[ti]solo[/ti]a world without shackles

Rain and thunder howled outside, the sky pitch black and brilliant white as lightning crackled. But for how turbulent the weather was, the cave in comparison radiated warmth, lit by the great forge against the wall, and hanging lanterns.

Verai sat, on one of the soft chairs he'd gotten from the Settlement, the egg in his lap. The Zapdos egg. It felt- odd, to him, in a way. He'd never gone to college, or anything like that- but he knew DNA was the makeup of a person, one that had been duplicated over and over to make this egg.

Was this egg, then, just to hatch the Prince anew?

To birth him into a world that had already once captured and enslaved him, tried to dominate and kill him? Not only that, but obstensibly under his hand? A wild pokemon could leave- it knew how to fend for itself. But a newborn? One hatched before him? Could it survive if left alone?

Would that be more cruel?

Verai rubbed his face. There was the impulsive thought to go home, one he pushed aside with venom. For Kitten, for Miyū- for this egg- this was home. His actions here mattered. Fleeing was not an option.

"Do you know?" Verai whispered, the egg secure between his hands, hard shell leaned against hard metal. "That your progenitor was enslaved? Do you feel the weight of his chains?"

Bria had told him, once, that this pain passed down generations. That the starvation of parent animals marred the genetic makeup of children, and grandchildren, and beyond. That behaviors and trails and homes were affected by the ghosts ancestors had come across.

He always wondered what changes he brought to Brianna.

Verai looked down, towards the egg. This change... it didn't have to be negative. Did it? He opened his mouth, and hesitated.

"Do you know that you aren't?" His voice was feather-soft. "That no one can capture or tame you? That you're free, to live as you please?" He almost thought he could feel it, a spark between greave and shell.

"It's what we all fought for. A world where you don't have to listen to anyone but yourself. And I'll keep fighting for it. It- It's what we all deserve." He whispered, intense, fervent.

"No one else has to be made to wear chains ever again."