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The squelching sound of blood filled the air along with it’s metallic taste, Something sickening and bitter in the combination that made Akande stop breathing for minutes at a time.
The blade in Jesse’s side twisted, and life sputtered out of the wound without care. It splashed across the ground, specks of it hitting Akande’s own skin. Their close proximity only allowed Akande to see the ways his muscles spasmed around the blade, panicked and pained.
Akande did not move.
For the past hour, he had refused to let himself move an inch. He barely breathed, really, and at times even believed his heart went still with the rest of him.
He couldn’t move. He didn’t want to imagine what would happen if he did, he just knew he couldn’t. He couldn’t lose Jesse like that. He couldn’t be at fault because he gave in to weakness.
“Akande,” Jesse said through a sobbed breath, his whole body tensed as he forced himself not to shake and make it worse. Jesse had been tortured before. He had felt more pain than Akande ever wanted him to. He had been through this before, he could survive it again.
“Akande, please,” Jesse gasped, as the cruel, twisted blade cut in deeper. “Please.”
“Your pleading won’t help you any, so I suggest you save your breath,” Akinjide said. He was standing too close. Too close to Jesse as he was tortured, Akande knew there would be nothing that could stop him from taking his mentor’s head. There was nothing that could change his mind, no offer of mercy that would forgive what he had done.
How dare he? How dare he call what Akande had weakness, then stand there and destroy the strongest man Akande had ever met? How dare he lay a hand on him and tell Akande it was his fault?
“I think he has made it more than clear that he does not love you,” Akinjide went on.
Liar, Akande wanted so badly to scream. How dare you fill his head with lies? How dare you make him believe the furthest thing from the truth?
Akande had to stay quiet. He had to stay still. He had to do this because he loved Jesse more than anything in the world. He would give up his own sanity in a heartbeat, just to know at the end of the day his heart would keep beating and his light would still be in the world.
Jesse ignored Akinjide, keeping his eyes locked with Akande as he cried and begged, “Akande, please, make it stop. Make them stop.”
Akande could. With just one word from him, they would stop. They told him as much the moment they sat him down for this punishment. Just one word, it was all they needed, and it was all he would never give.
He knew what that word would mean for Jesse. It would mean the end of his torture, yes, but that is only because it would mean the end of his life. The moment Akande showed he cared, they would take Jesse away from him forever. Because that was how Talon worked. That was how obedience was instilled.
Jesse didn’t know that. Jesse probably thought Akande was doing this to punish him. That he enjoyed seeing him like this, or was completely indifferent to him. That Akande was holding on to his pride over Jesse’s safety.
He could only pray Jesse knew that wasn’t the case. That even through the pain, Jesse had held on to that terrifyingly sharp mind of his, and had figured the situation out. He hoped Jesse’s begging was an act he put on to get the sympathy of his torturers, and searched everything about him for some signal or sign he was trying to send.
Akande was so lost in the thoughts that tried to derealize him from the scene in front of him, that he didn’t see the knife being pulled from Jesse’s side and being replaced.
He didn’t notice anything, until the first scream tore itself from Jesse’s throat.
Jesse screamed and thrashed against his restraints, and convulsed as electricity danced along his skin and squeezed his eyes shut tight. Akande searched for what was causing the pain in a panic, then felt the bile rise in his throat as he saw the cattle prod buried in the wound the knife had created. Electricity sparked from the blood that seeped out, and ozone filled the air.
The cattle prod was removed after a minute, but Jesse didn’t stop screaming for another few seconds. He fell back limply against the chair, head hanging loosely to the side as he let out broken sobs.
“You once told me you thought he was the most beautiful man in the world,” Akinjide hummed, seeming to examine Jesse with an appreciation that had the fire in Akande burning his ribs as it tried to claw its way out and escape. “I could never see it before, but I think I get it now. His scream is something of a dream. I don’t think I could live only hearing it once.”
Akinjide moved behind Jesse, his large hand wrapping around Jesse’s too small throat. He used his grip to force Jesse’s gaze forward, squeezing down in warning until his eyelids struggled open and he was meeting Akande’s again.
“Don’t close them again,” Akinjide told Jesse, squeezing down one last time before letting go and stepping away.
Jesse did as he was told, maintaining eye contact with Akande as they started to move around him again. His eyes were filled with a pleading that seemed to be slowly dying. Jesse was giving up on him.
“Akande,” he said, voice coming raw and more of a whisper than anything else. “I’m sorry. Whatever I did- everything I did- I’m sorry. Please, Akande, I can’t.”
“He doesn’t care,” Akinjide reminded him. “He will only continue to refuse to save you.”
Akande momentarily flicked his eyes up to his mentor, barely restraining himself from glaring. His eyes were quickly back on Jesse, just in time for him to see the red hot brand being raised.
“We can’t have him bleeding out,” Akinjide hissed as horror shot through Akande.
Jesse didn’t look away from Akande. He couldn’t, and so he didn’t see what was coming next. Akande could see the moment realization hit, as the red metal pressed over his wound, sloppily sealing off his bleeding side.
Jesse clenched his jaw and clearly fought against screaming looking away from Akande.
He was only successful for exactly ten seconds.
Once those ten seconds were up, The scream that had built in his chest burst out, and he leaned as far forward as his restraints allowed, curling in on himself and around the brand still pressed to him. He screamed and heaved and sobbed, and Akande started to lose all senses of reality again.
Even though there was no one and nothing touching him, Akande felt like the air was being strangled out of him. His vision blurred with the effort of keeping his attention in reality, and his chest seized as it tried to draw in air he couldn’t. Everything was coming to him like he was trapped underwater, and he was sinking further and further as the seconds dragged on like years.
He hadn’t realized he started shaking, or that the lack of oxygen was an illusion created by his panic-addled mind. He was too out of touch and lost in the need to make it all stop, to give Jesse some relief from the pain that had him screaming like that.
“Stop,” Akande yelled, springing to his feet even as the guards on either side held him back. He was horrified with himself for saying it, but maybe, just maybe they would just let Jesse be now that he had given in.
“Stop, please stop,” Akande begged, meeting Akinjide’s eyes as his tears spilled over. “I’m sorry, I was wrong, just let him go!”
Akinjide tisked and slowly walked around to stand beside Jesse as the brand was retracted away from him.
“You lost your chance,” Akinjide said, like a disappointed parent scolding his child. “You could have told us to stop right when we started, but you chose not to. You chose to let him suffer. So he will continue suffering until we think he is done.”
“That wasn’t part of the rules,” Akande desperately shook his head. “You said you would stop, that was the only rule! You have to stop, you can’t keep doing this, I won't let you!”
“And what will you do boy?” Akinjide asked. “You know you cannot beat me in a fight, and that is about the only way you can save him. No, as I said you lost your chance. You didn’t love him enough to protect him, and he will be paying the price.”
Akande was forced back into his seat, too weak from the lack of oxygen to fight back as he watched an ugly patterned blade press to Jesse’s chest harshly.
He was grabbed by his throat again, and once again forced to look up at Akande, but this time Akinjide didn’t move away. He stayed there behind Jesse, holding him up and threatening that cutoff of his oxygen. Based on the way his eyes fluttered and the muscles in his throat and chest worked, Akande guessed Jesse was already struggling to breath around the pressure.
Akande looked in his eyes, and now found there was no point in hiding his feelings after his outburst. He openly let the tears fall, and hoped his expression could tell Jesse how sorry he was. How he wanted to take him and run far away and forget this pain.
Jesse met his gaze with nothing but resigned pain. He didn’t beg anymore. He didn’t move. He just took whatever they gave him, and stayed looking ahead.
Hours passed by like eternities. Akande lost all sense of reality and he tried to just keep his eyes on Jesse, keep trying to silently reassure him. Jesse remained still, staying in whatever position he was manipulated into, his skin growing paler by the second as he lost more and more blood. After a while, it became clear Jesse was barely managing to stay away, and most likely couldn’t even see Akande in front of him.
After those torture filled hours, Akande finally heard the alert form one of the guards’ comms that Overwatch was there. He wondered distantly how they found them, before remembering Jesse’s health tracker that must have been left completely neglected and therefore functional.
The room fell into chaos and everyone got ready to move out, fight and run. Despite the situation, Akande was still kept in place for one last act of pain.
A blade was driven into Jesse’s back, into his spine, and Akande couldn’t be held down anymore.
Akande wasn’t entirely sure what happened next. One second he was sitting there, the guards keeping him down as he watched Jesse’s back being stabbed through, then he blinked. The next time he opened his eyes, he was on his knees in the center of the room with Jesse cradled in his lap, bleeding out from his back as Akande cried and held him. There were several dead bodies in the room with them, but Akinjide wasn’t among them, no matter how much Akande wished he was.
Akande would later recognize that he had blacked out, but in that moment it didn’t matter. All that mattered was Jesse in his arms, the light fading from his eyes.
“I’m sorry,” Akande cried, cupping Jesse’s face with shaking, blood covered hands. “I’m sorry. I should have been stronger. I should have saved you. I’m so sorry.”
Jesse’s unbroken hand was curled loosely in his shirt, his eyes gradually going more and more distant, like he was seeing Akande from far away.
“I’m sorry,” Akande cried, shaking his head. “Please stay with me. Please, Jesse, I swear I will never let anything like this happen again, just don’t leave me like this.’
Jesse’s throat worked like he was trying to say something, but nothing came out. Blood curled from his lip, and streaked down his chin, and he stopped struggling.
Akande could hear Overwatch closing in, but he couldn’t move. He couldn’t move, until a bright yellow light settled in front of him, reaching out delicate hands to press into Jesse’s shoulder. Not until that yellow light shone through the pain written across Jesse’s skin, and through the cracks of cuts and the Talon symbol now branded on his side, did Akande finally let him go so the doctor could care for him.
“We know you didn’t do this,” A gruff voice said, hand settling on his shoulder. “We’re the only ones who know you’re here. We can give you at least a half hour head start,”
“I can’t leave him,” Akande shook his head.
“You have to. If you don’t, you’ll only be hurting him more,” the man said. “You can’t protect him behind bars. Go.”
Akande didn’t protest this time. He did as he was told, giving only one glance back to Jesse as he was cared for by the doctor and his father.