#blame casey she mentioned squonks

[chasseurdeloup]

Tough Love || Solo [Flashback]

TIMING: 1996 LOCATION: Lyon, France SUMMARY: A six year old Kaden finds a ““dog”” in the woods and tries to bring his new pet home to mom. CONTENT WARNINGS: Animal death, child abuse, emotional abuse (all implied)

“Maman, maman! Look what I found! Look, look!” The door slammed behind Kaden as he carried an odd, wrinkled almost dog-like creature in tow. He wobbled as he balanced it. The animal was almost as long as he was tall, but his strength didn’t falter under the weight. It’s not like it was hard to carry. He was a hunter, after all.

“Maman!” he called out. The scent of butter and flour and sugar combined hit him and he took off towards the kitchen, following the sound of the mixer. No wonder she hadn’t heard him. Didn’t matter, he’d go to her, bursting into the kitchen with his new pet in hand.

“Maman, can I keep it? Can I, can I?” His excitement was bubbling over as he set the animal down, petting its odd hairless flaps of skin. It was a weird looking dog, but Kaden loved his new pet already. She had to let him keep it, right? This was already the best day ever, he was going to have his very own dog and Maman was baking for what felt like the first time in months now. Maybe he’d get to help after he helped the animal. “Look at him. I found him in the woods and and and he was crying so he’s probably hungry and we should give him water. Where’s the bowl? And look, did you look? Maman, did you see how cute he is? He’s weird looking but I think he just needs a bath. And I think he’s cold, do we have another blanke--”

A horrified screech cut off his excited babbling and the hand mixer crashed on the floor, batter flying as the metal whirred against the hardwood floor for a few seconds. “Kaden Arthur Langley! What are you doing?” She reached out and tore him by the arm away from the creature.

“What? What did I do? What?” His lip started quivering and he quickly bit on it to stop it. He knew he wasn’t allowed to cry. He couldn’t stop the tears pricking at his eyes though. But he didn’t understand why he was in trouble. “I-- I-- I know you said no pets but I found him and--”

“No!” she shouted back, gripping his wrist tighter and holding him in place. “How dare you bring a supernatural vermin into my house. What were you thinking dragging this filth in here? And don’t you dare cry. You should know better.”

If he bit his lip until it bled, maybe he could stop the tears. He had to. She didn’t like it when he cried. But he didn’t understand. “But-- but it’s a dog. I thought it was a dog. What do you mean s-supernatural I-- I--” He just wanted a pet. It wasn’t filth. What made it filth? He didn’t understand, it had practically snuggled into his arms while he carried it home. There was no way it could be supernatural. That would make it evil. That would mean-- It couldn’t be supernatural. It just couldn’t.

“That’s not a dog, Kaden. That’s a squonk. A squonk. How is it you can’t recognize a single squonk? Have we taught you nothing? You’re a hunter. A Langley. You know better than this.” He could feel the bruises burrowing into his skin around his wrist. He concentrated on the pain, hoping he could wait to sniffle when she wasn’t looking. But he couldn't hold it back and the fire in his mother’s eyes burned even brighter.

"What's happening?" a small voice said from the doorway to the kitchen. Kaden and his mother both turned to look at his sister standing there, holding her blankie, clearly curious about all the commotion.

He didn't think his mother could become even more enraged, but she'd found a way. He could tell even though he could no longer see her face. The way she let go of his wrist, practically throwing him to the floor, was enough. "Keira, mon chou, go back to the living room and keep playing, alright?" Her voice had changed demeanor so quickly it could give Kaden whiplash. For as much fire as he'd heard moments ago, there was just as much sweetness directed at his sister.

"Why is Kadey on the floor? Is he in trouble?" she asked, trying to sneak a little closer into the kitchen to get a peek. "And what is that?" She pointed to the squonk lying there on the laminate floor.

Horror washed over his mother's face and Kaden knew that his punishment was only going to get worse now that his sister had seen his mistake. "It's nothing, mon chou, shh, go on and play, maman will be right back," she said, ushering the little girl back out of the room, shutting the door closed as soon as the child was clear of it, separating the siblings once more.

Any kindness that had been offered to his sister was wiped clean, burned away as she turned to face him again. “Get up,” she told him, voice even and stern as she spun to face away from him again. Kaden quickly wiped his eyes and nose with the back of his hand before he scrambled to stand. His eyes darted to Wrinkles. He couldn’t be supernatural. All he wanted to do was hug the creature and go hide. Maybe he could just run away with his pet and go live in the woods. He could survive a real long time. Maman and Papa made sure he could.

Before he could contemplate running, his mother turned back to face him, something in her hand, “Come with me. Bring that vermin with you.” She walked away, out the door to the backyard. There was no question what he was meant to do. Kaden pet the animal, apparently a squonk, and motioned for it to follow him outside. It was still crying but it waddled along after the child. Wrinkles didn’t look like vermin. Maybe Maman was wrong and she was just going to show him where the dog would live.

“Here,” she said, pointing to a spot where he supposed he was meant to stand with the animal. Kaden obeyed and waited, looking up at her. She held a knife out to him. He waited a moment, hoping he wasn’t meant to take it. But there was no question and no argument from him. He tried to hold the knife steady, unwavering, but no matter how hard he tried, his hand shook. He tried to hide it, he didn't want to get yelled at again. “Kill it.”

That was all she said.

Kaden looked up at her, eyes wide with terror and confusion. “But--”

“I said kill it, Kaden. Now.” Her tone was harsh, her arms crossed in front of her chest, face set in stone. “And no crying about it.”

He tried. He really tried to hold it in. But the tears burst through the second he looked at his new pet. “I can’t. Maman I ca--”

She stomped her foot and made it clear there was no room for questioning her. “You can. And you will. You’re a hunter. That’s a monster. Hunters kill monsters. Now use that knife and kill it.”

His hand shook as he tried to raise it up. All he had to do was bring it down, plunge it into the creature’s head. Wrinkles was just standing there, still crying. Kaden couldn’t tell who was crying more, his dog or him. This wasn’t fair. This wasn’t-- He just had to bring the knife down. Just bring it--

The knife fell out of his hands and Kaden collapsed to the ground, wrapping his arms around the creature’s neck, sobbing into the folds of its skin, repeating the word no over and over again. He wasn’t there long, almost as soon as he had, a hand gripped his shoulder and yanked him backwards, away from the animal. “That is not a dog! Stop that!” He’d heard his mother's anger many times in training, but it was nothing like this. This was something else. Worse. For a moment, Kaden wondered if her anger was going to spill over, and he shut his eyes, bracing himself. Instead of pain, her hands gripped him again, picking him up off the ground and wrapping her hand around his and the hilt of the knife.

“You have to. Kaden, you have to.” Her voice had softened as she crouched over him. “This is what we do. This is how we help people. Make sure the supernatural doesn’t destroy us.”

“Are you sure,” he sniffed, “are you sure that it’s evil? It looks like a dog. I thought it was a dog. I just wanted to…” His words fell away into tears.

“That’s not a dog. I know it--” She paused, like there was something she couldn’t bring herself to say. “It’s not. I can assure you that it’s evil. I wouldn’t ask you to kill it if it weren’t, mon peititou.”

Kaden wiped his eyes again with his free hand. “You wouldn’t?” His hand was still shaking, even while it was held in hers. He tried to keep his tears at bay, but they wouldn’t stop spilling. “You wouldn’t ask me to kill an animal? You promise?”

Claire Langley’s lips pursed as she contemplated what to say next. Her son was more softhearted than she wished. Sometimes it made training easier. He always cared about helping others, so assuring him that he was learning how to be a hero was the easiest way to get him to cooperate. But in moments like these, it made it all so much harder.

She had planned to move him from stationary targets to small animals soon. It was the easiest way to learn how to hit a moving target. And it was much safer than practicing against most monsters. But she saw the way he looked at even the ugliest animals, the way he looked at this monster now like it was some kind, innocent creature, capable of love or companionship.

She knew better. And she needed her son to know better, too. If his sister saw any of this, if she got the same ideas... She couldn't handle training two softhearted children. One was enough trouble. She had to be sure her would do their family proud and carry on their legacy. It might mean making some compromises. For now, at least. He was young, maybe he would grow out of it. For now, she’d do what she had to. “I promise. I promise I’d never ask you to kill an animal. But this is a monster. And what do we do?”

Kaden gulped down the lump in his throat, sniffed back his tears. “We kill monsters.” Her hand fell away from his, knife still held tight in his grip. The knife glinted as he held it, no longer shaking, above the creature. In one swift motion, he plunged it into Wrinkles’ skull. No, not Wrinkles. A monster. Just a monster.