Cassius woke with his hands chained behind his back and a bright light pointed in his face. He squinted his eyes, too sleepy after his burst of magic and his ill attempt at escaping to keep them open. They closed and opened rapidly as he began to take in the darkly lit room. Above him, the light shone down upon his hunched form and over the cement floor.
He felt a spark within him, a slight flicker of his magic to its normal resting strength. It was broken, beaten down from the night before. The moments flashed before him, showing him images of the blue raging fire, the magic Lucius had used by just looking at him, cutting off his air, and the way Rexton had stepped in to save him. It wasn't saving if he was only going to cage Cassius right after. He was here now, a prisoner again, caught within a web of torture for the government to use him until he was no use to them any longer. It seemed the more he fought the more trouble he landed himself in.
The worst of it all was that he'd been close, close enough to taste the freedom on his tongue. His senses had heightened at that moment where he battled against the ones who had always beaten him down without ever giving him a fair fight. It felt so good to fight back, even if it wasn't much of a fight.
At least, he was trying to do something unlike most of the Mekiah in Xtavia. They were dogs for the Remu and Exteru. They didn't care about themselves or other Mekiah, didn't care if what the Exteru were doing was wrong. The government controlled them, ruled over them like they were cattle.
Cassius closed his eyes, going back to the darkness that always made him feel better. The room was already dark, but the light was too much to bear. It was still there, glowing behind his eyelids, but he did his best to ignore it. His magic fizzled, fought against his hold as he tried to coax it out of hiding.
It shouldn't be like this. After he'd done, after he saved his own life—not by that fucking Remu--it should be better now. He should feel better about himself. His magic was limp inside him. There was no life to it, nothing but a shell, and all the hope he had in the world died. There was no reason to try anymore. The world was cruel, unfair, and horrid. He'd known it since he was a child, but he was finally seeing it without its pretty mask.
Flashes of memories sprung in his head. He was transported back before he was taken to the base, back before he was trained to become a Tracker. The HIVE was warm, bright with color. The bright yellow lights felt like the sun kissing his skin.
He was a young boy again, swirling under the lights as they beamed down on him. His smile stretched across his face and he laughed for there was only joy in him then. The lights were beautiful, radiant, everything he thought his life would be. He was shielded from the horror inside the HIVE, babied by his mother who could only give him a little attention a day, but she tried her best.
He could see that now, looking back to those days, and he didn't know how he'd missed it before.
He was sidelined as a burst of new memories knocked him back.
His mother, young, about thirteen, huddled under the bright yellow lights. She held up her hands, crying, struggling to back away from hands that grabbed her from the front and behind. Her screams were muffled by a loud buzzing noise.
Cassius shook his head and tried to cover his eyes to the scene before him, but it was all in his head. The chains clanked as he struggled. He cried out with his mother. Somehow he knew it was her even though he couldn't remember her face until this day. They held her down. She was crying, tears and snot covering her face. They smothered her into the ground, tore her clothing, and then...
It was quiet.
She was on the ground. The first time was forced. The first time wasn't how it was supposed to be. The second time never came.
Child after child. She was a Mekiah born to breed. Cassius was there now, a small child amongst his brothers and sisters. They all shared a room and played with one another all day long. He was the oldest, the first one to go. The younger ones didn't care when he was gone, but she cared.
"I don't want to see..." His broken voice filled the silence. Tears ran down his face and all he wanted was to be left alone.
Memory after memory. His life before he was taken played out like an endless dream. His mother raising children, always with child, and him, alone but surrounded by many siblings. He didn't know what it meant, if it meant anything at all, even when it ended.
He slumped down, weak, tired, crushed, and defeated. All the things he said he would never become. The Third Eye had shown him a nightmare and for no reason. And the voice, who he'd thought had helped him last night, was gone. His magic only sparked, back to being powerless, and he was chained.
Death.
He'd been running from it for so long and now he wished he would just give in.
One last image slipped by. His mother, beautiful and young, an eternal sun in the massive black void that surrounded him every day, smiled. He could feel her warmth and even the touch of her hand as she spoke to him.
"Cassius."
Her voice was as warm as her smile and the sun and everything good in this world. She drifted, fading into the distance, taking all the warmth with her. Cassius leaned into her, trying to chase what was taken from him, but he was chained, a slave to the darkness.
He was alone again. Broken, shattered, all the things he never wanted to be. And it was all for nothing. He'd risked everything for a chance and it was gone. He'd failed twice, two times more than what he'd hoped for. But he'd been right all along. Hoping never helped him and never would.
A door opened and slammed shut. There was no time for him to think, to plan his next move before he was grabbed from the ground and hauled to the center of the room. He didn't fight it, couldn't muster the energy to do so. He was weakened by the memories and the disappointment in himself. Too beaten down to even feel sorry for himself.
The light dangled above him, melting into his naked back. He'd been stripped to his underwear. The chains pulled tight on his arms and he noticed they were locked to the wall. The men, the two from Rexton's command, slammed his face down into the concrete. He cried out as his nose and cheek were covered in searing pain. He blinked away more tears. The pain was easy to deal with, but the humiliation cut deep inside of him.
The guards stood back from him. They circled around until they were back against the wall. The glaring light tilted away from him and from the doorway, Rexton stood out. His arms crossed over his chest, his uniform different from the one he'd worn when they'd taken Cassius from the base. The badge on the right of his jacket was the same as before, but the glowing purple was replaced by gold.
They were the colors of the President. Cassius saw now that Rexton was the President's general, his right-hand man. It didn't click for Cassius until he saw the badge. Rexton had gotten away with all this because he had the favor of the ruling Exteru in Xtavia.
But that didn't answer all of his questions. Rexton wanted Cassius for some reason, a reason Cassius didn't understand at all, and the more he tried to figure it out it pulled in more questions. Like how Rexton had no data in the Third Eye or how he could possess magic when he was a Remu. Cassius had more problems besides Rexton, ones that were about his own magic and the voice that kept trailing him.
He hadn't been able to escape since the night the thing in the Veil had bitten him. It seemed that was the start of all his misfortune. Perhaps it was the catalyst for all the wrong since that night.
Rexton kneeled down in front of Cassius. He grabbed him by his hair and raised his head up until their eyes met.
Blood trickled from Cassius's nose.
"Tell me how you did it." Rexton's eyes were cold as stone. They were always so cold.
"I don't know," Cassius said.
"What you did broke through your Dissipater. It completely fried it." He leaned in. "You're going to tell me. Either you tell me now or I force it out of you."
Cassius licked his lips. The metallic taste of his blood pushed him deeper into the recess of his mind. He drew away from the scene, imagining he was somewhere else. Rexton was a blur and his own pain became faint.
"Do it. I don't care."
It was all over. There was nothing to fight for anymore. He never had a chance.
Rexton let go of his hair. He stood up and gestured to the guards. "Tie him to the post. Thirty lashings. I'll be back in twenty minutes."
Horror struck Cassius. He was jolted from his cold tomb, unsure if his own fear and the world around him. He masked it as much as he could, but he couldn't hide his feelings from himself. As much as he hated it, he wasn't a master of emotion and was too broken to begin fixing the wounds on his soul. He shook his head as the guards grabbed him by the arms once more and dragged him from the ground.
"Get off me! Get your fucking hands off me!" He didn't know where the strength was born or whether he could keep from falling off his feet.
He twisted in the guards' grip, glaring as his eyes fell upon Rexton. The man looked at him, still cold, but there was something behind those emotionless eyes that made Cassius stop for a moment. His heartbeat skipped and a horrible feeling settled in his gut. There was someone else behind those eyes, a person who understood the horrific scene being played out in front of them. Rexton turned and left the room.
Fucking coward.
He was forced to the other side of the room. Upon the wall, a cross with large metal cuffs at each point was nailed into the cement. It was made of metal, all of it. They pushed him into it, face smashed against the cold metal, his body smothering it with warmth. He gritted his teeth, yelling out when they unlocked his hands only to lock them into the cuffs on the cross. They drew his legs together and snapped them into the one cuff at the bottom. When it was done, they stepped back and let him dangle on the tip of his toes.
The light was far away from him. It was faint from where he was and he couldn't crane his neck far enough to see the guards. He was trapped there. They were torturing him with the wait.
The slither of leather cut through the silence. The whoosh and hiss of the whip froze Cassius. He closed his eyes, breathed deep, and held the breath. His body tensed, waiting for the first strike.
The first lash sliced through the air. It struck atop his shoulders. Fire erupted across his skin and the pain burned through him. He cried out. Another strike, this time at his lower back. Again. Again. He cried and yelled until he bit his tongue. Blood pooled in his mouth. He choked.
He coughed out, dying each time the whip struck his back.
The Veil, the Third Eye, anything. He wanted anything. The voice, the memories. Anything to wash out the pain.
Another crack of the whip across his back. Blood, thick and the scent heavy in the air, ran down his skin. It was everywhere. His whole mind was consumed by it and pain. Tears streaked down his face. It was hard to breathe. Each aching breath was forced out of him with the strike of the whip. The pain kept building onto every strike, a pile of hurt his body could not take. This was worst than anything he'd felt before. So much worse than his magic dying.
Why did it hurt so much?
He bit down once more on his tongue, but he'd become numb to everything else besides the burning in his back. His eyes, blurry with tears, were heavy with fatigue and the more he tried to fight his drowsiness, the more he lost the fight. Eyes closed, he hung his head, picturing Rexton in his mind. His hands wrapped around the man's throat, squeezing until he was met with blood and bone. The pain in Rexton's eyes mirrored his own. They gasped together as another strike stuck Cassius. Rexton's hands pulled at Cassius's wrists, teeth clenched and his gasps dying.
Cassius slipped from reality and into the dark realm he'd found himself in. Rexton stared, eyes-wide, back at him with a look of pure fear. Cassius reveled in it, basking as he knew he would never see this again. Rexton was at his mercy and he would kill him.
His grip tightened. Rexton's eyes bugged out from his skull. His mouth fell open and he choked. Vomit spilled from his mouth and Cassius almost let go. But he couldn't. The disgusting sight before couldn't deter him from the beautiful fight in Rexton's eyes. He was fighting to stay conscious, lights flickering in his eyes as he was pushed close to the edge of death.
"Do it," Cassius commanded. "Die."
His words didn't feel like his own. They were laced with vile hate and meaning he couldn't wrap his head around. But the feeling of speaking those words was euphoric. His body was overtaken by this need to banish the last of the light in Rexton's eyes.
He didn't know how it happened. He was strangling Rexton, throttling him as hard as he could, and then he saw the shadow of someone behind Rexton. It moved in fluid movements, trancing Cassius from the tunnel vision he'd fallen into. Out from the shadows, it came, its hands sliding over Cassius's. It was warm, warmer than he'd expected. It felt familiar, like he'd met it before though he couldn't see its face in the shadows.
"Let go."
The voice was deep, melodic, and a complete sin to his ears. His grip loosened on Rexton's neck.
"Let go, Cassius."
The shadows lifted. Cassius gasped in horror as it was revealed.
The beast from that night, with its large teeth and glowing golden eyes, held tight onto Cassius's hands so he could not back away.
"Drop the fight."
The horror slipped from him and he narrowed his eyes. He looked back to Rexton's face, his eyes drooping and a soft look coming upon his face. He was no longer the cold general who'd ordered him to be whipped or to be taken from his old base. He was a boy on the verge of death.
Cassius thought it would make him happy. This had been what he wanted. He wanted Rexton to feel all the pain he'd caused Cassius, but now when he had it, he was afraid not of the man he'd been about to kill.
He was afraid of what he'd done.
His fingers were locked in place, solid as stone. The last of life flickered in Rexton's eyes, shining back at Cassius. He looked into those eyes, truly trying to see the evil man he'd thought had existed in there. The evil was somewhere in there. It was hiding from him, driving him mad with his own delusions.
And then the beast was prying Cassius's hands from Rexton's neck. He fought the hands, growling as his prey was wrenched away from his hold.
"Cassius. Why must you do this?"
He shook his head. He looked into the beast's eyes. Tears filled his vision, but he was too focused on Rexton's choked voice that he couldn't give a damn if he could see.
"Look at what he did to me!" He begged for it to understand. Why must he be the one to look like the animal? Why was he in the wrong for bringing justice to the man who'd ruined him once more?
All of them. They should all pay for the things they did to him and his people.
The beast's eyes were soft and with the gentlest of touches, it backed away from him. The front he'd been putting on, the wall he'd built, began to crumble. He didn't understand any of it. Rexton was at his mercy. He could do anything he wanted to him.
But the beast was acting like no beast in the sense. It kept telling him to choose another path.
Just as Rexton's eyes closed, Cassius released his grip.
Rexton gasped, choking, and as the life flooded back into his eyes, Cassius stared with shock at his own choice. The world didn't seem right. The beast had faded into the darkness and it was only him and Rexton.
He reached out with a hand, but as his fingers were about to touch Rexton's soft face, he disappeared.
Pain jolted him back to reality.
He slowly blinked his eyes, adjusting to the bright light in the room. The cement floor was the first thing he saw and then the blur of boots. They were the same ones Rexton wore. Oddly, his thoughts faded between the hazy dream and what he was seeing now. He imagined the boots connecting to the long legs of Rexton which were attached to the man who'd he'd been all too pleased to kill, even if it were only his imagination.
His lips parted, spit dripping into a puddle on the floor. Burning pain, a flame that fluttered over his exposed back, made it hard to think. He wanted to go back to the darkness, where the beast talked softly to him and he was the master of Rexton.
A hushed conversation broke though his foggy mind.
"Take him to my room." It was Rexton. His voice was strong, commanding as ever, but there was a hint of softness to it.
It almost sounded sympathetic.
The binds around Cassius's hands and legs were unbound. He fell to a heap in the hands of the two guards who he vaguely remembered, but he was too far gone. The light flickered and he was gone once more.
This time he was alone.