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defire · 21 days

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Ostensibly Torture

Dance of Death Chapter 13

Content: restraints, death threats, infection, carewhumper, painful medical procedure

Nife lay on the floor with her arms tied behind her back, face right next to Wick's. Probably thinking he couldn't be seen, he was gently pressing his face into the ground and grimacing, crying silently. She was also crying, and shaking so hard that whimpers kept pressing up out of her throat. Her hands were swelling around the tight ropes binding her wrists together, and her leg burned. It burned so bad she wished she could cut it off.

"So what should we do to her?" Aqua was saying.

"How about we–" Nife was interrupted by a stomp in the back that pushed her back into the gross carpet.

She sobbed.

"Oh fuck," She cried. "Don't kill me, please don't kill me..."

She shrieked as Aqua lightly toed her right knee.

"Don't, don't! I'm begging you,--"

"Stay down." Aqua said. "Or it will be your leg."

She froze, gritting her teeth in her effort to stay still, tears pouring down her cheeks. She felt like she was going to lose her mind in terror. Aqua kept bringing up different ways to punish her for the things she'd done to them, before they would go ahead with the murder.

“We could hang her by her bad leg and stab her till she bleeds out.” He said. “Or perhaps waterboard her in Ink Lake, gradually drown her to death.”

Nife squeezed her eyes shut, trying to shut it out, when all she could picture was the horrible suggestions Aqua was making.

"She is a Druid, Breeze," Someone said. "I've never killed one of my own before..."

"But, she--look this shit." Breeze answered, gesturing at the people that had mostly bled out now because of Nife's knives. "We gotta waste 'er."

The others didn't seem as interested in torturing Nife as Aqua was, even after what she'd done to them.

"Look, it's not about her, it's about claiming Ink Lake," One of them said.

"Nuh-uh." Aqua snapped. "It's about justice for Druids."

That phrase clued Nife in on who they were. She'd heard of the Druid Justice rebel group. It was more of an urban rumor, but apparently the Druid Justice group would capture any Banes that came near their territories, torture them, and leave the body parts somewhere where the passers-by would see them. The DJ’s.

"Great." She whispered.

"Yeah, it is great." Aqua kicked her. "I'll tell you what," He said. "You guys take Wick down to Wily and me and whoever wants to thrash this sympathizer bitch will stay and get some justice."

Eventually, they agreed, and Aqua was left there with two other DJ's.

They dragged Wick away with them down the stairs, slamming the door behind them.

"Now," Aqua rubbed his knuckles, looking down on Nife. "Time for some Druid justice."

Nife pressed her face into the ground, filled with desperation and terror.

"Scared?" Aqua said as the three stepped closer to her, looking down on her.

Nife didn't answer. She was so panicked she was getting dizzy, and her body was getting exhausted from the shaking. She looked around desperately with nightsight to find her knives. She could make out two of them, but they were too far to reach. And her stiletto was retracted inside Aqua's back pocket.

"Does it hurt?" Aqua taunted.

"No, I was just screaming in joy." Nife shot back in a raspy voice. There was a long pause, and the three other Druids looked at each other like they were confused. "...Yes, it hurts!" Nife said finally.

"Good, because you killed my friend." One of them said, though his voice sounded rather calm.

Nife grimaced, pressing her forehead against the disgusting carpet. She hadn't wanted to kill anyone, and she hadn't exactly intended to. She couldn't even care about it like she should--her leg hurt so much, all she wanted was to take a probably-undeserved bath and forget everything.

Finally, Aqua turned away and took something out of his pocket. There was a scrape and snap, and then the glow of a lamp filled the room, getting brighter quickly. He lit another lamp, set them both on a mantle over a fireplace which Nife had only just noticed, and turned back toward her. It was so unexpectedly bright that she closed her eyes.

"What would you do if someone fucked with your friends?" Aqua said to her.

Nife didn't answer that.

"What would you do?" He stepped closer, pointing the toe of his boot toward her burning wound, which was now dripping fresh blood up her shin. "You'd kill 'em, wouldn't you?"

"Hell, I... yes." She whispered.

She'd imagined it plenty of times.

Aqua sighed and put the lantern down nearby. Nife watched his black boots as he stepped over her, knelt and grabbed her by the arm, jerking her over and thumping her onto her back, trapping her tied wrists under her weight. She squinted and blinked in the light, the cooler air brushing over the curls that were plastered to her forehead with tears all over her face.

Both the younger guys to her left had wounds she'd given them--one a slash across the forearm, the other a deep nick under the chin that was still drizzling blood down onto his collar.

"Aw, she's a damn baby." One of them said. "What are you, sixteen?"

"Fifteen." She said, failing to keep the shaking out of her voice.

The one by her feet suddenly pointed at her face, frowning in recognition.

"That's--you're Nife Raizden, ain't you?"

She wasn't used to being recognized. Through the mental haze of shock and pain she was in, it didn't make sense the way they all leaned down to inspect her more closely. She managed a shaky little shrug as her instinctive responses kicked in.

"I don't know what you're talking about," She threw out the worst lie she'd ever come up with. "Nife Raizden? Never heard of her."

Her voice trembled with how ridiculous it was by the time she finished the sentence. She closed her eyes and dropped her head.

"...Fuck."

Nife Raizden was known to be close friends with several Bane noble kids. If they questioned her sympathizer status before, it was going to be concrete now.

After a moment of silence, Nife opened her eyes to see what they were doing, biting her lip anxiously. They were just kind of standing there looking at her and each other.

"...So, we're not actually doing it, right?" One of them said.

Aqua leaned back, looking around alertly even as he slouched.

"Yup." He said. "We're not gonna kill you or anythin." He toed her with his boot. "Come on, get up."

Firmly suspicious, Nife slowly rolled onto her right side to protect her leg and tried to get onto a knee. She immediately cried out and clutched her right thigh, hissing in pain and looking to either side in anticipation of a possible attack for the delay.

One of them held out a hand to help her up.

"Don't--don't." She said, bowing down in another cringe as she felt another wave of pain and prepared to get up.

She was forced to take the hand, and bit her lips together as she tried to limp toward the stairway where Aqua was leading her.

"I'm trying. Okay?" She quavered, stepping gingerly as the ache shot up her bone. "Just--it fucking hurts. Don't hurt me anymore. Okay?"

"I'm not lyin this time." Aqua said, pinching her arm and pushing her forward between the others as they crossed the room, grabbing lanterns on the way.

"...Yeah, forgive me if I take that with a grain of salt." Her voice quivered.

"Aqua, Nife Raizden is a two-ring." The one that had recognized her was eyeing her cautiously. "She's dangerous."

"So am I." Aqua said. But he snapped open her stiletto and pointed it against the back of her armpit, putting a hand on her other shoulder.

Nife felt the tip pointing into her armpit, where she'd definitely die if she got stabbed, and hobbled in the direction she was pushed. On every step, her leg stabbed pain up the middle and she had to bite back a cry.

"One foot in the grave..." She hissed through her teeth as the blade at her armpit pushed her into another agonizing step.

On the way up the stairs, she started to believe them a bit more. Aqua was very rough with her, but he also commented that Breeze could be a bit of a murderhobo when civilians got thrown into the mix. They talked like Druids were people that deserved a fair trial and a second chance, as opposed to Banes.

By the time they reached the third flight of stairs, Staccato, the guy that had recognized her, was elbowing her, saying terrible things about Banes and then saying "right?"

"It musta been horrible being surrounded by them!" He said, sounding gleefully disgusted. "And then even the Druid Informant News sides with them, claiming you're friends with some of 'em. Wrys, of all things."

The mention of Kit and Caboodle Wry warmed her heart a little.

“It’s not like they’re murderers or anything.” She said pointedly.

From Staccato’s silence, it must’ve gone right over his head.

They ordered her to kick off her boots, because they smelled like blood and rot, and then they all went inside a tiny little attic room together. They put down their lanterns on a desk and took seats around the room, perching on the bed and the only chair. Nife sat down on the floor near the door, finding herself almost too tired to be on edge.

Without giving her more than a glance or two, Aqua went about taking things out of the drawers. Knives, scissors, a long roll of bandages.

Nife watched with cautious apprehension as he held up the scissors with a wicked grin. Then he shrugged and chuckled, and took the supplies over to the other two instead. He began tending to their wounds.

Not letting herself completely calm down, she rested her chin on her good knee, watching them taking care of each other. She could hardly believe they were the same people that had just kidnapped a random enforcer so they could beat him up and kill him. The same people that had just been kicking her in the wounded leg over and over–and then making her walk on it. She did everything she could to keep it in mind, but she was so tired, her eyes kept trying to close, now that she was sitting down. The pain pulsed, jolting her awake with each one, even though the pulses were only a few seconds apart.

As she heard them talking about the others that she'd killed, she got the sense that they weren't as close as they'd tried to make her think.

"The only thing that I don't get," Staccato said, "is why she didn't kill me. She had the chance, man. I saw her panic and pull back." His eyes wandered to her. "Why?"

Not lifting her chin off her knees, she shrugged.

"I didn't mean to kill anyone." She said, and then put her forehead down. "...Why does it have to be such a damn mystery what you're going to do with me? Just tell me." Her head was down to hide her trembling chin.

"We're waiting for the guard change at two." Aqua replied. "Then we'll let you go."

After treating the other two DJ's, Aqua snapped his fingers at her.

"Come ere."

Nife clenched her teeth and lifted her head, noticing that he was casually organizing the medical supplies on the dresser by the lamp.

"...Why?" She said suspiciously.

"I'm gonna fix your leg."

"...I think not." Nife backed herself against the wall in the corner at the door.

Aqua straightened to look at her over the dresser. He looked mildly disapproving. Nothing like the guy who had just been threatening to torture her twenty minutes ago.

"Lotta bruising." He observed.

"Maybe you shouldn't have kicked the shit out of it then." She glared.

"Well, I was angry..."

"Oh, so this was just a one time thing," Nife tilted her head, "you don't occasionally lose it and, I don't know, beat and murder a random passerby?"

"Well, are you gonna do it then?" He said, tossing the scissors down.

The forceful gesture made her flinch.

"I... Look, you might not have noticed, but I've just been kidnapped." She said. "Feeling a little angsty. I'd rather just... do it myself."

He eyed her injured leg, which she pulled in protectively as another drip of something ran down onto her ankle. The cut was swollen and red and a torn spot was black underneath.

"You don't know nothin about medicine, huh?" Aqua said.

Nife looked helplessly at the floor.

"Just get the hell over here." He said. "I could still take this opportunity to get some revenge instead, if I wanted to."

"You're not helping your case." She said, twitching her fingers behind her back under the bindings. "Untie my hands first, and then I'll--"

She stopped when Aqua stepped over to her and grabbed her at the shoulder, fingers pinching into the base of her neck as he yanked her to her feet. The other two got up too, looking weary.

"Time for beat-down number two?" Staccato said.

"Let's not..." Nife said, stomach flipping in fear.

"Good thinking." Aqua said, dumping her onto the bed. "Now just--"

"Why?" Nife said.

"Cause you damn well better remember this," Aqua said, wiping the scissors down with a cloth dipped in iodine. "You're gonna survive and go back and then remember who saved your life from your infected leg."

"My life? What do you mean?"

He huffed and pointed to a black spot under the worst torn part of the wound. "It's the rot. That goes to your heart, well... You don't wanna know."

Nife's eyes widened.

"You can stop... that?"

Aqua nodded.

"One vampire is enough to have on my hands, thank you very much."

That confirmed what "the teeth" meant.

He approached her with the scissors, making little unnecessary practice snips in the air in her direction. Her eyes widened.

"You're not gonna wanna watch this. Unless you got a high pain tolerance."

"On the contrary..." Nife grimaced, then lay back, looking at the plaster ceiling.

He did something that felt like tearing the muscle off her leg, and she screamed–

"Ah, hell!" Her leg jerked away and she tried to roll away from him on the bed.

"Low pain tolerance indeed" He grabbed her ankle and yanked her back toward him. "You could at least lay still."

"I can see the serial killer in you again." She said, lying back down and turning partly away to give her hands some time without being squished under her back. Her breath was coming in short pants now as she prepared herself for another burst of searing pain.

"You know it's those screams they make when they die, that lets me sleep at night." Aqua said.

"What... is wrong with you?" She muttered.

"Would you rather I listen to the screams of my daughters instead?"

He did something that felt like tearing the muscle off her leg, and another shriek burst out of her, feet twisting together on the bed.

Whatever he was doing, he didn't stop, but he put a knee down on her thigh to stop her from flinching away.

"They dragged them out, beat them, raped them, killed them, twenty-four years ago." He said as he worked with savage roughness. "I hear them every morning when I go to bed. Every morning that I didn't take out another one of those Bane bastards."

He looked around at her face to see if she was going to make a sarcastic comment. Seeing she didn't respond, he sighed and reached back for the iodine bottle. She tried not to watch as he gripped down tight on her leg.

"How'd you learn to fight without being willing to kill anybody?"

"Character deficiency." Nife answered through her teeth. How could he talk at a time like this?

"Got any hobbies?"

Nife bit her lip as her leg burned like mad. He was digging something into it--that's how it felt, anyway.

"Stop--squirming." Aqua said.

That was what Markee had said before he started coming down on her with the rapier sheath. He'd thrown a chair onto her legs to trap her and her elbows bruised against the floor as she tried to escape. Then the blows came down on her back--she was trapped like that, forced to take the beating. She bit her lip, trying to bring herself back to the present as a feeling of helplessness sucked her down like the rot. She hated being trapped.

"Fuck." She whispered. Another surge of burning brought her back to the present.

"Whatever you're doing, keep it up. Almost done." Aqua said. "So. Education? I can tell you got one."

Nife grimaced; now all she could think of was Markee. She focused back in on the burn and sting.

"What?" Aqua said. "Do you like focusing on the pain, or are you going to let me distract you?"

"I hope you get shot." She whispered. She could tell he was being rougher than he needed to be; he kept poking her with his thumb. She realized that the yanking tearing feeling was him sewing up the wide end of the cut. "Please tell me you're done."

"I'm done." He said, then jerked at the thread. "Just kidding."

"I hope you get shot." She groaned again. "Bastard."

When he finally wrapped up her leg in gauze, all the while reminding her that she better pay him back for saving her life, she collapsed on the bed, shiny with sweat, panting into the dusty sheet.

"You're really not going to kill me," She said hoarsely.

"No."

"You just wanted to beat me up, fix my leg, and let me go." She said, disbelief clear in her tone.

"...I don't kill Druids, no matter how much they deserve it." He said, standing up from the bed. "Now get off. Me and Staccato get to sit there."

"I need a rest--" Nife was interrupted by a pinching grasp at the back of her neck and her leg as he hauled her off and tossed her onto the floor.

She bit her lip and moved into the corner miserably as the two of them sat down.

"You ain't worried she's gonna talk?" Staccato said quietly to Aqua.

"Druids don't talk." Aqua said. "Right, Nife?"

Nife lifted her head from her knees to glare at him, then nodded and dropped her head.

"See?"

"My hands are dying over here." She said. They were cold and swollen behind her, and her wrists and shoulders were straining.

"Say please." Aqua said.

Nife picked up her head and scowled at him.

"No."

Staccato stood up and walked toward her, drawing a machete. She watched him cautiously, but he sat down next to her with his back against the door.

"Hey, you're not really on the Bane team, yeah?" He said. "You're not actually all 'go Wick'?"

"No, I totally just took a beating for nothing." Nife said.

He put the machete behind her and, to her surprise, cut the rope. She looked at him and realized he'd taken her sarcasm seriously.

"I knew it." He said. "You're a good one."

Nife sighed.

"You gotta learn to stand up for yourself, man." He said. "You let us push you around. You shoulda fought back."

"How was I supposed to know he was actually going to punch me?" Nife said. “Let alone… all the rest of that.”

"You're a two-ring, man." Staccato said. He lifted his hand and flicked her in the temple. "You coulda done better."

She dropped her head onto her knees again, rolling her eyes.

"See?" He said. "Just gonna let me do that?"

She was rubbing her hands together under her legs, getting the circulation back.

"You gonna let me do that?" He flicked her in the head again.

"I decide when I fight back, not you, not anybody else." She said.

The next time he tried to flick her, she grabbed his hand and looked him in the eye, hers half-lidded with veiled irritation.

"What you gonna do if I do it again?" Staccato said.

"Nobody can make me do shit." She let go of his hand and huddled her head between her knees.

She grimaced and closed her eyes to keep from remembering. There had been one time she'd fought back; the time that Markee had left her with bruises all over her back, and a fear permanently etched into her mind. The sword sheath battering down on her back. The panic as she struggled to escape from the bare heel that pinned her down. Leaving marks that made it hurt to breathe for a full month afterward.

"Father, I didn't fall, he did this to me!" She had shouted at him.

"I knew you hated class, but I didn't know you hated it this much." Her father had shot a sympathetic look at Markee.

"Just hire a different tutor!" She'd shouted.

"Two words, Nife," Her father said, with another glance at Markee. "Markee Wry. He's the best there is."

The real reason was that firing a Wry would've been terrible for business.

She took two important things from that moment.

Firstly, that if Nife Raizden tells the truth, nobody will believe her.

Secondly, that if Nife fights back, she might lose.

She was asleep when two o'clock hit. A now-familiar pinching grasp on her arm woke her up as she was dragged to her feet.

She noticed the others didn't follow her as Aqua guided her out.

He waved at the sentry as they left the hall out a door that opened onto a fire escape. The sentry nodded at him.

"Someone else piss off Breeze?" She said.

"Yup." Aqua sighed. "Alright. You can go. And you better remember what I did for you, Nife."

"Give me my stiletto." Nife said.

"Think of it as a deposit." Aqua said, smiling.

Nife grabbed his shirt and put her face right in his face; she could smell his smiling teeth.

"Keep the boots." She said.

She stared him in the eyes, and put her hand past his arm, into his back pocket. She pulled out the stiletto and he raised his hands half-mockingly, stepping back.

"Alright, alright." He said. "But don't forget me."

"Oh trust me, I won't." She glared and went down the fire escape, turning the knife comfortingly in her hands.

After that, she knew a good place to hide out--the clocktower in Oldtown.

First chapter: Previous (to see the first half of this beat-down)

Next chapter:

Taglist: @tildeathiwillwrite @mimostic @fleur-a-whump @a-n-j-a-maria

Per Tumblr's content policy, this is the non-nsfw version of Dance of Death.

For anyone following along on this story that wants the canon NSFW version of the story, you can get the book on amazon for $0.99, but I just want to make it possible for anyone to access.

If you like this book, it would mean so much to me if you leave a review of Dance of Death on Amazon.

#hurt/no comfort #death threats #injury whump #carewhumper #restraints whump #painful caretaking #female whumpee #lady whump #whumpblr #whump readers #dark fantasy novel #defiant whumpee #sarcastic whumpee #multiple whumpers

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