Hey all. Just a slight warning; it gets a little dark near the middle, but nothing that would break the "T" rating I think. Anyway, please leave a review? I'd like to know how I'm doing. Oh yeah, disclaimer. You know the drill.

The tears started welling up in her eyes. She had never imagined that they would extract such pain from Jack; there were marks that could not have been made by a whip. The whip cracked again, and Jack started falling down the pole, his face contorted in pain. Two Bangaas on the side of the crowd lifted him back up, tying the rope aground his waist tighter. Jack didn't protest, his hands were tied, and even if they weren't, most of his strength was devoted to avoiding the pain that kept spreading from his back. Kaila looked around, trying to see if Pog was in sight, waiting for his turn or if he had already gone. Her eyes found the one who had the whip, and saw that he was going to whip Jack again.

"No!" she screamed, "Stop, please stop!" The crowd turned its attention to her, but she didn't notice, she kept begging for them to stop. The man with the whip was about to let it loose, until another voice rang out,

"You can put the whip down for right now Adaman, I think the girl's seen enough for the time being."

Kaila lifted her head up to see who had spoken. She gasped in shock, she recognized the man in an instant. She had hoped to never again lay eyes on that face, that face that looked so charming but masked a man that knew no good. The man's name was Dimitri Ivalych, known in the underground world as a man that should never be crossed, mainly because can either make you into a devoted servant, or just decide to chop your arm and reattach it, twice, just for a laugh. How fitting for second in command of Clan Energie.

"Ah, Kaila, so nice to see you again," Dimitri said, "I was rather sad for quite a while when you left me. I tried to find you, but we lost you in Baguba. Now I find you with three others, apparently on a mission. How did you run into these ratty people?"

"You bastard! After what you've done to me, you'd think I would talk to you like an old friend?" Kaila yelled.

"Fine. If you won't tell me, I guess I'll just have to get it out of one of your friends," Dimitri said, walking to stand in front of Bernard, "Your moogle friend was really quite resilient for someone his size. He eventually told me almost everything; about why you are here and such. Your other friend, Jack, I think his name his, has proven to be a little harder. Maybe a few more lashes will do?" He indicated tot eh man to continue the whipping. Jacks yells of pain continued until Kaila finally said,

"Alright, alright. I'll tell, I'll tell," she sobbed, "Just don't hurt him anymore."

"Fantastic!" Dimitri said, turning towards her, "Now, how did I lose you Baguba, hmm?"

"Jack came to my rescue after he saw I was being assaulted by some drunkards. I had seen several other people walk by the alley, but none had come to rescue me. Then Jack came, and I followed him, grateful for saving my life. He didn't understand why I was still following him, and all I told him was that I needed to get out of the city fast; I was being chased by someone very evil. He agreed to help me, and so we hopped into the back of a cart in the middle of the night, so you would still think I was in the city."

"Damn! How could you have escaped so easily? Escaping in the back of a cart; it seems so cliché!" Dimitri said, pacing back and forth, "Well, no matter, I finally have you back after all this time. Giordano, get the man off the pole, it's time for the Nu Mou. Wilhelm, take Kaila back to her cell, I'll be seeing more of her tonight."

Kaila struggled against her captor, she knew what was coming to Bernard; the same thing as Jack. Wilhelm had no trouble holding her as he walked her back to her cage. He opened the door and threw her in, quickly closing it back up when she rushed the door. She started cursing at him, and he suddenly reached through the bars and grabbed her hair, and slammed her head against the bars of the cage. He managed to knock her out by doing so. He stared at her for a moment, this girl was going to be trouble, and he could feel it.

The single lamp in the middle of the room cast flickering shadows all over the tent. Some of the shadows moved as if they had life; if one saw one of these shadows out of the corner of their eye, they could have sworn that someone was there. There were other lamps in the room, but he preferred just the one for this night. He had been anticipating her return; no one since had put up such fights, and it excited him. The power he had over his prisoners was like something he had never felt before, like a parched man drinking a glass of cool water for the first time in weeks. It was euphoric.

He couldn't sit still tonight, and he didn't quite understand why. It must be because he would be reunited, as he saw it, with Kaila. Kaila was by far his favorite out of all the people he owned; she was sarcastic, rude, she could swear up a storm and, best of all, she fought back even when he thought she couldn't. It was that one aspect that quenched the thirst he felt constantly, and tonight he would be able to finally take that cool drink for the first time.

The flap to his tent opened, and Wilhelm and Kaila entered. He smiled; they had arrived right on time. He knew he could trust Wilhelm with the most important tasks. His smile widened slightly as he saw that he had tied Kaila's hands in front of her; it would add to the excitement tonight.

"Kaila," he said, slowly walking over to her, "I'm glad you can join me tonight. I have something very special planned tonight."

"You can go to hell you motherfu-" Dimitri slapped her before she could continue any longer, a brief look of rage on his face. It disappeared as quickly as it came, and he grabbed her chin and looked straight into her eyes.

"You really need to learn to watch you tongue around me," he said, his voice calm and collected, "We'll have to work on that some. Wilhelm, you can leave us now, but do stay right outside. I might need you to get something."

Wilhelm merely nodded, and exited the tent. He knew better to disobey orders, he had seen the consequences of that first hand, and was often the one given the punishment for that disobedience.

"Now that we're alone, we can finally get back to the fun we had," Dimitri said, standing next to Kaila and walking her across the floor. They approached a second flap in the tent; this was his personal space, and no one was allowed to enter uninvited. As they passed the flap, Kaila was reminded of exactly how dire her situation was.

Lining the walls of the tent were various machines and shelves. Some of the machines she had hoped never to see again. There was one that had a spiked log in the center, and ropes where the hands and feet would go. Another was an iron casing with short spikes as the lining. Luckily she had never been on that table or in that casing, but she had seen them being used on people and it was a ghastly sight. On the shelves were various types of whips and knives; short whips, spiked whips, jagged knives, whips with hooks, the list went on. Right at the back of the tent was a curious thing; a wooden chair. The chair had restraints where the hands and feet would go, but other than that there was nothing to cause pain, which was unusual. All of Dimitri's "play things," as he called them, caused some kind of pain.

"I just barley got this," he said, "You won't believe what the brilliant minds in Cadoan are doing today. They're buildings are fascinating in their own right, but the real fascinations are at the Institute of Research and Development. They are working on some kind of motorized cart, new power sources, new methods of execution. They even showed some the visitors how the execution methods work. I so happened to acquire one of those methods."

While he was talking, he had sat Kaila down in seat, untying her hands and putting them in the restraints first. After that, he tightened the restraints on the feet extra tight; he did not want her running away.

"Well, the one method that I had just managed to acquire is a very slow, painful one. I later learned that the Institute had canceled this project, but I found it so intriguing I had to have it. So, what I'm going to do is attach these wires to your arms and head, and then turn the dial on this little box here," he said, pointing out to Kaila where it was. He attached the wires using a sort of resin to keep them attached, and turned the dial up just a bit. She felt a tingle go throughout her entire body, like her body was falling asleep.

"No doubt your feeling a tingle right about now, right?" he asked, "Perfect, exactly like they said. Now, I'm going to slowly turn up the power bit by bit. Don't worry, you won't die, but it will start t hurt, a lot." A malicious smile started creeping on his face as he turned the dial again. She felt the tingling get stronger, her breathing started to quicken and a panicked look started to fill her eyes.

Before Dimitri could progress any further, the pair both heard a large explosion. Dimitris smiled faded, and he rushed out of the second part of the tent. Kaila heard some mumbling, and Dimitri came back in. She noticed he looked frustrated; her first guess was that it had something to do with her friends, she hoped that it was. Another explosion rang out through the night, this one closer. Dimitri looked over his shoulder, and then turned back to the dial. He grabbed it, and turned a quarter turn. She screamed, the sudden flow of electricity hurting all over. She began to try and loosen the harnesses, but they were too tight and her fingers couldn't reach the clasps.

The pair both heard gunshots, and Kaila managed to stop screaming for just a moment to hear how close they were. Several more rang out, and she guessed that they were no more than a hundred to hundred fifty feet away. She smiled weakly; he knew that somehow Jack and Pog had managed to escape and were looking for her. Seeing her smile, Dimitri turned the dial up more. She screamed again, this time louder, and her nose was filled with the smell of burning hair. She could feel the electricity coursing through every single inch of her body, and her eyes start to expand.

Just then, something crashed through the second flap of the tent, letting out a yell. Dimitri turned to see what it was, and immediately started chanting a spell when a shot rang out. Kaila saw it hit him right in the stomach, and he ceased to move. She looked to see what had charged through the tent, and was surprised. It was a chocobo, a rather large one, and she could see somebody riding on the back. They leaped off, and ran the final few feet towards Kaila. They shut off the dial, and started to undo the straps. They looked up at her, and she sighed in relief. It was Jack, and he grabbed her arm, putting it around his shoulders and placing his other arm around his waist.

"Jack," she said weakly, "I knew you'd come."

"It's better if you don't talk Kaila, better conserve your energy. You'll need it." He said, reaching the side of the beast. A small hand grabbed Kaila's wrist, and she saw that it was Pog. Both of them helped Kaila sit in the saddle, and Pog moved and grabbed a hold of the chocobos neck, making room for Jack. He hopped on, and gave the beast a kick, directing it back the way they came. As they emerged from the tent, Kaila saw what had happened.

Most of the tents were on fire, presumably from the explosion, and there were a couple black mages trying to freeze the fire, but to no avail. She looked down the path, and saw another chocobo riding towards them. She managed to see Bernard's face in the dark, and he was firing spells at the group that was chasing them. She felt Pog move around her, and heard as he started firing into the crowd. Jack made the giant bird go into a full run, Bernard having passed them. He hoped that they would make it out of the camp alive and also wished that the rules of official engagements were still in place.

The density of camps started getting lower, and soon they had escaped from the camp. They weren't out of the fire yet, so to speak. Kaila looked behind her, and saw at least five other chocobos pursuing them. She ducked as she felt a bullet barely miss her ear. She brought her head back up and looked behind her, it was hard to see where their pursuers were, but every now and then they would past through shafts of moonlight.

"Wait a minute," she said, turning to Jack, "How did you manage to escape Jack?"

"Well, it was simple. Pog easily slid through the bars, and undid his knots on a sword, and then picked the lock on my cage. It was then that we had decided to split up; Pog would set some of the ammo on fire, and I would free Bernard and grab these chocobos in the confusion. I also managed to find you because I 'persuaded' a guard to tell me where they had taken you." He explained, being careful not to lead his mount into a tree, "Bernard! Let's split up! We'll meet you at the rendezvous point!"

Bernard shouted his agreement, and veered away from the rest of the group.

"Aren't we supposed to stay together Jack?" Kaila asked, ducking once again as she felt another bullet pass her.

"You can relax; Bernard is one of the best chocobo riders in the nation, in his young days at least. He knows how to throw people off his trail," he said, "Myself on the other hand, I know a little. Pog! Aim for the chocobos! Try not to kill them, just wound them alright?"

"Okay, kupo!"

Pog continued firing, having grabbed a couple guns and a couple bandoliers of ammo before he lit the rest on fire. He was feeling exhilarated; shooting at people that would most likely kill them if they caught and in almost total darkness to boot. This was a test of the moogles skill, and so far he was doing alright. He knew he at least hit two of the riders, and was thankful that Jack had mentioned to shoot at the mounts, they were much bigger targets.

Eventually they managed to shake their pursuers, mostly due to Pog's marksmanship. They didn't dare stop until they had reached the small village an hour or so away from the forest. Kaila had passed out from exhaustion, and Jack ended up carrying her inside the tavern and onto her bed. He grabbed a chair, pulling it up to the bedside and taking a seat. Pog was absent; he had already fallen asleep in the other room they had managed to rent. He looked her over, and saw the burns on her temples and arms. He could feel his eyes welling up with tears, and he let them flow. This was exactly the kind of thing he kept being warned about, but failed to listen.

He had recognized the man Pog had shot, Kaila described him so perfectly over the course of their friendship. He was glad that they had got there in the nick of time; who knows what that man would have done to her? He couldn't understand how somebody could cause pain and harm to another and have a smile on his face. Those were the people that showed that there really was evil in the world. He wiped his face with the back of his hand, leaving one holding Kaila's hand. He could see her face twitching; he could only wonder what was going through her mind right now.

"Kaila…I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."