Chapter warnings: swearing, torture, gore. All the fun stuff. Torture consists of blunt force trauma. Also this chapter includes treating humans like animals/pets, mind games, and references systematized abuses.
Sandys3: Thank you ^^ I agree lol but I have a soft-spot for the silly nerd. I hope you enjoy the fic! - rrc
Kryptos lets out a tiny squeak. "Bill! h-hey! Y-you're b-back!..." his eye shifts around. "...I-I th-thought y-you we-were g-going w-with..." He casts a glance at the door.
Bill's tone is cheery, but the look in his eye is frightful. "Oh, I was! I did! It's funny really, because I would have been gone a long 'time,'" he airquotes at this, "but you see, I just ran out of punch! And I figured i'd check on ya, see how you're holding up..." Bill closes his eye and chuckles. "Never thought I'd walk in on something like this ..."
Kryptos flinches. "I-I..I...I..."
Bill laughs. " Aye aye aye is right! You'd really rather hang out with this..." he motions to the human derisively. "Instead of your pals? Guess you're more of a fucking loser than I thought!"
Kryptos stares at the floor.
Bill chortles. "And to top it off you blatantly disregarded, like, every single thing I told you not to do ! I mean how do you think that makes me feel , man?"
Kryptos really wishes Bill would let him go so he could curl up and hide. It takes a moment for him to realize Bill expects a response. "I...I-I mean...um..." his voice becomes very soft. " probablyreallynothappyatall "
Bill laughs. " Bingo, Krypster!" He lets the diamond drop suddenly. Kryptos lets out a little yelp as he falls to the floor. He furls into a shaking little ball.
Bill sighs, floating closer to Kryptos. "Ah, don't take it too hard, Krypster! I'm not mad at ya!"
Kryptos looks up. "Y-y...you're not ?"
Bill laughs. "Of course not, I mean, why would I be?" He shrugs. "So you fed the human, big deal! I mean you lied to me too, I guess that was kind of a dick move! and you, like, completely disobeyed me, but you know, no big , right?"
Kryptos says nothing, not sure where this is going.
Bill keeps laughing. "But it's all good, I mean, after all, it's not like you're, y'know, one of those humans !" He wraps his arm around Kryptos. "I mean, you're a guest here! You're one of us ! So if you wanna take some liberties here and there, I guess I can let it slide sometimes!"
Kryptos gives a nervous chuckle. "I, uh...guess?"
Bill giggles. "Yeah! You know, if this is your idea of fun, I'm not gonna stop ya, right?" He gives the diamond a little poke. "Different strokes, you know?"
Kryptos forces another laugh. "O-ok..."
Bill shrugs. "Anyway, it's not like it was your fault! Those humans can be pre- tty conniving little beasts! They can really fool ya into thinking of them as people sometimes!" He shrugs. "I mean, they're amusing, on occasion, but if you don't teach them their place " he chuckles. "Well, I mean they'll take ya for everything you've got!"
Kryptos doesn't like the direction this is headed. "Oh I don't know...I-it just seemed kinda..."
"Cute? yeah, they do that I guess! Little scoundrels!" He releases Kryptos and makes his way over to Ford. "I mean, lookit him! All pathetic and sad! 'oh help me, Krypster, I haven't eaten in 10 days, boohoo'!" he digs his finger into the human's cheek and pushes it around a little. "What a deceptive little shit " he grabs a handful of the creature's hair.
"Argh!" Ford cries out, heat pricking his eyes. "You know very well humans can't survive without food! Kryptos is doing you a favour!" He snaps, trying to shake Bill's spindly fingers off him. "Let me go !"
Bill laughs. "Oh, Sixer, the fact that you think that is hilarious!" He gives the man's hair a sharp yank.
Kryptos winces in the background. That doesn't look pleasant.
Bill continues, chuckling. "Remember how I disemboweled you repeatedly and you didn't stay dead? Remember that?" He leans in nice and close. "Even if you died from starvation, i'd just bring you back!" He pats him on the cheek. "Eating is a privilege, not a right!~ Especially for impertinent little humans who won't do as they're fucking told !" He laughs, releasing the man's hair.
He grabs him around the torso and begins crushing him. "You know, I really, really, really hate it. " His fingers sharpen, and he digs them in to punctuate his words "When people don't do as they're fucking told , you know?" He glances at Kryptos. The diamond cringes, backing away a couple of yards.
"Bill…. Please…" Ford wheezes, the chains holding him in place. "Stop…" He can feel his ribs starting to give, any moment and they'll be crushed… He can't breathe. Sharp fingers dig through his skin, blood begins to slide down his sides.
Kryptos doesn't know much about humans or how their bodies work, but he can tell the creature is in a lot of pain.
He grimaces, trying to look away. This was a lot funnier before he figured out what human distress looked like...or maybe before it mattered to him...before he started talking to that human...god he's such an idiot...he should have just watched his friends light stuff on fire...he shoulda never messed around with the stupid little skinjob...
He feels the familiar sensation of Bill's telekinetic hold wash over him. "hey hey, Krpyster! Don't run off! Don't you wanna stick around? Enjoy the show?"
Kryptos stutters. "Th-that's ok B-bill...I-I th-think I-i'm g-gonna g-g-go...f-f-find Pyr-r-ronica a-and..."
Bill laughs, pulling Kryptos in close and setting him down near himself and the human. "C'mon! Have a seat! Relax! Spend a little time with your old pal, Bill!" There's a dangerous glint in his eye. "I insist !"
Kryptos forces a smile. "O-ok...s-sure thing..."
He glances at the human...Ford...He should have never asked his name... He tries to keep the shaking in his body to a minimum.
BIll turns back to his prisoner. "Hey, Krypster! Ever wonder what happens to a meatbag when you squeeze em really hard. " He laughs, constricting his grip tighter and tighter.
Ford looks helplessly at Kryptos before—
SNAP
The shearing pain that rends through his chest tells him that every rib in his body has definitely broken.
He howls in pain, going limp in Bill's grip.
"Please… Stop…" He whimpers.
Kryptos wraps his arms around himself as far as they'll go. He meets the human's terrified gaze for a moment and quickly looks away. Some terrible little emotion he forgot he was capable of feeling rises inside of him.
Bill snaps his fingers. "Hey, eye over here, Krypster! The show's just getting started, pal!"
Kryptos winces and forces himself to watch the events unfolding before him.
Bill turns his attention back to his captive. He laughs at the creature's pathetic attempts to appeal for mercy. Didn't lil ol' Fordsy know he didn't have any to give?
"Go on, Sixer, beg !" He wraps his other hands around one of the human's leg and gives it the same treatment.
" Fuck !" Ford cries out as his leg snaps like a twig under Bill's grip.
"Stop it, Bill… Please! Please ! Stop!" The words come out as a choked sob. His vision blurs, his body breaking out in cold sweats. The shock is setting in.
Kryptos flinches at the sound of something in the human's body fracturing. It isn't unlike the sound of an angle being snapped off. He tries not to think about that.
He really, really wishes he'd never talked to the human at all, because hearing him vocalize in tones of curiosity and excitement and quiet bitterness made these panicked, agonized cries sound woefully unnatural and all the more horrid. The pleas for compassion are so desperate, so futile, they felt physically painful to listen to.
Bill just chortles, releasing the human's leg and torso and grabbing both of his arms. "Speak up Fordsy! I can't hear you!~" He crushes them in one swift, brutal motion.
Ford howls and sobs, dangling limply. "Fuck… Oh fuck…. Come on, Ford…. Come on… You can do this… Pain… Pain is … just in your head ." He coaches himself through a vague wisp of consciousness and unbearable agony.
Kryptos berates himself. Stupid, stupid..did you really think Bill wouldn't find out? That he'd be ok with this? You're an idiot and now that poor little meat creature is paying for it...why couldn't you just go hang out with your friends, huh? Why did you have to go and do something this fucking stupid...
"B-bill...?" he whispers. "I th-think i-it's uh... i-it's l-l-learned its l-lesson..."
Ford shakes his head at Kryptos' attempt… It was no use.
Bill turns to the diamond. Kryptos has seen that look before. You never want to be on the receiving end of it.
Then Bill laughs. It's not sadistic, it's cheery. Friendly, even. "Ohoho, I see how it is!" He floats over to Kryptos, patting his arm. Bill's hands are covered in the red fluid that's inside humans (and really oughta stay that way, in Kryptos' opinion) and some of it gets on the diamond. He resists the urge to pull away.
"Y-you...d-do?" Kryptos' voice is so very small.
"Well, duh!" He gives him a playful punch to the shoulder. "You sly bastard! You want a turn, right?"
Kryptos blanches. "Uh..." he gulps. "Um..."
Bill laughs. "I mean… That's gotta be the reason, right?" He giggles, motioning irreverently. "because, the only other reason i can think of...well i mean..." He gives Kryptos a look, and the diamond shudders. "You're actually fond of the human, right? Like, you'd actually feel some sort of...whatever that thing is that humans feels for each other? It's, heh heh...it's like that thing humans experience because chemicals in their fatty little brains want them to group together to avoid predators and copulate and stuff? That thing they use to keep from dying alone? that thing ?" He snaps his fingers wildly, looking off into space.
"Sympery...symphony..."
"Sympathy?" Kryptos offers, and curses himself for it.
"Yeah, that!" Bill chortles. "Oh my god, Kryptos...you...and...Sixer...feeling..." He bursts into a fit of frenzied laughter. "THAT WOULD BE TOO MUCH!"
Kryptos laughs along, stilted and terrified. "Yeah...yeah th-th-that...that w-would b-be s-stupid..."
Bill wipes away a tear. "HA, stupid would be putting it mildly, my Polygonic Pal!"
He gives Kryptos a slap on the back before returning to the captive human. "Just lemme finish up here and you can have a go at 'im!"
Kryptos shivers. Oh god...watching is bad enough...
Bill reaches over and tilts the human's head towards him. "Night, Fordsy! See you when you wake up!~"
And with that, he wrings the human's body until it collapses in his hands.
Bill giggles, giving the corpse a little poke. "Hehe, he's almost cuter like this! Lookit his limp little body!"
Kryptos stares blankly at the scene. He knows humans are pretty much just bags of weird goo and skin but...the creature had been so alive before. Now he's literally just meat and a lot of red liquid, dangling from a couple of chains.
Kryptos finds he can't summon the energy to feel anything. He sits there, completely numb.
The last time he felt like this was when he watched Bill burn his dimension, except now he didn't even have the cold hatred or the simmering rage or the quiet, inculpable feeling of serves you right to accompany him. Just a strange, emotionless daze.
BIll finally gets bored of prodding a lifeless cadaver and snaps his fingers, knitting the human back together cell by cell.
Kryptos swallows. In a way, he's next.
Ford slowly comes to, his whole body tingling with pins and needles. That was bad. Really bad. And from the eager look on Bill's face it's only going to get worse.
"Bill…." He murmurs. "I'm begging you. Please don't do that again… Please ."
Yes. He's begging now. But after being brought back to life for what seemed like the tenth time (he'd lost count), it doesn't seem like there was much else to do…
"I'll…I'll never ask for food from one of your pals again, okay? Y-you can just leave me to starve in the penthouse or something…Just please… Please don't do that again."
Kryptos begins to shake.
Bill laughs. "Well ya wore me down, Fordsy! I won't be doing that again! Well, for now anyway!"
Ford breathes a sigh of relief. "There's no need for this, Bill. You're not going to get the equation from me if you fry my brains over and over…"
Bill throws his arm around Kryptos. "That's why my good buddy, Krypster here is gonna continue the fun!" He gives the trembling diamond a shove in the captive's direction.
Bill puts his hands under his eye, contemplating. "Lettt's seeeee...What kind of horrible agony is Fordsy in for today!" He twirls his fingers and summons a cabinet of medieval torture devices. "We could go the classic route..." He summons another cabinet of torture devices from other dimensions and planets. "Or try something a bit more exotic..." He summons yet another cabinet full of nothing but banjos. "Or go with something sorta new wave..."
Ford's heart starts thundering, each device looks more painful than the next. His gaze settles on one of the cabinets and his brow furrows, confused.
"B-Banjos?" Ford chuckles nervously. "What would they do?"
Kryptos tries to signal to Ford not to give Bill any ideas, but Bill is already levitating one of the banjos.
"Oh you have no idea, do you Fordsy?" He strums it idly. It sounds like a dying hen. "You know, I wasn't too keen on hearing this little puppy sing at all hours of the day back when you were rooming with Glasses, haha!" He snickers. "I guess he got his in the end, though!"
Ford bristles. "Fiddleford saw right through you from the very beginning! At least he had the sense to torture you when he could." He growls.
Oh Fiddleford... Where are you now? What a fool I was!
Bill laughs. "No argument there, IQ~ Too bad you were too stupid to question a single thing i did! Or to figure out how the hillbilly really felt about you!" He plays with the instrument until a string breaks.
"How he...? Ugh. Of course." Ford mutters to himself. "Stupid..." He will survive this. He'll live to see Fidds and say he's sorry for being such a gullible fool.
"But anyhow…" Bill continues. "I hope you'll forgive me for stringing you along... " He turns the banjo over and grips the neck of it like a baseball bat. He practice swings once, twice, and then brings it down on his captive's ribs. "I've just banjo-nesing to get this out of my system!"
The banjo cracks against Ford's newly formed ribs and he wheezes, doubling over as far as the chains would allow.
"Untie me..." Ford coughs, spitting a globule of blood at his captor. "Untie me you... Worthless coward! You can't even take me on... Without chaining me up."
Bill laughs. "oh yeaaahhh, I'm sure it'd be a really fair fight if freed you!" He giggles. "But I'm not in the habit of letting people down , Sixer!" He shakes the instrument, aiming again. " Baaatttterrr uuupppp! " The banjo becomes fast acquainted with a knee cap.
Kryptos watches from behind Bill, grimacing. He considers sneaking away, but he's almost certain that would bring an even worse punishment down on his head...
"Let me go! You insane… Equilater— ARGH!"
Ford feels his kneecap give under the makeshift weapon. He feels a wave of nausea and pain.
"Stop this! You've… you've made your fucking point !"
Bill cackles. "And what point would that be , Fordsy?" He brings the instrument down on Ford's other kneecap. "I've heard this has the cap -acity to be really painful, but I feel the knee-d for a first-hand account, so do me a favor and rate the agony, on a scale of one to six!"
Kryptos draws his gaze to the floor and keeps it there. He can't run away, but maybe if Bill is preoccupied he won't make him watch, let alone participate...
Ford's knees buckle under the blow.
"STOP IT! I WON'T PLAY YOUR GAMES YOU STUPID IRREGULAR- "
Ford cuts off, terror flooding him. Oh shit... Slip of the tongue.
Bill freezes mid-swing.
He lowers the make-shift weapon very slowly, looking the human in the eye. "What did you just call me." His voice is flat and cold and above all, unnaturally quiet.
Kryptos' entire body goes stiff. his eye fixes on the scene in widened, silent terror.
Ford's heart stops for a moment.
"N-nothing... I said nothing!" He yelps, quickly averting his gaze.
Bill stares, his eye wide and dead and unblinking. "Really." He leans in closer, until his eye is centimeters away from his captive's face. There's a shivering, buzzing cold energy emanating from his entire form. " Reeaally... " The gaze flickers and drags slowly over to Kryptos. The diamond cringes like he's been struck. Bill's gazes shudders and inches back to the human.
Bill backs up. A chuckle begins, low and grating and raw. it rises slowly in pitch and volume, from an echoing howl to a shrill cackle, until it's climbed to a ghoulish shriek.
Kryptos backs away instinctively. He's never really seen Bill quite this frenzied, and it's a truly nightmarish sight to behold. Before he can move another meter, his entire body is suddenly consumed with a powerful red glow that feels like it's burning him alive. He screeches as he's dragged back towards the scene and slammed unceremoniously into one of the cabinets.
Bill's laughter simply continues, echoing from the room as though it's a living thing that's divorced itself from its creator.
"AH SIXER YOU REALLY S"
And with that, he raises the instrument and begins turning every bone in his captive's body into powder, one by one.
Ford's limbs twist into awkward angles, bone punctures through skin. It isn't long before, mercifully, a blow on the head strikes him unconscious and he dangles limp in the chains.