[downfall surrounding profanity]



He ached. Blood pooled under his head, and he was lying on the hard floor. It felt harder than the ground in the 'cabin'. Probably because they'd taken most of his clothes. He was left only with his hooded sweater and a pair of extremely dirty, bloody pants. He could hardly move, he hurt so much. His joints felt as if glued together, but he still managed to pull himself to his knees and search his way in the dark to a wall he could sit up against. The walls were almost as cold as the room was dark.

His breath echoed off the cold, cold walls.

His blood throbbed in his ears, his head spun at the slightest movement.

His hands trembled.

The door opened.

Light flooded the room, once again temporarily blinding Zechs, who was grabbed by the collar of his shirt and dragged through the hallways. He hadn't the energy to resist.

The hall was long and lined with doors. All of them looked the same, which might have been from his exhaustion. They might all have actually been identical. He didn't really care.

The endless corridor came to an abrupt end, and a door was thrown open. Zechs was shoved inside. Unlike his cave, this room was sweltering.

"Why, hello, there, my little prisoner." A familiar voice cooed.

"You again." Zechs mumbled.

"Yes, yes, me again." Footsteps sounded, and Zechs's head was jerked upward. "You see, pretty, we have no idea who you are, but we do know where you are from. You are our enemy. We intercepted your transmissions. And you have information that could be very useful to us." Zechs almost sighed in relief. The man didn't recognize him.

Not that he necessarily should have.

"I'll never tell you anything." He spat, and pushed the man away, which didn't accomplish much. He fell to the ground, and winced as his bruised body fell against the hot tiles.

"That's what you think." The man grinned.

~*~

Hours and hours later, Zechs fell to the ground yet again. This time, though, he was barely breathing. The man sheathed his knife, and stared down at his broken victim.

"He's not going to tell us anything."

The figure hiding in the shadows spoke.

"Perhaps. the girl will know."

"No. He knows more than she does. Much, much more. Besides, she's just a little girl. An ill little girl, at that. It wouldn't be right to chain her up and force secrets out of her." He sounded a tad too evil.

"Perhaps."

"Not perhaps. I do not want you to do anything without my consent, or you will be sure you will receive punishment. Severe punishment, Rakael." The man nudged the young man on the floor with his boot. "Put him with the girl. Be sure that they are fed. We do not want them to die, understand that. We need them, as they will need us." And he walked out the door, which had been opened only a few seconds earlier by an unknown force on the outside.

The man in the corner wrinkled his nose. "As you wish." He sneered at his master's vanishing back.

~*~

Noin jumped when the door opened. She scrambled backwards on the bed, moving as far away from the door as she could. Zechs was tossed in like a rag doll, and a tray was slid in after him. Then, the door closed with a loud, echoing thud, a key turned in its lock, and footsteps sounded away down the hall.

Noin stepped off the bed and crawled towards the figure on the ground. When she poked him, he didn't move, and fear blossomed in her chest. She grasped him by the armpits and pulled him further into the room, further into the light.

She pulled her hands back in terror. They were covered with blood, as was most of the boy. His chest and his back were covered in bleeding red slashes, as were the bottoms of his feet. Most of his ribs were broken, and one of his arms was laying at a rather awkward angle.

"Zechs.?" Noin's voice trembled. She prodded him carefully. "Zechs. Zechs!" she cried, picking him up and resting his head in her lap. His breaths were quick and shallow, and his nose leaked blood onto her pants.

He mumbled something.

"What?" Noin leaned closer, her ear hovering just above his mouth.

"He. he said." Zechs coughed. "He said my face was too beautiful to destroy." His hand grasped hers tightly, and his head lolled to the side.

"He was right." Noin breathed. "He was right.."