A/N: Full story on AO3 because FF has slow traffic. I have 2,5K stories on my favorites in my other account, and updates aren't even daily.

Ticking Time

IV

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How many days now…?

Maybe it's even been more than a few weeks, judging by how his hair grew just over his ears. Way past the time of trimming…

…Well…

After another two new attempts to escape – all similarly desperate spurs of the moment that ended in failure and pain – Katsuki had more than enough time to sit still and think about his current situation, and about whether or not he had any chance of finding a way out.

He sighed, staring morosely at the bars from his corner of the cell, knees drawn and chained red wrists resting over them.

Short of being rescued, he couldn't figure it out. He tried. He fucking tried for as long as he could to think of something. Anything.

The collar needed a key.

But he didn't know where that was.

If it was with a guard, he couldn't fight them for it.

And if it wasn't with a guard, then the keys were beyond his cell… and he couldn't leave the fucking cell…! Not without alerting anyone. He tried with his failed attempts of escaping already, and obviously, none of it ended well.

He was essentially Quirkless here.

This small square space was his world. No way to use his Quirk and no way to overpower anyone in the place, and no way of getting out undetected.

…Yeah. Short of being rescued, he wasn't… quite… sure on how to escape… The thought made him grit his teeth and dig his nails into his palms, fists clenching as his glare hardened.

He wondered if Deku actually listened to him for once… He told him not to come for him… He wondered if he stayed back like he'd told him to… But then again, Deku always came for him, even when nobody asked him to, even when he told him to fuck off.

He was just that kind of idiot.

Katsuki had dreamed with that a few times now – a dream in which the Heroes and Deku actually show up. He feels such a breath-taking relief that when he wakes up, he berates himself angrily for hours.

'Stupid, stupid, stupid…!'

He wasn't stupid; he knew a dead-end when he saw one.

Short of somehow being rescued and short of a miraculous technical failure of the collar, there was no way out. There was nothing he could do without power.

He could feel the buzz of the collar constantly.

V

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Katsuki didn't know how long he stayed in that filthy cell. He hasn't moved from this corner in a while, lying down with his back to the wall, blankly watching the bars.

…He was just so goddamn tired…

He was tired of these people, tired of pain; tired of the shitty food; tired of sleeping on the cold floor like an animal; tired of being tired; tired, tired, tired…

He was just done with their crap.

It was easier to barely respond, just obey the fucking rule and make them happy, and they'll stop annoying him with their shit and leave him alone to sleep a little more. He didn't want to think about his failure to escape or his dwindling will to move, or the perpetual weakness settling in his body, getting worse and worse and worse.

Each day was a hassle and it felt like a growing pit in stomach, he could feel it. He could feel it when he found himself thinking that it wasn't worth the pain and effort.

He found himself hesitating to speak up and spit curses even when he actually wanted to do so. Those stayed in his head. It just wasn't worth it, his mind said.

This actually seemed to please these pieces of shit. They left him to sleep for a few extra hours.

He didn't care if he was being rewarded like a well-behaved dog.

He just wanted to sleep, to curl up for warmth in his corner and to be left alone for a little while, just enough to be fully rested. Clearly, how long he already slept juts wasn't enough. One shitty piece of bread and a cup of water plus what felt like two hours of sleep just weren't enough…!

What he wouldn't give for his bed at this point…? Hell, a bed would do…

He's sure that if he could just rest up properly, his mind would clear up and his body would have more energy to spare. His sharp headaches would be gone. Then he'd be able to actually focus for a few minutes…

Maybe a shower would help too. Just the filth was probably half of his total weight at this point.

Ah… He'd been living in the lap of luxury until this whole shitshow began, hasn't he? He never realized how pampered he was. His parents always provided him with everything since the day he was born.

Good food to let him grow strong, fresh water to use and drink at his leisure, a sturdy house and room for shelter and privacy, clothes that were always magically washed and clean in his closet, and a comfortable bed to sleep on every single day.

…Wow, he really missed his house…

He kinda missed his parents, too… and his mother. For all the crap he gave her for treating him like shit, she didn't actually treat him like shit.

This is being treated like shit.

His mother was an angel in comparison. How many times did he call her a hag in the past…? Nah, the bitch who healed him was a hag… Not his mother… His mother was at least honest.

…Why did he take all of it for granted…?

He closed his eyes.

…He's been wasting more and more time thinking about things that wouldn't help him escape…

But he excused himself for it. He was just too tired to focus on making plans… He'd do that as soon as he got the rest he needed…

Steps. Goddamn it, he wanted to sleep…

"Hello there."

Katsuki only opened one eye to check, and saw that fuckface, who he called Wires now, just as he expected. He stopped by his cell routinely from time to time.

Katsuki closed it again, ignoring him. A few seconds of silence. "We're glad you're finally behaving a bit better, Katsuki." The man said in a self-satisfied tone.

'Stop saying my name' Katsuki wanted to hiss. This goddamn fucker… just looking at him pissed him off so much…

"The next rule is this: You will not look at your betters in the eye from now on, hear that?" Like a dog lowering its head in submission. The distaste overpowered his exhaustion.

…Fuck this guy…

Katsuki sneered back at him and was soon promptly punished for it. Dragged out by the hair and ruffed up enough that he couldn't quite feel the left side of his face or some of his limbs.

Adrenaline doing its job.

Then he's back in his cell with that bitch again. He felt so tempted to just follow the damn rule and go back to sleep…

VI

"…You should stop doing this, you know? You're just hurting yourself…" The tone was soft and kind.

His hands were still shackled together and were pulled above him.

This bitch who healed him… Katsuki remained still on the ground, glaring weakly at the ceiling, and ignored her. She spoke English, so he could actually understand her despite the accent.

He preferred to hear incoherent foreign babble, so he could more easily ignore it. But it made no difference in the end.

He winced when a nail was removed from his palm, courtesy of a sick fuck who didn't like the way Katsuki looked at him.

"I know this is difficult, but life will be easier if you stop being so stubborn…" She murmured softly, rubbing his bloody fingers.

Katsuki narrowed his eyes, not looking at her. 'Stop pretending to be on my side' he wanted to say, but found himself tongue-tied, as usual these days.

She was rubbing his wounded hand, and it feels nice – but he knows she's with them.

He fucking knows this is just another dirty trick. She's trying to trick him into speaking, like that fuckface Wires always did before, but she did it while pretending. Lying, making him think she could be trusted.

It made him want to laugh. She thought he felt safe with her?

Idiot…!

He knew she was just waiting. The moment he opened his mouth, she'd hurt him like everyone else in this shithole always does.

He couldn't trust anybody.

He couldn't speak to anyone.

He couldn't even look at anyone.

Anyone and everyone in this place was just looking for excuses to hurt him more.

For all he knew, even the other prisoners would rat him out if he uttered something. He wasn't playing their fucking game. Not with them, not with Wires, and not with this bitch.

As if summoned by his thoughts, that bastard showed up. Katsuki recognized his footsteps at this point.

He stopped to talk to the woman in a foreign language he couldn't understand. They talked for a minute before she stood and left his cell. Wires remained by the bars, watching him.

Katsuki's hand was no longer bleeding, but it was left with a slightly numb feeling to it. He wiped the blood off on his already filthy clothes.

Plenty of blood, sweat, grime, dust and dirt on it at this point.

Katsuki sat up and dragged himself with a grunt across the cemented floor to lean against the wall, knees close to his chest.

He didn't look at Wires and he didn't speak. He felt like shit for it, but it wasn't worth it.

"Now, now, Katsuki, it's about time we taught you to obey commands, don't you think?" He sounded smug as always.

Katsuki gritted his teeth, holding his tongue back in the process.

This is what it's been leading up to, right…? Making him obey?! He knew that, even as he catered to their fucking rules. He did so because he wanted to avoid unnecessary pain. He hated it – he could handle it, but he hated it.

That's the only reason he stopped speaking and stopped looking.

"You've been with us for three months now. That's really slow progress, by our standards at least, and so far, you haven't been a good investment. So listen–"

His heart rate picked up, as he had a sudden feeling of what he was about to say.

"We can't hurt our reputation by selling a slave that can't work well, can we? So, if you get too close to costing us more than you're worth, we'll have to put you down." He enunciated the last three words slowly.

Katsuki's eyes widened, but he still stayed quiet.

"So, your stubbornness really took time off your clock, you can only blame yourself for that, so think about that. I'll see you tomorrow, Katsuki." He tapped the cell bar he was leaning on and left.

Katsuki relaxed his body and looked at his hands. So this is what it's come to, huh?

Three months.

They've been attempting to break him for three months, and even though he didn't come out of it unscathed, he held on and still refused to be a slave.

He was a prisoner. Not a slave. They didn't break him.

Katsuki slowly grinned, clenching his hands into fists.

If he could only hang on for a little while longer, they'd have no other choice but to put him down, because they just couldn't break him.

He'd win.

If he wasn't getting out of this prison, then he'd have to deal with the cards he still had in hand.

As long as they didn't break him, he'd win.

It would be over and he'd sign off victorious, a man – not a slave – until the very end.

He could already imagine, their faces clouded with defeat. They were so smug at first, but they didn't get to him, they didn't turn him into a slave after all…! They lost the game! He'd laugh and curse and spit at them once they came to end him. What a sweet revenge that would be…!

With a goal in sight, he felt more alive than he ever did in this hellhole.