Cally/Nevermore's notes: ..Well, this took a bit longer than I intended. *cough* Er, sorry for the wait, people.. Summer school started (bleah), got sick a couple of days, and writers block attacked after Espio escaped from the closet. :P ..Not to worry, though! A couple other muses dragged him back in. ^__^ Special thanks goes out to Nokiasama2003 and Alba Aulbath. Alba helped with many scenes. :D Saankyuu!
Legal Notes: Don't own any of them. Wish I did. Meh.
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Captive: Part Four
I'm frightened by what I see
But, somehow, I know that there's much more to come
Immobilized by my fear
And soon to be blinded by tears
I can stop the pain, if I will it all away..
-- Evanescence, "Whisper"
Chains rattled, as the chained youth continued in an attempt to free himself from the bindings. It had been three days, more or less, since he was taken so abruptly from his home; he wasn't quite sure how long had passed, exactly, but it was an estimation based on sleep. He ignored, to the best of his ability, the blood around his anus and thighs; he had convinced himself that it was torture, and only torture. This inward conviction was all that kept him from going mad with fear, he believed.
With a sigh, and the understanding that the way the chains were wrapped around his wrists and ankles were too professionally done to obtain freedom on his own, he assessed his situation for what felt to be the thousandth time. There was no danger of suffocation, at the least; his feet were flat upon the ground. Movement was all that was restricted. His tail, which he foolishly tried to use to prevent his captors from abusing his rear, had been removed twice; his tail, as it did with all of his kind, would regrow again within a day. For a reason he couldn't fanthom, his sneakers and gloves had been removed before he had even regained consciousness on that first night; probably to highten the feeling of nudity, of vulnurability.
A 'click' echoed throughout the room. The eyes of the prisoner widened involountarily. Fear was tangible, and the emotion flooded the room from the single invidual. Unsurprisingly, yet with a new torrent of fear and unease, Kragok walked in to the room. A smile that could only have been described as 'lewed' crossed the Legionairre's face. A second Legionairre, this one unfamilliar, followed the first; the fact that this new person was not wearing the usual robe indicated a high level of power.
A raised eyebrow by the second Legionairre was sent his way once he had enough control over his emotions to glare at them. "The chameleon? He's your whore?" If either Legionairre noticed the shudder that passed through their prisoners' body, neither gave reaction to it.
Kragok only shrugged slightly in reply. "He was an easy target, grandfather. Not to mention the body." ..Grandfather? Hadn't Knuckles once mentioned him? Moritori Rex?
A strange stare, undeciferable through the visor around his eyes, was what Kragok recieved from his grandfather. The youth wasn't sure weather to breath in relief or not; it almost seemed as if Moritori did not share his relatives' view. Perhaps he wouldn't be raped again. After a moment of silence, Moritori walked the few paces to the glaring chameleon, lifting the youth's head with a single finger under the chin. "I've heard that you still have some spirit in you. You refuse to be broken."
That much had been true; he tried to keep his screaming to a minimum, did not want to give his captors victory so easily. At the angry glare on the chameleon's face, Moritori grinned. A maniacal, crazed grin. "Let's remedy that." The older Legionairre held up, to be clearly viewed by his captive, a long, thick, metal rod. Atleast two feet long, at least three inches in diameter. Both Legionairre's grinned wildly. Fear clutched at the chameleon's heart.
Moritori held the rod, walking beyond the youths' sight. Within seconds, terrible pain lanced through his body. A scream of pain and shock threatened to escape from the chameleon, yet he was somehow able to repress it. Eyes widened to their full, however, and he breathed nearly to the point of hyperventalation. The rod was drivin deeper, Moritori growled from behind him, yet the youth was able to control himself. He did not scream for them, with a silent mantra that this was simply torture, that he could handle pain.
After some time, he was not sure how long, Moritori was again in his line of vision. The rod not been removed, but had, instead, been drivin deeper than anything had been before that point on time. It pained the body worse than anything, and he desperately wanted it out. He continued his control over himself, however, and did not voice it.
Moritori lifted his captives' head by the horn. Pained amber-yellow eyes met the crimson glare of optics. After a few seconds, the Legionairre released the youths' face and, without removing the instrument of torture, turned and began to walk away.
"Grandfather?" Kragok, surprisingly, appeared confused by his grandfather's actions.
"We'll see how stubborn he'll be in a few hours. Leave him like this. You'll understand later."
Despite the younger Legionairre's confusion, Kragok shrugged lightly and followed his grandfather.
When Kragok and Moritori Rex returned nearly four hours later, their prisoner was crying, pleading, begging for the rod to be removed, for his body to be allowed the simple act of releasing the contents of his bladder.
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Surprisingly, it was Vector who was first to react to the new bout of information. Storming towards the smug Legionairre much like Mighty had done several minutes before, the crocodilian teen landed a single punch to the robed face. "Why the fuck should we believe ya?! Yer probably lying!" Despite the now growing bruise over the Legionairre's face, Vector's entire body was tensed in restraint; he obviously felt the Legionairre deserved more. They all did, really.
If the Legionairre noticed the dangerous tone or the multiple glares, he did not reveal it. On the contrary, he only became more smug. "Believe what you want, the truth stands. Besides.." A dark smile was sent towards the wailing chameleon. "It takes two to tango."
The wailing stopped with a shuddering gasp, as the eyes of the chameleon teen shifted to stare at each of his friends with an expression of fear. "No! I didn't want it, I didn't want it! You have to believe me!" The shocked expressions he recieved for his defence was misinterpreted as something else entirely. "I didn't like it.." He collapsed into new sobs against Julie-Su, appearing to have found comfort in the younger females' embrace.
A new rumble heralded a second explosion; the situation was interrupted. The Chaotix, save Espio, shared worried and confused glances for a precious second before the rooms' window caught Knuckles' eyes. Smoke billowed in the distance. "Shit, the prison!"
The Chaotix stayed where they were. None were eager to leave their ailing brother now, not when it seemed his darkest hour had returned to haunt him. After a few seconds, Knuckles gave out orders. "Mighty, Julie, stay with Esp. Vec, with me."
The Guardian, running out of the room with Vector in tow, spared no glance back.
Silence, electrified with emotion, reigned for several minutes. Even Espio had gone silent, crying with silent tears. "I didn't want to do it.." The eyes of Mighty, Julie-Su, and even the two conscious Legionairres all turned to stare at the victimized youth. "I didn't want to.. I was such an idiot." A sob could not be restrained. "She said she'd kill me if I just did that for her.. I wanted to die so badly, I believed her.. I really am a whore!" He began to wail anew.
Mighty and Julie-Su exchanged horrified stares. Neither knew how to react.
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"Goddamnit, they busted all the Legionairres out!" Vector growled as soon as he had seen Mighty and Julie-Su in the hospital lobby nearly half an hour later. "Fucking bitch, Kragok got away!"
"They won't stop hunting him." Mighty spoke so softly, it nearly seemed out of place for the situation. "The Dark Legion won't stop 'til Espio is either dead or recaptured." Eyes widened as he spoke the words; it almost seemed as if the armadillo was only now realizing it, himself.
A few seconds of disturbing silence passed within the group of teens. The hospital staff buzzed around them, trying to herd patients back in to their hospital room after they ran in confusion. If any of the staff or patients noticed the Guardian and the Chaotix there, none did anything to make it known.
"But why did they try to kill him?" Came the query from Julie-Su, a frown on her features. "If all they wanted was to make him suffer --"
"They want us all to suffer, Julie." Knuckles interrupted the pink echidnas' train of thought. "I guess that they figured killing Esp would effect us all badly. I mean, how would we have reacted?" They all knew the answer to that; anger, grief, sadness and guilt would have taken them all down before the Dark Legion had to do anything else.
"Guardian!" An unfamilliar voice penetrated their thoughts. They all turned to stare as a nurse ran up to them. "Guardian, there's something wrong with your friend!"
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It was violation, plain and simple, that pained him to the very core. Disgust, completely tainted, yet not only in flesh. His very soul, he felt, had been violated in the hours and days -- could it possibly have been weeks? Years? -- that he had been held captive. Time was meaningless here; he hadn't seen the sun since before his kidnapping. He wanted to die.
A warm toungue carressed his lower stomach. ..No, carressed was not the word. That word was too gentle for the mockery of love and kindness that his thurough rape was. Tortured. Yes, tortured was a better word. A cry could not be repressed in reaction; despite futility, he squirmed, tugging at the chains that held his arms above his head and feet to the ground. After all this time, he continued to try and free himself.
Fingers, metallic and flesh alike, were in all the wrong places on his body. Sobbing echoed throughout the ruins. He heard begging; was it his own? Yes, it was. He begged for his violator to stop, to leave him alone, to kill him. Metallic claws curled around what it should not have been anywhere near, clutching none too gently, and he cried at each squeeze.
Blood, sweat, salivia; it created an aura of pain, disgust and loneliness. His friends, true to the words of his kidnappers, had not arrived to save him. One of his captors, before the others could stop him, had revealed that they could not find him; no blame was upon his friends, anyway.
He wanted to flake the vile liquids like the layers of skin his people sometimes shed; yet, he knew that, even had he been able to, it would be renewed through further acts of torture.
Suddenly, it did not matter; He was no longer there. Darkness engulfed his senses, blessed unconsciousness. He recalled nothing of the rest of that day.
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"Stay away from me!" The cry could be heard clear down the hallway to Espio's hospital room. Hearing this, the rest of the Chaotix increased their speed to the room; they weren't told exactly what had happened in the twenty minutes their friend was left with hospital staff, only told that something had gone wrong.
They ran in to chaos. Nurses and a couple of doctors formed a wide semi-circle several feet away from the chameleon youth, too afraid to get close. Espio held a hypodermic needle as if in defense, eyes panicked. For all appearances, the boy appeared to have finally gone insane.
"Shit, Esp!" Mighty was first to be able to form coherent words, running to the front of the semi-circle. In response, his friend turned to stare at him with a small yelp of fear.
"What happened here?!" Knuckles demanded of a doctor.
The doctor, flustured, only shrugged. "We just came in here to bring him to another room. He went nuts after your friends left."
Knuckles frowned at this answer, taking a precious second to fully digest the situation. Mighty, taking the same second to try to calm his friend, stood at the edge of the semi-circle. "Esp, please put the needle down." Each word was spoken slowely, emphasizing every word to the fullest.
"No! They'll hurt me, they'll punish me! There's too many!" Hysteria had obviously overtaken the chameleon youth, as his eyes darted from side to side, even as he backed himself against the wall.
Vector, with a rare moment of insight, whispered to Knuckles. "I think we gotta get the hospital peeps out of here. They're not helpin' at all."
The Guardian, surprised for a brief fraction of a second, understood what the crocodile ment. He began to usher the doctors and nurses out of the room as silently as possible. Several doctors and nurses protested, of course; yet, they could not overrule the Guardian's decision to have them leave. It had taken only a few minutes, and it was more than clear that, as the room slowly emptied, Espio began to calm down; his breathing slowed to a more normal pace, if still slightly quick, and the hand holding the hypodermic needle began to lower down. Within several minutes, the Chaotix were alone with their ailing friend.
An almost disturbing silence reigned for several long seconds. None of those present with a stable mind knew what to say. During the silence, Mighty began to maneuvere closer to Espio, Knuckles breaking the silence with a query. "Espio, what happened?" The tone was gentle, soft, as if speaking to a traumatized child.
If the pained chameleon noticed either the tone or the armadillos' actions, he gave no sign of it. Even as the aforementioned armadillo slowely removed the hypodermic needle from his grasp, Espio stayed within silence, staring at nothing and everything. The Chaotix shared several emotions before it seemed that sanity finally returned to their friend. "There were too many doctors and nurses.. I panicked.." It almost sounded as if the youth was attempting to hide something from his concerned friend, something deeper and darker than all that had happened thus far. That is, if such a thing were possible.
"Hey, don't worry about it." Came a soothing tone from the only female present. "And don't appologize. None of this was your fault at all." At this remark, the Chaotix gave her a strange, if confused stare. She wisely ignored them.
Her assurances, however, couldn't have had a greater impact. Slumping against the wall and down towards the floor, sudden silent tears turned into just as sudden soft sobs that shattered the hearts of the surrounding teens. Julie-Su kneeled on the floor next to the chameleon, being the only one of the group their pained friend allowed any physical contact with, embracing the older teen in a soft hug. Mighty, as well, stayed close, but did not offer any physical support; fear, based on past reactions. Knuckles and Vector continued to stand where they were, unsure in the situation.
However, they were all offering support and consolation in their own way. For the moment, that was enough.
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Three days had passed since Espio had been kidnapped. Not 'missing'; kidnapped. The state of his home, left in near ruin, signalled as much. Panic had all but engulfed his friends on the first day. They had searched the entire island, wherever they could, yet heeded no results.
They had called the main Freedom Fighters within Knothole out of desperation. Knuckles had placed the call in himself. By word of Princess Sally Acorn, she had assured him that they would search for the chameleon teen. Knuckles was not aware, however, that the princess had placed calls to several other Freedom Fighter groups about the situation.
That was when Prince Charmy Bee of the Golden Hive Colony had called them; fearful, panicked, and angry that he hadn't been called. He had only found out about the situation by the princess. A short argument between prince and guardian had eventually worn out into a heartfelt conversation for them both; worry and fear ruled over their emotions.
Time, after that, seemed to slow to an agonizing crawl. After seven days of no word where Espio had been taken, the Chaotix had feared that he may have been dead.
"He's not dead." Came the rather sudden resolve from Mighty. "He can't be dead. Someone is keeping him from us, but he is not dead."
Vector and Knuckles stared at the armadillo with somewhat surprised expressions. Vector was not too surprised by Mighty's resolve and optimism; it wasn't as if they hoped their friend was dead, after all. Knuckles, being who he was, had been forced to consider the possibility, yet never voiced it.
"I aint arguing with you, Might-man.." Vector frowned along with the armadillo, a rarity to see on the crocodilian face. "Wish we knew where he is, though."
"That's just the thing!" Mighty suddenly yelled. "We've never had to deal with kidnapping before!" He paused, as the other two Chaotix stared at him. "..Well, okay, we have, but we knew who we were fighting! We knew where to go!" He stopped then, releasing a small sigh. "I'm just worried."
"We all are." Knuckles face clearly expressed the worry and fear he shared with his friends. "For all we know, he could be anywhere, anything could be happening."
"He'll come back." The unspoken factor in the echidnas' tone was immediently rejected by the armadillo. Mighty almost appeared to be angry at the insinuation. "Esp will be back, everything will be normal again, and we'll kick the ass of whoever took him from us." Vector nodded, agreeing with his friends' words.
Knuckles sighed, frowning. He neither agreed or disagreed.
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Mighty frowned at the memory. It had been another week after that conversation that they recieved the printed ransom note; out of all the places in the world that Espio could have been held captive at, it had been right on the island. That had been a terrible blow against both the Chaotix and the Echidna Security Team, believing that they had searched everywhere they could within their territory. It had come as a shock, finding they had neglected the Legionairre ruins, that it had nearly seemed surreal.
Without conscious thought givin to his direction, the teen found himself at his home. It was really more of a very well decorated cave, within the mountains on the island. It was warm, cozy, and he wondered why Espio's home in the valley wound up being a target. All of the Chaotix had security problems with their homes; every time they had some means of defense, their enemies appeared to show them just how little it truely ment.
Flopping backwards on to a couch, the sixteen-year-old armadillo couldn't help but give thought to the situation. Espio's home had been attacked far too easilly. After his rescue, there had been the question as to why the other chameleons in Rainbow Valley hadn't heard, seen, or said anything about it. Those who had bore witness or had heard the kidnapping occur had been too afraid; fear had prevented the Chaotix from finding their friend faster. After all, it could have been any of them that had been taken that night.
Mighty sat up slightly at that thought. It could have been any of them. He dreaded to think what it could have been like within the cell that the ESP had charted after the rescue. According to several shaken officers, there had been blood and bodilly wastes everywhere; the Legionairres hadn't even let the poor teen down to use the bathroom. An involountary shudder went through his body; yet, he could still hardly imagine the pain his friend must have gone through.
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A low growling echoed throughout the somewhat tropical residence of the crocodilian Chaotix member. It would have been a dangerous sound at any other time and place; as it were, the growl was not directed at any present being.
Had any of the other Chaotix walked in to the home of Vector Crodocodile, they would have been surprised. The sixteen-year-old was not listening to the headset that he almost never took off, was not watching television as he often did, was not doing any of the things that he was fond of. Instead, reclining on a red velvet couch, Vector was actually reading from a rather thick, hard covered book. Had there been anyone present to see the title, they may have been shocked by the subject matter: The Psychological Effects of Rape and Sodomy.
For all outward appearances, Vector normally appeared to be an optimist; never taking anything seriously, always dancing to his own rythyms, at times literelly dancing. Inwardly, hidden from his friends and from society, he feared. He wanted, above all else, to protect the friends who became his brothers. After one of these brothers was kidnapped and tortured so brutally, the world twisted.
The growling that continued to rumble from his throat came in response to the book. According to the text, the Dark Legion had effected the chameleon teen worse than any of the Chaotix could have percieved; Espio would most likely suffer for years to come. Fear of torture and recapture, fear of even gentle touch, fear of sex, possibly even fear of echidnas. Vector was fairly sure that Espio had been a virgin before his captivity.
"God damnit!" The book went flying clear accross the room. Vector began to pace.
That fucking bitch Kragok, he deserves for die for what he did, Espy is gonna be suffering for the rest of his life for what that motherfucker did..
Thoughts twisted and twirled for a long time afterwards.
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"Well?" Folded arms coupled with the tone within the voice of the Guardian of the floating isle made the impatience within all the Chaotix more than obvious. All eyes were staring at the echidna doctor.
In response, the medic sighed softly, readjusting a rather small pair of glasses perched atop his muzzle. "If anything, I suppose it could have been worse. The blood loss is significant, but, fortunately, not fatal. His tail is being taken care of by his own body. He'll recover within a months time.." Within a short silence that followed these words, the protectors of Angel Island felt relief. The doctor, with a small frown adorning his face, felt sorry to interrupt it. "..If you mean only the physical damage."
Low growling escaped from Vector. "The hell do you mean?! Espy's gonna be fine, ain't he?"
The doctor sighed again, used to telling unfortunate news to hospital visitors. "Psychological damage from such incidents are very different, but it varies from victim to victim. I couldn't possibly tell you how long it could take for him to recover from sodomy."
Perhaps the Chaotix had felt too confident after their friends' rescue; at the time, they believed all would be well, as it always was. For something to be different from all the other times of havoc and chaos that they survived, in such a debilitating way, they all felt as if their souls had been burned. Vector and Mighty shared an expression of disbelief before the latter made a statement, "Not a lot of things can get to Esp. He should be fine.."
A grim smile passed by the doctors' face; Knuckles could tell that the medic did not want to further harm their optimism. "Perhaps he'll recover soon enough.. But not right now." The doctor looked to his watch. "I'll have to update you all later. For now, he's resting. I imagine you should all do the same."
This time, all the Chaotix shared an incredulous stare. How on Mobius could they possibly rest, knowing Espio's current state? It was obvious that his condition was worse than their previous presumption. Vector grumbled, sitting down on a thinly coushined hospital chair. It was obvious that he had no intent of moving. "This blows."
The doctor appeared sympathetic. "I'm sorry, but I think you all really ought to rest up. It's going to be difficult to talk to him, I imagine.." With that, he left them in their current thoughts.
As soon as the doctor was gone from earshot and eyesight, Mighty shook his head and frowned. "This can't be happening." Knuckles gave the armadillo an expression full of thought; he recieved a small, forced smile in response. "C'mon, Knux! You know Esp! He can put up with a lot of stuff!"
"We never imagined this could happen, though." Knuckles pointed out, a scowl across his muzzle.
"He's going to be fine." Mighty was firm in his belief, and obviously felt the situation could not turn out otherwise.
Vector nodded, agreeing with his friend. "I can't imagine it any other way, Might-man.."
Julie-Su, unusually silent givin the situation, leaned against a wall. She was lost in thought that none of her male counterparts noticed or could forsee. At any rate, she did not share her thoughts.
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Author Notes: Meh. ^^; Sorry about lack of action. I'll try to stick some in next chappy. Oh! Next chap won't be out for at least a week: Going to be off on vacation from the 5th to the 12th or 13th. I'll probably write some on vaca, but no promises; Aruba is too sunny. ^__^
Espio, once again locked in a closet: -__- *incoherent grumblings*
Rest of muses: *cheering!* Yay! She's not torturing the rest of us! :D :D :D
Author: ^^; Hee.. Viva la feedback!