Chapter 10: Frustration


~.~.~Ivan~.~.~

Hell, Treachery, 6:35 PM, July 16th, 2013

Normal POV

Ivan was honest when it came to his own personal promises.

It had only been 3 days since that odd morning, and Ivan's demeanor became more terrifying to the captains. His methods increased in brutality, and it seemed the Russian invented newer ways of torture and punishment. The captains ignored him normally, but now they intentionally stayed away from him. All captains were informed of each other captains' methods of torture, but Ivan's methods were self explanatory.
Ivan generally came back from the Punishment wing almost completely caked in blood, walking through the lobby like he didn't give damn. Some weapon was also in his hand anytime he walked out, leaving a slight trail of ash or blood.

It also seemed that he lost his normal shuddering smile. His face was almost always formed into a sort of frown or a grimace. It was like he was disgusted with something, or angry. No one knew really, no one wanted to ask, for their own reasons.

All through those long 3 days though, he never once visited Alfred's cell.

In Alfred's case, he seemed to be recognized again by the other demons. His own tortures increased. Old wounds were reopened and more limbs were broken as much as new wounds were created. This time though, Alfred didn't suffer alone. Anytime the blonde was abused, the 3 demons from that one night always stopped by to help him any way they could.
It was however present that Alfred's inflictions were getting worse.
Toris, Eduard, and Raivis have had to re-break some of Alfred's bones in the past 3 nights.

Alfred endures it still. By now though, his will and his sanity hang by a thread despite the amount of time he's spent in this dreadful hell, which admittedly, wasn't very long. But, it doesn't make it impossible. No soul can heave a strong will and retain a healthy sanity in this realm, not even its own edification of demon kind, damned or otherwise.

It can be guaranteed that most of the beings living in Hell have lost their sanity, replacing it with a lust of any kind.

Even the demon captain Ivan has but a few stands of sanity left. He has a driving lust to punish the treacherous and deceitful, as well as to help lead an army into more sinful creatures than human souls.

Though,
who is not to segregate the mind from the heart, and the growing frustrations and confusion Ivan feels from just a touch of one sinful being?


~.~.~Ivan's POV~.~.~

These frustrations are picking at me.

It has been 3 days. 3 whole days since I had the sudden need to lay upon a gentle touch to Alfred instead of a forceful one, and allow him a comfort I should have snatched away.

I sit in the lobby, leaning forward, head steadied against my hand, almost completely engrossed in these thoughts. I can hear the other captains around me, speaking too loudly just because they can. It adds to my already growing irritation, though I attempt to ignore it.
All I want to do is find answers.
I know, a laughable subject in my case, thinking too hard over one measly affair that should just be forgotten. But I can't forget it. I cannot forget how I had the audacity, the thought, of just touching Alfred with no force intended.

What could it be?

And why did I…like it?

….

I can still feel that softness on my finger tips. I had felt softer things in this lifetime, but this sensation, even if slight, felt…warming.

…I have no heart. It is all but alive in me, a dead and shriveled morsel with no more use to me or anyone else. All that is there, in my heart area, is a jagged scar, an ugly scar…like the rest.

My heart is dead…it can live no more, and it can feel no more. No sympathy, no love, no good, and especially, no warmth. With death, comes cold, and vice versa. With my death, came a cold, unfeeling heart. I wonder if it was like that before I died.

But…it still doesn't explain this odd feeling that already feeds off my very soul. It's unbearable, and despite my attempts to shadow and extinguish that feeling and replace it, it only seems to grow like a virus. It fuels my frustration, which, in turn, leads to anger and irritation that so far, cannot be quenched with the heightened brutality of my souls. Its very presence in my soul is intolerable. I want to smother it, suffocate it, stifle it, and kill it with anything I can lay my hands on, just to keep it from eating at me anymore; it quickly got to the point of insufferable and infuriating.
I had been to a point like this many times, but this is by far the worst. And all I am doing is sitting her, pondering on what exactly it is, and how I can get rid of it.

The obnoxious laughing of another captain took me away from those thoughts however, and I ended up hearing the demon speak to his comrade not too far away from me. Honestly, he had been talking that way for a while now, spouting nonsense boastfully about his own souls and what he used to punish them, but his newest conversation was what perked my interest. I had heard mention of Alfred.

"Honestly, he's a fun one!" he laughed.

His comrade laughed with him.

"Really? How so? I haven't had the proper chance to really acquaint myself with him."

"Well, you should. He's feisty, he's loud, and he curses like a sailor! Aren't Angels supposed to be polite and mannered or some bullshit like that?"

His comrade shrugged.

"How am I supposed to know? Do I look like a fucking teacher on 'Angels 101'?"

A scoff.

"Shut up. Either way, you get a chance to see him, play with him all you like. He can't really say 'no' so that makes it fun to see him try and crawl away."

A laugh, followed by another.

"Hey, what's he look like?" the comrade asks.

"Actually, he's a pretty thing to look at. Nicely built, toned, blue eyes, blonde hair, that jazz. Being a Divine though, makes it hotter. And trust me, the toga ain't helpin'."

A snicker.

"Really~? Hit it yet, cause if you don't, I might."

"Ha! I could easily do it, you can even watch! Little bitch is so cracked, he'll just cry and beg like the floozy he'll be."

I didn't quite register I had even stood up until my balled up fist made contact with the table they sat at, cracking it. I could feel their wide eyes on me. My gaze turned to the first one.

"You'll not lay a finger on him, less you want them broken." I warn.

He stared for a second before kicking his chair away and baring his sharp teeth at me.

"What gives you the right, bigfoot!? Huh!?" he yelled.

My eye twitched and I grabbed his neck, tight. Lifting him to my eyes level, I wanted to be crystal clear.

"He is mine. If either of you savages lays a hand on him before I do I'll cut them off and cauterize the wrists I cut them from." I growled lowly, watching his eyes widen.

I felt him gulp and gag, squirming from my grip. Baring my teeth, I roughly threw him to the ground and turned to his comrade. I didn't need to do any physical work before he lowered his head in submission, which I was blithe about.
I heard the first one coughing and growling. Turning to look at him, I saw he was trying to get up.

"What…gives you…that right?" he growled getting up and charging after me.

In almost a split second, I rammed him into the ground, my pipe hard against his throat. He was choking again.

"Because, I was the one who planned his capture while you and your comrades lazed around for someone else to do it. I deem him mine, and no one else's. Now stand your ground, you useless little imp." I hissed, grinding my teeth.

Then it hit me.
Of course. How could I have been so naïve?
Pushing my pipe against the other's throat, I saw Alfred for a split second in the same position: under me, my pipe against his neck and his raw voice giving me answers I so desperately desired. Standing up and kicking my fellow hellion, I turned around towards the punishment wing, pipe tight in hand.

Alfred had been the cause of this. He has all along. These strange feelings, this frustration, it was his entire fault. Now, he was going to give me the answers, even if I force him to do so.

For the first time in 3 days, I felt a smile slither across my lips.

The Angel will answer for this, these…insufferable thoughts and feelings. He will, even if I need to whip it out of him.


~.~.~Alfred~.~.~

Hell, Treachery, 6:26 PM, July 16th, 2013

Alfred's POV

D-Dammit, why won't it stop bleeding!? I'm putting pressure on it, but it won't stop bleeding!

Not too long ago, a couple more of those demons bastards came in. They've been doing this more for the past few days. They've been coming in small groups and picking up where they left off. This time it's worse. They're using more weapons it seems. Like anything blunt in the book. It can go from whips, to clubs, to knives, anything that can either rip or bruise skin. By the time they all finish, I'm trembling and tears are going down my face. Right now, it's both those plus me putting any type of pressure on this new open wound on my side. One demon stabbed me with a big survival knife or something of the like, stabbing it deep in my side, and twisting! It took a few seconds to pull it out cause it had spines or something hanging on to my skin. After a few more deep slashes here and there, some at my wings, they finally left.

Vainly wiping my eyes, I pretty much glued my hands to my side, hoping the bleeding will stop. My hands felt so sticky, like they were actually gluing onto my skin.

"C-Come on... Stop bleeding." I hear myself beg to no one.

This went on for…God, I don't know how long. I lost track of time completely by now, the lasting physical and mental pain…I'm seeing things by now, dark creatures trying to come for me in every corner. The dim blue light on the wall feels like my only safety from the darkness that seemed to envelope this place and spread like a disease, infecting anything that came in contact with it.

These binds…

I want them off…I want them OFF!

Scratching won't help. I keep clawing at them, trying to get them off my wrists, or my neck, off anything! They won't come off!

I can hear my breath…I'm breathing so fast…I'm starting to feel pain on my wrists…!

God..! What's happening to me!? Why won't anything stop hurting!?

I feel my fingers latch onto my matted and disgusting hair, needing something to grab. I can't get my breath to steady…it feels like there's an engine in my chest about to burst from the speed its going.
I think it's my voice telling me to calm down…I'm sure it is, but I can't understand what its saying…is it really me talking? It feels like my mouth it moving…it must be.

I feel my neck snap up when I heard the door open again. The room suddenly got colder. I felt my panic rise and I try to back away when I see who came to my cell…him. He's back again…like he said he would.

"N-No no. please go away." I mumble, but he keeps coming.

He looks angry, but he's smiling…why is he smiling?

"S-Stay away, Ruski!" I shout instinctively.

That only seems to anger him more when his steps get faster until he's through the bars. Then, he has a hold of my bruised throat again, lifting me to his eye level.

Now I was really, closely looking into those cruel amethyst orbs that sent shivers down my spine every time I looked into them. But somehow, I felt this time was different…they were so filled with a blistering hate that could burn my eyes if they could…and suddenly, I didn't feel scared anymore…

I felt terrified.


~.~.~Ivan's POV~.~.~

Now I had him.

I had the reason for all my frustrations in my hand right now, losing his breath and feeling my grip as I tighten it around his frail neck. I could nap it at any moment. I won't however; I need that pretty little neck to hear his words.

I took a moment to properly observe him. His eyes were as wide as I've seen them so far, his face has more bruises on it while blood dried from any corner of his face, and his hair is again a tad longer since his bangs began to covers more of his face than intended. His hair was also dirty. I barely recognized any blonde in it anymore, just dark and dried blood spots tangling in it and creating a new color when it was wet enough to drip. It was a disgusting sight to be honest, but it didn't matter if it was clean or not.
I drew my face closer.

"You have some explaining to do." I tell him lowly, throwing him to the ground and bringing my pipe out again.

Before he could even sit up, I was on top of him, my pipe to his neck, pushing into the flesh. He's already gasping. I pushed harder.

"Answer me some questions and I'll be gentler." I tell him lowly.

He peered at me, eyes wide, filled with shock and fear. He attempted to speak. I took my pipe from hiss throat, moving to my knee and grabbing him by his hair.

"What…are you talking about!?"

I felt a growl escape from my throat before I punched him across the face, sending him down again. He began coughing again. His back is exposed to me. I can see the wounds I've inflicted upon them, with a few new ones…more filthy hands touching what is mine. I might as well give them all a sign that tells for them to back off. And I did. Raising my pipe, I swung at his back, leaving a vertical welt that reopened more closing wounds on his back.
He screamed loud enough to be heard around the whole wing. I however, was not satisfied.

I was just beginning.

I planted the head of my pipe into a deep wound between his shoulder blades as I went to my knees, straddling him from behind.

"Now talk. What did you do?" I demanded.

He whimpered and shook his head.

"I…d-don't know what you-"I stopped him when I planted my pipe deeper into his wound, my anger rising.

"That's not the answer I want." I hear myself growl.

My hand found itself grabbing his left wing, gripping it and sinking my claws into the base. He screamed again, arching his back. His wings began to flap. I just dug my pipe into his back again.

"Please! W-What the hell do you mean!?" he yelled.

I sunk my claws deeper into the muscle of his wing and I leaned towards his ear.

"Do you have power?" I said, lowly into his ear.

He shivered. It took him a while to answer. He did when I dug my pipe deeper into his wound.

"N-No! No…I-I'm just a normal being…I-I'm n-not so special…Why are you asking me this!?"

I grit my teeth and sat up, removing my pipe from his back and tilting Alfred's face to mine, his own blood staining his already darkened chin. I leaned toward him again, nearly going nose to nose with him.

"Because, Alfred, my dead heart possesses your deceit, making me want different things from you than your bruised and cold body." I whispered to him.

My voice was so low, and calm. I have no idea what possessed me to speak as such. I wanted to yell. Scream at the top of my lungs. However, that may cause a few problems even the other demons don't want to deal with. I wouldn't want that now, would I? Pushing his face away from my hand, I stood, pipe in hand.

"Now give me an explanation on these…feelings I can't help but let fester and grow like an infection." I growled to him, barely touching the pipe to his lower back.

He shivered and curled his body a bit, his arms going to his chest. He didn't look at me as he shook his head, his matted hair sweeping with each shake.

"I…I don't-"he stopped when he screamed again.

I pushed the pipe into his lower back, right onto the tailbone. I knew what he would finish his sentence with.

"If you want it to stop, give me a real answer, you deceiving lying scum." I hiss to the creature before me.

I felt my teeth bare and the fangs grow. My anger was rising to higher levels than I would think.

I could honestly hear my blood boiling in this frigid temperature, just being in this creature's presence. His unheeding ability to continue this little interrogation with only one answer was doing no good.

"Tell me, now." I demand.


~.~.~Alfred's POV~.~.~

No…this is too much…he's asking me a question I'm even confused about. What does he mean?

Turning my head to him, slowly as I could, my bruised throat decided to speak on its own.

"Wh-What…d-do you mean…? What a-am I doing?" I croak.

I feel that fucking pipe go deeper into my lower back. Gritting my teeth, I scrunched my head further into my arms, only for it to be pulled from its spot again. With my head, came my whole body. It felt like my scalp was going to be torn off…he was using it as a handle to sit me up after all. The room is blurry and my eyes are warm and wet, but I can clearly see him when he goes in front of me, nearly inched from my face.

…I don't want him there…please go away…go away.

His eyes…they're darker…I can see how livid those cruel violets are, how insane with anger they were…how could I know he was doing this blindly? The room was always dim; one pale blue torchlight illuminating it just barely…the dimness of the light just adds the darkness to his face underneath those pale ashen bangs. But I can see his eyes clearly, like they were glowing. A sinking feeling went down my stomach when looking into those livid, cold eyes…I knew those eyes would etch to my mind like a stain that can't come off. Now I know, those deep, cruel, violet orbs showed me every fear I have, just by looking at them or remembering them.

…My walls are breaking from those eyes…and the walls are becoming dust.

I hear a slap of leather to fabric from Ivan slapping his hand to the area where his heart should be. His larger hand gripped the fabric it slapped.

"My heart is dead. It is nothing anymore, a shriveled up thing." He said lowly.

I grit my teeth, tasting that familiar taste of copper and metal. He narrowed his eyes at me.

"Yet, the more my desires grow, the more it feels it's…beating." He hissed at the last part.

I whimpered when I felt him roughly grab my hand and press it to that area…even his hands are cold.

"Go ahead, try to feel it. My heart is cold and dead. Make it beat..." He growled.

I closed my eyes and tried turning my face away. Through my shivering through, I feel something at my finger tips, just barely through my freezing blue finger tips, barely through his coat.

A throb.

A beat…

A…heartbeat.

I open my eyes wide. There was a heart beat. It was…faint, but…there. The beats were slow, very slow in fact, like it's just barely holding onto its last string of life. It may just be doing that.

"Nng...H-heartbeat…" I whisper.

He shook my head once, making me whimper from the pain it cause my neck.

"What was that?" he demanded.

"A…heartbeat." I said louder.

"I f-feel…something." I choke, trying to hold back my sobs of pain.

There was a long moment of silence. I dared to open my eyes. I saw his again, but this time, they looked shocked. They were wide and his face was blank. I could read nothing off it, but I could still tell by his eyes, that he wasn't finished, that he wasn't anywhere near the boundaries of sanity. After a moment, I feel gravity push down upon me, my broken body back to the cold ground. Ivan stood, turning away. My arms struggled to sit up, blood, tears, and saliva falling from my face. All I want at the moment is the sweet feeling of air once I realized I'd been holding my breath the whole time. But, as soon as I began, I stop to a sound.

It sounded like…chuckling.

I look up at Ivan to see his shoulders shaking a bit, a deep and low chuckling come from him. I feel myself gulp and try to back away once again.

"Oh Alfred, do you really think I would believe your lies?" he said, almost childishly.

I felt myself gasping again. I tried to keep it quiet, still backing away from him…he's lost it, completely. There's no telling what he'll-

*SMACK*

I feel my body, get thrown to the side again after I hear a metal object cut through the air and feel said metal object smack against my face with what seemed like all the force in the world. To make matters worse, after that, I feel a large hand grasp my neck and throw me forward.

"I have no heartbeat. I am nothing but a shell, a monster." Ivan said calmly.

I could just feel the smile on his face, that childish yet psychotic smile, paired with those eyes that wanted nothing more than pain and agony.
And that's exactly what it was getting.

Whimpering and coughing, I lift myself up onto my knees, my limbs trembling and shaking.
That was when I felt it.

I heard cold metal swing again, sending a slight ringing through the air to my ears. Then, it collided.
I screamed and fell forward again, my body twitching in agony…that was all it could do. All I heard was a sickening snapping sound when that pipe collided with the base of my wing. The dam broke and I began sobbing uncontrollably from the pain that took hold of my whole body. I couldn't move, but Ivan moved me. I could hear his giggling as he pulled me to sit up again. I couldn't see anything…the tears and the pain blocked my vision entirely, but I still tried to get away. I reached my arm out, trying to grab for anything that could help me, anything that could take me away from what was coming…I hardly even knew what I was doing…I just blindly grabbed at the floor, trying to get to the wall ahead, before I felt the same cold metal hit against my other wing, the same sickening snapping noise ringing through the corridor.

Something is breaking… As I convulse on the floor, screaming my lungs out, sobbing salty tears that drip into my face wounds and mix with my blood, I feel something inside me snap in two. I can't see anything clearly, but I can only feel the burning hot shots of pain through my body. I think I heard myself gasp when I felt two hands grab my useless wings and turn me around so that I can just fall to the ground again, unable to sit myself up. Ivan made me sit up though.

I can't breath…I can't feel my limbs…and I can't see.

Somehow though, I can still clearly see that psychotic smile, those dangerous and murderous eyes shadowed by ashen bangs, and the metal pipe that the occupant raised above his head.

I can do nothing about it though. Yet, by the time I see him about to hit, I open my mouth…I can't remember though, if I just opened it, or if I shouted…

Either way, I see him stop dead in his tracks, the gleaming metal barely moved from its position.


~.~.~X~.~.~

The Demon remains in questioning,

Which only angers him.

He confronts the Angel,

And the Angel answers for him.


AN: I have no excuse for this late chapter, and I am a bad person.

-hits self in the head with Ivan's pipe-

I finished this at 4 in the morning cause I was still awake, and knew I had to finish it, otherwise, I'd be a guilty little shit for keeping it more delayed than it already was.

Just…fuck, man.

Anyway, hope this was a good one for all you viewers, though I feel I might anger some with the obvious cliffhanger. ^^~

But not to worry! It will be seen in (hopefully) 10 days! For now, I'll let you explore the possibilities of what the hell happened in the end~!

Enjoy~!
Read, review, and be nice in the comments. XD

~Sunny