Eurydice Desir's Story

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Morning already ...? But ... How did it come so quickly ...?

The mattress shifted slightly as Ava adjusted her weight. She sat up slowly, one hand on the mattress while the other lifted to rub at her eye sleepily, in much the way that a child would. She yawned a bit, a soft sound escaping her lips as she did so. It was way to early for it to be morning, but a quick glance at a clock on the wall assured her that it was, indeed, time for her to get up and start breakfast.

Turning her gaze to the person beside her, her face shifted from a sleepy expression to that of a gentle one. Her heart skipped a beat as her hand moved out to softly brush a stray strand of blue-black hair from the person's face, revealing the eyelids that masked the intense blue eyes of her brother.

Kiro ....

Closing her eyes for a moment, she leaned down and dropped a light kiss on his forehead. Her hand lingered in his hair for a moment as she pulled away, before that too was withdrawn from his body.

Reaching out, she snatched a stray shirt of his that was tangled with a pair of her boxer shorts on the floor, hopped into the odd outfit, and freed her hair from where it was trapped beneath the shirt. Six a.m. What a ridiculous time for someone to rise - b ut it couldn't be helped.

Stifling a yawn, she stretched as she padded from the large room that belonged to her elder brother, down the hallway and into the kitchen. As she entered the room, she slipped her apron over her head and tied it around her waist, and then plucked up her cell phone from the counter, sliding her thumb across the screen to check her messages, before sighing once more.

This stalker is getting out of hand ... I should tell Kiro ... But ... Then he'll go all 'Over-Protective Alpha-Male' on me ... On second thought, I'm sure I can handle this on my own.

Opening the text, she blinked at the blaring screen in an effort to dull the aching protest her eyes gave her at the sudden onslaught of bright light.



Pressing her lips together, she pushed back the fear that threatened to bubble up and escape.

It'll be fine. You'll be okay. Just because you don't know who it is or how they got your phone number, doesn't mean that they can hurt you .... Right?

Roughly shaking her head, Ava clenched her fists.

"He can't hurt you, so stop overreacting," she whispered, nodding as she spoke.

Saving the message to a file on her phone so that if need be she would still have it, and locked her phone and set it back on the counter.

"Just put the problem out of your mind. All you have to do is be careful when you're alone, Ava, and you'll be fine," she said, as if trying to reassure herself that the problem wasn't as real as it was proving to be.

Moving over to the fridge, she pulled out a carton of eggs, a box of bacon, and various other ingredients - green peppers, ham, mushrooms, shredded cheese, and sausage. Placing them on the counter beside the stove, she ducked down to grab a small pan and two medium sized skillets, before popping back up and placing them on the stove. After flicking on the heat of the stove, she grabbed up a remote and turned on a nearby stereo, which immediately began to softly play Girls Dead Monster, a band that Hiroshima Arts Inc. had signed and produced. After putting the remote down, she turned back to the stove and easily layered the pan and skillets with a spray-on, nonstick pan spray. Immediately afterwards, she cracked a couple of eggs into the pan, dropped the bacon and sausage into the skillets, and stepped back as the meat crackled and popped in the spray.

Rotating on her heel, she moved into the bathroom that was joined also to her bedroom. Having showered the night before, there was really no need for her to do so this morning, so instead of slipping under the shower head, she plucked up a brush and quickly took care of the tangled mess that she called her hair.

"Why couldn't I have been born with a normal hair style and color? I mean, jeez, if it gets any more wild, I won't even be able to contain it with my ponytails and barrettes," she muttered, scowling.

Lightly patting her cheeks, she left the bathroom to check on the food before going to her bedroom and pulling out a blue skirt that reached to mid-thigh, a matching blue tank top, and a dark brown leather jacket. Alongside those, she snatched up a pair of white socks that reached to just above her knees, which were adorned with a pair of little blue bows at the tops, and grabbed a pair of knee-high brown boots.

"Stupid college, banning me from wearing my Lolita dresses ..." she grumbled as she tugged on her clothes. It took her only a minute or two to do so, and as soon as that was done, she was back in the kitchen, flipping the eggs in much the way that one would do a pancake. It landed perfectly on it's opposite side, and while that side cooked, she turned to her bacon and sausage. It wasn't long before she had the meat on two separate plates and she was crushing half of the sausage. As soon as the eggs were done, she removed the omelette and added the ground sausage to it before slipping it onto a plate and sprinkling shredded cheese on top. Sliding it across the counter, she put that plate, a plate with a heart helping of bacon, and a glass of orange juice in the spot that Kiro normally sat, before turning back to make her own omelette.

Once all of the food was finished, she turned off the stove, put the ingredients away, and quickly and easily took care of the dirty dishes before returning them to their rightful places.

Sighing, she glanced at the food and then at the clock. Six-thirty, and Kiro still hadn't even stirred. He had to be work at seven-fifteen, the dummy.

Shaking her head, Ava left the kitchen and padded down the hallway once more. Popping her head inside, she shook her head again at the sight of him still sleeping.

"Sleeping like a baby. Why am I not surprised?" she murmured.

With a small smile on her lips, she tip-toed into the room and over to his bed, her hand reaching out to lightly touch his shoulder.

"Kiro, you need to wake up. You have to be to work in forty-five minutes and you still need to eat and drive there," she said softly, gently shaking his shoulder.

When this gained no response, she rolled her eyes and climbed onto the bed on her knees, directly beside him, and used both of her hands to shake him.

"Come on, Kiro, you can't be late for work and you know that. So get up and out of bed, lazy-bones," she said, pouting slightly.

Eurydice tossed and turned in her sleep, her cherry red hair sticking to her face with perspiration and her eyes closed tightly shut against the nightmare. In her dream, a young man with grey-colored hair and lavender eyes stood over her menacingly. As he smiled, his teeth glinted like the Cheshire Cat's and his eyes took on an angry hue. He leaned down as his hand cupped her and whispered, "You're my slut now."

Eurydice shot up with a scream, heart beating a million miles per minute and her eyes wide as saucers. She put a shaky hand to her chest and glanced over at the clock. Seeing the time emblazoned in red against her retinas, she sighed and laid back down against the pillow, knowing she wasn't going to get back to sleep anytime soon. Those nightmares had ruled her darkness ever since that day in the closet. At first, they were bearable. Frightening, but bearable. Now, however, they shook her and terrified her to the extent where she couldn't even function normally in the daytime. What made matters worse was that he went to the same school as her, so she never got a break.

Sighing again, she rolled off the bed onto the mound of pillows she had laid out on the floor last night, specifically for this reason. Grabbing her phone from her dresser, she checked her messages. She saw nothing, as always, and opened up a new message slot for Jou.

Good luck with tutoring today, hope she shows up

He had told her a little of his schedule to tutor a girl in her grade. Kai, she remembered vaguely, was the girl's name. She had seen her around, but they had never exchanged words, as was most often the case with Eurydice. Standing up, she stretched a little and opened her dresser, pulling out her light-wash jeans with a hole in the knee, and a navy blue v-neck. Most of the time she'd be terrified of wearing a v-neck, afraid he would take it as an invitation. But, seeing as how she hadn't gotten the chance to do laundry over the weekend, she didn't have much of a choice.

Heading down the stairs quietly, so as not to wake her father, she pulled out the milk jug and a bowl of Lucky Charms, sitting down at the table and eating peacefully. Not that anything would have awoken him in his passed out state, she still wanted to be careful. Her father could be a real pain when he was hungover, and she didn't think she could handle the brunt of it after a night like she had.

Finishing her cereal, she checked the clock over the microwave and decided it was an appropriate time to start walking to school. She grabbed her brown leather backpack and slid on her converse, walking out the door quietly and gently closing it shut. A month ago, she would have popped in her headphones and listened to her music, but now she was too terrified that she would get lost in the sound and be unable to hear what was going on in her surroundings. He always tended to be lurking, and she hated being caught off-guard around him. He would no doubt find a way to use it to his advantage.

As she arrived at the school, she spotted the familiar people walking to class or to meetup spots with their friends. As she continued walking to her locker, she spotted Jou and was about to make her way over to him when Ava came bursting through the crowd, dragging him away into the corner. Taken aback, Eurydice made no move to intrude on their conversation. While she liked Ava, the girl had been the one to introduce Eurydice to him, and some part of her will never forgive Ava for that.

Reconciling that she would see Jou later, Eurydice went on to her first period class, taking a seat in the back and waiting for the lecture to begin. About five minutes after it started, a girl with black hair rushed in and took her seat by the window. The teacher was cross, but Eurydice didn't pay much attention. She recognized the girl as Kai Zurita, the student Jou was supposed to tutor later. Thinking nothing of it, Eurydice returned to her notes.

About twenty minutes later, just as the class was coming to a close, the teacher yelled at Kai for being on her phone. Eurydice glanced at the girl, but not long enough to make eye contact as she made a seductive exit. The instructor was so flustered they didn't even finish reading the passage. He excused them all early from class, and Eurydice was the last to walk out. As she entered the hallway again, she looked around for Jou, but seeing no one, she took it as a blessing that he didn't find her, and she walked out to the courtyard where she could sit in peace.

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Jou watched Ava with concern as she received another text. Though her face quickly turned to relief, there was a moment when he could tell she was experiencing true terror. Noticing the picture came up Jou deduced that it was just a text from her brother. Though for a moment it seemed that she thought it was another from her stalker. Jou gave her a little space while she replied.

"Alright, Jou.”

Jou felt a little relief as Ava seemed to calm down a bit and give him a shaky smile. Though she didn’t sound all to sure of herself, she told Jou that she would be telling her brother about the situation tonight too. He appreciated the thank you she gave him, but he was just happy that this was out in the open and they could take care of it. This wasn’t a situation he would wish on anyone, least of all his cousin.

He nodded a bit when she said they better get to class. Though before he could really confirm their trip to the police station later, Ava turned on her heels and walked quickly off.

Oh, well. I’ll just text her or something. She probably was just too flustered and forgot to confirm.

Jou still had a while before his first class. He was currently reaping the benefits of earlier year’s heavy loads. Now as a Senior, he didn't have all that classes, even fewer that were even marginally difficult. He decided to take a moment to sit down on a bench and text Ava about their trip to the station.



Jou sent the text but then thought of something else.



He sent the second text. He hoped they could quickly put this behind them without Ava having to go through much more. The station might be a little hard, but he figured it was the best plan. He knew Kiro wouldn’t be too mad either. His cousin had always been overprotective of Ava, but he never once treated her badly from what Jou could recall. If the young CEO got angry at his sister, it wouldn’t be for but a few seconds before he was consoling her.

Just then Jou noticed a text from Eury. It was from this morning, earlier than when he woke up. Jou’s phone wasn’t on vibrate or anything most of the day. He was pretty good at turning it on for classes, but most days he forgot to turn the notifications back on afterward.

The message gave him luck with the tutoring session this afternoon. It seemed Eury was looking out for him, making sure he didn’t forget his appointments. Jou smiled at the thought but then frowned a bit and sent a reply.



Jou didn’t normally send messages that seemed intrusive like that, but the situation with Ava had put him a bit on edge. He also thought it seemed like it had been a while since him and Eury had hung out.

Jou shook his head, it was probably just his imagination. She was a high school senior now right? She probably had cooler friends to hang out with than Jou. Then Jou noticed the time and headed off to his first class.



Jou had recently finished swimming a few laps in the pool when he arrived at the university library. As he checked the clock near the entrance he noticed he still had quite a bit of time until his session. Tired from his swim, he decided to take a short nap. Plopping himself down in one of the many lounge chairs strewn about the library. The Library was fairly empty at the moment and he was able to grab a chair that could easily be seen from the entrance.

Putting his satchel in his lap, Jou leaned back and closed his eyes. His still slightly damp hair felt cool on his head and the comfy chair let his body sink in and relax. He let the post-swim nap take him quickly and was soon in a black, dreamless sleep.

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"I cannot believe the audacity! Young lady, you are going to be on cleaning duty for the rest of the year!" Kai sighed and rolled her eyes secretively before putting on a mask of understanding.

"I don't know what came over me ... I'm so sorry. I accept whatever punishment you may bring."

"We will be calling the organization responsible for you to find a fitting punishment."

"Do what you may." Kai bowed respectfully before taking her leave from the office. A few girls waited for her outside, they wanted to see how brave Kai handled such a situation. "How was the show, ladies."

"Wow Kai! You were so sincere there is no way that your punishment will be that bad." Kai laughed and shrugged. A head of red hair caught her eye. "Hey, were gonna head to our club room now, sound good?" Kai nodded and waved by to the younger girls. They were such a ... delight to have around. But they practically worshiped the ground she walked on, so not much to complain about. With no more distractions, Kai walked over to the girl she recognized.

"Eurydice?" Kai peeked at her face. "Oh hi, long time no speak. You're being as small and reserved as ever. Anything new?" Kai took a seat next to her classmate. She pulled out her cell phone to check the time. Still time ... Kai darted her eyes back to Eurydice. "I've been absolutely delightful! We should really hang out some time, do you have my number?" She figured she would give it to her anyways. Kai tore a piece of paper from one of her notebooks, scribbled down her number and handed it to the eye catching girl. "We've been in school together a long time. I know we don't talk, but if you need to, just hit me up, alright? I live by myself so don't worry about bothering anyone." Kai took a bow and excused herself. "If you don't mind, I have some tutoring to get too. Have a good day!"

It seemed almost habit to greet everyone she knew and ask them how they were, but most would freely come up to Kai and speak with her whenever. But not Eurydice. Kai thought at first maybe she was socially inept? But she only just started acting this way, well ... more reserved than normal. It couldn't be good for a person.

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The university always confused Kai, but she had retained enough knowledge to know the main path to the library. On her way, she spotted a phone laying in the grass. Strange. She picked it up and inspected it, but it seemed to have ran out of power.

"Maybe Jou will know who this belongs to." Kai continued on to the library. Within minutes, she made it to the library and spotted Jou sleeping soundly on on of the chairs. Kai laughed, sneaking over to his chair and stared at him for a few seconds. "He is pretty cute," she whispered, tapping her cheek in thought. But with a shake of her head and a small pat on her cheeks, she cleared her head and decided it was time to wake him up. She grabbed her back and dropped it in Jou's lap. "Come on Einstein! You can sleep when you're dead!"

After he was alert, she reclaimed her bag and dumped its contents onto the table, including the stray cell she had discovered, but it slipped her mind and she began the usual set up. "I don't know why," Kai lied, "but today has been tougher than most. It's like I can't concentrate at all. I even got yelled at in class for it." The sorrow that entered the air around her was very unique. "I mean ... I've been trying so hard to please them, but it's like ... my feelings aren't taken account for ..." Kai let a tear escape before wiping it away so Jou wouldn't see that she was crying.

Eurydice reached into her backpack and pulled out a small golden apple, her favorite. Taking a soft bite, she felt her phone buzz and pulled it out of her jean pocket. Flipping it open to the message screen, she smiled when she saw it was a message from Jou.

Thanks.
How you doing?
School going ok and everything?

It wasn't usually like him to send something quite that invasive, but she didn't mind. Jou and her had been friends for so long that she hardly even cared what he asked her. Again, she thought of him, and the fact that she hadn't been able to tell Jou. As a matter of fact, she hadn't actually hung out with him in a really long time. She missed him, and decided that she would make plans with him soon. He was, after all, the only one she felt comfortable enough to do that with. Realizing she hadn't actually replied, she began to type.

I'm okay. School is being school. Your little student got kicked out of class.

Speaking of Jou's little student, Kai Zurita came sauntering down to the bench Eurydice was sitting on. The tall, beautiful, girl with black hair made Eury feel like she was a child, but she was used to feeling that way so it didn't bring her down as much as it might have. Kai started to speak, and Eurydice listened calmly without saying much of anything, as always. "Oh hi, long time no speak. You're being as small and reserved as ever. Anything new?" Eurydice shook her head, a blush forming on her cheeks even though Kai hadn't asked her anything embarrassing at all. Before Eurydice could say anything, Kai moved on as if she had spoken anyway. "I've been absolutely delightful! We should really hang out some time, do you have my number?" Eurydice shook her head again, and took the piece of paper that Kai handed her. Looking down at it, she made a mental note to add it to her contacts, but knew she probably would never have the courage to initiate conversation with the popular teenager. "We've been in school together a long time. I know we don't talk, but if you need to, just hit me up, alright? I live by myself so don't worry about bothering anyone." Kai took a bow and excused herself. "If you don't mind, I have some tutoring to get too. Have a good day!" Kai bounded off and Eurydice cracked a smile, thinking of Jou and what kind of situation he had gotten himself into. At least Kai was actually planning on showing up, so Jou wouldn't be all together disappointed.

Eurydice sighed, knowing she didn't have anything planned for the afternoon, as per usual. Not wanting to go home to yet another afternoon with her perpetually drunk father and/or sadist blackmailer, she stood and made her way to the coffee shop across the street. Sitting down, she pulled out her phone again and texted Jou. Usually she never texted someone so much before they replied, but she knew Jou wouldn't care. He probably wouldn't even see it until after he was done tutoring Kai anyway.

Meet me for coffee when you're done? I'll buy...

As she waited for a reply that would surely take an hour to arrive, she pulled out her books and sat down to her long-time neglected studies.

(Ill write down my NPC's later on today )

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It was a late night for Zero at the bar. So he had slept in longer than he intended. When the morning peeked through his window, it took him a while to wake up, the brightness of the light made his face wrinkle up slightly, but he used his hand to block the light. Rolling over off his stomach and onto his back he slowly slid his hand down his face, staring up at the ceiling.

~Last Night~

"So Zero, are you ready to become a host for us yet? Haha." the boss started to laugh again, but he was still seriously asking. He always wanted Zero to become a host at the bar, mainly because of his pretty face and he was now of age to become one. Yet Zero still rejected him and only stayed as the Bartender.

"Stop teasing me, you know it will only piss me off." Zero mumbled, keeping his eyes down as he rubbed the cup dry, waiting on more customers to arrive.

Apart from that, there was a guy who decided to come into the bar already drunk, the security couldn't stop him. So when the guy decided to give his Boss shit and throw a few punches at him. It got Zero a little angry, so he couldn't help but walk right up to the guy knocking him on his ass. And even though the guy looked at him in a startled way, once he saw Zero's deep dark empty glare, the guy ran off.

After that he was sent home, because of course knowing him, he couldn't bring himself to calm down. After that, the night he couldn't remember after getting himself drunk.

~~~~~

"Ugg..." His head was pounding and the light did no good. but yet he still got up and got ready for the day that awaited him.

Checking the time he glared, and checked his phone. Eury still hadn't checked in with him for the morning. It was a bit irritating, clicking his tongue he sent her a text.

Where are you?

Throwing his phone onto his pocket he got up and went outside. Heading to the store, for something cold to drink and eat. It was hot out for him. Almost too hot for him. with this heat he could tell that the day was going to be long and there was nothing he could do about it. It was even too hot to punish Eury, it kind of ruined his mood.

Buying his cold supplies he walked down the street to the train station, waiting on the train that leads into town. It felt like it was taking forever.

Eurydice had just finished her text to Jou when her phone buzzed again with a text from him. She pursed her un-glossed lips and tucked a strand of red hair behind her ear. She didn't need to open it. She could just go on with the rest of her day, not opening the text, and everything would be fine. And even as she was telling herself this, she knew that if she didn't respond promptly, she would be the one regretting it in the end. With another moments hesitation, she opened up the message.

Where are you

Not even a question mark to make it look kinder. He only sent statements, commands, as always. Sighing, she responded with a dreadful feeling in her stomach.

Coffee shop on 6th

She could have just said coffee shop. She didn't need to tell him the address. But she also knew that he would ask regardless, and if she didn't respond it would mean more punishment for her later.

Looking outside, she saw the sun beating down strong. Maybe he would be too miserable in the heat to come see her. She hoped this were true, though she knew it to be unlikely. There was also the hope that Jou would respond to her text soon enough and say that he was on his way to meet her. She knew his tutoring had to be over soon, and she also knew that if Jou were with her, he wouldn't be able to try anything. She hoped Jou wasn't too busy with Kai, but she wasn't going to text him again either. Twice in one hour was already too much for her.

She ordered another coffee and resigned herself for another long night.

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Jou gulped. This was not good. After Miss. Zurita had confirmed that she had found Ava’s phone lying on the ground instead of some less sinister reason for her having it, Jou had been in sort of a daze. His crush had then acted quickly when Jou had been spacing out.

After Miss. Zurita finished dragging Jou in and out of a classroom to confirm that Ava had been absent in at least one of her classes today, they finally stopped. Jou stood silent as Miss. Zurita worked her way through what may have happened. Running from someone, taken by suprise. Wanted to hurt her.

I told her everything was going to be fine.

Guilt and horror washed over Jou like a wave of frothy blood. Sticky and ripe with the smell of death. He brought his hand up to his mouth, trying to stifle a sound that wouldn’t come out. Jou didn’t know what to do. Ava had been terrified, those messages and pictures were serious. Jou stood there for a long moment before he even remembered Miss. Zurita was there.

“She… Ava, told me this morning.” He started slowly and quietly, struggling to even get the words out. “There were so many texts, pictures to. Someone was following her. The messages were threatening.” He stopped and closed his eyes for a moment putting his hand on his forehead and looking down. “This afternoon… after the library we were going to bring it to the police and get everything…” Jou shook his head.

We should have gone right then. I should have taken her right then. It was obviously that serious. How could I have put it off. It’s my fault. I wanted to tutor Miss. Zurita and it’s my fault because I… Not helping. Focus. This is too important.

Jou slapped himself and after a long moment of introspection. He looked up at Miss. Zurita. Her statement about the security office finally registering. That was a good idea.

“Yeah, there’s one nearby. Let’s go.” Jou started off in the direction of the security office, not running but at a brisk and industrious pace. “We need to make sure she is really missing.” He mentioned as they walked. He took out his phone and checked to see if Ava had ever responded to his message.

There was nothing on the phone but Eury’s reply from earlier. He turned on his contact notifications sound, then quickly sent a reply message.




After sending the reply, they had arrived at the security station. Jou got the initial statement out of the way. They were supposed to meet a friend today, she hadn’t showed up. They found her phone in the courtyard. She had been having some trouble with a stalker. Info was on the phone.

“Miss. Zurita, can you take a look at the tapes with them?” Jou mentioned to the girl after he was finished with the security officers. “I need to give her brother a call, make sure if he’s seen her or not and tell him the situation. I’ll be in there in a minute.” Jou felt a bit rushed so he didn’t exactly wait for a response.

Jou then stepped off to the side and dialed his cousin’s personal cell. He knew it would be much harder to reach him if he went through his business line. He really hoped this was all a coincidence. That Kiro would pick up the phone and him and Ava would be out at some surprise dinner, laughing the situation up and thanking them for finding her phone. Jou hoped. The first ring went by. Jou started to hope that Kiro would even pick up the phone.

---

"Well? Have you decided to submit yourself to me, pretty doll?”

Sweat mixed with tears and blood on every exposed inch of her skin. It trickled down her face and into thee corners of her mouth, the sweet, metallic taste of the combination exploding her taste buds. It trickled from her lips and down her chin.

She had been moved from the chains on the floor to ware she was now held upright by a rope from a ceiling rod. The rope had long since dug into her skin, giving her severe burns and leaving an uncountable amount of rope fibers in her wrists. Her feet were bare in the wet, sticky mess of blood and sweat beneath her body and on the cold, hard floor, making it impossible to stand. Her bare knees were bent, and she simply hung from the ceiling at this point, her entire body trembling from the pain and exhaustion that filled it.

Her head was down and her pink hair was matted to her face and head. Her breathing heavy and loud, she clenched her fingers slightly in attempt to get the blood to flow into them once more, for they had long-since become dead weight from being strung above her head for so long.

Ava had long since lost track of how long she had been in the room for, seeing as there were no windows. It could have been minutes, hours - even days. She doubted it had been so short or so long, though, and could imagine that it had only been a few hours. But obviously that was more than ample time for him to come up with new, creative ideas on how to torture her.

Her head lifted slightly, more sweat trickling into the deep scratches on her face. She spat blood at it, and it landed square in the middle of his chest.

"Go to Hell, stronzo ..." she snarled weakly.

His expression clouded and his lips turned into an angry sneer. It took only two long strides for him to reach her, his hand moving out to grab her jaw in a bruising grip. He yanked her face up to his, his eyes boring into her own.

"You can fight me all you want, pretty doll, but you have only two options when it pertains to this: You can either give in to me ... Or you can die and no one can have you," he said, stating it as simply as one would state the weather or the time of day. He released her jaw roughly and stepped back, letting out a dark chuckle as he did so. "I truly hope you choose the first, but the latter works just as well, my pretty, pretty little doll ..."

Her scream echoed in the cement warehouse.



"Daddy, look! I drew you a picture!"

Holding up the page that was nothing but a scribbled mess, she beamed up at the man who was, indeed, her father. He glanced up from the newspaper he was reading, spared one fleeting look at the paper, before scowling at her.

"I'm busy reading the newspaper, Avazona. Unless you want a beating, I would highly recommend not bothering me again with something as stupid as a disaster of an excuse of a drawing," he snapped out, before turning back to his newspaper.

It was several moments before Ava slowly lowered the paper, her eyes sad and confused.

"But daddy-"

"I said be quiet, Avazona!"

"Daddy, I lo-"

"Avazona, shut the Hell up!"

The crack across her face sent her to the floor. She barely managed to catch herself with her small, seven-year-old arms, but as she pushed herself up onto her knees, she lifted a hand to gingerly cradle her cheek. Without a word she rose, the explosion of pain dulling only bit-by-painful-bit. Her footsteps made only soft sounds on the floor as she walked from the room, the picture long forgotten but still clutched in her hands.

When she reached the small room that was hers and adjoined her brother's large room by an oak door, she quietly shut her own door and moved to the center rug in the room. Plopping down on the floor and crossing her legs, she stared at the picture.

It wasn't until small droplets of wetness were forming little circles on the paper that she realized she was crying.

Sniffing and lifting her hand to rub at her eyes, she began to shred the paper, ripping it into tiny, unrecognizable pieces.

"Remember, you're nothing but the daughter of a whore. You're a bastard child. A mixed mutt who wasn't even supposed to exist. You deserve this. It's your fault that your daddy's so grumpy all the time. You were never even supposed to exist. You were just a mistake," she whispered, throwing the torn pieces on the floor.

"It's okay, you don't need anyone to love you. You're just fine on your own. Just don't tell Kiro. You can't tell Kiro, or daddy will be upset again," she sniffled, her already-bruising cheek still aching. She lifted her hand to rub at her eyes again, only to come away with blood. Moving over to the nearest mirror in her room, she frowned.

A nosebleed. Of course.



A sob of pain escaped Ava's lips as the knife dug into inner arm. Her arms had long-since gone numb from her being strung up, but the knife slicing into her skin brought pain shooting through them. She couldn't tell what he was doing exactly, but he was making several curves in her skin, and the torture seemed endless.

Crying out, she jerked against the ropes as he struck an even more sensitive part of her arm.

It seemed like an hour before he pulled away, a slightly-mad look and smile on his face.

"What do you think of my art?" he asked, holding up a small hand-mirror to reflect her arm back to her.

Horror flooded through her as she slowly made out the design on her body, through the mess of blood and shredded skin.

Tsubaki.

Bile rose into the back of her throat, a combination of pain and horror causing her nausea to arise, and she turned only slightly before she lost her breakfast from that morning.

She was left shaking and trembling, tears streaming down her messy face. Her head drooped towards the ground. She didn't know how much more of this she could take. How long had it been? One hour? Four hours? Seven? God, how long had she been at his mercy?

"Kai ... Jou ... Kiro ... Everyone ... Please, forgive me," she choked out, her body jerking with her sobbing.

"Oh, shut up Avazona. They can't hear you, and even if they could, why should they care? They haven't come for you yet, so what makes you so sure that they even cared enough to report your absence to anyone who could help you? There's no help coming for you, so you might as well relinquish yourself to me," Tsubaki laughed, stroking the length of her face with the tip of his bloodied knife.

She jerked her face away, causing a small slice of the knife to dig into her skin - yet that was the least of her injuries at this point.

"They'll come for me - and if not them, than the police. You won't get away with this," she ground out, yet her certainty had slowly begun to wane on the matter. If they really were coming, than why hadn't they arrived yet ...?

"Coffee shop on 6th" She replied shortly after, checking his phone he sighed. He wasn't even going to reply, to bothersome.

The heat bothered him, and so did mornings, he was more of a night owl to be all honest. After the train ride he headed to the coffee shop, Seeing her from the window, he didn't bother to go inside, but instead he pulled his eyes away from her had stepped away from the window leaning up against the brick wall by the door. Leaning his head back against the cool bricks he inhaled sharply.

Glancing around he noticed a little girl talking to another little boy, probably about the same age of 10. She was mad at him because he split his ice cream right on her supposedly favorite dress. They were so innocent, yet at the same time trying to act all grown up. Smacking him she ran away crying.

With a long groan he shifted off the wall and walked up to the kid and knelt down in front of him. "You know, even though it was an accident, just tell her and try to make it up to her. Girls like it when us men make them feel like they are something, specially after we do or did something wrong."

The little boy looked up rubbing his cheek that got smacked. "But she hit me... and it still hurts."

"That's true and Here." He put a cold juice can up against the boys cheek. "Stop crying and go fix it before it's too late, alright?"

Nodding he took the can and said thank you with a wave good bye. Looking over his own shoulder, Zero waved good bye back and got back up on his feet. Lifting his hand to block the sun from his eyes, looked over to the window of the coffee shop. She was still there, waiting for something...no...more like someone. She should have been gone by the time he got there, if she was only out for coffee.

Instead he pulled out his last soda and sat down under a tree that was surrounded by piled up brocks to sit on. It was hot, but there was no way he wanted to smell coffee first thing in the morning. it had the worst smell and he wasn't in the mood for chit chat with Eury anyways.

Brrring Briiinngggg

Looking at the caller ID, it was his Boss listed as 'Perv.B' at the time it was the only thing he could think off that the Boss always whined about, either way, it pleased him to see the Boss upset by his own doing.

"What do you want?"

"You are so cruel to me Zero!!" Benashi whined over the phone. "I just called to say that I need you to open the Bar tonight, That was all!! See you soon my swe--"

Growling, Zero hung up the phone before his Boss could finish up his last sentence. Glaring at the tree as he put his phone away, he decided to just wait on Eury instead.

Eurydice took a sip from her third coffee just as her phone chimed. Looking down, she smiled when she saw it was from Jou. She hoped it was him saying he was on his way, but when she opened the message, her expression entirely changed into one of dread.



She frowned, her brows creasing and her lips pursing. The last time she had seen Ava...talking to Jou in the hallway on campus. The girl had seemed frightened, but Eurydice generally didn't ponder about other people's behaviors. Tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, she opened up the type screen and began to reply, failing to notice Zero as he arrived at the coffee shop and stood outside.



She finished off the coffee and deemed herself full of caffeine for the day. As she got up in the modern-styled lounge--complete with comfortable chairs, a bar by the window, and a flat screen tv--her heart began to speed as she noticed a silhouette of grey/blonde hair under a tree. Noticing his body language, Eury could tell that he was angry. She hated it when he was like this, it always made him more susceptible to sadistic tendencies. She watched as he kicked at the tree in frustration, and her stomach filled with dread. As he sat below the tree, she knew that he was waiting for her. He knew that she was in there, and there was no way out of the shop without him seeing her. She would have to face him eventually, she knew.

Steeling her shoulders and hardening her eyes, she picked up her bag and exited the shop. As she made her way over to him, she took in a deep breath and vowed to hold it for as long as she could. At least if she passed out, which she knew was scientifically impossible, she wouldn't have to see him just then.

She reached him within moments but simply stood there, not meeting his gaze and not making a move to sit next to him. She intended him to know that she felt no pleasure in being around him. But, her curiosity and her survival instinct kicked in so she couldn't help but utter the first words she'd spoken all day.

"You're angry," she said flatly. There was no expression in her voice or on her face. It was simply a statement, one she knew might get her in trouble, depending just how angry he was.