Gokudera watches from the chair he is chained to as Phoenix enter the room behind the window. Her face has a bored look and Gokudera's mind immediately rejects the image. That woman is not Aydan, it told him. And it was true, the woman in the other room was not Aydan, but rather Phoenix, and worry flows through Gokudera's veins.
"She's already changing...Please be able to change back Aydan, please."
Reaper steps up behind the silver-haired teen and places his hands on the boys' shoulders.
"I hope you don't mind the restraints. You look like you want to kill me and I don't want to get blood on my new suit." The man smiles. "So are you looking forward to the show?"
Gokudera spares Reaper a glare before focusing on Phoenix once again.
"Go fuck yourself."
Reaper shushes him.
"It's starting."
In the next room Phoenix picks up a single knife, one of the shorter ones that was resting on the tray but the point looks wickedly sharp.
"This will be easier for you if you just tell me what I want to know." Gokudera shivered, that was not Ayden's voice. It was too cold, to empty, to belong to Aydan who, even on her worst days, was filled with emotions. Gokudera begs the man to just tell her so that he can get Phoenix back before the change was permanent, but he remains silent. "Then on your own head be it." The girl takes the tip of the knife and runs it along the top of his middle finger and up his arm until she reached his elbow. A thick line of red followed the knife and when Phoenix thrusts the knife all the way through the man's elbow the blood begins to flow with abandon. The man screams as Phoenix pushes the knife in all the way to the hilt, pinning his arm to the chair. "Will you tell me now? No? Fine." She repeats the process with the other arm, once again drawing a scream from the man. "Just tell me what I want to know and I'll stop."
"Just tell her! Tell her and let her stop this! Please!"
Gokudera screamed in his mind, if the man would just tell Phoenix what she wanted to know then she could stop and maybe this new cold Phoenix would disappear forever. But the man remains silent and Phoenix continues to torture him, and steadily the tortures get worse. Gokudera watches in horror as his girlfriend saws off three of the man's fingers, ignoring the screams and profanities that flew from the man's mouth. As the minutes slowly creep by Gokudera realizes that Phoenix is steadily talking to the man, this confuses him until Reaper goes to the intercom and spits.
"Physical Torture only!"
It was then that Gokudera realized that Phoenix was trying to use her special method of torture to break the man.
"T-That was Mental Torture...right?"
"Of course it was, she was trying to break our deal...I'll have to punish her for that."
"Don't you dare."
Gokudera growls but before Reaper can respond the man in the other room gives a blood chilling scream. There is a wet thump as one of the man's hands fall to the floor.
"You know, you're making this too hard on yourself...if you don't start talking soon I'm going to start taking this seriously."
"She wasn't taking it seriously before?"
For the first time Gokudera realizes how much danger he and Tsuna had been in while Phoenix was their enemy. The man glares at Phoenix and she jams her knife into his remaining hand.
"Did you know that I can skin you alive in such a way that you won't die for...oh...three hours? Would you like to try it?" For the first time, fear crosses the man's face. "I'm going to take your silence for a yes. Shall we start with the foot?" Phoenix takes three knives off the tray and sits cross-legged on the floor. She picks up the man's foot and takes off his socks and shoes before rolling up his pant leg. "You know I really haven't done this in a while, so it may hurt more than it should."
She smiles coldly and begins carving off the man's skin, skillfully manipulating the knives around his toes and pulling the skin away from the muscle. The man screams and struggles while Gokudera cringes and turns away so as to not see the skin being peeled off. Reaper forces Hayato's head to turn and makes him watch while Phoenix places the skin from the man's foot on the floor and begins to work on his leg.
"Look Hayato...that is what you've fallen in love with. A think that can peel the skin off a living human being while she smiles."
He laughs as Aydan almost tenderly strokes the exposed nerves, pulling more blood curdling screams from the man. She continues up the man's leg, working slowly until she reaches his kneel.
"Please! Stop! I'll tell you whatever you want! Just stop! PLEASE!"
The man screams the last word because at that exact moment Phoenix had ripped his skin away from his lower leg. She smiles at his begging.
"That's a good boy."
Reaper motions to the guards.
"Well Hayato, I think your show is done." The guards take Gokudera's arms and guilds him out of the room while Reaper waves. "I'll send Phoenix up momentarily!"