A/N: This is where the torture starts, and I'm going to be very detailed from now on. Viewer discretion is advised.
Yang awoke with a start in a dimly lit room. All she could think about was that every part of her body ached. Remembering the fight with Neo, she grimaced. The last thing she remembered before blacking out was Neo standing over her. She tried to dull the pain with some of her Aura, to no avail. My Aura's too low... She closed her eyes, accepting the pain. It brought back memories from her childhood, before she had learned to control her Aura. She used to brawl with the other kids in school, much to her father's chagrin.
Tears formed at the corners of her eyes as she remembered memories past the happy ones. She tried to wipe them away...
What the hell...? She couldn't move. Looking down, she saw restraints on her wrists, bolting her to a table. Looking further down, she saw the same restraints on her ankles as well. Remembering what had happened prior, she struggled with all her might to break free from the restraints.
"Ah, you're awake," a familiar voice, raspy and hoarse, sang out. "Good, let's get started."
"Oh dear..." Neo said, coming into Yang's field of vision, taking the narrow elongated knife out from her parasol. "Poor girl, you think you can break free? That's so cute..."
"Let me GO, you sadistic bitch!" Yang roared, her eyes turning red, but no Aura to back that temper up. Neo smiled evilly, and slashed at Yang's midsection.
/
Many years before, Roman had run with quite a few gangs as little more than a mercenary or hired brains. Neo had been a small girl, but thanks to his guidance, she'd gained invaluable skills for an urchin to have. The most prudent of which being: how to torture. One of Roman's favourite sayings during that time was "Mind, body, soul."
When Neo asked what he meant by that, he explained: "See, kiddo, it's like this. People can be broken very, very easily. Even men like me. The key to breaking a man is to attack their life. Physical torture, ha! That's just the start of it. In order to break someone, you must first attack their body. Usually, they'll beg and beg and beg for you to stop. But when their body breaks, then you attack their mind. Usually by this point, they'll have given you nearly all the information you'd have wanted and then some, but if you wanted to truly break them, then next you go after their soul. That's how you can turn them over.
There are several ways to break someone's soul, and I don't care to list them off in present company. Honestly, I hope you never come to that point, kid. But it's there, if you ever need it."
/
Neo gleefully hacked away at Yang's body, leaving shallow, but incredibly painful, gashes all over. The chest, stomach, arms, legs... Neo was swinging her misericorde seemingly without a care, yet actually being very methodical in where she struck. Every cut was in a non-fatal spot, and was cut with such precision that it took a few seconds for blood to spill out of them. The sounds of Yang's screaming voice was like music to her ears.
Yang's clothes were in tatters. Her stomach and torso were a bloody mess. Yet, the wounds were beginning to heal themselves.
"Ah, your Aura's returned." Neo observed.
Seething with pain and rage, Yang growled, "When I get out of here, I'm going to FUCKING KILL YOU!"
"Tsk tsk," Neo chided. "That's no way to talk to your Mistress, now is it?" She waved the knife an inch from Yang's face. Yang recoiled in fear.
"Let's get one thing straight, Blondie. You're here for my amusement. I can kill you any time I like." She demonstrated this by methodically cutting along three of the already-healing gashes, reopening the wounds and spilling more blood. She brought the knife up to her lips and licked the blood off. Yang's eyes flickered between red and lavender. Good. She's losing control over her Semblence...
Yang was done screaming. She wasn't going to give this psycho any more satisfaction. Right now, she needed to concentrate on blood loss. With what little Aura she had regained, she directed it to the more prominent of the many gashes crisscrossing her body.
"Now, you will do as I say so I don't have to..." Neo lightly danced her blade along Yang's cheek, "...mark this pretty face again. Hmm?"
"What do you want from me?" Yang cried out. "Revenge?"
"Nothing so trivial as that. I just want to break you." Neo laughed, giggling at first, then building into gradual manic laughter. Perfect, she thinks I'm just a crazy bitch. Neo sheathed the long, narrow knife inside her parasol, then produced a scalpel from the pocket of her cargo pants. Running her finger along the blade (quite sharp, as it sliced her finger open easily), she locked eyes with Yang, whose eyes widened in fear as she realised what was about to happen.
"So, Blondie, where do ya want it?" Neo twirled the knife between her bleeding fingers, more for dramatic effect than anything, as her Aura began to heal her finger.
"Fuck you, psycho!" Yang struggled against her restraints, again to no avail. A low hiss escaped her lips as she tried and failed to escape her bonds. "Let me go!"
"I did warn you..." Neo said in a singsong tone, before bringing the scalpel to Yang's face and slicing her chin. Yang howled in agony, and tried to twist away from the blade. "Uh-uh, Yang. I wouldn't move if I were you. I shudder to think what you might lose if my hand just...slips," she brought the knife up to Yang's eye level, "You wouldn't look so pretty with an eyepatch, I bet..."
Yang forced herself to stay perfectly still while Neo danced the blade along her face. It was true, she didn't want to lose an eye, and she certainly didn't want her face to be cut again. Through the searing agony, her mind whirled. Why can't I break these restraints? From all I've endured, my Semblance should allow me to-
"In case you still haven't figured it out by now, I'll go ahead and tell you. These aren't normal restraints. They drain Aura," Neo giggled mockingly. "I know about your Semblance. How much of a masochist must you be, I wonder, to have an ability that makes you stronger the more punishment your body takes?"
Blood dripped down from the gash on Yang's chin, barely staunched from her ever-dwindling Aura. Every part of her body hurt. Her chest and torso were a bloody mess of criss-crossing gashes and marks. Her arms were marked up and down, though the bleeding had already stopped.
"See, I left you just enough Aura to clot the wounds. I don't want you to bleed out before I've had my fun, Yang."
Yang's head hung low. Her strength was dwindling almost as fast as her Aura. The blood loss was beginning to get to her; she could feel herself being beckoned into unconsciousness. The world around her spun, Neo's gloating voice became distant, and gradually, she could hear, nor see, no more.