A Royal Capture
Chapter Four
Day Sixty
In a room filled with deafening silence.
Xanxus had grown quite taken with the concept of watching Squalo cheat on him. Strange as it may have sounded, it was kind of a fun thing to observe. Squalo wouldn't give Zakuro anything that Xanxus alone had been privilaged with - for example, his hushed, almost shy way of expressing his precious, secret emotions, or his wide grin and blush combo that he'd only play when something really nice had been done for him. No, the way Squalo acted, he didn't really give a damn about Zakuro at all.
At first, Xanxus had been, admittedly, a bit suspicious. But when Zakuro left, Squalo took it upon himself to say, "Xanxus, born October tenth a few over forty years ago. I remember every detail, boss, and I don't think you're dead. You might be pathetically wounded, but like hell a guy like you would really be brought down that easy. Heh... I bet you're in a room like this one... thinking about how great it'll be when we get out of here. Love ya... boss."
"I love you too...," Xanxus had muttered on instinct when the shark closed the passage, shaking his head in annoyance when he remembered they weren't physically together.
Remembering his trust in Squalo, Xanxus now found the Rain guardian's interactions with Zakuro to be amusing. His lover was cleverly manipulating the Storm guardian. If things progressed like they were now, Squalo had a chance of saving them both. It would be perfect - Squalo would not only break the heart of a Spiaggia and pay them the hell back, but he'd perform the undoubtably sexy act of rescuing Xanxus for what he thought would be the first time. What a smart trash his shark was. What a devilishly intelligent trash!
With a sigh, Xanxus leaned back against a wall, watching as the shark asked Zakuro what it was like in their family, how they treated each other. It seemed like they were dedicated to the idea of being united by hate. They attacked each other, sometimes even killed each other.
How annoying, Xanxus thought. We've been caught by a bunch of animals.
"Oh, Xanxus...," came the voice of a girl. "Ready for today's whipping?" The girl that stepped in was tall, with long black hair covering her eyes and tan skin. Her name was Eve.
"Screw you. I have better things to do than lie around," Xanxus grunted.
"Yeah. Like be punished for your many mistakes!" she laughed in return. "Weak fool~!"
Looking back at the moniter, Xanxus held his smile. Don't worry, shark trash. I believe in you. Your boss knows you're very capable.
Day Sixty.
In a room with no soul.
It had happened three days earlier. The last few strings on the old ropes had suddenly snapped, and Hibari's body fell to the ground, his jaw shattering as well as his ribs as he all but flattened against the cement. His only reaction was a weak grunt of annoyance and pain, but after that he kept his jaws firmly closed, not wanting to hurt himself further. His spine was the only thing still in tact, and he wanted to keep it that way. His wrists still burning and broken from the rope, the prefect twitched his fingers, then very slowly and carefully shifted on to his side, his back, and then into a sitting position from which he firmly spat his own blood on to the floor so that he could breathe raggedly.
Three days later found him lying on his side, his body radiating in pain and one of his teeth lying on the floor a fair distance away, too weak to have suffered the last beating. Whatever, he didn't need it anyway...
It was on that evening that the door opened again, but instead of Daisy stepping in, it was the tiger missing an eye that stalked into the room, looking terribly hungry. "Finish him off, Halfeye... bark. Daisy refuses to dirty his hands with the final blow, bark," came the voice of the strange child who seemed to have control over the large cats.
The tiger simply gave an exhausted growl, its head bowed as it slowly walked inside. As it glanced over at Hibari and smelled blood, however, it began to trot towards him excitedly. Hibari's unenthusiastic response was simply him glancing over, but as their eyes met, the tiger stopped, sat down, then bowed its head again. Ignoring the sharp pain of moving, Hibari lifted his hand, and waited for the tiger to shuffle closer before he put the hand on its head and softly petted it. "Small animals... are precious...," he rasped. "But I could get used to you, too. I can make your life better... you simply must promise to obey me. Not that stupid dog-obsessed boy who does not recognize the significance of other animals. Do you understand?"
The tiger's only response to that was weakly licking Hibari's hand, and with broken bones, it was more unwelcome than not. With annoyance, Hibari shooed the animal away, soon grumbling, "Lay down and rest, a couple feet away if you could." It didn't listen, laying down right at the ex-prefect's feet and sweeping its tail around annoyingly, much to the man's chagrin. "F...fine, be that way. But if they get upset with you, don't listen, all right?" Hibari muttered. "I won't have my body fed to a tiger, thank you. That's not nearly a tough enough death for me."
"Mrrr."
"Mrr yourself," Hibari snorted, before watching the door, eyes narrowing soon after. He could sense Daisy was nearby, but he seemed to just be passing the hallways. With a sigh, Hibari looked back at the tiger, then growled, "If you attack me, Halfeye... you'll become my next meal."
Day Sixty.
In a room with no light.
"All right, Lord Byakuran. I'm giving you one more chance," came that annoyingly deep voice yet again.
"How many times do I have to tell you? I'm not joining. And don't call me Lord. I don't want that. I'm no 'lord.' I am Byakuran, excess Sky of the Varia, friend of Lussuria and proud lover of Irie Shouichi. I'm not just scum. I'm a Vongola. Albino trash, they usually call me...," Byakuran answered, grinning widely as he glanced back up at Kikyo.
"So after two months... you're still fixated on that worthless notion," Kikyo growled, moving towards Byakuran. The white-haired male quickly looked down and smiled devilishly when he saw that Kikyo had the weapon he needed. A long, wooden club in his right hand... Yes. Byakuran needed it.
"Mm hm! But I believe you mean worthy, not worthless~," Byakuran answered, before carefully standing up. Suddenly, he called forth his wings and ran forward on weak legs. Kikyo's eyes widened, the Cloud thinking Byakuran was going to fight back, and he dropped the bat in his hand, instinctively ran, closed the door and locked it behind him.
Exactly as wanted.
With a happy laugh, Byakuran picked up the large, wooden bat and swung it around a little. It was about the size of a broomstick, with enough metal in its core to smash a skull - namely his own. It was rough edged, too, bound to dish out some real annoying splinters. But despite that, it was perfect. Byakuran had anticipated that Kikyo would bring this weapon on this day (as he'd kept track of the schedule, and pretending to have had a burst of strength was just enough to scare the Cloud off).
Byakuran knew his room, you see, as he'd spent enough time there to explore every inch of wall and dirt floor. But now... now he had means to use this knowledge. A sword with which to slice apart the darkness and break free from misery...
"One and two and three, four, five and six and seven, eight," Byakuran whispered, before starting to dance, twirling and twisting with the bat and enjoying every second of it. His happy snickers filled the lifeless room with breath and childish glee as he leapt around in a silly fashion, eyes twinkling. "In the dark we dance, dance, 'till the moonlight chants, chants. When I see your face, face, it makes me feel embraced, 'braced. One and two and three, four, let's go knock on boss's door, five and six and seven, eight, it's only you I never hate." The rhythm came naturally from his memory, as did the lines he'd once used to help teach Shouichi how to tango. Such a memory would seem useless to these cold men who held them captive, but it was great for Byakuran's morale, and though he didn't know it... it was great for Shouichi's, too.
There were countless clouds of thought that were there to support him, memories of Shouichi to keep him sane. So while he was trapped in this room filled with filth, he would make the most of it, remember the fun, and keep his strength up in the only ways he could.
But as much delight as it brought the Sky, it wasn't welcome when his hip suddenly cramped up. With a groan, he skidded to a stop and leaned against the bat, before giggling, "I'm so old~ Thirty two, thirty three...? What day is it? Hmmm... I'll have to ask Shouichi when we get out of here, I guess!"
"Shouichi's dead," came a voice from the door. Andrew Spark was walking in. "To scare Kikyo with those stupid wings of yours. How irksome," he growled. "Just a useless party trick. Give me that bat, you bastard. What the hell are you even doing?"
"Shou-chan's alive," Byakuran replied with a sneer. "Probably more alive than ever~! He's never gone through things this tough before, it's good for him, I think. My little strawberry shortcake can handle it, anyhow - he's the toughest raspberry the world's ever seen~"
"Oh yeah?" Spark growled, grabbing the bat from Byakuran and swinging it around, sending the weakened male into the ground by hitting him across the chest. Ignoring the soft wheeze Byakuran gave from the rising dust, the boy hissed, "You're right. He's not dead. But the way he is now, he'd be better off that way. He's gone mad. He's too mentally weak, so he's breaking down. You just wait. The next time you see him... he'll just be a bloody mess in a straight jacket. In response to your insolence, I'll have him be tortured further, and yet forced to stay alive. Keep in mind you brought it upon him." That said, Spark started to walk away, but Byakuran didn't let him get far.
"Hey, shorty," he whispered. "You too much of a coward to take it out on me?"
"I beg your pardon?" Andrew said from the door, the damage to his pride showing on his face.
"Coward. You're... nothing but a coward," Byakuran repeated. "The way you joined us to gather information. The way you've only won through deceit. You can't take on a Varia in a real battle, and this is just proof."
"Really," Andrew said, turning to glare at Byakuran. "You're starting to get very annoying. I hated you for a long time, but now you're is just bothersome. If you need me to prove my power, too bad. I don't need to prove it to you, nor anyone. You being in here is good enough for me."
"If you let me recover and then faced me in a real battle, wouldn't that prove to your family that you're not to be messed with?" Byakuran tried again as the younger male once more started to leave.
"They already know that going against me means their death, no matter who they are," he growled. "However... I believe I am ready to kill you. I'll give it another month or so you may... recover. But you won't last long, healthy or otherwise."
"Bring it on, brat."
Day Sixty.
In a room with no love.
"Please... let me out...," Bel pleaded, weakly holding his place in the doorframe even as Soro tried to close the door.
"I can't! Bel, I'll be back later, okay? So just shush and let me go see the famiglia," he whispered, eyes large. "I gotta go, man! If you keep holding me up I'll be in trouble..."
"Froggy needs me, peasant, he neeeeds me!" Bel whined, leaning forward until his chin was against Soro's ear. "You wouldn't separate the prince and his princess like this, right...? Pretty please..."
"Look, how about... how about later, I sneak you some ice cream, okay? And we'll talk about Fran then. Okay? Just let me go for now!" Soro whispered, starting to panic. "You just gotta-"
"Soro? Is everything all right?" called a voice from outside the hallway. "Are you... talking with that stupid prisoner?" It was Kei, back from Mukuro's room. "Heh. He's really suffering, huh?" Kei said, observing the prince's face.
Bel's hair was matted and stained dark red, his cheeks were sticky with his own blood and his bangs were swept messily around his face, revealing his tear-filled red eyes. His lips were pulled in a frown so low his teeth could be seen, pink as well from blood, and vivid when juxtaposed against the prince's deathly pale skin.
"I'll get at him later, Kei, so butt out," Soro said, refusing to meet the eyes of either male.
"Wait, before you close that door," Kei purred, taking his beanie and playing with it as he met Bel's gaze head-on. "Let me just let the 'prince' know that his lover is the only one whose lover has actually kissed one of us willingly! You fell in love with an easy boy, eh? Bet that stings like we couldn't believe!"
"Lay off, Kei, this is my business," Soro snapped, before glancing back at Bel. "Get inside," he said, trying to be firm. Bel gave him once last look, gave Kei a glare, then sulkingly shuffled back inside. The prince dragged his feet all the way back to the torn-up sofa, soon slumping down on it with a sigh and looking at the monitor.
"Froggy... don't give me up...," he rasped. "I'm sorry I've been a bad lover but... but please don't let this ruin us... Don't let the Spiaggia take you away, Froggy!" he whimpered. Hugging a pillow to his chest and rocking manically, a deep frown on his lips. "If you're gonna leave... then leave on our terms, not theirs. Prince the Ripper needs his little frog..."
"Sea-head, you're back," Fran said, on the screen. "What's the news?"
"Well, Zakuro's being a huge butt so I decided to come eat my dinner with you," she answered, sitting beside Fran. "Daisy cooked up some good lasagna tonight. Not like him to do such extravagant dishes... he must be happy about something."
"Heh. Maybe skylark-san said something silly," Fran agreed, accepting the plate he was handed and resting beside her. "And you should just tell Zakuro to choke on his tobacco. ... I made a rhyme."
"Indeed you did," she giggled, before falling quiet again.
Belphegor's eyes watered and he took a knife that had been stabbed into the carpet, soon using it to break the monitor. He didn't want to see anymore - didn't want to hear anymore. His precious lover was leaving him now... and it was all his fault.
Meanwhile...
"Dude guys, I swear, Soro's a freaking baby when it all comes down," Kei laughed from the table, his legs up on the wood as he held his plate at his chest. "I mean, he's torturing the guy, sure, but I see it all over his face. He's going soft! We oughta get rid of him!"
"Soro's never been particularly strong-minded, perhaps you're right," Kikyo agreed. "We could stick him in the room with that prince he fancies so much and see how things go down then! What do you say to that, Soro?"
"I'm not going soft," the brunette murmured from the other end of the table. "But don't you guys think it's a little much? Why don't we just off those Varia?"
"Don't question my methods, Soro," snapped Spark. "The Varia are constantly finding ways to pull through. What we're doing is meant to throw them off. Eventually, they'll be so mad at each other that they'll do the dirty work for us. After a year apart, we'll shove them back together and see how they act. Although..."
"Huh?"
"You may want to be prepared for a slight change in plans. Since you are indeed softening up, let's flip this around. With a little more work, Bluebell can break Fran's heart. And then, when he's already weak... we'll switch the cameras around and you can have the honor of seducing your little prince charming."
Soro blanched. "Sir, I-"
"I said. Don't question my methods, Soro," Spark hissed. "I'll see you in the mechanic's office later to develop this plan further. In the meantime, let's simply eat. And... Kikyo."
"Yes, sir?"
"Bring a plate to Byakuran. He'll be needing his strength soon."
-End Chapter
XD Ahhh, such slow development.
Sorry for missing last week's post everyone! It wasn't my sickness... actually, my wonderful little cat was put to sleep that Saturday morning, and I'd thought we still had time with her. I was kind of startled into a writing slump, you know? So, rest in peace, Versailles, and the rest of you...
Review for action, drama, and lasagna~!