Perfect: Part Two

      "His name?"

      "It's xxLayn0004," the Pink Uni said promptly, practically from memory. I was going to interrupt and tell them that my nickname was 'Four,' but was interrupted before I could even begin speaking.

      "Terrible name," he responded quietly, almost absently. I cringed, and he saw, and smiled. It was a thin, sad smile, but a smile nonetheless, and it chilled me. "Well, how much does he cost to adopt?"

      I blinked, taken aback by the question. Most people asked for some other information before asking for the adoption price, and it surprised me. From the whispers in the other cages, the other Neopets were surprised, too. The Uni named a price – I winced again, this time by the low cost, barely a handful of neopoints. It seemed an indication of how much I was worth, and I hated to think that.

      "That's all, eh?" He stood up, brushing invisible dust from his jacket, and said, "I'll take him." Without a moment's delay, he fished out the required money from his pocket, handed it to the Uni, and gestured impatiently at the door in a silent request. The Uni blinked as she automatically accepted the money and handed him my file in return, but she shook her head and unlocked the cage door a moment later. I stared at him, still too confused by this sudden turn of events to do anything else, and he turned away, beckoning with one hand. "Come on, Layn, we're heading out of here."

      I almost didn't respond to that one; after all, 'Layn' wasn't really my name, not unless it was the name of all my brothers as well. Still, I realised that he was talking to me and stepped carefully out of the cage, following him meekly.

      He said that he lived in Brightvale, a good walk from Neopia Central, but not terribly far. Still, as I trailed after my new owner, I felt horribly uncomfortable and afraid. He was a cold person, not even looking my way and saying nothing except where he lived. He walked quickly, paying little attention to the fact that I skulked along behind him, not even speaking to him. I couldn't understand why someone like him would want to adopt a pet. He seemed to care so little – or perhaps he cared so much that he didn't want to be seen associating with a Neopet like me. I couldn't decide which it was, but either way, it left a bitter taste in my mouth.

      I was yawning by the time we reached Brightvale, and I thought the sun would rise in a few hours. He eventually turned and climbed up a few stairs to the door of a large home, and I stared at it, my jaw hanging open mid-yawn. I had never seen a house of that size. It dwarfed my old home.

      "Hurry up," my owner said, not harshly, but with no warmth, either. I meekly clambered up the stairs behind him and slipped through the doorway, standing awkwardly in the entryway.

      "Well, you're a bit later than usual," a cool voice called out as my new owner closed the door. "What did you bring back this time?"

      The words immediately set off alarms in my mind. Those words made the whole situation sound... boring. Common. Was a new pet really such an everyday occurrence in this home? I recoiled a step at the thought.

      "You really are cold, aren't you?" The speaker emerged into sight, stepping into view from around the corner. He, like me, was a Lupe, but unlike me, he was no common colour. No, there was a Pirate in this household, and he exuded an aura of casual confidence. "Be a bit kinder to the poor things you bring back. Just because we know what's going to go down doesn't mean that they do." Before I could wonder exactly what he meant, the Pirate Lupe sauntered towards me in the same manner that his - our - owner had done at the pound. "Welcome to our humble household. I'm Pirallen. The other two are still asleep, but you'll meet them in the morning. You are?"

      I glanced behind me, but the young man who had brought me back had vanished elsewhere, and I slowly stood up straighter. "My name is xxLayn0004, but I'm called Four."

      "No you're not," Pirallen immediately countered. "You'll be called Layn here."

      I frowned. Both the other Lupe and our owner seemed fixed on that at least. "But my brothers all have similar names, so I'm Four."

      "They're not your brothers anymore," Pirallen said calmly. "You will be called Layn here. You will not be referred to by a number. My owner cares little for his pound pets, but he at least treats them like people and not like things that can be organised by number."

      I almost asked what exactly he meant, but I had the sneaking suspicion that I would not like the answer, and so instead held my tongue. Instead, I asked quietly, "What's your full name, then?"

      Pirallen laughed coolly. "My name is just Pirallen. My owner would not keep a pet whose name was not beautiful."

      "Then what am I doing here?" I shot back, too scared to do anything but be rude in response. "Why would someone adopt a Neopet they have no intention of keeping? It doesn't make sense! It's cruel. It's absolutely heartless!"

      "Heartless?" Pirallen fixed me with a sharp, golden gaze. "You call that 'heartless?' I'll tell you the truth. 'Heartless' is keeping pets you care nothing for and treating them badly. 'Heartless' is abandoning a pet when you know the chances of the pet getting adopted are slim. 'Heartless' is getting rid of a pet you have had with you since the beginning. My owner is cold, my owner is imperfect, but he is not heartless. You call him 'heartless' now, but you'll thank him someday."

      I wilted beneath those fiery eyes, and Pirallen eventually turned away with a deceptively sweet smile. "Well then, come along, Layn. Do you want something to eat first, or do you just want to sleep?"

      I blinked. "What?"

      Pirallen's eyes narrowed ever so slightly. "I wasn't aware that it was a difficult question. Let's try this again. Would you rather have something to eat before you go to bed, or would you rather eat when you wake up?"

      I shook my head. "Whichever is easiest for your owner. I don't want to get in the way. I can manage without food if it's too much trouble for you...."

      Pirallen shook his head. "That wasn't the question. I wasn't asking whether it would be easier for us to feed you now or just put you to bed. I was asking if you were hungry. Are you hungry?"

      I stared at him, and the Pirate smiled thinly. "You aren't the first pet to say similar things. I'll get you some dinner – though it's far too late to be dinner. Is there anything in particular you'd like? We might have it...."

      I almost said that an omelette or jelly would be fine, but from the look in Pirallen's eyes, I knew he wouldn't let that kind of answer slide. "Pasta?" I asked shyly, and he nodded approvingly before turning around. "Come with me."

      I followed him into the next room, where he nudged me once onto a couch and made me lie down and wait. He returned soon with a plate of spaghetti, and it looked so appetising that I almost forgot my exhaustion. I almost pushed the plate away when I was only half-done, but Pirallen glared at me so sharply with the slight movement that I pulled the plate back towards me and finished every last noodle. Almost immediately, the plate was taken away, and Pirallen ordered, "Go to sleep. You'll be woken up at a reasonable time tomorrow morning."

      And true to his word, I was woken up well before lunchtime, though I had doubtlessly been allowed to sleep in. I woke up to a pair of purple eyes, and I yelped and jerked back, almost toppling off the sofa.

      "Pirallen! He's awake!" The Pteri turned and looked at me curiously, fluffing her rainbow feathers. "You're Layn, right?" I didn't bother to correct her. "I'm Jerynan. Loraeth is somewhere around, too, but I guess you can meet him later. I don't know what he's doing now, though, honestly-"

      "Give him a bit of room, Jerynan." Pirallen padded into the room. "I'd offer you some breakfast, but I wouldn't advise it. A lot of people kind of freak out the first time they try."

      Dread once again slowly filtered through me, and I stumbled onto the floor, stretching my back and legs. "What, exactly, are you talking about?" I asked cautiously, slowly inching my way around the other two.

      "Is he up, Pirallen?" That familiar, cool voice. The voice of the young man who had adopted me with barely a second glance. I automatically turned to face his voice, for however cold he was, there was something about that voice that was practically impossible to face away from.

      "He's up," Pirallen confirmed, trotting to the doorway, where our owner appeared. "Shall we?"

      "Of course. Come along, Layn. Jerynan, where has Loraeth vanished off to this time?"

      "I don't know," the Pteri pouted, sulking slightly. "I suppose you want me to find him?"

      "If you please. You can meet us there."

      I looked wildly from one person to the next, their vague speech only serving to confuse me further. "What exactly is going on here?"

      No-one answered me; instead, Pirallen just nodded his head to the door as an indication for me to come with him and our owner. I followed after them, utterly baffled. I couldn't even figure out where we were going, but when our owner pulled a map from his pocket, I suddenly, inexplicably became unspeakably nervous.

      "I found him!"

      Hard on our heels came Jerynan, flitting through the air, and a Camouflage Xweetok, presumably the same Loraeth they had spoken of before. The Xweetok only nodded once at me before pawing at the ground. "Let's go, shall we?" he said in perfectly neutral voice, as though only along for the ride. Between Jerynan's excited jubilance and the cool almost-arrogance of both Pirallen and our owner, Loraeth's flat expression and uninflected speech were surprising. Still, I had only a moment to look at him before our owner shot me a look that made me follow him.

      If I thought he had been cold and heartless before, I thought even less of him after. In a mere few seconds, he had pulled us all into a small room, nodded shortly to an intimidating, creepy Scorchio, and indicated me with a flick of his fingers. In only a moment, I was separated from the others, and although I didn't know what was coming, I knew enough that I was just as scared as I had been when I had been pounded, seemingly so long ago.

      "Please, don't do this!" I didn't know what 'this' was, but I knew that it was very, very bad, for even Pirallen was inching away from me with a flicker of anxiety in his eyes. And if that Lupe was scared, then I was practically blind with fear.

      It wasn't painful. To be honest, I could barely feel anything at all. But it was still absolutely terrifying, and I had crouched down, paws clamped over my muzzle to hide my eyes. But nothing had happened.

      "Don't worry," Jerynan said cheerily, clearly not quite understanding how to comfort someone, "the lab will do something to you soon."

      I was brought back to the lab again the next day, and the next, and the next. It was a never-ending cycle. I had thought my owner to be cool and detached at first, but every day he brought me to this secret laboratory and unflinchingly offered me up as an unwilling test subject, and every day I cowered before the ray hoping that the damage wouldn't be too great, and every day made my owner seem more terrible than before. I slowly grew stronger and faster, but it couldn't possibly be worth facing this terror every day.

      Part of me wondered if I was perhaps being too harsh on my second owner; after all, aside from the lab, he took better care of me than my previous owner. He gave me food when I wanted to eat, not just when he remembered. I didn't have my own bedroom, but I slept in the den on the couch, warm and comfortable. He actually played with me once every few days instead of just leaving toys for me. And he – and all three of the other Neopets – were doing their best to change me. It was slow and dreadfully obvious, but they were determined. They urged me to ask for what I wanted, to demand to be treated well – to act like them. To act like I thought I was more than worthy of superior treatment. All of them seemed determined to boost my self-esteem to ridiculous heights. I didn't understand why at the time – after all, it wasn't like I was receiving top-class treatment in that family, not when I was being hauled to the secret laboratory daily. Pirallen in particular dropped hints left and right, implying that I would, sometime in the future, be treated like a king, and thus needed to learn to act like one, except perhaps without the snobbery. But all the same, my owner was so cold, seemingly emotionless... no, my previous owner had not been perfect, but my current owner was almost cruel sometimes. He was far from perfection, so very far.

      It happened suddenly. It was another day in front of the lab, and I cringed and was blasted by the ray. But when I lifted my paw, it was a dull grey, no longer green. For the first time, I saw my owner really smile.

      "Well, look at that," Loraeth noted dispassionately. "He's changed colours." And with those words, I was thrown into a sudden whirlwind of action.

      I was hauled back home, and suddenly all three of the other Neopets were shockingly protective of me, growling and hovering around me when someone so much as looked at me the wrong way. My owner vanished entirely that morning, was nowhere to be found for the afternoon, and only reappeared that evening, looking rather smug about something. "Layn! Come with me!" I stood up almost immediately, automatically heeding his call, and Pirallen stood up as well, looking almost as smug as our owner.

      I didn't ask where we were going; I didn't want to. Jerynan winked and Loraeth gave me a little nod, and I only lowered my head to them as I left the house. Pirallen and our owner were silent, and I followed them meekly, all the way to Neopia Central. I knew what was coming. I just knew it. And some part of me was afraid, but another part of me was remembering what Pirallen had told me my first night in that house.

      You call him 'heartless' now, but you'll thank him someday.

      This time, when we got to the pound, people stared. I realised what they were seeing – an owner going to the pound with two rare pets in tow. Part of me burned in shame at the realisation that, once again, I would be abandoned – because really, what else could he possibly be planning? – but somehow, it was different this time around.

      My owner did the paperwork quickly and efficiently, showing as little emotion as my first owner had when she had brought me to the pound. He put the required money on the desk, glanced over his shoulder, and pushed the papers forward. Before I could turn around, though, the Techo was asking my owner those same questions, and I was quivering despite myself.

      "I'm sure."

      And in a heartbeat, I was taken away. My owner – now former owner – glanced back again and nodded to something out of sight, and without looking again at me, turned and left, Pirallen trailing him. I wished that my former owner would spare one last glance at me, but there was nothing. What did I expect? He wasn't perfect, either.

      I drooped slightly and took a deep breath, determined to keep a better control of myself this time. The Techo had only just closed the cage door behind me, though, when a girl appeared at his side, a Cybunny peering out from behind her legs. "I'll take him, please," she said without preamble, taking out her wallet to fork out the money. The Techo shrugged, opened the door again, and I leapt out, looking up at my owner-to-be and the other Neopet curiously.

      You'll thank him someday.

      I was out of the pound again in only a few minutes. I blinked in the sunlight. "So, you're Layn, right?" the girl asked brightly, urging the Cybunny out into plain sight. "This is LadyxTierra, but she goes by Tierra. She's your sister now."

      "Hi, Layn," Tierra said quietly, still hiding a little behind her – our – owner.

      "Take good care of him."

      That voice...

      I turned and looked over my shoulder, and my former owner – my second former owner – smiled a weary but brilliant smile, clearly quite pleased with himself. Pirallen looked just as contented. "Layn is a bit shy still, even if we managed to work some of it out of him. Make sure you take care of him. He deserves it."

      "Of course he does," my new owner said with a laugh. "Don't worry, I'll give him the care he deserves. He's perfect."

      I froze at those words, struggling to comprehend. I wasn't perfect – I was far from it. I could feel Pirallen's eyes on me, and I met his gaze slowly. He outright smirked and mouthed two words: You see?

      I almost laughed. After all, Pirallen was right. His owner was cold and imperfect, so much so that this smile had faded quickly from his face. He just nodded at me with a flicker of something in his gaze, then crouched down a little to meet my eyes. "I did my best to find the perfect owner for you," he said quietly, patting my head once. "I know you hated staying with me, but I hope that, later on, you think it was worth it." Then, with an inscrutable smile, he stood up straight and snapped his fingers. Pirallen shot a quick grin at me before bounding after his owner, and they vanished around the next corner. I actually laughed a little from relief, and my new owner looked at me with such a thrilled expression that I grinned up at her, too. She likely wouldn't be perfect either, I reflected, but maybe it would be all right. After all, everything would be perfect enough.

The End