Author's Note: Sorry for not updating, exams or rather prelims. Failed two. Oh well. Looks like I'll have my nose in the books for the rest of the year. Anyway thanks to the people that have read/reviewed this fic, so special thanks to;

Amanita Virosa-Amaranthus- - Hello, thanks for reviewing by the way, hopefully I wasn't too late but schools been hetic (exams, evil things they are) and because I failed a certain exam well I couldn't get on for a while.

Ma.anda - I'm sure you've written that somewhere as well, ah well. Thank you - and hopefully you don't mind another chapter of suspense and rather angst conditions. The next chapter will have a lot in it - there's too many sides to this story, darn! Well thank you for reviewing.

glitteredvixen06 - No pressure, good I have way too many exams and tests, heh heh. (Excuses, excuses), I don't really think that reviews say how good a story is. (Even when I go read, as long as it sounds good then I'll read.) Really as long as I get one tiny bit of feedback then I'm perfectly fine. I'd rather write for one than none. You didn't get the link. Darn! Well I'll just PM the actual username that way you can read my other fics. Thanks for reviewing!

DancerInTheDark101 - Thanks for reviewing! (Again, and again and again lol) Anyway I think I'm getting rather mean with the cliff hangers, especially the ones that are coming up. Hopefully I'll be able to write chapter and study throughout the week since exams are over. Well thanks for reviewing!

Chapter 15
"Let me go!" Lilita screamed and tried her hardest to free herself from the tight grip that the older man had on her wrist. She had tried hitting him, kicking, her limbs flailing everywhere however he had only hit her back saying that she should know her place as a sin and as a woman. So after receiving an extremely sore smack on the face she decided to try to just get free by any other means. Tears fogged her vision as panic advanced through her body. The one thing she noted was that this guy was not the taxi driver.

There were two of them? Two killers? Still she was unsure whether she should think about wanting to run back to the room where Kai was or just run for her own safety. She had heard something – even though it was quiet, but she had heard a noise which was similar to a car backfiring…or was it a gun shot? Lilita tried screaming, yelling, screeching simply hoping that someone would hear her. No one did.

"What- What are you going - to do to Kai?" She asked shaking wondering if this was it. If this was how she was going to die, would Kai be okay or was he already…? No surely he would be alive. He had to be alive.

"You should be more worried about yourself, dear." With that the much stronger man pushed Lilita through another door, she noted that even the corridors seemed burnt, or covered in ash at least. Lilita back away when she saw some terrifying metal contraptions inside the room on an old wooden table. The man didn't appear to even think that Lilita would try to run from the room which they had entered and continued to walk towards the table.

He picked the thing up and turned to face Lilita would was surprised at how the door was now…shut, locked somehow. Not unless the other one was outside? Lilita didn't bother to look where the other man was as she heard clicking, and something being wound up.

The footsteps that came closer caused Lilita to turn around freeze as it was inevitable that she was going to be caught. "You see, if you have to be cleansed in freezing water then your body will try its hardest to get out…So, this will stop that from happening."

Lilita darted out of the way as the man came to grab her again. The action seemed to displease the man greatly as he suddenly bolted towards her and within mere seconds she was on the ground with this ...metal object being attached to her arm. She yelped loudly as the man prodded her with his shoe. "Have fun," he hissed. She stayed where she was, not moving an inch. Wondering again how he had managed to get out so easily. Sighing she sat up, shaking her head hoping that she would wake up and it would be just a horrible dream.

Lilita wasn't sure if she was more scared of the man that had smiled or the fact that she had something on her. It was obviously going to hurt her, it looked far too daunting to not do anything. Then that's when she heard the ticking, looking closely at the entire contraption she noticed that it was wires of metal jointed together – hand-made by the looks of things – it resembled some sort of splint. Her fingers were separated into different sections at the end.

She couldn't even twitch her fingers on her left hand. All had a few metal wires jutting out – she dreaded to think what was going to happen. Looking at a small gauge she noticed a hand ticking down and she suddenly panicked as a number dial near it suddenly ticked down from ten to nine.

"Kai!" Lilita yelled, hoping that she would hear a faint calling of her own name but all she could hear was the low, constant ticking. Looking around, she noticed the room was bare except a table and a chair. "Why…why are they doing this…?" Lilita sniffed and fresh tears fell, however she needed to get out of here before that thing did whatever it was meant for.

The floor was simple wooden boards which creaked under her as she moved around the small box-like room. She frowned as she saw two clean boards next to dirty ones. So that bit had been…pulled up recently? So what was down there? Then again could this just be a trap which they planted? They couldn't have planned this, surely?

Kai sighed as he heard something thud upstairs he just hoped it wasn't Lilita's dead body – he shook his head hoping that he was just imagining things. He hissed as he gripped his wounded arm and noticed just how lucky he was. The blood had slowed and would eventually stop since the bullet didn't appear to be too deep. However he could barely move his arm without it sending shooting pains running up and down. Old blood had dried down his arm, crimson blood staining his pale skin.

He looked up at the small knife that the man had given him. It was still lying there… Standing up quicker than he should of, Kai began light-headed and stumbled forward. Grumbling at his efforts he forced himself onwards and grabbing the knife, maybe he could get out of this room? Looking around he wondered if there were any ventilation shafts or at least something to get him out of here.

Kai jumped in surprise as he heard someone scream – in fact he knew who was screaming, in fact it was right above him. His eyes widened as he heard loud sobbing coming from none other than Lilita. He stayed still, looking up at the ceiling wondering if it really was her. There was only one way to find out, "LITA!" Kai shouted hoping that she would hear him, but the loud sobbing continued and Kai couldn't have felt anymore helpless at that moment.

"LITA!" Kai turned from feeling helpless to infuriated, he was not going to let some door stop him from getting out of here. That was when logic came back to him.

"Damn, they'll be waiting to take her wherever…that is unless I get inside the room…first?" Kai trailed off as he suddenly grabbed one of the tables and pushed it over a little, then he grabbed another table and he grimaced and hissed out in pain as he had to use his other arm to lift another table up onto the other. He clambered onto the top table and started banging on the ceiling that he was having to tiptoe to reach.

Lilita had never felt pain like this before – screw childbearing – this was utter agony. One of the smaller sections of the metal torture device had gone off and it had resulted in it being pushed upwards causing Lilita's finger to be broken three different ways. She knew that the bone must have broken the skin before she even looked closer as she could feel the warm liquid pour over her other fingers and the air stung painfully. Even looking at her own hand made Lilita want to scream again. She was sure that everyone must have heard her.

Her entire frame began to shake as she knew what was going to happen to her other four fingers. She sobbed loudly knowing that her captors must have been taking great enjoyment out of her agony, but she was sure she heard something. Holding her breath, still quivering, just to make sure – she heard a bang from below. She tensed wondering if she had been right and their was something under the floorboards. "LITA!"

Lilita's eyes widened and she quickly got up from the corner which she sat and walked over to the newest boards and shouted back, "KAI?" She was so happy to actually know that Kai wasn't dead but was in the room below. She smiled, tears still streaming down her face in pain, as there came banging again. She looked around and wondered if there was a way to get out of this room. "Okay…This is going to be hard…" With only one arm free and not great upper-body strength she had to pull back these floor-boards. Somehow.

She tried various ways, but failed and ended up in more agony as the dusty atmosphere began to affect her wound. She then decided as a last resort in breaking the older floor boards. They looked weaker and would be far easier to snap in half if she continued to stamp heavily on them. After a dozen attempts she made progress as the first board now had a small hole, which resembled the size of her heel.

The ticking soon made Lilita realise that she didn't have much time until – she began to pound harder and could hear that Kai was hitting the ceiling of his own room pretty quickly. Maybe he had one of these things on as well.

After another few moments Lilita managed to pull off an old, damp floorboard, and couldn't help but smile as it became so much easier to get the others up. Kai on the other hand had made a hole which he was sure either one of them could fit through.

Then there was a small tick, Lilita froze, "Oh shi--!" Another three cracks, and a scream which only covered the gruesome noise of the braking bone. Kai seemed to stop for a brief moment before continuing. Lilita was sobbing again but was even more determined to get in the same room with Kai – at least then maybe he could help take it off. The adrenaline running through her body made her unaware of the damage which she had caused to her other hand and her legs from pulling up the floor. That was when Lilita decided that she would rather fall through a ceiling and land painfully and possibly die than stay where she was and have another finger dismantled. "KAI! I'm jumping! Move out of the way!"

There was silence for a moment, Lilita was contemplating on whether she was actually serious, "Are you insane!" Came Kai's reply, but Lilita didn't care, there was a hole in the floor and if she bent down she could see the hole that Kai had managed to make in his room ceiling. Kai didn't really know what to do – if he stayed where he was he'd end up with more injuries. He jumped down and moved the table away, he was sure that he was standing where she would land, he had heard her coming from here so…

"Go for it." Within a few seconds, there was a very loud thud above Kai. Then there was shuffling and Lilita's head popped out from the ceiling. Before Kai knew what was happening Lilita was lying on the floor sobbing in pain.

The first thing that Kai noticed was the bloody metal cage that surrounded her arm. Two fingers looked excruciatingly painful. Bones were jutting out in all directions and Kai had to turn his attention somewhere else or he'd be sick. "It'll try to get this off." Kai said immediately and grabbed the discarded knife and tried to saw away at the metal but it was far too tough for a small knife to cut through.

"Kai please, please don't let it of again…Please…" Lilita whimpered as she saw the number go from five to four. Kai could see the fear and pain on Lilita's face and knew that he wouldn't be able to do anything, he had no idea how the thing worked, he just couldn't stop it…

"Lita…I…can't…" Kai blinked when he heard something whisper to him, and he knew what it was, it was Dranzer. Let me try to help. He didn't care if he was acting on impulse or desperation but he had to get Lita out of this if it was the last thing he would do.

She shielded her eyes just in case the thing did come off and something went flying into her eyes. Still her arm was shaking and she couldn't help but tremble as the ticking continued, there were only a few minutes until the other finger was in pieces. Dranzer was launched at the wires, however the wire appeared to be a much stronger metal and all the beyblade did was hit off it after grinding it for a moment. Still Kai continued to launch and re-launch his beyblade. Kai didn't care – the pain in his arm was bearable, however the very look at Lilita's injuries made him want to shiver in disgust.

"Kai…" Lilita looked up tears once again began to fall as she knew exactly what was about to happen in a few seconds. Kai came closer to Lilita hoping that he would be able to figure something out before time ran out. "I…can't…" Kai muttered realising he had failed again, resentment and sorrow overwhelmed him and all he did was want to yell out in frustration. He shook his head as Lilita looked at him filled with half-hope.

"It's okay…though I may need a hug…soon." She joked, knowing that he must have been in a lot of pain launching his beyblade from the shot in his arm. She wondered if it was still bleeding as she glanced at the bloody shoulder. She couldn't imagine what kind of emotional pain Kai was going through, combined with being shot and then having to launch his beyblade so many times? What was she meant to do but pity their situation? He listened to the ticking for a moment and couldn't imagine the physical pain that his friend was going through. She knew that she was going to be screaming and wailing in a minute but she didn't want him to feel as if it was his fault – it was just as much hers. It was that…those killers.

Surprisingly Kai dropped his beyblade and launcher unceremoniously and walked quickly over to the teenager on who was kneeling on the floor. Kai quickly pulled Lilita up off the ground and into a tight hug. On the other hand, Lilita thought at first he was going to rip the thing off her arm and tensed as he pulled her up. "I'm sorry."

Lilita's eyes widened as she was surprised that Kai was apologizing for something he didn't do. He sighed knowing that nothing was going to help her cope with the up coming pain. However, she smiled and bowed her head, resting it against his shoulder knowing that it would be right about no--.

Kai felt Lita's body tense and shiver, and a howl of torture suddenly filled the air, she continued to shake and sob as Kai watched the blood drip onto the floor. Kai hugged her tighter hoping that she would stop crying. He had never really comforted anyone apart from his little sister and well this was a completely different situation. Still Lilita was torn to shut up because it was probably stressing Kai out and to keep crying so she would stay where she was – the pain was worse this time. "We're going to get out of here…" He whispered hoping that the thought of leaving and being somewhere safe would help her calm down. Sniffing and whining softly she made herself relax a little even if she was in pain – she had to try to get out of here.

"Thank you." Lilita smiled and sniffed quickly, wiping away any tears – the pain was throbbing, her arm ached at the awkward and heavy object and most of all she was certain it wasn't a good thing when all of her fingers went numb.

"Let's get out of here…" Kai let go, though he was sure he heard Lilita sigh but shook it off, he must have lost way too much blood earlier, but the somewhat frustration look on Lilita's face made Kai rethink on what the hell was happening.

"Agreed." Lilita muttered and was about to go looking around the room again that was until Kai frowned and then glared at her. He stormed past her and grabbed his beyblade and thrust it into his pocket and quickly glanced around the room for the knife again, which he had dropped out of the desperation when he had heard Dranzer telling him to use her.

"You aren't leaving my sight…last time you went off you got kidnapped…away." Kai didn't exactly know how to word something like, 'You better stay near me so I don't have to worry about you.'

Lita tilted her head not really sure why Kai looked uncomfortable at the current conversation, all she did was nod and walked over. "Okay then, let's go." She forced a smile as Kai frowned at her as if she were planning something even worse than these, 'Angels.' Kai hoped that he would be able to get out of here without raising the alarm.

"I'm kicking this door down…" So Kai began to kick the door, they hadn't managed to get this far since they had been split up and this would have caused too much noise – then. When they had wanted to begin with leaving unnoticed. Apparently that wasn't going to happen and Kai wanted to escape, he didn't care how many doors he had to kick down or who he had to stab to leave this place.

The door rattled and then it came off its hinges, it appeared that most of the things in this place where old and crappy. Not like Kai or Lilita were complaining, Kai was the first to leave the room, he looked around and noticed that everything looked burnt. Where were they?

Talking might have caused those killers to come back and Kai decided that he would make sure Lilita got out. Anyway he wasn't going to be killed – he was going to kill himself which meant they wouldn't harm him… He turned round motioned towards the stairs, which were at the end of the hall. Lilita had passed them, but she had ended up going up another floor.

Kai and Lilita sprinted to the stairs and began to descent quickly down them, Lilita was just managing to keep up with Kai and no more. Kai's sense of direction wasn't great but he was sure that he would be able to get out of this place. He had to.

She thought her heart was going to burst through her chest and that she would suffocate as she gasped for breath. Crying and shouting in pain had certainly taken most of her energy from her, though with the thought of escaping only made her will herself to catch up with the boy in front. Kai turned and looked around wondering if they would be caught...surely he had picked the right way. Or else someone up there just really hated him.

Kai glanced over his shoulder, feeling relief that Lilita was still running behind him he continued to run. Their loud footsteps, their heavy breathing, were silenced when they both heard the deafening sound... Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.

Author's Note: Why do I always do cliff-hangers? I'm an addict:( Ah well, it's fun. Heh heh, anyway please review to tell me if I should be nice enough to let them escape... (Not like I don't know if they're getting out of there! Whahahaha...)