So... I'm not dead, obviously.

Sorry for this long span of not uploading anything! I was really busy with some stuff, I still am tbh but I finally wanted to get back to writing.

This chapter feels super rushed, so if I'm going to edit it again, don't be surprised, but for now I'm satisfied with how it turned out.

Chazz is somewhat sassy, but eh, I think it's fine. Also, I had an inspiration for this story from a certain manga.

Please enjoy!

When Chazz first came to, there was nothing but darkness surrounding him, which was weird because he was sure he'd had his curtains open the previous night.

Sure, he usually didn't sleep more than six hours per day, mostly because his brothers insisted on dragging him with them to important meetings at no later than 5:30 in the morning, but even then there was at least some kind of lightning... Not this absolute darkness that he was being greeted with now.

Was he still dreaming? Or... wait, he wasn't dead, right?

No, that was silly.

He was still young and healthy, so he probably had a lifespan of about seventy to eighty years left and he also couldn't have been murdered in his sleep because he was pretty sure he would have noticed if someone had been trying to kill him.

So that only left the dreaming option, huh?

Well, either that or it was some magical crap going on again with some guy who wanted to take over the world for stupid reasons.

If he were to pick one of these options, he'd prefer the dreaming option over this one.

His life was already stressful enough as it was even without someone turning him into a mindless puppet like last year.

There were some charity organisations he publicly had to give money to in order to make it seem like his family gave a shit about them -which they didn't, he knew his brothers well enough by now- and there was also a pile of paperwork on his desk that desperately wanted to be attended to.

Jeez, and he thought he could finally relax from the whole world saving stuff during the holidays. But no, why should he be allowed to rest?

Anyway, back to the matter at hand. Since he was dreaming, he should be able to wake himself up by pinching his arm or something, right?

He tried to get his hand to move, yet only succeeded in making his wrists hurt as something cut into them deeper at the movement.

Shit, shit, shit, what was that? Why couldn't he move his arm?

It was the second option, wasn't it? Some magical crap happening?

He yanked at the thing holding his wrists together, inhaling sharply when something that felt like a thorn pierced his skin. Okay, so this was some kind of plant serving as a makeshift rope.

It wasn't just a lose piece of a plant either, as Chazz shifted a bit to the side, he felt the tendril or whatever it was scrape his arm, so it was definitely connected to the rest of the plant.

He tested if he could move at all, but his feet were held down on the ground beneath him, presumably by another tendril, preventing him from even taking a step and leaving him in an uncomfortable standing position.

Huh.

He just now realized he was indeed standing instead of lying on the ground as he'd assumed he would.

Then again, it was kind of hard to tell where up and down or left and right were if everything around you was so dark that you couldn't see a thing, meaning you could hardly blame him for not noticing sooner, right?

He began drawing a deep breath, urging himself to stay calm.

It was no big deal, he'd been in captivity before when Amnael had locked him in a bubble outside of earth, so it really shouldn't bother him that much. Well, aside from the fact that it bothered him to be the damsel in distress once again, just waiting for Jaden to sweep in and save him.

Great.

Where was he, anyway? Chazz hadn't seen him once during the holidays which was unusual, given how Jaden loved to stop by at his mansion for a snack -more like five-course meal, but whatever- when his brothers weren't there.

Honestly, it was like a ritual by now, so of course he had grown suspicious when Jaden had failed to show up this holiday.

Had something happened to him? Maybe he was also around here somewhere?

''Jaden?'', he called out, but he received no answer from the dark void around him, at least not at first. Because as soon as he sighed in frustration, there was a light chuckle from not too far in front of him, making him tense up all over again.

''Who's there?''

''You wouldn't know me even if I told you'', the voice stated matter-of-factly before pausing suddenly. ''Or... did they tell you?''

''They?'' Chazz clenched and unclenched his hands in order to keep them from going numb.

Was it really necessary for his bonds to be so tight?

''Let me rephrase my question... Do you know why you're here?''

Was he supposed to?

He didn't have a goddamn clue and the lack of light was still pissing him off because he couldn't see who he was talking to.

''No, how about you explain it to me? And maybe flick on the light switch while you're at it?''

The voice snickered. ''Trying to keep up a brave front by making jokes, are we?''

Chazz shrugged even though the person probably couldn't see it anyway.

''I'm not trying to keep up a brave front, I've simply been through worse than this, so it doesn't really affect me.''

''I don't think you understand what kind of situation you're in.''

The person seemed to approach him, yet there was something in the way they walked that made the black haired boy think he wasn't conversing with a regular human being.

The clatter that sounded with each step reminded him of an animals' hooves on the cement ground, more specifically a horse or something along those lines.

If he'd had even an ounce of respect for the voice before for managing to capture him, it was gone now, only to be replaced with utter disbelief and shame that he'd let a horse kidnap him.

''Do you, Chazz?'', horse-thing asked, more forcefully, as it came to a stop right in front of him.

''I already told you, no. What do you want to hear from me? And what even are you? A horse?''

''Not quite. I'm a creature of darkness, capable of taking on every form I wish.''

A sudden gust of wind made Chazz shiver and before he could comprehend what was happening, the creature grabbed his shirt with a hand that was seemingly radiating iciness. ''But to get back to the matter, you're here because I want your heart.''

Wow, that was his first time ever hearing these words and it was not even in the context he would have liked it to be in.

If Alexis had said this to him, he would have happily replied that she had always been in possession of his heart, but what was he supposed to do when someone used this phrase literally?

''Too bad because I need my heart'', he explained, voice raised slightly higher than he would have liked to.

But for the record, he definitely wasn't scared.

Just... mildly inconvenienced.

''Too bad because I'm taking it anyway.''

The cold hand let go off his shirt for a second, only to return with something sharp between its fingers that was placed lightly against Chazz's chest.

It wasn't painful yet, since there was still some kind of barrier given with his shirt, but he still felt his heart accelerate in fea-... uh, inconvenience. Not fear.

He wasn't going to get out of here unwounded.

Scratch that, he wasn't even going to survive this.

He wasn't scared though. Why should he?

''And what do you get from it?'' He tried leaning back as far as he could to get away from the advancing sharp thing -a knife probably- but of course he didn't get very far.

Alright, maybe he was more than mildly inconvenienced by now. The fact that he couldn't see anything for the life of him was really putting a lot of extra stress on his nerves.

''What I get from it?'' The knife pressed down on his shirt with such a force that it went right through it, the metal touching Chazz's skin and sending an enormous adrenaline rush through his entire body. ''Why don't you ask those brothers of yours?''

Thank you for reading! I hope to see you in chapter 2!