Three Years Ago
Neo sat in the back of a cell, gloves and socks covering his hands and feet. He wore pants of course, but they were rather torn and dirty, and he was shirtless. Two metres of chain length connected to separate cuffs around his wrists, allowing him little space to move around. A metal tray sat a few centimetres away from him, only half of the food eaten. A toilet sat within reach, with a flushing mechanism and wiping paper that was refilled every few days.
He sighed, his arm resting on his knee as he tapped the front of his calf. He had been in the cell for two weeks so far, and his mind had since been on thing - Fleur. Guilt had nearly driven him mad, the feeling inside his chest growing stronger every day. The sadness was so horrible that he couldn't even bring himself to cry to get rid of the crushing pain.
What in the worlds had he done?
A soft creak drew his attention to the cell door, drawing his gaze to it. Two voices intertwined, both male, but only the guard's voice was recognisable. He leaned his head back against the wall, wondering who could be with the guard and why. Although, he wasn't his usual self in the past three weeks and instead of lingering on the thought, he found himself not caring about it at all.
Yet, it was then multiple locks clicked on the door and it swung open to reveal two figures. One of them, a person who could be in their early twenties in a prison guard's uniform, was holding a large ring of keys in his hand. The other was dressed in a suit, with long dark hair that ran down to the middle of his back. He had a square chin and black eyes, and he seemed to be holding something behind him.
Neo immediately knew the man in the suit - he was Fleur's father, Daniel Greevson.
He didn't even bother to wonder why he was there, finding himself in an odd state of mind. Even so, his eyes locked onto Daniel's hard but anger ridden face, a curious but careless look plastered on Neo's expression. The guard, who he did not yet know by name, pressed something out of his sight.
It was then that the cuffs on his wrists were pulled together with some sort of magnetic force, and they were locked together by a mechanism. Neo let out a grunt of surprise, looking down as the chains on the cuffs disconnected and dropped to the ground. After that, a pole came down in the middle of the room, a small ring at the end of it.
That made him far more curious, his eyes travelling up to Daniel, who was then smiling ever so slightly. The guard walked over to Neo, ordering him to his feet. Neo glared at him for a moment before he promptly did so, seeing no reason not to do as he said. He was already in prison for life, so what worse could happen? Death would be a sweet release.
The guard led Neo to the pole, making him turn his back to Daniel, who was still silent. The nameless man grabbed his wrists, raising it up to the pole - Neo watched as he attached them to the ring. He still watched the guard, who had a messy mane of orange hair.
"Mind if I ask what this is all about?" He questioned, his tone careless. When the guard simply walked back around him, he sighed. "Guess that's a yes."
Neo could hear the guards footsteps retreating back to the door where Daniel still stood, whispering to Fleur's father in a soft tone that Neo couldn't make out. Then, the door closed, encasing the cell in silence - he could only suppose that the guard was gone. He tried to glance over his shoulder to see if anyone was still there, but was unable to tell due to the heightened placement of his arm. His question was answered though when he heard heavy footsteps slowly walking away from the door towards him, only to stop soon after.
"Do you know why I am here?" A deep voice came from behind him.
"Do I really want to know?" Neo countered.
"Sarcastic as always," Daniel answered. "When will you grow out of this childish state?"
"Who knows?" He sighed. "Doesn't really matter anyway. I won't exactly be showing it off to everyone."
"Which brings me to my point," He mused in an emotion dead tone. "How many people did you kill to wind up here, Nathan?"
"Thirty two," Neo answered without hesitation.
"Strange," Daniel hummed. "It says in your records you killed thirty one. Mind explaining that for me?"
Neo was then silent, his mind wandering to Fleur as his head sank. Her words rang in his head. Kiss me. Why did he listen to her? She could have lived, but he was selfish to her, craving the touch of her lips like an addict. He felt limp in his chains, barely even trying to worry about what may or may not happen to him.
A sharp sound of wind blew through the air, as if something small and quick had been sliced about. A sudden pain erupted on his back, a tingling sensation running throughout his body as he stiffened. A cry escaped from his mouth, and he panted. He tried to look over his shoulder, but was unable to once more.
"What the hells are you doing?!" He demanded through a gasp of breath.
"Answer my question, Nathan." Daniel seethed.
The sensation of staticky pain drifted out from the wound on Neo's skin. The sound came again, and he stiffened in preparation, the whip striking the other side of his back. He arched his spine, gripping the chains and holding back another yell as he grit his teeth together.
"Why aren't you answering me?"
The strike came once more.
"Are you too ashamed?"
Another hit.
"You think something worse than this could happen?"
Again.
"Answer me, Nathan."
Again.
"Tell me why you killed my daughter!"
Neo couldn't hold back as the seventh struck his back, making him gasp out a scream of agony. He shut his eyes as he could feel the blood running down his skin. The whip crashed against his back horizontally, then vertically, slashing and breaking his skin consecutively. He wanted to scream for Daniel to stop, to cry out for someone to cease the pain. Alas, deep down, he knew… It was a father's revenge.
He tried to hold back his yells by biting his tongue, drawing the taste of blood in his mouth. He didn't know how long the screams of Daniel and the whipping lasted, his dream-like state fogging his sense of time. It felt like an eternity, and throughout it, he told himself one thing:
I deserve this.