Zero held the damnable object in his hand. It was cold, unfeeling, limiting, and it blacked out his taste of blood. But it would help him now that X was coming around. A tape player was held in his other hand, on pause.

Zero entered the bedroom, placing the tape recorder on a small table next to the bed. He placed the object in a water-proof charm necklace. And once all that was done, he looked down at his prey, down at his match that would squirm underneath him.

X was sleeping peacefully, his arms wrapped around a blanket. So needy.

So beautiful. Zero placed the tape off pause, and gently shook X, waking him up in the process. X smiled and groggily opened his eyes.

"Hey, Zero," he said softly, still believing the horrors he had been living through were a dream. After all, many people will choose not to believe an actual nightmare if they can. Zero smiled and pryed the blanket from him, then sat down next to him. X gave a stretch, though he winced when he remembered he wasn't fully healed. "I guess the I'm not healed yet," he said, a laugh building up.

"You hate violence, but I didn't think you'd be given much of a break at HQ," Zero responded. Play it right…X nodded, thankful someone understood him. Zero nodded in response.

In a flash, X was suddenly re-shackled to the bed, Zero pinning him down. "Let's make a deal," Zero stated, grinning.

X was in too much shock and in too much horror of the recent events to respond in any form. His eyes read betrayal and sadness. Zero grinned. "Oh, don't worry. I'll let you out." He pulled out the control chip and placed it around X's neck.

"What…" X's voice trailed off, watching Zero with much wider eyes.

"My control chip," the Crimson Hunter stated plainly. "I want you to wear it."

"Why?" the fear he had was simply being magnified by the control chip on his chest, watching it.

"It's along the lines of this: I want you to be my slave."

"That's not happening." X bucked underneath him. Zero grinned, tracing his hand along X's face. X shuddered.

"It goes like this: I promise never to hurt you in public with it on, and if you don't, I'll attack your friends: Alia, Douglas…" Zero grinned as X's eyes fell in defeat. "Oh, and you'll have to come back to me every night, and you'll have to do everything I say."

Zero nuzzled X's neck. "I'm going to kill you, Zero, when I get free," X whispered.

"That is my control chip." He kissed the top of X's forehead tenderly. "I'd be back to my old self and probably very, very sorry, if it was reinstalled. But it's not me I'm worried about… it's those poor hunters, defenseless as their two best hunters are here… alone…"

X nodded. "Fine. Release me." As Zero did so, X started sobbing. Zero grinned. Hurting x like this was soo fun.

"Stand up, my pet." X did so, his shoulders slumped over. He looked up at Zero, his eyes still brimmed with tears.

"What are you going to do with me?"

Zero chuckled, but didn't answer the question, walking around X. "Do you not like your situation?"

"I'd rather die," X responded. "But I can't."

Zero gave a rather evil sort of purr, finally laying X down on the bed softy. "You'll like it eventually," he stated, capturing X's lips in a deep kiss.