Disclaimer: You know the drill by now.
AN: In my headcanon, this is what happened to Lila in A Convoluted Matter. I've actually toned down the gore because it was making me feel slightly nauseous.
Lila looked at her surroundings with a strong sense of dread.
It was not an entirely reassuring sight. She could smell the raw meat that surrounded her. In the background, she could hear the sounds of machinery in action. And around her were slabs of beef hanging up, waiting to be processed.
She was hanging up with them, at the back of the queue. Stripped naked and chains held her arms above her head like another slab of meat. Her feet could barely reach the ground.
At least they weren't raping her anymore. The men who had kidnapped her and taken her here with a bag over her head. At least they had decided that after having stripped her and raped her repeatedly, they were done for now. That had to be an improvement, right? And maybe she could find a way to escape somehow, right? Maybe talk someone into letting her go. She was very good at persuading people to believe her lies. Surely she could succeed in something as simple as this?
(She doubted that it would be simple. These men were clearly paid for this and judging by the way that they didn't even try to hide their identities...it did not bode well for her future.)
Behind her, she heard a door open and in walked one of the men who had abducted her. A creepy, thin faced man with an expression of malevolent glee on his face. In front of him, he was pushing a trolley with some very unpleasant looking knives and a needle and syringe. He looked at her and she recoiled slightly, fearing that he was about to rape her again.
Not that she could do anything to stop him. She was just hanging here naked after all.
Instead, he pulled out a small camera and began taking pictures. She almost let out a sigh of relief.
"I can…" she started, unsure of how to continue. He smiled at her.
"You can not believe just how long that I have waited for an opportunity like this," he said and she could hear the barely suppressed glee in his voice. "You, my dear, will be my masterpiece, unsullied by commercial concerns." He picked up the syringe and tapped it slightly. "You know, when someone pays for my services, it's because they want to know something." He paused and spat with contempt. "It's always the same. Someone knows something and they want me to get it out for them. Where's the artistry?" He paused and shook his head. Lila gulped in fear. If he was used to extract information, it would not be something that she would want. It might even be worse than the rapes she had experienced when they captured her.
"Nobody has any appreciation for my art," he said sadly. Lila felt her heart sink to her toes. This sounded like it was not something that she wanted.
"You should have someone appreciate your art," she said, trying to hide just how scared she was. She only partially succeeded. The man looked at her with a grin. "If you let me go, I can-"
Don't be silly," he said, shaking his head. "Why would I do that? The first time that I can put my artistry to good use for something less...grubby? Don't be absurd." He paused and leered at her. "Besides, someone has paid a thousand Euros for this treatment. It would be unprofessional of me to just let you go." He picked up his camera and waved it at her. "And I have already taken your pre-treatment photos. Just so that others can appreciate the images of the end result."
"W-w-w-who?" she asked quietly, looking at the floor as he tapped the side of the needle. He shrugged.
"It's not my business to ask such questions," he said in a slightly indifferent tone. "All I know is that I am paid one thousand Euros through a secretive Swiss bank account and that is that." He stuck the needle into her arm, before giving her left breast a slight squeeze. "You should be pleased. You are going to experience art in it's purest form! My art in it's purest form! A woman as beautiful as yourself will make wonderful art!"
"Yes...it would be a shame to destroy a body that nature has so perfectly made," Lila said, her voice shaking slightly with fear and he let out a laugh.
"Destroy? My dear, I am going to elevate you beyond mere nature! Be proud of what you are about to become! Be in awe of what you are about to experience! I have even injected you with a drug to ensure that you do not pass out as I work!" He paused and shook his head. "It is such a waste when someone is unable to feel the honour of such brilliance, to not be aware of what happens!"
"But-but-but-"
He knelt down and stabbed two holes into both of her feet.
"Traditionally, artists of my kind had to start with the face," he said conversationally and Lila tried to pull herself away. He held her firmly in position."But I, I have discovered how to do this without having to touch the face. Ah, the works of art that I can produce from such a delicate procedure." He looked up at her, his eyes glowing happily. "He began to remove the skin from her feet, first starting with the left foot, before moving to the right and Lila screamed in pain. It was agonising, like every pain receptor in her foot was on fire.
"Please stop!" she begged as tears began to roll down her face. "I'll tell you anything! Anything at all! Just please...stop!"
"My dear, there is nothing that I want from you," the man said calmly as he moved to her left leg, holding it tightly in place. She almost wished that she was being gang raped again. At least it would have hurt a lot less.
"Please!" she screamed once more. My bank account is five-one-" She paused and screamed once more. "Someone paid one million Euros to get me out on bail! I must be worth at least that to someone!"
He ignored her as he continued to skin her left leg. She screamed in pain and desperately shouted out anything that she thought that he might want to hear. She screamed out her bank account details, her credit card numbers, anything that she thought that he could possibly want to hear.
He ignored her and continued to work. In half an hour, he had successfully skinned her left leg. She had a feeling that he was deliberately taking his time. She could see, through the haze of pain and the tears, that his face was positively glowing with joy.
Despite the pain and damage, there was very little blood on the floor. She had seen herself bleed more from a paper cut. It would be funny, if it wasn't so painful.
"I'll fuck you!" she screamed out as she felt him move to her right leg. He looked up at her and smiled. She hoped that was a good sign. If she was his sex slave, there was always the hope that she could escape, right? He stood up and gave her breasts a slight squeeze.
Then he laughed and Lila felt her hopes plummet once more.
"My dear, I only fucked you to be social. The others…" He waved his hand and shrugged. "Well they had just stripped a young woman. A young woman who was about to become an even greater work of art." He paused and shuddered with pleasure. "Well, I tell a lie. I fucked you because of the thought of my art...it's so arousing." He reached into his trousers and opened them up slightly. "Besides, if I wanted to fuck you some more, I could easily do so, without having to compromise my art." He gave her a wicked smile and tapped her thigh with his knife. "You should really try to be more grateful. I'm not about to fuck you again as well."
"But…" she struggled to find the words to say. A rare occasion indeed. He grabbed her right foot and slowly began to remove the skin from her right leg. She screamed in pain and he gave her an apologetic look.
"Sorry," he said as he looked up at her. "But if I didn't do this, you might wave your foot about and make things harder. You know how it is." He began slicing skin off of her leg and Lila began screaming once more, the pain becoming simply unbearable. She hoped that she would pass out or at least go into shock and die. At least if she died, she wouldn't have to feel any more of this pain.
Then she remembered the needle that he had stuck into her arm. The drug that was keeping her conscious throughout this entire ordeal and she despaired.
"I was the person who tried to burn Marinette to death in her apartment!" she screamed as he continued to remove her skin. "I lost my virginity to an older boy, the cousin of the President of Italy, just before I came to France! I know more about Gabriel than anyone other than Gabriel himself!"
He just continued to work and Lila was convinced that he was smiling. It was hard to tell through the haze of pain, but it seemed to be likely. By the time he had finished removing the skin from ler legs, she could almost see his tongue hanging out.
He leaned over and gave her exposed legs, now devoid of skin entirely, a gentle lick.
"You're going to be a good one. I can tell," he said and Lila stared in horror. Surely he didn't mean what she thought he meant?
She had no more time to think about his words though. He was already back to work and the pain was overwhelming. She would have definitely preferred being raped over this. At least it would have been less painful!
"You know, you're very lucky that it's me really," he said as he ran a finger along her stomach. "An artist like me can cut along the contours of your body. When I'm finished, you will be-" He paused and shook his head. "No, I mean, they will be able to see just how toned you were in life. Why other artists would just butcher your shape and you might even have bled out before it was complete and that would be a shame."
"But you don't?" she asked through the haze of pain. He snorted.
"Of course I do not. I am a true artist of my trade!" he said, looking almost offended that she had even suggested such a thing. "I take pride in how efficient I am and how finely developed my skills are." He began to slice away once more, removing the skin from her buttocks first. Then he continued to remove the skin from her vagina and Lila felt him touch the parts of her that had bled after she was raped. She was even sure that she could hear the sound of blood dripping from it. Then he moved onto her back and she tried to move herself. Maybe, if she could catch him by surprise, he might nick something important and she would be dead before he could finish. Escape was no longer really an option, but she was going to try for this small victory.
It was not to be. He swung away with her, as if he had known what she was going to do. He tutted.
"Do you really think that I would be so easily caught out my dear?" he asked, in a slightly disappointed tone. "I have been waiting for years for someone like you, someone who will be my masterpiece! I would hardly be so easily caught out." He sniffed almost contemptuously, before continuing up her back and Lila's screams began to fizzle out. She was becoming hoarse (although she was surprised that it hadn't happened sooner, honestly.)
"No more screams?" he whispered in her ear, sounding almost disappointed. She winced as she felt his hot breath on her ear. Somehow, she could still notice it through the unbelievable pain. She was convinced that she was going to die from it, but she doubted that he would let her. "Well, you should be pleased to know that you managed to keep screaming longer than most of my work."
He continued to cut, his blade almost acting like a parody of a massage, except that instead of a relaxing sensation, it was one of unbelievable pain. She could feel him carving the skin away with measured precision, following the curve of her spine perfectly and she was sure that he was taking his time. It took him at least an hour to finish removing the skin from her back. He licked it once more.
He stepped around her and knelt down in front of her, like a sick parody of a wedding proposal. He continued to skin her, taking great care to keep his knife following the curves of her body, before pausing for a moment and tapping her chest. "Stop being so ungrateful. Why, if I was any other kind of artist, they would be calling me the next Leonardo Da Vinci."
She said nothing, her throat hoarse from screaming. She couldn't even bring herself to whisper and her screams were silent.
"I can see it in your eyes," he said sadly, with an almost disappointed look on his face, before shaking his head. "Nobody appreciates my art. Nobody." Then he grinned. "But you will taste delicious. Of that I am sure."
He continued to cut, following the contours of her stomach perfectly before pausing just below her chest.
"Kill me," she whispered hoarsely and the man just laughed.
"Kill you?" he asked incredulously. "Kill you!?" He paused and laughed again. "Why would I kill you?" He shook his head. "I want you to experience the true beauty of my art!" He paused and leaned closer. "And someone is actually paying to make you suffer. I wouldn't be very professional if I just cut that short now, would I?"
ADRIEN! Lila hissed in her mind. But that didn't sound right to her. Not at all. Adrien was far to naive and sensitive to want her to suffer like this. Marinette was out as well, if only because she probably didn't have the money or connections to make this happen.
Her thought process was interrupted by the man resuming the process of cutting away. First it was the skin around her ribs, followed in short order by her breasts and gods did it hurt. It was an agony that was possibly the worst pain she had experienced ever. She screamed, surprised that she could still even scream like this. She could even hear him humming to himself, some song that she couldn't identify.
He made sure to take his time, his tongue slightly out with concentration. By now, her whole body felt like nothing so much as a long stretch of pain. She cried, or at least she tried to. Her tears had long since ran out.
"It's almost over," he said as he reached her shoulders. She swung herself at his blade again, hoping that he would, or rather she would, cut her throat on his knife. Or at least her jugular. Again, he stepped casually away, before slapping her and grabbing her by the face.
"Listen here, you ungrateful bitch," he hissed, clearly angry. "You are here to become a work of art. To become something more than mere flesh. Surely that is worth a little suffering?" He sighed. "And besides which, someone has paid for you to suffer. To hurt. You do not have the right to take that away from them and you have no right to deprive me of my art!"
Lila tried to spit at him. She was going to die and it wasn't fair! She had schemed and lied and plotted and now it was all about to be taken away from her! If only that Marinette had stayed out of the way! If only Adrien had done as he was supposed to! She would have screamed insults and rage against the injustice of it all, but it was becoming harder and harder to speak.
She felt a fresh wave of pain as he began to strip her arms. Delicately and precisely, he removed the skin with painstakingly slow speed. Lila said nothing and prayed to a God she didn't believe in for death.
On her back, she could feel her hair sticking to her body and at her feet was a tiny pool of blood. Hardly any at all really. It was an almost silly amount really.
Fate however was not so kind. It took him close to an hour to finish skinning her first arm and she barely even noticed him ripping out her fingernails. She was simply in too much pain across her body to even register it.
He tapped her freshly skinned hand with a smile.
"A true masterpiece, no?" he said, his eyes gleaming with happiness. Lila said nothing, the haze of pain was simply too much and she doubted that she could say anything anyway. He sighed. "Nobody appreciates how fine my artistry is these days," he said, shaking his head, before moving to her remaining arm.
Another hour passed and with a whoop of joy, he stepped back. He grinned and grabbed his camera and began taking photographs. Lila wondered why he hadn't started on her face, but she figured that it would be a bad idea to ask. He tapped her nose gently with his knife.
"I bet that you're wondering why I didn't skin your face as well, aren't you?" He paused for a moment and looked thoughtful. "Well, if you're capable of thinking right now. I like to think so. You're still alive anyway." He puffed himself up, clearly very proud. "I always like to leave the face on." He paused and smiled and if Lila was capable, she would have shuddered. "It's magnificent, is it not? The face showing the skin deep beauty and the rest of the body showing the beauty below." He paused and took a few more photographs. "This will have pride of place in my collection." He leaned forward and lifted her chin up. "That's something to be proud of my dear," he said, before kissing her deeply. Then, without another word, he grabbed his tray and walked out, leaving Lila alone with her unbelievable pain and thoughts
An hour later, Lila saw another one of the men who had kidnapped and raped her walk in and start to move the raw beef towards a tried to make herself move, tried to shake slightly to draw his attention. He looked up at her.
"Kill me," she whispered. "Please…"
He shook his head.
"Mercy...please...kill me…"
"Someone paid for you to get special treatment," the man said, shaking his head. "They want you to suffer and I ain't cutting it short." He paused and looked towards the door. "Besides, Regis, the guy who skinned you, he would legit kill me if I interfered. He says that the meat tastes best when it's left to die on it's own."
"M-m-meat?" she asked, a sense of disgust and horror joining her incredible pain. It was like something out of a bad horror movie.
"Well, we're going to feed you into the meat grinder when you die. They're expected to have blood on them anyway, so yours isn't going to be noticed." She stared at him in horror. "Regis likes to save as much of the human meat as he can. He eats it and his dogs eat it." He paused and made a face. "The way that he's talking about you, you're going to feed him and his dogs for months." He looked at her in surprise. "What, you didn't realise? He was busy licking you and talking about your taste and everything. He likes to think that it's less wasteful like that. The boss doesn't care. Likes the fact that it doesn't leave behind a body to find." He shuddered and lifted her chin so her eyes were looking into his. "You've got a few hours left to live at least. Probably a lot. Maybe you should reflect on who you pissed off enough for this to happen."
Lila tried to scream as fresh tears managed to run down her cheeks. Her throat was still too hoarse though and as she shook herself on the chains, he walked away.
Twelve hours later, Lila finally died. Despite everything that had happened to her, there was very little blood on the ground. And, as the man had predicted, she fed the man who had skinned her and his dogs for several months.
AN: I'm not sure if I really managed to turn down the gore here…
As for the reason...well I like to think that Chloé made contacts with various criminals as a young woman and Gabriel wanted Lila to suffer. As for her being raped, well if you're the kind of person who would be involved with this, I doubt that the consent of your victims is going to matter. These are not nice people, even if they are killing Lila.
AN2: This is it for now. If anyone has any other suggestion to make Lila vanish and die, please suggest them in the reviews.