“Sehun, hey, Sehun! Are you awake?”

Sehun tiredly rolls over, squinting at his friend in the dark. He rubs his eyes and nods. “Yeah...I...I’m up…”

“They uh...sent you to bed without food again, huh?” He can see his friend look around before quickly hopping off his bed and approaching Sehun. “I snuck you something.”

The boy sits up, something handed to him. He brings it up to his face, squinting to see what it is. He grins hungrily at the chocolate label; his hands shake from the pain still searing through him. “R-really? You got this?! H-how?”

His friend hums, leaning back onto his bed and shrugging. “I dunno, that’s my secret to keep,” He laughs. “Don’t tell ANYONE, ok?”

Sehun lays back down, hugging the candy to his chest like his life depended on it. “Okay...I won’t!”

Sehun slowly opens his eyes, regardless of the fact that they’re heavy and they sting. When he looks up, something is wrong. He’s looking up at the ceiling, instead of the wall. That’s when he realizes the chair had been pushed over, onto Sehun’s back. “W...wha…”

“Good morning, sunshine!” Zitao greets. “It has officially been almost four weeks and oh, look how strong you are- hanging on by a thread,” He hums from the corner of the room. Sehun tries to look for him but it’s hard to move. “For the newest member of EXO, you sure are strong,” He pauses. “I know I was supposed to kill you but god, you're so fun.” Sehun flinches when someone steps up beside him. Kris, with the camera; filming him again. He swallows hard.

“W…” he tries to speak but it’s hard. His throat and mouth are dry. 

“This will be a first,” Zitao steps into view as well now, holding what seems to be a cloth; which is put over the boy’s face. “Not for us...but for you. No...I do not think you have ever, in your whole life, experienced pain that you will feel shortly.”

Regardless of not knowing what is to come, he clenches his body in preparation. And Zitao is right. He’s more right than he had thought. His heart begins to beat fast as water is poured over his mouth and nose; quick and rapid like he’s drowning. He tries to gag, hack, and kick his legs violently. His throat feels as if it is swelling, his lungs filling with water and his brain is on fire. Water overpowers his gag reflex, begging for air and to breathe. He wants to scream but he can’t. All he can do is scratch at the wood; splinters dig into his fingers, palms. He arches his back and he thrashes with the little strength he has left. He wants to tell his body it’ll be over soon, he almost prays it will be. But it doesn’t. He wants to die now. Please, kill him. Unconsciousness slowly greets him as he suffocates. Tears fill his eyes, his arms and legs slowly becoming limp. 

All of it is suddenly taken away and air rapidly returns to him. He gags and spits out the water, coughing harshly enough to tighten his chest. “Oh, are you drowning?” Zitao taunts. He can’t see him but when hands are placed on his torso, he becomes nervous again. With two swift pumps, a scream rips from Sehun’s throat as more pain erupts from his right rib as it’s forcefully broken. He shakes his head before slamming his head back against the floor several times. His hands clench regardless of the splinters digging in deeper. “Ohhh, oops! I went too rough, didn’t I?” the leader chuckles. The cloth is forcefully ripped off his face, exposing him to the sudden light. His chest hurts with each breath and cry he takes but he can’t stop. “You...have been here for so long, dear. I have burned, shocked, cut, beat you,” The man above him says. “Gosh, I starved and denied you water. I did anything I can think of to you...and you still will not cry for me.”

Sehun stares up at him weakly. “Yes, you have tears but I wanted more. I wanted you to SOB, you little !” The boy lets out a cry when his broken side is harshly kicked. “Maybe you can’t scream,” he’s kicked a few more times. Sehun counts ten times. “Because you’re thirsty! Here!” The Chinese man grabs another jug of water, pouring it back on the boy's face. “Drink up!” The drowning return once again but like last time, it doesn’t last. This is repeated at least two more times; each time hurting the same. The plastic container is thrown to the side in a fit of rage. “Cry!” He grabs the camera from Kris and sticks it to his face. “I said cry!”

Sehun weakly shakes his head. “F…” He his lips. “F...uck...you.”

Zitao stares down at him, taking in a deep breath. He runs his hands through his hair and turns the camera off. “I like you, Sehun,” he whispers, pushing the wet hair from Sehun’s eyes, almost affectionately. The boy barely reacts now when he’s slapped five more times. He counts now. He doesn’t know why. In all honesty, he counts a lot of things. How many stones are in the walls, floors? He lost count. There were more than five slaps, actually. Six, seven, eight, nine. It turns into punches. Ten, eleven. It stops at twelve. Sehun closes his eyes when the chair is forced upright, causing him to cough again. What he does react to, however, is when he’s grabbed tightly by his jaw and kissed roughly. Sehun only then struggles more trying to pull away. When Zitao pulls back, he has a disgustingly satisfied smile on. Shortly after, the two men leave, locking the door behind him. Blood runs down his head, nose, lip. He wants to die.

Sehun’s barely conscious as he stares at the wall, slowly rubbing the table around his wrist against the sharp side of the chair. His right eye won’t open. After pretending to be asleep, Zitao seemed to have taken the opportunity to change his ropes; replacing them temporarily with duct-tape. He can feel it loosen but he can’t be too sure. He leans forward and begins to wiggle his wrists around, cringing at the angle of his arms. He groans when he falls to his knees, hitting his head on the leg of his table. He swallows hard, using the last bit of his strength to wiggle his hands around and loosen the restraints. It takes him a few moments but when he does finally get them off, he slowly begins to undo his ankles. He shakily rubs his face as he tries to calm down, dry and wet blood everywhere. He hasn’t been able to think, too weak to even try; especially after this morning’s events. Ignoring his broken ribs, he kicks the chair away from him before searching his pockets. They had discarded his shirt, socks, and shoes long ago but he kept everything else. He laughs weakly when he finds his pocket knife still with him. 

“F-ing idiot,” He thinks. “This’ll be your worst mistake, Sovereign.” Sehun crawls over to the door and grabs the handle. It’s locked. He curses and looks around, thinking hard. Or at least he tries to. He intentionally hits his head on the wall as if it’d help knock sense into him. Using his free hand to grip his ribs, he his lips. “Okay,” He whispers. Opening it up, he stares at the tip of the blade. D.O often says that small knives are more useful than large ones. He stops and looks over to the door’s lock. Taking a deep breath, he sticks the tip of the knife into the keyhole. When he applies pressure and begins to fiddle with it, it slips. He holds his cry in when it slices his index finger, adding even more red to the room and onto himself. He clenches his hand tightly for a moment, forcing himself to ignore the sting. His whole body trembles. 

“G-goddamnit,” He cries softly. He sniffs and wipes his nose with his bloody wrist before trying again. Crimson spears over the door and knob. He rests his head against the wood, wiggling the knife like a key. Sehun shuts his eyes tightly as he begins to cry, finally. He sobs, weeps, wails. He suddenly feels fourteen again, desperate for the pain to stop. He wants to sleep, that’s it. Sleep, safe. Peace. He doesn’t want to hurt. “C-come on!” He switches direction after a moment. Sehun does that for a few minutes, freezing when he hears a click. Slowly opening his eyes, he looks up in astonishment. The tears don't stop even as he pushes the door open.

Sehun stares down the hall, into the dim darkness. Stairs at the very end. A musty smell mixed with blood. It doesn’t phase him anymore. The tears stop abruptly. Sudden anger fills his lungs like water had done before. That rage pushes him forward.  He brings his knife up, making his way to the bottom of the stairs. When he hears footsteps coming down the steps, he’s slow to duck behind them. A masked man stops as soon as he hits the floor. But as soon as he sees the open door, he curses in Chinese and turns to make the climb. Before he can escape, Sehun makes his move. Sudden adrenaline makes him dives for the man, wrapping arms around his waist and knocking him to the floor. He straddles the man and without hesitation, brings the knife into his chest. Brutal, hard, swift, and multiple times. His shriek is ear-piercing and it makes his throat feel as if it’s going to burst. What does burst is that anger inside him. Because in his mind, he’s stabbing Zitao. Over and over and over again. His arms, hands, stomach, face is splattered with warm, liquid. The man sliced open, his insides gushing out.

Sehun breathes heavily as he finally lowers his hand. He stares at the limp, dead man. He looks at the blood-stained knife and begins to feel sick. Ignoring his rib, he puts a hand on his stomach firmly to stop himself from vomiting as he stands up; his legs shaking. Letting go, he grabs onto the railing, keeping himself balanced. He sniffs and rubs his eye. But he can’t. Unable to go any further. He steps back beside the dead man and falls to his knees. Defeated. But he keeps the knife close, slowly raising it to his own throat. He'd rather die than let these beasts keep him for another day. Sehun stares up the stairs, his vision going hazy as he fails to focus. Footsteps rapidly begin to descend. He decides as he brings the knife up with two hands. If he sees any more of their men, he slowly brings the tip to his stomach and digs it in slightly, he’ll kill himself. 

The boy blinks rapidly as he forces himself to stay awake. That’s when he sees him. He chokes out a cry when he sees Kai, his eyes wide. Relief hits him like a tidal wave, hope filling him. “Oh, my god,” Kai breathes, taking in the boy’s appearance. Sehun has no idea how he looks, honestly. Probably like crap. “! What the ?!”

Sehun shakily lifts his covered hands. “I...I,” He tries to speak, but only drops his knife and falls to his side. The leader rushes to his side, gathering him up in his arms. “J...Jongin, I don’t...I don’t f-feel...so good.” When Kai tries to wrap an arm around his waist, he stops when the boy whines. He curses and looks around. “Ju...just do, do-”

“Shh.” He manages to lift Sehun up with his arms under the boy’s knees, keeping him close to his own body protectively. Sehun’s head rolls back as he feels himself begin to lose consciousness, the world starting to swirl like a tidal wave. Kai shouts to the others, everything sounding distant like he’s underwater. 

“Lay, get Tank! Someone get me a ing car!” Sehun stares up at Kai with hooded eyes, watching as the man panics. The leader looks down at him when Sehun slowly brings his hand up and rubs the man's cheek, spreading crimson. He smiles and closes his eyes, sleep finally taking over. 

Sehun is nauseous and dizzy when he wakes up. The room spins, head pounding but his vision begins to clear. He panics at the sight of unfamiliarity, white lights blinding him and making his heart beat fast. That is until he hears friendly voices. Voices that calm him down. “He’s leaving the group!” Baekhyun explodes.

“That’s not your choice to make, it’s HIS,” Chen replies.

“The Sovereign and King are after him, I won’t stand by while-”

“Sehun stays!” Sehun recognizes that voice as Kai. “I won’t let him out of my eyesight again!”

“But Kai-”

“Whatever got Sehun kidnapped was MY fault! So I’m going to man the up and...take responsibility. Train him properly, so this never happens again.”

“But-”

“Did you see him?! You all ing saw him!” He interrupts again. “Doesn’t it make you all mad to see that?! 

Sehun tries to sit up, grimacing. He takes a slow look around the hospital room. When he spots the glass of water, he greedily snatches it, not hesitating to quickly chug it. He could almost cry at how wonderful water feels in his mouth and down his throat; at least when it’s going down properly. “G..guys!”

The door practically slams open, Kai being the first one inside. He lets out a sigh of relief as he rubs his own face. “You’re awake…”

“How...how long did I sleep?”

“A week,” Kai answers, almost immediately. Junmyeon hurries in as well, going over to grab Sehun’s face. 

“Oh! Oh my god, you’re okay!”

“Ow,” Sehun groans.

“I…” Amber walks in slowly, a look of guilt on her face. “I...oh god. Sehun, I couldn’t find you! S-Soverigein, he…”

“Amber, It’s ok,” Sehun whispers. “It’s not your fault.”

She grabs the bottom of her sweater nervously. “I...I’m sorry, Sehun. I should have been more-”

“You found me, right?” Sehun interrupts. He smiles when she nods. “Thank you…”

“But you escaped the room by yourself,” Kai says and Sehun nods.

“I would have gotten as far as...the top of the stairs. Zitao,” He pauses, “Sovereign’s men would have just killed me. Or worse,” The three of them go silent until he speaks up again. “Who umm...who is he?”

“Sovereign is…” Kai leans back and sighs. “My father killed both of his parents and...then tortured him. He’s the leader of his gang and I guess he still blames me.”

“And what about King? Why does he want him dead?”

“I don’t know,” he admits. “I don't know what his deal with King is but...they’re both extremely dangerous.”

“The Sovereign wasn’t after Sehun, to begin with, to be honest,” Amber speaks up, grabbing her laptop and setting it up. “In the video where he...tortures Sehun, Kai says he’s after EXO, not just one person.”

“But if I had to guess, he has a special liking to you now,” Baekyun sighs. Sehun swallows hard. He gets that feeling too. When he remembers that kiss, he’s quick to get more water before he throws up.

“Torture brings people together,” Kai says bitterly. Sehun’s reminded of their talk after their leader had gotten shot. “Will you help us?”

Amber smiles and pats her laptop. “I’ve already started.”

“Badass as always,” Kai chuckles.

“You don’t mess with people from America,” She says proudly and shrugs. She grabs her laptop, patting Sehun on the head. “I’ll catch you later.”

As soon as Amber leaves, Kai motions to the others. “Give us a moment of privacy.” They all nod and begin to leave. Junmyeon gives Sehun’s hand a tight squeeze before he goes, closing the door behind him. “What happened? After we separated?” the leader asks.

Sehun slowly leans back in the bed and shakes his head. “I did what I said I’d do. I...distracted them so you could get out safely. After you said you made it to the van…” he takes another sip of water. Once he swallows, he goes on. “I...I escaped out a window. As soon as I landed, I went to talk to you but then…” He trails off.

“But?”

Sehun slowly shakes his head. He grips his blanket tightly. “I...I got hit upside the head...some men spoke Chinese and dragged me away,” he whispers. “After that, they finally knocked me out. S-something about how Sovereign not caring if they roughed me up a little. As long as I was alive.”

“You speak Chinese fluently?” Sehun shrugs again. 

“I guess.”

Kai slowly nods. He scoots forward, staring him in the eyes. “What...happened when the camera was...off?.”

Sehun gently touches his right eye, sighing when he only now feels the eyepatch. “I…” he looks down at his bruised hands and swallows hard. “I can't,” He whispers, his voice shaking. “H-he talked...a lot. But his...favorite was cigarettes.”

“What?” Kai looks him over in confusion. When his eyes are drawn to Sehun’s arm, he narrows his eyes when he notices the circular burn wounds on his arms and chests. “He...he burned you.”

“It uh...wasn’t the worst of it. But yeah…”

“He…” The leader takes a deep breath. “I think he got that from my father.”

“When your father tortured him…” 

Kai sighs and leans back. He looks out the window, seeming lost in thought. "Come on," Kai says. He stands up. "The nurse said you can be released as soon as you wake up, though she doesn't recommend it." Sehun watches as he sets a change of clothes on the bed.

"These are some of my clothes but you can use them."

"Where are you taking me?" Sehun asks, tossing his legs over the hospital bed.

"Dinner."

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