Word Count: 8801

The heavy pounding on the door gave way to loud demands for the door to open immediately. Sehun's father straightened himself up and wiped his face of emotion. When he unbolted the door, there were people everywhere, running into the house. They grabbed Sehun and pushed him down into a seat. In the confusion, it was natural for Sehun to want to struggle. he was still thinking about how his earlier attackers had held him down.

The people in front of him now forced something into his mouth. A small handful of some kind of leaf. His immediate instinct was to spit it out, but a hand covered his face and ordered him to chew and swallow. With great reluctance, he swallowed the dry leaves, but it didn’t still the fear boiling in his stomach. The release of tension in his gut came quick and unexplained. It wasn’t the relaxing of his anxiety, that was still pumping strong in his veins. It was the quieting of his usually volatile powers.

Sehun didn’t say anything about this, but it was all he could think about. He couldn't hear the shouts of horror from Taeyeon and his father. He was still not in control of himself and and the people pulled him to his feet after swallowing the plant. His legs started walking at the quick pace he was being dragged away at. He tripped many times, but a knife held to his back kept him moving forward. Everyone around him told him to keep walking.

He couldn't breathe, and he didn't know what to say except one thing. "I haven't done anything wrong! Please! Let me go!" He looked back once to his grief-stricken father and the woman he called sister. They tried to supply their courage, but it was clear they couldn't do anything to help him in this very moment.

"It'll be okay, Sehun!" Taeyeon cried as she held Junseok back. She knew that if she let him go, he would run after Sehun. "You'll be okay! I promise!"

-----

They threw Sehun into a dark cell by himself without a word. He fell to his hands and knees, but he was at least glad to be away from all the people grabbing him. It was dark, but he scrambled to the wall where he felt as safe as he could in this place. In reality, nowhere was safe. After all, this was solitary confinement. For whatever reason, they thought he was dangerous enough to warrant this.

Sehun clutched his cloak around himself. He hadn't even had time to grab anything warmer. They wouldn't even listen to him when he tried to report the assault on the way in. He wasn't looking for a way out, he knew better than that. He was only looking to get those awful men put away before they hurt anyone else. No one believed him.

Those very men, once they awakened, had reported that Sehun had attacked them in their own shop. He knocked them out with his devil powers and robbed them. It didn't help Sehun's predicament that they had the protection of Sir Choi. It came as no surprise that the nobleman wasn't interested in protecting him anymore. After this, Sehun would no longer be the beauty that Sir Choi kept around. In fact, if proved guilty, Sir Choi will play the victim to Sehun's charade. All that Sehun had gone through to preserve his own life was now worth nothing.

They left Sehun in solitary confinement for what felt like hours. He knew that there was a window in the door they had pushed him through, but he couldn't bring himself to look through it. Sometimes, someone would glance through it to check on him. Such an action deprived Sehun of most of what little light it provided.

Sehun found himself picking at the floor and his fear melting away only because of time. But his brain kept going into quick bursts of too much thought. He needed a better distraction than the fading sting from cuts and scrapes. He closed his eyes tight for a moment and tried to think beyond the noise that reverberated in his head.

He finally found something. Taeyeon hadn't always made bird calls to entertain him. She had also done it to sooth him as a child. They might still have that effect on him now. Sehun took a breath in an attempt to steady himself. He wet his dry lips with a swipe of the tongue and cupped his hands around his mouth.

He started with simpler bird calls; the ones Taeyeon had taught him first. They were hesitant and quiet at first, but they grew in volume and confidence over time. He sang the easy bird warbles and practiced the ones he had yet to perfect. Anything would help at this point to calm him down. He didn't like feeling so afraid.

Getting to the song of the nightingale was where he found real calm. He could close his eyes and pretend he was back in the forest for a few minutes. Taeyeon was beside him in these imaginings and her bird songs were much more authentic than his. He found his lips quirking in a fraction of a smile.

The pleasant daydream ended, when the door to his cell opened and light flooded the once dark room. Sehun shrank away from it, hoping that keeping himself in the dark would hide him. A woman entered the cell with a candle and a bowl of something warm. The door closed behind her and her candle became the only source of light left.

"Sehun?" a familiar voice called to him. He knew her voice and his eyes were growing used to the light again. It was Nina Kwak. But even though he now recognized her, he still tried to keep himself glued to the wall of the cell. "Don't be afraid."

She came to sit down in front of him. She set the candle in its holder down, but she held onto the bowl for a few moments longer. What was she doing here? Sehun wanted to ask, but he couldn't find his voice.

When Nina shifted, the movement startled Sehun and he flinched, shutting his eyes. He felt his power rise at his fear, but all that emerged was a tiny breeze that caused the candle's flame to flicker.

"Open your eyes," Nina said, voice soft as she only laid a gentle hand on his arm. He didn't want to, but she had always been kind to him before. She might not be like the rest of them. With a great amount of hesitation and his brain screaming at him to not listen to her, he opened his eyes. She was holding out the bowl to him, filled with a muddy green liquid. It reminded him a lot of medicine in color. The smelled like it, too. He remembers being a child and running from this stuff. "Eat this," she said.

"What is it?" Sehun asked, not reaching for the bowl. She pressed it into his palms before she spoke again, urging him to be good.

"It is a tonic," she said. "It will calm you, but it also does what they need it to."

Sehun looked down at the tonic and fiddled with the supplied spoon. He didn't eat. "What do they need it to do?" he questioned. Some part of him wondered if it was poison and he wondered if he would live to see the next few hours.

"Did they force you to eat some leaves before bringing you here?" she asked him.

Sehun nodded in response.

"They are of a plant that does not grow in our woods," she told him. "If someone with a magical gift eats them, their powers go to sleep anywhere from a few hours to a few days. If someone without a magical gift eats them, then nothing happens. Someone has accused you of having a magical gift, so they are making sure you can't attack them with it."

That explained the uneasiness Sehun had felt as soon as they had made him swallow the herb the first time. He could still feel his gift, but it was useless the way it was. It couldn't protect him from more than a flying insect. Whatever they intended to do to him here, he would be defenseless for.

"Why are they giving me a choice to eat this now?" he asked Nina.

"They're not," she responded, frown set firm on her face. "You either eat this on your own or they come in here and force you to eat it. I would suggest you take the former option. I was able to convince them that a kind touch might yield better results. But I'm afraid this may be the only kindness you will see in here."

Sehun's throat locked up, but instead of responding, he only nodded. His hands were shaking as he brought the spoon to his mouth. It was bitter, but it was hot and that made it tolerable. Swallowing the food was difficult, but whatever else was in this food did indeed calm his despair. He was halfway through eating it when Nina spoke again.

"You will be fine," she told him, eyes pleading for his understanding. "You're a strong, good kid, and you will make it through this."

"It doesn't feel like it..." Sehun said, taking another hard swallow.

"But you will," Nina continued. "And everything will be much better. Be brave and answer their questions." She took the bowl back from him when he finished the food. She made to get up, but she gripped his hand in a comforting squeeze before she did.

The door to his cell opened again to let her out. A few of the higher ups came in after she left. They moved around the edge of the cell and waited. No one touched him and no one approached him, yet, but he was still unnerved. They looked at him with stone cold eyes and imposing demeanor about them. Compared to how Sehun felt, they looked like giants in his mind's eye.

"So it's the white haired boy after all," the warden grunted. "I always had a feeling. Years ago when his mother came in right after the exodus of magic folk, I guessed she might have been one of them. But no proof and she died shortly after arriving."

Sehun didn't like hearing about his mother in a place like this. What right did these awful people have to talk about her? But he said nothing. It wouldn't have mattered anyway. It likely only would have served to get him a beating before his interrogation.

"Her face was pretty, though," someone else said. Sehun's eyes found them as soon as they spoke. They looked to be a mid ranking guard. He was someone who could make comments, but couldn't otherwise do much beyond his post. "If she hadn't been pregnant, I would have found her attractive."

There was a laugh around the room and Sehun wanted to scream. They had him trapped and the topics of conversation were vile. They spoke as if he were not even there.

"Her boy is almost as good looking, though."

That sent shivers of dread down Sehun's spine.

"I heard someone had a thing going with him," someone else added; another guard on the opposite side of the warden. "A married man. Paid him for a a day and he said yes."

"A e, then," the warden grunted. Sehun wanted to shout that it was a lie. He wanted to defend himself and tell them all the things he had to do to keep himself alive. If they ever had to experience living in a country that didn't want them, they would understand then. But that defense would bring the hammer down on him. If Sehun were to make it out alive, he needed to maintain that he was a normal human being with no magic. He needed to keep what little left of his secret that he could for as long as it took. Taeyeon would get him out of there.

Sehun's finger's curled into tight fists against the stones beneath him to keep calm. This was only achievable with the aid of the food Nina had provided him.

There was movement then. The two guards stepped forward to come farther into the cell and grab him. Their movements were slow, as if trying not to startle him. Sehun wasn't sure if that was an illusion supplied by the herbs or if that was actually happening. He whimpered and stood, going where they directed without a fight.

Walking down the hall, Sehun looked around with bleary eyes. It was a little too bright out here after being in the dark for so long. But he noted that the other cells of solitary confinement faded behind him the farther on they led him. Barred cells came into view and prisoners in various states of neglect were visible. As they passed, some shrank from the bars, hoping the guards would overlook them. Some begged for food or water, and others for medicine. Some prisoners had no reaction at all to the small group and Sehun was afraid of what that could mean for them. They could be sleeping, yes, but they also could be at death's door.

There was an alcove in this cell block, that they walked Sehun to. Tools of all kinds adorned the walls of this small space, and Sehun didn't need to ask what they were for. They shoved him down onto his knees in the center of the little recess where they restrained him. It was a physical restraint by the guards for now, but Sehun imagined they were not above using rope and metal. He wondered if they were trying to stick to Nina's suggestion of kindness for the time being. He shifted from discomfort and he looked at the men around him. He prayed to the gods for someone to come save him.

Now that they had him restrained, Sehun realized he had never found a group to be more formidable than these men. Not even the noble had struck this much raw fear in him when he held his life in his hands. It might have been because what Sir Choi promised was much quicker. This, by comparison, was not going to be quick. Sehun shrank into himself as best as he could and looked down, but it became clear that that was not acceptable. The warden grabbed his face and forced him to look up at them. It was a similar action to what Sir Choi would do.

"We can do this the easy way or the hard way," the warden said, looking down at Sehun with hard eyes. "Explain to us what happened. We're going to be far nicer than the king's men."

Sehun had severe doubts about that statement, but he wasn't going to tell them he thought so. He didn't say anything at all, not wanting to get himself into even deeper trouble. But if he didn't say anything, then there would be a different kind of trouble.

"I didn't do anything..." he finally rasped out.

There was a backhanded strike to his jaw and his head shot to the side with the force of the blow. He could taste the iron of his blood in his mouth. It was almost identical to the blow he had received from his attackers earlier for screaming.

"That's not what your victims told us," his jailer growled. "You attacked guests of the noble Choi. The only question is, why?"

Sehun looked back at the warden with what little defiance he could muster. His lips trembled in fear and hopeless emotion, but he repeated himself all the same. "I didn't do anything," he said, voice watery and unstable. "They attacked me. They tried to me while I was shopping in the market with my visiting friend."

"Liar," one of the other men said. "We have a witness. One of the maids of the nobleman. She was there, was she not?" Sehun paled at the mention of the woman. As Taeyeon had predicted, once she came to her senses, the woman had gone straight to the authorities. "She says you attacked unprovoked. Says she almost didn't escape with her life."

"She's the one lying!" Sehun insisted. If he hadn't eaten those leaves, his powers would already be a mess with his desperation. He didn't know what he could do to prove it, but he was sure someone had to believe him. They were only going on unverified information. Didn't matter that Sehun had magic or not, they were dragging his reputation through the mud first.  "She was assisting them in ual assault!"

"Tell the truth!" the warden spat. Then there was a kick right between his legs. Sehun screamed as the agony burst through him from the sudden impact. He doubled over, searching for breath, but the warden continued. "Tell us why you attacked them or we're going to start treating you like the prisoner you are."

"But I didn't..." Sehun gasped, still trying to breathe. "I didn't do anything!"

With that insistent answer, the warden lost his patience. He snapped his fingers and the guards pulled Sehun to his feet. He wasn't given even half a moment to make a run for it. They dragged him away and stripped him of his heavy cloak before leading him outside.

Sehun never thought he would see the whipping post from this angle. He grew accustomed to watching from across the square if he were present when the post was in use. Now they were locking his arms to it and he could only bend to accommodate the pulling. His peripheral vision caught adults ushering their children away. Some went into their homes, and others returned the direction they had come. Quite a few of the adults stayed out of morbid curiosity.

It was when the locks clicked around his wrists that his panic started to return. In a sudden burst of frightened energy, he began to cry and plead for them to let him go. His pleading fell on deaf ears as they ripped open the back of his shirt. They used some of the torn fabric to stuff his mouth so they could silence his begging. Sehun laid his head against the post as he started to give up. He could only mentally prepare himself for what was to happen.

The first lash came quick with a crack of thunder and his back burned like fire. The pain was not as bad as he thought it would be. That or it didn't register in his head the way it should have. He still screamed out of reflex into the makeshift gag, but he had felt worse pain before. It wasn't until the lashes of the whip continued to come that it became unbearable. The people in the square looked on in both horror and fascination as the whip ripped open his back.

Sehun's vision was beginning to blacken around the edges by lash twenty. His throat was raw from protests no one heard and he could feel the blood dripping down his back. He was so close to that blessed darkness that he was almost relieved. He tensed with every blow and his eyes still dripped tears from the abuse. His screams had died down though did not disappear. The pain was still very real and it got worse as every strike dug into screaming, open flesh. He wanted to pass out and let them finish with him.

That wish never came true. He tensed for another blow, but it never came. Instead, a guard came to unlock the cuffs keeping him to the post. He felt like he would collapse under his own weight as soon as he stood straight from the post. His legs felt like flower stalks rather than muscle and bone, but the guard pushed him to move despite this. He made it halfway to the cell block door before his legs gave out. A guard was there to catch him, but the touch was not gentle in the slightest. The guard grunted in irritation as he pushed Sehun again toward the door.

Upon making it back inside, Sehun noticed a chair now occupied the space in the alcove where he had once knelt. It was wooden and rough with use. Brief thoughts brought to him visions of many other people who had sat in this very chair. He tried to block them out when the warden pushed him down into it and guards tied his wrists to the arm rests. Sitting back against the splintered chair felt like sandpaper against his raw back.

He couldn't say anything with a cloth still in his mouth, but he wasn't sure he had the energy to say anything anyway. He sat there as still as he could get, wishing to have his cloak back to keep the wood off his back. He was not so lucky. He should have known he was not that lucky. If blessings of such fortune had been upon him, he wouldn't be in this situation to begin with.

"Ready to speak now?" the warden asked, pulling the cloth from Sehun’s mouth. Sehun remained quiet. It wasn't his life alone on the line. They refused to hea