#deadicatednate

After a long few days of trying to get some fresh air, Nate was thrilled to be spending his day off cleaning up around the house and trying to teach Alea some new words. She was an incredibly fast learner, always impressing Nate with how quickly she added new words to her vocabulary. On one of his trips out of the house, Nate had gotten her a whole new gang of toys to reward her and she seemed in good spirits. For the first time in weeks, Nate felt at peace. He opened the blinds, let some sunlight in and brought his feathered friend out into the living room so they could enjoy the golden June sunset. His peace was cut abruptly short at the sound of a loud rap on his door, a sound so out of place that it caused him to jump a good foot and a half in the air. “Someone’s at the door! Someone’s at the door! Uninvited!” Nate cooed at Alea, attempting to calm her before heading over to see who was interrupting him. It wasn’t like Nate got too many visitors. He pulled open the door slowly, peeking around the edge to see who was standing on the other side, his mouth dropping. “Kaden? Problem, officer?”

There was a lot of shit going wrong in Kaden’s life. So much shit. But he could make one thing right. Even if the person in question didn’t want his fucking help, they were going to get it. They’d thank him later. Alright, no, they probably wouldn’t but he could sleep a slight bit better at night. Not that the aravo in Nate’s apartment was really keeping him awake but it was the fucking principle of the matter. He’d gone to the “pet shop” on Amity and sure enough, all monsters, no fuccking legitimate permits to speak of. Kaden was having trouble getting the place completely shut down, but he did at least get the paperwork of the “pets” sold to customers to follow up on. Nate was one of them. Easy enough to get his address and head over there. “I have a warrant for your unlicensed bird,” he said, biting back his smile from being too wide. He was off to a cordial start, really. “Or you can just let me in and we can cut the crap.”

Nate shrunk back, closing the door slightly in front of him. He had the right permits. The shop gave them to him! God, was this dude just a huge dick for no reason?? Nate hadn’t done anything to make him hate him or his poor bird! Not to mention how much good Alea had done him, keeping him company and erasing the sinking loneliness of the home he’d once built for him and his love. “Why?” His eyes were imploring. What did it matter if Alea was an exotic pet? Even if she was illegal, what was it to this guy? What Regan could see in the guy, Nate would never know. Nate pulled himself up, trying to look intimidating and failing. “You can’t.”

Kaden sighed. It was going to be the difficult way, wasn't it? He pulled out the papers and showed the warrant. “I can. That’s how warrants work. Please don’t make this worse.” He had every confidence this was only going to get worse. “I really don’t want to force my way in if I can avoid it. The pet shop you got him from? Illegal business. Sorry, but I need the bird.” The real question was if he was going to be forced to kill it right away or if he could actually cage the thing first. Guess he’d see. He put his hand against the door to make sure it didn’t shut in his face. No pressure on it. Yet. “You been having any issues with your voice?”

Nate’s brows furrowed. Maybe if the guy knew how important Alea was to him, that she wasn’t just some bird, some pet that could be replaced. She was more than family, she was his only true friend. Nate had told her so many things that haunted him, fears he hadn’t told Morgan or even Nell when he was drugged. But he didn’t go against the law. Head falling down, Nate opened the door, allowing the man to enter. But he couldn’t give up without a fight. “Just- leave her,” he croaked. Cocking his head, he furrowed his brows again. “My voice?” Sure, sometimes it was hard to choke out the words he wanted, but it’s not like he had strep or anything. He was just nervous. A lot. And allergies. “No...why?”

Kaden stepped inside and searched for the bird. With the squawks and rustles of feathers, it wasn’t hard to find. He kept his eyes fixed ahead, not wanting to deal with whatever stupid attachment the guy had to the monster in question. It was never fun dealing with beasts that looked like pets, tricked humans into thinking they were friendly. Didn’t change what he had to do. Who knew how many voices this had. “Nothing? Never felt a little hoarse around your bird?” His eyes narrowed at the animal. “Go away! Uninvited!” it squealed out. Not sure why he figured it wouldn't put up a fight. “Just asking because they have uh...” Powers. They had powers. “Well they typically cause most people to have, uh, allergies. You know. All that.”

Nate hovered behind Kaden as he made his way deeper into the house, his eyes fixed on the back of the man’s head. He wondered if it made him feel good to take people’s pets away, members of their family. Just because of some darned paperwork. He tried to give Alea a consoling look, but her feathers were rustled and she was dancing side to side on her perch, clearly not a fan of their visitor either. “No.” He said firmly, crossing his arms. “W-what difference? Hm?” He coughed into his elbow. Summer blooms messing with his lungs. “What difference does that make?” He moved to try to stand between the animal control officer and his new best friend, his face imploring. “She didn’t do anything wrong.” “Nothing wrong! Nothing wrong!” Alea echoed.

Kaden’s eyes narrowed as he looked at the guy, coughing and sputtering a little. It wasn’t a certainty that the bird was stealing his voice, maybe it was just allergies, but that wasn’t a chance he was going to take. He reached out to the creature, but before he could do much of anything, Nate was standing in front of him. He couldn’t help but huff and roll his eyes. The voice that came out of the bird sounded almost human. Right. Nothing wrong. “That doesn’t mean you can keep her. I’m sorry. You got pulled into a scam. I’m just trying to uphold the law.” He tried to keep his tone sincere. And he did mean it. Losing a pet, even if it was a monster, it sucked. And a replacement wasn’t the same. Not when it came to animals. “Please step aside,” he pleaded. Without waiting, the bird cawe, “Nothing wrong!” and leapt from her perch and flew beak first at Kaden, wings sprawled and talons out.

Nate didn’t want to interfere with the law, but he’d already lost so much in this life, couldn’t he have just one thing that was good? One thing that was his? He was about to throw his arms out in protection when Alea rocketed into the air, her claws looking for purchase in Kaden’s skin. “Alea! No! Bad girl!” The bird shrieked and inhuman noise, feathers flying about the room. “Bad! Bad! Bad man!” She shrieked, attacking the officer with a fury Nate had never seen before. He flung himself across the room, trying without success to grab onto her leg. “What’s- Alea! What’s gotten into you!!”

The talons dug into his arm as Kaden tried to shield his face from the attack. He tried to throw his arm away and shake the creature off, blood flying as he yanked it back. Aw, shit, another fucking scar. Or five. Something like that. He took the cage in his other and and whipped it around to try and hit the bird as it squealed in his face. “Nothing wrong, huh?” Kaden yelled as he ducked to avoid another attack, this time with the beak aimed directly at his eyes. When he came there, he had no plans to pull out his knife on the fucking bird in front of Nate but that ship had fucking sailed and reached back for his weapon as blood dripped down to his palm, coating the handle. “This.” He swung out at the bird, blade trying to strike at flesh and not just feathers. “Is why.” The feathers whacked him in the face. “These fucking birds.” Talons by his back, he ducked rolled. “Are illegal!”

Nate flitted around the room, his hands on his head. What the heck was he supposed to do?? Alea had never acted like this before, but she clearly hated this guy. And who wouldn’t?! Before he knew it, Kaden had a flipping knife in his hand and was slashing wildly at his pet. “STOP! Stop what are you doing!!” Nate dropped to the floor as Alea dove over him, narrowly avoiding Kaden’s blade, screaming all the while. “Monster! Monster!!” Tears began to form in the man’s eyes as he watched the scene unfold. Today was supposed to be a relaxing one! Not filled with some asshole trying to kill his pet!

The edge of the knife only struck a small bit of the bird’s flesh but a squeal rang out through the apartment. “It’s attacking me!” Kaden yelled out. And the violence only encouraged the aravo to  strike out at him again. The beak grabbed at his ear and pulled. Kaden screamed out in pain and rammed his knife into the bird and it let go. Putain de merde, that hurt. “Either control your fucking mon-- BIRD or I have to put it down!” He had no hope that Nate would calm this bird down, but in the off chance he could, he’d like to avoid another puncture to his ear. “Stop what are you doing!” The bird’s voice was a mirror of Nate’s for that one moment. Shit. That wasn’t good. Kaden ducked again as the talons swooped towards his back. “Stop your bird or I’ll have to! If you can even talk anymore!”

Nate’s heart was racing, grief and panic washing over him in waves. What the heck was he supposed to do?? He wasn’t cut out for this! He had no idea how to calm Alea down, she’d never acted like this before! “B-because- y-y-y-ou attacked her!!!” Wildly, Nate threw himself around the room after the bird, attempting to grab her without getting himself slashed by her talons. Every swipe she took, however, seemed meticulously calculated so that she only ever nicked Kaden. In a desperate attempt to save his bird’s life, he ran to the couch, grabbing the blanket so that it might be a shield of sorts. He’d seen people on Animal Planet do this kind of thing when they captured thrashing, dangerous animals. “Stop what are you doing!” Nate froze, blanket in hand, at the sound of his own voice. It was eerily similar to his own in a way he hadn’t heard before. “Y-you can’t k-k-kill her!!” He begged, his feet firmly planted in place.

Kaden was thrilled to see that Nate was frozen in place as the bird’s talons dug into his back, ripping through Kaden’s shirt and down into his flesh. He screamed in pain as he tried to duck and roll away, but the damage was already done. Kaden whipped around and yanked at one of the wings, hoping to get more than a fist full of feathers but such was his luck at the moment. Another duck from the claws and this time, when he reached out, he got a sizable piece of the wing, the limb this time. He pulled it down out of the air and dragged it towards him, knife raised and ready to thrust down into the heart. But before he could do that, Kaden caught a glimpse of the guy’s face. Fucking hell. Bleeding goddamn hearts were getting to him. He couldn't do it in front of Nate, not looking like that. His grip pinched the wing, hard, keeping the writhing bird in place and he grabbed the blanket with his free hand to wrap the bird in. “Look, I don’t know how much you know. But this bird is stealing your voice. And it may have stolen others.” The beast was scrambling and squawking under the blanket as Kaden tried to wrap it tightly closed. “The only way to give them back is by killing it. Do you understand?” He tried to keep calm and look Nate in the eye, but he knew there was no way this was sinking in. Not now.

Nate didn’t move when Kaden snatched the blanket out of his hand. His heart sunk as he watched the man tackle his bird, his closest friend and confidante for the past few months, preparing not only to take her away, but apparently to end her life all together. Even if she was illegal, Alea didn’t deserve that. Even if she was- stealing his voice? What was this, a Disney cartoon? Nate wasn’t some animated princess and Kaden certainly wasn’t his prince charming. Since when did prince charming murder your pet in front of you?? Maybe he was taking the metaphor too far… “N-no,” he croaked, his voice still struggled against his body to be heard. But that was because he was distraught, not because his Alea was stealing his words! That would be insane! “That- it’s- not p-possible!”

The bag flew a few feet in the air as the bird inside tried to fight its way out. Kaden would have to make a decision fast. There was no way he could keep the bird trapped in there for too long. Those claws and that beak would poke its way through soon enough. “Do you even hear yourself?” he said, rolling his eyes. ”Your voice is cracking every time you ta--” Kaden didn’t get a chance to finish when a voice that sounded just like Nate’s came from the bag. “His voice is fine.” Fucking aravos. Kaden exchanged a glance with the other man, raising a brow and hoping maybe, just maybe, his point was proven. “You teach her all that? Or did she just learn that all on her own? She’s not even repeating anything you said.” Come. On. “I don’t have to do it here, just let me take her. She’ll leave you once she has your voice and you'll never see her again and you won’t be able to get it back.

Nate sank down onto his couch, his arms falling down in front of him. Crazier things had happened to the man than a bird who could steal voices. But he knew Alea, she was sweet and smart and the best pet he could have asked for...right? But the more she thrashed around in the makeshift bag, spitting out phrases in his own voice, only filled with a venom he could never muster. Hadn’t he lost enough? Somehow, he knew Kaden was right, but for the life of him he didn’t want to give the man the satisfaction. Nate felt his heart breaking with every squawk, but he nodded slowly, consenting for Kaden to do whatever he needed to do. It wasn’t like Nate was in the position to fight him, he knew that was a battle he couldn’t win. “Just...quick, please? F-for her?”

If Kaden had a free hand to rub his face with, he would. This was exhausting. Why was a perfectly routine hunting call so fucking exhausting? He knew. Looking at Nate, he knew. Fuck, when did his heart start bleeding over bullshit like this? “I’ll take her outside, alright? If you want.” It felt like the least he could do. This wasn’t like being there when putting down a dog. This wasn’t the pet and the deep bond that this guy clearly wanted from an animal. Kaden hated how much he could relate. “Look, I know it’s not the same. It’s not. But if you want, I’ll waive the adoption fee at the shelter for you. Any animal. There’s plenty. Who don’t take voices.” And by waived he meant he’d just pay it for him. It still felt cheap and hollow. Animals couldn’t be replaced. Monsters should never be kept as pets and it was an unfortunate situation, but the sentiment remained.

Nate looked up at the man who was about to murder his pet through tear brimmed eyes. He didn’t like this man before, and today was doing no favors for their relationship, but he could see that Kaden at least was trying to make this easier. A little. It was a far cry from just not killing his pet, but Nate didn’t see how he’d be able to change the animal control officer’s mind. Especially after Alea proved rather...terrifyingly vicious. Tears began to spill over onto his cheeks and Nate dropped his head into his hands. “J-just go. P-please.” All he wanted was this nightmare of a day to be over so he could wallow in the loss of his pet alone.