Cain

Based on a dream I had! In the dream, I (Jay) was a member of some government council of a sci-fi spaceship city and we were deciding on the fate of this kid who got turned into a "vampire" (not a traditional vampire, just kind of the same vibe of a creature who may pose a threat to society). The council wanted to kill him and be done w it but I was like dude wtf that's a kid??? Anyway after a lot of back and forth we settled on an agreement where I would have custody of the child and take responsibility for raising him, etc. while the council, as a failsafe, had doctors surgically implant this device into his chest that will stop his heart if it detects that he's losing control of his powers. My friend encouraged me to make him into an OC so here we are :3

The story so far:

(note: Jay uses she/they pronouns in this story and I was using them interchangeably)

I've changed the setting from sci-fi into like, modern fantasy lol?? Basically the world is pretty much like our 21st-century Earth w the same level of technology BUT there is also sigil magic. It works just like any other technology except sigils are powered by magic instead of electricity. Humans can't do magic without channeling it through a sigil so they either have to spend hours painstakingly drawing a sigil or buy a printout from walmart or something. Since sigils are so sensitive to changes in shape most hand-drawn sigils don't ever function (unless you're a trained sigil calligrapher or whatever). The incident that changed Cain into a "vampire" is a ritual that would imbue a demon's life force into a human body which would allow a human to use magic freely without sigils. Cain's foster parents were responsible for this. They basically wanted to use him as a guinea pig before doing the ritual for themselves in case it was too dangerous (and they thought an orphaned child would be the best test subject bc he wouldn't have parents or relatives who would be up in arms in case he died lol). The host has to be conscious for the entire ritual so Cain's foster parents just tied him up in a chair, but Cain managed to break out of his restraints in the middle of the ritual, interrupting it and causing the deaths of his foster parents. The transfer was also not complete so even though he was able to use magic without sigils, it's nowhere near the level of power of a normal demon. However, the council still didn't like this bc they feared his existence would show that humans are able to freely wield magic and would encourage other people to look into the ritual as well. This is why they wanted to kill him, but Jay argued that as long as he can control his magic he wouldn't be a threat to society. Eventually the council conceded on the condition that the device be installed in Cain's heart.

So Cain got adopted by Jay when he was 10 & spent the first 2-3 years sorta recovering from the trauma of the Ritual™. Jay homeschooled him during this time and he picked things up very quickly (what a nerd <3). Jay was also teaching him how to manage his emotions bc they knew that emotional arousal is a slippery slope to losing control of his magic. It was a process and one time Cain did actually lose control and Jay had to resuscitate him. The council got real mad about that but Jay said since she was the only one in his proximity and since he didn't actually hurt anyone there was no danger there and she was in the right to SAVE HER SON'S LIFE. Jay's a very convincing orator and also highly persistent so the council let them off with a warning. Cain had been outside the door listening in and he never forgot about how his mother spent hours defending his life against the council, nor the tired smile she gave him when she finally stepped out of the meeting room.

The next year (13) Jay decided to send him to school. Since their goal was to give Cain a more or less "normal" life it wouldn't do to deprive him of a social life with his peers. Cain was reluctant to leave Jay but put on a brave face and got on the bus on his first day of school. Although Jay tried to keep things on the down-low by having him take the bus like all the other kids, everyone at school pretty much knew Cain was the son of Councilmember Jay. This of course attracted the attention of the school bullies, who wanted to have someone like that on their side so they can pull shit like "give me your lunch money or Cain's gonna tell his mom about you"

So the leader of the gang approached him as if to make friends, expecting to have to earn his friendship (bc surely the son of the most scrupulous councilmember would have some of his mother's social cunning?) but when Cain welcomed them all with a shy smile they realized this kid really wasn't all that. Since most of the other kids were too scared to approach him after the bullies got to him, Cain became the newest member of their group.

He came home all excited to tell Jay that he made new friends at school. Jay was happy to hear it but still worried that the kids at school would be taking advantage of her son. But Jay didn't want to ruin this for Cain so they just did their best to keep an eye on the situation.

Unfortunately, Cain was soon manipulated into doing all the dirty work for the bullies when they found out how strong he was in a fight. He felt unsure about targeting seemingly innocent defenseless students but surely his Good Friends wouldn't tell him to do something Bad, right? He also couldn't tell Jay about his struggle bc whenever he invoked his mother's teachings in front of his Friends they would always be like "so what? your mom isn't here now." or "what are you gonna do about it? Tell your mom???" and because Cain was such a sweet and thoughtful kid and bc Jay had once told him before sending him off to school: "I can't always be there to protect you. You'll have to learn to stand on your own one day." Cain decided that this must be the Test of whether or not he can stand on his own. So he kept it all inside and pretended everything was okay.

He's not very good at lying, though. Even if he was, his mom was Jay, so there was no hiding anything from her gaze. Jay had long suspected something was Off about this particular group of friends but didn't say anything too much bc they wanted Cain to learn to recognize these things and come to them for help on his own. However, Cain got caught fighting one too many times and the administrators decided enough was enough. Even if he was the councilmember's kid he can't go around beating other kids up all the time. Jay gets called into the principal's office.

Upon hearing what had truly been happening at school, Jay pieced together the story. They promised to talk to their son and put an end to the fighting. On the way home that day Cain was scared that Jay would be upset at him, but Jay just told him with a smile that it wasn't his fault. Friends shouldn't make you feel bad and they definitely shouldn't ignore your concerns like they did and it's okay to still feel bad about losing them even if you realize they weren't good for you. Cain had a good cry and afterward they got some ice cream and watched a movie while huddled in a blanket burrito on the couch.

That night Jay asked Cain if he would rather be homeschooled again. Cain thought about it but then said, "What about the Council?"

"What about them?"

"Well... they're gonna think you failed again, right? And... they're gonna yell at you again... like last time. I don't... want that to happen."

Jay smiled, leaning over to kiss him on the forehead. "Don't worry about those old hags, I can handle them. What I want is for you to be happy."

Cain went quiet for a moment before looking up at his mother. "I want to make you happy too! So, I... want to keep going. It won't be that bad... I just have to make new friends again, right?"

Jay laughed and ruffled his hair. "Now how did I raise such a thoughtful boy? Alright, let's keep going, but promise you'll talk to me if you're having trouble again."

"Okay mom. I love you."

"Love you too, baby. Goodnight."

So Cain went back to school with the intent to cut ties w the bullies and find a new group of friends who'll treat him right. Unfortunately, being a socially awkward teen whose only real friend thus far has been his mom makes it real difficult to navigate the social spaces of a public school. Not to mention that now he was also the target of those whom he once called his "friends." The bullies may not stand up to him in a physical altercation, but they knew how to control the social sphere. The leader of the group spread a rumor that Cain's mom was using their influence as a councilmember to blackmail teachers into giving Cain good grades. Obviously, mama's boy Cain was not gonna stand for that and he ended up getting into yet another fight. I do have to give him credit for trying to talk to them first, but Cain isn't very good at words and would much prefer to just deck a motherfucker. Which is what happened. Jay got called into school once again.

This time, upon hearing Cain's explanation, it was clear to Jay that Cain was in the right, but they couldn't very well just tell the administration to piss off. That would be bad PR. Instead, Jay very graciously apologized on Cain's behalf while still making it clear her son had done nothing wrong. In the end, the principal felt like they were the scolded schoolkid and sent Jay & Cain on their way.

Cain felt terrible about causing yet more trouble for Jay, especially since they had been called during the middle of a council meeting. He imagined the other councilmembers' faces sneering at his mother as she left the meeting to go pick him up and resolved that, no, he was going to stand on his own from now on.

Jay never minded the trouble, of course. Very few things truly bothered them and the council's cutting words were always water off a duck's back. What they really cared about was Cain, and he didn't realize that by trying to keep secrets he was only worrying Jay more.

The last year of middle school came and went with no new occurrences. Cain never managed to make new friends both bc he was the target of constant bullying and also bc everyone at school thought "if this Cain kid was so bad that even the bullies kicked him out, I definitely don't wanna get involved with him" Jay knew he wasn't doing well but didn't want to smother him with their concerns so they mostly watched from afar while still letting him know they were here for him. Plus they had been getting busier with council work so they just hadn't had the time to spend with him.

At the start of freshman year in hs (idk if this society still divides grades up like this but whatever lmao it's convenient for what's about to happen next) the rumors around Cain had mostly settled down. After being pointedly ignored for a year the bullies decided he wasn't fun to bully anymore and moved onto other targets. Plus, being in a new school meant a fresh start. Cain began stepping in whenever he noticed others getting targeted but this just resulted in him getting into more fights again (and Jay getting called into school, again). However, because of this his reputation shifted from being "the weird scary kid that the bullies don't even want to associate with" to "brooding mysterious vigilante bad boy (who is also hot)" (this also had the interesting side effect of garnering a lot of support for Jay from the young people, bc her hot son is out here defending them from bullies lmao)

Cain was too caught up in his own troubles to notice this, though, so when people started approaching him again he regarded them with suspicion lest they turn out to be just like his last group of "friends"

Jay knew that people were starting to come around to her son and chalked Cain's reluctance to accept new friendships to a mixture of social awkwardness and a lack of awareness that people were even trying to befriend him. They knew how hard he was hit when he lost his last group of "friends," but they didn't realize how much that was still affecting him. After all, it was hard to unlearn everything they had told him. He didn't want to always have to rely on his mom. He didn't want to cause more trouble for her when she was already doing so much. He didn't know why it was so hard to just do things on his own. His mom always handled herself with so much poise. Was he just not good enough?

All of this came to a head one day when Jay decided to finally sit down and talk with Cain about what's been going on in his life. Jay regarded it as a simple catching up after they had been so busy with work, but Cain had been bottling so much up inside that it finally spilled out that day. Things got heated and when Jay cautioned him about the device in his heart Cain said, "So what if I die? You'd probably be happier anyway. I'm not even your real son!" and stormed out the door.

Jay breathed a sigh in the now-empty house and decided to give Cain some space. If they went to confront him now they might actually push him over the edge. They turned to the kitchen to begin preparing dinner.

Meanwhile, Cain had ended up in the shady part of town (which is closer to Jay's house than most of the public would imagine, they weren't interested in living in a big expensive publically-funded mansion so instead chose a smaller house near the edge of what was considered the "respectable" neighborhood. this also served to provide some anonymity to Cain while he was growing up). He went into an alleyway to try to get some privacy while he calms down but this random guy with a knife (who is maybe probably drunk) showed up and started berating him. Cain was like "I'm literally not in the mood right now go fuck off" to which the guy responded by stabbing him. Then leaving him to bleed out. What an asshole.

So Cain is lying there in his own blood in the back of an alley and he's like. Maybe it's better this way. At least if I die like this it's not because I was about to hurt anyone. And I'll finally stop causing trouble for mom.

As he was thinking this a call came in from Jay. They had finished making dinner. Cain considered letting it ring but he was scared. He didn't want to die. He especially didn't want to die knowing the last thing he said to his mom was "I'm not your real son." So he picked up.

Jay immediately realized something was wrong and after figuring out what happened they called an ambulance to his coordinates. They had objected when the council wanted to place a gps tracker along with the device into Cain's heart, but now they were grateful for that decision. The EMT arrived before Cain passed out and brought him to the hospital. It was a simple procedure to give him a blood transfusion and clean and close up his wound and they finished treating him before Jay even arrived.

Cain woke up shortly after the procedure and had a bit of time to reflect before Jay busted down the door and ran over to hug him. Cain realized as Jay was stroking his hair that this was the first time he had seen his mother cry. He couldn't hold his own tears back and the two held each other in the hospital room.

Cain finally told Jay everything that had been going through his head, all the while apologizing for being a bad son. Jay laughed through tears and said don't be ridiculous. You're the best son anyone could ever ask for. They talked for a long time, and for once there were no more secrets between them.

As they were leaving the hospital Jay pulled him toward a familiar ice cream stand with a knowing smile. They went home that day to watch a movie while curled up in a blanket on the couch.

After the bandages came off for the last time, Cain's abdomen had a light scar running across it. Although medical technology had advanced to the point that surgical incisions could be erased without a trace, a messy stab wound from a back alley knife fight did not heal as cleanly. He didn't like looking at it at first; it was a reminder of the time he made his mother cry. But as time passed (and as Jay continued to assure him he was not at fault) he started seeing it as just another landmark in his storied life. He started opening up more to others at school and quickly gained a new group of friends, ones he actually felt comfortable inviting to his home. The kids were pleasantly surprised to see the "motherly" side of Councilmember Jay. Cain continued to do well in school, graduating at the top of his class. He flashed a huge grin at the audience as he walked across the stage to receive his diploma.

Jay couldn't be prouder of their son.