Chapter 8: Practice and Pain

Following her finger I manage to get a glimpse of a door around the corner. Slowly and carefully I begin to walk towards the door only to stumble so now and then.

"Careful"

Groaning I struggle to keep my balance properly "Trrrrrying to"

Chuckling she excitedly motions for me to keep going only to stop and quickly walk towards me when I do actually lose my balance and fall.

Falling forwards, I'm barely able to keep my face from smashing into the floor by extending my arms yet I feel some of the cuts reopening and groan while clenching my teeth.

[For fucks sake!]

Slowly sitting up I let out a frustrated sigh "Dammit, I think some cuts reopened"

Hunching down she grabs my hand and quickly inspects my arm "Hmm, there's indeed some bleeding, but nothing too serious luckily. But don't worry too much about not being able to keep your balance, you've only just woken up."

Letting her pull me on my feet I wipe away a few tears of frustration "Is this normal?"

Slowly nodding she replies "Somewhat, there were plenty of cases that had issues, but seeing most people spend three months inside at most, I can only guess about what's normal or not in your case. In fact, even despite those five years, you're actually adapting quicker than most"

Her words give me a little comfort making me reply with an awkward smile.

"Good to try again?"

With a nod I carefully begin walking again and despite it going relatively well, she stays close to my side. Once inside, I realize the room in question is a small gym of maybe five by ten meters. A few appliances one of which a treadmill stand on my left, while a few benches and weights stand on the other side near the back. Following Zhloe with my eyes, she walks to the wall directly on my right where she unfastens one of two large mattresses which drops on the ground with a low thump.

"Alright, climb on and try to stay balanced. It'll be harder than on the solid floor, but if you fall it'll be soft"

After a quick nod, I get on and try to stand up only to stumble back and forth before falling on my side.

"Hmm, seeing your feline features, try and hand and feet first?"

Skeptical I raise my eyebrows thinking it was a joke only to realize she's completely serious. "I know it sounds weird, but just try it"

Hesitant I gaze at her in disbelief, but when she once again motions for me to try it, I give in and slowly get up on hand and feet. For some reason it feels oddly normal and where I expected to fall face first onto the mat at my first step, I actually manage to walk around without any issues.

"The fu-"

She sternly raises her hand but chuckles kindly "I guess instinctively you know how to move around like that."

Groaning in confusion I drop myself on my behind and gaze at the suspended ceiling. "What the hell am I? Am I cat? Am I human?" With a deep sigh I drop myself on my back only to hiss when my tail gets stuck.

"Human with cat like features I'd say! Now get on your feet and try again, I know you can do it!"

Shaking my head in doubt I slowly climb back on my feet only for her to squeal softly "Sorry, you just look adorable"

Grumbling I give her a scowl "NOT HELPING"

My response makes her laugh before giving me the widest smile yet. "Seems that once you're agitated you're fine"

Realizing I'm standing perfectly still and have to adjust even less than I used to before the treatment, I give her a frown. "Ehh.. It seems to be fine even now, in fact… Taking a deep breath, I tense up my leg muscles and leap off the mattress next to her.

Startled she hops back on her feet "Careful! Don't overdo it"

Giggling I leap back onto the mattress and drop myself on my side before rolling on my back. Gazing at the ceiling I yawn widely.

[I wonder what else is different..]

As if she realized I was beginning an internal monologue she softly claps her hands "Seeing you can leap around, let's test your condition"

Looking up she points to the treadmill making me dread that which is coming "Ehhr.. I'm not confident in that"

Replying with a kind smile she just motions me to come over. Hesitant I get up and walk towards her before getting on. When she turns on and slowly increases the speed of the belt, I can't help but feel happy from being able to move.

She slowly keeps increasing the speed and it doesn't take too long for me to lose myself in the movement. It isn't until she gasps that I'm pulled back to reality.

"Huh what?"

With a pale expression she points to the control panel of the machine showing the speed is at max.

"H-How fast is that?"

"Forty-five"

Baffled my eyes widen "Kilometers an hour?"

Slowly nodding she begins to turn down the speed.

"The hell... isn't that faster than some of the 100m sprinting records?!"

She quickly regains her senses and chuckles "Here in the Legion... not sure, outside most likely. But I can assume then your physical condition exceeds your previous limits?"

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With a nervous and awkward chuckle I nod "Yeah.. I wasn't exactly athletic.. in fact.."

Curious she turns her head "in fact?"

"I was a shut in geek"

Suddenly multiple memories return from my time before the annexation. There's not a lot I actually recognize but when I suddenly see images of the cat shelter my mood sinks. Gazing into the distance I hear her giggle at my previous reply but I'm too occupied by the emotional roller coaster I'm feeling.

A moment later she gently places her hand on my shoulder "Hey.. you okay?"

With a wry smile I keep endlessly gazing into the distance. "Yeah.. I.. I just rrremember a few things and realizing I lost something quite dear to me"

Feeling her tense up I turn my head to look up only to see she's turned a few shades paler "Like.. people?"

Shaking my head I look at the ceiling "I guess.. but it's not like I can remember anyone aside from my best friend. I just remembered I used to tend to a cat shelter with hundreds of cats and kittens, and considering the possibility they might have died…"

Tears form in my eyes before I shake my head and look up "I guess you can't answer that question even if I were to ask about them?"

With a pitied look on her face she shakes her head in return "I'm sorry"

Loudly exhaling, my eyes fall onto a yoga ball, in frustration I walk towards it and kick it with all strength I can muster. At high speed it flies away only to bounce off the wall and returning to crash right in my face knocking me over.

"ARE YOU OKAY?!"

Feeling my nose and feeling no blood or injury I sigh "Just an idiot, but yeah I'm fine"

Astonished she raises an eyebrow and looks from me to the ball and the wall before looking back at me and shaking her head "Physical strength… we'll test another day, I'll just write down it's far above average."

Gazing into her tranquil green eyes I'm starting to feel quite uneasy with myself. "Who am I…? What am I?"

Exaggerating positivity she smiles and sticks up her thumb while winking "Leone and you're an uncommonly gifted human"

Sitting up I gaze down at the ground "Sure sounds nice…"

She steps in front of me and pulls me back on my feet. "Come, that's enough testing for today. Let's head to your chambers so you can rest."

Remaining silent I just nod and follow her through the halls while lost in my confusion. When she suddenly stops I realize we're back at the room, scuffing inside I immediately head for the bed and drop face down into the pillow.

"You o-"

With a muffled voice from the pillow I cut her off before she can ask questions "Please.. just leave me for a while"

Silently she leaves the room and once outside I hear the door lock.

Rolling on my back a wry smile forms on my face while I titter "In a while you're free to go outside. Yeah sure but for now you gotta lock me up in this tiny room"

[Guess that's how far my humanity goes..]

[I mean what the hell am I?!]

[The fuck did she mean with uncommonly gifted, I'm like a real life version of beastmen. Animal features? Check. Absurd strength? Check. Dangerous? Check. Bound to be controlled by instinct? Probably, so far that's a check. The only thing that's missing is the fucking leash and a slave collar!]

"I fucking hate this! Why the hell did they have to invade my city?! Why was I the one that became a science prroject?! Why did I have to get stuck forrr five fucking yearrrs? I mean that's more than a thirrrd of my damn life! I guess everryone has moved on, they prrrrobably think I'm dead. Orr they'll think I'm a monsterrr"

[Even I'm not sure if I'm still human…]

Stuck in the tsunami of emotions that relentlessly sweeps through my mind, my eyes turn watery and it doesn't take long for tears to roll down my cheeks. Unable to restrain myself, I roll on my side, curl up and keep crying uncontrollably for who knows how long.

Unable to deal with the confusion and fear, I cry out in anguish before rolling on my back only to hurt my tail and rolling back.

"WHY?! FUCK THIS! FUCK THIS TAIL, THESE EARRRS MY DAMNED SPEECH EVERRYTHING!"

Bursting out in anger, I feel my hand and feet change causing the mixture of fear, disgust and anger to quickly turn into hatred. Hatred towards the people who did this to me, hatred towards the situation itself, hatred towards my body and most of all hatred towards myself for being unable to stay in control.

"I HATE THIS!"

Not a second after my last scream, my door unlocks, opens and hearing from the sounds multiple people enter causing my mind to go completely haywire while panic overtakes me "STAY AWAY!"

White coats fill the room and surround me. "I SAID STAY AWAY! LEAVE ME ALONE! GO AWAY!"

Despite my screaming they aren't going away, instead it seems like they're coming closer causing the panic to rise even further. My vision disappears which causes me to flail around and hiss. Due to my panic I can't hear the doctors scream, nor do I feel pain as my claws once again rake my own skin, at this point I'm unable to register anything.

It isn't until I feel a strangely clear sting of a needle in my back that I realize what's going on. Forcefully calmed down and overcome with exhaustion I collapse onto my knees.

[Why…]

Unable to see anything but a single dot of bright light, I reach out only to feel my face hit the floor after which everything fades.

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