"Matt…?"
I sat there staring at him for a moment, my mouth open in shock, barely able to comprehend what was happening. "Yes, Crystal," he whispered softly as he smiled warmly to me. "It's me. I'm here now. Everything's gonna be alright now. I'm getting you out of here. Everything's okay."
Tears flooded my eyes as I heard Matt's words. I could contain myself no longer. "Oh, Matt!" I cried as I wrapped my arms around him within an instant, hugging him tightly to me. I could hardly believe what was happening. Matt had somehow survived the attack. He'd come to rescue me. Before I knew it, I was sobbing into his chest, trembling with emotion. Everything was going to be just fine.
Or so I thought…
"Oh Kitten, wake up," Matt said calmly then unexpectedly. It confused me. What the hell was he talking about…and why did he just…call me…"Kitten"? "I said wake up, Crystal!" he continued a little more forcefully, and I noticed that his voice had changed slightly. Before I had time to comprehend what was happening, he shook me fiercely.
I looked up at him just in time to here him yell, "Slave, obey me!" Only…it wasn't Matt's voice that said this, nor was it his eyes I was staring into now. …It was Ken's. I gasped in surprise as I found him glaring down at me, clutching painfully onto my arms. He slapped me then very hard, causing me to reel to the side and cry out in pain…
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I awoke with a gasp and a scream, my eyes flying open only to find Ken sneering down at me angrily, his hands clamped tightly onto my arms as I lay there. "K-Ken…" I stuttered, only to be thrown to the floor by him a second later. I cried out as I hit the ground hard, quickly sitting up onto my knees and looking up at Ken, the fear evident in my eyes and in my now trembling body.
"Shut up! I did not give you permission to speak!" he yelled, causing me to jump and recoil back slightly. Before I knew what was happening, Ken had taken his whip out of his cape and was pushing my chin up with the handle of it. "And the next time I tell you to do something, Slave, I expect you to do it the first time I ask! Understood!" At first, I was too shocked by what was happening to reply, so I just sat there and stared up at him, trembling and trying to get my bearings.
I'm guessing he took my silence as insolence though, since the next thing I knew, he'd slapped me hard again, causing me to fall to the ground. I glanced up just in time to see him raise his whip. "No, please!" I practically screamed at seeing this, though he did not seem to listen. I knew he'd heard me since, to my great surprise, a slight pause on his part followed my cry. He hesitated again for a second, instantly bringing back memories from a few months ago when he'd done the exact same thing.
Although, this pause didn't last as long as the last time. A second later, he brought down his whip on my back. Five times, he struck me with that damned whip of his. Five times, the whip snapped deafeningly loud as it made contact with my back. And five times, I cried out in anguish. "Answer me slave!" Ken yelled in anger after he'd stopped.
I lay there on the floor for a few seconds before answering, my head spinning from the pain. I somehow managed a weak "Y-yes, Master". It disgusted me calling him master, took a lot of my pride and my dignity from me, but I had no choice. If I did anything else to anger him, he'd beat me way worse than the five lashes I'd just received. I just couldn't risk it. Not yet.
"Good girl," I heard Ken laugh, and I could feel his eyes burning into me, though I couldn't bring myself to look at him. I was too humiliated, and I tried my hardest not to let him see that. I tried desperately to not let him think that he was currently winning…which…I hate to say…he was at that time.
"You know Kitten, I do hope, for your sake, that you will learn to obey me without a fight someday…" he continued then. "Otherwise, I may end up beating you into a coma one of these days…" That sounded like a threat. It may have sounded like a statement, but the sound of the venom dripping from his voice, the way he stood looming over me as he said it; all of that told me that he was threatening my life to get me to submit to him. I just sat there on the ground, staring at the floor, and took it silently too, not seeing much of an option 'B' anywhere. Running my mouth off was too much of a risk at the moment.
After a moment of unbearable silence, Ken continued, beginning to circle around me with his hands behind his back like the revolting vulture he is. "Now then, I simply came down here to test out my control over my new slave so far. So, I'd like you to make me dinner tonight. Sound easy enough for you?"
"What? Are you trying to tell me that you trust me enough to not try and poison you?" I replied to him sarcastically as I stood up, choosing to rebel all of a sudden. Okay, now he was taking it a bit too far. I was not gonna cook for him! I never actually thought about what would happen when he actually started bossing me around, but I'd just decided then. I wasn't gonna listen to him without a fight first.
I crossed my arms in front of my chest and stared directly into his eyes. I knew I was in big trouble for this, but I didn't care then. "Or maybe you're just too damn lazy to get up off your fat ass and make it yourself!" A look of shock appeared on Ken's face momentarily as I said all of this. He wasn't expecting me to fight back this time. That only made me smile slyly as I stood before him, awaiting his reply.
His eyes narrowed menacingly at me, and the next thing I knew, I was on the ground at Ken's feet. I touched my fingers gently to my bottom lip, only to find that I was bleeding. He'd backhanded me so hard across the face that he'd slip my lip. I glared up at Ken, who was now looming over me again. "You're going to wish you hadn't said that, if not simply wish you had never been born instead," he said to me in an eerily calm voice considering the situation.
Then, he quickly raised his whip again. I lowered my head before it struck, staring at the ground below me. I wasn't going to fight him over it, for I knew that there was no way around the beating now. And I sure as hell wasn't going to give him the pleasure of hearing me beg and cry out and plead for mercy this time, or of seeing me cry. The next thing I knew, my back exploded with the excruciating pain of the lashings. I tried to remain silent and still throughout it, and to maintain my composure. But Ken beat me so badly that, within a few minutes, I'd passed out…
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I awoke about an hour or so later, lying on the cot on my stomach, my back in terrible agony. I opened my eyes slowly, taking a look around but not moving an inch. My head was spinning and I felt dizzy. I figured it was from blood loss. My eyes traveled down to the floor. Yep, there was a pool of blood on it, and I could feel the blood on my bad seeping through my shirt.
I shifted in my position slightly, groaning softly in pain as I did so. Then, I lay there for a few more seconds, trying to pull myself together and build up strength enough to sit up. Before I got a chance to move any, however, I heard the familiar sounds of the cell door creaking open. I quickly shut my eyes and lied still, trying to make it look at though I were still unconscious. Then, I listened, silent and still as possible, to the footsteps coming closer and closer to me.
The next thing I knew, I felt a gentle hand on my back, which stung even so. Then, I noticed a dim, glowing light around me. I could still see the light slightly through my eyelids, though my eyes were closed. A few seconds went by, and I could hear the sound of faint humming. As those seconds went by, I began to feel the pain in my back slowly receding. After about thirty seconds, the pain was gone.
The hand on my back slowly lifted. I was ready for it, though. I quickly opened my eyes, turned over on my back and looked at who was standing over me. I gasped in shock as I was met by a familiar pair of eyes. My eyes widened as he stared back at me, obviously as surprised to see me awake as I was to see him period, and my eyes absentmindedly did the same thing. It took a few seconds for this to register, but when it did, I said in a disbelieving whisper, "So it was you all along…"
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A/N: Aw c'mon! You can't possibly sit there and tell me you weren't expecting me to leave it there. It was just too good of a cliffhanger. I had to and everyone knows it! Sorry I haven't updated in so long. I've been on vacation for the last month and a half. But, I'm back now and ready to keep writing (so please don't yell at me anymore Piedmon and LadyLuck T.T). I'll get Chapter 27 up as soon as I possibly can, I promise this time! I don't have anything to distract me now!
Digimon Emperor: (Sarcastically) Suuuuuuure…
(Gives Digimon Emperor nasty look) Listen, do you wanna shut up or do you wanna have to run from midnight breezy and that damn phonebook again?
Digimon Emperor: 0.o (Shuts up instantly)
midnight breezy: (Evil laugh as she clutches phonebook) Hehehe…
Digimon Emperor: (Gulps) 0.o …
(Looks at midnight breezy) Sorry, midnight breezy. Not now.
midnight breezy: (Lowers phonebook, disappointed) Aw man!
Sorry. Maybe later sometime. Ok?
midnight breezy: (Smiles) Ok!
Digimon Emperor: 0.o Diva'sDream!
Hey, sorry Kenny Boy, but that's the way the cookie crumbles I guess. (Shrugs)
Digimon Emperor: Hey! Don't call me Kenny… (Trails off at see Diva'sDream take the phonebook from midnight breezy and hold it up threateningly) 0.o
That's what I thought. (Sees reader) Buh-bye! (Waves)