A/N: Remember how in the last Chapter I said 'End of Act 1'? I lied.

Akihiko Usami had never known his family, not really. When he was younger he had some semblance of a family, now forgotten by time. He had been taken from his home, that much he knew, and later on, he was sold into the system. His family name Usami became a distant, far-off thing that held no use to him anymore; he remembered it only if he grasped at it, clawing for the thing that was on the tip of its tongue. As the years passed it became easier for it to slip away, leaving an itching, struggling sensation behind. Sometimes it gnawed at him, to know something and want to remember it so badly...other times when he did remember it was like a sigh of relief that soon turned sour, for what good did it do him to remember a name that was no longer a family he no longer belonged to?

That's why once he learned to write, a skill a boy from a distant, far off place offered to teach him...he kept doing so in hopes of finding the words that kept slipping through his fingers like a shadow, in the hopes of making it permanent by being able to finally write it down. If only he could remember again…

Not that remembering helped with anything, not really. Which was why when the boy in the shop addressed him, he figured it wasn't worth his time engaging. They would be in and out of each other's lives in no time at all. No one had asked for his name in a long time, usually referring to him as 'You There,' if addressed at all. He had learned the hard way to stay close to the shadows and had the scars to prove it. While he didn't bear witness to the exchange of coins for whatever little amount his life cost, he knew what he was being bought for. And he knew it was only because of the boy, however, he still knew who he truly belonged to-the one who was currently exchanging a handful of coins for him. Meaning he would be forced to follow this man's orders, and not the boys if it ever came down to it. So he kept his guard up.

He was to be assigned to attend to the boy's needs, entertainment, household chores, a part of him couldn't wonder about what other services he would be forced to provide once he got older...he was all too familiar with the insidious interests of most men. For some scars didn't leave behind a mark, no matter how deep they cut.

After hearing the jingling sound of shackles that were coins being exchanged, he was taken, clothed, and brought to his supposed new home. As they approached the castle, he couldn't help but notice the immense size of it all, along with the various assets located outside the castle itself, but still among the castle grounds. It was like a maze he had been forced to enter into, and now he was another trapped rat, where escaping was impossible.

They stepped outside, at the very far off the edge of the grounds that lay before the castle, an expansive forest lay beyond them-thick with trees. Lined before the forest entrance, and off to the side were rows of run-down cottages, boarded up and in shambles, most connected to each other with sparse individual ones placed throughout. The sun was setting and the sky darkened as he made his way towards the cottages, flanked by a pair of guards, as the sky grew quickly darker. In the twilight dark, he noticed more guards; one or two of them, near the cottages but far enough away that their presence was hardly noticeable. The second one, he noted, had come out of one of the cottage houses, and as he approached he noted how he adjusted his pants while the cottage door closed quietly behind me.

Typical . He thought to himself.

"Which one?" He overheard one of his as keepers asked the other, both of them flanked his sides, each grasping one of his arms too tightly. The second one shrugged.

"'S far as I know the only available one is that one there," One of his keepers nodded in the direction of a standalone cottage. "That's the only place we got at the moment."

"Ugh really?" The first of the guards asked, Akihiko could hear him rolling his eyes. "Fine, c'mon boy-get in there, this is where you will stay here until further notice." He shoved him forward, causing Akihiko to stumble, only the guard's arms holding him up prevented him from falling. The first guard leaned in close to him so that Akihiko could feel his warm breath on his neck; his ear as he whispered, "Just cuz you alone don' means we can't hear you scream." He sneered as they brought him to the doorway and opened the door-then pushed him. Akihiko fell to the hard ground from the force, the two men chuckling.

"Maybe we oughta show him, that no matter how loud he screams ain't no one gonna hear him all the way out here. Or care, for that matter." The man said coolly, as he looked down at Akihiko and smiled, causing a shiver to run down his spine.

Then the two men smiled at each other, nodded and one of them went behind Akihiko, holding him up, while the other took out his sword holding the blade to Akihiko's cheek and tilting his chin up to face him. Then he gripped the boy's hair in his fist and forced his head back. He slowly slid the smoothed edge of his sword down the side of Akihiko's face, to his neck and brought the point of it to rest directly in the middle of his throat.

"This will be fun," he cooed as he stared into Akihiko's defiant eyes. Then the two of them got to work.

A gritted his teeth throughout it all, as they did multiple things to his body; he could already tell where the marks had been made that was sure to leave bruises; he shuddered as he felt their hands slide up and down his body, and bit his tongue down as hard as he could until he tasted blood while he struggled and thrashed under their grip. He felt a faded sting from his old scars as their hands brushed down the jagged scars that mapped out his back.

Still, he clenched his eyes shut and his jaw, refusing to give them any satisfaction while he struggled as he felt their hands, fists, hits, and kicks make contact with him, leaving a dull pounding that pulsated throughout his body.

A part of him knew that it could get much, much worse and that he already experienced that sensation, where the darkness took over until the idea of giving up washed over him, bringing a sense of relief with it.

There was nothing they could do to hurt him any more than the others had-he had already been torn apart and put back together once. He could do it again, and come back stronger each time until he carved out his own path that would lead to the demise of everyone who ever lay a hand on him.

When it was over he lay curled on the dust-ridden floor, holding himself together. The guards left one of them turned to him as he went to shut the door, "Welcome to Castle Emerald. You'll find it's no place like home."