(this is my first whump piece in months! i want to keep improving so any feedback/advice is more than welcome)
TW: starvation, branding/burning, death wish, swearing
The agitating dripping of the tap in the corner of the dank, warm room was slowly grating away at Koi’s sanity. How long had he been here? There was no way to tell. The room was devoid of windows, barring all light except for one solitary lightbulb, flickering pathetically and casting a taunting orange glow. The thick coarse ropes were digging into his wrists, leaving them bruised and bloody. Koi had been waiting in this room for what felt like days.
His escape attempt had only been a few hours ago, but the anticipation had made it feel like an eternity. Cantaro, after wrestling the weakened Koi back to the basement, and tying the ropes painfully tight around his wrists, had sworn that Koi would be “dealt with”. Koi had no clue what that entailed, he felt as if he had gone through the worst of it, what new ideas did Cantaro have? The waves of fatigue were crashing over Koi, making it hard to think, to prepare. He hadn’t eaten in a while, he wasn’t sure how long, but it was long enough to create a painful black hole inside his very empty stomach. He decided he would take the win, that Cantaro wasn’t with him in this moment, and tried to enjoy his time alone.
Koi thought of his home, his room. How he longed to have a cosy bed to fall asleep in, a comforting shower that wasn’t too hot or cold. He wished for his privacy back, to stop being treated like an animal, a spectacle that Cantaro could toy with.
Losing himself in his imagination, or maybe delusions from hunger, Koi woke with a start when he heard the metal bolt unlock with a threatening thud. Cantaro was here.
Defiantly, Koi glared up at Cantaro, not wanting to give him the satisfaction of his mental defeat. He wanted to show Cantaro that this was a waste of his time, that he’d never get Koi to ‘break’, like he vowed he would.
Cantaro stood at the top of the basement steps, his frame filling most of the doorway, as three other men walked in. Unease settled over Koi, wondering why Cantaro could need this much manpower. Whatever it was, Koi tried to show no signs of fear, even though that was the only emotion he managed to feel anymore. Koi’s eyes followed the men across the room as they made their way over to him.
One started to untie the rope digging into his skin, while the other two kept a firm grip on him, to avoid another incident.
Koi hadn’t meant to kill that guard, he just needed to get out.
This time, however, he was just too tired. Koi wouldn’t be able to take them all in a fight - if he were his normal strength, yes. But not like this. Koi’s heart raced as he wondered what they would do to him. His heart pounded mercilessly against his rib cage at the thought that whatever happened, he was helpless. He wouldn’t be able to do anything…
They finished untying the rope, and there was a brief moment of silence, of stillness, as the men awaited Cantaro’s orders. If only Koi had known what was about to happen to him, he would have savoured that moment more.
Sinisterly, Cantaro reappeared at the entrance to the basement, holding something in his hand, a metal rod of some sort? Koi couldn’t make it out from the distance, stars were already filling his vision as the men got him to stand up.
“Get him on the ground. It’s time we show him who he belongs to…” Cantaro bellowed, a slight smile of pleasure behind his eyes. He held the weapon forward in front of him, as if mocking Koi with it. A metal rod, with an engraved symbol at the end. A flaming hot symbol.
The glowing red of the metal was all Koi could focus on, true fear finally set into Koi’s mind. He didn’t want to, he couldn’t, go through this…
Instantly, Koi started to thrash, trying any attempt to free himself from the men holding him firmly. It was no use, he was too weak, he hadn’t eaten, hadn’t slept in days.
One of the lackeys kicked the back of Koi’s legs, causing him to land on the floor with a thud, wincing as his knees took most of the impact. Another grabbed Koi’s hair harshly, pulling him back until he was properly on the floor, despite Koi’s most desperate efforts to free himself from them.
Terror had now latched itself to Koi, causing his breathing to quicken, his exposed torso rising and falling with every gasp for air. He hated this, he hated being touched by this many people, he just wanted them to get off him.
Cantaro loomed over Koi, revelling in the power dynamic, ecstatic from the complete control. The hot iron made its way closer to Koi, the brand at the end glowing a horrifying blend of red and white.
“This is for trying to escape. How dare you even attempt it?! Maybe this will help you remember who is in charge here…” The iron inched extremely close to Koi’s tender, exposed side. He tried his best to move away, to stop his heavy breathing in order to make his chest smaller. Koi’s eyes were wide with fear, the glowing heat of the metal reflecting off of them. Cantaro breathed a sigh of contentedness, at watching Koi squirm under the lackeys’ grip.
“Put that near me and I’ll kill you! I swear to fucking god, Cantaro, I’ll kill you!” Koi yelled desperately, his voice hoarse from dehydration, all the while still uselessly trying to fight against the men above him.
Cantaro chuckled - this was pathetic. “I’d like to see you try,” he muttered, before swiftly and firmly pressing the hot iron against Koi’s side.
The sickening sound of sizzling could be heard, as smoke rose from Koi’s body. The putrid smell of burning flesh wrinkled the noses of everyone in the room. And then the screaming began.
Koi had gritted his teeth, only letting out groans, as the searing hot metal melted his skin, it was so hot it consumed his every thought. It was so hot he forgot about his defiance, about his goal to not let Cantaro see him break. It was too painful, he couldn’t hold up the charade any more. Throwing his head back in agony, Koi let out a gruelling, bone chilling scream, which only elicited a smile from Cantaro. Koi thrashed under the weight of the lackeys, trying anything to remove his body from the iron. But Cantaro just held it there, pressing it deeper into his skin, letting the smoke rise higher.
Koi had never felt anything like it before. Sure, he had caught his arm on the stove once or twice, but this was so much worse. The heat, the torturous agony travelled through his whole body, enveloping him into a world full of pain and fear. Yells and groans of pain echoed against the walls of the basement, along with the sound of laughter from the men.
After what felt like an eternity of struggling and searing hot burning, Cantaro pulled the iron away, its brand no longer glowing as hot as before. Koi groaned and sighed, relived that it was over. Pieces of what could only be Koi’s own skin and flesh were pulled away with the iron, hanging off the end in a sickening manner. Koi’s eyes locked onto the mess of the iron and harsh waves of nausea instantly flooded over him, threatening to empty the contents of his stomach even further.
His side throbbed and pulsated in a horrible way, there was no relief, even after the initial branding. Koi tried his best not to look but his curiosity got the better of him. His skin, once beautifully smooth and desirable, was a melted mess of intense burns and exposed flesh. The letter ‘C’, written in an obnoxious cursive, was extremely prominent, sticking out of his chargrilled side. A permanent reminder of all that had happened.
The pain showed no sign of subsiding, leaving Koi trembling beneath the grip of the lackeys on top of him, tears filling his eyes as he tried to calm his breathing. Stars filled Koi’s vision, causing the basement to swerve and spin around him.
Cantaro spat on Koi, glaring down at him from above, “I hope you learned a valuable lesson today. This is all your fault, after all, know your place…”
Koi barely heard him, everything echoed around him as he focused on not throwing up, or passing out, or both. But Koi couldn’t handle the pain much longer, and his head started to grow heavy, and his legs grew tingly. The lackeys cautiously got off of Koi, worried about him fighting back, but once they saw the colour drained from his face, and the way his eyelids fluttered and his chest slowed down, they knew they didn’t have reason for concern. They stood up, letting his head fall to the ground with a thud, before walking away.
The ceiling danced around mockingly in front of Koi’s fading vision, as he tried to take his mind off of the pain, the agony that swept through his side and all through his torso. Koi knew Cantaro had finally gotten what he wanted - to see Koi break. He started to sob, teardrops rolling off his cheeks and landing on the dirty floor beside his face, he couldn’t get up, he could only lie here in pain.
Koi had been holding out hope that Guido, or anyone, would come to save him. But after today, Koi didn’t think that was possible, no one was coming for him.
He shut his eyes defeatedly, and let the dizziness wash over him, transporting him to a land of unconsciousness.
Koi only had hope for one thing: that he wouldn’t have to wake up.
Thank you for reading!!! Let me know if you would like to be added to the taglist <3 this is actually inspired by branding prompts i wrote a while ago
