Caged (Starting )

[Riskia Vetis]

Xx…Zane…xX

Zane didn’t have to wait too long before the human returned to the room with a plate of food for him, already he could guess the contents on the plate without even looking. Probably something cut up and warmed to seem appetizing, yet very much dead. When would these humans learn that dead fish begin to decoy immediately after death, it was disgusting and he would rather starve than have to scarf that down. To the human’s usual greeting, Zane just blankly stared at her while she approached the tank watching her ever move as was the norm. He had given up a long time ago on trying to communicate with the land dwellers, it had never stopped them from showing compassion or mercy in the past so he had entirely stopped trying to reason with them as it was a waste of effort. His silence however didn’t seem to deter this female from talking out loud to him like he was a child or a pet; this annoyed him greatly. He often found himself wishing that she would trip and fall into his tank, than he would show her how much he cared about her and her wrecked kind. As the contents of the plate was dropped onto the surface of the water, Zane stared at the squid and octopus with mild surprise as it wasn’t the usual cod or herring but rather something that looked fairly appetizing. It only took two words to remind the mer of why they wanted him to eat at all. He was their prisoner, there test subject to break and slice open for their experiments and nothing more. That alone gave him the strength to turn his gaze away from the food and ignore the growls from his empty stomach as he moved away to a different corner of his bare and empty tank.

With nothing else better to do, Zane let his thoughts drift back to the oceans and the many decades he has lived free within those blue waters with the ability to go wherever he wanted whenever he wanted. Although he knew of another much larger tank connecting to the one he was currently occupying filled with rock and coral to make it feel somewhat like home, the humans haven’t let him wonder that tank for sometime. Something about it being too difficult to re-acquiring him for more testing with all the obstacles to go around to get him, yes they could shock the waters and stun him but he was making that more and more difficult by hiding and setting traps to harm any who tried. Zane’s resourcefulness was proving to be a nuisance and so they put him in here where he couldn’t hide or fight back and where they could watch him constantly to observe his recovery and behavior. For several months that behavior has deteriorated to what it has become now, stillness and from what the humans describe as laziness. They couldn’t be any farther from the truth, for the true reason for his slow movements and lingering was due to one simple factor...pain. Although he was good at hiding it, the experiments done to him were both physically and emotionally scaring and even though his tail had healed externally from the last torture it still hurt too much to want to use completely. This was another thing the humans seemed to fail at understand, even if the wounds seem to have healed on the surface they were still healing internally to regrow the muscle and damaged tendons. Currently Zane was only a little more than half recovered from the last tail hacking, but the humans wouldn’t see or know this unless he told them which he had no desire to do. Main reason why, well would they listen this time? Not likely. They have never cared in the past so what’s changed to make them start now. Nothing.

So preoccupied he was by his inner thoughts, Zane failed to see nor hear the top hatch of the tank slide open and was caught completely off guards moments later when something rather large splashed in the water directly behind him. In a sudden and sharp flourish, he was facing this new threat with his hands automatically in a defensive position in front of him. At first he didn’t know what it was, the bubbles were still surfacing from the impact shrouding the object in question in a disorienting blur. It was the continuous thrashing the lead Zane to believe that they dumped some living creature in the tank with him, a dolphin or seal perhaps. Something during the next few moments confused him though, as the bubbles dissipated he saw a large tail tangled in a net thrashing wildly, some skin that looked a tad bit tanner than his own and long dark red hair. It took a good second for the truth to dawn on him and another few to make sure that what he was staring at was in fact a mermaid, another just like him. His face frozen in shock, Zane stayed where he was as the mermaid was able to escape the net and somehow not notice him staring at her in sadness. That sadness very quickly escalated to rage as his eyes moved away from the mermaid to the side of the tank where hidden in the darkness sat the human responsible for everything. “So that’s what you were up to, damn scum.” The merman nearly growled as he clenched his fists beside him and wished the human would have the balls to face him one on one, he would take great pleasure ripping out his heart and tearing him to shreds to feed to the fishes. It only angered Zane more to see that all knowing smirk off the half illuminated face of his tormentor and those dark cold eyes staring back at him always watching. Life as he knew it was going to get a hell of a lot worse.




((Sorry it took so long to post, one of the girls at work just up and quit so I am taking her shifts until we can hire a new person to help with the work load. Looking at 80+ hours a week between my two jobs until we find someone so I wont be on everyday like I hoped, will still try to get on when I can to make a post.))

 

[Riskia Vetis]

Xx…Zane…xX

Narrowing his gaze even more out of hatred for the human responsible for his wounds and his imprisonment, Zane remained quite oblivious of the mermaids actions for his anger and rage kept the focus on the current threat. Had this been some other situation or place, he might have considered this meeting a blessing or miracle for he had search long and hard to find others of his kind for decades with no luck. Had this been in the blue waters shielded by the white surf, he might have found her quite beautiful and may have even considered taking her as a mate however here such a possibility was far from his mind. If this had been any time or place besides here and now, Zane would have rejoiced and abandoned the solitary life of the lone hunter he had known for far too long. Reality however made this current situation a great tragedy for them both, for he know what horrors this mermaid would see and endure and knew too that there was very little he could do to prevent it from happening. Yes... He could try to fend the humans off and sacrifice his own health and soul to protect her from the torture and pain, but these humans had far too many resources to get around him and it was far too easy to remove him if he became too much of a problem. Zane knew that they would do that very thing if he got in there way which really only left one way to protect her, he had to get her out of here and soon. The question was how...

Lips curling into a deep frown out of pity as a simple question directed to him by the mermaid became a very difficult one to answer, Zane gave the humans one last hard glare before turning his back to them completely to focus his attention on her. He considered how he should answer the question for a short moment thinking of a way to make its sound less dreadful. However having always been the type to tell the truth and the whole truth, he couldn’t find an easy or gentle way of telling her that she might not ever return home let alone see beyond these glass walls. Finally with a long drawn out sigh, Zane looked the mermaid straight in the eyes before telling her words that no one would ever want to hear. “You won’t be going home any time soon...or at all.” He let the words sink in before directing her gaze back toward the glass and the land dwellers watching on the other side. “Not while the humans hold us here against our will for their tests and experiments.” Something he said seemed to confuse her for she seemed puzzled, it wasn’t until he realized that she was indeed from the ocean and probably never seen how evil humans could be to know where he had errored. “Torture and pain, that is all you will have to look forward to; that is unless I can find a way to get you out of here before that crazy psycho decides to go knife happy again.”

Zane was serious and it showed quite visibly if one were to look more closely at his injured tail where countless scars barely visible to the naked eyes maimed his once flawless scaled form. Taking that moment to let the mermaid realize her fate, he let his eyes drift over her form slowly noting unsurprisingly that her wrists had been bound by tight thin rope so tight that it was cutting into flesh. Sadly its something that happens quite frequently here, the humans would bind the wrists and secure them along with their strong tail so that they can cut or rip into flesh without too much resistance. They never untied them either, Zane would always have to bite at the ropes often times for hours just to get them off his bleeding wrists. Thankfully he had learned over the years how to quickly undo the knots with as minimal amount of pain as possible. “Here, let me get those off you.” He said calmly as he slowly approached while waiting for her to respond and let him help. Using his teeth, he tugged on the knot gently working to loosen the rope’s ends and then proceeding to undo the rope knot completely letting it fall to the bottom of the tank when it was free. "My name is Zane and I will do what can to help you get out of here, somehow." He had already tried countless times to escape, but so far all his efforts have been for vain.

 

[Riskia Vetis]

Xx…Zane…xX

Judging by the sudden silence after having given the mermaid his answer, Zane could only guess how hard this new was for her and although he had tried to make it sound less devastating there was no hiding the weight of his words, but it couldn’t be helped he guessed. If he had softened his words or lied about the truth of the situation to make her believe otherwise, she would be traumatized by what she might encounter and at least this way she could prepare for the worse. Still the tension growing made him regret ever saying anything at all to his new tank mate, he didn’t need her to worry about him. He was perfectly capable of mending his own wounds and staying alive, if anything she should be fearing for her own life and should be focusing all her efforts on thinking of a way to escape. Shaking his head even as Akki began to mention trying to get both of them out of here, Zane knew that it was likely going to be impossible to get free from this human’s grasp. Since the day he killed those two people in self defense, this man as been obsessed with causing a great deal of pain and suffering and seems to go to greater lengths to ensure that he remains alive and miserable. He had gotten the impression that he killed someone very close to this one and although the details of how he was able to kill them was still fuzzy one thing was for sure. If he were to finally succeed on escaping it wouldn’t matter how far or how deep he swam, this man will hunt him down and catch him again. It seemed as though the only way to escape all of this was in death, which was probably the reason he had stopped eating.

However as Akki mentioned family and friends Zane stopped cold in his tracks, “...you mean that are others? How...how many?” The discovery that he wasn’t the only merfolk out there already baffled him since he had spent so long searching for others like himself, so long in fact that he had thought himself the last. But this news that there were more somewhere out in the wide ocean made him surprisingly shocked, if there had been a pod out there he would have seen signs. ‘Where had they been hiding?’ He wondered to himself part of him wanting to ask and yet at the same time not wanting to know. If somehow the humans were able to discover such a location it would only be a matter of time before his previous claim of being the last became a reality. It only took a quick glance at his tormentor to remind him how fast that fate would befall his kind. He couldn’t let that happen and if them meant sacrificing his own freedom to keep his people safe from this man’s clenches...so be it. “I won’t be escaping with you anywhere so get that notion out of your head.” Zane said plainly as he shifted away from Akki while still facing her. “These humans are trouble for our kind and the one here has this obsession with keeping me here, so if WE were to escape I would only be leading him to the rest of us that remain. I would never forgive myself if that were to happen, that is why I must stay here.” It was quite obvious that these words were painful for him to say, but it was also clear by seeing his hard focused eyes that he was determined to do what he thought was right for their kind.

Changing his focus by looking around the tank for ideas of an escape, Zane looked carefully around the top of the tank at the 'traps’ the human as set up as a decoy. In the years of living here, the mer had learned the truth of these deceptions as there would only bring pain and give the humans a bit of amusement. There was no chance in breaking the tempered glass that held them prisoner for it was several inches thick and the sliding cover over the tank appeared to be equally as thick. Really the only way out was to have them take them out for their tests, which left them at a full disadvantage. Unless they were lucky and the humans failed to secure them properly there was little hope on escaping, but if fate was with them, maybe he could find a way to break free and provide cover for Akki’s escape. “The chance may never come, but if it does and we do get free from here, know that I will only accompany you until you know your way. I know how this human thinks and he will follow me to the end of the world until he causes my demise. That should give you plenty of time to swim under his radar and return to your family safely, in other words I am the decoy. Until such a time comes the best we can do is be patient and wait.” Returning his gaze back at the humans as if trying to determine when they would start there tests again, Zane knew there was little else to do within this bare tank but wait. He was getting tired of waiting around like this, maybe if they did escape and he was able to lead the humans off Akki’s trail, maybe it would be best to give himself to the sharks than return to this endless hell.

 

[Riskia Vetis]

Xx…Zane…xX

Zane was taken back and utterly stunned to learn that not only were there some other merfolk out there in the vast oceans, but there was also a city hidden somewhere from the prying eyes of humans full of his people. Hidden well enough that even he couldn’t find any clue or trace of their existence in a handful of decades if not centuries he had searched for them. He could barely believe the words to be true, yet Akki herself was proof enough to show him that he wasn’t alone anymore. The knowledge seemed to settle some of Zane’s nerves, but it didn’t even start to damper the feeling of dread hanging over his head. “I am relieved to hear that there are others and that they thrive hidden from the surface world, however it only makes the it harder to know I will never see such a city. Harder still that you may never return where you belong, for if you did it would likely endanger their peace and safety.” He stated knowingly as he turned his eyes inward to remember the countless encounters he had with fishing vessels tracking and dogging him like prey. Though he didn’t know how they were able to track him with such accuracy, but he knew that in all likely hood the humans currently holding them had such tactics or devices at their disposal to use on them if they were lucky enough to escape together. Which only furthered his own reason as to why he couldn’t escape with Akki, splitting up and drawing them away seemed to be the only logical option.

Bringing his steel blue eyes up to listen to Akki speak, Zane couldn’t hide the frown deepening on his own face as he recalled the details of what had happened that made him this man’s sole target to inflicting horrific torture. Just remembering the pain made him flinch visibly as he lowered his gaze and turned away from the mermaid to hide his own moment of weakness. “I fear I may have killed someone close to him, though I remember not how I had done it. All I remember from that night was the pain and the blood.” So much blood in fact that it had tainted the water around him for a few days before the filtration system was able to cycle it all out. Zane shook the vivid images from his head for it wasn’t the only moment he had been in that much suffering and knowing his tormentor, it was far from the last. “Never underestimate the will of that one, if there is a way he will exploit it to the fullest.” He warned coldly when he turned back to give the man an angry glare knowing all too well what extremes he will enforce to get his desired result. He knew too what happens when met with resistance, yet Zane still refused to give him the satisfaction of breaking his body, mind or spirit.

“Homesick or not, you being here doesn’t change anything, it only means that I won’t be suffering here alone.” He said grimly while keeping his eyes on the humans before finally letting a heavy sigh out and drifting off toward the back of the tank as he considered what else the mermaid had to say. She was right he knew, once this human has his sites on something he wouldn’t easily let it go. Even if he was forced to choose which one of them to chase down and capture, it wouldn’t stop him from seeking out the other in time. “Alone or together, it won’t matter now. It won’t matter for a long while I suspect, till then there isn’t much sense worrying about what we cannot control.” Zane stated flatly as he eventually settled down beside the rock in the tank, his only cover from the prying eyes of the humans. But even then he had always felt like he was constantly being watched, in all likely hood he was.

((As of now, it looks like I won’t have any time off to settle down and start posting on a regular basis until August. Probably won’t post again until after the 4th of July, just way too busy and my body seems to desire sleep more than anything.))