Canon

Bloody Dreams

(Warning: Torture)

An alarm blared next to Roman's head and he jolted awake. He would have risen from where he was laying, but he was held down by heavy leather straps and metal loops. He tried to flare his aura, but couldn't seem to get a good grasp on it. It was like sand running through his fingers.

"I was wondering how much it would take to wake you up."

Roman's eyes darted over to where the voice had come from and he saw that it was a young woman, with dark hair and blazing green eyes. She slowly walked over to the table he was strapped on and turned off the alarm. He tried to speak, but for a moment no words came out of his mouth. His tongue felt like sandpaper. "Who are you?" He finally managed to rasp out.

The young woman smiled. "It doesn't really matter who I am, Roman. At least, it doesn't matter to you. You will be dead by the end of our little session. I needed a new guinea pig, and you will do just fine." She pulled out a vial and syringe from her back pocket. "This is a new drug that I invented. It limits the amount of shock that you experience, as well as dulls pain to a certain extent. I might have used too much on my previous patient."

Roman didn't want to know what happened to the previous patient. He didn't want to be here. This person was obviously bad news, and his survival chance for this was zero at the moment. He struggled against the bindings as the woman drew the medicine from the vial. "Just let me go. I can pay you. More than whatever the other person is paying you."

The woman stopped for a second and giggled. "Oh, I'm not getting payed for this. No, this is to protect my darling little sister from you and your compatriots. She is rather impressionable at her age."

Roman choked on the spit that was in his mouth. This woman was Abyss. His eyes widened. His compatriots…? "What… what happened to Neo…?"

Abyss stuck the needle into his arm and pushed the plunger down. "Oh, is that her name? She didn't say anything to me, just writhed in silence. It's no fun when they don't scream really, but the look on her face was priceless. Well, it's still there. Do you want to see?" She didn't wait for him to give and answer before turning on a light that illuminated a chair off in a corner. Neo was tied to the chair, her head held upright by straps tied to a metal pole behind her. There was a thick white froth coming from her mouth and nose, flecks of it dripping down every now and again.

Roman choked back a sob. He swore he would protect her, and they would live through this whole thing. His thoughts were interrupted as Abyss grabbed his head and shined a flashlight in his eyes. He tried to jerk his head away, but couldn't muster up the strength. His head was let go and it cracked dully against the table. He didn't feel it though, only heard it.

"Good, it seems it's already taking effect. Let me know if you feel as if you're about to pass out or feel heart palpitations. I need to have my adrenaline shot ready." She dragged a cart over to the bedside and opened up a small toolkit filled with syringes and scalpels. She started to hum a tuneless song as she ran her hand along her tools, and she stopped when she touched the one she was going to take. "Let's see what makes the infamous Roman Torchwick tick, shall we?"

She turned to him and brought the scalpel down to his torso, just below his ribcage. He started to squirm, and she glared at him. He stopped when he felt the scalpel pierce his flesh and white spots danced in his eyes. His teeth grit at the pain and his back almost arched. Abyss held him down and continued to cut downwards. She stopped just below his navel and he took a deep breath, stars dancing in his vision. "Stop, please, you don't want to do this."

Abyss shook her head. "You're wrong, Roman. I want to do this. Just be a good little boy and the doctor might give you a lollypop at the end of the surgery." She brought the scalpel down once more, starting where she did before but going up towards his head. His heart beat harder as he felt the blade scrape against his ribcage. She stopped just under his collarbone. "And now it's time for your second shot. This one slows down your blood flow, or at least it should. We don't want you to bleed out." She pulled out a second bottle and stuck a syringe into it, pulling back the plunger only slightly. She stuck it directly into Roman's heart and he seized for a moment. She soothingly held a hand against his face. "Shh, shh, it'll be over soon."

He settled back down, and his breathing returned to normal. His eyes were starting to prickle with the starting of tears. Abyss was worse than Cinder. He was sure of it. The scalpel came down once more, and this time he could feel it pierce something important. "Oops, didn't mean to press down that hard. Looks like you won't have the stomach for this much longer." He would have growled at the horrible pun if he wasn't being cut open right now. She was cutting across the bottom of his ribs, making a cross shape. "I remember in middle school we had this lab, where we dissected frogs. I loved that, feeling cold metal pierce through the flesh of a dead animal. The we did rats, and it was even better, something bigger than a frog. And it was just a few years later, that I got to cut open my first human." The scalpel drifted off to the other side and cut into his flesh. "Of course, it was a cadaver, but the feeling was still the same."

His breaths were coming in and going out in short puffs as he struggled to stay conscious. He choked and thrashed when Abyss pulled back one of the corners, pinning it against the table with a magnet. He thrashed even more when she did this three more times. Now his entire torso was open to the dead air of the room. "Hold right here, I want to get a mirror. Just so you can see it." She hurried off and he heard the sound of a door opening and closing. He let his head fall to the side, looking at Neo again. He swore he saw a twitch before the door opened again and he heard wheels clacking against the floor.

"Here you go, a first row seat!" She positioned the mirror above Roman and plugged it in, the lights shining down on him and momentarily blinding him. He blinked the spots away and shuddered at the sight of his open torso. "Now, what should we start with first? I know! The stomach, get it out before all the juices spill out into your cavity." She pulled out a long blade and hacked at the tubes holding his stomach in place. He thrashed against the restraints at the pain. "Hold still and it'll be over sooner, you fucking idiot!" She dug the blade into his arm and he screamed.

She reached down and ripped the organ out of his body, blood and gastrointestinal juices mixing together in the empty space. "Oopsie daisy!" She tilted her head to the side and gave him a psychotic smile. "Now let's see how long your intestines are." She grabbed the part of the small intestine that had been connected to his stomach and ripped it out, making him jerk at the pain again. She pulled it all the way out until it suddenly stopped. Then, she pulled out a tape measure and stuck it in the end of his big intestine. After rolling it all the way to the tip of the small intestine she reeled it back in, ripping the flesh of the intestines apart and spilling blood and flesh bits everywhere. "Twenty-five feet. Shorter than normal, but not by much."

He could feel his consciousness slipping and she smacked him in the face, keeping him awake. "Just kill me already." He begged, not bothering to hold back his tears anymore. She tsked and shook her head.

She moved back over to her cart and pulled out a hammer and chisel. "Now we get to the fun part. Pulling out the still beating heart." She started to chip away at his ribcage and he yelled and screamed, hoping that someone, anyone, would come and find what was happening. She only smiled wider at his pain and screaming, working even faster to break apart his rib cage. She pulled out the chips and shards before putting the hammer and chisel back on her cart.

Roman could see his heart, sitting just beneath his lungs. His eyes met hers, begging her to not do this. She just stared back at him and her hand plunged into his chest, her hand grasping his heart. He felt it stop beating as she squeezed hard and harder. It was getting even harder to breathe and his vision was fading again. She leaned in and whispered in his ear the last words he would ever hear. "Now, you may die."

Then she crushed his heart.

0-0-0

Roman bolted out of his bed, breathing heavily. His sheets were drenched in sweat and his eyes frantically scanned the room. His hand flew to his chest and he felt the solid skin and nightshirt he wore to bed. "Neo!" He yelled, eyes desperately searching for his cane. The sound of shattering glass signaled the arrival of his partner. He rushed over to her and wrapped her in a hug. "Oh thank the gods. No more, no more…" He broke down, holding onto the smaller woman for dear life. He would never forget that nightmare, or the one it was focused on. Abyss was not one to be trifled with.