an: This is my first time writing something like this. Hopefully, I could rewrite this better in future. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: The chapter includes a psychological torture method.
Sitting in an interrogation room with the binder cuffs attached to a chair is not exactly why you left the N109. Freedom was supposed to feel different, not like this.
How could you have forgotten about the bounty? Your father specifically came to warn you about this. He told you to be careful, was he not? That, the N109 is safer for you than Linkon City.
You were almost like a criminal now. Was your mom that scared she turned you in?
The thing you know about our parents: their loyalty to the government was absolute. And borderline ridiculous. What you had to learn, painfully and all alone by yourself, was the cost of that ridiculous loyalty.
Cowards who would bow their heads and would choose orders over their own blood.
You exhaled slowly, the sound barely more than a breath in the sterile silence of the room.
There’s first for everything.
As the mechanical door opened, you looked up at the person entering. You could barely read his face, but one thing’s certain: he’s disappointed. Your father stood in front of you. Behind him, the mechanical door closed with a quiet click.
You hummed in acknowledgement.
“I believe you do realise why you’re here?”
“Of course, father. Apparently, I was an informant. Of possessing or....what was that? Hmm...allegedly leaking very private information about the fleet to a criminal organisation.”
He shifted slightly, as if preparing to interject. “Well—”
“And I am still wondering how you and your mighty organisation came to that conclusion. I am a mere civilian. Who would know better than you...that I am running an antique shop you barely visited...nor cared.”
“No innocent civilian would wander in N109, “ a stern voice chimed in from behind you.
Your father stiffened as you rolled your eyes in annoyance. These people love to interrupt you. “Well, I could argue-“ but you stopped midsentence.
You turned slightly, the sound of that voice settling somewhere deep in your memory before your mind could catch up. Your hands tightened against the restraints.
He stepped forward into your line of sight, stopping directly in front of you. Adorned with the medals and his uniform....He’s the new Colonel.
“You’re alive?? Caleb? You have been alive all this time?!” The composure you had maintained so hard began to fracture. No wonder Myla had a severely damaged red thread.
It was him. Of course, it was him. You can feel a headache seeping through.
He blatantly ignored your question. Without sparing you another glance, he turned away and walked to the side of the room. He reached for a pinboard propped against the wall and lifted it with practised ease.
He showed it to you so you could see it clearly. The photographs, documents that you could barely read, but it all arranged precisely. “There are multiple evidence on you, Miss YN. Now...you are going come clean with us.”
“You are alive, Caleb. I...” You plopped onto the chair, losing your composure. “You know what? Leave it. So, I believe you’re the one who put that bounty on me.”
He smirked, trying to maintain the composure expected of his rank, but it was strained. His fragile expression was falling, but he kept his cool. “Nothing is personal. You'd better cooperate. You know, Miss YN...the fleet has always had a...unique way of extracting information from the moles.”
“Sir –“ your father cut in sharply.
“Commander.” Caleb stopped him, not bothering to look at him, as he’s holding gaze on you.
There was a restraint in your father’s tone, “We talked about this.” You could hear pleading in his undertones.
“Of course. No blood, right? I keep my promises.”
You snickered as they casually talking what to do about you. “That’s a generous statement, coming from you, Colonel.” You retorted as you shifted your gaze to your father. “And no...I don’t need you anymore, Father. I can’t possibly pay you back again. Because I loathe you.” Those words came without hesitation. “What worse could happen? I die. Good. ”
“Enough!” Caleb roared. He straightened his uniform, “It seems...that you are not particularly ready to cooperate, Miss YN.” He turned slightly. “Commander, you know what to do. Room 7.”
His order was precise as he already planned this prior. Without waiting for a response, he stepped toward the door. It slid open at his approach, and he walked out without looking back.
If your father flinched at the mention of Room 7, you did not see it.
Room 7 was particularly not that much different from the interrogation room. The lighting was just as harsh. Walls are particularly bare. The officer strapped your wrists tightly to the armrests of the chair. She then checked those once, then twice, ensuring there was no room for movement.
Caleb was casually sitting beside you, one leg crossed over the other, flipping through a file or your case documents, you don’t know for sure. He did not look at you, even though he was all you were looking at. He looks the same...like Caleb. Not much difference except now he can torment you legally.
“Have you ever heard of hypnosis?” Caleb asked coolly.
“You know you had the wrong person strapped here, Caleb.”
You exhaled slowly. “You never liked me. But don’t you think this is too much... a bit excessive compared to what you have done before?” You asked.
He finally glanced at you, “Miss YN, you are not in a position to question me.” The officer gave a brief nod in acknowledgement of him before slipping out of the room and leaving the two of you alone in the room.
You tilted your head slightly, “I wouldn’t lie. You know me better, Caleb. That being said, you know for sure that I am not a lover of adventure. That, in fact...someone else’s attitude, don’t you think?”
A force of gravity, suddenly, grasped your neck, forcing you to stay in a position. Your head, not so voluntarily, faced upwards. A first drop. That was sudden. Your eyes flicked upward, and you just noticed a water barrel on top.
“Really? Water?” You scoffed at his simplicity.
“I promised your father...you see. Can’t afford to waste even a little drop of blood from the precious princess’s body.” He said, his voice dripping with mock courtesy.
You narrowed your eyes, “...I had a nosebleed once.” You replied nonchalantly.
“I always hated your existence.”
“You're never subtle-“ Another drop splashed onto your forehead. It rolled down to your temple. “...I guess I confirmed it when you locked me in the school locker room.”
“You've always been the sharp one.” He admitted.
“Does she know that you also locked her—” Plop. Another drop. “—to keep her from joining me that day?”
“I don’t know what you are talking about”, he lied. “What is she doing there in N109?”
You let a slow smile spread across your face, the corners of your lips curling with quiet satisfaction. Plop. “Why don’t you ask her that, Colonel? Afraid that your beloved might not like this...version of you?”
A drop should have fallen next, but it never did. You felt a subtle tension creep into your body. Swallowing hard, you said, “She’s a hunter. Could be work-related...don’t you think?”
He shrugged, unbothered. “The Fleet has always coordinated with the Hunter’s Organisation.”
Plop. The drop finally came, cold against your skin. You found yourself blinking more than usual, trying to shake off the sudden discomfort. “Good to know, Colonel,” you murmured, forcing casualness into your tone.
The room, then, was occupied with his constant flipping through the pages and the clock ticking, from where you couldn’t see.
One, two, three... four, five, six...
From the corner of your eye, you caught him glancing around the room before his voice dropped to a low, almost gentle whisper. “Does this have anything to do with her… threads?”
Another cold drop hit your skin, cutting off your words.
“I grew up with both of you,” he said, “Did you really think I’d never been part of your private conversations?”
You forced a smile, gulping because of what else he knows, “When the temperature turned too low?” You thought. “I had a hunch, always been. But no. You are getting none...out of me, Caleb. It is not my place to tell.”
He stood up, straightening his uniform out of habit “Sure, then. I have a meeting to attend. Be a good girl.” He left the room. The door slammed loudly behind him, making you jerk involuntarily at the sudden sound. You don’t remember the mechanical door being...that loud.
Would anyone have noticed me getting arrested...? Perhaps Myla.
You tried to picture the scenario because, since Fleet already had you in custody, most probably they had withdrawn the bounty. Right?
You tried to imagine how that goes. Maybe she could have noticed your disappearance. Maybe the words are spreading around the hunter’s organisation.
But another cold drop onto your forehead manages to distract your imagination, dragging you back to the present. You couldn’t.
Been trying to do it for a long time now. You inhaled, a shuddering breath. You closed your eyes briefly, attempting to rebuild the image in your mind. The same scenario, again. The same starting point, and slowly developing into how this would be resolved.
It is okay...this is not hurting, YN.
You don’t know anymore. It’s been hours. Caleb is trying to get into your mind.
One, two, three...four...five...six-
One, two..., three...Plop. You jerked at the drop that came too fast. Or, perhaps you were counting slowly. Your lips trembled as you tried again, whispering the numbers under your breath.
“One, two, three, eight...one. No...wrong...one, two...four” Your thoughts are slipping.
The drop struck your forehead and slid down the bridge of your nose. You squeezed your eyes shut, but it didn’t help. “One...” you whispered again, your voice barely audible. “Two...”
Your nerves were throbbing beneath your skin, and the water somehow gotten sharp. The water felt like it was drilling into your skull, splitting it open.
Hurts. You gulped and tried to lose your forehead muscles. If you didn’t tense, maybe it wouldn’t feel so severe.
Plink. The sound was wrong. Your eyelids were twitching. Everything is loud and echoing.
You squeezed your eyes shut. There was only one drop.
No, he cannot...he won’t be here. Never for you. “That’s not real,” you whispered to yourself.
It is real. You tried to count again, but the numbers dissolved. One… two… three… eight… twelve—
The voice distorted, clouding your hearing.
Another voice now. “Just tell them. It can stop.”
“There’s nothing to tell,” you mutter, though no one has asked a question in hours. Or minutes. You couldn’t tell. You could manage to sob. “Please...” doesn’t know who you’re pleading with... probably to yourself. Or, the white ceiling around you.
I know colours. You argued.
A gentle breeze rushed over you, and your body entirely went rigid. The faint scent of Datura. It was comforting for a moment, like a warm blanket. But then, it was getting overwhelming.
Beyond the dampness and filthy scent of leather, the stench began to stain your mind.
“You know, fairy, I love you so much that my entire heart is bleeding for you.” That’s his voice against your ears, all low and intimate. You don’t remember him being that soft before.
“You never sit still,” a woman’s voice interjected. Her fingers roughly stroke through your hair. The not-so-comforting scent that you couldn’t name, drifting around you.
A sharp tug at your scalp, so real you flinched.
Words barely formed in your mind.
It didn’t make sense. Nothing and absolutely nothing aligned. Your tears continue to slide as you can feel shadows shifting around you.
You're trying to grasp reality.
And then, eventually, something like a claw wrapped around your neck. Those claws gently drag down your column of spine. You shivered because you had expected it to hurt.
“You’re still half human, fairy. Datura could be poisoning you, you know...”
Your lips trembled. “I didn’t know,” you rasped.
His laughter and caressing slowly warped until it became hollow and distant. Your mind forcefully projected an angry, devastated crimson pair of eyes.
“Am I that easy for you, fairy?”
“I love you, fairy, please come back.”
His voice layered over the drip until you could no longer tell which was real. Your breath staggered, and your body was getting heavy. Every attempt to breathe was getting difficult. The warmth you remembered draining away.
The scene shifted. It’s getting hot. Wailing and cursing were being thrown at you. You had tightly shut your eyes.
Something was burning, and you couldn’t move. Couldn’t escape the relentless heat that clawed at you. The flames were creeping inch by inch up your restrained torso, setting every nerve on fire. The pain was alive, gawking at you, mocking your helplessness.
"Stayrus." It was the last word that you desperately uttered. A fragile plea swallowed by the flames of agony.
A scream tore out of your body.
So violent was the surge that your body wrenched off the chair. It was brutal screeching that nearly ripped your body in half. The force hurled you across the interrogation room hard enough to rattle the clinical walls.
Your senses were muted, and you saw red.
You felt you're getting cold, the throbbing nerves shivering, recovering from the heat.
“Restrain her!” Orders and the officers' shadows surround you. A familiar voice broke into a panicked yell.
You understood nothing, but you heard their neck snapping and their bodies landing under your feet. Your limbs moved without permission as control had long since slipped from your grasp.
The air filled with shouting, with choking cries, with the awful, broken sounds of people trying to breathe through pain. Your own body felt it was splitting open from within.
You tried. You tried to stop or hold still. But, limbs ignored your pleas for control, lashing out in blind desperation, “No! ..No—! Get back!”
Another crack as another body hits the ground. The room became a chaos of terror. The orders dissolving into screams, your name twisted into pleas and still, the pain did not stop.
It built, and built, until it swallowed everything.
The last thing you remember was Caleb. He crouched low, his own Evol pinned him down to the ground, preventing him from being torn apart by red swirls coiled around his neck.
Behind you, the Skyhaven was left shattered, flickering as you staggered forward, reaching out for the train.
Before you could, your body was swallowed within a mist.
With brute force, a crimson writhing coil surged out of Sylus as everything in the room shattered all around. The walls cracked, and debris flew as it clogged the air.
He raved as that ballistic rage shook the penthouse.
“Bossman!?” The twins froze at the sudden upheaval.
Luke darted to Sylus’s side, pushing past falling fragments to help him. Outside, the sky split open, unleashing an unusually heavy downpour that battered the windows with the very familiar thunder.
That sight, however, drew Kieran’s attention, his breath catching as he stared. “Luke, I have to check on something,” he said, urgency lacing his voice.
And without waiting, he sprinted.
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