Chapter Text
Abolish had been a fledgling for, by his count, a week and a half.
Most of that time had been spent sleeping or feeding, although recently Scott had brought him some wood blocks that he had wasted no time sinking his tender fangs and new claws into.
He was getting more used to the roiling mess of fledgling emotions and instincts, and usually woke up lucid, although there had been the occasional time when his instincts overpowered him again and he became a whining puppy at Scott’s feet.
It was rather embarrassing, but he knew it was natural.
He had performed on himself every mental test he remembered the Organization doing on new fledglings to track developmental progress, and he had passed with flying colors.
Which mostly meant that Scott knew how to do his job.
In the few moments Abolish had to himself (although he had noticed those moments getting longer as he got ‘older’ [could you call it older if it had only been a week?]), when Scott wasn’t watching over him in the nest and he was lucid enough to form full thoughts, Abolish very quickly got bored.
He had, understandably, gotten stripped of all weapons, silver or otherwise, when he was placed in the nest, and his silver cross earring had been replaced with a white gold one that had been a gift from Scott.
That was what he was staring at now, laying on his back in the nest and examining the cross in his hand. It had no glint, seeing as the nest was pitch black, but he could still see it just fine with his night vision.
He perked up when soft, even footsteps grew louder outside the door, his instincts responding before his mind could.
The even gait meant Scott, and Scott meant food and attention.
He smiled slightly as the door opened, mentally patting himself on the back for having learned to recognize the footsteps of his sire.
Scott smiled and paused at the edge of the nest, toeing his perfectly shined shoes off before crawling in to join Abolish. “Good morning, my dear,” He greeted, earning a coo from Abolish at the pet name.
“Morning, Scott.” Abolish replied, dark brown eyes locked firmly on the blood bottle in Scott’s hand. He was lucid enough not to jump for it or immediately latch onto Scott’s legs, but it was a very thin thread.
He was hungry.
Scott chuckled as he watched Abolish track the bottle, entire body tense like a coiled spring, all senses honed in on the blood inside. “You hungry, darling?” He teased, holding the bottle just out of reach.
Abolish gave a high whine in the back of his throat, attempting to cover it with speech. “Yeah.” He mumbled, shifting to kneel on the blankets, his hands folding in his lap.
Scott hummed, eyes tracking over Abolish's face for a moment before finally handing over the bottle.
Abolish took it gratefully, tossing back and chugging.
Scott chuckled. “Hungry little thing.” He murmured.
Despite the fact that he definitely knew that Abolish was lucid, it never stopped him from talking to him like a baby.
It was as demeaning as it was comforting.
Abolish finished off the bottle, wiping at his mouth to get the last of the blood away.
“You're a much less messy eater than Pyro was.” Scott observed, and Abolish tilted his head.
“What do you mean?” He asked, voice low as he shifted into a criss-cross position instead.
“Pyro was a disgustingly messy eater when he was first turned. Blood on everything. You're much cleaner than him.” Abolish's instincts preened at the compliment, especially as Scott scoffed quietly at the memory of Pyro's eating, even as he began to think through what could possibly be the reason why.
No clue.
Abolish opened his mouth, about to say as such, when a loud banging echoed from somewhere outside the nest. Both of their ears perked up at the noise.
The nest was in a tucked away corner of the manor by design, intended to muffle as much input as possible to avoid overwhelming the fledglings’ new senses.
The fact that any noise permeated the thick wooden door was a feat in itself.
“Odd.” Scott mumbled, staring at the wall in the direction of the noise. “I'll go check on that. You stay here.” He instructed Abolish, who nodded obediently even as he knew that he couldn't leave the nest without tripping and falling on his face anyway.
Bipedal mobility was one of the last things fledglings gained back, although Abolish had been practicing standing and taking a few shaky steps at a time when he had nothing else to do, refusing to let the muscle memory deteriorate completely.
He watched as Scott exited the nest after one final pat to the head, huffing both with the fledgling pain of being ‘abandoned’ and at the demeaning action.
This man was going to be the permanent death of him.
꧁⎝ 𓆩༺ ♱ ⛥ ♱ ༻𓆪 ⎠꧂
Cleo was this close to ripping someone's throat out.
Apo had been acting odd ever since she had come back from her ‘book hunting mission’ without Abolish by her side.
Her excuse that Abolish had stayed behind to do some mining wasn't working so well anymore now that he had been gone for a week and a half, and Cleo didn't believe for a second that Abolish had gotten lost.
The doctor seemed the most worked up about it, followed by Renhardt, although Cleo was skeptical that the cursed man wasn't just concerned because that was one of the few competent members of the town.
Cleo had their own suspicions, but they were mostly waiting for Abolish to return in another half week.
This would explain the disappearance, as fledglings usually spent about two weeks in the nest before being allowed out in the world again without supervision.
The most damning piece of evidence for them was the fact that Scott also hadn't been spotted in the past week.
Likely taking care of his new fledgling.
Cleo didn’t know much about the early stages of Fledging, but she knew enough from watching her mother to know that if Abolish was in a nest in the manor, it would be a very, very bad idea to attempt to get him back until he was ready to leave.
He likely wouldn’t even be able to walk properly, and god forbid someone enters the nest without Scott’s explicit permission.
This knowledge, however, didn’t seem to save her from being dragged into a town meeting, being headed by Legs and a very jittery Apo who seemed hesitant to say anything at all.
Regardless, the whole town decided that Abolish had definitely been caught by the vampires and began gathering materials to storm the castle.
Cleo grumbled under their breath about how this was a bad idea as they collected their stone weapons, leaving their silver ones purposefully in the chest. Pearl gave them an odd look, but it quickly melted into a small smile that Cleo reciprocated.
-
The town thundered over the bridge to the castle, Cleo hanging in the back near Apo. They watched Martyn and Co. pound on the locked doors, a sound loud enough that Cleo wasn’t sure which was going to burst first, the doors or their eardrums.
Cleo cast a suspicious glance at Apo, who was looking anywhere except at the castle and fidgeting with the hem of her dress.
Apo definitely had something to do with Abolish’s turning.
Now, if they could only figure out what…
They were knocked out of their thoughts by another loud pounding on the door, and Ren and Martyn yelling some very creative insults to whoever (probably Scott) was inside.
The door opened a minute later, just as Martyn was vocalizing breaking it down, and they were met with the silvery voice of Scott, slipping out of the castle and snaking its way through the crowd, clear even to Cleo in the very back, even though his volume never reached louder than conversational.
“Can I help you?"