I'll title this later

1

Cole had been the first to break. Crumbled like a fistful if the earth he represented.

A week later they disassembled Zane. That broke Jay.

Next was Lloyd. No one knew what happened in that room, but he went in fighting and came out with nothing left to fight for.

Nya lasted a bit longer. She and Kai were used to pain, though not quite the physical kind. But they poisoned her mind, brainwashed her to fear her own brother.

She had been locked in the room with the others since. They were all something... Less than human, now.

It had been so long. They didn't know how long, but it was a lot of time. Months, maybe.

Lloyd whimpered as the door creaked open. A loaf of bread, probably stale, was thrown in and Jay grabbed it before the snakes could change their mind about feeding them this weak.

Before the door close, Cole spoke. He was quieter than he used to be, but still heard in the silence. "W-... Where is he? Is he still alive?"

They weren't sure they really wanted to know. The guard chuckled.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" They all flinched when the door slammed shut.

Cole had been asking every day.

They would have to wait a little longer.

::::::::::

He was cold. He was always cold. He didn't even remember what warm felt like anymore.

It was too bright. Everything was lights and colourless walls. At least when it wasn't splattered red.

Red.

He hated that colour.

He used to love it. He used to identify with it.

It meant pain now.

The door opened and he shook even more.

Something sharp ran up his leg, the left one, before a freckled face and red hair was in front of his face.

"No... Please, no..." He squeezed his eyes shut, shaking his head violently. That was all he could do. He couldn't move anything else. "Please, Jay! Please, don't!"

He smelled his own skin burning as electricity seized his body. He tried to scream. He couldn't even do that.

It stopped just long enough for him to breathe, a blessing he usually wasn't granted.

Jay grinned as he did it again. And again. And again and again and again.

Kai could taste iron in the back of his throat. Could smell burned flesh.

He sobbed, he tried to breathe.

Something dug into a burn and he screamed.

He screamed for hours.

He screamed until he couldn't anymore.

Jay used a sedative to knock him out.

:::::::::::

The bread was moldy in the middle. But it was all they were going to get, so they ate in silence.
:::::::::::

They all woke up when the door opened two days early.

What was gonna happen? Would one of them be taken again?

Nya pushed Lloyd behind her protectively. There was no reason for that, as it turned out.

Nya panicked when someone else was tossed in, laying limply on the floor.

After all, who else could it be than the person they made her fear most.

"Kai!" Cole rushed to his side, rolling him over so they could see. He was almost unrecognizable.

Jay dragged himself over to help assess the damage. His face was caked with both scabs and nearly dry blood. His left arm seemed to be almost completely crushed, much like Jay's leg had been, barely holding to his torso by a dislocated shoulder. His stomach was sliced up, but no longer bleeding. The same could not be said for his leg. Circles of burns, carved with several symbols and words that couldn't be deciphered, and one long screw sticking all the way through right above his ankle.

It was the screw that had Cole worried. It was still bleeding heavily, but if they tried to take it out to stop the flow, he didn't know how much worse they could make it.

"Don't touch that. Could sever an artery." Jay muttered.

"How do we stop the bleeding?" They didn't have anything to bandage it with. Cole looked around for something that could be of use. "Lloyd. Give me your shirt."

They knew Lloyd didn't want to be exposed, they figured it had something to do with that room, but Cole could use it for a turnicate(sp?).

As it was, Lloyd knew they had no choice.

Cole whipped around when he heard Jay yelp.

Kai was sitting straight up, looking around at each of them. Jay was holding his jaw, and the fist Kai was holding up was most likely the reason behind that.

:::::::::

Nonononono! Jay was still there when he woke up. No, he didn't do anything! They can't punish him for nothing, could they?

He acted before he could think, arm flying up to punch, stunning him with the fact that he was no longer strapped down to a table. With that knowledge he dragged himself up to a sitting position, looking around.

Jay wasn't the only one here. No, they were all here. They were never all here at once.

He shouldn't have tried to escape. Cole moved towards him.

"Hey, Kai." He smiled. No, no, god, please, no! This was gonna be bad.

He started to shake again, against his own wishes.

The smile dropped into something worse. Cole was frowning, ohgodthisisnotgood!

Jay was next to him again. "This might hurt a bit. Hold still."

Cole moved toward his leg, and he lost it, panic seizing him.

He started screaming.

"KAI! CALM DOWN!"

"NO NONONO, STOP, PLEASE,NO!"

Cole grabbed his leg while Jay pinned him down.

"NO, PLEASE, WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO ME!? NO!"

They were gonna kill him, weren't they!? No, they were hurting him again.  He could feel Cole doing something to his leg.

"STOOOOOP! PLEASE, STOP! NO!"

He felt his leg jar slightly before Jay and Cole got off of him.

He was crying again. He curled onto his side, laying on his broken arm, but he didn't care anymore. He covered his face with the hand he could actually use.

"Please... Please, stop..." He could barely even whisper the words.

"Kai..."

"Jay, don't touch him!" He curled further into himself when Cole shouted.

"He's freezing! What am I supposed to do, Cole?!"

Kai didn't want them near him. They had hurt him enough.

"I-" He heard Cole sigh. "I don't know, but he's clearly scared of us. Just- just give him some space."

"I can hear you, ya'know..." He whispered. Kai, shut up! He scolded himself.

There was silence for several minutes.

"Maybe we should try to get back to sleep." Jay suggested.