**DISCLAIMER**

I own nothing. Tales of Symphonia is a registered product of Bandai Namco Ltd. This is for dark entertainment reasons only.

Frozen In Flight owns the torture rights to Aurian. I own Daisuke and Daichi.

Note: I be lazy. This disclaimer will not appear again, but applies to all chapters.

The thin elf curls away from the other drab-clad captives in the cell with her. For their part, they were fine with ignoring her, eyes fixed on the grates and doors that were the way out, the way Desians came in. Two Desians stand guard outside the cell. It's obvious they chose the two most intimidating two for guards. The larger of the two yawns, glancing at his partner who is pacing, glaring into the cell. "Filthy animals..."

"Take it easy Daisuke...We still got 7 hours guardin' 'em..." the humans move back further in their cell as the pacing Desian growls, but the thin elf, Aurian seems curious. By the way the other slaves watch her; they think she's mentally damaged for scooting closer to the bars. Their cluster in the cell had started to impede on her bubble, might have been the reason for it. The one known as Daisuke glances at his comrade.

"I know...Gah...Daichi...Why is guardin' so borin'?"

Daichi shrugs. "Dunno..." His attention is caught by the elf. She looks like something's wrong in her head, a sort of vacant look that says that her surroundings don't quite register. She slumps over on one side, her matted hair kind of shiny. She watches them dully. The humans shake their heads, but don't pull her back - if someone else gets hurt, it's not them.

Daisuke glances at Daichi and smirks, approaching the bars. "What ya lookin' at?" She blinks up, not lifting her head. The humans crowd back, not going to come to her defense. She looks like she doesn't understand what he's saying, but flicker of fright does cross her face at his tone. He smirks. "Inferior creature...Can't even talk." He glances at Daichi. "How 'bout we loosen her tongue, cap'n?"

Daichi smirks. "Go for it, kid." The humans' crowd back, not looking at the thin elf as she kind of watches them with confusion, but seems to be more staring into space. Above the burlap shirt is a matte black collar. She doesn't seem to want to try moving.

Daisuke opens the door, grabbing her by the collar. "Now...What's ya number?" He growls. She blinks at him, her hands twitching up to hold the collar.

"33-724." it was sort of understandable, mumbled low and pronounced wrong.

He smirks. "Good. Now. What were ya starin' at?"

This comes out as unintelligible garble. she says some things, and then manages to say "boots."

Daisuke glances down at his feet. "Yeah? Wanna see 'em closer?" He then, abruptly, dropkicks her. this gets no noise from her other than released air as she hits the bars. The humans inside flinch, but she just crumples, eyes closed and arms curling over her chest. Pain flits across her face but doesn't stay.

Daisuke saunters over, placing a boot on her head. "Good enough to look? You ain't fit enough to lick the soles, are ya?" This gets a faint muffled noise of pain, but the thin elf doesn't try to get away.

Daichi wanders over. "Easy. Lord Forcystus'll have our heads if she dies."

Daisuke growls. "Always have to ruin my fun...5 more minutes. I wanna watch her squirm like the worm that she is beneath my boot."

"...Fine." she does seem to be moving a bit more now, trying to move her head. She doesn't seem to remember that she has arms she can grab with, just trying to move her head to the side rather than face up. One human whispers to another that the elf must be damaged in the head. Daichi bangs on the bars with the haft of his Axe. "Shaddap!"

Daisuke leans in. "Answer. This close enough?" she makes weak noises, muttering half words. it seems she doesn't know one to say, and can't shift her head to nod. He increases the pressure. "Repeat that?" she tries to repeat everything she had said previously. Now she remembers she has hands, and tries to force them under his foot to free her head a bit. Tears are starting to form in rather confused eyes. Daisuke growls, kicking at her stomach with his free foot. Aurian grunts, air leaving in a whoosh yet again. But she still attempts to make half-gasping words to continue her repeating.

Daisuke grunts, picking the woman up and slinging her in the cell. "I need somethin' to eat. Want something?"

"Nah." Daichi sits down, watching his partner leave. Aurian lays there for a moment, on her side, before slowly moving back to her previous position by the bars, against the wall. She's staring ahead again, into the hall vacantly. Daichi smirks, moving his foot into her eye line, moving it about. She doesn't do anything. It seems she had scrambled for a word the last time. After a moment, she reacts, flinching a bit.

Daichi grunts, standing. "What to do...?" the humans begin stirring a bit, their internal clocks telling them that food should be coming soon. Aurian remains still on her side. Food comes in, and Daichi passes it out, Daisuke watching. Once done, he stands over the elf. The humans fall to their food, but she doesn't take notice of hers. Daichi watches. A human comes up, eying her food rather than her, and finally she moves. She throws her arm out, snatching the bread and curling into a ball. The human goes for the bowl, as Aurian rapidly shoved the hard bread into her mouth. The human finishes her soupy gruel, and retreats, as Aurian checks her shirt for crumbs. Daichi dislikes this, and gets Daisuke to snag that human. The thin elf looks worried, startled, and she tries to crawl for the bars.

"Protecting this scum, eh?" Daisuke asks, holding the man up.

"She al'ays lets the li'le 'uns have 'er food!" the man protests.

"Number." Daichi asks. the man gives it slowly.

"Good." Daichi suddenly punches the man. A single punch and a flash of bronze knuckleduster. It seemed a calculated strike, as it causes the human to throw up. The human does so, retching. Aurian flinches, curling up again. From the look on her face, she remembers that getting sick/getting hit in the gut hurts a lot too. Daichi tosses the man back into the cell, locking it up, getting someone to clean it up. Aurian curls into a ball, hiding her head under her arm, although it doesn't really do too much. The human coughs some more, but no one bothers to try to help him. Daichi grabs a chair, sitting, rubbing his gloved knuckles. Daisuke seems disappointed. Aurian starts trembling, but no noise comes from her.

A female human glances over, and looks like she was going to say something, but doesn't. "..." A small noise of pain comes from the thin elf, and her shirt starts staining.

Daichi growls, standing. "Get a medic!"

"But..."

"NOW!" Daisuke skitters off to get one. Daichi bursts in, kneeling by the elf. she's stiffly trying to stay in that position, biting down on one hand to keep from crying out. Her back is bleeding, although it hadn't been hurt. The humans stay put in their corner, watching Daichi, not the door.

Daichi rips her shirt off. "What the fuck...?" Two pairs of mirrored cuts run through the mass of other scars across her back, both pairs angled in from her shoulders to her spine. It looks like a scar had been split down the middle, by the scaring around the bleeding wounds. Small dark-red-purple burns appear in patterns. Daichi seems panicked, not knowing what to do.

"..It's a fit." the human who had spotted Aurian before says softly. "It goes away, she doesn't remember them, never seems worse for wear after its all done. I hear it's because she's an elf, and that collar prevents her from gathering Mana, so hers goes crazy." the woman doesn't look over as she says this. Aurian's burns seem to be in a mirrored pattern. On the back of her right shoulder was a scar like someone had ripped a nine-footed star-fish out and off of her back, a deep pock mark in the center.

Daichi carefully puts a hand over her back. "And it does this?" the wounds in her back flare with contained swirls of visible Mana. Aurian makes a pained noise around her hand, her eyes squeezed shut. The collar seems to be heating around her neck, and the Mana vanishes again. Daichi's hand was close enough to feel turmoil of Mana, and collect a few small blotchy burns. Which bubbled and melted the leather of his glove. "What the hell...? This is weird..."

"she can't use it. it could go bad." the woman was near the edge of the grouped humans. "she talks some sense sometimes. But not much about Mana anymore." Aurian is trembling, the Mana visible in the gashes swirling again. There is Mana the color of the blotches among the varying normal colors of the Nature-Elemental, Healing, and Light and Dark Mana's. Daichi rocks back on his heels, watching.

The collar heats up again, reddening the skin under it, and the Mana dies down once more. This repeats twice, and then the Mana doesn't come up again. The bleeding doesn't stop, but she doesn't seem to be actively in pain. Or conscious.

Daichi does what he can to stop the bleeding, Daisuke finally returning. "No medics."

"What?!" the human woman returns back to the group in the corner, and Aurian is definitely unconscious, blood trailing from her hand where she'd bitten deep. Daichi bandages her up, dismissing Daisuke. She's very limp. And just about skin and bones. The humans just stay clear of them. Daichi growls, not wanting to become attached. He forces himself to stand and leave. The humans leave her alone, and she still just lies there.