Gift swap for @lovelizards
He had taken the pins from her body. The powder that he had used to close her wounds had been effective at its job. But the pins in her wings remained. While most of her body resembled that of a human, Ariadne’s wings were decidedly insect. That included the system of hydraulic veins that controlled them. Never before had she been so grateful for this fact, as it meant that there were no nerves to feel the pain.
That was small comfort, of course, as the pain had now been replaced by cold. She curled herself up as tightly as she could, but could still feel the frigid air on every bit of her naked skin. She began to shiver. It was because of the cold, of course. It was because of the cold, and not because of her fear. She couldn’t show her fear. He fed on it. None of this did anything to improve her shaking.
Ariadne shut her eyes tight. On the back of her lids, she could almost see home, could almost smell the flowers and the earth, could almost hear-
Her eyes flew open one more. She lay, frozen with terror. Could it have been something else? It had to be. If it was… No, no that couldn’t happen. She had to look. She had to see how bad it was, not that anything would be good.
She took a deep breath and held it. No matter what she saw, Ariadne could not scream. The human was out of the room for a moment, and any sound could draw him back. Slowly, she turned her head to the left. The top wing was free, or rather, half of it. The other was still lying there, glittering and slowly leaking blood.
She quickly turned her head away, fighting the urge to vomit. She’d seen wing injuries before, but it was something entirely different to see on her own body. She’d never fly again. That thought put a hitch in her already shaky breath.
Ariadne had seen what an animal would do to get out of a trap. Instinct would take over, they’d gnaw off their own limbs for even a chance at escaping. But she wasn’t an animal. She wasn’t an animal. She wasn’t-
The bottom left wing was free, leaving a long, jagged track in the glittering film.
“Well,” she muttered to herself. “I guess I can’t make it any worse.”
Now that she was doing it intentionally, she almost couldn’t make herself do it. It was like trying to bide off her own fingers. But stronger than her desire to be dignified was her desire for survival. Did that prove the human right? Did it prove that she was an animal?
The last two wings tore free at once. For a second, all she could do was lie there, unable to understand what she had just done. But she had to move. She was running on borrowed time already. There was a window across the room. With wings it could have been easy, it would have been quick.
“Well, well, well.” No! “You think you’re the first one to try that? You’re not a genius. You’re just a bug.”
He picked her up by her shredded wings. She kicked and screamed, but it was no use. He carried her to a shelf that was lined with jars. He picked one, seemingly at random, and dropped her inside.
I hope you liked it! I had a lot of fun working on it.
