#i'll be finishing off this Contralto-themed writing session with a softer canon piece that i'll hopefully post after easter

[smolghostbot]

Battle Against A Real Threat (Part 2/2)

Part 1 Here

A Non-canon AU where Contralto’s neighbor wasn’t Clay, but the worst possible person it could be. A vent piece/character study of sorts. The pacing is weird and this is my first time writing an actual "fight", so don't expect a masterpiece, but I hope other people enjoy it regardless.

Word Count: 2.9k Content warnings: Whump, tiny whump, kidnapping, injuries, threats, alcoholic whumper, snapping Contralto’s psyche like a glowstick. Major (deserved) eye injury in chapter 5.

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Chapter 4: Bathtime

It had been… at least a few weeks since Contralto was captured. She was starting to lose track. Her body was battered and beaten, but her spirit was… mostly intact. Luckily, she had a little knowledge of how to heal herself, but some of the injuries were more than she could handle.

“Good morning, little Connie. Do you want breakfast?”, cooed the human.

“... Yes… please,” snarled Contralto.

“Oh, I didn’t even have to ask you this time! I really think we’re getting closer, you and I. Well, here’s your food and water for the day.”

“... Thank you.” Contralto said, clearly not meaning it in the slightest, but she knew that the human wasn’t expecting politeness, they were looking for submission. So she’d play their little game, until she could find an escape.

“Oh, you remembered the magic words! Well, thank you for being so cooperative!” they said with a fake smile plastered on their face as they opened the cage door and dropped off a small pile of sunflower seeds and a cherry tomato. If nothing else, the human had respected Contralto’s diet, and on days where she behaved she was fed plenty of food.

“Oh, by the way, today will be a long day of work for me, so don’t go anywhere, will you?” said the human, a slight mocking tone in their voice. Contralto simply stared at them, not willing to entertain this game today.

“Well, see you later, Connie,” the human said before once again leaving the sprite alone in her little cage.

Contralto had tried to pick the lock, but it was too heavy and at an awkward angle to move from her position inside the cage. She had tried to pry the bars apart enough to sneak through them, but couldn’t quite get them to budge. Clearly, her captor has spared no expense with this cage.

Resigned, she sat down and began to eat the sunflower seeds.

-

It was a bad day, Contralto thought with a sigh as she heard the slamming happening outside of the human’s bedroom. She always hated these days, as they were when the human tended to be the most aggressive.

As the door opened, and the human came in, Contralto could already tell they had been drinking based on their exaggerated movements. She kept her head low and tried to be as inconspicuous as possible, but their blue eyes darted over to her cage after only a few seconds.

“Oh, Connie…” they cooed, with that voice that could almost be mistaken for genuine if she didn’t know better.

“... What?” bluntly replied Contralto, not wanting to anger the human.

“Oh, don’t seem so upset, Connie, I was thinking, it’s been a long and stressful day, and I think playing a little game may help. What do you think?”

There was a silence that followed the human’s request, and Contralto knew they were waiting for a response. “... Whatever,” was all she could reply, not wanting to agree or argue.

This was clearly not the right answer, at least according to the human, as they walked over to the cage with their brows furrowed. “That doesn’t sound very excited. You’ve been alone all day, surely you want to spend time with your favorite person?”

Contralto couldn’t keep herself from turning away from the human spitefully, with a simple “You’re not my favorite anything”.

She wasn’t even surprised anymore as the cage door flung open, and she was quickly grabbed by the human. At first, this had terrorized her, but she had made peace with the fact by now.

“You know… I think I want to get to know you better. Let’s tell each other some things about ourselves. How about we start with a simple one… what’s your name?” The human spoke, a glint of frustration in their eyes. Contralto instantly knew what they were getting at, and refused to play along.

“I know what you’re doing, human! You’ll never get the answer you want. My name is Contralto, Hero of the Sprites, Defender of the Helpless, The Hero Who Never Gives Up!”

The human could only chuckle, before stroking the sprite’s hair with their thumb. “Oh, you poor, poor little thing… I think you need to understand who’s the helpless one right now…”

“What are you going to do, break my arm again? Go for it, I don’t care anymore!” yelled the sprite, defiant as always.

“Hm… you know, you’re right. Our little games have grown a bit stale… I have an idea…” the human mused, as they began to walk out of the bedroom, into the kitchen. Contralto noticed just how unchanged the apartment was since the last time she had been out here. If anything, she almost felt like more mess had been added to the existing clutter. The human placed Contralto into a plastic container, as they began to dig through their cabinets.

“Here we go… this pot is more than big enough.” The human hummed to themself, as they began to fill a pot with water and put it over the stove.

“What… what are you doing?” uttered Contralto, as her mind raced with the possibilities of what they were doing. The human continued to ignore Contralto until the water had started to bubble, when they looked at her plainly and spoke a few chilling words.

“You’ve been here for a few weeks, and I think it’s time you had a bath.”

Contralto instantly began to panic, as the human grabbed her out of the container and held her over the pot, the steam causing her to sweat and starting to burn her skin.

“That is, unless you want to have a nice conversation?” the human spoke.

Contralto could only stare wide-eyed at the human, awaiting their next words, before they finally broke the tension. “So. What’s your name?”

This was it. This was the lowest point of her life. She knew there was only one way to get out of this… mostly unharmed.

“Contralto, Hero of the Sprites, Defender of the- AAAAH!” She screamed, as the human slightly loosened their grip on her as Contralto wrapped her arms desperately around one of their fingers. For the first time in her life, she needed this human to hold her, or else she was going to fall into a pot of boiling water.

“Sorry, I missed that. And you better speak quickly, my hands are a bit slippery in this humidity. Now, what was your name again?”

The heat from the steam alone was burning her body, and the human was slowly spreading their fingers… they wouldn’t drop her, right? Right?

“I- I won’t say it! My name is Contralto!” she cried, before shouting again in fear as the human loosened their grip even further, and Contralto could feel herself slipping further down.

“Is it? Interesting… I thought it was something else… you know, I’d like to think we’re both honest with each other, wouldn’t you?”

“I… I know you’re bluffing! You won’t get rid of me that easily!” Contralto shouted, before being lowered closer to the boiling water.

“You know… this is getting awfully hot… I may let go soon…” The human mused, as if they weren’t holding a life in their hands. They adjusted their grip ever so slightly, causing Contralto to slide ever closer to the bubbling pot below.

“I-it’s Contralto! My name is Contralto!”, the sprite tried to profess bravely, but her voice squeaking in fear revealed her true feelings.

The human, clearly starting to get agitated, switched up their grip so they were holding Contralto between their index finger and thumb, directly over the water. Contralto could feel the heat from the boiling water through her boots, and the steam was burning her eyes as she stared down in terror.

“Hm… this is getting frustrating. I’ll give you one. More. Chance. What’s your name?” spoke the human, annoyance in their voice.

“M-my name… My name is… You can call me… Connie!” Contralto screamed, as the human slowly lowered their hand. As she said the magic word, the human pulled their hand away from the boiling water, and stared at her with a wide, devious smile.

“Oh, that’s what you were saying, apologies! It’s lovely to finally get to know you, Connie!”

The sprite was flushed, her life still flashing before her eyes, so much that she didn’t even have a chance to respond. Her captor clearly noticed this, and spoke again after a moment.

“That is your name, right, Connie?”

Defeated, Contralto could only nod a “yes”, before hanging her head in shame.

“Well, you know Connie, I wasn’t lying about the bath. But because you seem so upset by the hot water, we’ll just have to use cold water instead.” The human said, filling a cup with ice water from the fridge. Contralto hardly had time to protest before she was dunked, clothes and all, into the freezing water.

Luckily, this “bath” only lasted a few seconds, though it was enough for the sprite to feel the whiplash in temperature. Once she was lifted out of the water, her captor looked at her and said, with that fake smile glued to their face, “Now, wasn’t that nice? I bet you appreciate me giving you a nice cold bath, right?”

“... Thank you…” was all Contralto could say, her fight for the day gone.

Chapter 5: Escape

It had been… two months? Three? Since Contralto has been captured. The tree outside the window had regrown its leaves, so it was at least early spring by now. In that time, the human had continued their little games, trying to break Contralto’s spirits. Her blades, which were previously kept in their nightstand, had been moved to the dresser, just barely out of reach. She had to greet the human each day with a please and thank you, and of course, when asked her name, she was forced to respond with that cursed nickname.

It was another night of their usual performance, with the human grabbing Contralto from her cage and tormenting her, but today was a little bit different. The human was particularly drunk tonight, and after an evening of threatening Contralto with the microwave, they had roughly thrown Contralto back into her cage before falling asleep… forgetting to lock the door. This was her chance, it was her only chance of escape! After making sure the human was sound asleep, evident by their snoring, Contralto slowly and carefully moved the door, sneaking out and grabbing her blades. She could make a run for it, get to the kitchen and never be seen again… but there was something she had to do first.

The sprite made her way down the dresser, using a pile of discarded clothes to cushion her fall. She made her way over to the human’s bed, where they lay on their stomach, face pointed to the side. Perfect.

Contralto climbed the blanket, which was half-off the bed, and made her way up to the bed. This was stupid, thought a part of her, which wanted to run. But Contralto was nothing if not determined to teach this human a lesson. She gently made her way over to their face, knowing that this may get her killed, but she had to try. She could feel their breath with every exhale, freezing each time out of instinct. Eventually, she made her way to her target, the human’s closed eyes. As she looked at their eyelid, she readied her blades. She was under no assumption that she would kill the human, she had grown past that delusion. But she could leave a mark. Channeling her power, and wishing a goodbye to her blades, drove her prized blades into the eye of the human.

The human tried to open their eye in shock, only to roll over and scream in pain as their eyelid tore. They slapped around the bed, trying to catch Contralto, but the sprite moved with a determined speed, jumping off the bed and hiding beneath it. The human swore and screamed as they looked around underneath the bed for their little captive.

“Connie! What the fuck! I’ll make you regret that!” Screamed the human, as Contralto hid.

“That’s… not my name!” shouted the sprite. The human tried to grab in the direction her voice came from, but she had already started moving again.

“You… ungrateful… PEST!” shouted the human, as they moved their hand to catch the blood pooling on their face.

Contralto knew she had to run, now. She made her way to the door, using the piles of discarded clothes around the room and her naturally better night vision to hide herself.

“Where are you?! Get over here, NOW!” screamed the human. “I’ll tear you apart when I catch you, you brat!”

Finally, Contralto made it to the door. She wasn’t sure if she could fit underneath it, and if the human opened it while she was underneath… she had to take the chance. As she slid under the door, feet first, she saw the human make eye contact, their blue eye staring at her.

“You-!” they shouted as they made their way to the door, but not before Contralto made it under the door successfully. She began to sprint, only knowing the exit in the kitchen. As she ran down the hallway, the door opened, and the human looked towards her. They instantly began chasing her. Contralto was ready to dodge their hand, but wasn’t expecting them to go right for a kick, which sent her flying across the room, knocking the wind out of her. As Contralto laid on the floor, trying to get up, the human walked even closer.

“Oh, you’re still alive? You really are a durable one. Well, you’ll wish you weren’t after this…” they said, as they finally tried to reach down and grab her. Contralto rolled away, running between their legs to try and make the intoxicated human lose their balance. It almost worked, but the human regained their composure soon after, resuming their chase. Contralto ran under the couch in the living room, a technique she learned from one of her parents to avoid humans. She was so close, about halfway to her destination. It was a small clearing, then the kitchen, then the hole behind the cabinet where she’d be free.

Just then, the couch started to lean, and Contralto couldn’t resist squeaking in fear as she saw the human lift up one side of the couch. With the human’s hands full, Contralto took the chance to run towards the kitchen. The couch behind her hit the ground with a loud thump, as the human shouted at her. “There’s nowhere for you to run to, you pest! Get back here!”

The kitchen, she had arrived in the kitchen! The cabinet was only a few feet away, to a human. Contralto dashed towards it, but was cut off by the human stomping down right in front of her. “I don’t know where you’re going, but you sure as hell aren’t getting there, you little pest!”

Contralto looked around, planning a way out, and decided the only way out was through. She ran forward and started scampering up the human’s sock, causing them to shake their foot to attempt to dislodge her, sending Contralto flying away again.

“Now I’ve got you!” The human cried as they reached for Contralto, but she had one final trick up her sleeve as the human’s hand wrapped around her, as she chomped down on the skin between their thumb and index finger with all the force she could muster.

As expected, the human’s hand flung open on reflex, giving her a chance to slip away and finally make her way to the cabinet, where, thankfully, the hole in the wall remained undisturbed. Contralto snuck through the door, before giving a final adrenaline-fueled shout, “Consider yourself defeated by Contralto, Hero of the Sprites, Defender of the Helpless, The Hero Who Never Gives Up!”

Chapter 6: Epilogue

It had been four days since Contralto had escaped. After her escape, she had collapsed from exhaustion, and pain once the adrenaline wore off. Luckily, she was found by a neighboring sprite, a lovely person named Harmony, who had helped her patch herself up. Together, they had sealed the entrance to the human’s apartment, with a scrawl of “DANGER” on the wall nearby to hopefully warn any future sprites that this apartment was decidedly unsafe.

Though she had lost her prized blades, Harmony happened to be a tailor, and gifted Contralto a sewing pin, which the hero gratefully accepted as her new weapon of choice.

“Are you sure you’re okay to leave, Contralto? Your arm is still, um…” said Harmony, concern in their voice. After all, Contralto was still in pretty bad shape… not even the healing power of two sprites could undo that much damage in only a few days.

“I’m fine. This has taught me something… My quest can’t wait even a second longer. Who knows what other sprites are suffering the same fate as we speak? I have to save them, Harmony!”

Harmony seemed reluctant, as they knew Contralto’s quest was a foolish one. However, they had learned in the few short days of knowing her that nothing would stop Contralto. “Okay… just, if things go south, you can always come back here, and I’ll do what I can to help, okay? You’re not alone, Contralto. Take care of yourself.”

Contralto nodded, as she turned and left, heading to a new apartment to resume her goal. She didn’t know how she was going to win, but she would never stop fighting.