Yo! New chapter, but first, reviews~

Night's Shadows- You bet your sweet anime things are getting intense! And thanks so much for being there, Shadow, or should I say… WOLF! *Dramatic music* Ok, I'm done.

This chapter had mentions of torcher and self-harm, so if that disturbs you or is a trigger, know that you are reading at your own risk.

Please do not say I did not warn you.

Anyway, next chapter~

Adian woke to a pounding headache and the feeling of cold chains around his wrist and ankles, keeping him from moving around. A quick check told him that he was gagged and everything hurt, from the new bruises on his neck to the…bleeding…cuts…wait…

Oh, crap.

Adian glanced down and confirmed that, yes; he was bleeding heavily from a lot of lacerations all down his chest and arms. And, worst of all, he was bleeding all over his favorite shirt! Granted, it was his only shirt and it was already torn and tattered beyond redemption, but, hey! A guy has to have a hobby, right? Besides, there was a really cool tear in it that looked like the Star Trek symbol… Adian liked that cut…

Anyway, on to more pressing matters, but really, Adian thought to himself, What could be more pressing than a Star Trek symbol tear?

Adian didn't even know if his thoughts were serious anymore. Not that they ever were.

He glanced around the room. It was dank and dark, so he couldn't really see anything, but what he did see disturbed him deeply. The walls of the room were made of brick and dark spots covered them. Dark spots that looked terribly like bloodstains. There were also more chains dangling from the ceiling, and one even had a rather fresh looking skeleton dangling from it.

Adian promptly lost the measly contents of his stomach. Luckily, he managed to barf a few centimeters in front of him, so it didn't hit his shirt. Instead it landed with a wet plop in front of his elevated legs.

There was a sharp clank of metal on metal and the sound of rock being scraped against. There were two sounds of feet, one limping along with an uneven gate, and the other stepping lightly across the ground.

One person stepped into Adian's line of sight and his eyes widened to the size of dinner plates and his jaw dropped open.

"M…Missy?!"

The rabbit-eared teen smirked evilly. She didn't look the same.

Her blond hair had thinned and now contained strokes of red, running down like blood. Her blue eyes had emptied and had shrunk to pin points. The white rabbit ears adorning her head had ripped and torn in many places, the right one almost cut off completely. But that wasn't the disturbing part.

She had cut her mouth wide open.

Missy had taken a knife to her lips and cut horizontal slits at the sides of her mouth. The wound was still bleeding slightly and the vital fluid ran down her chin, drip, drip, dripping onto the floor.

"Surprise~ Bet you thought you'd seen the last of me~" She cackled, insanity oozing from every pore on her body.

"W…what happened to you…?" Adian whispered, shuddering.

"What happened? WHAT HAPPENED?!" Missy screeched, anger burning from her soulless eyes. "You happened! You and your friends! You took him away from me! So, now, I took something of theirs! I took you and what was rightfully mine!"

By now Adian had completely frozen in fear. This was not Missy. This was something… something wrong. Inhuman. Strange.

"Claude." Missy suddenly said sharply. The other man that had entered with her joined her.

He was muscle-bound and had close-shaved black hair. There was a long scar running the length of his face and part of his mouth was ripped, showing teeth. His legs were mismatched. One was metal and the other… the other was that of a donkey. The cloven hoof pounded the ground and cracked stone.

Adian had heard of Claude.

He was the warrior of the Fireclan team.

And he had no mercy.

#$#$

Vector spat out blood and glared at the rat of a man in front of him. The man- Robert- had a pinched face and tiny little eyes with gray hair. His companion had short blond hair in two spiky pigtails and a crazy smirk.

They were both part of the Fireclan team. He was the spy and she the sniper.

They had come in with Missy-or what used to be Missy. She had come up to him and caressed his face, whispering sweet nothings in his ear as he struggled to get away. But the chains held him fast and he could not escape when she pressed cold lips to his.

Vector snarled through bloodstained lips and growled, "Why are you doing this? Why do you follow her?"

Robert's smile grew ever larger and Vector was horribly reminded of Gadget, only this man was not Gadget, and he had every intention of hurting Vector.

"Why, you ask? Simply because I couldn't pass up the chance to experiment on new subjects, and our dear, dear leader was simply delighted to help! Now hold still, and this wont hurt a bit~ Well, it wont hurt me, that is!" He moved closer with his scalpel and probe, and started to cut down Vector's chest.

Vector screamed. He screamed and screamed and screamed until he could scream no longer. By then, there was a deep, long laceration pouring out blood. Just as Robert was about to begin again, the girl stopped him and shook her head slightly. "We don't want Missy getting angry at us for harming her prize."

Robert backed away, muttering, "Of course, of course." He packed up his things and looked over at the girl. "Well, what should we do?"

The girl's smile seemed impossibly wide. "Well, Claude is about to start, is he not? We'll just wait for that, let him listen, let him feel that he is completely useless, that he cannot save his friend~" She cackled.

"What do you mean? Who else is here?" Vector shouted at the duo. They simply shushed him and turned expectantly to the door.

Out of morbid curiosity, Vector turned his head as well and listened.

It started out faint, then grew ever louder until it echoed in his ears, over and over and over.

"NO! No, stop, please! STOP! It hurts, it hurts! HELP ME! SOMEONE HELP ME!" There was a sound like leather hitting flesh and the screams started anew.

And Vector knew who it was. "ADIAN! What are you doing to him?" Vector shouted at the door. Then he turned to the two standing in front of him. "What are they doing to my friend?!" He let out a guttural growl.

"Oh, I don't know. There are so many things that Claude could be doing! But it sounds like he's using his whip. He's always had a liking for that thing! I don't blame him, though~ Barbed on the end and electric if he so chooses~" The sniper giggled, lost in her fantasies.

Robert said nothing but every once in a while he would laugh quietly, and all Vector could do was hang there and listen to the pained pleads for help that was coming from no one.

#$#$

By the time Claude had finished, Adian was sobbing and shivering violently. His body was covered in cuts ranging from large to small and burns smoked, and he caught the smell of burning flesh coming from them.

Claude got in one last strike, but by now, Adian was all but numb to the pain. Then Claude left, leaving him alone with his thoughts, which wasn't much better.

'Why did no one come? Why am I alone? I don't want to be alone. I DON'T WANT TO BE ALONE! Someone help me, someone find me, some one kill me! It hurts so bad, why does it hurt so much? Why, why, why? What did I do to deserve this? Why, why, why?'

Adian took a deep, shuddering breath and struggled to calm down. He stared at the ground and timed the drops of blood and tears, marking where they landed and tried to pull his mind to somewhere safe.

He was with his friends and there were all sitting around a large oak tree, laughing and smiling at a joke he just told. Vector pulled out Blizzard and started to tinker with her gears. Hunter and Shade wrestled playfully on the ground while Gadget and Sammy watched and placed bets. Sky lay down on the ground and peered up at the braches of the oak, swaying in the breeze. James had gathered a bunch of little rocks and was in the middle of constructing a tower.

Adian felt a grin split his face and ran to join them. Only, he couldn't move his feet. He tried calling out, but his voice wouldn't work. Suddenly the picture was splattered with blood and his friends were dead, eyes unseeing.

Missy rounded the tree and cackled madly. She looked straight at him, seeming to say, "Look! Look how weak you are! You couldn't even lift a finger to help your own friends! Pathetic, pathetic, pathetic!" Her eyes seemed to swallow him whole, the blood dripping from her mouth filled his ears until it was all he could hear, and he was falling, falling, falling.

There was no end, no bottom, no stop. It hurt, it hurt, it hurt.

"No, no, no! Stop stop stop-"

And he jerked awake.

Adian smiled sardonically. Looked like there was no safety, even in the realm of his mind.

The ache from his wounds pierced his side and he sighed.

He just wished it would all end.

Done! Hope it wasn't too short, hope it raised some questions and hope didn't lose me any reviewers!

I know it was a bit dark, but the next chapter will be lighter, I promise! Which, you should know by now, amounts to about zilch…

I was simply in a rather dark mood when this was written!

I have also deiced that I really like writing from Adian's POV! I don't really know why, but there just seems like so much I can do with his character! Kinda strange, but, oh well!

Anyway, please comment with the little button down there!