When Bunny opened her eyes, all she could see was a dark brick ground. Her mouth was extremely parched, her stomach empty from no food. She felt her arms suspended in the air by tight chains that hurt her. She was on her knees on the rough, brick ground. When she looked up, she saw bars in front of her eyes. She was in a cell.
The memories of what happened to her made her fearful for her life. She was too weak to even defend herself from Iblis, and now her friends were suffering for it all. She should've been stronger. She was the general of the Seraphim army - she should be stronger.
When she assessed her surroundings, she widened her eyes in horror. She saw man and a woman's body nailed to the wall - their hands, foreheads, chest, and their legs were literally nailed to the wall.. Their faces were midway screaming, but they were dead for sure. As she looked closer at their bodies, Bunny's heart cracked when she realized... the familiar platinum blonde hair, the emerald green eyes of the woman. The caramel locks of the man, the softness of his amber eyes... Her parents.
Bunny started to cry. She finally knew what happened to her parents, but it was so painful for her to accept the truth. Her parents were tortured here. She didn't know why or under what circumstances, but she knew that they were tortured her. Perhaps it was her fault.
Bunny panicked at everything that was happening, and quickly attempting to break out of her chains by using her magic. But as she tried to summon her magic, she felt an instantaneous and agonizing painful burst of electrical shocks that damaged her body and made her scream.
"Ah!" she screamed, and it stopped. She breathed uneasily, feeling so tired and dead. She then started to hum a song to herself, taking in deep and steady breaths. With everything that happened last night and finding out that her parents are truly dead because of her, she was afraid she would lose her mind. The soft humming of her own voice calmed her down, but when she listened intently, another voice hummed with her.
It was so reminiscent of her mother's own voice, that Bunny looked up to her dead mother's face. It was immobile, like it should be, yet the humming did not stop. Instead of freaking her out, it calmed her down. It reminded her of the good days...
"Uh-uh, Little Rabbit." Iblis' voice penetrated her ears, and she looked up to him with big fearful eyes. He was in her cell with a dark grin. Her mother's humming voice stopped. "No magic use here." he walked around her, gently touching her skin and stroking her hair. Bunny hated the feeling of his calloused and scabby hands.
"Don't touch me," she said, but was quickly slapped in the face.
"You don't tell me what to do!" he snapped, gripping her roughly.
Bunny whimpered, gasping for air uneasily.
"I make the rules here, dear," he pushed her hair away from her face. "You are so much like your mother... It was a shame she had to die." his cold, clammy breath made her cringe. "I liked your mother. She was fiery, had a beautiful spirit. Ithuriel was stubborn. She never told us of your location, and she was resistant to my mind tricks. Your father, Daniel, was also like your mother, but more calm. It's a shame that you were born though." he whispered to her as he held her face in his bony hands. "If you had stayed in your comatose state, your parents might've stayed alive."
"That's not true!" she spat at him.
"Yes it is." his eyes grew darker. "Had you not been born, perhaps none of this would've happened..."
A sudden chorus of screaming voices broke Bunny's ears, and she realized that it was the sound of her friend's being tortured. She widened her eyes and struggled to get out of the chains. "Guys!" she screamed at the electric shocks bombarded inside her body. "Stop hurting them!" she screamed, feeling as though dying would be a better option. Tears ran down her face as the torture of her friends didn't stop.
"Hand over your brother!" he roared. "NOW!"
"Never!" she yelled back, but was sucker punched in the eye by Iblis.
"Impudent girl. You have already caused the death of more than five people." he stated.
"What?" Bunny looked up, and Iblis grinned maniacally.
Iblis stepped aside, and to her horror, she saw the bodies of Darien, Malachite, Nephlite, and Zoycite, lying lifelessly on the ground.
"No!" she yelled, strangling against the chains. "Darien!" she screamed. Bunny didn't want to believe it, but when she tried to connect with Darien, there was nothing. She felt nothing from him. "Darien!" she screamed, and bashed against the chains. "You monster!"
Iblis stabbed her with a dagger under his shirt, causing her to scream once more in pain. "Little Rabbit, I did not cause their deaths. You were the one who refused to hand over your brother. It is your fault that they are dead."
The words he uttered made Bunny cry even more because it was true. She caused their deaths. Darien was dead because of her. Just when they had finally gotten together, Darien... Bunny choked, feeling as thought dying would be a fortunate fate for her. She caused so many deaths. She couldn't live with herself.
"It's not true..." she whispered screamed as the tears continued to fall. She didn't want to believe that they were dead. And yet, their bodies laid right in front of her. In addition, she could not even connect to her soul mate. It's like their bond was severed. Was this a trick of Iblis?
"You have no one to blame but yourself." he twisted the knife forcefully in her gut. "And your friends are going to be next if you don't submit to my will."
"I'd rather be tortured in hell!" she grit through the pain.
"A fiery resistance, just like your mother," he took the blade out, and licked the blood on the blade. "But don't worry, that'll soon disappear. And don't worry about being tortured in hell. I've brought hell here."
Bunny watched him as he made a tray appear. It was a tray of torture devices, and her heart stopped. She took a deep breath, though, and started to hum. It was the only thing she could do now against the torture filled screams of her friends.
And the worst part of it all? No one was coming to save her.
~Darien and the Guys~
Darien woke up with terrible head pain. He grabbed his head and groaned. Memories of last night hit him, and he jolted up from the couch he was on. He realized he was in Amy's house in the main living room, and a breathed a sigh of relief.
"Dammit," he moaned as the head pain worsened. He looked up, and saw that Jadeite, Malachite, Nephlite, and Zoycite were still out, laying on the couch. "Hey, guys," he raised his voice, yet they did not stir. "Wake up!" he yelled, sending four bolts of magic in their direction.
The four of them jolted awake at the sudden impact of his magic.
"Darien, you bastard!" Jadeite groaned, laying back down.
"What the hell was that for?" Malachite ran a hand through his face.
All the guys looked badly beaten up, with bruises on their faces. Their clothes were torn apart, their hair sizzled at the ends.
"Darien!" Luna's voice broke through his ear, and he looked up to see her and Artemis running towards them. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, we're fine. How did you find us last night?"
"Sammy was with us last night when we felt you guys in trouble." Luna explained. "But we couldn't leave him alone for we were afraid the djinn would get him. We are extremely sorry that we couldn't be there last night to help you. But we were protecting Sammy-"
"It's fine, Luna." Zoycite said, sitting up uneasily.
"We found you guys when the djinn were gone, and took you back here. We patched you up and everything," Artemis sat down. "But... we couldn't... the girls..."
Darien then widened his eyes at the realization he lost Bunny. He wasn't able to protect her like he promised. He lost her once more. He did his best to protect her last night, and yet it all went to waste. She was gone now, and he had no way of finding her. He growled, burying his face in his hands.
"Darien, it'll be fine," Malachite walked over and attempted to offer comfort.
"I'm sorry, Darien," Luna wiped away her tears.
"We will get them back, Darien." Artemis put a comforting arm around Luna.
"How?" Darien looked up with red rimmed eyes. "Iblis has them, and he could be anywhere in the world. What he could be doing to them..." he choked at that thought. Quickly he attempted to connect to Bunny. And as hard as he tried to connect with her, he felt nothing. None of her emotions, nothing she was feeling. He couldn't connect to her at all, and that made him worried and anxious.
"We know they can't be on earth, that's for sure." Artemis murmured. "I cannot feel their presence at all any where on this earth. It's like their existence has completely vanished. Even when I try to track them, I cannot find anything."
"That means they must be in their own dimension," Nephlite murmured.
"But how will we get there? Where would even look if we were to go there?" Jadeite stood up.
"Darien," Sammy's voice broke through, and everyone looked to see that he was standing at the doorway. "Where's Bunny and the girls?" he looked as though he was crying.
"Sammy..." Darien stood up, and walked over to him. How would they break the news to Sammy? Would they tell him the truth or would they lie to him?
"I felt that something bad happened to them... I'm worried about them. I'm worried about Bunny." he wiped away his tears. He looked like a lost puppy at the moment. "I had a bad dream about them last night."
Darien gently held Sammy's shoulders and walked him over to the couch.
"What happened in your dream?" Darien asked gently.
"Bunny was kidnapped by this psycho killer. The girls tried to help, but they were taken away as well. And then she was..." he paused.
"What happened, Sammy?" Luna gently touched Sammy's shoulder.
"She was being tortured."
Darien's heart stopped at those words.
"She was being tortured... the killer was asking for something, but she wouldn't give in." Sammy wiped away the tears. "But it was just a dream..." he murmured.
The guys looked at one another uneasily. That was no dream. That was real.
"Sammy," Artemis started. "Bunny and the girls went out for a shopping day. They'll be back. Don't worry about them."
"Come on, Sammy, let's go make some breakfast, alright?" Luna smiled as both of them walked towards the kitchen.
When the doors closed, Darien paled and started to breath rapidly.
"Darien, it will be fine." Nephlite murmured.
"I know..." Darien murmured.
"Things have just become more serious now." Malachite murmured.
"We need to make a plan of action to find the girls. We also have to protect Sammy from Iblis getting his hands on him." Zoycite said. "We musn't do anything rash - that would result badly."
"What are we supposed to do, then?"
"We need to call them all here." Darien stated, and everyone looked at him.
"Are you being serious?" Artemis questioned with a raised eyebrow.
"Last night, we were badly out numbered, and they were a lot stronger than we thought they would be. We must have more allies to help us. Maybe one of them knows how we can find the girls." he explained, rubbing his hands uneasily. Right now, the thing he wanted to hear the most was Bunny's calming hum.
"I will look in the library." Zoycite stood up. "I will see if I can find any rituals that could help us find the girls." he quickly left, as if wanting to be alone in the library.
"I will summon the angels here. Hopefully, this house will be big enough to host a large amount." Darien stood up.
"I will help you out with that," Malachite put a reassuring arm around Darien.
"I think..." Jadeite murmured. "I will go and train some more. Tell me when the angels have assembled."
"I will go with him," Nephlite followed Jadeite.
Artemis weaved a tired hand through his hair. So much had happened in the last twenty-four hours. He didn't know how they were going to find the girls, and that's what scared him the most. Iblis was a mad man, and he would do anything just to get his way. Including killing his friends.
"What is going on here?" Michael's voice perked his ears up, and he looked to see both archangels standing in the room with a couple of feathers lying on the ground. They looked anxious, and they were sweating.
"Glad you could finally join us," Artemis said bitterly.
"What happened? Where is Seraphiel?" Gabriel questioned as his honey gold eyes glistened.
"She was taken away." Artemis whispered. "Last night, the djinn attacked us all. We were outnumbered, and we underestimated the dark magic of the djinn. They took Bunny and the other girls away. We have no idea where they are..."
"Are you serious?" Michael growled. "You do realize that with Bunny, he could extract Abbadon's magic and use it to end the world?"
"What was I supposed to do? I was too busy protecting him from being taken by djinn! If you didn't want this to happen, you should've come here and ended the squabble."
"We were dealing with another djinn attack." Gabriel explained. "Are Sumi and Giovanni gone?"
"Unfortunately," Artemis lowered his eyes.
Both archangels sighed. "Then they must've been taken away and tortured for information, just like the other girls' parents."
"Dammit, we are losing nearly ten angels each day. Our numbers are dwindling," Michael murmured.
"That's why we are gathering all the angels here." Darien walked in on the conversation.
"Then you are asking for a bloodbath." Michael said simply. "Gathering them here, the djinn would surround the area and attack. No area on Earth will be safe. The djinn will track down every single angel and kill them until they finally find Abbadon."
"But he is untraceable." Malachite interrupted.
"Seraphiel, although she has trained, is still weak. Iblis will violate her mind in every manner possible until he can get a connection to Abbadon."
"Bunny is strong," Darien defended his soul mate. "She will resist his mind tricks."
"Still, we must find her and the girls. Especially Sandalphon. Sandalphon is the soul mate of Abbadon, and probably the only person who can keep him calm. Without her at his side, I fear the consequences." Gabriel mumbled.
"We're searching the library for clues and calling in every angel to see if they know anything." Darien explained.
"This is not safe for us. This will end badly." Michael murmured.
"Perhaps I can be of assistance," a male voice interrupted their conversation, and they looked to see a man leaning on the wall in the corner of the living room. They didn't have to look at him to know who it was.
"What do you want?" Michael narrowed his eyes.
"I just want to be of assistance. Just because I was promoted to Prince of Hell doesn't mean I'm a bad person," Lucifer walked out of the shadows, with his hands in his jean pockets.
"But you, too, want Abbadon." Gabriel said cautiously.
"Well," he made a jar of peanut butter appear, and started to eat it with a spoon. "Not at the moment. At the moment, I want to find the girls. And I can help you all with your dilemma."
"How?" Darien questioned.
Lucifer's eyes just lightened up happily.
~One Week~
~Hotaru~
Hotaru gasped heavily, taking in huge breaths as the pain started to cloud her judgement. She couldn't use her magic to help her, unless she wanted more pain.
She was bleeding all over her body, and bruises marred her pale complexion. Burns from being branded made her want to die, but she knew she couldn't die. Iblis would keep her alive as long as he wanted, and nothing would change that.
Weakly, she raised her black bruised neck. How long had time passed? A few hours? A few days? A couple of days? A couple of years? There was no cycle of the sun to tell her due to the lack of windows. She couldn't feel Sammy's presence at all. She never could. That's what she had to give up. Everyone knew that she, Sandalphon, was the soul mate of Abbadon. Even the djinn knew.
That's why she had to give it up. Soul mates could track one another, and if a djinn got a hand on her, the world would've been over thousands of years ago. It was given to Seraphiel, but the djinn didn't know of this. Except a thousand years later, when they figured that torturing her did no good. In some cosmological way, they found out that Seraphiel could track Abbadon. And they began their hunt for her.
Now that they captured her, Hotaru could not bear it. Just hearing Seraphiel's screams of pain and sobs of agony was torturous. Seraphiel, the angel of happiness, purity, and song, being tortured and tortured twice a day. And yet, she never gave in. Hotaru did not want to even imagine what she looked like.
Hotaru gasped for a breath of cold hair, moving her shoulders uneasily as the shackles made it hard for her to be comfortable. The silence of the cells was unnerving as well. If they were to communicate with one another, they were branded. If they used magic, they were choked until they thought they would die. If they did anything Iblis didn't like, there were a multitude of tortures: icy cold water being thrown on you for a long time, feeling as though you're drowning; dark, poisonous magic being injected in your body; your limbs cut off. Hotaru already had some toes and very few fingers cut off.
And just then... the beautiful hum of Bunny. Bunny's soft humming filled the darkest cell with life and energy. Although it was weak and barely audible, all the angels heard her hum, and it calmed them down. She sobbed in between humming, but it was beautiful nonetheless.
Hotaru let some tears fall. The melody she was humming had a sad and lonely tune to it.
She moved her hands around, and thought of Sammy. Her full of life, always smiling, puppy dog soul mate. He always made her happy in her darkest situations. His smiles were contagious. She didn't know how he could be the angel of destruction.
Hotaru lowered her eyes, staring at the bricks for the nth time that week. She hated how she could do nothing. She was so restricted, and couldn't help out any of her friends. It made her angry.
But that caused her magic to spark, and the chains unleashed a high voltage of dark electricity into her body. She bit down her lip, not wanting to let Bunny or any of the other girls hear her scream in pain.
She would've fallen to the ground, had it not been her arms were suspended in the air. Hotaru just closed her eyes, and let the liveliness of Bunny's hum fill the emptiness she was feeling.
~Rei~
Rei loved Bunny as though she were her own sister. So it killed her every time she hear Bunny's screams and her sobbing. She heard Iblis whispering lies into her ear, slowly breaking Bunny down. And yet, Bunny remained as strong as ever.
Rei admired that about Bunny. Bunny was strong, and always saw the good in others. She was pure hearted, and was so at ease with other people. Unlike Rei. Who was serious, stoic, and unable to befriend people as easy as she liked to.
She adjusted herself uncomfortable. The bruises, burns, and lashes on her body did nothing to easy her pain. She inhaled a deep breath, and even that hurt. Her lungs were stabbed slightly, so she was having blood poured into her lungs. Her magic helped to heal that patch up - it was too slow to be detected by the chains.
The djinn were rough them. One of her fingers was cut off - but she could fix that up if she ever got out of this. Water occasionally was dumped over her, and because she was accustomed to fire, the water made it feel like she was drowning and would never escape.
The worst part of this whole torture is that the djinn would fix all of them up. Make them like new. The bones they broke would be sewn together. Their bruises would fade into their skin. Their limbs being stitched back up. Only to torture and mar their bodies with more beatings. It was madness. Listening to the screams of all the girls. Hearing the djinn whispering lies to her. She didn't believe those lies, though.
But the thing that helped Rei from going mad from all the madness was Bunny's low hum. It calmed her down, brought her into reality.
As Bunny hummed, Rei thought of Jadeite. She wondered if he was doing well. Was he going insane like she was about to? Without her soul mate, Rei felt so uneasy and so vulnerable - though she would never admit that. She wanted to see Jadeite, make sure he was okay.
But she was stuck in the cell, being tortured if she stepped out of line. She could do nothing. She hoped and prayed that they were hatching an escape plan. She hoped and prayed they were going to save the girls. She hoped and prayed that someone would actually come to save her.
She ached to see some life. Her eyes were now used to the darkness, and she hated it. She hated the darkness. It was ever so consuming, ever so evil. Like the time her parents had disappeared into the darkness. They never returned. And Rei was left alone. No one came back for her. She attempted to force back her tears, but they fell through.
She sobbed, feeling sad for Bunny, who was being brutally tortured, and still endured it. She wanted to see Jadeite, she wanted him to hold her in his warm arms. Without him at all, she felt empty. She wanted this all to be over. As more tears fell, she felt a relief from her body. She couldn't wipe away the water, though, and just inhaled and exhaled the cold air. She prayed that everything would be alright.
She sifted into a deep sleep, not realizing that there was a figure above her.
~Michelle~
Michelle gasped, feeling as though the deep stab in her side would only get worse and worse if not treated. The good thing was is that the djinn would treat it for her. The bad news was that they would only do more collateral damage after it was treated.
Michelle let her wavy turquoise locks fall past her face. She realized she was sweating - perhaps she was having a fever. Inside she felt cold, yet on the outside her body sweat. She hated to sweat.
Michelle moved her hands around to prevent them from becoming numb. She laughed bitterly to herself - she never expected this to happen to her. She thought she was strong enough to face off against Iblis. And yet, she was proved wrong. That's what made her laugh.
Her soul mate was in the cell right next to her, yet she never felt more far away from Amara up til now. It was maddening - having someone so close to you, and yet no connection at all to them. Michelle did not like it. She wanted Amara to pull her in her arms. She wanted her to tell everything would be alright. But even a squeak would cause more pain for Amara.
Instead, she focused on the soft hum of Bunny. If Michelle could, she would've brought out her violin and start playing along to the tune. But her arms were suspended in the air, and she was in too much pain to even consider playing.
Michelle adored Bunny. She was energetic, lively, and possessed a free spirit. She was also stubborn, as demonstrated by how many times she was tortured. Michelle couldn't tell how many times she was tortured, but she knew it was too much. As horrible and agonized as she sounded every time, she stayed strong, and continued her humming.
No matter how many time Iblis violated her mind, attempting to find Sammy, she was surprisingly resistant. Her scream was shrill and horrible. Michelle wished she could plug her ears. Bunny seemed like the only girl that was being tortured here. It was nerve wracking - so close to helping someone, so close to save them, yet so far away. Michelle wished she could do something to help.
Iblis whispered horrible things to Bunny, wanting to psychologically damage her. Iblis was amazing at influencing someone and breaking them. Perhaps what he was doing was making her hear things and see things she never wanted to hear. He wanted to break her down until she would not have the resistance, and then he would either use her to find Sammy, or channel Sammy's magic through her body. Which would soon kill her.
She then lowered her head at the sudden tireness she was feeling. She prayed to God that would never happen.. that they would be saved. She gasped, feeling her crushed neck slowly building itself back up. She smiled at Bunny's beautiful hum, feeling at peace in a world of insanity.
