Part of Aarav had always known that he would likely be among the weakest beings, like a miniature Slime. I mean, he wasn’t even born with teeth, let alone any other handy weapons, and he had needed to acquire all of them. He had formed from Slime to his teeth and claws and paws from the club. Everything he had gained after besting something or lucking out.

Wings, fins, legs, everything he had gained after being born and fought for them. He wasn’t sure if eating insects qualified as fighting, even if he had almost been eaten alive that one time. Aarav just sat there in the lab with the two humans looking worriedly at him in his silence.

“Resh? Everything alright?” Marasa was the first to speak, Haemish still trying to work out what he had said to make the Slime so reflective.

“Huh? Yeah, I’m fine.” Aarav said, a little flustered. “All the food is probably getting to me now. Haha.” It was the best Aarav could come up with, but it was a pretty bad lie. Thankfully neither pried further. They seemed surprisingly happy to let him keep his thoughts to himself for supposed captors. They seemed content to let him work things out for himself and allow him his privacy when needed. Was this what it felt like to have parents?

Aarav shook off the thought and resumed his grin, “Just went somewhere just now, food coma hallucinations, you know?”

“Of course,” Haemish said kindly. Aarav could feel the outpouring of emotions at the kindness these people were showing him at this moment. Argh, what is wrong with me, they capture me and say a few nice words, and now I am all over the place with my emotions! But a deep part of Aarav couldn’t help it. Of all the people he had met in his previous life, he had never been shown any kindness, save for one person. Ami...

Cruelty or kindness followed by betrayal had been his whole life. He had been so weak in his past life that he failed to protect those few things he loved. His contemplation took him back.

Fourteen Years Ago

A year had passed while Ami and Aarav had been in the care of Ms Carva. It was hard to call it in her care because she was hardly there while they were well fed, clean and dressed. For the past year, Aarav had been living his best life, as far as the necessities were concerned.

But Aarav couldn’t be happy because it was just another type of prison. Both children had their education, clothes, and food to eat. But they couldn’t leave. The front doors remained guarded, no one got in, and no one went out, except for Ms Carva, of course, and that sweaty manservant Bachu. She followed the woman around like a particularly obedient dog. Aarav wondered if they were ever apart and if the man ever stopped sweating.

On the other hand, Ami had lost the glass-eyed look while in Shoony’s care and seemed to have moved on. While awake, at least. But in the quiet dark of the night, Aarav could hear her sniffles and sobs in her sleep. Thankfully they had not been separated when they moved here, and he could keep an eye on Ami while she slept. He would crawl into bed with her on particularly horrible nights and hold her tight to him until her talking and sobbing subsided. Even in her sleep, she held onto him like he was the last piece of driftwood from the Titanic.

Each time it happened, and that was most nights, he reconfirmed his resolve to get them to safety. A place to live out their lives quietly and safely, away from cruel people and their evil deeds.

He learned more about Ami in a week in this new place than he had in their quiet talks in the cellar of Shoony’s mansion. He loved this side of his friend, and finally, she was shedding the fear and darkness that had hovered over them in the basement.

************************************************

A few days before Ami’s ninth birthday, things started to change a few weeks before Aarav’s own. It was subtle at first. Ms Carva would come home and spend time with Ami instead of simply going to her study, the same room off-limits to the children. Sometimes Ami would accompany her there while she left Aarav to his own devices.

Over the next few months, this pattern became more pronounced, with Ami and Aarav forced to spend more and more time apart as Ms Carva spent more time at home. Ami's lessons changed from his, and they had to study separately, and Aarav was often left alone.

It went on for a year when the unthinkable happened.

“What do you mean we have to sleep in separate rooms?” Aarav asked, defiance in his voice. Why was she further isolating him from Ami? He couldn’t understand it. Though it was less than before, Ami still had her night terrors consistently. “Ami, tell her.”

Ami glanced down and away from Aarav before agreeing with Ms Carva. Aarav was horrified. When would he see Ami?

“It is alright, not right away, but it is not proper for boys and girls to sleep in the same room together beyond a certain age. You need to gain your independence, don’t you?” Ms Carva smiled, and Ami and then Aarav. A hand reached out for Ami, and the girl latched on to it.

What was Ms Carva discussing with her? He hadn’t been able to ferret out that information, despite many talks with Ami and detailed discussion of his daily activities.

“I started training with Iqbal, you know? He is teaching me to use Krav Maga and Guns to defend us in the future. You know?” Ami simply nodded along with his words but remained quiet. Unmoving and unspeaking. “How was your day? What did you get up to with Ms Carva?” Aarav tried to draw her out again.

It had become a pattern more and more. The cheerful Ami had again started to regress into the shell she had made for herself at Shoony’s place. What could Ms Carva teach her that she can’t talk to me?

Aarav’s now almost ten-year-old brain could not comprehend what it could mean. What new torture was the woman giving his Ami? I still remember those eyes. Ms Carva had not looked at him that way again after her initial purchase, but the look haunted his dreams when he was not comforting Ami.

What did this new development mean? What did the woman have planned for her, and what about Bachu? He had not seen Bachu in the house for a few weeks, and he was constantly rolling around in the place in one way or another.

He went to stroke the petite girl’s hair, and deep in thought, she flinched back before she realised it was Aarav next to her. “Are you okay, Ami? Ami...” But he had lost her again. He aided her into bed and tucked her in, the glassy-eyed stare seemed to be making a comeback, and that could only mean bad things.

As Aarav lay in bed that night, he thought about the new development in his own life and progress here. The training they were taking him through was combat and weapons training. Maybe this was the best way he could protect Ami. He would learn to wield them and make sure nothing hurt her. A feeling of resolve filled him. Then he held whimpering and sobbing from the bed next to his. It was their last night in the same room together before she would move into another room, and he could give her this last night of comfort. Who knew when she would be able to sleep again soundly without Aarav near. Why didn’t she speak up for herself when Ms Carva talked about separate rooms?

He could not accept these changes, and he would throw himself into this new avenue for improvement and productive work to make up for it. He had to do something that would potentially help him and Ami survive in the next few years.

**********************************************

Aarav came back to the room, only a few seconds had passed, but it felt like a lifetime. Tears flowed freely from his eyes now, but all the power in the universe could not have stopped them, let alone a weak Slime, if he had known what they were doing to Ami then. There was nothing I could have done. The feeling of utter powerlessness washed over him, and a new dam broke in him. He was so weak. Why was he so pathetic? Always the lowest of the bunch. Something burned bitter and hot inside him, regret and shame and injustice of the world. He had tried so hard, so damn hard. The feeling burned hotter and still more desirable. He was shaking, and the hopelessness had turned to white-hot rage. But the tears continued to fall from his eyes silently. Nothing I can do about it now, I am literally in another world, and Ami...well, she is gone too, isn’t she? Thanks to me.