Captured

[Forsaken]

Kite and Rena would wake up, alone, in cells that are on opposite ends of the Penitentiary. This placement was, of course, intentional and meant to make communication between the two difficult. They did have the comforts granted them by a hard cot and stiff pillow, and would wake to the sound rushing water as opposed to gloomy silence, but those comforts didn't amount to much when they were found on the wrong side of a locked cell door.

For now, they were alone in their imprisonment. But the highest ranking Guardians would return before the day was out, to find out what they knew through persuasion or force. Necessity would chose the method.

[The Imfamous AKA]

Rena groans as she wakes up. Not realizing her position, she rolls as she tries to move her torn muscles and falls hard off of the cot and face first onto the cold stone floor. With a faint cry, she boosts herself onto all fours. She maitains the pose shakily for a few moments before her arms give out, sending her crashing back to the floor.

"I seem to be meeting the floor a lot lately," she murmurs to herself. Without even bothering to try to move herself again, she shoves her blood-hardene hair out of her face, turns her head to the side so she can at least attempt to breathe, and closes her eyes once more, desperately ignoring the pain and her predicament.

[Rojo]

Jeremy's eyes suddenly open. His brain's natural defence systems flicker on immediatly. Where am I? What's going on? What's that noise? Am I in pain?
All these questions suddenly hit him like a sock with a brick in it. He sat up so quickly his back clicked. Looking around at the stone room he realised where he was.

Kite swung his legs over the side of the cot and stood up, stretching his legs a little. He looked about, finding there was no light in the room. Obviously the Guardians weren't taking chances with this. All of his odds and ends were now missing, even his pack of dirty playing cards. His knife had been confiscated too. Bastards. Giving a short growl of frustration, he bangs a fist against the wall angrily.

[Forsaken]

((Kite's up next, Rojo. But Somriad's taking care of the initial interrogation, and there is only one of him, so poor Kite will have to wait until he's finished with Rena. ))

Only moments after the last rebel had gained consciousness, the soft click of a door opening and then closing would be heard over the rushing murmur of the subterranean river, followed immediately by footsteps whose slow, easy tempo suggested a personality that believed it had all the time in the world to reach it's destination. Which was entirely the case, since the points of interest that this destination held weren't about to leave under their own power.

As the supremely confident owner of these footsteps drew closer to Rena's cell, the soft rustle of flowing robes would become audible. Then sight followed sound as blue eyes (flickering from bright, pale blue to deep midnight as light and shadow shifted across them) set into distinguished, masculine features, gazed in upon the imprisoned rebel through the bar-inlaid window set into the steel door. Their expression gave away nothing more than the slightest tinge of boredom.

The sound of the lock clicking would accompany the aloof gaze, and then the door swung open and Somriad himself entered the cell. "I hope you are well," he began pleasantly. "I would be terribly disappointed to find that you aren't up to the day's entertainment when this meeting has left me with so much to look forward to." He bestowed a charming smile upon her, his eyes seeming to glimmer with pleasure. But there was something frightfully dark in their depths that passed like a shark's shadow beneath so many feet of sparkling water...and could not be trusted.

[The Imfamous AKA]

Rena, who has yet to move from her position face down on the floor (which is only slightly more comfortable than the cot), glares up at him over her shoulder. Her eyes meet his, sparkling blue looking down to clash with her intense purple, and the light flickering off the gold that's only slightly obscured by her blood-stained hair.

Without moving, her eyes roll away for a moment before she returns her disdainful gaze to Somriad. As not only a member of the Rebellion, but also a thief, she could recognize by sight and name any of the more powerful of the ruling class. And Somriad was definately one she knew of.

"Could you hurry up and get the torture over with?" she mutters insolently. "The faster you begin, the sooner it's over with, and I'd really like to concentrate on more pressing things than pain during my short stay before being lit on fire." Rena knew it would quickly progress to torture. It would be the Guardian's only hope of getting her to spill her secrets, Rebellion related or otherwise. She only prayed that she had the strength to withstand that, as well.

[Forsaken]

Somriad gazed down at her with that indifferent expression he tended to adopt when he believed himself to be dealing with a particularly slow and stupid individual and must be patient. Clearly she didn't fully grasp the situation.

"Yes, you are going to die," He replied casually, as though this fact were of little consequence. "There is nothing that can be done to turn back time and undo the wrongs you have committed, which is the one thing that would have spared this 'life' that so concerns you. Yet it is only fair to inform you, child, that there is more to fear in this life than it's end. Or pain, that tool that serves to remind us that death is always near." He smiled, a fatherly expression that would normally be reserved for small children that were too innocent yet to understand the ways of the world. "There is always more that can be lost. Your mind. Your friend. And I will be forced to take one or both from you if you refuse to allow me the answers that I seek.

Do you understand?"

[The Imfamous AKA]

Her little nap had restored enough of Rena's strengthfor her to boost herself into a sitting position and turn to face the Guardian. She leans back on her palms to stare up at him defiantly. "Oh yes, Honored Guardian, I understand. I understand that youare willing to do anything you can to break me. I understand that I'm going to die, and that I will not only die painfully, I'll be in pain for the rest of my thoughtlessly short life. I realize that you'll break my body, my mind, and try ever so hard to make my spirit follow suit, but there is something you need to understand. I understand much more than you seem to be willing to give me credit for, and I can respect that. You're a Guardian. That's how you think." She smiles, canines glinting ever so slightly. "In the minds of anyone who matters you are better than me. But no matter what you do to my body, what you do to my mind, there's only one thing you can do that can truly cause me pain, and let me assure you, you will never... ever be able to figure out what that is."

[Forsaken]

Somriad calmly listened to the prisoner throughout this entire rant, nodding slowly, as though her thoughts actually concerned or interested him. When she finished, he gave a heavy sigh and lifted his hand to gently pinch the bridge of his nose, looking terribly disappointed all the while, as though he had expected so much more from her and his expectations had proved entirely unfounded.

The facade was perfect, even though everything within him that could be classified as real slowly coiled into a dark mass that eagerly awaited it's moment to remind this rebel, this dog, that she was so much less than he.

"I'm sorry to hear that. I would have preferred to spare you more pain than necessary, but I fear that you will now have to hold close that one thing you hold dear," he said softly, in a strange tone of voice that seemed to mimic regret, but didn't sound quite right. Regret was one of those concepts that Somriad had never really understood, being an emotion reserved for those who wished they could have done differently, and he being a creature who believed he was always justified in his actions. And because he couldn't comprehend it, any attempt at emulating such an emotion was flawed. This slight wrongness in his tone was almost imperceptible, too slight for reason to capture and understand without the aids of insight and contemplation.

Basically, even Rena may find herself startled by the suddenness of his attack.

Somriad's eyes, having fallen half shut during his illusion of concern, snapped open, his chin rising, his elegant cloaks whipping around him on the invisible gust of wind that arrived with the sudden flux of his aura. The very color seemed to leech from the rocks, which suddenly became paler as the air itself seemed to become darker. It would seem to Rena as though all color were being leeched from the room, leaving Somriad, dressed in only the finest, richest shades of blue, the sole source of color in gray, hopeless surroundings.

The moment the air cleared, chains would erupt from the space around the distinguished Guardian, leaping forward like so many striking snakes to twist themselves around Rena, holding her immobile.

When Somriad advanced, this mass of chains with Rena at their center would rise, the ends of the chains undulating slowly around her head.

Ah, it had been quite some time since he'd had a chance to toy with a victim in so leisurely a fashion! He was going to enjoy every moment spent in fulfilling his purpose here.

He moved in close, leaning in so that he could guide his next words directly into her ear. His voice was a low, velvety purr. "Tell me of your rebellion, wolf."

He smiled.

[The Imfamous AKA]

Rena had continued to lean back, her pose disbelieving and as relaxed as she could manage with her muscles screaming in protest and her head throbbing with pressure. So with his sudden burst of magic, she fell back only slightly, catching herself on her sore arms before she dropped down to the ground again.

She watched, eyes wary though transfixed on the Guardian. She was no rookie at watching strong magic, nor creating it, but the drain of color and, from what she could see, ultimately life, from the tiny room was completely foreign to her. This invasion of the earth's energy was offensive to her very nature, but the amount of power created, however much she resented it, momentarily drew her in.

At least until she became distracted by the chains. She shuddered, pain skittering up and down her back relentlessly from the added pressure on her wounded back, hip, arm, and leg. Her entire body tensed subconsciously at the sensation, doubled by his menacing approach. She was immensely grateful that the chains covered her tense and betraying body, for her face gave nothing away.

At his pretty request for her to betray her friends, her life, her livelihood, her first response is simply a raised eyebrow. She paused thoughtfully, almost as though contemplating his order.

When she finally did speak, her voice was as velvety soft as his. "As I already told you... You... Shall... Know... Nothing..." The last word comes out as a vicious hiss, just as much to provoke him as to bulk up her own confidence.

[Forsaken]

He drew back slowly so that he may meet her gaze, and so that she could watch as his lips curled back from his teeth in a cruel smile that promised deliverance, within the moments to follow, of far greater suffering than the average individual would experience in the span of a life strewn with trials. She was truly fortunate. While still young, she'd come to know more of intensity than most ever knew. She'd learn what it really meant to live, what it meant to die, and how pitifully weak concepts such as "mercy" and "compassion" were in this life she was living. And she would have the honor of discovering these crucial lessons through him, a master who could play the chords of suffering as beautifully as the most accomplished musician could the strings of a violin.

Such was the nature of his thoughts as he stood back for a moment with that wicked smile resting upon ethereal features, comtemplating her and this childish fit of defiance that she had leveled against him, as useless as a paper sword against a warrior's steel blade. He almost shook his head. She was so young. She had much to learn.

The gleaming white of his teeth was split by darkness and black laughter, punctuated by eyes that flashed the pale blue chill of ice, issued forth to meet Rena's show of defiance. "Anything I know not yet simply remains to be discovered." He announced in that same low voice, the one that seemed to creep beneath the very skin of his victim. Then he claimed the inches between them once more, the chains unfurling around his victim to allow him greater freedom in his manipulation of her. As he advanced on them, the links he would have touched turned to dust, reforming only after he'd passed through them. The dull iron links now slinked around the two of them, Guardian and victim, in loose lines that cast long, thin shadows against them. The bars of a cage that only one of them could exit freely.

Four long chains remained wrapped around the rebel, one curled around each arm and stretching to opposite sides of the room, holding her upper body immobile still, while the last two were twisted around each ankle. These were slack. For now.

When he had regained his earlier proximity, this time with his gaze boring down into hers, only seconds had passed and he continued his first statement on his next breath. "And I have so little to do, these days." He lifted his right arm with slow elegance, and the chains that bound her arms followed, lifting her so that her gaze would be perfectly level with his.

His eyes blazed with all the cold heat of lightning as they met hers. "There are lessons you must learn, that I am obliged to teach you, before I can fairly take what's mine." He was referencing the information concerning the rebels, but Rena wouldn't have much time to make the connection. As the last word was met by silence, Somriad reached up and twisted the fingers of his right hand severely into her hair. The fingers of his left hand he began to slowly draw up her side, tracing lines of fire in their wake. Flames, as real as the air they breathed, scorched through her clothing and burned the skin beneath, leaving a trail of blackened flesh and seeping blood.

[The Imfamous AKA]

Karina, at least until the onset of the pain, held her defiant stare at the Guardian before her. Her face seemed frozen in its mild smile of distate, even as her body betrayed her once more by going slack, whispering its relief at the lose of pressure of the chains. Even before he laid a hand on her, a few of the claw marks that already covered her body had begun to split, shining dark red with her blood.

But even as her body screamed at her to stop, to not make it worse for herself, she reminded herself of her options. She had already chosen her path, and there was no going back now. Because however he looked, however he spoke, however prettily cruel his smile might be, she knew the pain would not be far behind.

She was not disappointed. She felt her neck crack violently as he tugged her head viciously to one side, but made no motion to object. But as his hand trailed its impossibly hot fire up her side, the defiance falls from her face and is replaced by a wordless gasp. By reflex, her entire lower body curves up protectively around, at least as far as the chains binding her legs would allow.

Although her face had lost its insolence, her eyes did not as they remain locked on his. Through clentched teeth, she managed to murmur, "Nothing you have is fairly yours..." Again, the last syllable came out as a violent hiss, though this time the intense exhalation was from the pain, and not her own will.

[Forsaken]

The Guardian gazed upon his victim thoughtfully, seeming to weigh her words for a few long moments. The seconds did not tick by idly, however. The tips of the fingers that had just traced burning flame up her side now wandered slowly back to where they had begun, slipping through a scorched tear in her clothing to drift smoothly between clothes and skin, though this time around they chose a different path. His touch was now as light as a gentle breeze and the tips of his elegant fingers cool as they curved inward to glide across her ribcage, tracing the swell of one breast. Here they lingered in a slow caress before dipping downward once more, this time to inch languidly across the plane of her abdomen in a soft brush of fingers. The pace now was even more slow than it had been previously, a taunt. He had all the time he wished to do anything within his power. She could not stop him, and no one would save her. All of this, and more, was expressed through touch alone.

Her words, however, he now took the liberty of answering in kind, the tips of his fingers continuing their slow downward trail. "What is fair and what isn't is no more relevant to my status than it is to your situation." That tone, again, that he had used all along. The voice of the darkest night, thick with shadow and unseen threat. The hand still curled in her hair flexed slowly, leisurely, loosening only so that it's five fingers could slide slowly across her scalp as they tightened their hold once more. "It is reality that should concern you now." He moved even closer, slipping his left leg between hers with sensual grace. He carefully angled his stance so that she would not be able to strike him with a sharp upward thrust of her leg. She had only a foot of slack in the chains, and the extent to which she could use that liberty she had already once demonstrated. As he stood now, with his right side brushing against her left but his torso forming a wide angle to hers, he was well out of reach of such a crude attack.

He moved his face closer, his lips hovering only a hair's breadth over hers. "This is your reality," He murmured, his gaze so intense it would seem to infiltrate hers, sifting through to greet her very thoughts.

Then he pressed his lips to hers with all the unforgiving force of barely suppressed violence, the hand tangled in her hair keeping pressure on the back of her head so that she could not pull away, the arm attached to that hand pressing against her shoulder blades in an extension of that unyielding grasp...

...and the slowly drifting hand immediately changing direction and speed, it's fingers slipping into the long cuts his Forsaken had left behind in a firm strike.

[The Imfamous AKA]

Once his fingers stop their burning path along her side, her body loosens its tightened muscles in relief. But the second his hand slips underneath her shirt, it begins to tense again, this time subtly as her entire being recoils at his touch. As his hand trails up, her entire torso seems to fold in on itself, attempting to pull away from his fingertips.

As he speaks, her insolent glare returns, even as her body flinches away. Her head seems to pull away as his fingers loosen, attempting to lessen the contact as much as possible, but her defiant expression remains. She was about to responds as his leg slipped intimately between hers, but the retort was overshadowed by the silent yelp.

As his lips press into hers, her entire face screws up in disgust, her lips pursed together hard and her eyes tightly shut. She tries in vain to pull away from his head and fails miserably. But as his fingers change direction drastically, digging into the highly sensitive slices through her skin, her entire faces flexes in the opposite direction, her eyes flickering open, and her mouth opening in a gasp. Her legs lash out, though they hit nothing but air.

The shock doesn’t last long, for it’s only a split second before she closes her mouth again, sinking her viciously sharp teeth into anything that gets in her way.

[Forsaken]

In the slow seconds that spanned the length of his cruel embrace, a delicious tension rippled through his form, every muscle as rigid as stone yet thriving with suppressed power. His parted lips would smile against hers, his eyelids narrow over flickering blue eyes in an expression of triumphant ecstasy. She was his.

His thoughts reached deftly for hers with the intention of simply taking what he sought...

...but she bit down sharply on his tongue as he forcefully roved her mouth, and he was willing distracted by the passionate intensity of the resulting pain.

Firmly yanking her head back, he separated his mouth from hers and contemplated her with predatory glee as he drew his injured tongue across his lips, staining them red. Around them, the chains now curled in sensual aggravation, slinking closer to the ground. The cage illusion they had previously formed now fell as gracefully as discarded clothing, leaving only the Guardian and object of his torment.

"Ah, to find such a voracious appetite in such a naive young girl!" He smiled at her through that most charming mask, his teeth as stained as his lips with blood. He reached for her hand, sending the chains that still enveloped her form slithering out of his way, and brought it to his mouth. "You have chosen a worthwhile vessel for your...affection, ma petite louve. For you, I will return your gesture of desire with an ardor ever greater."

With those softly spoken words, he delicately kissed the tip of the longest central finger. He met her gaze with his, then slipped the slender digit between stained lips and drove the flat edge of his incisors through the first joint, feeling his teeth slice through flesh and scrape cartilage as they passed cleanly through. It was no longer only his blood that flavored his mouth, now.

[The Imfamous AKA]

She quickly spits the blood-tinted saliva as soon as his mouth pulls from hers, trying to clear her mouth of the tainted taste of his Gaurdian blood even as the beast within her stirs from the sensation. The look of disgust is plain on her face even as he smiled so beautifully and cunningly. She fored her body to stiffen, fighting off the tremors that attempted to wrack her body at the movements of the chains and the pain rippling across her skin.

Her look of utter abhorrance only deepened as he spoke, warily taking in his jovial expression as she awaited his next attack. His tone and choice of words sent a warning shiver down her spine, but there was nothing she could do from her angle and position. Even as he pulled her hand away from the rest of her body.

Her eyes narrowed at his seemingly loving gesture, but they immediately snapped wide as a strangle scream left her throat. The pain hits her body in waves, generating from the missing digit now spurting blood into his open mouth, travelling up her arm to violent shake her torso from the shoulder. Her teeth snap shut, grinding as her eyes close forcefully, trying and failing to ward off the incoming shock of the loss.

As soon as the immediate threat of losing consciousness passes, Rena opens her eyes again. The gold flecks have grown, despite the lack of full moon, to completely cover her eyes. "You.... Bastard..." she manages to stutter out through her still violently shaking body.