The Animal Dealer’s smirk twisted into something sharper…something almost feral. Her fingers pressed just a little harder against his chest now, not enough to hurt, but enough that he could feel every single pulse of his own heartbeat beneath her touch.

  Then she leaned in even closer, so close her breath ghosted over his ear as she whispered:

  "...But if you need me to say it? Fine." A pause for dramatic effect before delivering the final blow:

  "You're not human anymore... and you haven't been for quite some time."

  Silence followed like an executioner's axe falling from its peak.

  Fjord's breathing had grown ragged, his heart beating almost frenzied now, but he still forced his voice to stay steady as he forced himself to reply: "... Prove it."

  The Animal Dealer's smirk deepened. She could feel his tension and terror radiating off him like a physical presence, and she was feeding off it like a starving beast.

  "Oh, I will," she promised, her tone almost purring. "Ready for a little... show-and-tell?"

  Fjord was still trying desperately to hang on to a sliver of his dignity now. He was fighting the urge to just run, but he knew it was too late. She'd already figured it out.

  ...All he could do now was just nod in silent agreement.

  The Animal Dealer chuckled again, clearly delighted with his response.

  "Good," she said quietly. "Close your eyes."

  Fjord did without thinking, almost automatically, the words triggering a conditioned response. Once his eyes were closed, he felt a strange and sudden calm come over him. Almost like...he knew exactly what would happen next without even thinking about it.

  The Animal Dealer noticed the change immediately, he wasn't shaking anymore, his breathing had evened out. He was completely at her mercy.

  "There's a good boy," she cooed softly, her fingers now stroking gently across his chest. "You make this so easy for me."

  Fjord’s entire body locked up, his breath catching in his throat as the weight of what he’d just said settled over him like a suffocating blanket.

  The Animal Dealer let out a slow, delighted hum, like she'd been waiting for this moment forever. Her hand slid from his chest to rest against the back of his neck now, fingers tangling lightly in his hair.

  "Ohhh?" she purred, voice dripping with dark amusement. "Do tell."

  Sylvie was practically vibrating with excitement nearby while Nyx watched silently, her expression unreadable but her grip on her dagger tightening ever so slightly...

  And Fjord? He was too far gone to care about any of them anymore.

  His voice came out low and rough when he finally answered:

  "...What if I told you that my soul isn’t even mine to begin with?"

  The room went dead silent.

  Even the Animal Dealer’s smirk faltered, just for a fraction of a second, before she recovered, her fingers tightening slightly in his hair.

  "...Interesting," she said slowly, her voice dropping to something almost dangerous now. "Do you mean that literally?"

  Nyx finally moved then, not toward Fjord, but toward the Animal Dealer herself. Her dagger was still in hand as she stepped forward with cold precision:

  "Back off."

  But Fjord wasn’t paying attention anymore.

  His breathing had turned shallow and uneven again as memories began flashing through his mind uncontrollably:

  A young boy standing over an open grave.

  A shadowy figure reaching out from behind him.

  Whispers promising power beyond comprehension... if only he'd let go of who he truly was.

  And then, the worst one yet: A vision of himself looking into some dark mirror… while another version stared back with eyes that weren't human at all...

  He barely managed to choke out two words before everything else shattered around him:

  "It's not mine."

  The Animal Dealer's grasp on his hair tightened almost painfully as she leaned even closer: "Now that's an interesting thing to say."

  Nyx took another step forward, her voice hard now.

  "Let. Him. Go."

  But the Animal Dealer ignored her, just kept her gaze locked on Fjord, watching like a hawk as he continued to slip further into the memories. Her smirk had twisted into something closer to a manic grin now.

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  "Tell me."

  Fjord's breathing hitched as he was yanked out of the memory, back into the present, by the feeling of the Animal Dealer's grip on his hair. He tried to look at her, to say something, but all that came out was a strangled gasp. He could feel his heart racing again, fear and tension coursing through him as he struggled to answer.

  "I... "

  He struggled for the words, his own voice sounding almost unrecognizable to his ears as he finally forced out:

  "It's... someone else's."

  The Animal Dealer's grin widened even further now, and she actually pulled his head back a bit, making him arch his neck up towards her.

  "Whose?" she purred, eyes practically glittering with excitement as she watched the fear slowly spread across his features.

  Fjord went rigid the instant her hand tightened in his hair but he didn't try to pull away this time, and that only seemed to stoke the fire of her excitement.

  His heart was hammering against his ribs like a captive bird as he tried one last time to find the right words, but the only thing that came out were short, strangled breaths.

  And then, with a voice just barely more than a whisper, he finally managed to force himself to speak:

  "I don't know."

  There was a brief flicker of disappointment on the Animal Dealer's face, but it was gone almost as quickly as it appeared. She clearly wasn't satisfied with that answer, and it showed in her voice as she spoke again, her tone dripping with mock-disappointment.

  "Well, that's no fun," she chided, pouting theatrically for several long seconds before she finally dropped the act altogether, giving his hair a sharp, taunting tug.

  "Are you lying?”

  Fjord's mouth opened automatically to answer, then snapped closed again when he actually processed the question, the words hitting like a punch to the gut.

  His heart was beating so hard he could hear it pounding in his ears, his breathing ragged and strangled as he tried to focus, tried to think beyond the fear that was making it so damn difficult:

  "N-no," he managed, finally forcing the word out. "I'm...not…”

  The Animal Dealer's eyes narrowed as she looked down at him, studying his face with a critical gaze. She could hear the doubt in his voice, and she hated it.

  She wanted him to break.

  She tugged on his hair again, harder this time, as her voice dropped even further into a dangerous purr:

  "How can you be so sure?"

  Fjord's heart was a frantic drumbeat in his chest now, his entire body trembling beneath hers. He was barely able to keep himself together as it was, let alone when she was pulling his head back the way she was.

  He hated that he was this scared of her. But more than that, he hated the fact that he knew...

  She was right.

  He didn't have a single clue who his soul really belonged to.

  The Animal Dealer could see his fear growing with every passing second, and it only fueled her determination to break him in half like a cheap prop. She was loving the power she had over him, and she wanted a confession. Even if it wasn't the real truth.

  So she pulled his head back a fraction more, almost taunting him now, as she spoke again, her voice still a low, dangerous purr:

  "Go on, then. Guess."

  Fjord felt his whole body go tense as she pulled his head back further, and he knew that if she pulled any harder, his neck was going to start burning. He wanted desperately to close his eyes, to block out the sight of her looming over him, but he forced himself to stay focused instead.

  He was a soldier. He was trained for situations like this. He knew damn well how to deal with interrogation tactics.

  ...Except he wasn't in a training scenario.

  And he was terrified.

  "I-I don't know!"

  The Animal Dealer threw her head back with a loud, mocking laugh, her grip tightening in his hair as she dragged him even closer.

  "Ohhh, that’s rich," she cooed between sharp giggles. "A man like you? Don’t know?"

  Her free hand reached up and pinched his chin hard enough to bruise, tilting his face toward hers so their eyes were locked.

  "Tell me," she whispered now, voice dropping into something almost tender, but laced with poison all the same: "...What if I told you it was mine?"

  Silence followed like an executioner's axe falling from its peak.

  And then—

  Fjord did something stupid.

  He blinked first.

  The Animal Dealer's grin widened immediately, her fingers digging almost painfully into the underside of his jaw as she watched the realization slowly spread across his face. He'd seen through her act. He knew she was lying.

  But he still flinched.

  And that was more than enough.

  The victory was sweet, and it made her giddy as she leaned in even closer, nearly purring into his ear now:

  "I thought so."

  Fjord's heart started pounding the second her lips touched his ear; the feeling was like acid crawling up and into his throat. He hated the way it made him feel, weak, vulnerable, breakable. It made him sick.

  But he didn't pull away.

  He wanted to, god, he wanted to so badly, but he forced the impulse down as he looked up at her, his voice coming out as almost a growl this time:

  "You're...lying."

  The Animal Dealer threw her head back and laughed, a sharp, barking sound that made several nearby Cabal members flinch.

  Then, just as suddenly as it had come, her laughter died, cut off like a knife through the air. Her grip on him tightened again before she leaned in so close their noses nearly touched.

  "Do I look like someone who lies about ownership?"

  Her voice was low now, dangerous in a way that made even Nyx tense behind them.

  And then... Fjord felt something shift. A pressure building beneath his skin where the Creeping Veil pulsed under his collarbone. Like an unseen hand pressing down from within, and for half a second? He swore he heard whispers echoing inside his skull:

  Not mine not yours but hers hers hers—

  He choked out one last word before everything went dark:

  "...No."

  The Animal Dealer squealed with delight as she watched his body go limp in her arms, her fingers tightening like a vice around the back of his neck to keep him from slipping away.

  "Ohhh, this is perfect!" she cooed, shaking him slightly as if testing just how deep he'd fallen into unconsciousness.

  Nyx was already moving then, not toward the Animal Dealer herself (though her dagger was still drawn), but toward Fjord instead. Her voice cut through the room like ice:

  "Let go of him."

  But it didn't matter anymore.

  Because at that exact moment? The whispers beneath Fjord's skin turned into something louder, a chorus of overlapping voices screaming inside his skull all at once:

  NOT MINE NOT HIS BUT MINE NOW MINE FOREVER OURS OURS OU—

  And then his eyes snapped open again, but they weren’t his anymore.

  Something else wore them now.

  The Animal Dealer's grin stretched impossibly wide—her grip tightening like a noose as she watched Fjord's body jerk and twist beneath her. The way his voice had shifted—too deep, too layered, like something else was fighting for control from inside him—was delicious.

  She didn't let go.

  If anything? She pulled him even closer.

  "Ohhh," she purred, tilting her head mockingly as the whispers in his skull grew louder around them all: "You feel that too?"

  Nyx was at their side now, but not attacking yet; just watching with narrowed eyes as if waiting to see what would happen next.

  And then?

  Fjord’s mouth opened again, and this time it wasn’t his words that came out:

  "Mine."

  It echoed through the room like a death knell before cutting off abruptly as if whatever had been speaking through him had been... silenced.

  For now.