Chapter Text
His legs were shaking, their throat was sore and painful from screaming - everything hurt. Nico was dully aware of the blood that was dripping, no, gushing from his numerous gashes. He had to escape before they came back, this week had been like living in a real nightmare.
Everything was fine until he was kidnapped, blindfolded, and chained up so he couldn't escape, then heavily drugged until the world span and he could no longer form a coherent thought. It had been a week since he'd been captured, and the tortures had only gotten worse. His captor seemed to enjoy producing the most artistic, sad*stic forms of torture, designed to keep Nico on the brink of going insane. Nico's head had been forced under water until he stopped squirming, nearly passing out from lack of oxygen, his captor towing the line between killing Nico, which in hindsight would have been kinder. Eventually, he would be brought up given no time to recover before being forced back under until his captor was satisfied. Knives had been run up and down his scarily skinny form countless times, causing Nico to go delirious from blood loss. He'd been chained up and told his friends hated him, that they weren't coming to save him, he knew these methods of torture but he'd started to believe them. After all, they weren't here were they, maybe they weren't coming, maybe they didn't even notice he was gone in the first place.
Perhaps worst of all he had lived under constant bright light, making it impossible to sleep and use his powers, although his restraints seemed to have some curse that did that job well enough – they were literally sucking his soul and power from his body. Nico was now slumped against the back wall of his black, dirty cell, after round after round of creative tortures, his blood pooled around him, he wretched over and over but had had nothing in his stomach since being captured so had nothing to throw up. He was already painfully skinny before being taken but now he looked almost skeletal, hollowed out, you could see every bone move, they were so close to the surface, it looked as though if Nico moved to quickly his ribs might cut right through his translucent skin.
His head throbbed due to the strong drugs used to keep him still and boneless. Suddenly a wave of electricity passed through his nerves from the collar around his neck and cuffs around his wrists and ankles. Tears stung his eyes and face as he started to convulse from the pain radiating through his body, intensified by his sopping wet frame and clothing. The voltage increased causing Nico to cry out in pain, arching his back to an impossible angle. All his muscles ached and spasmed from the ever-stronger waves of electricity coursing through his broken body, his cries turning to strangled screams. Suddenly, the world went black, whether from the electricity or the blood loss Nico didn’t know but he had passed out, or so he thought, but when he remained conscious, he realised he’d temporarily gone blind from overstimulation to his nerves.
Just as suddenly as the electricity started, it was gone, along with the blindness. This left a painful ache across his body and scorch marks littered his skin where the cuffs and collar touched him. Nico craned his blistered neck to inspect his hands, the small movement caused him to hiss in pain. They seemed normal until on closer inspection, they were shrouded in a black shadow – he was fading, it was too much, even for a son of Hades.
Before panic could really set in Nico heard heavy footfall from outside his cell, the bars were pulled apart. He raised his head, but he quickly regretted it, stars danced in his vision, nausea rearing its ugly head. His vision was so blurred he could hardly make out the fuzzy silhouette of his captor. The chain between his shackles was tugged hard, jerking Nico forward so he was on all fours, weight barely supported. His hands were pulled from beneath him. He was dragged to the opposite wall, the strain on his wrists causing deeper scars to form. The chain was hung from an unseen hook, high enough so Nico had to stand on his tiptoes facing the wall. His legs gave way, so only handcuffs were holding him up, simultaneously dislocating both his shoulders with a gruesome snap, eliciting an agonising scream from Nico’s limp form. All too quickly for Nico’s abused brain to process he felt a cold, jagged object being dragged down his spine, making him shiver in the already drafty cell sending even more shooting pains to his throbbing arms, burning tears retracing the tracks on his sunken face, stinging the open wounds across the fine skin on his cheeks. His mouth opened in a silent scream as he felt the rough blade penetrate his back once more. Nico whimpered and writhed, trying to escape the pain but he only succeeded in sending more pain down his beaten limbs – he was too weak, powerless to do anything to escape the assault. Then he realised that they were words, the man was carving a phrase into his back. The kidnapper moved with practiced ease, each time Nico moved or made a sound, the blade was driven deeper into the already broken, bruised skin. Nico figured out the phrase read: ‘NEVER FORGET, YOU ARE NOTHING!’ and he was inclined to believe him. He felt his abuser twist the blade mercilessly to punctuate the exclamation mark, a heart-wrenching, guttural scream left Nico’s lips but even that intensified the extreme pain radiating from all over his body, stretching the new, deep wounds that would surely scar forever.
Nico thought of Will, his beloved boyfriend, how he would never see his startlingly blue eyes, his fluffy blonde hair. He knew he was going to die here in this cell, he won’t get to say goodbye. Was Will even looking for him though? Maybe not, after all he was worth nothing, was nothing.
Abruptly Nico was brought from his thoughts, icy water was splashed against his blood-red stained back. He was suddenly aware of how much blood was oozing from his spine, dripping onto the polished, stone floor, this thought distracting him from the question of why his captor was suddenly ‘helping him.’ A shiver ran through his body as he fought against the thought of bleeding out, how long did he have? He focused all his energy on keeping his body conscious. Then he became aware if a new stinging pain spreading across his slash marks – salt water – of course the kidnapper wouldn’t help Nico! A cruel chuckle left his abductor’s mouth as Nico tried to cry out, but no sound came out of his scream-abused throat. Nico, trying to move as little as possible to not cause further pain, lay boneless in his shackles, his jaw slack, he felt cool water pour down his throat, the first liquid he’d had since being taken, relief flooded his senses until he realised the burn in his throat had intensified, the salt water was now sucking away any remaining moisture in his body, making Nico cough from the dryness left behind only it was blood that filled his mouth when he coughed, the blood dribbling from his lips, down his chin. He tried to claw at his neck but was still held strongly by the restraints. This movement earned him a hard slap across the face, ultimately Nico failed to keep a hold of his consciousness. The world went black, and this time he did truly black out. The relief was short-lived…
