𝙄'𝙡𝙡 𝘽𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙠 𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙄𝙣𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙖𝙙 • (𝙈𝙤𝙞𝙧𝙖 2) 𝙑𝙚𝙣𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝘼𝙐

𝘾𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙩𝙚𝙧 8 (𝙏𝙒: 𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙚 𝙢𝙚𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙙𝙨)

"Uh, excuse me? Who gave you permission to cry?"

Lumine looked up toward the source of the voice with puffy, red eyes that were still tear-stained from crying earlier.

Of course, it was Venti. He didn't look happy she was upset, but rather pissed. He took hold of her arms and pulled her up violently to her feet. He forced them behind her back and shoved Lumine to a giant metal cage. He shut the door before taking a key out of his cloak and inserting it into the lock, trapping Lumine inside with a *click*.

He placed the key back in his pocket and crossed his arms, glaring at her while his eyes seemed to glow a brighter shade of blue of anger.

"Ven might have been a massive screw up for building you back up, but that's what I'm here for. To break you down when he refuses to. Consider yourself lucky for surviving the cold. If Ven never found you, I could be more at ease finding your dead body. But now, I have to keep you hostage here." He sighed and rubbed his temples in frustration before perking up from a rumbling sound.

Lumine's stomach.

"Ah...this is interesting." Venti pressed himself against the cage and studied Lumine with a smirk. "You're hungry, aren't you? Tell me, Traveler, how long has it been since you ate?"

"Hours. But I'm not sure how many." She muttered back in response. Venti plastered a goofy smile and skipped over to a tray containing two medium bowls filled with soft, white rice and gently picked up one, leaving the other to remain in the tray.

"Oh dear me~ Demetrius made too much rice and now I have an extra bowl just laying there!" He whined like a little kid at first, before giggling to himself. "Hmm...who could I give this too? Perhaps I can give it to one of the twins. Cleo likes rice a lot!"

Lumine felt her teeth grinding together so hard, she swore she saw sparks flying from their crevices. She desperately wanted to reach over and slap the smile off of Venti's face.

"Does someone want food? All you gotta do is ask~" Venti teased her by waving the bowl from side to side. Lumine pressed down her anger and pleaded to him.

"Can I please eat something?"

The boy snorted before giving his final answer:

"No."

Lumine's shoulders drooped and her lip quivered. She couldn't cry now, it was far too late for tears. In fact, she was the one who made Venti be this way. So why should she be angry at him when this whole ordeal was her fault?

"Ok..." She sighed and crossed her legs on the floor and rested her chin in her hand.

"Huh? You're not gonna cry or anything?" Venti set the bowl to the side and crouched down so he was at eye level with Lumine. She shook her head and turned her head away from him.

"I don't like that. I don't like how you're just rebelling or whatever against me. If I want you to cry, then that's what you do! If I want you to stop, then you WILL stop! And I hate people who don't follow my damn orders!"

Venti snatched the key out of his pocket and hastily inserted it into the lock. Lumine slid back to the farthest wall of the cage and hugged her knees while Venti practically threw the cage door open to get inside. He grabbed her by the top of her head and dragged her outside the cage to another room. She could already feel her hair pulling away from her scalp.

Still dragging Lumine, Venti brought her to a room that seemed like a torture chamber. The walls were aligned with so many weapons, you couldn't even see what color the walls were. There were weapons of all kinds: knives, firearms, chainsaws, and even medieval weapons that Lumine was surprised Venti got his hands on.

He plopped her into a chair and strapped her down by her wrists and ankles tightly. After taking a few steps back, he scanned the room for a weapon of his choosing.

"Say, what do you think I should use first to make you suffer? A sword? A gun? Maybe a lethal substance? The possibilities are endless~~"

"If you make me drink something lethal, I'm gonna die regardless!"

Venti tapped his cheek. "Hm, good point. I'll use that for later then!" He chuckled to himself and went over to one of the walls. He flew upwards with the help of his wings and took a knife from the wall and flew back towards Lumine.

"We can start with something small for now. I really want you dead but it'll be too boring if I kill you right now."

He slashed at her cheek and a fresh cut opened up on her face. He went ballistic, swinging the knife this was and that, slitting Lumine's face opened with many small cuts and gashes until he was completely satisfied with how she ended up.

To which, he wasn't.

He tossed the slightly bloody weapon behind him and stared at the walls again to choose something else.

Lumine jerked from the chair, determined to break herself free when she was met with a brutal slap to the face.

"Hey! You better cut that shit out or I'm gonna-"

"Mr. Carmennnn! Whatcha up to??"

Venti groaned as the purple haired assistant shyly strode into the room. He brought a hand to his temples and rubbed them while taking deep breaths as to not throw a bottle at them and order them to leave.

"Yes, Ven?" He plastered a fake smile on this face and clamped his hands behind his back.

"Uh, could I perhaps ask of you to come with me? I wanna talk to you and paint your nails funky colors. Cute ones! You know, blue!"

Venti rolled his eyes hard and shrugged his shoulders. Eh, what harm could be done with painting nails? It's also very relaxing and satisfying if the painter knows what they're doing.

"Sure." Venti ushered Ven out the door and slammed the door behind him, leaving Lumine in the metal, weapon filled room.