Sehun’s awakened to a hard slap; his cheek and head throbbing with pain. When he doesn’t open his eyes right away, a second and third slap cause his head to jolt up and his eyes to snap open. He squints in the dim light, groaning as he looks around quickly. Trying to gain his composure, he finally notices the room. Stone walls and floor splattered with blood, seeming to almost seep into its very foundation. A camera sits on a poorly made wooden table and points at him. Someone grabs his chin tightly, forcing the boy to look to the side. A man stares down at him, short black hair pushed back with the sides shaved. His dark eyes have heavy bags under them, natural ones, not from the lack of sleep. His captor slowly smiles. It’s malicious, sinister. A smile that makes Sehun want to crawl into a corner and cower.

“Hello, Sehun.” He greets in Chinese. “You can understand what I say, yes?” He heads over to the camera, pressing record. “I know you can speak Chinese.”

“ you,” Sehun curses in the same language. 

The man chuckles and nods. “Good, good,” He walks back and hums a bit. “My name is...Zitao. But people call me The Sovereign.” Sehun remains silent as he watches Zitao take a knife from his belt. He slowly rubs the sharp end against his fingers, ignoring the blood that drips lightly. “This will sting, child,” Zitao takes his place behind Sehun, pausing for a moment. He shuts his eyes when he feels the front of his shirt begin to tear and rip off to reveal his chest. “This is a message for Exo,” The Chinese man says in Korean, bringing the knife to his torso. “After I kill King, I am coming for all of you. One at a time.” With that, Zitao presses down, cutting along his pale flesh; blood begins to drip down his stomach. It makes Sehun grimace and grip onto the arms of the chair he’s tied to. He grits his teeth as the knife is brought up to his cheek this tie, inhaling sharply. Zitao laughs and sets the blade down. When he grabs Sehun’s shoulder, his fingernails dig harshly into him. “This one's a fighter,” He purrs, leaning down to the boy’s ear. “I will enjoy him.” Sehun whines when the man slaps his cut cheek before heading over to the camera and turning it off. “Rest. I will return to send your friend more videos.”

Sehun flinches when the door is opened and slammed shut. Sehun lets out a sigh as he stares; suddenly tired. He blinks a few times to fight the sleep that rapidly comes for him. Seemingly out of nowhere. “Oh, by the way,” Zitao calls out from behind the door. “Even if you are tired, do not sleep,” His chuckle echoes through the walls, into the room. Into Sehun’s ears and now his head. “Have fun, my pet.” Footsteps walk off, leaving Sehun alone now. It’s cold, dark. The smell of blood mixed with something medicinal makes him want to gag. But what gets him is the smell inside the blood. The lingering scent of Zitao’s expensive cologne. He focuses on that. And it makes him nervous, angry. Determined. 

Sehun is awakened to a horrible, burning, searing, and intense pain on his forearm, causing him to scream out. More burning sensation starts upon his chest; one near the cut and the third right on top of it. That causes him to attempt and stomp his feet, gripping the chair tight again as the pain becomes unbearable. He chokes out another cry before looking up at his attacker. Zitao. The man flicks the cigarette and stomps it out. It, for a moment, reminds him of his father and causes a sudden hatred to flare up. “Oh, good. You are awake, despite my rule,” he says. “I don’t smoke. Such a disgusting habit...say, doesn’t your father smoke?” Sehun swallows hard, looking down at the reddish circles on his forearm and chest. “Cigarette burns are the absolute worst, aren’t they? But you already knew that."

That’s when he notices the red light of the camera blinking. He groans when his hair is grabbed from behind, forcing him to look up. “Say hello to Kai, doll!” Tao shouts in Korean this time. “I said...say hello!” He screams now. Sehun slowly glances up, staring up at him with half-lidded eyes. “What’s wrong? Say hello to your damn friends!” 

“ you,” Sehun laughs before he’s backhanded a few times. So far, this is nothing compared to the pain he endured at that ing camp. He glances down at his old scars and his lips. 

“I. said. Say. HELLO!” After this final, hard slap, Sehun begins to taste the blood in his mouth. He slowly looks up at the man.

“And I said... YOU!” He spits blood at the man.

Tao takes a deep breath before taking a nearby rag and wiping his face. He shakes his head. “That...was very rude, Sehun,” He says calmly. But he can tell how angry he is, regardless, when he grabs the knife and steps behind the chair. He brings the blade to Sehun’s throat and begins to slice; not deep but enough to hurt. He shivers as fingers are brought up to his wound, blood running down Zitao’s tan fingers. The gang leader smears the crimson down Sehun’s chest and flat stomach as he presses a kiss to his cheek. “Sehun is a very pretty man, no? Well, It has been two days since I took Sehun and he has endured two days of torture so far,” Zitao sets the knife down, both of them looking up as the door opens. A tall, intimidating looking man comes in. Stoic, short, dyed blonde hair. He shuts the doors again and locks it before beginning to roll his sleeves up. “Oh, we have a visitor. Thank you for joining us, Kris.”

Kris stops beside Sehun, staring down at him with dark eyes. When Tao pulls up the table for him, this new man sets a bag down on it and pulls out what seems to be a needle. He takes a bottle, beginning to fill it up with a mysterious liquid. “W-w-w-what is that?” Sehun asks groggily. It’s hard to see out of his right eye but he tries to blink it away.

“Silence,” Kris hushes him. He looks at the camera. “If Kai does not give himself up, we will kill Sehun slowly. We will slice and rip him apart, day by day.”

“We are not playing games,” Zitao says. Sehun bites his tongue, screwing his eyes shut as he tries not to scream. He doesn’t want to give them the damn satisfaction. “You have until the end of the next two weeks” Zitao watches as Sehun is injected before going over to the camera and turning it off. As soon as Kris packs up and leaves, the leader stares down at the boy for a moment before smiling. “Do not miss me too much, my dear.”

Sehun pants heavily as he tries to ignore the pain. He swallows hard and tries to focus. With no food or water, or much sleep, his mind is going blank. His cheek, chest, stomach, neck- everything hurts. The rope is beginning into the skin of his ankles and wrists. He can feel blood; dry and wet, running down his palms, fingers, and feet onto the floor. Sniffing, Sehun wonders if Kai cares enough to look for him or even think about surrendering himself. No, probably not.

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