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dont-touch-my-soup · 2 years

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Blackbird

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CW: captivity, failed escape attempt, multiple whumpees, manhandling, threats, torture, magical torture

Kell didn’t want to wake up. His sleep had been dark and dreamless. But now pain and fear started to seep through the fissures of his consciousness like water into a sinking boat. He knew he was waking up and there was nothing he could do about it. Still, he desperately clawed to the darkness wrapped around him. For a while his mind faded in and out, but the darkness cleared inevitably.

He hated his own body for betraying him like this.

Tears leaked through his closed eyes as pain pulsated trough his body.

He had forgotten how much he hurt.

Distant voices drifted through the fog in his mind. He wasn’t sure who they were or what they wanted but he knew better than to move.

He shakily took a breath. Then another one.

He had to stay calm. He had to stay still.

But the pain was like a needy child screaming inside of him.

It hurt to breathe. It hurt to think. It hurt to move.

His head felt like it was pinched with needles from the inside and his eyes burned when he tried to blink them open.

He had to open his eyes. He had to know what would happen next.

Opening his eyes was a herculean task. And when he finally managed to hold them open long enough to see something, the room started to spin around him.

Hastily he closed them again.

Nausea hit him in waves, and it took him a while to calm down enough to try again.

As soon as the cool air met his dry eyes, they started watering. It took a while until he could see through the veil of tears.

He was still in the cursed theatre. Laying helplessly on his back.

At least his arms weren’t restrained anymore. He carefully moved his head to his side.

He wasn’t prepared for what he saw there.

His arms were littered with burns. Some had already formed blisters, others were oozing. He slowly moved his fingers in disbelief. It truly was his arm. He started to tremble.

“No,” he said. But only air came out. “No,” he said again. Tears started to run over his face.

Kell’s heart beat painfully fast in his chest. He had to calm down. He had to calm down. He had to ...

Kell tensed as footfalls came closer.

He wasn't alone.

Oryn, his brain finally connected the noise to a name.

Kell held his breath trying to locate him.

Oryn kneeled on his side, his face swam into Kell’s vision. Kell squinted his eyes closed and turned away, tried to shield himself, tried to prepare himself for another wave of pain.

A pained whimper formed deep in his throat as Oryn vehemently turned him back on his back. Then something pressed against his lips. Cool water ran down his throat. He nearly choked but then he managed to swallow. The water tasted so good, so cool against his raw throat.

He opened his eyes. But it wasn’t Oryn who knelt next to him. It was Blackbird. Kell blinked in surprise.

“What are you doing here?” he asked. He flinched at the sound of his own voice. It was so hoarse his words were barely intelligible.

At least he still had a voice.

Blackbird just stared back at him without answering and Kell realised his mistake. Of course, he wouldn’t answer. He barely spoke any Varsennan.

But something still didn’t add up. Thinking was hard and he was thankful when Blackbird pressed the cup against his lips again. Kell drank another cup of water until the thought finally manifested fully in his brain.

Why was Blackbird here all by himself?

Why would Oryn let him walk around here freely?

His thoughts were interrupted when the door was yanked open. Kell tensed before he even saw Oryn.

“Rise and shine, my darling bird,” Oryn chirped.

Hands pulled him up into a sitting position and Kell hissed in pain as Oryn’s finger pressed on his burns.

“How do you feel?”

“Like someone burned me with a spoon,” Kell answered weakly.

Oryn’s hand was in his hair before he had even finished his answer and yanked his head back painfully. “If you can’t answer my questions politely, I expect you to stay quiet.”

“If you want me to answer politely maybe you shouldn’t ask stupid questions.”

Oryn smacked his face so hard, Kell toppled to the floor again. For a second his vision turns white.

“Let’s try something else.” Oryn’s voice sounded from far away.

Cold fear crept up Kell’s spine and wound around his throat. He could barely breathe around it.

It was quiet for a moment. Then he heared someone singing. A dark and heavy tune that laid down on him like a blanket. The voice was low, barely audible but Kell recognized it immediately. He opened his eyes in confusion. Why was Blackbird si-...

A slim hand winded around Kell’s wrist and he flinched as fingers met his burns.

Then the whole world exploded in agony. Pain flooded his body. So sudden and so fiercely he started to scream. Kell tried to get free, kicking and screaming violently, but there was no way out of it. The world grew dark and hazy around the edges. He couldn’t think. He couldn’t speak. He couldn’t breathe. There was only pain.

And then the darkness swallowed Kell.

***

For a moment Kell didn’t know where he was. Then he remembered.

He was lying on his side, hugging his own body, desperately choking for air.

He couldn’t hold on to his thoughts. They slipped away like quicksand.

His face was wet and hot.

Fingers carved through his hair as if to soothe him. It only made things worse.

He wished they would just stop touching him.

He concentrated on the ground under his body. Steady and cool.

It took a long time until Kell had calmed down enough to blink his eyes open.

Oryn’s face hovered over him. It was blurred and when he opened his mouth the words didn’t reach Kell. The room moved around Kell, and he pressed his eyes closed again.

Something cool brushed his face. Someone cleaned his face.

He was on the verge to fall into darkness again when a finger flicked against his cheek. Again, someone was talking to him.

He opened his eyes again.

Oryn was smiling down at him without the least vestige of kindness. His eyes looked nearly … hungry.

New tears fell over Kell’s face.

He still hadn’t processed what had happened, but he knew it was magic.

The realisation was enough to bring back memories he had pushed into the deepest corner of his brain. He desperately tried to concentrate on the present but every time he closed his eyes, he could see broken eyes and blood.

Kell swallowed once, twice. His stomach still felt nauseous, his mouth so dry his tongue was glued to the roof. “Water please?” he whispered.

His chest rose and fell. Two words had been enough to drain him from his remaining energy.

Oryn motioned to his left. A hand moved into Kell’s peripherals, and he flinched when he saw Blackbird. He tried to shove himself away from him, but he barely managed until hands held him back.

“Still,” Oryn ordered, holding Kell’s left arm in an iron grip. “He will only hurt you when I tell him to.”

He took the water from Blackbird and to Kell’s lips. Kell drank.

Most of the water landed on his clothes but for now it was enough.

When he finished, he was still shaking. His whole body was covered in sweat, and he was shaking from a coldness that had nothing to do with the temperature of the room.

“Do you have an answer yet?”

His head was throbbing. It was hard to think. He had almost forgotten why Oryn was torturning him.

A single tear fell over his cheek. “Pl-please,” he whispered, his voice shaking.

“So no,” Oryn said. He nodded to Blackbird.

Kell rolled to his side, tried to escape his reach, but Oryn pressed him firmly to the ground.

This time it was even worse. It felt like lava, eating its way through his body, until he thought he would just die of pain.

He choked on his own tears; the suffering never seemed to end.

The fire extended all over his body until he wasn’t even sure he still had a body. There was only pain.

He tried to regain his breath, but it didn’t matter how many times he inhaled, his body just wouldn’t take it in. His lungs were burning and Kell's vision started to get hazy when Blackbird finally let go of him.

As sudden as the pain had started, it stopped. Kell turned to his side, hugging his own body, pressing his knees to his chest. He didn’t care how the cloth pressed painfully to the the burns on his arms. The pain in his chest was just so unbearable. He drank in the air around him so desperately, he choked on it.

No matter how hard he blinked, the white dots in his vision didn’t vanish.

“You still don’t want to tell me?” Oryn asked. Somehow, he had the audacity to sound offended.

Kell desperately shook his head. He wasn’t sure if his mouth could even form words anymore. He didn’t have the energy to try.

Oryn sighed. “Help me understand. Why did you try to run away?”

“I gave you everything. A warm bed, food, wasn’t singing always your dream? I made it real. I made it happen. Thanks to me you are famous. You could have had everything. And still you tried to run away.”

The silence between them grew, only interrupted by Kell’s panting breaths. It took a few seconds until Kell realised, Oryn really wanted an answer.

“Dunno,'' Kell choked out, his lips felt numb and the words came out slurred. “Maybe because of the torture?”

He hadn’t expected Oryn to slap him. Somehow the pain of that stroke helped Kell ground himself a little.

„Haven’t you thought about what I’m going to do to your little Sparrow when you try to escape? I thought you cared about him.”

A joyless laugh escaped Kell’s throat. “He is gone. You can’t hurt him anymore.”

“What do you mean?” Oryn asked. “Last time I checked he was practising his new song in the rehearsal room. Where else would he be?”

Kell’s heart stopped for a second.

“You’re lying.” The words tasted like poison.

“Why should I lie to you?”

“He is gone. He is … You are lying.”

“I can get him here if you insist,” Oryn said. “You do love having an audience, don’t you?”

_______________________

Thank you for reading! @whumpzone @jo-doe-seeking-inspo @whump-cravings @tears-and-lilies @imagination1reality0 @suspicious-whumping-egg @i-can-even-burn-salad @siren-of-agony @villainsvictim (please let me know if you’d like to be added or removed!)

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#unsung heroes #captivity #whump writing #defiant whumpee #burns #torture #magical torture #I am sorry?#I promise he will be okay #checks plot #*sweats nervously*#:)#they are totally finnneeee

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