Keaton growled against her confinements, trying to reach Colette to snap her out of the possession she was in. Keaton was even using her powers to have them release her, but it wasn't working.
"What will you do to her?!" Keaton shouted, even though the muzzle around her mouth pressed harder into her snout.
"Oh nothing really, just some...taking here and there." the Desian said, chuckling darkly to himself.
Keaton's ruby/blood eyes went wide in anger and horror and she began thrashing, trying to release the restraints on her, but they only tightened, causing her to yelp in pain. They began to walk Colette down one path, and took Keaton down a different one.
'What?! No wait! Colette!' Keaton began to panic, seeing they were getting separated.
She used all her strength to go the other way, that the Desian's had a hard time controlling her, even with all the leashes strapped to her. She almost reached the exit of the hallway, when suddenly the door slammed closed.
"COLETTE!" Keaton shouted, making the muzzle cut into her skin, making it bleed a bit.
She whimpered and lowered her head, both in emotionally and physical pain. She began scratching at the metal door, trying to open the door to save her friend, even kicking at it, hoping to break it down. The Desian's tugged on the leashes, forcing her to move away from the door. The only thing left were scratches and on the outside, dents from her kicking. They eventually reached a place with many test tubes and she whimpered as they took a left. They went to a dark room and suddenly connected the leashes to something on the wall to where she could barely move. When the lights turned on, Keaton had to close her eyes a bit at the suddenly blinding light.
"You all stay here and get information out of her. In the meantime, I will check on the Chosen." the leader said, walking off to check on Colette.
"You get back here and tell me what you are doing to her!" Keaton shouted, not caring that the muzzle cut into her snout.
When the door closed, Keaton whimpered as she lowered her head in shame.
'Colette...' Keaton thought, tears running down her bruised cheeks.
She had been hurt on her struggles to get free, and grab Colette at the same time. She yelped loudly at the feel of something sharp hitting her cheek. She looked up, tears still in her eyes and saw that the Desian's had grabbed whips. She yelped, screamed, shouted, and howled in pain as they mercilessly hit her, creating scars, cuts, and bleeding marks on her, not slowing their pace one bit. They even hit her in the face, making blood run down her snout to drip off the chin. The gashes, scars and wounds leaked with blood, making them run down her sides. The wounds were outlined in red, showing the abuse to her body. When her legs began to wobble, they chuckled darkly, but growled upon seeing her straighten herself.
'I won't fall.' Keaton thought, glaring at the men before her.
"Alright, let's have some actual fun, and do this ourselves." a Desian said, throwing down the whip and grabbing brass knuckles.
Keaton's eyes widened in fear and pain as they all approached her with the menacing weapons on their knuckles. The first stroke, and after she spit out some blood, the pain continued…she felt it. Every bruise, every blow, every bone snapping or getting hit. She felt a rib break and howled in pain as they held her down even more, preventing any movement. She growled, tears streaming down her face, blood leaking out of her mouth. Suddenly she felt it, the feeling from years ago…before the World split, and she began to slowly be covered in a black fog, and she cursed herself.
'No... Nifelheim, please. Stop it...' Keaton thought, still cursing herself.
She cursed herself for being so weak, pathetic, unable to fulfill her promise to Lloyd, unable to protect Colette, and she cursed herself for failing her friends.
'It's all my fault.' Keaton thought, and screamed in pain as Nifelheim took control of her body, reverting her back into being a demon.
The bonds held her good, but she didn't need to move. She grinned darkly as her eyes completely turned red and glowed. The muzzle fell off, breaking as it hit the floor.
"My, my, my, you've all been quite naughty, ganging up on poor little old me." Keaton said darkly, her voice sounding ominous, evil, and much more mature, with a hint of seductiveness.
"Wh-what happened to you?" a Desian said, still holding a whip.
"Nothing, this is truly who I am." Keaton said with a smirk, but it faded as she growled.
"I am Keaton, the demonic fox! And I have come..." suddenly black flames surrounded her body.
"To send judgment on this world!" Keaton shouted, shooting the flames at them.
She smiled sadistically as the smell of burning flesh, and blood hit the room. She smiled as blood splattered on her from a Desian falling into a puddle of blood. She suddenly growled though as more entered. Before she could do anything, she felt herself getting choked, a chain wrapping around her throat. She slowly felt Ratatosk push Nifelheim's influence away and take control, reverting her back to being a monster. The black fog disappeared, and the one controlling the chain removed it, leaving her there panting for breath.
"You bitch, you killed some of our finest men." a half-elf said and Keaton only glared at him.
"Take her to the experimentation room, she doesn't have the energy to fight. If she does, make sure it's already in her, and begin the punishment again." the Desian said before leaving.
They un-clipped her from the wall, and dragged her to the room, leaving a trail of blood behind. They put her on a table, and suddenly saw something that made them smile. She transformed, trying to regain her energy in some way.
'Maybe I can escape this way.' Keaton thought, her ears and tail showing.
She was suddenly clamped down, and she struggled, trying to break free. She gasped as she felt them pull the kimono down to reveal her chest, and almost more. Tears pricked her eyes once again, as she felt them rub the skin there, and they chuckled. What made her even more afraid was that fact that her body still hurt, as if the still bleeding wounds weren't proof of that. She knew if they truly wanted to, they could some horrible things, especially with open wounds. Suddenly a red bead entered her vision and was placed in the center of her chest. She was confused, but froze, and screamed as she felt the gem enter her body. It still showed, but it was embedded in her skin. She struggled more, trying to free herself. She felt like she was being shocked by Tonitrus's lightening again. What happened next was a blur as she was transformed back into a fox, and taken to the punishment room, where she comprehended what happened. She looked at her furry chest to see the red gem, and see the light green that slowly began to surround it. She growled, and began struggling again, feeling her strength suddenly return to her.
"Stop moving you monster!" a Desian said, raising a hand and smacking her.
Suddenly the place rumbled and exploded as if something hit it. Keaton growled but then yelped as it happened again, the whole place began to fall apart, and tear apart. She was released from one of her confinements, but the other three still held but that gave her front right leg room to move, in which she helped use her weight on that to break the others. Another rumble happened breaking her left, hind legs confinement. Keaton growled, they were breaking away too slowly. She growled, and saw the Desian's get crushed by the ceiling collapsing a bit. She growled, wanting to break free and escape through the still unblocked door.
"I won't die here, not until I know Colette is free!" Keaton said to herself, trying to free herself.
Suddenly the door open and she expected to see more Desian's, but what she saw made her heart skip a beat. Zelos and Sheena were there, most likely having been looking for her to get her free.
"Come on, let's get her out of here. The others are waiting for us." Sheena shouted to Zelos as they climbed over the debris.
Sheena unlocked all her restraints while Zelos kept guard, and once Keaton was free, Zelos grabbed her while the place continued to tremble and rumble with explosions.
"Look at her, she's been beaten to near death." Sheena said, watching as Keaton lay unconscious in Zelos' arms, and they knew she was close to death from all that blood lose.
"Look at her chest." Zelos said pointing to Keaton's furry chest, stained with blood, and saw the exsphere.
"Oh my god!" Sheena said in shocked, and horror, worried for Keaton.
They had no time to debate over the exsphere and left the place as fast as they could, and left the lab behind, flying off. When they reached Altessa's house, Lloyd jumped off the Rheaird he was driving on with Colette, and ran to a bleeding Keaton that Zelos and Sheena were now both hugging, trying to get warmth back into her body. Yet, with their backs turned to him, he didn't know she was bleeding.
"Keaton!" he shouted excited, but when Sheena and Zelos gave him grave looks, he was confused.
"Hey, what's wrong?" Lloyd asked, hoping those looks didn't mean what he thought.
When they showed him Keaton, who was on the brink of death, his eyes widened and he fell to his knees. Colette held hands to her mouth, tears pricking her eyes; Genis looked away, as did Persea; Raine quickly grabbed her staff, while Regal fell to his knees as well.
"Keaton..." Lloyd said in disbelief as Raine began to heal her.
Lloyd dug his fingers into the ground, holding his tears back. He suddenly let out a cry of agony and pain, while Colette knelt down to comfort him, wrapping her arms around him, and cried with him.
"Why?! Why her?!" Lloyd shouted, shocking them all.
"Here I am...trying to save the World...and I CAN'T EVEN SAVE ONE PERSON!" Lloyd shouted, punching the ground.
"Lloyd, control yourself!" Sheena snapped, and he glared at her.
"What do you mean control myself?! Keaton is dying right in front of me, and you except me to be calm?!" Lloyd shouted at her.
Zelos stepped in and smacked him, startling them all, even Colette where she fell back.
"That's what Sheena means! If you can control yourself, then Keaton will recover faster. We all need to control ourselves and help her in every way possible!" Zelos shouted, anger in his blue eyes.
Colette, Lloyd, and everyone soon nodded, agreeing it would be best. They all got up, and brought her into Altessa's house, and began to nurse Keaton back, who stayed unconscious most of the time. By the second week she awoke, but was screaming in pain. Everyone ran to her room, only to see her growling, lowering her head in pain, the bandages coming off her, soaked in blood. She looked at them with her red eyes glowing slightly, but they stopped glowing as he realized it was them.
"Keaton?" Lloyd asked, relieved she was up, but worried for her welfare.
"L-Lloyd?" Keaton asked, raising her head, something on her chest shinning as well.
Lloyd's eyes traveled down, before they landed on the gem; his eyes widened in a threatening way, as his face contorted in anger. Keaton looked down and gasped, before lowering her body and getting into a fetal position, showing she was scared at the moment. Lloyd noticed this and dropped the lamp, before running to her, and hugging her, crying.
"I'm sorry...I didn't mean to scare you like that." Lloyd said, and she cried as well.
"I'm so sorry. I couldn't even protect you." Lloyd said but she only nuzzled his cheek, trying to stop him from crying; Colette walked over and hugged her as well, tears appearing in her eyes.
"I'm sorry Keaton, it's because of me you were hurt. You got hurt on my behalf." Colette said, crying.
"It's not your fault." Keaton reassured, knowing it wasn't her fault.
Colette had no control over her body, no way to comprehend anything she was doing. Raine picked the lantern up, igniting the light again without anyone knowing, and they all huddle to hug Keaton, glad she was awake and well. Yet, they were all unaware of the green lines that slowly began to move their way over Keaton's chest, slowly, very slowly, but surely ready consume her when the day comes.
