The Black Dahlia. [Solo/Dalia]

One could hear muffled crickets chirping outside the walls, singing under the moonlight. However, there was only darkness in this cellar, except for a single crack, which left the smallest sliver of moonbeams pass through. The vivid rays picking up the dust of this dank basement. The crack showing against the wall, as if something could pierce through this hell hole. This was the second night since Eight had separated Dalia from her family. Standing opposite the door to the bunker, Eight put a finger to his ear as it to stop the ringing from the Fanalis' roar. Eight only knew one way to welcome someone into his fold, but having changed the aftercare of person's baptism into slavery, he knew things could be better. However, thinking of not having fed this young girl these last two night, his heart wavered temporarily as he recalled seeing his parents in cages.

Thud.

Eight's fist broke through the wall beside the door, tears spilling from the corners of his eyes. The slaver was hyper ventilating, but as the time passed he was able to recompose himself. As his hand over the doorknob, he quickly made a 180 and ran. Back with a single portion of bread, albeit fresh. The door handle jingled before Eight descended into the darkness with an oil lantern in one hand, food in the other. While the door was open, there was a female voice... actually several voices and they were all talking peacefully and having fun.

The slaver bent over, setting the flame down and looking over at the fanalis in a tight, iron cage. All that was left for her were a pair of large pillows. Sitting on the cold floor by the flame, with a piece of bread in hand. One knee up, his full hand resting on it, empty one behind him for support. "I don't even know your name." He sat in silence, looking at her striped, flame-lit figure.

Dalia hugged her legs as she sat in her cage, if she pressed her legs to her stomach she found that it would help fool her body into thinking it wasn’t hungry… or at least not as bad. She restign her cheek on her knees as she tiredly stared off to the side looking at the dents and bite marks on the bars of her cange she made with anger and first put inside the cage. She had never regretted lashing out before. But in this moment she wished she hadn’t burned off all the food that she had left in her body so soon by throwing a temper tantrum… She also wished she hadn’t torn up her pillows… a pile of cloth and pillow innards are not as comfy as real pillows.

Especially when a good bit of it is out of the cage withens tried to pile it back in the corner of the cage to make the pile more comfy. Her eyes drew from the bars to her arm staring at it for a while before moving it from her leg up to her mouth that she slowly parted and nipped ehr arm making her finger twitch and the spot bleed a little as she licked her arm a bit before slowly opening her mouth more leaning closely to her arm and bit onto her arm lickign the one spot totemplating how worth it it would be to just… take just a chunk… just a little one. Her arm already was fucked up… what a little more…? She thought, resting her mouth on her arm still as she saw a light approaching. Her eyes adjusted enough to see the man who put her here with a piece of bread Talking about not knowing her name.

She let go of her arm that drew a bit more blood from where she had bit a bit too hard down on and scrunched up her nose towards him widening one of her eyes. ”What? Were you distracted by your now bit of property to realize it’s a living creature with a life before you? Oh shit better ask before she starts to feel forgotten about right?” She grumbled out. Dalia always ensured she had plenty of energy to sass and be angry. She’d be foolish not to… even if it was hard so right now it was more passive aggressive then plain old aggressive.

Eight could feel her pain, but she was clearly well enough to retort. There was far too much life in her, she had only lost her originsl spunk and fiestiness. Scanning her up and down a few times, seeing a small wound on her arm. Eight was worried about an infection but he wouldn't treat it as a severe enough infection would likely make her more docile and open to help.

"You aren't close to ready. I will be back tomorrow night."

Eight rose to his feet, kneeling and placing the bread right outside of the cages bars, well within her reach. Bringing the lantern with him as the flame faded from sight. That would be the end of the night, except one ocassion where a silhouette different from Eights stood at the entrance, looking down the stairs, with an audible sigh before closing the door again.

---

It was the next night and Eight was receiving some help in a communal kitchen of sorts. *Plop. Tray was slammed against the table. Ontop of it was a full loaf of bread about four times the amount from last nights meal but beside it was a metronome. Finally one of the women planted a lit latern and gave Eight a pat on the back, another of the slaves opening the door for him.

He stepped down with ease, holding.the tray from both ends at waist level, not even bothering to set it down.

"Name?"

Eight would let her respond, meeting her with silence if she answered wiithout giving a name. But if she were to reply with her name "Your real name?" His tone was stiff, almost accusatory.

She squinted her off eye now at him while leaving the main one wide when he said she wasn't ready but would return. Guess he didn’t take kindly to her comments. Whatever. She eyed the bread as he put it down then him as he left. She waited a bit after he left before she would inch over still holding her knees close and grabbed the bread. For the next while she slowly at a bit of the bread little by little to try and stretch it out the most she could. When she ran out of bread she licked at the blood on her arm from her bite before falling asleep staying in her position with her arms around her knees He likely wanted her to break… she lasted several years while being tortured the whole time when she was much younger, all she did was bend. This guy would have to try harder if he wanted her to break. Hell shed make fun of him more if she had the energy.

---

She focused on keeping herself asleep as long as she could even after she woke up. Shed forced herself to go back to sleep as she held her knees staying in the same position. The hunger didn’t invade her dreams, and the less she moved the longer the bread she had would last her. When he came down she was still in the same position and kept her eyes closed until he spoke. She opening a single eye to look at him only glancing at the food for a moment before looking back up to him. ”Dalia Fedcono” She said with annoyance, time didn't go as fast when he was here keping her focus set and not roaming. When he asked for her real name after she gave it she rolled her open eye reclosing it. ”That was my real name. I sass, I don't lie butt wipe.” She grumbled out. Her mother would be cross if she knew she was spewing out lies.

Eight looked at her with some hope even despite her attitude. He put down the tray and got a bit more comfortable. He offered her the whole loaf of bread, holding it wit his arm inside of the cage. Eights eyes circled back to her red hair. "We have a lot in common." Eight paused wondering if he should reveal his full name to her. It was something he had never even considered before.

"I used to be a fanalis." He recalled the days when he had herculean strength and hermetic speed, as well as his own red lochs that were much fuller and luxurious than what he had now. "Everyone knows me as Eight and I am...." The slaver had to take some time to think about his date of birth.... "Twenty-nine!"

He hadn't taken stock of that piece of information in quite some time, it was a a few years since he had seem his parents in captviity. "And I am a slave too, but I am a slaver as well." Eight noticed that she was sucking on her own blood, something he eventually learned was futile. The body expended more energy by bleeding and digstesting the blood again instead of doing nothing. "I won't be back for two days this time. i was practically dying after day three."

*Note Using hermetic to mean relating to hermes, the messenger of the gods.

She watched him carefully when she saw the hopeful look in his eye. She looked down to the loaf then his arm that was inside the cage. ”Putting your arm in a cage with someone you know bite and is hungry and upset is stupid you know.” She grumbled out but didn't go to strike. She after a moment did though grab the bread as he started to talk to her again eyeing her hair. She kept her legs close to her body as she tore off some bits from the bread to slowly eat it watching him as he spoke. She frowned her brows and scrunched up her face a bit when he said he used to be a fanalis, used to? ”You’re old…” She muttered out hearing his age as she teared off some more small pieces of bread.

She looked more like she was nibbling at the bread but didn’t seem to dislike it. She paused hearing what he was but still did and rose a brow before looking off a bit chewing her bread. She saw him watching her sucking and rolled her eyes a bit. ”You never bring water… only bread…” That and the pain helped her focus. She watched him carefully again as he said he wouldn’t be back for two days and how he was practically dying after three. She turned up her nose a bit. ”You act like you're almost worried I’ll die.” She said practically scoffing at the idea, angling her arm so he could better see all the grooved chunks and scars missing from her arm that covered half her face from how she held it.

”You’re not my first captor. You're just the first one to not take me purely to cut me open… I’d say thank you but that would imply i'm grateful. If anything it makes this much more boring. Most of all my scars are from my past imprisonment, so forgive me if my expectations and terms of impressing are far higher butt face.” She said in a condescending manner. She nibbled a bit at the bread before stopping leaving 3/4s left and placed it to the side. ”I won’t be dead when you return. Dying from hunger or dehydration would be too boring of a death. Besides, if i get too hungry I got a defective arm right here, and dying from blood loss and eating your own arm is far more of a fun death.

But I doubt you’ll be gone long enough for me to want that now that I have this bread.” She said simply not admitting to the last two days without food she legit did think about eating her arm and that was 2 days of no food post a full belly. She hugged her legs once again shifting as if to pretend to get comfortable like she hadn’t been in this position this whole time. ”Tell the other slave hi and to fuck off, you know the usual greetings for me. Oh and to cover the next 2 days you’ll be missing of me, Your face is stupid, and you smell bad…. bye.” She concluded resting her cheek back on her knees waiting for him to leave. Yelling at him for what the did to her family… it would only satisfy him. And trying to attack him would only exert energy she doesn’t have room to waste. Whatever his reasons were to trap her and enslave her rather than kill didn’t matter. Right now survival was key.

Eight enjoyed her fiestiness, but he had never met someone so strong of will. Or perhaps it was just the similarities of their situation, he couldn't bring himself to do what he needed to do to break Dalia Fedcono. Her attitude really lit something inside of him, a mischievous evil.

"You know what, I'll be right back for you actually.

Eight left the light and the metronome on the tray in the center of the room, and gingerly jogged up the stairs. He went into the kitchen and got a glass of water, speed walking to his office. Out of his office he came out with a pumpkin set of necklace and scythe, the tool he used to hurt and kill Dalia's friends and family, but with one odd addition.  A golden crown on his head. Eight hung a lantern over the blade of the scythe.

Returning with scythe in one hand and water in the other. As he started to walk down, the door slammed shut. Metal gears locking together afterwards. "Well, now I am afraid you might end up killing yourself. I have lost a few people like that." Eight focused on his tasks. He set the glass down beside the cage, no longer caring if she had a weapon.

Holding the scythe with both hands then managing to hook the lantern overhead to help illuminate the room from another angle. Observing her for a moment to see what she was up to. Holding the scythe in one hand and leaning it against his shoulder, Eight withdrew a simple key with a skull engraving. Slipping it into the lock, as it illuminated in a white aura. With a single twist, the padlock popped open and the weight of the door began to open up naturally from its weight on the uneven floor.

The floor and the walls were made of dark and rough cobblestone. Eight was wearing cotton pants and a sleevless top completely barefoot. His hair was slicked back, hidden beneath his crown. His follicles still had certain shine even in this relative darkness. The butt of the pumpkin scythe was resting on the floor. As he waited for her actions, Eight slinked his arms out of his sleeves, as they fell over, but still tucked into his bottoms. "My name is Hyperion."  Turning away from but looking over his shoulder. Across his back There were so many scar, they were shaped into a spiders webs nearly each segment was it's own scar. The scarred flesh was uneven and not flush against the rest of his skin, even despite his dungeon beast transformation.

She blinked when he said he’d be right back instead and watched him as he left. She looked from him as he left and looked down to the metronome curiously. She though after a bit rolled her eyes and huffed closing her eyes to go back to sleep while she waited. Though she opened her eyes not too long after her decision due to hearing his return with the slamming of the door. He apparently believed her threats of eating her own arm. Huh well he should have done it if needed easily. Though seeing what he had made her grow cold her eyes moving from the glass to him. Those were the things that killed the others and hurt her parents and uncle. That jerk got creative with is torture! She was only slightly impressed.

Though watching as he opened the lock and the door opening she blinked confused but shifted into a position ready to move if needed but staying close to the ground one hand on the ground the other snatching up the bread. Her eye twitched a bit as her muscles screamed at her from the sudden movement after so long staying in one position. She watched him with no door to block her escape as he watched her but stayed in the ready position for now and did that alone. She eyed his back as he showed off his scars. They looked intentional with how they were laid out. ”Guess your name isn’t as dumb as your other one.” She mumbled out a bit, hey now it wasn’t a compliment!

She just couldn’t lie and say it was a totally dumb name since that would be a lie. She watched carefully for a bit, they weren’t flush with his skin similar to her scars. She after a member darted out of her cage but only moved to one of the darker spots of the room, she was almost certain the door was locked so running there would be dumb she though got a bit lightheaded from the movement from her lack of food and water in her system so she leaned agins tthe cold stone that was the wall and nibbled some of her bread eyeing the water she didnt grab before darting off… that was stupid of her… She’d deal with it later, either way she was out of that stupid boring cage for now.

"We are going to finish this now."

Eight palmed trhe pumpkin pendant resting on his chest, lifting it over his head, chain dangling. He aimed the pendant towards the skittish fanalis. Infusing the magic tool with magoi just as he had against her family before cutting them down. The pumpkins orificies were enkindled before a flash of light covered the entire quarter of the room she was in.

The pumpkins magic would expose her to her own nightmares for a long time until she had suffered sufficient physical pain. Eight was more than ready for her, giving her a bit of time alone with her fears. Eight adjusted his crown and then drawing the enormous pumpkin scythe, observing her reactions before he would take the next step.

Dalia's eyes grew wide seeing him about to utilize the pendant on her but before she could react the flash of light washed over her. The next thing she knew she saw before her the man who kidnapped her so long ago walking towards her. “Oh Feral, how I missed my little lab rat~” He practically purred out. She knew it wasn’t real from what she saw with her parents but he seemed so real. She didn’t scream though She just looked on at the man with sadness and fear in her eyes as her eyes started to near her.

“Good girl…. Quiet just how I like you.” He walked over gently gripping her bad arm and laid it flat over his knee, leaning in whispering in her ear as she looked away closing her eyes as tears streamed down her cheeks. “You won’t bite my throat out this time you feral beast.” She clenched her teeth, baring them a bit as she growled out resentful.

”Watch me you monster… I’ll always break you first... “ He then pulled out a knife and went to work. Her arm trembling and jerking here and there as she would feel the pain but she never out right reacted to it. The only signal that the fear still scared her though was the fact that this was what the pumpkin chose to show her. If 8 still did decide to end the illusion she would hold the same position as if not knowing if it ended since she didn’t… she wasn’t certain if she just grew used to the pain again, or if it was just her arm acting normally. After a while she glanced over before dropping her arm staring down 8 with puffy eyes and tear stained cheeks.

”Go on… make me feel something I’ve never felt before… Something that will over shadow years of constant active pain, and many more of passive constant pain. Make my day… I’d welcome the thought of this pain being small in relative scale to other kinds of pain out there” She said coldly yet honestly. ”You want to be the monster under my bed but there's something already there and he doesn’t take visitors only parts of you you’ll never get back. You’re not scary… You’re just sad… Someone who thinks he can break a destroyed child to mold her into something in stupid ways, because he’s a stupid man with stupid ideas. I haven’t tried to kill you yet… What more do you want? Fear? Tears?"

"You can’t make those… you can use your necklace… but it’s not really you in the end making those fears and tears now is it?” She said wiping her tears away weakly getting up, stumbling a bit but walking over to him with watery eyes still looking up to him. ”You. Don’t. Scare. Me.” She said holding out her arm to him as if offering it to him to freeze as it still trembled and twitched it having one of its many fits it tended to have when agitated or the memory of the pain was brought more to the suffrage the other clenching the bread he gave her earlier.

Eight felt that her words were meant to strike at some sort of emotion. But he had lost a majority of which made someone human. It would only be easier if she had given up, but this was the last chance he would take. But Eight was relying mostly on fear and neglect at this point, but this would be pain. Eight hadn't done this since he had been on his own but this young girl's verbal challenges to his authority got him curious to see if she was actually as solid as she was. Either way, if she survived... he would reward her with a choice.

"I'm not trying to scare you. Or kill you."

His voice was deep, eyes constricted and nearly lifeless. Eight lifted the pumpkin scythe into the air, and as he activated the magic weapon, the room temp plummeted. With a horizontal slash, beneath the circle and from the cracks in the cobblestone grew crystals growing against each other, cracking until they spread in a cone. The spikes spread a meter wide and a meter high, and if she were to try to dodge, he would simply follow up with another pair of slice, one cutting her off and the other to catch her in the ice.

After she was hit from the ice impact, and still having to deal with the frost bite, Eight channeled magoi into his crown, forcing it to levitate over his head. The crown grew more and more radiant until it became a source of pure light. The radiance condense into a halo over his head, and with a gesture from his hand the halo flew over her head, the light showering her in a peaceful calm, that began to rejuvenate her body, restoring her fully from the pain of the impact but the freezing temperatures still taking their toll on Dalia.

She locked eyes with his in a challenging sort of way as he spoke Not seeming too phased by his words she kept her eyes on him as he rose his weapon up changing the rooms temperature. She knew it would come, it would hit her, and if she ran it would only waste energy she didn’t have. So she stood still letting it impact her as the ice shot up her legs and feet spreading up all the way to her hips. She let out a sharp gasp as pain shot through her body as the frostbite took affect. She though smiling as she gasped this time.It was so close to surpassing that old pain, but not quite there yet.

She almost looked happy by this though the light and the calm washed over her making her smile fade as her body was healed and rejuvenated from the ice. ”Now you’re just a jerk” She said calmly to him and if the ice was holding her up any longer she’d fall to her side on the ground as her muscles tried to calm down from the sudden freezing and healing. She panted a little looking up at the crown, if it wasn’t making her so calm shed likely be sneering in annoyance at it right now.

After all of his attacks, it was clear to Eight that Dalia was not meant for slavery. He wanted a strong person like this to work at his side. She must have had a worse experience than this if she was willing to tolerate all of this. "I am going to let you, and your family live. You deserve that, but I need you to work under me as a slaver. And there is one important thing you need to do." He recalled his experimentation under the brotherhood, and perhaps he could get them to perform a similar one on her. "If you can do that, I'll even bestow these magic tools onto you." Gesturing with the scythe in one hand and the necklace in the other

Eight headed up the stairs, looking back at Dalia. The slaver beckoned her with his hand, and at the top of the stairs were some women... 3 out of the 4 were crying. Each of them holding something different for her: Blanket, a steak, flowers and a new set of clothing. Each trying to support Dalia in their own way after her ordeal.

If she were to accept, Eight would let her sleep with the other four, a modestly comfortable bed, with free range of the territory. Otherwise, he would simply escort her out with not even a threat of killing her family.

She peered over to him as he said he would let her and her family live, and that she deserved that. She blinked a bit when he said she just had to become a slaver… plus one other thing. Well she was already what she felt was a nicely skilled bandit soo… She slowly tried to at least sit up. It may even keep her from getting bored. She thought to herself ”What's the other thing…?” She questioned as she looked at the tools he had used to hurt her and her family, normally she wouldn't take gifts or new things but… These were different now. She slowly got up to her feet as he beckoned her over, making her way over as she walked off the situation from before. She looked tiredly at them grabbing the blanket tying it around herself like a cape to help warm herself back up.

She looked to the one with the new clothes and placed the bread on top of the clothes with perched lips. ”I’ve been wearing the same thing for many years… If my parents can’t get me to change clothes neither can a stranger… you can have that bread as thanks though maybe some other small person will want me.” She said, grabbing the flowers and sniffing them before biting one of the heads off of them and tucking them off to the side of her now cape that would hold them at her neck covering half her face.

She then saw the steak and grabbed it immediately nomming on it holding it with both her hands and a slight growl as she tore viciously off a large chunk and chewed it more continually after. She looked over to 8. ”Based on what that extra thing was Hyperion I’ll be a slaver.” She chomped down on more of the steak getting the juices all over her chin. Raising a brow to him. ”Than gladly show your stupid face off with my own skills one day and put you jerk butt in your place.” She said almost like a threat.