Chapter 1
Witness
"How do I get myself into these things?" The mobian blue hedgehog muttered as he looked at the slip of paper in one paw.
He pulled the brown leather jacket closer to his blue and peach fur to block out the harsh, bitter winter wind. He shook his head to make sure his quills were loose and relaxed them down to further protect himself. Tired emerald eyes peered at the large red and white tent he was supposed to be sneaking in to.
He wanted nothing more at the moment than to return home and snuggle down into the sheets. He was a cool blooded creature at heart and couldn't stand the cold.
"I should be at home hibernating right now." he grumbled to himself. "I told them not to bother me during the winter months. But do they listen? Nooo..."
He sighed wistfully, thinking of the warmth of his blankets as he approached the vendor. He slipped him a twenty, as they weren't supposed to serve mobians, and received a cup of fresh hot coffee in return. He couldn't stand coffee but it was warm and warm was what he wanted at the moment.
He took a sip of the brown liquid and looked down at the photograph in his paws.
It was of poor quality, sent to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty for Mobians (Or SPCM for short) by an anonymous person via cell phone. It was grainy and depicted what appeared to be a human female beating a black creature with a bull whip to the point it was bleeding. He suspected that the 'bleeding' was actually markings but he didn't say anything.
Thankfully the unclarity of the grainy photograph was enough for them to get an investigation started to see if they could remove the mobian from the care of this place.
The blue hedgehog shuddered as he approached the tent. He himself was a rescuee from a circus and knew the humiliation that came with the part. He still had scars where he had been struck by whips and he currently lacked the proper teeth to eat his favorite food because they had had them removed to keep him from biting and causing damage. They had even saw fit to degrade him further by de-clawing his paws and feet.
Even though he had only spent a year in the circus' care, it had taken him nearly thrice as long to recover to the point that he was able to decide to join the SPCM to help others out of the same situation.
He gave the area a quick glance and ducked in the red and white tent.
The area he had chosen was right in front of the storage area-the least likely place he'd get caught snooping around. He pulled out the miniature camera he had brought with him and slipped in a memory stick.
A cage in the corner caught his eye and he moved over to investigate it.
It was perhaps as big as a large shipping crate and was full of blankets and what looked like chew toys. There was a food dish and a water dish hanging on one side of the cage, both empty. He knew exactly what it was-it was where the mobian he was investigating for was being kept when not out on stage.
Several pictures of the cage and the contents were taken before pulling out a tape measure to see how large it really was. He was careful not to touch the bars-they gave him the creeps as it was and he didn't want to flee the scene yet.
He found out he had been wrong on his size estimate. It was only as large as an extra large dog crate. It was far too small for a mobian.
He scribbled down the measurements he'd taken and took a few pictures including the tape measure to prove his findings on size before slipping it back in his pocket and peering out into the main area around a box.
His breath was taken away as he watched the slender hedgehog hybrid leap gracefully between platforms, seemingly enjoying himself. Emerald eyes watched the creature raise up onto its haunches, its tail end resting on the platform, and pull its paws towards its chest in the (at the thought of it doing this made the blue hedgehog shudder) beg position to plead for a reward.
Smiling in a way that was almost deceptive, she moved over to the 'begging' mobian and set a treat on his nose and had him sit perfectly still, balancing it.
The small camera was lifted again and the blue hedgehog flipped off the flash so that he wouldn't attract attention. He set it to take pictures every few seconds and watched.
The black hedgehog whined, not understanding why his trainer set his treat on his nose and told him not to move. The scent of it was so strong... The darker one flipped his head and tossed the treat into the air. He caught it on the way down.
The blue hedgehog heard the faint click of the camera just as the snap of a bull whip hitting flesh reached his ears. His ears folded as he watched the darker hedgehog curl in on himself and grip his abused appendage. There was no scream but it was obvious that the mobian was in pain.
"Now now, Shadow. I told you. You have to wait for me to give the command before you could get it." the girl admonished, flipping a gold curl over her shoulder and sauntering over to the dark one once more. "Now let me see your arm."
The darker one curled away from her, still nursing what probably was a bloody cut.
"Shadow! Show me your arm! That is a command!" the whip cracked again, close to the hedgehog's other arm.
//Damn I wish I had a tape recorder...//the blue one thought to himself. //Or better yet, a camcorder.//
When the dark one didn't respond, the human frowned and brought the whip down on the creature she called 'Shadow's back.
He still didn't cry out but moved away from her.
Again and again the whip cracked, hitting exposed areas and causing the dark one to recoil in pain. But, for as much as she was beating him, he didn't make a single sound other than slightly harsher breathing.
Shadow fell from the platform and curled up, displaying his quills dangerously. Apparently the human knew that, once a hedgehog went into that position, it was near impossible to harm them and decided to wait until he relaxed and uncurled before pushing any further.
The blue hedgehog looked down at the camera in his paws and his eyes widened. It hadn't missed a single moment of the event.
He gave the black and red hedgehog one last look and rubies met emeralds. It was for only a split second but the blue one could see all the pain in the other's eyes. He could read the sheer amount of agony that the creature must be in.
He wanted nothing more than to take 'Shadow' away from this torturous environment but, unfortunately, at the moment it was illegal. The sooner he got the pictures home, the sooner he could get the poor black one out of here...
He left quietly and with a heavy heart.
*~*~*~*~*~
"Hey! I-"
"Wait a min-"
"Hold on! I ne-"
He sighed as he was unable to flag any of his fellow co-workers down. Sometimes he hated being nearly two and a half feet shorter than most of them...
He ruffled his quills and began to make his way through the made of small offices that weren't really rooms but made up of partitions set up in one large room. Some of them had other SPCM workers typing up reports and others held victims of abuse at the hands of humans. Most of them were sobbing messes and required almost personalized care.
There was a scream from somewhere inside the maze, echoing and stopping all the work.
The blue hedgehog even stopped a moment. His ears tipped back and he swallowed a sob. Yet another was felled by their 'policy'.He himself was almost a victim of that policy. Boy did he hate it too. Basically it was that if any mobian rescued shows no signs of recovery after six weeks, then the mobian is beyond help and must be put down.
Even more than he hated the policy, he hated those words; 'Put down'. It was a polite way of saying they killed them. Usually horribly as well. Euthanasia was expensive and the firm just didn't have enough funds to buy it, so it was usually death by gunshot to the head. He knew it was a horrible way to go and it creeped him out that he had almost suffered that fate as well.
Finally finding his little office amidst the chaos, he hopped up into the chair and used the lever to raise up to the desk. He made himself comfortable and inserted the data stick into the port on his computer.
He propped his head against one paw and began to look through the photos taken. There were some that were of poor quality from a motion blur so he began to touch them up digitally.
It was this that one of his best friends that were also a part of SPCM caught him doing. "Am I gonna hafta report you for fudging up the evidence, Sonic?"
The blue hedgehog started and nearly fell from his seat. He whipped around to face the newcomer. "Tails! Don't do that to me, chaosdammit!"
The fox smirked and climbed up on the stool near Sonic's desk to see what he was doing. "Wow... Is that really what they were keeping him in?"
Sonic nodded solemnly.
The fox sighed. "I'll never understand how some of these humans can do these things..."
Sonic thought a bit about the comment. It was true that Tails too was a rescuee but not from an abusive home. He had been quite lucky and had been a companion of a very old and wise scientist and mechanic. Said old man had taught him everything he knew before passing away, leaving a mentioning in his will for Tails to go to the SPCM to teach him how to live with others.
The fox had trouble acclimating to the sudden changes in his environment and it caused massive problems within SPCM. He was technically sane but at the same time required care by them. In the end, an older member of the team had volunteered that, since the foxling had already had practice at being company, he could perhaps help their elderly parent in the way of spending time with them when he wasn't at work. The fox had jumped at the idea.
"Me neither, Tails. Look at how bad she's beating him. Funny thing though..."
"What?"
"He never screamed. He just panted. It was almost like he didn't want to scream even though it hurt him badly."
The fox moved over to the laser printer and picked up the freshly printed photographs. "Think Chief'll agree to remove him now?"
"Most likely. This is more than enough proof!"
"Hope so..."
"Well anyways. Let me get back to work fixing up these photos and go see Chief, alright?"
The fox kit gave him the idiot's salute and headed off with his own business, leaving Sonic with his thoughts.
The blue boar sighed again and set back to work, cleaning the photos up digitally almost automatically, his mind going back to watching the other hedgehog perform. Watching the lithe body sail through the air from one platform to another...
He shook his head a bit. He had to stop thinking that way, especially if they were going to save him. No more bad memories of his time performing like that...
Epargné du Cirque by Yami Kaiyoh
Chapter notes:
Sorry it took so long to get this up. RL got in the way of writing and I promised someone else that they get to once over it as well.
And, before you read this,I know what you're gonna say when you get to the end of this chapter.
'But she was so nice a moment ago! Why was she suddenly beating him?'
Well, there's a reason. I assure you that it's a necessary part of the story. If I say exactly why it's in here though, then I'll ruin the whole thing. For now, read and review! EDIT: ^^;; Sorry about the errors Now it's corrected.
And, before you read this,I know what you're gonna say when you get to the end of this chapter.
'But she was so nice a moment ago! Why was she suddenly beating him?'
Well, there's a reason. I assure you that it's a necessary part of the story. If I say exactly why it's in here though, then I'll ruin the whole thing. For now, read and review! EDIT: ^^;; Sorry about the errors Now it's corrected.