Hybrids: No Longer Human (The Story Thread)

Alistair was wasn't sure why he nor Vinny was allowed to accompany the others, but they had to stay home this time. He also found it a bit weird by how they were dressed, all black, decoratively colored masks, and ears and tails hanging out freely. He was just assuming it was new fashion statement and went with it. "Alright, we'll be gone for a few hours, you two sure you'll be alright?" Knox asked as he hung by the door with the other three close by.

"Of course Knox, we're not kids you know-" Vinny started off but then was pretty much cut off by Alistair, as the rabbit tumbled off the couch-over the back of the couch, to run over to the others with the sort of grace that only Alistair could have...so very little, he tripped over his tail more than a few times.

"Wait! You guys can't go yet," he said and they looked at him curiously before one by one, Alistair gave them each a goodbye hug, since it was very important to him, for some reason, to hug them all goodbye, and hug them again when they got back, honestly by now they really should have just gotten used to it by now.

Vinny sighed and rolled his eyes. "Let me rephrase that. I'm not a kid, wether Alistair is fifteen or five is still plenty debatable," he added and Alistair sent him an unamused look from where he was, hugging Cupid tightly, and the girl patted his head gently, despite him being taller than her and sent Vinny an equally unamused look.

"Don't be so mean Vin-vin, I personally think it's adorable that Allie Ballie likes to give hugs," Cupid explained and instantly the rabbit pulled back and crinkled his nose up in mild disgust, instantly shaking his head at the very thought.

"I am not adorable," he objected stubbornly and by then, Maia and Flint had left, with Knox hanging in the doorway as he waited for Cupid to hurry up.

Cupid simply cooed lightly at him at patted his head again. "Whatever you say hon, okay now I really need to go. Don't worry though, I'll be back tonight and then tomorrow, we can go get ice cream for breakfast," she told him quietly and the rabbit hybrid grinned over at her, ears perking up considerably at that. Then, just like that, Cupid was gone, leaving just Vinny and Alistair in the room.

Alistair stayed to look at the door for a few seconds before he looked back over to Vinny. "So, what should we do?" He questioned, starting back over as he leaned against the back of the couch, elbows resting on it as his long, recently dyed purple and blue tail, swayed pleasantly behind him.

Vinny glanced up at him and rolled his eyes. "g-- man, must you always be entertained?" He questioned and looked away from him, making Alistair frown. Did he...did he do something wrong? He hadn't thought so, but...but it was possible. Actually for days now, Vinny had been in a bad mood, it was really discouraging because Alistair always felt like he did something wrong and that's why Vinny wasn't happy, and so he would try to change it around a bit, but no matter what he did, Vinny was always somehow, in someway, annoyed at him.

Luckily it seemed like Vinny got the idea that Alistair was beginning to feel a little upset himself and let out a sigh. "Come here," he ordered and Alistair obediently hopped over the couch and plopped down on the other side, close to Vinny. "You want something to do, right?" He questioned, looking over at Alistair with those dark brown eyes of his and all the rabbit hybrid could think to do was nod. "Well then, let's talk about our pasts. I'll ask you a question, you'll answer it, and then you may ask me a question. Sound fair?" He questioned and Alistair fidgeted uncomfortably, however before he could think to refuse, Vinny had started to speak again.

"You came from the labs, right? Right before we met you, how did you escape?"

Alistair frowned and looked down as those memories began to resurface and his ears instantly dropped down to either side of his head as he subconsciously brought a hand up to stroke the long ears. "I...I don't think I like this game, m-maybe we should play something else..." He suggested and Vinny simply laughed in response.

"Of course not. Now Alistair, answer the question. How did you escape the labs?" Vinny asked, reaching out to snatch Alistair's other hand, gently beginning to massage the wrist with his thumb, in hopes of easing Alistair into talking more openly about his experience there in the labs.

However he still didn't want to answer and instead had started to fall quiet instead, not daring to meet Vinny's gaze, and needless to say, the fox hybrid was beginning to get annoyed and pressed further into his wrist with his thumb, beginning to put far more pressure than needed on it. "Alistair..." he started warningly, bringing the claw for this thumb out as it dug into Alistair's wrist, a small stream of blood beginning to spill from the puncture. "How did you escape?"

Alistair winced from the pain and tried to pull his wrist free. "V-Vinny, you're hurting me..." he said, beginning to feel something close to panic flop around in his stomach as he tried to pull free of the other fox boy, who simply wouldn't budge. "A-ahh...Vinny."

Vinny looked him square in the eyes, panicking green met his brown, with something new hidden behind those eyes. "Then answer the question and I promise, I'll let you go," Vinny promised and Alistair was beginning to think he had no choice, he didn't want Vinny to keep hurting him.

"I had help, there was a girl in the cell next to mine, a hare hybrid...she took out a scientist and got me out, if it wasn't for her, I would never have gotten away," Alistair said quickly and just like that Vinny let go of his wrist and Alistair pulled it back to his chest, cradling the injured wrist with his other hand as he watched the trickle of blood.

Vinny gave him an all too warm smile and reached over to pull him into a hug, moving to whisper into his ear. "See? That wasn't so hard now, was it?" He questioned softly before he pulled away and stood up, glancing back at Alistair. "You should clean that up before the others get back...and I'd keep this to yourself, wouldn't want to worry the others now, would we?" He asked in that smooth accent of his before he slipped away into the hallway, leaving Alistair alone.

He watched Vinny leave before he gaze returned to his wrist. Vinny had...Vinny had hurt him. He had made him bleed, and now, now he didn't want Alistair to tell the others?...He...he shouldn't tell the others though, they would worry, they would be displeased...So maybe, maybe Vinny was right and Alistair would just have to keep this to himself from now on.

-

Over the course of the next few weeks, things got worse and worse, so bad that it came to the point where Alistair dreaded being alone with Vinny, he had been given a few more scars and anytime Alistair refused to answer a touchy question about the labs, Vinny would continue to hurt him until he answered. Though Alistair did a good job of cleaning up any of the injuries he got, he hid them from the others quite well.

It was funny, despite everything, like Alistair's new timidness, or his flinches when he was touched, or Vinny's arrogance growing, it seemed that no one noticed any change and things otherwise continued on normally, well up until things got really bad.

Once again, the others were gone, leaving just Alistair alone with Vinny, which meant it was questioning time, Alistair had elected to hide in his room...but the problem with that was that Vinny shared a room with him, there really was no escaping the fox hybrid, currently Alistair was watching as Vinny moved around in their room, idly playing with his stuff while Alistair anxiously played with his blanket edges.

"So, Alistiar, where exactly is the labs?"

Alistair gulped, he knew a question was coming, so far he had been able to answer them all, however...he didn't know the answer to this one, and he was hesitant to know how Vinny would respond to that. "I don't know."

"Don't lie Alistair, where are the labs?"

"I don't know."

Vinny swerved to glare at him, slowly beginning to move closer. "You have to know, I need to know, so how about we just make this easier and you tell me instead of this silly little game of 'I don't know' hmm?" He questioned with a frown as he moved to situate himself onto the bed beside Alistair, who had wound up pressed up against the wall.

He dared looking at Vinny, keeping a steady look on his face. "I. Don't. Know," Alistair told him, voice shaky. He didn't know where it was, it was just...the labs, all he did there was stay in his cell, and then when he got the chance, he ran, he didn't look back, he didn't try to figure out where it was, where he was, or anything like that. He just ran.

Vinny let out an all too unpleased growl and swiped his claws at him, getting Alistair in the neck. "That's not good enough Alistair, you need to tell me where the labs are, The others won't even get close to telling me about them, I'm going to need you to be a bit more lenient," he explained and roughly shoved Alistair further against the wall, and when it looked like he would come at him again, Alistair lashed out as well, and actually managed to nick him.

Vinny paused, confusion eminent on his face as he moved a hand up to wipe at the blood, it was deep...might even leave a scar. Oh by now he was furious. Vinny glared at him, moving to pin him down and leaned in real close, tracing his finger along his neck, beginning to lightly tear at the skin with his claws to make it bleed. "Don't you ever think of doing that again, you can't fight back, and if you try again, I'll show you exactly how dangerous I can be, understood?" He asked, rather darkly.

Alistair was going to reply, but then the door to the house opened and they both froze, the others were back early. Vinny growled and pushed himself off Alistair. "I'll go see why they're back, you should probably stay here and make sure to clean yourself up," he muttered, walking out and slamming the door behind him. Surely he would come up with an excuse for his own injury as well.

Meanwhile Alistair just pushed himself back into the corner of his bed, curling up as he brought his knees up and buried his face into them, hugging his legs close as he tried to stop himself from crying. He couldn't...he couldn't do this anymore, he was supposed to be the guardian, he wasn't supposed to need protecting. But Vinny...Vinny clearly wasn't going to stop, and his neck was bleeding, Alistair couldn't keep this up.

It was then that he came to a split second decision, one he truly hoped he wouldn't regret later.

He was going to tell the others.

-

Flint was out with Vinny, apparently he got to leave for work sometimes with them too, it was the perfect time to get the others alone. Alistair took a breath as he looked at himself in the mirror in the bathroom, he wasn't very strong...and without his shirt on it was a lot easier to see the scars, and a little bit of flab that Alistair needed to get rid of. He was honestly extremely self conscious about his weight, being a bit more on the chubby side since meeting the fox gang, he could do to loose a few pounds.

He shook his head, now was not the time to worry about his weight, he instead reached over and slid the comfortable turtleneck sweater back over his head and exhaled as he turned away and reached for the doorknob. Just get it over with, confess to being useless, to being a bother, to needing protecting and get the help you need.

He opened the door and walked out, entering the main area where the other three were. Knox was playing darts in the corner, Maia was on her computer, and Cupid was pawing for attention from the other girl. Alistair cleared hid throat to get them to notice him. Cupid was the first to react as she ditched Maia for now and sat up straight. "Hey there Allie, you look a little...hmm, sad, what's up?" She asked with a tilt of her head.

Alistair further entered the room, tugging at the ends of the shirt. "I...Well I have something that I really should tell you...I just, didn't want to displease you guys before but I can't keep it hidden anymore, I need to come out with it-"

"Oh my g--, are you gay? Don't worry sweetie, we of course still accept you, we speculate that Knox is the only straight one here anyways-" Cupid started and Alistair quickly cut her off there.

"What? No! I mean for a time there I thought I was...But that's not really the point here, that's not what I wanted to say," Alistair said quickly and Cupid frowned slightly, too bad, she was sure she could set him up with a number of handsome men. "I uh...well for a few weeks now, whenever you all leave for work, Vinny will ask me these questions about the labs...and I don't always wanna answer them because they're kinda touchy...but if I don't, he hurts me," Alistair explained, looking down and refusing to make eye contact with any of them.

Cupid was up from the couch in an instance, and right by him, she put her hands on his arms and he flinched away. "Hurts you how?" Cupid asked, suddenly far more serious than Alistair had ever seen her before, and Alistair was beginning to wonder if he was somehow in trouble. However he decided against that being the case and took a step back to show them his injuries, taking off the wrist bands to show the scars there, and removing the turtleneck sweater so they could see any on his arms, neck, or elsewhere.

"Like this..." Alistair explained quietly, looking down at the floor. "He's been doing it for a month or so now...the ones on the neck are the newest...It's why I've been wearing the turtlenecks," he confessed, feeling extremely self conscious about all of this.

Cupid held in a small gasp as she looked at them all, Maia and Knox walking over to as well and Alistair began to feel really uncomfortable again. "He's been doing this to you?" Cupid asked and Alistair mumbled out an affirmative answer and Cupid looked over at Knox and Maia, gaze hardening, the three shared a look before Cupid focused on Alistair again. "Thank you for telling us, Alistair. Why don't you get yourself something to eat and head back to your room? I think we have some things to discuss," she started and Alistair put his shirt back on, beginning to head out. "Oh and Allie, don't worry, you will never have to worry about Vincent hurting you again," Cupid added fiercely.

Alistair wasn't so sure of that, but he was more than willing to believe it as he got himself some snacks and went back to his room, hoping he made the right choice in telling them.

-

Alistair hadn't seen Vinny since telling the others, and that had been over two days ago. He assumed they kicked him out, but he really wasn't sure, though he was already starting to feel a bit better, like he could breath again. It was late, Knox, Maia, and Flint were out working, with Cupid being the one to stay with him this time, and she had a friend over, they were in her and Maia's room, wrestling or something, Alistair really wasn't sure.

He currently had himself a bowl of ice cream and a book in hands, he was going to go sit in his room for awhile, reading the book and eating ice cream for the night, it was a pretty peaceful way to spend his nights, and Alistair's personal favorite. The weather outside was stormy as well, but Alistair had almost always actually liked the rain, it meant cozy days and no need to go outside.

The fox hybrid opened the door and walked in, closing it behind him as he went and sat down on his bed, getting plenty comfortable as he brought the spoon up to his mouth and happily ate his ice cream, though for some reason his stomach kept turning in uncomfortable ways, as if he shouldn't be so at peace with himself right then.

He didn't discover why until later that night. He was about half way through his book, when there was a rather loud boom of thunder and the rabbit hybrid jumped slightly, a little shocked to be brought out of his book so suddenly like that, Alistair looked around for a few seconds before he shook his head. "It's just a storm Alistair..." he told himself as he tried to focus back on his book, unaware of the person picking the lock to the apartment.

A few more minutes passed and then there was a ver quiet knock on his door and instantly his ears zeroed down to the direction of the door, he slid his bookmark in, saving his spot in his book as he went to go answer, figuring it was probably Cupid, coming to check up on him. Except when he answered the door, it was not Cupid.

It was Vinny.

Alistair blinked, surprised to see the fox hybrid, drenched from the rain, and an all too crazed look in his eyes as he gave a smile and forced himself inside the room before Alistair could shut the door on him. "Hello Alistair, miss me?" He asked and walked further inside, instantly clasping a hand over his mouth before Alistair could scream for help or something like that. "You told them...and doing that, you made my life a living h---," Vinny snapped making sure to keep relatively quiet as he started to push Alistair back as he walked in.

"I got kicked out of your stupid little group, and I didn't get the information I needed either. Father was so displeased, not like you would understand anything about that. All you understand is the f------ happiness in the world. Well news flash bunny, the world is not all happiness and rainbows outside of the labs, and now I'm going to show you exactly why you shouldn't have crossed me, you stupid, stupid bunny," Vinny snarled out.

Alistair gulped, struggling to free himself before Vinny could hurt him again, however he was already pinned to the wall, hand clasped over his mouth, and Vinny looking like he had nothing else to loose.

Suddenly Alistair got the idea that he was in a very bad position.

-

Cupid had been asleep, cozy in her bed, since her "friend" had gone home an hour or so ago, however she was very abruptly awoken by the sound of a muffled scream and a crash. The fennec fox hybrid was up in an instance and jumped out of her bed, throwing on random clothes as she left and began to head to Alistair's room to check on him when she noticed the front door was open, and then an all too familiar scent wafted over to her, dread pricking from the tips of her toes to the top of her head.

Vinny.

In no time at all, she picked up the speed and rushed to Alistair's room, swinging the door open with a surprising about of strength, and what was there to greet her was a clearly angry, possibly crazed, bloodied Vinny, though Cupid had serious doubts that the blood was his own. He stood there, towering over a cowering Alistair, who was curled up on the ground, bloodied, shaking, and trying to hide behind his tail and ears.

Vinny slowly turned to look over at Cupid, it was needless to say that she was definitely upset.

The two fought, it was already clearly going much better than any of Alistair's miserable attempts at fighting back, however as the fight went on it began eminently clear that Cupid would win this, and towards the end she dragged him out, leaving Alistair alone.

He curled up further into a ball, shaking his head and whole body shivering as he tried to stop himself from letting out chocked sobs. He couldn't cry, he was supposed to be the protector, the guardian, the hero...He was supposed to be brave, strong, fierce, not...not scared and weak and afraid. But that's exactly what he was. Vinny had...he had hurt him, touched him, spoken to him, he had hurt him in many more ways than one.

And no matter how hard Alistair tried to forget it all, he couldn't and everything kept repeatedly playing in his mind, causing him to shake more and pray he forgot, hope it all went away, wish none of it had ever happened to begin with.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Cupid returned and instantly fell down to her knees in front of Alistair, a look of pity, anger towards Vinny, and guilt in her eyes as she moved to try and pull him into a hug "Oh Alistair...I'm so sorry that I wasn't there earlier, that I didn't know..." She said, however as soon as she moved to touch him, Alistair reacted badly and pushed himself back, shaking his head vigorously.

"Don't touch me!" He snarled out in panic, looking at Cupid warily. Admittedly, it hurt.

Cupid then tried again. "I would never hurt you like he did, Allie, ever," she tried to reassure but once again, Alistair flinched away from her touch, almost having a sort of feral look to him as he pushed himself away from her.

"I said don't touch me!" Alistair snapped again, and then his barriers started to fall as he looked at her with big, watery, expressive green eyes. "P-please don't touch me, don't touch me..." He begged and Cupid's face shifted from a look of hurt to one of pity, worry, anger, sadness, and guilt.

"O-okay, I won't touch you Alistair, I promise that I won't touch you," she said and Alistair nodded shakily, seeming pleased with that answer, however Cupid could only look at him with an utterly pained look on her face, as she whispered just barely loud enough for him to hear. "Oh Alistair, what did he do to you?"

There was no answer, Alistair doubted he would ever be able to go into full detail about what happened that night. But one thing in certain, was for sure.

Vinny had broken Alistair.