CONTENT WARNING: TORTURE. Cult/ritualistic torture. Most of chapter has mentions/depictions of torture, so it'll be hard to skip it, if it is indeed possible to skip it at all.
I'm NOT confident what rating this is! I put [T], but it may very well be [M]. I do NOT know for certain. If someone thinks I should change it to [M], I will seriously consider it.
I said at the beginning of this fic, but a repeat: I have not studied psychology, physiology, or any human biology beyond a high-school level. I am not a doctor. My depictions may be wildly wrong and possibly triggering. Proceed with caution if this is a problem.
Surprise! Two chapters in one day! I have no restraint...
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Aki screamed; it had been a long time since she had been in this much pain.
As the foreign magic coursed through her body, a calculated, cold part of her, the part born of four centuries of turbulence, reflected that that statement wasn't really true. She had been in this much pain, even worse, when they had fought the dragons. What she hadn't felt was pain that had lasted.
As she screamed again, that same obdurate part of herself denied that as an accurate description, either; if she included any pain, she'd been in pain for four hundred years – a rather long time. Not to mention, those years had been far more agonizing than this. No, the accurate sentiment was that it had been a long time since she had been in physical pain that had lasted.
Suddenly, the world spun, making her feel sick. She realized, belatedly, that she – just her head? – had been picked up, then placed back down. Blinking rapidly in an effort to clear her vision, she could only register someone else screaming, too; not what she had been going for, but it was something.
It was a familiar scream, one she had heard who knows how many times over the past four hundred years… one that had sounded, by degrees, far more desperate than it did now.
And then she was screaming again. This time, though, it lasted only a second, or so she counted, before it relented, and a wispy, saccharine voice tinkled in her ear.
"You're both going to be so happy when we find the rest of the books!"
She struggled to make out the figure in the corner of her vision. As the fuzzy cotton ball watered down into a fuzzy human shaped lump, she discerned a woman wearing plain white robes; as it refined still further to a slightly blurry image, she found the robes to be reminiscent of those that had been worn four hundred years ago. The woman was gazing down at her, apparently infatuated, flushing when Aki met her eyes.
"Trash…" was all Aki mumbled, that habitually cruel part of her – that part she had trained to be the loudest, to tower over all the voices trapped in Their heads – yelling to not care about the life beside her, to disregard it like all the others, to label it a foolish doll and move on and never mind why don't think about it.
The woman looked ecstatic at the insult, and the pain redoubled as that repulsive magic surged again, her body fighting involuntarily against tight bindings, howling its hurt to the world once more. Her fingers scrabbling against cold, hard metal, each jerk to free herself caused its own excruciating pain, rigid cuffs digging into her wrists and ankles; she didn't mind.
She found it convenient, how physical pain passed through her mind, nothing more than a sensation – convenient, how it didn't latch to her every thought, every emotion, every belief, slowly tearing her apart from the inside out, scraping her clean of every fiber of her being. Yes, physical pain was much more preferable; at least she could dissolve into her mind, if the pain was outside it; At least she could sink into it, knowing she wasn't going to go insane and kill everyone around her.
"I'm so very sorry, Kami-sama, but this is necessary to revive one of your masterpieces."
As the thrumming magic died down again, Aki refocused bemusedly on the lady, unable to place the suddenly guttural, low voice with the lady who- who, hadn't even opened her mouth… had she?
Another person appeared beside the woman; a man. "We will make sure," the newcomer continued in that deep voice, "to reawaken you as soon as we have the rest of the keys. We just need-"
Aki laughed; the pain returned, and her shouts of mirth were replaced by ones of hurt, but, when it ceased, she continued in her hilarity. "You all…" she snickered brokenly, not bothering to focus on the two idiots who thought to use them to revive one of their own demons. "-are amusingly stupid."
And that clammy magic was running through her once again, wrapping around her nerves and pulling…
As she sank back into semi-conscious thought, her body screaming in pain, she grinned. Compared to the last four hundred years, after all, this was a vacation.
|^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^|
She woke to find herself lying on the ground, Natsu hovering over her, clearly upset.
"Wha's the ma'er, Na'su-nii-chan?" she scraped through unwilling lips, disregarding how her throat stung. How long had it been?
"Don't talk!" he answered frantically, so far out of his water he was reminiscing what water might have felt like.
Aki stared up at him, confused, but nodded; an action immediately followed by a pain that reverberated through her. She bit her lip, ignoring her twin brother's fussing; so long as he was alright, she was alright.
Zeref, coming to because of Natsu's loud, strained voice, opened his own bleary eyes. Natsu glanced over on instinct, inexplicably – yet with absolute certainty – knowing his other sibling was awake.
"Zeref!" he blurted, causing both Zeref and Aki to wince; he clapped his hands to his mouth. "Sorry!" With the same supernatural instincts from before, or maybe because he had learned from Aki, he took Zeref's face with both hands, preventing him from shaking his head. "Don't talk," he whispered urgently.
Zeref, unable to respond without speaking or moving, did nothing. Then he spoke anyway, despite Natsu's desperate attempts to quiet him. "Are you o-kay?"
Natsu frowned. "Worry about yourselves. You guys aren't looking too– wh-wha-what are you doing?" he stammered as Zeref forced himself painstakingly upright. "You shouldn't move!"
"It's fine," Zeref assured him, words that would have meant much more if he hadn't immediately lost his balance for no clear reason. Natsu caught him before he had fallen more than an inch, but the motion still elicited a hiss of pain.
"Zeref- not you too, Leafy!" Natsu groaned, seeing Aki push herself up. "You guys need to rest!"
"It's fine," the two said together, swaying alarmingly.
Natsu scowled, but, before he could argue that they clearly weren't fine, a deep, new voice cut in.
"So, you have now seen that we are keeping our end of the deal, Kami-sama."
Natsu's head whipped around so fast it might have been hit by a rocket. A man in archaic black robes stood outside the cell, hands held neatly behind his back.
"What the Edolas did you do to them, you jerk?!" Natsu shouted furiously, prevented from leaping forward only by Zeref's dependence on him to not topple over.
"I don' know," Aki grunted, ignoring Natsu's words and rubbing the back of her head. "How long 'ave we been out?"
The man kneeled, grin broadening. "Excellent catch, Kami-sama. Unfortunately, I was wholly confident in your capabilities, and we have ensured that you were only out for two and a half hours. We have done nothing to your 'brother.'" He said the last word with a disbelieving emphasis, glancing at Natsu; Natsu bristled.
"What the hell are you talking about?" he retorted in a snarl, looking a mother cat in front of her kittens. The man didn't answer, simply straightening, surveying Natsu coldly.
Then he grabbed his own cheek, a black streak having shot past his head, burying itself into the stone behind him.
"Don't even… think about it," Zeref panted, his arm slightly raised towards the man, who, incomprehensibly, insanely, smiled still wider, letting go of his bleeding cheek.
Dropping to his knees again and bowing his head, he murmured, "I'm very sorry, Kami-sama. It will not happen again."
Natsu's head snapped from one to the next several times before exploding, "What the flap is going on?!" He pointed accusingly at the man. "Who are you?! What have you done to them?!"
The man stood, inclining his head silently in Natsu's direction.
A tick mark appeared on Natsu's head. "Oi! Jerk, what's-" He broke off, lunging towards Aki as she, too, fell sideways. "Sorry, Zeref!" he added apologetically, the other grunting at the movement. "Now," he continued, turning back to the man, "tell me what you did to them!"
The man merely inclined his head again. "I am not at liberty to tell you that, Natsu-sama."
"I don't give a tail! What did you do?!"
The man smiled benignly.
First shifting Aki and Zeref against a wall, Natsu leapt up, grabbing the bars of the cell and pressing his forehead against them. "I'm going to burn you all to ashes!"
"Excellent vitality," the man replied politely, eyes glinting. "As expected from the Black Mages' so called 'brother.' Well, having proven your good health, I shall be taking my leave now." He turned away, paused, and turned back around. "Do prepare yourselves for the next session, Kami-sama," he gravely beseeched, failing to hide the excitement on his face. He left.
Long after his back had disappeared, Natsu stayed in front of the bars, roaring and struggling to melt them. "I can't use it here!" he erupted, kicking at the unyielding iron. His pointy dragon ears twitched, catching Aki's weak, faint breath.
"Na-su-nii-chan?"
He seemed to have developed the ability to teleport, appearing instantly at her side. "What? What's wrong? What can I do?"
Aki grinned crookedly, one eye half shut. "I jus' wan'ed'a see you, nii."
Natsu's face morphed from one of anxiety to frustration as he turned accusingly to Zeref. "Why ain't you getting us out? You have magic! You used it to send that black thing at 'im!"
"If we used our magic they'd kill you," Zeref croaked, as though that was all that was needed to make anybody understand.
"I never asked you to protect me!" His siblings were proving to be idiots of the highest degree.
Aki chuckled. "Bu' we're s'ill gonna," she told him affectionately, beaming – or as close as she could manage. "We're no' gonna lose you again." Her eyes widened in something akin to fear as Natsu scowled, crossing his arms; Natsu didn't notice.
However much he didn't like it, he had to work with what they wanted, and if they only cared about him, then he would have to argue towards that. After a minute, he started slowly, "Get us out, and they won't be able to hurt me or you."
Zeref shook his head, the action eliciting another wince. "No… they have a magic cir-…-cle on you."
Natsu jumped up, searching himself; there was nothing. "I don't see a circle!"
"They… did…" Aki mumbled, eyelids drooping.
Bits of information he knew about injuries flashed through his brain, one sticking out in response: Don't let someone injured pass out before… well, before something. "Leafy!" he said urgently, bending over her. "Aki, come on! You're supposed to stay awake! Zeref, what should I do?!"
Zeref blinked dazedly, awed; he cared for them – really cared for them, after all they had done, after such a short time… He smiled best he could – a twisted grin on a strained face. "You being here is plenty, Natsu. That's all we need… all we want. Just you… just you being here… just… you…" he repeated faintly, eyes glazing over, staring at the air a few inches from his brother.
Natsu felt a – or two, or two thousand, or two million – twinges of: Frustration – fury – exasperation – all of the above. "No, it's not! It's-"
"Kami-sama."
Natsu leapt up, spinning to see the lady that had brought his unconscious siblings to the cell. "You-!" He shouted in surprise as something yanked him backwards by the navel, slamming him against the wall. Invisible restraints snaked around his arms and legs, binding him to the wall even as he struggled to peel himself away. "What the flap?!"
"I'm so very sorry, Natsu-sama," said the lady, curtsying. She fiddled with the bars, and a previously invisible door swung inward. She didn't close it as she entered, though, instead stepping in front of his siblings and dropping to her knees before them, head bowed reverentially.
Natsu closed his eyes briefly, hoping that his siblings would think. They would definitely be able to slip past with their magic, even if they were injured. Then they could run back to the village to contact the guild while he pounded the people responsible.
When he opened his eyes, his stomach dropped; both were still exactly where he had left them. Zeref was watching the woman appraisingly, Aki impassively, almost impatiently; neither were making any movements towards the door – they weren't even looking at it.
The woman lifted her head, opening the case she had brought with her to reveal a variety of medical equipment. Natsu heartrate seemed to double. "What are you-!?"
(ÞϘV)
As Natsu shouted, Aki felt the whole world fall, sounds shooting away from her as her vision dissolved into a grey blur.
Someone caught her. Knowing who it was, she didn't bother to look as the woman murmured an apology, helping her back into a sitting position before returning to the bag. A minute later, she produced a long needle and small bottle filled with neon green liquid.
Garish color for a potion… green… more posing than effective.
She heard Natsu's voice rise in panic, but ignored him; she didn't want to hear what he was saying, so she blocked it out with all the fortitude of blotting out her own thoughts for centuries; she just didn't listen.
What she hadn't had those four hundred years, though, was her lost twin brother's voice yelling something painstakingly familiar.
"Aki-ki!"
She jerked, hooded eyes waking up.
Aki-ki…
How long had it been since she had heard that voice saying that name? When was the last time she had heard it from him?
"Aki-ki, please, just go!
"Just go!"
She knew the answer to that without thinking, she would never not remember.
"Come on! Move!
"Come on, Aki-ki! You gotta leave me!
"I'll be fine!"
It had been just as strained then, too…
"I'll be right behind you! Don't look back!
"What, so you're-
"RUN!"
She twitched, coming back to herself in time to see the needle injected into the back of her intentionally limp knee.
Oh…
She relaxed.
Thank dragons…
Her vision blurred.
This wasn't the same. She wasn't going to cause his death; she was going to protect him. This time, she would get him out alive, no matter what it cost. She and Zeref would keep him safe; they wouldn't let him die again.
"Aki-ki! Why are you just sitting there?! Use your magic! Aki-"
"Kami-sama Aki, this pain is the only way to revive you." A different, less warm voice echoed around her, and she was pulled into a gentle hug she didn't fight. "We will bring you and your demons back and rule alongside you."
She felt herself being moved, but she didn't know where to. All her nerves seemed to have fused, her senses indistinguishable, unable to locate what feeling was where, numb, deaf, blind…
"Kami-sama Zeref-" She grit her teeth as a thrum of pain rippled through her- "-rightful place-" -the world dissolving, melting into a faint splash of color on a black canvas.