Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone that is still following this story and leaving reviews letting me know how much you're enjoying it.

I'm so pleased to hear from you, and it's nice knowing I'm not the only evil hearted one out there, that likes to see Cloud suffering at Sephs hands, lol...

Chapter 11

"Just say it...and your misery will end."

"Fu...Fuck...you."

The prisoner's defiant retort ended in an agonized scream, the shrill sound echoing off the bare stone walls, the piercing cry continuing until the general removed one gloved finger from a control button that it was pressing down upon.

"You're only making this harder for yourself. You're going to say what I want you to, eventually. So you might just as well get it over and done with."

Even as he spoke, Sephiroth looked with quiet admiration at the now silent boy laying limp in the restraints that held him to the metal chair, the panting breaths he was taking the only sound to be heard from his gaping open mouth.

No one had ever reached level three of this particular punishment before and not succumbed, and the general was quite tempted to try the prisoner's resistance on the highest setting. But he didn't really want to risk losing the boy, not so soon into the game, anyway. And so he resisted the temptation, turning the dial just a little higher, ready for the next dispensation.

Feeling the terrible pain leave his body as suddenly as it had begun, the prisoner gulped in great lungful's of air and tried to control his racing heart. The muscles that had clamped up so painfully in spasms just moments before now slowly relaxed, although they still burned and ached where the high level of electrical current had coursed through them.

It had been the third time that the silver haired monster had pushed the button. The third time that the prisoner had refused to do what he wanted. Refused to say the word that was demanded of him.

The first time the button had been pushed, the pain had been bearable, tolerable. The second time, and the stinging sensation had made him catch his breath, had made him want to hop from the seat. But this last time...

The prisoner wasn't sure if he could take another jolt like that. As the searing power had raced through him, his body had felt as if every single limb were being pulled in opposite directions, stretched until he felt sure his arms and legs were going to be yanked from their sockets.

Taking in deep shuddering breaths, he nervously did what he knew he had to do. He denied the general his pleasure.

"My...My name is Cloud Strife. My rank is..."

A single tut interrupted his well rehearsed speech barely a second before the excruciating pain that coursed through his body did, and the prisoner was no longer able to finish his sentence, because his tongue was being bitten into by his own clamped down teeth, his jaw locked and frozen into place.

"Cloud, Cloud, Cloud...When are you going to learn? That is not what I want to hear you say." The generals words were patronizing, his tone condescending. "You know what I'm waiting for. Just say it, and we can put a stop to all this foolish behaviour."

Sephiroth looked down at the control unit he held in his hand, his finger pushing hard on the button marked six. So, he had skipped two phases, missing levels four and five. Naughty him. The boy still lived. And perhaps now, the prisoner would understand that he was getting tired of this particular game, and wanted to move onto the next one.

At that precise moment, Cloud didn't understand anything except the primal need to survive. He had to keep focused on breathing. He had to concentrate on taking air in and staying alive. That was all his frying brain could focus on.

He knew he had no control over his body while the electricity flowed through it, knew he couldn't stop the agony that was killing him, as wave after wave of pain ripped through him, seemingly tearing through his tissues, burning and searing its way through his tendons and sinews.

Every muscle, every fibre of his being, was seized and squeezed until the prisoner felt sure his heart would burst with the pressure that held it within a vice like grip. And against his wishes, he felt tears of defeat slip from the corners of his tightly closed eyes, tasted the coppery salty tang of his own blood that flowed from the sides of his tongue, as the fleshy organ was bitten through by his two top incisors.

Now he almost began to regret his earlier action, as he started to realize how stupid his foolhardy attack on the general had been. He should have known it would not have gone unpunished. It might have been more satisfying, if his blow had made more contact with the generals face. But the man had pulled away at the very last second, moving just in time to only suffer a glancing blow.

Still, it had been a hard enough impact for Cloud to have the time to push the started general from him and rush madly for the door, the loose sheet he was wearing whipping around his legs as he clutched the cloth protectively to his body.

Once at the closed doorway though, Cloud had realised with growing horror the full extent of his mistake. For the door to be activated and opened, it required not only the palm print of the general's hand pressed up against the exit panel, but also it needed to recognise his iris and voice pattern at the same time as well.

Knowing there was no way out of the room without the generals assistance, Clouds frenzied mind had thought to try and make it back to the bedroom, to attempt to barricade himself in somehow.

In his haste to turn and flee, the flapping sheet had become tangled in his legs, and he had crashed heavily to the floor, becoming easy prey for the swiftly moving silver haired man, who was upon him within seconds.

"Now that wasn't very nice, was it?" he had snarled, pulling Clouds head back, staring down icily into the boys defiant blue eyes. "And there was me, being friendly. I can see I'll have to teach you some manners..."

He had hauled Cloud to his feet, disregarding the sheet that fell to the floor, pushing and dragging the naked boy towards the curtained off area at the end of the room. Cloud had fought back, only becoming passive as the generals hand had reached for, and grabbed, the blonde's exposed genitals, squeezing tight and twisting, applying more pressure every time Cloud's steps faltered.

Reaching the curtained wall, the general had pulled the covers back with his free hand, to reveal full length glass panels, behind which were contraptions from hell.

Cloud had paled when he saw what had been hidden from view. The generals very own private, torture chamber. He had stumbled and tried to drag his feet, as he was forcefully pulled into the room, manhandled and jostled, shoved down into a high backed metal chair that was fixed to the centre of the floor. And he had cringed when his arms and legs, even his neck, had been roughly held in place with restraints.

The general had lifted Clouds feet into a wide but shallow metal dish that sat beneath the chair, fixing it so that the boys ankles were held firmly in place too. Then he had calmly started filling the dish with cold water. Cloud had wondered what was going on. But he hadn't been left to wonder for long, as the first of the shocks had been administered.

Four shocks later, and blood trailed down his chin, as the general finally relented and released the pressure of his finger from the button. The prisoner's body shook with the sobs that were now able to be uttered. His head hung low, his shoulders slumped forward.

Coming to stand before the pitiful figure, Sephiroth put a leather clad thumb under the boys chin and tipped it up, wiping the spilled blood that dribbled from the torn tongue, smearing it across the tear stained mouth.

"Say it!" he whispered, his green eyes boring into the dulled blue ones beneath him. "Ask me not to hurt you again."

It took every ounce of self control the prisoner had left, not to continue defying the general. Cloud knew he had no other choice but to submit to the silver haired man's demand, if he didn't want to experience that excruciating pain shooting through his body again. And was it such a bad demand, he asked himself. It was just a word that was being ordered of him. A word that meant nothing. He would only have to say it the once, that was all.

The general watched as the prisoner debated with himself, the struggle not to submit plain on his pretty features. Sephiroth decided to help him come to a quick decision.

Purposefully, intentionally, he turned the dial of the controller in his hand up higher and raised his finger, deliberately holding it in the air, an eyebrow quirked as if to ask the tortured boy what his choice was to be.

In a barely audible voice, and his head falling down once again to hide his shamed eyes, the prisoner spoke.

"Please...please don't hurt me anymore...Master."

With a triumphant smile, Sephiroth put the control unit down and strode to the boy, lifting his head by the hair, sneering down at his defeated face.

"What was that? I didn't quite catch it," he lied, smirking as the boy's face took on an angry countenance. "You'll have to speak much clearer than that, for me to hear you."

With his chest heaving, Cloud fixed his eyes firmly on the generals and raised his voice, the words coming out louder, and spoken with all the venom he could muster.

"Please...Master. Let me go."

And with a contented chuckle, Sephiroth proceeded to do so.