Everyone, I'm so sorry for taking so long to post this! With the end of my summer vacations and the restart of college, I really haven't had much time to write. Also, with me having to get back in track with a sleep schedule that doesn't involve sleeping until 2pm, I haven't had the energy either. XP Still, I'm very sorry.

And THANK YOU SO MUCH pitou77, Y A D Y– C H A N, doudouchinois, Sailor Pandabear, AtM0sFears, BK-201, Sol, Mayu, Undersc0re and AlisterSeiyu for your reviews! They really helped me to make time to write this chapter. They also made me extremely happy! =.= *.*

WARNING: gruesome descriptions ahead. As a matter of fact, I'll up this fic's rating to M, because I'm going to talk about some heavy stuff here. (I'll put an warning before it and, if you are under 18 and/or does not wish to read it, I ASK you to please skip it).

chaconne: a slow, stately instrumental work in duple meter employing variations.

Music suggestion: The High Road - Three Days Grace

The first thing Senritsu noted when she woke up were the loud heartbeats and screams surrounding her; that gruesome orchestra was back to torment her at full-force and it was more than enough to make her heart speed up its tempo. The second thing was that she didn't have her flute or Hunter License on her anymore. The third was that she was lying on a hard surface, and unbound – something very weird, considering that she had been caught red-handed by Hei Àn. Brows furrowed in confusion, the small Music Hunter opened her eyes.

She was alone, lying on the floor of a small and poorly lit glass-room, which reminded her of a fish-tank, or even a display case.

As she sat up, Senritsu noticed something that made her heart beat even faster than before: she wasn't wearing her own clothes. In fact, the… thing that adorned her small body was nothing more than a large hospital gown that dragged on the floor beneath her and left her deformed arms completely exposed.

However, the Music Hunter had little time to feel outraged and ashamed by the fact that Hei Àn had someone – or was it himself? – strip her of her clothing, for the heartbeats and screams soon were the focus of her attention once again and, as soon as she raised her eyes to see what exactly was around her, all she could see and feel was horror.

Surrounding her were more glass-rooms. Only they were well lit, very well lit.

All displaying what seemed to be Hei Àn's own show of horrors.

Despite arriving at Jingbei late at night, Feitan had no problems finding a car to drive him to General Hei Àn's den. It was nothing that a sword to the throat couldn't arrange.

So now, as the torturer sat back and waited for his driver to speed through red lights, because his life depended on it, he couldn't help but let his thoughts fly to the man he would face – kill - in a matter of hours: Hei Àn.

Automatically, Feitan's mind summoned images of a bloodied boot pressing his head down on the dirt as sharp and unfeeling eyes stared down at him, daring him to get up again. Not three meters away, he could see another pair of eyes staring at him; wide, tear-stricken and fearful eyes that belonged to a girl lying limp on the mud, unmoving, as men, much older men, did things to her; things Feitan didn't understand at the time.

Then, came images of the girl's lips moving slowly, begging for death. Then, images of those razor-sharp eyes that had been glaring down at him turning away as the boot was raised from his head and walked to the girl's fallen form. Images of those wide and fearful eyes turning glassy and gray as the sound of a gun echoed through the air.

Then, there were only voices in Feitan's head.

"Do not kill the boy. He claims that we are slaving him and his family, that what we give him is hardly enough to survive. Well… let us show him what truly is hard - give him a true challenge in life. Drop him in Meteor City. Let him fight for his survival there."

"Yes, Lieutenant General Hei Àn, sir."

Feitan clenched his fists, fighting to keep his murderous Aura from killing his driver before he reached his destination.

I fighted and I survived, Hei Àn. And I finally come back for you.

"Do you enjoy my projects, Miss Senritsu?"

The Music Hunter had heard when a door opened behind her, allowing determined steps march into her glass prison and heard the question he asked and the name he used. However, she was too horrified by the images before her to acknowledge the General's presence, be it with an answer or even a glance.

At her right, she could see a cell with three men, all slouched on the floor, defeated by life – or, more specifically, by the man standing behind her. One was clearly missing his right arm. Another seemed to have his legs replaced by twisted branches that could never support his weight. The third one's more prominent feature was his condition of cachexia; only seconds later did she notice that the lower half of his face seemed to have melted off, leaving him with a skin-covered excavation where his mouth should be. In that cell, Senritsu also could see some work-out instruments and a mini-fridge, both seeming untouched by the three men. From those men, she heard heartbeats full of despair.

"They had all of their Aura nodes opened forcefully with Nen. As you can see, they did not manage to control the leaking of Aura fast enough and suffered the consequences of their failure." Hei Àn explained calmly. "And so far, they have done nothing to overcome them."

WARNING. HORRIFYING FACT STARTS NOW.

Senritsu didn't respond; she just turned her head to the cell at her left, which was much larger and full of learning toys. In there, she could see something that she was sure would haunt her for the rest of her life: a skinny, little girl – no older than 11 – walking around her cell, slowly as if she was relearning the movements. Something she probably was; her limbs had all been cut off, although they were replaced by very advanced prosthetics. Senritsu also could see cochlear implants on her head and acid-scars on her eyes, that showed the girl had close to none eyesight left. From her heartbeat, strangely, she heard only determination and gratitude.

"Believe me or not, that one was not my doing." Hei Àn began, voice and heartbeat completely neutral. "Some black market doctor found out about my peculiar projects here and promised me he had something that I would enjoy greatly. Curious as I am, I went to his home to see what it was. There, I found five naked girls hanging on his bedroom ceiling by some silicone covers they had over their members' stumps. Lolita Sex Dolls, he called them. His business was to get children from poor families and mutilate them, removing their limbs, vocal cords, teeth, eyesight and hearing, before selling them as sex dolls."

Senritsu couldn't take it anymore, she hunched over and vomited. The General waited patiently until she was done before continuing.

"Unfortunately for him, my perversion – yes, I know I am perverted, Miss Senritsu – is not one of a sexual kind. My pleasure lies in watching people suffer and hit the absolute rock bottom of their lives, then stand up again. It fascinates me how resilient human beings can be in the face of adversity. Turning them into defenceless and dependent creatures is the very opposite of what I strive. That doctor's work did nothing but anger me and it shames to admit it but, at seeing children being stripped away of any chance of achieving their true potential like that, I lost my temper. Before I knew it, I had ordered Huo Chieh to kill the doctor and bring the girls here. I gave them the best chances to overcome their difficulties with prosthetics, cochlear implants, new teeth, teachers and stimuli for them to develop their skills. Unfortunately, four of them were not strong enough to survive their trials and soon died of inanition. However, Dasha over there made it all worth it. Amongst everyone in this basement- no, in this mansion, she is, by far, the one who has suffered the most and yet there she is walking around on her own two feet. Tell me if it is not the most amazing thing in the world? To see someone go through so much and yet stand up again?"

By the time Hei Àn had finished, his usually unfeeling voice had acquired that chilling glee that made Senritsu want to curl up in fear. But she was too shocked to express said fear in any way. What she didn't know was if she was more shocked by Hei Àn's perverted sense of pleasure or by the fact that said perversion had actually saved the life of a little girl most would consider far beyond human help.

END OF HORRIFYING FACT.

And so, with nothing to say, Senritsu turned her neck once more, moving to the cell in the middle, wherein laid many gruesome and blackened forms. Forms that she would confound with burned corpses, was it not for the slow and rhythmic expansion and reduction of their thoraxes showing that they were, in fact, alive. Alive and screaming in agony and hate.

"Those have listened to a special melody, just a week ago. One that I am sure you heard about."

"The Sonata of Darkness." The whispered words were out of Senritsu's mouth before she could think.

"Indeed." Hei Àn confirmed. "It is the reason you came here, is it not?"

"Yes."

Then, Hei Àn took a step towards the Music Hunter and grabbed her deformed arm.

"You have listened to it." The General spoke in a voice that held undeniable awe; his usual calm and cold heartbeat accelerated in excitement. "You survived it. And you are living now – not just surviving like those things who struggle so hard and barely can take a breath – you are living like a normal person. No, like an extraordinary person. You are both a musician and a Hunter. You do more than live, Senritsu, you create and you hunt. You surpass barriers every human faces when creating music from nothing. You surpass the barriers most regular humans will never know even exist every time you use Nen. And you surpassed barriers most Hunters will never face by confronting the Sonata of Darkness and surviving it, living past it."

By the time his speech was over, the General's fingers were digging so deep into the flesh of Senritsu's arm that they started to draw blood. The Hunter tried to protect her body with Ken, but noticed she wasn't able to use her Aura while in the room; she was being forced into a state of Zetsu. Regarding physical strength alone, Senritsu's small body was completely vulnerable to Hei Àn's powerful frame, so she had no choice but endure the purple and painful handprint mark she was sure had formed on her arm, beneath the man's hand.

"And what do you intend to do to me?" The Music Hunter asked, doing her best to ignore the heartbeats and screams coming from around her and focus on the calm rhythm of Hei Àn's heart.

"First of all: study you, of course." The General spoke in his unfeeling voice and let go fo her arm, completely ignoring the fear that became clear in the soft woman's expression. "I want to understand what changes - besides the obvious physical ones – listening to the Sonata of Darkness have brought upon you. Then, it will be your choice."

The small woman couldn't help but widen her eyes at that. He was telling the truth.

"You may choose to remain here in my mansion, working for me as my personal musician and, depending on your skills, my bodyguard."

"Or?"

The General didn't answer her but his heartbeat did. It was cold and murderous, and it showed how ready the man was to dispose of her life on a moment's notice.

"I see…" Senritsu let out, feeling her arms and legs tremble in fear.

This was it. She wouldn't be able to destroy the remaining solos of the Sonata of Darkness. She wouldn't be able to play side by side with Nocturnal as she had wished since she was a little kid. She wouldn't be able to check up on Kurapika and ensure that her precious friend was happy and not in a self-destructive path for revenge.

She wouldn't be able to listen to Feitan's heartbeat again; would never take the pleasure of listening to its chaotic requiem turn into a not-quite-harmless but still almost peaceful chaconne.

Strangely, at that exact moment she could hear the thief's voice in her head.

"I told so."

Huo Chieh stood guard outside the special facilities, lightening a match, watching its flame shine with a soft glow before it died and it was dark again. Then, he would get another match and repeat the process. He didn't know which he hated the most; the darkness, or the embers' light.

As he repeated the action, again and again, he couldn't keep the memories from coming to him.

Huo Chieh was the son of a prostitute and, as such, spent the first years of his life in a whorehouse. However, contrary to what most believed, he had had a very guarded and innocent childhood. Nothing improper happened when he was in close range, and no client had ever looked or touched him inappropriately. He didn't even know what happened in his home, when a man and a woman got behind closed doors.

He found out when he was 13.

Huo Chieh was supposed to be on kitchen duty that day, but decided to put on the rebellious teenager pose and skipped it, hiding in one of the many empty rooms of his home. As he lied on the bed, thinking of nothing in particular,a feminine moan made its way to Huo Chieh's ears. The voice was particularly familiar.

Alert, the boy jumped to his feet and turned his head from side to side, trying to pinpoint the sound's origin. More moans came and, before the boy knew it, he was standing in front of the room's right wall, looking for the one of the many magic eyes that were all around his home's walls.

The image he saw through it was one he would never erase from his mind.

His mother was naked on the other room, beneath a fat man he had never seen before, and her mouth was open, letting out those loud moans that had disturbed him. The boy didn't know what to feel at seeing that.

However, then the man slapped one of his hands across his mother's face, he knew exactly what he felt: anger, protectiveness and blood lust.

Unfortunately for the boy, someone else had felt his bloodlust as well.

That fat man hovering over his mother was a very important General in Cihan's army and, as such, had an… agent of sorts with him to ensure his safety and, most of all, the confidentiality of his activities in the brothel.

The agent felt young Huo Chieh's killer intent and acted on impulse, knocking the boy out.

Huo Chieh's memories were a little confusing after that.

He remembered his mother crying, begging them not to take him form her. Then, he remembered a fireplace in a dark room.

Then, he remembered hell.

His head was being pushed down inside that dark room's fireplace and, no matter how much he screamed, cried and begged, they – whoever they were - did not let go. The young Huo Chieh felt the flames licking the left of his face and head, burning it with the greatest passion he had seen in his life.

The hell only stopped when a cold voice cut into the room, telling them it was enough, that he would take it from there. Finally free to get away from the flames, Huo Chieh raised his teary eyes to the man to whom the voice belonged.

Standing tall and imposing in the middle of the dark room, illuminated by the fireplace's embers, was the man with the coldest eyes Huo Chieh had ever seen.

"My name is Hei Àn. And you belong to me now."

On that day, Huo Chieh had learned three things that he would carry with him all his life.

Emotions were better left forgotten.

Always know what is happening around you.

Hei Àn was his god.

And it was because of those three things that, as his wide En allowed him to feel the other bodyguards being killed on the mansion's upper levels one by one by a small, uninvited devil, he felt nothing and he did nothing.

Those bodyguards – the people he was supposed to consider companions – meant nothing to him.

He was getting a good amount of information about the small perpetrator's fighting style.

Hei Àn had ordered him to stay put, guarding the black door.

I really hope the chapter was worth the wait. =.=

Sorry again for taking so long!

Kisses,

RedVoid