AN: You know, I'm just gonna not say anything about my output speed. They'll come out when they're done. If it's fast, so be it. If it's slow, so be it.

Before we get started, I wanted to give a shout-out to my friend, FreelancerAmber. She just uploaded her first fanfic, so head on over and give it a read!

Also, this chapter is going to get a little dark.

TW: References to Sexual Assault.

Chapter 44

"What do you mean my new masters?" Nora asked, giving the chains another good yank. "Where am I?"

"You belong to Yevon now," the man said, walking right in front of her. "You're the first Huntress we managed to grab, but you definitely won't be the last, since you were kind enough to bring two more with you."

"Don't you dare touch them!" she shouted, but knew that she wasn't as intimidating as she wanted to be chained up like she was.

"Aw, that's cute," he said. "You think you scare me." She couldn't see his eyes, but she could tell by the movement of his head under the hood that he was looking her up and down.

Only Ren could look at her like that! …Not that he ever did. Unfortunately, with her arms held above her head like they were, she couldn't even try to use them to cover herself up, allowing him a full view of her body. He brushed a hand along her cheek, and she pulled away from him as best she could.

"I have a feeling you're gonna be popular around here," the man said.

"What do you mean by that?" She asked. "Why did you kidnap me?"

"We have a very particular use for girls like you. Young, pretty, great body. We here at the Church of Yevon are dedicated to keeping the Grimm away from our town, and hot young things like you can go a long way towards keeping men happy." Nora's eyes widened. "Hm, I see you've finally realized what I mean. You'll be our slave, an object of comfort to the men here. You'll fulfill their every need and keep them as happy as a clam," he grabbed her by the chin, turning her face left and right as if he was examining her. "Whether it be just keeping them company, dancing for them if they desire it, waiting on their every whim, or in some cases, giving them a certain, ultimate pleasure." He let go of her face, and starting running his hands along her exposed sides. She started pulling on the chains again, but they wouldn't give. "Mm, I like them feisty," he said, leaning his face in close, breathing on her neck. "I just want a little taste." He leaned in closer to her face, fully intended to kiss her! Nora snarled, leaned her head back…

…And slammed it forward into his nose, creating a sickening crunch sound. He fell back, grabbing his face in pain. For some reason, doing that hurt her forehead.

Why did that hurt?

"Ah, you bitch!" he yelled, backhanding her across the face. It hurt a lot more than it should have, and she would have fallen if it weren't for the chains. Instead, she felt a hard yank on her arms as they stopped her from falling, leaving her dangling by her arms.

Why did all of this hurt so much? Why wasn't her Aura kicking in yet?

"Ow," she said, trying to get her feet back under her so she could stand up again.

"Oh, felt that, huh?" the man asked. "How does it feel, not having your precious Aura?"

"W-what did you do to me?" Nora asked.

"I'm sure by now you noticed a dull pain around your neck."

"What about it?"

"That's a collar Lord Seymour developed," the man explained. "It suppresses your Aura, so you're as helpless as a newborn baby."

"Seymour?!" Nora asked. "I knew that guy was a creep!" He backhanded her again.

"Silence!" The man yelled. "You will not speak ill of Lord Seymour! He is our savior!"

"A savior that keeps teenage girls as his sex slaves!" Nora yelled back.

"Why you little-!" The man yelled, raising his hand again.

"Maester Wen!" the other man finally spoke up. "That's enough."

"Why are you stopping me, Maester Kelk?" the one that had been attacking her, Wen apparently, asked.

"We must not damage good merchandise," Kelk said. "She has not yet undergone the cleansing. If she is to be punished further, it will only be if Lord Seymour deems it necessary. She is his property now."

"I'm no one's property, you jerks!" Nora yelled.

"Oh, like you're in any position to argue," Wen said mockingly. "By the end of the week, you'll be begging us for more."

"U-Um, excuse me," a girl's voice said, making all three of them turn around. A teenage girl was standing in the entrance to the room, wearing the exact same outfit as Nora, but in black. She had platinum blonde hair, and her hands were shackled together in front of her with a short chain. She was bowing deeply.

"What do you want, Sapphire?" Wen asked. Sapphire?! That's one of the girls that went missing! They did this to her, too?! "Can't you see we're busy with the new whore?"

"Don't call me that!"

"Shut up!"

"U-um, Lord Seymour requests your presence for the ritual," she said. "Both of you. He also requests that you bring Miss Valkyrie with you."

"Well, young lady," Kelk said. "This is quite the honor. You just arrived and you already get to witness a ritual."

"What kind of ritual?" Nora asked nervously. Wen chuckled.

"A sacrifice."

Nora tried to pry off the hands holding her by the arms, but they wouldn't budge. She had been brought to a large chamber with a big stone alter at one end. Wen and Kelk had removed the shackles around her ankles and undid the chain from the wooden pole, but her wrists were still shackled in front of her. Wen and Kelk were standing on either side of her, each grasping one of her arms tightly so she couldn't run away. The large chamber was filled to the brim with people wearing hooded robes, all cheering loudly.

Nora's eyes widened when she realized that on the alter, there was a woman tied to a wooden pole with a bag over her head, thrashing wildly. The crowd's cheering only got louder when Seymour walked onto the alter, almost as if he was a rock star taking the stage.

"Silence, please!" He shouted, and the crowd quieted down. "Brothers and Sisters of Yevon, today is a joyous day! Yevon Himself has seen fit to grant a bounty of gifts to us, His chosen People!" He gestured toward Nora, still held by the two men. "First, he has granted us a new slave! The beautiful Nora Valkyrie!" The men in the audience saw her, and several whistled, and more shouted lecherously. "She was a Huntress-in-Training at Beacon academy, so you can be assured that her stamina is second-to-none!"

"I still am a Huntress-in Training!" She shouted.

"Quiet," Wen barked, squeezing her arm tighter to make it hurt.

"And she won't be alone, Brothers and Sisters!" Seymour continued. "For up on the surface, roaming around our lovely town, are two more Huntresses! Truly, Yevon is most generous with His blessings! Praise be to Yevon!"

"Praise be to Yevon!" the people in the room repeated with enthusiasm.

"Of, course, Yevon's generosity must be repaid," Seymour said, reaching up to grab the bag over the bound woman's head. "And thus, we have tonight's sacrifice!" He ripped the bag off her head, revealing a head of platinum blonde hair. Nora's eyes widened. It was Pearl! She had a cloth pulled between her teeth, preventing her from talking. Her screams and tears were enough for Nora to get that the woman was terrified, though. "Acolyte Pearl!" Seymour addressed her. "You have been given the great honor of being sacrificed to repay the great and glorious Yevon. Rejoice!"

She screamed and shook her head frantically.

"Stop it!" Nora yelled.

"I said be quiet!" Wen yelled.

Seymour pulled out a long, jagged dagger, and held it up for the crowd to see.

"Oh, Wonderful and Powerful Yevon!" he yelled. "We thank you for your gifts, and repay you in blood!" he shouted, raising the knife again, in front of Pearl's face. The woman continued screaming, and Nora turned her head when Seymour plunged it into her chest.

The screams stopped.

"Your sacrifice will not be forgotten, Acolyte Pearl," Seymour said. "Brothers and Sisters!" he addressed the crowd. "Raise your knives! It is time!" The crowd all drew similar daggers out of their robes, and descended on Pearl's body.

"Let's go," Kelk said, dragging Nora away from the scene. "It's time for your cleansing."

Nora watched as Sapphire prepared some kind of cloth in a bucket of water. After Pearl had been sacrificed, Nora had been brought back to the room she woke up in, and chained to the pole the same way as previously. Weirdly, even though her own mother had just been sacrificed, Sapphire wasn't even crying.

"Hey, Sapphire," Nora said, making the blonde girl stop what she was doing. "Don't worry, my teammates and I are here to save you."

"Save me?" Sapphire asked, tilting her head in confusion. "I don't understand. Why would I want to be saved?"

"What do you mean?" Nora asked. "You were kidnapped."

"No, I wasn't," Sapphire clarified. "I chose to come here, to fulfill my role for the good of everyone."

"What?"

"My body is a tool," Sapphire explained. "An object to be used in whatever way the Maesters deem fit. It's an honor to be able to serve Yevon in this way."

"B-But…" Nora said. "They just murdered your mother!"

"My mother was a fool to not accept the role decided for her. To be sacrificed to please Yevon Himself is an even greater honor than to serve His followers. An honor that evidently was wasted on someone that couldn't appreciate it."

"What is wrong with you?!" Nora yelled, startling Sapphire. "That was your mother! How can you say something like that?! She was so worried about you that she cried to us to save you!"

"Then she cried for nothing," Sapphire said. "I wasn't kidnapped, and I don't need saving. She was just a fool until the end, it seems."

"How could you?" Nora asked.

"Enough talk," Sapphire said, soaking the cloth with the water from the bucket and running the water down Nora's side. "I must finish cleaning you. In time, you will begin to realize how much of a blessing it is to serve your Brothers. It is truly a wonderful experience."

A pounding sound woke Aqua from her slumber. She blearily opened her eyes, only to hear more pounding, louder, and more frantic this time. She realized it was coming from the door to her room, so she got up and opened it.

"What?" she asked.

"Nora's gone!" Ren shouted in a panic, pushing his way into Aqua's room, followed by the rest of the team.

"What do you mean gone?" Aqua asked.

"I mean, when we woke up this morning, she wasn't in her bed, there was no note, and this was left behind," Ren said, holding out her folded-up hammer.

"We already went out searching, but there's no sign of her anywhere," Jaune said. "It's like she just vanished in the middle of the night."

"Do you think this has something to do with what's been happening in this town?" Aqua asked.

"Please, no," Ren said. "Don't tell me that whoever did this took Nora." The black-haired boy was shaking at this point. "This can't be happening."

"Nora and I were sleeping in the same room," Pyrrha said. "How could they have managed to walk into the room and leave with Nora of all people without waking either of us up? And why just her?"

"What's all the commotion?" Jecht asked, walking into the room. "Hold on, aren't we short a hyperactive ginger?"

"She was gone when we woke up," Ren said. "We think she might have been kidnapped."

"How in the hell did that happen?" Jecht asked.

"We don't know," Aqua said. The conversation was interrupted when her scroll received a message. "Seymour wants to see me," she said. "Apparently someone else has gone missing. Jecht, take the students and search the town. Maybe go and talk to Pearl again. See if she's learned anything, or at least see if she can help us look for Nora. I'll go and talk to Seymour."

"By yourself?" Jaune asked. "Is that a good idea? I mean, they already took Nora right from under our noses."

"I can take care of myself," Aqua said. "Besides, I have a few questions for the good mayor."

"Welcome, Aqua," Seymour said as the Keyblade Master in question stepped into his office. "Please take a seat. I'm afraid I have some bad news." Aqua sat down in the chair directly across from his desk.

"Your message said that someone else went missing today?" Aqua asked.

"Two people actually," Seymour clarified. "The first one was Acolyte Pearl."

"Oh, no," Aqua said. "And the other?" Seymour's eye had a weird glisten to it when he looked back up at her.

"Nora Valkyrie," he said with a smile.

"What?!" Aqua said, quickly standing up. "How did…?" Her eyes widened. "It was you!"

"Actually, it was this whole town," Seymour answered, reaching a hand below his desk. Aqua summoned her Keyblade and pointed it at Seymour's face.

"Don't move," she ordered. "What do you mean this whole town did it?"

"It's the ways of Yevon," he explained. "The girls who went missing are currently serving us as our vessels of pleasure, including Miss Valkyrie. The others were sacrifices for His Glorious Personage."

"Why?" She demanded.

"The teachings of Yevon keep the people calm. He occasionally sees fit to provide us with a young woman to pleasure the men, and in return, he demands a sacrifice. Miss Valkyrie was chosen as a vessel for pleasure, and Acolyte Pearl's life was the payment."

"Why?!" she demanded. "Why do all of this? Why take Nora? Why kill Pearl?"

"Miss Valkyrie is a very beautiful young woman," Seymour explained. Just how matter-of-fact he was about that statement really creeped Aqua out. "She will serve us well. Since Yevon saw fit to provide us with such a wonderful gift, it was only fitting that we returned His favor with Acolyte Pearl's life."

"If this is your way, then why did Pearl call for a Huntsman?" Aqua asked.

"She simply wasn't aware of all our rituals," he said. "She was someone that my father kept an eye on. She didn't have the temperament for our rituals. It turns out he was correct, since she called the authorities when her daughter was chosen as a vessel for pleasure."

"This is sick," she said.

"It is our way," he said calmly.

"Enough," Aqua demanded. "You're going to release Nora, and Sapphire, and all the other girls you kidnapped."

"Oh, don't worry," Seymour said. "You will be reunited with Miss Valkyrie very soon. After all, you were chosen, too. As was Miss Nikos."

"What?" she asked, but before she could react, Seymour pressed a button under his desk. Steel shutters closed over the windows, and she heard a clicking sound come from the door. There was a hissing sound all around her, and she could see a green noxious gas coming from the air vents.

Crap! She thought, turning around to point her Keyblade at the door. If she could just get it unlocked, she could get away from the gas and go find Jecht and the rest of Team JNPR.

"Oh no you don't!" Seymour shouted, and Aqua barely was able to block as Seymour swung a long metal staff at her. It had a red spear head shaped like Yevon's symbol, and she could tell it was sharp. Somehow, Seymour had enough time to put a gasmask on before attacking her, but Aqua now had a very different problem.

If she was stuck fighting Seymour, she couldn't get the door unlocked.

…And she was starting to get dizzy.

"That's right," he said. "Don't fight it. Let the sleep overtake you." He pushed hard against her Keyblade, making Aqua stumble backwards. "Don't be scared. To serve those that serve Yevon is a great honor. And I'm sure you'll do great at it."

"You…bastard," Aqua said, before she collapsed. The last thing she saw before falling unconscious was Seymour slowly walking towards her.

"Ren, are you okay?" Pyrrha asked. This was the first time any of them had seen Ren so frantic. It was the first time he was emotional at all, actually.

"Of course I'm not okay!" he yelled. "They have Nora!" He took a second to breath. "I'm sorry," he said.

"No, we get it," Jaune said. "We're worried, too. But if we're going to find her, we need to stay calm. You especially. You're the observant one on our team."

"Right," Ren said.

"We're here," Jecht said, as the group walked up to Pearl's front door. Jaune walked up and knocked. There was no answer. He knocked again. Nothing.

"Miss Pearl?" he called, knocking a third time. Still nothing. "Miss Pearl, it's the Huntsmen team from Beacon! We spoke yesterday! Could you let us in? We'd like to speak to you again!"

"I'm afraid Acolyte Pearl won't be answering you," someone said. They turned around and saw a group of people in hooded robes, carrying various weapons. Jaune tensed up. "Team JNPR, Jecht Tidal, you'll be coming with us."

"And if we say no?" Jecht asked, solely reaching for the sword strapped to his back.

"We weren't asking."

"…sor?" Aqua could faintly hear. "Professor?" There was a hand lightly shaking her shoulder. She slowly opened her eyes to see Nora shaking her awake. "Professor, wake up."

"Nora?" she asked, and then realized that the girl was just wearing pink underwear and had her wrists shackled together in front of her. "Nora!" she said, jolting upright. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Professor," Nora said.

"…What are you wearing?" Aqua asked. Nora blushed.

"Hey, you're wearing it, too," Nora said. "Nice tattoo, by the way."

Huh?

Aqua looked down at her body, and sure enough, she was wearing something very similar to Nora, only in blue. Like Nora said, the black bird tattoo on her left breast was visible. She also finally realized that her arms were held above her head and chained to a wooden pole, and her feet were chained to the pole's base.

"Oh, that pervert," she said. "When I get out of here, he is so going down."

"Totally," Nora said, nodding her head.

"Well, I'm glad to see you're okay," Aqua said. "But what's going on?"

"Beats me," Nora said. "They had me chained to that thing all night. They just let me down when they brought you in. I'm supposed to 'clean' you," she said, making air quotes.

"What does that mean?" Aqua asked. Nora pointed to a bucket of water on the floor.

"I think that's some kind of holy water or something," Nora said. "I'm supposed to wash you with it."

"You're supposed to what?" Aqua asked.

"Yeah, that Sapphire girl did it to me earlier. It felt kinda nice, but it was super weird. It's supposed to 'cleanse us of our worldly taint' or something like that. Apparently the men aren't allowed to start having sex with us until after it happens."

"Wait, what?!" Aqua yelled, only to remember that Nora had already been 'cleansed'. "Nora, they didn't—"

"Oh, no, I'm good!" Nora said. "They haven't done anything to me yet. I think they were too busy with catching you to worry about giving me to anyone yet. But we need to think of a way out of here, now! They're planning to take Pyrrha, too, and Jaune and Ren are gonna be sacrificed!"

"What are we waiting for, then?" Aqua said, and tried to use her Semblance.

But nothing happened.

"Huh?"

"Oh, I forgot to mention that," Nora said. "Apparently Seymour developed some kind of special collar that suppresses Aura. I've been trying to get mine off all night, but I'd need a good charge to get my Semblance going."

"…What is your Semblance, again?" Aqua asked.

"Electricity makes me stronger," Nora said.

"How much would you need to jump start your Semblance?"

"Well, I can't feel my Aura right now, so probably a pretty good shock. But how are we gonna do it?'

"Hold still," Aqua said, supremely grateful that her Keyblade and magic weren't attached to her Aura. "Also, can you keep a secret?"

"Oh, I'm great at secrets!" Nora said happily.

"Good," Aqua said, summoning her Keyblade. "Thundaga!" A massive bolt of lighting suddenly appeared, and struck Nora at full-force.

"OH YEAH!" Nora yelled, ripping the collar off with her bare hands. "Hit me again!" Aqua used the spell again, and Nora broke the chain connecting her shackles. "One more time!" After another recharge, Nora ripped Aqua straight off the pole she was chained to, and pulled the collar off her neck, too.

"How'd you do that without Aura?" Nora asked.

"That's a secret," Aqua said. "Now come on, let's get out of here."

AN: Do you think this chapter should bump this story up to an M rating? Probably not, right?

Anyway, the two guys that kept bothering Nora, Wen and Kelk, are named after more Final Fantasy X characters. I just decided to go all-in on the FFX references, honestly. So Wen was named after Wen Kinoc, and Kelk was named after Kelk Ronso. Both of them were Maesters of Yevon, but I'm taking some liberties with their characters, since neither of them acted like this in the game. Kinoc was your standard corrupt authority figure, but not this bad. Kelk was actually the only Maester with any real sense of honor.

I kinda wish that I had thought of going all-in on the FFX references last chapter, though, otherwise I would have named Sapphire after Shalinda instead.

So, next time will probably have quite a bit of action, since we've got Aqua and Nora's escape, plus Jecht and the rest of Team JNPR fighting their way through the cult members.

Not to mention a confrontation with Seymour.

As always, thank you for reading, and I'll see you all next time!