Phoenix laughs and opens the door to see Reaper standing there and the smile falls from her face. From the bedroom Gokudera hears Phoenix laughter stop and pulls a shirt over his head before leaving the room.
"Hey, babe, what happe-" Gokudera sees Reaper in the doorway and his teeth grind together. "What are you doing here?"
Reaper places a hand on Phoenixs shoulder and squeezes. In a rare moment of unpreparedness, Phoenix flinches in pain.
"Well aren't you going to invite me in Little Birdy?"
Gokudera stomps over and smacks Reapers hand away from Phoenix's shoulder, placing himself between Reaper and Phoenix.
"Don't you dare touch her and don't you dare fucking call her that again! Only I can give her pet names."
Gokudera glares at Reaper while Phoenix places her hand over her stinging shoulder.
"Hayato, it's okay."
"No. It's not okay! He thinks he can just touch you however he likes. Well not if I can help it."
Phoenix places her hand lightly on Gokuderas arm as he glares at Reaper.
"Hayato, look at me." Phoenix waits for Gokudera to listen before continuing. "I'm fine, it's fine. That's just how he is." She smiles softly at Hayato before turning to Reaper with a cold expression. "What do you want?"
Gokudera takes a deep breath and tries to calm down.
"Yeah, what do you want."
Reaper merely smiles and walks past them, patting Phoenix on the shoulder as he does so.
"Well I thought it was time for the next group torture." The man turns around. "And I wanted to ask you what you thought of the room."
"The room's pretty...decent for someone as evil as you are. Anyway, you're going to take me right?"
Gokudera stands in front of Phoenix protectively and she automatically rebukes this.
"What...No!"
Phoenix tries to get out from behind Gokudera but can't.
"Actually young Hayato, you're right. It is your turn for a little pain, and our Little Birdy gets to watch."
Reaper smiles at Phoenix and she stops fighting.
"No..."
"Then let's get this over with.
Phoenix finally gets out from behind Gokudera, a yell breaking free from her mouth.
"NO! Reaper you are going to take me! He's still hurt from your fight and I've been trained for this!"
Reaper merely smiles and motions for the guards.
"Just stay out of this Aydan. I've made my decision and I'm not going to let you that the heat for this. I'm a man you need to realize that and trust me."
"I do trust you! More then anyone! But I can't watch this! I can't watch you get tortured!" Phoenix struggles as the guards handcuff her. "I can take the torture and the pain but I can't take seeing you hurt! This is my mess and you shouldn't even be involved!" She turns to Reaper. "Please, Cesar, take me instead."
Reaper laughs and leaves the room. Gokuderas green eyes meet Phoenixs blue ones.
"Don't worry. I'll live. I already told you that.
Phoenix tries to say something but is pulled out of the room before she can and the guard who told Gokudera that Phoenix was dead approaches him with handcuffs.
"I hope you said goodbye to her, cause she probably wont make it out of this alive."
Gokudera spits at the guard.
"That's what you said yesterday and look at her. Healthy as ever."
"Yeah, we all know what you two did last night." The guard laughs as he tightens Gokuderas handcuffs so that they bite painfully into his skin. "But she will die in a completely different way this time. She'll physically be fine, but mentally...well she'll never be the same again."
Gokuderas mouth gapes open.
"H-How did you know we...? I thought their weren't any cameras!"
"It's kinda obvious what you two did boy."
The guard pulls Hayato out of the room to a fight scene between the guards and Phoenix. Aydans long red hair flies out behind her as she dispatches a man with a spinning kick before headbutting another. It almost looks like she would win when one of the men punches her in the chest and she falls to the ground, gasping for breath. Reaper steps over her.
"Stop it Phoenix, it wont stop anything."
As Gokudera sees his lover being pulled to her feet, her muscles tense for her next attack, he calls out.
"Stop fighting Aydan! Just accept it! I'll be fine, I promise!"
Reaper looks at Gokudera with glee.
"Oh now look, you two are going to have to share an elevator." He forces Phoenix into the elevator and then puts Hayato next to her with a grin. "There, now the love birds can say goodbye this time."
Gokudera looks at Phoenix and smiles sadly, he raises his manacled hands and brushes her bangs out of her eyes.
"Hey, look at me. It's gonna be fine." The sliver-haired teen leans over and kisses Phoenix. "We'll be fine and out of here before you know it."
"But it wont be fine. I know it and you know it." Aydan places her forehead against Hayatos. "I can't take seeing you hurt Hayato."
Reaper smiles as the elevator stops.
"Okay, how about some final words before we start."
Gokudera glances at Reaper before training his eyes on Phoenix and pecks her lips.
"A little pain can't do anything to me.
He smiles and see's that she's not buying it.
"Hayato, stop it. This is going to be more then a little pain. I've seen what Reaper has planned for you, remember? Please...just let me take your place. I was trained to deal with this stuff."
Gokudera shakes his head.
"No, I'll see this through to the end." He kisses her one last time. "I love you Aydan. I'll see you later."
Phoenix looks at him searchingly.
"Why are you so stubborn?" She kisses Gokudera and presses her forehead against his. "I love you Hayato, I always have...and I always will, no matter what happens."
Phoenix tries to kiss Gokudera again but the guards pull her away so she must content herself but keeping her gaze fixed on Hayato until he is out of sight. Gokudera frowns a bit but maintains a composed demeanor. He would not give Reaper the satisfaction of seeing how much the up coming torture scared him. Reapers men lead him into a room with a simple chair in the middle with metal shackles on the front legs and armrests. Reaper turns from a machine by the wall with a smile.
"So young Hayato, for your first physical torture I thought we would go with electric shock therapy." The guards chain Gokudera to the chair and Reaper points to the mirror set in the wall. "Out Little Birdy is chained to a chair behind that glass...I've left the speakers on so we can hear her every scream, every tear, that she lets out." Reaper goes back to the machine and presses a button, sending a great shock throughout Gokuderas body. The Italian hears the rattle of chains over the speakers and Phoenix cry out for him. "So Hayato? How did that feel?"
Gokudera cringes and smirks.
"Heh, that didn't even feel like a bee sting!"
"Really? Well what about this?" Reaper turns up the voltage and presses the button again. Once more Phoenix can be heard crying out as Gokudera's body stiffens from the shock. Reaper turns off the machine. "Of course...we could always try this."
He pulls out a knife and stabs Gokudera in the leg with it before returning to the machine and turning it on again. The electricity arches between the knife and his arm shackles and Gokudera yells out but bites down on his lip to stop himself.
"It that all you got?"
Gokudera asks as the deadly volts stop flowing. Reaper leans over him and twists the knife.
"Not even close." Reaper goes back to the machine, ignoring the profanity that Phoenix is spewing in both English and what Gokudera can only assume is Gaelic. "Hmm, you say you're strong. So lets try this." Reaper turns the voltage up again and locks the button into the 'on' position and steps away. "Well young Hayato? How are you feeling?"
Gokudera finally screams out in pain, so intensely his throat starts to hurt. Reaper lets his screams go on for about a minute before turning the machine off.
"M-Merda..."
Gokudera pants from the extreme pain. He can feel his wrists and ankles burning and he doesn't even want to think about the damage done to his leg.
"There we go. Say Phoenix, how did you like that?" Phoenix has switched to cussing Reaper out in Gaelic only. The rough language is spilling off her tongue so fast that through the haze of pain, Gokudera realizes that she must have been speaking it since she learned to talk. But despite the ferocity of her curses, tears can be clearly heard in Phoenixs voice. "I think she likes it. What's that Phoenix? Again? Well if you insist."
Reaper turns the machine back on and laughs as both Gokudera and Phoenix scream loudly. Gokudera is obviously reaching the end of his endurance as veins start to be clearly seen on his face, his body arching and bending as he tries to escape the arches of electricity that coarse through him. Phoenix finally goes back to English to scream out.
"REAPER STOP IT! YOU'RE KILLING HIM! PLEASE REAPER! STOP THIS!"
Reaper turns off the machine and looks at the mirror hiding Phoenix.
"Well Phoenix, I think I like the sounds of your new screams. They have so much more...pain, then your old ones." The older man pulls on rubber gloves and pulls the knife from Hayatos leg. The wound seems to have been cauterize by the heated up metal of the knife. "What would you do to stop this, Phoenix."
The room is filled with the sound of Phoenix's heavy breathing.
"Anything. I would do anything."
Gokudera tried to recover from the shocks and breaths heavily, slumping in his chair and covered in sweat. There is a tremor in his hands from the pain but despite this he musters enough strength to yell.
"NO! I wont..." He pants. "Don't listen to her! I can take it damn it!"
Reaper looks down at Gokudera and sticks the knife back into his wound.
"Quiet Hayato. I want to know specifics Phoenix. What are you willing to do to get your boyfriend out of here?"
There is silence for a second and then Phoenixs voice sounds out, colder then Gokudera has ever heard it.
"The prisoner you can't break...I'll break him."
A choked sob is heard as Reaper turns the machine back on while he thinks. Phoenixs and Gokuderas screams mingle in the room and Gokudera feels himself blackout a little but stays awake. Phoenix finally gives in, her screaming voice broken and filled with pain.
"PLEASE REAPER! I'LL BREAK HIM WITH PHYSICAL TORTURE! JUST PLEASE! I'M BEGGIN YOU!"
Reaper turns off the machine, a smile turning up the corners of his mouth. Phoenix can be heard panting.
"I-I'll break that man...with physical torture...but please...stop this..." She starts to cry. "Please."
Reaper turns to Hayato and pulls the knife out again.
"What do you think of this deal young Hayato?"
Gokudera uses the little bit of strength he has left to shake his head.
"N-No. Don't let her do it...I-I ca...can still t-take some more..."
Reaper turns on the machine for about a minute and then turns it off.
"And now? Because I am very tempted to take her deal. You see Phoenix is one of the best, she would be the best if she would just do physical torture more." He goes behind Gokudera and grabs his shoulders. "You should feel glad that she's willing to do it for you." The man smiles and walks to the glass. "Say Phoenix, I will take your deal on one condition."
"Anything. Just name it."
"You can only use knives when torturing him, and it has to last thirty minutes daily. As long as you do that, your boyfriend won't be tortured."
Silence, then.
"Hayato...I'm sorry...I-I can't watch this...Reaper, I agree to your terms. When do I start?"
Reaper grins and says.
"Tomorrow."
He leaves as a single doctor enters the room and the sounds of Phoenix leaving can be heard. Gokudera yells with what little energy he had left.
"NO! AYDAN, DONT DO THIS! GOD-FUCKING-DAMNIT!"
He screams and thrashes a bit more out of frustration until the doctor hits him lightly.
"Hold still boy, She wont forgive you for getting hurt after she just gave up everything for you." Now that Gokudera takes a good look at the man, at his silver hair and calm blue eyes, he realized that this man was not the normal mob doctor. The man takes a careful look at his burns and the stab wound on his leg. "You know I used to be her doctor. I was on her team, code name Blue Bird. I would see to her after every job, every OD, when she drank to much or got into another brawl. The only time I was worried about her thought was when she did physical torture. It was then that she was at her worst. Last year when she OD-ed, it was because she went to far and killed a man...she hasn't touched the practice since. For her to offer to do it again so that you wont be tortured...she must really love you boy. And to try to convince her otherwise would be useless, her mind is made up and she'll do what she wants." Blue Bird rubs a salve on the burns and wraps them tightly in bandages before setting to work on his leg. The mans steady hand show that he was trained and trained well. In no time Gokuderas leg is wrapped in clean white bandages. "There...that should stop the worst of the scaring." He stands and looks down at Gokudera. "Tell Phoenix that Blue Bird says hello...and I miss her, we all miss her. Be good to he boy, she's lost to much already."
Gokudera clenches his fists and grinds his teeth.
"Make me feel worse, why don't ya? I can't...I can't let her fucking ruin herself like this!"
Blue Bird turns as the guards enter.
"She loves you boy, she gave up everything she knew for you, she endangered her team for you. She only wants you safe. The thing about Aydan is that she's loyal to a fault, even when she gave up emotions she would fight for her men. And if she gives herself to someone, like she's given herself to you...she will do everything within her power to keep them safe." The guards push him out as they pull Gokudera to the elevator. "Just don't be to hard on her boy. Give her a chance to explain. Phoenix always has a reason for doing the things she does, even when the whole situation is insane."
He walks away as Gokudera is all but shoved into the elevator.
"But I don't want that! I want her happiness!"
The guards laugh as the doors shut.
"I can't wait to see her at work, I heard she was a pro!"
The other guard nods but doesn't say anything and the rest of the trip is spent in silence. Once the elevator stops the guards undo Gokuderas handcuffs and push him into the hall.
"I hope you know where to go boy."
