forum One-On-One (Closed)

Started October 24, 2018 by @Imperfect_Autumn group

tune

“Why do you think I’m going to hurt her physically? There are much better ways of getting to her,” Hectic sighed.

"I've told you already," he growled, smoothing a wince of pain as the end of a chain link caught his skin. "She doesn't care about me."

“We’ll see about that,” Hectic mused.

Before she’d even finished her sentence, Kasey burst into the room, her hands spread out as she pushed the double doors open with her powers. Her hair was a mess and there was both fire and pain in her eyes. When she caught sight of Barry, a flicker of fear swept across her features.

“Let him go,” she demanded, her voice hard as she turned back to face Hectic.

No. No, no, no—She can’t be here, was all he could think, senses flooding with panic. “Kasey, run!” he cried, his voice rough and saturated with fear. “I’m not worth it—just go!”

"And why should I?" Hectic asked as she pulled a knife from her boot, both women ignoring Barry's pleas for Kasey to run. "I think I'd like to have a little fun with him, first."

Kasey glared at the white-haired girl, her hands clenching into tight fists. "If you hurt him—"

"What? You'll send me to jail like you did my brother?" Hectic taunted, rolling her eyes. She lifted the knife to inspect it before throwing it. It passed to close to Barry's head that it barely nicked his ear, and it buried itself in the wall behind him.

A hoarse cry tore itself loose from Barry’s throat——but when he opened his eyes, he was still alive, the knife quivering in the wall beside his ear.

"Or something…" Kasey muttered, reaching forward and letting the knife fly to her hand. She spun it between her fingers as she carefully watched Hectic.

The other lady raised an eyebrow, the lights flickering a little. "'Or something'? What kind of something?"

Barry struggled with renewed energy against the chains binding him, but no matter how hard he tried, all he succeeded in doing was scraping his skin. He could only watch, horrified, as the love of his life faced off against his captor.

Kasey's eyes darkened as she glared at Hectic, muttering, "You won't want to find out." It was, of course, an empty threat. She wouldn't kill or critically hurt anyone on purpose. Not if she had a choice.

"Mm, all right," Hectic hummed, rolling her eyes again. She knew Kinisie's tricks well enough to know that she wouldn't actually hurt anyone. Not that badly, anyway. "Well, in that case, maybe I should just—"

All of a sudden, the building was thrown into darkness. The lights were all shut off, resulting in a deep, pitch black.

Kasey felt the knife being torn from her hand before she could even react, and then she was shoved into a chair or something. Ropes wrapped around her arms and wrists and ankles, and even more were tied around her waist.

And then the lights were on, and she could see again. But what she saw made her struggle against her bindings.

Hectic smirked and tilted Barry's chin up with the flat side of the knife. "Now… Here's where I begin my revenge for Flicker."

“Kasey!” Barry yelled, his voice breaking halfway through the name he used to breathe like a prayer. But he couldn’t move for fear of the blade against his throat, brushing against his skin.

"Let him go," Kasey demanded again, leaning forward as she tried to free herself from her bonds. "Let him go and you can have me."

Hectic shook her head and take the point of the knife down Barry's jawline, leaving a faint trickling of blood. "And why would I do that when I already have you, hm? Plus, it's more fun this way. You get to see me cut into your love."

The villainess took the knife from Barry's face and cut his shirt away, tapping it with the tip of the knife. "Nice solid chest… That'll make it easier for me, then. Although, it's almost a shame to mangle something so nice."

Barry sucked in a sharp breath. “Kase?” he whispered, forcing his voice to go flat, “Look away.” He squeezed his eyes shut, bracing himself for the pain, for the sensation of the knife splitting him open.

"Oh, nonono… No, she can't look away," Hectic said with a smirk. "This is part of her punishment: to watch you slowly bleed to death."

Kasey glanced down, fear and pain and angry fire battling for a space in her eyes. Seeing this, the other woman smiled and dug the point into the middle of his right chest, pushing it in farther and twisting to add more pain.

A cry of pain tore itself loose from Barry’s lips. His heart kickstarted, each bear accelerating and dragging his breathing up with it until he was practically hyperventilating, biting back whimpers as unimaginable pain ripped though his chest.

Kasey flinched and squeezed her eyes shut, turning her head away. It hurt her to hear the pained sounds coming from her… boyfriend? Was he still her boyfriend? Either way, it just hurt.

"Uh-uh, Kinesie. Look up before I make you. I don't want to have to physically harm you, but I will if I need to," Hectic tutted, shaking her head.

After a moment, the heroine tore her eyes from the ground to glare daggers at the villain. She would pay her back for this. And it would feel good.

Hectic's lips twisted up into a wicked grin as she pulled the knife from Barry's chest. "There you go," she murmured before turning back to Barry. "How're you doing? Can you still feel things?"

Barry released a strangled gasp, going weak against the villainess’s side. “I’m—Fine—“ he choked despite the blood dribbling down the front of his chest.

Hectic smirked and leaned down in front of him. "Good. Then you'll be able to feel it when I do this…"

She put the point of the knife against his chest again, but this time, instead of digging it into one spot, she pressed until it just broke the skin. And then she dragged it down, leaving a trail of blood and broken skin. She did this multiple times, until there were words visible in the blood.

Freak

Pathetic

Stupid

And the one that spread across the most of his chest: Worthless

Fire tore through his chest, rendering him a useless, trembling mess. His jaw remained firmly clamped shut against any whimpers, any tortured cries of pain. Just hold on… he thought desperately, muscles going rigid.

Kasey, unlike Barry, was unable to keep her whimpers from coming through. Tears ran down her face as she watched the man she loved being torn to shred. At this rate, he would be all strips of flesh by the end of it.

“I think that’s enough for now,” Hectic mused, standing up and inspecting her handiwork. She tossed the knife to the side and dusted her hands off on her pants. “All right. There are a few things left to do, but I need to go get some things. Don’t go anywhere.”

She ended with a chuckle before walking through a door to Kasey’s left. As soon as she was gone, the lights went out again. Leaving them in total blackness.

“Barry?” Kasey dared to call through the dark, her voice quiet and quivering. “I’m so sorry…”

The moment Hectic was out of sight, Barry released a choked gasp, finally allowing tears to spill down his cheeks. Unable to piece together a coherent sentence, he only let a few broken whimpers slip.

“I’m so sorry. I’m so, so sorry,” Kasey repeated, squeezing her eyes shut as tears slipped down her cheeks. “You shouldn’t be here. You should be at home, doing something— anything but this… But I screwed up. I screwed up so bad, Barr. I’m so sorry… If I had just talked to you, we wouldn’t be in this mess…”

“Stop apologizing,” he forced out through gritted teeth, trying and failing to trap each sob inside his body. “Not you—Not your fault. Not your fault if you loved—someone else.”

“I don’t love someone else! I don’t love anyone but you, Barry!” Kasey cried. “Why can’t you see that? Why do you think I’m here if I don’t love you? Gosh, Barry, I love you so much it hurts.”

Barry squeezed his eyes shut. Somehow, the pain induced by what she was trying to tell him was worse than that of his test. “Then who was that man, Kasey? Why haven’t you been speaking to me?”

Kasey took a deep, shuddering breath. “I have no idea who he was. He was drunk and pushed me against the wall. I was trying to get away from him, Barry. And that’s why I came home excited: because I found out something about my powers.

“And I’ve been stressed out about school and my powers. I’ve been feeling like I wasn’t good enough. So I avoided you to try and get my thoughts sorted out. But it only succeeded in pushing you away…”

Barry didn’t know how to feel. He was just trapped in an endless cycle of pain and confusion, having no idea what he was supposed to think. “You could have talked to me…” he whispered, eyes still shut. “At least told me what was happening and asked for space… I—Kasey… I was going to—“

“I know, Barr… I saw the ring on the table… It was beautiful,” Kasey whispered. “I’m sorry I didn’t talk to you. I didn’t know how to. But I should have at least said something so you weren’t worrying like this…”

“It’s my fault, too,” he spoke after a moment, inhaling shakily. “I should have been there for you… it must have been so hard… I’m sorry.”

“It’s not your fault. You couldn’t have known,” Kasey insisted, her voice thick from emotion.

Barry only hung his head, giving no response. Of course it was his fault, at least partially. He should have made more of an effort…