Balgair finished off his cigarette by shoving it into Laen's forehead. No grunt or whinge came. Balgair frowned. I guess a little burn wasn't much when your hands and feet had already been cut off.

"Come on. Make a sound. I prepared this basement just for this moment. If you're going to just keep quiet, all the days it took to soundproof this place will have gone to waste," Balgair said as he flicked the cigarette stump away before going to put his red gloves on. The real thing would begin now.

He looked at the bloodied bandages on Laen's hands, arms, and legs. He'd have to replace them in a bit to keep the massive clump of dirt breathing.

He clapped his hands together, sending a powerful vibration throughout the room that seemed to shake Laen's consciousness, as he jolted. His dull but bright-colored eyes traveled up to meet Balgair's narrow, dark ones.

"Your extremities were just a precaution. The real thing starts here," Balgair said. He wasn't sure whether he had a grin or a frown on his lips.

Laen's body jolted again as his lips separated into a grimace.

"It's no good," Balgair said as he set a kit of equipment onto a table beside the metallic X-shape Laen was tied to. "It's hyperwire. Only way to escape would be compression." He turned to Laen with what he knew was a joyful expression. "I believe that would be a bit hard for you now, though."

Laen gritted his teeth as he tried to rip his body free. Balgair only cackled at the sight.

Balgair dropped a piece of equipment and grabbed one of the chairs in the room. "Oh, right. Maybe we should have a little chat before you can't talk anymore." He held out a hand. "So... Any last words?"

Laen seemed to struggle for a moment. Well, creativity never was his strong suit.

"My men will find me," he said, talking during seemingly painful exhalations. "Then I'll make you regret this."

Balgair scratched his head awkwardly before bursting out into laughter. "You men are dead! D-E-A-D! Get that through your fucking head already. Everybody who could've helped you is dead. And you will be, too, soon enough. Before then, I have some fun activities for us to enjoy, so don't worry."

Laen's face twitched.

Balgair opened his jaw wide with sincere worry in his eyes. "You gonna cry?"

"You'll burn for this," the brave gang leader whined.

Balgair stood up, and after a couple of strides, he slammed his palm into Laen's face. He squeezed his face, contorting the skin around his mouth. Laen tried biting him, but his teeth couldn't get through.

"Where will I burn? In hell? Hah? You're bringing religion into this now? How pathetic are you?" He let go of his face and was about to punch him, but stopped himself. He took a step back before reaching his hand to Laen's and squeezing on the bloody stump that remained. A bloodcurdling scream followed. "Have you forgotten what you've done? You're going to be burning right along with me. We'll be there together forever. Isn't that wonderful?" He spoke over Laen's screams.

"Stop! I'll bite my tongue. You won't have anyone to torture then," Laen threatened in agony.

Balgair snorted in response. "I remember having said the same thing. But here I am standing. That gives you hope, right?" He turned away to look around the tight room. "I'm not as dumb as you, though. I mean, who would let someone escape after having done to them what you did to me?"

"What?" Laen struggled to get a word out. "Slaughter your little group and make you m—" Laen didn't get to finish, as Balgair grabbed a piece of the kit and swung it at Laen's stomach, peeling his skin off.

A continuing shriek went through the room over and over as Balgair watched with disappointment. "That's just the first one. Would you stop being so dramatic?"

Laen breathed deep, shuttering breaths with his gaze down. The area of his stomach quickly became red and started flowing with blood.

"This will last for days, just so you know. You can bite your tongue if you want to, but that'll be slow as well. I'll make sure you don't die of blood loss. Besides, I'm sure even you agree that infection suits you well."

Balgair's hairs stood on end as he imagined the scene. It wasn't excitement he felt. Why? What else? Then he looked at that image in his mind and imagined others. In every single one, Laen was dead. But it felt like nothing. He was just dead. What did that change? In the near future, Laen would simply die, no matter how. The only one who would now be affected was only Balgair.

Suddenly, he felt a grimace trying to form on his face as he looked at Laen's pathetic figure. 'What the

... What am I hesitating? No, I can't be. This is all I've wanted. This is it,' he thought.

Then Aurelius' words ran through his head, 'So what I think would be the thing to do, would be to just think what the person harmed would want. Would a loved one want for her... or him to be revenged in such a gory way, costing the one who loved them their sanity, purity, and humanity?'

"Argh, shut up," Balgair grunted, holding his head.

Laen exhaled a weak chuckle, noticing Balgair's state. Balgair turned with flames in his eyes before throwing his fist into his face. Laen went limp immediately, and his head hung low, blooding flooding out as a few teeth slipped out and clinked against the concrete floor.

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Balgair realized what he'd done and grumbled before going over to the chair and flopping down.

Again.

'Would a loved one want for her... or him to be revenged in such a gory way, costing the one who loved them their sanity, purity, and humanity?'

"Yes! I want it. I'm the one hurt here! I should be able to decide without people telling me I'm wrong." He stood up in an instant and flung the chair, leaving a couple of dents behind.

He buried his face in his hands before laying down on the cold ground and spreading his limbs out.

"Why shouldn't I have this? Why can't I get what I want for once in my life? Why?!" He hammered the ground with his fists, forming cracks in the ground.

Then he put his hands on his face and rolled from side to side. "No, no, no, no, no. This time... This time, I'll get what I want. Goldilocks can go to hell. I'll give this bastard the most painful death ever, no matter what. Even if I lose my humanity. Even if I lose everything. I'm fine with just this. My life is ready to end. It's never been worth living in the first place." He started climbing to his feet as he looked at Laen. "You hear that? You won't escape me. I'm not as dumb or weak as you. I'm better. I'm so much better. That's why we're here."

"Ah, that's right. You wouldn't believe my plan. I realized how this was all going to go the moment I set my eyes on Goldilocks. I knew. Then I made it happen. All that effort for this moment. For..." His brows knitted as he looked at Laen's unconscious body, hanging helplessly from the hyperwire tying it up. Laen had always been such an imposing figure. Someone to fear. Someone to admire. Someone who Balgair wanted to be like in order for him to be respected. He wanted Laen's cunning, his ferocity, and his craziness. All the things that made Laen a monster, Balgair tried to mimic. But now he saw it clearly. "I did this all for you... For nothing."

Balgair's face fell as he gulped slightly and walked up to Laen, raising his head to make eye contact. What he found was a half-closed pair of empty eyes that were too pathetic to even look at. "You're nothing," he said, but not as an insult. It was a simple observation, without any emotion imbued. No emotion except for disappointment.

'This guy? I'm sacrificing my life for this?' Balgair withdrew his hand, Laen's head slumping back down. 'No, it can't be like this. All those years for this? No way. No, no, no,' he thought as he grasped his hands and pulled. The pain made no difference, though.

"Can I... No! I won't. I won't go back. Not ever," he talked to himself as he paced around the room, tapping on surfaces and fiddling around with his sweaty fingers. "But could I go back? No, of course not. I ruined it. Cade would kill me. Hell, even Aurelius would after how I used them."

His hands squeezed into fists multiple times in a second as he crumbled onto his knees and hung his head. Then he hit his fists on the floor with a roar filled with anger. His fists went through the ground, but he kept going, removing his hands and hitting. "Why... do... I always... mess it up?!" Another scream echoed as he pummeled the stone into bits.

Then he reached up and grabbed the table before supporting himself up. He looked at the table as he ground his teeth together before grabbing a large knife.

He then stomped his way to Laen and bashed the man's head with his palm, proceeding to hold it against the metallic object he was tied to. He breathed through his teeth as he glared into Laen's unconscious eyes, his eyes glinting with an uncontrollable rage. "You're nothing."

His hand, holding the knife, closed the distance between it and Laen's neck before he could think to stop. In the next moment, Laen was dead.

Balgair blinked, his eyes wide and his mouth opened. His jaw shook as he let go of the knife lodged in Laen's throat. Laen's head fell down for the last time as blood streamed from his mouth onto the handle of the knife, coating the shiny, silvery grip with crimson.

Balgair tried to say something. Yell about how stupid he was. About how he shouldn't have done what he just did. About anything. Or just nothing.

In the end, not a word or sound came out.

He tried to take another step back, but his loose feet had lost touch and his ankle rolled. He fell onto his ass with his eyes still glued to the now-dead Laen hanging off of the X.

No last words, no scream of pain before he went. Nothing. It fit him perfectly. But to Balgair it was lacking. It was so lacking, he could die. No, he would die. He actually would.

There was nothing anymore. Both sides of the world now rejected his existence. At least it was now confirmed. He had always thought it was like that, but never was it as clear.

Everything would be better off if he didn't exist.

He had no strength to keep himself upright anymore, and collapsed to the ground hopelessly. There was no reason to get up anymore.

Balgair's knees came up, and his head went down as he curled up into a ball, tears beginning to flow from his eyes. At that moment, which was supposed to be the most triumphant in his entire life, he had been reduced to a ball of sobs and misery.

There was no reason to get up anymore.

It was all over.