A/N: As usual, I would recommend putting the video on loop.
Before the creature even could utter a word, Callest spoke, "Don't even try to tell me to remove my hands." The older of the two creatures kept his hands on (f/n)'s shoulders. "You know that you can't beat me in time to save her if I attack." His left index nail trailed along the bruises on her neck. "All it takes is one little slip, and you lose her." Callest's tone wasn't sadistic. Rather, it was straight to the point and serious; he was disclosing a fact that was all too true to the younger creature. It only fueled the flames in the younger creature but it also terrified him.
Images of crimson pouring down his partner's neck infiltrated his mind, and it brought no hunger to him. If anything, it made him sick, but his rage kept him standing. Slowly, he clenched his hands, and his nails stabbed through his left hand. Blood dripped, and each droplet created an echo as it splashed against the floor. The gentle, but booming sound caused (f/n) to blink open her eyelids. (E/c) orbs steadily revealed themselves back to the world, and she lifted her head up in a tired attempt to view her surroundings. Callest's index finger maintained its position against her delicate flesh on her neck, and she took notice of the threat immediately. Her eyes didn't widen, however. She didn't move further, and she quieted her breathing so that she didn't bother him. A chuckle, lacking any form of amusement, fell from the older creature's lips. "Welcome back. I have more surprises for you."
She didn't question him about his words since her eyes saw everyone who had come to the area since she last had been knocked out. Deidre remained against the wall opposite to her, but Ren was beside, almost in front of, her. The auburn-haired male was lying on his right side while his left ankle was wrapped with fabric soaked in presumably his own blood. He too was unconscious. Her optics even fell upon Nick, who remained gagged, and she saw how his head slumped forward as his wrists were red from the strain of the cables on him. Chris was absent from the room, but she barely noticed that as her eyes landed on the final individual.
Her lips parted, but no words came out. Shock covered her countenance as did ... The younger creature felt his heart tighten. She looked relieved to see him, and he saw tears forming in the corners of her eyes, but her tears didn't feel right. They felt tainted, and it pained him to think of all the pain she went through to end up in her present state, physically, mentally and emotionally. Yes, he wanted her to cry for him but not in the present way. His feet took a step back, and his hands relaxed as his nails pulled out from his own skin. Soon enough, his left hand healed itself, and only a small pool of blood evidenced his injury.
"Oh?" Callest remarked, raising a brow. "Did you finally realize your mistake?" His right hand cupped her jaw and squeezed a little, which caused her to wince visibly. An almost guttural growl parted from the younger creature's lips. "No?" Callest tilted her head back and forth. "You're mad at me for what I did to her, but you're backing away." The younger creature hadn't even realized that his feet had stepped farther back. "Are you scared of what you've done to yourself? How you let yourself fall?" (F/n) attempted to say something, but Callest covered her mouth with his right hand.
When she went to bite him, his right foot pressed hard on the back of her right calf, and she let out a muffled cry. She didn't try again. "See how moldable she is if you punish her?" The younger creature didn't utter a word. "Yet, you played with her and gave her so many chances. It took about two whole months to get her to this point, and she still fights back time to time." Callest's expression became bored. "But, I did get her to relinquish some of her denial." He kept his hand over her mouth and trailed his other nails down her neck as his right hand pressed her head back forcefully. A moan of discomfort parted from her.
Displeasure soon greeted the older creature's face. "But, I never should have had to do any of this. You should've taken responsibility and treated her correctly. You should've known when to stop playing and kill her to eat her. Or," he grimaced at the disgusting implication of his next words, "impregnated her already. But, you're keeping her around like she's an equal to you." Harshly, he released his hands from her and shoved her head forward, making her (h/c) locks fly forward before they covered her face. "And, you never punish her; you keep making excuses when she does nothing but sink into denial and loathe you."
"Enough!" the younger creature finally shouted. He didn't step forward, but his very pale blue eyes soon met (f/n)'s as she stared up to him. The fire that he had known to be in her was gone. Instead, he saw what he knew for certain was in her ever since she had forgone killing him back in Faller's Grove, but he didn't wish to see it from her being tortured. Then again, his game with her could've been seen as that from her perspective, but it never was ... He trailed off as he couldn't hold her gaze anymore.
"You tell me enough, but I'm not done. You still deserve a punishment for creating this mess." Callest tugged back on (f/n)'s hair, unveiling her whole face to him. She cried out at the action, and her cry woke Nick back up, who started to move steadily in his restraints. The younger creature barely paid the human male any mind despite his hatred for him.
"I said enough!" the younger creature yelled out again. Before Callest could cut him off, he continued, "This whole mess right now is your doing! You took her from me! You tortured her down here and humiliated her!" The younger creature glared heavily at her tormentor, and he avoided shifting his gaze down. He had seen the bruises and marks on her bare skin; he had seen how bare she was, how vulnerable. Once was enough; she deserved privacy from him.
Emotions continued to fly through him, though, and he didn't even note Nick's eyes widening from spotting him there. "And, I don't care if she hates me forever! She knows that! And so what if I let her remain ignorant to the facts around her?! I already did enough to her! I was trying to ..." (F/n) felt tears trail down her cheeks as she noticed something in Ether that she had never spotted before, and that feeling of ... that feeling of ... mis-mis-missing h-h-him increased against her will in her weakened state. She couldn't fight it back either since seeing Ether after so long really did bring a series of emotions flooding back into her, especially since his return meant that she actually might escape Callest's torment. But, she broke out of her thoughts when Callest's next word struck through the air with a cold brutality to it.
"Pathetic." Callest spoke with malice and aversion, yet also pity. He hated seeing one of his own fall to such a state because of a simple, vile human. "How you can fall in love with her to such an extent ..."
"I don't need to listen to you critiquing ..."
"Yes, you do!" Callest shouted back, and the younger creature clenched his fists once more, but he didn't draw blood that time. "I may have brought this piece of trash here." His grip increased on (f/n)'s hair, and she winced again. "I may have tortured her, but I did all of that because you created the situation for it. You let her escape the tunnels, you allowed her to disclose our weakness and take away my home, you permitted her to creep into your heart and let her weaken your actions. Everything you did grew her to be shielded from the truth and ungrateful, to be trusting of me. And now," Callest looked disappointed and ... saddened, "you can't even defend yourself. Someone of your power is just so weak now."
Bringing his left nails back to her neck, Callest glided them over her skin, and the younger creature finally stepped forward again. "I could ask you to injure, to kill yourself right now to save her life, and you probably would do it, but she won't even be grateful. She'll just be happy that you're dead, and she'll lose all of her progress. She'll ..."
"Be quiet." Callest raised a brow, and his expression became neutral, though; just barely a bit of surprise could be seen. The younger creature relaxed his fists and met Callest's gaze head on. "I don't know why you care so much about how strong I am or whatever, but I don't care to know. And, maybe, my actions led to her kidnapping. They probably did because I couldn't admit the truth to her; I was fine with shrouding her from it, but I don't need to hear that from you." Once more, his anger returned, and he took several confident steps forward as his tone grew lower. "I should've realized that sooner and not let you affect me so much. I make my decisions, and I don't need your approval. I don't even really know you or care to know you. All I know for certain about you is that I want to end you."
Once again, the younger creature cut Callest off before he could speak. "So what if I'm in love with her? I don't regret that, but I do regret letting you breathe for so long." His very pale blue hues switched to (f/n) briefly before they landed back on Callest. "You took away the spark that I grew so fond of in my pink flower; you forced out a side of her that I only wanted to see through her own choice. And, it sickens me," the younger creature released a menacing, low and inhuman growl, "that you were able to lay your hands on her for so long."
"Even after I told you what's afflicting you, you still so blindly ignore it all." Callest released a drawn out sigh. "Then, I guess that it's time to move onto the true punishment for your actions." The younger creature paused in his steps before his optics widened in horror as Callest moved his nails down. "I'll take what you desire most, and, maybe, you'll wake up to your failures." (F/n) widened her eyes as well when his nails glided across her midsection and back around to her back. The older creature lifted his left hand up and back more while he aimed for a particular spot.
"(F/n)!" the creature she had known since Cankerfell screamed out. Nick cried out her name too, having finally managed to loosen the gag. There was another calling out her name, but it went unnoticed until it was too late.