The Deceitful One

"Benny!" Bryan crouched and looked down under his bed as he searched for Benny. He then got back up and searched his entire bedroom but still couldn't find him.

Panic-stricken, he then searched the other parts of his apartment. Since, a week after Benny had hatched, from time to time, he would go missing and then at other times he would appear out of the blue.

Bryan had no idea when or how Benny left the confines of his apartment. Or where the little bugger went either!

For the past two weeks, Bryan had been taking Benny out wherever he went. Whether it was the Silver Owls HQ—where everyone completely fell in love with Benny—, grocery runs, or even when he went out drinking with Andrew and Elijah.

It's because Bryan did not want to leave a newborn Benny at home all by himself. Bryan thought it would be very bad to leave Benny alone, especially for the latter's growth.

The only time he did leave Benny at home was when he went out on night patrols. The streets of Damascus were getting dangerous by the day, with constant scuffles and small-sized riots happening every now and then.

Hence, Bryan thought taking Benny along with him would be counterproductive. Should he come into a situation where he needed to fight off people, Benny could very well prove to be a hindrance for him.

As Bryan was searching through the living room, all of a sudden he heard Benny's voice behind him, "Meow~"

He turned around and visibly sighed in relief after seeing that Benny was all right. He thought that he would severely reprimand the latter, however, seeing Benny's bright and innocent eyes, the words got stuck in Bryan's mouth.

"Where did you go this time?" Bryan asked him as he pretended to be angry. Although he was pretending to be angry, he truly felt very frustrated.

Every time Benny disappeared, he would be greatly worried. After all, over the last two weeks, having spent literally all their time together, he had grown extremely fond of Benny.

Listening to Bryan, Benny didn't reply at first. Instead, he dashed towards Bryan and pounced on him. Bryan tried to get him in his embrace, however, Benny, with great agility, dodged Bryan's grasp mid-air and all of a sudden, bit on his forearm.

"Ah, fuck!" Bryan was greatly taken aback as he felt a stinging pain on his right forearm, "Benny! You're misbehaving again!"

This time Bryan was truly mad at Benny. But before he could say anything more, his vision fell on the area of his forearm where he was bitten.

He saw the strange runes in the unknown language that he had seen on Benny's eggshell, form around the area of the bite mark!

These strange runes wriggled and formed a circular pattern that resembled a mass of swirling tentacles at a glance.

As Bryan tried to read the runes, they disappeared! Completely submerged under his skin. Moreover, there was no bite mark at all. His forearm looked the same as if Benny hadn't bitten him at all!

He looked at Benny wide-eyed and asked, "Benny! What did you do?"

Benny, however, looked at Bryan for a few moments. His facial expression scrunched up as if he was trying really hard to do something. And the next moment, Benny spoke telepathically, 'Bryan!'

Bryan heard his own name echo in his mind and was greatly taken aback. The voice sounded like that of a boy who had just started to learn to speak!

"Benny, did you just…" He looked at Benny incredulously.

Benny started to cheerfully run circles around Bryan as he repeated happily in the latter's mind, 'Bryan! Bryan! Bryan!'

Bryan was flabbergasted, to say the least, as he picked up Benny and brought him to his eye level, "Benny! You can speak!? I mean, you can speak through your mind?"

Benny's lips curled up into a cheerful smile as he nodded, "Meow!"

Bryan started laughing as he spun Benny around, "Hahaha! Amazing! How did you do it?"

Benny thought for a long time but in the end, he just gave up and replied, "Meow~"

Bryan's eyebrow couldn't help but twitch, "Never mind that. Where did you go just now? And where do you keep vanishing to every time?"

This time Benny closed his eyes as he thought for a long time. His eyebrows furrowed as he mentally transmitted a word with great difficulty, 'H-Home!'

Confused, Bryan tilted his head and inquired, "Home? And where's your home?"

This time, however, Benny didn't reply. Instead, he began to lick Bryan's cheek, "Meow~ Meow~"

"Huh? You don't know or you don't want to say?" Bryan rolled his eyes.

Benny looked at Bryan innocently and began to nuzzle his head against the latter's face.

Bryan rolled his eyes yet again, "You're getting better at acting. As expected of someone I raised. Fine, let's give you a warm bath first."

Benny's eyes widened in horror as he heard Bryan mention the word 'bath'. He tried his best to get out of Bryan's grasp, "Meeowww!!"

However, Bryan simply scoffed, "You wish! It's important that you get a bath daily. Hmph, perhaps I can be lenient and bathe you every other day."

Benny had a suicidal expression on his face as he stretched out his tiny paws as if asking the empty air to help him.

But before he knew it, he had already entered the bathroom and Bryan had already shut the door!

About five minutes later, Bryan exited the bathroom with Benny still in his embrace. The latter's fur was now soaking wet as he was wrapped up in a white towel.

Benny's expression was listless. As if he had just fought a great battle and in the end had lost his will to live.

Looking at Benny's downtrodden expression, Bryan chuckled as he patted the former's head gently, "Don't be like that. I'll give you some good steak and some fresh milk. How about that?"

The moment Benny heard the words, 'steak' and 'milk', his eyes lit up as he turned to look up at Bryan and said telepathically, 'YES!'