The Labyrinth: Jacque and Clive- ??:??
Clive awoke in a still twitching and choking fit. He was cuffed back into the chair, all of the straps tight against his skin except one. His torso was still free, even though a tight cuff was even pressed against his neck. He couldn't move his head, and he felt the constant stream of blood flowing down his throat, half blocking his breathing and choking him.
The immediate pain he felt pulsing through him was indescribable, unbearable. His mouth was hung open slightly, ridiculous amounts of blood flowing out of it. Down his chin and onto his chest, the blood never stopped. He couldn't speak, he could barely breathe. His still searing back was pressed up against the freezing metal of the chair, and he could barely even feel his legs at this point. He was starting to go numb, he could feel his body giving up. He was dying.
Jacque, however, was still planning to continue on. He stood off to the side, a warm red glow coming from a slot in the wall in front of him. He watched as the large steak knife lying on the burning coals slowly grew to a vibrant orange glow before removing it from the fire.
"None of this is personal towards you, specifically. I suppose it might be, if I were me from your world. But I'm not. And you're not my Clive. But-- I suppose it doesn't matter. I'll find my Clive eventually, and I'll make him suffer much worse than this. However..." Jacque looked over the knife before walking back over to Clive, "This is still a little bit of revenge. For David. I don't care which Clive I have, as long as you remind me of him."
Clive had lost all sense of fight in him. He was shaking, terrified of what was going to happen next.
"Let me ask you something. A simple question, a shake of the head will do as an answer," Jacque hunched over slightly, coming to Clive's eye level, "Are you a murderer, Clive?"
Clive choked lightly at the question and didn't move. He didn't know what to answer.
"An honest answer, please. Have you ever plunged a knife into someone's chest? Bashed their skull in with a rock? Slit someone's throat?"
Clive still didn't respond, not knowing if it was a trick or not.
"It's a simple yes or no.. Answer me!"
Clive flinched and responded by nodding his head quickly and letting out a few frightened whimpers.
"Hm. Now you sound like my Clive. Where did that spite go, Clive? Where did your stubbornness go? It left with your words, didn't it? That's unfortunate... Now you can't insult your way out of a hopeless situation."
Clive swallowed, choking on the blood once again and jerking lightly against the restraints. He hacked and coughed, tensing up and struggling to keep his throat from being blocked off.
"Let's see this now... You know, a good friend of mine mentioned something earlier to me. An arsonist friend of mine. He brought up the 1000 degree knife challenge. I've seen the trend running around and everything but thought it was always dumb," Jacque lifted his blade and twisted it in his hand, "I guess maybe that was because they never tried cutting into anything interesting. Let's do our own little experiment, shall we? What happens when this knife meets exposed human skin."
Jacque didn't wait for anything else and pressed the glowing knife against Clive's chest. Instantly the sizzling sound of burning flesh was heard and the nasty smell filled the room. Clive let out a strangled scream and tried to jerk, but found himself unable to move.
Jacque dragged the knife in a circle, cutting downwards and leaving a scorched and bleeding gash as he went. He completed the circle eventually, going slower to prolong Clive's agonized screaming. Then he dragged down twice more, then a third time in a long arch underneath. A burnt, still smoking smiley face was left in the center of Clive's chest, in which Jacque still decided he wasn't done and turned the face into a sun, leaving single marks all around the outside.
Clive was in tears once again, sobbing screams and chokes not seeming to stop even after Jacque was done.
"Look at that... You're beginning to remind me more and more of David. Or at least the condition you left him lying in. It's taking most of my power to not end you at any time. But unfortunately, I did make somewhat of a deal. Being a business man, I know I'll just lose my leverage if I let you die, and there's no point in that."
Clive's strained and very verbal sobs left Jacque wondering if anything else was worth doing for now. Eventually he decided to just leave Clive to use up all of his tears and sit in the pain he was already in. Jacque knew he could always make it worse. He had so many options. However he didn't want to send his captive into any seriously near death condititon. He didn't want the risk.
"Hm... Maybe I'll sign my work later."
With that, Jacque stood up and went back over to the small oven in the wall. He set the knife back into it and sighed.
"Until further notice, Clive, it looks like you'll be taking a bit of a break."