the inevitable

chapter 5- propositions

Chapter 5

Starling awoke to a throbbing pain in her head. Her entire body ached, cuts along her face and large bruises along her abdomen. With much difficulty, she finally opened her eyes. It took a second for her to regain her senses but when she did she was speechless.

The first thing she saw was a bloodied Elliot sitting in front of her, wrapping his fist. He looked god-awful.

From the dried blood in his hair to his swollen face which was painted in multi-colored bruises and cuts that were still dripping blood. The rest of his body looked just as bad.

Oh god, did I do that?

Starling's mind races as she desperately tries to remember what happened and how she got into this situation. Her mind was swarming with unanswered questions.

She frantically looked around for any clues. It wasn't until this moment did she realize the cuffs attached to all four of her limbs.

Elliot realized she was awake when he heard the rattling of her cuffs. Looking up he winced as he reopened a cut on his face. His father beat him pretty bad for his failure to capture the prince.

His calm, tired eyes met her wild ones as she spoke,

"Where am I? What happened?" her voice was raspy from the lack of use.

"And why would I tell you?" He spoke the same word he said to her that fateful night at the gala. This amused Elliot.

"Please." she croaked out. "Did I do that to you?"

Elliot couldn't contain his scoff, as if she could invoke this much damage to him.

There was only one man who could ever leave Elliot in this state and that was his father. Elliot has endured beating from him since he was brought into the family. He had to endure beatings, electric shock, poison endurance and much more. All to train him to be the best assassin he could be.

He looked back up at her expecting her eyes to give away her sarcasm but instead they were dark, unwavering and serious.

"Of course you didn't, you couldn't even if I was restrained." He said while rolling his eyes.

Starling's attention was brought to the door when she heard a metallic clicking sound before the door opened. Two figures stepped in, one was tall with long raven black hair, large dark eyes and pins in his shirt. He looked to be about 23 to her eyes. He had a slender yet tone build, he terrified Starling.

The next person was huge, blonde hair reached to his shoulders, his eyes a piercing blue. He was ginormous with muscles covering every inch of his body. He was much older than the other man, he must be the father, Star thought to herself.

"Are we ready to begin?" The dark hair boy asked.

"Yes, Illumi. She just now woke up." Elliot replied.

So this was Illumi Zoldyck, she heard rumors about him and his power, and looking at him now she was sure he would live up to his reputation.

"Father, if it's alright with you, I'd like to use my needles on her." Illumi said. Starling could only move her eyes as this conversation continued. Her attention was then on Illumi as he pulled out 6 pins from his shirt. He then placed on each of her shoulders, hands, chest and finally her neck.

The pain of the needles was manageable, and Starling glared at the three men. She didn't know what they were going to do to her but she knew she wouldn't crack.

Oh how wrong she was.

When Illumi took out a small remote from his back pocket Starling's eyes widened. As if in slow motion he lifted his finger towards the blue button.