Chapter Text
Tsukasa opened his eyes, trying to identify his surroundings. It was dark. It felt like he was moving inside something. Like he was in a car of some sort. He shifted slightly, soon finding out that he couldn’t and that his legs and wrists were tied in ropes and tape covered his mouth. Was.. he actually in the back of a car?!
He clenched his teeth while he was jostled around by what seemed like the car going over a bump. That’s gonna leave a bruise. Or multiple. More important concerns ran through his mind. Where is he being taken??
It took what felt like forever for the motion to stop. The car opened and Tsukasa saw a faint amount of light from the moon. As well as a person looking down at him.
"Oh you're awake.. Not a problem." Tsukasa's eyes were covered with a cloth blindfold tied around his head. Just when he got to see something again. His stomach dropped when he felt himself being lifted up and thrown over someone's shoulder. Tsukasa squirmed, but the ropes and the grip this person had on him were too strong for him to really get anywhere. He might as well have not even tried.
He felt them walking and it was back to seemingly unending blind motion to Tsukasa. Eventually he was set on the ground, propped against a wall or something. The blindfold was removed, giving Tsukasa a chance to glance around. There wasn't much to see. The room was pretty empty aside from a table and a few stacked boxes.
"You look so cute there. All tied up like that."
Tsukasa glared up at the person keeping him hostage. Their stupid innocent grin. Tsukasa would much rather be dealing with Rui's antics at the Wonder Stage.
"And what shall I do with you today.. We'll go easy since you just got here!"
Tsukasa focused his eyes down towards the floor in an attempt to focus on staying calm. That definitely failed though when something was placed around his neck.
He glanced up in time to see his kidnapper press a button before a wave of electricity ran through his body. The tape covering his mouth muffled a scream. It wasn't a long shock but man it hurt. Tsukasa curled in on himself the best he could, shaking violently.
"You do something wrong, and that will happen, got it?"
Tsukasa didn't physically respond, trying to recover from what happened. Unfortunately, he ended up receiving another shorter, but just as painful, shock. Tsukasa clenched his teeth, tears slowly sliding down his cheeks.
"Got it?" Their voice was more aggressive this time.
Tsukasa nodded quickly this time.
"Good! You're learning!" They smiled again, before skipping away and out of the room.
Tsukasa groaned internally. This sucked. He rested his head against the wall, staring at the ceiling. He felt restless, being unable to move. He was just walking home from Phoenix Wonderland. He stopped to grab some snacks for Saki since she mentioned wanting some. It got dark while he was walking home at a later time than usual.
It was such an unlikely event and yet.. here he is. Hopefully Saki isn't too worried about him..? Ahh.. She probably would be either way. He has no clue where he is or what time it is.. Is it even the same day??
This would be a long... period of time.
Tsukasa jerked awake at the feeling of electrocution again. He didn't even remember falling asleep. A hand grabbing his hair forced his head up to make eye contact with the person from earlier.
"You're awake! I'm so glad! It's a new day, so I've brought you something special!" Their grip hurt. He couldn't have prepared himself for what was coming. The person pulled a long metal rod from behind their back, the tip a glowing red.
"Isn't this exciting! We can do so much with this!"
Tsukasa's eyes widened and he tried to pull his head away. The hold on his hair prevented him from moving away from the burning metal gently resting on his cheek. The smell of burning skin made him feel sick, even more so that it was his own skin being burnt. Tsukasa's burnt himself in the past, but this was infinitely more painful than picking up a hot tray from an oven.
There was a small moment of relief when the metal was removed. It didn’t last long though when his hair was released and his arm was grabbed instead. It was horribly uncomfortable due to the binds keeping his arms together. Tsukasa flinched when the skin on his arm was burnt, moving around to burn shapes into his arm.
"It's like an art project!"
Tsukasa felt sick from the pain. He tried to pull away from it but he was stuck enduring it the entire time. It all felt like forever before it stopped. Tsukasa watched as his captor skipped away again, leaving him in the room.
It was sickening with how much they seemed to enjoy this. Tsukasa laid there, trying to hold back tears. The tears falling down his cheeks only hurt the burn more after all.
The days went on and on. Tsukasa was woken up by another shock from the shock collar around his neck. A different method would be used to inflict pain on him. They got worse as the days grew on.
The ropes were cut off him on the 3rd or 4th day. Tsukasa made the mistake of trying to escape. That didn't end well when a shock of electricity knocked him to the ground. A sickening crack from the bones in his leg caused Tsukasa to scream, until he couldn't anymore.
"I hope you've learned not to try to escape! That's going to take a while to heal."
Tsukasa had to guess it's been a week since he's been here. His fingers were threatened to be snapped if he was caught attempting to remove the shock collar.
Tsukasa didn't want to risk more pain than he had to.
Everything already hurt. Blood mixed with tears and sobs mixed with screams. He just wanted it to stop. At this point he'd rather be dead.
Tsukasa pressed the palms of his hands against his eyes. This was hell it was hell he wanted out of this hell .
He wondered how the rest of Wonderlands x Showtime was. How Saki was. How Toya was. His chest hurt, both from the pain he now knew and the pain of missing everyone.
A scream caused Tsukasa to flinch and cover his ears. The loud sound hurt his head. He had no clue what was going on. He didn't want to find out.
Despite his covered ears, he heard the door open. His breathing quickened while he scrambled back the best he could. He didn't want to be hurt again. He screwed his eyes shut, bracing himself for any pain inflicted on him.
But it never came.
And yet he still flinched at the gentle feeling of hands on his own. Tsukasa took in a deep breath before opening his eyes.
A familiar cat-like smile returned his gaze. "There you are, my wonderful star!"
Tsukasa stared at Rui for a moment. Is this real? Is he really here? "Rui..?" His throat hurt.
Rui's smile turned into a more sorrowful one. "Yeah. That's me."
Tsukasa slowly lowered his hands from covering his ears. He couldn't stop his hands from shaking. His head was spinning with all the thoughts going on in his head. He was relieved but also.. maybe afraid. He wasn't sure why.
Tsukasa was pulled out of his thoughts when he was picked up. He tried to convince himself it was just Rui, but he had such horrible flashbacks when he was brought here. It hurt. His leg hurt the most. Even the slightest movement was excruciating. Tsukasa buried his face into Rui's chest, tightly closing his eyes. Both to block out the pain and to attempt to calm down.
"You're awake."
A voice caused Tsukasa to glance around the room, slowly adjusting to the bright light in the room. The voice was from Nene, who sat beside the hospital bed Tsukasa laid in.
Around the room, Rui, Emu, and Saki were sleeping in chairs in another part of the room, all leaning against each other.
"Nene.."
Nene frowned, a look of concern evident on her face. "Are you okay?"
"I.." Tsukasa stared down at his hands resting in his lap. They were bandaged, covering a few cuts and burns on them.
"It's okay not to be."
"I don't think I am." His chest hurt. It still felt like he was there, spending every waking moment in fear. He reached up, resting a hand on his neck. He shouldn't be so scared of being electrocuted when it was no longer around his neck. His neck hurt though. There better not be any elecrocution scars.
Tsukasa froze when he felt a hand on his own.
"Tsukasa?" Nene asked softly.
Tsukasa took a deep breath, trying to calm himself even the slightest bit. "Please- please don't touch me."
Nene nodded, pulling her hand back and giving Tsukasa a moment to breathe. “Sorry.”
“It’s.. It’s fine. It just.. I wasn’t ready for it.”
In the background, Rui shifted, opening his eyes. "Mmm.. Nene? Tsukasa?" He carefully pushed Emu's head off his shoulder, careful to not wake her.
Rui made his way over to Nene and Tsukasa. "Are you two alright?"
Nene nodded, while Tsukasa simply shrugged in response.
Tsukasa wasn't sure how to feel. He wished he had that feeling of.. safety that he's been longing for. It felt like he was still trapped.
"Tsukasa, my star?"
Tsukasa looked up at Rui. "Hm?"
"Toya brought you a stuffed animal he wanted us to give you." Rui held a pegasus plushie out towards him.
Tsukasa carefully took it into his hands, bringing it close to his chest. It was soft. It smelled like.. roses. "Thank you." It brought at least a small sense of comfort.
"Tsukasa?" Saki rubbed her eyes, sitting up to look at him.
Tsukasa felt a pang of guilt in his chest. Saki looked like she's been crying more than she's been sleeping. "Saki..."
Saki joined Rui and Nene beside him. "Mom and dad and Emu helped make snacks for you when you get home." She smiled, and yet Tsukasa could tell she wanted to cry again.
And he wanted to do the same. "You're the best sister, Saki."
"Tsukasa-kun!" Emu shouted but with the volume of a whisper. She seemed to have fully woken up instantly. "You're awake!!"
"Yeah- I am." Maybe it’ll be okay.