~

    Jack held his breath as he was slapped for, what, the sixth time?
    His gripped his fists tighter, digging his nails into his skin, careful to not let any moan of pain out, and as a way to soothe the throbbing pain he was feeling on both his cheeks, caused by a very angry, with very very heavy hands, Frank.
    
    "How could you?!" His voice roared through the whole room, and Jack flinched, getting prepared to be hit again.
    
    Jack was not one to be intimidated that easily, of course not. He had seen all types of things ever since he was twelve and mindlessly (and sleepily) walked in the living room, only to see a frozen scene of a few men cleaning guns and Frank sitting on the sofa writing down a plan — as he stated afterwards — on a notebook. It was then when he started it. With the promise of excelling in both school and college whether it came to grades or behaviour and of being a good brother to Krystal, Frank let him join his forces, and, even though he hated the designation, Frank let him join his gang.
    But he failed his promise of being a good brother.
    And this was just another reminder of it.

    He strided past Krystal's former bedroom in her American house, but quickly walked back and stopped in front of it. He wanted to open it. To open it and make sure she was inside, all right, that everything was fine.
    That everything was going to be fine.

    But she wasn't inside, and he had no time to waste.
    He was going to find her. Her and... and her friend. Her friend he despised, but had to, any way. Since Krystal's well being (in any mean possible) was on Amber's hands, he had to believe her, and thus save her.
    Save them.



    Amber's head was lying on Krystal's crossed legs. Her eyes were closed and her breath was steady; she had finally found her way to sleep. Krystal would ocasionally run her hand through Amber's short hair and then sigh in despair; then she would again look for Amber's hair, or face, to gently it, and then throw back her head in frustration, or her eyes would wander around the room, which was gradually getting darker as the sun was setting outside.
    She was getting crazy, this was driving her crazy.
    It was dark, she was tired, her head was still hurting, and she was starving. Add up to that, Krystal had no idea of what's going on. No one had come inside, to see them, she didn't hear any voices outside and it was starting to scare her.
    Her stomach grumbled as she softly rubbed her hand on Amber's arm, in an attempt to stop her shivering. Amber had her arm broken, that she was sure of. And it was because of her; she couldn't help but feel guilty over her hurt body.
    Amber stirred in her sleep, flinching and furrowing her eyebrows as she moved around to find a position that wouldn't hurt her so much, and ended up grabbing Krystal's hand. Krystal looked down at Amber's strength as she gripped the other hand. She silently chuckled and smiled, moving strands of Amber's hair away from her face with the other free hand.
    She looked hurt.
    And Krystal couldn't stand that. Especially when didn't know the reason behind for this.
    They were being kidnapped, they were holding them as hostages of something... that she needed to find out. Well, but she had no idea she was going to know that this early.
    
    The door Krystal had been staring at suddenly flew open, startling both Krystal and Amber, waking her up. She quickly grabbed Krystal's arm as she sat up, and both retreated until their backs were against the cold wall.
    Two men in black came in, and Krystal could almost recognize them if her memory of that day at McDonald's wasn't so faint. They were laughing as they approached the girls.
    
    "So, how are our princesses~?" One said in a mocking tone as he squat in front of them. Krystal tried to back away, but she just couldn't. "Oh, don't run away, we mean no harm..." He sang as he reached out for Krystal's hair, patting it.

    Krystal froze, but Amber managed to slap his hand away. He immediately shot daggers at her. The other one, who had been standing, squat next to the other. "The beating you had wasn't enough?!" His harsh voice intimidated both girls, and Amber's grip on Krystal's arm got stronger.
    "How cute, look at them."
    "Who are you?" Krystal had no idea from where such courage to speak came, and was surprised by it — but then, again, Krystal wasn't a weakling, and these years of talking back to whoever didn't accomplish whatever she wanted them to, or simply to those who went against her in some way, surely helped to it.
    "Oh, but the princess talks..." One said, reaching closer to her, his face milimetres away from hers. Krystal didn't like it and somehow pushed him away with her knee, receiving a strong slap the moment after.
    "You can't touch her!" The other one urged as he saw him raising his hand, failing to stop him. He widened his eyes, "Master Jung clearly told we can't land a single finger on her and you're already slapping, if he—"
    "Who's Master Jung?"
    "Don't interrupt me." He sharply hissed. "As I was saying," he continued, glancing at his colleague, "If Master Jung find—"
    "Who. the hell. is. Master. Jung." Krystal raised her voice, all her uncertainity and fear leaving her, replacing it for a very self-confident Jung Soo Jung — her real self, actually; If Amber got beat up for some reason that had her name somewhere in its middle, she must at least talk back for her, for both of them.
    "Listen, kiddo, I thought I said—"
    "Answer me." She was slapped in response, her head unwillingly turning to one side. She clenched her teeth and found an inner strength to face him again. "Quickly." The men laughed.
    "Are you stupid, or just plain stupid?"
    "No, I actually think she's just really stupid." They laughed. They were laughing at her, and if there was something Krystal couldn't stand (well, there's a list of things, but this was sure one topping it) was seeing people mocking her. Before she knew it, she was spitting at the one facing her really close.
    
    He stopped laughing. The other one, too. Amber widened her eyes, unsure of what was going to happen next — a good thing sure wasn't. He pulled his sleeve al the way to his hand and, never breaking eye contact with Krystal, he slowly wiped his face. The next thing Amber knew, he was taking off his belt.
    Now that only meant two things.
    And both were bad.
    The other one, who had been reasoning he shouldn't touch her just a few minutes ago, made sure to back away and do nothing.
    Krystal eyed all his movements, scared to death but not regretting her actions.
    He started beating the air with such strength that each movement could actually be heard — scaring both girls; they flinched and Krystal only had time to cover her head and scream as she took the first strike. And the second. And the third.
    Amber tried to jump over her, but the other man quickly understood what she was about to do and ran over to grab her tight in his arms, blocking her from any movement. She squealed in pain and shut her eyes tight, praying God to end this nightmare quickly.


    Silence filled the previous extremely loud room.
    It was dark, and the only source of light illuminating that awful cave was the bright moon outside, unseen from that tiny window.
    Two bodies were lying on the floor, away from each other. There were alive, even though their breaths were nothing more than some faint ones. They were tired. Amber and Krystal were tired. They were hurt, sad and starving. They still didn't know what was happening — or why was it happening.
    Krystal was lying with her stomach on the floor, unable of finding any other position that wouldn't hurt her. Her previous white shirt (that only had a few dirt stains) was now soaked in blood, coming from her back, where she received all the harsh beating.
    It wasn't even humane, she thought, doing this. Beating someone — not even talking about beating a girl!—is completely unthinkable. Did she really deserve this? Did she really damage his little pride by spitting on his face, to the point of that pig having to beat her with his belt?
    She closed her eyes, not able to move anymore. Her back was burning, she couldn't take it anymore. She really wanted to fall asleep and escape from this reality, but she couldn't. Everything seemed to be stopping her from falling asleep: her back, her mind, and Amber. Knowing that Amber was somewhere next to her in that dark room, and not being able to walk up to her, or find her, messed with her. She knew Amber was suffering too. Amber, who was dragged to this situation because of Krystal, was silently crying in pain — her sobs didn't go that unnoticed in that silent night.
    Krystal struggled to at least find a way to lean her head without hurting it even more. She propped her chin on her lying hands and faced the dark.
    She found herself wondering — that's how she would spend her days in there —, had anyone noticed they were missing? Does her Father know of this? Jack said he was about to arrive that day, did he get to see that scene? Where they were dragged to a black van and carelessly thrown inside, as Amber stated? Or was he just far away, but saying that to make sure Krystal wouldn't just walk away? She sighed.
    Somehow, Jack's nervous and rushed voice tone replayed in her mind and she wondered if there was any connection to what happened a few moments after... Did he already know of what was going to happen?
    No, Krystal shook her head, in that case he would have told her to hide or something... He wouldn't be stupid enough. No. Jack isn't stupid. Jack's quite a bright person, even if Krystal didn't like him.
    Well, she had to think like this, since she only had him to depend on; he was the only one who could take her out of that disgusting place. Even if she didn't want to admit that.

A/N: Over 5000 views *o* Thank you so much!

I promise you the suffering will end soon, please don't hate meee!