~ Authors Note~

Okay guys this was late because some family stuff came up and I didn't have a lot of time to work on it, but it's here now. The italicized part is a flashback. I'm giving a trigger warning for torture on the this chapter, chapter 11, and there's going to be character death in chapter 12. It's probably the only warning I'm going to give so.. I hope you guys enjoy~


Things had finally started to get back to normal. Seifer would come and go, sometimes being gone for two days or three but he'd always call and let me know that he was okay. Things were going really well. Emil stopped going to school, my mom kept pestering me about how happy all her friends were to get the pictures she took. It made it hard to stay alert. Things were great. They were familiar and I had let myself relax. That had been my mistake.

"How's Seifer supposed to pass this year when he never comes to school?" Roxas asks with a smirk. I hit him on the shoulder lightly as a punishment for taking joy out of Seifer's possible failure.

"I have no idea. He'll figure it out. Not like this is the first time he's missed a lot of school." I answer as Roxas and I walk to my house. He has taken it upon himself to make sure I am never alone when Seifer or my mom can't be there. And since Axel conveniently goes missing around the same time that Seifer does, he has the time to do that. I've missed hanging out with him and over the last few weeks I've been mentally hitting myself for not paying attention to my best friend.

"You'd totally know that. How long have you been stalking him again?" He jokes, pushing me slightly. I scowl and push him back.

"I've never stalked him. I just notice things." The face he makes tells me that he totally doesn't believe me. "Really!" I insist but his face stays the same regardless. "You're such a dick." I say and I can see his lip start to twitch. "And you're face is stupid." He breaks at that, letting out a full laugh.

"Like you have room to talk." He goads. I just laugh with him. I ignore the bang of a trash can somewhere to my right as we pass another alley. I tune out the angry whispering that follows. I disregard the uneasy feeling that settles in my chest and makes my heart beat with adrenaline. The need to run away from there as fast as I can raises and I refuse to listen to that too. Things are just starting to get better and I don't want to ruin that by becoming paranoid again.

Shuffling footsteps come from the next alley. I keep my vision locked straight ahead. Faint laughter from the next. Roxas becomes increasingly more tense beside me and if he's feeling it too then... My resolve to ignore my instincts crumbles. It's too late though. Three guys walk out of the alley immediately in front of us. Two of them are big guys. By big I mean freaking gigantic. Between the giants is a thin hooded figure. It doesn't take a genius to figure out who it is and I look at Roxas from the corner of my eye. Fear is replaced by regret at the knowledge that Roxas isn't going to get out of this unharmed.

There's more shuffling from behind us. Obviously we're surrounded. God damn how could I have been so stupid. Then everyone stops. Everyone is silent and unmoving. Emil slowly reaches up to uncover his face. His eyes never leave mine as the hood falls to his shoulders.

"Hello Roxas." He greets, glancing over at him for a millisecond before locking his eyes back on me again. "Hayner. It's nice to see you guys again. I'm sure you've missed me around campus." Roxas scoffs.

"Not really." He goads and I almost feel like slapping him upside the head. Emil laughs heartily but the look in his eyes is anything but friendly.

"Oh sweet Roxas, you really have no idea what kind of situation you're in do you?" He fakes a warmth in his voice but it comes out strained and overly sweet. He's annoyed. Roxas tries to conceal the confusion and worry showing on his face.

"What do you want?" Roxas snaps back, using anger as a defensive strategy. Emil's face twists into a grin.

"Nothing that has to do with you. All I want is standing right there beside you." Roxas turns to look at me, his eyes begging me to explain even though I know I won't have time for that. I avoid his gaze and instead take a step towards Emil.

"He has nothing to do with this Emil please just let him go."Usually I wouldn't beg like this but starting a fight right now would only end up with Roxas hurt or killed. Emil doesn't care about Roxas, he's just a pest to him. No better than a rat. There's no way he's getting out of here without some injuries, but maybe they'll at least let him live.

"Oh but he does have a small part in this, Puppy." It's my turn to be confused. "He might not know it, but let me just tell you that you're not the only one being protected. I'm actually surprised that pyro boyfriend of his hasn't told him yet."

"What are you saying about Axel?" Roxas steps up to stand beside me, intrigued by Emil's apparently vast knowledge about a secret Axel is keeping. Emil steps up to Roxas and pats his cheek softly.

"Oh honey, it's bound to be found out anyways so I might as well be the one to tell you. He's in a gang. A pretty powerful gang. Very vicious. I've seen them fight, they do so enjoy a good fight. I've seen your boyfriend slash throats and lick the blood from his lips with a smirk." He stops to just let his words sink in. "Even I'm not that bad. I know how to show mercy. That's why I'm not going to kill you, Roxas. You're pretty much innocent in this entire ordeal. Your choice in partner is the only crime."

Roxas just stares at the ground, lost in thought. Emil goes to cup his face but Roxas jerks back. His eyes are huge and his breath comes out in short bursts. His nostrils flare and his face starts turning pink. He looks like he's about to both lung at Emil and break down in tears. Lost and confused and cornered. Everything goes silent again. Emil steps forward and takes Roxas's face in his hands and forces Roxas to look him in the eye.

"I'm sure he loves you though. Monsters aren't completely emotionless. They can love, trust me." His voice is soft, calming. I never thought Emil could be calming but in that moment he is and it leaves my head spinning. Emil side glances at me as he says the next words. "We can love." My heart stops and my breath catches in his throat. He can't be insinuating that he loves me. That's ridiculous..

The fight seems to leave Roxas a moment later and his shoulder's droop. Emil releases his face and that falls towards the ground as well. I take a small step closer to him for support. His blue eyes look up into my brown ones and he gives me a small smile.

"I'm sorry Hay'." He reaches for my hand but he only skims it before he drops to the ground in a heap. I gasp and try to go to him but arms wrap around to restrain me. I struggle against the person but it's not hard to tell that he is way bigger than me.

"Calm down, Puppy." Emil snarls at me, taking a handful of my hair and pulling so that I have to stop thrashing it around trying to headbutt the man holding me. "He'll be fine." His face contorts into a psychotic grin and he lets my head go, turning around and walking towards the two guys still standing in the same place.

"I'd be more worried about yourself." The man holding me whispers anxiously. I try to face him but he just holds me tighter to his chest.

"Knock him out." Emil commands.


Something very cold and wet splashes my face and shocks me from the dark abyss my mind had fallen into. My eyes jerk open and I flinch away from the light.

"It's time to wake up, Puppy. I'm tired of waiting." Emil whines as he stands over me. When my eyes don't immediately open he growls and his fist connects with the side of my face, snapping my head to the right. "I said wake up!" I force my eyes open to placate him. My head slowly turns back to face him and a pleased smile is already in place on his lips. He steps away from me.

"Where the hell am I?" I hiss at him as I try to sit up. My hands and legs are both shackled so it's a bit difficult to move around but it's manageable. Emil giggles and turns to me again.

"Now, it'd be silly to tell you that. Not like you're going to escape or anything but just in case, you know." He says warmly like he's talking about a favorite pet's silly antics. I scowl at him but all it does is make him laugh again and he bops my nose fondly. I swat at his hand in retribution. That is obviously the wrong thing to do because in the blink of an eye the smile is gone from his face and the fond warmth is extinguished from his eyes.

"I'm not your pet." I spit at him. My mind yells at me to cut it out. I'm pushing all of his buttons and that's going to mean bad things for me but I don't care. I refuse to let him think he's won something. His eyes widen with rage and his fists clench at his sides.

"You disobedient little maggot!"He explodes, flying at me faster then I've ever seen him move. His fist is the first thing to contact me, smashing right into my nose with such force that my body goes tipping back and I end up on my back again. "I'll beat it out of you if I have to." As soon as he lands so that he's seated on my chest he brings his other fist down. And then the other.

I can feel my lip split open and my jaw dislocate and my nose break. I can hear ever crack and snap and thud. I taste the blood. I smell the blood. It fills my senses and makes my stomach protest. I gasp for breath, but my body isn't satisfied with what I'm able to take in. Emil seems to notice my breathing issue because he takes a break from pounding my face in order to wrap his hands around my neck and cut off my desperate attempts to breath entirely. My eyes open in a panicked frenzy, not actually being opening fully because of the swelling and my hands reach for him uselessly. The world is just starting to fuzz around the edges when he lets me go and stands up. I gulp in lungfuls of precious oxygen gratefully.

"You will learn, Puppy. You're mine now and as much as I enjoy your spirit, I'm going to get real tired of it real soon. But until then you may continue to fight. Enjoy the game while it lasts." Emil's tone is confusing and ultimately unreadable. He steps to one side of my body and kicks me harshly in my side, jolting my almost healed ribs and causing me to wish that I didn't need to breathe. My mostly swollen eyes shut fully and I gasp in little breaths. There's a familiar click of a camera and then footsteps distancing themselves from me. I hear Emil say something but I can't make it out and I can't seem to make myself care what he's saying. I welcome sleep when it's induced moments later.

In all honesty I'm not even sure how long I've been chained here. Emil shows up a lot, maybe once a day maybe more. Has it been a week? It feels longer than that, but then again I spend whatever time I'm not being 'trained' by Emil sleeping. Maybe it's been two weeks? I contemplate asking Emil but then again I don't really care enough to speak so politely with him.

The sound of metal scraping concrete resounds through the room and makes me cringe. That sound always means that Emil is here and that usually means a bad day for me. Last time he was here he told me that I'm to get up when he arrives, but I refuse. He's not my master and I'm not going to be taught to obey his every command.

"I see you're still as stubborn as ever. That's fine, I've planned a special training session for today." His voice is light and he sounds genuinely excited. My heart speeds up in fear but I still refuse to sit up. There's some clanking noises but I refuse to look at him. I'm probably better off not knowing.

"You really are a stupid little pup." He breathes from beside me.

"Doesn't matter, you're not going to win." I gather up the courage to reply. I hear him laugh as he squats next to my head.

"We'll see."

CLICK.

~Another Authors Note~

I really am sorry it was late, I was trying to be so good at keeping my schedule but like I said, family stuff so it was kind of unavoidable. I'm really glad people are still reading this, honestly. I started to feel like it was a lost cause because no one has reviewed or said anything about anything, so I hope you guys don't have too many issues with it. I have the next chapter pretty much written already, so I'm going to be revising that but it's going to definitely be uploaded on time. I think that's all I have to say for now, so thanks again for reading~