Author's Note: Hey! I went to my school orientation today. Super excited to go back, but very sad that I will have to update later. I am sorry to inform that it will take most likely days for me to update after the 21st. It pains me to do o, but there is nothing that can be done, forgive me.

P.S. I passed my driver's test! Yay! Only after the third time of trying. Yay! ^^ I'm happy about that. I also burned my foot on my dad's motorcycle! Yay! *sarcasm*

italics are what happened earlier/in the past

Gilbert sat in his car on the shoulder of the road, his head against the steering wheel. He couldn't get Valentin's screams out of his head. The way he begged. It broke his heart, shattered it into millions of tiny shards. What was he going to do? He would never be able to find him in time if he went through every town surrounding this one. Gott fucking dammit! He had to save Valentin, but how? Gilbert slammed his hands on the steering wheel, growling.

"Hello?" Gilbert answered his cell phone angrily. "Where the hell are you?" Aleksander asked from the other end. "I don't fucking know. Who ever took Valentin left a note on the front door, an address. When I got to the place it said, there was another note. They said that they were in the next town over." Gil replied, rubbing the bridge of his nose as he tried to calm down. "Where?!" Aleks asked frantically. "I don't know. There are five other towns around the one the note was in. There's no way of knowing. It could take weeks to comb through each one, and by then, Valentin would be dead." The German explained.

"Fuck." Aleks hissed with a sigh. "I….I got a phone call while I was there. It was Valentin." Gilbert stuttered quietly. "Valentin?" the Bulgarian asked hopefully. "Ja. It wasn't good," Gil started to tear up, his voice shaking, "they hurt him. They hurt him, I heard him scream. I couldn't do anything. Nothing. Valentin's in pain, and I cant do a Damn thing about it!" he shouted the ending of his statement as he tried to hold back tears. Gilbert clenched the phone in his hands, the plastic stressing. He felt so useless. Again, Gilbert rest his head on the steering wheel with a thud and a sigh. "I will find him, Aleks. No matter what, I will fucking find him." He swore, not only to himself, but to Aleksander and Valentin and everyone. He would find Valentin, even if it killed him.

It was dark, around 2:30 in the morning, Fane sleeping soundly in the bed next to Valentin who was still handcuffed to the bed, arms above his head, shirt still unbuttoned. The burns still stung unbearably, the faint throbbing burning never subsiding. Valentin cried silent tears, trying he hardest to keep quiet for fear of waking up Fane. His whole body hurt, his head hurt, his heart hurt. His throat was sore from all the muffled screaming. He didn't know how long he was going to last. So much did he just want to give up, to plead Fane to just kill him. That man would taunt him, taunt him about how he killed his parents, and what he was going to do to Gilbert once he finally caught up with them. That tore Valentin apart. He wouldn't be able to take it if this man did anything to Gilbert. He would do anything to keep that from happening.

"Oh boy~ When you make that face, it reminds me of your mommy right after I killed your Tati." Fane mocked as he held Valentin's now uncuffed hand in his, his other braced against the blonde's elbow. There was no time for Valentin to beg when Fane pushed against the wrong side of his elbow, bending it the wrong way. Valentin let out a gagged scream of pain. Over and over again, Valentin screamed as Fane watched his captive cry out, a smirk of satisfaction on his face.

Fane cuffed Valentin again the way he was before, the boy again crying out in pain as his now broken arm was roughly moved about. "You scream like your mother." Fane retorted distastefully, clicking the cuffs back into place. "You should know how she screams right? I do. Your Tati too." he mocked, an evil grin on his lips. "I know how they scream, and I know how they bleed. You're not too different from them, but I suppose that's expected. You are a Nicolae after all. I wonder if your bother is the same way…but then again, he's a Balakov, not as fun to play with as you." Fane sneered.

Valentin shook his head rapidly. He didn't want to hear this. He didn't want to hear about the murder of his parents as if it was gossip. To hear about his brother being talked about like that. "You know.." Fane trailed off, looking at Valentin from the corner of his eye. "I have been thinking. About your Gilbert." Valentin's heart stopped. No. "Leave Gilbert out of this! He has nothing to do with this, please! You can torture me and you can even kill me now, just please, don't hurt Gilbert!" Vali sobbed, looking at his captor, pleading. "No, no, I've finally decided what I'm going to do. Yes. Oh~ and believe me, you wont like it one bit, but, I sure as hell will."

What could he do? He couldn't fight back, not only was Fane stronger than he was, but he was constantly bound, and by this point he was too injured to do much. Valentin bit back a sob, biting his bottom lip as tears poured down the side of his face, carrying his screams of emotional and physical agony. Thoughts, memories, of his life with Gilbert since leaving for America years ago flooded Valentin's mind; he could see them as if it were a film before his eyes. His heart ached for those simple times, for things to be the way they should, with him back at the castle, wrapped in Gilbert's arms as the slept in their bed. He couldn't even feel his own arms anymore, his hands cold from lack of proper circulation.

Then it clicked in his mind. How in the fuck did he not think of it earlier?! Valentin closed his eyes and moved his index finger on the arm that wasn't broken. He lightly flick his finger in the air in a sideways motion slowly, hearing the soft clicks of the cuffs come undone with each flick. He stopped when Fane stirred in his sleep next to him. When he didn't move again, Valentin continued, watching Fane for any sings of him waking up and seeing what he was attempting. Finally, he was able to free himself of his chains. Valentin got off the bed as quietly and quickly as he could. Slowly, he made his way out of the bedroom, and towards the door.

Just as he reached for the handle, almost touching it, a hand was clasped over his mouth and something sharp against his throat. "And where do you think you're going? Hmm?" Fane hissed in a dangerous whisper, pressing the sharp object to Valentin's bloodstained neck. Valentin squeaked and sobbed in fear, trying to pry the hand away from his face when he felt the sharp object slide over his neck, feeling blood drip down. Valentin's eyes widened. This couldn't be it. It couldn't end like this, not when he was so close. Could it?

Author's Note: Sorry this was so late, I've been busy getting ready for school. And my phone is turning to shit, so I'm also trying to deal with that. I started working on this yesterday, but it was late when I got home from my school orientation, so I didn't get much time. I'm supposed to go to bed at 10:30pm to get used to waking up early and going to bed early for school next week. Its 12:18 am. I'm doing this for you. Because I love you. Have fun with this chapter!