Obedience

He ran.

He ran as fast as his little legs could carry him in the thick snow, praying to any god that would listen that no one would see him and that his father wouldn't be home yet, he know the latter was wishful thinking...

After struggling in the snow and the cold, he eventually got home. By some miracle, he didn't run into or see anyone on his run home.

Quietly running inside and shutting the door behind him, he leans against it for a moment, taking greedy gulps of air. Looking anywhere but his bloodied hands and clothes trying everything in his power to stop himself from shaking as he tried to catch his breath and gain a bit of warmth.

"KEIGO"

he flinches at his father's booming voice, panic quickly setting in as he glances down as himself and tries in vain to clean his hands on his already bloodied hoodie.

"WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN! I WA---" he stops mid sentence as he slams the sitting room door wide open, making it hit the wall in the process.

Keigo tenses as his father gets a good look at him before speaking in a dangerously calm voice.

"Is that your blood, Keigo?" Keigo rapidly shakes his head as his father starts walking over to him. He looks anywhere but at his father.

Keigo decides that looking to the ground is the safest option as he tries to make himself as small as possible. He tenses as his father's feet enter his vision.

"What the hell did you do, Keigo!" He says aggressively as he tries in vain to control his anger.

Just as Keigo opens his mouth to speak he's roughly grabbed by his bloodied wrist being pulled away from the door and into the sitting room, the smell of alcohol temporarily blocking the smell of iron that clings to his skin.

"What the hell did you do" He demands as he squeezes his wrist tighter before he throws him onto the floor.

Keigo opens his mouth to speak, but no words come out only a strangled cry as he catches himself on the rough wooden flood, he tries to arrange his thoughts and ignore the fact that he is leaving bloodied prints all over the wood floor.

His lack of words seems to do nothing but anger his father more. "Keigo! What did you do" He asks through gritted teeth as he attempts to control his anger, he sighs slightly before bringing his hand to the bridge of his nose "I swear Keigo, if you bring any unwanted troube around here!-" keigo gets snapped out of his thoughts at this and panic quickly takes hold once again he shakes his head rapidly as he looks to the ground trying in vain not to look at the blood.

"I-I won't! I swear!" He finally says as his hands tremble beneath him.

Silence.

After a few tense moments he dares to look up into his father's blue eyes only to see his father is now crouched infront of him, just as he opens his mouth to speak he receive a punch to the face, his vision temporarily blurs as he falls lying on the ground for a short moment before he's being dragged back to standing by his father pulling him by his wrist.

"how dare you speak to me like that! After everything I've done!" He snarls down to his son, showing of his fangs as the smell of alcohol hits him again.

His father starts dragging him as keigo attempts to keep his feet underneath him, disorientated it takes him a moment to realise where he's going before clocking eyes with the dark wooden door leading to the basement.

Keigo's panic immediately increased his fight or flight taking over as he attempts to plant his feel into the groung to stop the inevitable.

"w-wait! Please!?" As he stumbles over his own feet in a failed attempt to stop his father from dragging him any closer to that cursed door, old memories try to make their way to the forefront of his mind.

His father roughly throws him down the basement stairs and into the darkness, he hisses slightly to himself as he roughly hits a few of the stares on the way down, his wings flapping in a failed attempt to stop himself from falling, he soon hits the bottom with a thud.

Tears threaten to fall as he attempts to pick himself up with shaky legs only to receive a kick in the side for his effort.

He doesn't try to get up again deciding it's safer to stay down and use his wings to try and protect him.

"I-Im sorry..." He quietly pleads with his father, not daring to look at him as he closes his eyes again hoping for any hint of mercy, as he tries to ignore the smell of iron and new bruises that are quickly forming along his body.

He tenses as light attempts to make its way to his closed eyes as his father turns on the dull basement light, he hears his father move around him and start moving stuff that sounded like metal behind him.

"Get up" his father hisses in his direction as Keigo hears more metal he reluctantly starts to stand, taking a quick glance around the dully lit concrete room showing a toilet and sink 'when did he put them in?' He tries to remember if they had always been there before but he can't seem to remember, he looks to the right and sees a piece of thin looking foam that seems to be a make shift bed? the blood on the foam and on the floor didn't go unnoticed by him, he starts to feel uncomfortable as he looks over to his father who was standing next to the small metal table at the side that seemed to have various tools messily placed on it.

"Over there, now" his father jesters towards a chain between the sink and the foam. "How did i not see that?' He questions himself as he sees the chain is securely attached to the wall, his father waits surprisingly patiently as Keigo makes his was over.

his father goes over to the table on the opposite side of the room and picks up what looks like a dog coller? before walking over to him and securing it to the end of the chain, keigo's confusion is replaced with panic as his father throws the surprisingly heavy collar at him making him stumble slightly, he releases a shaky breath as his father goes over to the table and pick up a small metal looking box? before looking over to him.

"put that on" he says in a cold voice as he gestures to the collar before turning back to the table, with shaky hands Keigo looks at the collar then looking to the chain an uneasy feeling settles over him making his wings fidget slightly behind him before he looks back up to his father.

he closes his eyes for a moment before taking a breath and looking at his father again using whatever defiance he has left in him, he speaks with a shaky voice.

"No... i-i don't want to..."

His father immediately stops what he'd doing at the table, anger radiating off of him as he turns his head to look down upon his son "keigo" he starts coldly. "Are you disobeying me" He says with a venomous tone.

Keigo subconsciously takes a few steps back at his father's cold words as his panic increases he briefly looks to the left behind his father as a unwanted memberhits him.

----

He sighs slightly as he rubs the new bruise forming on his cheek from his father earlier that morning, he starts making his way to the kitchen when he hears yelling coming from the basement, he pauses in his tracks as he looks towards the basement door.

He reluctantly looks away and decides to try and ignore it as he knows the basement is off-limits...

He instead tries to find his mum he goes over to the sitting room to look for her only to find an empty room. He looks in the bedroom and kitchen with no luck.

He starts to panic slightly as the sounds of stuff falling and screaming start to get more desperate.

"Mum?" He has a quick look in the bathroom to again find no one, making his way back into the sitting room he looks over to the basement again.

With a shaky breath, he makes his way over

before stopping at the door.

With sweaty palms, he stretches up standing on his tiptoes he turns the door handle, the yelling intensifys as he does so, reluctantly he quietly starts to make his way down the steps

As he gets down the stairs, he soon stops as he sees his mother bloodied and holding her left side, blood oozing from a wound there, his father holding a bloody knife in her direction.

"Mum!" He yells as he stares in horror she turns to look over to him as she hears his paniced voice.

All to fast for Keigo to follow, his father takes advantage of the distraction and with quick and practised movement he pins her to the floor making sure she cant move her arms and legs before quickly brings the blade to her neck.

"d-dad...?" an apology was right on the tip of his tongue as he watches his father press the blade harsher onto her neck, drawing a bit of blood Keigo starts to panic he takes a small step forward.

"D-Dad! I-I im sorry i snuck out before! I should have listened! I-I shouldn't have talked to the hero I--" paniced words quickly leave his mouth, his voice seeming to give out halfway as his mother looks to him with sad pleading eyes.

His father doesn't look to him, but Keigo can see the slight smile on his face.

"That's right, Keigo," he says in a dangerously low voice.

"You should never disobey me again, my word is final, and you will do what i say..." he says in a calm voice he watches the tears stream down his mother's face.

His mother's pleading eyes change to pity as she attempts to speak "k-keigo i--"

However, Keigo never got to find out what she said as his father cuts her off and slowly drags the knife across her neck.

Keigo watches horrified as her strangled speech gets cut off and the crimson liquid slowly starts to leaves her neck he hears her start to choke on her own blood as she attempts to say something that Keigo cant understand.

Keigo starts to hyperventilate as he watches his father get off he rushes to her side, tears blurring his vision, he puts shaky hands to her neck to try and stop the bleeding

"i- mum," he chokes out as a strangled sob leaves him as he watches her golden eyes so similar to his own fill with unshed tears "i- a- I'm- l'm so sorry... mum!"

His breath comes in ragged gasps, as he cries out he's roughly pulled away from her, his father pulling him by the hair Keigo let's out a yell of anger and pain as he tried to get free from his grasp.

He can hear his father laugh slightly at his attempts before he kneels behind him, still holding him by his hair he used his other arm and legs to almost hug him, but to keigo it feels like he's suffocating as he along with his father watch his mother weakly move her arm towards them.

Keigo's tears start falling faster as he struggles harder against his father's hold, trying to get to his mother, to help her! He screamed, kicked, and yelled, savagely dug his claws into his arms as he tried to free himself to no avail.

Keigo watches as his mother's arm falls limp and the colour drains from her eyes, keigo stops struggling almost immediately, tears still streaming down his face he doesn't make a sound as his last sparks of fight leave him.

Keigo isn't sure how long he sat there staring at his mother in his father's constrictive hold, but his tears had long stopped when his father speaks up in a gentle but firm voice.

"Don't disobey me again, Keigo" he says in a sickeningly calm voice.

Keigo does nothing but simply nods before he turns towards him, and for the first time in his short life, he hugs his father, looking for any sort of comfort he can get.

The smell of iron filling the room as a few stray tears fall as he clings onto his father like a lifeline.

---

"Are you disobeying me?"

His words ring in Keigos head as he quickly shakes his head before looking back to the collar and hesitantly putting it on, trying in vain to calm himself down as the heavy metal clicks into place he feels like crying, but doesnt dare let his tears fall.

"Good boy," his father coos smugly making a shiver run down keigo's spine.

"Now, are you going to tell me what happened?" He says kneeling in front of him and holding up the metal box allowing Keigo to see it properly and once he does his heart drops as he realized its a remote, Keigo subconscious brings his hands to the collar around his neck before locking eyes with his father.

he waves the remote in front of his face almost teasingly

"I'd prefer if i didn't have to use this, but i will," He says with a smug smile.

Just as keigo is about to respond to his father's question with no warning.

He presses the button.