When I finally peel my open, I would have loved to close them again. It would be really nice, incredibly nice, just to bask in the dark abyss of sleep and not the torturous pain being awake brings. If only I could have that though, if only I could a lot of things back that I lost.

But in the brief second when my eyes flutter open, I see that the bed across to me is empty. I have no clue who was in that one when I went to sleep, but I'm sure they're in some form of shock right now. And I feel obligated to comfort them since I've been nonhuman the longest. If only Jesse were here, he's better at this.

Whiningly softly, I sigh and raise my hands to my face, preparing to get myself out of bed. Only to have a loud bang force me to leap up off of my bed with a loud screech. On my feet now, a vicious hiss bursts out of my mouth with my claws fully extended by my side.

Which definitely got the attention of Axel, and I kill the other hiss trying to spring forth. I stand up properly, wiggling slightly so my fur can calm down, with my claws sliding back into my fingers. I will never be able to go in a haunted house again.

"Lukas, don't do that." I mentally wince at Axel's much deeper and echo-like voice. "I almost saw you as a threat."

That's right, iron golems will attack anything. Axel can actually make the call whether someone or something is friend or foe, but his first instinct will be to attack anything that attacks him. My instincts are the same, and so is Petra's and Olivia's. We have to be very careful around each other until we gain more power over these animals inside us.

"Sorry Axel, I was just startled." Probably a late reaction, but I finally start to think about what made that noise. "You wouldn't have anything to do with that, would you?"

Axel rolls his eyes, and I think they look a bit different, it's a bit hard to tell until I get some more light. "I wanted to see how strong this door is, and yeah, it's a pretty tough door."

Sighing, I sit back down on the bed. Checking that Olivia and Petra did indeed somehow sleep through that. "From what I remember, they seem like thicken obsidian doors but I don't really know. And you might not want to continue testing its strength, we're uhh..."

So we're being monitored? Hmm, I don't know if they can hear us though, and we're going to need to know that if we ever plan an escape. "We're kinda trapped right now, we don't know the way out."

"Come on Lukas, don't say things like that."

Gesturing for him to come over, which he probably can't see, I pat next to me on the bed. "Take a seat Axel, we need to save our strength. We still don't know the next time we'll get something to eat."

Axel shakes his head, crossing his arms and about to say something back when I give him a light hiss. Even if they can hear us, if I talk quietly enough it'll be too faint for them to listen in. Although I'm going to have to say the same thing when Petra and Olivia wake up.

Scoffing, he does sit down. The bed creaking to support the extra weight, iron probably doesn't do any favors with a weight scale. Axel probably sends a glare of his own, a grunt telling me that this better be good.

"So are parts of your skin iron?" Without giving him a moment to process that, I hiss quietly under my breath. "We're being watched."

He gasps, and I growl softly. Axel needs to play along and answer the question, I don't want them to already be on edge around us. I might not think being free is going to be as great now that I'm part cat, but we're still getting out of here. I refuse to be tools to these people.

"Uh... yeah, totally dude. They're... uh... pretty itchy." His voice sounds off, even with the completely unnatural deep iron golem echo in his words, his confusion is quite evident. Hopefully, if these people can hear us, they'll write it off as shock to the whole experiment thing.

"Humph, I was expecting my fur to itch, but it hasn't really. Do you know what tier they call you? I'm not entirely sure if they can hear us or not."

"3." Axel coughs, very indiscreetly I might add. "Olivia and Petra are both 2s."

"Hopefully a 3 is the highest there is. Act normal. Have you been awake long enough to notice the new... err, new impulses?"

Axel nods, a bit too eagerly, we might have to improve his acting skills. "I feel stiff, like, all the time. Guess that's what happens when you've been infused with iron huh?"

"Guess so, they didn't give you guys any food did they? I learned something about Jesse."

"Nope!" Axel clears his throat, noticing how he eager he's acting. "But man, I would die for some cake now! I do feel a bit stronger, not as hungry, but that still leaves me completely starving."

Nodding, a scramble to say something normal despite fear creeping back into me. "I would have wanted the same before all this, but now I just want to eat fish. He's not human anymore either and is called the Black Subject."

I feel Axel shiver, to which I don't blame him in the slightest, and his words come out extremely strained to my ears. "Dude, I would love to see you get another fish. It was quite the show last time."

"Whatever. He got out, must be something powerful. Perhaps you'll love iron bars, and I'll get to see you gnaw on them all day. Killed two people before recaptured."

There's a gasp, followed by a gulp. "Well... uh, yeah. I don't err, I don't want that to happen."

Axel scratches his hair and coughs awkwardly. I completely understand why, I don't really want to talk either anymore. That fear coiling around me again, anxious questions squeezed out every moment.

Jesse is the nicest and caring person I know, and while sometimes it's a bit worrying how much he's willing to sacrifice for other people, he would never hurt anyone if he didn't have to. He's never killed anyone, and I'm not counting the people who respawned and he ended up freeing from captivity anyway.

I pat Axel's back, not wanting us to just sit here awkwardly stewing in our own fears. "I'm going to check on Olivia. She was actually awake when I was tossed in here."

I keep my mouth open, about to say something about her arm, when I close it. I just told him his childhood friend has been warped into something so dangerous he killed two people. He probably doesn't want to hear right now how his other childhood friend has lost an arm.

Goodness, how long has even been? How long has Olivia only had one arm? My thoughts swirling in my head as I walk to Olivia. I can't say last night, or earlier, or a few hours ago, or anything because I only have my instincts to tell me the time. I was out like a light though, my sense of time that has improved was just completely shut off. And in this prison there's no way to tell time, making it really seem like forever passes every second.

I shake that away and look at Olivia's dark outline. Which still looks the same from last night, the same heart wrenching one arm sight, even if I can't actually see it. I kneel down next to her, and I think this is the first time I'm happy there's only enough light for me to a blurry black outline of everything. I don't really want to see all of our changes, I'm already surprised my heart hasn't exploded from everything.

I choke down a whimper, knowing if I was still human tears would be forming right now. But I'm not human, forced into some ocelot person. But at least I have all my limbs, Olivia will only ever have her right arm now because of these demons did to her. Trying to make her part spider and almost killing her in the process.

Delicately, I reach out to feel her pulse. Wondering how painful it was for her not only to go through the transformation, but when her arm was also taken. What went wrong for the limb to have to be removed? Was she actually about to die, but the threats they made about us to her keep her going and push that death into her arm?

Her heartbeat flutters under her skin, skin that's much too cold than what it should be. But it's actually better than what it was before the transformation. Whatever they do to us when we're out cold must be something to give us some type of strength back.

Trying to push through the initial nausea and wave of hopelessness of seeing Olivia broken like this. I try to approach this with a cold mind. I can't always be heartbroken, despite the temptation, I have to learn or else we'll be trapped here forever.

So Olivia's a Tier 2, and if I can figure out what makes the tiers different, then maybe I'll learn more about the cat part of me and what to expect for all of us. Including what's up with Jesse.

I couldn't see Axel's skin all too well, so I'll just have to go off of mine to compare. As gently as I possibly can, I trace the one arm Olivia has. Feeling small patches of different skin over her arm, spider skin. However they are small and spread out pretty far, almost like big freckles. So I guess Tier 2 means keeping more human skin.

Now, I want to say she has fangs. I have fangs and sharper teeth in general, but I am a Tier 3. However, spiders have prominent fangs so perhaps she does have them. I'm not going to feel for those though, I'll just ask when she wakes up. Although it sucks if she does have them, she'll never be able to hide them in public.

One thing I'm endlessly grateful about is that she doesn't have anymore limbs, Petra too. I know Axel doesn't either, but iron golems have two legs and two arms like humans. There isn't anything else to grow for him.

I walk away from Olivia and head towards Petra, my nose automatically curling up at her scent. None of us have smelt good, not for a long time, but I've become immune to that now. This dog smell though, I wish didn't, but it really does smell really bitter to me. I'll just have to get over it though, Petra's not suddenly going to become less of a friend simply because of the way she smells.

Sometime when I was asleep, she righted herself on the bed. Not under the sheet, I'm suspecting her fur is keeping her plenty warm, just on her back laying still. And Petra definitely doesn't have a wolf tail or ears, can't smell nor see the outline of either of those things.

So I'm going to take that as confirmation, for now at least, that being a Tier 3 means new limbs were grown during the hellish experiment. Axel got a lot bigger, he's probably the reason we have double doors now, so that must make him a Tier 3 despite the fact he couldn't grow more limbs.

Poor guy, he might be able to get through a normal door if he squeezes himself through, but it's not going to be easy for him anymore.

I sigh, my shoulders drooping. I'm really hoping for Petra and Olivia sakes' that their instincts aren't as strong. I'm expecting Petra to hate my cat smell, but not to the degree I do. Maybe that's how I'll test that, since I don't want to ask them questions that are meant to determine how human they are. That's just rude, and wrong, and everything would feel more depressing. Not happening.

Lightly tracing one of her arms too, she has similar patterns of where her skin is different like Olivia. Small patches that are pretty spread out, with rough fur. I can't see the color, another light thing, but something tells me it's not black. It could very well be, but that's what my gut says for right now.

However, I won't be able to learn anything new about them until they wake up. Talking to Axel again probably won't happen either, it make take him awhile to wrap his head around what I told him. I think I'll just push it far away and then have to deal with it in therapy when we get out. Seems like a good plan to me.

I sit back on my bed, and sigh before laying down. Everything that happened in the lab yesterday, or whenever it happened, is a bit fuzzy. Yet I do remember them saying something about some Assessment Grounds. Better prepare myself, physically and mentally.

Although I should be much more concerned about what's going to happen to me in the near future, I can't stop my thoughts from wandering over to Jesse. He's been merged with something black, but that's a lot of different mobs.

There are spiders, black horses, black mules, black rabbits, black cats, black wolves, endermen, wither skeletons, and endermites and magma cubes are pretty dark in color too. I think those are all the dark skinned mobs.

A shudder goes through me when I think of a wither boss and ender dragon. Would these people be so insane to think a boss monster could be infused into a human? A cat and even a spider aren't the most aggressive creatures. But those bosses? That thing attacks everything on sight.

Shaking my head to get that heart clenching thought out, I still wonder what creature Jesse could be. Other than him being black, I don't really have a clue. Not unless there's some pattern into what animals.

I breathe in sharply, perhaps there is a pattern. And now that I'm contemplating it, a rock of certainty forms in my mind. I just know, I just do, that there is some sort of pattern with these experiments.

I'm a cat, an ocelot. That mere thought just makes me want to cringe, so I'll think about the others first.

Olivia's a spider. Spiders will attack, always at night and only if attacked first during the day. Olivia, while not aggressive, is pretty quick to judge people, and she is sometimes sensitive to other people. Plus, when not attacking, spiders are generally by themselves. Olivia isn't really known to be a social animal.

I know that's not the strongest correlation there is, but it's better than what I can say for a parrot. Maybe that's why she's a Tier 2, because there isn't strong correlations? But there could be separate reasons I'm not aware of.

Petra, to my cat's irritation, is a wolf. Strong and ferocious, two traits that both wolves and Petra have mastered. Both wolves and Petra are relentless and loyal, they never stop until the threat or prey is taken down. Sure does sound like a match to me.   

Axel's easier though. Iron golem? The creatures that are strong, make tons of noise all the time, and not exactly the sharpest blade. That fits Axel pretty well, not too mention they are completely loyal. We aren't exactly Axel's creators, but I wouldn't be surprised if the iron golem part of him gives us that loyalty that he might attack anyone who we say has wronged us, even if it's a joke, without so much blinking a eye.

Which brings up another point, our new, and hated, instincts. I assuming, and hoping with all my heart, that they'll either die down at some point or we'll just become strong enough to handle them. That's what should happen, right? If my cat was stronger than the human part of me then I would probably be asleep and not thinking so much.

But they can't exactly be ignored either. If that were the case, I wouldn't like fish that much. I might have a hard time speaking like a normal human being under stress, but there wouldn't be any unwanted snarls, hisses, growls, or yowls.

So while the human part of us is stronger than the animal part, is it possible for the animal part to overwhelm us? I held back my yowls for awhile until I just couldn't anymore. And although it feels like forever, I haven't actually had a tail and ears long enough to really learn the limits of the animal.

Would some instincts be more powerful than others? Maybe Olivia's sensitive to light, although I don't actually know if spiders actually are, or maybe she didn't get that trait of a spider. Or let's say I now love to play with string. What would be stronger? Playing with string or eating fish?

What even makes our animals strong in the first place? The amount of new features or new instincts? It has to be instincts, that's the answer that just seems right. So if animal instincts and human reasoning combines, would it stay in harmony like that? Or would one triumph over the other? 

For instance, what if I saw one of my friends about to get stabbed? Initially, both my human and animal part would be in sync to stop the attacker. Once I got to the attacker though, the game changes. Since I allowed my cat to burst forth instead of pushing it down, it might be strong enough to override my reasoning, especially if something that serve was happening.

And once the animal is in control, what would it take for me to regain control? Would I have to be just about to do something completely immoral? Would I just simply have to wait until the animal backs down or gets tired? Or could fight it head on and just yank it back down?

Is that why Jesse killed those two horrible men? That's a stupid question, of course Jesse's animal was in control. Jesse would never kill anyone, it's just not who he is.

So I guess the animal could do something immoral then, that sucks. Although now I'm thinking about again what Jesse would have to be, what monster is that powerful? Jesse, as kind as he is, is also very stubborn when he wants to be. There are a few things he never compensates on.

And I'm willing to give the benefit of the doubt on the whole killing thing. These guys are anything but nice, and Jesse could have been threatened with his life or our lives. Or maybe he didn't know how strong he was and it was by accident. There are a lot of possibilities here, so I'm not going to say my best friend is a murderer quite yet.

But there's also that one possibility, the one that makes my heart thump like a rock, that Jesse was an animal during that time. That he went in for the kill and didn't care about their deaths. That Jesse was conquered by the animal inside of him.

Which, because of how terribly unlucky he is, is a monster. An incredibly powerful monster that can overcome at least some of his  moral principles, hopefully not all of them. Since spiders and endermen are more of the passive monsters, I'm going to say no on them and the black animals.

To my horror, that leaves a very short list. Endermites, wither skeletons, and I really don't think magma cube is it. They are both super aggressive mobs that are pretty strong. Now I'm going to think about the qualities of my best friend just to see what monster he has been warped with. I seriously hate what this place has done to us, I'm going to have to be in therapy for years.

Endermites I'm going to scratch off the list. They're pretty weak and easy to kill, two things Jesse definitely is not. Jesse also isn't so stupid. Endermites lack any sort of brains at all. So endermites aren't it.

Wither Skeletons suck, and is the most likely candidate for what Jesse has been infused with. They're always aggressive and getting hit by one is just terrible. Granted getting hit by one of those compared to this is like a pinch, but my perspective has changed. Jesse's new behavior is certainly aggressive, and you never want to get on Jesse's bad side. Never ever. Not to mention they are tougher than normal monsters, which might explain why Jesse failed to stay in power.

So until proven otherwise, I'm going to say that Jesse was infused with a wither skeleton. Hopefully, it's more like an enderman and Jesse was threatened or something.

I sigh, there's really no hope for that. The odds of that being true are next to none, I shouldn't even allow such thoughts like that. Everything here absolutely is the worst, I should expect nothing else. We've been starved and our humanity has been ripped away, we aren't even treated like humans. Why should I expect anything good to happen in this torture prison?

Sighing again, I wiggle a bit into the hard mattress. Perhaps I'm wrong though. Perhaps Jesse isn't a wither skeleton at all. He could be a ender dragon and some higher tier that just makes him even more of a bomb waiting to go off. Everything could be as bad as it gets.

As I feel myself falling asleep, I don't even try to contradict the thought or brush it away.

****

Ahem, I cannot tell you what happened when I looked at this yesterday. But I'll try, Wattpad just DELETED OVER HALF OF MY HARD WORK AND HOLY COW WHY ARE THERE NO PAST REVISIONS?!

*sigh*

I am now blessing my past self for deciding to save all my chapters on another platform. I would have gotten absolutely no sleep if I tried to rewrite over 2,000 words that I didn't quite remember what happened in them.

But anyway! I hope you enjoyed the chapter nonetheless! It is kinda a fluff one (dark fluff?) since Lukas is succumbing to the anxieties and depression all around him. And so you all know exactly how bad the Order's got it.

Well, see you all next chapter in another five days!