Siiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh lets get this out of the way. I don't own hetalia or any anime, book, or movie I may make a reference to OKEY DOKEY ENJOY!

Stay away from the light.

It's a simple rule, really, but much harder than it seems. It's hard to stay in the shadows when our appearances make us easy to pinpoint by the Hounds. Unnatural hair…gruesome eyes… sickly spots on our skin…disfigured body parts…disgusting looks. Anyone that didn't fit into their standards was considered disgusting and marked as Creature. Not physically though since we don't give them the chance to do it, us creatures stay hidden to survive.

But not all of us have are bodies untouched by the Trackers. The poor souls that are captured are cut with a knife across their face under their eyes and either thrown in the freak show or sold to the Pures…the dominant status in the city. They have the least amount of flaws on their bodies, which is none. They have no physical flaws and that leaves them on top.

In the light.

oooooOOOOOooooo

I'm running…again. That's the third time this week I've found myself straining my legs and body past exhaustion to stay away from the Hounds. Those filthy mutts would go to any lengths to get their hands on one of us if it means gold in the end. My stamina is cut short and I'm starting to trip over my feet but I don't stop. I think they stopped following me a while back but turning around to find out is not a risk I am willing to take.

I round the corner and once I am certain I am no longer at risk, I press my back against the cold wall and slump to the muddy ground. My legs are shaking and my breath is coming out in painful pants. I'm safe. Once again…I'm safe.

"Are you sure he went this way?" That voice sends a shiver down my spine but it isn't enough to get my legs moving again. They're burning and shaking violently so I stay silent and hope they aren't talking about me.

"Yea, I saw gray hair!" My stomach drops. Now I know they're talking about me. I try to get back on my feet but I can't stand for a second without falling…so I wait. Their voices fade as they move away from where I'm hiding and without thinking I let my body relax. After a couple of minutes, they're back.

I can hear the Hounds getting closer but I can't get my legs to cooperate so I try to crawl further into the shadows with my arms dragging the rest of my limp body.

"I found the Creature!" One of them yelled. I could feel him running and the terror in my chest expanding. I could feel a metal serpent wrapping around my legs preventing me from crawling away much further and stabs to my neck from its fangs. I felt my body twitch in pain and my nails bleed as I tried to free myself…then nothing. I felt nothing. The serpent wasn't cold anymore, my body went numb, the Hounds' bark like laughs were silent, and the walls were dark.

They've won.

oooooOOOOOooooo

It hurts.

My first thought when I opened my eyes was that it hurts. My body was aching from the strain of the chase and my neck was sore from the serpent's venom but my mind was focusing on the burn stretching under my eyes. I couldn't believe that I let them mark me after having avoided them all my life! Letting my guard down had been a mistake...one that cost me my freedom.

I sat up slowly and noticed I was in small windowless room. There was barely room to stretch my legs and if I stood up I'm sure my head would almost reach the ceiling. One of the walls appeared to be made of glass but knowing anyone could easily break through it and escape, I doubt it was.

My vision focused beyond the transparent wall when a figure was thrown against the opposite one. It was a boy. He was being pushed by two Keepers into his room but not before they had their fun. His face was twisted in pain as he was pushed against the wall before they finally threw him in and walked away.

Looking at him properly I felt pity; he was a creature but just barely. His hair was one of the colors of the Pures, blonde, but it was a washed-out ashy tint; besides the scar under his eyes, his skin didn't have any visible marks but it was a sickly pale color, not exactly ghostly like mine, but sickly enough; his back and feet pushed awkwardly against opposite walls so he was taller than what was the norm and his eyes were a dull bruise purple color. If just one of those flaws hadn't been there, he would have had been a working class like the Keepers or the Hounds. Life can be cruel sometimes.

But I didn't dwell on it much as I closed my eyes and forced myself to sleep.

The following day I spent it playing along to whatever the keepers told me to do. If I was going to have any chance of getting out, I needed to know how things functioned around here. We were woken up early and handed what I supposed was our breakfast before having our hands and feet restrained and dragged into a giant translucent dome outside the stone walls.

The sky was colored gray by the clouds and the smoke of the city which meant I didn't have to worry about my skin, the floor was layered with grass too green to be natural, few tables and chairs were scattered around and the people beyond the dome walked past; some without moving their noses from their air of superiority and others staring at us like their soon to be pets. It made me sick.

I tried looking for a way I could escape from here but the moment the doors were locked it was impossible to know where they had once been. In any case we were probably being watched since this is the place where any creature was most likely to try something. Sighing, I slumped down on the too soft grass and glared at the Pures outside our transparent prison to pass the time.

"GET AWAY, GET AWAY!" A voice shouted and I was immediately on my feet staring at a mud brown haired boy behind me. "THIS IS MY SPASE YOU CAN'T COME NEAR, BASTARD!" the boy shouting was being restrained by long chains that stopped him right before he could get to where I was standing.

"I wasn't anywhere hear you!" I shouted back and his already sick eyes tainted with anger.

"ARE YOU FUCKING CALLING ME BLIND?"

"Lovino calm down, if you keep yelling the mistress is going to send in the keepers" another voice whispered behind me. It was the boy from yesterday.

"SO WHAT!? THAT BITCH AND THOSE BASTARDS DON'T SCARE ME!" he barked, eyes moving rapidly from one place to another as if to expecting to catch a glimpse of something.

"But they know what does." He replied calmly passing me and stepping closer to the raging boy who grew quiet and still. "It's bad enough that they chained you…don't make them-"

"Yea whatever…I didn't want to sit here anyway!" the boy huffed and turned on his heels dragging the chains behind him. The boy next to me sighed and kneeled down on the grass where I was sitting earlier resting his hands on his lap.

"I'm sorry about Lovino" he said not turning to look at me "this place brings out the worst in some of us…"

Relaxing my shoulders slightly, I sat back down a few steps away from the blonde. "Then why is he the only one out here that's chained?"

"Because everyone else is locked up" he said without a second thought, looking up ahead without seeing anything. His eyes where droopy and glazed over so I wonder if he could see well. I also wondered why he hasn't been bought yet, he didn't seem to have anything people would pay to see at the freak show and he was one of the less "disgusting" ones of the creatures.

"How long have you been here?"

"Longer than most…" is all he said before closing his eyes. I didn't say anything else; instead I looked out beyond the dome to where he had been staring and glared at the passing people until the Keepers opened the door to chain us again and guide us back in.

I was separated out of the rest along with a few others, who I presumed where recently captured, and dragged one by one into a white room. Inside a camera inspected every inch of our body and a metallic hand zoomed out and branded us with a piece of jewelry. we ether got out with a red drop like earing or a sharp black one before being thrown through two different doors.

As I got pushed in though one of the doors, I was greeted with another Keeper waiting for me. I followed him through the cold hallways and down as though a dark stairway as best as my poor vision could allow until we reached a basement of glass cells that were a lot bigger than the one I was in the night before but also a lot colder. I stumbled into the cell that hid in the back of the room and the keeper left without giving me a second glance. This place made me sick, but I didn't let my anger get the best of me…not yet.

"I was right" I heard a whisper behind me but saw no one. "I knew you would end up like this." he continued and out of the shadows a figure materialized until I saw the boy with the sickly purple eyes.

"How, exactly?" I said standing up cautiously.

"A freak" he said lifting his hand to lazily point at my ear where a blood red earing was stabbed in place, marking me for the freak show. I swapped his hand away in anger and moved back until my back was touching the glass wall.

"At least I'm not a toy" I growled. He flinched and moved his fists to his chest but didn't step back.

After a small pause I heard him breath in and speak softly again. "We would've had a higher chance of escaping if we had been."

Confusion masked my face until I saw the same red earing dangling from his small ear.

SUUUUUUUUP PEOPLE DUCKLING HERE QUACK! So I was listening to the song "girls girls girls" by Emily Autumn so it got me wanting to write something about a freak show but also i just finished reading this book called the glass arrow by Kristen Simmons which if you're looking for a book you should totally check it out and anyways that's where I got the inspiration for the separation of classes and the whole selling people and anyways it's gonna be loosely based on that book but just barely (pssst you should check it out!) anyways I'll see you guys next chapter which I'll definetly try to make longer DUCKLING OUT QUACK!