Seungri's eyes were closed; he simply couldn't keep them open any more. Still on his knees, he'd collapsed forwards – folding in on himself. He tried to control his ragged breathing and seek some calm. It didn't work. It couldn't silence the voices.

He couldn't take any more; he just couldn't.

Everything hurt and he couldn't even cry any more. His sobs were dry, but still convulsed his already tortured body. He just wanted it all to stop.

Without actually coherently forming the idea, Seungri lifted his head up – and then let it bang down onto the unforgiving concrete floor. The fresh pain that blossomed barely even registered and he repeated the action.

The light behind his closed eyelids turned red – and then that red descended into black.

Seungri wasn't aware of the noise suddenly being silenced; even as he succeeded in forcing unconsciousness onto himself.

It didn't matter. The voices chased him into the darkness – and with it came the nightmares:

He smiled as he eased down on the pedal, knowing that he was going to sail through the green light.

There was a sudden flash of movement to his right and he panicked. 

"Stop!" his mom screamed.

Then all of a sudden he was outside the car and watching the scene unfold as a spectator.

The car accelerated instead of braking and the minor impact sent it into a violent spin. He could see his mom – no longer in the passenger seat, but being tossed around the interior of the car like a rag doll.

And Seungri was back in the car again.

"Hit the brake!" he screamed to himself. But his foot seemed glued to the pedal.

A pole loomed in front of him, but he still couldn't ease up on the pedal. Instead he swung the steering wheel wildly to the left, ensuring that the passenger side took the brunt of the impact when it came.

There was a deafening bang and then the crunch and screech of tortured metal. He thought he also heard the sickening snap of breaking bones.

Smoke, or radiator steam, obscured his vision. Then, when it cleared, he was left looking down into his mother's lifeless face.

Suddenly her eyes opened – though there was no life in them: "It's okay, sweetie," she smiled – but it was a corpse's smile. "It was an accident."

Seungri jerked awake. His heart was pounding against his ribs and his breath came in short, sharp gasps. Even though he was awake, the image of his mother's grin still stood out starkly in his mind.

Seunghyun bite down on his frustration. "But, dad…" he protest. Their meeting with the two agents hadn't exactly been the most friendly.

"They can help us." Hyunsuk assured, knowing instantly the reason for his older son reluctance.

"But can't we do it?" Seunghyun didn't want to have to rely on the two agents, the feeling had left him hollow and somewhat sick.

His younger brother was an ancillary casualty to them. To them, he was just a means to an end – because Seungri would undoubtedly be released and then he could give them some answers.

But they never saw beyond that black and white fact. They never stopped to consider the aftermath. They never saw the pieces that would have to be put back together again. And they never considered that their 'star witness' would be a considerable suicide risk. All they would want was their answers.

So Seunghyun, with all of his heart, didn't want to have to rely on them.

Hyunsuk was as equally reluctant as his son to rely on the two agents, but was objective enough to realise that they had no choice. His own emotions were still running high – but not high enough to cloud his objectivity.

Hyunsuk looked at Seunghyun with sympathy. "I'm sorry son, but we need them." After a moment of silent thought, he pulled his own phone out.

As he did so, Seunghyun stood up. Unsurprisingly, as he made his way from the office, he was aware of Jae Suk following.

"Seunghyun, I know I wasn't here and don't know exactly what those agents said," Jae Suk began, looking at him earnestly. "But this is the best chance…"

"No." Seunghyun wasn't normally one to interrupt, but he simply couldn't help himself. "They don't care about Seungri. They're content to wait for him to be released and then they just want to use him!"

"I don't believe that for one minute." Jae Suk answered with absolute conviction. "Seungri is a minor and he's been kidnapped. Trust me, they want to find him."

It didn't matter how tightly he squeezed his eyes shut. The final image from his nightmare refused to leave him alone. And his mother's ghostly voice reverberated around the silence of his cell – or maybe it was only inside his own head.

Silence.

Seungri blinked his eyes open. There was light, but it didn't seem anything like as dazzling as it had been before. And the silence… the silence should have been sheer bliss, but it only left him with the echo of his nightmare.

Then he heard a sound that sent the dream images fleeing from his mind and, instead, filled him with a new kind of fear. It was a soft, malicious chuckle.

Seungri tried to sit up – feeling too small and vulnerable lying on the floor of his cell. But, with his hands still bound, he had lain awkwardly and his arms were almost completely numb. He scrabbled with his bare feet and then gasped in pain – being suddenly reminded of his earlier futile rage; of kicking recklessly at steel bars.

He collapsed onto one side and more pain flared as feeling began to return to his trapped arms. More laughter sounded from above him and, reluctantly, he turned his gaze upwards.

"Knocking yourself unconscious – how very innovative." Arashi's tone was mocking. Then his eyes narrowed and any hint of mirth disappeared from his face. "Try that again and you'll be tied to the bed." His glower intensified. "Don't think I'm bluffing."

Seungri felt sick – and not only because of the latest threat being levelled at him. He had thought his head ached before, but now it pounded with an intensity that reverberated throughout his entire body and left his stomach churning with nausea. Maybe his desperate ploy to just get some rest hadn't been such a bright idea after all.

He tried to twist around, to see how far away he was from the toilet – but the movement only intensified the roiling in his gut. Saliva flooded into his mouth and a sudden cramp forced his knees to jerk up towards his chest.

Arashi  call out his friend in irritation – and then added, with something akin to spite: "I should just let you puke all over yourself. Stupid kid."

Seungri turned his face into the floor and closed his eyes. He didn't hear his cell door being opened, but suddenly he was hauled half upright and dragged towards to the sink. His stomach rebelled afresh against the motion – but he'd had nothing more substantial than bread and water since his captivity, so there was precious little for him to throw up.

As he descended into dry heaves, the rough hold on him was abruptly released and he slumped back down onto the floor. When his hands were released, he gratefully wrapped them around his aching stomach.

Dinner was a sombre affair. The four people sitting around the table merely went through the motions – eating because they had to and because it would be of no benefit to anybody if they went hungry. Conversation was non-existent and all of their thoughts were someplace else.

Seunghyun pushed his meal around his plate, taking the occasional bite for the sake of appearance. Each taste threatened to choke him as his thoughts descended towards darkness.

It began with the pessimistic wondering as to whether his younger brother was being allowed the luxury of food. That, in turn, led to further futile wonderings – was Seungri hurt? Was he scared? Had he yet been so totally broken by his captors that he was already thinking about taking his own life? What the hell was happening to his younger brother while he sat there blithely eating his meal?

Giving up even the pretence of eating, he pushed his plate away and flung his napkin onto the table. He felt the other three all pause to look at him – and he kept his eyes firmly downwards.

"Seunghyun…" Hyunsuk inevitably, tried to get through to him – but he didn't want to listen. Anger was beginning to fester within him and now was not the time for him to unleash it. Not with Aunt Ga-In still sitting at the table.

"I need some air," he ground out; getting abruptly to his feet.

"Seunghyun." Now the word was a warning and the rest of it didn't need to be spelt out to him: Don't go out alone; don't become the next victim; don't let him take you, too.

Seunghyun's restraint was just about gone. The explosion was imminent and he didn't think he'd be able to keep it all in – no matter who might be there to witness it. He couldn't keep it locked away inside any more.

Then Jae Suk's voice came to his rescue: "Come on, Seunghyun. Let's take a walk."

The lights had been dimmer but, when he was left alone again, they were cranked right up to their full intensity. And with light came an unwelcome return of the noise.

Seungri groaned and used one arm to shield his eyes. His retching had provoked an intense thirst in him and he wondered if his captors had thought to leave him water. Drugged or not, he didn't care anymore. His mouth was feeling like sandpaper and his tongue felt three sizes too big.

Twisting around, his shoulder bumped into something solid and he squinted upwards. And then he cursed his own stupidity.

Right next to the toilet was a washbasin. A washbasin with taps and, therefore, with running water – which would be much more complex to drug than a simple paper cup. How had he not thought about it before?

Using the basin itself as leverage, Seungri hauled himself upright and cranked on the cold tap. There was a creak and a groan – and Seungri continued twisting. A sound – which he could only describe as a 'glug' and some dirty brown water slowly trickled into the basin. It sputtered, almost stopped and then trickled out some more – equally as filthy as that which had gone before it.

Seungri groaned inwardly. He couldn't contemplate even trying to drink that. Without holding out much hope, he tried the hot tap. He opened it up as far as he could, but nothing happened. He never even got a trickle.

Belatedly, he attempted to flush the toilet, but the cistern just made a hollow clunking sound – confirming that there was no actual plumbing going into his cell, in spite of appearances.

Shaking his head, Seungri looked back over his shoulder. As he'd known there would be, a paper cup sat just inside his cell door.

They only made it as far as the porch. Though the reporter had left them alone for a while, Seunghyun didn't want to risk a confrontation with someone who had a camera shoved in his face – not when he was currently so far on the edge that it was only a matter of time before he snapped.

He exhale the fresh air.

Seunghyun and Jae Suk sat down on the steps and then Jae Suk just waited; knowing that his friend would talk when he was ready – and willing to simply be the sounding board for whatever he needed to get off his chest.

He didn't have to wait long.

"He’s a killer, Jae Suk." Once the bitter outpouring began, Seunghyun was helpless to stop: "He has no morals, no conscience, no regard for human life! Why would dad not want me to know that? How can he say that he's not a murderer, just because law can’t prove it. Dad knows – I know he does. Arashi was a killer all along, but dad didn't think it was important for me to know that! How can that be right? How could he let me believe..? How could he let me think..?"

"What, Seunghyun?" Jae Suk asked quietly, as the boy trailed off into silence.

"If Seungri is returned to us, then I swear that nothing will happen to him." Seunghyun looked at his friend and his eyes blazed with intensity. "I'll stay by his side for the rest of my life if I have to. I won't let him kill himself; I won't let Arashi win." Then the light that had been born of passion transformed into unshed tears and he dropped his gaze. "But now I can't even believe that Seungri will come back. Now I know that Arashi's a killer, what the hell might he be doing to Seungri? And now…" He swallowed heavily and turned desperate eyes back towards his friend. "Now I don't know if I'll be able to save him."

..It's been a loooooonnngggg time....XD