Any Given Doomsday (Notte x Zero)

[Notte]

Screams, painful and broken, echoed throughout the room and dark laugher soon followed. The rank smell of stale urine and feces was suffocating with its intensity, but no one there seemed to mind, they were already used to the smell. This ten by ten room was barren, save for the two men standing over the rag doll body which was tied to the chair, although human, it was impossible to tell which gender. Its ribs jaunted out over slacked, scarred, and broken skin, all the tell-tale signs of torture and starvation. Shagged and unkempt hair hung like a tattered curtain, shadows of hollow angry red marks showed where hair was ripped out.

The taller of the two men, pulled back his meaty fist and slammed it into the rag doll's face, snapping its head back from the force. "Come on, ye stupid bitch! Give o'er the whereabouts and we'll let ye go, all nice a peaceful. We'll e'en get a bath an' some food for ye. All ye have to do is tell."

This torture had gone on for weeks, varying in its intensity. Drownings, whipped, cuts, and beatings, never a moments reprieve from the captures. Strength slowly ebbing away until there was nothing left and all hope was long since gone. Beaten and broken, in body and in mind, had finally taken its toll.

The head rolled slightly, and feel back without strength to hold itself up any longer. The first rays of dawn descended upon sky and drove the night away. The light... it will drive this nightmare away... maybe thats what it is... maybe I'm just dreaming. A smile pulled across the dolls cracked and bloodied lips with great effort. "Yes, thats it, I am dreaming." The voice coughed out in a parched tone.

"Yea, ye dreaming, so it won't be but no harm to tell us here in this wonderland. Ye'll wake up t'morrow and none 'ell be the wiser." The second man spoke, close down to the doll's ear, hypnotic, lulling.

Drawing in a ragged breath, the doll's eyes looked to the sun streaked sky, and croaked out one word. "Anillahene."

One word, spoken. Condemning one person to hell. Just a word. Just a name.

 

[Zero]

Once she said the name, the two burley men exited, and another came in. He was not like the others. No, rather... he had been watching from outside the room. There were very few whom broke under any forms of torture. Most of the time they had found some way of killing themselves, gruesome as it was, he was never really one to use excessive force against them. Of course, this scout was a little different, she seemed to respond best to beatings, and they were on a timeline for her. He notioned for others to come in as water in buckets were brought in and splashed upon her, washing away her wounds and any infections that might take place before he sat down near her.

the others left and now the dark room contained only he and the scout, as he whispered to her. "Anillahene hmm? Well, seems we've made some progress with you now haven't we? Do you have any more to say scout? Perhaps you may yet survive all of this if you... were to completely give up. You remember my offer when I first gave it don't you?" He asked her. He had never been there for her beatings, in fact... she should only remember him from when he had first brought her in and asked if she would give up her country and confess her sins for amnesty.

Her information and her mind and body were valuable commodities to the military, and whether she would be of use was all circumstantial. She had only been out for a few weeks so, placing her back out there was still an option. But of course, just because she had betrayed but one word didn't mean she'd continue to do so. But that was his job nonetheless. He was here to pull her from the hellhole, to offer her even the simplest of things for her compliance. And for some, the lack of food, facilities and the outside made them crazy enough to believe that they would be better off on the side of the enemy.

 

[Notte]

She gasped as the water splashed over her, her body involuntarily shivered, she swallowed the liquid that was caught in her mouth, watering her parched throat. Her head fell forward and back upon her chest, her eyes sought him out. His voiced flowed over her with butterfly kisses and she made something that sounded like a strangled moan in her throat. "Deviled Angel, why do you tempt me?" She asked, sounded almost human. "What would you have of me?"

She wanted to reach out and touch him, but her hands were bound and she felt so weak. He was the enemy, so why did he remind her of salvation? It was that voice of his, whispering sweet nothings. She knew her duty was to her country, to her people, but the desire to give up and give in was overwhelming in its magnitude. "What promises do you make me, Deviled Angel? What do you offer me in return for my knowledge? My mind is weak and my memory fades, I do not remember. My body is broken and starved. So why, tell me, Deviled Angel, why should I give my soul to you?"

Her throat burned from speaking and tears seared her eyes but did not fall. She was on the verge of death and decay, one foot already in the grave. If she was not freed soon, she was going to die. Her body no longer held the sustained that gave her life. She hoped for salvation and at the same time, she hoped for a quick death. Disoriented, she looked at him and whispered to no one, "which would you give me?"

 

[Zero]

He watched her as she attempted to look up at him as she sat there so helplessly on the ground and asked of what he wanted from her, of what he would give her for cooperating. Her nickname for him was interesting enough, he found it of course... as a sign of weakness from her in any case. He moved around her as he pushed her over with his foot to the side of her pen which contained some straw, which would be a little more comfortable than just the hard concrete floor.

"If you do as I say, I will begin to give you back some of your choices. You may choose a better lifestyle, better food. For all your usefulness, you will regain back what you have lost, reminants of a life. If you choose to renounce your country and turn your back fully, perhaps you will even be allowed to see the sun rise in the morning." He told her, giving her the certain options which might satiate her. He continued to watch as the candles outside the room flickered. Light was rare in these hallways, especially where she was kept, and sunshine was onething missing from all the inmates lives.

"Your cooperation with us, if this war ever ends will also provide you with freedom. That is a sure promise." He told her. He wondered now how devalued her soul was to her now. After all, perhaps she had once thought them to kill her early and quick. But no, now that she's been through hell... and now that he has her knowing that if she didn't cooperate it would continue until her body could truely take no more and she was but skin and bones... he wondered whether she could really handle such a fate.

 

[Notte]

The cold concrete floor sapped the remaining warmth from her body, even through the straw that was her bed. Her body shivered and shuddered, her teeth clattered together, and she hoped, wished, prayed that she would soon be free or for death to find her. One more day in this place and she was surely to die. Starved and beaten to her death, it was a fate she truely feared.

"Anillahene." She spoke the name again with a rasp. "She is the Druidic Priestess, her people covet her, for she is of great power. She is held almost prisoner in the Druid's Temple and she is never to be touched, for people fear if she is soiled that they will be punished by the Gods. She is to be the Virgin Sacrifice once she reaches her prime age. She is only allowed to leave the Temple to tend her gardens or to bathe in the Ethereal Springs, however she is guarded well."

Her mind numbed as information spilled fourth from her lips like water from a fountain. She was unable to stop the flow once it began. Tears, at long last, feel from her eyes in rivers as she betrayed her people. As she betrayed the one person who was loved and coveted by all. What was it that made her speak? Was it her anger and envy of the Priestess Anillahene? Or was it the need to save her own life while she condemned another?

"The Temple is hidden deep within the forest, past hills and mountains. Just North of Elden Cove. Its built from the Mystic Mountain and is often hard to spot because it is apart of the Mountain itself. There are creatures that protect it, protect her, creatures that are not human and some who are. Runes also lay in wait and those who come to harm and posses her are often killed in their pursuit of her. Only one of Druid blood is able to pass the barrier." Her words broke as all secrets became revealed. She prayed for her soul and for the soul of the woman she betrayed.

 

[Zero]

"A priestess you say? Well... that does sound like quite the catch for us... if we could get her. Your information is interesting, but I'm not sure it will free you from this place, or really get you away from the torture. After all, useless information is still useless. If we can't get to her, then what is the point of knowing? Rather... if she were somewhere more useful, in our hands, then perhaps there can be a bargin." He told the poor scout which was chattering her teeth on the floor.

He moved down to her as he lifted her up. She was very light now, after all... as a scout she never really was built too strong in any case. And after weeks of starvation, what she had she now lost. She was not really in any shape to escape or even attempt to remove her bindings, so he wasn't afraid. He moved her from one room to another, placing her on a table, where he then untied her and then placed her upon the cuffs of the metal table.

It was heated, so no longer would she be in such a cold but this place might also bring up some unpleasent memories of further torture. But he had no intentions of doing that to her now. There was no longer any need to do a cold shock and force the current through her body, rather... this time he was going to make sure she was healthy enough to stay alive, and make sure that her words would be truthful, and useful to him and his cause.

 

[Notte]

She moaned as she was lain down upon the heated table. The heat seeping into her cold starved body. She wanted to snuggled deep into the warmth of it, just like she did her lovers arms. Those days were over now, now she was a prisoner, a betrayer. Her wrists ached and throbbed in agony as circulation started again. Although, in cuffs, she was still able to move her hands - if only slightly.

At first, she struggled against the bonds. Not wanting to live through the torture the other men put her through. Not wanting to live through the brutal rapes, where they didn't even prepare her body for invasion. She remembered the times when her body bled from their depravity. How every hole was violated. Her mouth, her pussy, her ass. No, they never prepared her, but she was supposed to be ready for them and when she wasn't, they'd torture her more.

She fought to breathe as the memories assaulted her. Her wrists pulling against the restraints, but her body was becoming liquidized, like snow melting in the spring. She was melting into the warmth of the table, her movement's become lethargic. She looked at him, her eyes pleading. "Please, don't rape me like them."

 

[Zero]

He watched as she seemed to plead with him. However, he just smiled and put his hand on her cheek. "Oh no, none of that anymore, not with me at least. If you ever wanted or lusted for it, and you continue to cooperate, it shall be given without the pain." He told her. After all, using her lust and mortal desires were part of the torture sessions. However, it was quite clear from the getgo she responded much better to physical pain than to emotional or sexual kinds, so the rape only continued to humiliate and bring her pain from something that normally could please a human.

"Now, lets hear what more you have to say. This priestess is well guarded, but perhaps there is a way to bring her to us hmm?" He asked her, attempting to perhaps lure the answer out of her as he attached a few electrodes to her body to monitor her information, using it not only now to check up on her but also as a way to see if she was lying or not, whether her heartbeat would jump if she said something she didn't mean, or if he scared her in any way.

As a betrayer to her own country... he would attempt to convince her that she was now a valuable asset to his own country, and if she played her cards right and continued to be such a value for them, she would soon find herself in once again relative safety, and perhaps might be able to lead a life again. Of course, a fear card could always be played against her. They could throw her back to her country with the revelation she had told all her secrets, and then her own country would have their own way of punishing her.

 

[Notte]

She didn't say anything to him, but shuddered when he put the electrodes onto her body. Before they had used these things to give her electric shock to make her talk, but they had nearly killed her in doing so and they haven't used them since. Until now. The thought of that made her heart race and she whimpered. She did not want to die that way, it had been extremely painful. It had also made her lips become lose so that she started to babble.

"Anillahene, leaves the Temple grounds and goes outside of the barrier twice a month, three times depending on if there is an eclipse. The new moon and the full moon are the days that she resides outside of the barrier. On those days she usually goes and visits the Queen and Princess of our country" She gave a long pause to catch her breath before she started out in another triad. "She also checks all of the virgins to make sure they are still clear. She blesses the newborn babes. And gives counseling to the women. She is guarded by female warriors. No men outside of family or the Druidic Priests are allowed to see her. She is very kind and will always try to help women in need."

She had spoken rather quickly throughout the whole thing, almost franticly. A fine sheet of sweat covered her body, yelling loudly of her fear. Tears had trailed down her cheeks and feel onto the heated table only to soon disappear. "I've told you all I know! I swear it! It is all I know!"

 

[Zero]

He enjoyed her absolute fear of the electrodes, oh yes... he had remembered when they decided to use them on her. Her already weak heart had gone into cardiac arrest after too many volts had gone through, so of course... they stopped with it because such a subject was not useful dead. "Well well, then you can become our woman in need and bring her here can you not? If you make yourself useful, then... " He told her as his hand now reached for a little switch in the corner of the room, it was one that would once again allow the power to flow through her body, but as of now, the electrodes on her body were not connected to anything.

However, not that she knew that. Bluffing her seemed to work quite well, and he didn't even need to try and her mind would connect the dots that might not even be there. however, for now such a popular figure would be perfect for them to arrive, and perhaps use some subversive means upon. If the enemy saw what they could do to their holy figure, find that she now sided with them rather than being completely loyal to their gods, then they would be able to win the war, easily.

 

[Notte]

Her eyes widened in horror as she saw his hand over the switch to the electrodes. A small whimper of fear escaping her throat. She went pale and the loss of little color that she had made her look dead. Before, she had looked like a rag doll, now she looked like a dead rag doll. The only way to tell that she was still alive was the shallow up and down of her chest to let those around her know that she was breathing.

She shook her head in denial, "there is no way that I would be able to bring her here. She never leaves the country. We're not in the country, so how would it work? What would I even tell her? She would know..." Her voice dropped into a low raspy whisper, her throat once again becoming dry from the heat of the table and no liquids to sooth the ache.