Woah, long chapter. And late. Very, very late. The rest of what I have to say can wait until the end.

I think I've warned you enough now, so I'll drop the warnings at the start.

When the smiling demon returned, Kairi was huddled in the corner, hurting, exhausted and terrified.

After he'd left the night before, she'd crawled into the corner, bloodied and broken, and hidden in the safety of her arms. She'd cried. A lot. She'd cried until there were no more tears. She'd cried herself to what should have been asleep. But she hadn't slept. This place wasn't designed for sleep. It was a place of pain and torment. There wasn't a shred of comfort to be had here. The mattress was lumpy and hard. The blanket scratched at the skin. And then there was the light. It wasn't much when you're just living under it. The flickering. But, try and sleep under it. She was confident it was on purpose at this point, that was about the only thing she was confident about in her immediate future. The flickering seemed random, a minute or so of uninterrupted light here, a few seconds of blissful darkness there, but it kept you on guard. Always waiting for the next change, never able to relax. Kept cruelly in the realm of consciousness she was forced to keep living the pain and utter terror of her rape. She couldn't remember exactly what had happened. But the emotional content was enough to make her clutch at her knees with clawed hands.

Here in this place she felt so helpless and vulnerable. She had managed maybe an hour of sleep all night, but had awoken in a cold sweat, what felt like moments later to the hell that was her reality. And while she was awake, her eyes remained fixed on the door, through the cage, at the top of the stairs. And in the few minutes her mind let her forget, she could only think of Sora. Sora who was probably frantic with worry. Sora who had no idea where she was. Beautiful, loving, warm Sora. Who she missed more than anything. And then as if to rub in her fall further, she was suddenly hit with the intense memory of her warmth that morning. If it was indeed that morning, maybe it was yesterday morning or three months ago. Time was meaningless in this room. There was no indication of it's passage, nor any need to keep track of it. Only the pressing weight of a seeming eternity of fear in anticipation of pain.

Finally, the door at the top of the stairs swung open. To Kairi's surprise she felt more relief than fear. The anticipation had come to hold far greater pain than the actual event. Down once more came the demon in the mask who walked like a man. In one hand he held a red plastic bucket. In the other, a black duffel bag. Again, hope reared it's bitch of a head. She knew deep down he was going to hurt her again. Hope told her that he might not, given that his hands were full. She was beginning to realise that hope wasn't necessarily good.

Once more he undid the cage, and locked it behind him. She could barely contain her fear, letting out small squeaks of terror, and moaning "Please don't hurt me, please don't hurt me,". Huddling in the corner, clutching herself, she must have made a pitiful sight indeed. If her demon could feel pity. Then something unexpected happened. Instead of going for her he placed his two burdens by the cage door and walked around to a dark area of the room she hadn't really seen before. She just noticed there was a man sized gap between the cage and the wall, leading to a dark space. He entered. A few seconds later he emerged, dragging a simple chair behind him, a small black metal number with a white plastic seat. He left the chair, back towards her and went back to the stuff he'd brought with him. He retrieved the bucket, and placed it on the floor between her and the chair, inside her "leash" range, her effective living space.

"Here, clean yourself up," His first words to her caught her by surprise, and she flinched as if struck, before realising what had happened. She lifted her head slightly from between her knees and looked at him. His voice was absurdly out of kilter to his overall presence. It was soothing, calming, full of compassion. An angel's voice from the mouth of the devil. The overall effect was very disorientating. He sat down on the chair in reverse, leaning on the back with his arms and watched her, the painted eyes of the mask watching her unblinkingly. She looked at the bucket, but made no move.

"You're going to want to do it while it's still warm," He said plainly. "I won't hurt you until after you're done."

His voice was so soft and beautiful, Kairi found it hard to disbelieve. She eyed him suspiciously, it was impossible to tell if he was telling the truth. It occurred to her that is he wanted to rape her that badly, he would have done it already. Hope surged through her anew, she was beginning to believe she might escape unscathed. Slowly she stood up, stretching her aching and cramped muscles, and furtively, as if she couldn't believe what was happening, walked over to the bucket. It was half-full of water, with soap bubbles in it. Floating inside, was a sponge. Conscious of his eyes on her, she bent over and picked up the sponge. She squeaked when her hand touched the water. It could only have been lukewarm from his description, but fresh from a long, cold night of terror, it felt hot enough to scald her. Her hand lingered in the bucket savouring the warmth. Then, without ceremony, she quickly and efficiently began to scrub herself with the sponge. A lot of dirt came off. She had no idea how she'd got so damn dirty. And with it, warmth seeped back into her bones. It felt amazing. She forgot that he was watching for a couple of minutes of bliss, brought on by a simple pleasure. She especially scrubbed hard between her legs, the blood, and dried semen washed away in what was an almost religious experience. But all too soon, the sponge bath was over, and she stood before him, naked, clean and now shivering from the water and the cold. Without speaking, he reached into the duffel bag, and threw something at her, Kairi flinched away instinctively. It hit the floor in front of her. It was sea blue towel. She prodded it with her toe as if it might bite her. The towel remained inert. She picked it up, nervously and wrapped herself in it for a moment, it was wonderfully soft. She dried herself with it, and then unsure what to do with it, she dropped it to the floor. She knew she wasn't allowed to keep it.

"Keep that close, you might need it," Again the angel decreed, with what sounded like indifference.

"W-why?" She forced out through trembling lips,

He paused for a few seconds, she imagined whatever it was behind the mask smiling, she wondered what kind of smile it was.

"Well, it all depends on how you answer,"

"Answer what?" He didn't answer her, instead he started fishing around in the black bag, she heard a clanking which turned her blood cold for a moment. She saw the barest flash of silver as he stuffed whatever it was into his pocket. Then he got up and dragged the chair towards her. The noise it made was painful to her ears. He eventually placed the chair in the effective centre of her "tether space", turning it away from the wall

"Sit," He said simply, pointing to the chair. She hesitated, knowing whatever transpired next would not be pleasant. Despite the minor kindness he had displayed this morning, she was still his prisoner. He had raped her yesterday, and she was still alive. He may not have been the murdering kind of rapist, but that was as far as her luck went as to the safety of her body in this place. She hovered indecisively, next to the fallen towel.

"This is the moment you learn my most important rule," He seemed to have anticipated her reluctance and prepared speech, taking a step towards her and grabbing her arm in a vice-like grip. "Most of the time, I will offer you a choice. Two ways to do things, the painful way," At this point he grabbed her hair and yanked it cruelly back, "or the more painful way," His voice dropped into a menacing hiss more reflective of his true nature, "I'm going to hurt you, you need to accept this. But if you listen and obey, I can be lenient. Disobey me and I'll destroy you, understand?"

"Y-yes," Kairi stuttered out, biting back the tears she could already feel at the corners of her eyes.

He shoved her forward by the back of her head so she stumbled and almost fell. He chain clanked wildly.

"Sit," He repeated, back to his angelic voice, pointing once more at the chair.

She obeyed. Now she was closer to the chair she saw could see it was a modified design. The original seat had been removed, and replaced with a toilet seat. She wondered why. But her place was not to wonder. Her place was to sit. So she sat. The seat was warm, from when he had been watching her. Her harms hung by her sides, and her back settled against the simple metal bar arrangement that formed the back of the chair.

"Stay," He commanded, and so she did not move. Even though her compulsion was to turn her head as he wandered, without haste or hesitation, around behind her. Then in quick succession she felt one of her arms grabbed, near the wrist, and wrenched around behind her back. Then the other. Kairi thought she heard, very softly, sound of metal on metal throughout the maybe 10 seconds this took. But she wasn't sure until she tried to move her wrists afterwards and found them held by metal bands. Handcuffs. She didn't try to struggle though, it would have been pointless and his threat still rang in her ears.

Almost absent-mindedly, she reflected that he'd been really quick with them, he'd had a lot of experience cuffing people before. She wasn't sure what that meant yet though. Meanwhile, he'd already moved on, she felt something on her ankles, and looked down to see rope around one other legs, tying it to the chair leg. He wasn't as good with knots, so this took a bit longer. He tied them thoroughly, and when she looked down, between her legs, she could just make out that the rope was being threaded through holes in the chair leg that looked cut especially for the job. No chance of slipping free. He seemed to have thought everything out. She fell into despair. Whoever had her, knew what he was doing. She would just have to play along and hope she lived to see Sora again. She really hoped she'd see Sora again. Then she mentally composed herself, trying to keep her thoughts on the present. Hope wouldn't do her any good if she couldn't figure out how to play this creature's game.

Finally, when she was bound to the chair securely. He reached into his bag of tricks and pulled out a riding crop. She shivered, this wasn't good.

"I'm glad you didn't struggle, it really is a shame to harm something as pretty as you, but what that which must be done, will be done. Now, as to the nature of your predicament and the immediate future, we are going to play a game. Well, you're going to play a game," He reached out with the riding crop and tapped her on the right side of her neck. "And we're going to play it every day until you can play it perfectly, am I understood?"

She nodded her head, fearfully in response. He slowly traced the tip of the riding crop down her neck, over the line of her collar bone and onto the sensitive flesh of her right breast.

"Here is how the game is played, I will ask you twenty questions, you will answer twenty questions, every time you get one wrong..." He tapped her breast with the leather tip of the crop, "you get one lash. If you don't answer you get one lash. If you hesitate you get one lash. If you get it right, we move on to the next question. If you get it wrong, I'll ask the question again. After I ask you twenty questions, you may ask me one. I will always answer truthfully for your situation, but what is true for you, may not be true for others. I recommend you choose your questions carefully, do you understand?"

She hesitated, absorbing the situation. Her thoughts were interrupted by a stinging pain in her right forearm. She squealed in pain and fright.

"Y-yes," she got out through clenched teeth. Tears formed in her eyes. He'd hit her hard.

"Good, we will play the game three times, every time we play the price of failure increases. The game will change as we continue. Finally, you should know that the game is for your benefit and not mine. It is your education. I do not enjoy playing the game, but in time you may enjoy it. It is your fault that we have to play the game. Are you ready?"

"Yes," She said, promptly. She was sick to her stomach. This man, in spite of his angelic voice, was obviously a sadist. She stared defiantly up at the obscene parody of human emotion that seemed to stare back. She was confused and scared, he seemed to flip-flop from kindness to sadism at will.

"Alright, let's start easy. What is your name?"

"Kairi Lamb."

A second later there was a flash of movement and she felt a stinging on her forearm. Her teeth clenched and she writhed against her bonds.

"What is your name?

"I told you, Kairi Lamb." Another flash, more pain.

"Let's try again, what is your name?"

"Kairi Lamb." She shouted. He whipped her again. Tears formed in her eyes.

"What is your name?"

"Kairi Lamb." She said rather uncertainly. Again, she felt the sting of the crop, this time on her other arm.

"What is your name?"

"What do you want from me?" She tried. The whip again.

"What is your name?"

"What do you want from me? She yelled back. This time he stung her upper arm.

"What is your name?"

"What do you want?" She whispered. Her upper arm stung again.

"What is your name?"

She hesitated. He stung her.

"What is your name?"

She couldn't think, she wanted to say something but couldn't. He stung her anyway.

"What is your name?"

Tears flowed down her face. What did he want her to say? How could she make the pain stop? Before she could think of anything, he's struck her on the shoulder.

"What is your name? He just kept repeating it, every time his voice got a little louder.

A sob wracked though her body. He stung her.

"What is your name?"

Her eyes blurred with tears as she looked up at him. She said nothing, he hit her again.

"What is your name?"

She started sobbing. He stung her right hip.

"What is your name?"

"K-Kairi Lamb." She tried one last time, weakly. It was a sad moment in time. It would be the last time she heard those words spoken aloud for a long time.

"WHAT IS YOUR NAME?" He was yelling now. She couldn't think straight, everything came through a haze of pain and fear.

"I don't know what you want me to say." She complained in a broken voice. Another violent flash and she felt the bite of the whip.

"WHAT IS YOUR NAME?"

"What do you want me to say?" The whip bit into her right flank.

"WHAT IS YOUR NAME?"

"I don't know." It burst out of her mouth before she could even think. She just wanted it to end. Her sobbing became uncontrollable. Another strike to her flank.

"WHAT IS YOUR NAME?"

"I don't know, I don't know, I don't know." She babbled, he loomed over her. This time she screamed as he struck her breast.

"What is your name?"

She just cried and cried. A scream escaped her as the whip bit her breast again. And then she cried some more, jerking and writhing in her bonds. After some time, she realised the whip hadn't struck. She looked up at him, he had his hands on his hips and the grotesque smile looked back.

"It's your turn," He said patiently.

His voice was a mockery. How could it come from a man so vile?

She already knew what she was going to ask. How could she not?

"What's my name?" She said in a small broken voice.

"That," He replied, "is a trick question. You don't have a name. Names are for people. You aren't a person."

She felt immense sadness wash over her. But she found she'd run out of room for despair. She just listened with her head hung, straining her bonds.

"Right," he said cheerfully, "on to round two,"

She nodded, feeling overwhelming defeat. She'd do anything not to feel that whip again. But the game didn't work that way.

"What is your name?"

"I don't have one," She said miserably.

"Good. Next question, what are you?" That angellic voice seemed to contain more than a hint of venom.

Kairi whimpered pitifully.

Wow. That was long. And most of that was only plot framework. I probably should split this into two, but I won't. Yes. So. I don't know what to say. This was really hard to write. Especially the first part. The second part I've known for a very long time was going to happen. All stories need exposition. Unfortunately, my initial set up requires a wall of text. And it's in the same chapter as another less wally-wall of text. 6000 words. I'm tired now.

Actually, I'm going to split this chapter into two. This is now part one..

Also, shout out to Paradise Avenger, without whom I doubt this story would have ever got any reviews at all.

So, yeah, tired.

Read, Review and most importantly: Enjoy!

Yours Sincerely

Everhopeful83