My eyes snap open, only for me to blink and let my attention flicker around the room in confusion. There was some noise, something woke me up, but I don't hear anything now.

Petra and Olivia are now awake, with Axel sleeping in his far too small bed, and I have to rip my focus away from them before my heart wants to give up on trying to beat anymore. Such strong people, my friends, shouldn't be broken like this.

There should not be creaking coming from Olivia's bed, as she rocks back and forth with only one arm to keep her knees to her chest. Quiet pants waft into my ears, and whether that's because she's cold or sobbing silently I can't tell, but she shouldn't be making that noise at all. It's just wrong and bad and wrong on all accounts.

And Petra, who could cut through any monster in nothing short of a few seconds, should not be silent. I shouldn't be hearing nothing from her. Petra should be screaming, ready to tear apart the people who did this. That's what Petra should be doing. Not this slumped over outline, this shadow of the great warrior, starring out into space. Petra shouldn't look defeated, nothing can defeat Petra.

Sighing up to the ceiling, I feel the need to go comfort them... somehow. I don't want them to feel so terrible, but I have no clue what to say to them. I have no clue at all. Besides, it would be devastating if I tried to say something uplifting to Petra only to scurry away from her if my nose can't handle it.

I shake my head, even if I can't say anything I should be there for them. The first thing we did with our chains off was hug, one big hug. We don't have chains anymore, we can support one another.

"It's been fifteen hours since his transformation and there are no visible attempts of self harm or insanity."

Snapping upright, I get out of bed and walk towards Olivia. That's not happening, I'm not letting that happen to any of them. Even if I have to pin them down I'm not letting that happen. I don't care if they get mad or frustrated at me, I can't bare the thought of that happening to my friends.

Carefully, I sit on Olivia's bed and closely peer at her. She stops rocking, but remains in her curled position. Her dark outline almost emphasizing how miserable she is. So I lift one hand, checking to make sure my claws are sheathed, and rub her back.

Olivia's head snaps up with a shuddering breath, her back shaking madly beneath my hand. She tries to hold her breath, my mouth instantly drying up without a word to say to her, before a strangled sob breaks free and she clutches onto me.

Olivia sobs into me, and I start rubbing her back with both hands. Trying not to sob myself when I feel the spots of her spider skin through her prison shirt. It's a subtle difference, but it's there all the same. But it doesn't matter, I have a tail and claws but I'm still Lukas. Olivia has some spider skin but she's still Olivia.

"Hey, hey..." My heart flutters in relief when some part of my brain has figured out what to say and that I actually don't sound cat like or dehydrated. "It's okay, you're okay."

A clicking sob bubbles out from her, definitely spider like, as she hugs me harder. I begin to rub her back harder, muttering the same words as soothing as possible. I don't know what I can do to make her feel better, but I definitely don't want her to notice that I'm becoming increasingly stressed myself.

A low rumbling resonates from my chest, and only gets louder as horror streaks through me. The purr working it's way up into my throat as I feel Olivia stop sobbing. I've already stopped rubbing her back, a fistful of her prison shirt as I try to stamp it out.

"I'm sorrrrrrrrry..." I wince, letting go her. I sound so much like an animal, and the purrs are nothing like the human I wanted to be for her just a few moments ago. I don't want to be another reminder to Olivia of what's happened to us.

My bitter disgust dies under the pure surprise when Olivia only tightens her grasp on me, sobbing softly again. The purring still continues, and I hesitantly grab back onto Olivia. Kinda wishing I could cry too right now.

"Lukass? Ar- are-" Her voice degrades into a quivering sob and ignoring my own fears I start rubbing her back again. "We're still human right?"

My purrs get stronger, louder, rising up along with my heart clenching fears. "Animals can't talk to each like this, animals can't even comprehend all the emotions we have rrrrright now."

I get no relief from my words, the purring has dropped my voice into this deep guttural that clearly isn't mine. Besides, my new ears can detect every quiver of my words. It's so painfully obvious to me how unsure I am, how conflicted I am.

"It's just that..." Olivia stops to take in big shuddering breaths, and I rub her back harder again. "In the hallway, you were so unlike you. Thrashing and snarling... ee-even breaking that man's arm... you're, at least were, never one to do that."

Her every word is another jab to my heart, and thankfully she can't see my face tightening up to keep in the despair. Olivia is completely right, that was so clearly not me but I was actually fighting that behavior as hard as I could. That was actually the most human I could have been at that point.

"I know, I know..." I trail off, trying to find some words to prove both her and myself wrong. "But I'll get better, once I get some food maybe. Or perhaps that'll only happen when I'm around people who've kidnapped us?"

I'm clearly so doubtful of myself, not even remotely convinced by my own words. My hands loosely grip her shirt as I let my head droop down away from her. Every second I keep hearing those infernal purrs my breaths get that much heavier.

"Well, at the very least I suppose," Olivia stifles a sob, sniffling. "The purrs are kinda nice... better that than yakking up fur balls right?"

A pathetic dry chuckle escapes my lips along with the purrs. "Agrrrreed, much less... disturbing."

My ears flicker, the distinct sound of multiple footsteps coming this way. Digging my fingers into Olivia, my heart starts to pound wildly. Partly because I'm quite honestly scared of what they'll do next and the other much bigger part due to the rage heating up my blood.

I squeeze Olivia as hard as I can, as if I won't be able to see again. I can't really see her that well to begin with, but I still don't want to let her go. I want to be able to just be with my friends and not always ripped apart by these demons.

The next moment, a soft growl comes from Petra. "They're coming..."

Her sullen silence is filled with her enraged growl, good to know that the real her was still in there. But she heard it soon after me, and I'll have to think about that later when I have the time.

Olivia pulls away from me, but I felt her muscles shake as she did so. My fully alert ears picking up the hiss leaking through her lips. I can't exactly say anything though when my purrs have become a growl.

I get up, crouching in front of the doorway, my fur bristling as my claws slip out from my fingers. They're not hurting my friends anymore, I refuse to let them! They've tortured us long enough! I'm not going to let them just walk all over us as if we're grass!

"Huh?" I don't even glance at Axel, my tail thrashing in the air as blood pounds all over. I am ready to take down however many people they send through those doors.

"They're coming!" Besides, I have Petra on my side for the fight. She sounds ready to rain chaos upon these men with me. These monsters will regret ever doing any of this to us.

The bed creaks as Axel gets up, but my attention snaps to the almost undetectable pulling of bowstrings. My rage and willing to fight wavering as a bubble of fear rises up.

Then all of it drains away when I actually stop to think about what I'm doing. These guys have us trapped starving in here. Whether I've lost the ability to feel it or not, I'm much weaker than the well fed men out there. My rage isn't going to exactly going to give me healthy muscles.

A man out there pounds on the door, his gruff voice making me wish my hearing wasn't so good to hear it. "If you attack us, we'll hurt Jesse."

Petra snarls and Olivia hisses. Axel suffers in silence while every fiber of my every being shakes with pure helpless rage at these monsters. My claws slip back into my hands as I stand up straight, my every thought fuming with curses at all of these people.

The door opens and it takes everything I have to not jump on this guy and claw out his throat. The sight of at least six men all aiming tipped arrows at us admittedly helps with that.

Clearing his throat, the despicable man continues in his ear grinding voice. "It's time you all learned the rules of this place-"

Neither Petra or I could refrain from snarling, my tail whipping furiously back and forth in the air. I have to keep reminding myself that I can't lower into a fighting crouch, I can't lower into a fighting crouch, I can't lower into a fighting crouch.

"If you perform well, you will be rewarded at the end of every day with food. Continue to perform well over a long period of time, and your chamber will be improved. You'll learn more about this system when we deem you are ready for a purpose."

Olivia scoffs, a hiss ending it. There was no stopping my claws from coming out on that one too. Chamber? This thing? This is a cage for animals. How are they going to make it better? Add a torch? That would be such a civil improvement.

"Misbehave and you will be punished, that is the order of things. Defying us is useless-"

A growl comes from both me and Petra at the same time. Despite everything this man has said, it is slowly becoming harder to resist the urge to slash his throat to at least the point where he can't talk anymore.

"-and nothing will be gained by it. Follow the rules, and you may actually get somewhere. As you can see with your improved chamber." He gestures at the obsidian walled cage with four hard beds and a drugged water tank I haven't bothered to drink from.

"So Subjects 812, 813, and 814 proceed out into the hall and behave yourself when you follow." None of us move. I'm pretty sure I'm the one person he didn't call, but I have not bothered to keep track of our numbers whatsoever. Not when we all have names to go by.

The man sighs and points to the others, I was right. Yippee. "That's you three. Take care never to forget your numbers, or you will be punished."

My heart sinks as all my friends shuffle out into the hallway. I don't want to be separated again, bad things happen when I'm separated from my friends. It's punishment enough to constantly be plagued by fears when I'm away from them, and I haven't even done anything yet.

"Subject 811, you'll be following me. Since you've already shown an eagerness for attacking us, one slip up and you'll simply be hurting your own friends."

My ears flatten but I manage to hold the hiss inside me. I tread into the hallway, all senses on high alert as my tail constant snaps back and forth. For a quick moment I allow myself to be irritated with the new limb. It's actually pretty easy to ignore when I'm laying or sitting down all the time.

I see my friends trudging down the hallway I came from, with bows aimed at them all the time. The man huffs and jerks his head in the opposite direction, to which I begrudgingly begin to follow a different heartless man that way with the tipped arrows also trained on me.

Hopefully my friends are just getting that diagnoses thing. Sure they'll get numbed, but they won't get hurt or have more of their humanity stripped away from them. If my memory serves, I'm heading to some... area. More tests for sure, but I just don't know what kind.

Trudging down the hallway, I sense my fur settle back down. My eyebrows furrow, it doesn't make sense for me to calm down. Or maybe it does, I'm feeling pretty tired and sluggish right now. But that's also strange, have I really been awake very long?

My feet drag across the floor, and I stop listening to what's around me. Only really paying attention to my heartbeat. The loud thump going off every second, feeling off though. It kinda hurts like I've been running a long time, but I'm just walking. Walking, and walking, and walking down this pretty bright hallway.

"What have you done to this subject?" I raise my head, blinking back into the real world when I hear that vile disgusting voice of their leader. He doesn't look pissed off, just slightly irritated. Still though, I'm smelling a lot of sweaty salt right now.

Something's wrong, I can feel it but not really think about why or even how. Which might be the problem right there, why am I having a hard time understanding anything right now?

My claws come out when the devilish man walks right up to me, but I can't do anything. "Dehydrated, again. You aren't trying kill yourself are you?"

My eyes widen at his words, but I take a step back at his tone. My heart beats painfully with thick blood as my mind regains its ability to think again with the jolt of panic running through me. Thoughts desperately trying to keep up as his dead eyes stare at me.

"N-No, I-I-I..." I bow my head, my mouth too dry for me to continue. Dry mouth, dehydration, sluggish... when was the last time I drank any water? Ages really, and that would be a good reason why I've been sleeping more, the sudden drop of mental awareness, maybe even the depressed thoughts earlier.

"So tell me subject," No growl comes from his sneer, my mind is becoming too tired for anger now. I must've burned myself out earlier. "Why aren't you drinking? Is it a good enough reason to get your friends hurt?"

I shake my head, panting as my heart continues to stagger along in my chest. "C-can't stand it... the- the c-cat doesn't like it..."

The man snorts, and I weakly bring my eyes up to him. "Get a grip subject, you'll die without that water. I'll be very cross at you if you commit suicide, and with you gone, someone else will have to take the hit. Maybe the redhead?"

"No!" That one pathetic hoarse cry raises up from my throat. I try to something more, to convince him that he doesn't have to hurt my friends, when only intangible scratches come out.

I stop with the noises when he smiles, even patting my shoulder. The direct touch on my fur sends it upright, despite how hard of a time I'm having to keep myself up. There's this cool sensation pooling in my head, and I don't want to make this man mad by fainting.

"Good answer subject." He starts walking and everyone, including my heavy legs, follows him. With a struggling clarity, I try to think what's going to happen to me. I can barely think, a wild fear of not being able to survive these tests or whatever keeping my dull heartbeat pounding on.

We walk into this big room, and I mean big. It kinda looks exactly like the biggest supersized gym I've ever seen, although the exercise machines look just a wee bit off. And there are some I've never seen before, and that makes my stomach crawl. Although there's this thing in the back that really unnerves me, but I can't tell what it is.

I'm guided over to the side, where I enter a much scarier room. My mind flashes, my eyes blinking as I see this room one second and the hellish experiment room the next. So similar... so wrong... and I'm still so powerless and weak.

The corrupt sicko of a leader talks to some evil scientists, and while I strain my ears to listen, partly so I don't have to look at any crazy torture devices in here, but all I hear are these muffled noises. Stupid cat ears... stupid thirsty brain... stupid everything.

Something smacks the back of my head, a hoarse cry bursting out of me as I stagger forward. Gripping onto the table as my tail flickers desperately, my balance out the door and gone forever. Black dots swarming my entire vision.

Panting and my heart still drumming painfully against my chest, any sense of anything goes up in smoke as I am lifted off the ground with all my limbs jostled around. My stomach churns and a heavy hat gets put onto my head. Such heaviness... maybe I should sleep a bit.

Shaking my head, I force my eyes open. I'm not doing this for nothing, I think, there's something really important I have to keep in mind. I can't really remember, I can't really do anything but that doesn't matter. Just do something...

****

This seems a little... off. It's probably an idea I had for this chapter and don't remember, so hopefully it wasn't a really good idea or something.

Anyway, what are you more worried about right now? What's going to happen to Lukas? Or what's going to happen to the Order in the nearish future? Like what their 'purpose' will be.

Or you could be worried about all of them, that's a fair answer.

But uh... yeah, this is what I got for you. Next chapty is coming out in another five days so see you then!