#captivity mention tw

[lilacevans]

𝑜ℎ, 𝑡𝑜 𝑝𝑢𝑡 𝑖𝑡 𝑏𝑙𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑙𝑦, 𝑠𝑢𝑛𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑒… 𝑦𝑜𝑢'𝑟𝑒 𝑓𝑢𝑐𝑘𝑒𝑑.

— pete’s place🤎

[whumperofworlds]

Whumpee who recently got off of some addiction (drugs, caffeine, something like that), but during captivity, Whumper forces them to take the addiction back.

(Was thinking of that one story @kabie-whump wrote with Ventis. 👀)

[inkblot22]

Give You Something To Cry About

Yay, my time management skills continue to be straight ass. Sorry to the anon who has waited so patiently for this, and thank you so much for giving me an excuse to write this depraved ball of snot. Headers by @/cafekitsune. Also don't believe everything you see on the internet, there's no scientific proof that certain things work for your skin. I think Vil would know that, considering.

This Fic Is For: Anyone who can handle it! Once again, I tried to make it as gn as possible, considering Rook's use of Franglais, but I'm delusional and will say I did exactly that. Reader is referred to with they/them pronouns, and no real allusions to specific body parts are made for them.

TW for DEAD DOVE, DO NOT EAT, forced dieting, non/dubcon, mentions of death, questionable use of magic, captivity, someone has a case of dacryphilia and a strong sadist streak, won't say who, Rook Hunt because he freaks me out, unhealthy relationship dynamics, abuse, forced BDSM if you squint, I feel so bad for the reader in this one, toxic relationships, possibly OOC characters.

“I am not going to tell you again, my love.” Vil bends down to get in your face, already wearing his ceremonial robe and heels. He points a finger in your face, like you’re a small child or a dog, “If you continue to pick at your skin, I am going to let Rook punish you this time.”

You swallow and look away, and Vil pinches your cheeks between his thumb and fingers, pulling your head so you’re looking at him again. His violet eyes bore into you, and you swallow again.

He looks offended, almost, “Well? Have you forgotten basic manners? Speak.”

Your voice sounds dry and weak, “Yes, Vil. I understand.”

He seems satisfied enough with that, moving around as he continues to prepare for whatever school-wide assembly is happening today. He elegantly tucks his hair behind his ear and sighs, scrolling through some page on his phone.

You remain standing where you are, turning your head to look out the window. It’s so pretty outside, but you only get to leave this room whenever Rook is watching you or Vil sends you on an errand. It’s always spring, never too hot, never too cold, but you’re sweating anyway.

Vil approaches you again and tilts your face back so you’re looking at him with a hand on your cheek. His eyes narrow a fraction.

“Your skin doesn’t seem to like this foundation. Make sure you discard it today; I’ll get you a new one.” He bends down again, this time to press a chaste kiss to your lips. He rubs his own together after pulling away and smudges his thumb over your bottom lip, “Hmm. What lipgloss is this?”

Your voice doesn’t sound so dry, but it still doesn’t sound like you, “Uh… The dark red one with the metallic purple? ‘Electric Berry’?

He’s silent for a second, just staring down at your lips as he cups your chin, and then he sighs and turns away, “It’s sticky. I’d tell you to wash your face and reapply your makeup, but that’d be a waste. Make sure you put on lip balm next time.”

You swallow, “Yes, Vil. I understand.”

“I have to get going now. You’d better be at least halfway done with that list by the time I return.” He breezes towards the door and gives you a last, long look. He’s completely silent before he leaves, closing the door behind him.

Your palms ache. You stiltedly wander towards the list pinned in the closet, glad to see it’s not insane today. All you need to do is tidy the bathroom and skim through Vil’s mail to see if it’s anything but hate mail or advertisements. Tack on getting rid of that foundation and that’s it, at least until he returns at lunch.

You relished this time to yourself, even if it was just cleaning or whatever else. Vil always said that motion is good for you, a structure does the mind good. You didn’t care much anymore. As you sat down to search through his mail, finding nothing but the usual hate mail and what appears to be a poem from Rook (why did he even mail that? He’s not even down the hall from this room,) you catch yourself craving something sweet.

The diet Vil has you on sucks. He has assured you that your body is lovely, and he is having you eat like this to help clear your skin, but really you just want something. Anything, you’d even take a breath mint over this lack of junk food. You’re young, what young person doesn’t enjoy gratuitously unhealthy food? A basket of french fries? Ice cream? 

You frown to yourself and toss the last of the mail into the recycle bin. You know he’s just going to check it over again anyway, but at least you’re moving around. That’s what he would say.

By the time you’re almost done scrubbing the tub, you hear the door open. You don’t want to go greet him, so you pretend you didn’t hear anything and keep cleaning, making sure to disinfect the non-slip mat that resembles a bunch of ugly gems glued together. 

You hear him clicking towards you, and his hand rests on your shoulder, “Going above and beyond today? I have lunch, come eat.”

You school your expression and stand up, pulling off your cleaning gloves and hanging them on the rim of the tub before you follow Vil. He ensconces himself in his desk chair, leaving you to awkwardly lift the stool near his vanity. He hates it when you push the furniture.

He clucks his tongue, not even looking at you, “Lift with your knees, darling. As much as I’d love to massage your back if you pull something, I simply don’t have the time.”

You can’t help it. You shoot him the nastiest glare you can muster as you lift with your knees, right as his eyes flick up to meet yours. You nearly drop the chair as his lips curl into a cold smirk.

“Do you have something to say?”

You hastily shake your head, “No, Vil-”

“Then don’t allow me to see that expression on your face again.” He bites, “Come sit down.”

You put the stool down a little harder than you mean to and take a seat beside Vil at his desk. He passes you your nice little container containing one of several things he gets you- a pile of leafy greens and chopped veggies on a bed of quinoa, fresh fruit, and a murky green smoothie topped with chia seeds.

 You don’t like chia seeds. They remind you of frog eggs- a bunch of slimy lumps, sliding down your throat. You accept the straw Vil passes to you and stir the smoothie before eating in silence.

Vil doesn’t mind if you don’t thank him for feeding you. Since he’s keeping you here, it’s pretty much the least he could do. Still, it doesn’t make up for hearing about his boring day.

“This morning’s assembly was complete and utter chaos, as usual.” He muses, sipping his own smoothie. It’s a soft purple. “It’s ridiculous. Those brutes never wear their robes correctly.”

You don’t respond. There’s two reasons: first of all, you don’t care, and secondly, there’s a knock at the door. Vil hums, as though he’s been waiting for someone, and turns to face the door.

“Who is it?”

That boisterous voice you are so used to hearing echoes past the door, “‘Tis I, Roi du Poison. I have come to join you for lunch.”

You can hear the smile in Vil’s voice, “Oh, of course. Come in.”

As Rook walks in, you feel a stab of jealousy in your chest. He takes a breezy seat on the loveseat in front of Vil’s bed and glances at you. You break eye contact and dully pick at your salad.

Vil treats Rook so nicely. He considers his feelings and opinions, although he doesn’t always listen. He speaks to him as though he’s a person. You suppose Vil’s obvious care for Rook trickles down to you in some capacity, but it hurts. Vil claims that the two of you are lovers, but really you’re more like a doll.

“Do you mind meeting me in the lab later on, Rook?”

Rook chuckles from where he is and you cast another glance at him. His eyes meet yours, again, and you look away, again.

“I can always make time for you, beautiful Vil.”

You lamely pick at the fruit, having finished the salad, before you decide to save it for last. You take a sip of your smoothie after stirring it again and openly recoil, trying not to cough. You didn’t smell it, but there must be ginger in there, because there’s a mellow burn alongside the bitterness from the kale. It makes your eyes water and settles in behind your nose.

“Mmm. Something wrong?” Vil smiles at you.

You shake your head, blinking rapidly so you don’t start crying. There’s not enough tears to fall, but taking your chances is stupid, “No, Vil. The ginger just caught me off guard.”

“Oh. My apologies, I should have warned you. I don’t want you catching a cold, and you’ve been a little irregular. The smoothie also has spinach, kale, avocado, chia seeds, and, of course, a little mango.”

You nod and force yourself to smile, taking another sip and soldiering past the rush of that aromatic pain in your sinuses. “Oh, thank you.”

“You’re very welcome, darling.” Vil turns away from you to speak to Rook again, “What else did you have planned?”

“I thought I might take a walk. It is a wonderful day, non?” There’s a slight mocking tone to Rook’s voice, “Hardly the type of day to be cooped up all day, hmm?”

Vil furrows his eyebrows as you choke down the last of the smoothie. His voice is curt, “You can say what you mean.”

“Est-ce que je peux? You are not very open to suggestion.”

Vil narrows his eyes at Rook, taking a deep sip of his smoothie before he places it on the coaster sitting upon his desk. He uncrosses his long legs and stands, walking over to sit with Rook on the loveseat. Rook watches him approach with a smile, the same pleasant one he usually wears before he shoots you a beaming grin and turns to look at Vil.

Their conversation is hushed, and you can’t really make out all of what they say. You can hear someone say your name, Vil’s tone swiftly turns vitriolic, then sweetens once more, and Rook chuckles under his breath. When their little meeting is over, Vil walks back over and finishes his smoothie before petting your head like you’re some kind of cat.

His hand strokes the crown of your head, then smooths over your cheek, he cups your jaw and thumbs over the swell of your lip, all while staring at you with a look you cannot read. And then he tilts his head, and smiles.

“Make sure you thank Rook. And you mistook a letter from my father as garbage.”

“Yes, Vil.” You reply obediently, “Sorry, Vil.”

He smiles. Your palms ache, and you have to bite back the urge to move, to peel at your cuticles or scratch the sides of your fingers.

“I’ll see you in class, Rook.” Vil says politely before he tilts your face up and pecks you on the lips.

You’re left alone with Rook. He doesn’t get up, not yet. You remain where you are, looking at your slippers. You hear Rook stand up and discard his garbage. You can feel him come up to stand behind you. 

“Has today been particulièrement difficile? My poor dear… You seem so sad today.” His arms wrap around you, looping them around your shoulders so they warm your collarbones like a scarf and he can rest his cheek against the back of your head. You hear him take a deep breath in.

With Vil, you don’t even try to speak anymore. You know he won’t really listen to you, because he knows better than you… But with Rook, as long as you wait a moment to make sure he is done speaking, he welcomes and even encourages you to speak your mind.

Your breath hitches and you swallow, “Uh, I mean… I guess I’m just having a bad day. It’s really been the same as usual.”

“Hmm.” Rook hums, completely devoid of emotion. You feel him turn his face so his nose is buried in your hair. He presses a kiss against your hair and sighs, “Ah, yes, the monotony of life is très épuisant, mmm?”

You wait for a second, then deliberately don’t answer the question in favor of asking your own, “Um, he said I should thank you?”

“Perhaps you should ask why more clearly. I have convinced our very own Vil to allow me to arrange a surprise for you.” Rook removes himself from your back and turns you around to face him, “And thus, I believe I have earned a kiss from you.”

“Wait, what?” You don’t get time to really back away or tell him to explain, as Rook squishes your cheeks with one of his gloved hands until your lips part.

His grip isn’t as harsh as Vil’s, but this is still something that only happens when you’re in more trouble than usual, so you involuntarily wince and close your eyes, cowering away from Rook as he dips his tongue into your mouth and slithers it between your teeth.

It is very easy to like Rook. He is passionate, and he’s far more kind to you than your supposed lover is. He’s intelligent and has an adonis-like form, and if not for the taste of blood on his tongue from whatever he ate for lunch or the grip he has on your face, maybe you would enjoy this kiss. But the big issue is that Rook honestly frightens you a little.

It’s absolutely not his fault, not entirely. Upon first meeting him, it was hard to tell if he was being genuine. He’s difficult to read, as he is often wearing the same set of expressions and his tone is always a bit melodramatic.

His hand releases your face to clamp around the base of your head, his tongue twisting in your mouth, pressing against the crevices in your teeth.

Not only is Rook hard to read, he is also uncannily observant and will not hesitate to ask somewhat invasive questions about his observations. The fact that he dresses in a way that conceals his mass is also disconcerting, as you were unaware that he had such a build until you saw him roll up his sleeve one time. You were aware Vil could do a lot of damage, but that was the day you realized that Rook was capable of doing about as much as Vil, if not more.

He purrs into your mouth, the vibrations feeling oh-so-wrong, and his other hand clamps down on your shoulder. He sucks your tongue into his mouth. It’s not a good feeling, as he is literally stealing what little air is in your mouth. When you feel something feather light flutter against your lashes and cheek, you feel a bit confused for just a moment, not even a second, before you realize that Rook just blinked. His eyes are open. 

He pulls away and sighs, almost dreamily. You suppress your distressed sputtering, holding your breath as Rook stares at you.

“Ah, enough time has passed. I will need to leave you, mon lapin. Thank you for indulging me; your kiss was divine and tasted sweeter than the finest fruits!” He presses something into your palm and adjusts his hat before he casts you a wave and shuts the door.

You stand there, your lips drying out from the saliva left on them and your cheeks feeling a little odd from the way he was holding your face. You’re processing, because, ever as always, Rook is simulated spontaneity. So many things just happened, and you don’t… 

You blink a few times and look down at your aching palm stupidly. The crimson cellophane crinkles as you unclench your fist. He gave you a piece of candy.

Just looking at it makes you start crying. One second you’re staring wide-eyed at the little lump of sugar, and the next your vision is blurring and you’re crying off your makeup, plump tears cascading down your face. Your nose begins to run and you sniffle. You can’t find it in yourself to sob, because you’re mostly certain that these are happy tears. 

Unfortunately, you can’t eat the candy now. If you threw the wrapper away, Vil would notice it in the garbage and you’d get in trouble for “breaking your diet plan.” So you hide it in the very back corner of the drawer of Vil’s armoire. You’ll be tidying it on your own anyway, and Vil never reaches all the way into the back of it.

Once your tears have stopped, you stand up and go back to cleaning the bathroom. It’s spotless and smells like lavender and lemons about an hour before Vil gets back, so you decide to skim one of the books on the shelves. 

It’s not long before you’re bored with that as well. You carefully put the book back and wander over to the lattice window, staring out of it. The window, paired with your usual low mood, made you sort of feel like a bird in a very ornate cage. 

From where you are, about three stories up, you notice a familiar figure notching an arrow before he unnotches it and takes a knee. You blandly spectate as he fiddles with the bow.

Partway through him notching the arrow again, you see his hat tilt. He’s far away enough that you can’t see his eyes, but you can feel his stare. His gloved hand bends his brim and you jerk away from the window, only to bump into someone.

You don’t get to shriek, as a hand clamps over your mouth. It’s just Vil, but you don’t relax yet as he drags you towards the bed and deposits you there.

“How many times must I tell you to stay away from the window?”

He’s never once told you to stay away from the window. Not as far as you can recall, at least. Your lips tremble and you decide it’d be more wise to keep silent.

Vil glares down at you and you feel the rest of your body start to tremble. His lips curl into a displeased sneer, “You didn’t wash your face after crying?”

“N-no, Vil-”

“We do not stutter.” Vil hisses, bending to get in your face. He stares at you for a moment before standing straight again, “Speak up.”

You swallow and clench your hands into fists, “No… Vil. I… got rid of the foundation like you, um… asked me to. I wouldn’t have been able to redo-”

“Alright. Go wash your face.” Vil interrupts you again.

You jump up and rush into the bathroom, going through your skincare routine. You can feel Vil staring at you, your skin crawling under his gaze. As you rub moisturizer into your skin, Vil finally says something.

“Did Rook do something to you, darling?” His tone is soft, tentative.

You glance at him, blinking a few times. What does he mean by ‘something’? He did do something, but it wasn’t bad, or particularly different.

“Um… Not exactly.” You say, massaging your forehead.

“I see. What did he do?” 

You look down at the sink. You’re not saying anything about the candy. “Rook kissed me?”

“That should not be a question.” Vil says. You see him shake his head through your peripheral, “Would you like to change your clothes before I redo your makeup?”

You’d like to ask what he’s talking about, but instead, you look down at your clothing. You don’t have a proper Pomefiore uniform because you’re not a part of this dorm. You’re an interloper- or a caged bird.

You don’t know what to do here. You don’t want to say something wrong and unintentionally offend Vil. Your palms ache. You give him a confused look from where you are.

He doesn’t look impressed, but before he can say anything about you gaping at him, you speak up, “What… am I supposed to do?”

You’ve only seen Vil surprised a few times. He raises his eyebrows and looks at you as though you’ve grown two heads, then sighs, “Well, I suppose I’d like to see you in something else. I’ll choose your outfit.”

That’s nothing new, he always does that. You wait in the bathroom for him to return. He strolls back in with a mockery of the Pomefiore uniform. There’s a deep purple cloak and capelet, which Vil drapes on the bed before handing you the actual clothes. It’s a very ruffled dress shirt, the long, puffy sleeves cinched into more ruffles at the wrist paired with a pair of black bloomer-style shorts. The buttons are all white and gold, marbled together. 

Vil leaves the bathroom and you change, neatly tucking your previous clothing away in the hamper. When you leave, as usual, Vil picks at your clothing, making sure it looks as good on you as he pleases, and then he steers you to sit down.

For however vicious he can be, Vil can be oddly gentle. For every time he grabs you roughly, his touch is feather-light ten more times. He hums a soft tune as he puts light makeup on you, just your eyes and lips, and then he drapes the cloak around your shoulders and places his hands on his hips.

“You look lovely. Go put on the pair of gold boots with the black decals.”

You do as told. He very likely wants to just take pictures of you or something so he can ask that Mira app about it.

Except when you stop in front of him, he doesn’t tell you to go sit in the loveseat or on the table near his window, no, he scoops you up and presses his forehead against your jaw.

“Oh, when did you put on this cologne? What a ravishing smell on you.” He presses a kiss on the column of your throat and breezes out of his dorm room's door.

Almost immediately, you go limp in his arms, like a doll. He never gave you explicit verbal permission to leave this room, so the curse he placed on you when he decided you should be his smashes into you like a giant wave at the beach.

Vil carries you all the way outside and looks at your face, then happily struts along the path behind the dorm. Since you can’t turn your head, you can only go off of the view of Vil’s neck and chin, the sky, and whatever you can hear.

“Ah, I am glad to see you did not change your mind, Roi du Poison. J'aurais été très déçue et triste pour notre chéri.” You hear Rook say. 

You can almost feel Vil get a mite warmer, “Yes, well. Hand me the basket. Since you want to make out with them and make them cry, you get to carry them as an apology.”

Rook happily scoops you out of Vil’s arms, giving you a cloying look as he strolls along. He and Vil chat as they walk, something not really worth listening in on, just boring musings about class and “this teacher did x” or “that student did y”. An insect lands on your cheek and you are incapable of batting it away or expressing your discomfort. Its legs tickle the peach fuzz on your face and you remain still, like a corpse.

Rook slides you into a seated position, posing you like a toy before shooing the bug off of your face. Now you can see that you’re in a clearing in the woods, seated on a picnic blanket. There’s a few lanterns staked into the ground, and Rook and Vil are busy with whatever is on the floor. You can’t look down, so your best guess is that it’s a picnic.

Vil leans over and snaps in your face, smiling kindly at you, “Now. If I release you, you are not going to run. You are not going to so much as consider running. We are going to have a nice picnic with no shenanigans from you.”

You can’t nod, so you just stare at him, trying to telepathically communicate.

He looks pleased enough, “Wonderful. I give you permission to leave our room.”

Your muscles relax and you look back, finding that you’re leaned against a log. The picnic spread is very nice, as well. It looks like finger sandwiches. You’re not expecting to get to eat one, as you haven’t had bread since Vil switched up your diet. Vil passes something to you.

“Oh.” You mumble, staring at the plate Vil hands you. 

It’s a sandwich. A very wonderful looking sandwich, cut into triangles and with the crusts still on. You blink at it a few times and look back up at Vil.

“Don’t expect this to be a pattern. This is a treat for good behavior.”

You look back down, “Yes, Vil.”

“There’s no need to remind them. They’re being obedient.” Rook’s voice is more firm than you expected to hear him ever speak. Usually his tone is buoyant, and you’ve never seen him outright pick a fight with Vil like this.

“Please. You give anyone an inch, they’ll take a mile.” Vil cuts back, then turns to you and pets your head like a dog or a cat again, “Eat your food, beautiful.”

You take a bite. Bread is just as good as you remember it. The air feels thick, like you’re in a bubble as Vil and Rook communicate through eye contact alone. Before you know it, your sandwich is gone and your hands are covered in crumbs. Rook, still staring at Vil with that happy little smile, wipes your hands and places a glass in your hands. Whatever is in it smells sweet. You take a tentative sip.

Were it Vil, you would have never drank whatever this is. It kind of tastes like a mellow mixed berry juice. It’s very pleasant, actually. Better than the potion Vil used to lace your food and drinks with. You smile into the cup and Vil snatches it from you.

He takes a sip and frowns, handing it back, “Mmm. I have an even better surprise.”

Rook pulls your legs into his lap and gently kneads your calves as you watch Vil rifle through the picnic basket. What is happening? You sip your juice and Vil produces a triangular container. He places a fork on top and hands it to you.

You finish the last of your juice and accept the box, looking conspiratorially at Rook. Something you can’t put your finger on dances in his eyes and he digs his thumb into your shin a little strongly. You flinch and cautiously open the box. It’s a piece of fluffy white cake, with even fluffier meringue and an uncannily perfect cherry wedged into it.

You look at Vil, expecting some kind of trick. Not that he’s ever done that before, usually he’d just take it from you or make some snide comment, things like that, but he and Rook are acting really strange today, 

“I know how much you long for junk food, so I spent some time after club activities today whipping up some angel food cake. It’s got agave instead of sugar so it won’t completely break your diet and your skin won’t suffer as much.”

Yeah, this is weird. The cake is good, though, it’s fluffy and sweet. You pace your bites so that Vil won’t make a comment and you can savor this. You can feel both of their eyes on you and it makes your skin crawl.

You lower the cake box and look at Vil, who looks a bit offended for just a second. The fleeting expression is replaced by a pleased little grin, the mauve lipstick making the curve of his lips all the more sinister in the dimming light.

“Do you like it?”

“Yes, Vil.” You glance at the cake and then back at him, “I’m… I’m sorry, I’m a little confused.”

“Why?” Rook asks.

Your shoulders jerk as you turn your head to look at him. You weren’t expecting him to say anything. His chest swells in what appears to be a suppressed chuckle as he squeezes your knee. It seems his hands have climbed.

“Uh…” You swallow, “This is just… not what I’m used to.”

“The cake?” Vil looks hurt. Why does he look hurt?

You shake your head rapidly, “No! Oh- No, Vil. I… It’s just been so long since I’ve been out here…”

“Do you want to go inside, chéri?” Rook murmurs.

You do, but you also don’t really want to risk sounding ungrateful. Being outside has stressed you out more than you’d like to admit. You’re not really sure what to do because Vil has you trained like a dog, and none of what he’s hammered into you involves picnics. You’re scared.

Rooks eyes narrow as you just stare at him. Your chest hurts from how hard your heart is throbbing, and on the other side of you, Vil sighs.

“Well, I’ll start cleaning up, then. When we get back, I expect you to take a seat on the bed.”

That sounds like what happens every time you get in trouble. A terror shudders through you and your eyes water a bit as you gnaw on your lip. Your palms ache as you fight to keep from picking at your cuticles. Vil packs up everything and Rook offers you a princely hand to help you up.

You can feel the calluses on his hands through his gloves as he essentially lifts you to your feet. You keep between Rook and Vil as you walk back to the dorm.

It’s quiet, since everyone else is winding down for bed. For a moment, you think you spot Epel, but you’re not sure. It doesn’t matter anyway. None of your old friends talk to you anymore. Not since Vil started having eyes for you.

Just as you were told, after taking off your boots you take a seat on the bed and retrieve the silver ruler from the side-table’s drawer. You place it beside you as you look down at your feet. You look down at the streaky bruises on the lighter skin on your palms and try not to start crying. It’s always worse when you cry.

He adds smacks by twos. Depending on what you did, you start with four or six, and then any time you flinch or pull away or make a loud noise, he adds two more. Last time, you spilled one of his nail polishes, and after watching you clean it up, you ended up getting ten lashes.

At least Rook didn’t do it then. He tries to make it quick but that just makes it hurt more. A tear slips down your cheek.

You don’t even know what you did. You tap the tear track dry with one fingertip and Vil and Rook fully enter the room.

“Why is the ruler out?” Vil asks, and then his voice goes sharp, “Are you crying?”

“I’m… I’m sorry, Vil.” You sob.

“I don’t know why.” He grabs the ruler and shoves it away before you can raise your hands, “Go wash your face.”

You stand up and shakily do as told, returning to sit on the bed. Vil goes into the bathroom after you and Rook takes a seat next to you, his hand on your shoulder.

He smiles at you, rubbing your shoulder, “You are très précieux, chéri.”

You look at him in a state of hollow bewilderment as he brushes his cheek against yours and presses a soft kiss to the shell of your ear.

You hear the bathroom door close and a tired sigh from Vil, “Do you have no patience?”

Your head jerks to look at VIl, “Rook is…?”

“Yes, he’s joining us tonight.” Vil plucks the loop of his sleeve from his middle finger and loosens his belt. You get the feeling that the next words he says aren’t for you, “Well, go ahead.”

You feel Rook’s chuckle more than you hear it. With his lips against your neck, his hands begin to slide. The hand on your shoulder rests on the nape of your neck and his other hand slides down to your thigh, then up to your waist. You try not to cringe against his touch, but it’s difficult.

His hand slides down again as he trails his teeth against the back of your ear. His thumb hooks in your pants and starts yanking them down. You outright flinch.

“Wait-”

“Relax, darling.” Vil mumbles, hanging his clothing in the armoire.

You try. You absolutely try. Rook throws your bloomers aside and rests his hand on your lower belly for a moment. He sighs into your ear and reaches up to unclasp your buttons.

You feel stiff. You want to push him away but you can’t move. It’s as though your body is frozen. It’s not due to a curse, so the only possible solution is that you’re quite literally scared stiff. 

He pulls away your shirt and glances at Vil, “Are you prepared?”

“Please.” You can hear the smile on Vil’s lips as Rook turns back and kisses you again, his hand smoothing along your collarbone and shoulders.

Your underwear is the next to go. Of course it is. You fight to keep from breathing oddly, because you’re aware that if you pass out, Vil will get annoyed.

“Mmm.” The devil’s hand glides up your back and you fight back a shudder as Rook leans you backwards into his arms. “How are you feeling, darling?”

You’re honest, “I’m scared.”

“I thought you would say that.” Vil freely manhandles you, shifting you so you’re leaned chest to chest. He slides something off of the side table and passes it behind you, then cups your cheek, “You would save a lot of time and stress if you’d just learn to trust me.”

“I…” You hate him. You hate him so much. He keeps you here like a pet, and you don’t know how he’s supposed to expect you to treat him like a lover when he treats you the way he does. 

Before you can articulate an answer that pleases Vil, a wicked burn besets your sphincter and you clench your jaw. 

Vil’s voice is sharp, “Rook, please.”

You hear Rook make a noise underneath the harsh sound of blood rushing in your ears and your own heavy panting. Something cool oozes around the ring of your ass and you press your face against Vil’s chest. His robe is lazily tied, which is not particularly like him, and you can see his cock poking out where the fabric separates. You let out a strangled noise and Vil shushes you, rubbing your back soothingly.

“Relax. I know, you weren’t prepared. Relax.” Vil soothes.

“I don’t mind if you remain tense, chéri. Mon plaisir n'en est que plus grand. And your little cries and whimpers sont terriblement mignons.” Rook mumbles behind you.

Rook is better than Vil in most areas, but once he gets his dick inside of you, it’s as though he forgets to be caring and kind. The tables flip, with Vil acting the part of a caring lover and Rook becoming a sadistic bully. You let out a ragged sob as Rook rolls his hips and Vil hisses something that you don’t quite catch.

It almost sounded like he was telling Rook to slow down. That very well could have been the case, as Rook eases back a bit and only shallowly thrusts.

Vil continues petting you, coaxing you so your cheek is pressed against his thigh. He is always a perfect warm. He is always perfect, so it sort of makes sense, but his skin is a pleasant temperature. He feels alive, a perfectly human temperature that tells you he’s breathing and his heart is beating. As he fingers through your hair, Rook gives a harsher than usual thrust and you cry out.

“Rook, if you’re impatient then you’re going to hurt them, and neither of us have the time to take care of them all day.” Vil chides, and then his tone softens as he rubs the space between your shoulders, “Are you ready for me as well, darling?” “What…?” You ask, blearily. Somewhere in the back of your awareness, you know what he wants, but you can feel Rook’s thrusts growing impatient and seeing as you weren’t given any prep, you’re in a bit too much shock to think straight.

“Mmm… You’re awfully cute but I need you to be a bit more lucid.” Vil snaps in your ear and resumes his petting, “This isn’t the first time, sweetheart. I’m not going to hold your hand.”

The soft tip of his member spreads his pre like lipgloss against your lips. As you shakily open your mouth, you figure you’re lucky that Vil doesn’t have a chaotic, unhealthy diet like Leona or Ace, that he doesn’t drink coffee for fun or often like Deuce does. The taste of his skin is lightly floral and dominantly human, likely thanks to the body lotion he applies daily. 

He hisses and presses against your forehead, “Ah-ah. You’re taking enough from Rook. Just the tip for me is fine.”

From behind, you hear Rook grumble under his breath, “Je n'en peux plus de cette merde…”

“Watch your- unf- watch your language, Rook.” Vil snarls, massaging the nape of your neck as you carefully lave your tongue over his glans.

Rook’s patience breaks, his hands clamping down on your waist, just above your hips. You have the sense to pull Vil’s cock out of your mouth as Rook begins battering into you.

As much as you feel okay about Rook, he is not a doting lover by nature. He’s mean and brutal, chasing his climax, and only after he cums does he bother to think about you or your needs. Your palms ache as you grab Vil’s member and gently tug on it. Vil flinches and snaps at you to get your attention.

You look to the side and for a second, as the pain ebbs, you assume you’re having an out of body experience, and then you realize that you’re staring into his vanity mirror. Rook’s hair exaggeratedly sways with his motion. He removed his hat but just haphazardly displaced the rest of his clothing. He’s not smiling, he’s making some sort of smug expression.

It’s funny. As Vil is satisfied with you weakly jerking him off, his touch gentle, Rook is wild on your other end. Every time you just barely begin to relax, he thrusts harder, which makes you tense and a spike of pain batters through you. 

You endure as best you can. You endure every day, enduring through eating the same unfulfilling food, enduring through walking on eggshells around Vil, enduring getting your palms beaten to hell for the most human of errors, so what’s getting sodomized in the face of everything else you can handle?

You bite back a shriek as a harsh pinch on your bottom, followed by a smack administered by Rook. He leans down and blows in your ear, snickering as he leans back, “I thought you had given up the ghost for a second there.”

Vil sucks in a breath and you quietly mumble against his thigh.

“Hmm? I didn’t hear you, mon chou.” Rook’s voice is almost mocking, like before.

“P-please… Rook, I can’t-”

“You can. You’ll live.” He grunts, the steady clap of your ass against his body punctuating his statement.

“It hurts.” You sniffle. You’re not particularly prone to crying, but, then again, Rook and Vil usually prepare you before deciding to fuck your ass.

You sob and Rook’s grasp tightens on your waist, a ragged moan punching out of his chest. He pulls your body flush to his and jerks his hips into you, drilling a bit harder for all of four or five thrusts. And then he’s no longer on you, and you feel your body getting shifted so your head is still in Vil’s lap but you’re lying prone.

You tilt Vil’s dick down to massage the head with your tongue and something warm drips on your back. You hear a noise of disgust from Vil, capped by a quiet moan.

“Absolutely not. All three of us are getting in the tub if you don’t clean that up right now.”

Rook chuckles and coos, “Hmm, but it looks so lovely. My alabaster essence creates a wonderful contrast with their soft and supple skin.”

A flush of humiliation crawls up the back of your neck and you hide your face against Vil’s belly, using your own arm to hide the other half. Vil shudders as he pushes your head down a bit, but his voice sounds incredulous.

“That’s vile. It doesn’t have any proven health benefits, you know that.”

You felt Rook’s hands spreading his semen into the skin on your back and your palms ache as Vil cums in your mouth. He doesn’t do that often, so it hits you like a shock.

You gag but force it down and Vil shoots up, fretting over you.

“Did you just swallow that?” He bends down to look into your eyes.

“Yes, Vil.”

“You didn’t need to do that.” Vil snips, sounding much harsher than he might intend, “I’m going to run us a bath, alright, darling? I’ll make sure you can brush that icky stuff out of your mouth.”

It didn’t taste bad. Vil usually cums on your face as an incentive for you to wash your face very well after a day of wearing makeup, or he has you jerk him off until he cums, but the few other times you did taste it, it was the same as this time. It was mostly salty, not too bitter, likely from his good diet. Regardless, he breezes away and Rook gives your bottom a light tap. You stand up and glance at Rook, who is looking a bit disheveled but pretty pleased with himself.

“How are you feeling, cheri?”

“That hurt.” Your voice is quiet, and your throat is still lined with tears.

“Does it still hurt?” He smiles and tilts his head.

The sound of the tub running is thunderous even where you are. Vil would never tolerate you complaining, but Rook is amicable, “A little.”

“The bath will do you good, then. Come.”

You let Rook guide you into the bathroom, his hand on your elbow. As he undresses and joins Vil on the edge of the tub, you look down at your bruised hands and glance at the slowly closing bathroom door, then at Rook and Vil where they stand near the tub.

You can’t say you prefer either of them, really, but you don't get an opinion. Do dolls at tea parties get to ask for a different kind of tea?

[oddsconvert]

My brain: make friends! Send asks! Exist in more then just your blog!

Me: but what if I'm scared of friends!?!?!

Anyway, can I request Ronan catching Issak hurting Henley?

Flowers for author. 💐💐💐💐💐

Friends!!! It's official! No being scared! <3 I am so sorry for the delay with this but I hope this ticks your boxes! :D

---

“How do you sleep at night?”

Henley stirred awake, his world a blurred mess of throbbing pain. Crusted sleep clung to his lashes, he blinked fiercely to chase away the haze. He could only just about make out a hulking silhouette looming over him. When his vision finally sharpened, he instinctively clutched his scratty blanket closer to his heaving chest - his futile shield.

Cold dread flooded Henley as he saw Izaak, free of the chains that usually rattled with every twitch of a muscle. The chains that kept Henley safe and sound, out of harm's way. Far from Izaak’s reach.  Izaak's fists were clenched so hard his knuckles were white, his face contorted in a feral snarl. Panic squeezed Henley’s chest like a vice. He was a rabbit trapped in a fox's den. 

“Wha-?” Henley’s voice was a hoarse rasp. He’s half-convinced no sound left his lips at all. 

"Oh, did I interrupt your sweet dreams, Henny?" Izaak's voice was a low growl, sending shivers trickling down Henley's spine. That nickname. The way it dripped with mocking familiarity, but years of ingrained fear hid within it. It made all the hairs on Henley’s arms stand on edge. 

Izaak suddenly lunged forward. One massive hand clamped around Henley's throat, squeezing every last drop of air from his lungs. Henley's wrists burned in protest against his chains, straining as he fought for a sliver of slack, a desperate inch to reach his throat and fight Izaak off. "You," Izaak spat, barely containing his rage, "are the reason for my suffering. The cause of my anguish. Every scar on my body has your name written on it.."

Tears pressed from beneath Henley’s eyelids, and he shook his head furiously. Passionately. No. It’s not true. He’s not responsible for this. He didn’t land them here, he didn’t start all of this. This is all Izaak’s doing. This is the price he has to pay. 

“So answer the question,” Izaak demanded, now nearly crushing Henley’s windpipe as he choked and wheezed, “How the hell do you sleep at night? No. Scratch that shit. Better yet. How do you live with yourself? After what you’ve done to me?”

“I-Izaak, pleas-”

Izaak’s fist came at Henley with such speed it was like a cannonball. It connected with a sickening crunch as Henley felt his nose cave in, and hot-white pain erupted. The force of the blow sent him sprawling, the floor rose up to meet him with a jarring thud. He lay helpless. Cool blood dripped from his nose and pooled on his lips, he could taste the metallic tang. 

“You dare call me that again, and I’ll put you six feet under this fucking cement. Understand?” Izaak seethed through gritted teeth, with spit spraying and a vein pulsing from his temple. Izaak didn’t even give him the second to respond, Henley was still reeling and seeing stars. “I SAID, “DO YOU UNDERSTAND?!” he roared. 

“Yes!” Henley wailed miserably. Tears mingled with blood and dirt. He sniffed pathetically and whimpered as new pain flared through his obviously broken nose. He stayed glued to the floor. Too afraid to move, to even dare lift his head up. Henley didn’t see Izaak reaching for his long curls of hair and wrenching them in his fist. Yanking his head back, Henley’s Adam's apple bobbed against his collar as he gasped and gulped back the fear.

“‘Yes’, what?” Izaak whispered. It was hard to miss the element of enjoyment in his voice. It sounded like old times. Must feel like it to him too. 

But Henley immediately knew what he was looking for.

“Yes, sir!” Henley gasped out. There’s not a beat of hesitation. Izaak can say many things about Henley. A bad pet, he is not. 

Henley’s head smacked to the ground, his forehead banging against cold, unforgiving cement as Izaak threw him out of his hand. He’s on a warpath. He paced back and forth, contemplating what to do next. 

Izaak's foot then swung into Henley's gut. The air whooshed from Henley's lungs in a strangled scream that ripped free from his throat. The world lurched sideways, a wave of nausea crashing over him. Bile rose in his throat as pain lanced through his abdomen. Izaak unrolled Henley from his cocoon and straddled his hips, slamming his palm over Henley’s mouth, “Shut the fuck up! Don’t you dare make a sound.”

Henley obeyed. He forced himself to seal his lips, now sobbing silently and huffing through the pain. 

“You got us into this fucking mess. You deserve everything you’ve got coming to you. I’m going to make you wish you were never born-”

“I already do-” Henley croaked.

Izaak doesn’t hold back anymore. He unleashed a flurry of punches, raining blow after blow down on Henley. Henley’s already-battered body convulsed with each hit - he twisted and flailed in a desperate bid to shield himself from the onslaught. It was no use. Darkness cornered his vision, and ringing screeched in his ears. His entire body was slowly growing limp.

Henley squeezed his eyes shut, waiting for the sweet relief of unconsciousness. He waited for the next punch. And waited. But it never came. Confused, Henley cracked open a swollen and purpling eye.

Izaak was no longer looking at him, and a flicker of raw terror replaced the unhinged rage that had plagued his eyes before. Henley groaned as he lifted his pounding head, and turned to follow Izaak’s petrified stare.

A shadow shifted at the top of the stairs, a tutting sound emanating from the darkness.

“What are you doing to my boy?” Ronan asked, cool as a cucumber on the surface, but fury bubbled below. The calm facade didn’t last. Ronan flew down the stairs, and pulled that oh so familiar remote from his pocket. In the blink of an eye, Izaak was a quivering, jittering wreck as his shock collar lit up and shocked him stiff. He collapsed from Henley’s body like a tonne of bricks. His screams pierced the sound barrier - his fingers scrabbled and ripped at the collar, kicking his legs and bucking his entire body. Ronan punched the button again, and again until the screaming stopped. It’s just silent gargles, with drool dribbling down the edge of Izaak’s blue lips. 

Ronan threw Henley a single, and quick look as he bolted past. It wasn't a look of reassurance, but a quick flicker up and down to acknowledge him. Reaching his locked cabinet, Ronan fumbled with the combination and finally, the cabinet swung open, and he snatched a vial and syringe, and a length of rope.

He wastes no time in racing over to where Izaak is heaving and panting on the floor, and stabbing the syringe in his neck. Izaak roared, a sound that curdled the blood, but it was cut short by a weak gasp as the muscle relaxant began to take hold.

“There, there. That should settle you down, big-un,” Ronan chuckled, patting Izaak on the chest.

“F-ffuc- fuckk y-yoou,” Izaak slurred, his eyes rolled like pinball machines in their sockets. Henley watches as all the tone in Izaak’s muscle depleted and he flopped lifelessly. Izaak lay sprawled on the floor, a pathetic mew escaping his lips as the muscle relaxant coursed through his veins. His previously violent thrashing had dissolved into a pathetic trembling, his limbs heavy and unresponsive.

Henley's cry echoed through the basement. Now that the threat was neutralised. "You didn't tie him tight enough, sir! He almost—!" His voice choked on the rising panic, his gaze locked on Izaak's slack form. “He was going to kill me.”

Ronan paid no mind to Henley, the shivering wreck that he was. Instead, he focused on yanking Izaak’s arms behind his back. With rough rope, he bound Izaak's wrists together with a vengeance, the knots pulled tight, drawing a choked gasp that did little to faze Ronan. Next, he secured Izaak's ankles with another length of rope, the slack yanked out until Izaak's legs were splayed uncomfortably wide. Finally, with a cruel twist, Ronan bound Izaak's ankles to his secured wrists, hog-tying him in a position that screamed discomfort. Izaak's gasps faded to choked moans as his body contorted in a way it wasn't meant to, forced into an arched bow.

Ronan left Izaak on the ground and approached Henley slowly. With a touch that could have been gentle or cruel, he cupped Henley's bruised and bloodied cheek. Henley flinched at the contact, a hiss escaping his lips. Ronan’s eyes flickered over the damage and he tsked, disappointed. Then his eyes met Henley’s and locked in. “Do you really think I’d let him break one of my favourite toys?”

“He - He got pretty close, master.” Henley snivelled. He flinched as Ronan’s arms moved, expecting another blow, but instead, his arms wrapped around Henley’s tiny frame in a sudden and suffocating embrace. Ronan’s grip was tight, possessive, leaving no wiggle room. Defeated, Henley sagged into the hug and rested his head on Ronan’s chest, letting his eyes flutter shut. It was always easier to give into this than brave the pain. Ronan began to stroke Henley’s hair, twirling it in his fingers. It wasn’t a gesture of genuine affection and Henley was never under the impression that it was. It was Ronan’s sense of ownership. Like Izaak’s claim was the bruises and scars. Ronan’s was more inside than out. For Henley, at least.

“Shh Shh. Come with me. I’ll get you patched up, little one”. Grunting with effort, Ronan hoisted Henley to his feet, a hand wrapped under his armpit to guide him up the creaking stairs.

Ronan turned at the very last step, leering at the sight of Izaak, bound and subdued. "That little temper tantrum of yours was cute, pet" he called down, his voice heavy with sarcasm. "But playtime's over. Now, you get to lie there, nice and quiet, and contemplate all the fun things I have planned for you when your little cocktail wears off. I want you to feel every second.”

----

Taglists!:

Henley taglist: @livelaughwhump @kira-the-whump-enthusiast @sorrowful-hyacinth

Ronan taglist: @kira-the-whump-enthusiast

Izaak taglist: @emmettland @kira-the-whump-enthusiast @sorrowful-hyacinth @whumpsoda

Drabble taglist (which I forgot existed and have recently rediscovered assdfghjkl so will be using from now on unless you would like off it <3 ): @whatwasmyprevioususername @whumpsday @sparrowsage @whumperfully @wolves-and-winters @canislycaon24 @happy-little-sadist @darkthingshappen @whumping-in-the-dark @vagabouund @turn-the-tables-on-them

[whumpbees]

I'm actually still brainrotting about Whumpees held at gunpoint- But!! This time in Public

Whumper hiding a gun under their coat, or in their sleeve. Pressing it to Whumpee's lower back, pressuring them to behave or else

Or! Maybe threatening Everyone Else, telling whumpee to act normal, or anyone who notices will get Shot

[phantoms-planet]

(already made a post about this but it was giving me issues so I'm making a separate one)

Danny's obsession with Protection begins to take hold, changing him from a normal ghost to a godling. Unfortunately his new status catches the eyes of a twisted organization, one that wishes to use his powers for their own gains. He is captured and his friends and family killed. Danny is contained well below Amity in one of the organization's secret facilities. In order to use one of Danny's new powers, healing tears, Danny is subjected to nonstop of projections of people in peril he has no power to save.

Bruce is suspicious of just how successful this new medical company is. They popped up out of nowhere and quickly gained a reputation for being able to make medicines that could cure just about anything. As batman he investigates further and finds a research and containment laboratory hidden from the public. As "Brucie" Wayne he manages to gain the trust of the owner and CEO of Ameliorate and convinces a tour out of them.

It's easy to sneak away unnoticed for a moment, but less so to hide his surprise at a white haired, ethereal boy chained down there, sobbing uncontrollably. Bruce decides it's time to pull the Justice League in, save the boy, and shut down the company.

First | Prev | Next

Tw; Death mentions, torture, mention of drugging, inhumane treatment of Danny

-------------------

His core screamed out in agony.

A protection god forced to watch as thousands, millions died in front of him, unable to stop it.

Tears flowed down into a collection basin below.

Danny didn’t know how long he’d been there. He didn’t care. However long, it was too much. He wished his friends were there. Sam and Tucker… Their lifeless bodies flashed in his mind and prompted another huge wave of tears to splash into the basin.

Jaz would be able to quench the sorrow with her obsessive knowledge of how emotions worked. She was overbearing at times but he missed having someone care about him so much.

His mom and dad could sooth the ever-present ache with their special brand of care and he knew they wouldn’t hesitate to wreak havoc to save him.

But Maddie and Jack were gone too; shot down trying desperately to save their children. Jaz taken out weeks later while Danny and her were on the run. Danny had rushed to her and then there was a net and then-

This was all his fault; if he hadn’t gotten sloppy with using his powers, if he had kept his ghostly side hidden better.

Instead of his loved ones there was nothing but the overwhelming screens covering every inch of walls, broadcasting carnage and death 24/7. There was a person dressed in all white who came in to feed him. They didn't matter. The people who were shown on the screens mattered. In danger, scared, hurt. They were the reason Danny tried so hard to get out.

A sob jolted his frame enough the chains rattled. All he had wanted was to help people!

Escape should have been easy. He was a god: escape should have been EASY!

He thought they may have been drugging his food.

None of his powers were working as strong as they should have been, some not working at all, but he still had his wail. Danny pulled in as large a breath as he could manage as the feeder person frantically booked it out of the room. Every screen shattered under his scream, plunging him into blissful silent darkness. A soft sigh slipped out. Relief. Finally relief. Seconds later the screens rotated and brought a fresh barrage of misery.

The basin overflowed.

___

Bruce was happy with the new medical company at first. Goodness knew Gotham needed a miracle when it came to the overflowing hospitals and untreatable illnesses caused by rouges and pollution alike.

They came in and started producing serums, pills, vaccinations, creams, you name it they had it, that could cure nearly anything. Terminal disease? Taken care of. Joker gas? A breeze for their formulas. Fear Toxin? No sweat. It had taken a while for the company to gain a footing with Gotham’s mistrust but once they had it, they were selling cure all’s at a truly staggering rate.

Bruce had first heard their reputation when one of the actually tolerable moms in the PTA raved about how her daughter was taking some pills and apparently getting sick much less frequently and less aggressively. He had briefly considered trying to get something for Tim, even.

But the problem was that this new company was too good at healing things. Just because Gotham needed a miracle doesn’t mean they exist and would show up out of nowhere. No, this was just suspicious.

Tim and Barbara had begun to dig through the company’s entire digital footprint and it was as if the company truly did just suddenly exist. Bizarrely there was no crime related to them. Not that they had found yet anyway.

He didn’t like this. People were getting better, which was great, but something in his gut told him this wasn’t right. How was the Ameliorate corporation coming up with cures and treatments for every illness, disease, condition, and toxin that ever existed? It very well should have taken centuries of research and development but there wasn’t anywhere near that long of a history to justify the turn out.

“Master Bruce?” He snapped out of his thoughts to a fresh cup of tea being set beside him. Alfred was frowning at him.

Bruce grumbled out a sigh. “Thank you, Alfred. Is Tim-?”

“He is still sleeping. I assume it will be quite a time before he wakes, given how long he was up.” Alfred nodded to the batcomputer. “Is there any progress?”

Another grumbly sigh. Bruce ran his hands down his face before responding. “None. I don’t understand it, there’s no possible way this company could be doing what it’s been doing. Not enough time or research facilities.”

“Perhaps, Master Bruce, there is a facility not in their records? One they don’t wish for people to know about?” It took a moment for the words to set in but when they did Bruce lunged to the computer for another round of exhaustive research.

It took hours.

Finally, Bruce had managed to find allusions to another, much larger, much older facility. It seemed to be somewhere near Illinois, Michigan, or Wisconsin. This facility seemed to be more for containment than research however.

Strangely that’s the only thing he could find. Unfortunately, it was also time for him to go into Wayne Co for some meetings. With slight reluctance Bruce sent what he had to Barbara before stepping away from the computer and making his way from the cave.

There was another big event at the museum soon and the owner and CEO of Ameliorate would be attending. Perhaps he could lay on a thick layer of Brucie charm. It was a long shot, but he would keep it as a fallback plan just in case. No matter what, Bruce knew he had to find out what was in that containment facility.

[serickswrites]

Electric Feel III

Part 1 Part 2 Part 4 Part 5

Warnings: captivity, restraints, torture, electrocution (mention), gag, drowning

Whumpee tried to calm their thundering heart beat as they watched Whumper fill the tub. If Whumper put them in the tub, they would drown. Whumpee had no doubt that Whumper would drown them. Repeatedly.

Whumpee wasn't sure if they could endure that.

Whumper didn't unbind Whumpee's hands. But they did take out the bite guard. "Don't want to get this all wet," Whumper said as they yanked it from between Whumpee's lips.

"Please," Whumpee started. They didn't want to go in the water. They didn't want to go in because they weren't sure they would get back out.

"You'll feel so much better once you're all clean," Whumper said as they shoved Whumpee into the tub.

Whumpee bucked and thrashed around trying to get out. But Whumper leaned their full body weight on their arms, pinning Whumpee to the bottom of the tub. Whumpee's lungs burned as they struggled. Slowly, they felt their body grow heavy until they could no longer fight back.

Just as darkness threatened to overtake Whumpee's vision, Whumper pulled them to the surface. Whumpee took a great gasping breath of air.

Whumper made a face. "You're still dirty. Back under you go!"

Whumpee willed themself to be still as Whumper shoved them beneath the surface. Every part of them wanted to thrash, every part of them protested being still. But the stiller they were, the more air they could conserve. The stiller they were, the more likely Whumper would be to pull them from the water.

They watched as little bubbles escaped their lips and floated to the surface. Their lungs burned once more. Their vision narrowed to a tunnel to the surface. Whumper had to pull them from the water. Any moment now.

Whumpee didn't remember passing out. Didn't remember being hauled from the water. Their ribs burned as they lay on their side, coughing water up from their water logged lungs.

"You tried to escape, Whumpee," Whumper scolded. "I am not ready to let you go yet."

Whumpee sighed. It was all they had the energy for.

"And you're still dirty!" Whumper shoved them beneath the surface once more.

Whumpee again woke on the ground, water streaming from their mouth. They coughed and coughed, their chest burning with each cough. "Pl-Pl-Please," they rasped. They just needed a minute. Not too long. Just a minute to catch your breath.

"You're all clean now. I can't have you all dirty for the next time we play, Whumpee. So if you get dirty, I have to clean you."

Whumpee sighed with relief. They weren't going to be drowned again any time soon. Suddenly things were looking up.

Tags: @freefallingup13@st0rmm@watermelons-dont-grow-on-trees @defire @firelan

[whumble-beeee]

Nah Sister, You Ain't Gettin' Me to No Third-endary Location!

The (Un)Official Guide to Hero-Keeping | Cont'd from Part 12

Content: mentioned past attempted noncon, noncon drugging, needles, disabled whumpee, trans whumpee, defiant whumpee, flashbacks (ptsd), tied up/handcuffs, past captivity references, begging

* * * * * * * *

Excerpt from: The (Un)Official Guide to Hero-Keeping; a self-help guide for villains and bounty-hunters

[Drugging! What a wonderful thing! Drugs are an essential, if not the most important tool in your villain or bounty hunter toolbox. 

Their utility is truly endless; You can use a truth serum to gather information that your hero definitely doesn't want you to know. Or maybe you're drugging them to make them nice and sweet, pliant, bending them to your will. Just to show them how powerless they truly are in your possession. Or maybe you just want to go with the classic drugging to knock your hero out as the very method to capture them in the first place!

Truly, drugging is a jack-of-all-trades. But be warned: dosage is vitally important. Always make sure to consider the hero’s body weight, last time they ate, etc, lest you give them too much and irreparably damage them, or too little and they remain as strong-willed as always. You'll save yourself AND your hero so much trouble!]

* * * * * * * *

There was a certain bliss to the agony that Stan found himself in in those hours that Deeby was gone. Or was it minutes… Days?

After he calmed down from his initial freakout, all he felt was a bone-deep tiredness beckoning him to the sweet embrace of unconsciousness. But he couldn't. You weren't supposed to sleep when you had concussions, right? Even so, every time he did feel the warm relief of sleep overwhelming the pain and nerves and paranoia, he snapped right back awake with an involuntary shot of adrenaline that made him shoot up to sitting and whip his head around breathlessly looking for the danger that awoke him.

But there was none.

Unless of course, you counted the chain hanging from the ceiling, where Deeby had threatened to string him up. Or the chair he'd woken up tied to the last time he was unconscious, still bearing the twine that had bound him. Or the collar that made him all but defenseless, that squeezed his throat just enough to constantly remind that he wasn’t free, nor would he ever be. He was claimed.

He was powerless.

He was owned. Again.

After a while, he didn't even try to sleep. He limped around everywhere the length of his ankle chain would allow, which admittedly wasn't very far. His leg shot little pangs of white hot lightning with every step as he kept walking, along with an occasional protestational buckle that made Stan to nearly fall on his face every time, but he didn’t care. He kept walking around the chain and the chair. He sat in the chair. Then immediately sat back down on the floor. He didn't want to be in the chair.

He clutched Deeby's stupid leather jacket around his half-naked body, trying to ignore the sharp pain in his ribs every time he breathed, the light cloudiness that blanketed the world, the dizziness every time he moved his head, the rope burn, his aching knee weak knee, the hunger, the thirst.

The collar.

The distinct lack of his power, or any way to defend himself.

God he hated the collar.

Ignore it all.

His binder felt like it suffocated him every time he tried to lay down. Made the sharp pains of his broken ribs into more of a dull, ongoing agony. He wanted to take it off, but there was no way. Not with the handcuffs, not without a shirt.

Had Deeby forgotten about him?

He may have fallen asleep at some point, he wasn't totally sure. But when the door slammed open, Stan cried out from the shock and slammed his head against the wall, turning the world around him a bright white before his vision returned hazier than ever, making it that much more burdensome just to think.

Great.

“You done with the mental breakdown?” Deeby asked absentmindedly, plastic bags in hand and ignoring the way Stan glared at him. Stan would retort back, but as soon as he tried, a small wave of nausea silenced the sound before it could even reach his tongue.

An amused eyebrow raised at him. “What, giving me the silent treatment again?” He set down the bags and grabbed something out of it, beginning a meandering prowl toward Stan. 

Stan pulled his knees up to his chest. He was so tired of this game. “N–...” He could barely force out the response, the pressure of tears building up at the back of his throat. He swallowed and tried again. “No. Jus’… tired.”

Deeby dropped what looked to be a very large plain white shirt at Stan's feet.

“Understandable. I'm gonna need my jacket back now.”

Stan's heart skipped a beat. He clutched the jacket closed around his body.

“Dude,” Deeby held his hand out. “I got you a shirt so you don’t have to whine about only being in your crop top, put it on and hand over the jacket.”

Stan felt the heavy leather lifting away from him, and he grabbed the lapels and clutched it to his chest for dear life before he could even think about what he was actually doing. What was he even doing?

Deeby let out an exasperated huff. “Is this about your chest thing? I don't care if you used to be a girl or whatever, let go–”

“No, not–!” It was actually. But not only that. It was that and the nearly invisible brand that marred his right bicep. The one that all supers were forced to bear, marking a super as a ‘non-threat,’ or a ‘threat’. Like Stan. It was the tattoo on his shoulder blade, which told all about his powers, which marked him a criminal, which marked him a test subject, as someone else’s property. Even now. That let anyone who cared to look know that he was a state-sanctioned torture victim for ‘the greater good.’

“Ca-can't put the shirt on. Cuffs.” He held out his cuffed hands to illustrate his point.

A valid enough excuse.

The mercenary groaned, but thankfully stopped pulling at the jacket and knelt down in front of Stan, holding his hand out expectantly. Stan took the cue to tentatively plunk down his cuffed wrists and to his surprise, Deeby produced a hairpin from his spiked locks and slid it into the teeth of one of the cuffs, cinching it open with practiced ease. 

Stan was free! 

Ish. 

“Fifteen seconds ‘til I recuff you, shirt on or not.”

“A h–... hairpin?” Stan questioned. Maybe stalling slightly for time. He relished the weightlessness his uncuffed wrists allowed, even if it was just a facsimile of true freedom.

“Mhm.”

“Why?”

“Stan, do you know how to use a handcuff key to undo handcuffs?”

Stan nodded slowly.

“And did you know how to use a hairpin to undo handcuffs?”

He almost nodded again, but paused. He could… probably figure it out. It didn’t look hard when the bounty hunter did it.

“There’s your answer, then. Five seconds”

Ah crap. Stan quickly shrugged the jacket off and grabbed the shirt. It was probably one of his Deeby’s extra undershirts, like the one Stan could see peeking up through the unbuttoned gap of his flannel–

Deeby grabbed his forearm and yanked it forward suddenly, twisting it to expose his inner arm, letting the jacket fall off the captive’s back and drop to the side. Stan screeched as he tipped forward off balance, then ice gripped his heart when he realized what Deeby was inspecting.

The super brand.

Supposedly only visible under black-light. Psh. The invisible ink they used always discolored the skin, easy to spot for anyone on the lookout for it.

“Deeby. Let-let go.” Stan whispered, tugging against the iron grip.

“I told you my name's Declan, didn't I?” 

“‘m not calling you that.”

“I seem to remember you saying the same thing about calling me ‘DB’.”

The mercenary's gaze drifted up towards his face, searching. Stan looked away, tried to bury his head into his shoulder, but Deeby's other hand reached up and grasped his jaw, forcing his face back up for the bounty hunter to inspect.

“No. No. No. Get off,” Stan wheezed, grasping Deeby's forearm, trying to wrench it off of his face. The bounty hunter didn't even really seem to care, simply squeezing Stan's jaw harder. Stan's headache pounded, spreading slowly and thickly like molasses out from the pressure of the wall digging into his head.

Deeby's eyes crinkled. “I need to see your villain brand.”

“Fuck no,” Stan gritted immediately, kicking at Deeby’s legs.

His grip loosened slightly. 

“Chiquito, you already know how this is gonna go. Why don't you just show it to me?”

“Because screw you and everything that you stand for!” Stan yelled.

“I don't care about your man tits, runt, but I'm going to see that brand–”

Stan threw a haphazard punch at Deeby's face, hard, erratic. Satisfaction flowed through Stan's chest like ichor when an explosion of pain in his knuckles signaled a fully connected hit.

Even more when he realized that the blunt teeth of the one open handcuff had also flung across his face, evident now by the pretty nasty looking gash at the seam where the burn scar met intact skin, smearing a small bit of quickly pooling blood across his cheek. Stan took the opportunity to squirm out from under Deeby,  and immediately stumbled up into a wobbly fighting position, fists raised. God, the world around him wasn’t supposed to spin like that, was it?

Deeby turned to look up at him from his position crouched on the floor, stunned. 

“Huh,” he whispered to himself, clutching at his face.A small tilt of the head when it came back covered in shining red blood. It dripped down his cheek and started tracing his jawline, as if he himself were a work of art.

Blazing-red eyes flitted over to the captive, fury of a darkening storm evident with each crease of his eye. The red-stained hand balled into a fist in front of his mouth.

Stan’s breath stuttered. He wasn't gonna win this fight. 

Just like every other fight. 

But he wouldn't stop trying, he wouldn't give in. Even if he did stumble and the edges of his vision were dark, unreceeding. 

That’s fine. 

Normal, even.

Deeby stood slowly, and Stan couldn’t help but shuffle back, heart racing ever-faster.

“Y'know what, Stan?” His shoulders relaxed as he let his fist fall to his side, taking a loud, deep heaving breath. “Fine.”

…

Wait…

What?

There was no way.

Deeby was just…

He–...

Giving up?

He wouldn't!

No way.

“... what?”

“I'm not fighting you on this,” Deeby said softly. “State you're in, it’d probably kill you anyway.”

Stan didn’t drop his stance. He waited for Deeby to pounce on him as he moved to the other side of the room, but all he did was grab the bags he'd first entered with, and sit in his own chair not far away. He was so close, unguarded, completely relaxed. Blood still pouring from the open wound.

Stan could go over and kick him if he wanted to.

“You just gonna stand there all day?” The mercenary asked as he pulled out a first aid kit and popped it open. 

Stan stared straight ahead, processing through the wet cement that was his mind, before crossing his arms. “Yes.”

“Okay, whatever. You at least wanna put the shirt on?”

Uhh… Right. The shirt.

Stan crept over to where the shirt laid, where he’d been pinned not one minute ago. Just like he thought, the fabric consumed his figure. Definitely one of Deeby's.

A roll of gauze nearly pelted Stan in the face. “If you need to patch yourself up, do it now. We're leaving.”

Stan fumbled the gauze. It fell to the floor right next to his aching leg. “Leaving?!”

“That's what I said.”

“Where?”

Deeby snorted as he cleaned the blood off his face. Didn't even flinch as the alcohol wipe cleaned out his skinned cheek. “Nah, you gave up the right to that information when you started having a nervous breakdown.”

Ah. Right. Deeby was gonna tell him about a phone call. The one that left Stan alone with that psycho, the one that nearly got him–

Stan's heart dropped.

“You're– You're gonna give me over to that sweater-vest freak! I won't let you!”

“Wrong,” Derby laughed at Stan’s un-founded defiance, pressing some sort of gauze pad to his face. “Not yet anyway. I'm gonna have to keep you longer than we thought, actually. Lucky me…” 

All the air left Stan’s lungs. “How long?!” 

“Hours, weeks, years. Who’s to say, really? Boss-lady certainly won't.”

Stan could not deal with Deeby for weeks. He couldn't. Not that this mysterious Lana character would probably be any better… or the evil sweater-vest. 

He needed to get out of here.

“You could… let me go instead…” Stan tried. “Wouldn’t have to ’keep me’.”

The bounty hunter chuckled. “Funny.”

“Well I'm– I'm not letting you take me to a secondary location!”

“Stan… buddy,” Deeby stood with a grunt and made his way over to where his jacket now laid abandoned on the floor. Stan countered as far away as he could from the man, all the way to the end of his ankle leash, pulling it taut with a clang. The mercenary paid the scramble no mind as he pulled on the jacket. “You're already at the secondary location.”

“We'll, I'm not letting you take me to a– a–... a third-endary location!”

Deeby searched around the various inside pockets of his jacket. “Tertiary?”

An irrational anger bubbled up through his stomach. “Whatever! You're not better than me because you know words!”

“Mm,” he murmured, amused.

This version of Deeby was almost worse than the one who didn't hesitate to use physical violence. Stan didn't have anywhere to let out his frustrations, and he was hungry, and thirsty, and tired, and hurting, he hurt so much, he just wanted to go home, tears started to form at the bottoms of his eyes for some reason– and he was really lightheaded, the room felt so dark, was the floor getting closer somehow?

“Woah, woah, hey, careful–!” Deeby yelled, suddenly halfway to his side.

Stan caught himself as he fell, shot of adrenaline coursing through his veins. He hadn't even realized he was falling. Why was Deeby holding him up?!

Stan lept away from him. A headache pounded at his skull, like a railroad spike through his head. When did that start?

“I'm fine, I'm fine! Don't touch me!”

“Christ, Stan–”

“No, no you fuckin! Don't!” He pushed the hand that Deeby extended away. He just wanted to go home! “You-you-you kidnapper! You're doing it again! You’re not my friend! Stay away!”

“Bud, did you eat anything while I was gone?”

“No!” The tears stung as they fell. “You probably poisoned those stupid protein bars anyway! How could you just leave me alone like that?!”

“Well there's your problem! You haven't eaten or drank anything in like two days!”

Two days?!

Stan stopped in his tracks. Blinked. 

Two days, huh?

Two days…

He'd been kidnapped for two days.

Before he had the chance to glare at Deeby, a hand grabbed his wrist and shoved a protein bar into his hand.

“Eat it,” Deeby ordered. “It's also gonna calm you down for the trip.”

Stan narrowed his eyes at the mercenary. Apparently hungry, thirsty, concussed Stan had no sense of self preservation. Good.

“What, is it drugged or something?” Stan asked sarcastically.

“Yeah.”

“Wait, actually? I was just–”

“Yup. For the trip. Eat it.”

“No!”

“Eat the bar, Stan.”

His hand was involuntarily wrenched closer to his face, and Stan quite literally flopped to the side to avoid it.

“Why do you want to drug me!” Stan yelled. “What’re you gonna do to me?!”

“I don’t fucking trust you to not be a brat while I’m driving! Also, frankly, I’m tired of dealing with your shit!”

“You're gonna have to shove that thing down my throat if you want me to eat it!”

The grip on his wrist tightened and Stan let out an involuntary squeak. Deeby locked eyes with him. Stan paled. He wouldn't actually do that. Would he? 

“Stan. Look at me,” He jerked Stan closer. “Either you eat the drugged protein bar willingly, or I use whatever-the-hell drug cocktail the bosses cooked up for exactly this scenario and inject you with that.”

Declan pulled out a small capped injection needle from his pocket, holding it up in front of Stan's face. 

Stan froze.

Needle.

Needle.

Injection.

The fire spread out through his leg, Soon he couldn’t even move his leg to kick out at the faceless doctors staring down at their clipboards.

“And trust me, the effects of that are worse than you could ever dream.” 

Stan turned ghost pale. Eyes widened and tunneling on the glinting needle. Breathing turned to a shallow staccato.

“But I don't wanna do that to you,” Declan continued evenly. “Because you're freaking the fuck out about it even now. So eat the damn protein bar.” 

Stan wrenched his gaze away to look at Deeby. To plead with him. Even when he wasn't looking at it, it was like the syringe took up his entire vision.

“Deeby. De-Dec-Declan. Please, I don't–”

Needle needle needle needle needle needle.

“Ca-can I just e-eat a regular one?”

“After the drugged one, sure. I don't think you'll have time after the shot though, you'll probably be writhing in pain on the floor–”

“No, no, no, no, no–!!” Stan gasped. He stumbled back and tripped over his stupid barely working leg and then clutching onto the sleeves of Deeby’s jacket with white-knuckled force when he snatched him up just before he completely tipped. Stan never thought he'd be reduced to a begging mess, grasping for comfort from the very man who administered the pain that caused the need for it. 

Yet here he was. 

Begging.

His terrified begging always fell on deaf ears.

No one cared about the pain of a lab rat.

No one cared if the next injection made the screams louder. 

“Stop. Please. Please, please…”

He looked up into Deeby's eyes, pleading. Shrill. His voice broke like a knife broke through skin. Like a needle broke through flesh. “I don't wanna be drugged.”

Deeby’s gaze softened, just barely. He slid the syringe gracefully back into his pocket, pushing Stan's hand and the accompanying poison close to his mouth.

Stan’s didn't resist.

“And it's not that bad, really. Ya ever been roofied before?”

Stan shook his head. 

“Ah… Well it’s not even as bad as that. You’ll be conscious. Mostly…”

Stan pursed his lips, squeezed his eyes shut, shook his head fervently.

“Uh. It's like weed, kinda. Except… more. It doesn't knock you out, just makes you a little more pliant. Easier to deal with. More relaxed, more okay with everything.”

Stan whined. “I-I don’t… None o-of this is okay.”

“Besides, you still need to eat something. We can get you some food and water, you’ll feel a lot better. Can't even imagine the trip the injection would give you after not eating for two days…”

Stan yanked his arm, then some sort of whine-sob fought its way out when his arm twisted back. Stan stared at the bar. Then back at Declan. The pit in his stomach begged for something to fill it, yet the thought of eating the thing he held in his hands made him want to swear off any morsel of sustenance ever again.

“I could… just eat a regular one…”

Deeby's face hardened and he sighed, hand reaching for the pocket. 

Stan shrieked, “NONONONONONO WAIT WAIT DON'T, I’LL EAT IT!! I’LL EAT IT!”

“Then fucking do it already!” Deeby shouted, exasperated. “Christ, if I'd injected you we'd already be on the way by now!”

“Okay! Okay, okay-y, I'll–”

“No more stalling.”

Stan's vision tunneled on the protein bar. He'd only ever had that happen with injectors. Needles.

No needles. No injection. Only if you eat this. Right now.

It's just like weed. Except more. Except worse. Except it'd make him okay with and unable to fight back against whatever Deeby wanted to do to him.

Pliant.

A deafening roaring filled his ears.

At least he'd be conscious. supposedly.

Stan fumbled with the plastic wrapper for what felt like an eternity, time stretching out as an endless road before him.

This. Or injection. Needle piercing his skin. Easy choice.

Yes. Easy choice. So easy…

He bit into the bar. Swallowed it. Bit again. And again.

Swallowed it.

The bar was gone all too soon.

* * * * * * * *

Next

Taglist: @flowersarefreetherapy | @pirefyrelight | @cakeinthevoid | @painsandconfusion | @books-are-everything

@paperprinxe | @tippytappytyping | @chaotic-orphan | @notactuallyluska

[3-2-whump]

It Started with a Gray Hair

<prev next>

After a couple months' worth of balancing two jobs, hardly getting any sleep, and running himself ragged, Khaled finally snaps.

Thanks @whumped-by-glitter and @generic-whumperz for the feedback on this chapter, I've applied your advice and hope you like what I did with it!

TW/CW: emotional angst, emotional whump, defiant whumpee (?) (whumpee loses his last fuck to give), slave whump, captivity whump, alcohol, very briefly mentioned food whump (like it's barely there but I'll tag it anyways), intimate whumper, dub con, hate sex

Khaled noticed it when he was towel-drying his hair in front of the mirror after a shower. He accepted it wasn’t a trick of the light as he blew his hair dry in front of the mirror, and he finally confirmed it was exactly as he feared when he combed through his wild floof. Standing starkly contrasted against the black night of his hair was a single silvery strand, long and twisted and brittle amongst strong sable waves.

There was a sharp rap on the door, accompanied by his master’s complaints. Khaled ignored it, still horrified by the discovery of his first gray hair. It was less about vanity for him more than it was a visible sign of the passage of time, of how much time he’d spent living under this man’s thumb. His hands unscrewed the pomade jar on autopilot. He went through the motions of dipping fingertips into the sticky substance and running them through his hair, thoughts racing all the while. He managed to hide the silvery offender –the only one, as far as he knew, though where there was one, there were probably more, and what was that under his eyes? Lines?

“Sometime today, Khaled!” Thomas yelled through the bathroom door.

“Almost done, Master!” he shouted back as he rinsed the hair product off his hands. He hastily dried them and opened the door, subconsciously straightening out his shirt collar as he righted his posture.

“Everything alright?” It was funny, how he almost sounded concerned.

“Fine,” Khaled lied. As if he was going to complain to a forty-something year old man about his first gray hair.

“Well let’s go! We’re going to be late for the reservation I made!”

The restaurant they drove to overlooked a harbor boasting a panoramic view of the Atlantic Ocean, plus or minus a few barges, with the city skyline largely forgotten behind the vast blue expanse. Regretfully, the outdoor seating was closed for the season, with it already being late fall, so the mob boss and his slave got a table indoors, right next to the wide windows above the balcony.

Whatever hope Khaled had of forgetting about the passage of time was quickly dashed by the first course. “We’ll take the antipasti plate, cured meats on the side, and your 2015 Merlot, two glasses, leave the bottle.”

Khaled cleared his throat, getting Thomas and the waitress’ attention. “Just one glass, please,” he corrected. “I’ll take a water.”

“Are you sure you don’t want any?” Thomas asked. Khaled shook his head. “Best give him a glass anyway,” he whispered not too subtly. The waitress dutifully wrote down their order before leaving them to their complimentary bread basket.

“Ah, 2015,” the boss reminisced with a sigh. “The year my grandfather passed and I became the head of the Costa Family, what a tumultuous year!”

Yeah, 2015, the year I was kidnapped and sold halfway across the world to you, Khaled remembered. He tried to wash away the bitter memory with the water the waitress had given him, but the icy cold drink only numbed the sensation for a moment. He halfheartedly smeared some butter onto a piece of bread and picked at the marinated olives on their shared plate as his master kept reminiscing about how much time they had spent together.

“That was also the year I got you, wasn’t it?” he asked rhetorically. “Do you remember how small you were back then?” Thomas popped a salted almond into his mouth, chewing it only for a second before answering for him. “You were 5’1” and barely 90 lbs, a scrawny little thing. Then, with enough food and shelter and a stable environment-”

Khaled nearly choked on an ice cube.

“-you hit your growth spurt and made up for lost time!” The older man laughed, taking a hearty sip of his wine. “As soon as I bought you clothes that fit, you would need them replaced! You shot up like a weed over those first two years, and now look at you!”

Look at me now, Khaled bitterly echoed. His gaze flitted to the deep ruby liquid in his master’s wine glass, and then to the opaque green bottle set in the middle of their table. If he was going to make it through the rest of this dinner, he might change his mind about the merlot after all.

The man across from him helped himself to a slice of prosciutto from the side plate. “You’re a handsome young man, now twenty-two years old, 5’8”, 138 lbs. You’re built like a whippet, svelte and sexy in all the right places,” he crooned, throwing in a wink. “It has been nothing but a pleasure spending all these years with you.”

The bread on his tongue felt as dry as ashes in Khaled’s mouth. “I think I will take some of that wine, thanks,” he murmured. He leaned over the table to reach for the wine, but Thomas beat him to it.

Their hands touched on the neck of the wine bottle, two sources of warmth meeting on cold slender glass. Khaled shot his master a questioning look, only to receive a cryptically soft gaze in response. “Allow me.” Thomas took the bottle and effortlessly filled the spare wine glass. “Here you are,” he said, passing it to Khaled with a fond smile. Their hands met once again, the older man’s touch lingering just a bit longer than necessary on the neck of the wine glass as he stared into Khaled’s eyes. There was something softening the look in those steely-gray eyes, and it wasn’t just the candlelight ambiance. This look was warm and cozy, almost comforting like a fresh cup of tea; nothing like the fiery and lustful glances that promised Khaled equal measures of pleasure and pain. At least Khaled was used to the latter type of looks. The way Thomas looked at him now was almost as if –but no, Khaled thought, he’s just playing it up because we’re out in public.

“Aren’t you going to eat any more of this?” Thomas asked, waving down toward the sliced cheeses and grapes and nuts. Khaled hated how concerned his master sounded, making it sound like he cared.

“I guess I’m not as hungry as I thought I was,” he replied. He threw back the glass of wine and let the liquid pour down his throat, just to give his mouth anything to do other than talk to the man across from him.

“Oh, come on, Khaled, you know the dietary rules don’t apply on your birthday! At least eat something to absorb all that wine you’re inhaling?”

Brushing uncomfortably past the reminder that today was his birthday –the seventh birthday he had spent in slavery to his master, owner, and abuser –Khaled polished off the rest of his wine, instantly tipping his glass forward in a nonverbal request for more. “Why should you care?” he asked.

“Because maybe I care about you.” Thomas refilled his wine glass. He did that thing with his voice again, using the tone that sounded as if he were genuinely concerned. He was looking at him in that same soft and worrisome way as before. Khaled decided that he hated it. It made sense that the man would be concerned about his $150k asset, but anything vaguely resembling more than that was just …wrong.

He made a show of turning his head all about the restaurant, clocking how few patrons there actually were on a Monday night. “You can drop the act you know,” he murmured. “There is no one within five tables around ours, so you can cut the crap and just be yourself, Master.” The title left his tongue like a bitter epithet.

“Cut the –Khaled, what are you talking about?”

Oh, so he’s going to play dumb? Fine! You want to fuck with me, I’m the King of Dumb –wait, hold on. Khaled tipped back his second glass of wine, not stopping until the whole vessel was drained. Whether it was the insincere gestures of concern, or the accumulation of remarks about how much time had been stolen from him, or whatever the hell these soft and warm looks were, Khaled had decided he’d had enough. “I mean, stop being so goddamn nice to me, stop acting like we’re good friends or boyfriends or whatever lie you told these people when you made our reservations, and please, please, please, stop acting like you care about me beyond what I can do for you in bed!”

A few patrons turned their heads toward their table, since Khaled had raised his voice a little at that last statement. The mob boss glanced around with a flicker of nervousness in those gray eyes. “Khaled, baby, calm down,” he soothed quietly, opting to go for damage control.

Wrong choice of words, fucker! Khaled scoffed loudly, emboldened by the alcohol in his system. “You bought me, at fifteen years old, like an object, and you brought me into your empty, soulless home for what exactly? To leave me chained up and alone to slowly lose my mind for the first year I was imprisoned with you?” He slammed his empty wineglass against the table with enough force to rattle the silverware. “Nobody even treats their dog that badly!” he shouted.

“Khaled, keep your voice down, you’re drawing attention-”

The hypocrisy nearly made Khaled laugh. How dare you care about drawing attention onto us now, of all times! “And then,” Khaled continued, retelling his story as he raised his voice on purpose, “you took me to work with you and kept me on an extremely short leash, while the rest of the mafia treated me like the plague! Do you have any idea what they would say about me when you weren’t there? All the names they called me that I didn’t understand? Well, you made me understand, didn’t you?” His master reached out to hold his hand, but Khaled smacked it away, rising from the table to put even further distance between them. “Four years ago, this very night, the night of my eighteenth birthday, you made me understand, didn’t you?!”

“Khaled, shut up!” Thomas raised himself from the table, his livid eyes narrowed threateningly as he stared the young man down.

“You treated me like a whore –no, worse than a whore! You broke and violated my body nearly every night for years on end! You dolled me up and passed me around to your boys like a party favor until I was thrown away like garbage-” Khaled furiously blinked back the stinging sensation in his eyes “-back into your arms when they’d had their fill!”

A small squeak in their periphery interrupted their intense staring match. “U-um, excuse me, have you gentlemen decided on your entrees yet?” the waitress timidly interrupted. Both men fell silent as they realized the weight of a dozen stares were on their table, with both patrons and staff tensely watching them as they fought.

Thomas composed himself first. “No, thanks, I think we’re done here,” he answered gruffly. He reached into his coat pocket and fished out a few $100 bills. “Sorry for the inconvenience,” he muttered as he pressed the cash into the woman’s hands and strode purposefully towards the exit. Khaled himself muttered a quiet “sorry” before he followed his master out the restaurant, where they both picked up their argument where they had left off as soon as they reached the parking lot.

“What was that?” the mob boss shouted. “Fuck, boy, what is wrong with you tonight?!”

“What’s wrong with me?! I wasn’t the one who went out and bought a teenager to turn into their personal bed warmer!” Khaled screamed. “I wasn’t the one who stripped him of his clothes and wrapped him in silk and pimped him out to strangers he barely knew! I wasn’t the one who tore down everything he loved about himself-” Khaled’s voice broke on a wet sob he couldn’t suppress, “–everything that made him unique, to wring all the hopes and dreams from his broken body, just to build up whatever I wanted from his remains!” He raised an accusatory finger at the man he called his master. “That was you, you did that, that was all you!”

A brief grimace of an unnamed emotion flickered across his master’s face, disappearing before it could even be named. “You’re making it out to be way worse than it was!” he defended himself. He shook his head as he grabbed Khaled’s elbow and started steering him toward the car. “See if I ever let you drink again, fuck,” he muttered.

“Get off me!” Khaled yanked his elbow away from Thomas’ grip. He bit his trembling lip and swiped away the tears in his eyes. Any and all pretense of wanting to appear strong was abandoned as Khaled angrily wept.

“I could have loved you, you know!” He wrapped his arms around himself as his posture crumpled, squeezing himself in a hug as if he were desperately trying to hold his shattered pieces together for a little longer, if only so long as it took him to finish his damning indictment. “You wouldn’t know this, but I don’t have a father, at least not anymore,” he shuddered through ragged breaths, “but for a little bit, I thought I had you. If you had just been a little kinder, a little more understanding, if you had never touched me like that at all, I could have loved you like a father, and I think I was about to! But you didn’t love me, and I know you never did!”

“Hey, that is just not true!” Khaled heard the crunch of gravel under expensive leather shoes. A shadow cast over him as the mob boss leaned over the young man.

“Why didn’t you love me?!” Khaled glared up at him through his mess of tears. “What was it about me that justified pouring out all your wrath and your lust against me?! Why was it so hard to love me?! Am I unlovable, is that it?! Why-”

A rough hand grabbed him by his hair and tugged him forward. Khaled’s rant was smashed against a regrettably familiar pair of warm lips as Thomas brought him in for a kiss. Khaled clawed at the front of the man’s chest, fighting with a fervor he had not had since the early days to try and put the distance back between them. He groaned in protest against those smothering lips as his master maneuvered both their bodies and flipped Khaled back-first onto the hood of a car. Thomas broke the kiss and quickly covered Khaled’s mouth with his hand before the young man could say anything else. “You want me to love you?” he growled. “What does it look like I’ve been doing?!” Khaled thrashed against the hand on his mouth and the body pressing him down inch by inch into the chrome hood of the car. “I have been nothing but sweet with you for months now, but if that’s not what love looks like to you, I could always go back to what I had done before!”

The statement that would’ve struck terror and fear into him before now just made Khaled even more angry. He had finally freed one of his arms from where it had been pinned and scratched at his owner’s face. Thomas recoiled and let go of Khaled’s mouth on instinct to catch Khaled’s wrist in a punishingly tight grip. It wasn’t long before he had both of Khaled’s wrists pinned in one hand in front of him.

Khaled glared at him as he struggled against his master’s hold. “Touch me like that again, and I will scream,” he promised.

His master scowled, but ultimately released him and stepped away, allowing Khaled to peel himself off the hood of the car. They were still in a restaurant parking lot, after all. “At least wait until we’re in the car, you fucking savage!” he muttered.

They had just made it to the back of the boss’ Bentley when Thomas tried to grab Khaled in one hand and open the backseat door with another. Khaled dodged, and as Thomas reached for him to pull him into the car, he pushed into the man’s body and sent him falling backwards. His back met the seat of the backseat with a satisfying thud. Khaled wasted no time in climbing on top of him and closing the car door behind him.

“Cut this shit out!” the older man yelled, trying to sit himself up from where he fell.

“No!” Khaled pushed him down by the sternum. His master, in turn grabbed him by the hair and wrenched his head back to bare his neck. The sudden pull made Khaled gasp. The warm, moist pair of lips kissing at his Adam’s apple made him involuntarily groan. He blindly clawed at his master while his head was craned up to the car roof. The pair of lips against his throat murmured a breathy request against his skin. “Let’s do it, here, now.”

Once the hand in his hair let Khaled go to begin tearing off his shirt, Khaled snapped his head back to stare down at him. “I’ll ride,” he said. Thomas blinked up at him as his hands retreated from Khaled’s waistband. “I’ll ride,” he repeated, his tone assertive and acerbic. His fingers moved over the button and fly of his pants before his brain could keep up with what he had demanded. Thomas mirrored the motions as he undid his pants and quickly whipped out his hardening member. “You have taken so much from me, you can at least allow me this, Master.” He pushed his pants and underwear down to his ankles, taking them off entirely before climbing on top of the dumbstruck man again.

Khaled straddled his master’s hips, splitting himself in half on his master’s cock as he gripped the front passenger seat and the back seat to steady himself. A pair of roughly calloused hands maintained an iron grip on his hips, but Khaled had set the speed on his own, pushing himself up and down the rigid shaft at a brutally masochistic pace. The familiar stinging burning sensation accompanied every movement as he pushed himself to his limits, but Khaled didn’t care. This was the most control he’d ever had –more like the most control he’d been allowed to have with his owner, and as he kept hitting that sweet spot inside of him with every punishing thrust, the repugnant act finally began to feel good.

He wanted to laugh. He wanted to cry. He did both.

“Fuck me!” Khaled looked below, into the eyes of the man he was riding. The mob boss was a mess, with his short blonde hair mussed up, top three shirt buttons undone, and outer suit coat long forgotten. “I don’t know what I did to get you so worked up, but I should do it again if it gets you this eager!”

“Shut up!”

One of the hands let go of Khaled’s hips to slap him across the cheek. “That is no way to talk to your Master!”

Undeterred, Khaled kept riding. After every abuse that he’d endured, there was no way a mere backhand was going to stop him. He felt himself smiling, a dark and twisted little upturn gracing his lips. “Oh, I know you missed this, you sick son of a fuck!” he gloated. “I figured those girls in the whorehouses could only satisfy you for so long! I am your perfect plaything, doing exactly what you have trained me to do!” His pace was becoming erratically frenzied as he sought release from the ever-mounting pleasure. Thomas bucked his hips into Khaled’s, trying to keep up with him as he squeezed the young man’s hips impossibly tight. That’s right, I can’t cum yet, not until he cums at least, I’ve got to get him to cum first, Khaled reminded himself.

“So, so tight –you’re gonna rip my dick off, Khaled!”

“What are you complaining for?! You wanted this!” he screamed. He was close, so close, he just had to hold out a little more-

A strangled mix between a roar and a moan erupted underneath him as a familiar pulse of hot seed injected deep within. Khaled didn’t take much longer to cum after that, spilling himself over imported cotton as he rode through the high of his climax. His grip on the front and back seats slackened, knees and thighs trembling with the effort to keep himself seated on the man’s cock. When Thomas finally let go of his hips to gently guide him down onto his chest –face first into the puddle of his own spend –Khaled went down limply without a fight. He rested his head against his master’s chest, picking up the sound of the older man’s heartbeat and the smell of cologne and sweat and sex radiating off his broad body.

“Holy fuck, Khaled.” Thomas’ voice rumbled in his ribcage as his fingers idly played with Khaled’s hair. “That was kinda hot-”

“Nope,” Khaled cut off, “stop talking. Please.” Fortunately, this time, he listened.

The mob boss and his slave fell into a contemplative silence as they lay against each other. The silence only broke by the fingers in Khaled’s hair, stopping as they twirled a single lock of hair. “Oh my god, is that a gray hair?” the man asked incredulously.

Khaled laughed/cried again.

Le Tag List: @kabie-whump @rainydaywhump @whumped-by-glitter @skittles-the-whumpee @generic-whumperz @bamber344 @there-will-always-be-blood @morning-star-whump @a-la-whump @watermelons-dont-grow-on-trees

@defire

[theheartwhumpswhatitwhumps]

I love the dynamic of a talkative whumpee and a stoic whumper. Especially a comedic/lighthearted whumpee who uses humor as a coping mechanism

Because it’s the perfect storm for Whumpee to be cracking jokes, trying to make small talk with the villain or the sidekicks, hoping someone will have mercy because come on, they’re just a little guy. And the rising panic as they realize that no one is responding. In fact, few are even looking straight at them.

All the while Whumper walks slowly and deliberately to a torture tool Whumpee hadn’t noticed until now

Whumpee’s slow gulp before they pour all their charm, all their wit, all their thirst for approval into a grin so bright it could reflect off the face of a blade. But Whumper’s face remains immovable as ever, eyes slightly crinkled at the edges with what could be disgust or mild amusement.

“Woah wait,” Whumpee stammers, trying to push away. “Wait now, now hold on, let’s talk about this.”

Whumper’s head tilts a fraction to the side as if to say there’s been enough of that.

Words pour lightning fast from Whumpee’s mouth. Sloppy one-liners, pleading babble, Later, they can’t remember what exactly they said, only that the power they once found in words was ripped from them like a scream.

[inkblot22]

(PS I don’t actually know the source material for idia I just stumbled upon one of your fics while looking at FFXIV Yandere fics so sorry if this sounds OOC)

I’m not super creative but what do you think might actually be Idia’ routine with his darling? Does he fall into any routine, does it change a lot?

Have a wonderful day (and happy late bunny day!) 🫶

I actually am of the opinion that this is a very creative thought! You should give yourself more credit. I like to idealize the day to day life, but it never occurred to me that writing it down might be a good idea. On that sentiment, I think maybe Vil or even Leona would have a better day to day routine. Dividers by @/cafekitsune

Also, wow, what a pipeline, FFXIV to twst?? You've got good taste lmao welcome to my blog.

I'll put this under the cut, and I'm also not promising that this will be very good. I use the 24 hour clock. I am constantly getting told irl that American people don't do that, but I'm evil, so I'm putting the times in 24 hour clock format.

TW for mentions of noncon, coercion, captivity, someone keeping someone else awake, a hint of Idia being an asshole

+ Idia doesn't really seem like he has much of a set schedule, but Ortho absolutely does and Ortho is lowkey kind of bossy, so...

+ Yeah uh, Idia's partner is absolutely out of luck. Idia likes night gaming a lot, and he gets loud, so good luck sleeping. Idia himself goes to bed late and wakes up whenever the heck he wakes up. He could go to bed at 0300 in the morning and wake up again at 0700.

+ As his kept partner, the schedule is a little more normal, like I said. Ortho doesn't really need to sleep from what I understand, (I haven't read all of book 6, no spoilers or else I WILL temporarily block you) but it's silly to imagine that he doesn't wake up or attempt to wake up everyone else around him as early as 0600.

+ After waking up, Idia will eat breakfast. I think it'd be delivered usually since Idia and his partner are basement dwellers, one by nature and the other by force. After breakfast begins work...

+ Or procrastination. Idia flip flops between extreme focus on what he should be doing and what he should not be doing. He manages to get his schoolwork done, but more often than not, he's asking his partner to cuddle up and watch a movie, drama, or his fingers flying across the keyboard. Idia will not ask them to cuddle if he is doing schoolwork or virtually attending classes.

+ I like to think that he smells smoky, on account of the flaming hair, and he runs hot, so prepare to SWEAT. In the case his partner doesn't really want to hang out with him, he will usually sulk and only occasionally get upset to the point of doing something about it.

+ I don't think he showers every day. I think he's an every other day type of showerer, based solely on him not being particularly active. This means that his partner doesn't have to run on his showering schedule and gets extra hot water on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.

+ By the way, in the case that Idia's darling ever gets peckish, Idia has a snack stash that he proudly pulled out and showed them as soon as they were allowed to wander a bit. I figure they get hungry some time around 1400, especially if Idia is also eating at that time.

+ I think his metabolism is fast, but also a bit odd. He is a young person, and therefore he strikes me as the type to get randomly hungry. If asked very nicely (and with the promise of physical affection in some form) he'd be incredibly willing to make his partner something to munch on when he makes his own.

+ Despite Idia's partner being literally held captive in his room, with all his suspicious items and, worst of all, himself, Idia is about as respectful as a kidnapper can be about demanding sex. He doesn't like to be physically forceful about it, and he often will just jerk off in the bathroom.

+ The reason for this is very simple: If Ortho ever saw Idia having sex with ANYONE, Idia would spontaneously combust. Well, obviously he doesn't know that for certain, but it's a theory that he is not willing to test. He won't even talk about his preferences around his little brother.

+ As far as I'm aware, most people in captive situations do not tend to ask their kidnapper to fuck them unless they're being threatened in some way, but Idia's partner isn't typically being threatened (ignore the shock collar,) so they never ask Idia to have sex.

+ This does not stop Idia from being a whiny bitch about not having sex enough as soon as Ortho is gone for a few hours. The close quarters and sudden advent of a human being who he doesn't mind touching him is a big thing for Idia.

+ Ortho goes on "walks" in a sort of unusual schedule. That is to say that he doesn't have a schedule. If something needs to be picked up, he's tired of Idia not listening to him, he has his own stuff to do, or he just feels like it, Ortho will go out, sharing his location with Idia. From there, Idia will typically calculate how long it'd take Ortho to get back paired with whatever Ortho said he was going to do before he left, and see if he can squeeze in some coerced touching.

+ So. Good luck, Idia's partner. Idia will make a big stink until he gets bored or his partner gives in. His partner usually gives in, based on fear of what he might do alone.

+ Bedtime is somewhat randomized. If Ortho was out, when he comes back and it's any time after 2000, he will very subtly try to get Idia and his partner to start winding down. If both or one ignores him, he'll start getting upset.

+ Like I said, Ortho is kinda bossy. He will nag someone, and the worst part is that he's usually got their best interest in mind.

+On the off chance that Idia decides to go to bed at a decent time, he curls up behind his partner. He runs hot and smells smoky, and at some times it's not the worst thing. Some times.

+ By the way, a lot of this flies out the window in the event that Idia decides to attend classes in person. This is rare, so don't expect it to happen often, but it's not as good as it could be. Ortho goes with him and he locks up any way to reach the outside world, so all his partner has to entertain themselves is his manga collection, or the fun pastime of destruction of property. (This is a very bad idea, and I can expand on punishments later.)

+ In Idia's partner's case, every day is much of the same but just a little different, which makes it hard to keep track of time. The fact that Idia prefers low lighting and no natural light doesn't help this whatsoever.

[guys-in-distress-database]

Whump prompt:

A captive Whumpee is told by Whumper that the Team were killed in a trap laid for them by Whumper and soon Whumpee will join them.

However, Whumper has something special planned for Whumpee: a public execution in front of the entire city.

At their execution, a dejected Whumpee awaits their fate, but is saved at the last moment by the Team, who escaped Whumper’s trap and have come to rescue their friend.

[another-whump-sideblog]

Fixing Tracy -- Routine

TWs in the tags

Masterlist

She’ll figure something out. She just has to wait and gather information, and she’ll figure something out. That’s the plan. She has a plan, she’s not powerless.

She’s… she has to accept that she’s in here for the long haul. She’s going to have to find a new job when she escapes, and comfort Alicia after the stress of losing her sister and not knowing why. 

She can do it. She just needs to buckle down. No more crying and pouting and freaking out.

Tracy falls into a routine with Molly. They eat breakfast together in the mornings, Tracy usually letting Molly make it herself. There are chains attaching all of the pots and pans to hooks inside the drawers, now. She hadn't noticed, but Molly probably did it right after the time Tracy tried to use a frying pan as a weapon. The chains are long enough that the pots and pans can be taken basically anywhere in the kitchen, but not outside of it, which Tracy supposes makes sense.

Usually they eat in silence, but sometimes Molly talks a bit about herself.

“Would it help you settle in if you knew more about me? I keep forgetting I’m basically a stranger to you. Hmm… I’ve always wanted to take care of people, ever since I was very small. I’ve tried all sorts of things. I was a therapist for a while, a nurse for a while… I even did politics for a bit.”

“Then… why? Why wasn’t that good enough? Why’d you have to— why’d you kidnap me?”

“…that would just upset you. You know full well there’s no answer to that question that you would be happy with. Let’s talk about something else.”

After breakfast, they usually do something together, like watching a movie or playing games. Tracy does her best to be friendly and engage Molly in conversation in the hopes that she'll let something important slip, but more often than not Tracy just gets too frustrated with Molly to do anything but scream at her or be silent, and she usually chooses the latter.

After that, they have lunch. Molly is a good cook, and Tracy finds herself eating a lot more than she did before Molly kidnapped her. She ignores the gnawing thought in the back of her head that she hasn’t earned this, because she has no doubt Molly would find a way to force her to eat if she refused.

That’s… that’s taking comfort in being powerless. That’s what Molly wants. 

No, no. She’s choosing to eat so that she’s strong enough to fight back. She doesn’t have to earn food. Her needs aligning with Molly’s wants benefits her, not Molly. Her priority is escape, not defiance.

“How… um… how did you get me here?”

“You don’t want to talk about—“

“Stop that!” She’s already shaking with rage. Talking to Molly without screaming is impossible, sometimes. “Stop acting like you know what I want better than I do!”

Molly stares at her like a deer in headlights. “I… um… you don’t like it when I apologize. I’ll just… um, I waited until a night when you were alone in your apartment, then I waited until you were asleep, and then I brought you home.”

“I knew that much! I’m asking how!”

“Right. I… drugged you. I’m sor— nevermind.”

Tracy waits for her to continue, but she doesn’t. Deep breaths. “…And my stuff? All of my clothes are here.”

“Just packed it up in my trunk. And I took your phone, which you know, and your keys and wallet and stuff so it would look like you left on your own.”

So no one’s looking for Tracy. She deflates. It’s still information, though. She got some information. She’ll just ask a couple more things so that it wasn’t obvious she was fishing for that. “You had time to fold up all my clothes and put them in the dresser and closet. What the fuck did you drug me with?”

“You wouldn’t recognize the name of the drug. It only took a few hours to organize your stuff, anyway. I didn’t— it wasn’t dangerous, I promise. You were perfectly safe the whole time.”

Tracy jumps to her feet without thinking. “You only drugged me once? And it only lasted a few hours?”

“Yes. You’re so clever, figuring that out from what I said.”

There’s no sarcasm in Molly’s voice. It’s a completely sincere compliment, and it makes Tracy’s stomach turn.

A few hours by car could still be quite a ways away from her apartment, but… she’s probably still in the same state. She shouldn’t have too hard of a time getting home after escaping.

That’s what she was already assuming, but having it confirmed is still very helpful. She’s on a roll, gathering-information-wise. It… probably wasn’t actually a ‘jump out of her chair in excitement’ level discovery, and now it’s really obvious she was fishing for information relevant to her escape… but that’s fine. She can work with that.

After lunch, Tracy usually takes a nap. She hasn’t just been eating a lot more, she’s been sleeping a lot more, too, and she’s positive she’s being drugged despite Molly’s insistence to the contrary.

“…Please stop drugging me. You don’t have to, I’m not a danger to myself or others right now, right?” All she can do is ask. Molly is the one who stocks the kitchen, so as far as Tracy knows, literally all of her options for food are drugged.

“Dear, I’m not drugging you, I promise.”

“But I’ve never been this tired before! I’ve never slept this much every day, or napped, or anything like that! How could I possibly believe you’re not drugging me?” There’s a mortifying lump in her throat that makes her voice come out sounding more scared than angry.

“Tracy, dear… you averaged four hours of sleep a night before you got here. You were in survival mode, and your body saw no point in using its limited resources to ask for sleep. But now you’re safe. Now you can heal, and that takes a lot more energy than surviving. You’ll feel less tired as your body adjusts and recovers from the constant stress you were under.”

That sounds like bullshit. Tracy is positive she’s being drugged. 

After her nap, Tracy usually takes advantage of the little gym setup Molly made. It’s really just a treadmill, a pull-up bar, and a few yoga mats, but it’s better than nothing. Sometimes Molly joins her, but usually she just sits and reads while Tracy tries to build her strength.

Afterwards, they have dinner. Often, Molly uses the time while Tracy is napping to bake some kind of treat, so there’s usually dessert. Then Tracy showers, brushes her teeth, and goes to bed. Molly always offers to stay with her, and Tracy always refuses. She knows now that Molly will never fall asleep in front of her unless Tracy's restrained or drugged, so there's no point.

Time goes by so fast. Before Tracy knows it, her hands and black eye have healed, and she still hasn’t made any real progress towards escaping. She's even considered setting a fire to try and force Molly to let her upstairs, but there's a fire sprinkler system on the ceiling. 

Molly hasn't restrained or shocked her since the time Tracy tried to take the cattle prod from her. She doesn't seem to be looking for reasons to do either, and Molly never seems even slightly annoyed with Tracy no matter how nasty Tracy is to her. She genuinely seems to want Tracy to be happy, even if she's really, really bad at it.

Every night, before going upstairs to bed, Molly tells her she loves her. Every night, Tracy believes her a little more.

Tag list: @whumpyourdamnpears

[adrift-in-thyme]

Whumptober Day 30: Lab Rat + Examination

Continuation of Day 11

Read it on Ao3

- Legend & Hyrule

- Summary: Legend finds himself in the clutches of a mad scientist

CW for torture, experimentation, dehumanization, blood and injury, captivity, mentions of death, and a character briefly wishing for death

--------------------

Someone is talking.

Legend registers their voice dimly, through a fog he can’t make heads or tails of. It drags heavily at him when he tries to surface, oppressive and thick. Memories drift past – sensations of pain, feelings of fear.

There is danger here, they murmur.  

What danger? He asks. But they flit away like fleeting phantoms, leaving his question unanswered.

And so he falls again, drifting on darkness as though it is the waves of the sea, awaiting the moment when everything will come once more into dizzying, blinding focus.

When it does, he almost wishes it hadn’t.

He awakens to the assault of bright lights. They glare down on him from above, glinting off the metal of the table he is strapped to. The rough fabric of the restraints grates at his exposed skin. Something hard and metallic encases his neck, uncomfortably tight when he swallows. 

His eyes widen. The memories come rushing back, now, in a torrent of terror and discomfort. 

Falling from a portal. Trying and failing to save Hyrule. The men on the boat, inspecting him, touching him, hands and breath hot and clammy. His promise…

“Ah, wonderful. You’re awake at last.”

Legend jolts at the voice and tries to sit up. But the restraints hold fast and he ends up only getting a glimpse of a familiar gray-haired man before collapsing back down. His head swims and he blinks a few times, trying to clear it.

“Oh, great,” he says, drily, voice cracking painfully. “It’s you.”

The man chuckles, the sound almost warm. “Indeed. We’re about to get started on something that could be monumental.”

There is a clattering of metallic objects near his head. Legend swallows hard.

“I do hope you are as excited as I am.”

“Oh, yeah I’m real excited. Can’t wait to get poked and prodded by some sadistic creep,” Legend retorts. Panic is rising fast within him, despite his attempts to suppress it. 

“Oh come. Don’t be too quick to judge.” The man moves slightly into his line of sight again, something that looks disturbingly like a knife in his hand. “You are contributing to my research. And that’s a worthwhile thing, I assure you. The information I glean from you can be used for years to come.”

Glean. Legend feels bile rise in his throat at the word. For some unpleasant reason, it brings to mind gutted fish, fit for dissection; dead bugs with their bodies pinned.

“Now, tell me” —The man is facing him now, eagerness in his eyes. Legend fights not to squirm beneath his gaze — “what makes you transform? Is it a curse? A spell? Can you control it?”

Legend glares at him. “If you think I’m just gonna explain everything to you you’re even more of an idiot than I thought.”

“It will help this all go faster if you do.” 

Yes, Legend realizes, he is definitely holding a knife. It glints in that cursed painful light. Slowly, he lowers it toward Legend’s legs. 

“It will bring us to the important part of this examination. And most importantly it will ensure that your friend keeps his life.”

Legend jolts upward at that, fighting against the straps that pin him down.

“What do you mean?” There is an edge of harsh panic in his voice and all his strength isn’t enough to hide it. “What do you mean it'll keep my friend alive?! You said he would be safe if I came with you! You said you’d leave him on the shore! I saw you do it! I saw—”

He breaks off with a choked gasp. He is shaking, from cold, from adrenaline, from the fear coursing through him in waves. Then, a door he hadn’t seen before slides open and Hyrule stumbles through, bound and gagged and blindfolded, arm held tightly in the clutches of one of the men from the boat. And he is certain he is going to break right then and there.

“Rulie,” he breathes and Hyrule lifts his head. 

He gives a muffled cry, struggling to try and break free. But his captor wrenches him back with a growl.

“You saw correctly,” the man says, with a calm that belies everything Legend feels. “I kept my promise to you. I left your friend on the shore as you requested. But somehow, he escaped his bonds and found us here. He brought this upon himself. Though, it never hurts to have a bit more leverage.”

The air feels tighter than ever now. Legend struggles to draw a full breath. 

Hyrule, you idiot. Why’d you come here?

He sags back against the table, wincing at the bite of cold metal against his skin. If he wasn’t cornered between a rock and a hard place before, he certainly is now. 

“What causes you to turn?” The man asks, leaning forward. Still, he holds the knife, situating it so close it almost presses into Legend’s knee. Legend doesn’t doubt that as soon as he transforms, it will plunge into his tail, searching out the gory mysteries of it. “Tell me or your friend will pay.”

His voice still embodies the calm of someone who has this entire situation perfectly controlled. And hell, maybe he does. It certainly seems that way.

Legend hates it.

He swallows. His mouth is terribly dry, panic situated in a hard, little ball in his gut. But he forces the words out anyway.

“It’s a curse. I thought it was just a magically-infused tool at first. But after I used it a few times, it became a part of me.” 

His gaze flits from the man’s face to Hyrule, standing rigid, still in his captor’s grip. He is obviously listening — Legend doesn’t know how he wouldn’t be. Of all the ways he had wanted him to find out about his ability, this definitely isn’t one of them. 

I’m so sorry, traveler.

“You cannot control it, then?”

“No.”

The man’s eyes are alight with that hunger again, the one that sends shivers crawling up Legend’s spine and makes him feel ill.

“Perhaps, we can do something about that.”

He motions to someone behind Legend. Footsteps sound and then the next thing the veteran knows, water is pouring down on him from above. He gasps at the icy chill of it, fingernails digging into his palms. It pools on the table, held there by its raised edges. And in response to its touch, Legend’s body begins to transform. 

It is sheer agony.

Usually, the transformation is at least a little painful. His body is morphing, after all, fitting into a form it was not created to take the shape of. But this, this is like nothing he has ever known. It is like the magic within him is a trickle that wants to be a stream, a wave held back by a steadfast barrier.

The collar. It must be suppressing my magic.

He grits his teeth, seeing white. He wishes he could stop it, this onward march of the curse, but he is helpless. All he can do as his legs seal together and gills and fins grow upon him is try not to scream.

Even that is a losing battle.

It comes out as his tail forms – a strangled, almost inhuman sound. It fills his ears, mingling with the pounding of his head and the sounds of Hyrule fighting to get free. And it only tapers off when breathing becomes immensely difficult. 

Though there is enough water to activate the curse, it is not nearly enough for proper airflow. And the collar around his neck covers his gills, restricting it further. Suddenly, Legend is suffocating.

His eyes blow wide and he struggles, gasping vainly for breath. 

“Fascinating. Your biology becomes that of a mer.”

The man comes into view, leaning over him. Roughly, he turns his head this way and that, inspecting him. 

“Please,” Legend croaks, desperately, “can’t–I can’t…”

“Ah, yes of course. Can’t have you dying, can we?”

More water cascades down upon him. Hands grip the collar, loosening it slightly. Legend goes boneless, dragging in large breaths that make him dizzy. 

It’s a bitter mercy, but one nonetheless. At this point, he’ll take what he can get.

“Now, to do something about the uncontrollable nature of this curse.”

Someone is touching his tail now, but Legend doesn’t have the strength to lift his head and see who it is. 

“All things can be brought into submission, you see, with a bit of effort. But first, I must study the makeup of this new body. The changes cannot be fully ascertained from the outside.”

Danger, his mind shouts again. Get out before it finds you.

Still, Legend cannot make sense of it. After the onslaught of pain and near-suffocation, everything feels sluggish and distant. He just wants to sleep. 

But then, Hyrule screams something that sounds awfully like the word “no,” and his tail explodes with pain. The exhaustion flees, replaced by crippling, terrifying agony. Someone is slicing him open, he realizes as he thrashes, choking on blood. They’re cutting into his tail with all the careful precision of a scientist…and without the merciful use of a sedative. Or death.

Aren’t things that are dissected usually dead?

The thought isn’t comforting. Nor is it enough to distract him from the endless pain. He is buffeted by it, suffocated. Everything is on fire, everything too harsh, too bright. Wordlessly, he begs for the sweet release of oblivion. But it doesn’t come. Instead, blurry forms surround him, holding him down as he continues to fight back, tightening his bonds, digging their nails into his skin.

“Remain still,” comes the man’s voice. “If you’re not careful you will cause me to cut something vital.” 

He is moving things around now, from the feel of it. Inspecting his insides, Legend guesses. He doesn’t know for certain. He doesn’t care to. He just wants it all to stop. 

“Please,” he tries to beg, “please stop this.”

But blood gurgles in his throat and he chokes on it, every cough sending sharp aches splintering through him.

“Stay still, brat.”

A sharp slap stings the side of his face. Tears burn hot in Legend’s eyes. His head snaps sideways and he can see him now – Hyrule – fighting desperately against his captor’s restraining grip. The blindfold has fallen as a result of his efforts and his eyes meet Legend’s, large and filled with fury and terror.

He yells something incoherent – perhaps a protest, perhaps a promise. Legend can’t tell. All he knows is that his heart is splitting open along with the rest of his body, the ache of it unbearable. Hyrule shouldn't have to see this. He was never even supposed to be here. 

I failed.

A hiccupped sob tears out of him. Legend shuts his eyes. He is so weak, so helpless. 

Curse this stupid power, curse the people who seek to exploit it, curse the shadowy monster who sent them hurtling through that portal…curse himself for being so foolish. 

He would tear this place apart if he could. He tries, tries to call his magic to his fingertips. Pain is the only thing he gets, pain and the sound of someone yelling at him, chastising him. 

It only adds to everything else. The man comments on how fascinating this form is. Hyrule cries out. Legend screams and screams until his throat is so ruined and hoarse he can’t anymore. 

And then, abruptly, there is no sound at all. Finally, darkness swoops up and swallows him. --------------------------

Everything is a blur after that. A blur of pain and fear, a nauseating rush of color and sound and sensation. Nothing changes and yet everything does. 

Sometimes he is lying on the table, strapped down and held down and thrashing like a wild animal caught in a cage. Others, he floats in what he thinks is a kind of fish tank, cramped and aching, watching rivulets of crimson dance and twirl on blue waters. 

The collar cuts and chokes him. His gills ache from struggling against it. His fins are cut, his scales picked at, some peeled off for examination. His tail hardly even feels like a functional extension of him anymore. It is nothing more than a limp, useless thing made of muscles and nerves, crippled by pain, torn apart by the hungry hands of some mad scientist. He doesn’t even want to know what his legs look like. Not that he could tell anyway. He hasn’t transformed back into a Hylian since the curse took ahold of him here.

They have no use for a Hylian. But apparently, they have every use for a mer.

Legend doesn’t even remember what they wanted with him, or why he is here. He only knows two things now and they are all he really needs to. One, that he can’t escape, no matter how badly he wants to. And two, that being here, enduring all of this, somehow, inexplicably keeps Hyrule alive. 

Even if the traveler’s eyes are bright with pain and tears every time Legend finds them, even if he bears marks from resisting his captors, he is alive. That is all Legend can hope for. He doesn’t have the strength to move beyond that.

So, he hangs on for Rulie’s sake. He hangs on even as he loses everything. Because he can’t lose his brother. He would rather be ripped to shreds and discarded, poked and prodded into oblivion, than watch him die. 

The man has made it quite clear that that is the only alternative. The few times Legend had resisted after the first, he had described the methods in which he would murder Hyrule in intricate, excruciating detail. 

“I will make it painful,” he had said, with that same infuriating calm that made Legend want to rip his head off. “Much more painful than what you’re enduring. And I will make it slow. He will be begging for death by the time I finish.”

Legend had given him a glare that could make Ganondorf quiver. But he hadn’t fought any more after that. 

No. His fight is all internal now, a battle to hang on to the shreds of life he still has. He is stubborn to a fault, that’s for certain. But sometimes he wishes he wasn’t. Sometimes he wishes he would simply allow himself to fade away.

In the end, though, he is glad that he doesn’t.

There is nothing to herald an unexpected rescue. Nothing at all. He has been dunked in the tank today, barely holding on to consciousness, drifting in a sea of pain. Hylia only knows how much blood he has lost, or if he is trapped in this form forever, or if his tail will ever work again, his wounds ever heal. It hurts so badly. But he has no tears left to cry.

When a flash of familiar blue streaks through the room, however, he nearly sobs anyway.

The one thing these monsters haven’t tried is making him believe in a false reality. But the sounds of his captors hitting the ground, the sight of Warriors’ face next to the glass, his hand pressed to it as he asks him questions Legend lacks the energy to understand…it all seems like a dream. 

Then, someone is lifting him from the water, gently, carefully, and voices are swelling around him. The voices of his brothers. He curls into the arms that embrace him. A vibrant blue scarf is draped over his shoulders and he grasps it, fingers fisting in the soft fabric.

He must have changed back not long after leaving the water, body undoubtedly eager to revert to its natural state. Because for the first time in what feels like an eternity, he can feel air filtering in through his nostrils.

Legend sinks further into Warriors’ embrace, nestling into his scarf. Everything aches and his skin feels raw, almost stretched. But he is safe, secure in the arms of the people he loves. And they will take care of him. They always do.

Sure enough, their voices begin to become clearer, all familiar, all reassuring.

“I’ve got you, vet.”

“You’re safe now. We won’t let those creeps touch you again.”

“We need to get this collar off him…”

“We will. Let’s get these wounds taken care of first.”

“We’re gonna take care of you, Ledge. Just you wait. Hyrule’s spell will work. It always does.”

Hyrule…

Legend drags open his eyes, peeking out from his cocoon of warmth. 

“R-rule…where…”

“I’m right here, Ledge. Don’t worry.”

Hazel eyes meet his own. A calloused hand cups his cheek. There is so much guilt in Hyrule’s expression, so much pain that Legend’s heart aches from it. 

It’s not your fault. None of it is, he wants to say, but all that comes out is a groan as magic begins to flow into his body. It is equal parts pain and relief. His eyes flutter closed again as it seeks his wounds, mending them little by little. 

“I’ll heal everything I can,” Hyrule continues. “You’ll have scars and…and I can’t promise your mer form will be the same it used to be. But…I’ll do my best.”

Legend hums, only distantly aware of the sound rumbling in his throat. Hyule’s magic grows stronger, more determined, rushing like waves through him, and he loses himself in it. It wraps around him, envelops him in warmth and safety and a fire that is all Rulie’s own. He is safe in it, wounds soothed, agony growing dimmer.

Then, abruptly, it stops. 

Legend gasps at the suddenness of its retraction, eyes shooting open, panic lighting up within him. 

“What…”

He doesn’t have to find the strength to finish the question. He can see him through the forms of his brothers situated protectively around him – the man who had torn him apart. He stands a short distance away, eyes snapping with anger, a strange, little device in his hands. 

Legend has a nagging feeling that he has seen it before, somewhere in those memories that are little more than a horrifying haze of agony. But he can’t recall what it is used for…or if he has ever even seen it in action. If it caused him pain, it was likely lumped in with everything else. Too much pain, he has learned, quickly becomes one, single, incomprehensible blur.

“Give him back!” he demands, sounding angrier and more fearful than Legend has ever heard before. “Give my research back or I'll use this!”

“He is not your research and we will not return him to you,” Time growls, his voice a thunderclap. “Stand back or we will make you.”

He levels his claymore at him, but the man doesn’t budge.

“You haven’t been able to get that collar off yet, have you? Well, with just one push of a button” – He holds up the device, fingering one of the many, small buttons upon it – “it will cut off his magic completely. I don’t know if you know this, given that you are not experts like myself, but he is so intricately linked with his magic now that he needs it to survive. It can be twisted and turned if one can find out how. But it cannot be ripped from him, or torn away.”

Legend’s grip of Warriors’ scarf tightens. He exhales a shuddering breath. 

He doesn’t doubt what the man says. To be deprived of his magic…well, he doesn’t even know what that feels like. He doesn’t want to know.

“You won’t kill him,” the captain says, eerily calm. “You need him. You can’t work with someone who is already dead.”

“I can make do,” the man replies. “A dead subject is better than none at all.”

He lifts the device a little higher, finger almost pressing the button. “Now, give him to me or I’ll do it.”

Legend tenses. But then he feels Warriors hand, traveling upward as though to cup his head. His fingers swiftly change direction, playing along the collar instead, searching out a way to remove it. After a moment, they catch on a small latch. He pulls and with a streak of relief, Legend feels the collar loosen.

Hyrule glances back at him from where he had risen, a human barrier between Legend and the scientist. Something unspoken passes between them and suddenly, Hyrule’s fingertips crackle with energy.

Time steps forward. “We would never give our brother to a monster.”

The man scowls. “So be it.”

He presses the button. Warriors pushes down on the latch, hard, and the collar slips from Legend’s neck. It clatters to the ground, reverberating with an unsettling energy. Wind kicks it away.

At the same time, Hyrule leaps forward, arm outstretched. Magic courses through him, hitting the man with such force he flies back and into the wall. He collides with it with a sharp crack and slides down, limp and almost lifeless. 

“Well done, traveler,” Time says, already stalking toward the figure. “I’ll make sure he is secured.”

“Then we can get out of this place,” Wild says. “I’ll bet our vet is more than ready to get back to camp.”

Legend nods, choking out the breath he hadn’t even realized he had been holding. He curls into Warriors, trembling slightly, and the captain tightens his grip on him in return. 

“They’re all gone,” he assures him, softly. He cards a hand through his hair and Legend shudders, slightly, eyes going half-lidded. It has been so long since he was touched in this way, since the hands that held him were gentle and trustworthy and kind rather than rough, vengeful, and agonizing.

“That scientist was the last one.”

Thank the gods.

Hyrule kneels before him again, fire in his gaze, emerald magic glowing in the palms of his hands.

“We’ll be out of here soon, vet. But for now, let me heal you properly. It’s the least I can do.”

The magic comes again like the wind on a warm, summer day. Legend closes his eyes and lets it envelop him.

[lilacevans]

— dreaming about being lloyds little captive 🤍

[serickswrites]

Lonely Place of Longing II

Master list here (includes bios, summary, and chapter links)

Warnings: captivity of sorts, restraints, torture, unconsciousness, wounds, blood, crucifixion mentioned, collapsed lung, chest tube, medical whump, dislocation, hurt/aftermath, hurt/recovery, caretaker and whumpee

Halle spent the next couple of days just orienting herself to Tectus as she hadn’t yet completely assumed her duties as Dylan’s keeper, her team’s quarters, and trying very hard to not forget everyone’s names. The latter was proving to be more difficult than she initially thought. Everyone really should have name tags.

The one team member she could remember beside Thomas was Dylan. And who could forget Dylan. The living weapon that she was in charge of. She had not spent any more one on one time with Dylan. But that didn’t mean she wasn’t watching.

Dylan fascinated Halle. In a morbid curiosity sort of way. The weapon only ever left his quarters—which Halle figured was a suite of three rooms: a bedroom, bathroom, and med bay—when Thomas and two other team members came to fetch him. He didn’t even leave to take his meals. Someone always brought Dylan his meal and waited outside while Dylan ate.

Sometimes the team member would speak with Dylan, usually gruffly, but Dylan always murmured his replies. He ducked his head low any time food was brought. He never complained when there wasn’t utensils—Halle realized some team members didn’t feel safe with Dylan having silverware—or when the meager portion was cold. He merely thanked the team member and returned to his room to eat alone.

The most Halle observed Dylan talk was when a team member rolled a library cart into the hall. Dylan was a voracious reader. Halle supposed that was the only thing he could do in his room all day. Dylan gave reviews of each book he returned to the cart whether or not the team member—usually Benjamin—wanted to hear the reviews or not. Dylan made requests each time as well, though some books were harder to get than others.

“I couldn’t find that one here,” Benjamin said as he handed Dylan back the list from the previous week.

“Are you sure? I could have sworn we had the others in our library, perhaps—“

“Well, I couldn’t find it. I asked Thomas to order it. We’ll see when it gets here,” Benjamin snapped.

Dylan hung his head. “Thank you, I really appreciate it.” He took his large stack of books off the cart and retreated back into his room, closing the door quietly.

With a pang of guilt, Halle realized that Dylan had no source of entertainment other than books. He couldn’t go outside except for on missions, he couldn’t roam Tectus, and he didn’t have a TV. These were all things that Halle took for granted.

Halle chased after Benjamin. “Wait!” She called as she hurried after Benjamin.

“Hey, Halle,” Benjamin said as he stopped his cart. “What can I do for you?”

“What was the name of the book?”

“What book?” Benjamin raised an eyebrow.

“The one that Dylan wanted. What’s the name of the book?” Maybe if she could read the book it would give her better insight into the weapon.

Benjamin rolled his eyes. “Oh, that one. Honestly, I don’t know why he wants this book so bad. He’s asked for it about six or seven times. I finally had to put a requisition order in with Thomas. Of course it may take a while for it to come in.”

“What’s it called?” Halle persisted.

“Uhhh Third Star? Or something like that. Honestly, I don’t pay too much attention to what he reads. If we have it, I give it to him. If I can’t find it, I can’t find it. Sometimes someone else finds it. Other times we eventually have to order it.”

“Thank you,” Halle said as she went back to her room. She immediately flicked on her computer and placed an order for delivery the next day for the book. She read the summary—Halle was shocked to learn it was a novel written some years ago about angels and demons and the human that they fell in love with. It wasn’t something she wasn’t interested in reading. But clearly Dylan was.

Thomas came for Dylan late that night. Halle was just climbing into bed when she heard the march of three pairs of boots coming down their hallway. Halle rose quietly and went to her door on the off chance Thomas was coming to talk to her. But no knock came. She cracked open her door to listen, telling herself that she needed to hear how Dylan was feeling and what the mission entailed to better prepare to take care of him.

Thomas’s booming knock echoed in the hall. “Open up,” he ordered. The door opened slowly. Dylan stood shirtless in the doorway, his pale hair tousled with sleep. He was barefoot and bleary eyed. “Yes, Thomas?”

“Put your clothes on, we’re expected to be at the rendezvous point with Bravo Team in,” Thomas checked his watch, “ten minutes.” Dylan’s face sobered instantly. “Am I to know what we are going to be doing or am I just to be dropped in ignorant and blind and expected to survive?” It was the first time Halle heard Dylan use anything but a soft, gentle tone.

“The mission is need to know and you don’t need to know,” Julian sneered. Besides Dylan, Julian was the scariest teammate on Alpha Team. It wasn’t his size so much as his energy, though Julian was taller and broader than Thomas. Halle was glad she was on Julian’s team rather than his enemy because she was pretty sure Julian could squish her like a grape.

Thomas glared at Julian. “The Authority has deemed it unnecessary for you to be briefed at this time.”

“Then allow me to be your blunt instrument to wield as you will, Thomas,” Dylan said coolly, giving a mocking bow. “I will be but a moment.”

“Plan to be gone for twenty-four hours, Dylan,” Thomas instructed.

A whole day. What kind of mission takes a whole day? Dylan returned, stepping out into the hall. He rolled his neck as he walked, cracking each joint loudly. “Shall we?” He was even with Julian and Aubrey. He took care not to touch either team member. That was against the rules, or so Halle had learned. Dylan was not allowed to initiate physical contact with any team member unless the member had previously consented, or it was vital to a mission.

Thomas nodded and Aubrey uncuffed Dylan. “Thank you,” Dylan said softly as he rubbed his wrists as though the cuffs were terribly uncomfortable. Perhaps part of their power suppression was painful. Halle needed to research more about it. Dylan’s eyes flicked to Halle’s door, briefly making eye contact. Dylan’s lips twitched but he said nothing. He strode forward, following after Thomas closely. Aubrey and Julian followed after Dylan, forming a blockade from behind should Dylan attempt to escape.

Thomas and the team members he took with him on the mission did not return that day. Alpha Team quarters were very quiet. Halle knew there wasn’t much to do other than wait. The team members that were left behind seemed unbothered by the tardiness of the team.

“Sometimes they’re late, Halle,” Clay said over dinner.

“You get used to it,” Andrea said as she piled more food on her plate.

Halle could barely eat, she was too uneasy. She could be expected to heal Dylan at any moment. And though she knew Dylan was the only member of the team she was expected to heal, Halle knew she would help whoever needed help.

Loud, aggressive banging woke Halle in the middle of the night the following night. The team still hadn’t returned, but the rest of the team was just as unbothered as they were the day before. Halle’s heart was in her throat as she stumbled out of bed and to the door.

“Halle,” Thomas’s low, gruff voice called through the door. “Halle, wake up!”

“I’m awake, I’m awake,” Halle said as she pulled open the door. What she saw before her had her freezing.

Aubrey and Maximus held Dylan between the two of them. Dylan hung limply between his two teammates. His head lolled back on his neck, revealing his heavily bruised face. His eyes were closed, though Halle wasn’t sure if Dylan would have been able to open his left eye as it was crusted over with blood. Blood dripped onto the floor from his limp fingers. Halle couldn’t see the full extent of Dylan’s injuries, but what she could see were terrible. Both Aubrey and Maximus were bruised, but they would heal.

“What…What happened?”

“Get them to the med bay,” Thomas ordered. “Hurry.”

Aubrey and Maximus hurried down the hall and to Dylan’s suite. Thomas kicked open the door and they hurried through. Halle rushed to keep up. “What happened?”

“We were ambushed. There were too many. Bravo Team’s been decimated. Dylan managed to draw most of the enemy combatants to him. But then he was overtaken.”

Halle listened as she directed the others to lay Dylan on the exam table. Dylan’s limbs flopped as he was moved to the table.

“Carefully,” Halle said softly as she watched the teammates lay Dylan on the table.

Halle began opening drawers and cabinets, pulling out the implements she thought she would need. “I’m listening. Go on. I need to know everything, Thomas.”

Halle listened as she worked, quickly cutting away Dylan’s tattered clothes leaving Dylan completely naked. Halle was sure that Dylan was used to it, and besides, Halle needed to see all of Dylan to determine what wound needed treatment. Dylan was bleeding on his chest and his hands, his pale skin a mosaic of bruises and varying shades of black, blue, and deep purple. Halle was pretty sure one of Dylan’s knees had been dislocated. Dylan’s breaths were shallow and wheezing, but he was breathing regularly enough that Halle felt that could wait. She needed to conduct her assessment.

Thomas’s words trickled in. Dylan had been captured. And tortured by the look of it. “We found him nailed to a wall and left to hang,” Maximus added to Thomas’s narrative.

Halle’s head jerked up. “How long was he hanging for?” She looked around for a stethoscope. She needed to hear.

“Does it matter?”

Halle turned and glared at Aubrey. “Do you have any medical training? Do any of you have any medical training?”

Aubrey’s cheeks reddened. “If you’re saying—“

“What I am saying is I do have training. You don’t. That’s why I’m doing what I’m doing and you’re doing what you’re doing. And you don’t know what is relevant to my job. Just as I don’t know what’s relevant to your job. So when I say I need to know everything. I need to know everything.”

She put her ear pieces in and put the cold stethoscope to the right side of Dylan’s chest. Nothing. There was absolutely no sound. Fuck. She looked at Dylan’s unconscious face, mouth going dry when she realized Dylan’s slightly parted lips were starting to turn blue.

Halle shoved past Thomas. “Maximus, grab the scalpel set from over there. Aubrey, get gauze. Thomas, I need you to hold this very steady while I work. We’re running out of time.”

None of the team moved. “Go. Now!” Halle said exasperatedly as she prepared the chest tube. “Or I won’t be the reason why the unit loses their living weapon. You all will.”

The teammates moved quickly at Halle’s words. “I’m really sorry about this, Dylan,” Halle murmured as she braced to cut. “Normally, we do this under sedation. But I don’t have time and I don’t know how you’ll react.”

And before Halle could lose her nerve, she cut into Dylan’s chest. “What are you doing?” Thomas asked as he watched Halle work. He held out the tube Halle had requested.

“I’m assuming you found him in the midst of being crucified, yes?”

Thomas nodded. “It was sort of a rudimentary one. The combatants had him for several hours before we were able to infiltrate their compound.”

Halle carefully inserted the tube, breathing a sigh of relief as she watched Dylan’s breaths quickly deepen. Dylan never woke, but Halle was relieved. At least she had taken care of the most pressing wound. “Well, he was tortured before you got to him, that much is clear.”

Thomas nodded again. “We figured they wouldn’t want to kill Dylan. They knew enough about Dylan to carry their own pair of cuffs. Whether they were trying to get information or just enjoying hurting a weapon, we don’t know.”

Halle went back to taking inventory of Dylan’s injuries. She really needed to put an IV in and start fluids, but she wanted to be sure she didn’t miss anything else more pressing. “Aubrey,” Halle said without looking up as she placed the IV, “for your information, crucifixion is a very, very painful way to die. And it takes a very long time usually. Victims typically experience dehydration, blood loss, and most suffocate to death because their lungs collapse. Dylan only had one working lung.”

“That was quick acting, Halle,” Thomas said with a smile. “Good work!” He clapped Halle on the shoulder. “You can give me a full report of all of his injuries and how long it will be before he can get back to field work. I need to get these two to the main med bay and check on the others.”

Halle let them leave in silence. She was horrified at what she saw. And even more horrified at how nonchalant her fellow teammates were about Dylan’s injuries. “I’m really sorry this happened to you,” Halle said as she began to dress Dylan’s wounds.

“This is going to hurt, but hopefully you’ll stay asleep. I’ve given you a nice pain killer in your IV. And a sedative.” Halle lined herself up to pop Dylan’s knee back into the socket.

Dylan woke with a scream as Halle set his knee. Halle jumped back as Dylan thrashed beneath her. How was Dylan awake? “NOOOOOOOO! PLEASE! NO MORE!” Dylan screamed as he moved.

Dylan stopped moving as he blinked up at the ceiling, as though he suddenly realized where he was. “Oh,” they croaked as he went still on the table.

“I am so sorry,” Halle said, trying to breathe through her own panic, “I thought I gave you enough sedation and pain killers.”

Dylan shook his head as he heaved another breath. “You probably did. I….I have a high tolerance.” He winced as he tried to sit up again. “I—“

“Need to stay down, Dylan. You’re really, really hurt.” Halle took a step towards Dylan. Dylan was proving to be a very difficult patient.

“I’ve had worse,” Dylan groaned as he managed to roll on his left side. “Oh,” he muttered as he rolled back onto his back. “Maybe I need a minute.”

“Why did you draw all the combatants to yourself?”

Dylan’s answer made Halle’s heart twinge. “Because I knew they wouldn’t kill me. I knew they would hurt me, but they wouldn’t kill me. They would most certainly kill the others. But not me.”

“Because you’re a living weapon?”

Dylan shook his head as he let out a bone weary sigh. “Because they wanted to exact their revenge on me. Well, my kind. I was a good stand in for whatever weapon hurt them before.”

“I’m really sorry that happened, Dylan.” Halle meant it.

“It’s ok. Not your fault.” Dylan stared up at the ceiling with his icy blue eyes. “How long am I out of commission for?” His voice was flat. Halle couldn’t say if that was because Dylan was hoping it would be a short time or a long time.

“Probably a month, maybe more.”

Dylan nodded as he closed his eyes, sighing heavily. Halle could have sworn she saw a tear track into Dylan’s hairline. “Thomas and the Authority won’t be happy to hear.” Dylan slowly sat up. He rose on shaking legs. Halle held out an arm to steady Dylan.

“Well unless they can get me some accelerator, then they’re going to have to deal. You shouldn’t be up.”

Dylan groaned, but took a step forward. “I don’t want to be in here any longer than I have to be. I’d rather be in bed.”

Slowly, very, very slowly, Halle helped Dylan hobble to bed. By the time they made it, sweat poured off Dylan and he was paler than he had been before. Dylan sagged back into the pillows with a quiet moan.

“I’ll be right back.” Halle hurried back to her room and grabbed the book Dylan had requested. She wasn’t going to read it. Maybe it would give Dylan something interesting to do while he was recovering.

“Here,” she said as she put the book in Dylan’s hands.

Dylan stared down at the book in his hands. “How did you find this?” He looked up at Halle, his icy eyes guarded.

“I heard you were looking for it and this came in the mail for me—delivery service made a mistake,” Halle lied smoothly. “But I heard you were looking for it, so I thought you might want it.”

Dylan ducked his head. “Thank you very much, Halle, for everything.”

“You’re welcome, Dylan. Rest well, please. You really need to take it easy.”

“I will,” Dylan said, still not raising his head, his deep voice thicker than before.

He had to be exhausted. Halle quickly excused herself, “I’ll be in to check on you in a few hours.”

“Thank you, Halle. For everything.”

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