”
“Right,” I mumbled, embarrassment warming my cheeks. “I don’t know why I said that.”
I can’t believe I almost forgot about the laws of Vanitas—especially given my shock when I first found out. It’s so easy to just let go around the Master; to think that I’ll never have to step outside where so many people hate me.
“Are you feeling shy now?” the doctor asked then.
“I-I guess I shouldn’t be so proud of my opinions in a world like this. It doesn’t feel natural to me to speak so openly against the law. I-I hope you don’t think poorly of me—since you report to the higher-ups and all.”
He smiled at me.
“I have already told you: I love my subjects regardless of whether they are cowards, naïve, or the complete opposite. You do not have to worry about the things you say to me.”
“Dr. Klaus, I… This means a lot to me.”
“Explain it to me, my sweet.”
He was being unusually curious today. My stomach tightened with a feeling I couldn’t quite explain. Taking a deep breath, I took in his beautiful features as they focused on shaving me.
“That was a very non-human thing to say,” I elaborated, still flustered. “Claiming that you don’t like someone because they’re pretty or brave… that’s unusual. Humans always aim for the best: the best appearance, the best character, the best smarts. You don’t seem to be interested in any of that.”
“Well, you are not fully correct, my toy.”
Furrowing my eyebrows, I looked at him with a worried gaze. “What do you mean?”
“I tend to value certain character traits over others.”
“Ah. Like what?”
He gave me a cheeky smile—the sort that was a bit unusual for him.
Fuck. It really suits him though. Everything suits this man; he’s so hot.
“This is a very personal question,” he murmured, neither agreeing nor refusing to talk about it.
I had to take advantage of it! I had to know what he liked about me and if I was truly better in his eyes compared to his other subjects.
“Please, you have to tell me! I’ll answer anything you want too!”
“I already know you will. In fact, you would reveal everything, even if I told you nothing.”
He sounded absolutely certain of it, which only served to prove how little power I had in this negotiation. I could feel my face heating up again. I loved how much power he held over me.
The doctor gave me one last glance before returning his focus to my legs.
“I like the face you are making now,” he said, and I understood by his tone that this was the only thing he was willing to disclose on the subject.
So he likes that I’m powerless—submissive even? Is that it? That’s… exciting! Finally, a glimpse into his soul.
“Thank you.”
Brief silence again, just as comfortable as the last one. I wanted to ask a lot more questions, to learn more about my Master, but the look on his face stopped me before I could get the chance. He looked deep in thought, and yet despite that, the way he handled that razor on my skin was ever-so-careful,
I think I trust him, I thought to myself. When he takes care of me, it seems so effortless. It’s like he really enjoys pampering me. If things go on like this, perhaps I could truly see myself sacrificing everything to be with him.
…Even if it is the condition of my own body.
I was getting sleepy again. Dr. Klaus seemed to know what he was doing with the razor, and I hadn’t gotten nearly enough sleep. It would be fine if I closed my eyes for a moment, right?
~~~
My body was being moved around a bit, so I opened my eyes.
“Mm?” I drowsily gazed at the man who was still tending to me.
Dr. Klaus had his arm around my back and was raising me up so that he could dress me. I really wasn’t a fan of white dresses, but at least the one I was about to change into was long.
I wiggled around a bit, to help him. He didn’t look like he minded doing everything himself, so I just watched as he slipped my feet into a pair of ballerina shoes next.
I felt the urge to ask him if there was any particular reason us girls always wore the same clothes at home, but I kept my mouth shut. This man had just shaved my whole body so that I’d make a good impression on the Emperor. He’d trusted and coddled me when I had nothing much to give him in return. There was no need to ask for more and be ungrateful.
“Did you feel safe?” asked the doctor then, having dressed me. “Is that why you fell asleep?”
Not knowing what to make of his question, I smiled. “Isn’t it obvious?”
“Not if you were very tired,” he answered seriously.
I studied his face again.
Nope, nothing. I have no idea why he’s asking me this.
In any case, I had nothing to hide. “I think I felt safe, yes. Or maybe,”—I paused to think about it some more—“maybe my life is in your hands, Master, and I’m okay with that. Maybe.”
The man gave a soft chuckle. “There is no need to think so hard about the answer, my toy. I was simply wondering.”
“B-But you still deserve an—”
Correctly guessing what I was about to say, he cut me off: “I don’t necessarily need answers,” he said, gazing at me with kind eyes. “Sometimes watching your expression while I ask you something is enough.”
I stared at his pretty face, enchanted. “You’re so wise, Master.”
He grinned as he reached out to take something from his nightstand.
A… leash? And a collar?
His fingers came up to my neck to put it on me.
“Dr. Klaus… What’s that for?”
He didn’t answer right away. Instead he made sure that the collar was tied firmly around my neck. It made me feel a little uncomfortable.
The Master must have realized that I had a hard time breathing in this, so he loosened it up a bit with a soft sigh.
“Just in case,” he said finally. And his answer came so late I wasn’t sure what he meant exactly.
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