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Hey guys! :) I'll get straight to the point: My plan is to update EVERY SINGLE DAY. I will be alternating perspectives. That said, if I miss a day and someone whines about it, I will write you a BEAUTIFUL letter and post it right here. 3 Answers to comments on the end.

Enjoy chapter 3. Much love,

Rand0mSmil3z

*Listen to Cups by Anna Kendrick and Unwell by Matchbox Twenty when reading this chapter. Trust me on this. :) *

Well.

This sucks.

Rin lightly tugged on the manacles around his wrists that chained him down to the bed. After his escape the first day - and the eighteen more throughout the week - he had been chained to the bed. Fabric between the cold metal and his wrists kept his skin from being bloodied further, though the pale bandages had already darkened with brick red. Why they bothered, he had no idea. The bruise on his cheek still throbbed - a token of his first attempt. It had happened so fast, even the memory was a blur. One second he was behind the vase, the next second it had broken. He had heard a voice, muffled by stinging pain, and then utter darkness as he slipped into unconsciousness. His cheek had swollen considerably, but now the fragile skin had turned from a dark blue to molted yellow and faint green.

The rest of his many cuts and bruises were his fault. His torn-up wrists were because he panicked and fought the chains with everything he had, resulting in throbbing skin and exhaustion. His rib was from his third or fourth attempt; they had all blurred together at his point. He had been sprinting down the hall when he took a turn too fast and slammed against the corner, effectively knocking the wind out of him. He had lain there, gasping like a fish out of water, before he got to his feet. But by that time it had been too late; his escape was already known and everyone in . . . wherever he was had cornered him. He had been able to keep them away with his flames, but then suddenly his flames had slipped from his paper-thin control. His memory stopped there.

He closed his eyes, chest tightening as he tried to draw his legs closer to him, but the chains around his ankles stopped them short. He wished that he was back home, back with Yukio in the dorm and all of the others in the class room. Even the Vatican would have been a welcome relief from this, this uncertainty and stress of not knowing. He wasn't sure if he was being kept alive or simply not being killed.

Suddenly there was a knock on the door. Rin's heart jumped to his throat and he pulled at the chains again, desperate.

"I am to change your bandages," came a soft voice. He glanced over; a girl dressed in rags was by the door. She was somewhere around his age. Her silver hair was cropped and one of her violet eyes was covered by an eye patch. A thick scar peeked out from the bottom. However, what unnerved Rin the most was that he voice, her face, held no emotion whatsoever.

Rin, not in the mood for trusting anyone, especially not someone with a pretty face, scar or not, settled to simply glare. She didn't seem to notice or, if she did, she didn't care. Instead she wheeled in some sort of metal cart. At first Rin thought it would be torture devices or something similar, and a trill of fear went through him. However, all she did was pull out some fresh bandages. Rin watched her with narrowed blue eyes. His gut twisted when she reached for him.

"Don't touch me," he hissed. The demon-girl only stared at him uncomprehendingly.

"I am supposed to change your bandages."

"Don't." His voice was a low growl, the sound of a predator backed into a corner. "Go away."

"I am supposed to change your bandages." The tone of her voice did not change.

Rin bared his teeth, showing off his canines. They always made everyone back home uncomfortable; he wasn't sure if it would work here though. "Don't. Touch. Me."

She blinked at him, the faint light of the candles on the dresser dancing in her violet eyes, when she reached for him again. Rin thrashed, trying to get away, but only succeeded in tearing the skin in his wrists again. The next time he hissed, it was from the pain.

The next thing he knew, her thin hand was locked on his jaw, forcing his head deeper into the pillow and putting pressure on his windpipe. His eyes widened as he tried to breathe; each breath was a struggle, each breath was a small victory. Her fingers were thin, boney even, and icy to the touch. Her eyes were just as cold as she glared down at him.

"If you stop moving," she stated, "I will let you breath."

He hesitated when, as the fingers squeezed tighter and his vision began to fade into white, he made a gurgling noise in the back of his throat. Immediately the hand that choked him let go and Rin sucked in greedy, desperate breathes back into his screaming lungs.

"I am supposed to change your bandages," she said again, then pulled out a key. "I am going to let you go now," she said, her eyes unblinking, "and you will not run away. I am faster. Do you understand."

Rin glared at her with everything he had. The manacles around his wrists prevented him from using his flames; with bare-to-bare skin contact, they burned like the fires from hell. He learned that quickly and, biting his tongue, curtly nodded.

She leaned over him and unlocked his right hand. He watched himself flex the fingers and twist his wrist, enjoying the new freedom. However, she grabbed his hand in a death-lock and brutally peeled away the soiled bandages. He bit back a cry as the healing scabs were ripped off, only to bleed again.

However, the demon-girl didn't seem to notice the damage she inadvertently cause. Instead she reached over to her cart and pulled off a white plastic bottle.

Rin swallowed hard, his nerves fluttering in his stomach. "What's that?" he asked. When she didn't reply, he asked in a louder voice, "What's that?"

"Cleansing alcohol," was her curt reply. She flicked her violet eye to him. "This will sting," she declared, and before Rin could move she poured a decent amount over his battered wrist.

Rin bit into his tongue against the scream of pain, tasting blood as it felt like his skin was being seared like a brand, bubbling white as the alcohol killed the bacteria. He strained his one arm against its chains as he tried to jerk his other arm away, but she held it firm; he idly noted that she was many times stronger than he was, something that caught him off guard. Within moments she had bandaged the wrist with practiced efficiency, and moments more had rechained it to the bed.

However, when she reached for his other wrist, he snapped his arm back so fast he could almost hear the bone scraping bone underneath its skin. "Don't touch me," he hissed again. "Go away."

"I am supposed - "

"I don't care!" Rin screamed. "Go away!"

The demon-girl blinked at him. "I have orders," she stated, as if this answered all of his questions.

Orders? From who? Rin briefly wondered, but he put those thoughts aside. "Well, I order you to go away," he hissed, blue eyes flashing. He could feel his flame stir inside of him like a wild thing, screaming for the desperate release he couldn't give.

The demon-girl blinked her violet eye then, to his surprise, bowed. "As you wish, your majesty," she said in a soft voice. Then, without another word, grabbed her cart and began to wheel it away.

Zane watched her go and, when the door finally closed, took a shuddering breath. His frayed nerves, worn thin by the week of constant stress and uncertainty, had almost reached their breaking point. He could feel it and wasn't sure if he could handle another day of this . . .

His eyes burned and he squeezed them shut, forcing back the tears. Not here. He couldn't wouldn't show any sign of weakness here.

What would Yukio do? he asked himself, forcing himself to be calm as his heart hammered inside of his chest. Well, Yukio would already have an escape plan. Maybe a dozen.

"Heck," Rin whispered with a choked laugh, "he wouldn't even be in this mess in the first place. He w-would have just sh-shot Satan and . . ." His voice trailed off as an icy tear slid down his cheek, then another.

He bit his lip and covered his head with his arm. Oh god.

Did the music help?

Anyway. Writing this depressed me, so I'll keep this short. The 'demon-girl' has a name, but you won't find out until later. She's also my OC but no worries; she isn't a Mary Sue Ima-fall-in-love-with-you OC. I won't go into her back story or details since that will be explained later.

Crystal de Angelo: I'm actually german haha

SuperiorDimwit: thanks for letting me know about the story's atmosphere :) as the author, it's really hard to tell since I know what I'm going for . . . but people might feel totally different. Thank you so much for everything!

Emily Blue Paw: heheheheh :3 by the way, have you ever read the Warriors series? Your name reminded me of the names of the characters.

That's all. Everyone who reviewed, you are amazing people 3 and everyone else, please review! It improves the story and quality of the later chapters, I promise :) not to mention that a lot of you have good ideas and I could incorporate some into this story (if it fits, it ships!)