ENTERTAIN ME

"About time."

Light returns to you. All you see are the distinct, handsome details of a face. His eyes, despite their hue, shown a certain softness. Delicate, long white locks carefully fell by your face. His gentle smile had entirely distracted you from the present situation. You blink a moment, tilting your head as you study his countenance. The man's smile grew as his eyes met yours.. You found yourself looking away in embarrassment. "What's this beautiful creature doing hovering over me?'

You can't help but lightly blush when his gloved hand guides your gaze back to him. The way he looked down upon you, you'd already tensed - instinctively prepared for a kiss.

"Hmm? Have you already become tame? Now we can't have that." He lightly scolded: his fingers lightly stroking your chin. You held your breath. 'He really is beautiful…'

You can only stare back up at him in wonder. Something about him, apart from beauty, you found so charming about him.

"Come, it's almost time." He said abruptly.

With the same hand, he pulls you up from the bed. Finally registering his words you blink. "Time? Time for what?" You said, now slowly realizing your predicament. Once you'd fully come to see the gravity of the situation - you choked. You looked to this beautiful creature yet again, now acknowledging him as your captor.

His soft smile never leaving his face, he spoke.

"Ah, that's the face." He laughed darkly, causing a chill to run down your spine.

"Now it's time for you to go, explore my Carnival to your heart's content."

You narrowed your eyes. "Go..?"

Instinctively you shrunk back, but his hand held you firm in his grasp. "Isn't that where..?"

Your response was a knowing nod from him. Before you could protest, he sweeps you up in his arms. Holding you close, he drifts out of the room. "N-no wait!" You attempt to squirm but his grip on you only tightens. Was he really just going to throw you back with those monsters? In a silent plea, you look up towards his face. He still wore that grin. Instead of eliciting that sense of awe, it made you sick. This man is more of a monster than all who live here.

He stopped at the balcony, taking a brief pause to admire the scenery below. He adjusted you in his arms so you too could see.

"Isn't my Carnival a sight to behold? Look, see how gently its radiance glistens from this spot."

Your heart sank, despite yourself you began to tremble again.

"Everything...so small, so insignificant. It's sickening." He spoke with a slight scowl.

You shot a look up to him in disbelief. How could he both praise and belittle his world in one breath? Let alone how could he with that cruel smile?

In one swift motion he stepped onto the balcony's edge and leapt. You clung onto him for dear life. You could swear your heart had beat out of your chest a long time ago. The world around you all became a blur. Even with the intimate knowledge of this man being your captor, you find yourself burying your face into his cloak; the terrifying sensation of falling to your demise overwhelming you.

A light tap was all you felt.

You slowly opened your eyes. From what you could see you noticed his feet gently touch the ground. Several others had taken notice of your arrival. A crowd formed about you two, their cold eyes studying the small bundle within your captor's arms. Finally looking up from him you take in your surroundings fully. Your eyes widen in terror once you feel all those eyes piercing into you. Your grip on his cloak tightens. He'd landed uptop the carousel, somehow his feet balancing on the tip of it. He looked down upon you, that same smile plastered upon his face. When your eyes met his, he finally spoke.

"The night has just begun. Now little one...provide us some entertainment will you?"

You opened your mouth to interject but he'd lifted you off of him in a single jerk. Your heart sank. With one powerful sweep, he tossed you face first into the ground below. You hit the ground with a thud. Your ears rang from the shock, extremities bloodied from the impact. Groaning, you slowly pick yourself up. As soon as you looked up, it all sunk in. You looked back upon where your captor stood triumphantly. He grinned, lifting his hand to the sky. Every pair of eyes followed that hand upward. He snapped.

In a flash you took off. You didn't need any further explanation.

Several pursued you in a crazed frenzy, other merely looked on the spectacle with sadistic glee.

"Why? Why is this happening?"

All you can do is flee, tears welling up in your eyes.

You had no idea where you where or where you were going.

As you stayed longer in this wretched place, you developed one prime instinct: survival.

In this seemingly eternal nightmare, this was all you knew. You did somethings you thought you'd never do; things you weren't proud of. That's because your will to live overrides all else.

How much time has passed?

There really isn't a way to tell here. This place is cursed with eternal night. Thus meaning little rest for your poor soul. You did what you had to do to scavenge for food. Your captor never fed you. He'd literally thrown you out to the dogs. You stole, you mugged, once even you killed. For what purpose is all this?

It hurt that you hardly had any recollection of how you'd even got here.

What were those back home doing? You wondered at times if you'd been gone long enough for all to presume you dead. Images of an empty casket, a mass of figures in black, a ingle sobbing mother, all flooded your mind. Friends, family, all holding back their tears as the pastor reads your eulogy, babbling on about how you were 'gone too soon' and are in a 'better place now.' The heart-wrenching sound of your mother's sorrowed pleas to God above to bring her child back to her interrupting it all…

Even so, the only 'reprieve' allowed was when your captor swept you back up to the castle at the end of your trails (as he saw fit). He'd praise or scold you based on your 'performance'. On the days he'd have to swoop in and save you, he'd take you back to the castle and punish you with his rod. Spitting curses at you for being so weak. On days you push through with little or no aid, he'd come to you, warm and gentle. His touch careful and precise as he tends your wounds. However, no matter how he treated you, you despised it all.

You were smart enough to know that compliance was what gave you a chance to make it through - yet it changed little how you thought about this man. At some point you hardly hid your contempt for him, shrinking back from his touch, averting your gaze, shooting him fierce looks of hatred. This merely caused him further amusement. He took in all your emotion with a sense of delight: teasing you often as if you were his 'splendid pet.'

Sometimes you couldn't help but wish for the cowardice of a self-inflicted death.

That luxury, he refused to grant.

Diabolik Lovers, the setting nor characters belong to me. I'm simply crafting a story based upon such.

Nor do I own the title, I have MEJIBRAY to thank for that.