In a distant region, atop a forested hill, away from the sight of the residents of the large city that it looked over, stood a grand mansion. The mansion had existed for generations, improved and maintained over the years, yet the owner of the mansion had only owned it for about three years. This man went by the name of Gakupo Kamui. He was a strange man: long purple hair and eyes, of indeterminate age and background. No one knew where he came from, or how he came to accumulate such a fortune, or the extravagant manor, but whispered rumors told that he earned it all through underhanded tactics. No one knew for sure, though. Very little was known of him. Even those who served him knew little, and many didn't want to know.
He was a powerful man. No one in the entire region dared openly speak against him, and rumor went even the infamous Hunters left him alone. He always carried around a large, heavy gun, like a customized shotgun, powerful enough to shatter a skull, and rumor went that many a life had been taken by a shot from that gun. But again, no one knew for sure.
On that day, the infamous man of power was returning from a week-long trip, which he'd left on without a single warning to his servants. On his own private boat, he'd sailed off, and on that day that boat would finally return home, but with a new passenger. A young boy, only twelve years of age, having his whole world destroyed by the Hunters, was then saved by Gakupo, but only so that Gakupo could capture the boy himself. The boy couldn't refuse, for he had no choice, and he was not strong enough to escape the grip of the powerful man.
This boy was, of course, Len Kagamine, who believed his twin to be dead, after witnessing her unconscious, wounded form thrown into a lake by a Hunter. He didn't have the sort of fire inside that his twin did; on the contrary, after watching his hometown go down in flames, he would fear fire for a long time to come. Over the loss of his sister, he wept bitterly, unaware that she was alive, and would commit the next two years of her life to gaining the strength to find him. However, though he'd no hope that Rin would be okay, he didn't lose hope completely. He shared in his sister's pride, and pride wouldn't allow him to cry for too long, and it most certainly wouldn't allow him to become someone's prisoner without a fight.
Len knew he couldn't possibly fight this man, who'd single-handedly driven off a Hunter, but that wasn't the only way to escape. He looked around, trying to take in as much information as possible, while still yelling at his kidnapper.
"Let me go! What do you want with me?!" He yelled. The path from the water's edge, where Gakupo had anchored the boat, to the great manor which loomed at the top of the hill, went through the forest. He couldn't escape now. Though the foliage was thick, and would've hidden him well, the large hand locked around his wrist, dragging him up the path after Gakupo, would definitely not allow him to break free. Plus, he was almost positive that a man of Gakupo's height and strength would be much faster than a small, somewhat clumsy twelve-year boy; he had absolutely no idea where he was, and frankly he'd had quite enough of running and hiding in the woods. He had to wait for an opportunity when Gakupo would release him.
"I hope you're not thinking about escaping," Gakupo said , eyeing the boy with a sinister look. "The only way you'll ever leave this place is in a body bag."
"W-what do you want me for, anyway?!" Len demanded, trying to keep the fear from his expression, but Gakupo could still see it flicker in the boy's ice-blue eyes. He was terrified, and rightfully so.
"You'll find out soon enough," Gakupo said, tugging on Len's arm to get him to speed up. Eventually they came to a thick metal door with a lock on it—a back door, Len assumed. Gakupo reached into his pocket and fished out a key, and unlocked the door, without releasing Len's wrist even once, to the blonde boy's dismay.
Pushing Len inside before him, Gakupo walked through the door, and standing guard on either side of the door was a pair of armed guards. Smart, Len supposed. If the guards were left to guard the door from the outside, they could be taken down by anyone who was stronger or cleverer than them, or at least had more allies on hand, and they'd be worn down by the elements, too. This way, even if someone managed to break through the door, they'd be caught off-guard by the guards waiting inside, and they'd also be able to better guard against those who wanted to break out, like Len. It was probably safe to assume there was guards positioned at the inside of every door. It also wasn't a long shot to guess more people tried to break out than in.
The guards didn't ask questions as he dragged the blonde child down the hall. Those who asked questions in this mansion never lasted very long. With his captive in tow, Gakupo marched down the hall, as Len looked around. Marble floors, stone walls adorned with tapestries and paintings and other extravagances Len didn't care for. Candles burned in their golden holders fixed to the walls every ten paces or so, causing the hall to burn with a golden, somewhat ominous light. Len avoided looking at the candles.
There was one door, on the left side of this hall. As they passed the open door, Len looked inside to see people bustling around in what appeared to be a kitchen, but he was quickly pulled past that. At the end of the hall it split into two opposite directions, and Gakupo took Len down the left passage. Here the walls were wooden; likely interior walls. Len passed five doors here, two on his left and three to his right, but all were closed from Len's sight. They eventually reached a door at the end of the hall, which opened to reveal a stone staircase, shaped in a spiral, leading down.
Down the stairs they went, the candlelight flickering all around them and casting frightful shadows as the way grew darker and darker. At the bottom of the stairs, stretched out another hall, now stone again. Here it was much darker, and colder, with no decorations, and Len was almost positive this was a dungeon.
On each side of the hall there was five or so metal doors that looked like cell doors, each with small windows positioned roughly at eye-level for an average-height man, covered with a metal grate so no one could reach through them. From where he was, he couldn't see through any of them. This hall was oddly empty; Len had expected guards to be placed here of all places, but there were none.
Down the hall Gakupo took Len, to the last door on the right side of the hall. Len watched the purple-haired man unlock the door, and realized why there were no guards here: The doors could only be opened from one side. The other side of the door had no handle, no lock, while the side Gakupo had opened the door from had two locks: one key lock, and a bolt. You'd have to break down the door to escape from here. Len prayed desperately he wouldn't be locked down here.
Inside the cell Gakupo opened, though, there was already a prisoner: a woman, around the age Len's mother had been before she died, but with long, light pink hair. She was chained to the wall by her wrists and torso, wearing a plain white dress that looked more like a dirty piece of cloth had been wrapped around the lady's body and arms than proper clothing.
Gakupo pushed Len in front of him, holding his arm tightly, grinning as if he was carrying a trophy. "Is this the one you told me about?"
The woman looked up at the small blonde boy with tired, grey-blue eyes, and sighed. "Yes," she said, and she sounded almost remorseful about it.
"Then I can use him, correct? He doesn't look like much," Gakupo said, staring down at Len with a look of scrutiny, like he was trying to find a reason to let Len live, a look which made Len shudder.
"He will do," the pink-haired woman replied dolefully. "And he is still young, so he will become even stronger with age."
"Excellent," Gakupo said, grinning as he squeezed Len's wrist so hard it hurt. "You've done well, Luka. I'll be back to deal with you later." With those words he was back out the door with his blonde captive in tow, locking the woman's cell once more. To Len's immense relief, he wasn't thrown in his own cell down here. Instead he was dragged back down the cold stone passage, up the stairs, down the hallway, past the hall they'd first come in from—Len could see the door at the end of the hallway, with the guards still standing on either side of it—and down the way Len had not yet seen.
The whole hall opened up, and Len realized they were in a main hall of sorts, and far ahead to the left, there was a pair of huge ornate double doors, likely the front door. Unsurprisingly, a pair of guards stood on either side—not that Len would have been able to open such heavy doors on his own anyway. They'd come from a passage under a grand set of stairs which lead to an open walking place on the second floor. Across from where they came out, there was another space under the stairs there, but a closed door kept him from seeing inside.
Gakupo pulled him up the stairs on the right, up to the balcony. On the right side, there was a wooden door, which Gakupo opened, ushering Len through. Another hallway, though this one much shorter. There was only three doors here besides the one they'd come through: one on the left of the hall, one on the right, and one at the end.
It was the door on the right that Gakupo opened, and inside there was a small room. There was a bed, and bookshelves, and a dresser, and Len might have thought it a regular room if not for the metal pole standing right in the middle of the room, with a long chain attached.
Gakupo grabbed Len by the collar of his shirt, dragging him over to the pole and chain, and picking up the chain. At one end of the chain there was a thick metal ring, attached to the pole, so that the chain wouldn't get twisted around the pole while moving, and the other end held what looked like a ring that had been split in half, but could open and close on one end that was connected by hinges. The whole thing was covered in an inscription of some kind that Len couldn't recognize, but the whole thing instinctively made him uneasy.
Holding the boy's head up with one rough hand on his jaw, Gakupo closed the collar-like ring around Len's neck, and with a snap, it locked shut. Len didn't like that. There hadn't been a lock on that, had there? How would he get it off? Was it even designed to ever come off?
"What am I doing here?" Len asked warily, his hand drifting to the collar locked around his neck.
Gakupo didn't even bother to look at him as he answered. "You'll see for yourself," he said, heading towards the door. "Your work starts tomorrow."
"Work? What am I doing?! Hey!" Len yelled, but the man was gone, as he closed and locked the door behind him. He fell silent for a while, staring at his pale, slender fingers as he sat on the floor. What was going on? What did Gakupo want with him? How did he even know of him? What would he be made to do?
Len bit his lip, then stood up. He supposed it was gracious of him to give him a means to move about; it would make it easier to escape, and the sooner he was out, the better. He had no plans to do whatever it was Gakupo wanted him to do.
He walked over to the door, slowly, not making a sound, and pressed his ear to the door. He listened hard for a good five minutes, but he didn't detect even the slightest sound. No guards outside his door, then. Gakupo probably didn't think he'd be able to even open the door. At least he didn't need to worry about being quiet.
First thing he needed to do was to get rid of this collar, or at least break the chain connecting him to that pole. He felt all around the metal ring, looking for some sort of way to unlock it, like a keyhole, but there was nothing. Was this really meant to never be taken off? Sighing, he pushed the thought aside. He could deal with that once he was out. Instead he inspected the chain. It was old, and pretty rusted in some parts. How careless, Len thought, rather disappointed despite the fact that it could easily be the thing that saves him.
He found one spot on the chain where it was the most rusted—this would be the easiest place to break. He just needed something to break it with. There was no way he be able to by himself, but something else that was stronger and heavier than him... Like the bed? Perfect! The chain wasn't long enough to bring to the bed, so he'd have to pull the bed out from its little corner. Hopefully it wasn't too heavy...
However, as much as he pulled, the bed didn't move even an inch. He looked under the bed, and to his chagrin, he realized the bed was bolted to the floor. Growling in frustration, he stood up, looking around the room again. If the bed was nailed down, likely every other piece of furniture was, too. Of all of them, the bed would be easiest to use.
His mission was four-fold, now: find a way to unbolt the bed, break the chain with said bed, pick the lock, get the hell out of this place... where ever he was. He didn't want to think about that right now. Who knew how far he was from his old (destroyed, Len reminded himself,) home? They'd traveled for at least four hours on Gakupo's boat, Len figured. Where would he go after this? Where could he go?
Don't think about it, he told himself. Not now, at least. He had to escape from here first. The bed was fixed in place by nails, not screws, so he needed a way to pull them up from the wood floor. He already had a pretty good idea for that. He pushed up the mattress on the bed, and there, attached to the metal frame of the bed were the dozens of thin wires shaped as springs. He looked for the two that seemed loosest, and twisted them around, working them back and forth until they snapped right off. He left one on the dresser for now—that one would be for picking the lock—and worked on straightening the other out as much as he could.
Taking the wire, he hooked it around and under one of the nails, wrapping the ends around the palms of his hands so they wouldn't slip, and pulled at it as hard as he could. He put his feet against the leg of the bed to keep from moving, and eventually, the nail finally wiggled free. Len gasped, unwinding the wiring from his burning hands. They were bleeding.
Before he set to work pulling up the rest of the nails, he grabbed the sheet from the bed and tore off two thin, long strips, and carefully wrapped his injured hands. This time, the wires were wrapped around his hands over the pseudo bandages, which hurt a lot less, and with great effort and fifteen minutes of time, he managed to pull up every nail fixing the bed to the floor.
Finally, he dragged the bed out from its spot in the corner of the room, lifting it so one metal leg hovered right over the rusted part of the chain. Hesitating, Len hoped that the noise wouldn't draw any attention. This had seemed like a less occupied area of the mansion, though, so hopefully no one would even be around to hear. With all the strength he had, plus the weight of the bed, he half dropped, half pushed the bed down, letting it smash against the rusty chain.
It didn't break completely, but the damage was clear. A few more hits would break it. He did it again, and again, and with one last try, jumping on the edge of the bed with all his weight, the chain crumbled beneath the leg of the bed. Len pulled the part of the chain that was still attached to his collar. Luckily it wasn't that long, just long enough to drag on the floor when he stood up and walked around, and he could carry it while running.
He grabbed the other spring from the dresser, straightening it out to use to pick the lock. Len walked quietly over to the door, again listening for any signs of people outside his door, and when he was sure there were none, he began twisting the wire around in the keyhole. He didn't really know what he was doing; he'd known a (now dead) boy in his old (destroyed) town who'd been quite skilled at this, but Len had never bothered to ask him how he did it, because Len preferred to live an honest life, and didn't see how a need to pick locks would ever equate into that. But he at least knew it was possible, and if it was possible, Len would figure out how to do it.
It was a lot of blindly twisting the wire, while his ear was pressed to the door, but after a good ten minutes, his fumbling about was rewarded with a click of the lock opening. He sighed, relieved yet still horribly nervous, setting down the wire and picking up the end of the broken chain dragging behind him. Taking a few deep breaths, he slowly opened the door, peering out cautiously.
"Going somewhere?" Len nearly screamed, but instead bit his tongue so hard it bled. Gakupo was standing in the hall, casually leaning against the door across the hall from where Len was, idly inspecting his gun. He looked up at Len with those dark eyes, and Len instinctively slammed the door shut.
"Not so fast," Gakupo said, catching the door with his foot, pushing his way inside. Len backed up, terrified. He'd been waiting?! Why?!
Gakupo grinned in a taunting sort of way. "I must say, I'm impressed. You've only been in there for what, fourty-five minutes, and you actually managed to get this far? I see now that Luka was right about you. Not that she could be wrong," He chuckled, and Len just stared at him with wide eyes, not understanding. "But you've made quite the mess in here, and you should know better than to try to escape, and so as punishment, you're going to start working now, not later."
Before Len could even say anything, Gakupo grabbed the end of the chain connected to Len's collar, dragging him after him like a dog on a leash, while Len stumbled after him, choking every time Gakupo tugged on the chain. Gakupo pulled him out into the hall, to the door at the end, which Gakupo had to unlock in order to enter. Inside was a large room, which was mostly dark aside from some gas lamps, and the whole room was filled with machinery, or something, Len wasn't quite sure. Deeper into the room they ventured, and the more Len saw of it, the more confused he became, and the more fearful.
At the very end, where they stopped, there was an array of metal contraptions, the most noticeable one being shaped like a huge upright rectangle, large enough for a person to stand inside, with a glass door, and a compartment atop it, in which there seemed to be a... creature of some sort. Len didn't know what else to call it. It took on no shape of any living thing Len had ever seen - in fact, it didn't seem to take on any definite form at all, changing and shifting inside it's glass prison above the machine - yet it seemed to be alive, and below the hum of equipment he could faintly hear what sounded like muttering coming from the direction of the thing. It had no eyes, it seemed, or mouth or anything, but it was pure black, like a living shadow, with dark tendrils floating about it. To Len, it almost seemed as if the thing sucked the light out of its surroundings.
"W-what is that thing?" Len asked, pointing at the black creature in the clear container. Though he really didn't want to know, he had a bad feeling he'd find out whether he wanted to or not.
Gakupo grinned at him sinisterly. "If you're curious, why don't you find out?" With that, he shoved the blonde boy into the front of the rectangular contraption below where the monster was trapped, and closed the door, closing the latch. Len yelled at Gakupo for a while, but he stopped when he noticed the muttering he heard before was getting louder. Something between a hiss, a growl and a whisper, and even now that Len could hear it clearly, he couldn't understand a word of it, if it was actually speaking at all. Len looked up, and his heart jumped a little when he realized there were small holes in the top of this container. He could see the blackness through those holes, and to his horror, that blackness began to seep through the holes, thin tendrils of shadows that seemed to change into the shape of hands when they reached Len, grabbing him tightly so he couldn't move. One inky hand covered Len's mouth, and Len wasn't sure what was more alarming: thinking he couldn't breathe, or the fact that the hand seemed to be made of gas when he tried to. Solid, gas, shadow or vapor, Len wasn't sure, but he couldn't think anyway, because whatever that thing was made of made his head swim when he breathed it in, and he quickly slipped unconscious, as his vision was slowly engulfed by the darkness.
