Hands tugged on his arms as he was dragged down wood-like hallways. The same thing their room had been made of. He was shoved back into the cage, a newer cage, his head wound quickly reopening at the force of his head hitting the ground.
There was a copper taste in his mouth and he couldn't tell if it was that woman's blood or his own. Either way, he spat it out in disgust. The idea of either of those strange twin's blood being in his mouth was nauseating.
Footsteps approached slowly as that woman came back into view. Her identical counterpart trailed after her curiously. His eyebrows scrunched up as he met eyes with Tsuna. He turned to the woman and said something angrily.
He wants you out of the cage.
Tsuna frowned. He wanted to be far from those two.
The woman started calmly saying something back to him. Her eyes tracked Tsuna's movements like a predator ready to pounce on its prey. Whatever she said made the man back down easily, nodding as if it made sense all of a sudden.
The two moved to the side as the door opened. Two servant-like people walked in carrying an arm.
Tsuna felt his stomach twist and churn as he registered what he just observed.
They had an arm.
Like a severed fucking arm.
It's not death.
Tsuna wished it was.
One of the guards that dragged him there roughly held Tsuna's head, prying his mouth open as the two servants cut off small pieces of flesh. It was brought to Tsuna's mouth and he had never struggled more than he had then.
Something snide was said from the woman but it fell flat since Tsuna couldn't understand her tongue. It wasn't hard to guess why he was being punished though. Regardless of that fact, Tsuna struggled, his flames kickstarting into life like a match.
He had forgotten about his flames. It was easy when he'd lived half his life without them, but they were overwhelmingly violent at that moment. It hurt since it was trying to light but only going out after each try. As the flesh was pressed into his mouth, Tsuna wanted to gag. It had a disgusting taste of…pork for some reason. A little sweeter yet a little more bitter at the same time. The idea of it was so disgusting that he tried to bite down on the fingers in his mouth.
The hand withdrew quickly, leaving the flesh in Tsuna's mouth. The guard holding his mouth open quickly kept it close to force Tsuna to swallow the flesh. He was chanting something in his language. Something irritating.
Tsuna contemplated what was worse: swallowing the flesh or letting it stay in his mouth. He wondered what he would have chosen had his face not been smashed on the ground. The guard yelled whatever he was chanting, and Tsuna got the hint.
Whatever word he was chanting must've been an order to eat it or something similar.
He forced himself to swallow the flesh, gagging as it went down his throat. He knew he was going to get sick from eating that, so he prayed emotionlessly to die once he got sick.
The moment it was completely swallowed, his jaw was forced open. Tsuna swore there was bruising with how aggressive the guard was being. They fed him another small piece of the flesh, and Tsuna could only…hope that they wouldn't make him eat the whole damn arm. Hope.
Was it strange that he could feel it draining? He'd still held onto some last slivers of it when he'd been taken to their bedroom. When he'd been dressed like a doll, all clean and pretty.
His damned pride brought him to the place he was in. His damned stubbornness brought him to further misery. His eyes met red eyes and for a moment he wanted to bring them all down. He wanted to see how much misery they could all take.
There was a sharp bark of an order before Tsuna was kicked in the side. The sound of his rib cracking sickened him, but he refused to break that eye contact. If he was going to die because of prideful stubbornness, then he would do it fearlessly.
Another order, harsher and meaner, came before another kick.
He continued to stare, his gaze darkening into a glare as his voice rasped out something for the first time in what felt like forever. "Die," he managed to stay, a slight growl humming like tendrils through his tone. "Die, you fucking assholes."
There was confusion marring everyone's faces. No one understood him in a way that comforted Tsuna. They had no clue what he was saying nor the weight of his words. They only knew the tone of his voice which evoked anger in the albino woman.
She turned her head, saying something to the guards as her and her identical counterpart left the area in brisk strides.
There were more hits that followed, but Tsuna only bit the inside of his cheek, glaring at the spot those damned twins were in. His eyes never once left that spot as he took the kicks and punches like it was nothing.
There was a vague, throbbing pain from the blooming bruises scattered across his skin as well as the sharpness from what he assumed were broken ribs.
He passed out after a few more hits through what he assumed was his punishment. His mind was never silent when his intuition was reminding him of each hit and each bruise.
They are taking a knife to your thigh.
They are undressing you.
They are-
Shut up. Shut up. Shut up. Shut up.
He didn't want to know.
So please…
Shut up.
He woke up again feeling like shit. His body ached in so many ways that he refused to even be curious about what might've happened after snapping at his own intuition.
He was going insane minute by torturous minute.
They were still hitting him and there was a hand somewhere a hand should not have been, but he ignored that part. He tried to, at the very least.
There was a severed leg in front of his face which looked disturbingly fresh from someone's body.
Hopefully not his.
A piece of flesh was cut off and Tsuna weakly turned his head away from it, resulting in a kick to the back of his skull.
That hurt like a bitch. He already had an open wound on his skull.
Kill him, that voice from before echoed.
Fucking kill him.
Tsuna was a little tempted to do so in all honesty, but there was nothing to-
Use your fucking hands if you have to.
His fingers twitched as something lit up in his eyes.
Don't. Don't. Please, don't.
He was insane. So fucking insane.
He wanted to grab that foot kicking him and drag it, pulling the man's body to the ground. He wanted to rip into the man, pulling his organs and shove it in his goddamn-
Stop it!
He was insane.
There was a familiar, insufferable voice as the albino twins entered the area once again. The woman looked incredibly happy, smiling smugly at the brunet as she made a sharp order.
The two finally left the cell, locking the cage behind themselves.
The woman crouched down, her hair softly framing her face as she spoke to him condescendingly. As if she were talking to a pet.
We are not a fucking pet.
To her we are.
He was insane, but this was the most conversation he's had in a while. It was all he had.
He was so hungry for actual food after vomiting all of the human meat from his system once he was alone. At least, he vomited whatever he could. There were most likely pieces he digested which sickened him to think about.
They'll bring us food.
Then we won't eat it.
We will die.
Dying is better than living through this hell.
You know nothing.
The conversation in his own head distracted him from his aching stomach which honestly could've been from any of the numerous causes: the broken ribs, the bruises, the hunger. Fuck, that reminder made the pain so much more real.
We miss Mom's cooking.
I doubt she even knows we're missing.
They all know we're missing. They simply are not looking.
That reminder also hurt like a bitch. Thanks a lot, he thought to his two voices dryly.
You should talk more.
You should.
Out loud? He already felt crazy, so he wasn't really ecstatic to get looks confirming that he was.
Suit yourself.
What happened to 'we' and 'us'?
The two voices fell silent, subjecting him to the surrounding noises of metal lightly clanging in the distance. There were sounds of trees and bushes rustling from outside the cage, and if Tsuna could've used his flames to burn the whole damn island, he would've.
That would be a bad idea, his intuition finally piped up. Our flames are already unstable. Using them now would most likely kill us too.
At least we wouldn't be suffering.
Now they were using 'we'?
They fell silent again which made him think that maybe he was insane and he was imagining the voices in his head. They could have also been real and were just assholes who were ignoring him on purpose.
All he could really do at that point was to stare at the ceiling as his naked body trembled from the cold air. If hunger wouldn't kill him, hypothermia might.
It was when day turned into night that there were footsteps. There were two to be exact, and he, strangely enough, could pinpoint who exactly the footsteps belonged to.
Those damned twins, he echoed into his quiet mind with a snarl.
The female one made a couple of strange cooing noises before pushing a folded blanket into the cage along with a small tray of nice, warm food.
His stomach growled at the pleasant smell, reminding him of his mom and when it was just them. Before all that mafia nonsense and before all of this torture.
Once the footsteps receded, Tsuna turned and hesitantly grabbed the blanket, pointedly ignoring the food as he instead cried for the first time in a long time. Something deep down said that he wouldn't get another chance to do so.
His already hoarse voice felt scratchy and sore as he continued to sob into the blanket he had wrapped around his body. He tried to shakily wipe away the tears only to cry harder at the feeling of his gaunt face.
He fell asleep, crying even then and enjoying what little moment of emotion he knew he would have left.
The morning light peaked through the light from outside of the cage. Perhaps there was a window, but he wasn't given time to think as cold water drenched him and the cozy blanket he slept in. It effectively woke him up, and he snarled, nearly whimpering, at the sight of a corpse lying outside of his cage.
It was decayed and had dirt around as if they were halfway through burying it before taking it to his cage.
It sickened him to even look at, and his gut churned in dread.
Oh…
Tsuna made a questioning sound at the back of his throat which was meant for his intuition but was thankfully too dry to be heard by the barbaric guards.
We were supposed to eat the food.
He found that to be ridiculous, but his intuition had never once failed him before even if it was a little late this time.
His jaw was forced open as dirty, rotten flesh was forced into his mouth. He gagged before getting hit right where his broken ribs were, forcing him to swallow the flesh. He wished that he could cry, but his puffy eyes were in too much pain. Not to mention, there was a simmering refusal to give these damned people any satisfaction. He would much rather kill himself which didn't hold as much weight as it would've before.
He would rather kill himself no matter what.
They left him there, gagging as he trembled from his drenched body and blanket. He wished they'd taken the corpse with them, but he realized that the corpse was a reminder. It was the rules of the horrid game they were forcing him to play.