Chapter Text
In a world filled with magic, it’s biggest threat was greed. Unicorns were hunted for their horns. Dragons for their scales and claws. Centaurs for their manes. Pixies for their wings. Fae for their blood.
After centuries of living separate lives, humans became the predators. What they lacked in magic they made up for in weaponry and alchemy. Becoming the biggest threat meant crippling everyone else.
Forests that were once sacred were torched, griffins were hunted to near extinction and most water inclined creatures had escaped to the ocean. In only fifteen years, the magical species had decreased almost fifty percent.
Those that were left spoke of creating a sanctuary for those that remained. A place so magically reinforced that no malicious human could find their way in. It took a great deal of power to be done and there simply wasn’t enough energy left in one place between them to create such a nirvana. Not without very specific magics involved.
Cloud clawed at the ground, using his fingers to dig up a small sapling only a few inches tall. He was being choked out by flames, his eyes watering from the sting of smoke and not tears. He was not crying. He filled the pocket running down his calf with dirt and nuzzled the sapling safely inside. He had to keep it safe, he just had to.
He could hear the stomping in the distance. Humans didn’t know how to properly move throughout trees so they had to fucking burn them down. Humans didn’t know to praise the earth, the trees, the waters, the winds. They’d succumbed to greed and hate and wanted all the things they were born without.
“Squall!” He called, voice still broken from his earlier screaming. He’d been looking for his partner for hours and couldn’t find him anywhere. They’d been separated shortly after the flaming arrows pierced the tree canopy and the destruction had started. They’d been hiding for years and had hoped they wouldn’t be found. They’d fled to the place they were born, hiding in the familiar lands that had welcomed them with open arms. It now being destroyed around them was its own devastation. They could never get this land back.
“Squall…” Cloud’s voice shook. “Squall please…”
Cloud jumped up to his feet and ran through the smoke when he heard the stomping grow louder. Humans and their dogs were approaching, looking for whatever poor creature they could sell for parts.
He kept his mouth shut, flitting through the ash and trees and knew he wasn’t alone. He could hear the others. Imps. Brownies. Satyrs. He could hear nymphs screaming and swallowed down the bile in his throat. These were his friends and most would be slaughtered rather than kept alive. All for a humans craving over things they could not have naturally.
He would keep running and meet Squall by the river bend that spent most of the day drenched in sunshine. That had always been the meeting place when separated. They would reunite like always and kiss in the sunlight.
He just had to keep running, running for his life.
He went down with a screech when a dog jumped on his back, grabbing him by the back of his neck. He felt it’s teeth pierce his skin and he frantically tried to get away but the dog shook him like a rag doll. The blood pooled down around his throat and dread swirled in his gut. He was going to die...
A high pitched whine sounded just before the dog was torn off him. A medium sized imp sat on the dogs back, holding it by its ears while it bucked like a horse.
“Zazu!” Cloud stared back, wide eyed at the imp.
“Go Cloud! It’s the fae blood these wretches want! Go!”
“But you-!”
“Go!”
Cloud clenched his teeth, pissed he could do nothing but run. He took off again, trying to put as much distance between him and the humans as he could. The cold wet sound Zazu made when a second and third dog started snarling had tears pouring down Cloud’s face. Why did this happen?
The smoke was disorienting but Cloud knew this land. He knew the hiding spots. The only problem with that were the hundreds of other creatures also trying to escape. The sounds of gunshots had Cloud panicking.
Where the fuck was Squall…
The incline under his feet told him he’d made it to the base of the mountain and he’d climb if he had to. He’d climb to the peak. Could humans survive up there? Could he?
“Cloud! Hurry”
He looked up at saw the flutter of a harpy. “Daisy!”
“We’re going inside the mountain!” She called. “But we must get there before the dwarves seal the doors!”
Living in darkness made him shudder, but not as much as dying did.
“Have you seen Squall!?”
“I’m sorry! No!” It was better than having seen his body laying with the rest.
“Go, i’m coming!” Cloud called, trekking his way up the mountain side. He didn’t blame her for flying on ahead. He was already feeling far too weak to follow along behind her. The taste of ash sat on his tongue and he would have done anything to wash it off. His home was burning to the ground, his soulmate was lost and by the next morning who even knew what the death toll would be. This was the last known home of the creatures born of magic - the non humans. Tomorrow they would have nothing.
The spirits that had enriched the land since the world had formed would die, buried in the ash and it was doubtful it would ever rise again with a new forest.
Cloud paused once, ignoring the cuts to his feet and checking to make sure the sapling was still safe in his pocket. That was his priority now.
Escape and sapling.
Humans destroyed everything and didn’t seem to understand how important nature really was. If they wanted power so badly they shouldn’t have left ruins in their wake. No non-human would tell them that, even if it weakened them. They’d rather have nothing than give the humans more power.
Cloud felt his limbs begin to shake with exhaustion. A fae’s power came from the land, their home in particular. When that was destroyed much of their strength went with it. When his legs gave out, he still tried to make his way up the mountain on his hands and knees.
He kept low, using whatever he could to hide behind but the voices still chasing him only got louder. Those fucking dogs were back too. He was still much too far away from the dwarves caves.
“Got another one!”
“Shit!” Cloud hissed, feeling his vision blur only seconds before a dog was on top of him, grabbing him by the ankle and dragging him down the slope. It growled and bit harder as he struggled and he couldn’t help but feel a crack of the bone. “Ah!”
“Pointy eared little fuck. Looks like we got ourselves a fairy.”
“Get that dog off of him! We need the blood in his body!” Another voice cracked like a whip. “For now anyway.”
It happened far too fast. Three men jumped on top of him while the dogs circled and growled. He’d struggled, only a fool wouldn’t struggle against being taken to their execution.
“Get off me! You fucking humans!”
“Silence him.” One of them commented. It was so flippant. Cloud’s life really meant nothing to them.
He continued trying to escape until the butt of a gun was brought down across his temple and everything went black.
~
Cloud woke up in pain. His head hurt, is throat hurt, his wrists were absolutely killing him. He cracked an eye open and found himself dumped into a pile of supernatural beings that were either dead or nearly there. All of them were clapped in irons, and that explained the pain to his wrists. Iron burned.
“Keep your eyes shut, Cloud.” Hercules whispered, a centaur who was known for his strength. His legs were hogtied to keep him from moving and the blood down his abdomen showed he’d been shot at least once. “Do not draw attention to yourself.”
Cloud laid there in a daze, blinking blearily despite what he’d been told. There were so many human soldiers. There had to be over a hundred of them with their dogs and guns. All manners of creatures were kept in cages or just heavily tied down by iron chains.
“Squall?” he slurred.
“I don’t see him.” Hercules muttered. “Perhaps he made it to the peak.”
Cloud’s stomach rolled. Yes. Yes. Squall had to have made it to the peak. His heart must be safe inside the dwarves caves because the alternatives were unacceptable.
He rolled onto his side, pain shooting through his body as he curled up to see if the sapling was still safe in his pocket. It was… it was still there.
“Cloud.” Hercules hissed. “Stop moving.”
“Well, well, well. Look what we got here boys. That fairy’s awake.” A woman in black sauntered towards them. “Think of the price a pretty fairy will drag in.”
A man just behind her rolled his eyes while a second one laughed and laughed. “Ain’t no one cares what he looks like Shenzi. Just how many bottles of blood can we get out of him.”
“Dunno.” Shenzi chuckled as she bent down to pat at Cloud’s face. It wasn’t until he felt the pain that he realized his face was bruised. It was probably fortunate that he didn’t remember that happening. “Fuck the blood, we could probably get all kinds of money if we left him alive. Think of what that mouth could do.”
Cloud’s lips curled in disgust. “I bite, bitch.”
She grabbed him by his throat. “What if you’re jaw was broken? What then?” Squeezing his windpipe seemed to give her a little too much glee.
Shenzi jerked back when Hercules lunged at her. He might have been tied down and wounded but he was still large and could tower over her while she was busy trying to intimidate Cloud.
Cloud coughed, sucking air in as fast as he could. He was already weakened and light headed, the choking didn’t help.
“You bastard.” Shenzi seethed, pulling her gun to point at the centaur.
“Shenzi!” Banzai snapped. “Don’t fuck with the merchandise!”
“It’s just a fucking centaur.” she glared back, tapping her gun against her leg. “Shooting him won’t affect the price on his mane.”
“Don’t matter.” Banzai said, giving her a look. “Captain said leave ‘em.”
The second man just continued laughing. If he’d found anything wrong with what was going on around him, he sure didn’t show it.
Hercules dragged Cloud closer to him but it didn’t exactly boost his safety. His neck and foot were still covered in dried blood and it was fortunate it had stopped at all. There was a little of everything around them. Pixies. A golem. A young dragon. It was disheartening to see so many of his own kind in chains. The humans paraded around as if it were their right to act so superior. As if it were some great accomplishment to capture and brutalize other species because they had something humans wanted.
“Don’t.” Hercules warned.
“Mm?”
“I can see it all over your face. You’re about to do or say something stupid. Don’t.”
“Why not?” Cloud asked, voice feeling like sandpaper. “They want my blood bad and have no idea why fae blood isn’t like how it was years ago when this first started.” That got him an awful lot of attention. “They have no idea. They wave around a trinket and suddenly think they’re incredible magic wielders. They don’t know a damn thing. It would almost be funny if it weren’t so damn sad. Stupid humans. All this work. All this destruction. For nothing more than a spark of magic they’ll never even see since it will be sold off to the highest bidder.”
Hercules sighed, knowing full well Squall was the only one that could talk him off a ledge like this. Cloud knew what would happen to him from here and he was going to go down kicking and screaming and picking as many fights as he could.
“Something to share?” The humans parted for this dark haired human. He had a graceful gate and mean eyes as he strolled towards Cloud as if he were harmless.
“Captain Scar,” Banzai cleared his throat. “Probably just a suicidal fairy.”
Cloud snorted. “Stupid humans. You hunt us down and the profits are getting lower, aren’t they? We’re just not selling like we used to.”
“And you would know something about that, would you?” Scar circled around him slowly, eyeing him up and down.
“Seems you don’t have a clue.” Cloud shut his eyes to fight off the nausea. It was all gone. His home was gone.
He was jerked up right by his hair and lifted off his feet in a show of strength. “I wonder.” Scar smirked. “If you will be more useful to me alive.”
“Get your filthy fucking human hands off me.” Cloud managed a glare, at least he hoped it was.
“Congratulations boy. Until i know every secret in that fae head of yours, you are the property of this army.” Scar chuckled. “Welcome to your new home.” He punched Cloud in the stomach with his free hand, the short metal spikes he wore on his knuckles piercing his skin.
Cloud screamed, crumbling back to the ground.
“Dr. Facilier,” Scar gestured to the man wearing an alchemists uniform as he stalked away from Cloud. “Check his manacles. Make sure he isn’t going anywhere.”
Cloud could feel it, the terror stricken gazes of his kind able to do nothing but watch.