He wouldn't stop. No matter how much I begged and pleaded for him to stop, he wouldn't. It must've gone on for at least an hour or so. He just kept on hitting me and hitting me. I screamed; I tried to crawl away; I cried so much it looked as though my tears were turning into the Nile River, but all to no avail.

"No! Please, stop! Master, please stop!" I kept begging him, but it seemed as though my pleas were never heard, or more likely, simply ignored as he continued to yell at me.

"I'm gonna teach you a lesson you'll not soon forget!"

And all this as he laughed sadistically at my immense pain. That sound…Oh, that sound was maddening. It wasn't the sounds of the whip, or even the sounds of my own screams—it was his laugh that drove me to the brink of insanity. It was that sound that showed no pity, no sympathy whatsoever for a helpless, trapped, and tormented soul.

The searing pain was so excruciating that I barely noticed it when the violent lashes stopped coming at me and all became still despite the enormous tension in the room. I had fallen to the floor by then, panting for breath, and was too weak to lift my head up, but I knew that Ken was still standing over me. I could see his ominous shadow looming on the ground below me.

Even after the lashing stopped, I couldn't bring to an end the steady flow of tears running down my face. My body was wracking from my sobs and it felt hard for me to breathe or even think properly. I was completely panicked.

I prayed for it to be over, for him to just leave me alone, but he wasn't quite finished yet. I then felt his hands encircle me, gentle yet threatening at the same time, and lift me into a sitting position on my knees—one hand around my waist and the other clasped gently onto my upper arm.

The way his touch felt automatically sent shivers down my spine. Oh God, I hated the way he was touching me! It just felt so creepy, so totally wrong that it almost made me feel sick. I pleaded silently for him to just let me go, for him to disappear and to finally leave me alone, the tears still flowing from my eyes, but he didn't.

"M-Master, please—" I tried to beg of him, but he simply shushed me.

"Shhhh…Oh, Crystal…" he said to me in a calm, yet dangerous voice, instead of disappearing like I'd desperately prayed for, "Now do you see what happens as consequence when you disobey me? Now do you see what your foolishness had caused? You brought this upon yourself, you know. The fact that you're suffering so immeasurably is all your fault. If you'd simply stayed with me and done whatever I tell you, this wouldn't be happening to you. But, no, of course, you just had to have everything your own way."

He laughed cruelly then. "You foolish little girl." Then, as if that weren't enough, the hand on my upper arm slid slowly upward until it was on my neck, just below my chin, and Ken pushed my head to one side, tilting it gently to the left. I started to cry even harder, and he embraced me tighter to try and silence me a little. I took the hint and tried to calm down, although, it didn't work all that well.

I suddenly felt immensely sickened to my stomach when he put his mouth so close to my ear that I could feel him warm breath on my skin and his lips just barely touching me, and whispered in a barely audible tone which was soft, yet cruel at the same time, "You betrayed me. And, you know I don't take kindly to betrayal. Now, I'll be back a little later, My Little Kitten."

I still can't believe I didn't throw up with what he did to me then. He gently kissed my neck! That gesture automatically froze me with fear. Then, suddenly, his lips pulled back from my neck and his voice turned into a low, ominous hiss, and his grip on my waist and neck became tighter as he said to me in my ear, "Because I'm not finished with you yet!"

And, with that, Ken shoved me back to the ground, causing me to lightly hit the cold, hard, stone wall. I was too weak to move and remained laying at his feet as he stood up—a dangerous position to be in, considering that he plays soccer so much.

He turned my way and glared down fiercely at me as he gave me a slightly sharp nudge in the stomach with his boot, not quite a kick, but still not a soft gesture. It only succeeded in pressing me against the wall even more as I cried out in pain.

His cape flapped behind him as he then walked out of the cell, slamming the door behind him, and finally left me alone in the cold, dark dungeon to suffer in silence. I laid there for a few seconds, staring after him, the tears starting to lessen as they fell to the ground. Although, not by much at all.

How I survived all of this, I had no idea and still don't, but I did know one thing at that point—I knew that it wasn't over yet. There was still much more to come and I now realized it completely, though everything that I'd just gone through was still trying to register in my brain.

That was what scared me the most. He was planning to torture me even more, I just knew it, and I didn't know how much more of this agony I could take. And I found myself praying just so hard that he wouldn't touch me again like he had just a minute ago, for the feel of his touch was the most terrifying of all…

I tried to get up, to crawl over to the cot that I now was forced to call my bed, to do something other than lie there waiting to die, but the pain was simply too overwhelming. I found myself unable to even move barely at all, aside from lifting myself up onto my elbows if I tried with all of my strength. I'm guessing I must've passed out from the pain then, because everything just went black.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

When I awoke, I noticed that something felt different than what I remembered feeling as I passed out. It was then that I noticed where I was. I was still in the cell I'd been left it, but I was now lying on the cot instead of the floor. "How in the world did I get up here?" I asked myself nervously.

I tried to sit up, bracing myself for the intense wave of pain I knew was to come—Only…it didn't. I sat up in bed and looked at myself. I gasped as I beheld the sight. There were no wounds on me at all! No bruises, no cuts, no slashes, nothing, no evidence at all to suggest that I'd even actually been severely beaten. Hmm…Ya know, maybe I hadn't been beaten after all…

"Maybe Ken hasn't really come to see me yet at all. Maybe it was all just some horrible dream that I had," I suggested to myself as I closed my eyes and breathed in a sigh of relief. But that sigh suddenly caught in my throat as I opened my eyes and looked at the ground next to the cot, where I "thought" I'd been earlier.

It all took a second to fully register, but then it did. I gasped in terror and my eyes went wide as I saw the thick pool of blood lying there on the floor. As I studied the cot I was sitting on then, I let out a scream of horror as I noticed that the sheet, the blanket, and even the pillow were also covered in dried blood. …My blood.

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A/N: Uhhhh…Wow… There's chapter 21 for you, people. It actually turned out better than I thought it would. (Turns to the Digimon Emperor then and gets really pissed off) You beat the shit outta me! You are one evil little bastard!

Digimon Emperor: (Smiling) Thanks a lot, Diva'sDream. I know I am.

(About to kill the Digimon Emperor) Grrrrr! DIE!

midnight breezy: Wow…That was scary. Uhhhh…Hey! Wait a second!

(Looks at midnight breezy as if to say, "This had better be good!") What!

midnight breezy: I've got a question—Who healed her? (Looks at Digimon Emperor)

Digimon Emperor: (Shrugs) 'Don't think it's gonna be me. 'Must've been Wormmon.

(Evil smile) Maybe, maybe not. We'll find out next time, now won't we?

Both the Digimon Emperor and midnight breezy at the same time: 0o…Uh-oh…

See ya next time, people! Bye!