paixaorpg | Should Be Interesting [Active]

Entry tags:

Should Be Interesting [Active]

Characters: Luxord, Cloud
Content: More experiments, of course!
Setting: That is not important.
Time: Neither is that.
Warnings: Luxord brainbreaking people. Need I say more?

He'd always been particularly fond of this aspect of his job. The only thing better than figuring out what made people tick, Luxord had decided, was ever so subtly breaking that machinery. From what he had seen, the one he had now was put together like a watch - the least little disruption would slow the entire works to a grinding halt.

He watched as the Dusks dragged his prisoner in, strapping him securely to the table. Now was a good time to test that hypothesis.

He stepped up to the table as soon as the Dusks had cleared out. "Good evening."

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Fighting against the nimble and strange humanoid monsters had been an exercise in futility, and he had little choice when he was strapped to a table, kicking and fighting because he wasn't going to just let these guys trap him alone. He didn't have leverage against these things, but he hoped that maybe if he fought harder, struggled harder, he wouldn't be so vulnerable.

Cloud had experience in avoiding Oh Shit situations. Apparently, it wasn't enough to avoid this one, and no, he told himself, trying to keep his breathing calm, panicking isn't going to help.

"..." He glared at the man that replaced the monsters, no doubt in his mind that he had something to do with this. "Who are you?"

Of course, this one would be a fiesty one. That, of course, made things that much more interesting. "That's none of your concern," Luxord replied lightly before realizing that it wasn't exactly true. "Well, no, it likely is your concern," he conceded, "but that doesn't mean I'm going to tell you."

With no further ado and no warning, he walked forward and through the boy strapped to the table. It was time to get down to business.

"Why no-" Cloud choked back his words, eyes growing wide in alarm and disbelief when the man has just walked through him, when they were both obviously solid.

And yes, he was panicking. Normal people just didn't do that.

Luxord couldn't help but smirk a bit, both at the memories he'd just seen and at the boy's panic. Yes, he should be easy to break.

"Now tell me," he commented offhandedly, "how has Tifa been recently?" He cared more about Cloud's reaction than the answer to the question. "Not harmed, I hope. It would be such a shame if anything were to happen to her."

He jerked against his constraints at the mention of his childhood friend. "What did you do to her?!" He demanded, though somewhere in the back of his mind there was a nigging idea that he wouldn't be told. Or that he wasn't really in any position - oh, haha - to take that tone.

Cloud had been in Shin-Ra for just a short time so he hadn't attempted to call home, not yet, but if he had been put... here by some power and Zack had been too... "Where is she?" He tried again, lowering his voice into a plea.

"Absolutely nothing," Luxord replied lightly, brushing off Cloud's concern as if it were nothing - which, to Luxord, it was.

"Oh, I'm sure I don't know." Which was the truth, but Cloud didn't need to know that. "She's likely a good deal better off with you out of the way."

He bristled, tense and angry and panicked. It wasn't a good combination at any time. There was something about the way the man had said it that rubbed him wrong.

"Don't lie to me!" Not when Tifa's life was at stake. But that last part stung, recalling a fall and surviving when she almost didn't.

"About what? Her well-being or your likelihood to damage it?" The question was off-handed, yet somehow still barbed. "Both are true, you know."

He flinched back, shaking his head, obviously affected by it. "..." He turned his head away, knowing very well that what he was saying was true. It's not as if there had been any cases that would disprove it.

Visible results were always the most entertaining, and these were no exception. Luxord had not expected to leave Cloud speechless so quickly, but he couldn't say he wasn't enjoying it.

"Difficult, isn't it," he continued, his tone one of commiseration. "You try so hard to protect someone, and in the end it's you who hurts them the most." He sighed. "You might well be doing her a favor in staying here."

Shut up.

He wasn't going to hole himself up. He told himself so, that's the reason why he went to Midgar. It was to prove everyone wrong, because he wasn't like that.

Shut up.

Hadn't she been looking forward to seeing him again, when he became a SOLDIER? Tifa and mum believed he could do it. And Zack...

"I'm not just going to hide away like a coward."

"Of course not," Luxord agreed. "You'll convince yourself you're doing the right thing, and then everything will go to hell for it and you'll hurt the people you love." All said calmly, as though it were the norm. "After all, isn't that what always happens?"

He shook his head, taking deep breaths as he told himself to stop thinking, stop worrying, because hadn't he already decided for himself.

Stopit, don't doubt yourself, you've come so far... "I'll protect them!" He glared at the man, arms shaking.

"Oh,"" Luxord replied, as though that weren't something he'd thought of. He turned on Cloud with a less than reassuring smirk. "And tell me, just how do you intend to do that?

"Look at yourself," he continued. "You're in another world entirely, strapped to a table, at the mercy of a man you don't even know, and you're still spouting beautiful words of love and loyalty and protection when deep down-" He leaned in. "-you know they're all a lie. You'd like to believe them, but nothing has ever worked, and nothing will ever work, and I would be amazed if you didn't already know that.

"And so I ask again," he finished, "how do you propose to help anyone when all you've ever done is hurt others and you can't even help yourself?"

His eyes widened gradually with each of the man's words, the delivery sharp in that they were matter-of-fact. Cloud leaned back as far as he could, finally turning his head away, shutting his eyes and closing his ears. His breaths were growing shallower as the man voiced each and every one of the doubts that plagued him, the things he'd tried so hard to not listen to.

"Nothing," he mouthed, barely a breath. That was all his worth, and even less, being nothing else but just a nuisance, an error. A sickness that could kill those he loved, the ones who didn't know any better.

Finally, they were making progress. "Exactly," he replied, voice quiet yet somehow edged with cold steel. "Good to see you finally understand."

With that, he turned his back on Cloud and snapped his fingers. Summoned by the signal, half a dozen Dusks warped into the room and began unbinding the prisoner, hauling him back to his cell to deposit him there in the cold and the dark.

He turned to look at the things that poured in, nimble white monsters like before, removing his bindings and tugging him away. He turned his head to watch Luxord before letting the things guide him along without a fight.

It didn't do him any good last time.

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Should Be Interesting [Active]

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sorry it took so long!

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