dot.

13: It's All Gone a Bit Wrong

Nimue pov

  "Here. How does that feel?" Nimue gently tugged on Dot's ankle, pushing the foot upwards ever so slightly to test how far she could go without causing pain.

  The foot only tilted a few millimetres before Dot shook his head, an indication that she needed to stop. This system had been Felix's idea.

  "It's not looking good. The liquid we give him is good at healing cuts and more external wounds, but doesn't do as well on the inside of the body. If you look here," She twisted Dot's ankle very far to the left, more so than it would usually stretch- but he felt only a little pain. "Everything has healed up nicely and there's no internal bleeding, but it's all gone a bit wrong. It looks like everything's healed in the wrong place, so he can't move his foot properly."

  "Can you fix it? Like, rearrange the inside?" Felix bit his lip, staring at the leg intensely.

  She sighed. "I'm not sure. With extensive surgery and physical therapy, maybe; but it's likely he'll never fully recover. He never walked much anyway and his uropatagium has healed fine- plus, there's no damage to his upper leg so he should be able to fly still, in theory. Going through all the surgical procedures to fix the limb just wouldn't be very practical, cost-wise."

  "Cost-wise? Is that seriously what you're thinking about right now?" Felix shook his head. "Bloody unbelievable. You actually couldn't give less of a crap about him, couldn't you?"

  Nimue stared up at the man, angered by the fact that he still had the guts to defy her even after she had told him off earlier. There must be a better way to teach him how to behave, right? She stared down at Dot's leg and pinched it weakly. Was there a better way to teach Felix a lesson?

  "Were you listening to what I said earlier? He never walked much anyway. He won't care." She made eye contact with Dot and held a glare there for a few seconds. "You don't care, do you?"

  Without hesitation, Dot offered her a quick headshake and raised the end of his wing up to cover Felix's mouth when he tried to speak again. Nimue picked Dot up and smiled at him, only for the boy to shudder and turn his head away from her. "See? I know what's mine better than you do."

  She took off down the corridor again, Felix awkwardly jogging to keep up with her speedwalking. Dot stared down at his chest and refused to look at Felix, and following the hybrid's shame-doused gaze was what first made her notice it.

  Nimue lightly set him down, letting Felix hold him upright while she inspected a strange lump on his chest. "What's this?" She asked, drawing out a delicate glass butterfly from under Dot's shirt.

  "Oh, I er- I gave it to him. He likes it."

  "What is it?"

  "Just a necklace. My grandma gave it to me." For once, Felix didn't bother to elaborate.

  "Hm." Nimue tugged on a strand of her hair, twisting it around her finger so tight it turned the tip purple. She didn't like it. It was something from the outside, something to tie Dot to a person she had no control over, something to separate him from her. She began to take it off of his neck, only for Felix to push her hands back down, wobbling slightly as he tried to support Dot with just one arm.

  "Why don't you ask if he likes it or not, before you take it away?"

  "Why could I care if he-"

  "You seemed to think his opinion mattered earlier. Unless you want to admit to me that he only agreed he didn't care about his leg because of... other reasons?" Felix held his ground, sticking up for a part-human he had only known for a few days. He was an incredibly annoying man- but at least the experiment was going well.

  She narrowed her eyes and forced a fake smile. "Well then. Dot, do you like the necklace?"

  Her fingers were curled tighly around the fragile charm, tightening with every moment as if her subconscious was trying to break it before Dot had the chance to answer.

  It took a good few minutes of the trio standing in a tense silence before anything happened. Dot seemed too petrified to give an answer, his entire body shaking as he stared at Nimue's smile. By now, she had figured out what he wanted. Of course he liked the necklace. If he didn't, he would have said so immediately and easily gone along with her wish to get rid of it. The very fact that he was refusing to respond gave her the truth of what he thought- and it was not a truth she was pleased with.

  Before Felix, he would have said he hated it either way to avoid confrontation. What had changed? Did the man really comfort him that much?

  She let out an irritated hiss before slamming the charm back down against Dot's chest and storming off, yelling over her shoulder that the pair could find their own way back.

  Of course she didn't mean it- the second she was out of sight she gave Tiro a call, instructing him to lead them back to Dot's room. The exit of the facility was locked, obviously- but she would rather they never found out where it was.

  She unlocked a small, disguised side door and slipped inside, smoothly locking it behind her and slumping down on the cushioned swivel chair within.

   Facing her was a large, bright computer: one that stored all her future plans and ideas, should she ever get the chance to execute them.

  Frantically clicking through her 'Project M' folder, she reached a document titled 'Other/s'. She scrolled through the pages, scanning for the part she was looking for.

  Ah, there- 'Felix George Chesly.' Listed under the neat, underlined heading sat all of his personal details: medical records, family, birth certificate information- you name it, Nimue was looking at it. She highlighted the entire chunk before cutting it out and copying it into a second document, titling it 'FAIL. PLAN B'.

  She had hoped to keep him for longer, but he was changing her hybrid and she didn't like it. He really was a very, very annoying human.